Sunday, January 31, 2010

from the Blizzard of 2009...

maybe we will get some more cute snow pictures today when we venture out to play in our NEW 5 inches from 2010!

Manassas Battlefield

This two pager (which I made for two different challenges) has all my favorite pictures from my camera and from Kelly and Caleb’s from our visit to Manassas Battlefield on July 30, 2009. It was a typically hot and sticky day but the battlefield is beautiful, and such a kid-friendly place to visit. It was mind and Chris’ first time visiting even though we have been here for so many years. We are definitely interested in going again! I am REALLY happy with the way these pages turned out!
manassas battlefield left side copymanassas battlefield right side copy

Saturday, January 30, 2010

January 30

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Here is my sicky boy first thing in the morning, cruddy nose, wacky hair, watching the snow. We have about 5 inches now!

January 29

High School Musical dance party! Aaron picked up some FUNKY moves somewhere! You can see the amusement on Ashley’s face!
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January 28

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This is Aaron having dinner and watching Ratatouille..before the meltdown and after the meltdown. The meltdown lasted the rest of the night.

Recent Layouts

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

January 27


I got an A in my class...I'm so relieved. It kicked my butt. The class I just finished, Ancient Warfare, is my third class I have taken so far towards my master's. I can only manage one at a time, and the classes are all online. My first two classes, 500 levels, were Research Methods and Historiography. I had the same professor for both, and that individual was not at all involved in the weekly discussion board posts and during my second class I realized that my professor used literally the same word for word comments on assignments from class to class. I got 100 on every single assignment in both of those classes, and I knew that was not an accurate reflection of what I was doing, because I had not been in school for 8 years and had never done work of the rigor required in a graduate level history course. I needed help, feedback, and didn't get it, and knew it was only a matter of time until I had a class with a different, more involved professor and faced a majorly painful reality check. That kind of happened in this class, Ancient Warfare, my first 600 level. The workload was MUCH more intense than my first two classes and I had a really hard time keeping up with the weekly work while still working on large research projects. My current professor provided a great deal of feedback and was very interactive during the class, so I gained a great deal from this experience and am so glad I was successful. New class, Seminar in World History, begins Monday! 3 classes down, a lot to go!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

January 26


We drive past this church twice a day dropping off and picking up Aaron at daycare. It is right near our school. I love to read church marquee signs...I always find them interesting, and sometimes I feel like they are posted just for me. I have been meaning to take this picture for many days, but I don't ever think of grabbing my camera on the way out the door to work at 6 in the morning. I finally managed to remember, and my hubby did some great driving so I could catch the sign. Don't you love it? I love it.

Monday, January 25, 2010

January 25


This is a great week for me. My grad school class has ended, (hope to have good grade news tomorrow...), I don't have a new one starting until Monday, and it is the last week of the semester at school. The high school where Chris and I teach is on a semester schedule, a lot like college, so we just gave final exams and state standardized tests and Thursday is my last day with my current students. I will have "the first day of school" all over again next Tuesday. Point is, not a whole lot going on at school, so I am feeling SOOOOO at ease this week. Being able to come home and not have anything I HAVE to do is pretty foreign to me, and I am LOVING it while I have it. Aaron and I played in the fort Grampy got from WOOT tonight. I am not the most excellent at constructing things...but it was good enough for Aaron, and here we are inside. Looking at pictures of myself at the end of a school day is a little frightening, but it sure reflects how I feel at 2:15 each day!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

January 24

How cute is this boy with his completed potty chart?!?!?!?? Love him! I scrapped him a new Monsters potty chart today, which he loves, more of those to come!

January 23


Saturday was a stay at home in jammies day. We did a couple of chores and some grading, and that's about it! Here I am scrapping while we watch a Netflix and I fight my resistant grays with the help of my colorist, Cristo.

Aaron's First Trick or Treat

 I just did this one for a Roadmap to Scrap challenge. I am so glad to have been able to fit all of these photos on one page. Aaron had a GREAT time trick-or-treating. Our favorite moments were Aaron calling out to people that he was Buzz Lightyear and "I come in peace" and talking to neighbors. He complimented their decorations, and in the case of photo #8 on the layout, even had his little foot up on the threshold and was being quite a charmer!
I love the picture in the bottom corner with all of the haul!

Aaron's Silly Pumpkin

I just did this page for a Tuesday Template challenge at ScrapMatters. I had not scrapped any Halloween pictures yet, things got hectic around here starting Halloween week. So...nothing like getting caught up!

The Little Rocking Chair

Here is a layout I did for a Roadmap to Scrap challenge at ScrapMatters. This was my rocking chair when I was little (Mommy, 1979) and it is still in amazing condition at my parents house, where Aaron loves to sit in it when we visit (Aaron, 2009).
  

Saturday, January 23, 2010

January 22


Tonight I worked on my final and got it turned in by midnight. I am very relieved to be done with this current course. I have REALLY enjoyed the content SO much, but the workload has been my hardest yet, and as I said in an earlier post, it has been really hard for me to manage everything. I went to Panera and worked there for 3 hours, which Chris suggested. It really helps for me to leave the house, because there are a million things at home I could get distracted by. I just wish Panera was open later than 9 on a Friday night! Now I get one week off of grad school before I will be starting my new class.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

January 21

Getting organized...

We have been REALLY needing a bookcase in our family room to help keep Aaron's stuff organized. The primary colored toys bins in the room where we spend most of our time were not all that cute and not really getting the job done, so we have been wanting to find on that was close to the same color wood as our furniture and would hold lots of stuff. Well...we found one, it is from Pottery Barn Teen, turns out it is really hard to find a two-shelf bookcase in the wood tone we needed. Ashley and I hauled it out of the box and got it all situated, and I am really happy with how much stuff it really holds and how it has cleaned up the toy corner.

January 20


Aaron's Favorite Foods:
This is probably a combination of all the things Aaron likes to eat the most, except of course for dessert items and yogurt:
1. Mickey shaped chicken tenders from Costco (we call these Mickey dinos because Costco USED to sell chicken dinos that he loved, and when they switched to Mickeys he didn't call them chicken Mickeys, he called them Mickey dinos and we thought that was so funny!)
2. Cut up cucumber (we get the mini cucs from Costco, he prefers it whole and will just gnaw the whole thing all gone in 2 minutes).
3. Cut up bell pepper (we get those from Costco too...)
4. Any kind of rice whatsoever, the kid loves rice.
Pretty easy from a cooking standpoint!!
Aaron is not an especially picky eater, but he is not a BIG eater. He has never eaten big meals, he prefers to graze. BUT he sure cleaned his plate tonight! Speaking of plates...this is his new Buzz Lightyear plate his sister Courtney gave him for Christmas.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

January 19


Sometimes, Aaron does not take a nap, like Monday when were home for MLK day. Some days, he only sleeps for an hour, like today at his day care, which is NOT enough...especially after going back to day care from a three day weekend. There is also a brand new baby at day care today. Aaron was so excited to help take care of her, maybe that is why he had trouble sleeping. When he does not nap, he is REALLY sensitive. This is Aaron in his car seat when I told him we were going into Costco for our weekly shopping and then his Daddy got out of the car to pump gas, and it was just all too much for him to handle. I love this series of pictures because it really shows the intensity of his toddler emotions and the progression from hysterical to quiet cry, to tired and the sad sigh he does.

Monday, January 18, 2010

January 18

**Warning-potty training talk in this post! If you don't want to read about pee and poop, come back tomorrow!!**
This is a picture of Aaron's new potty chart I printed today. I found it online and think it is such a great idea to have the spaces for stickers be like a path and then once you reach the end have some special treat. CLEARLY this is not enough spaces and now that I found this idea online I will modify using some cool Disney related digi-scrapbooking supplies and make ones that are perfectly suited to Aaron. Let me put that right on my list of things to do... So I have these Nemo and Monsters Inc. stickers I bought for Aaron but was saving them for something special, and what would be a more special use for sticker than to reward Aaron for being a big boy? He did a GREAT job today, and got all the stickers you see before naptime. He put on a pull-up when he got up this morning and did not go potty in it AT ALL, using the potty regularly until naptime, which is when it all kind of fell apart. The thing with Aaron is he can walk around perfectly happy in a wet or dirt diaper for hours and not say anything, which is a MAJOR sign of readiness he is not yet showing. He is really inconsistent...a couple days a week he will tell us every single thing he does in his diaper, and some days he won't mention anything at all, so we are just going to keep trying without pushing. So he peed in the potty so many times today, and then when I put him in a diaper for his nap, he didn't fall asleep, instead he called me to his room when he peed in his diaper and then again when he pooped in his diaper. That is progress, I think! Of course...he didn't take a nap...which is NOT ideal!!!
I am really happy that I did a lot of scrapping this weekend, still working on a wedding book I am making for my team-teacher and her hubby. I got 6 pages done in two days, which is kind of amazing for me, especially considering I also got 95% of the Christmas decorations packed up.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

January 17


Aaron is playing with his new tool bench from Wendy! It just arrived from California with all of the other things we couldn't bring back from Christmas in our suitcases. There are two power tools and he loves them! This weekend we have been hanging around the house, which I must say is one of my most treasured ways of spending time. The workweeks are challenging and tiring, and I have so many things I have to do and want to do around the house. For the last two weeks I ignored everything around the house while I worked on my paper. We just started putting Christmas decorations away, I have thank-yous and laundry to get done, and most of all I want to do some scrapping!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

January 16

Learning to share! We started to put away Christmas decorations today, and in an effort to declutter and make room for new toys, we started making a box of toys to pass on to Aaron's cousin Cameron (aka baby Cam-ran). I thought it might be a struggle, but Aaron ended up doing a great job! He started taking toys out of his toy basket and saying "How 'bout this for Cam-ran? This one for Cam-ran?" I was really proud of him for giving up some things I thought he would be attached to. I was clearly more attached to some of them than he was! :) Here he is looking so proud to be sending these toys to his cousin, who he loves so much. He got very upset to realize we weren't GOING TO GIVE IT TO CAMERON PERSONALLY! Taking it to the garage to eventually go to the post office was NOT what he had in mind.
Today was a very lazy Saturday. PJs all day, just putzing around the house, stared putting decorations away finally! 

Christmas Cousins

Here is what I made for today's Speed Scrap:

Friday, January 15, 2010

January 15


Today was SOL day for me! My students all took their end of course sol exam, and like every semester, I definitely have the butterflies looking across the room at all of them hoping I gave them everything they needed. We got our scores back by the end of the day and all of my students passed, which is just fantastic, so gratifying! I was really excited and asked for a celebration dinner at Outback, and my request was happily accommodated by my family. I guess they will have to have turkey tortilla casserole some other night, pity. Chris, Ash and Courts went up to watch a swim meet and Aaron and I stayed home to relax. He was doing SUCH a good job playing by himself for a long time, then for some reason, he wanted to get in the same position I was...sitting with a laptop! He said "I'm going to get my laptop too!" Cute little guy!

January 14


I am so tired, but SO relieved that paper is done, and my class, which has been really challenging, will be done on 1/24. Aaron has some new Christmas toys out on his city rug, new Duploville Fire Station and Hanny Manny's truck (which is a genius toy...get it!!!).

January 13

My Cyrus the Great paper was due at midnight, I did NOT make the deadline and turned it in at 3:30 in the morning. I have NO business seeing what 3:30 in the morning looks like...

One of Chris' students brought in some Handy Manny and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse temporary tattoos...Something in me didn't even want to teach Aaron the word tattoo, so Ashley and I called them "stickers for your body". He chose Squeeze and Felipe. So cute!

January 12


Chicken pesto paninis for dinner...looks good, huh? Paper due tomorrow at midnight, not even watching the premiere of Idol!!!!

January 11

I have been tired from working on my paper and had a screamin' headache, so I laid down for a quick (1 hour) nap in front of the fire, which my hubby laid down for temporarily. Who is supervising this child????

Ashley caught this picture of Chris and I snoozing while Aaron colored on his hands with markers...oh dear.

January 10


Courts was back today and we had our last installment of Christmas! Courtney and Ash exchanged gifts and Ash had some gifts for all of us. This gem is Chris' birthday gift from Courtney, the acronym stands for Dads Against Daughter's Dating! Sooooo cute!! He is playing the part well, as you can see!

January 9


PAPER ALL DAY. Here I am working on Cyrus the Great research. Yes, it's a Snuggie. Don't try to mask your jealousy. Neecers came over for a spa treatment from Cristo and we went out for girl's night sushi dinner. Then...it was back to the paper.

January 8


I am SOOOOO tired on Fridays! Happy Birthday to my Uncle Tommy! Today Aaron and I stopped by the Freshman Basketball game to see the guys (the next night in the bathtub he was playing bathketball and he said he wanted to be like the basketball boys) and then went out for our postponed Christmas tradition with the Heslinks, dinner and Collingwood Lights. This man does an AMAZING light display with effects set to music. It is a great story and so fun to see. Just a phone picture today...but still got a picture!

January 7


Happy Birthday to my Dad! Today Chris took Aaron out and I escaped to Panera for a couple of hours to work on my paper. It is REALLY hard to concentrate on the work I need to do for my class while I am around Aaron, or anything else, really...which is why I am finding it so challenging to balance my time and get my work done. Here is Ashley the night of the Alabama game...her Tide Pride worked!

January 6


How 'bout a little Rock Band? Chris got this for his birthday and Ashley is an expert. Here is the family (while I should be working on my paper) making some noise. (After Aaron went to bed, I joined in and we played until 1 in the morning...RIDICULOUS, what am I a kid? No...but I am a teacher, and the next morning we had a 2 hour delayed opening for a half inch of snow!)

January 5


And its BACK TO SCHOOL after an amazing winter break, extended to two whole weeks by the glorious Blizzard of 2009. You can check out my cute page on that if you scroll down a ways. In this picture Aaron is "playing" Disney Scene It that he got for Christmas from Mabel and Nathan. I didn't let him play the full out board game, but I put in the DVD and just let him see the questions and kept asking him which movie each was from. It was fun...until dinnertime when he had a RAGING tantrum because I turned it off. Darn you Mabel and Nathan. Ashley came back from her Christmas visit to Alabama, bringing Christmas cheer and a cute new haircut. She opened her gifts from us and made funny faces with Aaron.



What? Is that a Rock Band drum kit I see in the corner? Maybe for another post...