ah, memories...

Do you remember this? Click here and make sure you have the volume on your computer turned up a bit...you have to hear the audio!

weekend update...

Friday was complete chaos, but I wouldn't have changed a thing. I showed up to school in my costume (a referee...boring, but practical for a busy teacher). The leadership kids busted out some candy grams, decorated for a social, cleaned up after the dance and did it all with a smile (I can't remember if I was wearing one or not?!?!). I quickly changed my clothes, helped with the sweeping and then raced out to Grandma Pauline's memorial. It was beautiful! She would have been pleased to see how her life was celebrated! I then raced home to meet Hillary. Once she arrived, we were off to the Seattle Children's Theatre. Mo Brady and Kasey Neusbickle did an incredible job and it makes me so thankful that our school is fortunate enough to have them directing the musical again this year. They are so talented! We loved it all! At this point, we made a stop at the Wild Ginger. I can't wait to go back...great food, awesome environment and good company too!

Since I don't have any pictures from our evening adventure, I figure these will have to do...

Hillary is learning how to text...this is how we passed the time last Friday while most of the school's power was out.

Saturday, Stacy and I did some Christmas shopping. We also enjoyed a nice lunch together. With Ben up on Whidbey Island (he went up Friday after school to spend some time with his cousins, attend a football game and wash some windows), I had to call up Laura to see if she wouldn't mind keeping me company. She was kind enough to come over and together we made a few more cards.

Sunday, we moved Bobby, Kelli, Mac, and Jack into their new house. Tonight is their first slumber party in the mansion. We emptied the storage unit, cleared out my parents' house, and managed to fit it all in the new garage. We'll head out there later this week and I'll be sure to take some pictures.

All-in-all, it was a perfect October weekend...complete with the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series (I can't believe that Steve and Cathy Pearson were there cheering on Jon Lester! Talk about a once-in-a-lifetime experience!)

diana & cookies...

Last night Diana came over for some quality girl time. (We allowed Ben to crash in on the fun since he was set up at the kitchen table doing homework.) Together, Diana and I made some cookies...they were okay. Unfortunately, it's difficult to substitute healthy ingredients when making a yummy dessert. It's just not the same. (This didn't keep us from inhaling the goodies.)

why bother with format?

This program needs some work...anyone else out there agree with me? Why can't I manually space things the way I want? Why does everything change once I add in a picture or two? Oh, I get it...that's why this is a free service.

I'm frustrated...can you tell?

life...

• No power at school on Friday - excitement, followed by chaos (and a great game of Bump in the gym), followed by a productive workday without students


• Failed blog postings - a camera that won't work and a few ideas gone to waste


• Creative cooking - what to make for snack tonight at B.S. (Bible study)?


• Walk-a-thon - good times with great people!


• Master's classes - endless papers, discussion ramblings, and tuition bills


• Parents that don't really seem to care about their child's education - I don't get it and I don't know that I ever will (I'm realizing that Britney isn't the only one incapable of raising children)


• Amazing weather - love the sunshine and the incredible fall colors!


• High school meetings - catching up with former Young Life kids...could anything be sweeter?


• More card making - love it!


• Bobby and Kelli's new house - took my camera with me and the batteries died...regardless, it's huge, beautiful, in a great location, and we would like to move in!


• Frustration - why does Blogger always change my spacing and mess with the format?


• Shopping date with Ace - pictured below


• Leadership class - love it or leave it?


• Friday night fun - Hillary and I are going to Wild Ginger and the Seattle Children's Theatre

best husband ever...

My husband spoiled me on my birthday! He was even willing to sit through Hairspray (which is finally playing at the $2 theatre)! We had a great dinner, saw the movie, and I had some great presents to open as well. I feel so blessed!

I wanted to include a few pictures from my new Old Navy clothing line - however, their website is under construction and I don't know how I feel about modeling the clothes myself, taking a picture and then uploading it. :)

P.S. If you haven't seen the movie yet, you should - it's amazing! So sweet and so fun! The music is great too!

i can't sleep...

So I'll tell you a little bit about my weekend. On Friday, Laura came over so we could work on making cards. On November 10th, there's a craft fair at our church and we're selling some of our creations. Anyways, we need to get a bazillion made for the big event. Laura and I cranked out a bunch and I am pleased with the results. If anyone is interested in the cards, the craft fair or my friend Laura (fellas?), just let me know. :)

Saturday Ben went up to the island to wash windows and make the big bucks! I stuck around and Laura came by to work on cards again...it's so much easier to just leave everything out in the living room and work on creating for a few days in a row. Eventually Ben made it home and we headed to my mom and dad's for a family birthday celebration. I scored some incredible gifts, ate delicious food, and played some stellar games. All-in-all, I felt spoiled!

As for Sunday, we got up and headed out to church. From there, I was fortunate enough to do some shopping (thanks in part to Laura and my parents). Old Navy has some great stuff and it's super cheap too! After the fun, it was time to get serious...I had to finish the homework for my master's class. I can't wait until this thing is over. College was a blast the first time around. However, I don't so much enjoy it the second time through. I've got an entire year left too. Oh well.

I should try to get some sleep...

Before I do, here are a few of the Christmas cards I made. I realize they look very similar, but typically Laura and I never make 2 cards that look anything alike. As a result, it takes forever to make any large number of creations. So, we forced ourselves to make a bunch that looked alike. It saved a ton of time and I'm still excited to see some slight variations. Enjoy! (Oh, and some of the pictures are shiny because of the clear, plastic envelopes that they're in.)

j-dub update...

Have you ever seen one of those drug commercials where they list all of the silly side-effects at the end? You wonder who suffers from those sort of reactions...well, add Jordan to that list. The reason for his seizure is due to his current medication. 1% of the people who take it experience seizures...leave it to Jordan to fall into that category! Poor guy. He's doing just fine now. He was able to fly home on Monday and he went back to work on Tuesday. His head was a bit sore since he hit it on a chair while shaking...and he's been showing off the teeth-marks found on his tongue. Apparently he bit down quite a few times during his episode. As long as he refrains from taking the medication, he should be seizure-free!

pray for jordan...

As many of you know, Jordan (Bobby too) have Crohn's Disease. I would explain it, but that might take too long. Instead, I want to give you a little update. Last month Jordan was in the hospital to have part of his colon removed. They took out nearly 14 inches of the diseased area. The recovery was a bit tough for Jordan. However, things have healed nicely and he's back at work.

Well this weekend, he went down to Santa Barbara to visit Jamie at Westmont. Apparently Jamie called my mom just recently to say that Jordan had a seizure while they were at the beach. He convulsed for nearly two minutes and his eyes glazed over. Jamie decided to call 9-1-1. He's already had a CT Scan and they're running a few more tests to see what brought this on. Jordan doesn't recall any of the events that unfolded before the seizure. Jamie keeps asking him about specific events and nothing sounds familiar to him. I tell you all of this because Jordan is again in need of prayers! His poor body has been through so much - especially over the last couple of months. As a result, he doesn't quite seem himself.

happy birthday dad (almost)...

Happy Birthday Dad!

Tonight we're off to celebrate my dad's birthday. He hasn't quite narrowed down what it is he wants to do. The only thing we know is that we're supposed to be at my mom and dad's house by 5. I'm sure it will be a great time!

My father's actual birthday is on Sunday. However, he has chosen to celebrate the festivities this evening. (This works well for us since Ben will be up at Westgate Chapel helping out with music Sunday night.)

I have to tell you that my dad is quite possibly the most generous person on the face of this earth! He has gone to some great lengths to help out those in the community, those within the church and most often those in his family. We have enjoyed countless vacations, wedding celebrations, dinners out, limo rides, sporting events and time at home. Whether my dad is giving of money or his time, he does it joyfully! I hope and pray that someday we'll be able to give back to my father in a similar fashion. For now, all we can do is thank him for his many blessings!

Happy Birthday Dad! We love you lots!

P.S. Sorry for all of the pictures - I just love how you can see his happiness in each one...they all bring back great memories too! :)

magazines anyone?

If you've got money to spend and you want to help Maywood Middle School, then you should order a magazine! All you have to do is click on this link - http://www.qsp.com. Once you're there, you can hit the "shop now" button and type in the school's name...the system will locate the proper code for you. It's super easy and the money goes to funding all our ASB necessities - transportation to sporting events, socials, supplies, band, orchestra, choir, the musical, etc.

what do you do when...

Think back to when you were in 7th grade. Imagine a quiet, shy and hardworking student who tends to go unnoticed...maybe that was you (not me!). Well, today in class that reserved little boy had to get up in front of the class, with the rest of his group, and do a small reenactment from last night's reading. Everything was going fine until the wee-one spoke up and confused his line. He proceeded to say - for all to hear -

"The apples on my chest...ah, my breast...ah..."

Silence from the young man and laughter from the entire class is what then followed.

You can't mention any sort of body part without getting a reaction from 7th graders! Unfortunately, for this little guy, he went ahead and spoke about one of the most forbidden body parts.

All in a day's work, I guess (and it's only third period).

P.S. I wish I could post a picture of student...it would make the story that much more enjoyable.

interesting? judge for yourself...

While I was at the gym yesterday, I heard some interesting information on the news. If you were to track the weather from June of this year until the 1st of September, you would notice something odd. First of all, we only had 19 days of clear skies and sunshine. (Some of you don't even believe that.) The average number of nice days during this same period is typically closer to 33. This is where it gets strange. The reason it seems that we had such a crappy summer is due to the fact that most weekends were nasty (duh). So, when did we experience the warmer weather? Wednesdays. Yeah, nearly all of the 19 days fell on Wednesdays. Random, huh?

what frustrates me...

Today in class, a former student of mine (we'll call him Sean) stopped by to say hello. While he was in the room, a current student of mine (we'll call him Ethan) asked who he was. The visitor introduced himself and said something about how he plays football. At that point Ethan, who is a soccer player, eagerly exclaimed..."Football's gay!"

Now, this is a fairly typical middle school response. However, I took the opportunity to explain to my entire class that a sport does not have any sort of sexual orientation...they are neither homosexual nor heterosexual. (Last year I had to do the same thing when a student insisted that the classroom printer was gay!)

I say all of this because it's frustrating. I used to refer to things as being "gay" (and maybe I find myself doing it a bit more now that I'm constantly surrounded by 7th graders who use the term like it's going out of style), but I try to avoid it at all cost. During college I realized that I was inaccurately and inappropriately using the term. So, now it's my mission to ensure that any child who walks through my door no longer jumps to the conclusion that something is gay.

(I know what you're thinking...this post is gay!)

Above is a picture of my gay printer.

britney spears

You know it's big news when you walk into the office after the students have left and the secretaries are quick to mention the fate of some famous minors. Today, they were eager to tell me that Britney Spears finally lost custody of her 2 little boys. If a judge told me to clean up my act in order to see my children (that I don't have), I would certainly make an attempt. Poor Brit-Brit didn't even give it much of shot. She needs help...and so do her kids. Now they're going to be in the care of K-Fed?!?! Sad.

Jon & Kate Plus 8

I love television! Ben and I have DVR and it's transformed our lives (just as the Comcast salesman promised us). One of the shows that has caught my attention is Jon & Kate Plus 8. If you've never seen this show, you have got to check it out. I'm not so surprised by the fact that this family has 8 little ones...instead, I'm amazed at the organization of this mother! She's incredible and insane - all at the same time. Oh, and the relationship that Jon and Kate have is rather unique. They often bicker, but things still get done. From beginning to end, it's incredible!

it's about time...

I don't take enough pictures. I'm not a great author. I don't lead an exciting life. However, I'm happily married! I love my job. I think my family is the best part of me (other than Jesus...who is in my heart). I enjoy reading blogs. So, this seems like a logical first step. Perhaps my writing will improve. Maybe I'll take more pictures and hopefully the small details will appear to be a bit more exciting.