Estimation Game

Anyone up for an estimation game? I am currently teaching in a K/1 class as a long term sub. I have my students estimate on a regular basis. I was actually just doing this on Friday when my friend Andrea came in (she works at the school and is the one who got me the job). I was talking to the students about some techniques they can use and how to make an educated guess, based on what they know. I usually give them a range to work from anyway. Andrea was telling the students that she needed more practice because she wasn't very good at this. So I am not sure that she is reading this but this one is for you Andrea!

Kevin and I got this really cool glass water jug when we first moved to North Carolina. My brother kept his coins in one when we were kids and I think Kevin said he had one too. We moved here about 3 years and 9 months ago. For the most part we put all of our change in it. We spend some, but usually we drop it in the jar. We had decided that we would keep adding to the jar to save for a special trip or something. Well we decided that we will probably use the money on some of the things that we need for the kids instead. We were going to count it all and take it to the bank but we noticed that the Coinstar at the supermarket doesn't take a percentage of your money if you turn it into a giftcard. So after our dinner and movie date tonight (got to get out on a few last dates while we can :) ) we went to the market and turned our change into an amazon.com giftcard. Anyone want to try to guess how much it was? We were pleasantly surprised that it was a bit more than we thought. We plan to use the giftcard for some of the things we will need when the kids get home. Leave a comment with your guess if you would like to play and I will let you know the results in a few days.

Also, I found several other treasures in the jug as well. My friend's son Trent has always found the jar fascinating. He has dropped several things into it over the years, knowing full well he wasn't getting them back. He just likes to watch them drop in. I found a Star Wars figure's light saber, a banana Runt candy (I could not believe that hadn't dissolved in the three years it was in there) and a little metal ball, among other things. We also found arcade tokens, souvenir smashed pennies (I collect them), and some foreign coins.

P.S. I am keeping the comments of all of those who have sent me their email addresses to approve for the blog when we make it private. I figured some of you may be like me and don't want your email addresses posted for all to see. Thank you for all the well wishes and prayers. We really appreciate it!

Still Here

We are still here. I am just not blogging lately because a.) there is nothing to say and b.) we are very busy.

There are all kinds of things that we would love to do before we leave but we just can't do much. I can't wait to decorate the rooms for the kids but we will do most of it once we are home. Since we don't know if we will be coming home with boys or girls or both and since we don't know the ages yet I don't want to start much yet. We have lots of furniture and bedding ideas stored on the computer but we won't purchase anything until we meet the kids. We want to design the rooms specifically for them since they will be old enough to have their own likes and personalities. I can't wait! I love to do this kind of thing and Kevin and I have spent hours looking at ideas online and in stores. I think that we might even print out pictures of the ideas we have to bring with us.

Also, while I am thinking of it I wanted to say that we will probably be making our blog private for a while, while we travel to Ukraine. I haven't decided for sure but if we do it that way we will be able to share more information than we will if we leave it public. We will make it public again once the kids are legally ours. If you would like to having viewing access to the blog then email me and let me know. If you don't know my email address then just post yours in a comment and I will contact you that way. Since my email address has our last name in it I am not going to post it on the blog for privacy reasons. :)