Hope

Regardless of your beliefs or political views today is a historic day for all of us. There have been several times throughout the day that I have been moved, chilled and filled with a great hope for the future. I'll be the first to admit that politics is not something I'm super passionate about nor do I always know all of the facts. However, this election process was very different for me. I started to take a greater interest, got involved in thought provoking conversations and even got excited about the possibilities.
Today was one of those shining moments I was thankful to be a part of young people's lives on a daily basis. Once again I was blessed to be with the same group of students during the inauguration as I was on September 11th. We had a discussion about what this day means as well as tying it to our previous unit - The Watsons go to Birmingham and Civil Rights. They made great connections between a fictional text, segregation of the past, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech and the giant leap we have made today as a nation. The discussion was rich, authentic and, most importantly, heartfelt. After the discussion we turned on CNN and watched as Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of our country. As the crowd in DC was asked to stand so did all of my students in my classroom without any prompting by me. They watched totally engaged and afterwards clapped and cheered with such enthusiasm. I was filled with chills and tears and pride for this group of students who truly get it. They have the ability to see beyond all of the politics and somehow know what this day truly means. Afterwards a student asked, "I wonder what Daniel Watson would say if he were here today?" What great connections they made!
The events of today fill me with a great optimism for our future not just for me, but for my students and my precious A. What a great day!

Staying Warm

On a cold day and night like today the Hanson boys stay warm with a fire, sweatshirts, lots of blankets and some cartoons on tv. We had a great day off from school and daycare, but it got even better - as always - when daddy came home from work!

Back on course?

Hopefully!
Monday morning I got a call that Anthony was throwing up at daycare. I quickly got everything prepared for a sub and spent the rest of the day taking care of him. Thankfully he only puked once when we got home, which was all over me and the floor. For the most part we had a low-key, mellow day of reading books, watching Cars/Monsters/cartoons and cuddling. Later on that evening I started feeling sick too. What a joy it was to be puking and having my two year old cry each time for mommy. Ugh. On top of everything, it took Mark almost four hours to get home that night. Needless to say, when he finally walked through the door I was in tears -- tears of happiness and oh-my-god-I-think-I'm-dying.
Yesterday all three of us stayed home. Luckily, Anthony was feeling much better; however, I wasn't. I'm so thankful Mark took the day off because I don't know how I would have managed with just the two of us.
I finally kicked whatever bug I had late last night and am feeling much better this morning.
However, Anthony has been up five times throughout the night crying "owie" and "hurt". I'm hoping we'll be able to get through the day and that we are truly back on course.
My fingers are crossed...
(Hopefully this super kick-your-butt bug doesn't come visit you. YUCK!)

Nick's First Birthday

Rockin' the party hat!

Lovin' the cupcake!

Crusin' with his balloon!

Cute, cute, cute!

On Saturday we traveled to Farmington to celebrate Nick's FIRST birthday! (How is that possible???) It was a great day of friends, fun and even a game of Scrabble with Erin and Emily! Yahoo! (It's been awhile.) The best part was spending time with my "oldest" friend and her two kids. It's amazing to see the differences between CJ and Nick and take time just to be with them.
It was fun to hang out at the Lefebvre's house and spend the whole day with them. Our wish would be to be able to see them more often. Luckily, we always have the months of January, May and August to get together for the kids' birthdays. Hopefully this year we'll be able to find other times to get together too.
Happy birthday, Nick!
We love you!

It's coming along...

It has taken some time in getting everything done with my parent's house, but it definitely is starting to come along. I really appreciate all that my sister and brother-in-law have done to help out mom and dad as well as their constant posting of pictures to keep me update and in the loop too. In case you haven't stopped by Team Tuttle lately here's a link to see the progress.
I'm looking forward to taking a trip up there next weekend to see everything and help out a bit too.

Mom's Little Helper

This weekend there was even more laundry than usual to do. Lucky for me I had a great helper. Friday night as I was starting the process Anthony went upstairs and got his wagon. I thought he was just playing, but he surprised me by helping out. He made many trips hauling clothes, which was super helpful and cute. A definitely makes the chore of weekend laundry way more fun!

Thank you, Elmo! Part Two...

Potty update: I'm glad I didn't get my hopes up too high because nothing has happened in the last week. No going potty, no celebratory dancing or picking out a cool sticker for the potty chart. He's not even remotely interested in it. The closest he gets is telling Mark and I that his diaper is wet or dirty and asks us to change it.
All of this is completely normal, right?
I'm looking forward to the day when I can really thank Elmo...