My Birthday

I know...I've been celebrating my birthday all month. This is true. What can I say? I have a bunch of wonderful friends who honor me with their presence and time. Friday evening I went to see Noah with momMA. I really enjoyed it. Saturday was finally the REAL day. It rained all day so we went to Crest Theater to watch August: Osage County. When we got home I napped for a bit while momMA made my delicious birthday dinner: grilled salmon, spicy orange shrimp, ratatouille, mashed potatoes and Gram's dessert for my cake. It was sooo good. Then we played games and I slept like a baby when it was time for bed.

Sunday I made beef stew and biscuits for lunch. I thought it was very yummy. I can't speak for anyone else. I napped again for awhile then momMA and I went exploring. I've attached some pictures of early-blooming flowers in the Rhodie Park. I received lots of cards, texts, emails and voice messages wishing me a happy birthday. I did, indeed, have a good day and a good month. Enjoy the very special song at the end.

Pre-Birthday Fun

My 5th period class threw me a birthday party. They planned it all themselves. I didn't lift a finger. They were so proud to have carried it off without a hitch. It was fun to see their joy and also be "spoiled" by my kids. I've included a couple of dances they "performed" and also their beautiful voices singing to their teacher at the end.

Why I Might Not Be Ready To Have My Business Up and Running On The 30th

I have lots of great ideas for my online business. Lots of things in progress. I also have lots of great ideas for my classroom and lots of things in progress. Since teaching in the classroom pays my bills - it has to come first. I'm busy refreshing my brain with Trig functions, figuring out how to teach below-level learners the finer points of stoichiometry in Chemistry and creating sample work for my Biology kids who are working on Biome projects. One small part of their project includes choosing an organism that lives in the area they are researching. They then have to make a "Biome Book" which is a pop-up book that shows an example of their biome and introduces the organism to the rest of the class. I chose a raccoon. I have fun facts, diet, description, threats, conservation, interactions, and habitat all included in this compact little beauty. In this day and age of technology and PowerPoint, YouTube, Google cloud, etc., it is kind of fun to break out the glue sticks, construction paper, and markers and return to the basics. Kids enjoy old-fashioned creativity. I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

Waiting for Sissy

I have more than one boy in my life now. This little black guy is quite special. I was opposed to his adoption into the family, I had decided I would never visit again, I had myself medicated and vowed not to like him, on principle. However, like so much of life, things didn't turn out as planned. He wormed his way into my heart and although he loves everyone, he DOES seem to have a small preference for his Sissy. If momMA is talking to me on the phone and says the word Sissy, he perks up his ears and goes to the front door. If I'm staying at the house, I often open the bedroom door to find adoring black eyes looking up at me. He follows me into the bathroom, up on the couch, into the kitchen, up on the bed...you get the idea. He's my little shadow and I love him soooo much. Here are some pictures of our Toby waiting for me to arrive. MomMA got him prepped by telling him Sissy was coming. He promptly went to the window and looked for me. When he saw my car pull into the cul-de-sac, his ears went forward and he started quivering and whining. At last, we were reunited and he was in ecstasy as Sissy rubbed his tummy and rough-housed with him on the stairs. Isn't he a keeper?

Third Birthday

Tomorrow is Baby Girl's 3rd birthday so I decided to take her to Build-A-Bear for her present. I picked her up after her nap, drove to the mall and listened to her talk all the way there. It was raining, which she thought was great. She stomped in all the water on the sidewalks as we made our way to the stores. Once inside, American Doll immediately caught her eye. She looked and looked and only grudgingly allowed herself to be led away...then the candy caught her eye. Tee allowed her to drool over it for a little bit but then tried steering her toward our destination. Alas, we had to pass the play area first and again, it was a bit of work to convince her there was great fun ahead and it wasn't in the play area. Once we got to Build-A-Bear, she didn't know what to look at first. She ran from toy to toy, accessory to clothes, candy, games -- it was too much for her little brain to take in. Tee had her hands full keeping Baby Girl focused. She finally settled on a striped bunny and immediately named her Fluffy. We helped put in her stuffing, stitched in her heart, gave her a bath, picked up her birth certificate, chose a ballerina outfit complete with shoes, headband and wand!

On our way out, we stopped at the play area where she got rid of a little more energy, picked up a pizza pretzel and ate it at Starbucks, and finally we stopped at the candy so she could get a handful of Mike and Ike's. By then, she was fading and it was time to go home. She said, repeatedly, "Tee, I lub you," and I would catch her in the rearview mirror hugging her bunny and kissing it, saying, "I lub you Fluffy." What a fun day with my favorite little girl. Mmmm...Tee lubs her more!

Gettin' On Our Irish

So, both sides of the family have a bit of Irish blood flowing through the veins and on St. Paddy's Day we like to indulge in Irish food. MomMA got a jump-start on things when she served us corned beef and cabbage with red skin potatoes Friday evening. Sooooo delicious. Then on Monday, I came home from work to a FEAST! JP made authentic Shepherd's Pie, Dublin Coddle (a potato, kielbasa sausage, onion and bacon mixture), Irish soda bread, and apple cake. My tummy ate well that night.

And in case any of you have been missing him, here's a recent pic of Ichabod Ollivander. He has to be a part of everything we do or else he thinks we can't function properly. 

Cave Art - The End

And just to remind you what teachers have to put up with...one of my students made this mobius strip in math class and gave it to me. See what she wrote as part of her lyrics?

More Stuff

Apparently, torturing students was my true calling and I've missed it all these years. We are making our own paint out of mud for art class but before we can do that, we have to sort out all the rocks, twigs, and creepy crawlies that might be hiding. Did you know that Asian boys really don't like worms? The girls are fine but my boys are having strokes. One took his gloves off, wadded them up, rested his head on the back of the chair and moaned, "I just want to die." Here's a glimpse:

Here is our finished crazy quilt :

And on an unrelated note, here is a picture of Cal Ripken that Mom took today at spring training.

Building a Greenhouse

This was my project with JP today. Lots of weeds, lots of uneven ground, lots of rocks - but we finally got things dug up, shoveled out and leveled off. Up went the greenhouse, down came the rain and now it is just waiting to be used. So exciting!!