So thankful

I've been enjoying a slow morning after a great weekend, and reflecting on the many things I have to be thankful for.... freedom to worship our Creator! I am so guilty of taking this for granted--every weekend! I'm thankful for my wonderful family. We had such a wonderful time walking, eating, boating, talking, etc. over the 4th. I'm so thankful for the relationships we share. I'm thankful for a month off--definitely a HUGE perk of my job :) I'm thankful for Drs. and the healthcare we receive. We just had our ultrasound today and it was amazing to see the babe moving, it's little body forming, all of the healthy organs working away (even the heart!)...Praise the Lord! I hope you had an enjoyable weekend with whatever you were doing, and that you are able to take some time to reflect on what you're thankful for.

Vinegar :)

OK, so I know I'm probably WAY behind on this, but we've been cleaning our tub/shower with vinegar lately and really like it. Then today, a friend told me about a website with 1,001 uses for vinegar--amazing! And it's so cheap! Just thought I'd share....enjoy :)
vinegar tips

More from the kids!

This post has been long overdue...I've been writing down funny quotes from the kids on random scraps of paper, and I'm sure I've lost some along the way, but here are the few that I have left.

Giving a spelling test.....
Me: "hoof" I heard the horse's HOOF on the trail.
Student: "hoof"? Isn't that the sound you make when you sneeze?

I was reading the story Titanic to the kids (we got it at the book fair, but still a tragic story for 1st graders). We had gotten to the part where the boat was going down and all of the women and children got on the boats and the men stayed behind. This led into the following conversation....
Student 1:"Mrs. Hardie, isn't that kind of mean to make all of the boys stay on the boat?"
Me: "Well, it's something people call chivalry. When you're a guy, sometimes you let girls or people smaller than you get to safety first just because."
Student 2: "But ACTUALLY it's because boys are stronger and smarter and so that's why they stayed on the boat because they can swim better and they know more stuff than girls, right?"
Me: moment of silence....."let's see what ELSE this book will tell us about?" :)

One of my little ASD kiddos loves to learn new phrases and then say them over and over and over....this week his new phrase to say when he gets mad about ANYTHING is "That's an outlage!" (I'm pretty sure he means outRAGE--hehehe--but it's so cute!)

I overheard 2 little boys having this conversation on the carpet one morning.
Boy1: "Did you hear that Bretty Favre is a grandpa?"
Boy 2: "What? I don't get it..."
Boy 1: "You know....he's a grandpa. He has a grandkid."
Boy 2: What? You mean like BEFORE he played football?"

Today we read a great story, "When I Am Old With You", about a little boy and all of the things he likes to do with his grandpa. We were discussing the story when one of the kids asked a great question...
Student 1:"How will the boy and grandpa BOTH be old together?"
Student 2:" Well, the grandpa is probably about 46, and then when the boy gets to be 46 he will be old too and the grandpa will still be old."
46?!?!? Sesrously?!!?

These kids definitely keep me on my toes....8 more weeks!

Anniversary, year 2

We celebrated our 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY on Monday. Well, actually we celebrated all weekend by going out for dinner, a movie, trying new recipes, taking Monday off of work, watching our wedding video, and working on our "never ending puzzle" :) Here are a few snapshots of our weekend...and to all of you that continue to pray for us and help us grow as a couple, THANK YOU! We're excited to see what God has in store for the year ahead.

Out for dinner at Red Oak

Our free anniversary dessert--yum!

We tried a new recipe for chicken fried rice
We also tried a new quiche recipe for breakfast
Out for lunch at one of our favorite places....Chipotle!

Almost done with the puzzle....

Quotes from the kiddos

Alas, the kids never let me down with their quirky comments. Here are a few highlights from the past couple weeks....

"Why do they call Dr. Seuss a Dr.? He doesn't help people feel better...."
(They don't miss a thing!)


I was having a conversation with a little girl who is both a piano student, and a student in my First Grade class while she was at her piano lesson.
Me: "I'll have to do that when I get to work tomorrow."
Student: "You don't work!"
Me: "What do you think I do at school all day?"
Student: "You don't work.....you teach!"
Well.....at least I have HER fooled!


While reading a book about George Washington (to celebrate Pres. Day), one of my students inquired.... "Man, he was born a long time ago...who was the FIRST person ever born?" Another student quickly replied, "Obviously God, and then Santa!"

Student:"What do you smell like?"
Me:"Is it my perfume?" (as I wave the scarf I was wearing in front of his nose.)
Student:"Yeah. I don't like it. It smells bad."

Just a few chuckles that keep me pluggin' through each day! :)

5 Day Challenge

Our church has been pushing us to go deeper in our compassion and action through the Micah 6:8 Project. Micah 6:8 says "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."


On Monday we began our (short) journey into living on less than $2 of food per day. To do this we decreased our portion sizes to 8 oz. (1 cup). We ate 3 meals a day of beans, rice, tortillas, lentils, or a few bits of fish or chicken, and tap water. We had many different thoughts during these few days. "This is harder than we thought it would be." "We are SO much more blessed that we realize." "We have so much variety available to us." "We've experienced this....now what? What can we do?" "At the end of these 5 days, we can go back to our grocery store or restaurants and eat 'like normal' again.....for most of the world, rice and beans is it." "I can't even eat these foods 'plain'. I've added brown sugar, or butter, or seasonings." There were many more thoughts and conversations throughout the week, but I guess one of my friends said it best... "Lord, break my heart for what breaks yours." I hope and pray that this doesn't end here. That my awareness leads to an action of some sort. What that is...I'm not exactly sure.......
It's an interesting challenge, and I would recommend it (to those physically able), for even just a day or two. :)

Valentine's Day through the eyes of my kiddos...

Well, today was one of the rare moments where I was able to step back a little bit and observe my kiddos as they celebrated Valentine's Day together. First, we wrote about what "love" means to us. Here are a few things they wrote...
LOVE IS...

• considerate of others
• letting go of your anger
• family and friends, hugs and kisses
• not hurting your animals
• colorless (yes, one of them came up with that on their own!)
• giving presents to people and being nice

Another cute moment today was during Math. I had given the kids each a box of "sweethearts" to sort and graph. I was just walking around the kids letting them do their own thing when I overheard them whispering...

"These hearts are inappropriate for school!"
"Yeah, this one says 'FIRST KISS'!"
"Oh yeah?!? Well, mine says 'HEY BABY'!"

hehe--I guess the kids are still innocent about some things ;)