I'm dreaming of an ice-coated Christmas?

I just spent hours ordering photos for the last nine months, so I have decided that I am not going to wait until everything is carefully edited and cropped before sharing pictures. It just never seems to get done. We've got too many other pressing matters to attend to. Like baking cookies and watching "Frosty the Snowman."

So, here is a photo-rific blog of our December, so far! I hope the formatting ends up OK on this one, pictures are a constant battle on this site!

First up: Luna and Bella, who think Christmas is a snooze. Other than the snuggly blankets.
















Laney and I hunt and harvest the Christmas tree and Laney insists on shouting, "I love saws!!!" during this picture.
















The finished product.




















Visiting Cupid and Comet in Pasco. Surprisingly healthy and nonchalant about children screaming in glee.
















Posing with a gigantic wreath (caption probably not necessary).
















Holy bejeepers, is that snow?
















Second night (or tenth, who can keep track!) of cookie baking and decorating.
















Not Christmas related, just freakin' adorable.
















Snow is gone, one inch of ice coats everything for three days. No preschool, but plenty of running in place on the sidewalk.




















Enjoying the icy day. You make the best of the winter weather you get here in Kennewick!

To School (and I'm not talking about the kids here, for once)!

In November I completed my first semester of Graduate School! I have happily embarked down the path toward getting a Masters in Teaching from Heritage University. During the last few years at home with the kids I had been contemplating my "next career" since returning to the exact field (microbiology and sterilization technology) that I left in Bozeman would not be possible here in the Tri-cities. There are many science options available here in town (often in the wine industry, which is very tempting...) but I have come to realize that I really enjoy "explaining how the world works" to my kids (scientifically anyway, I am at a loss when it comes to explaining how the world works when it comes to dealing with people). I had come to the conlusion that I would be utterly happy in a teaching career, especially if I could get a job teaching science, and it would also allow me the freedom to spend a maximum amount of time with the kids as they are growing up. I feel like time that my parents devoted to my sister and me as children was the greatest gift that they could have given us, and I want to do the same for my kids. When a personal upheaval in my life forced a reevaluation of my plans, I determined that teaching was still the route that I wanted to take, but did put the plan into effect a little earlier than I intended.

I began shopping around for suitable graduate programs and found that I had missed the deadlines for all of them. Drat. Luckily, with my degree and previous test scores, I was a desirable enough candidate to gain conditional acceptance into the program of my choice. Heritage's program is essentially designed for 'career switchers,' or people who have a Bachelor's degree in a field other than education, but have decided for one reason or another to become teachers. Heritage University is based in Toppenish, Washington, but my classes are all held in Pasco. Since the program is designed for people who are currently working, all our classes take place on Friday evenings and Saturdays. I will miss my weekends for the next two years, but am enjoying the freedom to still spend the week with the kids and not have to hire a babysitter. I will have five semesters of classes (one down, four to go!), including a stretch of student teaching beginning January 2011. This program will certify me to teach K-8 and although I was initially disappointed to not be getting my high-school certification, I am really warming to the idea of teaching middle school science (and possibly math. OK, Mom and Dad?). I love the broad curriculum at that level and all the middle school teachers that I have spoken with really love the kids at that age. Maybe it takes a special personality type and if you don't have it, you get out of that grade level right away, who knows? I'm hoping for the best!

I am so inspired bymy cohort of fellow teachers-to-be, which consists of many people who have successful careers in other fields, but just truly want to teach. We are a diverse group but are already great friends and I look forward to having such wonderful colleagues in the future. I can see that there are going to be some outstanding teachers among my group and I am excited that they might one day be my kids' teachers.

So, after one semester down, I have finished all my acceptance criteria and just received my letter of "Unconditional Acceptance"! I passed all my entrance exams and also just passed the middle-level science test. I aced my first three classes and really enjoyed two of them (if you talk with me much at all, you've already heard all my complaining about the third, so I won't go into that here). We had an interview with local administrators to make sure we were "teacher material" and my evaluation included the remarks, "mature, confident, and an excellent teaching candidate." Yay! Although, I'm so confident, I already knew that, right?

And let's see... other big projects at the moment? Perfecting a new "No Knead" bread recipe that I found (picture below), catching up on tons of reading, contemplating a vermicomposter for my garage, and catching up with all my lovely, supportive family and friends. Love you all!

Aerie

The Puppy Grand!

Here he is, Guardian of the Weak, Entertainer of the Bored, and Destroyer of all things Squeaky: Skippyjon Jones Rogers! While I should be writing a blog about my newly-minted three-year-old, Delaney, and all the cute and defiant things that she does, I am instead choosing to write about our pup. We adopted our "used dog" this summer from a family that could no longer keep him due to his prowess at chasing (and presumably, catching) chickens. He is around two years old, something like a Pomeranian, and basically just a total fur-ball.

He came with the name "Mickey" but what fun is getting a dog, if you can't name it? So, I never told the kids his name and let them name him instead. First rule of pet adoption: don't let the kids name the pet. I really underestimated how humiliating it would be to run down the street in my pj's and flip-flops yelling, "Skippyjon, Skippyjon, get your furry little a** back here!" That brings me to our little guy's one bad habit: he's a runner. While he is normally the laziest, most laid-back little fella, there is something about the great outdoors and the myriad of sights, smells, and live bait (did I mention that he was given away because he likes to chase birds) that just turns him into a hyperactive little freak. Luckily, he's got a bum knee and asthma, so I can usually catch him after a block or two.

All in all, he has fit into our household perfectly. He enjoys camping, car rides, and swims in the river. When Delaney first introduced him to my parents, she said, "This is Skippyjon, your puppygrand!" He is officially a "cabin dog" and gets as excited as the "big boys" (all the other dogs in the extended family) to ride in the back of Grandpa Steve's pick-up and roll in dead fish at my family's mountain place. There was one brief incident where he attempted to chase turkeys while tethered into the back of the pick-up and ended up dangling over the side for a while, but everything turned out fine... He seems to think that the tree fort that my dad built for the grandkids was specially designed for his enjoyment since he quickly races up the stairs to the top then barks to be carried back down (we really need to design a harness and hoist system for him). And, while he can't manage to jog more than a mile with me at home, when he is at the cabin he will happily run alongside the fourwheelers all day long.

In addition to being in a three-way tie for the "Best Snuggler in the House" honors, the flying furball has proven himself as a fierce protector (really!). I had an encounter with a prowler in my backyard a few weeks ago, and Skippyjon chased after the jerk, barking his most intimidating bark, and I think would have bitten the guy's pervy little booty if he could have gotten there fast enough. Luckily, the idiot ran off and doesn't seem to have come back since, probably because of Skippy's quick and decisive action, since I stood there screaming like someone who was really freaked out to find a stranger in their backyard! And since that day, Skippyjon enters the backyard barking and does a speedy loop around the perimeter before he settles in to take care of more pressing matters. Love the guy!