Going for a ride
This chair was mine when I was a little girl.
A future musician?
This toboggan was mine when I was a little girl.
Yes, he's trying to climb in the swing backwards!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Scenes
All captured by my Mama, many while Matthew and I were at school. Some are several months old, some are as recent as last week.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Whew!
That's the best thing I can think of to title this post after the week I've had.
This week we have been giving state assessment tests. Everyone in grades 3-10 takes the test (remember, I teach in a K-12 school), so that means everybody has to help with testing. Guess who was assigned to my room to help proctor the test.....the county superintendent of schools! No pressure, huh? Everybody at school was telling me how glad they were it was me and not them! I have known him my entire life, so it wasn't as big a deal to me. However, in the two days he spent with me, he did manage to look at everything in my classroom, read everything I have up on my walls, check out my storage room, and go through my attendance & lesson plan notebook. I hope I passed my test! Actually, I think it was that he was just bored! I know I was! We had two 80 minute sessions the first day, and two 90 minute sessions the second day. All you can do is sit and watch them take the test, and get up and walk around every now and then. No grading papers, reading a book, nothing. It was like watching paint dry!
I've spent the rest of the week wrestling with new computers. I was fortunate to have enough grant funds, along with getting a really good deal, to purchase 8 new computers for my lab. So, I decided that after testing each day, that's what I'd work on. I had a plan, but that plan didn't work out, so I am still trying to get software installed on these computers. It is very time-consuming and mentally exhausting trying to make sure I've remembered every setting that needs to be made on each computer. I was more than ready to walk out and leave it yesterday!
My plan for today is ORGANIZATION! We are moving our "office" so I want to get everything sorted and put in its new place today. Not exactly exciting, but I will definitely feel like I've accomplished something, and that makes me feel good! Income taxes are also on my list for today. I've been doing them myself, but with starting the business, we're going to have to get some professional assistance this year. I hope to have all that info gathered and ready to go this weekend too!
Enjoy this gorgeous weather and have a GREAT weekend everybody!
This week we have been giving state assessment tests. Everyone in grades 3-10 takes the test (remember, I teach in a K-12 school), so that means everybody has to help with testing. Guess who was assigned to my room to help proctor the test.....the county superintendent of schools! No pressure, huh? Everybody at school was telling me how glad they were it was me and not them! I have known him my entire life, so it wasn't as big a deal to me. However, in the two days he spent with me, he did manage to look at everything in my classroom, read everything I have up on my walls, check out my storage room, and go through my attendance & lesson plan notebook. I hope I passed my test! Actually, I think it was that he was just bored! I know I was! We had two 80 minute sessions the first day, and two 90 minute sessions the second day. All you can do is sit and watch them take the test, and get up and walk around every now and then. No grading papers, reading a book, nothing. It was like watching paint dry!
I've spent the rest of the week wrestling with new computers. I was fortunate to have enough grant funds, along with getting a really good deal, to purchase 8 new computers for my lab. So, I decided that after testing each day, that's what I'd work on. I had a plan, but that plan didn't work out, so I am still trying to get software installed on these computers. It is very time-consuming and mentally exhausting trying to make sure I've remembered every setting that needs to be made on each computer. I was more than ready to walk out and leave it yesterday!
My plan for today is ORGANIZATION! We are moving our "office" so I want to get everything sorted and put in its new place today. Not exactly exciting, but I will definitely feel like I've accomplished something, and that makes me feel good! Income taxes are also on my list for today. I've been doing them myself, but with starting the business, we're going to have to get some professional assistance this year. I hope to have all that info gathered and ready to go this weekend too!
Enjoy this gorgeous weather and have a GREAT weekend everybody!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Is it just me...????
In the span of two hours, I've had two things happen to me that just burn me up. I try not to make this blog my personal soapbox, but tonight, I've just got to vent!
First, a trip to M*D****d's (aka the golden arches). When we got to the window to pick up our food, the girl handed us our drinks, except for Luke's milk, along with one of our meals. She informed us that the chicken nuggets were cooking and we'd have to pull up and wait. Well, Tracy went ahead and asked for some mayo, sweet & sour sauce, and extra napkins. The girl begrudgingly went to get them, and we figured she'd bring the milk too. She returned to the window, handed us the items we'd asked for, but no milk. Tracy asked her about the milk, and she said something we couldn't understand and said, "I just need you to pull up!" Excuse me? So we did, and thought, "If they don't bring that milk out......", etc. Of course, everybody has a drink except Luke, and he wants his too, although we can't drink ours because she didn't give us any straws! Wouldn't the logical thing to do be to go ahead and give us ALL our drinks, and our straws, and whatever condiments we were going to need? When they finally brought the rest of our food, sure enough, no milk and no straws. So we asked the boy for our milk and straws. While he was gone inside, we discovered that they had shorted us an order of fries. So he had to go back to get fries. To top it all off, they only gave us two packages of sweet and sour sauce....and we had ordered THREE orders of chicken nuggets! Does this happen to anybody else? Is it just me?????
Second, I received a baby shower invitation today. On the back, there was registry info and a request to please include receipts because the store they're registered at will not accept returns without a receipt. Okay, I can live with that. It was the following statement that got to me:
Also, if you are unable to attend the shower, we can still enjoy your "presence" if you want to forward your gift to the address of the shower.
I think my jaw hit the floor at that point. Isn't that just tacky? (To clarify, the invitation was sent by the mother-to-be's mother.) Please tell me it's not just me who thinks so.....
First, a trip to M*D****d's (aka the golden arches). When we got to the window to pick up our food, the girl handed us our drinks, except for Luke's milk, along with one of our meals. She informed us that the chicken nuggets were cooking and we'd have to pull up and wait. Well, Tracy went ahead and asked for some mayo, sweet & sour sauce, and extra napkins. The girl begrudgingly went to get them, and we figured she'd bring the milk too. She returned to the window, handed us the items we'd asked for, but no milk. Tracy asked her about the milk, and she said something we couldn't understand and said, "I just need you to pull up!" Excuse me? So we did, and thought, "If they don't bring that milk out......", etc. Of course, everybody has a drink except Luke, and he wants his too, although we can't drink ours because she didn't give us any straws! Wouldn't the logical thing to do be to go ahead and give us ALL our drinks, and our straws, and whatever condiments we were going to need? When they finally brought the rest of our food, sure enough, no milk and no straws. So we asked the boy for our milk and straws. While he was gone inside, we discovered that they had shorted us an order of fries. So he had to go back to get fries. To top it all off, they only gave us two packages of sweet and sour sauce....and we had ordered THREE orders of chicken nuggets! Does this happen to anybody else? Is it just me?????
Second, I received a baby shower invitation today. On the back, there was registry info and a request to please include receipts because the store they're registered at will not accept returns without a receipt. Okay, I can live with that. It was the following statement that got to me:
Also, if you are unable to attend the shower, we can still enjoy your "presence" if you want to forward your gift to the address of the shower.
I think my jaw hit the floor at that point. Isn't that just tacky? (To clarify, the invitation was sent by the mother-to-be's mother.) Please tell me it's not just me who thinks so.....
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The Chocolate Thief
Apparently, I have at least one child who loves chocolate as much as I do. Last week, Luke managed to get the stepstool, get Matthew's little box of Valentine candy, and proceed to unwrap every single piece AND eat them! There were only five pieces in there, but still! At least the child is honest....I found the wrappers and began to investigate and I asked him, "Did you eat Bubba's Valentine candy?"
His response: "Uh huh! I WIKE choc-wat!"
Here's the evidence...
And while we were outside, I managed to step in a hole, fall, and sprain my ankle. :-( I really didn't think it was that big of a deal, until a few hours later when my foot started swelling and I couldn't put any weight on it! So we ended our Saturday with a trip to the urgent care clinic for x-rays. Thankfully, it wasn't fractured, just a bad sprain, and after keeping it wrapped for a couple of days, it's as good as new. Not exactly how I wanted to spend part of my weekend, though!
Being outside made me take notice of just how much work I need to do in my yards. Is anyone else starting to get spring fever?
His response: "Uh huh! I WIKE choc-wat!"
Here's the evidence...
We had gorgeous weather this past weekend! You'd never believe that it snowed here just one week ago! We enjoyed getting outside just to be outside a little. Tracy and Matthew decided to work on getting Rio to ride the Mule.
And while we were outside, I managed to step in a hole, fall, and sprain my ankle. :-( I really didn't think it was that big of a deal, until a few hours later when my foot started swelling and I couldn't put any weight on it! So we ended our Saturday with a trip to the urgent care clinic for x-rays. Thankfully, it wasn't fractured, just a bad sprain, and after keeping it wrapped for a couple of days, it's as good as new. Not exactly how I wanted to spend part of my weekend, though!
Being outside made me take notice of just how much work I need to do in my yards. Is anyone else starting to get spring fever?
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
I Heart Valentines!
We had a fantastic, extended Valentine's weekend. We sort of celebrated all weekend long! Actually, we celebrated last weekend too! While out of town for the concert, we enjoyed a nice relaxing lunch by ourselves, and then shopped a little before coming home on Saturday.
Friday, of course, was the big snow day, so we were at home all day. Somehow in the middle of watching for snow, taking pictures of snow, and playing in the snow, I managed to bake a chocolate cake, complete with old-fashioned, cooked icing for our Valentine Banquet at church that night. That's probably my favorite dessert! Tracy was the cook, and did a fantastic job on the steak dinner. We all had a great time!
After the banquet, the boys opened their Valentine gifts from Grandmommy--new hooded towels. Matthew had a dog towel that he had just about worn the ears off of, so Mama got each of them a new animal towel.
She came over to watch the snow with us and go to the dinner, and wound up spending the night because we were afraid that we might have to make a late night run to the ER with Luke. Unknown to us, at the steak dinner someone gave him a cookie....a peanut butter cookie. Matthew is severely allergic to peanuts, and Luke...well, we just didn't know. So, we waited....and waited....and kept him up way past his bedtime to monitor him for signs of a reaction. Thankfully, he was okay, but I am still treating him as though he's allergic. There is such a small amount of peanut butter in single cookie, and he only had about two bites, so I don't feel comfortable in ruling out the allergy just yet.
On Saturday, Matthew played his final basketball game of the season. He actually got his hands on the ball and dribbled down the court a few times! He was kind of timid at the beginning of the season, but he's getting more confident and going after the ball more.
On Sunday, we all exchanged Valentines, and Tracy gave me these beautiful roses. I must issue a disclaimer here: His mother is a florist, so it's a given that I'm going to get flowers for Valentine's Day! Disclaimer #2: That's also about the only time of the year I get flowers! She had a new variety this year, called Jade. They look somewhat like a cream rose, but have a hint of green to them. Very pretty, and the pictures don't do them justice! FYI--If you received flowers for Valentine's Day, let me give you a tip to make them last longer. Change the water every day. Don't just give them more water, actually change out the water every day. Dump the whole vase of water and refill with fresh water.
Today we had Matthew's party at school. It was postponed until today because of the snow on Friday. I enjoyed baking cupcakes for them and then visiting for a few minutes during the party. When I arrived, the teacher was talking to them about Valentine's Day and they were sharing "warm fuzzies" about their other classmates. So sweet!
Hope your long weekend was full of fun and time spent with the ones you love!
Friday, of course, was the big snow day, so we were at home all day. Somehow in the middle of watching for snow, taking pictures of snow, and playing in the snow, I managed to bake a chocolate cake, complete with old-fashioned, cooked icing for our Valentine Banquet at church that night. That's probably my favorite dessert! Tracy was the cook, and did a fantastic job on the steak dinner. We all had a great time!
After the banquet, the boys opened their Valentine gifts from Grandmommy--new hooded towels. Matthew had a dog towel that he had just about worn the ears off of, so Mama got each of them a new animal towel.
She came over to watch the snow with us and go to the dinner, and wound up spending the night because we were afraid that we might have to make a late night run to the ER with Luke. Unknown to us, at the steak dinner someone gave him a cookie....a peanut butter cookie. Matthew is severely allergic to peanuts, and Luke...well, we just didn't know. So, we waited....and waited....and kept him up way past his bedtime to monitor him for signs of a reaction. Thankfully, he was okay, but I am still treating him as though he's allergic. There is such a small amount of peanut butter in single cookie, and he only had about two bites, so I don't feel comfortable in ruling out the allergy just yet.
On Saturday, Matthew played his final basketball game of the season. He actually got his hands on the ball and dribbled down the court a few times! He was kind of timid at the beginning of the season, but he's getting more confident and going after the ball more.
On Sunday, we all exchanged Valentines, and Tracy gave me these beautiful roses. I must issue a disclaimer here: His mother is a florist, so it's a given that I'm going to get flowers for Valentine's Day! Disclaimer #2: That's also about the only time of the year I get flowers! She had a new variety this year, called Jade. They look somewhat like a cream rose, but have a hint of green to them. Very pretty, and the pictures don't do them justice! FYI--If you received flowers for Valentine's Day, let me give you a tip to make them last longer. Change the water every day. Don't just give them more water, actually change out the water every day. Dump the whole vase of water and refill with fresh water.
Today we had Matthew's party at school. It was postponed until today because of the snow on Friday. I enjoyed baking cupcakes for them and then visiting for a few minutes during the party. When I arrived, the teacher was talking to them about Valentine's Day and they were sharing "warm fuzzies" about their other classmates. So sweet!
Hope your long weekend was full of fun and time spent with the ones you love!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Snow Day
Those are words we rarely utter where I live, but Friday, we got a snow day! School was closed, and we spent a good part of the day staring out the window, anticipating and hoping (and maybe even doing a little praying!) Until Friday, it had only snowed here 3 times in my life, and one of those times, I was too young to remember it. So I was just as excited as Matthew was, and Luke kind of "caught" our excitement too!
Friday morning started out with rain, then some flurries. We didn't go out then, because I was sure it was going to continue. I was so disappointed when the flurries disappeared and it was only rain again. I had just about given up, but around 2:00, the flurries started again. I decided I was NOT going to miss that chance, so Matthew and I bundled up and headed outside. (Luke was inside asleep, and my mom was over here, so she stayed inside with him.) Thankfully, that time when it started, it kept snowing for an hour or two, and it stuck! We played until we were soaked and freezing, then came in for a while. When Luke woke up, we headed back out again. We had SO MUCH FUN! I was just like a little kid myself!!! Unfortunately, Tracy had to go to the church to start cooking for our Valentine Banquet, so he didn't get to play with us.
Here are some scenes from our day.
Friday morning started out with rain, then some flurries. We didn't go out then, because I was sure it was going to continue. I was so disappointed when the flurries disappeared and it was only rain again. I had just about given up, but around 2:00, the flurries started again. I decided I was NOT going to miss that chance, so Matthew and I bundled up and headed outside. (Luke was inside asleep, and my mom was over here, so she stayed inside with him.) Thankfully, that time when it started, it kept snowing for an hour or two, and it stuck! We played until we were soaked and freezing, then came in for a while. When Luke woke up, we headed back out again. We had SO MUCH FUN! I was just like a little kid myself!!! Unfortunately, Tracy had to go to the church to start cooking for our Valentine Banquet, so he didn't get to play with us.
Here are some scenes from our day.
Friday, February 5, 2010
What I'm Loving Today....
--A little boy who still wants to wear Christmas pajamas, even in February
--The anticipation of getting ready for Valentine's Day...baking cupcakes for Matthew's class, etc.
--Taking a personal leave day on a rainy Friday
--Going to a Gaither Homecoming concert tonight
--Meeting up with longtime friends that we don't see very often (at above-mentioned concert)
--That Tracy's business has taken off by leaps and bounds since the beginning of the year
--Getting all the laundry done today so that I can relax tomorrow!
What makes you happy today?
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