We woke up this morning and had another 3 inches of snow come down in the night. We decided to take Colin sledding. We got out there late morning before the hill got too crowded and had a great time. Colin was going nuts running in the snow and laughing as he went up and down the hill. He was good and worn out when we got home and took a nice long nap.
It has snowed here off and on all week. We started off with a pretty snow early in the week but most days it has been nasty with ice everywhere. Yesterday my usual 50 minute ride to the sitter's house and then on to work took me 2 hours! I sat stuck on an icy bridge for 40 minutes and when traffic finally did start moving it was stop and go...which was really fun on the sheet of ice I was driving on. Cars don't stop so well on ice.
We planned to go ice skating at an indoor rink close to our house today. Our friend Lina went with us but when we got there the hours on Saturday are only from 3-5pm and then again from 7-10pm for disco night. Those are about the stupidest hours for a recreation type place like that on the weekend...but that's Germany for you! So instead we went shopping at the outlet mall right next door and then brought home doners for lunch.
Later on we took Colin out to play in the snow. He LOVES the outside and the snow. He goes out almost daily with the babysitter and all I have to do is ask him if he wants to go outside and hold up his snowsuit coat and he comes running. Every time he gets out there he acts as if it's the first time he's ever walked in it and stumbles around. Today he had a ball falling down in the snow, trying to push his pedal car around in it, having Shelby pull him around on the sled and sliding down his castle slide into the snow. He was good and worn out when it was time to come inside and thaw out. While we were out there I finally got the Christmas lights taken down. Yes, I am well aware it is almost February...but we've had snow covering up all the lights and extension cords for the entire month. We've been waiting for the snow to melt off to let them dry out and bring them inside, that just never happens. About the time if melts off and starts to dry we get more snow. I didn't feel too guilty about it because a couple of our neighbors still had their up too, until this week sometime. So I decided ours had to come down, even if they are wet and frozen. It turned out to be a fun and productive Saturday around here :)
I've been a bad blogger. I thought about it being Wednesday yesterday and realized even if I'd had the time to sit down and post pictures I hadn't taken a single shot in over a week! It snowed some last weekend, it was a gorgeous heavy snow that hung on the tree branches like it belonged there. The last snow we had was very dry and wasn't pretty, this one was AMAZING! We took a couple pics of the back yard but that was about it.
School has been taking up all of my time. The kids in my class are pretty sweet and good. I'm falling into their routine and I've started teaching a lot of their lessons. Pretty soon I will be planning and teaching all of their lessons. The teaching part comes naturally for me and I'm used to that, I've been doing it for years. The planning part is interesting and I only have limited experience with that, it's a learning process.
Colin has finally become used to his new schedule. For a while he would start screaming and bawling the minute he saw us pull up to the babysitter's house. This is NOT normal and he LOVES that place. I think he just wasn't used to going there 5 days a week for such long days. Finally the end of last week and this week he has stopped the crying and is his usual happy self when we leave. Thank God because him screaming and clinging to me and having Christa pry him off me was enough to make me kick and scream. Talk about feeling guilty. As you can see he's back to his goofy self...
Well I'm here to blog about it so that means I survived my first few days of teaching. So far getting up at 5 AM is the toughest part for me, I'm not a fan of the alarm or early mornings. The schedule for the class is really easy and is broken up nicely to give me and the kids a couple breaks. I'm used to teaching at schools that are underfunded, overcrowded and located in low income areas. This school is very much the opposite. I have 18 kids in my class that for the most part are pretty sweet. The teacher I am working with is very nice and has a lot of the same thoughts on discipline and classroom environment as I do, which makes it easy for both of us to get along. One week down, fifteen to go.
The area where we live doesn't get a whole lot of snow regularly. We get a dusting a couple times a year, if that. Last year they had more than usual and this year we've had much more than usual. Shelby looked at the snowfall patterns over the last couple decades and every so often there are peaks of a few years in a row with higher snowfall amounts. We seem to be in one of those peak patterns. The end of last week everyone was going nuts about this "big storm" that was coming. We were forecasted to get between 6"-11" over the weekend. The German news and radio stations were all reporting about it and apparently they even named the storm they were that concerned. Some areas of Germany got a lot of snow from it but we only have about 5"-6" so far. There is still a chance of snow tonight and tomorrow but I'm not counting on it. We really didn't go out and do anything in it this time since Colin is still recovering from the Tonsillitis and ear infection. Which means I didn't get many pictures. I did get this neat picture of cute little bird tracks in the back yard. You could see where he came all the way across the yard and to the patio hopping along. Poor thing must have had popsicles for feet by the time he got there, but the picture was cool.
Saturday we celebrated my birthday a day early because nothing is open on Sunday here. For Christmas Shelby got me a gift certificate to get a tattoo I have been wanting for a very long time. I decided my 30th birthday was a good time to get my first tattoo done. I've known for ages I want a plumeria flower on the inside of my wrist, so what to get and where to get it was easy. I wasn't really nervous about it even though I'd been warned the wrist is pretty sensitive. I figured after being the human pin cushion for months in order to get pregnant and then giving birth to the kid the tattoo would be a piece of cake. I've been asked many times if it hurt. It didn't exactly feel good but only a few little parts of it actually hurt. I put my head down and enjoyed the time to rest and relax and dozed off a time or two. The worst part was the dang stinging stuff he'd smear all over my arm to wipe off the excess ink every couple minutes. Now I just can't wait for it to all calm down and the red and puffy to go away so I can see what the finished product is going to look like. These pics are right after it was done so my wrist is still red and swollen, the color has already changed since these photos were taken and it's had time to set. After getting the tattoo done we headed over to base to get some lunch and let Colin run off some energy and play at the playground. He had fun riding the pirate ship ride and didn't want to get off when it stopped. Later that night we went to dinner at my favorite restaurant here in the village. Our friend Lina who works at the bar by our house came to dinner with us. Here is a picture of Lina and I visiting the tower where Shelby works. We had some delicious mussels for an appetizer. I don't even like mussels but these had garlic and butter and were yum-my! I had my favorite rinderfilet gorgonzola even though the our friend Martin, one of the chefs, tried to talk me out of it. He says there are better things on the menu...I say I don't believe him. What could be better than a perfect piece of filet mignon on top of garlic toast and covered with a gorgonzola creme sauce? I'm fairly sure nothing! Later we went down to the bar to celebrate some more. Sweet Lina surprised me with an ice cream cake and balloons and the bar sang happy birthday. After a couple birthday shots courtesy of people at the bar, and a birthday dance with one of the guys there, I got to share my cake.
Today, my real birthday, I woke up to a birthday massage, followed by breakfast in a hot birthday bath and cards from Colin and Shelby. Shelby made us a great dinner of a smoked pork roast with German spices. It was a nice relaxing way to turn 30. Hopefully this week is nice to me and it goes by fast!
It seemed like it would never get here, but it is finally time for me to student teach! I haven't been in the classroom since Nov 2007 when I resigned to start IVF treatments. I am excited for the opportunity, but mostly I'm excited because it means I am 16 weeks away from graduation! Thank God! I am working in the elementary school on base in a multi age classroom. I will be teaching 1st & 2nd graders in a combined classroom. The school has several 1st and several 2nd grade classes and they also have a few combined classrooms, where both 1st and 2nd grade students work together. I think it will be an interesting experience. Basically, I am a full time volunteer since I don't get paid for any of this internship. I have to work teachers hours and do the teachers job, I just dont get the teachers paycheck with it. In fact...I actually have to pay a boat load of money in tuition to do all this, not to mention full time child care for Colin. LOL Sounds a little nuts when I put it that way, but what can you do? In addition to doing the teacher's job I also have a classroom component to my internship where I have to discuss my experiences with other interns, read textbooks, keep my portfolio up to date, write stupid research papers (weekly I might add...curriculum developing jerks!), and do other work for my class on a weekly basis.
So consider this your warning that I may not be the best blogger over the next couple of months. I will try to keep things up to date, but keeping my sanity is more important :) Hopefully the next 16 weeks FLIES by and I can get back to my nice normal life that doesnt require me to set the alarm clock.
Shelby volunteered me us to puppy sit for his friend's Boxer baby over New Years. It's been almost 4 years since we had a Boxer puppy in the house, which is apparently long enough to forget just how rambunctious they are. The puppy appeared Thursday morning while I was still in bed and so I awoke to Shelby standing there with a wrinkly, smooshy faced ball of sweetness.
Colin woke up and was delighted to see a dog sitting downstairs. He immediately ran to give her hugs and pet her and play. Poor Bailey was still adjusting to her surroundings and didn't quite know what to make of it. The rest of the morning went ok, Colin and Bailey got acquainted and I was very diligent in the potty walks and Shelby was here to help with Colin.
Afternoon came, Shelby went to work and Colin & Bailey napped...piece of cake.
After Colin woke up we headed to the store for a couple hours, leaving Bailey home to rest in her kennel. My mistake. How was I to know that every minute spent in the kennel equates to the amount of energy in that tiny wrinkled body doubling? I opened the kennel door, Bailey shot out and didn't stop bouncing for hours. I walked her outside and ran her around for a few minutes while Colin screamed inside because I borrowed his playmate. We came back in and they ran around the house like maniacs together. Colin would give his toys to Bailey and squeal when she took off with it chasing after her. This entertained them long enough for me to lovingly prepare a nutritous meal scrape take out on to plates.
Dinner time is where it really started to get fun. Colin and I eat in the living room and watch TV. If I let the dog in there with us Colin will feed his food to her and laugh hysterically while doing it. If I put the dog in another room she screams like she's being murdered and Colin and I cannot hear ourselves think hear the TV. So instead I use the pack n play to section off the couch and tv area from her so she must stay on the backside of the couch and dining room. She spends the entire meal jumping up and hanging from the back of the couch trying to get over. Colin is totally amused and thinks she's playing peek a boo with him and everytime the dog jumps up and grabs hold of the back of the couch Colin yells "BOO!"
After bathtime I let Colin and Bailey play a little more in hopes of wearing them both out so they sleep in. (It was a nice idea anyway). Bailey is now fully settled in and playing pretty rough with Colin. She keeps knocking him over and making him cry and grabbing hold of his pj sleeves and pants with her needle teeth. I calm Colin down and settle Bailey, I let Colin go and he runs right over to egg her on and get her going again, they go back to playing, chaos all over again and the cycle continues. I put them both to bed and swear not to think about getting a puppy again for the next four years.
Eight AM the dog is up. Dog wakes me up. Damn dog wakes kid up. Damn husband sleeps through it all. I go downstairs to let the dog out, she pees. She'd also peed on piddle pad in her crate so I clean that up. I leave her to go get Colin up, pee in the diaper. While I'm upstairs the dog poops on the floor (I purposely didn't feed her yet so this wouldn't happen!), clean that up. Feed Colin. Feed Bailey. Let Colin play while I walk Bailey. Come back inside and, what do you know, Colin pooped. Diaper change. The first hour of my day was shit (no pun intended).
Then the madness starts. Bailey barking, Colin squealing when he's playing too rough with her and then crying when she's playing too rough with him. More pee and poop. I'm already exhausted and these two are just getting started. Now I am certain there are absolutely no puppies in our near future and I'm beginning to question the possibility of more babies too. At least until Colin is potty trained. Then again, changing a diaper is a whole lot easier then trekking out in the cold & wet, begging the dog to pee only to have her come inside and pee on the floor right where you are sure to step in it. Yep, babies have got to be easier.
I'm a mom to three boys, a furry Boxer kid and two crazy black cats. I'm caring, loving, stubborn and passionate. I'm a Capricorn and a Florida Gator. I have a Bachelors in Elementary Education and a Masters in Early Childhood Education. I'm a born teacher. I've traveled the world and lived in 8 different cities in 4 different countries over the last 13 years. Germany stole my heart and I can't wait to move back. Now living on the island of Guam in the Pacific, I get to call an island paradise where most people only vacation my home.
