Reading lessons with Ms. J..."that's just how it is"

One of the boys I nanny (note: nanny not teacher) is 5 years old and learning to read. We practice his sight words every day after school, he is required to know them in order to progress to the 1st grade. Turns out I may have needed more than one semester of Elementary Education in college. If teaching him how to read was recorded it might go something like this...

1. Don't forget the song we learned from the Leap Frog video..."when two vowels go walking the first one does the talking"...

See...

Day...

Pie...

Read...

New reader: Yuh-oh...Yoh.

Ms. J: No, it's Yuh-oo...Yoo.

New reader: But there's two vowels.

Ms. J: I know, but that's just how it is.

New reader: Why?

Ms. J: Because.

2. Remember the rule the silent "e" makes the first vowel say its name ...

Came...

Pole...

Tape...

New reader: K-oh-m...Kom.

Ms. J: No, K-Uh-M..Kum.

New Reader: But there is a silent e, so the "o" says its name.

Ms. J: I know, but that's just how it is.

New reader: Why?

Ms. J: Because.

New reader: Huh-ay-v...Hayv.

Ms. J: No, it's Huh-ah-v...Hahv.

New reader: But there's a silent "e"...

Ms. J: I know, but that's just how it is.

New reader: Why?

Ms. J: Because.

3. Sound out the word! Don't make words up, if you sound out the letters you will know what word you're reading....

Cat...

Big...

Dog...

New reader: Aw-nuh-eh...Awneh.

Ms. J: No, it's Wuh-N...Wuhn.

New reader(confused): Okay.

(2 minutes later I go back to this word to see if he remembers)

New reader: Aw-nuh-eh...Awneh!

Ms. J: No it's..Wuh-n...Wuhn. Don't sound it out...

you just need to know it....that's just how it is.

New reader: Why?

Ms. J: Because.

New reader: Wuh-h-ah-T...Wuh-Hat.

Ms. J: No, it's Wuh-uht...Wuht.

New reader: No, I see "hat"...wuh-hat.

Ms. J: No, it's Wuh-uht...Wuht. Don't sound it out...

you just need to know it...that's just how it is.

BECAUSE.

Needless to say, I prefer babies.

But of course, if you are interested in enrolling your child(ren) in

Reading Lessons with Ms. J feel free to send a message.

Thankful for this man...

The man that fell in love with my mom,

The man that proved that being a dad doesn't mean you have to have the same genes,

The man that was there to love me as his own

the moment I was born.

A Godly man and role mode

a man of integrity,

the leader of the house,

the hardworking provider,

the man whose stubborn personality is so similar to mine it, often times, clashed,

the man who I have grown to love and respect more and more the older I get,

the caring, sarcastic, trustworthy and honest man, my hero, my Dad.

The man who put his reputation on the line so that we could have

a father/daughter dance we will never forget.

Not the whole dance, but better lighting so it is clearly noticed

that we know how to break.it.down.

I am so thankful for this man. Happy Birthday, Dad!

I love you,

Pumkin

Weekend Getaway

Mr. B's birthday weekend getaway.

We began the weekend with lunch at Mr. B's favorite place: Quiznos.

We drove down to Clearwater Beach and stayed at this lovely little hotel

(priceline is a great way to get good hotels at a cheap rate!)

It took me a while to get over the fact that this hotel is the kind with doors on the outside, rather than a hotel building with a hallway.

For some reason I feel safer in those ones.

Blame it on the TV and the movies, but it seems like bad things happen in these kind of hotels. Sometimes my imagination gets the best of me. Mr. B threatened to take away my shows if this was how I was going to act and I needed to stop complaining and enjoy the weekend. After all..this was his weekend. It's difficult sometimes to be on the giving end. Of course, I knew no matter what, I was safe because my sleep through everything, snoring, unaware of his surroundings when sleeping macho protector of a husband would fight off any danger after I try my hardest at waking him.

The highlight of our trip, the number one reason we stayed in a hotel:

The blackout curtains that make it legit and easy to sleep until 10.

Surely, if there is no light coming into the room you must keep sleeping. It's a rule.

Ready for dinner at Carrabba's

My all-time fav and the only thing I ever get: The Pollo Rosa Maria- delish!

Mr. B tried something new- Margarita Pizza = fail. It's a let down when

your birthday dinner is not up to par with the Pollo Rosa Maria,

hence why it's so crucial not to order anything else.

What's left to do when your dinner isn't up to par and it's your birthday?? See if YOU are up to par! Hmm...I was trying to think of a good segway here..talk about failure.

For once in our lives we were spontaneous--we decided to play some mini-golf instead of going to the movies. Although I had an outstanding come back, Mr. B did beat me. Clearly, this was on purpose... seeing as he was the birthday boy and all.

What better way to play golf than in 3 inch boots, right?

The best way to finish off any night.

We were excited because the hotel had a lot of new movies to rent. We selected Couples Retreat....$15.99 + tax!!!!! umm..nevermind. Are you kidding me?!?!? We could GO to the movies for that much! It was $5.99 + tax for an episode of The Office that you can get for FREE online. Needless to say, we did not watch a movie, instead we spent an hour (maybe two) flipping through channels-- which really was a luxury. It's not as entertaining at home with our basic cable.

Spontaneity #2: Waking up at 4:35 AM for the shuttle launch.

Do you see it?

Neither could we...turns out it was delayed until Monday night because it was too cloudy. A little warning or automatic shut off of the alarm would have been appreciated; talk about rude! Although, as mentioned in my previous post, I might have already been up at that time sleep walking searching for batteries. As I stated earlier, those hotel curtains work really well and I was getting very irritated that I could not a. find the light and b. find my batteries...no, there were no batteries in our room, but ever try to convince a person sleep walking that they are wrong? Not a good idea...we will only get more annoyed that you don't know what you are talking about.

Mr. B's actual birthday day was spent sleeping in, getting Firehouse subs and heading home. (Mr. B really likes subs can you tell??) Who picks a sub shop for their birthday meal?? I was ready for some steak, but once again, not my birthday so I have no say...

After lunch, we went to the movies and saw Edge of Darkness. The action packed, kill everyone, blood everywhere kind of flick is not exactly my type of movie, but we are seeing Valentine's Day on Friday so it cancels out.

I made him some extra moist cupcakes and sang "Happy Birthday"

And made some queso as we watched the SuperBowl and fell asleep at 10.

Perfect weekend.

MIGHTY Monday

I saw this on some other blogs and decided to try it out!

We might have had brisket 3 nights in a row and frozen pizzas the rest of the week because I was too tired to cook.

I might have been to lazy to find my PJs so I just put on a pair of Mr. B's boxers and tee shirt.

When getting into bed, Mr. B might have pointed out that we were wearing the exact same pair of boxers (red with white polka dots- can never leave you with out the proper details to visualize)

This might have freaked him out and insisted I find my own PJs.

I might have acquired blogger insomnia, staying up until 2:45 AM because I was thinking of my next posts.

I might check my blog 25 times a day to see if I have more then 2 followers...who might be my mom and mother-in-law.

I might have had a dream that I had 25 followers and Mckmama commented on my blog. It was a huge deal that she read my blog let alone that she commented. This would mean that I significantly advanced in the blog world.

I might have woken up and realized this was in fact, a dream. I do not have 25 followers and Mckmama doesn't even know about this smelly life of mine.

I might have run out of cotton balls to remove my nail polish and decided to improvise and use a pantiliner instead.

This might have worked very efficiently and I might be using a pantiliner from now on.

Mr. B might be completely disgusted that I would do such a thing. In the world of men, even when it is clean and straight from the box, anything to do with Aunt Flow is repulsive.

I might also be looking into registering for a patent for such a product and making my way over to the Shark Tank.

I might have purchased some items for myself at Target when going specifically for a card for Mr. B. How could I get only one item from Target (impossible) and get something for him and nothing for me (also impossible)??

I might have acted like I purposely put 1 cup of oil rather than 1 cup of water in Mr. B's birthday cupcakes when he was raving about how moist and delicious they were.

This might be my new addiction. Not together of course, but there's definitely been a party in my mouth for about 2 weeks now. My taste buds are very thankful. My thighs are not.

I might have been jealous of all of Mr. B's birthday money and secretly wished he would lend some my way.

And lastly, I might have already been up to watch the shuttle launch, when my alarm went off yesterday morning at 4:30, but only because I was sleep walking in the hotel room looking for some batteries. I might sleep walk a lot.

Happy Monday!! Only 5 more days til Friday!!

Thankful for this day...

The day

this blue eyed,

blonde haired,

Bills bred,

little boy entered the world.

My best friend,

my support,

my life partner,

my better half.

I am a huge fan of cards. Whether they are already written or I write them myself- it's the perfect way to share true feelings, love and appreciation that is often overlooked or not said enough. It usually takes me at least 45 minutes to find the perfect card, but this time it was the very first card I picked up. It was as if Carlton Cards went inside my head, stole exactly how I feel, and put it on paper better than I ever could have done. I just had to share it because it is that perfect, maybe even worth a duplicate for another year (my mom did that to me, same birthday card, same words underlined, same side comments added, totally different year...at least her feelings remained the same for me).

When you reach for my hand

when we walk through the store

when you call me from work

when you open my door

When you get me a blanket

when you cover my feet

when you pick up to-go

when you put down the seat

When you watch a chick flick

when you share the remote

when you kiss me goodbye

when you leave a love note.

When you clean up a mess

when you fix the PC Mac

when you turn down the volume

when your team's on tv

When you don't get upset

when you patiently wait

when you're ready on time

when you hate to be late

When you tell me I'm sorry

when you care how I feel

when you listen to me

when you just keep it real

When you open your heart

when you share something new

when you're easy to love

when you're just being you...

I love you.

Happy Birthday, Babe!

Our First Place

Special shout out to: Craigslist, Kirklands & Ikea--thank you for allowing us to make our apartment feel homey on a budget! And an extra thanks to everyone who blessed us with wedding money so we were able to purchase that homey decor!

Welcome to our home!

Floor # 3. Yes, it is a workout and I am out of breath everyday.

Yes, I might be out of shape, thank you.

Mr. B's dad made us this beautiful table.

I know it comes as no surprise that I make a 5 course homemade meal

and we eat on this table every night.

Ok, ok the truth is...we eat on that table about once every 2 weeks, the breakfast bar about 2 times a week and on the couch watching TV the majority of the time. In our defense, we don't have a DVR (extremely tough life, we are well aware) so we obviously can't miss our shows. This could just be an excuse because we don't typically eat past 8, but it sounds better than we are lazy and like to watch reruns of The Office and Friends, and the occasional (if I'm lucky) TMZ/Extra.

Our craigslist deal of the century couch. We purchased a couch on craigslist before this one. A scratched, faded leather, 3 piece set, sold it for double what we paid for it, bought this perfect condition, basically new, hardly used couch with the profit we made and ended up spending a total of $25 out of our pocket. This included matching pillows and rug! I wasn't kidding when I said my middle name is bargain. We are very thankful that the couch is divided into individual pieces, we have two more pieces of the couch in the storage closet. It was taking up too much space, but now it's perfect.

No need to panic, we have since hidden those cords from showing underneath

and purchased 2 more baskets to our unique TV Stand from Ikea that we are in love with.

Mr. B's $130 juicer that he had to register for...that he has used maybe 10 times.

Definitely a good choice to get that instead money towards a new camera.

Beautiful sunset from our kitchen

Sage green= my favorite color

Perfect little TV stand for our room

SO thankful that our apartment came with a washer and dryer!!

Bathroom connecting hallway and our room. All of those towels are now designed with wonderful orange streaks, apparently thanks to the bleach in my hair.

*Christmas Time*

We didn't go too crazy because we spent 2 weeks in NH for Christmas. It's also not the easiest to get into the Christmas spirit when it is 90 degrees out and the AC is on, but we did what we could.

Our first Christmas tree....we can only go uphill from here in the years to come.

We had a fun little Christmas night making gingerbread houses and playing "The Newlywed Game"(funny game!) with our friends before heading home for the holidays!