Final Four, baby!

It feels good to say that...Final Four! Beautiful pictures of Lawrence celebrating can be seen here:http://boards.kusports.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=985836&page=0&fpart=1&vc=1 We are loving it, but that game was not fun. AT ALL. It was painful. I was hiding behind a pillow crossing my fingers that we would not suffer the fate that the Longhorns had earlier that afternoon. I am well aware that we have to play UNC in a week. Actually, aware isn't an accurate term. It is more like horrified. It will stink to go down to the likes of Roy Williams.

My girlies "helped" me sort out the tupperware drawers today. You can see how they helped. They giggled and tortured the dogs. I did not find the tupperware cleaning to be very satisfying. First of all, it took forever. Second, as soon as I finished the lids were a big mess again. Great blogging material here!

Differences between girls and boys

When I was first pregnant with Meagan, I honestly thought that no matter if I had a boy or a girl, they would basicly be the same. I try to be fairly open minded. Meagan had both dolls and toy cars, but now all she wants are little things. Natalie, whether I bought her every little boy toy in the world, would still gravitate towards her 10 million babies. My girlies definitely want to be like me, which frankly scares the you know what out of me. They love their daddy very much. They want to stare at his fish tank and garden, but mostly they are fascinated by my makeup, hairdryer, etc. Go figure.

Our New Toy

Uncle Brian G. is famous for buying neat birthday gifts for Meagan and Natalie. Until this year, nothing has outshone the Bounce House that arrived on Meagan's first birthday. Maybe it terrified her then, but she loves it now! Meagan's fourth birthday was back in January, but we haven't opened Uncle Brian's awesome gift yet. To be honest, Meagan did not understand it at all and did not want to play with it all that much. All that has changed. You see, Uncle Brian bought a Shadow Wall. It is a green screen that when you click a magic button captures the shadow of whatever was resting upon it. We had to take every one of her little things and hold it up to the wall. After the magic clicker zapped it, she would laugh like a crazy woman. Natalie, like the two year old she is, also laughs like a smaller crazy woman. Apparently Uncle Brian has purchased yet another winner!

Tourney time!

It is time for the NCAA Basketball tournament. I know zillions of people love this time of the year, but to a Kansas Jayhawk fan, this time is sacred. Year after year, we fill out our brackets, faithfully putting KU in the Final Four. I did it again this year. BUT- I did not say that we will win it all. My heart has been broken too many times by my Jayhawks. Nothing would make me happier or prouder, but I just don't think it will happen. And nothing scares me more than facing Roy Williams' (how could you leave us...I am still upset because you said you were going to stay....) Tarheels in a Final Four game. Well, other things scare me more, but not in the world of College Basketball.

Spring Break!

One of the best parts of teaching, hands down, is that we get a good amount of breaks. Andy is jealous. He says that I am always on, or almost on, a break. I can not say that this is true, but I am thankful for the breaks that we do get. I have to point out, though, that there is a reason for multiple breaks. Middle schoolers are "challenging." As much as I whine about what I do, I enjoy it.

Meagan and Natalie, however, do not get a spring break. Their challenging and demanding curriculum of playing with playdough, naptime, and fingerpainting knows no breaks. I would not want to interrupt that kind of learning. OK, so I really just want a bit of time to myself. I am picking them up early today so that they can go play at Meagan's bestest buddy's house, Lexi. Meagan and Lexi have played together since they were tiny babies, yet they are finally just in the past year actually playing together. They would play next to one another (developmentally called "parallel play") but not so much with one another. Now they are very sweet and have loads of fun together. Natalie just follows along, a big grin on her face because she is with the big girls. Every once in a while, Lexi's mom and I actually get to talk too!

The girls are still thrown off a little from the time change. I woke Meagan out of a very deep sleep at 9:00 today. Natalie was talking to her friends in bed a little already, but Meagan was firmly in sleepland.

I am now going to go try to find dresses for the girls' Uncle Peter's wedding rehersal dinner. Their flower girl dresses will arrive next week. Meagan can't wait because I have promised a prize, but I am crossing my fingers that the princess ( otherwise known as "my name is NATI, not Natawee.") will not ruin Peter and Mary's wedding photos!

Trying this again!

This is not the first time that I have tried to be a blogger. I have friends who are also very busy who manage to successfully post updates every once in a while, so I am going to make an effort. I am happily married to my college sweetheart, Andy. I am the mom of two lovely little girls, 4 year old Meagan, and 2 year old Natalie. They are 19 months apart. This was a "Surprise." Everyone seems to be impressed that we are still alive and kicking after dealing with two under the age of two, but we are.
Meagan is usually pretty mellow. She is very proud of all that she is learning now at school. She has always been desperately shy, but she is getting somewhere with that. Although she still struggles with new situations, she is able to make and maintain friendships. She adores Dora, Elmo, and little things. In case you are wondering what little things are, they are terrible, awful, hated things that have taken over our home. Usually they go by the name "Polly Pocket", but whatever their name, they drive me nuts. I am talking about the dolls that have shoes tinier than an ant. Pain in the butt, but she loves them.
Natalie is our little princess. She has struggled very hard to get where she is, and we could not be any prouder of her. She was labeled at about 10 months with hypotonia, which essentially means low muscle tone. She is cognitively right on track, but was signifigantly behind physically. Crawling came at 14 months, and walking finally happened at 21 months. It was beautiful. Natalie also loves Elmo. Actually, she pretty much likes anything that Meagan does. That means that when we get into the car she also yells "Hannah!", meaning I need to instantly turn off what I am listening to and listen to Hannah Montana. Wonder where she got that? She also spends a great deal of her time trying to resist potty training. We love her independent spirit.
I am also the mom of three (yes, three) not so smart dogs. We do love them anyway.
I am in my 9th year of teaching. Currently I am an inclusion teacher in a middle school here in Austin. Most days I like my job, but I do have bad days. Teenagers know how to do that to you- and so do parents!