Another Must-See Destination for My Bucket List!!!

Getting ready to celebrate one of the most legendary children's authors of all time this week -- DR. SEUSS!!! -- and came across this gem:

There's a sculpture garden in Springfield, Massachusetts that has Dr. Seuss and a bunch of his characters.

Um, WHAT?!?

Let's pack our bags and go RIGHT NOW.

Furthermore, they are building a museum right by the garden that will be all about Dr. Seuss. It's set to open this June. 

Guys, this is magical.

I must visit there someday.

Here's where I found all of this lovely information in case you, too, are interested.

Thankful Thursday #5: a day late, but it's here.

I've been getting home and just dropping on the couch after teaching all day while sick so no post last night.

Late start = time for a post today. 

(Hoping it will get change to no school because it's a MESS out there.)

This week I'm thankful for....

Dr. Seuss. 

We're prepping to celebrate his birthday next week and I am SO excited. What an awesome proponent of not letting critics stop you from doing what you love and to let your imagination run wild. 

Painting.

I've picked up a paintbrush a few times lately for the first time in a while and love how calming it is. More than that, it's fun to create things on paper. 

Blasts from the past.

Our school hosted my former school in basketball a few days ago, and it was fun to see some of my FIRST students out there playing. It was great to catch up with some of the families and the students, too, and have them come into my classroom to graffiti my board. :P How awesome to see where God is guiding them. 

Warmth.

Earlier this week it was over 70 degrees and broke some record highs for our city. It was glorious. We celebrated one day by taking Danny and Scout to the dog park. (Old Man Squirt stayed home because getting super-excited or over-exerted is bad for his heart.) They even got in the water - yes, even Danny, but he just wanted a drink. Scout just may be our water lovin' boy after all! I've been holding out hope that we'd have a swimmer.

Scout doing what Scouts do best.

Partners in crime.

He likes it! He really likes it!

And pup cups after the park because warm days NEED ice cream.

Random laughs. 

Like these turkeys casually strolling across the street in the middle of the city that stopped us on the way to church.

Oh, hey, turkeys.

Thankful Thursday #4: music & more

I've decided I'm going to shake up the Gratitude Challenge - sometimes I'll follow the prompts, sometimes I won't. Sometimes prompts can be so constricting.

This week I've been especially thankful for:

-a husband who is very handy and can fix things (even when I did something stupid that made them break to begin with)

-friends who can laugh off my embarrassing moments better than I can

-Spotify. Yes, I'm a little late to jump on that bandwagon since I have been a loyal Pandora listener, but I love getting to create playlists and listen to them repeatedly. Nothing says "Good morning!" like some good coffee and good tunes. This one's been on repeat most of the week.

-Sunrises. Even being able to travel in the daylight again has been delightful as we gain a few minutes of daylight back each day, but this week the colors have been stellar.

-Time to create fun things with the Cricut, like this:

The Old Man Dog

Squirt went to the vet yesterday for his annual exam and his vaccinations. I took him back to the vet who took care of him last year when he had such a terrible episode with his heart. The vet was impressed with how well he's doing in spite of his congestive heart failure, but he did mention Squirt had some fluid in his lungs. He also commented on Squirt's cold paws being slightly blue as well - a sign his heart wasn't working optimally. We may need to bump up his heart meds for that.

Lately Squirt has been having some rough periods of yelping when we pick him up and having some trouble with the stairs. I wasn't surprised when I told the vet and he suggested we start thinking about some options for arthritis pain relief. We're looking into giving him a joint supplement to help with that.

All in all I know that he's amazing for continuing to be happy and relatively healthy for being 12 years old. I love all of our dogs, but he's my first dog child. He came into my life and brought so much joy into my life during a time of adjusting to a lot of newness. He was my best friend and my family all in one then. He even helped me meet my husband and Danny-Dog. You can bet this little guy's always going to hold an extra-special place in my heart.

Squirticus the Old Man Dog chilling on a gorgeous summer night.

Thankful Thursday #3: Today

I'm going to keep it short today - and not use a prompt. I'll throw in a bonus prompt one of these weeks to compensate.

Today I'm thankful for a great day. A long day with spending 13 hours at school, yes, but it could have felt much longer. I love my job, and I love days where we can celebrate the hard work the kids do.

Today I'm also thankful for two cups of coffee (the half-caff stuff...because it allows me to drink MORE coffee with LESS jitters!) and one cherry Pepsi. Because even though I love my job, I would not be able to do it without the caffeine that fuels me.

And a quote from Gilmore Girls will wrap this up perfectly, naturally:

source: pinterest

Thankful Thursday #2: Technology

And now for another installment of the Gratitude Challenge!

Prompt 46: Technology

Technology has been a part of my like since - well, before birth, really. And it's grown to be more of an integral part of life. Now it seems like we can hardly function without it.

One thing I truly love about technology, though, is that my phone (which is almost always with me) allows me to constantly have a camera with me. I love taking pictures, so this is a much better option than constantly carrying around an actual camera. I know this firsthand because I really used to carry a camera almost everywhere.

 It also allows me the chance to instantly photo-document things -- like the goofy way our dogs are sleeping -- and share them seconds later with my hubby on nights he's working. I know we'll also utilize this when we have children so they (and he) don't feel like he's missing out on as much with his work schedule being what it is. I also love how I've been able to incorporate this into my classroom this year to share what we're up to each day.

Another huge plus is having all this information at my fingertips. It can be something trivial like looking up who played a character in a movie, but it can also be something more useful like directions. Y'all know I am not known for having a stellar sense of direction, so using my phone as a GPS is a necessity. I also love being able to Google answers to questions whenever. We like to kill time on road trips looking up facts, history, or places to see while we're traveling because yes, we are just that cool, thankyouverymuch.

We are truly in the age where the sky isn't the limit anymore. Sure, technology can frustrate us or stress us out, but it also is a wonderful tool to have by my side each day.

source: here

Gratitude Challenge: Things You Like About Winter

Okay, so I missed this past Thursday...but here we go.

I wanted to jump to this prompt because last week we had ice, ice, ice, and more ice. We already had Monday off of school, but we also had Tuesday off as an "ice day". We were definitely in the throes of winter!

Prompt 49: Things You Like About Winter

• Weather that makes you layer on the warmth and cozy on up into blankets
• Christmas season! The music, the decorations, the smells of special baking and cooking, EVERYTHING!
• Time to recharge with family on Christmas and New Years
• Using the fireplace
• Crocheting warm things
• The way a layer of snow muffles the world to create a quiet surrounding that makes it easier to think, breathe, and be still. 
• SNOW DAYS - they are made for PJs and hobbies to be shamelessly enjoyed.
• The beauty of fresh fallen snow and layers of ice on trees
• The delight and excitement of kids when it snows and the dreams of all they can do outside
• Seeing yards full of snow creations

Added bonus: here are a few pictures from around our yard after last week's winter storm.