Mail Call

Mail Call:

During our 3 "Fay" days off from school last week, Em asked if she could "make letters" for my parents. She was SO excited to do "arts and craps" and draw pictures for them. Em also decided to create a letter for my sister Laurel. This was all Em's doing---from the artwork to the gluing and sticker placement. She decided who she was "writing" to and what she was creating. Em was quite excited to go to the Post Office. She liked putting the stamp on all by herself, liked kissing the letter good-bye before dropping it in the mailbox. It turned the whole arts and crafts day into an adventure for her.

This week on Friday Emma received a really nice rebus type letter from my Mom. Grandma had cut out magazine pictures so that Emma was able to "read" much of the 6PAGE letter along with me. Thanks, Grandma! Em loved it!

Then on Saturday, Em received mail from Auntie Laurel. Included with a letter were packs of Dora stickers. What a hit! Em has used many of the stickers this weekend to create even more arts and craps! Thanks, Auntie Laurel!

September:

Our 10 year wedding anniversary is next weekend. As of yet, we have no official plans. I think DH is off of work on Friday the 12th. Maybe we can get his parents to watch Em overnight so we can go somewhere? We are usually planners, but have both been putting off making definite plans for some odd reason.

Emma's birthday is coming up...
We are just going to have a family party this year. Small and simple. And I can't believe my baby is going to be 4! Wow! Where does the time go?

Happy Birthday Grandma and Grandpa! My Dad's bday is Sept 9th and my Mom's is Sept 20th.

School update:

School has been going well for both Em and I. Em seems to have adjusted well to her teacher Ms. Stephanie. She is in a nice, small class---only 7 students---which is great, because they seem to get a lot of teacher attention.

My school is going well thus far. I still have a To-Do list that is a mile long, but I am slowly plugging away at it. I am beginning to feel less overwhelmed as I get into a routine with my students. This weekend I was able to spend time reviewing both the Reading and Language Arts curriculum, so I now have a better feel for how to merge the 2 curriculums within my classroom.

I am missing the small family feel at my old school. Last year there were only 42 teachers on faculty at my school. This year there are 75 of us. In addition, student enrollment last year was in the 500s and at my new school it is in the 1200s. It's been an adjustment. Fortunately, the other 3 teachers in my reading department are wonderful. We are already a support network for one another and I've appreciated having a sounding board. Still no close "friends"...or teachers with children in Emma's age bracket...but at least I'm not totally alone. Whew!

October:

DH has been training to run in a half marathon on Oct 4th. He has been running for about 3 years now. He has enrolled in half marathons on 2 other occasions, but ended up not running due to getting sick the week or two prior to the race. He seems more serious about his training this time around. I hope for him that he is able to run and complete the race this time. Go DH, go! :)

Guess that's all for now. I need to finish some lesson planning for the week.

During and after the Storm

I know it's blurry, but check out the sheets of rain coming
down in our front yard!


Blurry again due to wind and rain, but look at all the branches
and leaves in our neighbor's driveway.




After--lots of branches and leaves all over the sidewalk and yard.



This is the worst of it in our yard---some small trees bent and broken.
We are SO fortunate not to be one of the families with a large tree squashing the roof of their home or crushing their car.


Some product placement shout outs for items I spent time with during the storm:



--I finally got back into using the wii again. Hey, friends/family who have a wii game system. If you will add our wii number into your address book, we can send each other our miis. Our wii console number is: 0219 7006 0986 7312

--Shout out for one of my new favorite products: The PedEgg. I purchased one at a Walgreen’s while in Ohio this summer. LOVE it! My feet are the smoothest they’ve ever been. My preference is to use it just before bed, then wear lotion and socks while I sleep. And then wake up to soft tootsies. It’s super! Another product shout-out---the lotion I prefer is Bath & Body Works Body Butter. Smells great and is a thicker consistency than most standard lotions.

--Thanks to my Mom for telling me about this link. We used to visit this website frequently so Emma could play Sesame Street games. She isn't really into Sesame Street as much anymore, so we hadn't been to the site in a while. However, they have renovated their website so that it now includes a plethora of video clips from old shows. http://www.sesamestreet.org/videos/ I especially love the Madeline Kahn and Grover "Sing After Me" and "The L Song" with Ernie and Bert. Smiles.

And finally, some Emmaisms from during the storm:

--"I made this with green, because green is a boy color. But it's o-kay that it's your favorite color, Mommy." (Lol. Thanks, Emma for permission to like a "boy color.")

--"Can we do some more arts and craps?" (Also known as crafts...)

--"Mommy, I have a question. Do you like fish stew?" (Um. No I don't. And when I asked what made her think of that, Em responded that "Little Bear's Dad eats fish stew." Lol.)

--To Aaron, "Will you marry me?" When DH responded, "no" because he is already married, Em said, "Awww!" They then had a cute little conversation about how she'll find someone special just for her. Emma wanted to know if it will be her friend Adrian. DH said she'll have to wait and see. :)

Let me end by saying that after pressure from their Union, AT&T did allow employees to leave yesterday. So DH was home by about 1:30 in the afternoon...after only 1 hour of work. Again the time is unpaid, which I think is crappy...but at least DH and others are safe, which of course matters much more than any money. :)

Tropical Storm Fay

Emma puddle-jumping on Weds between rain

Emma and I have been housebound for 3 days. Duval County schools, city buildings, libraries, etc. have been closed due to Hurricane Fay. Although Fay was downgraded to Tropical Storm status, the TV meteorologists keep reminding viewers that the wind speeds between a tropical storm and a hurricane only differ by 5 mph.

Poor DH had to work yesterday and today. Yesterday they let employees leave early (unpaid, of course), so he was home by about 3:30. Today DH just texted me that he is there “for the duration.” (Until 7 p.m.) He is pretty upset by this. So am I. The mayor and city council don’t choose to shut down the city for no reason…I can’t believe DH had to go in today. Mayor Payton in his speech to the city requested that people “STAY HOME” and “NOT DRIVE.” Just before DH left, we heard on the news that 3 of the local bridges are closed due to high winds (40 mph or higher). I am certain there will be people who don’t go into work today b/c of the weather, or the no-city-buses-running, or the tree limbs blocking intersections that we’ve seen all over the news, or the 50,000 people in our county without electricity. The worst part is that DH and co-workers were told yesterday that the company will consider it “an occurrence” if people call off today. Enter my most sarcastic voice: Thank you, AT&T for taking care of your people. I appreciate you looking out for my hubby and other employees. UGH!

We have been fortunate thus far----many leaves and small branches in the yard, but no major tree limbs. We’ve also had our electricity flicker on and off several times, but have not had any long term power outages. (I just got off the phone w/ my father-in-law who said their power was off for about 5 hours total last night. They live about 4 miles away, so I consider us lucky to not have lost power!)

In looking out our bedroom window, I can see about 2 inches of water accumulated under our deck. (Our deck is about 6 feet off the ground.) And the rain keeps on falling…

Em and I are getting cabin fever. There are only so many art projects, board games, and rounds of hide & seek that we can play. On Weds we were able to go for a walk and play in the rain puddles between bouts of rain. Yesterday and today, no such luck. Yesterday when it wasn’t rainy, it was really windy. Today it literally hasn’t stopped raining. And this is not a sprinkle, mind you. This is POURING and blowing rain. We have a window next to our front door under our porch roof. This is the first time I have ever seen the window get wet, since it is under a ceiling/roof overhang. The window is soaked today, because the winds are blowing the rain so much.

Oh, and did I mention that the dog peed on the living room carpet? Sighs. He is terrified to go outside in the hard rain. Eeww!

TV news indicates that the weather will be like this for at least 24 hours until the center of the storm completely passes out of northeast Florida. Good times, great fun.


"Go away, Fay! Nah-nee nah-nee nah!"