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!***

4th Grade Goodness

Now that I don’t have to be on my kids all the time to work on their mission papers and the group work of our history unit on missions, I find that I am enjoying them so much more! We have had the best last week and half of simpler, more low-key lessons, with plenty of fun ones thrown in there too. They really do have a lot of energy and can be so very exhausting… but that also makes them so much fun! They get so excited when we do something fun, or even if I let them cross off math problems from their homework, lol!

They had the best day on our half day on Wednesday, even though it started out with a geography quiz! However, that was only 1 of 2 scholastic things that we did that morning. We just finished a chapter on the rancho days when Mexico took over control of California. So after recess, we played a game outside where they got to “lasso” a “cow” by tossing a hula hoop onto a cone, while the other team pulled a rope on the cone to move it. Many of these kids live on dairies too, so they were very interested in this unit when we talked about cattle ranchos, rounding them up, and branding them. Then we went inside to the Mexican feast that awaited us (thanks to their wonderful moms!). They were again, SO excited just to be able to eat good food and choose who to sit by while we ate and watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving movies. I had more than one student tell me at the end of the day, “Mrs. Jonkman, this was the best day, ever!” One of my students helped his mom make cupcakes to bring and had to make sure that I got a special one that he made for me with extra candy on top! How can that not melt your heart?

One more sweet, sweet, thing that my children do daily, is pray for Baby J. When we are sharing prayer requests, at least one of them never fails to pray for Baby J and myself to stay healthy. We have had several days lately, in preparation for Thanksgiving, that I only allowed them to share praises, or thanks. And each one of those days, someone always gave a big thanks for the baby as well. When you work with children, you have to treasure and remember these sweet, loving moments. There is no other way, sometimes, to keep on loving them through the all too frustrating times. And boy did I need a lot of these moments to remind me, after a good month of paper writing frustration (for both them and myself).

Giving Thanks

Giving Thanks Matt said on his facebook that Thanksgiving should really be a week-long celebration, because we have so much to be thankful for that one day really isn’t going to cut it. I found this very fitting! Now, of course, we ALWAYS have things to be thankful for, because God has always provided for us, etc... but some times in life just seem to be overflowing with blessings, while other times we are left patiently (or trying our best to be patient) for what good things we know God has in store for us LATER. We have done a lot of said waiting, and although there were times of frustration, yearning, and loneliness, I feel like we handled it pretty well. And I firmly believe that God builds us and our trust in Him in those times of waiting. He shows us that it is by His will and His timing, and that every good thing truly came from Him and not by our own accord. Our life still has its ups and downs, and things are far from perfect… however, when it is usually all too easy to leave God behind when things are going well, to not call on Him for much until we are in need… I am determined to keep remembering what He has done for us and praising Him for it every day. That being said…

Here are the top 10 things that I am thankful for right now:

1. Little Baby J who is growing and growing and for everything looking perfect so far. We get to go in for the good ultrasound in just 2 weeks! They should be able to tell the sex by then too, so excited! (After wanting a baby so badly for so long and not allowing myself to hardly think about it for the last 3 years… this baby is truly a gift from God with how quickly and easily we got pregnant)

2. Feeling about as good as possible while being pregnant… the little bit of morning sickness is gone, I have very few food aversions or things that make me nauseous, I am a bit extra tired but it’s manageable, and I am able to continue teaching and doing what I love without much of a problem. I know how bad so many others have it, and I thank God every day for this blessing!

3. My amazing husband who has been doing so much for me this year. Matt has really taken on a lot more of the workload at home when I haven’t been able to, whether that’s due to lots of schoolwork to do, or exhaustion. Our home lives would be such a mess this year if it weren’t for his help with cooking, errands, cleaning, etc…

4. A full-time job that I love and enjoy, feel competent and fulfilled at, and that helps support us and relieve some of the financial burden. That whole over-worked and under-paid line definitely had first year teachers in mind! But despite that, and all of the frustrations that come along, I LOVE my kids and the reward is so much grander than any of the rest of it.

5. A new car that is newer, nicer, and bigger, with less miles, and air conditioning J. Another huge blessing at a great price, and in plenty of time for Baby J!

6. The awesome families that we have who are so supportive and caring. We do miss them, tons, and that’s hard… but we can still be thankful for having them in our lives, even from a distance.

7. Good friends, both old and new. I have so many friends in different places now. Wherever I live, I am always going to be missing MANY of them, but they are still great to have. I have at least a handful of treasured friends in Seattle, Grand Rapids, Merced, and other sprinklings across the country J.

8. A house with plenty of room for Baby J. We weren’t exactly thrilled to have to move last year. We really liked the house and neighborhood that we were in. However, it would have been kinda cramped with a baby. We now have plenty of room for a baby, while still having a guest room, and our utilities are much cheaper too (although rent is a bit higher, so I guess it evens out a bit…). It is also so nice and easy to live so close to both of our schools (with the one car at least).

9. Sunny California. I do miss Michigan, quite a lot more than I thought I would, I will admit. And I also love and miss Seattle, and still hope to live there again someday. Merced may be small and not have a whole lot going on, but it has its definite up sides! We are so spoiled by all of the sunshine. We have do many great places to go to…. If we want to drive a couple hours. We love going to Yosemite. It is a fun place to live at this point in our lives, that’s for sure.

10. Samson, who is going to be 2 around Christmas. Having a dog (especially one with so much energy) does tie us down quite a bit, but he is really a great dog. Believe it or not, he has calmed down a lot for us at home. He is full of excitement when we first get home, but then he mostly just lays around. He has a blanket he lays on in our room, and he drags it out to the living room to lay on out there too! And I really do love puppy cuddles. I am curious to see how he reacts to Baby J… he does really well with and loves little kids so far… we will see how much he likes one that sticks around!

Samson and his blankie that he brought from the bedroom…

Baby J’s sweet little profile! 14ish weeks in this pic

Missions, Check!

Not a whole lot new to report... I have been pretty busy with school the last couple of weeks. My kids had their first research paper due this past Friday on a California mission, and we were also wrapping up our history unit on the CA Mission System. I don't know who will be more glad that those are both finished, the kids, or me! It'll be nice to move on in our studies and not have to be on them all the time about deadlines! But I also have tons of grading to do now... 22 mission papers, 22 history workbooks, and 5 folders of history group work, yikes! That might have to wait until next weekend :-P. Those little troopers worked so hard! We had a party on Friday afternoon to celebrate, complete with a movie, popcorn, and chocolate. They get so excited anytime we do anything special, love it! I am working hard to plan a more low-key next week and a half, filled with plenty of fun lessons and activities, because boy do we all need a break :).