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!

Fostering's Not For Everyone

When you go through foster care training, they tell you that fostering isn't for everyone. Even if you have an interest and a decent set of skills to deal with kids, it still might not be for you. I think we've come to realize that maybe we're not cut out to be foster parents. Fostering adds an unanticipated strain on a marriage and strain on relationships with your own kids. And if one person is more into it than the other then you're just asking for trouble. Of course three foster kids at one time is stressful. I'm not sure what we were thinking when we took that on. More recently with Dakota, the same issues we had when there were three are popping up with one. I'm thinking that we might give it up after Dakota goes back to his family which could be as soon as next week. We might just do respite care and support other foster parents through that because it is an important job even if we're not the one's doing it. When it comes to fostering I just want to be faithful to God. I want to follow the path He's placed me on. I thought I was doing that, but now I'm not so sure. Maybe our calling is to raise our PKU boys to the best of our ability.