Field Trip

Our two 5th grade classes went on a field trip on Friday to a historical museum. The kids were great. When we got back to school, the man in charge at the museum had sent this email to our principal.


Your students were absolutely wonderful. Not only were they well prepared (your teachers deserve kudos of the highest order); they were polite and were very well behaved. What impressed me most was that they were able to infer. Your kids were able to draw upon prior knowledge and use that information to process new things-they were not afraid to learn. That may seem like a bizarre statement.but your kids were not intimidated at the idea of trying.and were not daunted by the prospect of new information. Students like yours.I do not see everyday. They were engaged on the task at hand and they listened.it is such a joy to say things one time and have people listen-I never had to say one word about discipline to your kids. They were
perfectly behaved. Your students had real depth and were just wonderful people to spend time with. I wish they could have stayed with us all day. Today was not work.I can not believe that I draw a paycheck on days like this. I can not overstate the praise I have for your 5th grade teachers and your students.

What a great way to end a hectic work week! I can't wait to tell the students the praise they earned during the trip. It made an hour+ hot, bumpy bus ride well worth it.

Easter Poop

Grandma was video taping Tractor Boy and Little Miss as they were looking for the eggs that Grandma and Grandpa's Easter bunny brought over. Despite the excitement over finding an egg, Little Miss managed to point out a pile of "poo poo" in our room. The poo poo was actually a hair ball courtesy of the only cat left in the house. But, Grandma managed to tape it and put it on You Tube. Nice.

Happy Easter

Tractor Boy, April 2004

My Profile Pic

Do you guys know about this M&M yourself site? It is way fun. I had my students do it when we were using M&Ms to learn how to make graphs on Excel and they totally loved it. I must admit, it is pretty fun to try to make an M&M look like you. And I must say, mine is pretty darn close. Well, except for the fact that I am not a blue peanut M&M. Other than that, it is dead on.

Okay, so I don't really have an "m" on my mommy parts either. But you get the point.

So, if you have a few extra minutes, go M&M yourself.

That was not intended to sound dirty and rude, by the way.

Public Service Announcement

This is your laundry.

This is your laundry on strep throat.

Any questions?

PICNIK!

I recently found the most awesome photo editing site ever! Look at some of the before and after shots.

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Now, go check out Picnik for yourself!

Spring Break Royally Sucks

That pretty much sums it up. Let me tell you about my week, day by day.

Monday
*rained all day
*ran errands with kiddos

Tuesday
*rained all day
*went dress shopping with my sister
*felt a little off all day; thought it was car sickess

Wednesday
*rained all day
*started to feel really sick; fever, chills, headache, knives in my throat

Thursday
*stopped raining after 4.5 inches
*thought I was dying; pounding head, fever, chills, bigger knives in my throat

Friday
*headache gone
*throat swollen to the point whereI can barely swallow and can't talk quite right
*go to doctor with 2 kids
*get out of car at dr. and hear Tractor Boy exclaim, "There's Grandpa!" Sweet Jesus, it was Grandpa there for the sole purpose of watching the kids while I saw the dr. Wanted to kiss him but didn't want to infect him
*have strep throat
*drop off prescriptions
*stop at Wal-Mart to get a couple things while 2 kids scream and fight the entire way
*go back to get prescriptions
*get cut off by some woman who doesn't know how to drive; flipped her off; sorry, it was the strep throat talking


So, that's about it. Now I need to get up the nerve to have some soup. Each swallow is torture, but I am really hungry. So, wish me a speedy recovery. I hope, hope, hope the kiddos don't get sick. I know how awful I have been feeling, I would really hate it for them to get it too.

Fetch, anyone?

Although somewhat boisterous if untrained, Labrador Retrievers respond well to praise and positive attention, and are considerably "food and fun" oriented. With training, the Lab is one of the most dependable, obedient and multi-talented breeds in the world.

Yep...that sounds about right.

Thanks for the quiz, Cupcake.

Booze much?

88%DRUNKARD

How many colors can you name?

This was a lot harder than I expected. I thought...how many colors can there really be? More than you would think. Give it a shot!

45

Farm Fun

We spent part of our Sunday at the barn watching the guys work on the storm damage from a few weeks ago. Good times were had by all: kids, dogs, cats, and cows.

Especially these cows. Little Miss on a round bale.
Take me to your leader.

Hangin out with the girls.

How you doin'?

Ebony and Ivory.
Farming in Under-roos.
Ba-Buttons the Barn Cat.
Hear no evil (or at least hear no circular saw.)
Smell ya later.

An oldie but a goodie

Baaad Idea

Sudan man forced to marry goat

According to the BBC, a Sudanese man has been forced to take a goat as his "wife", after he was caught having sex with the animal. The goat's owner, Mr Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders. They ordered the man, Mr Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) to Mr Alifi.

"We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together," Mr Alifi said.

Mr Alifi, of Hai Malakal in Upper Nile State, told the Juba Post newspaper that he heard a loud noise around midnight on 13 February (nearly Valentine's Day...how romantic!) and immediately rushed outside to find Mr Tombe with his goat.

"When I asked him: 'What are you doing there?', he fell off the back of the goat, so I captured and tied him up."

Mr Alifi then called elders to decide how to deal with the case.

"They said I should not take him to the police, but rather let him pay a dowry for my goat because he used it as his wife," Mr Alifi told the newspaper.

Wise Beyond Her Years

Tonight the kids were having a popsicle during their bath (a special little treat they get once in awhile.) The popsicles have a joke written on the sticks. When Tractor Boy was done with his, he asked me what it said.

Me: "What animal hates doing laundry?"

Little Miss: "Daddy!"

Never has a truer word been spoken.

(In case you're wondering, it's a leopard because of all the spots.)

Daisy is Home!

After 3 days, Daisy came home this afternoon! We fully expected to never see her again. She was warm, clean, and looked well rested. I am assuming someone took her in and when she got a chance, she ran for it! We are all so glad she's home!

Snow Much Fun

Babies

Anyone who knows me knows I do NOT want more kids. That being said, today I have been copying some of my old pics saved on disc to my hard drive. Oh. The old pics of the kids are making me a wee bit sad. The fat baby rolls, the baby toes, the little baby sleepers. I still don't want more babies, but I do miss the time when my kids were babies. It wasn't long ago, but after looking through these pics, it seems like a lifetime. So, if your uterus is hurting too, here is a baby fix.

Easter

I think Easter is sneaking up on everyone. I got curious about Easter dates and found this pretty interesting.

From 1700-2299 Easter Falls on March 23rd eight times: 1704, 1788, 1845, 1856, 1913, 2008, 2160, and 2228. So this will be the last time we see Easter on March 23rd in our lifetime. During this same time period, it only falls on March 22nd (the earliest it can fall) three times: 1761, 1818, and 2285.

I knew this was about the earliest Easter could fall, but didn't know it hadn't happened sine 1913.

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite Easter things (in no particular order.) :)

SNOW

We have had a lot of weather issues this winter, but this is by far our biggest snow. We had an early dismissal yesterday. The kids were surprisingly under control and we did not have any frantic phone calls home. I did have one parent pick a kid up even earlier than we dismissed for fear of it getting bad quickly. They are still predicting 6-12 inches of snow for us. We already have about 8 inches! The wind is the big problem. It is blowing and drifting quickly and in the middle of a corn field, we definitely feel it! The kids are excited about the prospect of playing in a bunch of snow. We are going to have to wait for that wind to die down though.

Here is the only picture I managed to take from the porch in my jammies and crocs! More pics to come once the wind dies down and we get to go play!

Update and Randomness

Let's start with a doggie update. Weird, weird. Bear had been lying in a puddle for hours, wet, dirty, and shivering yesterday. Word has it, he (and the 2 other dogs) had been spotted about 5 miles away sometime during the day. When I got home, Farm Guy's uncle had put him on a blanket in the garage. He continued to shiver and act so strange. He wouldn't put weight on his leg. He had blood on his nose. We got him warmed up, fluids given, Aspirin in, etc. This morning I went out to check on him fully expecting to take him to the vet to find a broken leg. He was standing at the door to go potty and literally ran out the door. Um, what?! Apparently he had a pinched nerve and at some point it just relieved itself. That is a huge relief. He is back to his old self and we couldn't be happier.

As for the blood on his nose, that is a big concerning because Daisy is still not home. :( We aren't sure what happened yesterday, but something had to have. We are still hoping someone has picked Daisy up. The animal shelter (of course) is closed on Thursdays, so we will have to wait until tomorrow. We drove all around the area from where they were seen to home and haven't seen her. Hopefully we get good news tomorrow. Thanks for your well wishes!

In other news...Tractor Boy pooped today (4 pieces) and said, "Look Mommy." (Pointing at the poop.) "It's you, Daddy, me, and Little Miss." How disgusting is that?! Way TMI, I know. But for some reason I was compelled to share that little tidbit.

How happy am I to see Danny ousted from the Top 12 on American Idol?! Ugh. He was the cockiest, rudest person ever. I was pleasantly surprised to see Chikieze make it. All I have to say is, GO MICHAEL JOHNS! Yum, yum.

I think I have mentioned before how Little Miss is potty trained through the night. This is very strange to me as Tractor Boy still pees all night long in his diaper. I put a Pull-Up on Claire, but she has stayed dry for weeks. Tractor Boy, on the other hand would pee in a diaper all day long if I would let him. Well, today I when I picked them up from daycare, the provider said, "We had an interesting issue with T.B. today." Hmmmmm, hard to say what it might be. Apparently, I (Mother of the Year) left his diaper on him this morning from overnight and he kept it on and continued to pee in it until about 11:00 when they escorted all the kids to potty before lunch. T.B.told them, "I have a pwoblem." She takes him in and sure enough there he is with pants and underwear OVER his fully soaked diaper. I asked him about it and he replied with a grin, "Yep, and I peed it in all day long." Sigh.

We have yet another Friday winter storm warning issued. Unfortunately, it looks like the timing might result in an early dismissal. Do you KNOW how horrible it is to try to dismiss kids early from school? They are excited, scared, and frantic that no one at home is going to know where they are. It's utter agony. So, I hope it either holds off until after school (that would be best then we wouldn't have to make up anymore days) or start early enough that the superintendent can cancel school before we all schlep in there. Wish me luck.

What now?

So I am driving home from a jam-packed staff meeting that I had to leave early from to get the kiddos from daycare. Farm Guy calls letting me know that our dog, Bear, has been hit. We have 3 dogs. Bear has been our dog since I rescued him nearly 8 years ago after his momma had been hit right outside of my school. The other 2 dogs have been dumped upon us and we are big, fat suckers and can't say no. So, Jackie the Cow (our newest and to be honest, least favorite dog) was home and fine. Bear, our favorite dog, my HUSBAND'S FARM DOG, was home but hurt. Those of you with farming husbands understand the importance of the farm dog. Daisy, our middle dog, is still missing. Needless to say, it's pretty somber around here tonight. We called the vet and were told to keep Bear warm, get him some liquids and an aspirin for the pain. He was able to walk into the mudroom and has been doing a bit better. Farm Guy will take him in to be seen in the a.m. We are hoping that Daisy has been taken to a shelter somewhere, but who knows?

This is Tractor Boy with Jackie the Cow last summer.

I am slightly embarassed that I don't have a better picture of Bear, but kids tend to hog the camera. Bear is the brown dog, not the angry black cow.

And here is our missing Daisy. :(

Note to Self

Don't drink a bottle of wine and try to beat Cupcake's typing score. Not gonna happen, my friend.

So close, yet so far

105 words

Speed test

Source of the Problem

There must be SOME reason Cupcake is royally kicking my ass in speed typing. Maybe it's my Typing Program. What do you think?

1!!!!!!

102 words

Speedtest

Gaining on Cupcake

100 words

Speedtest

Son of a...

99 words

Speed test

I Blame Cupcake

For this addictive test. I have abandoned my children, my laundry, my dishes all in the name of speed typing. I won't stop until I have hit 100. Don't judge me. It's just something I have to do.

96 words

Speed test

Loser

I bow down to you, Cupcake. I thought I was fast but on my SECOND try, I got 88. I will persevere. I don't lose well. Some call me a bit competitive. It is a big step that I am even willing to post this lousy 88.



88 words

Speed test

He's Got a Fever, Fever, Fever

98.6

100.2