Changing Traditions

When I was growing up we had a Christmas tradition of making peanut blossoms, toffee bars, pistachio cookies and gingerbread men. When I was pregnant with Colby, one of the things I was looking forward to was passing along our traditions including our Christmas cookie tradition. Then my boys were born with PKU and there wasn't a single Christmas cookie that they could eat. It was really hard letting go of those expectations and traditions. My dad said to me sort of wistfully the other night after he had cooked some really yummy oysters that he wished the boys could try them. And I totally get it, daddy. Sharing the foods you enjoy is like sharing some of yourself. One of the easiest ways to share yourself, actually. In lots of ways its sad that we'll not be able to share some things with Colby and Carter.

Q: So what's a mom to do? A: Change the tradition!

The past couple of years I've made peanut blossoms (because I love them), but I've also made marshmallows covered in chocolate almond bark, sugar cookies with frosting (Colby helps cut them out in holiday shapes!) and cracker candy.

I never thought things would turn out like they did, but now veggie straws, formula and coffee creamer in cereal is pretty normal for our house. Fixing two dinners, planning ahead to bring snacks to various activities, and "training" teachers and daycare providers are all things that I do almost without thinking about it. It's so interesting how normal it all feels when compared to my childhood.

Sure, there's some things I can't share with the boys, but there's other things I can that don't involve food - my love of sports (especially baseball/softball and football), my love of reading, and my love of gardening. Ultimately those things will mean more to them than what sorts of cookies we baked on Christmas.

Garth Brooks Concert!

Ever since I was a kid I wanted to go see Garth Brooks in concert. I remember my mom trying to get tickets over the phone back when they had those curly cords. I think tickets were only $10 back then and it sold out very quickly. I had Garth Brooks tapes back in those days that I listened to a lot. So when Garth Brooks announced he was going on tour this year, I was super excited. When he announced he was going to be at the Greensboro Coliseum, I was ecstatic! That's only two hours away! Now Brandon doesn't really prefer concerts, but he agreed to go with me and we had a blast!

So first of all, we found a sitter to watch the boys overnight. I love the boys, but I wasn't taking them with me to Greensboro. Luckily one of the young ladies that usually sits for us was able to watch them overnight. The only bad thing that happened was I woke up sick that morning. I'm pretty sure the only thing I had to eat that day was a banana, applesauce and a slice of pizza at the concert. After the concert I was finally starving and had a burger. When we got to the concert they wanted $20 cash to park and I didn't have $20 cash and didn't anticipate needing $20 cash so we made a u-turn and parked in the neighborhoods nearby for free. It was a little bit of longer walk, but totally worth not paying $20. I mean that's highway robbery!

We got in the Coliseum in enough time to listen to one of Garth's backup singers. And then when he came out, he was full of energy, totally in love with the crowd and he put on a fabulous show! He sang pretty much everything I'd want him to sing - The Thunder Rolls, Friends in Low Places, The Dance, That Summer, The River, Two Pina Coladas, The Fever, Ain't Going Down 'Til the Sun Comes Up, Much Two Young, Callin' Baton Rouge, Unanswered Prayers, his new song People Loving People and he sang In Another's Eyes with Trisha Yearwood. Then Trisha sang some of her old songs and one new one. The only song he didn't sing is To Make You Feel My Love, which kind of disappointed me, but he did sing for like two hours :-)

All in all I'm really glad we went. We stayed at an awesome Embassy Suites that had a fabulous breakfast. If you're looking for a place to stay in Greensboro, I highly recommend it. And if you have a chance to see Garth Brooks anytime soon - GET THE TICKETS!! He's one of the more reasonably priced tickets out there! (BTW: This picture was not taken from where we were sitting - we were much further back - but this is him on the night we went)

I Want a Flat Screen TV

I really want a flat screen tv. Well, lets just be honest, I want my house to look like a Better Homes and Gardens magazine- you know, clean, stylish, beautiful, clean. I would have walls painted something other than white, I'd have curtains that coordinated with the furniture, a couch full of pillows and a kitchen that made others envious with its tile and stylish accents. Wouldn't that just make my life perfect?

Actually I don't think it would. First of all, I have to remind myself that those pictures in Better Homes and Gardens are mostly staged. And even if they are really people's houses, well they probably clean for a week before photographers come with their cameras.

Second, if I had a beautiful house I'd be stressed about keeping up with it. I'd probably blow a gasket when Carter peed on the floor instead of simply cleaning it up and moving on with life. I'd be freaking out over the dishes Colby hasn't put away or the socks Brandon left in the middle of the dinning room floor. I guess a lack of stress is advantage to having a house with a "lived-in" look.

Third, none of those things would really be for me. It would be so that I would look good to others. I was reading Ecclesiastes today and Solomon likens amassing wealth to chasing the wind. Honestly, what does it matter that I don't have a flat screen tv? My old-school one works doesn't it? What does it matter that my car is not very stylish. It runs right? What does it matter that my house is decorated in a fairly bland way? It's filled with love isn't it?

If your house does look like a Better Homes and Gardens magazine, then more power to you. Enjoy it. If I'm going to be honest, having an extremely messy house is just as stressful as having a pristine house that is constantly under threat of becoming messy. I think striking a balance is key. The other key - being thankful for what you do have. Thank you God for my tiny, messy, non-flat-screen-containing, non-stylish, mismatched house, my wonderful family and my bill-paying job.

LEO's and Marriage

Last Sunday at our First Responder Married's Group one of our leaders read this article talking about what the male LEO (law enforcement officer) needs from his wife and vice versa. I so wish I had the link so you could look at it. The list of what the wife needs from the LEO was pretty decent - stuff like communicating with the wife, acknowledging her contributions to the family, not taking out your job stress on her, etc. The other list, the one concerning what the LEO needs from the wife, was sheer ridiculousness. It included things like waiting up for your LEO to get home from work, meeting him at the door wearing a nice dress, baking him cookies to take to work with him (no I'm not kidding), and other cheesy things. I decided that whoever wrote the blog was either a stay at home mom or a man. So I decided to write a new list.

What an LEO needs from his/her significant other

1. Hold down the fort while the LEO is working - I know for a fact that Brandon couldn't do his job well if I wasn't taking care of things at home. I do homework with Colby, I run the kids around to their activities, I clean (please don't think the house is spotless-it's not!), I cook, I take care of things like bills, grocery shopping and social/activity planning.

2. To not be crazy - LEOs need their significant others to be calm and respectful. They don't need their significant others flying off the handle about stupid things or have crazy expectations about things. They get enough crazy at work and they don't need it at home.

3. To show you care about them and support them and their job - now this can be accomplished in many ways and are not limited to waiting up for them to get home, meeting them at the door wearing a nice dress or baking them cookies. It really just depends on your LEO. For me, I like to make dinner most nights that he has to work. I think it shows a certain amount of caring that I make a hot meal for him before he leaves. When he comes home I always ask him about his night/day and I listen attentively while he tells me what's up. But what works for us, may not work for others. But lets be real, unless you're married with no kids, waiting up for them to get home is craziness. With two kids, I know a better use of my time would be sleeping so that I'm not cranky/crazy while awake. And I love baking cookies and would certainly be okay with making cookies and letting him take some of them to work (I mean I want to eat some too!), but I'm not specifically going to make him cookies like I'm some 1950s wife.

What a significant other needs from his/her LEO

1. Contribute to the household - your significant other is not the only one responsible for the house and family. Do some chores on your day off - anything would be helpful! What's that saying...oh...a man is one clean house away from the night of his dreams ;-)

2. Be thoughtful toward your significant other - buy her flowers, cook him dinner, stop at Cookout on the way home and buy a couple milkshakes. Anything unexpected and delightful will be appreciated.

3. Communicate - if something is bothering you at work or at home, then it needs to be brought up in a loving/respectful way. Trust you significant other to be a good listener and things will be easier.

So here's make take on things and hopefully it's not as cheesy as the other one. I'll post the link if I can find it!

Having a Student Teacher

So one of the biggest things affecting my work life right now is having a student teacher. I've never had a student teacher before so I was pretty nervous about it. I've seen pretty good student teachers come through our department over the years, but I've also seen some downright awful student teachers and the stories told about them are quite horrendous. Well, I'm glad to say my student teacher is amazing! She works really hard and has a lot of good ideas. I think the process of explaining to her how and why I do things has made me a much more thoughtful teacher. When you are trying to defend why you do a certain thing in the classroom, but you can't think of a very good reason, then it makes you think about improving what you do or eliminating it altogether. I've always known I needed to be harder on my honors students and she's helping me improve in that area. Also having all this time of doing nothing except supervising her (which is a piece of cake) has given me time to really revamp my nonfiction unit. I think the nonfiction unit is going to be pretty awesome when November rolls around! Watch out students, logical fallacies are coming your way! If I can always get an awesome student teacher, sign me up to be a cooperating teacher every time! And hears a weird upshot of having a student teacher...my students LOVE me...they think she's mean (she's not) and can't wait for me be back in the classroom. Maybe they'll be better behaved when I get back in there? Or if their not I can threaten to get another student teacher next semester...ha! Here's to all the student teachers out there!

I'm Back!

Earlier this year we discovered that the screen on our computer was going bad. Being the procrastinators we are, we spent a couple of months wiggling it around until it worked, I mean I didn't really NEED to type anything and could surf the web on my Nook. When the computer did work, I did a few things that were more convenient on it (like typing blog posts), but no worries right? Well, as things always do, things with the computer got worse and we couldn't wiggle it enough to make it work. Obviously we either needed a new computer or a new screen. Well, screens are less expensive (I'm getting cheap in my old age!), but again I procrastinated. But then I got to missing my blog and all the other things I could do on my computer and not on my Nook (like looking at PDF files) and finally bought a new screen. It probably wouldn't surprise you to hear that the box sat in the living room for about three days, but now Brandon has replaced the screen and now I'm back in business!

And I'm sure you're asking yourself what has changed since my last blog post in August and I'm happy to say not a lot has changed. Colby goes to school, Carter goes to daycare, Brandon goes to work, I go to work, the dogs bark, the house is messy, our extended families are doing fine (my parents are in Hawaii - lucky dogs!) and...oh yeah...I turned 32 last week :-) There's some other things going on in my life, but I just wanted to do a quick "I'm back" blog! So, I'm back!!

Starting the School Year With PKU

Friday was Colby's first day of First Grade! I know he was super excited to hang out with his friends again, go to recess recess and eat lunch with his cool new Spiderman lunch box. But as a mom, I'm much more concerned about what he's going to learn. In order for him to learn I have to manage his PKU. Here's a few basic steps I've learned I must do at the beginning of the school year:

1. Meet with the teacher. The teacher has to be made aware of his food restrictions. They also need to be made aware of how it works in a basic sense - no he's not going to throw up, go into anaphelatactic shock, or get a rash if he eats something he's not supposed to eat, but if he eats something he's not supposed to eat, I need to know so that I can adjust his protein intake later in the day. It's not a big deal if he eats something he's not supposed to eat once in a blue moon, but it is a problem if it happens every day.

2. Contact the cafeteria manager. Colby brings his lunch, but he can eat breakfast at school if he wants to. He's allowed to have cereal or graham crackers and fruit. If the cafeteria manager doesn't know this, then they might make him take something he's not supposed to have. In his school, a note will pop up on the computer screen when he checks out and they'll make sure he takes what he's allowed to have.

3. Send an emergency stash. Things pop up that are way beyond my control. A student might bring cupcakes for their birthday unannounced or something unexpected might pop up. It's important for Colby to have something he can eat in that event. I usually send a box of rice krispie treats for the teacher to keep in the classroom for these unforeseen happenings.

4. Don't forget about after school programs. Colby's after school program gives snacks every day. They need to be made aware of his dietary restrictions as well. Usually I suggest snacks that will work and they usually go with it. It's just a snack after all!

5. Don't be afraid to speak up. If an issue arises, then speak up. Thankfully I haven't had any major issues, but rest assured that if one pops up, I will speak up. Nobody else is going to advocate for him and his PKU, so I'm the one who must.

Sneak Peak Into How Teachers Spend Their Workdays

At the end of last school year, I decided that I was tired of looking at my walls and I decided to paint them. You see, our school, like many others, was built during this horrid phase of our education system called "open classrooms". Our school is celebrating it's 40th anniversary, so that would have been in the seventies. Picture this: a huge open areas in the shape of a circle, no walls, no windows. As you can imagine, that setup didn't work out so well so they spent the money to put up walls. Now there's a large open area in the middle and classrooms around the perimeter, but still no windows. And someone decided that they were going to put up walls that could double as chalkboards so they are magnetic (which is actually pretty great) and large portions of them were chalk-board green. That was probably not a bad decision back in the seventies when chalkboards were used extensively. I could even see writing on my green wall about two feet from the ceiling so obviously they were used. Over the years my room acquired an actual chalk board and then over that a white board. Technology has also lessened the need for chalk boards with the advent of overhead projectors and eventually LCD projectors. I can honestly tell you that I have never written on my walls. So at the end of last school year I got tired of looking at the green. Lets face it, it's ugly and since I have no windows, it made my room look like a cave. After my grades were turned in and my stuff put away, I painted my back wall light blue and my front wall coral to match my tropical poster fetish. It looks great! So the last two days, I've been putting my room together. I've decided to go pretty minimalist in my room and got rid of a table and a bookshelf and decided to store my teacher resources in an empty filing cabinet out in the pod (the circular area in the middle of the classrooms). My students will not be allowed to keep their binders in my room like they were able to in previous years, so now I have a bunch of empty crates to store somewhere (anybody need some crates to borrow?). Now I say I'm going minimalist this year and it sounds like I'm just doing it because I'm both stylish (ha!)and tired of clutter. But the real reason is because I have to house 35 kids in my room for one period. Right now I have 24 desks in my room. I know I can fit 8 more desks comfortably, I'm not sure where the other three will go...we'll see when I start actually putting desks in. I've never had a class this big, so it will be an adventure I'm sure! Oooooh! Maybe I can talk them into mounting my LCD projector on the ceiling instead of a cart so I can have more space for desks! Wishful thinking I'm sure, but who knows!

What's that? Oh, you want to know if I did anything related to actual teaching? Well, I've been talking, brainstorming and searching Google when I need a break from decorating. I have lots of ideas about what and how I want to teach this coming school year, but since not everyone was here these past two days I have decided to hold off on doing a lot of teaching/curriculum stuff until next week when the best brains in southwest Virginia will meet to help shape the lives and minds of young people. My theory is - if I can get my room straight this week, I can throw myself into planning next week! If you were thinking "Sheesh my tax dollars are going into the school system so she can decorate her room", don't fret! The real work is coming!!

Happy Birthday Grandma!!

Today is my grandma's birthday...Happy Birthday Grandma!! On this momentous occasion I was thinking about how I'm SOOOOOO blessed to have known three grandparents and one step-grandparent for such a long amount of time. I even have vivid memories of three of my great-grandmothers! My grandparents were such a blessing when I was growing up. They looked out for me, supported me, loved me unconditionally, and were always very clear about how proud they were of me.

So now on grandma's birthday, here's some of my favorite memories of this very special woman:

Spending the summer at her house eating grilled cheeses (a smushed one for Michele) and playing outside.

Going to see new Disney movies in the theater including Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and the Lion King.

Grandma helped with snacks at Bible School and when I was too old for Bible School, I helped Grandma!

Grandma singing in the choir at church.

Seeing Grandma sitting in the stands watching softball games, though I'm sure it was boring at times.

Sitting with Grandma at Great-Grandma's house while we visited.

Grandma meticulously handing out Christmas presents to make sure all the kids opened one at the same time and all the adults opened one at the same time.

Watching Grandma cook in the kitchen during Thanskgiving and other family holidays.

I hope you had a wonderful day Grandma!!

Showing Our Creative Sides

So I don't really get to do very much crafting at my house or creative planning, so I have to wait until someone has a baby or gets married to try out ideas I see on the internet. Well, my husband's cousin's wife is having a baby girl and I got to be creative. One thing I saw on the internet was an alternate way to hang paper lanterns - tree branches in vases. My neighbor cut down some trees for us and there's a huge pile of branches that I pulled these beauties out of. My mother-in-law bought the lanterns and such and I think they turned out pretty good!

Another thing I wanted to try was making hair bows instead of doing a game. I mean she is having a girl after all! So here's my bow making station. I think it turned out well, but I discovered that lots of people are really timid about crafting. Don't be timid people! It's just felt and glue, you can't really mess it up, but you can burn yourself so be careful!

Brandon also got to get his creative side out by making a "fruit baby"! Here's how it turned out. I know, cute right! I was a hit at the shower, but people were afraid to actually eat the fruit because it looked so cute! More for us to eat I guess!

All in all it was a good time. Thanks for all others involved for letting me use up some of my creative energy and indulging my whims without knowing how it would turn out. If anyone wants some help or tips on how to do a bow making station let me know! I learned a lot putting that together! Have a good day y'all!

Adventures in Vegetable Gardening

Hey everyone! I know it's been forever, but I was inspired to pick blogging back up. One of the things that has been consuming a lot of my time and phone conversations with my mom lately is gardening. It's been an adventure from the very beginning!

My family is pretty experienced in gardening, but we were novices when we started five years ago. Sure I had some books and some basic knowledge, but it's been a roller coaster ride! Here's how it's gone:

Year One - The fresh, virgin soil grew just about anything. Not that we had a clue what we were doing or how we should do it!

Year Two - The fresh, virgin soil was now used soil and we didn't know that we should probably add something to it (professional gardeners call it ammending the soil...don't I sound like a smarty pants!) I think this year I only got green beans and maybe some squash. At any rate, it was about the saddest garden you probably ever saw!

Year Three - No garden. Carter was born right when everything needed to be planted, so needless to say, nothing got planted!

Year Four - We tried to do some soil ammending with some field peas and oats the winter before, but it wasn't quite enough and we got lots of green beans, but little else. Apparently green beans can grow in any kind of soil! We use Blue Lake bush beans just in case you were curious! (Some of you got some monster zuchinis, squash and pumpkin last year, but those were grown in the virgin soil of the community garden, which I highly recommend if you can get a spot!)

Year Five - I decided that if we were going to even have a garden, we were going to do it right, so I ordered a load of horse manure to be brought over from Blacksburg. Wheelbarrow-load after wheelbarrow-load we covered the garden with the manure. Results? Awesome! Again we have tons of green beans (did I mention they grow in any soil?), some squash, tons of tomatoes and lettuce, and even a few peppers. I've decided that peppers are the hardest thing in the world to grow, so I guess it's a testament to the soil that they're even flowering. So far I've canned five quarts of green beans and five pints of salsa! I'm getting excited because I think I'll soon have enough tomatoes for making spaghetti sauce!! You know what else is growing in my garden besides a few sunflowers? WEEDS!! Yup, that's pretty awesome, right?

If anybody tells you that gardening is easy then they are LIARS!! Sure, some things are easy to grow (green beans anyone?!) but to have a lovely garden like the one's on Better Homes and Gardens you better be ready to work for it by pulling weeds, taking care of the bugs (plant marigolds and this will be minimal), staking your tomatoes, and did I mention pulling weeds? But one of the lovely things about gardening is experimenting. If something doesn't work, then try something else! For example, we tried the horse manure and it worked great! Another example, I bought a bunch of seeds from a local farm at a preppers festival back in April thinking that I would buy locally instead of at the big box store - big mistake. A fair number of seeds I planted from the local farm didn't come up, especially the spaghetti squash that I was particularly looking forward to. From now on I'll buy from seed catalogs (like Southern Exposure - NOT THE PLACE IN WEST VIRGINIA!!!!) or from Lowes/Walmart.

Even though it takes a lot of work to make a beautiful garden, it's so worth it when you can sit back and look at all the tomatoes on your windowsill and say "I grew that!" or when you pull the jars of beans and salsa out of your canner and say "I did this with my own two hands!" As someone who strives to be more self sufficient, this is one of the most satisfying things I can reasonably do. If you don't want to take on something as large as my garden, start with some pots and work your way up from there. You'll be glad you did!