Snow Days Rule!

My superintendent closed schools before we left yesterday for today, so I’ve known since about 2:15 that I would not be going to school today. Kathy had to wait until yesterday around 6 or 7, I think. Anyway, I am enjoying my day off, although some of my coworkers are predicting tomorrow we will either be off or delayed as well. We will see what happens. I am going to wait a little longer until I proceed with round one of shoveling the driveway. Anyway, here are some pictures I took around 10am this morning. Enjoy!

Good ridden 2009! Hello 2010!

I wanted to share with you all a few pictures from Christmas with Kathy’s family.

This is Kathy's Birthday present. Memories of a Christmas tradition with the Cornman family.



This is Kathy's neice, Morgan. She is showing off her unicorn she got for Christmas.



This is Kathy posing with the fireplace/heater her Dad got for us.



I say good ridden to 2009 because there were many ups and downs, although toward the end it felt like more downs than ups. Kathy’s mother passed away toward the end of June and everyone is trying to get adjusted to what will be the new normal in the family. Fortunately she was very much about keeping the family together, so that is what is we are doing, sticking together. As if that was not enough, in December we found out that Kathy’s father has cancer in his bladder. His treatments are going well, and the prognosis is very positive, so that is a good thing.

Still, let’s hope the bad news goes away with the year 2009.

We booked plane tickets for London and Paris the other day for our spring break in April. We have about 11 days off all together so we are planning on spending most of it in another continent. We are busy making plans to take advantage of every second we have there.

Welcome 2010.

Happy (uneventful) Halloween!

So my Halloween started on Thursday...and is blissfully close to an end.

The kids at school were wired all day Thursday and that culminated with a Halloween parade where, as usual, I'm the M.C. I don't mind, it's actually kind of fun and I can blabber on and be my cooky self. The only downfall is the sore throat afterwards but that is quickly rectified by endless amounts of cupcakes and candy--supplied of course by every student in the school.

Yesterday was the ward Halloween party and although it was not fun for me...most of it is actually a blur or chili, bowling pins, and endless amounts of yummy goodness...I think it went well. Not fantastic, but well. I don't think I spoke to anyone, I was too busy running around making sure everything was going relatively smoothly.

And now, we sit and wait for Shadow to bark like a maniac which means that 'strangers' aka 'trick or treaters' are coming to the door. But I am actually ok with that. I like seeing the kids in their costumes and I like that I have any excuse to sit around.

WAIT!!!! A major surprise! Lela, Linda, Scott, and Spencer just made a surprise visit and I am STILL giddy about it! We took Shadow with us while we went trick-or-treating up and down Kate Terrace and I have to say I had a great time. Yeah for great surprises!

Fun with animals! But not fun for the animals!

The stage was set perfectly. It was a great Sabbath day, very spiritual. I had been at church for most of the day. Kathy was with her sister and friends scrap booking. I came home late and was greeted by Kathy and Shadow. Always great. Around 9pm, we let Shadow out to use the potty and we started smelling an awful odor that seemed to envelope the house. Yup, Shadow got sprayed by a skunk.

We bathed him in tomato juice, and then in a peroxide, soap, and baking soda mixture to get the smell off. Then we cleaned up after the mess we made. We got to bed around 11:30.

Monday we went to PetSmart in Bridgewater to get some other stuff to clean him with because he still smelled a little bit. We wound up staying up until 11 o’clock with that as well. Also because it was the season premier of Heroes. Shadow is getting better smelling, though. And the house is getting better smelling.

With all the fuss about Shadow, we did not realize until Tuesday morning that we had locked one of our cats upstairs in one of the bedrooms. On Saturday. Poor cat was locked in the bedroom for three days with no food, water, or litter box.

Yeah, its been a bit nutty around here.

Happy Anniversary?

So today is Kathy and my 10th wedding anniversary. Yes, I cannot believe it has been 10 years. Today is also the day both of us went back to work and had students. Not much to celebrate.

My school day was some what uneventful. The student teacher I am supposed to be working with did not have his background check done so he cannot be in the school. He cannot be my student teacher if he cannot come in the school. I am also mentoring a new teacher this year and her computer (which is my old computer, by the way) decided to crash 15 minutes before school started.

None of this really affected my school day, though until they called me to the main office at the end of the day. Kathy was on the phone. She left her school to go buy lunch, only about a mile and a half away. When she tried to start her car to return to school, she heard a bang from under the hood and smoke came out. Turns out the battery over heated, popped one of the caps, and the car would not start. She called her school, but no one picked up to drive her back, so she walked back to her school, arriving five minutes late for a class.

Long story short, for her tenth wedding anniversary, Kathy got a new car battery. Only the best for my girl!

Wet Dog!

We went to Kathy's sister's house the other Sunday for her younger brother's birthday.

They have a pool.

We brought the dog.

Yeah, he was soaked! It is about 90 seconds long if you want to watch.



Shadow is kind of a chicken when it comes to going into the pool. He likes the water but he has to be able to feel the ground with his feet so it cannot be too deep.

...but I did it.

So I have been thinking about this a lot and I finally am posting this.

I went on trek this year as the water guy. I drove my truck around and made sure everyone had water. No one drank anything without me getting it for them. Well at one point, a couple of the adult leaders that were trekking needed a ride with a couple kids that were trekking and they shared a story with me.

One young lady was really concerned about hiking up a pretty steep hill with the handcart. She was tired and doubted her ability. Well, she made it to the top. After arriving at the top she told this leader, "It was hard, but I did it."

What a wonderful declaration! What a great thing to be able to feel, and to say! It made me excited to be there. Her excitement and exclamation made me feel like I too can overcome my trials. I want to say, "It was hard, but I did it."