Belles of the Ball

We recently attended Jason's Annual Training Conference for recruiters.  This year it was held in Indianapolis, which was much better than Decatur, IL last year! ATC is typically very boring...Jason has to attend classes all day, and while there are classes for wives too, I chose not to attend. This year that worked out just fine though, because our hotel was attached to [insert drum roll here] a MALL!!!   Of course, it turned out that the mall was so ritzy that I didn't buy one single thing there, but it was still fun to have a place to kill some time!

The first night we arrived, there was a big company costume party.  Jason and I had a horrible time coming up with costume ideas, and we ended up trying to put together an eighties look.  (Please note that Jason REFUSED to buy a pre-made costume....he insisted that we had to put together our own. Thus the struggle.)  Anyway, I think I ended up wearing some things that were at least eighties-esque, while Jason ended up wearing....I'm still not sure what to call it.  There are really no words...

Saturday night was the ball, which wasn't too bad.  I rocked my fancy feather-adorned headband (which I bought for less than $5) and some jewelry I got on clearance at JCPenneys.  Jason didn't look half-bad either! 

In the Big Apple (Not to be Confused with the Little Apple!)

Linda, Keith and Jodie's room....this was the big one!!

After all our wedding fun, we headed to the big city for a few days. The train ride from Albany to NYC was nice. We got to sit back and relax for a while, not to mention take in some scenery! When we stepped off the train, however, it was a TOTALLY different story! We were all dragging our luggage through a very busy train station and then out onto an even busier street in the middle of New York City...not an easy task! Our hotel was only a few blocks away, so we were hoofing it. Crossing the street was a rather terrifying experience for my Midwest sensibilities, and left me wishing for the safety of my car, but we managed to make it to the hotel in one piece. After a quick stop at the front desk, we hauled our stuff onto the elevator and up to our room. Our very tiny room. Actually, I was confused about where to go when we stepped out of the elevator...I was facing about five doors only a few feet from where I was standing. I was sure one of them opened up to the hallway and I was busy trying to figure out which one it was when Jason pushed me over to our door. Turns out there are only four rooms per floor!

Times Square

Our time in NYC flew by....three days was not nearly enough, but we did manage to see the main sights. We ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe that first night, and walked through Times Square. The next day, we took a tour of the city, which included a cruise to see the Statue of Liberty. Jason and I ate breakfast in Central Park and spent several hours exploring the Metropolitan Museum of Art, while Linda, Keith, and Jodie visited a wax museum. And on our last evening in the City, we saw Wicked on Broadway, which was completely amazing. I will tell you what was not amazing...the blisters that were ALL over my feet from walking, and the horrible traffic, and the disgusting smells of garbage and sewage in the streets. All in all, our trip to New York was a memorable one, but I am not sure that it is an experience that will ever be repeated!

Posing with the naked man statue (part of an art exhibit)

In the M&M store!

Ground Zero

Jason and Me

All of us on the cruise to the Statue of Liberty (photo taken by "professionals" on the staff! LOL!)

We've Traveled Here, There, and Everywhere!

Wow, this summer has pretty much flown by! Especially since we spent a lot of it out of town.  Our poor dogs have spent a lot of time in the kennel while the kitties have braved it home alone. Right after I finished up the school year, I drove to Georgia to visit Jason for a long weekend. (He was there for an Army school for two months).  Jason graduated just in time to fly to Albany, NY where he was the best man in Justin and Amy's wedding.  I flew up with my in-laws and met him there. It was a beautiful ceremony, and of course it was fabulous to spend some time with some of our best friends!

Husband and Wife!

Jason doing his Best Man duties...and of course he has no clue where to go!

Me and Jas during the couple's dance...not the most flattering expression!

Jason giving his toast.

The happy couple, strutting their stuff!

Jodie, Me and Linda getting in on the action!
 (And me trying to walk and dance at the same time...unsuccessfully!)

A group picture of Justin's "family." :)

After the wedding, we took the train to New York City for a few days.  Pictures and more coming soon!

I'm back...but I'm leaving soon!

Wow.  I know it's been forever since I wrote last. (Seems like I keep saying that!)

I have been enjoying my break so far. Summer is beginning to wind down...there's only about six weeks until I head back to work for trainings and home visits! I'm looking forward to the start of the school year. I have lots of plans for my kiddos.  I can't believe I will have a few of them for the third year this year! It's so much fun to see how much they have all grown over the summer. I miss them a lot. I am also excited to get to work with Laura again..we have a lot of fun together.

We are heading out this weekend on our trip to El Paso to visit our friends who still live there.  I am so excited to see them and be back in Texas for a while.  We have so many good memories there.  We get to stay with Danielle and Ben, and we are all going to head to Ruidoso, NM for the weekend.  It's a ski resort area in the winter, up in the mountains.  We rented a little cabin for our time there.

I will try to update again soon with some of the other things we have done this summer when I get back from El Paso...Justin's wedding, our trip to NYC, stuff we've done to our house, our upcoming move to Fort Riley, etc. Oh, and of course more on our adorable pets! There are so many of them...

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Hooray! My school picture isn't horrifying this year!!!

Another fun week has passed at work! The kiddos have been busy.  To me, one of the best parts of being a teacher is talking to the children.  You never know what they are going to say!  Here are a couple of quotes from the wonderful children in my class:

Conversation during lunch:

Child #1:  "Why is Vance pooping?"

Me: "Well, he couldn't wait until we were done eating, so I said he could go now."

Child #2: "Oh, he's just dropping a deuce.  Mommy always says that! Daddy's in the bathroom dropping a deuce!" **giggles**

A child with a speech impediment during observation by our behavior specialist:

**Child is refusing to sit in circle time**

Me: "You can sit on the rug with your friends or you can sit in a chair."

Child: "Fine! I'm going to shit in a chair!"

Behavior Specialist: "Oh my gosh! Does he curse often?"

Me: "What do you mean? He only said he was going to sit in a chair!"

Next week we're starting our unit on farms in preparation for our visit with Jason and the chickens!

It's a zoo--I mean, FARM--around here!

Ok, so I know it's been FOREVER since I last wrote! Things just got a little hectic between work and taking my master's classes, but since I'm not in school this semester, I have a little more free time at home...hence more time to write.

I'm sure you have probably heard about the special delivery that we had last week. Yes, it's true...there are currently five CHICKENS who have taken up residence on our dining room table.  There were  originally nine of them, but four have already perished. Of course, the cutest one of the bunch died on Saturday night (Furby). We currently have two Easter Eggers and three Barred Rocks left. All of them seem to be healthy and are eating and drinking, so we assume that they are out of the danger zone. 

This is an Easter Egger.  These chickens will lay colored eggs. 

The black colored chickens with the white tufts on their heads are the Barred Rocks. So far, they are very active and noisier than the Easter Eggers.  They run all over the place.

Jason says they should be ready to go outside into the chicken coop (which he hasn't built, of course) in four weeks.  I'm hoping that it will warm up so they can move to the garage before they get big enough to be very messy!

Of course, I am shocked that the cats and Edgar don't seem bothered by the chickens at all. (Nor do they bother the chickens!) I thought for sure Claiborne would be stalking up to the box every chance he got, but he doesn't even go near them.  Edgar is very attentive when the chicks cheep loudly, but other than that, he pretty much ignores them.

Speaking of Edgar, he got a new sweatshirt!

I couldn't resist!!!

So, that's what's going on here in the animal world!

Update on work coming soon!

Santa? Is that you?!!

Home improvement sure does get interesting...

Jason and I have been doing a little remodeling lately. Thanks to my parents, we got a lot of work done in our living room/kitchen/dining room last weekend. This weekend, we are still working to get everything put back together.

Our fireplace has one of those enclosures with the little glass panes. It just so happens that it is gold. NOT my favorite. So Jason and I planned to paint it. Jason wanted to see what the fireplace would look like without the enclosure at all, so he unscrewed it this afternoon. We were standing there admiring the fireplace when we heard some weird noises. INSIDE the fireplace.

Now, Jason tells me pretty much every day that it's almost Christmas. But it's still a little early for Santa to be coming down the chimney. So we were standing there talking about what could be making those noises. Jason noticed that the flue was open, so he got down in front of the fireplace to close it. More flapping noises came from the chimney when he tried to pull the lever, so we thought maybe the wind was blowing it somehow. He started jiggling the lever, and the sounds got louder. Jason laid down to try to look up and make sure the flue was closed, and I started walking to the kitchen. There was a loud crashing noise and Jason screamed...something had fallen out of the chimney into the fireplace...a bird!

The poor thing was terrified (as were we!) and we were trying to figure out what to do. Claiborne was stalking towards the fireplace from the couch and Edgar was trying to hide behind me. There was ash all over the place. The bird couldn't seem to fly back up and out of the chimney, so I told Jason he was going to have to grab it before it got out into the house. He went and got some gloves. I think he was more scared than the poor bird! ("I just know it's going to bite me! It probably has Avian Flu! You'll feel bad when I'm dead!") He had to poke it several times before he finally worked up the nerve the grab it.

Jason cleaning up the ashes before getting our little friend.

Poor little bird...

Be free!

Mission Complete!

That was definitely the highlight of the day! Now I hope we don't get any more birds in there!

I know it's been forever since I wrote on here. I should be able to write a little more often since I only have one class for this eight weeks of school! More about that and my Head Start classes soon!