Mrs. Burris

So the little guy has taken over the blog lately so I thought I'd try and focus on someone else for a blog- ME! :)



For seven hours a day I am Mrs. Burris to over 600 kids. I teach two 5th grade classes, two 6th grade classes, and an intervention period. Yes, I know I'm spoiled with our light schedule! There is a lot I really enjoy about my job; seeing a student "get it", hearing my students talk about art on their own, seeing their proud looks when they finish something. Of course, they crack me up, too!

My personal photographer (Rachel) happens to teach down the hall from me and came into my room to take some photos recently.

I was teaching my 6th graders some watercolor techniques. I pump them up for this lesson by telling them this is what I used to teach high schoolers. They think it's cooler that way- ha!





I spend most of my time walking around and helping students individually. I also love this part of my job; seeing what they're coming up with and talking to them one-on-one.




The best part of my job? These lovely ladies:



It's a pretty good little gig considering I get to eat lunch with three awesome friends, talk about art all day, and get 8 weeks off in the summer. I love my mommy and photography jobs, but this one is pretty cool, too!

Salt & Snow

We've had 2 snow days in a row- making this a long weekend. I picked up a few new things at the dollar store before the snow started on Wednesday night, but we've also found some other things to do. Who needs toys when we have salt & snow?

I was on the phone when I saw Will climb up on a kitchen chair out of the corner of my eye. I then heard him call out "ball!" I heard a loud bang and I turned around to see that he had thrown our salt shaker which does indeed look like a ball! Well, you can bet that salt was everywhere and Will and I just stood there in silence for a minute. I decided to get off the phone, take a deep breath and roll with the flow. He had a BLAST!







"Hey, Will, are you having fun?"





Dave also brought some of the snow inside for us to play with since going out in the cold is just not an option for us :)










You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance. ~Franklin P. Jones

Budding Artist

My girlfiend Aimee knew it before Will was born:



Will moved up to the next classroom at the beginning of this month. They do lots of arts and crafts projects and I have totally noticed that he has more of an interest at home, too. I think his favorite activity is to do stickers. He will take those puppies out of my hand for 20 minutes. He can even do little tiny stickers.





We gave him a dry erase board for Christmas and he loves to draw on it! He explains what he is drawing for us- it's usually an "air-ma" (airplane).





I am pretty sure I know what to get this little man for his upcoming birthday!

Chef-in-Training

Ok, so maybe this is funny that I am writing that I trained Will in the kitchen because if you know me at all you will know that cooking is NOT my favorite thing. I feel like it takes way too much time. Dave has made me swear that if something happens to him that I will cook for our children. Ha!



Anyway, on our snow day last week I was the cook for all 3 meals for Will and I since our chef went to the office. At lunch I made mini pizzas and of course we had to monitor their progress in the oven.




"Are they done yet?"



Unfortunately, the mini pizzas did not really excite him once they were done so we went with the ultimate back up: the grilled peanut butter and banana sandwich!

Will pulled over a chair to "help."




"My favorite!"



Although nothing was gourmet on our day at home we did manage. Of course, we are always happy when Daddy takes over the kitchen duties!!

Multi-Story Post

I have a few (ok not a few; a LOT) of photos I take with my phone and at some point I need to actually get them all off of there. Here are a few recent ones.

Will and I went to Todd & Danielle's the other night to hang out with their crew. 4 little boys...WOW. It was busy!!




Will had a blast on their rocking horse. He figured it out in no time.



Here is a cute photo of Will sleeping with his indoor boots on. I LOVE those little things!



I cleaned out Will's closet this weekend and while it was an overwhelming task I am so glad it's done. I have to show you that I found a few more photo albums hiding in there and added them to the top shelf mentioned in the last post. Now I REALLY am out of room!



The snow and ice are gone and the temperatures are warmer. This means we are in the middle of a FABULOUS 3 day weekend!! Enjoy yours!

Motivation

Some days blogging is a chore. Actually, most days it is a chore. But I do it for you, Papa & Grandma Marge. I do it for you, Grandma Willie. I do it for you, Karen. I do it because you have told me how much you look forward to it and how you feel like you are getting to watch Will grow up. So I will keep my complaints to myself and focus on this:



This book was created on Blog2Print and I got it in the mail a few days ago. Since it's a bit pricey to create I started this book the day Will was born and I ended it with his first birthday party.




Thumbing through this album makes me motivated to blog more. It us is so much fun to have both the pictures and stories and can't wait until we can look through it with Will. I have always printed 4x6 photos every winter break and every summer and if you weren't aware... I like to take photos. This represents the 7 years we've been married.



I am running out of room on the top shelf of this closet so my nice little album with 365 days worth of photos is going to be much easier to handle.



I can't promise you will get 3 blogs a day... but I now have a motivation to keep this up. Thank you for pushing me to keep this up!

Snow Play

It dawned on me this morning that snow days are not going to be the same as they used to be. No sleeping in. No reading all day in my pjs. No. No I have to go out. In the SNOW. I swear the stuff is like kryptonite for me. But I have a little boy now and when they say you'll do anything for your child I guess they're right. I take comfort in the fact that this was how we started out:




He would NOT go out in the snow until I finally picked him up. My not-so-wonderful-but-it-works photo of us walking in the yard:



After that he seemed to be satisfied the snow wasn't going to swallow us. After a little more thought he gave it a try.





I have to admit- It sure does make for some pretty pictures!



When I told Will that I was cold he wasted no time telling me he was ready to go inside, too! :)



Whew! That "First Snow Play" can be put in the baby book! I think we'll be inside the rest of the day where it is warm.