Eat meat and other ramblings

This week we had William's brother, Daniel, come stay at our place. We ate, played Ticket to Ride, ate, watched movies, and ate.

It was a good time, as seen here:

I think William's shirt used to be the color of Daniel's.

AND we found out that Jenny and Alan (my sis and bro-in-laws) are having a baby girl. (Have you seen their announcement? It'll leave you speechless.) June is thrilled to have another girl cousin... she already has a great time with her older cousin, London, as seen in this picture:

On a completely unrelated subject, I love food. I love it so much, in fact, that while most families hang inspiring messages around their homes (i.e. "Return with honor", "Count your Blessings", or my personal favorite "Live Love Laugh"), I've decided to simply adorn our shelf in our kitchen with the word "EAT".

Daniel decided to change it up a bit:

I think he's on to something.

And finally, on yet another unrelated subject, everyone should have Martha Bradford for a mother-in-law (Hurry... there's only 4 Bradfords left.) She is one of the most genuine people I know. AND she loves to make things... like giant towel bibs:

June practically lives in these now, and thanks to Martha, she can. (Martha made, like, 8 of them.)

Thanks again Grandma!

You and I (will) have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead

June and I love to:

- Snuggle

- Make each other smile

- Listen to music

- Chatter and laugh

- Take naps

- Play dress up

- Eat

- Go on walks

- Take pictures and film video

- Watch William come back from work so it can be 'three of us'

Dad Dad Daddy-O

It was really exciting celebrating William's 1st Father's Day... but I failed to mention my OWN dad.

Here's my dad and I at Burger King when I was about 3 or 4 years old. He's holding my little brother, Ryan.

We still enjoy a good hamburger.

I love my dad tons. So much, in fact, that I've acquired some of his traits.

Allow me to share just a few:

1. We both love amazingly awful and ridiculous movies that have amazingly awful and ridiculous stunts (such as a limousine driving through a falling building, a bus literally launching itself across an unfinished bridge, and big airplanes being able to maneuver through the air with ease).

2. We love American history, especially watching WWII movies. ("Saving Private Ryan" gets me every time.)

3. We love quoting lines from various movies and TV shows.

4. We both love NYPD Blue and Prison Break.

5. We both are huge ASU fans.

6. We appreciate good hot dogs (Big Dawgs, Ted's, although I prefer NO sauerkraut)

7. We love traveling and going to museums

8. We both talk to ourselves (sometimes without realizing it)

9. We forget to drink water sometimes because we're too preoccupied with our soda

10. He likes to talk politics, I like listening

11. We both love the gospel.

12. We both adore Marilyn (my mom)

Really, the list can go on, but I'll just keep it an even twelve. (Notice how most of the list involves TV and movies.)

One of my favorite things to do is watch my dad be a grandpa. He is hilarious with the grandkids. I can't wait until June starts to really interact with my Dad.

June can't get enough of him.

I know the feeling, June.

I love you, pops!

1st Father's Day

This guy deserves a good first Father's Day.

Here's why:

1. He's good at swaddling June to the point where it's like a straight jacket. June can't escape so she sleeps longer. It's incredible.

2. He can clip June's fingernails... I'm too scared.

3. Even after a long day, he doesn't mind holding and singing June to sleep.

4. He loves playing guitar for June, she loves watching.

5. He makes up the funniest songs about June. (His songs usually mention her bowel movements at some point.)

6. He STILL gets a laugh when June smiles at him.

7. He loves to talk about future trips and parties for June.

8. Still loves to cook dinner, even after a long day.

9. Still loves to see movies and will do what it takes to make it work.

10. Loves his girls to pieces.

I had a blast with my Mother's Day scavenger hunt, so I decided that William needs one to.

On Sunday morning, I handed him this card:

William proceeded to the closet where Darth shared the startling news:

We keep C3PO in the band room:

I agree C. Those sweats are nasty. But I guess every dad needs at least one pair of goofy pants.

To the tie rack:

This chair has been a blessing since having June, but it is GINORMOUS.

And under our famous hamburger:

Thank you hamburger picture for reminding me to dust the top of my fridge.

Inside the fridge:

William has been dancing like a white dad even BEFORE he was a dad.

This was a tricky clue for William.

Remember in Raising Arizona when Nicolas Cage steals the diapers?!

It's my favorite part of the movie.

William hesitated with this clue: "Wait. Did you roll up a clue and stick it in June's bum?!"

What kind of mom does he think I am?

You can't tell, but June loved being a clue. She could hardly contain herself throughout the whole ordeal.

So finally, William stopped by June's crib:

A Virgil's Root Beer Party Keg and the movie True Grit... so manly.

Happy Father's Day, loves.

Love, Jenny & June

Yo breath is so bad, I don't know whether to give you a Tic Tac or toilet paper!

The things we do to June to get a laugh...

Sorry June, our breath will only get worse.

Salsa Dancing

The only way to keep June happy while I'm cooking is turning on music and dancing.

Here's one of me making salsa with June:

Yes, I realize I shouldn't put her bouncer on the counter. But how can I teach June to dance and cook if she's on the floor?!

I just love hanging out with my girl.

me oh my oh me oh my i love summer (a post about June's hair)

It's only been a few weeks of summer break and I think I can get used to this for a loooong time.

Just a few things about it...

This photo represents the 2 things that keep June and I temporarily happy:

My happiness ends when my soda runs out.

June's happiness ends when that pig gets boring.

Recently, my friend Daphne invited us to her family's cabin in Prescott. We played games, ate plenty, and slept too long. It was lovely.

Here is June's first "hike":

Another thing that June enjoys is watching the itunes visualizer:

As you can see, June likes to stay busy.

My mom and I recently decided to try doing a "project day" at least once a week. This might consist of making food (We want to try lots from cousin Jane's blog) or making some sort of craft. We started our tradition by making these little beauties:

The first thing I noticed about having a baby is how unbearably hot it gets, especially in the car seat. Here is June's Arizona-Heat-Car-Seat-Hair

I have to go comb out June's hair now.

June answers the question: Why is that pig so crazy?

Sorry world, but these videos of June won't stop coming... I've officially become one of THOSE moms.

Enjoy:

Which pig is June talking about, you ask? Perhaps she had this one in mind:

Mrs. Bradford

After 3 years of teaching 5th grade at Canyon Rim, I've decided I'm going to stay at home with June. I'm not sure how soon I'll return to teaching, but for now it's the best thing for our little family.

So just in case this is the end of an era, I wanted to post what I'll miss most about teaching:

1. Hearing the phrase "OHHHH!! I get it now!"

2. Random notes or drawings from students that say I'm the best teacher ever.

3. Seeing improvements in scores throughout the year (especially in math)

4. Book recommendations from students that are actually REALLY GOOD (Lightning Thief, When You Reach Me were just a few that were recommended to me)

5. Recommending books to students that they end up enjoy thoroughly. (Matilda, The Giver, Bunnicula, and the Harry Potter series were amongst my favorites to recommend)

6. Crying while reading aloud the end of "Where the Red Fern Grows" to my class, and looking up only to see several students crying with me (It gets me every time).

7. Teaching American history

8. Playing competitive games of Wall Ball, Speed, Dodgeball, and Darth Darts (Darth Darts is a game I created for math where the class competes against me {Darth}. I make sure to be super evil, especially if I'm beating them.)

9. Nachos from the cafeteria

10. Visits from former students wanting to share good news or just to say 'hi'.

11. My 5th grade team

12. Hilarious students

13. Seeing my students faces the first time we launch a rocket.

14. Finished products for BIG projects we work on.

15. Hugs from random kindergartners, 1st graders that I don't know.

16. Canyon Rim in general

There's much more, but that's all I can think of at the moment.

Before I cleaned out my classroom, I took some snapshots to remember what teaching looked like.

Here's just a few images...

Donuts were my favorite class reward for the kids (if they met their AR goal, increasing ATI scores more than 5 percentage points, filling up their "Warm and Fuzzy" jar):

The rockets I mentioned before:

The White House Tea Party project where kids do a MASSIVE report about a famous American:

Front board, SmartBoard:

A massive sign the kiddos made when I returned from maternity leave:

Daily Schedule:

Mrs. Bradford's Plinko! This was the kids' favorite thing. They would earn tickets and every half day they would cash in their tickets for a chance on the Plinko Board to earn prizes. William made the board for me... perhaps I'll use it on my children someday:

A view of the wall next to my desk:

My favorite president, writing wall:

What a teacher's desk SHOULD look like:

Cubbies. Remember cubbies?

Calendar, classroom jobs wall. (That Bradford flag is going to hang in front of our house)

When students felt discouraged about how hard the work was, I'd make them read this quote from Harry Potter. (One student laughed and told me I was nerdy...at least he felt better.)

My library:

Love:

Now with everything wonderful about teaching, there are some things I WON'T miss:

1. AIMS

2. Grading piles of papers (yes I admit, the "piles" were my fault due to procrastination)

3. Students throwing up in my classroom (happened 5 times)

4. The smell of meatball sub day in the cafeteria

5. Making sub plans

6. Student excuses ("I didn't take my medication." is my favorite... Really? That's your excuse for kicking someone?)

7. Tattlers

8. Consistently missing work from students

9. Finding really old, smelly food in desks because I have to find missing work from students.

10. Saying goodbye to June in the morning.

Now people are asking what I'm going to do now.

I think I have plenty to do for now.