Happy 2nd Birthday, Little Miss!

Today is Eliana's birthday. We had a pretty fun day hanging out with my brother. Since it was a non-work day, Dave took the opportunity to work on our house. I hope he gets done with his stuff soon....he keeps telling me just a couple more days but no matter how many days he works, there is still a couple more days worth of work. It's very frustrating! Anyway, he was working on the house, so Jeff and I decided to take a trip to Ikea. Jayden was super excited because he was finally able to play in the kids area. Last time we went, he wasn't potty-trained yet. So he had a great time there. Eliana got to go shopping with Jeff and me. We looked mostly at chairs and wall units...something we are both interested in. However, we found the kitchen tables and household accessories interesting too. Jeff ended up buying plates, glasses, and cutlery since he had nothing to put in the kitchen. He still needs major necessities like pots, pans, cookware in general, actually! But, at least he can eat his take-out on real plates! :)

We wrapped up the day with a simple dinner of yummy hamburgers and cupcakes. Ellie and Jayden enjoyed those all over their little faces. Good reason for their bath right now! Well, that and the fact that their first day of school is tomorrow. I'm pretty excited for Jayden. He will be in the big-kids class. I hope he gets really into learning his letters and numbers and wants to start really writing them and putting sounds together for reading. Eliana is going to start the itty-bitty kids class tomorrow. I hope she loves being there and doing art and playing with other kids her age. I have no academic expectations for her--just for a pure love of learning.

As for me, I have a busy week ahead! Tomorrow I return again to the classroom. I am teaching just one class of Honors Geometry at Notre Dame High. I am blessed that the class is 7:50-8:30AM M-Th...well Thursday is a block day so class ends at 9:15 but that is really close to 8:30 :) Anyway, I have my class; then I have to go to the kids school to see them off to class; pick them up at noon. Wednesday I only have my class then we have play-time. Thursday though, I have my class, then pick the kids up at noon, then I have my first Hebrew High class that night. I have never taught Hebrew High. Basically it's religious school for high school kids...but I have to teach a Jewish ethics class...not my strong suit! Ok that sounds bad....I am a very ethical person, just not sure how strong I am at teaching it. I hope mostly to be a facilitator and let the kids run the class. We'll see! Anyway, the rest of the week (Friday) the kids are in school again on Friday. Then Jayden has a b-day party to go to on Saturday morning (the boy's birthday is today) and Eliana has a party in the afternoon on Saturday (that little girl's birthday is today too)--popular birthday day! :) And lastly, Sunday...we get to relax...until...we go to the Back To School BBQ for the kids' preschool! Like I said...busy week! Well...best get it started with getting the kids out of the bath and ready for bed. :-)