Ahh February

Well, as always, it has been busy around here! I cannot believe it is February already. When I think back to this time last year, boy was my life a lot different. Regardless, these last few weeks I have been feeling pretty peaceful and things have been going very well, so I can't complain about that.

So this week is quite exciting, as Shawn and I are getting ready to go to sunny, warm, San Diego on Thursday. I am totally looking forward to a little sunshine and color and fun. It will be nice to be away from work for a few days. Also can't wait to see Jackie and Jay and Conlon and TracyAnn.

Today I had my second class for CLS, which is a class I am taking through the county. It is such an interesting framework, but kind of overwhelming, really makes you evaluate what you do in your classroom and how you interact with your students. I have 5 more sessions, all on Thursday nights this spring.

Last Saturday night, Shawn, Bert, Leah, and I went to the Washington Capitals game. They lost by two points in the last few minutes of the game, but we had awesome seats in the third row and we had a great time. We took the Metro down and that was so nice, takes the stress out of driving in the city, and it was Leah's first time on the Metro, so that was nice. Plus, it's a little "green" of us, saving gas by using public transportation :) Of course, every time I ride the Metro, I think of how disappointed Sean would be that I am using public transportation and relying on someone else to get me where I need to be. He was never a big fan of the public transportation :) (But I love it...shhh)

This week I got a new hairdo, and I must say I love it! It is shorter than it was before, dark, and spiky :) I am having so much fun with it already! Check it out...




A few weeks ago, during Martin Luther King weekend, Shawn invited me to tag along with him to Deep Creek Lake to stay the weekend with Nick and Vicki. We had such a nice time. It was freezing cold, but it was nice to get away and experience a little bit of winter. That is one thing that I love about living in Maryland is that we have the beach just a few hours away and the mountains a few hours in the other direction. We did a little bit of snow tubing, which was lots of fun, but it was so cold that I only made two trips down the hill and watched everyone else's fun from the warm building.

I guess now I am just looking forward to the trip and getting prepared for that. Can't wait!

Reflecting on a Busy Week

It has been a very busy week for me. Report card time is upon me and I have spent the whole week getting assessments finished and getting all my ducks in a row to be able to get my report cards completed on time. It has been a week of long nights at work and I was happy to see the weekend come.

Of course the weekend was not quite as relaxing as it could have been. On Saturday morning at 8:30 I had to be at school because I am taking a course through the county that started yesterday. This class is going to be so informational and helpful to me in creating a more harmonious classroom. It is a class on a system called Classroom Learning Systems and it is based on goal setting and giving the students more say in how things work in your classroom on a daily basis. It is really great because it gives a lot of responsibility to the kids, even at a young age like my little guys. Anyway, I am really excited about this class and what new things I am going to learn throughout the course of this class.

After spending the morning and afternoon in class, Shawn and I went to see a movie. We had gone to the movies a week ago to see Juno, but it was sold out when we got there so we ended up seeing Alvin and the Chipmunks instead (such a cute movie). So last night we headed out early to try and catch Juno and we were successful. Such a smart and funny movie. The dialogue was great and the whole story was just entertaining.

Then today I slept in a little and then Shawn and I decided that we would go to the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. We took Courtney with us and we all had such a great time. It is such an interesting place, there was tons of great, unique artwork. Their current exhibit was all about faith and religions and so it was interesting to see how that was interpreted by the different artists. I enjoyed it because it was a lot of local artists and not the same type of art you would see in a regular art museum. They had a second building that was full of very unique things. There was a giant Divine statue, dedicated to the local actress who played a huge role in many of John Waters' films, which was so cool to see. There was also an exhibit dedicated to the painted screens found in Baltimore in the row homes in the city, so cool. Overall, it was such a fun experience and I can't wait to go back again when the exhibits change. After the museum we had dinner at Johnny Rockets, which Courtney was excited about and then ColdStone for dessert.

This week promises to be just as busy, but there are only 2.5 school days for the kids this week, with 2 days of professional development at the end of the week. So the workload should be a little lighter this week with the only focus being getting my report cards finished. Then a nice long weekend!

Here are a few pictures from today, the three of us playing in the sculpture garden at the museum:

Back to Scrappin'

Well it has been a very, very long time since I have done any scrapbooking. However, after about 10 months, I finally got some pages done. I am about a year behind on scrapping, not to mention the California album from 2005 I have yet to finish, or the Alaska album I have barely started. But I am hopeful that I will be able to catch up in no time.

I joined the Calendar Girls again this year on 2Peas for the fourth year. This is a group of women who conduct a monthly scrapbooking challenge based on the Designing With...Page a Day calendar, which has a different layout for scrapping inspiration for every day of the year. So I am hoping that this will give me some motivation to get all caught up one of my favorite hobbies.

So here are the two pages I worked on last night...Enjoy!

Courtney Turns 13!

Courtney celebrated her 13th birthday (which was Friday) with her friends on Saturday at Bounce Party. Bounce Party is this big warehouse filled with moon bounce activities. There was a boxing ring, a barrel of monkeys moon bounce, a few obstacle courses, and a giant slide (like at the carnival). Everyone seemed like they had a great time. It really was a lot of fun for all ages. Shawn and I were invited to the party and he took a lot of great photos that can be seen here...Courtney's Party

So to Miss Courtney...Happy Birthday and welcome to your teenage years!

Photo Goal for 2008

This year instead of making New Years Resolutions that I would not follow through with, I have decided that I would like to make a list of Things to Do in 2008. On this list one of my goals, is related to my photography. After taking the photo class this fall and learning a lot, I have realized upon picking my camera up after a brief hiatus from taking pictures, I had lost a lot of what I had learned and do not want this to continue.

So after doing a little bit of research and finding a little inspiration, I have decided that my photo goal for the year will be to take a photo every single day this year. Being a scrapbooker, this will be helpful in that arena also (where I also have some major goals for the year). So in the interest of trying to get this jumpstarted, I am going to go back and post a few pics I have taken this month already with the official count starting today.

I will post my photos on my Photo Blog, at least once a week if not more often, and will also post them in my Picasa Photo Gallery
and my Flickr Gallery

So I hope that you will check out some of photos from the year and maybe be inspired to set a similar goal for yourself. Happy 2008!

Welcome 2008!

Well I can hardly believe 2007 is already gone, so very bittersweet. This year for New Years Eve, we had Courtney's 13th birthday party (omg!) and welcomed the new year with family at my house. It was a great time. First we celebrated Courtney's birthday with a house full of people, mostly family and the Eichners and Bounds'. Then after the party died down a little, we played the Wii and welcomed the New Year! Not terribly exciting, but it was a nice evening. Not much else to say...Happy New Year to everyone! May 2008 bring you love, happiness, health, and good fortune.

Merry Christmas!

Well another Christmas has now come and gone. This one really snuck up on me and then passed right before my eyes. Here are the highlights of the Christmas festivities...

1. Chris arrived home the Thursday before Christmas from Basic Training in Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. It has been so nice to have him home and we were all so excited to hear all of his stories and catch up with him.

2. For me, Christmas really began on Saturday the 22nd when Mom, Courtney, Courtney's friend Kasey, and I drove to Warwick, NY to visit the Aabs and Carabines for the Aabs' annual Christmas party. It was a wonderful trip, too short of course, but wonderful. The kids were such a treat to see and I was happy to see Pru and Brian, Brigid and Alex, and their close friends. I am so glad that I had some company for the drive, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to make the trip alone, and it wouldn't have felt like Christmas without a trip to New York or without seeing my NY family.

3. Jackie and Jay arrived home from San Diego on Sunday and spent their four day Christmas vacation here at my house. Again, great to have everyone home for Christmas.

4. Monday was Christmas Eve, and of course, not drama free. Shawn, my house buddy, had been fighting a cold for a few days and woke up Monday morning with no voice and a fever, so it was off to Patient First. Now, at this point, I was thinking "I am really tired of spending holidays at Patient First" after spending New Year's Day last year there with Sean's pink eye. So Mr. Grimes found out he had strep throat, ugh, and spent the rest of the day resting.

5. Of course, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Christmas Eve dinner at Mom Mom's. It was a wonderful evening. Not surprisingly, much of the focus was on the youngest little Emery, Nicholas, and he did not disappoint! He was so enthusiastic about everything that was going on. He helped Courtney give out presents, opened his own presents and helped everyone else open theirs, and was just utterly adorable.

6. Christmas Day proved very successful and enjoyable. The Parto clan spent the day at my house. Mom cooked a great dinner of ham and all the trimmings. We had so much fun opening our gifts and spending time together. The evening ended with some games, first a nice round of Cranium Pop 5, then some friendly competition on the Wii. Dad boxing was by far one of the highlights of the day :)

Overall, Christmas was very nice. But not a day goes by that I don't miss Sean and think of him, and these last few days have made that even more true. One of the most special things for me this Christmas was giving the gift of Sean to many of my family members and friends. With my fabulous Mac and the iPhoto program, I was able to easily create photo books with collections of photos of Sean to give away as gifts. It was such a great way to have him with us at Christmas this year.

I hope that all of you were able to enjoy your family and friends over the Christmas season and are now ready to celebrate what will hopefully be a fabulous, happy, and lucky New Year. Love to all of you!