Update...FINALLY

Quick update: We have all moved and settled into our new apartment in Oxford. I am teaching 7th grade English at Oxford Middle School and Richard is working out his next move in life. :) Carter s now going to school at Mother Goose daycare. Since he has been home with Richard for the past 9 months, this has been a big adjustment for both Carter and Richard. (I think Carter is handling it better.)

Here are some up-to-date photos of Carter just in case you have forgotten what he looks like:




Carter was fascinated with his "aunt" Corrie last week. I'm sure that he was trying to get her to go somewhere in this photo. :)

Grammy, let's go swimming!

Carter took his Grammy to the pool all weekend. Here are some of the highlights from his swimming adventures:







Here's Carter and his Papa J:

Our walking miracle

My family's walking testimony is Richard. Many of you may know about Richard latest excursion in the 4Runner; however, I still would like to pay tribute to our miracle.

Last Thursday (7/10), Richard was on his way home from his cleaning out his studio in Clinton. While driving home on I-55, Richard lost consciousness. The 4Runner traveled from the right lane on I-55 North to the opposite side of I-55, crossing the median and missing multiple light poles. Heading the wrong way on I-55 South, the vehicle continued in a northwest direction and left the interstate. He then ran through a fence and somehow crossed a three-foot-deep ditch. H then crossed the frontage road and drove through an open pasture, heading straight for a row of trees. Luckily he missed the trees and just hit a parked car outside a chicken-processing plant.

Richard has very little memory of the events after his accident. He remembers waking up in the ambulance. He remembers seeing me in the emergency room. He does not remember the conversations that I had with him at the hospital.

We were referred to a neurologist to see if he could figure out why Richard would pass out. The doctor said that everyone on Earth is entitled to one random seizure. Since Richard already used his in 2000 while serving as a summer missionary in Chicago, he is now being treated as an epileptic.

Everyday, I look at Richard and feel very blessed. I do not know how Richard survived his joyride. I do not know how he does not have any injuries. There is no worldly answer to any of my questions. I am now trying my best to let our lives get back to normal the best they can. Normal this week is an MRI on Thursday morning and an ambulatory EEG over the weekend. I will update the blog when we know more.

If you ever need to be reminded that God is in control, just think of Richard, our walking miracle.

Bye-Bye Halo

(Note: When I was typing the title of this post, I had the tune from "Bye-Bye Birdie" in my head.)

Some of you may not know this, but when we decided to move to Vaughan, we invariably sacrificed a couple of amenities. One being a quick trip to, well, anywhere. Kroger, CVS, and that once-a –month Wal-Mart trip will have to be made on the way home from school (in Flora) via Madison to avoid the extra hour round-trip to buy milk or whatever. The other, and Richard would say more important, that I want to bring up is our Internet service. Since we are out in the middle of nowhere, we are forced to use our satellite provider for our Internet access. Since the Internet connection will be slower, Richard will have to give up his world of Xbox Live. Richard has 2 weeks left with his Halo friends. (I have always been thankful that Richard’s escape took him to our living room floor and not to the local bar.) I can only feel a bit sad, as I sit on the couch writing this with the sounds of capture the flag in the background, for his ending his access to his other life. TheArtistSwayze may have to retire for now, but Swayze, the artist, will be working hard during his “free time” in the country.

To add some humor to this post, I would like to share some observations from watching Richard play Halo 3. For the first time, he is letting the audio from the other players to come through the speakers on our television. I am amazed at how funny these guys are. I guess it would be the equvalent to listening in on your husband/boyfriend's conversation with a bunch of his friends in any situation. (Except for the constant "One in lobby." "One in open." "Sword in lobby." "I'm dead." statements.) I can tell when the other guys' wives/girlfriends call them away from the game. It makes me smile. :) I have to be honest when I say that I have never really understood what the big deal is about Halo. However, I am positive that Richard would say the same thing about sewing. :)

Cardboard Testimonies

This video is 8 minutes long, but it's worth it! God's love is amazing. I have been blessed.

Swimming lessons

Carter has NO fear when it comes to the swimming pool. (Note to self: Never get swimming pool.) My mother or Richard always had to be on the side of the pool, since Carter would want to get out of the pool, just to walk/jump back in to me. Here are some photos from our swimming fun and pictures of Carter in his swimming outfit before Grammy took him to the pool the next day (as we are painting the new house).

Richard's latest photography

Happy Graduation!

Emily finally graduated! She is now a MASTER of education, complete with "nerd" sash.

CVS-ing...again!

Seriously, if you haven't jumped on the CVS bandwagon yet, you are missing out! I am so excited about my trip to CVS today. I would say I'm such a nerd for trying to be frugal, but with gas prices as high as they are, I have to do what I have to do!

(On a side note, I had a student today ask me what a "hybrid" was. Her family owns/runs an oil company.)

Here's what I got:



Before coupons and ECB's, the total was $33.90.

I only paid $1.63! AND I earned $27.93 in ECB's to use next time. I feel as though CVS is paying me to shop at their store.

Just relaxing for a bit...

This is the only picture Carter would let Richard take before realizing that he was not running around the house. Do not worry. Carter immediately began running around the house after this was taken. :) (PBS can only hold his attention for so long.)

So you want to be a librarian...

To add an endorsement to my teaching license, I have to either take 18 hours in that specific subject or take a comprehensive Praxis exam. Earlier this year, I thought that it would be a good idea to take the Praxis II - Library Media Specialist. My goal was to pass, get a job as a librarian, and have a school district pay for my second Masters. :) As usual, I did not even think of studying for this test until two nights before. What was I thinking?! I looked over the study guide that ETS (the company that makes the Praxis) sent me. This book provided an OUTLINE of the topics I needed to look over my CLASSROOM WORK to study. I have never taken a library media class in my life! I began to search the internet for any help I could find. I found a website that listed a lot of information that I MIGHT need to know. These forums also informed me that most of the people who posted something did not pass the test the first time. I got scared! On the day of the test (March 15th - "Beware the Ides of March!"), I spoke with the 2 other women in the room that were taking the same test. The first woman was a current librarian taking the test for a 2nd time and the other was the manager of a Sylvan. WHAT?! The LIBRARIAN could not pass the test the first time! Long story short...the test took two hours to take and four weeks to get the results. As I opened the letter this morning, I knew that whatever I got was just fine and was what God wants to happen. (I thought the same thing when I failed the LSAT exam.) To pass the Praxis test in Library Media, I had to make a 590. I got a 680! WHAT?! That is crazy! I actually passed this test with a larger margin than my English test. That made me laugh. :) So, if I ever get the chance to surround myself with books all day, I have that option. It's nice to know I have options. :)

Emily is the ENTIRE English department?!?!

Yes, that is correct. I accepted the secondary English teacher position at Tri-County Academy for the upcoming school year. I will be teaching English I, II, III, and IV. I will have 2 English IV classes and 1 each of the rest. I think I will also be teaching a writing/speech class, but I'm not sure about that one. Since we are moving to Vaughan in June, it seemed only fair to the guys (and our gas budget) to work closer to home. I have added the link to my new school on the left. If you are not familiar with TCA, check it out! I am excited that I get to say "Go Rebs!" again.

Our trip to CVS

My mother loaned us her CVS card and a $10 off a $50 purchase coupon. I said to Richard, “I can spend $50 at CVS! Let’s go!” My goal was to only buy those items that would give me earned cash back (ECB’s). We were to keep making purchases until we ran out of ECB’s. Since today was the last day of the current CVS sale, my selection was limited. My plan did not go as well as I had hoped; however, for the amount of stuff we left with, I think we did ok. The total for everything in the picture was $137.68, and we paid $62.42 out-of-pocket. We saved around 55%. Not too shabby for going into CVS without any ECB’s to begin with.

Since I am such a nerd, I took a picture of our shopping trip. (The flash does not like the plastic wrapping. )




I am in awe of how well some people do at CVS. For more (better) tales of how to save money, go to one of my FAVORITE blogs: http://www.moneysavingmom.com/

Vote for our Kroger bag!

http://www.designagreenbag.com/vote-for-designs/bag.aspx?BagId=657

You can vote once a day, so bookmark the site! I just put one of Richard's latest photo on the bag without a caption, but it says so much on its own, there is no need for words. :)

Easter picture

My mother took all of the pictures of Carter over Easter, so I am not sure when I will be able to download them. :) Here is the one photo I do have, which is cute enough to make up for the missing photos:

Out with the old. In with the new.

As Richard and I were packing up some of Carter's clothes that are out of season or he has grown out of, I noticed that I have a lot of onesies for my 17-month-old. I don't know why I thought buying onesies for a child that I can barely catch to change his diaper! A onesie just adds another step that we don't have time for. :) Some of these onesies have never been worn and Carter can still wear them, so I got creative today and decided to alter a few of my favorites. I only finished one before Carter took a nap, and knowing me, it will take me 3-4 days until i get to the next one. :) But I wanted to share with you my accomplishment today.

Here is the picture of the onesie before:



Here is the shirt after my alterations:



Notice the fancy stitching. :)



The one thing that I did not remember until it was too late was that I should sew before cutting. :) Thank goodness that this is a vintage-looking shirt; otherwise, the 1/2-inch difference on each side might seem worse than it actually is.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Let me remind you of the first major incident that occurred at our daycare.



Carter "fell" or "tripped" or whatever. I never got a straight story about this one. Carter still has a scar from this "accident."

Now, here is why we pulled Carter out of his daycare:





What you are looking at are the marks left on Carter after 4 continuous days of "children" in his daycare class biting him. From what I was told earlier, it has been just one child. Again, I cannot get a straight answer from these people. Since the daycare decided to implement a new "biting policy," the child who is doing the biting is allowed in interact with the other students for up to 3 weeks without removal.

I am sure that the other parents that read this blog will agree that we cannot continue to send Carter to a daycare that does not have his best interest at heart. I cannot send my child somewhere that I do not have the guarantee that he will be safe everyday.

Now I understand that accidents happened, but if your daycare does not have a plan on how to stop the biting from happening and only a policy on what to do once it happens, this seems backwards to me. Obviously, an 8 to 1 ratio is too high for a one-year-old classroom. Obviously, the class needs to be smaller, or there needs to be more than one daycare worker in the room at all times.

We did leave without notice and I am hoping that they try to get the "money owed to them" from us. I would love for the Clarion-Ledger, DHS, BBB, WLBT, etc. to hear about the child neglect and abuse that is allowed within the walls of Old Fannin Preschool.

Great side dish!!

I modified this recipe, trading the coconut for shredded cheese. It was really good!! I'm sure that the coconut tastes excellent. Richard just doesn't like the stuff. :)

Curried Lentils with Butternut Squash

1 cup lentils
1 small butternut squash (1 ½ lbs.), peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. curry powder
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
Salt and pepper to taste
Toasted coconut, optional

1. Butter an 8”x11” baking pan and set aside. Combine lentils and enough cold water to cover in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium; add butternut squash. Simmer until squash and lentils are tender, about 25 minutes.

2. Drain. Put chunks of squash in a medium bowl, then mash roughly with a fork or potato masher.

3. Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine lentils, squash, and remaining ingredients except coconut. Spoon mixture into baking dish. Bake 20 minutes. Top with coconut, if using. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

And there he goes...

We changed the setting on our camera to "in motion" to try and catch a few pictures of Carter. As usual, he was on the run. This was the best picture taken. It sums up what we do all day - chase our toddler. :)

Teacher Appreciation Day

My art students were in charge of creating door decorations for each teacher and administrator in our school. I am so proud of the work they did. Here is how they decorated my door: