Christmas Photos

Here is a link to my facebook album that has photos from Christmas and our time in Seattle. The first part of the album is other things, but they are there. I don't think I will be getting around to posting any of them on here, so check out the link if you want! There are a lot of the little nieces, and then Christmas celebrations, snow shoeing with Dan and Christina, and Leavenworth with my parents.

Baby J's Nursery

In the last couple of months, we have found all of the furniture pieces that we wanted for Baby J's nursery on sale. They are all set up in her room and I extra can't wait for her to be in there too! Before that though, I am anxiously awaiting her crib bedding so that I can see the true colors and start picking out paint colors and decorating!

Her beautiful sleigh crib

Life piles up sometimes

Well, I think it's been at least a month since I've written on here. You could say I've been a little busy, but that wouldn't begin to describe it. I was sick right before Christmas break and still recovering the first few days of break before we left for Seattle. When we got back I had a couple of days to catch up at home and finish planning for the next week at school.

I feel like I've been doing nothing but catching up every since! I felt like I have only gotten one thing done on my to-do list at home each weekend since then. One weekend to get the tree down, another to write thank you notes to my students for Christmas gifts (but I still need to do them for everyone else, and for baby shower gifts...), another weekend I got the Christmas decorations down (but i still need to dust so I can get the regular decor back up), and so on.

School is going fabulously, it is just a lot of work! We are studying the California Gold Rush and reading a novel about a gold rush adventure also, both of which the kids are really enjoying. It's so fun to tie different aspects of curriculum together and see how much better they can learn from and absorb it all :). We are going on a field trip this week to Mariposa, which is an old gold mining town. There are 2 gold mining museums we are going to and they even get to pan for gold! They are also working hard to write research reports for our upcoming science fair. They already went through this process in the fall with their California Mission reports, and this time is actually going much more smoothly! It was almost torturous with all the teeth pulling I had to last time, but I am so proud of how much they learned and remembered this time :).

I have had a lot more energy during the day, which makes work much more enjoyable, however I am pretty drained by the time I get home. I have been working until about 5:30 most nights, and even with that it feels like I am always catching up or staying just afloat. I have a list of things I need to get working on for school that never seem to get anywhere. I just keep plowing through it all though, not much else I can do. Matt tells me to try to find ways to cut down my work load, but I feel like everything I do is necessary... so I am still working on that one.

With me being so busy with school, and then exhausted at home... there hasn't been much in me left to get the day to day household things done. Matt has really stepped it up to help out with all of that :). I am so thankful for him lately!

My biggest struggle in all of this has probably been to remember to look to God to be in control and take care of things. I have been praising and thanking him non-stop, I feel, for the baby, for Matt's help and support, for my job and wonderful students, and all of the blessings in my life. However, I have not been doing a very good job of looking to Him when i am getting stressed or overwhelmed or just plain exhausted from all of the hours I've been putting in... to trust Him to help me get everything done that NEEDS to get done. That is something I need to be doing everyday and am constantly trying to remind myself of.

Ultrasound pics

5 little toes on her little foot :)

Profile... her chin is resting on her chest

Another profile

This one honestly freaks me out... alien baby

Our little girl :)

Love my girls!

So, when I told my kids that I was having a girl, the reaction of ALL of the 4th grade girls was, quite literally, to scream, squeal, jump out and down, and run around. It was quite a sight! Apparently we are still in the "Girls rule and boys drool" stage, ha!

Here are a few examples of just how excited and just how adorable my students truly are:

9 year old girls LOVE to write notes....

"Dear Mrs. Jonkman,
I'm glad you are having a a girl I hope we get to see her I hope she is as pretty as you.
Love, Sadi"

This one was a card.... which they made before they knew what the baby was...

The cover:
"To: Mrs. J You will love it inside!!"
Inside:
"10 things why you should have a baby girl instead of a boy
1. They are more pretty
2. They are not as dumb as boys
3. They are more brave (instead of embarrassed)
4. They are more responsible
5. They're smarter
6. They have better personalities
7. They are more quite in school
8. They make quicker friends
9. They like animals more
10. Because they are girls!"
On the back:
"Your two favorite students, Sarah and Georgia, best friends forever"

My reading that was following by much laughter and excitement, along with a small talk about being nice to boys, too :-P.

I hope those made your day!

One More Week of Chaos...

Chaos seems to be a fitting word right now. I feel like I am treading water some days in every area of my life... doing just enough to get by in most things, but not doing a really great job in anything. Somehow once Thanksgiving was approaching, those few blissful weeks of less work, getting home by 5/5:30, and making dinner for my hubby each night were long gone. There has been so much to do with Christmas coming up, lessons to plan, science fair projects and papers to plan out for after Christmas, CPR training all day last Saturday, and only very minimal planning for Baby J lately. There have been many late nights, oatmeal or grilled cheese type dinners, and weeks with Matt running the errands and taking care of the house lately. He has been doing a fabulous job with all of that though!

This weekend was finally a weekend home with no plans. I was going to finish Christmas shopping and decorating, get Christmas cards out, bake Christmas cookies, get ahead on schoolwork, and have some time to relax and appreciate my hubby. But, I guess with all of the hard work and long hours... I was just asking to get sick instead. It has truly been a miracle that I lasted this far into the school-year without even a minor cold, but boy am I getting my fair share now! My voice has been going in and out since Tuesday or Wednesday, and the rest of the cold symptoms and soreness came along with that on Thursday, blah. I have been trying to take it easy this weekend so I can just make it through this one last week, ugh! But it's such a bummer that I can't get to all of those things that I had wanted to. Oh well, it should be a fun (but crazy) week either way, I just hope I have a smidge of a voice and energy to get by :/.

It's a Girl!

That's right! Baby J is a sweet little girl! I am SO excited! I am excited for bows and headbands, for hats and booties to crochet, for hand-me-downs, and everything sweet and cute that there is for little girls :).

The ultrasounds was the best one yet (as they each will probably be...). We saw her open and close her fist, kick all over the place, stretch her feet past her head, get the hiccups, and counted 5 fingers and 5 toes on each hand and foot. Everything still looks perfect!

I went out this weekend and exchanged a couple of boy and gender-neutral items for girly ones instead, yay!

***Ultrasound pics to come soon!***