MLK Weekend

We had quite a big MLK weekend this year. My parents got all new, much needed appliances in their kitchen right before Christmas. But, their cabinets and counter tops were just really dated, and somewhat unattractive. So, me and my sisters and all our hubbies had the brilliant idea to send them off for MLK weekend and camp out at their house and re-d0 their kitchen. We have been so excited about it since before Christmas, and my parents had no idea. We worked our tails off, but we actually had a really good time. We painted all of their 36 cabinets and 9 drawers, painted all the hardware, replaced the backsplash (we spray painted the back side of plexiglass and hung it, which, if you can find reasonably priced plexiglass, is a fairly cheap and really nice looking backsplash), changed out the light fixtures, and replaced the counter tops. The cabinets all got sanded, primed, sanded again, and then got a coat of paint on the back and 2 on the front, which took what felt like forever. By the end of the first night, we had countertops off, all doors off, and everything sanded and primed. Of course, it was 3:00 in the morning before we went to bed. Here are some pictures of all the hard work.

Here are a few before and after shots of what we started with and how it all turned out. I forgot to take a before picture until after we'd already done a few things.

Like I said, mom and dad had no clue, and their reaction was awesome. They were so surprised. Mom even cried. It was great. We were all really proud of ourselves, too.

Losing My Mind

We started back to school yesterday and I have made the biggest idiot mistake that a teacher can make in a small town where everyone knows each other and talks to everyone. I forgot to send report cards home today! Ugh!!! My assistant principal very nicely and sweetly told me that it was no big deal, but that I needed to call every parent and let them know what happened. One issue that we have at our school is a ridiculous amount lunch charges. The cafeteria won't refuse to feed a kid because they don't have money, but the students all have accounts that they charge lunches to. The new policy is that we can't send the report card home until all their lunch charges are paid. I don't know how I feel about the new policy because I have one student who owes $240, and his sister also owes this much, so that's almost $500 that his family owes the school, and they're not wealthy people. He's brought his lunch every day this year, so all the charges are from previous years, but he hasn't received a report card yet this year. Of course, I usually cheat and let him look at it before I send it to the office. So, all that was to say that I had 5 kids who wouldn't have gotten their report cards today anyway, and I have 6 who I e-mail things to, so I only had to call 11 parents, but it was still a pain. So far I haven't gotten any ugly e-mails, and I guess I'll find out in the morning how many mad parents I had that called the school. But, I didn't leave today until around 4:30 because Wednesday is our grade level planning day, and I hadn't heard anything at that point, so maybe no one will bother me about it. This is the price I pay for having too many irons in the fire. My classes start back Monday, but I've been sick with some nasty throat virus - the kind that makes my whole body twist when I swallow. I have gross white spots all over the back of my throat and this stupid lady at school (yes, she really is stupid) very rudely said to me, "Why are you here? You probably have strep throat. You're going to make me sick." I wasn't even talking to her. Unfortunately, I teach her son (equally stupid), so I have to keep a civil relationship with her. I made sure I breathed nice and heavy on her kid today. I'm kidding. I try not to get that close to him. :)

The Rest of Christmas

So, here I am, 5 days late on my Christmas post. Of course, I've been busy as usual (I know you're all sick of hearing me repeat that over and over again) putting Christmas away, and I'm happy to report, all traces of Christmas are boxed up and gone. I know, that's sad that I would say I'm happy about it, but when the tree goes up before Thanksgiving, the 26th is long enough for me. We had our big Clark Christmas party on the 24th, which was lots of fun, except that Andy started feeling bad that night. They always have tons of gag gifts, which are always hilarious. Here's a picture of all the women in the family. After that, we went to Andy's dad's to open presents. Here are the kids getting presents there. The next day we had our regular Christmas at home with all our Santa gifts. I didn't take any pictures that morning. We usually just set the camera on the tri-pod and take video. It's just more fun for us all that way. Nobody has to worry about anything but opening presents and giving gifts. But, the kids racked up this year. Evan got an electric race track, which he has really enjoyed. Him and Andy sit in the play room and race the cars around and around. It has a loop and a bridge and everything, which is really neat. Alli and Drew got a kitchen set, which is pretty nice -- something I would have been so excited about when I was little. They got metal pots and pans to go with it, a "working" microwave (meaning that it has a little spinning tray inside it and dings when it's done), a tea pot, dishes, pot holders, and pretend food. They also got a Wii, which we've all really enjoyed. I haven't had as much fun playing video games since we got our first Nintendo forever ago and I became obsessed with Super Mario Brothers. The most hilarious part of the Wii is that Andy's Mii (character) looks exactly like him. I think I may take a picture of it off the TV so everyone can see. It's amazing. Andy also got me the Wii Fit, which is great. I've done it a few times and my muscles are so sore today. I mentioned that I was going to cook a big breakfast for us Christmas morning, and I did. We had eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrown casserole, and biscuits. I attempted to make gravy for the biscuits, but it turned out like what I would imagine engine sludge to look like. It was pretty nasty, but the rest of the breakfast was outstanding if I do say so myself. Here's a picture of that. But, would it really be a post from me without some crazy thing happening to make it not so perfect? On Christmas Eve, some horrific virus infiltrated our house. I don't know if it was the flu or what, but it was bad. Andy and Drew were the only ones that go it (so far!), but it involved a terribly high fever (Andy and Drew both got up to 103) and hallucinagenic nightmares. At 3:00 in the morning, Andy layed in the floor in front of the space heater wearing a T-shirt, under a long sleeved shirt, under a fleece pull-over, under an electric blanket, and shivered and talked to somebody, and when I asked him what he was talking about, he just responded with a really confused, "what?" Then, when Drew got it, we had her sleep in our room, and she woke up in the middle of the night and went upstairs to the play room. I got up to see where she went and asked her where she was, and she said she was in my room (even though she was sitting in the play room), so I went and got her and put her back in our room, and then she layed there whimpering and making weird noises, so Andy layed down with her and she told him she was scared that the Wii was going to get her. The next morning she didn't remember any of it. Between the 2 of them, we had 4 really long nights. So, thank goodness it's all over and nobody else has gotten it. I sure have prayed hard that it would go away without getting the rest of us! Christmas was great, and me and the kids are now enjoying a free week before we go back to school. Even though my job gets stressful at times, the vacation perks are really nice!

Christmases 1 & 2

We started all of our Christmas events this past weekend. Usually, Christmas is jam packed into a steady and constant 3 days, but this year it's much more spread out. Now that Stephanie and Erin are married, and they have family obligations with their husbands, we had to shift our plans a little, which worked out just as well. Friday night, the 19th, we went to my parents and decorated 90-something Christmas cookies. The kids absolutely loved it, and really stuck with it long after the adults were over it. Here are some pictures of the kids decorating.

Here's one of Alli working extra hard. Look at the concentration on her face!Here's a picture of several of the finished products.We spent the night there and then got up early and opened presents the next morning, and then cooked a big lunch of finger foods and pretty much grazed all day while playing a marathon game of Mexican Train. I actually didn't play for most of it. I just don't have the attention span any more to sit still for that long. I did jump in on the last 2 rounds and played on Drew's team, though, and she ended up winning (not just because of me, and definitely not because they let her win, either), so it was nice to get in on the tail end of a victory. Here's a picture of the huge mess of paper from the present opening. Tonight, Andy's mom and grandmother came over and had dinner with us and brought gifts for the kids to open. We had a nice dinner, and the kids got some much needed clothes. Here are a couple of pictures of that. So, it's been a great start to all the festivities, and tomorrow night we have our party with the Clark's, and then Big Red himself comes to visit. We're trying to start some of our own family traditions since so far, our plans have just consisted of carrying on the same old traditions from when we were kids, which is great -- I hope to continue that for a long, long time. But, we also want our kids to have something of their own, so I'm planning on cooking a big breakfast just for our family Christmas morning, and then I'm sure that will be followed by hours of playing with gifts from Santa.

Birthdays, Haircuts, and Christmas

I mentioned in my last post that I got an awesome new camera for my birthday, but didn't mention any other events related to it, so here are some details. On Monday night, Andy couldn't hold it anymore and gave me my present early. On Wednesday, my actual birthday, Drew, being the precious child that she is, talked to my class and got them to sing to me in the cafeteria. So, my whole class of 23 kids sang loudly in the lunchroom, and when 23 kids sing in unison, people tend to look, so for 45 seconds, all eyes were on me in the cafeteria. While I love attention from one or two people at a time, that much attention causes weird sensations in my stomach and I generally break out in hives, but I kept my cool and thought it was precious. Today, we went to lunch at my mom and dad's house with the whole family, and it was such a nice day. They got me a really cute cake and gave me some great gifts, including money, which my dad was so kind to watch the kids while my mom and I went to spend it. I also got my hair cut pretty short this weekend, which I was super nervous about, but really love. This picture is purely for vanity reasons, although my face looks goofy because I was swallowing. But, it's another angle of my hair, which I know you're all dying to further check out. At mom's we ate delicious grilled steaks and baked potatoes and a big salad and yummy bread, and then just sat around and did a lot of talking and laughing while everyone played with the kids, and they adore the attention (Erin is torturing Evan with tickling in this picture). And, also in my last post I think I mentioned putting up the Christmas tree, so here's a picture of that and the stockings that I made several years ago when my life was so completely different than it is now. I can't imagine doing something like that right now (sigh....).

Overdue Thanksgiving

I know everyone's probably over this by now, but we had a really great Thanksgiving. We spent Thursday with the Clark's and had a huge meal with Andy's dad and step-mom and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. Then we went and spent the night at my parents house with Steph and Erin and their hubbies, which was so much fun. It's been forever since me and my sisters spent the night together in that house. Then the next day we had another huge Thanksgiving. We had around 20 people at my parents' house, 8 of which were kids, so it was very noisy and rowdy, but fun. Besides my family & parents & sisters and their husbands, my cousin and her family were there along with some friends from church and their kids, a friend of my mom's, and my friend Bethany and her little boy Hayden. I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend more than I've enjoyed Thanksgiving in a long time. It makes me excited about how great Christmas will be. Of course, I forgot my camera at both places, so here's a picture of the family that Steph and Jose had. We now have our Christmas tree up, and I got a super awesome amazing fabulous outstanding great camera for my birthday from Andy - a Nikon D90, so I plan on taking lots of great pictures of the kids in front of the tree for the blog and our Christmas card, so stay tuned for some super awesome amazing fabulous outstanding great pictures!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A couple of weeks ago Evan and Alli had a Thanksgiving program at school. At our school, all the grade-level programs are incorporated into the PTO meetings to try to get more involvement. I have to go to all of them since I work there, and, I'm not sure what the deal is with the parents at our school, but the 5th grade turn out was pitiful. Well, the kindergarten crowd was the complete opposite. The gym was busting at the seams, and the camera flashes and video cameras were out of control. I was standing in the middle of the gym taking video, thinking I was probably infuriating everyone by standing, but not knowing what else to do because I couldn't get a good shot. Then I turned around and everyone else was doing the same. At the end of the program they had the kids stand there for a few minutes so parents could come up and take pictures, and it was like the most insane paparazzi you've ever seen. It sure was fun, though, and it made me happy because I wasn't at all embarrassed about being that crazy camera happy mom, since everyone else was just as crazy. Evan was an Indian boy, which I was surprised was still an acceptable title what with the P.C. world we live in now. Of course, it is Lula. Alli was a turkey, and she was her typical self. In one of the videos, it's hard to see her because the girl in front of her was blocking her, but it shows the little battle she had with her beak. You can hear Drew and Andy laughing in the background. By the end of the whole thing, she was wearing her beak on top of her head. You may have to look to pick them out of the crowd, but here are some pictures and videos. For the first part of the program, and the reason for the costumes, a teacher read a story about the first thanksgiving and each time she said "Indian Boy," or "Turkey," or "Pilgrim," etc., the kids had a line. The Indian boys said "Big and Brave," and the turkeys said, "Gobble, Gobble."

Another Crazy Weekend

For those of you who don't know, Andy bought a car on e-bay 5 or 6 years ago. It was a Geo Metro, and a wonderful car for gas mileage. It wasn't the prettiest thing in the world or the greatest smelling car, and the radio antenna never worked, but it did have a CD player. Also, if you wanted to run the air conditioner or heater, the only level that worked was full blast. But, at least it had air conditioning and heat. A couple of weeks ago, the Geo died. We were all sad about it, except Drew. So, we were in need of a small non-gas-guzzler. I drive a Yukon XL, which is quite a beast of a vehicle, and Andy's old truck is good for hauling things, but terrible on the gas. So, Andy went back to e-bay and found a 2002 Dodge Neon in Gloucester, VA. I have to admit, I'm much more excited about driving the Neon than I was the Geo (although I feel a little guilty about that - cars tend to take on human characteristics for me for some reason). It, like the Geo, needs a little minor body work, which Andy feels we can get taken care of pretty cheaply, but other than that it should be a nice, reliable, cheap-on-gas car. So, we tossed around all the options for actually getting the car in our possession, and decided that the best thing to do was to take a trip as a family up to VA, visit some friends, and spend Saturday in Washington D.C. Andy had never been (for shame!), and neither had the kids, so it was a pretty exciting trip for all of us. We had great weather (around 70 degrees) with just a little rain. Here are some pictures of the trip:

Here are the kids in front of the Capital Building.

Here are Andy, Drew, and Evan at the Smithsonian Museum of Air and Space, which was pretty awesome. The kids got a little bored with this one, but Andy could've spent all day there.

Here are the kids at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in front of a bunch of dinosaur bones. They liked this one more than the Air and Space museum, but Andy and I could've spent a lot more time there reading about all the little things. The kids were impressed with the big, exciting stuff, but things like gems and mouse skeletons weren't quite as exciting to them.

This is as close as we got to the White House. We only had one day, so looking at it from a block away had to do this time.

Here are the kids in front of the Washington Monument. We were pretty close to it, so they're pretty tiny in the picture.

And, here they are in front of the Lincoln Memorial. We really enjoyed the weekend, and it was great to see old friends, too. We were a little tired today, since we got home around 9:00 last night and had to go to work and school this morning, but it was worth it. And, Andy drove the new car to work today, and thinks it'll be a good car. So, we got a lot of good stuff done in a very short time.

Halloween '08

Last night we did our traditional Halloween stuff. We made the rounds to all the grandparents, except for my parents, who came to our house, and then came home and Trick-or-Treated in the neighborhood. This neighborhood is nothing like our old neighborhood on Halloween. At our old neighborhood, the streets are packed with cars and people trick-or-treating. The houses are all lit up, and we even had a crazy lady who dressed up her dog and took it around to people's houses. In this neighborhood, I think we went to 5 houses, and the rest all had their porch lights out. The kids were a bit disappointed since they're used to house after house handing out candy. I don't mean to make them sound like ingrates. They were still excited about everything and had a great night. The first thing Evan said this morning was that he loved trick-or-treating last night. They just didn't understand what the deal was. I didn't either since my experiences with Halloween were with a dad who loves Halloween way more than Christmas and spent extended time doing awesome paint jobs on our faces and coming up with great costumes in a town where the houses had fake graveyards set up in their yards and black lights and fog machines. In fact, I mentioned to my mom that at the next Homeowner's Association meeting I was going to ask why this neighborhood is so crappy on Halloween, to which she replied that they would all say, "She's nothing like Margaret," (the lady that lived here before us, a social butterfly, and the sweetest person on the planet - yep, nothing like me). But, overall it was a nice night and the kids got plenty of candy to last them at least until the next holiday, and they're still running around in their costumes today. By the way, Drew was a cute, girly version of the mad hatter, Evan was Iron Man (which he calls I-Run Man), and Alli was the cutest genie ever.

M. Night Shyamalan

I'm really feeling like a good quality post is past due, but I have very little to post about. My most exciting news is that I accomplished my goal of purchasing Halloween costumes before the week of Halloween. I like to reach for the stars. It's funny because I have to meet with my assistant principal at some point in the next week and set a goal for myself, and I have no clue. I'm thinking something like, "My goal is to have a job and a clean house at the same time," but I doubt that's gonna fly. So, other than that, it's sort of the same old thing around here, which isn't a bad thing -- just not an exciting or new thing. I don't have time to sit on the internet all day and find YouTube videos and other such internet junk for your entertainment, unless it's forwarded to my e-mail. So, I guess that's it. Here's another picture of the kids from our trip to Gatlinburg. Aren't they pretty? Yeah, I've been a little neglectful on the picture taking lately, too.

Just Stuff

It seems like everyone is posting about fall. Up until today it's still been miserably hot around here (at least it has been at recess), but today was nice and breezy. It was one of those perfect days -- not too hot, not a cloud in the sky. Days like this make me as excited about recess as the kids. Halloween is coming soon, and my goal is to buy costumes before the week of Halloween this year (yes, I aim high with my goals). Andy is in Kansas right now hunting for bigger deer than we have here in Georgia, and every night when I talk to him he goes on and on about the sky. No mention of deer -- it's all about the stars. The night sky where Andy's dad lives is amazing compared to where we live because he's a little further into the country, but I guess it's still too close to Atlanta from what he's said. I'm ready for him to come home. Single parenthood is for the birds. When I wasn't working, I didn't like it, but it was tolerable. Now that I'm working, it's so hard, and I'm exhausted at the end of the day. It's reminded me to take my vitamins, though, so whatever works, right? This is a picture of the kids from our last-minute weekend get-away last weekend in Gatlinburg. It's the default vacation place for us -- far enough to get away but close enough for a quick weekend.

Why I Love Weekends

Life has been extremely busy around here these days. Andy has worked like crazy because of all the hurricanes, and I'm going a million directions myself with kids, work, and being back in school (which, I forgot so soon, stinks). During the week I get up between 5:00 and 5:30 depending on whether I was efficient enough to shower the night before, and then the kids get up at 6:00. It's still dark outside, nobody is particularly chipper at that hour, and we generally get dressed, eat, and walk out the door by 6:45. On the weekends, though, we cut off all alarms and sleep as long as we can, and then the kids trickle in one by one to get in bed with us, and we lay there until we get sick of the crowdedness of 5 people in a queen size bed. The kids get to eat breakfast in their pajamas (or underwear, which is Evan's pajama choice these days), and then we lay around some more and watch TV or play outside, or even get some house-cleaning done. In fact, my house is super clean right now and all my laundry is washed, folded, and put away, and I'm even thinking about taking a nap. Andy is obsessed with college football in hopes that his precious Georgia Bulldogs will win everything, and with pro football due to a fantasy football league he's been in for several years now. There's nothing better than getting a nice backrub (a compromise we've come to - I won't complain about the football if he rubs my back) and falling asleep on a Sunday afternoon. Of course, at about 7:00 tonight we'll be back into the routine of getting baths, packing bookbags, and getting the kids in bed by 8:00.

Evan the Bug Catcher

I'm trying to get all caught on my blogging after a month of nothing. This is the first of 4 posts I've put up today, so hopefully this will get everything up to date. Evan is an amazing bug catcher. Andy already makes fun of me because I can never seem to be fast enough to kill a fly with a fly swatter, but Evan can. He spends all kinds of time in the yard catching grasshoppers and crickets. At church a couple of weeks ago, he snuck (or sneaked) 2 communion cups and taped them together to make a little container for 2 crickets that he caught, which I thought was pretty ingenious. At Andy's dad's house they have one of those bushes that attracts butterflies. I think it's a buddleia, but I'm not 100% sure on that. When we go over there, Evan will spend forever out there catching butterflies. One day he caught 6 or 7 in a jar. The other day we were over there and he came running around the corner of the house with a huge monarch butterfly in his hand. It was pretty impressive. Andy's dad got him a jar to bring it home, and he kept it for a while until we convinced him to let it go before it died. In the first picture you can see it at the top of the jar right under the lid. I was snapping pictures, and the butterfly fluttered around for a few seconds before it flew off, but Alli stuck her big head right in the way and I didn't get any good shots of it. Ok, so Alli's head really isn't that big, but I was pretty darn irritated about it.

The First Day of School

Again, there are a couple more new posts after this, so keep on reading. In case you haven't noticed, I deleted that other post where I was completely losing it. I'd hate for my job to be in jeopardy over a little temper tantrum. It's been a crazy first couple of weeks with a lot of adjustments. But, this week has been much better than last week, so I'm trying to stay optimistic. The kids have done great. They all really like their teachers, and I love being in the same building with all 3 of them. I don't know what I'm going to do when they go to middle school. I'm so used to being right there with them and knowing everything that's going on and being more than just parents of the teachers' students, but friends and co-workers with the teachers. I told Andy the other night that I need to go back and get certified in middle grades education. Actually, middle grades go from 4th to 8th grade, even though elementary is pre-K through 5th, and since I did my student teaching in 4th, it would just mean a few more classes. But, I'm trying to not be completely neurotic and let go a little. I still have a few more years, so maybe I'll be ok by then. Andy had to take them to their class rooms on their first day since I had to be there to greet my students for their first day. Plus, I was having a really hard time with my babies starting kindergarten. I definitely lost it when I walked out of the school to leave Drew for the first time, and I was about the same with Evan and Alli. I had to leave before them, so when I told them bye I got in the car and cried on the way to school. But the kids were fine, and they still love it. I get reports from Evan's teacher that he's "all boy," which I just tell myself she means in a good way. I think she does. Alli had her strip moved one day for playing with a boy that she was in Pre-K with during rug time, and then had a little time out for talking in art class, but nobody was surprised about that. Everybody knows Alli can't be still or quit talking. Drew was scared to death about her teacher because she's the oldest 3rd grade teacher, and isn't all warm and fuzzy and huggy, and has a reputation for being very firm, but she's a great teacher and is funny and very nice, and now Drew loves her. She also has a little girl in her class who she had some problems with in the past, but they're friends now, so it's all worked out fine. If I can just get myself together and not get so stressed about everything, we'll all be doing fine. I'm doing better. My house is staying clean and laundry is caught up, and I'm not behind on grading papers yet (but it's just the 2nd week of school). We have groceries in the house and have managed to have dinner at the table as a family, instead of grabbing fast food and eating in a rush to get in bed. The only thing is I started my Master's on Monday, and it's all on-line and pretty flexible, and I'm doing it with 3 other girls that I got my Bachelor's with, but it's still extra projects and papers. I keep telling myself that the pay raise will be worth it, not to mention the credentials, which I personally enjoy. So far, it appears as though the professors all get that we all work full time during the day, and a lot of the projects seem to be things that we'll be doing in our classrooms anyways, and just reflecting on those. Plus my friends and I all work in the same county and e-mail a lot and meet for dinner once a month to talk about things and vent if we need to. So, like I said before, I'm trying to stay optimistic. I'm finally starting to get attached to my students, and I have a lot of sweet kids (who just love to talk, which is becoming an issue), so that helps. The first week all I could see was that they wouldn't shut up, and I was feeling so much pressure from the principal and there were so many huge changes from last year. But, it's all starting to become routine now, and the kids (my personal kids) are happy, which definitely helps! Oh, here are pictures of the kids on the first day that Andy took. They're in the kitchen where the walls are yellow and we have those little energy saver flourescent light bulbs, so the color came out really yellow.