Another (Semi) Snow Day

Stop the presses- we have yet another bout of winter weather here in O-Town.

Living in Atlanta for several years taught me a valuable lesson about weather & its prediction: weather people are often wrong.

I'd watch tv at the threat of snow, see people stock piling groceries at the store, and then I'd cross every body part that school would be closed and we'd have a snow day. All to be let down the next morning with...usually nothing.

Thankfully this has prepared me well for the weather here. We get rumors days before- "It's going to snow!" "I hear 2 inches!" "Make sure you have milk and bread!"

Then I repeat my routine from yesteryear and wake up just disappointed as I did when I was younger.

Only this year, we've had TWO "winter" weather experiences. I put winter in quotes because, well, having also lived in NY, this weather isn't exactly what I'd call snow.

The past two days have played out with all the usual rumors, and I awoke this morning to not a mere drop of precipitation. Then, on my way to work, it started raining. Which turned into freezing rain and ice and, finally, a snow flake or two.

So today I got the best of both worlds- some "winter" weather which meant they let us out of school early, but a late enough dismissal so that we don't have to make up the school day. YAY!

Funny students

My baby belly is really starting to show now. And the fact that I am already practically waddling doesn't help hide the fact that I'm pregnant.

Naturally my students are becoming more interested in things and they have questions. Sometimes they just amaze me with their...um...specialness?

Case in point: I was at the basketball game after school yesterday when a girl student walked up and rubbed my belly. I was a little uncomfortable but ok. The other girl student looked me up and down and said, "So where is the baby?" I looked at her puzzled and asked what she meant. She motioned with her hand up and down and asked again where the baby is. I told her it was in my belly and she replied, "Ooh, that makes sense."

What the heck!?

I should have just said my feet.

Adult Topic

I'm usually a good month or two (or three or four) behind in hearing about cool, new web sites. Then, when I finally hear about it, I often have absolutely no desire to even check it out.

One of these web sites is omegele or something to that effect. The essence of the site (from my understanding) is that you sign on and it connects you with some random stranger to chat with. Both safe and productive! Amazing!

A friend happened to forward to me a conversation from this site, and it cracked me up (along with proving I was correct in not venturing a go with this great new internet frontier of internet chatting).

It could just be the English teacher in me that made me laugh for a good 10 minutes, but I like to think that most educated people would find it somewhat amusing.

Enjoy, and if you too have not heard of or experienced this great omegele phenomenon, be very, very glad!

**And just to clarify- this was not me taking part in the conversation. This is from a web site that I was directed to so that I could enjoy the hilarity.

Snow Days

We are on our second snow day today, and I am loving it! Richie even stayed home yesterday which never happens. We slept in, ate a yummy breakfast, watched our favorite shows. Such a nice morning.

Unfortunately when I went to get the ice cream out of the outside freezer, I noticed something was wrong. Over the past week things haven't been as frozen as normal. I pulled out the ice cream, and it was mush. Not.good.

The upside of having a broken fridge and freezer during a winter storm is that it is currently 11 degrees outside, so I just unloaded stuff that has to stay cold into our garage and that is working just fine for today.

There's always a silver lining if you look hard enough!

Back to work

Well, our wonderful two week break is over. Tomorrow Richie & I head back to work. Can you hear the excitement in my voice (for the both of us)?

Yesterday was a very productive day. We cleaned out the baby's room.

That sounds like a small task but, trust me, it was a massive undertaking. I'll try to find a before picture. The room was filled to the brim with stuff- baby stuff, my stuff, Richie's stuff, more of my stuff. If you've ever been to my house and opened the door next to the bathroom, you understand why this topic warrants its own entry.

It feels good to have the room completely emptied and cleaned and ready for all the things a new baby brings!

When my headache goes away, I'll upload the pictures I have of the room and hopefully find a before picture just so you can be amazed at our skills.

New Year's Eve & Baby Announcement

We spent New Year's Eve at Uncle Mike & Aunt Donna's house with Verne, Mayia and my parents. We had yummy food, excellent company and football games on tv. It was a perfect night!

Naturally, I didn't make it to midnight. In an interesting twist, Richie actually fell asleep before I did. Granted it was only about 5 minutes before I was out, but still. That never happens!

Here are Verne & Mayia chatting in the family room.
Of course the Chunkling was there to celebrate. This is his 1st sip of sweet tea.
Ahhh! He enjoyed it!

Richie & I posed for a picture- I think this was the only time we sat together the entire night.

And last but not least, we found out on 12/21 that we are having a...

BOY!

Oh, and today (1/1/10) I felt the baby move for the 1st time. Grow, baby, grow!

Christmas 2009

Christmas was a little different for me this year- it was the first time ever I've not been with my parents on Christmas morning. I usually sleep at their house, wake up bright & early, open presents and then play with everything as my mom cooks a delicious breakfast.

This year my parents headed to Atlanta to be with Doug. I stayed in Oxford with Richie and his family. It was a wonderful, relaxing day!

We woke up around 8am to the smells of Kathy whipping up some food for later in the day. The smell was so delicious, I could've eaten dinner right then!

Once we were all up, we started opening our gifts. We had such a nice time exchanging presents and enjoying each other's new trinkets.

We spent the rest of the day lounging around, watching movies (I think I watched Christmas Vacation twice- it's my favorite!) and eating.

Here is an early morning picture of me & my sweet husband. All of the gifts pouring out from under the tree.

Richie distributed the gifts. This was Emma's box of gifts...

She didn't need Richie to give them to her; she took matters into her own hands and got her gifts herself. I can't believe Christmas 2009 is over!

Decorating for Christmas

We didn't decorate as much for Christmas this year as we did last year. We were still happy with the holiday vibe at our house.

We hung stockings by the fireplace...
And I set up my nativity...

Richie even let us get a tree without incident! We went with my mom & dad to get it the day after Thanksgiving, even after having driven in from Atlanta that afternoon.

Richie had to reach up high to get all the lights and ornaments up while I stayed on the ground.And the final product- before the gifts started to pile up.