Spring Break!

I am starting to notice a trend...I usually on post on school holidays:)

Well...only 7 weeks left of school and then I will be able to post as much as I want!

Because Steve and I won't be able to attend his family reunion this year, his parents offered to take us on a little spring break excursion of our own.

We packed our bags and headed for Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon.

I had never been to any national parks in Utah, so it was such a neat experience!

We rented a minivan and drove down on Saturday along with Steve's brother Greg, his wife Tiffany, and baby Lucy. It was one jam-packed minivan, but it was fun to all be together.

We stayed in Springdale, right outside of Zions, and it was the cutest little town. We checked out all of the top restaurants on Trip Advisor and were not disappointed!

On Sunday, we headed to St. George and walked around the temple.

On Monday, we headed into the park and did a few hikes. We did the lower and upper emerald pool hikes and the weeping rock.

On Tuesday morning, we headed over to Bryce Canyon. It was sooo beautiful. I loved Zions, but Bryce had such a unique look. We were able to do a hike down into the canyon to see all of the different hoodoos.

Wednesday morning we headed back home. I was surprised I was able to hold up through all of the hiking, I haven't been the best about getting exercise since I've been pregnant. But, it was a really neat experience. Thanks so much mom and dad Winder!!!

20 Weeks!!!

It is hard to believe we are already halfway through this adventure!

Luckily I have have had a relatively easy pregnancy so far.

The worst part about it is probably my moods (sorry Steve!).

I think I cry every single day about dumb little things (example--today I cried during bus duty because it was freezing outside).

But I'm used to mood swings, because I'm a girl. So it's not toooo bad.

Here's me at 19 weeks:

Yesterday we were able to get our anatomy ultrasound.

I had my students do an activity beforehand to guess what gender they thought it would be (and of course, to review collecting data).

It turns out they were right! Actually, almost every single person that guessed, guessed BOY. Even Steve and I were pretty sure it was a boy.

Anyway, the ultrasound was amazing. They had us in a small room with a GIANT flat screen TV right in front of the bed.

The doctor went through every single part of its body to make sure everything was healthy.

We were able to see the chambers of his heart, parts of his brain, 5 fingers on each hand, etc.

It was really neat but also really scary. But everything checked out ok.

I just knew it was a boy before the doctor showed us because he kept referring to the baby as "he".

Apparently the baby was flashing himself during the whole thing.

Our little baby was pretty crazy during the ultrasound.

He completely turned back and forth all over my belly the whole time.

I think we might have a little soccer player because I can already feel his kicks so strongly!!!

As soon as the ultrasound was over, I had Steve drive us over to Babies R Us so I could get some cute boy clothes. Not being able to dress our little one in ruffles and bows has been my only worry about having a boy...besides having 5 boys in a row like the Winder family...

And I just wanted to include a picture of the other cute boy in my life and his acceptance letter to UMN.

Valentine's Day

I love Valentine's Day.

Steve doesn't really like it and doesn't get why we celebrate it since everyone has anniversaries, but since you celebrate it with friends, family, and students, it's sounds great to me!

This Valentine's days was one of my favorites yet. I got lots of love texts from Steve throughout the day. And I got not one, but TWO vases of flowers delivered to work. I was surprised and thought that Steve must really love me a lot! But then I realized one of them was from my parents (THANK YOU!!!).

These are the flowers Steve sent me.

Because I love Valentine's Day, I had to decorate my classroom accordingly.

And this little puppy has been sitting on my desk since February 1st when my fav little student just HAD to give me my Valentine Day present early since it would be PERFECT for the baby's nursery.

One of the best parts of teaching on V-day are the boxes that the students decorate. These are some of my favorite from this year:

My students also made me this GIGANTIC Valentine card with sweet notes. It took up the whole whiteboard!

When I got home, Steve and I celebrated with a home-cooked meal of steaks and asparagus. We both got our own pint-sized fancy ice cream too. We exchanged presents and I surprised Steve with some Minnesota memorabilia.

And he surprised me with a prenatal massage gift certificate.

See....who wouldn't love Valentine's Day?

It's Official!

Steve got his acceptance letter from University of Minnesota today!!!

I am sooo PROUD of him.

He interviewed at both University of Michigan and University of Minnesota last week and Minnesota was his top choice.

We aren't even interested in interviewing with any other schools because Minnesota's program is exactly what Steve is looking for.

It's such a relief to have that figured out. We know where we're going in August. We know where we'll live for the next few years. We don't have to pay for any more plane tickets! Phew!

Yes, it is in the middle of nowhere and yes it is freezing cold for 5/6 of the year, but I came to terms with that a while ago.

It does have the Mall of America within minutes and everyone that has lived there says they loved it!

Go Golden Gophers!

As for me, I am now 16 weeks pregnant. I've had a fairly easy pregnancy so far. I didn't have much morning sickness, I actually didn't really have any symptoms until a few days ago. I have worked some longer hours this past week and have been suffering from terrible sciatic pain in my back and legs. I was hardly able to walk on Saturday, but I am getting a little better each day.

I feel like I am finally starting to show a little. I noticed my stomach this morning in the mirror and one of my coworkers told me she noticed an "eensy weensy bump". I'm not quite sure if it was my bump or the shirt I had on, but I take it as a compliment.

I haven't told my students yet. I think I'll tell them after my 18 week appointment in a couple weeks.

And we find out the gender on February 29!!!

Only good news over here in the Winder Household:)

Christmas in July

For Christmas this year, we exchanged gifts, spent time relaxing, and surprised our family with one special little gift.

This is our favorite gift of all and is due to arrive on July 18th:)

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Working in 3rd grade each day, I get to hear and read some of the most hilarious things.

Here is an example from sharing today:

Girl 1: My dog is getting fixed today and I am soooo sad she has to get stitches.

Girl 2: Getting fixed for what?

Girl 1: Getting fixed so she can't have babies. You know...like get married and stuff.

I also get to decipher some hilarious-looking words when they write. See if you can discover what all of these phrases mean:

"ounts a pona"

"woncapon"

"oncaponatime"

"once a pona"

"wance apoun atime"

"onece upon"

"ones a panda"

"ones a ponda"

I hope that writing doesn't reflect poorly on my teaching skills.....

And on a much sweeter note...I have the students do a journal writing each day when they came in. Today the board said "Do you like Christmas? Why or why not?" (I know, I'm really creative with their writing prompts).

Well, each student wrote all about their Christmas traditions and presents galore.

But one sweet little girl in my class wrote-

"I like Christmas be cus it is Jesos is Bday. And I love Jesos He is my brother and He died for us and I love him vary much and it is not all about the presins it is abot Jeses."

I was not expecting anyone to write anything so heartwarming.

If that doesn't put you in the Christmas spirit right there, I don't know what will!

Thanksgiving

Steve and I were able to take off 2 days of work and end up with an extra long Thanksgiving vacation.

We have a list of places to go in the U.S. and at the top of the list was NYC.

We figured now was the perfect time to go, considering he has 2 brothers that live out there, we don't have any kids, etc. etc.

So...we took the red eye out to NY the week before Thanksgiving.

It was a perfect trip.

There was just enough sightseeing and family time/relaxing while we were there.

If we had it Beaver's way, there would have been a lot more sightseeing. And if we had it my way, there would have been a lot more relaxing. But we got a lot in.

Here are some pics from the trip:

Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island tour

9/11 Memorial

Central Park

The MET

Tour of the Yankee Stadium

And to top off that fun 3 day trip, we took a nonstop 7 hour bus ride to DC to spend Thanksgiving with my family.

We had a blast eating, sleeping, and watching movies.

We spent Thanksgiving with my cousins, the Fairholms.

Let's just say, after such a great vacation, it was hard to go back to work on Monday.