Just for Dad

Dad,
As promised, I changed the background of the blog for you:)  Can you read this?

Love you,
me

PS  I got your mattress upstairs!!!!

Back to School

This week is back to school week for teachers.  Students start next Monday.  While Megan is enjoying sleeping in until noon, I am working hard at school preparing for my new group of students.

This year, I will be teaching 5th grade science.  For those that are worried, let me assure you by telling you two things.  First, the science program is very well laid out and I won't blow up anything or anyone by following the directions.  Second, be grateful I am not teaching math!



We have only been back for two days, but things are already better this year than last.  My new classroom is bigger, has windows, and is conveniently located.  There are 6 teachers on my team.  Three of us are new to fifth grade--in fact, two of them are first year teachers. 


I am learning how to keep track of my classes by color coding them .  We are on a block schedule so I only teach science to three classes each day.  The next day I teach the same science lesson to the other three classes.  I can't believe how much time I am saving in lesson planning alone!  This year, I have 106 students.....last year it just felt like 106 students!!!


All is well.


B

Chefs in the Kitchen

Today, Megan and I tackled the challenge of stocking up the freezer with ready made meals and snacks to gear up for school.  We are all focusing on increasing our protein and Megan has virtually eliminated meat from her food repetoire.....except for a rare steak once in a while.

We found some great recipes for  high protein meals, snacks, desserts, and even waffles!   Today we made and froze single servings of

Sugar Free Chocolate protein cake
Sugar Free Carrot Cake protein cake
Sugar Free Chocolate Raspberry protein cake
Southwest bites (crustless quiches with black beans, corn, green chiles)
Peanut Butter & Jelly bites (mini muffins, high protein and tastes like PB&J)
Zucchini bites (crustless quiches with zucchini, onions & bacon)

Tomorrow, we plan to tackle making frozen waffles, some frozen stews and soups, and maybe end the day with protein ice cream!

We are hopeful that we will be better about grabbing a quick breakfast from one of today's creations instead of going without breakfast on those early school mornings.

For anyone interested, I found many of the recipes on this website: 

http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/

When I went to her blog just now to get the URL, I saw her recipe for a raspberry cheesecake smoothie!  Yum!  I love the idea of eating these high protein desserts that are designed to help me shed the 10 lbs I gained on summer vacation!


And, I hope you are enjoying regular (although mundane) entries on the blog.  Please leave your comments if you love or hate the content so I know the blog is being read.:)

A day to remember

Troy and I drove to Abilene today to see Steven.  We had one of the most remarkable days we have had!  It seems like we are constantly surprised and impressed with the gains Steven has made!

We went to Mr. Gatti's for lunch.  Mr. Gatti's, for those not in the know, is like Peter Piper Pizza meets Dave and Buster's.  It's a pizza buffet, bowling, arcade games, bumper cars, and a ride that takes you up in the air and drops you down in increments.  To an adult, this is torture.  To a child, it is heaven.  To Steven, it was heaven on crack!

 We ate pizza on the buffet.  And salad.  And cookies.  And pasta.  And soda.  And then we found the pudding.   Life was as good as it gets.

Steven played the "I have to go to the bathroom" card which he frequently uses as a means of escaping whatever setting he is done with.

After the bathroom, Steven went into the arcade.  Unprompted.  Without bribery.  He tried to play the games.  He bowled and earned tickets which we promptly exchanged for tootsie rolls and bubbles.  He was in heaven.

Then, he saw the bumper cars.  He wanted on those cars so bad. Unfortunately, the cars were not yet open for the day.

We have decided to hold Steven's 14th birthday at Mr. Gatti's.  We talked to the manager and he even offered to open the doors an hour early so the boys could all enjoy the place without the extra stimulus of extra people around.  (one of the benefits of the school being one of the largest employers in town!)

Today was truly a day to remember.  Wow.

A summary of our day......

Jumped through hoops to get Megan's hardship drivers license.  We got all 34 hours of driving done.  We got all 32 hours of learning modules done.  We stood in line 5 TIMES at the licensing department.

Today, we went to get her hardship license.

They granted her a hardship license for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 3:30-5:30 to get herself to and from physical therapy.  Sounds great right?

Nope.

She rides the bus to school.  She rides the bus from school to swim team.  She doesn't have a way home from swim team to get a car to drive to physical therapy.  They won't allow her hardship exception to allow her to drive herself to school and to swim.  She can't get a ride home from a friend to get the car because they are still in the water until 4:30.

So, the hardship license and all it entails is useless.

Megan is disappointed and I feel terrible for her. But, we will manage and will continue to let her drive us around!  As least we get another year of her being forced to spend time with us!  Once she has her real license, I'm sure she will be gone all the time!

She will keep her permit until she turns 16 and will get her license next summer.

In the meantime, she will be the most well-trained designated driver in town.