Kids say funny things.

Today was a gray and rainy day. I decided to wear my contacts to avoid the rain-speckled glasses lenses. Wearing contacts is unusual for me and the kids at my after-school program noticed.
I pick up all the second-graders from the classes and one cute little Hispanic boy who always smiles said, "I don't know you. Are you a new teacher? Are you a Chinese teacher?" I returned, "I look Chinese without my glasses?" His reply, "With your glasses you look French. Without your glasses you look Chinese."

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday yesterday! (Didn't she look amazing at my wedding?)

Mom, I feel very blessed to call you both Mom and Friend. I love you.

My weekend

Jeremy and I were supposed to be out of town this weekend, but after careful consideration of the past month and of the coming few weeks, we realized that more than anything we needed a weekend at home together doing nothing. And you know what? It was wonderful!
Saturday morning we went to the local Farmer's Market and had breakfast and walked around. Bought a few veggies, honey, and coffee. We followed that up with some tennis. Um, well, we served the ball to each other, but the making it back across the net didn't exactly happen much. :) However, it was fun and something different and free for us to do together. A heavy rain shower sent us packing early, so we went to the gym to finish getting our exercise. After a snacky lunch at home we went to Barnes and Noble and sat and read for an hour or so. I made a veggie packed stir-fry for dinner which we ate while watching "Reign of Fire." Sunday morning we had church, but the rest of the day was together, very relaxed, and involved lots of reading.
We both felt refreshed and think the time helped us prepare for a few more busy weeks.
I love my husband and love spending time with him, even if it's just sitting next to him sipping coffee and reading a book (thankfully he loves to read as much as I do, so this scenario--while not done all the time--is mutually enjoyable).
Hope you all had relaxing weekends as well!

Daily lessons in humility

Here is my question, can a wife (let alone a mother, which I'm not, obviously) really be all of these at once: working outside the home (20+ hours), keeping a clean house, cooking healthful meals, maintaining a frugal budget, and being the best help-meet to her husband? I may be new at all of this, but I'm falling short. I wish I was Wonder Woman around here and had everything under control. I sure don't. I try. But I don't seem to succeed. Ah, humility.

Another birthday!

Mr. Calvin is 4 today! He was one of the ring bearers in our wedding. Happy Birthday little man!

A birthday...

Yesterday was my niece's 3rd birthday! She was the flower girl in our wedding. A big Happy Birthday to Sienna!!!

Dinner

I concocted a dish for my dinner this evening that turned out quite well. Jeremy works late, so I cooked up something for dinner that he might not have enjoyed as much as I did.
I sauteed fresh asparagus and fresh mushrooms in olive and garlic. I made a light cream sauce and topped with Parmesan cheese. I served this over whole wheat spaghetti. It was delicious if I do say so myself!

I know it's been awhile since I posted. Jer and I were out of town for almost a week and a half. Then we came down with colds and it's been a slow return back to normal. Hopefully I'll be back to posting soon. And, I plan to put up a few photos from our Denver excursion.

Creature Photos

When I arrived home from work yesterday, a drizzly, gray rain was falling. I saw this happy couple enjoying the elements out my back window. Aren't they cute?



For art yesterday during the after school program the students were supposed to sculpt an animal or character from a book using model magic (they were an unimaginative bunch and even with that direction couldn't think of anything to make). I sat down at a table with some of the kids and made Wilbur and Charlotte, those timeless animal characters from one of my absolutely favorite books (I realize that their sizes are quite disparate, but after I made Wilbur I had so much left over that Charlotte grew into quite an overwhelming size).
Jeremy finds the spider somewhat repulsive. :) What do you think? I find her rather friendly looking.