Sleeping

Sorry... I know I've posted a lot lately - but there's a lot going on!!

Just wanted to add this picture of Josephine asleep in my new classroom. Attached to the back of the classroom is a storage closet and Chip and I had to move some last minute things over and I had to put the room together, so while he was moving and I was cleaning/straightening up Jo took a nap. I'm sure she's going to use this against us one day and tell us we were bad parents, but she slept really well and it's a very quiet storage room!! She actually slept really well there - she took a 2 1/2 hour nap.

Also, just to let everyone know - Josephine is sleeping through the night. She goes to bed around 9 and wakes up around 6. That's about how I sleep when school's going on! :)

Traveling

Chip had to go to Jackson yesterday to get his defibrillator checked so Jo and I went along for the ride. Chip loved the fact that she was sleeping with her hands on her knees. She's getting to be quite the little road warrior. After going to Jackson, we took her up to school to help pass out schedules to incoming 7th graders. We're training her to be a workoholic early. :)

I'm going to go up to school today and take pictures of my new classroom. Will post later!

School is a few days away!

Seems like the summer has flown by, but actually it's been a long time since we let our kids go in May. Today was the first day that I could get into my new room at school because they've been waxing the floors in the Viva building. We're not able to get into our school after school hours - if you're there before they lock the doors, you can stay, but you can't get in after the principals leave. Chip has been doing hours up at school for his administration license, so this morning he moved a lot of my school stuff from my old room to my new room.

This afternoon after Jo got up from her morning nap, we went to school to my new room so I could start arranging it how I wanted. Let me explain to everyone how new classrooms go: you don't have anything you need, you have too much of stuff you don't want, it's dusty and nasty, nothing is in the order that you want, and everything's been pushed up against a wall so they can clean over the summer. And we have to get all this into a somewhat attractive, functional classroom before students come in August 6th. And decorate. Yuck. I'm a very organized person and even more organized when it comes to my classroom because - well - I have to be. It's very hard to swap classrooms and start all over again.

Jo was great while we were up at school playing on her mat and talking to her frog and then it was nap time, so I sent her and her father home for her nap. When she woke up, she came back up to school and Chip and I moved stuff around in the classroom. I ought to take pictures of it and post them, but I have to tell you I have a TON of stuff in there. I have 4 risers which Chip and I have made into a stage, 5 tables, a teacher desk, a student desk, a student computer, a teacher computer, a bookshelf, refrigerator, sink/cabinets, TV and VCR on a cart, and two massive storage rooms - one was empty (now my things are in there) and one full of musical supplies. Anyway, there's a lot. I'm quite lucky to have so much and I'm trying to take everything from my classroom to this new one.

For those of you who aren't teachers, I'm just going to tell you - when you first get a job in a school you will have NOTHING you want in your classroom because whoever was there before took anything worth taking with them when they moved to a new classroom and in between their move and your moving in, other teachers came and took whatever wasn't worth taking. You start with NOTHING. I've been very lucky to have Chip there before me and some really great teachers who have given me extra things they haven't needed. I'm trying to remember what it was like, so I'm leaving a chair, desk, computer desk, a laptop, projector, and SmartBoard. Lucky person to get my room!! (Chip asked who I thought was going to come in and steal the projector and SmartBoard from the new person...)

If you have anything in your home that you're thinking is useless and you really don't want - take it to your local school and drop it off. I promise some school teacher will want it. I don't really care what the item is - some school teacher will want it. I had a broken fan that I didn't want in my classroom anymore because, well, it was BROKEN - I took it down to the teacher's lounge and in literally 20 minutes, it was gone. His first year teaching, Chip had some ugly lamps in his apartment that he'd had from college, we took them up to school to clear some stuff out and those went too. Some teacher has ugly house lamps in their classroom. Whether they're using them or not, we don't know, but we didn't have to find a home for them - which was great.

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

Vacation Pics/Home

Jo... all tuckered out from her vacation to the beach. She slept most of the way home, although not enough for her liking... I don't think she got very good sleep in her carseat.

We had to get a family pic of the beach in the backround before we left. So fun!

The second night there we stayed in and the big group went out to eat. Don't we look geeky with our glasses??

Josephine's one and only trip down to the beach. It was really too hot and she had no idea why we were going down to the beach. We got some cute pics though.

Now that Jo has pretty good head control, we've tried putting her in her exersaucer and letting her go. She really really likes it. She unintentionally rotates around in the toy and there are always new things for her to see and touch. She's just started grabbing stuff now and you should see the look on her face when she grabs something that makes noise. She's quite interested and it's very entertaining for us. (Not to mention liberating... although we love holding her, she's got to have somewhere to go when we have things we need two hands for.) She's not quite large enough for the toy, so we've shoved some blankets around her mid section so she doesn't bobble around so much. She's so cute!

Beach and Shopping

We've had a lazy few days hanging out at the beach. The place we're staying is amazing. It's a 6 bedroom, 5 1/2 bath home directly on the beach. Plenty big enough for the family, although we do fill it completely!

I'm not much for the beach, but I've gotten out there a few times in the past few days to throw the frisbee and lay out. I prefer the pool much more. We played categories with Chip's nieces and nephews and his brother in law the other day, then we all decided to go to the shallow end and play Marco Polo. We had a blast. Did I mention that Chip's neices and nephews are all his age or older?

Last night we went to Foley to eat at Lambert's. I've never been there before, but I've now experienced the "throwed rolls." Chip's nephew Delaney was questioning the grammatical correctness of the restaurant, but it just wouldn't be the same if it were correct. I completely filled up and had enough to eat today as well. Even Chip couldn't finish his meal (granted he ate 2 or 3 rolls and a ton of fried okra before the meal came and he did order a POUND of hamburger steak).

Today we had a lazy day and after lunch someone suggested we all go to Foley to shop. I LOVE shopping and we decided to take Jo as well. We loaded her up in the car with her stroller and spent the majority of the afternoon shopping. She was so good! She had a cat nap while we walked, but she stayed up and was so happy. It was really fun. I could have stayed longer, but we pretty much spent the amount of money I had budgeted. I felt like a kid at the arcade who had run out of tokens. :( We got several nice shirts and two pair of pants at the outlet. You know you're frugal when you go and look for the CLEARANCE rack at the OUTLET mall. (Frugal or cheap... either one.)

Although it's been fun to be on vacation, I am kind of ready to get back and get home. I wouldn't be so ready, but I'm just thinking about all the stuff I've got to move out of my room at school!! Unfortunately, no one will do that for me. I've got to get the ball rolling or I'll be teaching in the hallway come August 6th.

Jo has grown by leaps and bounds and come a long way from what she was. She's really becoming so much more interactive. Also, she's sleeping in her crib every night and it doesn't take anything to put her down anymore. We just put her down on her side, put the pacifier in her mouth and turn on her sound machine and she is OUT. Thank goodness they get easier. :)

Beach!

We're at the beach! The picture below is us leaving (getting ready). You can't tell in the picture, but I'm so nervous about taking the baby on a 5+ hour drive. It was fine though, she was so great. We stopped at a park in Meridian on the way down to feed Jo, let Stella out, and eat lunch. It was really pleasant. We got to Foley and everything was fine - then we hit vacation traffic and it took us about an hour and a half to get from Foley to the beach house.



Here's Josephine at the beach. She was completely unimpressed. Poor thing did not nap very much on the way down, but she caught up for it last night!

The house we're staying at is directly on the beach... if you look hard enough you can see the gulf in the background.

The biggest fan of the beach so far has been STELLA. She did not know what to think of the sand at first, and when she finally figured it out she RAN and RAN and RAN and RAN. Her tongue was hanging out the side of her mouth. The waves caught her by suprise, but she figured those out. She DID NOT want to be wet.

Where has summer gone?

I was just talking to ateacher friend of mine the other day. We did the math. 2 1/2 more weeks until work starts. Where has this summer gone??? I guess I know. I taught summer school, Chip took summer school, and now he's busy getting in some intern hours up at AMS. I'm being transferred from history to gifted (Viva Drama). Very exciting, but now I have to move all of my stuff. I kept a lot of my kids' projects because I wanted to show any future classes what I want when we repeat projects and things. Now that I'm not teaching history next year (or for a while, hopefully) I'm weeding out what I should take with me and what's garbage now. Some things I'm willing over to future teachers and those who have been there, and a lot I'm taking with me in case I ever teach history again (which is quite possible). I think Chip and Jo spent an hour with me in my classroom yesterday. I just organized what I wanted to take out to the Viva building, but haven't actually moved anything yet. It wouldn't be so bad moving if my classroom were down the hall or downstairs or in the next building, but my new classroom is out near the football field (past the gym and across the gravel parking lot...). Moving will keep me busy for the next few weeks.

We're about to go on vacation to the beach. I'm really excited about going on vacation, but I'm also terrified about how the baby's going to travel. Really, her longest trip so far has been to Tupelo. We're traveling down to Meridian first and staying the night, then going to the beach. From Meridian, it's about a 4 hour drive. Hopefully she won't notice...

On a really positive note, Jo's been sleeping in her crib for the past 2 nights. I just got her down for her nap in her crib a few minutes ago. Because she's had such a bad time with acid reflux, she's been sleeping in her bouncer since she was about 2 weeks old. Now that she's on medicine that helps control it, she's doing much better and we're able to put her flat to sleep.

I'll post some pictures I've taken since we've been back in town, but I have to go get the camera and load them onto the computer first!

Lincoln

We're finally back in town and just when we wanted to catch up with our friends... they're out of town! We had a lazy Saturday and Sunday and we've had an eventful Monday so far.

Friday I noticed that Lincoln had a sore on one of his ears, but I wasn't so concerned with it because - he's a dog and they get sores. Chip noticed it again Sunday and that it was swollen and Lincoln wouldn't let us touch it. We scheduled a vet appointment for this morning. Turns out that flies have been eating his ears. I've never even heard of that. Also, and more importantly, he showed up positive for heartworm. We caught it early though and he'll start getting treatment as soon as we get back from the beach. We have to keep him inside and calm for 30 days after his first treatement and 30 days after his second treatment. I'm not sure our vet has met Lincoln... that will be a feat. Wow - what a full house. Chip, Stella, Josephine, Lincoln, and myself!

Poor dog. He's so sweet. He got so many compliments when he was at the vet from the vet techs about what a sweet and good dog he was. He may not know many commands, but he's got a good heart (even with the worms). We're doing whatever we need in order to keep him healthy and on this earth as long as possible.