New News!!

I am very happy to report that I have two new nieces!

Emry Lynn Dorsey is approximately one month old, she was born 7 lb 14 ounces! She is a good mix of both parents but she looks a lot like her daddy George!

and

Kiellye Lorren Dorsey was born this afternoon at 7 lb 7 ounces! Daddy JP says her feet are 'like a bunny rabbit's'...long and slender!

Remy is loving looking at all the babies and playing with cousins and Ben is going to have a thorough understanding of all things pink & frilly with all of these girly cousins!

Fall traditions

The Culprits, from Sally's Pumpkin Patch in Farmersville.

"Which one of these is better for teething, Mama?"

She was more interested in the paint than the pumpkin at this point.

Deciding which color to use next.

The finished products. Remy and Ben gave the green gourd to Nana and the white one to Grammy and Grampy. Ben produced his footprint on both and Remy her handprint.

All my lil' punkins.

In Red Chair Pictures- September Edition

Ben is 7 Months Old!

Remy is 21 Months Old!

Replacing Acorns hats with Nana

Special Daddy Times

At the splash park with Ben and Truffle

I just love this picture of my two guys!

Remy riding the horse at the PMF

Daddy and daughter swinging

Butterflies in the sky, I can fly twice as high....

A perfect day for playing outside.

End of Summer Fun at Mom's House

Me with the soon to be father!

Walker with our kids after a long day of fun!

Annie, George, Katie with baby Emry in belly, Dollye, JP, Tracy with baby Kailee(not sure of the spelling) in belly. We missed Tony, he was working at the golf course.

The JP Dorsey family and Grandpa Chris

The girls having fun playing in the pool.

Enjoying a mild summer day.

The girls catching toys with the net.

Catching Up

Well, well, well. It's been too long. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about the day that things will settle down and I'll be able to post more frequently and catch up with the blogging community.

We sold our house about a month ago and we just have a couple of weeks left before closing! We sold it on our own but I think we decided that realtors earn every penny of their commission.

Now that the school year is off to a wonderful start here are some of the many interesting things we have encountered in the past two months on our way to work: a snake spanning the width of the road, chickens, chicks and roosters in the parking lot, a bull in the middle of the road staring us down, an arachnid the size of my fist attended my second period class, numerous skunks, goats, packs of dogs, several escaped cows, a doe and two fawn, two wild hogs crossing the road, and wolves.

Although we seem to be working round the clock we both feel a great sense of fulfillment knowing that this is exactly what we are meant to do.

On a very positive note both kids are extremely happy with their caretakers and look forward to going to Nanny's house every day! Remy likes to name all of her friends one by one and tell us who is going to be there. She's also very protective of Ben. The caretakers have said of Ben that he is loveable and happy and smiles all the time. There is one particular elderly woman who just loves our Ben and cuddles him all day long! Of Remy they have said that they are impressed with her abilities to communicate and that she is very intelligent for her age. This big change is the best thing that could have happened for her. Where she was reserved and scared around other people before now she is talkative and relaxed in social settings.

I'll be posting lots of pictures today catching up on milestones in the Plagge family.

Ben saying 'da-da'

Big Frucks

I'll tell a very recent story about our precious daughter. Her language is rapidly developing and she is learning new words on a daily basis. Most children have some difficulty pronouncing some of the more difficult sounds. In Rémy's case it's 'tr' that's hard for her to grasp.

Naturally, when you drive long distances you encounter a great deal of trucks. We started pointing out cars and trucks to Rémy on the drive to and from work every morning just as a way to pass the time. We should have seen this coming when she started pronouncing our dog's name as "Fuffle" instead of "Truffle".

The first time we heard it was a couple of weeks ago. "OOoh, fruck." (remember that she doesn't use the 'r'...it's really just the 'f' sound, but I couldn't bring myself to write it.) When this first time happened Walker and I just stared at each other and thought, "Oh no, what have we done." Then we heard, "Big fruck" and "Bye-bye fruck." An hour and a half is a very long time when you're cowering under the seat in part humiliation and part hilarity.

Now, you may be reading this and you know that we don't use that kind of language in our everyday lives. However, we have known our daycare provider for about 3 weeks and she only sees us when we drop the kids off and pick them up. She has no idea what our home life is like. When we dropped them off that morning we explained the situation and she assured us that other kids often do that, although she did give us a look like, "sure you don't say that at home".

After about a week and a half of coaching her, she started saying "t-t-t- *pause* fruck" and now she can say 'truck', although sometimes she slips back and says 'fruck'. As hilarious as it was I'm glad this stage has passed. We can show our faces in public again.

The First Days of School!!!

I can't elaborate much with this post because we have another showing in about an hour and I should really be tidying up the house and finishing breakfast, however, I can't go much longer without sharing with you how we are loving our new jobs. I'm doing wonderfully just to put up some pictures....so use your imagination for now.

Church with Nana

We hadn't planned to but ended up staying at Mom's house Saturday night. We all slept like bumps on a log and woke up Sunday morning and all went to church together. Walker took this picture before we left and I thought it turned out to be a very good one of three generations. Thanks honey!

Showering Emry Lynn

Pastels, flowers and sweets! Along with m&m's that said 'Emry Lynn'!

Mom, Annie, Katie, Me

My sister-in-law Katie's friends and family threw her a shower Saturday that I was able to attend along with my mom and sister. George and Katie expect their first child in October!

Mom, Annie and I had a fun time together. Annie just had her wisdom teeth out a few days ago and it was funny to watch her try and shovel a very small piece of cupcake into her mouth and down her throat without chewing! We thought the mini pacifiers in the ice cubes was such a cute idea! I wish I had taken a picture. Here are a few others from that occasion.

Some of the guests

Opening all kinds of pastel pink, hot pink, rose pink, any kind of pink gifts!

I think this picture is so adorable...Katie opening pink frilly gifts in front of the gun cabinet!

Sisters with Sister in law

We eagerly await the arrival of Miss Emry Lynn!

Splash Park 2009

Deciding what to do first at the splash park.

Running through the water sprinklers.

Followed a boy over to the playground.

He taught her how to grab handfuls of mulch and throw it up in the air like confetti. He also had a tatoo. Not sure how I feel about these older boys.

After several days of being cooped up in the house, not being able to put shoes on or go outside she really appreciated this outing. If you look close in the second picture you can see how badly the fire ants got her feet. She had over a hundred bites on her feet alone....this was not fun for any of us. We've been hearing "No, no ants." ever since. And for good reason. I'm so glad she's ok and getting back to being herself.

House on the Market

Our house is going on the market today. We've already received several phone calls about it without listing it so we're hopeful that it will sell quickly. Our next door neighbor's home sold in 3 days and the new homeowners moved in a week ago...three weeks after seeing it. Even with all the bad economic news of the housing market it seems that the Texas market is still thriving.

Click here to see our home on the market! Click on the photo in the corner to see more pictures. If you know of anyone looking for a nice home in a wonderful neighborhood with excellent schools feel free to give them my contact information.

In Red Chair 5 Months

Here's our Big Little Guy! Five months old and such a strong baby. He has started eating cereal and applesauce. He's tried apricots a few times and liked them. He rolls over and sometimes keeps rolling! Ben has started trying to push himself around with his toes and can move a few inches from where he was placed. I wouldn't really call this crawling yet so much as ooooching around. He likes to be coddled and played with and tickled. If you so much as look at him he melts into an ear to ear grin. He's becoming more intentional about what he does. He looks at an object, decides to go after it and gets it to go directly to his intended destination...his mouth. He likes to grab at noses and lips and eyes. He laughs out loud when Truffle licks his toes. He's such a bundle of joy and even though he was such a surprise we sure are glad for this little added blessing.

19 Months In Red Chair

Here's our Little Big Girl. She said a complete sentence yesterday. I am so proud. She pointed to a beetle in the backyard and very clearly said, "That is a bug." She even said each word individually instead of the usual 'thassa bug'. She knows most of her letters and numbers 1-10. She started giving us wet kisses and bear hugs with a growl.

She's too busy to sit down. I made the mistake of getting her farm animals out to play while taking pictures. I couldn't get a single one of her smiling because she was so interested in naming the animals and signing them. Below she is signing 'pig'.

Tickle Tickle

Ben loves to be tickled! Walker caught a video of me tickling him....this makes me smile!

Tandoori Turkey Kebabs

Another keeper recipe from Women's Health Magazine. This time with photos of the deliciousness.

Ingredients include:

1 cup nonfat plain yogurt
2 Tablespoons curry seasoning
1 pound turkey tenderloin cut into 2" pieces
3/4 cup couscous, cooked
1/3 cup dried chopped fruit mix
2 tsp chopped garlic
1/4 tsp ground ginger (or fresh if you have it)

Soak 8 wooden skewers in water while you prep everything. Combine yogurt, curry powder, garlic and ginger with turkey pieces and let marinate for 10 minutes. Assemble turkey onto kebabs and place on grill.

Cook for 12-15 minutes until turkey is cooked through. I also added some veggies as a side dish.

Combine the dried fruit mix into the couscous and pile the goodness onto a plate.

Eat & enjoy.

Middle Eastern Stuffed Peppers

The following recipe is from Women's Health magazine. I made this a week or so ago and all three of us loved it.

4 red bell peppers
1/2 lb lean ground beef
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
1/4 cup sliced green olives
1/2 tsp. chopped garlic
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. cumin
1 can chickpeas

The original recipe called for brown rice, but I had chickpeas on hand and thought it would blend nicely with the middle eastern flavors. Preheat oven to 4oo degrees. Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds. Place in a baking dish. In a skillet cook beef, garlic, cinnamon and cumin until beef is almost finished. Add raisins and tomato sauce and cook until mixture is hot. Add in olives and chickpeas and remove from heat. Add to bell peppers and cover dish tightly with foil. Cook about 15 minutes until the peppers are tender.

Breckin's Salsa- modified

I'm pretty sure I've posted this before, but since I can't locate it I'm going to share it again.

1 large can tomatoes
2 serrano peppers seeded
2 jalapeno peppers seeded
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 bunch of cilantro
salt to taste

Process all of the ingredients in a food processor. This is fresh, healthy and a great addition to any summertime spread. It takes less than five minutes to make. Sometimes I sprinkle in a little ground red pepper for added heat. This is also fantastic on breakfast tacos.

Infant Boy Gaining on Toddler Girl

We had checkups yesterday for Rémy's 18 month visit and Ben's 4 month visit. Ben is currently almost 16 pounds, Rémy weighs in at 20 lb 1 oz. And Ben just moved up to the same size diaper as Rémy. I'm thinking by the end of the year he'll weigh more than she does!! By the way, Ben is very average with his percentages right around 50-60th percentile. Rémy just made it back on the charts at the 2nd percentile (she had been off the chart completely for the last 9 months).

Answered Prayers

Not many of you know about the Plagge 10 year plan. That's because it's 10 years away. A couple of years ago we started saying we'd like to move out to the country, get some land, have some cows on it to mow the lawn, have a garden big enough to sustain us, etc. We talk about our ten year plan at least weekly and dream about the day we can actually move out to the country.

Fast forward to this week.

Walker had an interview on Monday in Wolfe City, TX. Yes, it's still TX. I know it sounds like Oklahoma or New Mexico or South America for that matter....but it's TX. He was hired on the spot. They were also interested in me even though they did not have an open position yet. I went in the very next day and interviewed and was hired on the spot.

The Principal asked if we felt comfortable working together.

Me thinking, um, hello, we're married.

After being introduced to the Superintendent and more formally being offered the job he informed me that I won't have to worry about Walker, he's putting him on the second floor! ;)

A whole lot has happened this week. We don't know what's going on or where we'll end up. We do know a few things:

1. God knows the plans He has for us and that gives us great comfort.
2. Our 10 year plan involved moving east, although now it's more like a 2 year plan.
3. We'll be working at the same school and teaching some of the same students, increasing our impact.
4. From our house it's an hour and a half drive one way.
5. We're planning to put the house on the market in the next month or so and see what happens.

We're very excited about these opportunities and can't wait to get started working with our students.

Things Learned

I attended seven full days of a teaching seminar a week ago. Here are some of the interesting things I learned....

Questioning is at the core of learning.
70-80% of questions are at the recall level
Most teachers call on overachievers
Teachers give students on average one second to respond
Frequently, teachers give answers
5% of questions are asked by students
Teachers ask an average of 50 questions in any given lesson

"It's not fair to the students if we teach in the same way we learned."

Be a performer, perform 7 shows a day(if that's how many classes you have)

I especially liked this last one and never thought of teaching in this way. The speaker has taught in Austin schools for 33 years, and has no plans for retirement. He suggested that even if you are not naturally enthusiastic and energetic just act like you are putting on a show, and go back to being yourself when you get home. If you are fired up about being at school and about learning, the kids will naturally pick up on that attitude. He also made this same suggestion about pessimists. If you are a pessimist by nature, you've got to at the very least pretend to be an optimist and cheerful otherwise your colleagues and students will pick up on your negativity and dread being around you. He also said that by pretending to be an optimist maybe you will 'accidentally' become an optimist!

We also spent quite a bit of time studying and implementing Harry Wong's classroom management techniques and Madeline Hunter lesson planning(25 hours altogether).

Thanks SOOOOO much to all of you who took vacation time off of work to help watch the kids for the week. I learned a great deal and am very glad I was able to attend.

Bad Mother In Red Chair

Oh Man. I totally just realized that I posted the wrong child's red chair picture. Ben's isn't for a couple of more days. Whoops. Walker and I were just talking yesterday about how the dates get to run together after a while and it becomes more difficult to remember. So I rushed together and grabbed Rémy after nap time to play 'dress up' for the red chair! ;) At least it wasn't the other way around, that way Ben can't play the 'I'm the second child and you always forget about me' card later in life.

Here's our little 18 months old! Her hair gets more curly and crazy every day! She keeps me on my toes as far as learning goes. From the minute she wakes to the minute she crashes at night it's, 'What's this, what's that?" She wants to know, she wants to find, she wants to keep going until she figures out all the answers to her questions. Her new favorite past time is reading to herself. She pulls out every books she owns (which is too many since I work for HPB and feel like I should get her every book she'll need until she's in third grade) and sits in her chair and babbles, occasionally saying a familiar word. She has really blossomed with the sign language, I think she knows approximately 30 or more signs. Many of these she can also say the word, but for the words she can't yet pronounce, this really comes in handy to know what she means. She has started imitating someone's laugh. Not sure who it is. She throws her head back and scrunchces her nose and lets out a 'fake' laugh. She has also become the 'bobo' detector and the 'burp' detector. In fact, if you are a new mom in need of either of these services, she will let you know if your baby has a stinky diaper or needs a wipe to clean up spit up, all for a very nominal fee.