Life as a Leach

Matt and I went to my first hockey game last night with our good friends Jenn and Steven.  Jenn and I gave Steven and Matt tickets for Valentine's Day. They played the Ottawa Senators, and it was intense!  They ended up losing in the last 30 seconds of overtime, but it was a really good game between two excellent teams.  I have to admit that it was much more exciting than baseball!! Between periods, they did a game with Chris Cooley and some other Redskin player I didn't know.  They were quite entertaining! There was also a short peewee hockey game.  There was one little girl who was so much smaller than all of the others that she just couldn't keep up.  She just sort of skated (walked is more like it!) around the rink aimlessly until Slapshot carried her off! I would definitely go to another game.  It was a lot of fun with good company!  The highlight was the walk back to the car when Steven danced a jig in the middl...

Welp, we finally saw Wicked.   It only took 3 tries!!  Here are my thoughts on the show: *  The lead (Elphiba) was played by her standby. At first, we were really annoyed at this and figured that she wouldn't be any good since she didn't even have another part in the show.  Then we realized that this girl's sole job was to study the character and be totally ready for it at a moment's notice.  It is such a HUGE part that it's unfair to expect someone to learn it well while performing another part.  The girl was AWESOME!  No Idina Menzel , but still very good.  She could definitely do the part. *  The show itself was rather dark and scary.  I was prepared for this because I read the vile, atrocious, putrid, mildly difficult to read book and knew that at least some of the mood had to be portrayed in the show.  However, I was not prepared for the number of YOUNG children (4 and 5 year olds!!) that were in attendance.  I know ...

...to see the wizard Wicked!  Matt and I are celebrating our anniversary by spending a night in Fredericksburg and seeing the musical Wicked.  We've tried three times to get tickets with no success, so we're really excited about it!  I'll be back late Saturday night!  :)

Caleb and I are making an alphabet book together.  It's a slow process because he loses interest quickly, but we're getting there!  We are finding pictures that start with a certain letter, then gluing the pictures onto a piece of card stock.  We'll eventually put them in plastic sleeves and put them in a binder so that he will have his very own ABC books!  We've been working hard on his letters and sounds, and he's really making the connection....except that he gets confused when letters don't sound like the sound they make--say H, M, and R out loud, for example! I'll post some pictures soon...as soon as I take some! 

...how much this picture at the header of my blog makes me smile!  I love the shot, I love his smile, I love that he's outside, I love the picnic table, I love how the color of the wood matches my blog layout...I just love it all!  I wish I had thought to print it out last night.  I need to remedy that this weekend!

We have been loving the warmer weather these last few days! If there's a basket around, he will put it on his head!! A few black and whites for you to enjoy! This boy has such a vivid imagination!  He was pretending to put out a fire with his fire hose. Reeling in the fire hose to load it back on the truck! Enjoying the blue sand in the sand box Being a little bit camera shy

Wow, I haven't done one of these in a looooooong time!  I had a few things in mind, so I figured why not? *  Tumblebooks .  These books have been so great for us!  They are online books that include the original illustrations with animation on top of them.  You can either have them read to you, or your child can read them him/herself.  There are educational games that go along with most of them too.  While most of the games are beyond Caleb, the books aren't!  They really capture his attention and are way better than watching cartoons all day long.  The best thing is that with the link from our local library (above), Tumblebooks are completely free!  The library has a subscription that everyone can use!  We look at several books each night, and we even found a book we'd checked out of the library a few weeks ago!  They're a wonderful find. *  Beer bread and dip from Tastefully Simple.  I truly love TS's products....

Today is the last day of MSA testing for the year!  Wahoooooooooooooo!!!  I truly think these days are more stressful on the teachers than the students, because we are the ones biting our nails and hoping they remember everything we taught them!  What is even worse is watching your students make careless mistakes or not show the BIG effort...and not be able to speak to them about it! So, needless to say, I am very glad it's over.  I'm looking forward to the "after MSA" project we will be starting in our reading class--writing and illustrating children's books to read to the younger kids.  :)

Caleb's favorite phrase these days is, "I'm a lil bit big!"  He said it today and I immediately burst out in a song I made up on the spot.  (I definitely got that gene from my  mom!)  <3 I'm a lil bit big and a lil bit small. A lil bit short and a lil bit tall. A lil bit loud and a lil bit soft. A lil bit silly and a lil bit tough! It is his new favorite song and he's already singing it all over the house.  Imagination Movers, look out!  :)

The newest addition to our family is Molly, and she's quite a beauty!  Midnight blue in color, she's sleek, thin, and 15.9" across!  Her best feature is her vast memory! Yes, Molly is my new laptop!  I was feeling the need for a new one, as my old laptop was a "new to me" donation courtesy of a grant a parent got from the White House (yes, my laptop was used by government officials...maybe the president!!)  :)  However, the deal was pretty much sealed when it started randomly shutting down last night for no apparent reason (I knew the hard drive was bad and it was just a matter of time!), and then Caleb popped a key off using his grabber (it was an accident--he wasn't actually grabbing the key--but he still shouldn't have had the grabber near it!) So, this little lady  was rescued from the claws of Office Depot today!  I'm still getting used to her, but I think we'll be good friends!

When I decided to decorate Caleb's room with a baseball theme, Barbara offered to make him a baseball quilt.  I jumped at the chance to have something homemade with love to adorn his bed!  (I barely sew buttons on, so the chance of Caleb having something I  sewed is pretty much unexistent!) I found a bunch of baseball patterns, but some of them were rather tacky baseball and not what I was looking for!  Barbara found one that was tasteful baseball and I love it!  She got it professionally quilted by a woman in Charlotte who is apparently quite sought after!  The woman did a fabulous job putting the finishing touches on Barbara's already beautiful sewing! The border was striped, which I adore!  They're my favorite! The backing was a very cute print of a little boy with a ball and bat, but he was also playing with trucks and other things.  It was "subtle" baseball, which I liked! She even made a pillow out of the backing print (wi...

"I wanna be a teacher, a fireman, and a farmer, and I want to have pigs, chickens, and tractors, but not ducks because I don't want them to bite anyone." This is just one of many conversations we had in the car tonight.  This particular one was in between rousing choruses of "The Wheels on the Bus!"

I have had a night to process, to research, to talk-it-out with family, to cry, to pray, and to hug my little boy.  Something I read about another person's experience struck me.  Because I have proven that I can have a baby, a lot of people seem to have the mindset that at least you have one. Yes, that is true.  And I am extremely thankful and grateful for Caleb.  HOWEVER, that does not make our current situation any easier, and saying that to me does not make me feel any better.  So save it!  (Sorry if that's harsh...but the woman whose blog I read last night voiced this same feeling and I couldn't agree more!) However, I also have a new outlook on some things now that we have a plan.  I'm thankful for our families who have been wonderfully patient through all of this and who haven't asked too many questions to avoid pressuring us!  I'm thankful for my friends who have come along side of me and prayed us through a lot of this.  I'm thankf...

So what's been on my mind recently?  It's about time I share it.  I haven't yet, and I'm not sure why.  It's not out of embarrassment or because I'm a private person.  Lots of IRL* friends and family know.  If I am truly being honest with myself, I think the deep-down reason is that it feels more real when it is written.  AND, I don't really want it to be real.  I prefer it as a dream. *In Real Life But, alas, it is not, and I think I'm finally at a place where I can write it.  Matt and I have been trying to have a baby for some time now, and it's not going so well.  We saw a fertility specialist today and now have a treatment plan in place.  I'll be heading to the doctor many, many times over the next few months!  The bad thing about that is that it is an hour and 1/2 away, but we will deal with it.  Thankfully, they open at 7 a.m., which will allow me to get back down the road to work without having to take too m...