Guess who is two!?!?!

This is a huge post and full of lots of things!
Jacob was inducted into the Beta Club (National Honor Society). Jayda was out in full force and fashion. Snacks abounded afterwards...and Jay took Jacob's while he was up getting a spoon. hehehe


Jacob is starting to play basketball. Jay checked out his size 12 shoes.
Michael and Jay haul in two nights worth of fish for our family. They caught some beautiful trout! To bake fresh fish: Preheat to 425*. Dry pat the fish, season. Spray pan with no stick spray. Bake 6-12 minutes. Ours ended up being 10 minutes.
In Ocala, we went to a pumpkin patch. Jay had a ball. Peggy and Jay enjoyed watching his capers. He was non stop...from one place to another!











I came home on Thursday the 29th to find this lovely carved pumpkin. Mike said he did it while Jay napped. I said WHAT???? Wouldn't it have been a better experience if Jay was involved. Mike thought it would be such a mess if he had his hand in the mix. I laughed. But, I think it is the sweetest thing that he made it.
Later that evening, Jay celebrated his 2nd birthday!










Jay loved his cake.

We had his 2 year portraits taken in his Halloween costume. They thought it cute to put him in every background the travelocity gnome was in. I was a bit irritated, the photographer was not very good.





The beach?? WTH?

Anyway, it has been such a busy couple of weeks!

Jay is now two. He is 37 inches tall and 32 pounds. He is doing very well. He has begun to talk in short sentences.
"Mama, its dark outside."
"I want some candy."
Oh yeah, he is a stinking candy and cookie hog. SERIOUS! But he loves his food so I guess it is ok to have a little now and then.

Jacob has scored all A's on his report card and Jayda had a couple of B's and the rest A's. I am proud of both of them!
I will hopefully have halloween photos very soon. I haven't even downloaded them from my calendar from this past weekend!

Central Florida Zoo

How about this weather??? I am loving it!

Friday Jayda had the mall lock in for girl scouts. We are still trying to decide what the point of "lock ins" are. She stays up all night and she is pretty much a mess the next day! Oh well...let the fun continue.

Saturday morning I scrubbed the floors and cleaned. Then, I went and got groceries with Jacob. Jayda's friend came over and spent the day and night with us. We went to sign Jacob up for basketball. Then off to the grand opening of the library. I was MOST impressed with the library and how stunning the whole thing is! The most exciting thing is that it is 5 min from our house....and story time is on Tuesdays at 10:30 am ! YAY!!! Daddy can take Jay every week! Then home for a bit. Friday I wore shoes my mother gave me only to come home with the worst blisters I have had in my life! I was determined to find new shoes...and so off I went with the girls to look. After the third store, they were out of control and that was over!

We played outside last evening and again first thing this morning!

The weather is amazing! The children went with their father this afternoon and we were determined to get out and enjoy the day! We decided to go to the zoo with Jay. Upon further study, it was zoo boo. The children dress up and they have 8 booths set up for the children to get treats. I liked it because it was candy and prizes...that Jay just loved! We have a gnome costume for him, but decided with the weather and the place...he needed to dress up like Tigger.







Michael always makes me laugh...

These two turtles are in their early 60s!

Yes, it is true we have a leash for our son! He loves it...except when we wouldn't let him go to the water...it was only 70 degrees today with a bitter wind.









It was such a wonderful end to the zoo...a hayride and then a train ride. The train ride was so awesome until this.....


No that's not Mike trying to rescue the train. Some oddball parent who thought he was strong enough...LOL...he wasn't!

Yes, it is true, I was the caboose...yes it is true the train went off its tracks...but he said it happened earlier too...so it wasn't just me. Some other mom with a big butt had the same thing happen to her...hahahaha! Mike had to photograph the ticked off people as he walked by...

What an awesome time at the zoo! Afterwards, we went and had lunch at chili's. Then some more shoe shopping. I got two cute pairs...we will see what happens.
Here is one of them.

The other is a pair of brown shoes. Not in love with them like the pink...but they will suffice. Now in search of black shoes.

Our weekend!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I have recouperated from my illness and had a runny nose and sore throat in the meantime. hahahaha
I have been super busy over at my school blog, creative blog, and now I am starting our class Flat Stanley Blog!
Rachel, if I send you a flat stanley to your class...will you entertain my class by having your students write back to us??? Send me your school address! EMAIL ME if anyone is interested! Cousin Amy...would your class like a flat stanley from me??? Check out www.mrscartersflatstanley.blogspot.com for more details!

We spent the weekend in Ocala! It was a wonderfully fun weekend for us as a family!
I took my three children to see the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Jay fell asleep after the first 15 minutes. It was a fun movie and full of imagination and creativity! The children swam and played at Mike's parents house. My husband went fishing in the Gulf with his dad. I relaxed and enjoyed the time I had to spend with my family! Except that awful work I had to do for 4 hours on Saturday for my ESOL certification and 60 in-service points to re-certify in June of 2010! On Sunday, I wrote out a scavenger hunt of things to find in Ocala and off we went to find them.
Scavenger Hunt List:
-4 unreal horses (Ocala is known for horses! They have large horse statues painted in different themes all across Ocala.)
-1 real horse
-white fence
-1 fall leaf
-cows
-a stick that looks like a fork
-a parking meter
-shampoo
-toothpaste
-deodorant for Jacob
-Toys for Jay(His 2nd birthday is October 29th and I wanted some sort of an idea what he would want. He picked out his favorite~and didn't want to leave it behind. He cried and threw a mini fit. I told him, you don't always get what you want and you have to wait until your birthday.)

Yes, it is true. We headed to Ocala's town square and found several of the things on our list. I added the end things because I had to also go to the store!

Don't be afraid to try this sometime with your own children. They loved the whole process of a scavenger hunt! (And they didn't mind the errand I threw in there!) Plus, they got to explore a little of the town we visit often!




Mmmmm....Dandelions...delicious!

Z Pack...

...doesn't that sound like space shuttle talk?
Speaking of, it is due to land back in Florida tomorrow evening. It is always an exciting, albeit, startling experience when you hear the boom.

I digress.

I went to the dr. today, makings of pneumonia and definitely laryngitis. My lungs hurt so badly. I want to cry when I cough. I am going to take excedrin to ease the pain! I have lead a sheltered life the last two years. Boohoo, poor me.

Pity parties welcomed!

Hey ~ head over to my class blog if you want to see what we did today!

Sorry I can not add more here, I am beat and need to get to bed!

Again, all pity parties will be collected and celebrated in the order they arrived!

Labor Day Weekend!

Spent Labor Day weekend in Ocala. The plans were for Mike to go fishing. After all, all week long he is Mr. Mom. The weekend was for him to enjoy. Unfortunately, Jay had to do some work on his roof and Mike helped. Then the next day, 40% chance of rain. So Monday it would be for fishing. NOT!!! Sunday evening, I went to bed at 5:30 ish and woke up at 5:15 am and a terrible ache/ripping/coughing of the lungs. I feel like I have pneumonia. This had Mike at home and not fishing. But there was some good that came out of it!
Jay went for some rides on the tractor...he even steered. Doesn't watch where he is going though!
Saturday, I took Toddler Jay, Jayda, Jake, and Peggy on an excursion! We ended up going to this neat leather/moccasin shop for coupons to local restaurants....I of course felt guilty just taking coupons so I looked around....and found these awesome purses and had to have them!
They were marked down from 42.00 to 15.00 a piece. Handmade, all leather out of Florence Alabama! Handbags by TJ. A USA company that is now out of business! How sad for them...if I had only found these purses sooner, they would NOT have gone out of business!!!!
Then on to CiCi's pizza to take the children somewhere fun! With my first paycheck, I had to take them to do something they would enjoy! LOVED the macaroni and cheese pizza. You'll have to try that sometime!!!
Heading back a couple of weeks, because I have been a bad blogger....
It is Michael's 43rd Birthday...although he got creative with the candles!
1st bad birthday song Mike must endure!

Jay and Mike had a chance to fish on Mike's birthday weekend.
Upon arriving home, Mike has to endure yet another really bad birthday song!


Day one of school for my oldest babies. Jacob starting 7th grade and Jayda starting 5th grade. This was taken at 6:30 am before I had to leave for work...boohoo!

Whirlwind week...

All day yesterday, I thought it was Thursday. Some may say it was confusion...I say it was WISHFUL THINKING!!!!!!!!!! That would have made today Friday. I have not been this tired in so long...although today was easier to get up that yesterday was....
Maybe it is because I think today is Friday!
HA!
Let me know what you think?!

On a side note. I love garden gnomes. So, if you see any, I want one or two. You know like your neighbor has in their yard? Oh, I am not condoning stealing one of theirs though. Although in this new era of "fairness" perhaps they should just give it to you to give to me. After all, they should not have something better than I do...even if they worked hard to shop for it and lovingly place it in their own yard! I bet they are on sale now or will be after labor day weekend. So maybe I will look for one at the garden center. After all, I will be getting my first paycheck in over 2 years! WOOHOO! Look at that.....amazing when you go to work what happens. You make your own money and get to buy your own things.

PS: I know Michael, it's for bills. But, a girl can dream can't she???

Ok, it is 6:22 am I need to get in the car and get on my way to work!
Ta-ta!

I survived Open House...

...in fact it went extremely well. Teaching is my gift and I am top notch when it comes to teachers!
I work hard at what I do, but much of it comes naturally. So enough of my bragging...here let me show you a darling note I received from a parent this morning by email. All names have been changed to protect their innocence!!!!!

Hi Mrs. Magillacutty!

I just wanted to thank you for the great open house and to let you know how much Vincent is enjoying first grade so far. He came home today and told me that you’d taught him how to differentiate his “b’s” from his “d’s” -- “The ‘d’ has a big behind and the ‘b’ has a big belly.” And then he told me he likes to draw a dot inside his b’s sometimes for a belly button. Ha! (He also told me last week when I asked about a question he’d gotten incorrect that he’d tried to do the worksheet with his eyes closed — something I strongly discouraged him from trying again ;-)

I also wanted you to know that I really regret not being able to Dividend — I did last year when I was pregnant with baby #4 but now that she’s here and I’m back to work I just can’t swing it. Maybe by the time baby #4 starts 1st grade I’ll be able to pick it back up again!!

Thanks for everything you do and hope you have a great rest of the week,
Mama of 4

Okay, so maybe it WASN'T my finest hour as a teacher...BUT THAT CRACKED ME UP!!!!