Chopped 'er again!

As much as I love the ease of shorter hair....

pictures like this one make me miss my long locks.

Chop, chop, chop!!

I'm thinking I need some color improvement.

This is my natural color.

This is NOT!

Neither is this!

Sooo... Darker or Lighter?? That is the question!

Ugh

My life can be sooo full of blessing and happiness, yet I get hit with this crippling sadness every 30th day. Tonight's a cuddle with my puppy night. Sorry, TMI, but it feels better to write that out instead of swirl it in my brain all day.

I've been....out.

Wish I could say that I've been traveling the world; doing things like feeding the hungry, bringing water to the thirsty, and clothing the naked and THAT is why I have not written a new post in *cough* nearly 6 months. Alas.... I've been on my couch, feeding the bored (myself), rarely making sure Gibby had fresh water, and wearing the same pj's for a day or two. Same thing....kinda.

Please ignore the awkward layout... it looks good before I publish it and I can't figure out how to make it look better.

Here's a recap of my summer:

June

-I finished my endorsement at UD to teach preschool special needs. YAY!

-I got hired to teach preschool special needs in Troy at The Miami County Preschool. YAY! YAY!

-Celebrated Alex's 21st, OSU style

-My family went on an AWESOME vacation to Michigan City Indiana. Highlights of this trip were...
-My parents riding together on a jetski on Lake Michigan's chilly "waves"

-Staying in an ENORMOUS, 4 story house with a beautiful lake view -Our luau night of grass skirts, hawaiian cuisine, and freshly tanned skin.
-teaching my dad, brother-in-laws, niece and nephew how to play BeerPong : )
-getting in trouble for defiling our family and teaching them how to play BeerPong.

-Seeing my dad, husband, and brother-in-laws giggle like little girls as they drank

-Proving that I can take a shot of 1800 like a champ without a chaser or ugly face.

-Go-carting with the kids... although mine was more of a stop-cart and they left me in the dust. obviously this was taken pre brutal beating

-Soft, fine sand that got EVERYWHERE, including inside my camera causing all kinds of malfunctioning

-spending time with my family. 2 parents + 5 siblings + 5 spouses + 13 grandkids = a whole lot of Yorks and a whole lot of love.

-Our 2 year anniversary! Jace surprised me with a brand new camera! I love it! I got him Super Mario Brothers for the Wii. He has yet to play it for more than 5 minutes. I spent the greater portion of July trying to save the Princess. oops : )

JULY

-Jace turned 25!! Hurray for lower car insurance payments!

-We spent some time up at Liberty Days on the 3rd.

-The 4th was spent with all the Yorks, celebrating Grandpa's 100th birthday! He passed away over 30 year ago but he left a remarkable legacy.... it's a pretty great family.

-I saved the Princess, TWICE! haha

-Our wireless internet pooped out and I had to sit crosslegged on the floor, hooked up to the cord. This always ended with 2 numb cheeks and sleeping legs.

-I bought a membership to the YMCA... time to get off the couch
-Spent a few hours at the fair, too hot and smelly. Spent the next few hours floating in a friend's pool, heaven.

-Decided we need a pool at our future home.

-Dana and Bryan's house is finished and it's BEAUTIFUL!!

-chomped at the bit to get in my classroom

AUGUST

-Got in my classroom! Stared at my classroom. Dove in and set up my classroom. Still organizing my classroom. LOVE MY CLASSROOM! Can't wait to have 3 and 4 year olds in my classroom. Did I mention it's MY classroom?!

What I stared at for about 20 minutes...in awe

not too much progress, but just you wait!
We're located in the old Stouder Hospital... that should explain the tile EVERYWHERE!

-Things to come in August:

-Gibby's 2nd Birthday! I love my pup. She's such a blessing.

The look I get when she hopes it's walk time.... cold stare.

The look we get when we have food... notice her butt on the arm rest and that stare again

My favorite! I love her cuddly moods.

-Carol's birthday. She's a blessing too : )

-Russia's alumni tournament. We're 2 year champs!

-Shopping at the new outlet mall with my fellow teachers (definitely made me smile when they thought to include me!)

-more and more time spent preparing for the school year

-starting an online class through UD. Crazy? Yes!

-kiddos start the 31st!

So there's my summer! I promise to do better with keeping up with this... I'm sure the kids will add all kinds of spice to my life that I won't be able to keep to myself : )

For my dear Kara : )

Looks just like ya! Do you wear a skirt that short to work because I bet a lot more daddies would be bringin' their kiddos your way!!

Early morning blues

What a crazy night! I was dumb enough to finish a diet Pepsi at 11pm and it was IMPOSSIBLE to get to sleep. I finally decided to go to bed around 2am although I was still not tired. I said my prayers, no luck falling asleep, I read a little, no luck, finally I decided just to close my eyes and slip into sleep, no luck. I finally fell asleep around 3am only to awake WIDE EYED and FREAKED OUT at 3:30.
The wind blew and I woke up (usually I can sleep through the loudest storms) and I could swear I saw someone walk past the bedroom door! Gibby was zonked out at the foot of my bed and I laid there until 4, staring at the door and praying praying praying that nothing would walk through it. Finally I had enough of the waiting and decided to take Gibby and go to Mom and Dad's. I had to carry the sleeping doggie to the car, all along leaving a trail of bright lights behind me so I would be sure to see anything lurking. When we got to my parents' house, Gibby was bright eyed and excited to be at her favorite place to play. I had to grab hold of her collar and tried to silently open the front door. Of course, in my mind, this went smooth as silk. I knew my parents would be in their normal sleeping quarters (Mom on the basement couch, Dad on the living room couch) and I was sure I could sneak in unnoticed.
We almost made it, but just as we were almost past the couch, their dog, Jake started howling from the garage because he knew his buddy, Gibby, was in the house. Dad about fell off the couch when he heard the dog and caught us creeping towards their always empty bedroom. They bought a brand new pillowtop mattress and haven't been able to sleep on the nice and soft thing without waking up with stiff backs. Guess they should have kept the 30 year old creaker that they somehow managed to sell to some hillbillies! (Mom cried as they drove away from it!) I apologized for waking him up and slipped into the room, closing the door behind us. Of course the bathroom door was open and Gibby bolted in and through the door connecting to the living room. I ran in just in time to see her licking Dad's face and doing her best to wake him up. OOPS!
I brought her back into the bedroom and made sure both doors were closed before releasing her. I laid down in the bed and willed myself to sleep as I could hear her sniffing her nosey nose all over that room. She finally hopped up with me and plopped down when I heard Mom come up the stairs, ask Dad what was going on, and hear his mumbled, grumbled reply "Shell, can't sleep, woke me up, dog." That last word came out kind of snarly and I pretended to be asleep as Mom poked her head in to check on me.
I got about half an hour of restless sleep before I decided Jace would be home from work soon enough for me to brave our scary house. We drove back home, crashed on the couch with the t.v. on, and I've been awake ever since. My hour or so of sleep is somehow holding me in an awkward dance between awake and glazed. Is it bad that I am ready for bed, at 8:30 am??

Good NIGHorning : )

Still spinning from the holidays!

I can't believe the holidays have come and gone! It's 2o10 already and I don't know where 2009 went! We celebrated our 1st anniversary, moved into a new home, wrecked my car, bought my car, witnessed friends and family members join us in the 'married club', and welcomed lots of new babies into our circle of friends. Overall, a great year!

On a different note - My dad is a creative writer and was once a columnist for the Versailles Policy. I am so proud of his way with words and love to read things that he has written, including a time when we were writing long, hilarious poems back and forth between each other. I gotta find those!!
My mom also tried her hand at poem writing once and it's soooo good and appropriate for this time of the year that I just HAVE to share it.

Twas the Day After Christmas
It's the day after Christmas and all through the house,
not a person is flustered- no one leaves the house.
All souls are content now that Christmas is done,
glad to have it all over- that day number 1

The gifts 'neath the tree have been tattered and torn,
wrappings and bows are spread hither and yon.
Lids are off boxes, sacks stand ajar,
best presents have been tucked off to bedrooms afar.

The needles on live trees are losing their zest,
artificial ones suddenly can't pass the test.
Some twinkles are snuffed out- the garland hangs frazzled,
the carols we sang can no longer bedazzle.

Whatever happened to the 12 marvelous days,
filled with visits and friends- some from so far away?
When gifts weren't expected and gratitude reigned,
and we searched for the Christ child 'neath the star so ordained.

Now the gentlemen who visit outside our doors,
merely come for the trash we've swept off our floors.
Dead trees in our gutters had gladdened our homes,
only yesterday waiting for Christmas alone.

Perhaps if our advent were centered on Christ,
we'd realize Christmas lasts more than one night.
We could spread out our cheer 'til it filled up the year,
and recognize Jesus in everyone dear.

-Trudy York 1990

That's good stuff right there : )

My day of babysitting

So this morning I was scheduled to watch Dana and Bryan's kiddos. It was just going to be me and Carissa for most of the day so I picked up my niece, Abby, bright and early and made it to the Meyer's at 7:30 AM... that's stinkin' early. We spent the day doing some pretty entertaining things.

First of all, 3 year olds are HILARIOUS without even trying!

We went to McDonalds in Piqua for lunch and they got to spend some time on the indoor playplace. They LOVED going through the tunnels and down the slides.

She did NOT stick the landing on the above picture.

Neither did she : )

They were lovin' up on Ronald even though he gave them the most LAME Happy Meal toys ever. It was some creepy looking alien man. Of course these three year old girls could see past the scaley skin and overall creepiness and I overheard this conversation on our way home:

"Momma, I want to cross the street" -Carissa, clutching monster man

"Honey, you have to hold my hand and look both ways" -Abby in a goofy "adult" voice, also holding her ugly thing.

It was so funny listening to their play!

This dry winter air made for some lovely hair-do's on these girls.

They ended up being pretty good buddies by the end of their day and their shared love of princesses definitly didn't hurt.

After Caeleb got home from school, we played with Play-Doh and we had so much fun that I decided to have Caeleb and Carissa back for the night : ) At my house, we played magic bubble and they had a blast (and my counters got pretty darn clean)! Caeleb was really good at it! Check out that HUGE bubble he blew through his fingers.

Carissa even cought one of the bubbles although it took everything that she had not to pop it before I could take the picture!

Betcha can't do that!
We were all pretty tired by the end of the night, but UNO, snacks, and some made up games were in store before they left around 11:30. I don't know if they fell asleep in the car or not, but Gibby and I hit the bed pretty darn fast! It confirms the fact that I LOVE having kids around (especially when you can send them home at the end of the night!)