Bead-dazzling...

...as he helps clean his sister's room. Idn't he sumpin'?

Kind of Random...

Good grief, it's been a busy couple of weeks. It's hard to say exactly how all of the time was spent, but somehow it's gone...I do know that I spent the majority of last week in Searcy at a workshop...that's a post in itself--the appropriate genre for that post would be something like "Horrific Comedies" with a similar title...well, okay. I'm just going to go there...briefly...

1. Put together three less-than-enthusiastic-about-a-three-night-workshop teachers together.
2. Allow said teachers to arrive at pre-arranged hotel at 11ish at night.
3. Allow 2 of said teachers to discover wads of hair in beds, mildew on shower curtain, and smell of urine in room.
4. Let front desk close at 11:00 p.m. giving teachers no way to escape. (Let teachers remedy hotel situation by finding different hotel for nights 2 and 3--THANK YOU!)
5. Let it rain--no, drizzle--for two days straight accompanied by mid-70's in JULY.
6. Let all facilities in Searcy then have thermostats set at 60F leading to....
7. one teacher visiting the ER with a middle ear infection on night 3.
8. Let one teacher find a fingernail in her catered dessert.
9. and finally, though I'm sure I've blocked out many other more traumatizing events from the experience, let the workshop format be completely organized lecture-style allowing said teachers to sit from 8-3:30 each day in an auditorium seat with NO FOOD OR DRINKS ALLOWED.

...or not so briefly, but I'm over it. Really. I did come away with a lot of very good information, and I'll get 6 hours of grad credit once I've completed the series in 2 years, so that's cool. Just all of those factors thrown together were a little hard to bear for we three homebodies who were all heartsick for our families. I know. Wimpy. But we made it.

Oh yeah...then I got home for the sequel...drum roll, please...it's a horrible stomach virus for all spanning from Friday night to Monday afternoon! Let me just say that these were fun times.

ANYWAY, after all of that rigamarole, I spent the day today reading a book between doing mommy sorts of things, and I really needed that mental escape. The book was mediocre, but did satisfy my craving for the moment (yes, I crave books like food--yummy). THEN, my super-duper most amazing selfless sister in the world (even if she's my only super-duper most amazing selfless sister in the world) called me after a full day of work and offered to help me work on my classroom!! So heck yeah, we made a BIG dent! Still no pics, but there will be...

Hmmm...this post turned out rather rantish, but I guess that's okay since I didn't have any particular direction in mind anyway...to end, here are a couple new pics of my beee-uuu-tee-ful babies...(before I left for Searcy we managed a day-trip to take Tori--Adrion, too, though he won't remember--to see a cave since she's been begging...)
















Have I ever mentioned Tori's obsession with ponies??

















Lookin' like a big boy









20 stories underground

















Examining rocks

















The bravest of us all swimming in icy cave water--and loving it! Silly girl.

Work in Progress...

No pics. Forgot the camera, but it's getting there!

Crossroads

Whew! This week has been crrrazy. I haven't totally digested it yet, actually. But, in a nutshell--

• I got an email last Friday that led to a "meeting" Monday at another school.
• The "meeting" (I'm quotationing it because it wasn't supposedly a formal interview) led to an interview on Tuesday.
• The interview on Tuesday (which I started crying in the middle of) led to a second interview on Tuesday (during which I continued to cry, and cry, and cry...seriously, it was ridiculous, but that's a long story...).
  
• The second interview led to a job offer.
• The job offer led to my having to call my current principal and superintendent to discuss said job offer.
  
• Discussion led to a shared conclusion that leaving my current spot would be BAD (semi-long story).
• That conclusion led to my declining the spot on Wednesday and digging back into my other new position at CL.
• My other new position (which I am very excited about, woohoo!) led to my moving about 20 loads of stuff from my old classroom to my new classroom today/night...I'm zonked! (And still not finished...)
• Then, once everything's finally relocated, that will lead to some MAJOR organizing. I'll take a picture of my "project" tomorrow and post it.

Seriously, crrrraziness! But I'm so very thankful. I've actually even experienced a shift in paradigm this week. Spiritually, I've always existed by the idea that when at a crossroads, either one way or the other is God's intended purpose. However, in speaking with my principal she told me about a sermon she thinks about often where God reveals to a man that "neither way is right" because "they both are right". Wow. Imagine that. This idea has rocked my world...like I said, I haven't totally digested it yet, but I'm thinking that here's where free will enters in...whatever we do, we do for God. Therefore, it does not matter sometimes which direction we go as long as we keep God in the center and work for His glory.

Hmmm...I'll be thinking more on this, and I can't wait for church tomorrow. Our God is an awesome God!

Psalm 23:1

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want..."

--giving us unencumbered freedom to obey. (Ed Saucier, pastor)

Ahhhh! Ponies!!!

I just need a moment to vent. I am going to go pony psycho...

Me-Tori, what do you want to be when you grow up?

Tori-A pony.

Me-Tori, what book do you want to read?

Tori-Let's read a book with no words with these characters. (AKA tell a story about the three ponies she has in her arms).

Me-Tori, what reward do you want for finishing the next part of your workbook?

Tori-So soft crawling Pinkie Pie.

Me-Tori, what movie do you want to watch?

Tori-Horseland. (An animated pony series she discovered on Netflix online).

Me-"Old McDonald had a farm...and on this farm he had a..."

Tori-PONY! With a nayhayhayhay here and a nayhayhay there...

Me-Tori, blah blah blah blah...

Tori-Ponies!

Me-Tori, blee blah blah blee blah....

Tori-Ponies!

Seriously, she's been stuck on ponies for about three years now. I don't know how much more I can stand before I break into a psychotic episode! Heh heh....my little pony, my little pony...la la la la la la la...

Happy Birthday...

...Nonna!
















...Bad Dad!





















...America!