What Noel has been up to:

Noel wanted to have a party to celebrate her coming to Ellie's house.

Noel wanted to take a ride to school with us.

We found Noel watching a movie one morning.

Noel just wanted to help Ellie get ready for school.

Noel hid way up in the top part of the tree.

Instead of poker night, it was "Go Fish" night.

Noel decided to take a nap in Ellie's bed while we were gone one day.

Noel wanted to go on a horse ride, but no horses were available. So Scar had to do.

Noel the Elf from the North Pole- day 2 and 3

Today Noel reminded us that she is from the North Pole (specifically) Santa's Workshop.

Noel wanted to practice writing her letters! She found Ellie's note pad and I think she did a great job!

Noel the Elf from the North Pole

We got quite a surprise last night!!! Santa came early to visit us!!

He told us a story of how Ellie and Grandby went to see all the lights in Cullman and had lots of fun. But at the end of the drive, Santa was waiting for her, but she wouldn't go see him. He said he was so sad! He doesn't want any kid to be scared of him. He just wanted to know what she wanted for Christmas. So he decided that since she (Ellie) might be a little scared of him, and he really needed to know what she wanted for Christmas, that he would just send an Elf to stay with us until Christmas morning. This is when he decide to give us Noel. Noel is a beautiful little girl Elf that Santa thought would fit perfect in our family since she is a little bit like Ellie (precious yet sneaky). He also wrote Ellie a little note letting her know that Noel was there to watch her. But before he left our house, he told us to be careful in the mornings. Noel was known to do some silly things over night.

Here is our little surprise:

Elf

Santa's little helper... Elf on the Shelf... has arrived at our house! I can't wait for Thanksgiving to be over with so that we can start Christmas! I think I'm more excited this year than ever. Actually it's cause of this Elf on the Shelf. I'm so excited to create something new every night. Ellie is getting into Christmas too so she will love it!!

You will all have to stay tune for daily (hopefully) Elf on the Shelf updates.

Oh what do to...

So I have been stressing myself out over where Ellie needs to go to school! I thought when I got the job at New Hope that it was set and was perfect. Ellie would go to school with me and be in the same building as me. Great! Wonderful!

But now I am at Scottsboro High school. If I take Ellie with me, she will have to wait one more year because SCS doesn't have pre-k. She would also be in a different school from me and would get out of school about 30 minutes before me too. Soooo....

I don't know what I want/ need to do!! I don't want to drop Ellie off at NHES everyday and then have to put her extended daycare until someone can get her. If she was with me, I could get her but then she would have to stay with me throughout practice because who is going to come all the way out there to pick Ellie up? I could try to quit coaching but then I probably wouldn't have 4th block planning and then I couldn't get Ellie picked up on time. I don't know if she could ride the bus over to the HS and get off there or not. I guess it might be an option. But again. I am so torn over this! I really don't know what to do!!

Any suggestions!?!?

Terrible Three's

I go to pick Ellie up today and Mrs. Debbie (the daycare director) opens the door for me and says "Hey, I've been meaning to talk to you." I instantly thought she was going to ask me about my new teaching job, etc... but no. She proceeded to tell me that Ellie was not behaving the way she needed to be. She would make faces at Ms. Amanda (her teacher) when Amanda would tell her to do something. She wouldn't stay in her seat and do her work. She won't go to sleep at nap time without one of the teachers sitting with her to get her to calm down and stay still. She has been in time out a lot lately because of all of this.

I was in tears from embarrassment when she was telling me this!!! I wanted to jerk Ellie up and spank her!

I walked outside to get Ellie and Amanda walked passed me. I apologized over and over again! She assured me that Ellie was great today and must have just been testing her last week (it was Ellie's first week of "school"). I apologized again and told her to please let me know if she acts up again.

So... I get Ellie to the car and the whole way home we talked about all the bad things that she has been doing and how those bad things cause her to lose privileges. I told her that if she acted like that for Ms. Abby (her dance teacher) then she would not ever go to dance again. Ellie did not like that comment. She told me, "Mommy, I won't do bad things again. I'll be nice."

It really does break my heart that she will not listen and do what she is suppose to do! I'm a teacher so you would think that she would be the best student ever!! I know I want her to be that way. Josh and I are doing everything we can think of to make her behave. We spank, we put her in time out, we take things away, we won't let her do things, we reward good behavior... nothing is working. I am having a really hard time with all of this tonight. It's just really upsetting.

I have to keep reminding myself that she is just 3. Three year olds have a hard time sitting still and listening. But I also have to tell myself that she will be in school in a few years and she has to be able to do all that. Not sure what to do, but I am open for suggestions.

School Again?

Well it is that time of year. School is back in session. This year I will be starting in a new school. I will be teaching at Scottsboro High School teaching Physical Science. I am a little scared about it because it is such a big school!! But hopefully everyone will be very nice and accepting. My friends from NHS will be greatly missed! I loved each one of them and they understood my humor. LOL. We got along great, so I hope that these new teachers will be the same way. At least I am back with an old friend, Cindy. We coached together at WHS and probably will be doing the same thing here. I guess I always have her to hang out with. If only she was at the same school...