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"a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2014."

Everdeen Kate: Your first taste of pumpkin pie :)    

 Linking up with Jodi :)

Happy Birthday...to Us!!

My twin sister wrote a beautiful post about what it means to share a birthday with your twin and soul mate :)  I couldn't have written it better myself.  Happiest of Birthdays to my other half! 

My twin sister Jessica is my soul mate.  I mean, we were split in two so I'm pretty sure we each have part of the same soul.

The day we headed off to college was one of the saddest days of my life.  I remember laying awake in my tiny bed, in my new dorm room, on my first night and not knowing how to feel or how to be.  How would I make friends without my best friend by my side?  How would I survive class?  How would I go to the grocery store by myself?  Who was going to tell me that my outfit should never see the light of day?

The next years were hard, but we both grew.  We became braver and more independent.  We experienced things the other did not.  We took trips, met friends, got our hearts broken, fell in love and graduated.  The next years were even harder.  I headed off to Texas for graduate school and took a blind leap into the unknown, alone.  I was so used to everyone knowing I was a twin back home that it was a strange feeling for new people in my life to not automatically know this about me.  Our whole life we had been known as "The Twins" which always annoyed me. But here, hundreds of miles away from home, I wished and hoped that just once someone would refer to me as one of "The Twins".  

Life has taken us both down different paths and we are happy in our careers and little families.  And even though its been years since we lived in the same state and we've grown accustomed to these separate lives, we miss each other with all of our hearts.  I guess we've become grownups during this time because lets face it, it would have been crazy for us to not have learned how to function in the real world without the other nearby.   

But you see, the truth is, even though we are grownups and we live wonderful, independent lives, I just don't function my best without her.  

On the rarest of rare days that we can't talk I feel like there is a hole in my day.  Who can I tell that for a brief second after lunch it smelled exactly like the skating rink we used to go to when we were little?  And there's no doubt that she will understand completely---my co-workers at lunch would just look at me weird!  Or what if I have to describe a color and the only description I can come up with is that it is that shimmery color from that one ride in Disney World?  And of course my sister would say, "Oh right! The one with the dragon.  I know that color."  

I usually talk to Jessica on my way home from work each evening which can last from 5 minutes to an hour :) .  The minute we say, "hi" a feeling of complete contentment washes over me. 

Even living 2000 miles away, our lives are interwoven.  They are forever connected.  You always hear of twin struggles--of those twins who yearn to be their own self and independent of each other.  At least for us, this is impossible.  While we have our own distinct personalties and preferred nail polish color, we are our most true selves when we are together.  We are soul mates.

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Happy Birthday to my sister.  I'm glad I get to share this special day with you always!

Oh, hello 30

My twin sister and I are turning 30 on Sunday and I'm just not sure how I feel about it. I wish I had something profound to say about how turning 30 is the new 20 (is it?) and how turning 30 makes you an instantaneous adult (will it?). How you wake up on your 30th birthday and suddenly have everything figured out.  You eat healthy salads for lunch, use wrinkle defying night cream, and deposit a generous amount of your paycheck into your retirement fund. Because 30 year olds are always planning for the future...right? 

Sigh...I think the more I dwell on this upcoming birthday the more mid-life crisis-y I get.  

I assure you my husband doesn't have to worry about me running out and splurging our entire bank account on a new sports car.  Besides, I already had my moment of splurging today when I went out and bought two new sweaters...from Target...that were on sale...because that's what sensible 30 year olds do.

I Hope They Will Always Remember to be Kind

Two of my sweet little students were featured on our local news station this week. 
I've been thinking so much about what it is that I'm actually teaching my students. I know my job as a teacher is to teach the curriculum, but I will never feel like I have done my job well if I haven't taught the importance of kindness, empathy, and giving. We spend every morning reading over our kindness quote for the week, we cheer for our friends when they do something well, we give them an "it's cool!" when they make a mistake.  I'm sure my students get tired of hearing me talk about how kindness can change the world, how they can change the world by being the great people I know they can be. I hope when they're all grown up they'll stop and think and remember what it means to be a good person, to have integrity, and that kindness can change the world in a profound way.

It makes my heart so happy to see that I have some amazingly generous and caring students...these kids will move mountains someday.

If you can give to Sara's cancer fund I know her parents would be forever grateful.    

Story Link
Sara's Fund

first snow

There is nothing more magical than the season's first snow.  We woke up to a soft blanket of white this morning.  I walked into Everdeen's dark room and whispered to her that the snow bears had come.  "It snowing?"  she asked over and over.   She squealed when I held her up to the window and we watched the quiet world together.  
Soon we will be sick of the cold and snow, but for today, it is full of wonderment...especially through the eyes of a tiny two year old.

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"a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2014."

Everdeen Kate: Bath time is still one of your favorite times of the day.  Sometimes you even practice your 'swimming' by putting your ear in the water and excitedly exclaiming, "I did it!"    

 Linking up with Jodi :)

Halloween 2014

We had a fun week of Halloween celebrations...Everdeen's little school hosted a party for all the little tots.  We painted pumpkins, colored scarecrows and hogged all the stickers.  This little girl LOVES her stickers, which is why they're probably always stuck on the furniture and walls in my house.  It was my week for lounge snacks and my mom and her amazing talents helped keep all of us teachers well fed during one of the wildest weeks of school. After 8 years of teaching I've realized that it's better to just go with it and succumb to the festivities :)  We continued our school tradition of parading through the school all decked out in our costumes. It's funny to see the progression of Halloween costumes from cute ladybugs and farmers in Kindergarten to creepy black cloaked fifth graders and girls dressed like Lady Gaga. One of my little girls was proudly dressed as Katniss Everdeen and felt even more proud that she had discovered the source of my little girl's name.  They had the best time as evidence of the way my room looked at 3:00 :) 

Hope you all had a fun Halloween!  Can't believe today is already November 1...which means Christmas music is in my very near future ;)