Fessler

Learning New Things

2010-07-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

Over the last few weeks we have stayed busy taking care of Ryan and working! Lareme celebrated his 30th birthday at Canyon Lake and I have been working more on my photography! I put on a surprise party for Lareme at canyon Lake and we had a blast! We ended up staying out there a lot longer than expected! I'm glad that so many could make it and enjoy his birthday! Around this time of year I begin to get sad and the school year starts back up. This year hit me a little harder than last. I really miss teaching but I know that I am where I'm suppose to be taking care of my little girl! Sometimes I just wished I was able to do both, but I know its better that I am home and if I did go back to work I would be wish I could spend more time with my baby girl!

We have had one hot summer but over the course of these hot days we have had a few good days! The other night was nice so we took Ryan to the park. Here are some pictures of her swinging! At first she as sure of it (probably because its been so long since we have been to the park) but once she was warmed up she loved it!

Over the last few weeks we have notice so much growth in Ryan!

Potty Training 101

So this week we have experienced major progress with Ryan's potty training (aka EC) The other day I bought some little panties for her to wear around the house and she has been doing awesome! She usually will go potty 3 or 4 times a day and have an accident or two a day! The best thing is that we only go through 2 diapers a day!! Ryan has officially learned to communicate with us when she needs to go potty! She will either crawl to the bathroom and sit in front of it or she will crawl on my legs and grunt! It's amazing how much she is picking up! She now cries when she has an accident and I'm not sure why. If she understands that she is suppose to go in the potty and is upset or just doesn't like to be wet, either way she's showing progress! I thought her reaction was interesting because we have never shown any negative response to her having an accident. Kids are much smarter than we give them credit for!

New things that I'm doing

-Ryan has learned that she can drop things and pick them back up. Over the last few days she has been picking up food and dropping it to just pick it up again to put in her mouth! She has also discovered the cup holder on her tray and likes to put her food in there and take it out and then put it in there again.

-Ryan is now on a roll with walking with assitance. We have a little stroller to push and she loves pushing it around. She's getting strong and I bet will be walking before we realize it!

-Ryans has learned how to turn pages in a book! Its amazing how quickly they learn! Ryan and I spend at least 20 m inutes a day reading and she loves it! (I think I enjoy it more though)

-When Ryan talks to us she now will say "Aie ya" Whatever that means but she says it all day long! Its pretty cute!

My new favorites

-Loves to hold her bath toys while she sits on the toliet!

-Her Wheat Thins, Dorritos, Veggie Straws

My new discoveries

-Ryan's discovered that she LOVES pickles! We were eating subs the other night and she devoured the pickle given to us!! She loved it!

-She's found her voice! For the last few weeks Ryan has been screaming! Just out of the blew you will hear her high pitched squeal.

-She has learned that she can feed her Daddy food! She loves to do it too!

-She has learned that she can CLIMB and hang over the couches and beds! She loves climbing. She's my little monkey!

The silliest thing Ryan's doing

-Today Ryan was following an ant with her eyes! Then she decided to chase it! While crawling around she would try and smash it! It was so cute!

-Ryan now has decided that she can only eat a snack if she has one in each hand. Its so funny! She won't even attempt to eat the snack until she has at least two!

2010-07-03T22:16:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went down to down town Mesa for the 4th of July Celebration. Happy 4th btw! We also went to go see the Founding Fathers Presentation! Our friend Helen is an amazing photographer and she was presenting her new collection of Captured Miracles at the Mesa Center for the Arts. They are amazing!! You can see her work here. Anyways Ryan was all decked out in her Red, White and Blue but I didn't take any picture, however I did today! Not the same outfit but she is still cute :)
Doesn't that face melt your heart!! This is how she looks at her Daddy when she knows she's in trouble!!! Now who's in trouble...ahaha my daddy's girl might get away with more than she should!
I couldn't help myself!! I had to take a picture of these cute shoes!! Ah I love little girls!! Aren't they fun!

This week Ryan started clapping! She loves to clap. Whenever she hears music or someone acts excited she gets a big smile on her face and claps! :) Ryan also is beginning to crawl really fast! She is all over the place now!

I know many people think I'm crazy but I have started to potty train Ryan. All I've been doing is when she is getting ready to poop I put her on the potty! I have had incrediable success with this so far! For the last 9 days she has only had one stinky diaper and that was only because we didnt have a bathroom nearby. The best thing of all is she stopped herself until we got home and finished when I was able to put her on the potty! I really think she is making the connection! It's amazing!! This next week we are going to start working on the sign for potty so she can communicate to me when she needs to go! Wish me luck!!

So I've been reading up on this early potty training thing because so many people think I'm crazy and I found out that in other countries (China, Africa) where diapers are not readily available, babies are potty trained by the age 1. I also discovered that babies were potty trained by 18 month in America before the 1940's when Pampers came out. I guess when Pampers came out they had a Doctor endorse the fact that early potty training could cause pyschological issues. However recent studies show there is no negative effect on early potty training if done properly. I also read that some people begin to potty train at 3 months!! Thats crazy! Its all very interesting! So I'm going to try some of the new tactic I read about this week and see how it goes!!

At 9 months I have discovered and learned some of Ryan's favorites

Favorite toys- Touch'n Feel books, ribbon, combs, and paper (notice how 3 of the 4 are not baby toys)

Favorite Food- Bread, Cheese quesadilla, CHOCOLATE! She tried spagetti and mac'n cheese and loved them both! Yogurt and pears!

Favorite things to do- READ, Play with daddy and sit on his shoulders, Hang upside down, and the newest CLAP

Ryan Nicole!!

2010-06-27T19:38:00.000-07:00

Okay! Okay! I know I have been horrible with updating! Everything in our household has been going well! Lareme is staying busy with work and his calling and being a dad! I've been busy staying home with Ryan and loving every moment of it! Since Ryan's birth I have been working on photography and am in the process of building a blog and have now created prices and what not! It's a slow process and it's hard to charge for it! HAHA! I consider myself pretty cheap so when it comes to charging people I want to make sure it's well worth their money! Well I'll let you all know when I have my blog created. Other than that Lareme and I have just been enjoying our little one!! and loving every moment of it! Well here is goes! This is a brief overview of the last 9 months with my beautiful baby girl!! She has grown a ton and her little personality is coming out!!

Here are Ryan's 9 month pictures! Lareme just painted this blue backdrop for me and I wanted to try it out!! I LOVE IT!! Ryan loved these pictures because she LOVES being naked!! It's the funniest thing! A total different girl comes out when she is naked! She's a wild, crazy girl and she is silly! She will just laugh and laugh, roll over, climb on you, crawl away, and then laugh again!! Boy do I love this girl! At your 9 month appt you were 27 3/4 inches long (70%) and 15.2lbs (4%). You are just long and skinny!

June 25 -9 month Pictures

I think this age is by far my favorite! Although as she gets bigger I just keep saying that! I just love getting to know her and seeing this happy little girl! She is SO happy. One of my favorite things that she does is if someone else is holding her and she sees Lareme or I she will kick her legs and mover her arms with excitement! I love that I know she loves us!! and I love that I know that she knows we LOVE her!! You love to babble and talk! You now say dada, just in time for Fathers day!

The day before Father's Day Ryan decided to start throwing tantrums. She has now decided that she is a daddy's girl and wants him when she wants him. She usually screams for about 35 to 45 minutes and then will stop crying. She will have1-2 of these a day! WOW she really wants her daddy. Well this didn't bother me so much because it always occured at home so I usually would let her scream it out, let her know I love her but I wont pick her up until she stops crying, well needless to say she decided to throw one of these tantrums at church. Oh no! It was horrible. We went to another ward to hear Lareme speak and she saw him in the stands and decided that she wanted him then. It was the worst and I was so embarrassed! She screamed for a full 40 minutes! She was screamng so loudly that people were coming out the their classes to make sure she was okay! I didn't know what to do! I walked outside, I tried distracting her, and tried holding her, I tried singing to her..NOTHING worked! Well eventually I think she wore herself out and she stopped crying! Thankfully :)

June 6th, 2010 - 8 Month Pictures

Okay here is my little one at 8 months! At this stage of your life you just started to crawl! It was amazing all of a sudden you started scoot one day and two days later you were all over the place...literally all over the place! Then the next thing I know you are pulling yourself up! Now when I come get you in the morning you are now sitting up waiting for me.

8 month pictures - 6/14

You love to play peek a boo! You love to put anything in your mouth now!! You don't care if its hair, grass, food, string, or whatever! You just want it!! You sure take after your daddy! You love to talk!! You now say Moma--your first word, I might add :)--baba, bobo, nana!Your first time in pig tails. Your hair isn't quite long enough but you sure looked cute with them in!In May you started running a fever! After running a fever for several days I finally took you in! You had an ear infection and they put you on antibiotics. Well 7 days later you got a really high fever and broke out in a rash! You were covered head to toe! It didn't seem to bother you! You were so good over this 2 week span of not feeling well!

April 24th-7 month Pictures Here is my beautiful little girl! All pretty in pink! I think these two pictures sum Ryan up so well! She loves to observe people and she stares right into your eyes ever since she was a little girl! She also loved to sit up straight! Aunt Jenny also jokes about how her spine doesn't bend because her back is always so straight...She's so prim and proper! Ryan is a very good baby!! She sleeps well through the night and rarely cries! At this point in your life you love your mom! If someone else is holding you, you just cry and cry! You just want your mom! You have now discovered that you like cold food! You are now eating yogurt..which you love and I have been making you pancakes as well! This is the month that you tried chocolate for the first time! Needless to say, YOU LOVE IT!Daddy always loves to teach you new things!! This is one that he loved to watch you do! Although it was pretty cute it definately wasn't fun for Mommy to try and feed you when you would just spit it right back out by humming your lips together! You catch on to new things very quickly. Look at those two little teeth! They are so cute!

April 11th- 6 month!

Don't those dark eyes just get you! I love this picture! (it was the first picture I took with my new lens) Over the last month and a half I have struggle with trying to get Ryan to eat baby food or cereal! She just wouldn't do it! I was determined to get her to eat it! Needless to say...I lost this battle! I officially stopped trying and now my little turkey eat refried beans, cheese, tortillas, rice crackers, etc. I can pretty much get her to eat anything as long as I mix cheese in it! She likes mostly dry food! I have had a hard time getting her to eat fruit and vegetables until I discovered freeze dried food. Let me not forget to mention that you take after your Nana. You take a good 1 1/2 hrs to 2 hrs to eat! Yes you definately take you time!You love riding on daddy's shoulders!!! Its your favorite thing!! You like to hit his head while your up there!Look at those teeth! They popped through on March 30th!We drove up to Utah for General Conference this year! This year General Conference was held on Easter Weekend so we spent Easter in Utah with Great Grandma and Grandpa! You got an Easter basket full of goodies! I must say your favorite thing was the light up tooth brush..which you still love to play with and then the plastic grass! ahah you loved making a mess of it! Great Grandma loved your little bunny ears!! You also had your 2nd experience of being babysat by cousin Mindi!! You were sure good for her! Conference was awesome. Katie and Jordan came with us!I had to get a picture of you in Daddy's Garden!This is one of you official 6 month pictures! Cousin Ashlynne was sure nice to let you borrow her tutu! I must say you looked pretty cute in it!Ocassionally Cousin Remi comes over and play! You to love to play together!! It will be so much more fun when your are older! You are so lucky to have so many cousins close to your age!

At your 6 month appt you were 26 inches long (50%) and 13lbs (5%)

5 months- February 24th

This month you began sitting up on your own!! All by yourself! Your Favorite thing to play with is paper! And boy do you love it when daddy gives you new paper to play with! You can roll around for hours with it!This is Ryan and cousin Remi and Reagan's 2nd Birthday party! (You two were wearing matching onsies :)4 months -January 28This month you started rolling over all the time. You also had your first taste of baby cereal and then later baby food! You did NOT like it! When I tried feeding you green beans you just cried and cried! You were not happy! I should have known better to wait to try and feed you, it was just the Dr. seemed to be concerned about your size! Me knowing that you would be small wasn't really concerned but thr Doctors response about how I should strt feeding you solids made me reconsider! By now you are sleeping a good 12 hrs each night! Thank you for letting your Mommy sleep! At your 4 month appt you were 24 1/2 inches long (60%) and 10lbs 13oz (10%)

3 months-December 24th

This is Ryan and Remi on Christmas Eve. Nana gave them matching jamies! Every Christmas Eve we go over to Lareme's parents house and have dinner! After dinner we reenact the navity. This year Ryan got to be baby Jesus! She sure looked cute laying in that manger!

2 months oldThe Fessler Family with Santa (Grandpa Nelson)Christmas Pictures December 4 (Ryan is 2 months old)

Ryan was blessed on Decemeber 6th 2009. We were so lucky to have Great Grandma and Grandpa come to her blessing! My mom gave me my blessing dress when I was little. Unfortunately, I was born in the mid 80's and I'm sure most of you can recall the dreaded lace that covered the dresses up at the top. Well my dress was cover! So to make the dress special for Ryan's day I took off the lace and put some beading on the empire waist! It turned out pretty good....much better than all that lace :) It was special to see my little girl dressed in all white being blessed by her daddy! The most memorable thing to me that you were blessed that day with was that you would be an example to your parents. When I heard that I thought to myself that I must have a special little girl to be an example to her daddy! Ryan is sure lucky to be blessed with such a wonderful dad! I am so blessed to have Lareme as my husband! He is truly a wonderful man! I could not ask for more in a spouse or father of my child! I was sure blessed to have such a good sleeper! By this time you were already sleeping through the night! You were sleeping 8-10 hrs by now! At your 2 month appt you were 23 3/4 inches long (75%) and 9lbs 14oz (10%).

This is when Mommy started reading to you everyday. You love to read!You experienced your first snow storm! We drove up to Utah in November to go to Cousin Nick's wedding! That weekend you met a lot of family for the first time. You had your first vacation-which you did awesome on the 13 hr drive! and you had your first family vacation! You also were babysat by cousin Mindi for the first time. You were an angel! I think leaving you was much harder on me than you! You sure had a lot of first this trip!

At 5 weeks you rolled over the first time! You rolled from your belly to your back! Then a month later you rolled from your back to your belly! Both times your daddy was gone :( You tend to do exciting things when Daddy is gone!

1 Month- October 31, 2009My cute little giraffe!You and cousin Ashlynne! You two sure do love each other! While you were still in my belly, you would kick me like crazy when I was holding Ashlynne!

3 weeks oldAt 2 weeks you were 20 3/4 inches long (60%) and 6lbs 4 oz (10%)

Welcome Baby Ryan! You are sure loved!You have a home of love and laughter!! Our First Family picture! You are 8 days old!

Look at that beautiful baby! You loved to just stare at me! You were a good baby from the start!

She's Here!

2009-09-29T17:08:00.001-07:00

Life has been busy in the Fessler household! Over the last few months Lareme and I have been preparing for Ryan's arrival. We have completed her room, got maternity pictures, and a 3d ultrasound! She finally arrived on Sept 17th at 9:49PM. She was 6lbs 9ozs and 19inches long. She has a little head..only 12 1/4 inches around the same size as her chest!! The delivery went really well and fast...thankfully! We have been enjoying are new little one since her arrival. Here are some pictures of Ryan Nicole Fessler! She is absolutely beautiful and looks so much like her daddy! She is such a content baby and we have truly been blessed to have her come to our home. We just had family pictures done last week so I will be sure to post those as soon as I get them!

Pregnancy Brain

2009-05-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

On top of all the "wonderful" things of pregnancy there was one thing that I thought I was bound and determined to not be affected by...if it really happened. So many people warned me of this "pregnancy brain" that you get, however I just thought they were crazy. I have a wonderful memory how in the world could my pregnancy take that away! Well I think I spoke way to soon! Here are a few of the "fun" experiences I have so far encountered that my husband thinks is hilarious...I just don't think so!

1) A few weeks ago I was heading to a YW meeting and on my way there I completely forgot where the house I was going to was. Let's remember I have been there several times before and yet I still had no idea. I was lost! I had to call Lareme to give me directions!

2) Today I went to school to drop off some things I forgot yesterday. As I got out of my car, I went to the back seat to look for some papers. From the time I got out of my car to go the the back seat I had already forgotten where my keys were. I looked for about 10-15 minutes and then called Lareme to see if he could help me find my keys! After about 20 minutes I found them under some papers in my back seat! Who knew? (Not to mention this whole week, I dedicated to cleaning out my classroom and everyday this week I forgot something I was suppose to bring...go figure)

3) I was cleaning off the table and I ran into some letters I was suppose to send to all my YW parents...oh wait I was suppose to send them a month ago! WOW I have really lost it.

4) For the last semester my students got used to finding all the items I need to teach. It was a regular daily occurance that I couldn't find something I just put down. The worst part is when you have parents in the room and you want to be on top of your game but you can't remember anything for the life of you.

The list can go on...these are just a few of the wonderful experiences of pregnancy! Haha I'm trying to make it light since it hasn't been the best experience for me. I am officially on my 1st week of not really being sick...it only took 22 weeks to get there. Now instead of being sick I get to feel like a beach whale each morning when I wake up! haha!

On a more positive note I get to watch my tummy bounce up and down as my little Ryan punching and kicks me. It's actually quite amuzing! When I really want to get her going I just gotta eat some ice cream or candy and I'm good to go. Lareme got to feel her kick for the first time last week which was kind of exciting. He's not to sure of the whole thing yet, (He got a little freaked out haha) but I'm sure he'll get used to it after awhile.

Here is a picture of Lareme and I on Easter. It was a little over a month ago. I haven't really taken many pictures of my belly, but as requested here is one of the few. When I have a more up to date picture I'll make sure I add it.

Fessler Happenings

2009-05-24T21:23:00.000-07:00

So school is officially over! I taught my last day of first grade on Friday! It was a bitter sweet...I'm excited to start my life as a stay home mom but I'm sad to leave teaching and watching my kiddos grow but physically and academically. You really begin to get attached to your kids! So this next week its doing all the final paperwork and close out of my classroom and I am officially job free! Well kind of...I'm going to put in some hours at my previous job each week so I guess I'm not completely job free...that day won't come until little Ryan Nicole is here.

So as I begin this life of being partially job free, these are the goals I have set...lets see how I do
1) Learn to sew
2) Deep clean my house
3) Paint the doors and floorboards of my house
4) Upgrade the kitchen
5) Possible get our house ready to sell...if we find something within the stake
6) Paint and decorate Ryan's room
7) Begin the plan for my emergent literacy preschool that will open in Fall 2010

But we'll see...hopefully all goes well and I can say all were accomplished!

So now to the whole moving scenario! Yes, Lareme and I have been talking about moving forever and have been waiting for the market to drop so we could finally buy a home at a reasonable price. Well what time is better than now...people need to rent...we have a great house to rent and tons of houses are under forclosure...well let's just say all didn't work out like I planned. For those that don't know the whole story here is the basis...we prayed about it...felt like we should move sometime in August (right before Ryan comes..doesn't sound like fun). All the houses I was looking at were futher south and that would be out of the stake and when the stake president found out he told us to seriously pray about it. So Lareme being the obedient guy he is does this and feels that we shouldn't move..Little does he know he is about to be put in the high counsel. So long story short we are back to square one to see if we should move, but obviously somewhere within the stake. So we'll see...

Today was a very spiritual experience as Lareme was ordained a high preist and then set apart to be in the high counsel. The spirit was very strong in the room. I really began thinking about how special this little baby inside me must be to come into a home with parents who love her and to have a father as spiritual as Lareme. He is going to be an amazing dad. Sometimes I wonder how did I get so lucky to marry such a righteous young man.

I just want to thank all my family who came out to support Lareme and had dinner with us afterwards. It was really nice to spend time with everyone, since I don't get to very often since school always kept me so busy!

and yes I will post prego pictures eventually... I just don't have the engery to download them as we speak.

It's Official!

2009-04-04T17:09:00.001-07:00

So Lareme went to my doctors appt on Monday and then headed over to see Lareme's older sister Siera at work. Well Si got me in for a quick Ultrasound to see if we could find out the sex of the baby for sure and sure enough! ITS A GIRL!! so it is now official that Ryan Nicole will be here in September!

Were my motherly insticts correct?

2009-03-20T19:18:00.001-07:00

So I got an ultrasound today, really it was just something fun to see the baby and see if we could find out what the baby is...I'm way too impatient. Anyways, based on the ultrasound the tech said that everything looked good (I didn't have a rad reading because it was just something fun to do today ( I used to work at an imagine facility and am so lucky to have a sister in law a manager at one)) It was kind of interesting to hear the tech say the baby is really long. He was all, "Is your husband tall?"...Me: "NO! He's 5'3' " haha well maybe the baby with take after grandpa. Anyways I got some really good profile views of the baby! Technology now days is phenomenal! Lareme says the baby has his nose :) So apparently, based on the ultrasound I am 6 days further along than I thought. So hopefully that means the nausea will go away faster. Well finally we got down to whether or not it was a boy or a girl! Technically the tech cannot be 100% sure, but the tech said................................................he is 75% sure that it is a.......................................................girl! So we just may be welcoming little Ryan Nicole into our home in September! :)

Lareme and I both could have sworen we were having a boy but apparently are parental insticints were probably not correct! I will be getting another ultrasound in a few weeks to confirm! Well see then!

Here are some of the imagines! I took a picture of them so they aren't as good as they really are but they still look pretty good!

Look at that little face! I can't believe how amazing this imagines are!

3 months and still counting!

2009-03-16T07:42:00.000-07:00

Lareme and I are very excited to announce that we will be expecting our first little one this September! Lareme has been waiting for the twelve week mark to finally tell everyone! I guess I'm such a mean spouse to make him wait a whole 8 more weeks before he told anyone, needless to say Lareme is extremely excited. So far pregnancy has been horrible for me, however I wouldn't say it has been nice either. I just keep telling myself it could be worse. Lareme has been a trooper throughout the last few weeks as I haven't known what I want to eat but I was hungry. Haha I know many of you guys know exactly what I'm talking about. It's by far the most frustrating thing about pregnancy. NOTHING and I mean NOTHING sounds good to eat and what you used love to eat no longer tastes good, yet you have to eat or you get sicker! The joys of pregnancy. Well luckily I believe that I have reached the point to of feeling better....well I hope so. I have felt pretty good the last couple of days so lets hope this continues.
So last Friday, I told my class that I was going to be having a baby and the kids were estatic. Not only did they tell any teacher they came in contact with, but they were writing me notes throughout the day! "I'm excited for your baby" "I'm excited for you" "I want to see your baby" The kids were so cute about it all :)

Break Time!

2008-12-28T20:00:00.000-08:00

So I need to get better at updating this! My last update was forever ago, however life with the Fessler's really isn't all that exciting. Here is a little break down of all the happenings! Nothing really exciting! We are kind of a boring couple! haha

Decemeber 1st- Lareme gave his Yard Maintanence business away! (just focusing on insurace)
December 19th- Dawn is officially finished her first semester of school! (I am half way done!!)
Decemeber 20-Jan 4th- School Break for Dawn! :) best news yet!

So I have officially had my first week of break from school and boy has it been nice! Well kind of! I definately miss my kiddos and working.... not grading the papers...but having something specific to do each day. I really do miss my kids! They are all so great and special! I really do have a good class and I love all my kids, even the ones I have to carry to the office each week! I don't know why but sometimes I just think about what great people each of them are going to turn out to be. I can see that they are going to be such good, husbands, wive, moms, dads, missionaries. It's such a sweet experience to watch these kids learn and grow. I learn from them too!

One of my favorite stories:
So a few weeks ago one of my students said, "I go to Banner's church" and then another student said "I go to Banner's church too" and then another and another. lets just say half of my class is LDS. Then, another student was all, " I don't go to church, what do you do." and then my little Bradley looks the little boy who asked and confidently said, "We learn about Heavenly Father!" It was the sweetest experience to watch these young kids be missionaries already! I was so proud of him! It just melted my heart! It just makes me think to myself, why is it so easy for these kiddos to share the gospel and so difficult for me. We all really do need to be like children! They are so loving and humble!

All break I really haven't done much, just relaxed, cleaned my house (boy did it need it), and spent time with the family. I have actually enjoyed being home and adding more home decor and baking (which I never have time for) and making breakfast, lunch, and dinner for my husband! Boy is he spoiled right now....haha he hasn't ever gotten that! Our whole marriage I have been glued to work and/or school! Now I have a break I don't think he knows what to do with himself. He is finding it a little more difficult to stay focused working while I'm home. (He works from home) But its really been great to have all this time together!

Decemeber 24th
We went over to my in-laws for our traditional reenactment of Jesus' birth. My mother-in -law has created a whole skit for all the grandkids to take part in and we all sing songs between each part. The little ones all dress up! It is actually very cute and the kids always do so well!

December 25th
Merry Christmas! Lareme and I just spent the day going back and forth to family member's house's on Christmas! I spent the morning baking cookies and making homemade rolls while Lareme made German pancakes in the Dutch oven. Mmmm they were soo good! Lareme's sister and husband came over for breakfast! It is a Fessler traditional to eat German pancakes on Christmas morning...and its a traditional I am sure to keep! We also spent the morning watching the Today Show. One of my kiddos went to NY a few weeks ago while they were filming the Today Show for Christmas Day. He was standing outside holding a sign that say We made it to NY from AZ. Hi to my friends in Mrs. Fessler's Class! His mom said he was shown, however I was bummed because I didn't see him. It was so sweet though! He was so excited to tell! Kids are soo great aren't they! We had a great Christmas and we hope you all did as well! I really miss the excitment of Christmas morning, though.....Brooke says it will come back once we have little ones...and I'm sure it will. haha We also went to see the Tom Cruise movie....not my choice, the guys choice, go figure. It was pretty good, but I definately wouldn't pay to see it again.

December 27th
Lareme and I went to see some of my old friends from High School yesterday! It was good to see everyone and see how everyone is growing up! It's so weird to see everyone and know that they have careers or are in grad school! It was really good to catch up...however my poor husband was soo bored...he was a good sport though! Thanks hunny!

School has started!

2008-08-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

So I am well on my way into the third week of school and I must say I have an all new respect for teachers! I knew teaching was hard but I never realized it was this much work! I probably make it more work than I need to, but I want to do everything "right" so it takes me a little longer! Anyways I love my kiddos! They are great...they are still pretty much kinders but I'm working with it and in due time they will be wonderful! I just can't wait to transition and have all my kids go straight to the floor without needing to tell me something or ask me somthing! And I definately can't wait to tell them to do independent work and they can remember the directions :) Really overall it has been a wonderful experience and definately an experience I need before children :) I have learned a lot these last few weeks and I don't think I could have learned it any other way. I am grateful for this opportunity I have to work and to help teach these little ones! I really do have an amazing class, really the problem is I'm just trying to figure it all out. My poor kids have had 4 different seating arrangements within 2 weeks. I couldn't figure out how I wanted to have their desks, so I could eliminate all the talking. Hahaha I am learning! I had them all in a U shape for awhile and I just placed them back in groups for tomorrow. We'll see how they handle it, or should I say how I handle it. I just really like having them in group so I can do more cooperative learning activities but man my kids just don't stop talking! Hopefully my positive reinforcement strategies take a toll so I can leave them how they are finally. We'll see!

Well enough has been said about me! Lareme just recently bought himself a little pickup to get around when he isn't using his big truck. He has really become dedicated to being "prepared" so he has been looking into wheat mills and solar pannels and all that stuff. Whatever makes him happy I guess haha! He has been working hard and has been very supportive to a wife who is never home and never cleans! I am definately lucky to have such an understanding husband!

Lareme and I will be having a visitor in September. Lareme's cousins Josephine will be coming from England and staying with us for a few months! It should be interesting and fun! I'm looking forward to her stay, so if you know of any cute boys that are in the 18-22 range let me know :)

Memories

2008-07-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! Since this is our family blog, feel free to leave a memory about any of the four of us.

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.It's actually pretty cool (and funny) to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. :)

Life of a teacher!

2008-07-26T07:54:00.001-07:00

So the last three weeks I have been busy with my life as a teacher. I officially have all respect for teachers that decorate their classrooms! Lareme has also been a great help between taking furniture over, cutting out file folder games, punching out letters, laminating, and coloring the dreaded file folder games. I have also gotten help from my family...thankfully :) I started my contract on Wednesday and have been doing the finishing touches on my classroom. Here are some pictures of what my classroom looks like so far. This is a picture of my back wall. I am still in the process of getting posters for my reading group area. This is a picture of my back corner and my lack of storage. I must say I miss the whole wall of storage that was available in gilbert. To the right of my sink I will be putting our classroom pet frog...notice its is the only white wall.

This is the other corner, my calendar wall and my library. Yes I know the borders aren't straight :) I am too short to be putting this stuff up. It adds character. I am still in the process of getting some last minute stuff for the calendar as well...but it is almost finished.

This is a picure from the doorway. In the corner I have my library.

This is a picture of the front of my classroom. I have two white boards and a smart board in the center. Below them I have three centers and shape posters.
Here is my corner..which obviously has not yet been finished...I have a large 4'X3.5' memory board that I made on the floor that I will be putting up in that big white space. I have still to straighten up my area but its coming slowly but surely. :)

This is the last wall...I have my computer station, writing center, and star student bulletin. I just bought more posters for my writing station :)

Here we are at the entrance/exit of my classroom. On the back of the bookshelf I have a frog poster that I will put a morning message or directions on for when the kids come in first thing in the morning. I have also have the four color of lily pads for my behavior management, my job chart and my froggie hall passes.

You have officially toured my entire classroom haha. This is where I'm at now but my open house is on Friday so I will update the final pictures.

Good-Bye Long Hair...and so more updates

2008-07-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

So I decided I needed a change in March and I decided to get hair extentions, not knowing how I'd them. Well lets just say I have really enjoyed having the long hair except for the long periods of time spent next to the blow dryer. Well anyway my 3 months of having extentions have passed and I have to either take them out completely or take them out and then spend another 9 hrs puting them back in, so I have decided to take them out a little while. Maybe the long hair will come back in the winter. Anyways I'm sad to say that I will have short hair again. It's weird, I never knew why people with long hair got so attached to it...haha and now I'm one, but short hair is always fun too.

So Portland/Vancouver was fun! It was absoultely beautiful there! I loved it! If Lareme and I didn't have some much going on for us in Arizona I would most definately consider moving there. I couldn't believe how green it was there. They had flowers everywhere and there were evern flower pots overflowing with flowers on all the light poles. Also, the people there were extremely nice. Everyone made an effort to talk to you...which is definately a big change from Arizonans I must say. If you ever get the chance to go to Oregon or Washington I highly reccomend it.

Last but not least I got some good news the other day! I get my keys to my classroom on the 7th! Not only do I get the keys but I get to pick out my classroom! I'm so stoked!

It's Summer Time

2008-06-26T21:10:00.001-07:00

The Fessler home never seems to slow down! We have done so much this summer, but yet we feel like we haven't done all that much. Here is an update in the Fessler home. This last month Lareme had the opportunity to go to GilChrist with the Scouts and I had the opportunity to go to Girls Camp as a YCL Cabin Mom. What an experience it is to be a leader and do the Lords work. I must say girls camp really help me understand why certain people receive certain callings. I was able to experience how the Lord touches lives through others. Recently, Lareme's sister got married and I have continued to do the shoot my last few weddings...thankfully. I have also stayed pretty busy with weddings and I'm heading to Portland tomorrow to shoot my last one! I must say shooting wedding are A LOT of work! Our most exciting news this month is that I got a job teaching 1st grade at Ellsworth Elementary! I am so stoked! It is the school and grade level that I wanted. I have been very busy gathering school supplies and Lareme cannot wait for me to get my keys so I can get all the boxes out of the house. Speaking of which I get to pick out my classroom on July 7th :)! Lareme is staying busy with the insurance and yard maintance businesses and I am back working at SimonMed until mid July.

A busy weekend!

2008-05-11T22:29:00.000-07:00

Yay it is finally over! I am officially an ASU Graduate!

I graduated on Friday morning!

My wonderful grandparents came down for my graduation! I would like to thank everyone for coming and all of there support. My familly all got together and made all the delicious food for my graduation party! What would I do without them. I also must thank my wonderful husband who put up with me through the last couple of years as I finished. As most of my family knows its not easy putting up with me when I'm stressing about school, but he did it! Thank you honey! I am so grateful to hof had this opportunity and for all the support from all my family, extend, immediate, and of coarse my in laws! They have all ben incredibly helpful!

(If you look closely I am wearing a lei that my mother-in-law made for me in ASU colors! It was so beautiful! I loved it!)

This was also a great time to see many of my friends from high school! It was good to see everyone and to have been able to stay in touch over the years! Thanks ladies!

Graduation!

2008-04-27T21:13:00.001-07:00

Life has been very busy in the Fessler household for the last few months. (obviously since I haven't updated my blog for a few months) Well I have just completed my student teaching. So with that I have been busy with lesson planning, studying for the AEPA, and interviewing. I will be graduating on May 9th. I am so glad to be done. Lareme has been busy working as always and the two of us continue to keep ourselves busy with cub scouts. I never thought that the cub scout program would take so much time and effort, but we love working with the boys. In the mean time, Lareme's sister Brooke had a little boy in February and his sister Sierra has been planning her wedding which will be on May 17th. So life has definately kept us busy!

Jacob's Here!

2008-01-04T14:49:00.000-08:00

Cristi finally had Jacob on January 2. He was 7 lbs. 8oz. He is very cute and has a lot of hair. He is just like his big sister Kayla and has her cute big cheeks. He also looks a lot like his big brother Daniel. Man is Danny excited to have a little brother. All the kids were so sad that they could goes see their newest family member in the hopital but they were happy to see the pictures and Grandma and I brought. Mom and baby are doing great!

Christmas makes me crafty!

2007-12-24T22:30:00.001-08:00

This year for christmas I made all the neices and nephews personal books bags. Each bag contained two books and some type of activity, stuff animal, or toy that went along with the theme. I thought finding these items was difficult, but personalizing the book bags took forever!!

If making those bags wasn't enough I thought of this great idea of mod podging all of these wood "believe" cut outs for all my sisters and sister in laws. Although it was fun I must say I am so grateful tomorrow is Christmas!! It's over!

Utah

2007-12-24T22:13:00.000-08:00

Lareme and I recently went to Utah for a couple of days to visit the family and go to the anual Nelson Family Christmas Party. It was good to see everyone and Lareme and I tried to make our rounds. There is just so many people to visit and so little time. The Christmas party was held at the Salem Community Center across from Salem Pond.

Christmas Pictures!!

2007-12-10T12:28:00.000-08:00

It's getting closer to Christmas and I can't wait! I love the holiday season! Lareme and I got our family pictures finally done so we can mail out our Christmas cards. We had to get our dog in there of coarse, we don't have any kids to show off so we might as well show off our cute puppies!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2007-11-22T08:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Turkey Day! This is one of my favorite holidays but it is mostly because after this holiday I can legally start decorating for Christmas!! YAY! (Well actually I wasn't able to hold out so I have my tree up...hehe) Well eat lots!

BTW I passed my insurance test!!! I couldn't believe it. I am now officially an AZ insurance Agent!

Halloween!

2007-10-31T14:47:00.001-07:00

So I have class tonight so there is no Halloween fun for Lareme and I, but we definately had our fun this weekend. Lareme and I were Punk Rockers and our friends Jourdan and Jake were Meredith and Michael on the Halloween epsiode of the Office. It was a blast! My favorite part was definately my bright pink hair and the fact that yes my husband is wearing my jeans!!