I know....

I know.

I stink.

I haven't posted on this blog in too long.

And this will be a very short post too since I'm taking a small break from studying for my Infant & Toddler Development Final. BOOO for finals! Yay for infants and toddlers though!....as long as they aren't mine. ;)

Speaking of toddlers my kiddos at work are all out of the toddler era or on their way out. Yep, they're almost ALL four. It makes me sad...but they sure do say the cutest things. I thought I'd share a few recent funnies. (over the last few months)

Little Boy: "I made you a smoothie."
Me: "What kind? I only like certain smoothies."
Little Boy: "Well, you're in luck! I put lots of certains in there!!!"


Little Boy: "You can play transformers on an iPhone."
Me: "You can play hopscotch outside."
Little Boy: confused face "Huh?"


Little Girl: "One day I'm gonna be a pretty princess and you can come save me in my castle!"
Little Boy: "That sounds like too much trouble."


Little boy climbs on outside of the jungle gym.
Me: "YOU BETTER BE CAREFUL UP THERE!!!"
Little Boy: "Ninjas are always careful."

What a wonderful weekend I had :)

After a rough week some of the CCPS girls decided to have a girls night in at Ms. Lyndsie's house on Friday. We had a great time enjoying some wine and appetizer's and getting to talk grown up talk instead of 'boo boo bags' and 'walking feet'.

Having our girls time made me realize how much I really love the girls that I work with. I'm pretty blessed to get to spend time with them each day.

We had a little too much to catch up on because I didn't make it home until 3 in the morning. Eek! But like I said, great time!

On Saturday my community was having a garage sale so I got up early and hit up about 10 of the 25 to 30 garage sales within walking distance. I bought quite a bit of little stuff and total spent $4 I think. I kept telling people I felt like I was stealing from them when they'd say something like, "That'll be a nickel."

After garage saling I made my way to my least favorite place in the entire world, (besides the eye doctor with his little air puff) yep, I went to Wal-Mart. Eww. I somehow always end up leaving there without anything (because it gets left due to lack of cashiers and my lack of patience) or complaining about how I almost got ran over at least twice in the parking lot. All in all, it stresses me out.

With that said, Spring has sprung and I needed flowers, potting soil and paint for a project I was planning to work on. And we all know I'm cheap, cheap, cheap. So I knew I was going to have to make the journey down to my real life hell. ;)

Somehow I lived through it and didn't get maimed by anyone in the parking lot. Erin and Kinley stopped by when I got home. While she sorted through baby clothes for the wee one in her belly I got to work on a project.

I bought this little dresser at Goodwill a while back. I had absolutely no use for it but it was $5 and sometimes I just can't turn down a bargain. As I was in the check out line purchasing it the man behind me tried to make a deal with me by offering me double. I declined.




As my sewing excursions have taken on a life of their own I recently decided I needed something cute to put my fabrics and such in. And it turns out that I already had something, it just needed to be revamped.

After stripping the dresser I threw on a few coats of the paint color I had picked at 'hell' and then put on my knobs that I had bought a few months ago for $5.

The end product.....




And because it was looking a little bare I topped it off with a little color. By the way, I purchased two bouquets of these flowers while buying groceries yesterday, they were on manager's special for $2. Out of the bouquets I was able to make five different vases of flowers to go around the house to brighten things up and feel a little more Spring-ish around here. Plus, they smell yum. :)

Speaking of flowers, that was another thing I bought at Wal-Mart along with a tomato plant to pot.



My Mimi had given my some fresh cilantro, oregano and mint when I went home for Easter so I spent Saturday evening putting everything in their own little pots. I really have enjoyed going out and picking a few little sprigs of cilantro this week when I cooking dinner. And soon (well about 48 days) I can go pick tomatoes for dinner too.

My good friend Jenny and her fiance have just purchased their first home. How exciting! And I'm getting to help with all the priming, painting, decorating AND gardening!!!! Jenny and I are planting a garden at her new home in the next week or two when they are all settled in. This really does make me ecstatic. Afterall, I dream of owning an old farm out in the country, watching my future husband in his too tight wranglers driving his tractor, being a stay at home mom, picking fruits and veggies, canning and making jams all while drinking a big glass of sweet tea in my big floppy straw hat. My dreams may not seem like much, but they're mine. :) And Ms. Jenny is helping me get a little bit closer to them by letting me help with the garden. Even if I do have to imagine that I'm on a farm in the middle of nowhere I still love growing and picking all your own veggies.

So stay tuned for Gardening Excursions I'm sure they'll be quite interesting.


I've been so behind on blogging I forgot to share my last sewing excursion.

I have been wanting to make a cute Spring/Summer dress so I got started by making this cute little flower to inspire me



I had some hot pink fabric so I decided that was going to be what I used.

So I cut. I pinned. I sewed. I got this.





I'm pretty sure this won't be the last one I make.


And because you might be needing a laugh I'll leave you with a funny from my kids (for other kid funnies, click here.)

Marriage has been a hot topic around our three year old table for about the last month. I'm not sure how it happened but it turned up one day and has refused to leave.

While eating snack on Wednesday afternoon my children began the marriage discussion once again.

'J' proclaimed her want to marry 'E'.

But he said, "No, I'm not getting married anymore."

After a short argument back and forth with her saying, "Yes, you are!" and him saying, "No, I'm not!"

She gave up. She said, "I'm marrying my brother."

That's when another little girl chimed in and said she was going to marry her sister.

And a little boy said he was definitely going to marry his sister too.

I then said, "I don't know if you can do that."

I got lots of "why not's?"

I said, "Well, you can't do that in Texas."

That's when 'K' said, very seriously, "Yeah, you have to go to Hokohoma to do that."

Ha ha. I loved it. They really do keep me laughing.


With just a week until my birthday I'm still trying to figure out birthday plans. This is so unlike me, I normally have something massive planned a month in advance. Looks like I'll be going low-key this year. Is that what happens when you get old? ;)

Me on my first birthday which happened to be on Easter :)

Flippin' Flashback #2

My little children at work have grown so much from this post. It's one of the first posts that I wrote about them. It reminded me of the days when I was called things such as 'Hori' (glad that one pasted) and 'Tordi' ;)

I'm so proud of the three (almost 4) year olds that they've become.

It has been such a joy having them as a part of my life, most days. ;)

The following was posted back in September or 2008....



So it's typical in my day of work to have at least one kid spill their cup of water or at the very least play in it.

You know put their cheez-its or animal crackers in it.

Blow bubbles in it.

Throw it on their friends and make them cry.

Dump it on the floor because they got up from the table with their cup and forgot it was in their hand when they started playing.

This of course forces Miss Tori to use bagoodles of paper towels to clean up the floor/table/chairs area.

Miss "Green" Tori.

Sometimes I want to sit them down and give them a good talkin' to about the environment. Instead I have to say, "Sweets, please don't play in your water or you will have to throw it in the trash can."

But I have thought about what I would say in my environmental speech to two year old's.

Here go's.......

"Children. What you make Miss Tori do everyday at snack time is not environmentally friendly. You make Miss Tori be a big fat tree killer! Is that what you really want? Do you want me to kill trees? Miss Tori doesn't even use paper towels in her own home. It makes me so so sad that you spill your water all over the table, floors and friends. (insert frowny face here) Now please contain your urge to take the ever precious water that I give you daily at snack and play in it. After all, not all of your fellow toddler buddies around the world are lucky enough to get water everyday of their life, especially clean water. Now did ya think about that, did ya? I didn't think so."

In my head they say, "Yay Miss Tori! Me no spill water! Me love trees!"

In real life it would probably end in all cups of water being thrown at each other and then an nsync giggle on their part.

It's also quite typical for me to stand in the middle of the classroom saying, "Please use your walking feet in the classroom or you WILL sit in think about it!" (Think about it = time out)

Think about it normally means once I sit them down so that they can think about their actions they end up crying, screaming or hitting.

So naturally I hate think about it.

But it's normally where a few of my kids live each afternoon.

Typically, one of my kids is going to need a band-aid, boo-boo bag or hugs and kisses before the day is out. I usually pray everyday that they will only need hugs and kisses because that's more fun than band-aids and boo-boo bags.

So with all the "typical-ness" you might be thinking these kids are bad.

These kids are a handful.

But.... these kids, are two.

And they are anything but terrible, they're terrific :)

Because also on a typical day I get more hugs than I can count.

I get to hear precious little voices say, "Kisses Tordi." (wanting to kiss my cheek)

I get to see them get so excited to play with their friends after they wake up from nap.

I get to see them share their toys, occasionally. ;)

I get to hear "Horsey say neigh Tori, horsey say neigh!" in their most energetic voice.

I get to have little bodies curl up in my lap and say, "Read Tordi, read."

I get to be the one that they want to pick them up when they're hurt, sad or just wanting someone to hold them. I love their little heads on my shoulder.

I love that all these things are also typical in my day of work.

I love my little loves and love how much they light up my everyday life by just being typically two.

Not Worth It!

So I've been known to be a coffee-aholic and since I've been watching my weight I've practically given up Starbucks (well, I still make it every morning but I rarely go to the actual store anymore). That is definitely a HUGE accomplishment if you know me.

Since I don't go to Starbucks anymore I now drink two perfect cups of coffee EVERY morning. And today started off no different....

Woke up fixed my cup of coffee and got dressed so I could go to my kiddos late Valentine's Day party.

I looked at the time and realized I would be running seriously late if I didn't kick it in high gear so I decided I'd hold off on the second cup of coffee until I left and could put it in my 'Princess of the Go' mug. (Thanks Daddy!:)

So I was ready to get everything and head out the door.

Princess on the Go cup nowhere to be found.....

I should have known then that this was going to end badly.

Fine, no mug. I'll just use a regular coffee cup. I HAVE TO HAVE THAT SECOND CUP OF COFFEE!!!

Grabbed bag #1. (purse)

Grabbed bag #2. (bananas for kids and baked goods for teachers)

Grabbed bag #3. (laptop)

Grabbed big box of kiddos goodie bags.

Grabbed keys.

And of course I grabbed my delightful cup of coffee.

Somehow maneuver out the door with ALL that, get down the first flight of stairs and realize 'I forgot my phone,****! (insert four letter curse word, in my head of course;)

Back up the stairs.

Put everything down and search and search for my phone.

Great, it's in my purse. UGH!

Down the stairs again.

Get to the bottom of them and drop my keys.

I have no free hands so I kick them all the way across the parking lot.

As I'm kicking I start to think about how I'm so glad that all these bags haven't fallen off my shoulders.

Then they do.

And SPILL my PERFECT CUP OF COFFEE all over me!!!!

I learned a lot of lessons here. But the main one, no matter how much you want something, if it doesn't fit....it doesn't fit.

I will remember that the next time I decide to carry 20lbs. of stuff down two flights of stairs and insist on a full hot uncovered cup of coffee.

It really is kinda funny. ;)


But the kids party went well once I made it there.

Here a few pics of the cute little goodie bags I made for them.

They had such a great time.




Hope everyone else's Tuesday was full of happiness! :)

3 Year Olds....

A few of my latest funnies

Actual 3 year old lunch conversation

K: "Did you know Hokahoma is in Texas?"
D: "Yep."
K: "But I just want to go to Pretty Rico, that's where my friend lives."
D: "I don't think my Mommy will let me know go to Pretty Rico, it's too far."
K: "Hey! Did you know that Mommy's and Daddy's drink coppee?"
D: "Well, my Daddy just drinks beer. One day I'm gonna be big and I can drink beer just like my Daddy!"

Hokahoma = Oklahoma :)
and Pretty Rico = Puerto Rico (we have a little girl in our class visiting family there)


Conversation with Daddy and Daughter as they walked down our hall.

Daughter: "What did you do today Daddy?"
Daddy: "I went to work."
Daughter: "Why?"
Daddy: "To bring home the bacon."
Daughter: "Oh so ya had bacon for lunch."
Daddy: "Actually, I had a chicken salad sandwich."
Daughter: "Sounds yummy."


We have a little boy in our class that brings his stuffed dinosaur which he's named Giggly.

D: "Ms. Tori, Giggly's back as school today, he's been sick."
Me: "Oh I'm so sorry, what was wrong with him?"
D: "Oh ya know, he just had an ear confection."

ha ha ha ha ha ha I had to ask him twice what was wrong with him, it just just too cute.


A little girls mom comes to pick her up from school and as she goes around to give everyone a hug goodbye she then starts to walk out the door when a little boy goes running after her yelling, "WAIT!WAIT! I almost forgot to tell you, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!" (Date of this conversation, January 6th) lol So sweet to see him still in the spirit ;)


I baked all sorts of cookies for the kiddos for Christmas and put them in individualized bags for them. After all the kids had left but one the day I passed them out I told him that he could try one since he'd been eyeing them all day.

Me: "Why don't you try this one out and make sure it taste's good. But just this one."
D: (Puts cookie in his mouth as his eyes light up) "MmmMMmmm! MmmMMmmm!"
Me: "So you like it?"
D: "Yep, it was very good!"
He then finishes the cookie and then looks up and stares at me for a minute like he's got something to say.
D: "Ms. Tori I think I better try that chocolate one to make sure it's good too."

As Promised...

So as I had mentioned, my life has been very busy lately.

I had also promised to finally fill you all in. So this is going to be kind of a potluck post.

I will start with this last Friday....

My kiddos had their Christmas program at school and they were just the cutest little things I've ever seen.

They made me and Ms. Lyndsie so proud with their adorable singing antics.

Their playlist included Jingle Bell Rock and Away in a Manger.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that I'm not allowed to post pictures of them outside of school I can not let you partake in adoring their cuteness.

As they sang, it was so hard to believe that these little children were babies when I began my job two years ago. I was so happy I wanted to cry. I immediately began to realize this has to be how a parent feels when their child is growing up. Except I'm sure it's 100 times worse.

And once again I realized I'm not ready for children. I would never be able to let mine out of sight for even a second.

I hope I'm not, but probably will be the parent that tells you some lame excuse like, "I'm sorry you can't hold him because he's an anthropophobian (afraid of people)." or maybe something along the lines of, "She's allergic to everyone but me, doctor's orders."

I don't even like to leave my children at school with a sub because I'm afraid they won't take care of them like I do.

I guess I should work on having faith in others a little more.

Anyway, the children really warmed my heart Friday evening and helped me remember the importance or Christmas. They brought such youth, innocence and cheer to all of us there.

I truly did feel blessed to be a part of it all. I have to say my kiddos parents are very lucky to have such wonderful children. :)

Saturday seemed to be a whirlwind of events that left me completely exhausted come Sunday morning. Who am I kidding, I'm still exhausted now.

As I've mentioned before one of my best friends in the entire world is getting married. Yes, Ms. Princess Mitzi. She's taking the plunge with one of the sweetest guys around, Danny.

Saturday was their engagement party and I had the best time seeing old friends and catching up about old times and making new memories.

Mitzi was my roommate for three years and quickly became my best friend and long lost sister. I have to say she is by far the funnest (not a word) person that I know!

I'm so completely happy for her and I know that her and Danny will truly have a happily ever after like they deserve.

All the bridesmaids. Erica, Alexis, Shellie, Me, Jen, Mitzi (bride), Katie, Ashley and Kristen

I didn't get pictures of the wonderful main course but here are the scrumptious cupcakes and cookies.

Mitzi and Danny opening their gift from all the bridesmaids.

Me and the Bride to be, Princess Mitzi

Our cute gift from Mitzi and Danny for throwing the shower for them. Monogrammed umbrellas.

Thank you Mitz, for being one of the best friends a girl could have. I love and cherish our friendship more than you will ever know.

After the Mitzi/Danny extravaganza I attended Ms. Lacee Lou's Christmas party. Sadly, there are no pictures since I was exhausted from the moment I got there.

It was good however to hang out with old friends and catch up. I also enjoyed seeing people in ridiculously funny Christmas attire.

I slept in Sunday to try to recover from lack of sleep. But was awoke by a phone call. I didn't mind. It was another one of my favorite people in the entire world, Ms. Jenanabelle (Jenna).

She was in Denton visiting the boy so we met up for a lunch date and discussed how wonderful we are. ;)

Then it was off to the grocery store to buy more baking stuff than one should ever buy to make Christmas cookies for the world (30 people).

I began my baking marathon at 4:30 P.M.

Seven hours and 243 cookies later they were packaged, labeled and now sit ready to be handed out to some very lucky people.

I was told that they better be good cookies for all the hours it took. (They are.)

But even if they weren't, they were made with heaping spoonfuls of love. :)

I guess I could have purchased cookies or made one huge pan of cupcakes, but we all know that's not my style.

Martha has taught me better than that.

And I would be utterly embarrassed to send out store bought goods to ANYONE, even the homeless at Christmas.

It makes me a little sick to my stomach when I see store bought cookies wrapped up individually like they are homemade, such fakes...such wannabe's.

Yes, I know.... I'm an absolute food snob.

Anyway, the small trinkets of goodness are shown below......

These are just some of the cookies....there were of course many many more.

Chocolate peppermint cookies

So this about catches everyone up.

I'm currently in the middle of finals so it's another big week.

But when it's all over I get to see the number one greatest person in my life, my Daddy!!! (Mom, don't worry you're tied)

I can't wait for that last final Friday morning!

For now though I will leave you with a few photographs, enjoy.

Me and Santa, 1991
I'm gonna have to say about 1988

I hope everyone has a great week!

M. I. A.

Has it really been almost a month since I've posted anything?

Look at me being a neglectful blogger.

Santa should just go ahead and throw some coal in my stocking.

In my defense, this time of year is very busy.

I'm too busy trying to have fun and make new memories like the ones below.....

First Christmas in College Station with my roomies.

Two years ago, Christmas party with Lacee Lou.

And then below with my ITB friend as reindeer's. :)

I can't wait to spend time with family and friends again when I head home next Friday.

I love Denton but it's lacking a few things..... family, my best friends and home :)

I love going home and feeling like I'm 16 again.

This weekend has a lot going on so I will have a lot to post about come Monday. Maybe I shouldn't commit to blogging Monday.... Finals are Mon- Fri of next week.

I do promise you will hear lots of fun stories soon.

Between my kids at work's Christmas program, my best friends engagement shower and another friends Christmas party there will be lots to chat about.

Until then let me leave you with something sweet one of my kiddos said to me today.....

Little boy: (Crying) "I want that toy!" (The toy that another little boy is playing with)
Me: "Well, maybe you can ask and he'll share with you."
Little boy: (Stares at me crying.....)
Other little boy: "Here you go, you can have it."
Me: "Oh how sweet of you to share your toy! You know, that's what makes you so special, you're such a sweet friend to share!"
Other little boy: "Ms. Tori, I just share because it makes me happy." :)

I almost cried. How sweet and unselfish he is. This is not the first time this little boy has said such sweet things but today I realized how much they are growing, growing, growing everyday. And I'm so delighted to get to be a part of it.

Silly Kids

It's been a while since I've posted any funnies about my ever so adorable and sometimes monstrous children at work.

So long in fact that I'm no longer their 2 year old teacher but I am now their 3 year old teacher. I've been with these munchkins since they were one, it's absolutely unbelievable.

As usual funny things happen all the time in my classroom.

A few that I'm listing below are ones that have stuck with me through this school year so far.


Little boy walks up to me looking like he's in distress.
Me: "Is something wrong?"
Him: "I got a boo-boo on my lip." (he says this in his super saddest voice ever.)
Me: "Oh no. What happened?"
Him: "I was just in my fort when a bear came up and bit my lip off while I was sleeping."
Me: "Hmm........"

Seriously, how do you punish a non-existent bear that comes in at nap time and bites children's lips off? lol


I walk into the bathroom that we have in our room the other day to find a little girl standing up facing the potty with the lid up. When she sees me walk in she says, " I'm a little boy." I chuckled under my breath and then explained to her that she was in fact a little girl. I wanted to add...."believe me, you do NOT want to be a little boy even if they can tinkle standing up. They really just aren't that cool." I refrained.


Little girl: "Ms. Tori, you know that planet Mars?"
Me: "Yeh, I know it."
Little girl: "I've been there, it's really cold."


Please keep in mind that these children are 3. They keep me rolling in chuckles everyday.

Today at work I realized that I really do love what I do.

My kids woke up from nap and as always I went around and kissed them on their little foreheads and told them 'hi'.

Everything seemed to be going well. A typical day. I'm lucky enough that my kids are never awful two year old monsters. lol

But today was a little more chaotic. The start of it anyway...

They quickly went from sweet sleeping children to a little bit of a mess.

One child had an accident and while helping them change another one is standing in the door crying for his mommy (who had just tried to pick him up from school but he didn't want to go yet.) two other children were fighting over putting up their mats and blankies and one was just observing wondering what in the world was going on.

It just screamed chaos all over the place and right then and there I just stopped and looked at them and smiled because they were the cutest mess I've ever seen.

I quickly changed one kid, comforted one, told two others to share and things were magically fixed in seconds.

but in that minute of craziness I thought... 'If I can love my job now, then I know this is what I want to do forever.'

And I did... I still loved it.

One day....

Last weekend Jeina was nice enough to loan me her adorable daughter Brooklyn for the weekend. (see above:))

And although I was absolutely exhausted by Saturday it was wonderful to have a little one around the house especially since Mom was in town.

I had the best time just watching her play, giggle and of course sleep. I think watching little ones sleep is one of the most precious things you will ever see.


I enjoyed every minute of her being here including the waking up early part :)

One day. Yes, one day I hope that I'm blessed with children as beautiful and precious as she is.

More pictures of this cutie on my Facebook

Duck-Tails

Oh how I wish I could legally put pictures of my kids on this blog. Unfortunately, they aren't technically mine.

So this picture of a little duck will have to do for this little story. :)

So as you know my kids are two. Well, just turned two or turning two in like a month. So even I think of them as still babies sometimes.

That's why they surprise me.

So you might think that it's next to impossible to get my kids to form a line, hush their mouths and not touch each other when we walk places.

It is.

Instead we say "grab a friends hand."

At least if they are holding a friends hand they are in a horizontal line. Who cares which way the lines goes as long as they are linked together.

Now talking is another story. They love to jibber jabber.

That's why I found it so adorable today when my little ones were walking to gym class that one of my kids had his hands behind his back and his cheeks were poofed out real big. ;)

I said, "Silly man, whatcha doing?"

He said, "Buck-ales -n- ubbles Tordi."

I said, "Oh I'm sorry you're doing duck-tails and bubbles?"

He said, "Yeah, shhhhhh!"

HA HA One out of six isn't bad. It's not good either.

There's always tomorrow.

Typical Two's.

So it's typical in my day of work to have at least one kid spill their cup of water or at the very least play in it.

You know put their cheez-its or animal crackers in it.

Blow bubbles in it.

Throw it on their friends and make them cry.

Dump it on the floor because they got up from the table with their cup and forgot it was in their hand when they started playing.

This of course forces Miss Tori to use bagoodles of paper towels to clean up the floor/table/chairs area.

Miss "Green" Tori.

Sometimes I want to sit them down and give them a good talkin' to about the environment. Instead I have to say, "Sweets, please don't play in your water or you will have to throw it in the trash can."

But I have thought about what I would say in my environmental speech to two year old's.

Here go's.......

"Children. What you make Miss Tori do everyday at snack time is not environmentally friendly. You make Miss Tori be a big fat tree killer! Is that what you really want? Do you want me to kill trees? Miss Tori doesn't even use paper towels in her own home. It makes me so so sad that you spill your water all over the table, floors and friends. (insert frowny face here) Now please contain your urge to take the ever precious water that I give you daily at snack and play in it. After all, not all of your fellow toddler buddies around the world are lucky enough to get water everyday of their life, especially clean water. Now did ya think about that, did ya? I didn't think so."

In my head they say, "Yay Miss Tori! Me no spill water! Me love trees!"

In real life it would probably end in all cups of water being thrown at each other and then an nsync giggle on their part.

It's also quite typical for me to stand in the middle of the classroom saying, "Please use your walking feet in the classroom or you WILL sit in think about it!" (Think about it = time out)

Think about it normally means once I sit them down so that they can think about their actions they end up crying, screaming or hitting.

So naturally I hate think about it.

But it's normally where a few of my kids live each afternoon.

Typically, one of my kids is going to need a band-aid, boo-boo bag or hugs and kisses before the day is out. I usually pray everyday that they will only need hugs and kisses because that's more fun than band-aids and boo-boo bags.

So with all the "typical-ness" you might be thinking these kids are bad.

These kids are a handful.

But.... these kids, are two.

And they are anything but terrible, they're terrific :)

Because also on a typical day I get more hugs than I can count.

I get to hear precious little voices say, "Kisses Tordi." (wanting to kiss my cheek)

I get to see them get so excited to play with their friends after they wake up from nap.

I get to see them share their toys, occasionally. ;)

I get to hear "Horsey say neigh Tori, horsey say neigh!" in their most energetic voice.

I get to have little bodies curl up in my lap and say, "Read Tordi, read."

I get to be the one that they want to pick them up when they're hurt, sad or just wanting someone to hold them. I love their little heads on my shoulder.

I love that all these things are also typical in my day of work.

I love my little loves and love how much they light up my everyday life by just being typically two.

Chalk It Up!

Let me tell you what I think of when someone says the word "chalk".

Hopscotch (as pictured above) - I loved playing this game as a child. I don't remember the point of the game really I guess it's just bragging rights for whoever can do it fastest and right. The most fun was probably drawing it on the sidewalk.

Pool - You also use chalk in a game of pool.

Gymnastics - Gymnasts put chalk on their hands in order to keep from slipping off bars and breaking something useful.

Teachers - Probably the oldest use of chalk is on blackboards. That's what I would say it's primary use is for.

Alright, these things listed above are all things that naturally come to mind when someone says "chalk".

And these are also all things that do NOT come to mind when you are a three year old and you hear the word chalk. Nope, not even close. Let me tell you what does come to mind though.

Today we took two of the three year old classes out to play on the playground since it was a beautiful beautiful day. The other teacher, Rafaela brought out a bucket of sidewalk chalk and told the kids they could doodle on the sidewalk.

So that went well.... for like 3 minutes. I mean you can only write the first letter of your name and then what is "trying" to be the rest of your name but comes out like gibberish about 5 times and you're over it.

So they put their little brains to work. What can we do with this chalk besides draw on the sidewalk? Hmm.....

Well, here's what they came up with:

• Coloring on plastic, which just builds up the amount of chalk on the plastic and uses the chalk up very very quickly. And what would they do after that? Well, sit on it of course. Not on accident, that was their master plan, to have pink, blue and green bottoms.

• Use it as a bug killer. Yep, I can't tell you how the game got started. Well, I think one kid saw an ant and decided to use the end of her chalk to kill it, cuz in her words, "ants are stinky!" But apparently, her idea was a hit because the kids then took their chalk stick and went "bug hunting" to kill any critter that dare step foot on their play ground. Unfortunately, we just put out bug killer so the game ended quickly......Next idea...

• Definitely color with your chalk on your hands and see who can make the better "chalk print" on the other kids clothes. Yes, the parents love picking up their children with chalk hand prints all over their child.

• As makeup. I wish... oh how I wish I had a camera today. Clearly, chalk is made to go on the face because believe me, it goes on there very easily, but somehow does not come off as easy if it's left on there for more than about a minute. The most common look was blue chalk eyeshadow with a pink circle all the way around the face and just a tad of chalk lip gloss in the shade of purple. I seriously thought these parents were going to pick them up and wonder if they had been beat at school with all the blue and purple all over their faces.

Yeah.... with these kids, the possibilities with chalk are endless. I really think they could have played with it all day and never gotten bored.

It's so flippin' crazy how something so small, so cheap, so simple can really entertain a child. It makes me think that we really do take for granted the little things once we get older. Play with little ones all day and believe me your outlook will be much different because they have imaginations and they put 'em to work everyday. They also put me to work today, I'm absolutely exhausted, kids from 8 to 5, don't tell me it's not hard work!!!