Washington DC

Recently, Julian and I went to Washington DC with his 5th grade class. It was a great trip, but it was also exhausting! We left the school at 5:45 am Thursday, and traveled by charter bus to DC. We had lunch at a rest area on the way and then stopped at the air and space museum at Dulles Airport. It was OK, but not amazing. I am not an airplane or missile kind of girl, and this place was all about airplanes and missiles. Next, we visited the capitol building and went on a guided tour. That was much more impressive. The history of the building was pretty cool, and our tour guide was a cute little lady that knew everything!

After the capitol, we went to the Pentagon City Mall to eat dinner at the food court. The meals were nothing to write home about, but we were fed... We got some dippin' dots (which are not worth the money, IMO)which Julian raved about. Next we toured several memorials and monuments including the WWII memorial, the Korean War memorial, and the Vietnam memorial, the Lincoln memorial and the Washington monument (from a distance; we did not go in). The memorials were beautiful, but unfortunately, they were scheduled for after dark, so we were not able to see them well. I would love to go back some time and spend some time really looking at them and appreciating them. The sights on this trip were back to back and very rushed. Finally, it got too dark to keep track of all of the kids, so the teachers finally decided to head to the hotel at around 9:00. Check in was uneventful, but the elevator was uncooperative. I would not recommend the Best Western in Potomac Mills based on their elevator and continental breakfast. It was a fiasco! By 6:45 am Friday we were on our way again!

On Friday we started with a tour of Arlington National Cemetery. For a cemetery, it was beautiful - and huge! We then drove past the Jefferson memorial, and stopped very briefly at the FDR memorial. It was very nice, but we only had 10 minutes before we were being rushed to the next. We walked by the White House, but again did not go in. The flag was flying, so the President was home when we were there. From there, we went to the Smithsonian museums, but again, we were very rushed, and by the time we finished lunch, we had a little more than an hour to see several museums. We decided to tour the National Archives to see the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. The line was long, and it took most of our hour to wait in line and then to look at the documents. Again, I would really like to go back and take my time browsing. There is so much to see!

Things are very different in DC. For one thing, traffic is terrible! There are who knows how many tour buses making their way through. The police are very strict about these buses, and we had literally 2 minutes to load and unload from the bus. If you go over that 2 minutes, the police are there waiting to hand you a ticket - of $1000 (and we had 2 buses!)! Mind you, we had 50 students and adults on each bus. This was a tad stressful and made for some grumpy bus drivers! We did not get any tickets, but it was very close a couple of times. After the Smithsonian, it was time to head home. We were stuck on traffic for several hours, and the trip home took much longer than expected. It was 11:30 before we got back to the school. Needless to say, Julian and I were both pretty pooped, mostly because he refused to nap on the bus - no surprise there! We roomed with Julian's friend Chase and his grandma, which was awkward, but we were so tired by the time we got to our room, it was OK.

So overall, it was a good couple of days, and Julian's behavior was OK. We walked close to 9 miles between the 2 days, and the weather was perfect for it. I'm glad we went, but I'm also glad it's over!

My...kids

My "cooperating" teacher, me and our 5th graders...

2 more weeks...2 more weeks....

and I will be past the hardest part of this process. I will no longer have to plan lessons after that - it has been SO difficult. Needless to say, I have a new respect for teachers. This is a much more than 40 hour a week kind of job, and they are not paid for the time. And, I'm sick AGAIN - I think this is the 4th time since mid-January? It seems I get over one thing and then the next weekend I get sick again. Not fun. Anyway, I am struggling but determined to make it to the end as strong and excited as I was in the beginning. Today I am pretending to be the little engine that could!

Busy, busy, busy.

Student teaching began about a month ago, and my schedule has been hectic ever since. I am in a 5th grade class, which has been absolutely wonderful! The goal through student teaching is to pick up one subject area at a time, teaching everything all day for at least 4 weeks. I am now teaching 2 subjects (language arts and math), and I will add the 3rd and 4th subject (science and social studies) in 2 weeks, thus beginning my 4 weeks of teaching it all. 2 subjects has been very stressful, so I'm anxious about adding more! But at the same time, I have enjoyed this process so much. I am beyond relieved that I like being in the classroom as much as I thought I would. I love my class-kids! And on another happy note - I passed my Praxis II for elementary education, which removes any obstacles to getting hired for next year. Graduation is only about 3 months away now. I am ready for it to get here and ready to put my application out to see what happens.

This has been a stressful process for everyone (Jason and the kiddos included) but it has to be done if I want to teach, so we're all just doing our best to get through it. I work all day and then come home, take care of home and kids, work in the evening for a couple of hours and then get ready to do it again in the morning. Weekends have been used for catching up on what couldn't get done during the week. Not much time for fun stuff, but it is temporary (so I keep telling myself!). Anyway, it's exciting to prepare for the next stage, the career stage, of my life!

My Family

Christmas 2010

Christmas

A REALLY white Christmas!

The real reason for this Christmas season...

Luke 2 (The Message)

The Birth of Jesus

^1-5About that time Caesar Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem in Judah, David's town, for the census. As a descendant of David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who was pregnant.

^6-7While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a manger, because there was no room in the hostel.

An Event for Everyone

^8-12There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. Suddenly, God's angel stood among them and God's glory blazed around them. They were terrified. The angel said, "Don't be afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in David's town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what you're to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger."

^13-14At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises:

Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

^15-18As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. "Let's get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us." They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.

^19-20Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly the way they'd been told!

Goin' Fishin'

Popcorn

I always wanted to try stringing popcorn, but could not figure out where to put it once it was strung (I'm certainly not putting it on the Christmas tree!) So, this year, we decided to string popcorn and put it on the bushes outside for the birds to eat. Aside from the finger pricks, it was a good time.

Merry Christmas

Now we wait for Christmas Day.

More winter weather...

This time, we received little snow, but significant sleet. Now it's raining, and the temperature on my computer shows 32 degrees, so most likely the rain will also freeze going into the evening. School for the children was canceled this morning, and Jason chose to stay home since the roads were very slick. The temperatures did not rise enough to clear them, unfortunately. So everyone was home today, looking for activities to keep them occupied, and most likely Julian and Kathryn will be home again tomorrow.

Since they are only allowed 90 minutes of electronic time per day, they have been struggling a bit to stay busy, leading to bickering at times. Jason spent some time with them, engaged in his newest hobby, painting. Below are pictures of the artists. I did not join in today, but have posted some of our recent work.

I'm glad the evening is coming on, and it will soon be time for dinner, baths and bed. This has been a loud day when I've gotten quite used to quiet time in my weekdays. And although unlikely, I can still hope for school tomorrow.

Snow

This weekend, we had the first snow of the year. Unfortunately, the children were away with their grandparents, so they were not here for it. For this reason only, I hope we get another good snow when they are home and both feeling well. I took a few pictures to show the kids when they came home, since it melted quickly, as it normally does here.

Our new "pet"

Ok, so it seems we now have a kitten for a pet. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find a home for the cat that showed up at our house this summer. Since Kathryn was a baby, she has asked for a cat, and we were never open to the idea; Jason and I are definitely not what you would call "cat people". We are, however, "Kathryn people", and she has become very attached to Kitty (original and creative, isn't it?). So we will continue to care for Kitty, although he will be an outside cat. We do let him eat inside, since there is another free cat in the neighborhood that keeps stealing his food when we put it out, but that is as far as we will go!! (please let that be the farthest we will go!) He is awfully cute, and very sweet ... for a cat:

Kathryn

Kathryn has become quite the performer. She has always had an affection for music, and I hope she continues to.

This video shows Kathryn playing Jason's mandolin. She learned this so quickly, and no doubt will learn the last part of the song equally quickly:

Thanks for visiting Courtney, Billy and Jackson!

(And thanks Julian for taking the picture of us)

Halloween

Kathryn, the Kitty Fairy
Julian, the scary skeleton (he actually did scare a little girl at the church function we went to!)

Ballon Festival

Today, we went to Statesville to the annual hot air balloon festival. This was our first time there, and we didn't know exactly what to expect, but it was definitely disappointing. Don't get me wrong, the finale - the balloon glow - was really great. I'm glad we stuck it out to see that; it was the highlight of the night. But the rest of it was very, very frustrating! First, the last 3 miles of the trip took 2 hours! Yes, it took us 2 hours to travel 3 miles to park. Each time I thought we were there, we came around a curve or topped a hill, and we saw how far the cars stretched in front of us. So, we missed the balloon launch. Then we entered the airport where the festival was and there were SO MANY PEOPLE! We had to wait in line for almost 30 minutes to use the portapotties. Then we got in line to get some french fries to hold us over until dinner - and when we were about 5 people from the order point, the employee told us she would not serve fries from her line - only funnel cakes. Although her sign said funnel cakes AND fries AND we had already waited 20 minutes or so to get near the front of the line just for her to tell us the young man in front of us would be the last one she served. Ugh. I am ashamed that I lost my temper and said something unfriendly to her. We decided at that point we would just skip the fries and wait for dinner. So we went to the kid play area and were told it was closing. Closing! The man was nice and let our kids go through one blow up, but at that point I was about to go postal on all these people! So we found a spot to watch the balloon glow, really the only positive thing for me about the trip. Definitely NOT worth the 2 hour wait in traffic or the unfriendly booth attendants. I'm glad we tried something new, but I will not be going back next year. Anyway, here is a video of the balloon glow - they are "twinkling". Pretty cool.