Friday, December 19, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Which of Santa's Reindeer Am I?
You Are Donner |
![]() The most lovable and sweet reindeer, you're also a total dork! Why You're Naughty: You keep (accidentally) tripping the other reindeer while flying. Why You're Nice: You're always smiling, even if you've fallen flat on your horns. |
Friday, November 28, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Busy
"There is no way that Social Studies is an actual class. It's way too much fun."
Or, when a mom came to pick her son up early from my class yesterday and he complained, "Moooooom. Not yet! Five more minutes?!"
All the time and energy I've poured into my job is instantly made worthwhile!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
The Next Survivor Series
Outwit, Outplay, Outlast
Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks.
Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes.
There is no fast food.
Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, and complete science projects, cook, do laundry, and
pay a list of 'pretend' bills with not enough money.
In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.
Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time-- no emailing.
Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment, a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment.
He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care.
He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.
Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times.
The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.
The men must shave their legs, wear makeup daily, adorn himself with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep fingernails polished and eyebrows groomed.
During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, back aches, and have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties.
They must attend weekly school meetings, church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.
They will need to read a book to the kids each night and in the morning, feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair by 7:00 am.
A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information:
each child's birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name. Also the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song,
favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.
The kids vote them off the island based on performance. The last man wins only if...he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice.
If the last man does win, he can play the game over and over and over again for the next 18-25 years eventually earning the right To be called Mother!
*thanks to Jessie for this!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Hmmm...
What Your Bed Says About You |
![]() Outward appearances are a concern of yours, but not your primary concern. You try to take care of yourself and your home, but it's not an obsession. You are an organized and disciplined person. You do the right thing because you want to, not because people expect you to. You are very low maintenance. You tend to go with the flow, and you're easily pleased. In relationships, you tend to be quite dominant. You enjoy taking charge. You tend to be a dreamy, head in the clouds type of person. You think in terms of possibilities. You are a traveler. You are comfortable anywhere, and you rarely feel homesick. |
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Sunday, August 24, 2008
First days of school
"Tomorrow is the weekend?! I want it to be a school day! I looooove my school! I looooove my teacher! I want to go to school tomorrow!"
Now, Matty has had many experiences with preschool, and has never been enthusiastic about going. So, to hear him say these things about school is music to my ears! I hope he continues to always "loooooove" school this much!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Back to School
I have very fond memories of the beginning of a new school year as a child. I always loved the brand new, waxy smelling, beautifully pointed crayons. And the whole box of unused, perfectly pink eraser tipped pencils. New school shoes that squeak on the linoleum of the school...everything so fresh and full of possibilities. I love reliving that with my own children.
Being a teacher, I have a different vantage point of a new school year, but with the same ripe excitement and enthusiasm. Brand new plan book, clean desks, and a blank walled classroom, full of possibilities. I love meeting my kids on the first day, as they walk slowly around the classroom, gazing at everything, trying to envision their upcoming school days.
I am truly looking forward to this school year!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Benjamin the Photographer
Thursday, July 24, 2008
You know you're a child of the 80's if...
You owned a Rubik's Cube.
You were obsessed with Pacman.
You remember people who had a Betamax VCR.
You watched MTV when it still was mostly music videos.
You remember when people thought you could get AIDS from mosquitos.
You owned an original Nintendo, complete with the Duck Hunt gun.
You watched the Olsen twins on Full House before they were tabloid material.
You loved E.T. and ate Reese's Pieces all the time.
You owned some Garbage Pail Kids cards.
Your mom used to wear shoulder pads.
You thought Thriller was the most awesome song (and video!) ever.
You met up with all your friends to go roller skating.
You saw Ghostbusters in the movie theater.
You remember Madonna when she when she was still pretty trashy.
The Cosbys were practically your second family.
You "adopted" one of the Pound Puppies.
Top Gun made you want to be a fighter pilot... or marry one.
You remember the first cassette tape you bought.
You played the original Trivial Pursuit.
You used to use gel in your hair.
You worried about acid rain.
---------
I found this on blogthings.com, under one of their many self-tests and I couldn't believe that I actually met all of these criteria!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Life with boys
On Wednesday we were having a play date at a friend's house. Being the cautious parent I think I am, Benjamin and Matthew were slathered with sunscreen and bug spray, and I sent them off to play in the backyard with their friend as I hung out with my own mommy friend, Jennifer. The boys had a blast playing outside in the woods and on the new outdoor play set of our friends. After several hours when we were preparing to go, I sent Benjamin out to retrieve the toys they had been playing with. A couple minutes later, Benjamin rushed into the house, explaining that there was a snake in the club house. At first, I thought it was a joke-Benjamin is at the age where he likes to see my reaction to such news, so at first I didn't take him seriously. We all trudged outside to see the alleged snake and low and behold, there it was, in the corner of the playhouse WHERE MY KIDS HAD BEEN PLAYING! When Benjamin had picked up the toys minutes earlier he discovered the snake underneath, just centimeters from his hands. I felt dizzy at the thought. My friend Jennifer, a native of North Carolina, assured me that it was a non-poisonous black snake. Apparently that is a good thing--the people of North Carolina value the black snake and it's ability to keep away rodents from their homes. And since it wasn't a huge snake, she said that even if the boys had been bitten, it would have only felt like a small pinch. However, that was not exactly reassuring for me to hear. I had another dizzy/faint feeling upon hearing this information and knowing that our kids were in the close proximity of a snake that could have bitten them.
Upon arriving home, we decided that after playing in the hot sun (and with snakes), we would get ready to go to the pool. As I was preparing the pool bag and dressing myself, the boys were playing in Benjamin's room. I could hear them laughing and the occasional thump coming from upstairs. I did what I swore I'd never do before kids (yet I do it all the time), I yelled through the house from downstairs, "Don't jump on the bed!" After a couple minutes of quiet, a blood-curdling scream emerged from upstairs. When you hear your child cry out like that, in the millisecond it takes you to realize that there is something seriously wrong and that this is not minor cry or a fake-attention-getting cry, it's utterly terrifying. I rushed toward the stairs--in slow motion of course, because for some reason in those moments, every movement seems to take forever, and you cannot seem to get to your child fast enough--and stood at the bottom. I looked up in horror to see Matthew's hands cupped underneath his mouth, which was full of blood and Benjamin staring at me in shock. I screamed (something I am not proud to admit), "WHAT HAPPENED!!!" Benjamin tried to explain, as I rushed Matthew into the bathroom, that they had been playing some sort of game (still on the bed) and Matthew had fallen forward and landed on a paperback Harry Potter book. Yes, a paperback book. No, not a bookshelf as my husband thought I meant when I spoke to him later, but a simple paperback book. And what caused all the blood was the fact that this book dislodged Matthew's second upper tooth, the one that was just starting to get the slightest bit wiggly, but was by no means ready to come out. Somehow in the midst of all of that, Matthew had managed to retrieve the tooth and opened his hand to give it to me as Benjamin explained. I sat there on the toilet, holding a wad of toilet paper in Matthew's mouth, trying to sop up the blood. My heart rate slowly began to return to normal when I realized it was nothing more than a tooth lost. I managed to put on a brave face for Matthew, despite still feeling shaken, so that he would not react to me freaking out and told him how cool it was that no one would have to pull that tooth out now and that the tooth fairy would get to visit again. After the bleeding had finally stopped and his mouth was rinsed out, I sent them to the car so we could go to the pool and realized that I was shaking.
On my way to the pool I felt exhausted, as if I'd just exerted myself, which I guess I kind of had. I couldn't help thinking that after the events of the day, maybe we shouldn't be going to the pool. Maybe we should just stay home and try to keep away from anything possibly dangerous. But everything turned out fine, there were no scares or emergencies, and we all enjoyed the cool, calm waters of the swimming pool. The margarita I enjoyed later that evening was also helpful in calming my frazzled nerves!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Protein Smoothie
1 cup Dannon Light & Fit vanilla yogurt
1 cup frozen fruit of choice (frozen cherries are my fav.)
1/2 cup sugar free kool-aid or crystal light of choice (I use grape sugar free kool-aid)
1 scoop whey protein
Blend and enjoy!
Calories: 240
Fat: 2
Carbs: 29
Fiber: 3
Protein: 33
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Can you decipher this?
I luv mi mom
I luv bruther
I luv mi dad
I lic trans
I lic casls
I lic thu gras
I love chocolate milk
I want mi new techr
I lic mi cinpeoodr
I lic mi spreclr
I dont luv thu weds
Can you guess which one I helped on?! I will give bonus points to those of you who can figure out the last 3 sentences!
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Thank you letter to the tooth fairy
Friday, June 27, 2008
Living with a 5 year old...
"Why can't God make me magic?"
"Where do Sloppy Joe's come from?"
"Why can't I eat the penny?"
"Can you show me a picture of God on the Internet?"
"Why do you have those things right there?" (referring to the 'Mommy Parts' on my chest)
"How big is space?"
"Can you build me a real castle?" (get this one daily)
"What do rocks come from?"
"What does the corner of space look like?"
"Can I fly to the sun?"...then... "Why not?!"
"Why does 's' say 'ssssss'?
"Why are you allergic?"
"Why do cars have their lights on during the day?"
"How can the trees be older than you?!
And there are many more, but these are just the ones I was asked today! Sometimes, he blows me away with his questions and I just do not have a concrete, five-year-old appropriate answer for him (or any knowledge of the answer at all). And when I am at a loss for an answer and simply say, "because that's just the way it is," the next question is:
"What does 'because' mean?"
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Beach Pictures




Monday, June 16, 2008
Finally, Summer Vacation!
1. reading as many books as I can
2. eating watermelon
3. sleeping in
4. afternoon matinees
5. eating lunch outside of a school building
6. having time to exercise
7. lazy days at the pool
8. barbeque's
9. fireflies + boys + jars
10. "spring" cleaning
Friday, June 13, 2008
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Paint
Friday, June 6, 2008
Southern "Tawk"
I thought I would share some of my favorite southern-speak with y'all and see if you can imagine hearing these words coming at ya' real fast.
GUIDE TO SOUTHERN TALK*
Ah - The things you see with.
Aig - Which came first, the chicken or the aig?
Arn - An electrical instrument used to remove wrinkles from clothing.
Awf- You turn the lights awf before you go to bed.
Bawl - What water does.
Bobbycue - A delectable Southern sandwich of chopped pork, cole slaw, and a fiery sauce.
Cheer - A piece of furniture used for sitting.
Crine - Weeping.
Far - A state of combustion that produces heat and light.
Git - To acquire.
Idinit - "Mighty hot today, idinit?"
Keer - To be concerned.
Kitchen- If you're not "kitchen," you're throwing the ball.
Nawth - Any part of the country outside of the South.
Nekkid - To be unclothed.
Ovair - In that direction.
Own - Instead of awf.
Phrasin - Very cold.
Pitcher - An image, either drawn or photographed.
Purty - Good looking.
Share- Place in your bathroom where you wash your body.
Show - "It show is hot today."
Tal - What you dry off with after you take a share.
Tar - Round inflatable object that sometimes goes flat.
* many spellings came from http://www.unwind.com/jokes-funnies/
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Aunt Theresa
Ben's baby sister, Theresa, came out to visit us and we had such an awesome time with her! Theresa is so special to me for many reasons, one being that I have known her since she was three (and she is now almost 21!!! I guess that means I've known Ben and his family since I was 14, wow!) She used to sit on my lap and pretend read stories to me.

Many years later, when she was 12 & 13 years old and Ben and I lived in Georgia, she came out to stay with us for the summer to keep me company while Ben was away at his various Army camps. She would also help me take care of Benjamin Jr. during those summers while I was going to grad school. She was a life saver! I would have never made it through school without her help with Benjamin! During those summers, Benjamin and Theresa created such a close relationship, and it is evident even now how close they are. This is what Benjamin looked like back when Theresa (or Aunt TT as she's known) babysat for him...
This most recent visit was so wonderful because it was a nice reminder of how much we all love spending time with Theresa. We really felt her absence when she left to go back to Colorado.
We love you, Aunt TT!


















