Christmas Pictures...At Long Last

We had a wonderful Christmas this year - Wyatt's first! And it was wonderful despite all the flus, and viruses, and colds that we passed around our home. (Leah actually didn't open many presents on Christmas she felt so awful, but it was wonderful simply because it is Christmas!) It is special to have a baby in your family on Christmas - it makes the wonder of the season that much more real.

Now, it's back to school and teaching and grinding through the winter months! Leah is learning her letters and wants to spell every word she thinks about. The other day we purchased items online for the kids new bunk beds, and while we were browsing around online she practiced her writing and made a list: blanket, sheets, carpet, rug... I love how much fun she thinks learning is. Wyatt is learning as well - he recently acquired a whole new set of sounds and is really starting to jabber away at us. I'll try to get a video...he just always tries to eat the camera so it's tricky to get a close-up these days! He doesn't sleep much these days, but I'm sure that will come with time. (WE HOPE!)

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Aaaaaaaattttttt Llllaaaaassstt....

Greetings friends, Thanks to all your prayers and support over these last months, my job search is finally over. It ended where it began, in the principal's office at Marian High School, a Catholic high school in Mishawaka, IN, about 5 minutes from our house. I will be teaching 11th and 12th grade English-- 4 sections of honors Junior composition, and 1 Senior world literature course. Both Nicole and I are very excited about this opportunity, as we will now be on the same schedules with breaks and will, of course, have the summers off to travel and visit all of you, our family and friends. I am observing the teacher who is resigning over the next week, and I will begin on my own Monday, November 3, just in time for Nikki to go into labor, necessitating my finding a sub for a week or so?! Oh well, what can you do? Thanks again to all of you who have prayed earnestly that this challenging time would pass. We are truly blessed by all of you.

Persuasive Essays

My sixth grade class has been working on persuasive essays this quarter, and one of their first assignments was to write a persuasive piece on what Mr. and Mrs. Dainty should name their baby! They worked in partners, and they got to choose either a girl's name or a boy's name. Their responses were quite interesting and they have certainly given us some chuckles. Here are some of the highlights. (Spelling and grammar errors have been left in for comedic purposes.) Most Unique Supporting Details "Isabella is a perfect name because Queen Isabella helped supply Colombus for his trip across the sea. When we were younger we wished that there were famous people with our names. Many people may think Isabella is a weird name, but we think it is very beautiful." "I picked the name Tera because it is easy to spll , and Tera sownds like she will be smart like her mother. Her mother is so smarte . And she will want to be a techer like her." (This child obviously ...

Sledding At Last

For Christmas this year Leah got a new sled - her first sled actually. The only problem is we have had an unusually "green" winter for this part of the country. The other weekend we went to visit our friends, Greg and Emily, in Ohio and were dumped on with snow. It made the drive a bit slow, but the sledding was great! Leah's first trip down the steep hill got her a face full of snow. And her dad may or may not have landed on her a bit... So then she opted for what she refers to as "bum sledding." While the grown boys continued to enjoy the sleds and had races. Fortunately, there was a smaller hill, and Leah gave Dad a second chance. She's a brave little soul. And worked her way up to sledding all by herself! Here's a video of Leah's sledding technique. And here she is going solo...

The Daintys

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