Epic Fail!

When people at work complain about me being spoiled as I open up some fabulous leftovers from the night before that my hubby cooked, well, I have no argument.  I AM spoiled. 

Substory:
Yesterday JJ finally succumbed to the yuck that MVJ and I had earlier and that we apparently passed on to both my parents and possibly LJ (although that may be a stretch since we were well for a full week before visiting them - and she has her own germ carriers to deal with).  Poor JJ - we totally thought he was in the clear when he didn't get it right away with MVJ and I.  So I stayed home to care for both him and MVJ (MVJ has a yuck-yuck cold and we didn't want to bring THAT to anyone else's family either!).   

Back to original story:
Today I had to make breakfast for MVJ and JJ.  They both wanted oatmeal.  No big deal.  Right?  I started our frustrated that JJ wouldn't just eat one of the oatmeal packets.  NOoooo, he had to have regular oatmeal like from the big container of oats.  I don't think I'd be such a bad cook, but I've become really dependent on JJ.  AND he's such a great cook and ENJOYS to cook --- why would I take that away from him?? 

Anyways, I ended up mixing up the liquid measurement with the oats measurement!!  It came out just cement-like and yuck.  I added a bunch of water to it (I ran out of milk making the first batch) and served up the gloop to a wide-eyed JJ.  He asked, "Did you taste it?"  I was like, "Heck no!  It looks disgusting!"  My brave hubby took a bite and exclaimed to an equally wide-eyed MVJ, "This is honestly the worst tasting oatmeal I've ever had!  It tastes a little worse than cardboard."  Having learned my lesson, I made oatmeal for MVJ (with the correct measurements) and it came out completely soupy.  I have no idea what I did wrong that time, but JJ came to my rescue, dumping out most of the whole milk and cooling it off for my darling baby girl.  She was a champ eater - seriously - she eats an adult portion of oatmeal (and would eat it every morning if we didn't think she should have some variety!).     

We have had some weird behaviors at school.  Times, they are a changin'.  From what I can tell, there are two core problems with kiddos today.  1) Parents expect schools to educate their children (yes, that makes sense) in values and manners and social skills (ooooh... yeah, that's not so good).  2) Kids don't seem to care if they get in trouble.

For example, I was being hall monitor before and after lunch (yes, we have to do  that now.  GENERALLY kids figure out how to make their way to and from lunch on their own.  Not quite possible for the bunch we have this year.)  Anyways, I SAW a kid dump another kid's books on the floor.  I approached the kid and asked him to pick the books back up.  He immediately got defensive, "I didn't do it!  You didn't see me do it!  I didn't do anything!  I just poked him on the shoulder."  So quickly it goes from nothing to a little concession.  Also, note to kiddos: when you sound so guilty, that usually cements the fact that YOU ARE.  He remained absolutely sure I was actually the one guilty of harassing him that, huh, funny thing, he ended up being the LAST person in line for lunch.  That was the best punishment ever and he prescribed it to himself.  Now, normally, I would just call home and things would be all good.  Except for in this case, we've called home before and Mom basically has the same message -- her son would never ever do anything like that and HE is actually the victim.  Hmmmm... I guess we don't have to spend too much time wondering where the kiddo got this attitude from!

Another odd example: I found out there was a rumor going around about one of my students.  It was a pretty serious rumor - one that involved her being pregnant.  That's pretty darn scary and I try not to be that naive teacher, but I also try to believe the best about people.  Anyways, I chatted with our school counselor.  He did some digging and found out that SHE started the rumor herself... AND added some really weird details.  I mean seriously, what in the world!

New Toy!

I have a new toy at school.  It's a SmartBoard  --I think it's that one-- and it is THE BOMB.  I admit it definitely has the novelty factor - hey a little novelty never hurt anyone!  And at times it is a bit consuming switching my plans to the smartboard software (Notebook).  Oh, and there are the technological glitches.  Thank goodness for Mr. G who is our guru of technology even though he's not the tech guy.  BUT for the most part it's a great addition to my room.  One of my kiddos hardly ever wants to write anything, but if I say, "Well, you need to write it on your paper first and then you can write something on the board." -- that is all it takes to get him to write a notebook page full!  I'm hoping it actually is teaching kids something and enhances their learning...  I've done almost all of my math lessons on the smartboard since I've gotten it.  Just even having the whole space blank to work out work makes it seem that much more fantastic!  It's even turned into a social skills lesson - "We can only use it if we are kind to each other and help each other out.  I need help sometimes.  Your classmates will need help sometimes.  We have to be patient or we will go back to the white board."  My kids were like cheering each other on - clapping when they did the work right, being gracious about taking turns, etc.  YAY Smartboard!

MVJ in March

I don't think I've updated lately on the li'l miss.  MVJ is definitely a toddler.  Not in the "she toddles around" sense, because she is still not walking, but in the mood sense.  She has been a big time whiner lately, much to JJ's frustration (remember, he's the one who stays home with her all day!).  Several times she has been put in her crib to have a time out of sorts.  We definitely want to nip that whining in the bud!  She has been a picky eater lately, too.  That is hard.  We can't tell her why it's so important to have a little dairy and a little fruit and a little protein, etc.  She just doesn't care and is ALWAYS up for fishy crackers or "yoges"!  : )  She is a champion water drinker --- and still a milk drinker (NOT the whole milk we'd like her to be drinking).  I'm not good at weaning her and obviously she's not just going to do it on her own.  MVJ has lots of new toys from her birthday, including one set of legos and one set of these spikey building blocks.  She LOVES playing, "You build it and I will destroy it." 

We went for our first walk of the season this last weekend.  Woohoo!!  LOVE it!  She enjoys shopping with Mommy and Mommy loves having a little helper -- especially when there is a shopping cart!!  Otherwise things can get pretty dicey at times!  She's started saying, "Uh oh!" and that's super cute.  She also babbles, "Ma-ma!" and "Da-da!"  But her all time favorite phrase is still, "Duke a day-dee."  We have NO idea how to translate it, but there have been times when I've thrown it into normal conversation with JJ.  We crack ourselves up.  : )  One thing's for sure, MVJ has completely taken over our lives and we love her for it.  She has been doing a super awesome job with babysitters, and that makes us so happy.  We went to dinner and a movie the other weekend and of course the whole meal was spent talking about MVJ and/or looking at pictures we have of her on our phone.  We are hopeless!

Hello!! (Oh wait.. do I know you??)

I suffer terribly from thinking I recognize people all the time.  I think it happens most often when I'm looking for someone - then EVERYONE is that person.  Do you know what I mean?  Has this ever happened to you?  One time we were meeting my BFF and her hubby at an IHOP (best restaurant ever!  Well, maybe not, but yum.  SO good.)  I noticed her right away in the parking lot, honked and waved.  AND then realized it definitely was NOT my friend and her husband.  In fact, as JJ put it later, the ONLY thing those two people had in common with the couple we were going to meet is that there was one male and one female.  I think I have become acutely aware of how bad I am at this recognizing people game that I tend to go the other way.  I wait for people to come up to me before I address them. 

Yup.  And then I found $5. 

I was doing so well...

CAUTION: NOT FOR THE WEAK OF STOMACH.

I was keeping up with my frequent blogging... and then.  And then Madeline woke up Monday morning.  I went in to get her and noticed that she had two dried cranberries next to her (her new fav. snack) or so I thought.  Upon further inspection, I realized that Madeline had thrown up ALL OVER  and had moved to the corner of her crib to avoid the disaster in the middle.  Poor baby.  : (  She cried a teeny bit in the middle of the night, but by the time I got to her door she had fallen back asleep.  Determined to leave well enough alone, I went back to bed.  BAD MOM.  (But, don't worry, I've already gotten past that guilt with the help of many seasoned Moms, including my own).  After yelling for JJ (and worrying poor MVJ even more), I gave her a good bath (which included combing out chunks of puke from her hair.)  In the meantime, JJ threw away her pjs and bedding.  Yeah, it was that bad.  And sanitized her crib.  She appeared to be doing ok - not 100% but not throwy-uppy anymore.  I left for work demanding that JJ call me immediately if she showed any signs of more sickness and I would rush home.  I didn't get a call and when I came home, JJ said they laid low during the day, but she seemed better.  She had two, count them two, blow out yucky diapers (one in which the onesie was also just thrown out.  Easier that way.).  She started not eating what she normally used to love.  We became at a loss for what we could feed the poor child.  By Wednesday she would only eat oatmeal. 

And then Wednesday night.  I got fast-food to go for JJ and I (per request from JJ).  I started feeling ill about a half hour to an hour post eating.  Three hours later I began throwing up and didn't stop until about 6 am.  It was seriously the worst.  At one point I made the mistake of drinking some water and promptly even threw that up a short while later.  Then came the big D.  If you don't know what that is, just nevermind, it's no fun.  That part still hasn't cleared up, but I DID eat some cheerios (dry) for breakfast, a small bit of bread for lunch and about a cup and a half of chicken noodle soup (sans the chicken) for supper.  Hopefully things will continue to stay down.  I'm not sure if I caught what MVJ had (with a vengeance) or picked up a 24-hour bug from the cesspool that is my school.  MVJ, by the way, ate a bunch for supper.  Hopefully she has come through this and is on the other side! 

Worst Prank EVAH!

I spent the better part of my college days working for the HO (housing office).  By better I meant length-wise, but I DID enjoy most parts of my job.  The TAF, JP, NW, and SV part that is!  : )  My Noren staffs were awesome as well.  Anyways, working on campus meant that I had to find coverage for holidays like Thanksgiving.  One year in particular, my RA AH said she was sticking around anyways, so she covered the hall and in turn I told her she could hang out in my apartment, use the kitchen to actually cook stuff (a novelty living in res. halls), etc.  She and "friend" : ) TA decided to prank our apartment (I was already married at that point).  One thing you may or may not know about me is that I have a relatively small bladder.  It is a little known fact that when I drink a bottle of water, I have to almost immediately pee three times.  Car trips are sometimes terrible - but I have learned to not drink liquids about 48 hours prior.  : )  Anywho, when we arrived home, I immediately headed to the bathroom to relieve myself.  Right away I realized that SOMEONE had taped down siran wrap onto the toilet so the pee was just sitting there pooling.  If I was a normal person, I would've stopped immediately and cleaned up, but I am no normal person and I have a small bladder!  So I had to just keep on going and clean up afterwards!  : )  hehehe  JJ also got pranked when he turned on the kitchen faucet and had the sprayer thing (that was taped together to work right away) attack him.

Anyways, a few nights, or rather mornings ago when I was lying awake waiting for my sweet little wake-up call from next door, I had this weird sleep-wake experience when I started imagining the worst prank JJ could ever pull on me.  This is another little known fact -- you are learning so much about me here -- let me just lay back and go Freud-style on you! -- one of my biggest fears is there being a snake in my toilet.  I heard a story about this happening one time in Florida or something and ever since then I've been worried about it.  Back to that morning a few mornings ago -- I decided that if JJ taped a rubber snake to the lid of the toilet so that when I lifted it, the snake kind of sprang up - yup, that would be the worst one.  I decided to tell him and get it off my chest so that he could NEVER do it.  If I came up with the idea and told him, he couldn't do it, right?!  That's my plan anyways.  He told me that he would just go get a water snake anyways, not some dumb fake one.  EEEEEKKKKKKKS.   

OH, and I also forgot to link this SUPERCUTE craft idea when I posted those a few posts back.  You have to check this out.  If you have as much paper stored up as I do, you would appreciate this project as much as I do!  : )

My Blog List: A Case Study, part III - food and pics!

What about food?  Everyone loves food, right?  I certainly do, but don't always love to MAKE said food.  Here are some people with some excellent ideas.  Pancakes ARE my favorite food, in case you didn't know, so I'm pretty sure these from LJ would give me lots to love!  Don't these yums from LB look good?  R always has fancy, fance stuff like this - I love R's recap of how her hubby "helped" in the kitchen!  And of course R+V has like the most amazing recipes ever.  Here are just a few of my favs: mmmm applesauce bars, haystacks are ALWAYS good!, oh, ok and some cranberry-orange bread for a little nondesert selection!  I have to admit, I'm definitely not as adventurous as B - but then again, I also don't have a hubby who hunts!

And who doesn't like a good picture now and then?  Check out the C's babies.  Could they BE any cuter?  What about this sweet one of PC?  How about this series from LJ?  oh, and these too - (I chided her for being a bit mean to poor AJ until I saw him recently after this.  The kid has a big head.  End of story!)  Here's one from LB (awww, look how little MB is!)  These are absolutely adorable too!  Here's B's sweet little guy, B!  And I don't just enjoy my friends' babes.  While they are the best, these from R of her cat cracked me up!        

Sooo techy!

I am not the techiest perSON - BUT I AM SUPER PROUD OF MYSELF BECAUSE I AM POSTING THIS ON THE IPOD TOUCH I'm BORROWING FROM MY SCHOOL TO DO SOME LESSON PLANNING THIS WEEKEND.  OF COURSE I CAN'T BE TOO PROUD BECAuse I CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET Caps lock off!!  BUT THIS THING IS SO STINKIN COOL!   JJ AGrees -SO MUCH THAT HE JUST Bought one FOR OUR VERY OWN.  NO I'M NOT KIDDING. BUT he REASONED IT BECAUSE NOW HE DOESN'T HAVE TO BUY A NEW COMPUTEr  GOOD THInking ALTHOUGH I WASn't AWARE WE NEEDED ONE OF tHOSE EITHER!  ANYWAYS - WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE APPS??  WE LOVE THIS WORD ONE WHERE YOU HAVE TO MAKE AS MANY WORDS AS YOU CAN WITH THE LETTERS GIVEN.  OH AND THIS GEOGRAPHY ONE.  AND THIS CRAM ONE WHERE IT QUIZzes YOU ON TONS OF DIFFERENT TOPICS.

My Blog List: A Case Study, part II (kiddos and crafts!)

There are definitely some common themes from my bloggy friends, so here are a few of my favorite things:

I LOVE, love, LOVE reading about what kiddos are saying.  B-isms and more!, L-isms oh and this one too!, R-isms and this one !!- I could've picked a bunch more from him too!!, K-isms - well - they just make my day!

Another very common theme is CRAFTS!  My friends, family, and well, some companies are SO DARN crafty.  I am jealous.  I do love me some craft time, but I am not a very good sewer at all, despite all of my Mom's countless lessons and help in that area.  Check out these examples, from LB and LB again! (scroll down a little on that one for the crafty part, but don't miss the cute pics on the way!), JG and JG --JG, I was looking for your fabric cube and couldn't find it!, DV , and of course LJ  in all her craftiness! - this post is of LJ's bedroom, but she has done lots of crafty things with it - LOVE the colors! and I would be remiss if I didn't add LJ's mom CM in on this one.  MVJ has her own version of this adorable coat.  We get comments daily.  It is so stinkin' cute!

Lyric Mayhem...

I often have problems with lyrics - not so much that we don't get along - more so that I can never figure them out!!  A long time ago on a car trip with my family a song came on and I was singing at the top of my lungs, "Dance to the little z's!"  Not exactly sure where that would ever come from, but then my Mom said from the back, "Dance to the music!"  I figured she must've thought I was getting into the song so I should dance too.  Turns out, she was just trying to help me out, because the lyrics were actually, "Dance to the music."  : )

So what made me think of that little story?  I have had the Canadian national anthem in my head since the Olympics began.  Closing ceremonies didn't help.  But, for some reason I keep singing (to myself): "Oh Canada we stand on God for thee."  Yikes!  Those crazy Canadians standing on God.  Not good.  Not good at all!  : )

My Blog List: A Case Study

I was reading through my friends' and families' blogs lately and thought about how some are so similar, some so different, what I take from each one, etc. and thought I would share some thoughts.

First of all - who ARE these people and why do I read their blogs?

In order from how they appear right at this VERY second (2/29 7:40 pm):

Brown Family - LB teaches 8th grade science at the same school as me. Though I rarely run into her at school, when I do she is so kind, friendly and sweet. I think if we worked closer we would be good work friends!

Rhubarb & Venison - Oddly enough this is probably the person I've known the longest from this list. Our dads (her step-dad) were good buddies and we often went camping in the summers. Then we didn't see each other for quite some time and then she caught a ride home with me from college once or twice and we reconnected a bit. It's been so fun to read her updates and see her beautiful baby boy!

Cake Wrecks - my SIL LJ got me hooked on this one. HIlarious. If you haven't checked it out, do.

Truth of Ruth - my SIL LJ's sister. She is my age and strangely enough, both our moms AND dads worked together.

Hochhalter Happenings - Mr. RH and I went to school together (4th grade on) - we even went to prom together! (as friends!) I met Mrs. TH's Mom randomly at a friend's wedding (JJ and I didn't know pretty much anyone else at the reception and ended up sitting next to TH's mom. I met up with TH's mom later at a teaching convention. So random! TH and I have never met each other, but I have connected so easily with her through her blog. RH and TH's daughter KH is just a little bit older than MVJ so I LOVE finding out ahead of time what I need to be watching out for! We seem to be similar and I think for some reason that if we met we would hit it off!

Modern-Day Jan e - the blog that started it all for me! This is my dear SIL, LJ (our hubbies are brothers). She is awesome. I talk about her family a lot on here; it is SO awesome to live about an hour apart. We love AJ, LJ, LJ2 (not same first name!), BJ and little (big) AJ!

It's Not All Flowers and Sausages  - I used to read this one all the time, but to be honest, I don't read it very often any more. I found the blog in an Instructor magazine . The gal used to be a teacher, but now has taken a leave, basically to write a book about her teaching experiences. She's a funny lady!

A Scrappy Good Time - I LOVE crafty blogs. I'm a big scrapbooker/stamper, so I enjoy this one. Want a random fact? The author's husband and I were in classes together - I believe TEAM for our elementary education degrees.

Bluebird's Classroom - another one I used to read all the time, but have slowed down. This is a middle school teacher teaching in the south somewhere (Kentucky? That's where I picture her.)  Another one I found in the Instructor Magazine.

Oh My Crafts! - this is where I got my beloved cricut . They have good deals. They also have some very good craft ideas!

The life of a new mama. - JG is my friend CJ's sister. We met mostly when we were in CJ's wedding together. She is such a sweet lady - so outgoing and friendly. She always made me feel very welcome in the A family! Her daughter is just a few months younger than MVJ and her hubby and my hubby have lots in common, including painting, oh yeah, and their first name!

The Life of LC and NC - I have to give my BIL CPJ credit for this one. We met the C's through him and have just had so much fun whenever we've gotten the chance to hang out with them. IC is such a beautiful, full of life little girl. We can't wait to meet little sister PC! Fun fact: LC lent me ALL of her maternity clothes and I can NEVER thank her enough!

Think Christian - *sigh* another one that I haven't read in awhile. I found this one on my own searching around. MOST of the things I agree with spot on. It's a good one - and I like taking the poll (oh, and changing the color of the background - fun!)

The Family VerDouw - BV and I went to school together, like RH, from 4th grade on. His wife, DV, and I were at UND at the same time - and she lived in the residence hall I was an RA in. I enjoy hearing about BV's sleep walking escapades. Seriously, I laughed until I cried at the last one. Their daughter is a year and a few months older than MVJ, so I definitely find out what I'm possibly in for reading their blog!

David Jeffrey Meberg - Another SIL LJ connection! This is LJ's SIL JM. LJ, JM and I were all pregnant at the same time (over Thanksgiving we took a belly pic)! Beautiful, kind woman with a supercute kid (I wonder if you can guess his name!) and another on the way!

an advice blog -- Ask my mom - this is a joint venture between my SIL LC and her daughter (my niece!) MH. The last post, entitled How to prepare for a new baby?! came just before her daughter (my great niece!) LKH was born. We just visited and found how SIMILAR MVJ and LKH are. So sweet! I hope they get to know each other well as they grow.

SPOT LIGHTS: brief messages of Light - this is a blog put out by our Pastor, PK. He's a great guy and we learn so much from him. He's also the Pastor who married us!

E! Online - The Soup - I love The Soup on TV. JM CRACKS me up!! But, for some reason, even though their blog is updated, it doesn't show updates on my blog roll, so I forget about it way down at the bottom of the list.

The Nichols Family Blog - You can see that this is on TN's top list of things to do!  : )  Well, as the wife and mother of four kiddos, you can cut her some slack.  Oh yeah, and she's a successful photographer as well.  She took MVJ's brand new baby pictures and they are simply precious.  I can never thank her enough for that.  She's also become a good friend through SIL LJ.  I love it when LJ has a party and invites us both!!

Jake PC Panama - this is my cousin JW and about his stint with Peace Corps - in Panama. Very interesting!

Friend's-isms

I need to tread carefully here. I do NOT want to be making fun of this particular friend, but some of the things she says cracks me up! She is a supernice person, who is always up for a game, so in my book she's great! A while ago we had the chance to hang out with her and her hubby. I really have no right to poke fun at her either, because in the last week I have been reaching for little sayings, too. For example, when we were pulling into Target the other day, I turned to JJ and said something like, "Let's kick this can!" (as in "Let's go!"). He was like... "Uhhh... let's blow this popsicle stand? Let's kick this pig?? Not quite sure what you were going for there..." : )

So without further ado, here are three examples of my friend's-isms:

1) "Correct me if I'm right." Well, I'm feeling pretty snarky, so I could possibly pull that one off...

2) She kept going on and on about her liable car. I just wasn't figuring it out until all of a sudden I got it! REliable car... yeah... there we go!

3) I was feeding MVJ some bananas and berries baby food. She doesn't eat it very much anymore, and I have to give my friend some credit. If you're not around babies very much, maybe you wouldn't recognize a baby food container or even the different flavors. But, she was all, "Ooh! Did you just make chocolate pudding? I love chocolate pudding! Look at her eating that chocolate pudding!" Yup. . .

Rawr!

MVJ loves to be scared. We're not sure where it came from, but she giggles with delight if we jump out of nowhere and roar at her. She prefers a more vicious game of peek-a-boo! JJ and she have a little ritual, where he will pretend to "stalk his prey" complete with baby lion-like roars. She just peels over with delight. I have to watch out, however, because if I'm holding her, or anywhere near her basically, she like gets crazy! She will bonk her head on my head in a fit, and most notably, she bites! She has bitten me on the shoulder more than once in this crazy baby state. The other day, though, she stepped it up a notch and bit me right on the boob! OW! I still have the marks, but I'll spare you the image. : )

JJ has told me that I have trouble wrapping up my stories, so I'll just leave you with this conclusion.

And then I found $5. The end.