In the Nick of Time

I got an email today from a scholarship committee whose scholarship I applied for (and didn't win). The email talked about a program that I didn't even know existed -- a military program called Spouses to Teachers that helps pay for certification exams. I've heard of Troops to Teachers before, but never Spouses to Teachers. Unfortunately the email was to inform everyone who was a military spouse that the Spouses to Teachers program was not going to continue to receive funding for the next fiscal year and that it would be ending soon. The good news? If I registered before September 30th (today!!), I would be eligible for teacher certification exam fee reimbursement through March 31, 2009. I have three exams to take that each cost $120. I read my email at 4:30, did some fast clicking around online to get to the right phone number for the Spouses to Teachers representative in Texas, called her up and registered over the phone. 21 minutes before the deadline, I got in! I basically earned $360 that I thought I was going to be spending on my own. Just in the nick of time :)

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88 Days

There are 88 shopping days left until Christmas. Have you started your shopping yet? I have! I have gifts for all four of our kids, my niece & nephew, and Mandy's daughter Cate. I usually don't get started this early, but I am already thinking about holiday baking and all of that yummy food. Here's my thinking: if I get all of my shopping done before Thanksgiving then the only thing I need to do in between Thanksgiving and New Year's is bake & eat. I can't believe I've never thought of this plan before, but I am up for the challenge. The challenge of getting my shopping done, that is. Ever since I went back to school my motherly instinct to bake, bake, bake has been squashed by homework, homework, homework. Wouldn't it be nice if the only two places I spent those 6 weeks was the grocery store & kitchen?!? Oh, and on my treadmill for about four hours a day to make up for all of that food!!!

Things I've Been Meaning To Tell You

Ok, so I have not been so good with the blogging lately. As usual my excuse is that I am too busy with school. So let's get a little caught up ...

PJ went to the groomers to get a short hair cut. I was not able to keep up with her long hair any more. They did a pretty good job and she smells great, but they shaved her little nose (which I did not want them to do). Other than that she is looking good. She has the cutest pink bows in her hair that have tiny purple teddy bears on them. They came from Puppy Pals. Thanks mom!! If I can't have a daughter, at least I can put cute little pink things on my dog.


Here's a picture of a picture of PJ when she was 6 months old and I was trying to grow her hair out. She looks very pretty, but it was too much work to keep her hair from staying tangled all the time.

This picture is on a gift that my friend Mandy sent to me that I would like to show you. It is a magnetic board that has been painted with textured paint. The buttons are magnets that you use to hold the picture.

One side is a nice khaki color ...


And the other side is black ...


Isn't it just great?!? I love it! And the best part is that Mandy made it! All by herself :) She is starting a little business called Prairie Designs. Her slogan is "Prairie Designs: A Simple Way to Design"

Here is a picture she took for me to show off some of her button inventory. She sent it to me right side up, my computer saved it right side up, but Blogger is insisting on rotating it sideways and I can not fix it. Sorry about that! But you get the idea ... she makes cute magnetic picture boards and has tons of buttons to go on them. Let me know if you want to order one. I think you should buy some for me for Christmas they'd be great Christmas gifts.


Next order of business...

Do you remember last June when Lisa & I took the kids to have their pictures taken? Here is the final product. I had a custom matte made at Hobby Lobby and it looks so great!!! (forgive me for the angle, it's right here next to my computer desk and I took the picture from my seat). I just love it and wanted to share it with you.

Moving on ...

Kenny is trying to get into the triathlon thing too. I can't help but think his motivation is a little different than Chase & Brian's. Maybe that is because Brian bribes rewards him with 30 minutes on the computer for every triathlon he completes.


Now that my semester is getting busier Brian has been taking the boys out front to play football every night after dinner. Yesterday I took a break so that I could go out and snap some action shots:

And here's a picture I took of my new flip flops. I think I was avoiding my school work!


And here's another picture from our barbecue a couple of weeks ago. Even though he is wearing a swim cap I still think he's hot. So I thought I'd share with you.


I think those are all of my updates for now. Brian is still home on leave and we are enjoying every minute of it. I promise to try to be better about blogging. But I probably won't succeed.

PJ vs Led Zeppelin

Why is it that the dog barking to be let out of the bathroom that she shut herself into during the night makes me wide awake at 3:00 AM, but Led Zeppelin blaring from my alarm clock at 6:00 does absolutely nothing for me?!?

Farewell Barbecue

Last weekend was Brian's farewell barbecue. I wrote about it a little in my posting about my new House Husband. I thought I'd post a few pictures and videos from the day, but if you weren't there or don't know any of these people it will probably be boring so you can stop reading now.

Here's Ryan (company commander) presenting Brian with an amazing plaque the company all pitched in and bought for him.

And here's Karl (senior drill sergeant) presenting Brian with another plaque that is from all of the drill sergeants. Also very, very cool!

Here's Drill Sergeant Williams working hard to cook for all of us.

Chase at the pool.

Kenny at the pool.

Zachary (Karl & DJ's son) at the pool.

Brian throwing another drill sergeant's kid into the pool.

Karl acting as the pied piper with all of the kids swarming around him.

DJ & Karl in the pool (look at DJ's face ... it was coooold in there!)


And a couple of videos of the boys trying to catch a football while simultaneously jumping into the pool. It was pretty funny at the time. (If you decide to watch they are about a minute each and you have to block out the loud discussion in the background about racism and sexism in politics and the military)

Kenny then Brian then Ryan

Karl then Ryan then Chase then Karl again

Zachary then Will then Chase then Ryan

Yahoo Popular Blog Material Part 2

On any given day you can find strange things from all over the world on Yahoo Popular. The page refreshes every ten minutes and it is amazing how many weird things they can get on there. For example, the featherless chickens:

I suppose I could search the internet for stories about the featherless chickens, but frankly I am not sure I want to know the story behind this picture. They look too much like dinner with legs & a head!

And here is a picture of the world's smallest man sitting under the "Queen of the Longest Legs." Strange!

An upside down house in Germany.

Some Obama Waffles. WTF?!?

The Fat American. This bottom has been on Yahoo Popular on and off for almost two years. I am telling you, if this were my bottom I would not be happy. Hopefully this woman does not read Yahoo Popular!

And last, but not least ... the most unsual dive into a pool ever. Oh, wait a minute ... that is not from Yahoo Popular, that is from my camera! And that is my husband. I guess I don't need Yahoo Popular for entertainment after all.

Yahoo Popular Blog Material Part 1

Check this guy out. He is 79 years old, competes in bodybuilding competitions, and has overcome polio, open-heart surgery, prostate problems and financial ruin to become an Australian body building champion. I found him on Yahoo Popular today right next to the featherless chickens. I am thinking Yahoo Popular would be a good place for blog materials. But anyway, the reason I thought this guy was interesting is that he is more than twice my age and he has a better ass than I do. What the hell is up with that?!?

House Husband

On Saturday our friends Karl & DJ hosted a great party in Brian's honor. It was a lot of fun and the speeches everyone gave about Brian were so touching that I almost cried. I say almost because in the back of my mind I was thinking about all of those phone calls. And the 14 hour work days. And the phone calls. And the long work days. (you get my drift) So even though the things everyone said were touching and made me so proud of the man I married, I was also relieved because he is taking 30 days of leave before he goes to Fort Riley for his training. That is 30 glorious days of not waking up at 5:20 (4:20 on Tuesdays for PT tests). That is 30 glorious days without middle of the night phone calls, underage drinkers, DUI's, or inappropriate sexual relationships that the 1SG apparently needs to know about. 30 glorious days without calls from the local police or the military police. (I think they've had our number on speed dial since the minute we got here.)

The party was a lot of fun and if youtube.com wasn't down for system maintenance right now you'd get to see some funny videos. For now I am just going to be happy that I have my husband home with me. He has been cooking, cleaning, washing dishes, cleaning the house, dropping the boys off at school in the morning and picking them up in the afternoon, walking the dogs, shopping for groceries, and doing everything that I normally neglect get done during the week. I love having a house husband. I am thinking that when he retires from the military in 4 years, 4 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days (who's counting?) he should just stay home and take care of me, the boys, the house, and the pets. He is doing a super job and I am loving every single minute of it!

First Day

Today was my first day out in the schools for practicums. I had reading in the morning in a 5th grade class. The classroom teacher I will be learning from was Chase's language arts teacher last year. I absolutely love her! I started today and will spend five hours a week in her classroom for the next 10 weeks. I will teach two lessons per week that I write and then work with small groups for the rest of the time doing things that she needs me to do (tutoring, extra reading help, etc). In October I will go to another school to teach math and science in a kindergarten class. Today I went to meet that classroom teacher during her planning period. She seems very friendly and organized. I will teach two math and two science lessons each week for six weeks. I am very excited about all of it. Here are the course descriptions from the college just in case you are extremely bored and want to know what these practicum classes are all about:

ED 4309 Mathematics: Instructional Strategies for the Elementary and Middle School Teacher (2-2). This field-based course emphasizes the integration of research and theories about the process of learning mathematics. The development of logical reasoning in students, stages of intellectual development, appropriate questioning and problem solving strategies and techniques will be used with students in a public school setting. The TEKS addressing basic mathematics information, methods, and materials will be included. (Must be taken concurrently with ED 4311, ED 4314.)

ED 4311 The Elementary School: Instructional Strategies in Language Arts and Social Studies (2-2). The development of the elementary school learner, including special student populations, with emphasis on social, emotional, and intellectual development will be stressed. Problem solving, critical thinking, and other appropriate strategies will be studied using concepts from the social studies and language arts essential elements. A field practicum is required. (Must be taken concurrently with ED 4309, ED 4314.)

ED 4314 Science: Instructional Strategies for the Elementary and Middle School Teacher (2-2). This field-based course emphasizes the integration of research and theories about the processes of learning science. The major science processes such as observing, experimenting, measuring, classifying, analyzing, interpreting, sequencing, recognizing properties and patterns, and inferring will be used with students in a public school setting. The TEKS addressing basic scientific information, methods, and materials will be included. (Must be taken concurrently with ED 4309, ED 4311.)

Chase's Tan Lines

Brian, Chase & Kenny went out playing on the 4-wheeler last weekend while I was doing some schoolwork. They got dirty and muddy and had a great time. When everyone was all cleaned up Chase had some strange tan lines on his back. I wonder how he got them?!?

Here's Hoping ...

I finished and submitted my essay for the Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged $10,000 scholarship. All 1296 words of it. It took me about a month to read the 1078 page book, a week to think about which essay question to answer and how to answer it, and five hours (with breaks) to write the essay. First place is a $10,000 scholarship. There are 3 second place scholarships worth $2,000 and 5 third place scholarships worth $1,000. Then 20 finalists get $100 and another 20 get $50. I don't want to seem greedy, but I am hoping my hours and hours of reading and writing are worth more than $50. Winners are announced on November 27th. I'll keep you posted!

Happy Birthday Shelley!

Lisa's Blog

I am still having trouble trying to figure out why Lisa's blog won't show up in my "Places I Go". It's there, but it won't upload. Last winter Lisa and I both decided to change our URL's so they didn't have our last names in them. Do you remember that? Remember when I changed my page address? She did it too. When I added the feature to my blog that shows when my friends had updated their blogs it was only because (1) I do everything Jennifer does on her blog and (2) it saves me time by giving me the ability to see who has updated without actually going to their pages. For some reason Lisa's new URL still tries to send me to her old URL (which does not exist). I can't figure it out and neither can Jennifer. If Jennifer can't figure it out I basically give up. If anyone out there thinks they can help me then call and I will give you my blog password. We'll discuss it over the phone and I'll drink margaritas with you in thanks the next time I see you. Anyway, my point here ... Lisa and Toby have moved back to NC. They have a beautiful new house and I want you to see it. So now she has her own little link over there on my sidebar somewhere. Go visit if you have a chance. The view's great!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to the love of my life ...

.... my babydaddy

Good Advice

So I was just talking to my friend DJ and I told her I had to get off the phone to take care of the boys. It went something like this:

me: "I better go. It's way past the boys' bedtime and I haven't seen them in an hour. I've been drinking margaritas and hiding in my bedroom since we got home from dinner. I guess I should quit ignoring my kids."

DJ: "I like to think of it less as ignoring and more like teaching them independence."

Happy Birthday Andrew!

We hope you have a great birthday. We miss you!

Wordless Wednesday -- Good Bye Summer!