Baby Henry

My BFF Heather Pettigrew delivered her sweet baby boy today. Mama and baby are doing great! Hop on over to her blog for more pictures of this little guy.

Rainy day fun ö

Today was a "yucky blucky" (stole that term from Junie B. Jones--all you moms of young ones are with me aren't ya?!) day outside. It was rainy and wet, so we decided to make our own fun inside. I stretched old wrapping paper across the length of our kitchen wall and we painted a spring mural. They painted for about an hour......which is the equivalent of a full day for a toddler! The experience really captured, and kept, their attention.

Do you see how intent and focused they all are?

Caroline is such a little artist.

Jacker is a very messy painter.....but had a great time nonetheless. He is much like Caroline--very artistically inclined.

.....and then there was Willie. Willie wanted to be the boss of who painted what, and direct the whole operation. But when it came to the actual painting, he did a lot of asking for help and saying that he "couldn't do it bery good." By the end he had gained some confidence and was taking some artistic risks!

I ♥ this picture. It captures just how serious she is about painting.....and I love, love, love the profile. I could just eat her up!!!

TA DA.....The finished product

We ♥ doughnuts

This =

Sugar
Induced
Silliness

And

Complete

Delirium

That goes

On....

And on....

and on!

Spring Break, and we're sick already

I was so pumped about today being my last day of work before spring break.....Then I picked up my kids. The boys BOTH have fever. Ugh! What a way to start our break. I guess we'll be headed to the clinic in the morning. I'm guessing they probably both have strep throat because Caroline had it last week. The story of my life!!

Alive and Well....

Yep, the Thomas family is still around. It's just that the Thomas mamma is crazy busy these days. We received a new grant at school, which has left me SWAMPED with things to do at work. Just when I thought things were slowing down, this week is parent teacher conferences, and Pettigrew's last week at work before she has little Henry....which means we'll be scrambling this week getting ready for a sub for the rest of the year! I guess it's always something!

Anywho, the kids are great. Caroline had a bout with strep throat this past week, but is almost fully recovered. Here are a couple pics. of the kids from this morning. This afternoon is Karsen's first birthday party, so I'll be posting more pics. later today.

I wished they loved each other and were this happy all the time!!!
Caroline is giving her pony a makeover. She's a girly girl!

Ahhh....

That, my friends is a sigh of relief! I do believe my life has just gotten a bit easier. Will and Jack have learned how to put their clothes on ALL BY THEMSELVES!

I know, you're probably thinking I'm crazy to devote a post about something so trivial. But, this certainly makes a huge difference in the morning trying to get everyone ready and out the door on time! They are so proud, and seem to have a great sense of accomplishment. And now there's hope for me to get to work on time....maybe.

That's it for now, just wanted to share my happy dance. Now I'm off to bed to get my beauty sleep....I have a workshop early in the morning--yes, on a Saturday!!! :o

Records of Criminal Background Checks Run in Arkansas

This is kinda scary. If you live in AR check out this site. All of my personal info. (ss#, drivers license #, birthday, etc) has been lost (and potentially exposed), along with about 800,000 Arkansans. This came to my attention through an email from work. The following is one of the articles linked to the email. You can read the original version here.

Records of Criminal Background Checks Run in Arkansas
Potentially Exposed

The Arkansas Department of Information Systems (DIS) was informed at the end of
January that a vendor providing secure off-site storage for electronic records and computer
files was unable to locate a DIS computer tape in its inventory. The tape contained information
from criminal-background checks run on approximately 807,000 people over at least 12 years.
The vendor, Information Vaulting Services (IVS), had records showing the tape in its
possession, but a thorough search of their facility failed to turn up the tape. Arkansas State
Police has investigated and to this point has found no evidence of an intentional security breach
or other wrongdoing. IVS believes there is little risk that this information has been
compromised. Nonetheless, since IVS cannot account for the tape, DIS officials have decided to
take the precautionary measure of alerting the public about the potential exposure of this
information.

"We have taken every step possible to recreate where the loss of these backup tapes
occurred, and these tapes were redundant, second extra copies, of information," Danny Palo,
Chief Operating Officer of IVS, said. "This is the first time in six years of service to DIS that this
has happened. IVS has immediately taken steps to tighten procedures that will virtually
eliminate the possibility of this ever happening again.”

Anyone who has undergone a criminal-background check in Arkansas since the mid-1990s, and wants to know if his/her personal information was included on the lost computer tape, can find out either by phone or on the Internet. By calling 1-888-682-0411 or going online
to notify.arkansas.gov, interested parties can determine if their name is on the list by entering
or sharing their first name, last name at the time of the background check and their date of
birth. No other personal information will be asked for, even for verification purposes. The call
center will be staffed Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m.

While IVS stresses that it believes that there is little chance of this information being
compromised, anyone concerned can obtain a free credit report as provided by federal law. By
visiting annualcreditreport.com, consumers can check their credit activity through one of the
three major credit bureaus to look for any unauthorized credit activity. Consumers are allowed
one report from each of the three bureaus every twelve months.

DIS keeps backup copies of this information offsite to comply with federal standards and
to ensure that the information is accessible should the original versions become unavailable
through disaster or malfunction. In addition, DIS has encrypted backup information stored off
site for enhanced security.

Furry Friend

Did you know I got a guinea pig? Yep, you heard me. Well, actually I got it for my kids at school. For those of you who know me well, you know that I am NOT an animal person! So, you may be asking yourself, how did this come to be? Well.......

At my school we got this mega money grant. Our school has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars, to hire this ELL (English Language Learner) guru to come in and better equip us to teach our ELL's. Which is great because......80% of the students in my class are ELL's. Anyhoo....

We are learning to lower the affective filter in the classroom, and get these kids to feel emotionally "invested", yada yada yada. So, hence the class pet. I introduce to you.....

DIEGO

This picture just doesn't do him justice. He is the sweetest little guy ever! We have bonded, and he thinks I'm his mama. I know, just what I need...another little one to take care of! Heather, I just might have Diego painted at your art show coming up!!!

Thrifty

Every Sunday morning I sit at the kitchen table and clip coupons from the newspaper. Recently the kids have become interested in how it works. So, if they go to the store with me, they get to hold the coupons we're going to use that day, and we talk a lot about how they help us save money.

I let them cut out the coupons that I'm not going to use, and they love it! I guess it's never too early to teach the the importance of saving money!....and sharpen their cutting skills. These pictures are from this morning.
Do you see how serious everyone looks? Lots of concentration going on. They sat for about 30 minutes cutting out their coupons and chatting about all the pictures.

This is what the table looked liked in the process! Gotta go....I'm off to clean up the mess.