Sunday, January 29, 2012

Project 365 ~ Week 4

A picture a day for 365 days...a year's worth of fun!

Sunday ~ 22/365
Sunday January 22, 2012

Brendan's hiding place during a game of indoor hide-n-seek!

Can you find him?!


Monday~23/365
Monday January 23, 2012


Brendan made his pillow pet into his newest friend "Dallas"


Tuesday~24/365


Tuesday January 24, 2012


Tuesday was the 100th day of school (only 80 more school wake ups left, but who's counting?! Oh that's right...ME!) and one of the activities we did as a class was a food drive. Our goal was to donate 100 cans of food to our local foodbank. We met our goal by collecting 103 cans, but before donating them we used them to make groups of 10 and 5 and learn and practice place value!




Lots of fun activities learning about the number 100...100 dots, 100 fruit loops, drawings of what we will look like at 100 years old, 100 I Spy collage, 100 counting bags, 100 count snack bags to sort, count and enjoy...I heart the 100th day of school!




Tuesday night was our school's PTA spirit night at a local restaurant, which also happens to be our family's fav pizza joint! We saw lots of teachers and friends from school and of course our principal was there as well. Here she is posing with the boys and some of their friends.





Wednesday~25/365
Wednesday January 25, 2012 When I need a few minutes to transition into another lesson or activity, white boards are a God send. I can have them practice writing their sight words, sentences, cvc words...of course this all comes with the promise of a free draw (if they work quietly) for the last few minutes!


Wednesday night is ZUMBA night...I heart zumba! I go with another teacher and another coach's wife. SO.MUCH.FUN.


Thursday~26/365
Thursday January 26, 2012


Yesterday (Wed.) my dad had major surgery...full knee replacement surgery to be exact. He now has a bionic left knee with the right one to be fully replaced this summer. We went to visit him in the hospital today and he was doing great. He had already had a few rounds of PT by the time was got there and was scheduled for his 3rd round that night and had walked twice. This gadget is amazing. It doesn't hold his weight totally but gives him the confidence that if he does fall it will catch him. When we were there he walked 243 ft. (yep...they count the feet every time to keep track)



Here he is walking towards Brendan...he did so great! He is supposed to come home this weekend.



The boys posing with their gimpy grandpa!



Friday~27/365
Friday January 27, 2012This is how we all feel on Friday nights...LITERALLY!







Saturday~28/365

Saturday January 28, 2012

Basketball Week #3


Above...Colin at the free throw line (which he missed by the way...aaiiirrrBALLLL)


Below...Brendan sending the ball back into play



This game started off very sllluuuggggish, and was quite boring the first half. The 2nd half things picked up a bit. The boys' team was up the entire game and pulled out a win 33-18 making their season 2-0-1 thus far.


Great Game Scorpions!!





Join in with Sara...It's not to late to join the fun!
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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Project 365 ~ Week 3

A picture a day for 365 days...a year's worth of fun!

Sunday ~ 15/365
Sunday January 15, 2012




sooooo....my new favoritest addiction...PINTEREST...can I just say...OH.MY.GOODNESS...it's everything I didn't know I needed to know...recipes, projects, school stuff...anything and everything!




Well I found it this weekend and that is where I was ALL weekend!!


I couldn't stop myself...I tried to stop...honestly...I DID...but it just kept sucking me back in!




With an extra day off for MLKjr Day I had to try out some new recipes...3 to be exact! Sunday morning I made a breakfast ring...it was yummy but would have been even yummier if I would have had the bacon that was called for...next time!






Recipe #2....crescent s'mores...oh my yumminess...the boys LOVED these!




Recipe #3 I tried on Monday afternoon...did I mention how much I am loving my new addiction?!!






Monday~16/365
Monday January 16, 2012



Monday morning found Brendan and me at the dr. He has been complaining for a while now that his feet have been hurting me. I know I should have taken him, oh I don't know, a year ago when they started hurting, but I am the kind of mom who is like...you're ok, walk it off!! And I was RIGHT!! $25 later the dr confirmed my guess all along...growing pains. Sadly Brendan has to play and live with the pain or stop playing...I am sure you can guess what his answer to that was! He is just too pointy, big, gangily, and gawky for his own good...but he should grow into it soon!










Recipe #3 brought out my much loved red mixer for Krispy Kreme Donut Muffins. So very easy to make. Although I was a bit disappointed that they actually were not indeed Krispy Kreme donuts they were still pretty yummy...right down to the glaze!




These bad boys were taking into school on Tuesday...I didn't lose all that weight for nothing!!



Tuesday~17/365


Tuesday January 17, 2012 Tuesday brings us back to school after a lovely 3 day weekend. We are learning about weather in science and literacy, so today we ventured outside to read the story 'What Will the Weather be Like Today?'. After reading the story we brainstormed what our weather was like and then the class was able to draw and write about it in our school's courtyard.


Wednesday~18/365
Wednesday January 18, 2012


I have been really good at making dinner every night since the new year. I even made it tonight...but something just wasn't right about it. Didn't taste good, I think it was the sauce (I made beef enchiladas) so we ended up ordering pizza. I went to pick it up, but it was sent out on delivery by mistake (which we NEVER do) and because we never have it delivered it was sent to the wrong address (our old address) and an hour later this is how we received it. Oh yea, we have a credit for the next time we want pizza!





Thursday~19/365
Thursday January 19, 2012



Look what I received in the mail today...I heart the mailman! It was my MIL old phone, which she gave to me since she got the iPhone4. I am a little excited as I have a dinosaur phone. Now to just find the time to get to Verizon and have the number changed.






Friday~20/365
Friday January 20, 2012 Not gonna lie when I say I totally forgot to take a picture for my post on Friday so when I was down loading pictures the only ones I had were from my classroom. I decided to do some 'FUN' literacy centers today...yep I said the 'F' word...FUN! They had so much fun trying out some new (to them) games and were learning all the way!!








Saturday~21/365


Saturday January 21, 2012



Basketball season week #2



I must say that I am LOVING that the boys are on the same team this season...so much easier! They were up against a tough team this week and it quickly turned very aggressive. The boys powered on and the game ended in a tie...22-22.





Join in with Sara...It's not to late to join the fun!
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Monday, January 16, 2012

Project 365

A picture a day for 365 days...a year's worth of fun!

Sunday ~ 8/365
Sunday January 8, 2012


Early Sunday morning Gramma headed back to Michigan and reality began to set in that today was our LAST day of Christmas Vacation...nnnoooo...say it ain't so! With that being the case, the house was cleaned, laundry was done, and grocery shopping was did!! I always go through ad papers and price match at Wal-Mart...so that is what I did! With price matching and coupons I am able to save a little bit in our grocery budget which seems to get bigger and bigger with 2 growing boys in the house...they are eating me out of house and home!!









Monday~9/365
Monday January 9, 2012



Monday night is our basketball practice night...are they really old enough to do shirts vs skins??!! Where oh where have my babies gone....sigh.





Tuesday~10/365



Tuesday January 10, 2012



The moon as I was driving home tonight...so big and beautiful up in the sky.





Wednesday~11/365
Wednesday January 11, 2012


Came home for a quick minute before heading back to school for the PTSA meeting (yes, I am on that too!) and captured this picture of a dad & son moment. They were wrestling around on the couch and the minute I got my camera out Brendan tried to hide...I love how he is peeking around Ryan. Can't believe he is gonna be 12 in 2 months!






Thursday~12/365
Thursday January 12, 2012



So we are back into the swing of things with school and life. We are HALF way through our school year...yep...you heard me right...we have 90 school days left until summer vacation...but who's counting?!






No slowing down now...lots of whole group learning going on in my kinder class...all about weather, temperature, bears, fiction vs. non-fiction. For what ever reason they LOVE using post-its notes, so I have been doing a lot of charts lately where they can write/draw things and categorize their answer...yep...lots of learning going on!










Friday~13/365
Friday January 13, 2012



Today was Quarter 2 Awards Celebration at school. Brendan received Principal's Honor Roll for straight As and Colin received Honor Roll for As & Bs (bummer no pic of him!)


GREAT JOB BOYS!!









We left school early today and headed to PCH for Colin's check up with Dr. B. His results came back normal...Thank You Jesus...and he is doing just fine. Dr. B said he is naturally weening himself off of his meds since he has been gaining weight with no up in his meds. Because of the great results no need to see him again for a year unless we see a seizure (which we haven't seen in a year!).






Saturday~14/365


Saturday January 14, 2012


Saturday was the start of Basketball season in the McCraken House...thankfully the boys are on the same team, which makes Saturdays so much easier for me! They are on the Scorpions. Real jerseys this year as the PHX Suns are sponsoring our rec dept basketball this season. We are Jr. Suns.








They dominated on the court beating their opponents by more than 20 points (after one team is up by 20 they stop putting points on the board). We think the Scorpions scored at least 60 points but the final score read us winning 33-13. Both Brendan & Colin scored and played a very good game!






Join in with Sara...It's not to late to join the fun!
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Monday, January 9, 2012

Project 365 ~ Happy New Year!

A picture a day for 365 days...a year's worth of fun!

Sunday ~ 1/365
Sunday January 1, 2012

We headed to Grandma & Grandpa's house this morning for a yummy New Year's breakfast...Belgian Waffles!






Monday~2/365
Monday January 2, 2012


What a YUMMY way to start off 2012...We scream for Ice Cream!! Gotta love 70* days in January!!




Tonight brought us to the first basketball practice of the season...and here we go!


Tuesday~3/365


Tuesday January 3, 2012


Tuesday was a S.U.P.E.R. lazy day...we cleaned up around the house to get ready for Gramma's visit and just hung around in our jammies all day! Colin wasn't feeling so hot either so he camped out on the couch sleeping, resting, watching TV and reading!



Tuesday night brought us to SUGAR BOWL time...Michigan Wolverines vs. Virginia Tech Hokies. I snapped this pic of the coin flip on TV because my FIL was on the field representing UM; he was just inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame last month in New York. The Wolverines beat the Hokies in an OT win...GO BLUE!!



Wednesday~4/365
Wednesday January 4, 2012

Wednesday afternoon we met long lost friends at the bowling alley for some friendly games on the lanes! All of the boys played football for the same team once upon a time, until we all went our own ways...one moved out of state, one moved up in the division and my boys stayed down a level. It was a fun afternoon filled with lots of laughter and catching up!

Thursday~5/365
Thursday January 5, 2012



Thursday we went to the Wildlife Zoo & Aquarium with Gramma; who is visiting from Michigan. It was a beautiful day to visit with the animals! Above they are watching some Monkeys monkey around!



Colin feeding the giraffes at the giraffe house! (this is my fav part of the zoo!)


After walking around we went to lunch...the boys posing with Gramma after a yummy meal at the aquarium.



Friday~6/365
Friday January 6, 2012


Colin's yearly EEG was Friday morning at Phoenix Children's Hospital. He had to be sleep deprived meaning he, well WE, were up until midnight the night before and up at 4am before his appointment. We had to be at the hospital by 7:30am for his 8am test. (we find out his results next Friday when we meet with his neurologist). The rest of the day we chilled out with gramma; until it was time for basketball practice and then pizza for dinner!





Saturday~7/365

Saturday January 7, 2012

Saturday was our final day with Gramma so we headed out to lunch then to play some BINGO to support the American Cancer Society.



After lunch & BINGO we came home to hang out and have some family time chilling out playing Quelf, watching TV (football of course!), laughing and playing...trying to squeeze out every last minute of fun with Gramma before she heads back to Michigan in the morning.




Join in with Sara...It's not to late to join the fun!
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