Cells, tissues, organs, & organ systems

Today I needed to teach the levels of organization in an organism. 

Normally a very dry, notes heavy topic.

But, luckily I work with brilliant teachers who create out of the box labs.

And with the help of a LEGO set my students learned that:

cells join with other like cells to make tissues

and two or more tissues combine to make an organ

multiple organs are joined together to make an organ system

and organ systems must work together to make functional organism

In the words of my students, AWESOME LAB!

AWESOME DAY!

At 4.5 months:

Our girl is measuring 26 inches and weighing in at 14 pounds, 14 ounces. She is teething and two teeth are breaking through. She can roll over and scoot backwards on her play-mat. She is cooing, squealing, screaming, and making vowel sounds. She can hold her own bottle now and loves to take it in and out of her mouth. We got the green light from our pediatrician to start rice cereal and stage one foods. She is loving rice cereal and she has been awesome at trying new foods. So far Miss Pip is a fan of apples and sweet potatoes. Avocado, bananas, and peas are on the menu for this weekend. Pip is still not a fan of her carseat or the crib. She does not like to be confined or contained. She is a mover and a shaker. Oh and the added bonus, she looks more like me now!

Fondue Thursday

I am starting a new tradition at Casa Republican. 

It involves wine, cheese, veggies and Parks & Recreation on NBC. 

Tonight I made Pizza fondue and it can be made in the crock-pot.

In a crock-pot combine:

1 jar of marinara sauce

1 cup of Italian cheese blend

1 cup of parmesan cheese

1/4 cup of fresh basil

1/4 cup of white wine

2 cloves of garlic

I served our fondue with:

zucchini

green bell pepper

grape tomatoes

Italian bread

pineapple

steamed broccoli

The fondue tastes like liquid pizza and it is amazing with the pineapple.

Trust me!

And in other news, this little girl discovered her toes!

She has spent the last two nights trying her hardest to get those tiny toes in her mouth. 

The scary part is, that she is just flexible enough to actually do it.

Turtles can breathe through their butts!

Yes, you read the title correctly and believe it's true!

We learned that factoid and many many others during Saturday game night. 

And P.S. even with Pip stealing ALL of my cards. I won!

Sophie the giraffe

Mr. R. and I were told this was THE TEETHING toy to have. 

So with a gift card in hand we traveled to Toys-R-Us to spend $20 on a squeaking giraffe. 

Mr. R. was skeptical. Ok, I was skeptical too. 

But let me tell you, this giraffe is worth the hype. Baby ora-gel has nothing on the giraffe. 

 Our drooly teething girl loves Sophie!

Uncle Mike is in town!

Please excuse our silence on the blog right now.

Uncle Mike is in town!

And as you can tell, someone thinks he is pretty awesome.

And they called it puppy love!

I don't know how she does it.

I was invited to see the movie Saturday, but life got in the way and I sadly missed movie day and Olive Garden breadsticks. I seriously LIVE for those breadsticks and I haven't had them in three years. I was one sad girl Saturday.

As much as I wish I had seen the movie and had some girl time. The truth is my Saturday and my weekend were lovely. Dinners were made, TV was watched, walks were taken, the house was spotless for a good 30 minutes, and laundry was washed AND folded. I was feeling pretty smug. 

And then Monday rolled around. My baby is teething and drooling and screaming and not sleeping. Dinner was reheated and ended up a tad burnt. Laundry was done, but the garage door stayed open all night. Papers were not graded. Emails and voicemails were not returned. I went to bed exhausted only to be woken up 3 hours later for cuddles and feeding and lullabies.

Today I had my clothes all laid out and my lunch was packed. I woke up on time and was ready to leave for work 15 minutes early. But the baby spit up and my shirt was covered. And then she cried for me not to leave. I left my lunch in the fridge.

The babysitter had to leave early and I arrived home late.

I look at families with two and three children with mothers who work and still make dinner and do laundry and look put together and have time to workout. I am amazed.
 I say to myself, I don't know how she does it.

And then I remember that we are all in the same boat. We all have weekends or days when we are on top. And then we have a case of the Mondays or Tuesdays or Wednesdays that being up back to reality. Being a Mom and a wife is hard.

But it's also pretty darn awesome.
And even though sometimes I am covered in spit-up, without lunch, eating burnt dinner, down to my last clean shirt... someone out there might be saying "I don't know how she does it" about me. 

101 way to celebrate FALL!

This has been going around the blogosphere and I decided to jump on the band wagon. I think accomplishing just 10% of these amazing ideas would be an awesome way to celebrate my favorite season. 

At casa Republican we are hoping to:

• go to a football game
• drink apple cider
• tailgate
• make pumpkin soup
• stargaze
• host a scavenger hunt
• make caramel apples
• go to a pumpkin patch
• host a chili cook-off
• go on haunted hayride
• make our own halloween costumes
• take fall photos
• go to the cornmaze

We're ready to cheer on America's Team!

Her Dad is already teaching her to say Romo and "Go Team Go"!

 A few facts about Mr. R. and his team.

1. He has loved the cowboys since 1990.

2. He saw them play in Dallas 11 years ago and he's chomping at the bit to see the new stadium.

 3. His favorite player is Emmitt Smith.

4. He owns four Dallas jerseys along an assortment of other Dallas clothing items.

5. Six of our Christmas tree ornaments are devoted to the Cowboys.

 6. Mr. R. and his Mom are the only Dallas fans in his family. The rest of the Republican clan root for the Dirty Birds.

7. Even though he wears a Romo jersey he believes Aikman is the best quarterback.

 8. His favorite game is anytime they beat the Eagles.

9. According to Mr. R, Thanksgiving dinner must be eaten before Dallas plays. Dessert may be served during the game. Preferably pumpkin pie. 

10. His prediction for this season, 10 and 6.

Here's hoping for a win today! 

I am SOOOOOO ready for fall!

This morning I woke up at 7AM, let the dogs out, and the thermometer registered 73 degrees. Can I get an AMEN! It's almost fall here in Florida. Sure, we still wear shorts until October and my flipflops will not leave my feet until Thanksgiving. 

But I am telling you, I smell fall in the air.

Today I am celebrating with pumpkin spice coffee. 

I am busting out my fall decorations.

I will be making soup and homemade bread.

I will be watching football.

Oh... and fall scented candles, they will be making an appearance too!

I love talking to Grandma!

Wait... I actually like trying to eat Daddy's iphone more.

Someone got new shoes!

Actually they are her very first pair! 

And of course, like almost everything else in our house, they are dachshund themed. 

I would like to tell you that Pip LOVED her new shoes and is wearing them right now, but the truth is they stayed on for thirty seconds and then she promptly kicked them off. 

Wordless Wednesday (Almost)

Her 1st mohawk!

And let's hope that all her future mohawks will also be made out of soap!

Back to school night

Today I put on my fancy pencil skirt and my red shoes.

I rehearsed a powerpoint presentation making sure I could run through it in no more than six minutes.

I left school early drove home and returned to school only 2 hours later.

I shook over 100 hands.

I smiled until my cheeks hurt.

I realized how great the parents of my students are.

I gave out hugs to my students from last year and years past.

I met someone from my home town in NJ.

I realized that I really do like back to school night.

I love being a teacher (almost as much as I love a new box of Crayola).

And I really really love a new box of crayola crayons!