NEW MOON!

This here is Caroline! We haven't seen New Moon yet, but we will! I can't wait! I even got myself a fanncy New moon I-pod cover for my I=pod!Just wanted to share!

Happy Birthday, my FIFTEEN year old Jake!

Happy, Happy Birthday,

Jakie, dear.

Happy Days will come to you all year.

If I had one wish, then it would be

A Happy, Happy Birthday

To YOU, From Me.
(Please ignore the clutter in the background.)

(Yes, I mean you.)

Finally!

I figured out how to get the Photobucket's ad off my blog. They just wanted me to put in a new passwork. For heaven's sake...

My Bulletin Board

Does this not sound like a law firm with those names?

There it is! My name in lights!

I had to make a bulletin for one of my assignments.

Eventually the student's "artifacts"* will be hanging here for all to admire.

*FYI, "artifacts" is a fancy educational term for a student's work!

See there, bet you didn't know that!

My First Day at Marshall Elementary School

Well, it's finally time. I got up way earlier than I have all summer and went to my first day as a student teacher at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School. We had breakfast time, and some meeting time, then some organizing time, then some lunch time, and then some setting up the room time. And then....I got to start working on a bulliten board! I have to admit I felt like a fish out of water, and I missed all the teachers at Keene, but I know I will have a great time and learn a lot from the two teachers I am working with. Of course, the kids weren't there yet, so this time next week I might be thinking to myself "What the heck am I doing?" Stay tuned for more...

The Last Faux Yankee

My sisters left the northeast this morning, and I realized I am the last one of my extended family still standing in the northeastern part of the United States. Having been born in the south and having been raised in the south, and because my heart LOVES the south and because my tummy loves southern food, I am a true southerner. However, because I have lived in the northeast for a total of thirteen years (and have actually liked it. Shhhhh, don't tell my southern relatives) I am calling myself a "Faux Yankee." One day, when our kids are raising their families, Chad and I will sneak away to live somewhere in the south.

That's my dream anyway, and I am sticking to it!

P.S. The picture is of Woodville Baptist Church located in Woddville, Georgia.

This is where my sweet parents were married!

Hey y'all, part two

Tice here. Doing a little guest post on Lori's blog. Seems fitting since I'm at her house right now. She was kind enough to take me in for a week since I had to be out of my apartment at the end of July but had to wait until Sally was done with camp before making the big move.

What does one, such as I, do while visiting Lori? Allow me to enlighten you. I started by helping her pick paint colors for the TV room. Her instruction was that she wanted a light color above the chair rail and a dark color below so as to avoid having to see so many unsightly stains and fingerprints. I armed myself with this information and headed to Home Depot to pick up swatches and samples.

I painted a sample of a light[er] tan and a light[er] green above the chair rail. Then I painted a darker brown and a darker green below it. She and I proceeded to debate why she didn't like the darker colors. I tried to convince her that some of her color choices were [ahem] outdated. We came to an agreement. [I don't know why I argued so much. I don't even live here.] We painted the first coat yesterday. Chad came home and said, "It doesn't look as bad as I thought it would." Ha. From Chad that's a compliment.

After the first coat of paint was squared away, I went to Lori's Methods of [Teaching] Math class. The teacher was kind enough to let me observe. I was fascinated. I learned how to do multiplication using partial products and the lattice method. Hello...where were these methods when I was busy doing it algorithm style twenty years ago...

And for the piece de résistance, I have a problem for you to solve. And you over there. No help from Google. You know who you are.

Problem: We're looking for a license plate number from a hit and run. It's in two parts. A two digit number and a three digit number.

The two digit number is prime and the sum of the two digits is a two digit prime. The tens digit is larger than the ones digit.

In the three digit part, the digits are all odd and different. The sum of the three digits is palindromic. The sum of the first and third digit was one-half the sum of the first and second.

Hint: A palindromic number is one that reads the same from front to back and back to front. ie. 22, 33, 121, 232, 818 etc...

Another hint: I'll give you the prime numbers between 1 and 100. They are: 2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23 29 31 37 41 43 47 53 59 61 67 71 73 79 83 89 97.

Good luck. If you get the answer, I'll mail you a prize. If you at least try and can't get the answer, I'll mail you a handwritten letter with the answer. And who doesn't want a handwritten letter from me, I ask you. And NO GOOGLING...or yahooing...or finding a website with math problems. You get the idea. No cheating.

ps- Natalie, are you feeling left out? Do you need me to guest post about how I'm fixin' to go see your love story played out on screen in the movie, Adam?

Lorelei, the Book Critic

If you have ever wanted to know what happens after the ending of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen then this is your book. I couldn't put it down! It captures the first five months of marriage, and what a marriage Darcy and Lizzy have! If you like romance, you will love reading this book. However, as much as I enjoyed reading it, and as your personal book critic (don't laugh, I know my books) I feel I need to reveal these two points of thought:

1. Okay, this book is a teeny bit sappy. By the end of the book, you will have read William (aka Mr. Darcy) calling Lizzy "Beautiful love" 553 times. Okay, kidding. But it was a lot. Very sweet at the beginning, but a little "Oh, for real" towards the end. I had to keep telling myself that they were still in the first HALF of their first year. This went both ways. Lizzy called Darcy "My dearest beloved" 485 times. (No, I didn't really count!)

2. The subtitle "Two Shall Become One" is not simply a quote from the scriptures. For those of you who enjoy reading about "romantic encounters in the bedroom," you will be sufficiently pleased. Really. For those of you who have teenage daughters asking to read it after you, I suggest you have them wait until right before their wedding night! For those of you who do not read anything your daughter should not read, then I would say this book is not for you! If you didn't think "Breaking Dawn" (Twilight #4) was appropriate for teens, then you definately won't think this is.

I know, I know. You want more information. You are just going to have to read it for yourself. I don't think you will be disappointed in the least. Enjoy!

For more information, go to darcysaga.net

P.S. Did I mention it's going to be a saga. The next one comes out September 1st!

A Glimpse Into the Future

Christian left for a vacation with his friend's family today, so the only ones here are me, Chad and Jacob, excuse me, Jake. Caroline and Kirk are up in Connecticut with my family waiting for my arrival on Wednesday. It dawned on me this morning that this may be what it will be like if Caroline goes off to school at 18. It will be me, Chad and Kirk. How strange is that? There are some pros and some cons....

Pros:
Very quiet!
I can keep up with messy rooms. (They pretty much stay the way I leave them.)
I don't have four, excuse me five, people asking me to do five things at one time.
I am having one on one conversations with Jake. (Kirk in the future.)
I don't have to buy four gallons of milk every two days.
I have time to finally write a new blog. (I know, finally, right Tice, Sally and Natalie!)

Cons:
I can hear the sounds the house makes.
I'm the only one cleaning the rooms. (I miss you, Caroline!)
Skipper follows me everywhere, unless Chad is around, of course, then I am completely ignored.
Because I'm not in need of milk every two days, I don't have an excuse to go buy chocolate!
I have to feed Skipper. (The smell of dog food makes me gag!)
All my "peeps" aren't sleeping under the same roof!

Signing Out For Girls Camp

I'm packed and ready to go to Girl's Camp tomorrow.
Caroline is siked. I am ready to get it over with.
I've been putting craft kits together for two days now.
Kudos goes out to Chad and Caroline for helping,
Along with my friend, Wendy Howard.
I will update you later, along with pictures and what not.
THINK OF ME OFTEN, and PRAY!

My Hard Working Son!

My son, Christian, is a hard working man.

Well, almost a man.

He comes home from Parts Plus

Just as tired as he can be.

He's covered in black, icky grease

Which means he takes a shower IMMEDIATELY!

He's not sure he likes being a working man.

Let's face it, who does?

He even has to walk to work from his school!

(Which is across the street)

But he does it, nevertheless.

Why, you might ask?

Pretty much, because he gets paid!

(Bonus: He bought himself an ac unit for his room!)

I am so proud of him.

Way to go, Christian, Keep up the good work!

(This is not meant to be a poem;

it just so happened that one or two of the lines rhymed.

There would be a picture of him greasy and grimy

But he wouldn't let me take it.)

How To Get Out Of Time Out on Mother's Day!

You'd let him out, too,

If it were you!

Guest Posting by Chad

Hey all. I'm guest posting today. I just wanted brag about my wife. She only has three more classes and student teaching until she graduates with her Masters Degree in Special Education. What's more amazing is that she has straight "A"s - not even one "A-". Last week she had to write two papers that ended up being over 80 total pages. GO LORI GO!!! She did this while taking care of four kids, one dog, one husband, being 1st Counselor in the Primary AND putting together the Keene School's yearbook. We helped a little bit by enjoying many nights of Mac & Cheese or Spaghetti.

New Post Coming Soon!

Really, I promise.
However, I am not promising when.
But soon, I promise.
Really.

Skipper Ran Away.....

He did. We let the little varmint outside to go to the bathroom. The next thing we knew he had spotted a squirrel (probably the same one who eats our trash can .... yes, the trash can, not the trash) and took off. Chad and the three older kids had to leave for a temple trip and didn't have time to catch him. Kirk and I were snuggled up in my bed revelling over the fact that we could sleep longer. I wasn't gonna leave my bed to go hunting for him. He'd get hungry eventually, and come barking at my door. And that's exactly what happened! About an hour later, I heard one single bark. I went downstairs, opened the front door and there was Skipper. He came in and went straight to bed. Apparently, running after the squirrel plum wore him out!

Back in the Day....

There is this guy in one of my classes that constantly, and I mean constantly, refers to five years ago as "Back in the day....." This is driving me crazy. He is all of twenty five at most. Let me tell you about "Back in the day....."

Back in the day, we rode buses that didn't have air conditioning. We typed our papers on things called typewriters, which meant that when you had a typo you either used WhiteOut or started all over again. We actually went to a building called a library and researched facts in actual printed books, you know, the ones made of paper. Oh, and in order to find your book you had to use a large wooden piece of furniture called a card catalog. The closest computer I could access was in the library ( while at BYU) or Chad's apartment (and I didn't have a clue how to work it.) The only computer in my high school was huge and scary looking and the only thing we did on it was learn how to do computer programing (which I passed, but didn't learn a thing!) Nobody had a laptop, except for maybe the students in engineering, who knows. Okay, what else? Cell phones....How could I forget about cell phones? Back in the day, we thought cordless phones were all the rage! Texting was even dreamed up yet.

Yes, I know that acknowledging these facts shows my age. My own siblings didn't have to endure some of this. So, what prompted this posting, you ask? As I was figuring out FaceBook, Jake (14) commented on how computer illiterate I am. Well, Jake, all I can say is I have come a very (very, very) long way since back in the day!

A Kirky Quote

Yesterday, I was leaving to go to the store,
And I told Kirk to give me a kiss.
First, he blew me a kiss,
Then he said, "Wait, that kiss could blow another way."
"I need to give you a closer kiss."
Then he kissed me on the cheek.
Isn't that the sweetest thing you've
EVAH heard?

Six By Six

I was tagged by Natalie to find my

sixth picture in my sixth file of pictures on my computer.

The lucky fellow ended up being Mr. Kirk.

This was taken at Easter of 2006.

Those were some good times.

I believe I beat my sisters to the game, so I double tag them and

I also tag my cousins, Amanda, Amelia, Britney & Dana.

A Date With My Teenage Daughter!

For Caroline's birthday, I let her stay home from school for the day.

For those of you who NEVER let your kids stay home unless they were sick...

I know. I've been there. Belieeeeve me, I've been there.

But, there actually does come a time when spending the day with your

teenage daughter is actually rather fun.

Especially when we do things like.....

Shop for GREEN TYE-DIED RocketDog shoes.

Experience a range of stores, some of them a little scary, I'm not gonna lie to ya!

Eat yummy Chinese food and wonderful soda!

Feel very proud of your birthday purchases.

It was a successful day, enjoyed by the two of us.

Thanks goes out to Grammie & Papa for the birthday money
and making this shopping trip possible.

My Birthday!:)

Hey,people! How's it goin'? Ok, Aunt Tice and Aunt Nat, give me a break I've NEVER blogged before. So? No big! Anyways, I'm bloggin' about my...BIRTHDAY! I'm sitting here listening to Flightless Bird thinking of something to say. Help me! Ok how about I start of saying how old I'm turning! I'm turning 13 and dang proud of it!

MY 13 FAV THINGS ARE...

1. EDWARD CULLEN/ ROB PATTISON
2. TWILIGHT THE MOVIE
3. TWILIGHT SERIES
4. THE COLOR TEAL
5. THE COLOR GREEN
6. OXYGEN
7. THE JONAS BROS
8. MY I-POD
9. BIRTHDAYS
10. MALLS
11. SNOW DAYS/ SNOW
12. FLIGHTLESS BIRD BY AMERICAN MOUTH
13. LEAVE OUT ALL THE REST BY LINKIN PARK

A Kirk Muhlestein Masterpiece

I was taking pictures at the school for the yearbook,

And I noticed this cute little guy hanging up in the hallway.

I looked at the tag in the corner,

And realized it was a Kirk Muhlestein Masterpiece.

Imagine That.

Just Kidding!

I actually went up and down the hallway SEARCHING

For his snowman. And I found it.

Isn't it Snowlightful!

Crazy Friends, Crazy Presents!

Look at them! Wendy and Leann

are so proud of the gifts they gave me for my birthday.

One is named Beulah, the other, Beufort!

Perfect, don't you think?

Fun Times Were Had By All!
This posting is a little late. Sorry.

The Fabulous Forties!

The coutdown is on!
My hours as "30 something" is coming down to an end.
In 57 hours and counting it will be my birthday.
(I don't really turn 40 until 11:45pm or 11:54pm,
I'm not sure which...another story!)
I will finally be 40!
I've been saying I'm forty for about three years now,
and I am actually excited to finally be there.
Afterall, 40 is the new 30!
Besides that, I hear your "Forties" are full of freedom!
Well, let freedom ring, I say!