Good Day :-)

Today was a good day. I was sort of relaxed with my kids since they had just finished up SOLs. We did stuff, but it wasn't hard. I made a duct tape purse in fourth block. My kids were amazed at my duct tape abilities and were totally paying attention to me. Now I know what I need to do to get them to pay attention - play with duct tape!

We also had our weekly eating frenzy for lunch. I made a recipe of a fruit salad that is in Colby's PKU cookbook and took it. I really liked it, but it seems that the other teachers didn't like it so much. That's okay I suppose - more for me.

Colby was cranky when we got home. He fussed about silly things and wouldn't give Brandon a hug and a kiss before he went to work. Brandon was really frustrated and I think Colby hurt his feelings. Maybe one day he'll learn that his actions as well as his nonactions can hurt people's feelings.

Colby and Sandals

I've been trying to find some sandals that Colby will wear and I bought some yesterday on my trip to Walmart. They are cheap and tacky looking, but I thought that Colby would find them less restrictive and comfortable than the other ones I bought. So I put them on and he wouldn't stand up. I set him on his feet and he refused to move, he stood there fussing. When he finally moved he picked his feet up really high like he was afraid he was going to fall. I couldn't help it - I laughed. But I changed his shoes so he'd be happy at daycare today. He was back in the bite log today and he didn't get a sticker :-(

The English teachers were ogres today. I made on of my girls cry, another teacher caught a boy cheating, yet another teacher sent a kid to the office for blatently using his cell phone right in front of her. I know it's almost the end of the school year, but do we really need to have all this drama!?

Tuesday Update

So, as you all know our school system has fallen on hard times with budget issues. I was really scared that one of our English teachers was going to lose her job, but we found out today that she is getting an English job at the middle school. And because of retirements and some shifting around, the history teacher that is in my room during first block isn't going to lose her job either. I have also succeeded in making myself more likely to keep my job - I passed my Praxis II in Earth Science, so I'm now certified to teach Earth Science!! Yay me!! I'm really comfortable with English, so I don't know if I necessarily WANT to teach earth science, but now I can if it became necessary.

Brandon is back on night shift so I'm back to getting the bed to myself. By the time I get used to that he'll be back on day shift and I'll have to get used to that. Things have been going pretty well for Brandon...nothing out of the ordinary for him. Of course he had all of last week off, so I think he was enjoying that! He got all the veggies planted though and I think some things are starting to sprout. Yay for summer veggies!

Colby was back in the bite log today, but he's doing SO MUCH BETTER since he switched classrooms. He's picking up more words and manners and starting to string his words together, though right now his sentences are only "Night, night...pup." We'll get there eventually and then I'll want to go back to the quiet days :-)

PKU Picnic

Today we went to the annual PKU picnic in Charlottesville. I was feeling sort of blah about going because of the drive, but I'm glad we went. We got to meet the newest families that have been blessed with PKU babies, plus we got some really awesome stuff for Colby. He's been getting pretty high on his phe's lately, so hopefully we can remedy the situation with some low protein substitutions. He's also starting to realize that he's eating a little different from the other kids. The other day when I went to get him from daycare I discovered he'd poured juice on his cereal so that he could eat his cereal like the other kids. I discovered from a mom at the picnic that we could use nondairy coffee creamer halved with water for him to use with his cereal. I'm going to check with daycare and see if that is doable for him.

Oh, and this guy who's got kids with PKU had a creamery make ice cream for the kids with PKU. It tasted great! I was surprised. Colby wasn't really sure what to make of the coldness of it, but he ate a couple of bites. Plus I discovered a Menonite place nearby that might have the ingredients to make more ice cream and another place in Harrisonburg that also might have the ingredients. The key ingredient that is hard to find is Richwhip - it's like Coolwhip, but a lower amount of phe. If you see any in the frozen food section, let me know! At the picic he really enjoyed the mushroom burgers and the chocolate strawberries, but upon returning home, he wasn't all that enthralled with the concept of the sandwhich.

Colby's Appointment

Yesterday I took the day off so that Brandon and I could take Colby to his appointment in Roanoke. Every six months we meet with his nutritionist and geneticist to make sure everything is going okay. Yesterday everything was going great so we had nothing to worry about. We got to go driving around our old haunts in Roanoke and we went to Three Little Pigs to eat lunch before heading back to Radford. When we got home we chilled for the rest of the day. All in all it was a really good day and I didn't miss my students one single iota.

Better Sunday

Well I'm glad to say that Sunday was a much better day than Saturday. He was still more fussy than I would have liked, but it was an improvement on Saturday. He napped from 12 to like 4:30 which was pretty awesome.

Today at school was pretty good. We started The Road and some of my students were getting into it. There was a line in the story that said "You remember what you want to forget and forget what you want to remember." At least two classes commented that, that was so true. I was pretty proud they were paying enough attention to make a comment :-)

Colby the Fusster

I forgot to mention yesterday that I'm super pumped that Friday Night Lights is back on NBC. I love that show! There's something about the characters that I really enjoy and usually something cracks me up and warms my heart. So watch the show so they don't cancel it! It's on NBC at 8 on of course Fridays!

I have to admit I've been a bad mommy today. I was not patient, I was not calm, I was istead VERY frustrated. Colby would not stop fussing today. He fussed about EVERYTHING. Espcially this morning. He wanted to go for a walk and about 8a.m. we did. There was a garage sale going on down the street where he got some new cars, but he didn't want to go home so I carried him kicking screaming back down the street to our house. We went in the back yard for a little bit and he wanted to go into the garden area and fussed when I wouldn't let him. We came in for juice and when he had the juice he wanted to go back out, but I said no and he fussed. After a little while I got tired of listening to him fuss so we went for a walk around the neighborhood. We stopped again at the yard sale and again I had had to carry him home kicking and screaming. I decided to go out to Walmart - he pitched a fit when I went to put him into the cart. The only place he was actually good at was Lowes and Chick-fil-a. He fussed about napping, he fussed when he wanted to eat, he fussed when he wanted juice, he fussed when he wanted his blanket. I need to train him not to do that, but instead I just wanted to scream and yell, but I didn't because I realized it would only make me feel better for a second and it would make matters worse in the long run. Whoever nicknames the twos terrible definately called it right. I love that kid better than myself, but geez...I could do without all that fussing it makes me cranky!

19 Days and Counting

As of today I have 19 school days left. 2 are exam days so they practically don't count! I'm pumped to be almost done with the year. It's been much easier than last year and I REALLY like what I've been teaching lately. Going from a seven period day in Covington to a block schedule in Pulaski has been a hard transition, but I think I've finally got it. I'm nervous about the last unit though. We're going to be reading The Road, which is a really dark book about the end of the world. I think my boys will like it a lot, but I think my girls will be bored to tears. After doing Romeo and Juliet with it's mushy romance it might be a nice change, but we'll see.

Plants and Teen Drama

Today was a dreary day, but at least I won't have to water my plants today! Fortunately I actually have plants that need to be watered...it frosted Monday night! I was sure I'd find shriveled up tomatos and peppers, but they're still alive and kicking. I still need to replant the squash, but I'll get around to it sooner or later. I also need to work on the other flower beds...but I've been feeling so LAZY. Especially after school - after dealing with teenagers all day I don't want to work in the garden.

Oh, speaking of teens...one of my students, "Jenny" was dating this scumbag named "Tommy". I encouraged her to break up with him because she's a sweet girl who could definately do better. Today another student walked up and said "Thanks for telling Jenny to break up with Tommy. Now she's turned lesbian!" I was like whoa. Then another student said, "Mrs. Gill turned Jenny lesbo!" Now I was horrified. I told him not to say it like that because it sounded SOOOO WRONG! Eventually they dropped it after I practically screamed at them that I didn't care and I hadn't even seen Jenny in two days. Teen drama...sheesh!

200th Post!

Wow...this is my 200th post! I feel like I should have confetti raining down on me and I should be giving away some cars or something. Who knew that this would be such a constant thing for me - thanks Gwen for inspiring me to do it!

Today I decided to take Colby to the doctor. He's been VERY out of sorts as I mentioned in a previous post and he's had some red splotches in his diaper area. Turns out he has another yeast infection and he might have had a virus. Plus the doctor gave me some drops for possible pink eye, but I don't really think he has pink eye so I'll wait until tomorrow morning to start the drops if his eyes still look gunky. Maybe without the yeast infection he'll feel less cranky. Cross your fingers!

Happy Mothers Day to all you mommies out there! This mothers day finds me hanging out with Colby the Fusster. He's clearly hit the terrible twos because everything is a reason to fuss. Not enought space to run his truck in front of my legs - fuss. You can't pick him up right that second - fuss. Need to change his shirt - fuss. Wants his pretzels instead of whatever's on his plate - fuss. But them sometimes he does something so incredibly cute like clap happily at the end of a song, or cuddle while he's drinking his sippy, or give a random hug or kill and it reminds me that this to shall pass. He'll only be two for a year and then we'll have new problems to conquer.

My parents came to visit yesterday. They brought our brand new shed. It's super nice and cute and we'll finally be able to get all the junk off our patio so that it'll be usable for entertaining (when the wind's not blowing 100mph) Leveling it out is proving to be an interesting endeavor, but I think Brandon will be able to figure it out. The wind was blowing like crazy yesterday. Picture us trying to slide plastic panels down the wall supports from the top. Pretty funny picture huh :-)

A Book Meant for My Age Level

I just finished reading "The Blindside", the book that the movie by the same title is based on. I thought it was just going to be a book about some guy names Michael Oher, but as it turns out I learned A LOT about football. Being a girl, I don't know how football really works except from what I learned by watching it on TV and in person, now I have a much greater appreciation for the game. If you think football is all about how manly you can be and brute strength, you need to read this book because it will totally change your mind. It was one of the best books I've read recently and Michael Oher...there's something special about him. I think it's his ability to forget his past and not let it rule him. I wish we could all do that more often.

In other news if Colby goes biteless tomorrow, it'll be two weeks without a bite!

Colby has Allergies

The past two days Colby has woken up looking like a hot mess. His allergies must have kicked in because he woke up snotty and with crusty eyes. He was so cranky this morning that he just stayed home with Brandon. I hope he feels better in the morning because cranky baby equals stressful morning.

Last week we got a patio tent. While Colby was napping Brandon put it up and this evening after Colby went to bed we strung the lights that go with it. It looks pretty cool. I can't wait to clean up the patio and maybe do some entertaining out there.

Amazingly enough I had a chance to read a few books over the weekend. I've been working my way through the Percy Jackson books...yeah I know they're for like middle schoolers, but I wanted to see what they hype was about. They books are based onthe premise that the greek gods are real and they have "relations" with humans like they did in ancient days. The stories follow the life of one boy, Percy Jackson, who is the son of Poseidon. The books are okay, especially if you know a lot about greek mythology. In the second book I was able to predict what would happen next because it was just like reading The Odyssey. But I have this nagging irritation as I read these books - How does God fit into all this? Wouldn't a kid get really confused if they were trying to figure out this religion thing while reading these books? I guess that's why they make parents. I also see why the concept of God would have been so appealing to ancient Greeks and Romans - who wants to worship a bunch of gods who are only out to serve themselves? Don't ge me wrong, these books are good for kids to read as long as there are some helpful adults around to answer questions and as far as I'm concerned, if they read anything it's victory.

Weekend Activities

This weekend I decided to go ahead and plant the veggies we started inside. I don't know if we did a very good job starting them because they are all looking very struggling and it's not because of the weather. The weather has been beautiful and not cold in the least. Oh well...if they don't look better by next weekend, I'll just hit up Lowes or Walmart for some new plants and I'll start fresh with the squash and zucchini. On a more positive note, the onions look like they're doing well.

Tomorrow is the last class for my school law class. We're going to turn in our study guides, listen to the last presentations and then I'll be done. I have to say that though the subject matter was sort of dry, I learned a lot. I think in the big scheme of being a principal, this was one of the most relevant topics. My next class will be online, so I'm not so sure it'll be as stimulating, but then again who wants to actually GO to a class in the middle of summer?