Busy, Busy, Busy

I cannot believe it's been a month and a half since my last post. Things have been very busy around here! The end of the school year is always rushed and at home we've been super busy, too. Karaline is doing fabulously. Day after day, month after month, we are loving watching her grow, develop, and change.
Brief recap of her milestones since last month:
*Karaline is now eating food - peas (she hates), green beans (she likes), and carrots. We're going to go through the veggies before moving on to fruits.
*Karaline is crawling...for a few crawls. Then she'll fall on her belly and army scoot. She is getting around well and enjoys playing on the floor.
*She loves to play and walk in her walker. When we first bought it her feet did not touch the floor; amazing what 2 weeks will do...now both feet can touch and she can move. She has one at her sitter's that she loves, too. Lynda said Karaline will chase the other kids :)
*She gives kisses when asked :)
*Daddy taught her how to give zerberts or raspberries. She gives them to me often but also will give one to her stuffed animals, toys, spoon, and tub.

I hope to post more frequently when school gets out. My last day is June 10. Hooray for summer!

5 Months Old

I cannot believe Karaline is 5 months old already! I say this in each post, but time really does fly. She is becoming such a "person" each day. Her personality is developing and shining through. We are having too much fun!

We went to the Lakeland Women's Show last Saturday with Sam and my friend Kristen from my Sunday School class. Kristen and I wanted to see Coupon Queeny and Aunt Sam wanted to hang out with Karaline (and me...I think - just kidding :). Of course everyone oooohed and ahhhhed over Karaline. I mean, who wouldn't? She looked especially cute this day though. She had a cute little outfit and super cute jelly shoes Aunt Nikki gave her.

After the Women's Show, we went to the Lakeland Tigers baseball game. Joey volunteered to help someone from our church who was hosting the game. We had a nice time but we didn't stay the entire time because it was a little hot.

I cannot wait for summer! The weather has been very nice lately and I am more than looking forward to spending the days with Karaline.

Life as a Preschool Teacher

As a PreK teacher, I hear lots of interesting things. Yesterday was one of those days.
While eating lunch, one of my students looked over at me and said, "Ummm, excuse you, Miss Kelly."
Me: "Excuse me what?"
Student: "Ummm, I heard that little toot you did."
Me: "Well, you didn't hear the toot from me because if you did you would have heard me say excuse me."
Another student: "Yeah, S, teachers don't do that anyway."

Ha! How great. I always think about someone who is not an educator (or one of small children) coming in and hearing the things I say to explain to students. So funny!

Chapped Lips

So I've had chapped lips for well over 3 weeks. I've tried all of my usual solutions - Burts Bees, Medicated Chapstick, even Neosporin, but nothing has helped! I even tried the Mary Kay lip solution that exfoliates. Again, nothing happened. Anyhow, I finally figured out the problem: I kiss Karaline far too much!!!

I simply cannot resist her cheeks!!!

AHHHHH, April

Yay! I am so excited to see April arrive. Not only do I love springtime, but it also means that I'm one more month closer to summer break!!! We've had some beautiful weather the last two days but Thursday was a very rough day here. We had several tornadoes in the area that did quite a bit of damage. One of our neighbors' roof was damaged by a tree. Our road was blocked by a large fallen tree, but someone cut it so we have a one lane road. On my way to Karaline's sitter and work I saw lots of other houses with trees down, too.

We actually had to go into "duck and cover" mode at school. This was quite an event seeing as though we just learned about various kinds of weather last week and the kids were fascinated with the tornado. I guess we were having a true "teachable moment!" Overall they handled it well. Of course most were frightened, but they relaxed after a little bit. I read them a story and then brought the CD player out and played our favorite CD. We were out there for at least 30 minutes. I was worried about Karaline and couldn't get through to her sitter, Lynda. I was able to get through to Sam's Gram who called Lynda and all was well. She did have some damage to her yard and fence, but they were fine!

As my good friend, Meg, said, "March went out like a lion!"

Spring Break

This past week was my spring break. It was WONDERFUL! Monday is going to be a sad, sad day in the Oglialoro house. It's going to be like January and returning to work all over again. Karaline and I have had lots of fun doing nothing much. Each day we ran errands and went out and about, but overall we just hung out. I could definitely get used this life!

In other news, Joey went on our church's Men's Retreat this weekend so my mom and LJ are coming down for the weekend. I'm really looking forward to seeing them (and them seeing Karaline!). I hate the distance between us...it's difficult for me to travel now and hard for them because of my dad's health.

Please keep us in your prayers as we have some big decisions that are in the works. We want to make sure that we are doing what is in God's plans.

Potato Soup Recipe

I really appreciate it when people I blog stalk post an easy, yummy recipe, so I decided to return the favor :) One of my colleagues passed this recipe to me, and it is sooooo easy and delicious!

Panera's Potato Soup:
4 cups peeled and cubed potatoes (I use red potatoes, but it doesn't call for a specific kind)
4 cups chicken broth
8 oz cream cheese ( I use the kind w/ chives and omit the onions)
small chopped onion
1/4 teaspoon of red pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Boil the potatoes in the broth with the seasoning. Once the potatoes are cooked, smash a few. This will release starches and help to thicken the soup.
Turn heat down.
Add cream cheese in and stir. Continue stirring periodically until cream cheese is mixed through.

*Joey wants me to add hamburger next time. I'll let you know how that turns out :)
*We also added bacon bits and cheese on top. YUM :)