Update!

::This year has been hard. I've felt more than once that I haven't been adequate for my job. (I'm not writing this for everyone to tell me that I am. I'm just being honest.) The kids are hard and I don't feel like I'm doing enough. I'm throwing everything I've got and it just. isn't. enough.

::My principal is leaving our school. And I cried. Yes, I realize that makes me a big baby, but I couldn't help it. My principal taught in a unit before he was ever a principal so I have always felt like he kind of gets it. He was extremely supportive and ridiculously caring. A good, good principal. We have had a number of conversations in the past few weeks that have reassured me that I'm doing a good job even though it's been a hard year. I appreciate the care and concern he has shown. I'm thankful that he said he knows that I've got something special doing what I'm doing and that I am making a difference even if I don't see it. I'm nervous for what's to come next. I'm not anticipating anything bad, I just know what it's like to have one of the really good ones.

I'm so mad at him for leaving.

There was no choice but to dunk him.

::I have decided that I need to get my Master's degree. Brent and I talked about it and we think it's a good idea. I'm hoping to start Summer 2015, so it is still a little ways off. I know that it's not practical for me to start it when we are in the midst of building our house and I don't think we will be done in time for me to start in the winter. So summer it is. I still haven't decided where I'll attend or what I'll do so I'm open to suggestions. I've been thinking about a Masters of Ed, Masters of Special Ed, something to do with Special Ed behavior, Social Work, and recently even maybe an administrative degree. I don't think I want to do anything besides what I'm doing, but I miss learning and growing.

::Claire is growing up so fast! She knows how to count and loves counting things. She will take the P magnet that we have and say "P" then flip it upside down and say "b" then flip it back and say "P" over and over. She is sooo proud of herself. She does the same thing with the L / 7 magnet too. It's darling. She loves to be outside and often requests "Shoes. Outside. Park!"  She talks all of the time and is quite funny. When she says something funny where Brent and I laugh, she does it multiple times and expects us to laugh each time. She is such a sweetie. She has the sweetest smile and the best laugh. Sometimes she gets laughing out of her nose and I die of cuteness overload. She is the best. I am so grateful for her.

::Brent is fabulous. He is busy all day long with Claire and is such a sweet Daddy. Claire absolutely adores him (so do I!!) and loves spending her days with Daddy. Brent still works 2-3 nights a week at the theater. He is excited to quit so he can start working on our house. I admit, I'm excited for him to do both of those things as well.

We are in trouble.

Claire danced with this sweet boy at a wedding we went to tonight. She looked like she was in heaven. She was just loving the dancing and she was looking up batting her little eyes. Oh boy. I don't want to even think about what my life will be like in a few years... Cross your fingers for me please?

Five for Friday...plus one

I keep postponing blog posts because I don't want to catch up on the busyness and wonderful-ness of our lives. We are having so much fun that it's daunting to try to catch up on it all. So instead, here it is. A 5 for Friday type of catch up. Yay! We have had many more adventures than just these, but some is better than none. right? Right?!

1. All of those holidays at the end of last year were fabulous. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas...all wonderful. Holidays with Claire are way more fun than they were without her.

For Halloween Claire was a sweet (ha, get it?) strawberry. She came to Amelia for the school parade and we went to the ward trunk or treat that night. She had a ball saying "please" and getting candy in return.

my sweetie Strawberry, Halloween 2013

For Christmas, we got to have our very first Christmas at home! We stayed in Provo for Christmas day and flew to Washington to visit on our anniversary. It was truly wonderful to have the holidays with just us. We started new traditions (pigs in a blanket for Christmas Eve and pjs for Claire!) and had a nice relaxing holiday. It was nice to be able to go see family for a little while after Christmas though.

Christmas morning 2013

Claire's Christmas dress 2013

2. Claire had a birthday! She turned two years old. I can't even believe all she does at 2. That will have to be it's very own post, but know that she is 2 and happy and perfect.

This beautiful thing is two  .  2  .  TWO!

2nd birthday!

3. For Spring Break, my parents came for the first weekend and we had a great time. Dad helped Brent make Claire's crib into a big girl bed and she is sleeping so well in it! She loves being able to climb in and out. It was a sad/happy day for this mama.

Claire's first night in her big girl bed with the blanket I made for her!

We also went to Vegas! We just stayed for 1 night but that was plenty for us. It was quite the experience and Claire was saying "big ________" for everything she saw. There were so many people! I'm glad we went and got away. It was SO nice to have a little bit of family time away from our busy lives.

We got to meet Bear in Vegas! He was chilling at the Coke store where we tried Coke from around the world.

4. Easter was a success! Nice and quiet here at home. Claire had a good time finding eggs, she looked SO darling in her dress, and she learned about Jesus. Yay for holidays!

Happy Easter 2014

Easter 2014

5. Claire has been obsessed with the "temple song" (I Love to See the Temple) lately and requests that we sing it often. A couple of tender stories for me to remember :

Claire woke up the other morning screaming. Well, she actually wasn't awake. But she was screaming. I think she was having a nightmare but she just wouldn't wake up. I talked to her, sat her up, and turned on the lights but she was out and screaming. As soon as I started singing the "temple song" to her she stopped crying, woke up, and just listened. It was amazing!

Last night, Claire woke up in the middle of the night and there was barf everywhere. (Poor thing!!) When she got in the bath, I sat and asked if we should sing a song. She said "uh huh. Temple song." so we listened to the temple song over and over.

I'm glad that Claire already loves the temple.

We stopped to walk around the St George temple on our way to Vegas. I think this is what started Claire's love of Temple Song. What a lovely place!

6. We are buying a house! Well, I guess we are Brent is building a house?! We are part of a program called Self-Help homes and we have to put in 35 hours a week on our house until it is complete. We are part of a group of 10 families and we all build each others homes. We will be getting a beautiful home for a lovely price. We are SO excited for this opportunity. I'm crossing my fingers I don't grow impatient. :)

Our future home will be built right here! It is a gorgeous place! We will have a brand new park in our back yard and our neighbors all seem like lovely people. Bring on this new adventure.

Teaching and KSL

I adore teaching. I love spending my days with such charming little people who are such examples of sweetness. Yes, teaching is hard. It uses everything I've got and on some days it uses even more than I thought I had. But, I love it. I love so many things about it : seeing the lightbulb turn on, seeing smiles every morning, getting hugs and high fives all throughout the day, when kids are sincere in the kind things they say, when students make friends and use skills they have learned to be nice and interact, when we have a successful day with no fights or very limited fights (ha!), when a face lights up because I have told someone they are the smartest kid in the world, when I choose favorites and the favorite keeps changing all throughout the day and the kids know that they are each my favorite and I love them all, I even love when someone has a melt down and throws chairs or swear words around because I love the teaching and learning that comes from that situation and I love the growth I see the students make every.single.day.

Even with all of that love, teaching is just plain hard. There are days that definitely beat me. There are more days where I come home exhausted from a long days work. There are days (all of them) where I miss Claire and her sweet little self fiercely. There are days that are emotionally challenging and I cry because of things that happen. But I still love it.

Sometimes in teaching, there are even things that happen that make you cry because of the kind words that others have said about you. I had one of those moments about a month ago. I heard from a teacher at my school that I was announced as KSL's teacher feature. I had no idea what she was talking about or what it even meant. I had to google it. Apparently, teachers in Utah state are nominated for this award and chosen from a number of people to receive it. I had no idea who had nominated me for such an award and was touched to read the nomination letter when it was put up online. I want to remember this for when I have one of those hard teaching moments. People are kind. Teaching is great. I'm grateful I get to spend my days teaching. 

"I met Carolyn Hirz a few years ago when she joined our Special Education team as a teacher for children with behavior disorders at Amelia Earhart Elementary. During the years that I have known her, I have been continually impressed with her amazing ability to work with children who have problems managing their own behavior. Students who cannot succeed in their neighborhood schools are placed in Carolyn's classroom. These children have displayed a variety of behavior concerns—from refusing to comply and do the work needed to learn to more significant acts of verbal and physical aggression.

Carolyn faces each new challenge with the determination to make a difference in the child's life. And she does! Through consistency, humor and a genuine love, she is able to teach the students how to manage their own behavior. Many of her students have returned to their neighborhood schools with the skills they need to be successful.

One example of this is a young boy who threw a computer into the smart board at his school. He came to Carolyn's class full of anger and ready to hurt anyone who tried to work with him. Carolyn was patient, kind and fair in her dealings with this young boy and he soon came to trust her. Within a year's time, he was ready to return to his neighborhood school.

Carolyn is relatively new to the teaching profession. For someone so young she demonstrates the knowledge and skill level of a more experienced teacher. Carolyn works with some of the most difficult children in the district and makes it look surprisingly easy. She is truly worthy of recognition and the honor of being a "featured teacher".

--Shauna Raby"

15 and 16 months notes for the sake of journaling

Here are the notes I took for months 15 and 16. Claire is growing SO fast. She is now almost 22 months? I think? Time is going way to fast but I am loving how much Claire is learning and growing. She is SO much fun! I will do a post on her life now pretty soon.

15 months

-runs

-spins in circles

-loves her books, listens to us read, chooses her favorites, sits down and jabbers while she reads to herself

-loves Yo Gabba Gabba, copies what they do

-dances

-understands more of what we say "bring me ____" "no" "peek a boo" "close it" "good job" "yay" 

-says "wow" "hi" "mama" "no" "dada" "hi dad"

-making funny sounds "nya nya nya"

-wants things and tell us by whimpering like a puppy

-falls asleep on the floor in a pile of blankets

-uses phone, unlocks, uses home button, volume button, can use different apps

-tries to feed herself, takes bites of big food instead of trying to eat the whole thing

-folds her arms during prayers

16 months

- she starts a peek a boo game and waits for us to say "where's Claire?"

- says "ball" and knows what it is

- says cracker by saying "ca ca ca"

- says "oh wow" all the time

- knows what a cat, pig, and cow says

- she says cat but it sounds like she is clearing her throat instead of "cat"

- she give nice hugs and kisses but her kisses are really long and usually open mouth

- she's getting better at using a fork to spear things

- climbs up stairs really well but still thinks she can walk down then two at a time ... Doesn't work

- is growing teeth and it's hard for her this time

- knows where her nose is

- every time we get to the dancing page of "good dog Carl" Claire dances

A surprise trip to Washington!

If I think about how behind I am, I don't blog. So I'm just going to start with where we are in life now. Maybe I will catch up, maybe I won't.

Pictures will be added after I put them on the computer....they are pretty funny, too!

A few weeks ago we were Skyping with my parents and they were talking about how they missed Claire. I said, "Why don't we come up for Fall Break?"Then we decided that it would just be fun to drive up and surprise everyone. Once we even said something like that to Moe and Bapa Jackson they weren't going to not let us come.

After Brent and I had decided to go, I invited Morgan along with us. She first said she wouldn't be able to do it because she had the Praxis to take, but her mom was so nice to pay the fee to move her test so she could come! Yippee!

Thursday
We picked up Morgan just after 6 Thursday morning (waaaaay to early for Morgan) and hit the road. We had a pretty uneventful drive and Claire did really well.

There was one exciting detour we took - Morgan said she wanted mashed potatoes so Brent said he would find a KFC. Well, he gave us directions to one that was closed. He found another one and it had turned into some Mexican fast food restaurant. He found a third one and it was finally successful! And it was full of old people. Also it wasn't yummy enough to try 3 different locations until we found one. Ha!

We arrived at the bank that Hilary works at and when we were sitting outside Brent said, "Did Hilary move banks? Now that we are sitting here, I think she moved banks." hahaha, good one, Brent! So I called her and told her we were outside but that we were outside the wrong bank. We drove to meet her just for a second, Claire was done with sitting in the car and we still had an hour and a half to go.

We got to Moses Lake around 8:30 and had dinner with my parents. My mom called Heather and made up some reason she wanted Heather to come over but Heather was taking sooooo long. It was 11:00 before Heather decided to drive over. When she got to the driveway she realized that it was our car outside and came in really excited to see Claire. Next time my mom tells Heather to come over I'm guessing that she will be on her way really quickly.

Friday
Friday morning we got ready and headed to Eden Salon to surprise Jam. When we got to the salon, Cindy asked if we wanted her to get Jeannie but we told her it was a surprise. Brent let Claire walk back to the hair washing sinks and someone said, "Jeannie?" She looked up and had this really confused look on her face and then she got the biggest smile! It was so awesome. She was sooo surprised and wasn't expecting us at all. She came to visit us in Provo at the end of September and so she was shocked to see us again so quickly.

We went to lunch with Heather after the salon and then Morgan and I went shopping with my Mama. We got some new shirts and shoes. Yay!

Friday afternoon we headed out to the farm to see Mark and Mimi. When Kelly found out we were there she came home for a few minutes to see us, too! Sadly Bampa was working all day and so we didn't get to see him. Anyway.... I walked to the door and knocked. Mark opened it and said, "hi" and then just waited for me to say something. It took him about a minute to realize that I wasn't supposed to just be knocking on the door. When he realized I wasn't supposed to be there, he started saying "What in the world?! What in heaven's name?" I walked away and he followed me and saw Brent, Claire and Morgan. It was pretty funny. When we went into the house to see Mimi Mark said, "Look what FedEx brought over." She was very happy to see Claire. Claire was most happy to see a big empty room to run circles in. :)

Friday night my dad waited at Chico's for forrrever to get some pizza for Brent. Brent was so happy about the pizza. My dad is pretty awesome.

Saturday
On Saturday we went to Leavenworth! We even went to Skipper's before Leavenworth. Hmmm, I think my parents really like Brent. They give him everything he wants.... In Leavenworth it was Octoberfest and it was crazy busy. But there were lots of people in strange outfits (like a guy wearing tight yellow underwear and nothing else?) to watch. We loved looking through the little shops. Morgan even tried some hot sauce. She was so mad at me! For about 20 minutes. And she was mad at my mom for running down the street with her ice cream when she had a burning mouth. Good thing she got over it and she still likes us! :) Right, Morgan?

Saturday night we went over to Jam and Peanut Butter's house for dinner. Heather, Hilary, and Lance were also there. It was fun to see everyone and have super yummy dinner. Claire loves to have lots of people telling her how cute she is all of the time.

Sunday
We came home. That was pretty much it. We had a great time in Washington and we were lucky to be able to go for a quick trip. And we were so glad Morgan could come with us. Hopefully she still likes us after spending 4 straight days with us.

Update!

I have made a few updates. Since there were so many to do most of them are pictures and captions. Oh well. At least the pictures are cute. :) Here they are for your convenience. 15, 16, and 17 month updates are going to be posted shortly.

Claire's First Christmas

Playing in the Snow

Bath Time

Lemons!

Disney on Ice

March trip to the Zoo

Grandma and Grandpa visit

Easter

April trip to the Zoo

First Haircut

Puddles

Wedding