Mom Tricks

While I will never claim to be super mom (I am FAR from it), I do have some things I would like to share about my motherhood experience so far.
1. Read to your child. I've read to McKenzie since she was born and I'm thinking its paying off. She is very articulate and in my opinion very smart. The 1st book McKenzie wanted to "read" was Brown Bear, Brown Bear. She now gets this book and "reads" (she has it memorized) to Woodie, Mickey Mouse etc. We only have to read a book a few times to her and then she can help us "read" it. 
2. Potty Training - I didn't really potty train McKenzie. My sitter did most of it. It only took her a few days to get the basics down so she's been "trained" since April. However, she still wears a pull up to bed and it took forever for us to have no accidents. To get to to go accident free I bribed her. Yeah, I'm that mom. I told her if she went a week with no accidents then she got Princess Panties - it took 3 weeks before she did it, but since then there haven't been accidents. Well, not really. Now she wants to go by herself and has had a few accidents from not pulling down her panties all the way. 
3. Food - be sneaky! I have the Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious cookbooks and I love them. You just puree veggie and hide them in things. I'm getting pretty good at it. Today I made my own recipe for Green Spaghetti (sorry, I don't measure)-
       Angel Hair Pasta (or whatever you want) - boil, you know the drill
       2 handfuls of baby spinach
       A handful of roasted unsalted peanuts
       A handful or two of shredded cheese (I used Mexican blend because its what we had)
       Splash of lemon juice
      Put spinach, etc. in a food processor and pulse. Add olive oil while pulsing until the mixture is creamy. 
       Mix with hot noodles and serve!


Here are some pics of my little reader!

Back to School

Summer is over and so is the 1st week of school. I know, its only August 10th but we've been back for a week. Summer flew by with all of my trips and I'm too lazy to go back and recap them for you. I'm going to start off with school. 
This year I'm teaching 8th grade ESEP (special ed) math and social studies. In Georgia ESEP is special ed and the way I'm doing it is co-teaching. This means I don't have my own classroom and I'm supposed to co-teach with the general ed math and social studies teacher. When I did this in the 07-08 school year what it meant is I stood in the room and assisted. I HATED it. I am a teacher. It is my passion. I'm a Social Studies teacher. It is my passion. However I was placed in this co-teaching thing again. I have fought it all summer. I wanted out, I wanted to catch them in a loop-hole. But 2 Sunday's ago our pastor was giving a message about character. He said we are like the vine and sometimes the vine needs to be cut back and sometimes it is re positioned so it can be re rooted. I think God was speaking directly to me. So I am trying to take each day and let God use me. 
That being said, this year has been stressful so far. I'm not really happy where I am both with what I'm doing and with my administration. My administrator that is directly over me is AWESOME but me principal and other AP are not my favorites. I'm crazy busy with running from class to class, learning the math, all of the ESEP paperwork AND I'm social studies department head. I'm hoping everything gets into a rhythm soon and I can feel somewhat normal and happy. I'm thinking it might be my last year at Austin. Its 17 miles one way and they are opening a new middle school closer. I'd love to go there (8miles) or Moses (1mile) but we'll see where God leads me. I've learned one thing and that is to follow and see the awesome results he produces!

Colonial Williamsburg

The highlight for me this summer was going on a trip with 40 other teachers to the Colonial Williamsburg area. We left on a Friday and spent most of that day traveling. Saturday we went to Jamestown settlement and Jamestown NHP. I was super excited about the National Park part because I have a National Parks Passport and I got 3 stamps in it. It was also really cool because it was the 1st permanent English settlement in the "New World". The settlement was a recreated settlement the historical society did for the Queen's visit in 2007. I didn't realize it but when she visited in 2007 it was the 1st time an English monarch had visited the 'New World". Crazy! Jamestown park had a lot of archaeological digs going on which were really cool. I even saw where the 1st Protestant Church in the America's was located. It gave me chills. Sunday through Tuesday we spent time in Colonial Williamsburg. It is a really interesting place with all kinds of artifacts. We got the best part of the place because we were teachers - they gave us all kinds of materials to use with our students and we participated in some cool activities like a dance, witch trial, and the army (I am NOT cut out for the army!). We had some good food while we were there too. My favorite place even gave us the recipes for their sweet potato muffins and rum cream pie (DELICIOUS!). Wednesday we went to Yorktown National Park (more stamps for me!) and I saw where the US was officially born. This is where Cornwallis surrendered to Washington to end the Revolution. 
Our theme for the upcoming year is the Civil War and our summer field trip will be to various battlefields (national parks and more stamps!). I am SUPER excited about this one because the Civil War is my favorite era! 
My camera was acting up on the trip but here are some pictures, mostly from Jamestown. 

This is a plaque about common law that was in a church at Jamestown - this will be one of the basic arguments in the Declaration of Independence

The original foundation of the church where John Rolfe and Pocahontas were married

The court house in Colonial Williamsburg

A mansion in Colonial Williamsburg

A recreation of one of the original ships to enter Jamestown

 

A map of the voyage of the ships from England to the Americas

Recreation of the church where John Rolfe and Pocahontas were married

The site of the 1st Protestant Church in the Americas (it was covered up because it was supposed to rain that weekend)

Georgia Aquarium

Ok, I know it has been forever since I've posted but I've been really busy. Since there is only a week and a half of my summer vacation left I thought I'd write a different blog post every day about the things that have gone on this summer. 1st up is the Georgia Aquarium. Technically we went before the school year ended but it was close enough to count. 

As part of my "please stop crying about having to teach ESEP next year" plea from Jason we went to the Aquarium. Its one of the 1st times we've taking McKenzie to a "special" place without one of the grandparents along. We went on a Sunday afternoon with about 3 hours left before closing time. It was perfect! It was a little crowded when we got there but cleared up quickly after. 

McKenzie's favorites were the Whale Sharks, the Whale slide, the penguins and the alligator. I know, I know I can't believe I'm admitting my child liked an alligator - however it is albino. I, being me took a ton of pictures but here are some of my favorites from the aquarium!

 Look, a Whale Shark!!!!

the whale shark

Penguins

 The albino alligator - I think he was just scared of us Seminoles!

Trying to pet the sting ray

My absolute favorite!

 The whale slide

Summer Begins!

Finally summer is here!!!! The last few weeks of school were super stressful so I am glad that it is over with! In the past few weeks we have gone to the aquarium, Pensacola and McKenzie has gone to Helen with Nana and Papa. We've also had some changes around our house. Here they are:
1. Jason's company was bought out by Stanley/Black and Decker - he's apprehensive because now its a corporate company and he's afraid of micromanaging. Also the benefits will change and we'll have to pay for them again.
2. I finished my gifted endorsement - which should allow me to teach advanced social studies but ....
3. I'm teaching 8th grade ESEP next year - I have been SUPER bummed about this one. I'm department head and have the gifted endorsement and want my own classroom but I guess I have to get over it. I didn't see the change coming and cried for a day because of it.

This summer will be spent with me going to Williamsburg in a few weeks (via free trip with my Teaching American History Grant), Kenz and I going to Pensacola in July, Jason and kenz going to Stone Mountain when I'm in Williamsburg, and the whole family going to North Carolina at the end of June. Aside from trips we will be hanging out at the house, library and various other places around town. Here are some pictures of the summer so far!

Loving the Beach!

My 1st few days of summer break were spent with the youth participating in Hand of Hope - we worked on various homes around the community. The particular one I was at made me sad there are people that live like this in Paulding County. Here are the members that participated in HOH 2011.

This is my sweet little sunbathing beauty. She just plopped in the chair and grabbed her book before I had even done the same thing. She's so funny with books - she usually sleeps with 3 booking in the bed with her!

Trip to Tallahassee!!

Mother's Day weekend we took McKenzie down for her 1st trip to Tallahassee. Jason and I stayed at Devan's while Nana, Papa and Aunt Ashley took McKenzie in the hotel. Uncle Dicky, Aunt Pam and RJ came for the weekend too.
Friday we went to the baseball game where McKenzie met all of the crew I used to sit with. This is what I miss the most about being away from Tallahassee - my baseball friends. It was so good to see them!
Saturday we went and ate Red Elephant, which was my fave pizza place when I lived in Midtown. One of my former (well 3 really-  I taught triplets) student's dad owns the place. We ran into Spencer whom I taught as a 7th grader and is now a senior. I can't believe I've taught that long! Then we went to the baseball game that night too. McKenzie thinks Doak Campbell stadium is a castle - I agree!
Sunday was Mother's Day but we had to go home. We met Momma and Daddy for breakfast and then hung out at Devan's. Then we ate Sonny's and headed back to Georgia. On our way up we stopped at a friend's house in South Georgia that we don't see often.
It was a great weekend and hopefully we can do it again sometime soon.

McKenzie liked the baseball

 She was so happy to see Go Noles!

Jason and Devan

Me and Ash

 So I didn't get a picture of me, Jason and Kenz but I got a great one of RJ, Ash and Kenz

 Doing the War Chant!!!

McKenzie loves Devan!

Greenie Me

I know its about a month since Earth Day but I wanted to share my Green experiences. Prior to having McKenzie I didn't really care about recycling or conserving resources. Since then its been the opposite. I don't know if its being a Mom or what but I've become a real greenie. I'm not a total tree hugger but here is what I have been doing.

1. Recycling
    The recycling center is just down from the house and I've been taking things there for about a year now. Just this month they've finally started picking up our recycling. I take plastic, aluminum, paper and glass. Now I can put all of that except the glass in the bin. I've been collecting at school and I even had a student bring me 2 HUGE bags of plastic to take to the center. I also take the Styrofoam trays/egg cartons and the plastic bags to Publix because they have recycling there. I've noticed we don't have as much trash in our can since I've been doing the recycling.

2. BYOB
     I also bring my own bags when i shop. I used to only do it at Publix but now I'll take them in to any store. Its easier to carry those bags than the plastic ones and they are cuter. It frustrates me when I go somewhere and I have no bags in the car. These bags are also great to take on trips or picnics because they hold so much.

3. Fresh Air and Natural Sunlight
      Our AC broke last month and while we were waiting to get a new one we opened the windows and let the fresh air in. It was so nice! Since then I've been turning off the air and opening the windows if it isn't too hot and humid. I know this will probably last only another month or so but its nice while it lasts.

4. Clothes Line
      One thing I've been wanting is a clothes line. I have a very shaded back yard so it isn't all that good for a clothes line. So yesterday I decided to get one and put it under our back deck (for those who have never seen my house most houses in North Georgia are split level so my basement isn't underground). Right now I have some of Dixie's blankets hanging on there. From what I understand the dryer takes up 3/4 of your power bill - hopefully I can save some money too!

5. Couponing
    I know this isn't really Earth friendly but it is saving me green!!! I've been cutting coupons for a while but never really used them to their full potential. Now I have them organized in a binder - they are in baseball card sleeves and separated into categories. I've got us down to $225 a month for groceries, toiletries, and pet food this way. And I don't go all over the place to shop. I shop at Publix- with buy one get one and the pet coupons and regular coupons I save a TON, and Target. This summer I'm going to try CVSing and Walgreening too!

Some things I'd like to do before the year ends
1. Herb garden
2. Veggie Garden
3. Composting
4. Collecting Rainwater

Have a wonderful day!!!