Christmas Day part 2!

Just some more Christmas pictures. The tree, all of Kevin and half of Kyle, Uncle Tommy, Leo, Josh, and Morgan on the piano, Jamie, and then a bunch of us playing Uno. I think I won that round.

Christmas Day Part 1!

These pictures were taken on Christmas Day. Kathy's family comes over then and we celebrate together. The last picture is of Kathy and her mom. Next to last is Leo and Josh playing with the toy train. Previous to that is a gingerbread train that Kathy and some of the nephews did together. And no post is complete without a couple great pictures of Shadow. He joined us for a round of Uno.(I think he won that round) The top picture might be my favorite one of him yet. He's so cute!

Christmas Eve!

Chronologically speaking, these pictures are backwards, but that's OK. This was a great year for Christmas. Michael and Mandy flew my folks in for the holidays. Their pictures are later. We all got together at M&M's for Christmas eve right as Mom and Dad got there from the airport. It was fun but I was exhauted. Not too exhausted to not open presents between Kathy and myself when we got home, though. You can see I am still very much a kid at heart. I got my 25th anniversary Optimus Prime figure. One of my students gave me a sweater for Shadow this year. We left it on him for all of Christmas day, but after that, he wanted nothing to do with it. It was fun while it lasted.

Merry Christmas!

We will post more tomorrow, however we just wanted to wish everyone a merry Christmas. We are both trying to post pictures and Blogger was timing out on us. I guess many people have the same idea that we have.

We'll see all of you later!

Total Blog Slackers!

So it's been a long time since we've blogged about anything but we've been uber busy!! Thanksgiving was yummy, we had a great time at my sisters house on Turkey Day and then we got to celebrate again on the 29th with John's family! Double the yummy food and double the fun people!

Last night we saw the conclusion of the 'International Christmas' party at church. It went really well, (if I do say so myself) and I've already started thinking about what to do at next year's Christmas party! (I know, I'm crazy)

Now onto my school concert....it's been a crazy couple of months!

New found respect for computer tech guys

So, we've all been there...the computer acts up and call the computer gurus at Dell. They talk you through all the annoying steps and processes that could possibly fix your computer, sometimes they can even hack into your computer and you can watch the mystery man open files etc...and viola or poof (whichever you prefer)...you computer is magically fixed.

Well, my computer guru has been on the phone for 90 minutes now trying to help his mom, who lives in Puerto Rico, somehow fix whatever is wrong with her computer. It has not been an easy 90 minutes. It sounds like he's almost done talking her through this last ditch attempt so *cross your fingers* that he will finally be able to hang up the guru hat and get ready to come to bed. Nope, it didn't work--he's fried.

They really should pay those tech guys some buko-bucks for all the trouble they go through.

How do you spell buko? boko? bouko? idk.

Veteran's Day

I feel the need to say something regarding this holiday.

During the morning announcements, our principal read a short message written by President Bush regarding Veteran's Day. It added to the length of the announcements and meant that we had a few more minutes of homeroom and a few less minutes of our first period. Later, in the copy room, one of the teachers was complaining that the message was read to interrupt 1st period. My only comment back to her was that I was glad we acknowledged the celebration. Kathy's school did not even mention it.

I was shocked. Not for nothing, and its not like I wore red, white and blue, or walked around looking to thank a veteran but you know, people gave up there lives for a country and freedoms they never got to enjoy themselves. Not to mention, they were doing something that I would never in a million years want to do, nor do I think I am courageous enough to do. A few things in life are more important than being able to get my whole lesson in a 50 minute period.

Here is a video that one of the social studies teachers sent to the staff in memory of Veteran's Day. It is a Canadian video so the uniforms are a bit different however the sentiment is the same.

Nothing to really blog about...

Well it was back to work today and I was looking forward to it--no really, I was tired of wallowing in self-pity so work is a great way to shut away those feelings. It was a normal day, broken violin strings, fallen bridges, annoying 1st graders who never shut up. Came home and realized that I locked poor Bella in the bedroom for the entire day---poor Bella! She's still mad at me, she won't come anywhere near me. Poor little pretty kitty! So, I'm not really saying anything...just yammering.

Happy Valentines day?

So, I promised Kathy that we would get her piano tuned for Valentines Day. Well, the piano tuner left about 15 minutes ago. No, it did not take 9 months for him to tune the piano, it took 9 months for me to call. Now her piano palying sounds even better than before.

Vacation!

Well today's meltdown was averted, of course that meant skipping church but it had to be done. On a happier note both John and I have vacation this week, so maybe I can get my head on straight and push forward. I've got a million things to say but none that I want the world to read. Oh well, here's to a great week of doing nothing!

Happy Halloween!

I'm Bored!

I'm Bored!

Aww....what a cute little puppy!

Shadow was such a good puppy last week that we bought him a new toy and a rawhide bone. He walked around for days with that bone in his mouth, then he would bury it outside, bring it back in and carry it around--well yesterday he finally started to eat his bone and well, doesn't he look cute with all that rawhide smushed on his nose!

I love my puppy!

3, 2, 1......Meltdown!

An unexpected meltdown today--5 days earlier than planned, yes planned.

At the moment this was the cure----------->

and it was uber yummy.

The Worst Case of Heebee Geebees Ever!

So, this girl comes down for her trombone lesson and all was well...I say 'time to pack up'. We all get up and as my girl gets up we all see this giant bug on the seat of her chair. I don't know which one of us screamed louder or ran farther but BLECH! *shudder* It turns out it was a beetle from science class that must have climbed on her clothes and ick it was crawling all over her for 20 minutes! A boy came in and picked it up and took it back to science but still....eek! I was so scared that I was laughing hysterically, the girl was in tears she was so scared and even now when I think about it I still get the heebee geebees!

Hey....it's a donkey made out of hay!

So there's this farm by the house where I grew up and every year they make some kind of animal out of hay. Last year was a pig and this year it's a donkey. John and I actually stopped the car to take a picture--you don't see a donkey made out of hay every day!

The Ceremonial Chair Throwing Ritual, Crying Kindergartners, and Continuous Motion

8:53 am: Ah...what a perfect day for such a lovely ceremony. The Band played so-so today and at dismissal I was then treated to a trumpeteer and saxophonist exchanging the ritualistic curse words that usually preceed the chair throwing ceremony and they performed beautifully--such colorful language made me blush... So they throw a chair at each other and then tackle one another to the ground---oh what a glorious morning. Can you believe that I was stupid enough to try and stop the ceremony? How could I!

10:55 am: Every Friday I have my crier...yep every Friday. Why does he cry you ask? Because I'm so mean and rotten that he can't always go first--so basically he throws a crying tantrum. Well today was only slightly different in the fact that I did absolutely nothing that required people to go first, last etc... nothing and yet---he's a cryin'. Oy vey.

2:26 pm: After me running my last kindergarten class of the day like a non-stop train because they can't handle even a second of transition time one of my four discipline problems starts to meltdown. Ah...4 more minutes left to class--why, why, why!!! Grr. Can I call out on Fridays from 10:30-11:15 and 1:45-2:30?

Seriously, is it a full moon?

The Miracle of Ice Cream and Clean Puppies

So on the extreme verge of a serious meltdown yesterday we took the Cub Scouts to Milltown Ice Cream Depot and I got this seriously huge chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cone---it was bigger than both my fists put together and I ate the whole thing. It was like I was eating my depression away and gosh it was so good.

We gave Shadow a bath and now he smells all purdy....it's funny how you get used to the smell of a stinky dog after awhile.

It's a nail-biter!

So...after carrying the article for about an hour, going out to lunch with her and coming back into the school I finally got up the courage to give it to her. I wrote her a little card telling her how I didn't want to interfere and that I was just thinking of her so hopefully she won't hate me forever.

everyone... *cross your fingers* and your *toes*...now your *legs and your *nose hair*

Chicken Little, Excuses, and Rotten Odds

So my excuse is that I was really busy this morning, that I just didn't have the time to print out that article and give it to her....the reality is that if I wasn't such a chicken little I would've had it printed out before I left the house and I could've just handed it to her when I saw her this morning. I'm a loser.

So in the grand scheme of things 4 million seems like a lot...I'd love to have 4 million dollars, 4 million lottery tickets, 4 million pieces of chocolate--a size 4 million pair of pants to put on after eating all that chocolate--4 millions a rather large number, but in certain aspects of life the number 4 million totally stinks. Make that number into a ratio of 4 million to 3 well than wow, a complete and utter waste of time and once again high hopes crushed into nothingness. I'm really trying to keep my chin, not to despair--follow the council of the prophets and continue to hope, hope in Christ and hope for the best but I have to say....this totally stinks.

A clean house, some awesome visiting teachers, and a perplexing movie

Oh the joys of a day off from work--thank you Christopher Columbus, you've given me a much needed day off! After 4 loads of laundry and cleaning the spare room, which is really our junk room aka where we throw everything we don't know where to put--needless to say, we've got a lot of junk. Anyway, it's all spiffy clean and ready to take more of our endless junk for months to come---and I'm sure it'll come. My visiting teachers came by today and it was a welcome visit, didn't really talk to much about spiritual things--sometimes I get the feeling that they are (well one of them) is reluctant to speak about God, kind of embarrassed. Well, I can sort of understand that, if you are not comfortable in your own skin, speaking about spiritual things can kind of be like putting a giant spotlight on yourself. Anyway, their good and I'm good--trying to be a nice person and not bite everyone's head off. So I went to see The Duchess and it really perplexed me---is that really how people back in 18th century England behaved? I don't know...I usually walk out of chick flicks going 'whoopie! she got the guy and they lived happily every after' but boy, this was anything but happily ever after. Cookies are done and time for FHE---whoopie for cookies!

Press Forward, Be Valiant, and Over-Blog

So, I woke up with Press Forwards Saints stuck firmly in my head---funny how God works sometimes. It's a great hymn: Press forward Saints, with steadfast faith in Christ. Not always an easy thing to do but nonetheless it's the trying that really matters I suppose. I've come to realize that I'm a good person but not very valiant, although I think I'm getting better at that. There was a time when I would see an injustice and not have the courage to stand up and say 'dude, that is so wrong' but, maybe it comes with age, nowadays I speak my mind--I think more people need to speak their minds when things aren't going quite right. The world has conditioned us to be 'tolerant' and 'open-minded' etc...but those ideals have also stripped us of our courage to speak up for truth and righteousness. I'm not talking about homosexuality or anything like that--I'm talking about forgiveness. There are several people in my life that seriously need to forgive others for their offenses. I've tried to talk to them but I fear that my 'butting in' will damage my relationship with them--it's a fine line. I got the prompting (about 6 months ago) to give an article to my friend called 'The Peril of Wedges"...I'm going to bring it to work with me on Tuesday, I just hope that she doesn't get offended because lets face it, she's highly emotional and loses her temper quite often...so I think I'm right to be nervous but I just know that this article is going to strike a cord with her. So.....that's an attempt of mine to be valiant and courageous---to give her what she needs even though she might not want to hear it. (Yeah, I know 6 months late!) Eek! That's scary! I guess since I have to wait up until 1:30 to take my medication it's made me quite the chatty Kathy tonight. Well, if you can stand the randomness of my thoughts--and that one day they'll be all spiritual and the next I could be talking about John getting thrown up on again by the dog--well you can handle just about anything.

Look, We're gettin' all fancy!

Wahoo...after months of envy....we've finally figured out how to make our blog all fancy schmancy! I know...ya'll are jealous of our coolness but hey...not everyone can be as cool as we are!

My thoughts about General Conference

Well, for us on the east coast, conference just ended. I managed to watch all five sessions. For the most part. I am sure I nodded off a little and I was doing some school work and listening through another bit of it, but for the very most part, I watched all of it.

A couple things impressed me. I noticed during the first Saturday session, including Pres. Uchtdorf, there were four foreign born speakers. Also, Sundays second session had two foreign born speakers. That is six in total. I do not remember this happening before. I think that is cool. I know we are a world wide church. I know we have missions all over the world. It is really cool to see the foreign speakers. And they were not from all the same place. Maybe two from Brazil, one from France, one from Uruguay, Germany of course. Anyway, cool stuff.

Speaking of Uchtdorf, his talk on hope was awesome. I am not one to take notes during conference, however I am thinking I might change my ways after this because I cannot remember exactly what he said about things we hope in lead us to charity and things we hope for lead us to faith. Is that it? I am not sure. I liked his talk none-the-less.

M. Russel Ballard (I think) used a phrase that I am going to ponder for a while. Superficially righteous. That phrase has been ringing in my ears since he said it. I think it has been ringing in my ears because I am very critical of myself, always have been. First, I am trying to come up with a definition of that phrase that I am satisfied with. Second, I want to make sure that phrase does not describe me.

Pres. Monson rules. I truly enjoyed his talks. I cannot remember all of his talk from priesthood session but it was good. I remember liking it. I eagerly anticipate being able to get these talks in print and being able to review them again.

I do not remember feeling this way about a GC for a long time and I am pretty excited about it. Anyway, if any of you have thoughts to add about conference or can help me in my pursuit of understanding, please leave a comment or shoot an e-mail. I know I have some pretty smart friends and family and hope you can offer some of your insight to me.

My good boy! Usually.

Here is the picture of my little buddy. His name is Shadow. Most people think that since his name is Shadow he must be black but not our boy. He earned his name by following us everywhere we went in the house. He's about 2 years old, only weighs about 20-25 pounds, and we've had him for about a year and a half.

When Kathy and I decided we wanted a dog in addition to the four cats I insisted that we get one from a rescue. We found out that Rawhide Rescue, a local NJ animal resue, was having an adoption day soon in a local Pet Smart. Kathy had seen a different dog online that she really liked from them so we went to look at her. Well that dog had kind of a tramatic past and with both of us working, we did not think that dog would be right for our lifestyle.

But I saw Shadow, or as he was named then, Fausto. He was real small, just a six month old puppy at the time and he was way cute! We spent some time with him that day and decided he would be right for us.

We later discovered that he came from Arkansas. Apparently the owners of the resue Shadow was in down south wanted to go on vacation and they were leaving soon. They spread the word that if the dogs they had were not taken before they left for vacation, they were going to put them all down. So Shadow was one of six dogs rescued from Arkansas. Rawhide Rescue named all of the six dogs "Lucky" in six different languages, so fausto apparently means lucky in some language. But we renamed him after a short time with us and we feel like we are the lucky ones.

New Week

Well, not too much going on. This is going to be a crazy few weeks ahead of me. Tomorrow is a half day so we can have back to school night. I have to take a personal day on Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday I will go to work and them Friday I have a mentor workshop. The following week we get two days off of school and then the following week we get another day off. Don't get me wrong, in no way am I complaining.

We finally got the king sized bed. It's nice. I like it a lot. Although the dog still manages to push into me in the middle of the night and try to push me off. He's such a little dog, but he wants a lot of room.

Well, I wish there was something more interesting to talk about, but, none-the-less, this will have to do.

Been a while

I know it has been a while since I have posted so now is as good a time as any.

A few things are going on, actually. School is in full swing and Kathy and I, after nine years and a weeks worth of marrage, have purchased a king sized bed. So looking forward to that! We are actually sitting at home as I type awaiting its arrival. Also awaiting the arrival of chinese food, but we bought that many times in the last nine years.

Schools going well, so far. I hate to say it but I think I am enjoying this years group of kids more than last years. I think I was on guard the beginning of this year because last years group gave me such a hard time, but I feel like I can relax a bit more right now. A couple kids who are trying my patience, but that will always happen. What stinks is that we had a few kids last year who were really neat, but we also had a few who just seemed to take pleasure in getting under our skin. That is really anoying.

Well, anyway, such is the life of a school teacher. I do not want to dwell on the negative. I truly am enjoying this year so far and I am doing all i can to keep the trend going.

Batter up!

Last night Kathy and I took the cub scouts to a Somerset Patriots baseball game. We only have three scouts and one of them could not come. Michael, my older brother, came with Nathaniel. We brought Jeffrey with us, so it was five of us. For ten dollars a ticket, we sat about eight rows behind home plate! Can't shake a stick at that. I think we all had a lot of fun. Plus, we won the game.

Another School year

Kathy and I went to my classroom today to set it up. I am not sure why it takes me so long to do it. I have a lot of posters and junk to hang up. I am looking forward to this school year. I think it will be a good one.

I am mentoring a new teacher as well. There will be different challenges and opportunities with that also. All in all I am excited.

Bringing home a paycheck will be nice too.

3 years in the making!

So, we gutted and redesigned our kitchen about three years ago. When we ordered the cabinets, we also ordered crown molding for the top of it. We were so burnt from the kitchen, we never installed the molding. Until today. Finally, we finished the kitchen. Well, we still need to get some stain for a little bit of touch up but its done, as far as I'm concerned.

Lazy Sunday!

Well it is just that, a lazy Sunday afternoon. Church was nice. Lessons were all good.

I am having thoughts of going back to work. Summer vacation is nice, but I must admit I get a bit bored after a while. We pretty much finished all of our summer projects so we have not been doing much of anything lately.

The start of a new school year is a double edged sword. I love my job. I truly do. I usually get pretty good kids. But, some of my students this past year were very trying on me, though. Made life a little tough. Plus, it is nice not doing anything.

Even More Pictures from Philadelphia!

Me in front of the DUKW.
Betsy Ross Grave stone. It is right next to her house.
Kathy in front of a house in Elfreth's Alley.
A picture of the center square in Philadelphia.
The Love statue at night. When the architect was asked why the "O" was on a slant when the other letters are upright he said "because love is not perfect".

More Pictures from Philadelphia!

Kathy and I are waiting for an elevator in the hotel. They were broken so we had to call the front desk and someone would come get us every time. A couple times I just took the stairs. From the 7th floor.
Kathy in front of the Liberty Bell. No, the Liberty Bell does not actually have legs.
I think this is the Betsy Ross house taken from the DUKW.
Driving into the water on the DUKW.
In the water in the DUKW.

Trip to Philadelphia!

Me in front of the US Mint!

What I would look like on a five dollar bill. Wouldn't you trust this face?

Kathy in front of the Constitution center.

A scene from the Lights of Liberty show.

The signing room in Independence Hall.

Well, we got back on Thursday from Philadelphia and it was pretty cool. I had been there before but a long time ago. We did a LOT of walking, especially on the first day.

We parked the car in the city and walked to get our Philly passes but the Hard Rock was not open yet, so we had to walk around and kill time. Then we got the passes but and started to go to the Mint. Kathy brought the camera. No cameras inside the mint. We walked back to the car, dropped off the camera, then walked back to the mint. It was neat, though. I liked it. Then we had lunch and did some general walking around. We wen to the constitution center, which is right next to the mint. Then we went to our hotel. We rested for a while then went back out for a Lights of Liberty show. It as a show they do by projecting different scenes from the signing of the constitution on the buildings in downtown Philadelphia. It was cool.

The next day we took a tour on what they call a DUKW(pronounced duck). It is an old military amphibious vehicle that takes you around the city but also takes you into the Delaware river there. That was cool. After we had lunch, we took another tour around the city as well as seeing the Liberty Bell, Independence hall, and Congress Hall. All cool.

The last day we went to see The Dark Knight(my third time seeing the movie) in the IMAX theater in the Franklin Institute. That was fun. We stayed afterward and took a look around the Institute. There are a lot of cool things to do inside. Great for kids but cool for adults too. All in all we had a fun time.

Philly!

I am in a Barnes & Noble (this does not happen very often) where Kathy and I are planning a short trip to Philadelphia. I am pretty excited. Only going to be three days and two nights but we are trying to pack a lot into that short of a time span. I hope to post some cool pictures soon.

Orange County Choppers

Kathy and I went to The Orange County Choppers building in New York a couple days ago. It was about an hour and a half away from us. It was cool inside. I saw a bunch of motorcycles I have seen them build on TV. There is a hallway you can go into and watch them work on the bikes right there. It was pretty cool. If you are a fan of the show or of motorcycles, I think you would enjoy the place.

Hot Air balloon festival

Today we went to a hot air balloon festival. It was pretty cool. They say it was the first time the Darth Vader balloon flew in the US. They played the Imperial March when they launched it. It was cool.