This is what my school is like...

This article shows some of the values of my "alternative" high school. We do have an "alternative" population, so we teach in an "alternative" way. It's very different than my past experiences with alt. ed.

That said, this week I experienced a bit of culture shock. My week-old cell phone that I received for my birthday was stolen from my classroom. I'm heartbroken, because I loved it (as much as one can love a cell phone). I'm still working with my cousin (who works for Sprint) and insurance to try to get a replacement, but there are things like rebates that may or may not be forfeited. It's a mess. And then I learned that there are people that will take their stroller into a store, load it up, and walk out. Or they'll do that at Wal-Mart or Safeway with groceries. I know it's not just here, but one girl admitted that every single thing she had for her baby was stolen. Holy cow. So while I can't understand why someone would keep a phone that is useless to them (Sprint phones don't have SIM cards, so no one can reactivate it), I'm beginning to see that it's not necessarily for the phone. It's for the addiction.

Teacher Appreciation week must be AWESOME around here.

Jack

When she first looked inside, she exclaimed, "Cheese!"

She still does the "Bush" face when asked.

LOVES Jack!

If you skip a nap...

you might end up falling asleep in the most awkward position...

Bath savages

First of all, I blame Jeff--he bought the darn things. Okay, so he bought them on my suggestion, because we've had them before. But still.

So it really started with a little bit of harmless coloring on Ellen (from both Emily and me)...

Then, things got a little crazy...
Wild woman-banshee-war paint kind of crazy.
Ellen went so far as to gnaw on all of the foam letters. That's how wild she is.

Pumpkins

I don't have many pictures to share, but we went to a pumpkin patch today. I'll take more tomorrow and when we carve the big one, but I wanted you to get a preview of the pumpkins that Emily picked for she and Ellen... Yes, they're about the size of apples. She wanted a "baby" pumpkin. She was thrilled with running through the big ones like a maze, though.

(Doesn't Ellen look slightly disappointed with her tiny pumpkin? That's why we got a bigger one--she was telling us with her eyes that she was NOT part of the "baby pumpkin" movement.)

About Ellen's hair...

We have no idea what color it is. When she was born, it was dark-ish, but definitely not as dark as Emily's. The new stuff looks white. And yet, in pictures and certain lights, it looks red (as many of you have noticed). I would love to say she's going to be a strawberry-blonde, but I've been bad at predicting so far (I thought Jon & I would produce toe-headed blondies). So I'll let you know when we figure it out...maybe in the next year or so.

Most hilarious dance videos ever (and I'm not even biased)

Speedy

She tore off her diaper and was running to the bathroom...it's obviously a re-creation, and not quite as speed-wobbly as the first time.

Some umbrella weather

Zwieback toast

I remember Emily loving this snack, so I thought we'd try it with Ellen. She also loved it (finally something that tastes like food when I put it in my mouth!)
This picture looks like an endorsement or commercial of some kind...

I'm not sure if there are cuter girls anywhere...

Okay, so there have been cuter pictures of Ellen. But this is just funny.

Faces of Emily

Videos from California

I forgot to upload these videos from our trip...

Watch Ellen in this video:

And, of course, the video below was after Ellen had been laughing hysterically at Emily for quite a while, and I finally dug the camera out to get a video, so she had really slowed down.

Growing up!

Ellen is really starting to push up on her arms.
She EASILY flops back and forth from front to back.
And she's becoming a PRO at sitting up.
I can't believe how big my baby is getting!!!

Piggy bank

If Emily has three coins in her pocket that total 55 cents, what would the coins be? False. Because the coins aren't in her pocket. They're in the Wii. When did she put them there? Who knows...it's been a few weeks since we've played. What kind of screws do they use when assembling a Wii? Tri-wing (looks like a Y, rather than the + of a Phillips). So you have to buy special screwdrivers? Yep. And find a website that shows you how to correctly disassemble a Wii? Bingo. I think the worst part was when it was sitting on the desk waiting for Jon to come back from the store and she found a quarter--she ran right up to it and said, "My money!" and lunged to try to put it in the Wii...



We are delighted to say that the Wii has recovered nicely from surgery and is fully functioning again.

Grandma Jessie

Jon's mom is in town for Women of Faith, and stopped by for a visit. She brought Emily a Halloween costume (okay, so I can see she must have removed the princess dress to put the costume on--but in my defense, I was at work), and is clearly an excellent snuggler for Ellen.

Opera?

Even though it looks like yawns, she was just holding her mouth open like this...