Monthly Milestones

Today Annabelle is 20 Months old, here are some thing she did in her 19th Month.
1. She repeats everything and her vocabulary has extended to the point that I can't remember every word she knows anymore. She can say a lot of animals and make their sounds. Here are some words I can remember-Em, slide, heart, knock-knock, butterball, pooh, and pig.

2. She loves coloring. She says color and has even made up her own sign language motion to let us know when she wants to color. 3. She climbs up the steps all by herself.


4. Her favorite movie right now is Finding Nemo. At first she was calling Nemo, Elmo. Now she sounds like she is saying, "emo". We are working on the letter "N" sound.

5. Going along with number 4, she loves fish. Every book we read or wherever we go if she sees a fish or shark she is sure to spot them!

6. She is using a spoon and fork now and getting more in her mouth than on her!


8. Her favorite book this month has been No, David! by David Shannon. If you haven't read it, it is an easy read and very fun for little kids. Her favorite part is when he runs down the street "nakey, nakey" as she says and then laughs! The end has a nice message about parents loving their children no matter what.

Here she is sleeping with the book!

School Starts

Most of you know that I started school this week, but so did Josh! He started Seminary this week at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. He will be pursuing a Master of Arts in Old Testament. Last Fall he started Hebrew with Colin Smith and was still taking Hebrew from him when Colin unexpectedly passed away this summer. Colin did such a great job teaching that Josh passed the Hebrew placement exam at Grand Rapids! This is a big deal as Hebrew is a two day a week class and we live 3 hours from the Seminary. Now Josh only has to go in one day a week. This semester he is taking an OT class and the book of Jeremiah. All that know Josh, know that he is a continual student, so he is so excited to be back in school again!

I started back full time this week teaching 3rd grade. I absolutely loved it. I have 44 total students; 22 students in each class. I am teaching Math, Social Studies, and Character Education/Bullying. Because of all of the orientation stuff I've only started teaching Math and this next week we'll dive into the other two subjects. It has been a lot easier of a transition than I thought it would be.

Annabelle started back to Miss Cindy's this week. She had a tough time the first day when Daddy left her, but did great the rest of the week. She really loves the kids and Miss Cindy. I couldn't ask for a better sitter. We feel truly blessed to have found Cindy.

Here are some pics of our days back!

Annabelle with Miss Cindy in the morning, not too happy. :-(

This was the only one Josh got of her.

My picture was actually taken after school. I wanted to get a picture with my co-teacher, but the day flew by so fast we never had time! Also, I had high heel shoes on and they were off by the time Josh took this pic!

Week with the Wilsons

Last week Annabelle and I drove with my parents to PA where after a couple of stops we met up with the Wilsons who took us to their house. Josh then joined us on Thursday and we left to go home on Saturday. While we were there we went to the Olive Garden to celebrate Emily's 21st birthday, which is in a month. It was a great weekend. Here is a montage of our week.

Make a Smilebox photobook

Setting up for School

While my family was here they spent two full days helping me in my classroom. They did everything from cutting, copying, coloring, pasting, filing, organizing, fixing, sharpening, labeling and so much more. Here is a video of my classroom and them helping me.

I brought Annabelle in with me yesterday. We were there from 11:30 until 4:30. She was such a trooper. She sat in her stroller while I ran errans around the school, ate lunch, watched Veggie Tales, played on the playground, watched Beauty and the Beast and even took a nap!! She is SUCH a great kid!

I really love my classroom and am so excited to meet my students next Wednesday!

Tea Time

My family visited from Maryland this past week. We had a great time, but one of my favorite things that we got to do is go to the Sweet Shalom Tea Room in Sylvania, Ohio. This was my 3rd time going and what I love about it is each time they have a different theme to the tea. This month the theme was "The Way of Tea" here is an excerpt from their website:

In happy homes where afternoon tea is brewed, or where indeed, it is always on tap, life is a success. Learn the fascinating art of tea, enjoy a special tea tasting and experience the mysteries of a Chinese tea ceremony.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Family Fun

My parents and younger sisters spent a week here in MI with us. It was a blessed time. My oldest nephew, Brian, even came out to visit with them. Two of the days they helped me get my classroom ready, one day we went to a Tea Room in Toledo, and we just enjoyed hanging out together.

Here is a video montage of our week together that my mom made.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Cosmic City II

My family got to my house on Wednesday and just in time to see the last night of VBS which was Thursday. It was great to have them there and have them take lots of pictures! So these are compliments of my Mom, Dad, Britt and Kelly! Thanks guys!

I played Mary the one who found Jesus' tomb empty. Here I am ready to go on stage. Here I am telling Peter and John that Jesus' body is missing and the tomb has been rolled away.
Here is Josh doing a little science experiment with the kids. They are cleaning penny's with Taco Bell's hot sauces. He related it to how Jesus' death on the cross cleans us and makes us righteous.
The kids raised money all week long to help with next year's Youth Group mission trip!
It was a great week at VBS! I can't wait to help again next year!

Cosmic City - VBS

Tonight is the first night of VBS at our church. The theme is Outer Space. VBS continues to be one of our most effective outreaches and I ask that you pray for the kids and adults that will participate. Pray that hearts would be tender for the Lord and that genuine decisions would be made for Him.

Josh and I are both involved this year. Josh does quite a bit. He is the team leader of the 5 & 6th grade group and at the end of each night shares the gospel in a creative way usually trying to pull in the theme of VBS. This year I am taking pictures (right up my alley you are probably thinking) and along with Josh will help tell the Bible story on Thursday night.

Josh and Annie before VBSFamily pic at VBS
The Snack Ladies are out of this world!
Josh's and the leaders of the 5 & 6th graders
5 & 6th graders ready for games.

They use our front lawn for game time.