April 17th, 2010

I love being a teacher for many reasons, but one of my favorites is all the fun breaks we get, like spring break.  Our spring break was a week ago, but I am just now finding the time to blog about it.  We spent our week visiting some friends and places we rarely get to see. 

First Visit:  My mom, sister and nephews came to town to visit.  We had planned on visiting Hopscotch’s Playplace but it was closed.  They have the most random hours and this is the second time they have come to town intending to play here and it been closed.  We ended up at Imagination Station, which I think Tyson enjoyed more.  There wasn’t much for MLK to do, but I think she still had a good time watching her cousins play.

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Second Visit:  We visited our dear friends Mark and Nicole and their new little boy, Jack.  These are friends from college who moved from BG several years ago.  We spent time playing games, introducing kiddos, taking a nice stroll around a park and eating ice cream!  Here are some shots from the visit.

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Third Visit:  Throughout the week I visited with some neighborhood kids.  When the weather is warm the kids in our neighborhood flock to our cul-de-sac to play.  Spring Break was no different.  One afternoon Mikayla and I went out front and sat on a blanket to play.  Within ten minutes our blanket was filled with neighborhood kids wanting to play with Mikayla and her toys.  I passed out leftover hard boiled eggs and we sat around eating and playing.  It was a lot of fun.  I didn’t manage to snap pictures of the kids, but here are a few of Mikayla during our impromptu play date hanging with the big kids.  As you can tell, she thought she was pretty cool!

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Fourth Visit:  MLK and I headed to Smiths Grove to visit with my team teacher.  Not only are we team teachers, but we are friends.  We want desperately for our daughters to be friends too.  We got together, played, chatted and had a little photo shoot in a neighbors yard.  It was a relaxing way to spend one of the last days of my spring break.  She has some great pictures from the day on her blog.  You can read about it here. 

Fifth Visit:  On Sunday we packed up our gear and headed to Mammoth Cave.  You can read about our trip on Ben’s blog here.  It was a great day to be outside and the perfect end to my Spring Break.  I think MLK enjoyed being on the trail and I know Shiloh enjoyed herself!  Here are some fun memories from the day.

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I had a great Spring Break visiting all these fun people and places, but most of all I enjoyed spending time with my family.  I can’t wait for Summer break and all the fun we are going to have!

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Tags: , , , , | Posted in Life |
April 17th, 2010

Here are some more funny stories from my students!  These were overheard while they were completing work.  I hope you enjoy.

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Student 1:  What makes the "ch" sound?

Student 2:  C-H…like in chubby.

Student 1:  (very offended) I am not chubby!

Student 2:  (very matter of fact) I know you’re not chubby.  Chubby means half fat … like me!  I am half fat, chubby.

Student 3:  Hey, my sister is chubby!

Student 1:  So what makes the "ch" sound?

~

Student 1:  Have you ever been robbed?

Student 2:  No, have you?

Student 1:  Yeah, because we lived in C—d (I don’t want to say the actual city for confidentiality purposes, but in a kids mind it could be any city on the globe).  They stole my Cinderella movie.  That is why we moved to Bowling Green.  People don’t get robbed here, only in Cleveland.

Student 2:  Oh!

There you have it folks, we don’t get robbed in Bowling Green!

~

Again, you might not find these stories humorous, but at the time they were quite funny!

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Tags: | Posted in Work |
April 5th, 2010

The day began with a beautiful sunny morning and the birds chirping.  We woke up, got ready for church, ran a little late (as usual these days), loaded up the car and were on our way for a fun filled day.  After church we returned home to prepare for our Easter dinner with some close friends (and finish cleaning).  I cooked a spiral ham (well really just heated it up) and while we waited for our friends to get here we snapped some pictures in our front yard:

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All smiles on the beautiful day.  Check out my diva sandals and fantastic dress made by Dacia!

2010-04-04 Easter 053Just hanging around with daddy! 

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Family photo

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My baby girl and me

After a quick photo shoot we gave Mikayla her Easter basket. I think she was more impressed with the noises the objects made than she was the actual objects.  Her basket was filled with Puffs, a book, bubbles, rabbit ears (for pictures later this week) and large plastic eggs stuffed with smaller plastic eggs.  Side note – she had actually been playing with the eggs all week.  We are not ashamed to regift!

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 Are you surprised she ended up with a giraffe Easter basket??

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Next on our list of things to do was Easter dinner with some close friends.  After we ate we let the kiddos dye eggs (even MLK "dyed" one) and had an Easter egg hunt in our backyard.

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She wasn’t sure what to think about the eggs, actually she was a little upset I wouldn’t let her eat it!

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Ready, Set, Hunt!

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Our Egg Hunt Boot Camp really paid off, she knew exactly what to do and found a whopping four eggs!

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The kiddos showing off their "loot"! 

After the hunt the men went and played disc golf while the women and kids went and hung out outside and chatted.  We topped the evening off with grilled brats and a fire in our backyard…PERFECT!  I wish everyday could be this relaxing and fun filled!

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Tags: , , | Posted in Life |
April 3rd, 2010

I have decided to start sharing some of the funny things my kiddos at school say.  You may not think they are funny, but I sure do…enjoy!

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When having a discussion about stomach and intestines one student says, "I know where your food goes when it leaves your stomach…your testicles!"

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Student:  "Mrs. Kickert, if you love ______ I can’t love you anymore."

Me: "I am sorry, but I love both of you." (insert a bit of explanation why and how that makes me sad, etc)

Student:  "Well I don’t love you anymore."

Next day…

Student:  "Mrs. Kickert, remember what I told you yesterday."

Me:  "About you not loving me, yeah."

Student:  "I didn’t mean it, I still love you."

 ~

The other day I saw a student picking at her bottom.  When I asked her what was wrong she replied, "Mom made me wear my wedgie pants today".  I didn’t know you could buy wedgie pants these days, but now I do!

 ~

Student:  "Mrs. Kickert, do you have any appetizer?"

Me:  "Appetizer?"

Student:  "You know, hand appetizer?"

Me:  "Oh, hand sanitizer!"

Student:  "Yeah, hand-itizer."

~

Stay tuned for more funnies!

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Tags: | Posted in Work |
April 2nd, 2010

In high school I took a sewing class to fill an easy senior year credit.  At the time I didn’t truly appreciate the skill and craft of sewing, but now my lack of knowledge has created some sewing envy. 

For all you out there that love the look of BabyLegs legwarmers like me, but are not a fan of the high ticket price check this out.  How simple!  If only I knew how to sew…

Then there are these adorable outfits my friend Dacia made for Mikayla.  She made a dress and shirt out of some very fun fabrics.  I am currently working on matching clips, but I am sure they will not even compare to these fun outfits.  Again, if I only knew how to sew…

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Tags: , , , | Posted in Life |
March 30th, 2010

Let’s play a little game of "Guess That Picture".  I will show you a picture and you see if you can figure out what it is.  Got it?  Ok, here we go:

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Have you figured it out yet?  No, well try this picture:

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That’s right ladies and gentlemen, our very first asparagus stalks have started to peek through the ground.  That must mean two of my favorite things are near:  Fresh garden produce from our backyard and the Farmer’s Market!  Can I get a "Hip, Hip, Hooray"?  Not excited?  Well, Mikayla seems to be…

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…or maybe she is just enjoying her time playing out in the fresh air.  Either way, we are both excited!

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This kid was also pretty excited about her unfilled Easter eggs and picking the grass.

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Tags: , | Posted in Life |
March 26th, 2010

We have had several beautiful spring days here lately.  The warm weather and bright sun seem to draw us outside, even if nothing more than to sit on the front porch and let Mikayla crawl around on the ground.  We recently got a bike trailer stroller from some good friends and decided to break it in.  Please ignore the fact that none of us are wearing helmets, it was a quick ride around the block.  It was a great way to spend the sunny afternoon with my family.

2010-03-25 Bike, food, walker 036Mikayla all strapped in and ready to go.  She was so excited!

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 2010-03-25 Bike, food, walker 051Ben pulling Mikayla

  2010-03-25 Bike, food, walker 038 Me pulling Mikayla

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Tags: , | Posted in Life |
March 25th, 2010

As Mikayla gets older, she wants to be more and more independent.  She enjoys playing by herself and wants to walk/crawl everywhere.  She has been feeding herself some finger food for quite some time now and has a tendency to push away the spoon when we try to feed her.  So, I decided to try a little experiment tonight.  I made a bowl of cereal (on the thick side) and let Mikayla go to town.  Besides the mess she made, I would say she did a pretty good job!  Check out Little Miss Independent herself:

Forget the spoon, she goes in with her hands.  Is this a preview to her first birthday??

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Tags: , , | Posted in Parenting |
March 21st, 2010

**I meant to post this yesterday and never did…unfortunately the sun has gone away and now we have some rain.**

I don’t know about you, but here in the Kickert household we have Spring Fever!  The sun is shining, birds are chirping and the air is slowly warming up.

We tilled the garden for the first time.

We broke out our Chacos and disc golf discs.

We took Mikayla swinging, she was a fan.

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Bring on summer vacation for more outside fun!

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March 20th, 2010

This child

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Is WALKING!

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Check her out on Ben’s blog here.

By far the coolest milestone she has met thus far.  I am not sure why it was so exciting, but it was!  In case you can’t tell by the video, Ben and I are more excited than Mikayla about the fact that she is walking.  She still prefers to crawl, but is gaining more confidence each day with her walking.

**FYI – Her diaper is so large because it is a night time diaper.  Daytime diapers are not this "fluffy"!

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Tags: , , | Posted in Parenting |