Febs

February has been a crazy busy month in my sweet little household.  We have been putting my little organization station to WORK.  Wait, I haven't told you about our little organization station.  Well, that's a good place to start.
Having four children is a total blessing, the paperwork that comes along with them...not so much.  There is classwork, homework, permission slips, reminders about author visits, invitations to orchestra performances, announcements about awards assemblies, yadda, yadda, yadda.
In December, I decided that I was tired of cleaning things from our dinner table and then experiencing the inevitable mad rush in the morning to find {insert name of paper here}, so I created a little station on a wall that was begging for such a thing.
Each child has a hanging organizer where they put homework, papers to be signed, and things of this nature. Inside the organizer, there is also a weekly pill box that holds their daily vitamins and they can always find pencils to complete work in one of the pockets.
There is also a check-off sheet for things that they need to have completed in the morning before we leave.  I'll admit it is a little bit of overkill, but I can't tell you how much easier getting out of the house in the morning has become!  I also made a weekly calendar out of picture frames with patterned paper behind the glass.  I stamped the days on the patterned paper so that they are "permanent" and we just use vis a vis markers to add events.

Ok.  What's up next?
Jake continues to rock middle school.  He received an award for having a 4.0 GPA.  Now, reminder, that is with the kid taking Geometry in 8th grade, which is two years early.  He is the only eighth grader that had an A at the end of the first semester.  Woot!
Here is a picture of him at his awards assembly.  I love the way the principal is greeting him.  Do you think she likes him? :)

Yeah.  Yeah.  He needs a haircut.  (He has since had one, but he was experimenting a bit with the long hair.  I pick my battles.  Not sure why his hair looks so red in this picture.)

For Valentine's Day, my hubby hit another home run.  He bought me another fabulous Dolce & Gabbana scent that I have been eyeing and he bought Just Dance 3 for the family.
Holy crap, that game is all kinds of fun...both for the person playing and those watching.  I present to you, exhibit A:
  
Daniel and Gaby dancing to Apache.  Love.
I gave him the wheel set that he had been wanting for his road cycle and all of this candy that the kids brought me.

...which he promptly took to his school to get it the heck out of our house.  :)
Also, during this month, Cristina had her very first orchestra performance.   Check her out in the front row with her  viola.  Sweet little thing that she is.

Jake also turned 14 this month!!!!!!!!!  (Where does the time go?)
I remember when he was this little baby-just home from the hospital!  I can still smell his little baby smell.  *sigh*

Finally, I have been taking a course through SDCOE, that has been really interesting.  It is a course to become certified to teach online.  I am the only elementary school teacher in my school district selected to participate in the course.  It has been really stimulating, but very time-consuming.  I love being busy, but I haven't been this distracted from my family since the National Board Certification, which was crazy.  Luckily, my family, especially my husband, is fabulous and supportive in this endeavor.  Luck...I have it.  :)