snow day...well, sort of!

I woke up this morning ultra early and ran to the window to check for the predicted inches of snow and ice we were supposed to get last night. Much to my disappointment I looked out to a wet, not white or icy yard. So disappointed, I got ready and headed off to work. School was filled with disappointed students and teachers. I had almost lost all hope when my mom emailed this picture to me. It was the amount of snow that they had just recieved and what was headed our way. Soon after that, it began to sleet but the temp was still 33. Then the other area schools began to close so I knew we would too. Finally it was announced over the speaker system that we would be getting out at 12:00. If you've never been in a classroom with 20 kiddos (who are already excited about the potential of snow) when it's announced that we are leaving for a snow day...well let me tell ya that is one experience everyone should have! :) We had to feed all the students by 12 in order to count it as a full day and not have to make it up. So we rushed through lunch and headed home. So I got home a few hours early. But by the time I got home, all the snow had melted and I couldn't get a picture. So tonight I'm wishing for more snow so that we can have a real snow day tomorrow! :)

Come On Snow!

I am so ready for a snow day! So tonight I'm wishing for some snow! Here is an old school pic of Maggie a few years back watching it snow.

My Guitar Hero

Tonight Travis surprised me with and early birthday present...Guitar Hero 3 for the Wii! It's really hard to find and apparenty he found one tonight at Circuit City so he went ahead and got it. And of course he had to give it to me early...I mean what's the point of waiting anyway when I already know about it, right? :) Besides, it's only a few days early anyway! How fun!

Quick Tip

While cooking dinner tonight I had a major boilover on the stove. I was simmering a mixture of milk and flour when I turned to place a pot into the sink. During that time the pan of milk practically exploded all over the stove. It was covering the whole stove and searing to the burners. Anyone who has a glasstop stove knows how much of a pain it is to clean off burned on stuff to those burners. So before I could even wipe it all off, it had seared and burnt to 3 of my 4 burners. It was a terrible mess. However I did figure out one thing to clean it off. I made a paste of baking soda and water. I used one of those 3M no scratch sponges (on the scrubber side) and worked for awhile to try and the get the burns out. It got the majority...I still have some work to do. However, the baking soda and water mixture cleaned the best for me! So anyone who has the glasstop stoves should definitly try it out.

Also, please check out this website. It's about our little cousin, Hailey, who was recenty diagnosed with bone cancer. Please keep her in your prayers! Thanks!
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/hesanders

Scrapbooking

Not much today...jus thought I would post a few pics of some scrapbook pages I've made over the years.

We broke ground...literally!

We got up this morning ready to show our house to some lady. She ended up standing us up which sucks. Then we headed off to the lot to break ground and begin leveling the lot. I stopped by Bartons to pick up our cabinetry estimate...which was $23,000! INSANE! The estimate we recieved from All About Kitchen's and Baths was $8000. And we liked their stuff so much better! So it's an easy choice who we will go with! Travis borrowed a big tractor from a guy he knows that's building right down from us. He had the time of his life up there driving that big tractor around. He worked several hours to scrape off the top layer of soil, weeks, roots, etc. We didn't have to actually dig yet but we will have to dig out like 5 feet of soil when we get ready for the driveway. We are supposed to get the footings put in next Monday!

Chuck E. Cheese Fundraiser

Tonight was the Fox Meadow Chuck E. Cheese fundraiser. A percentage of the money tonight goes straight back to our school. Travis and I were excited because we both enjoy going there. We arrived around 6:00 and it was incredibly packed. We had to wait out in the cold for over 15 minutes just to get into the door. They were no tables and they had reached their fire code limit. It was fantastic! I saw three of my students this year as well as two of my students from last year. We had such a great time! Travis won a ton of tickets that we'll save for Haley for next time she comes in. The kids had such an incredible time and loved seeing the teachers and especially the principals playing in that environment!

Maggie-one odd duck

Maggie's favorite place in the house is sitting on the ottoman near the window. She used to stick her nose through the blinds and watch the happenings outside all day long. It got so bad with her barking and harassing the neighborhood kids that we took extreme measures to prevent her from seeing out. We lined the window with opaque film so that she can't see anymore. It took a while for her to get used to the change but now she's pretty much over it. She still likes to lay on the ottoman near the window sticking her nose through the blinds pretending she can see out. It's funny to drive up and see that little black nosed pressed against the glass!

Our Day Off!

Today both Travis and I were off today which a rarity. We got up and went to a plumbing store to look at bathroom and kitchen fixtures. Then we went to two different brick places and picked out our brick...chocolate brown antique. :) We called around to some guys to do our footings and slab. We now plan to break ground this weekend and hopefully have our footings put in early next week! It's starting to move so quickly. So far we have agreed upon just about everything. We still disagree on the flooring. I've found this beautiful, yet ridiculously expensive hand-scraped hardwood that I would love to use. But more realisticaly found some less expensive hardwood that I would be very happy with. Yet Travis is still deadset on his stained concrete. We just can't seem to agree on a solution. I've decided to draw a line down the middle of the house and let him do what ever he wants on his side :) Then my mom and day came down for a quick visit and dinner. It was really nice seeing them and getting to visit for a short bit. I know that we won't get to visit them as much as we would like once our house gets moving along. Here is a pic of Maggie and Tucker waiting for Nana and Papa to arrive.

Being a teacher

The events of this past week have made me reflect on my decision to become a teacher. I began college with the major of chemistry...yeah, I knew that wouldn't work. Looking back now I can only laugh at the thought of majoring in chemistry. But I soon changed it to education after having a class in high school that placed us in the kindergarten classroom for a 9 weeks and working a the community school for a summer. I knew that teaching is where I wanted to be. I enjoy being around kids...I get them. I can communicate with them (sometimes better than with adults). The freedom of the summer and the hours worked were also a draw. But now that I have been teaching for several years I realize that is not why I went into the field. I genuinely love teaching them. I love seeing my kiddos come into my classroom in August pretty much little babies. They leave my classroom in May strong readers (hopefully), creative writers, and mathematical thinkers. I always said I wanted to teach any grade except first. First grade was too much of a transition from the simplistic kindergarten to the fast paced, content rich first grade. Besides that, I HATED my own experience in first grade. I still remember the stress of it all. I hope and pray now that I am not putting that pressure on my own students. I love my students; I know them. I spend eight hours a day with them for almost an entire year. I truly become attached to my kiddos and their families. So here is a pic of my students this year...what a great bunch I have. I have also posted a link to my classroom website on the right side of the page for anyone who's interested in what we do!

A day like no other

What an unbelievable day. This morning before 8:00 our assistant principal came over the intercom...her voice was visibly shaken. She told us there was an incident outside and we were to be put into lockdown. Thank god I had just gone over our lockdown procedures yesterday. My kids were prepared and handled the situation perfectly. So we sat in lockdown for about 30 minutes or so. Soon after I heard the tragic news that one of our kindergateners had been hit by a car in front of the school. Tragically, once he got to the hospital he passed away. I always heard that in being a teacher, you must learn to cope and deal with tragedies such as this. But it's impossible to prepare yourself for what happened today. Our school...the incredible school that I love so dearly was rocked to its core. We pulled together and supported each other. I cannot express the amount of community support we recieved today. Pastors from local churches were there for guidance...they even pulled together and brought lunch for the staff. My heart aches so intensely for that little boy and his family. I cannot imagine what they are going through tonight. All I can do is pray for them and ask that anyone who reads this do the same.

American Gladiators

How great is it that American Gladiators is back on TV? We love it! Other than that, we met with our insurance guy today because we have to get builder's risk insurance before we can close on our loan. We also switched over our car and house insurance to Farmers because we will end up saving several hundred dollars a year. They have a great discount for teachers as well. The secretary there is a parent of one of my kiddos last year. She mentioned that her son missed being in my class and still talks about being in my class. It's nice to hear that sometimes...to know that I'm actually making an impact on these kids. I sometimes forget the influence and impact I have on my students. I try and ask myself "Am I being a teacher that I would have wanted in school?" Speaking of...here's a flashback pic of me on the first day of kindergarten in 1986!

Tucker and the elephant

One of the things I love so much about my lil Tucker is that he has always been attached to one specific toy. Currently it is an old ratty elephant. He has to have this toy to go to sleep. When we head off to bed, he scours the house to find it, and carries it to bed with him. I don't believe I have ever seen him come to bed without it. It's nasty, tattered, torn, and barely recognizable. But he loves it anyway. Before the elephant he was attached to this weird bright orange fuzzy toy. He loved that one so much it finally vanished into small pieces. Before that it was a yellow duck and of course he loved it until it fell apart. This elephant has definitly held up much longer than usual. We have tried to get him attached to other, new, more attractive toys but he will have none of that! He doesn't play with it during the day...he only needs it at night. And he absolutely will not allow Maggie to come near it! :)

House Update

Well we have recieved our appraisal for our house so we can get our construction loan. We have a meeting Thursday about the loan so we should have it after then. We also recieved our first building estimate from Bartons. It's so fun to be doing this type of stuff. We've picked our our interior and exterior lights, chosen our brick color, etc. I love that type of stuff. But pretty soon our real work...the manual labor will begin and it won't be too fun then. For the most part Travis and I have agreed upon most things...the major disagreement right now is about the flooring. He wants stained concrete...I'm leaning more toward hardwood (simply because we want kiddos soon and I don't want my little ones crawling on concrete!) But he really wants the stained concrete (which I love as well), so we'll just have to work that one out later! We spent the majority of today wandering from store to store looking at "house stuff". It really is exciting and a little terrifying to think that we will really be building soon!