Attempting Order. (By: Jess)

So after 9 months of a very uncomfortable pregnancy and 4 months of adjusting to a new family member, it's time to get this life, MY LIFE, back in order. Here is my attempt. I am hoping and praying that this new order "sticks" and is a great lifestyle change!!

MEALS
I have been researching on all my favorite recipe websites (allrecipes. com and tastykitchen.com) and found some great go-to meals that are delish and healthy! This prompted me to create a "meal calendar" where I will plan out my dinners, one month at a time. This is gonna work out great! Toby works late 1-2 nights a week, so on those nights I am free from cooking dinner! I basically have a list of 21 meals that I can rotate and plan out and I THINK it will be great!

I also have gotten in the routine of only going to the grocery store once a month! My "dinner calendar" will help out this my monthly grocery trip tremendously! Of course, there will be occasional grocery run for odds and ends, like Leo necessities, last minute menu changes, ect...., and I'm OK with that. Its normal and necessary.


SCHOOL LUNCH
I am vowing (darby buds..keep me on check with this!) to pack my lunch everyday!! This way I can achieve the following things:
1. Save money by not charging cafeteria food to my account.
2. Maintain a healthy diet by knowing what I'm eating for lunch everyday and keeping it under control.

NEW HABITS
Trying to loose my "baby weight" has been a habit I have been tackling all summer! That's a good thing, because it has caused me to create some new good habits.

1. All I drink is water, water, water! (with a splash of Mio water flavoring!)
2. No snacking between meals (Hydroxy cut drink mix has really helped me with this!)
3. Clean cooking and eating (hardly any packaged foods)
4. Allowing myself (1) cheat meal everynow and then (cheat MEAL, not cheat DAY)
5. Making sure I enter everything I eat into myfitnesspal.com (a life changing website, you MUST check out if you wanna drop some weight!)
6. No junk or snacks! I have FINALLY realized that if I don't buy it, I won't eat it! I have a few go-to snacks that I buy, but they are good for me and don't make me feel guilty! Whenever Im feeling extra hungry and its a few hours before my next meal, I eat these: Cinnimon rasin rold-gold baked pretzles, sugar-free, fat-free instant jello pudding, made with 1% milk, sugar-free 10 calorie jello made with a couple spoonfulls of sugar-free cool whip, homemade granola or granola bars, Planter's Nutrition heart healthy mix, 100 calorie packs of almonds, and water, water, water!
7. No breakfast. For years I have been forcing myself to eat breakfast 'cause people always say, "breakfast is the most important meal of the day!!!".....but not for me. As soon as I stopped eating breakfast, I started loosing a lil weight. Whodathunk? So anyway- coffee is perfectly fine for me and I think I'll keep it that way. If I do wake up, STARVING, I will have oatmeal, fruit, cinnimon-raisin toast, or a granola bar.

I am hoping to keep all these habits and make them my new lifestyle! (sidenote: I still have a few bad habits, but for me, I need them to function!)

EXERCISE
I became a major fan of walking this summer.......but then it got too darn hot :( So, I am hoping to join a gym and continue a routine of exercise.

I am planning on walking after school with my friend, Wanda, on Tuesdays.

I am planning on working out at the gym with my friend, Jenn, on Wednesdays, every other Friday, and Saturday mornings.

Exercise has been a trial and error with me over the past few years. This is what I have learned regarding my body and exercise:
1. running and/or jogging does NOTHING for me.
2. P90X does nothing for me except help me get pregnant and gain serious muscle weight.
3. ZUMBA is fun for me!
4. Walking gives me the best results.
5. LIGHT weight training is best for me.
6. Spinning is something Id like to try.
7. I have to have some sort of exercise in my daily life to make me happy.

I am also dedicating myself to walking the Cooper River Bridge on March 31st. This is something I have wanted to do for YEARS, and by golly, I'M DOIN IT THIS YEAR!!! I am gonna make it a personal goal this school year to train for this walk. I'm pumped.

MONEY
Toby and I recently paid off ALL credit cards. I am promising to keep it that way. HUGE lifestyle change, but I'm gonna work on it!

Also, I am scheduling Toby and I (1) date night a month. Dinner, movie, or whatever. We WILL do it and we WILL enjoy it. :)

CLEANING
This has gotten WAY outta hand ever since Lil Leo has entered our world and turned it upside down!! Along with our "meal calendar", I have also started a "cleaning calendar". I know that you are thinking I'm a little OCD at this point....and that's OK. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Every other Tuesday, Toby is responsible for cleaning the downstairs and all it entails. (that's his day off!).

Every other Saturday I am responsible for cleaning the upstairs and all it entails.

Hopefully this will keep our house neat, in order, and not a disaster zone!

So there it is. My new life. Not a lot of change.....just a little change..... that I hope makes a big difference!

It's the Small Things. (By: Jess)

As we are QUICKLY approaching "back to school", I have been anxiously getting ready for my 8th year of teaching. I really do love this time of year. I like going back to "my room" and digging out all my "stuff", making school supply lists (HUGE SMILE!), and planning and organizing all the new (and old) activities I wanna do this year! I like to add a few new challenges to my routine and lessons every year for many reasons, but mainly so I don't get bored teaching the same ole way! My greatest fear in this profession is that I will get burnt out, and do the same things year after year after year after year after year....... I like to keep it "spicy" and constantly changing. It helps keep me sane, I believe. Did I mention I teach 8th grade?!?!

Anywho- while thinking about all the planning, I started to think back to previous years and what I have done in my classroom and what I used to do and what I currently do. I began thinking, "I wonder if the kids enjoyed this as much as me?" or "did that lesson help the kids understand?" or "was that fun or not?" or "was that worth it or not?". I finally realized...that I will never REALLY know the answers to these questions unless I ask the kids themselves. I mean, I LOVE teaching about the Stono Rebellion or how to write the perfect persuasive essay.....the the kids may have a totally different opinion on them! So.....I went to Facebook. I love online communication!

I posted a status, asking all my former students, what some of their memories were of my class.

(sidenote: I only add former students as FB friends once they graduate HS. So, it has been AT LEAST 5 years since I have taught these students. Some even longer....)

I asked them to tell me things they enjoyed doing in class and some things they remember learning about. I was so curious to know if they remembered who started the Revolutionary War and why, why the South lost the Civil War, who Eliza Lucas Pickney was, what caused the Cherokee War, the difference between an adjective and an adverb, what a Royal Colony is, and so much more "stuff" that I stress and stress about every year! I wasn't sure if I'd get any responses or not, but I thought I'd give it a shot.


For those of you who are not teachers, let me quickly explain how important it is that students learn specific things. ("standards" as we call them in the educational universe). In a world of PASS tests, MAP tests, RIT scores, Lexile scores, SAT scores, reading levels, and AR tests, there is a lot of pressure on teachers to MAKE SURE their kids learn all the standards in order to score well on all of the above. Its crazy stressful for kids and teachers, but its our job.

Test, test, test.
Teach, teach, teach.
Teach to the test.
Bell to bell.
Keep them engaged.
Content on DAY 1.
Post standards in your room so kids are ALWAYS aware of what they HAVE to learn and what you HAVE to teach.

And when "the scores" come back every year.... we all hold our breath and hope we did a good job. Oh yes.....teachers get grades too.


I will toot my own horn just a wee bit (toot toot), but I am usually very proud of my test scores. They make me smile and re-assure me that what I'm doing must be working. But I don't dwell on them. I'm not a big fan of tests and numbers. So I look at my scores. Give myself a pat on the back (cause no one else usually does), and then I move on. OK, done tooting.


When former students started responding to my FB status I was happy and appreciative. Then more started responding. And more. And before I knew it, I actually got a little overwhelmed! I almost couldn't keep up with the reading! But, as I started to read what they wrote, I noticed a slight pattern. Everything these kids remembered or "will never forget", had little to nothing to do with standards or specific historical content that I spend so much time on. Hummmm....

I was a little bummed that my former kids didn't comment on anything specific! Nobody seemed to remember war details, government details, important people, places, and documents of history. Boo. In one ear and out the other, I guess. But I didn't stay bummed for long.....


'Cause these kids remembered a lot more. Stuff i had even forgotten. Stuff that was apparently more important TO THEM than historical content. They remembered journal writing, preforming raps, special awards I had given them, books we read that had NOTHING to do with "standards", creative projects we did, contests we had, advise I gave, conversations we had, silly cheers and chants we did, listening to the radio, debates, making videos and commercials, notes I wrote them, movies we watched, games we played, prizes they won,

Reading about all their memories really made me think. It made me think about what's really important.

To put it simply:
It's the small stuff that's important. The rest is just required.


Thanks to all my former kids who helped me see the light....... your memories mean more to me than you will ever know. Thanks for being "a breath of fresh air" for a new school year! Love ya all!! MUAH!!


So...scores bores.

As a teacher and educational professional I will always "care" about test scores and standards. I will always try my best to make sure my students learn what they are required to learn by the state. I will always fulfill my requirements as a classroom teacher to the best of my ability.

But I will also never ignore the small things that (apparently) matter the most.

If my students don't know the difference between the Patriots and the Lobsterbacks or what year the Boston Massacre occurred or what the Intolerable Acts were or what happened at the Battle of Kings Mountain...... then so be it. I'm OK with that.

'Cause I'm sure they learned SOMETHING from me........

and isn't THAT my job?

Babies and Angels. (By: Jess)

Dear Dad,

Have you met him?

http://angelsghosts.blogspot.com/2007/09/i-believe-babies-can-see-angels.html

Gertrude Louise.

If you know me, than you know how much I completely adore my dog. I'd give my life for my dog and that it TOTALLY not a lie. As ridiculous as that sounds, it's the Gods honest truth. Roll your eyes all you want, I'm convinced my dog is human.

Gertrude "Gertie" Louise Rolfes was born in May of 2007 and joined our family in June 2007. As soon as Toby and I returned home from our honeymoon, we took some of our wedding cash and bought a family member. We traveled to Travelers Rest, SC to pick out our pup. When we arrived, we were greeted at the front door to the tiniest little black fur ball, who came scampering up to sniff our shoes........ with absolutely no fear. The man who opened the door was surrounded by at least 6 other yorkies. He pointed to the curious one at our feet and said "this one is yours".

We payed the man, watched him say good-bye to "Holly Mae", (whose name was immediately changed to "Gertie") and took our new baby home.

Gertie was soooooo tiny and still is! She weighed 1 lb when we brought her home and now, 4 years later, is at a whopping 3 lbs. What a chub! She was so tiny that when she was a baby her favorite sleeping spot was on top of my flip flop. Adorable, I know.

Gertie has been through a lot in her 4 years on this planet. I won't go into crazy detail, cause I don't like re-living that tragic moment when we slammed the couch on top of her, but she is a tough lil' cookie! Let's just say that Toby and I could keep our vet's office in business if Gertie was the only patient they had.

I love watching Gertie grow up and wise up! She gets smarter and smarter everyday!

Words Gertie knows:

~Treat

~Breakfast

~Garage

~Car

~ Walk
~Daddy
~Mommy

~Down

~Toy
~Gertie

~Upstairs/Downstairs

~Kiss

~Bad
~Spank
~Good Girl

Words Gertie will never know, but we will continue to work on:

~Potty Pad

~No

Before Leo was born Gertie was my entire world. I would hold her in my arms in the evening, rub her belly, and have a full conversation with her. She would look at me with those big, black eyes and really listen to me. She would greet me everyday at the door and cry every time I left the house. She was always so excited to see me in the morning, even though she slept right next to me all night long! She followed me around the house wherever I went and would only go to bed if I went first.

Now that Leo is here.............

NOTHING HAS CHANGED.

I used to hate it when people would tell me that "once your baby is here you will love your pet less". Poppycock! Once a dog lover, always a dog lover! In fact, I think I may love Gertie MORE now than I did before. I am so proud of her for adjusting so well to her baby brother. She helps me out so much with him.....well, as much as she can! She follows me in to change his diaper every time I change him. She watches Toby give him a bath every night. She gets up in the middle of the night with me to feed Leo (mostly when he was a newborn). When I am sitting on the couch holding, rocking, or feeding Leo, she HAS to be right next to me, in my lap. Most people would get annoyed with this, but I never would. In fact, when she's not sitting with me, it worries me and I call out her name to see where she is!

Gertie is a huge part of our family and we would do ANYTHING for her. I love her so much it hurts! She is our "first baby" and is now the "big sister". We love her and care for her like we do Leo. We are so blessed to have her in our lives and Leo is so lucky to have her as a sister! Call us crazy......that's ok. That just means we are crazy in love with our pooch!

House of Wax (By: Jess)

SO last night was very eye opening. I saw my strong, masculine, and brave husband, crumble into the fetal position, whimpering like Gertie when she gets caged. I'm very surprised that our neighbors didn't call 911 due to all the blood curling screams that were coming from our house.

And those screams weren't from me.....


Why did Toby fall to pieces, you ask?

'Cause I waxed his back.

Let me explain....


We are getting ready to go to the beach next week and I informed Toby that his lower neck/upper back area was getting a little fuzzy. Prolly from the numerous times I have shaved it for him, which usually results in the hair growing back thicker and darker. So I mentioned maybe waxing it.....

Let me say that again.... I "MENTIONED" it. I didn't push it. Toby was the one who went to CVS and bought an "at-home waxing kit". He originally wanted to buy "Nair", but I didn't think that would work as well as wax would. I mean..."Nair" is for "girl hair", not wirey, dark, long, man-hair. Plus.... I secretly couldn't wait to see him squirm from the riiiiiiiippppp of the waxing! Just thinking about it made me smile and giggle a little.

So, he brought home the kit and we planned on doing the "procedure" on Saturday night. I told Toby we should do it a week before we go to the beach so his back will have time to heal.

"HEAL?!?!?!" said Toby.

I just smirked......

Anyway- after we laid Leo down for a short evening nap, I got things ready for the "procedure". I heated up the wax and had Toby lay on his belly on the couch. I should have know that things were not going to go smoothly when he whimpered as I was putting the wax on....

The first RIP was hilarious!!! It took me about 10 min to actually do it cause I was laughing so hard! Toby was making the funniest sounds and every time I went to pull off the white strip, I just couldn't! Finally, when I found the guts to do it, I think every muscle in Toby's body clenched and he was laughing so hard from the pain! At one point I even said, "Shhh! You will wake the baby!!"

The next RIP was very similar, if not identical, to the first one.

The 3rd RIP was the last. My 30 year old, baby-daddy, man-of-the-house, supplier of the bacon, couldn't take anymore. He was done.

Which resulted in only 1/2 of the man-hair getting removed. It didn't look right....kinda un-even....like Steve Carell's chest in "40 Year Old Virgin".

This is where the real drama started.....

Toby REFUSED to allow me to do the rest! At first I thought he was kidding, but he wasn't. He was serious. I remember asking him "Are you serious??" a few times. Each time he responded with "YES! I'm done!" I told him it didn't look "right" and he didn't care.... we would just shave the rest!

eye-yigh-yigh!

Toby went upstairs to shower, cause there was still a lot of wax left on his skin....he didn't let me finish remember.....

When he came back downstairs he was flipping out cause the wax "wouldn't come off!" He was mad cause he was gonna be "sticky all night!" He came down and sat on the couch and immediately got back up and said that he was gonna have to take ANOTHER shower! I couldn't help but smirk...... HE DIDN'T LET ME FINISH!!!

After about 20 min of letting Toby shower and scrub and shower and scrub, I decided to go up and help. I didn't exactly know what to do, but I felt bad, so I was determined to get the excess wax off.....some how......

FYI: NEVER, I repeat NEVER, use nail polish remover on skin that has just been waxed. It will NOT remove the excess wax and apparently burns a little. Sorry babe....

So anyway- the waxing session was an epic fail. My husband caved like a little school girl who is scared to pull her tooth. But.....it was a memory maker that's for sure! Every time I think about the night's episodes I can't help but laugh out loud a little and smile so big it hurts! (in fact, I'm doing it right now!!)

In conclusion...thanks Toby for showing my your "sensitive" side. It was cute and adorable and gave me a great laugh! I love you! xoxox

Peace and Quiet? (By: Jess)

This is gonna be a short one..... but one that I would like to share and also know if I am alone on this..... Lindsey, please tell me you have experienced this?!?!?! (keep reading...)

Ever since Leo has entered my world I no longer have peace and quiet. Not because he cries a lot, cause he doesn't, but because my mind CONSTANTLY thinks I hear him crying.

(readers, especially those who are mother's, please be nodding your head in agreeing with me on this, or I will think I've totally lost it!! )

Whenever I find myself in a quiet moment, usually when he is napping (which he does well!), my mind plays tricks on me. I either think I hear him crying or I think I hear baby music playing in the background. I SWEAR I hear it! But when I go check it out.....nuttin'. This really is starting to interrupt me when I want to clean the house, whip up a dessert,blog, facebook stalk, water flowers, vacuum, take a shower, or cat-nap. Never a moment's peace!!

Maybe my ears are so used to these sounds that they are just burned into my ear drums! It's kinda like when you stare at an optical illusion for a long time and even when you look away, you still see it........ You know what I'm talking about?

That's what I'm experiencing.

It's usually the worst at night. Whenever it's REALLY quiet is when I hear "the sounds" the most. I SWEAR I hear him cooing or crying, or sometimes screaming.........so I tip-toe into his room only to find him snoozing away. I sigh, roll my eyes, and go back to bed. Only to do it again in about 45 min. Oh Lort!

Maybe I'm being over-protective or over -sensitive or over -anxious or over-caffeinated...... I don't know. But it's getting annoying.

On the positive side...... at least I'm not hearing voices. That would be a different story.........

I Teach. A summary of memories....good and bad. (By:Jess)

At the tender age of 17 I decided I wanted to be a teacher.

I think I am different from a lot of other teachers cause I didn't always dream of being a teacher. I didn't play "school" and pretend to be the teacher. In fact, whenever I did play "school" my sister would always get to be the teacher and she would always give me "F's" on spelling tests. Nice.

Anyway- I used to dream of being a nurse. (I kinda still would love to be a nurse. If I could teach during the school year and be a nurse on the summer, that would be great! But, I'm sure that will never happen....)

My dreams of becoming a nurse were shattered during my senior year of HS when I had THE WORST chemistry teacher known to man and knew if I couldn't succeed in his class, then I would never succeed in a college chemistry. So I changed my mind...... I would teach.

I had spent the last (3) years teaching dance lessons to kids (kindergarten- 8th grade) and actually enjoyed it and felt like I was good at it. I thought to myself, "I could do this for a career. AND I will have the summers and weekends off..... good deal." Done. Career change.


Best decision I ever made.

So far I have been a teacher for 8 years. Next year will be my 9th and Lord only knows what will be in store! What I have learned in the past 8 years is unbelievable! Below are a list of memories (good and bad and in no particular order) that I have. I can only imagine the amount of memories I have yet to make.....

• I will never forget My first principal, Larry Altenburger, from Allen East Middle School. He was AWESOME and the kindest man I think I have ever worked for. if we ever move back to Ohio I'd LOVE to work for this man again!





• My classroom the first year I taught was BEAUTIFUL! I spend hours and hours and hours and hours getting it ready and decorated it for every holiday! I took so much pride in that room! Unfortunately, as the years go on, I don't spend the time decorating like I did that first year. I should....





• I will never forget the CRAZIEST parent ever! I won't mention names cause "you never know", but I will never forget her name or face or things she did/said to me. Let's just say that the day she came to my apartment, banging on my door, screaming, "I KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE!" was (one of) the scariest times in my life!





• I will never forget making a girl cry once. I chewed her out for not listening to me when I gave directions for an assignment.....and then she informed me that she was in the bathroom when I did the explaining. I felt terrible!
  




• Being named "Teacher of the Year" (twice) and nominated for "District Teacher of the Year" (twice) is an all-time high!





• I will never forget the people I have worked with over the years! Erin, MaryJo, Lindsey, Dan, Megan, Susan, Gina, Marijane, Jennifer, Whitney, Tracey, Edwina, LeeEddie, Stephanie, Steve, and Nancy all stand out to me.





• Chris Renn and Charlie Mayfield are also past "bosses" that were soooooo good to me. I have been so lucky over the past 8 years to have worked for such sweet, caring, nice, and father-like men.





• I will never forget the HUGE crush I had on a fellow co-worker my 1st year of teaching.





• I will never forget the 1st time I chaperoned a school dance and field trip. I felt so important.
  




• I will never forget the first awards banquet I presented at. I was so proud of all my kids who received and deserved awards.
  




• A student once said to me "Can we have a Civil War solider be a guest speaker?"





• I will never forget the 1st funeral I went to for a student. Shane Jones...RIP. Unfortunately, there have been more that followed....





• I will never forget the time I almost set my classroom on fire.
  




• I will never forget the 1st student to make me cry.





• I will never forget all the lessons that FLOPPED!





• I will never forget getting praised by an administrator for AWESOME test scores!





• I will never forget FINALLY receiving my teaching certificate!





• I will never forget the day a dog jumped in my classroom window!





• I will never forget a student "coming out" to me.





• I will never forget when a student told me I had fat toes.





• I will never forget getting the award for the "best dressed teacher" and also being told by an administrator that I "dressed unprofessional and didn't set a good example".





• I will never forget doing a cartwheel at an assembly and my shoe flying off!





• I will never forget getting "pied" in the face over a dozen times! And how it was SO MUCH FUN!





• I will never forget having my kids make "Civil War Scrapbooks". My all-time favorite project.....that I only did once.





• I will never forget when a student told me to me to email him an assignment and gave me his email address. (it was....mailto:was....masterbaiter2423@yahoo.com. Awkard.)





• I will never forget catching 2 students smoking and the look on their faces!
  




• I will never forget a girl accusing me of calling her "stupid".





• I will never forget all the tears on the last day of school.....from students and myself!





• I will never forget chaperoning the Senior Class Cruise to the Bahamas.





• I will never forget the 1st time I accidentally said a "bad word" in class.
  




• I will never forget all the kind notes, cards and letters students have written me over the past 8 years. I have them all saved in a shoebox in my bedroom closet.





• I will never forget the student who gave me a heart shaped necklace for Christmas.





• I will never forget how competitive some kids got during a review game.





• I will never forget when a girl apologized to me for being rude.





• I will never forget getting a card in the mail from a former student.





• I will never forget my 1st coaching experience.





• I will never forget the time I witnessed a parent hit their child in front of me.





• I will never forget the time when a parent got IRATE at me for catching their child with a cell phone in class.





• I will never forget the notes, cards, emails, and letters from parents that remind me of why I am a teacher. (These are also saved in a shoebox in my bedroom closet)





• I will never forget when a student came to school wearing the same outfit as me.

• I will never forget when an administrator called my ideas "stupid".





• I will never forget when a gust of wind blew my dress up over my head on the playground.....in front of students.





• I will never forget crying because if happiness for a student.





• I will never forget crying because of sympathy for a student.





• I will never forget laughing so hard I cried because a student was sincerely funny!
  




• I will never forget how cool it felt be be called "Miss Ogle" and "Mrs. Rolfes"





• I will never forget how tight a student once hugged me.
  




• I will never forget praying with a student at their request.

And the list will go on, I'm sure.......