Happy Birthday, Joe!

The Mecca for campers! Joey was a kid in a candy store!

Joe's birthday is in March. Unfortunately, he has to spend it underwater in a submarine. He's been talking about how cool it would be to have a camping trailer so we can go camping all the time and create the kind of childhood memories that he has with his own family camping on the weekends. Washington is such a spectacular state and there are so many places to spend outdoors.

Joe had been looking for a used trailer on Craigslist and hadn't found any that he liked. We then went to a dealership in Silverdale and Joe fell in love with this trailer. He gave me those puppy-eyes and who was I to say, "no?" This is his birthday present for the next ten years.

Calendar Pages

On Trident submarines it's a tradition for family members to create calendar pages for the sailors while they are on patrol. Spouses sign up for a day and they organize them in order to show the whole crew daily. I was the very last person to sign up so I just took all the days that were left over. The crew may get sick of seeing pictures of us but if we didn't take them all, no one would have made anything for those days. (That's how I justify it and make myself feel like less of a dork).

Someone I work with helped me learn how to use the Cricut that Lory gave me for Christmas and I haven't stopped since! That thing is amazing! I feel so confident with it, I went to Joanns and got a refund for that workshop that I signed up for! $20 back, baby! When I was using it, Joe was even surprised at how totally cool that thing is!

Yes, April 8 is a bit weird. I wanted to post pictures that other people would enjoy as well. Joe has talked about how gorgeous J-Lo is and recently he's been talking about Taylor Swift. Who doesn't love that little cutie pie? I think Carrie Underwood is pretty so I put that there. I had many pictures from which to chose since Mary and I are trading gossip magazines. I subscribe to People and she subscribes to In Touch. We trade since the darn things are so expensive! She also shares her Working Mother and Kiplinger and I share my Newsweek. It was a match made in Human Resources heaven, if you ask me.

The page with Joseph as a baby has the lyrics to "All My Loving" since I heard it on the radio the day I was putting it together and it seemed to fit.

On a separate note, Mary and I just completed a 2 day training at Fort Lewis. We were deeply inspired by what we learned. We have so many ideas to bring back to the staff at Naval Base Kitsap. We love networking and learning things from other programs. Summer programs are currently in planning mode and we can really have a positive impact on the outcome! So exciting!!!

Gotta Love the Homos...

HomoNYMS, that is! A homonym is "a word same as another in sound and spelling but different in meaning" (mahalo to Dictionary.com). This post is dedicated to one of my best friends in the whole entire galaxy (yes, I have friends on Mars and Jupiter), Taryn.

Recently, I wrote an email to Taryn in which the title read, "Your Hired!" Of course, in true Taryn fashion, ridicule ensued. I was a bit embarrassed initially, but then I was kind of mad at myself. When I read other people's blogs and Facebook posts, I am quite critical of their grammar and here I was making a gross error for potentially the whole world to read! I've often thought about posting a little tutorial on the subject as a refresher but there always seemed to be better events to document and it seemed lame since no one really reads this blog anyway.

Although I was a social studies and not a language arts teacher, I always took a couple of lessons to talk about homonyms since I knew I'd spend the rest of the year reading their essays and exams. I would also pose a challenge to the kids asking them to think of as many homonyms in one sitting. I think one student actually got to 100 or so. Alan Cooper has a list of 1,529 homonyms and although some of them are questionable (a and eh?) it's a pretty good list.

Here are the most commonly misused homonyms that I have seen:

their (possession) "I would love to live in their house!"
there (direction) "I see the house over there."
they're (conjunction, "they are") "They're buying a beautiful house."

to (toward) "I would like to move to Bainbridge Island"
too (as well) "I love Bainbridge Island, too!"
two (a couple) "There are two people in our family who would like to live on Bainbridge Island."

its (possessive pronoun) "Its leaves are falling fast."
it's (conjunction of 'it is') "It's going to be a long autumn."

your (belonging to you) "I love your sense of humor."
you're (contraction of 'you are') "You're too funny!"

So THERE Taryn! Put that in YOUR (not you're) pipe and smoke it! You know I love you!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Joseph is an artist! His first Paint By Numbers!

Super embarrassing birthday ice cream

Lunch at Red Robin

Cupcakes for Joseph's class

Flowers delivered to my work from Joe

Today is my birthday. When I was really young (11 or 12) I used to hope that I would die soon after I turned 21 because after that it seemed like I would be a old geezer. Nine years later, I'm still kicking (thankfully) and hope the next thirty years don't fly by as quickly as the first thirty did!

Today I went to work. I wouldn't have it any other way (regarding work) because I love love love love love love my job! I know that if I were still teaching in Hawaii today would be "furlough Friday" and I wouldn't have to work and I'd be grateful for it but today I'd really rather be at work than doing anything else. The days seem to fly by because Mary and I are so busy. We're guiding the Child Youth Program facilities through the process of acquiring accreditation by COA (Council on Accreditation). Months ago when we started going through COA's website, we could have been reading Arabic for all we knew. Now we understand the process and are trying to explain it to the managers and administrators. It's really exciting!

Lately I've been consumed with finding a school for Joseph. I'm completely overwhelmed by it. First of all, I am a bit sick that we have to PAY for Kindergarten. In the South Kitsap district, Kindergarten isn't full-time. That's just crazy! Why wouldn't you want your child to go to school all day? Since I also work, I have to find a school that has an after school program, too. I found a pretty good school but when I went to visit the after school program, I was shocked to see the deplorable conditions of the facility. The kids stay in one small room from 3pm until 5:30pm with really nothing to do! There were no games, books, or tables for doing homework. For snack, there was a bag of carrots, pretzels, and a bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing! All of this for $320 a month on top of the $700 tuition?! Who do they think they are?

Joe had tulips sent to the Litehouse. It was a nice surprise even though it attracted unwanted attention. I was trying to keep a low profile this year since it's the big 3-0. Mary didn't help matters by telling EVERYONE that it was my birthday. When I went into training this morning, all the staff sang Happy Birthday to me. I brought bagels and cream cheese (instead of doughnuts) and my toaster and I think it was a hit. I still had half left at least we'll have breakfast for the next month. :)

Mary took me to lunch at Red Robin today. It was really nice. The food took forever to arrive but it didn't matter because we had a lot to talk about. While we were eating there were two other birthday people being serenaded by the staff. I told her that I would DIE of embarrassment if that happened to me. Sure enough, as we were about to leave, our server announced (at the top of his lungs) "We have a special birthday today!" As they were singing, I was sinking in my seat.

I took cupcakes to Joseph's class today to celebrate my birthday. His class was so excited because they were so large. It was fun to share them. They're all so cute!

Joseph is now making cake for me (out of sushi and fruits and vegetables). I am going to enjoy them and get ready for bath and bed time.

Ode to Chris

Chris is our boss. He really is the greatest. His motto is "family first" and it is reflected in his actions. He helped Mary get her hours reduced since Paul is in Afghanistan and she is essentially a single mother. To thank him, Mary wanted to get him a card. We went to Hallmark and she felt everything was far too cheesey. She had a brilliant idea to make him a card. He's a runner and she wanted it to reflect his obsession with running. Here's the product. This is actually a picture of Lance Armstrong with Chris' picture glued over it. Genius. He's an amazing person and if you want, you can take a look at his blog. His daughter, Emma, is in Joseph's class. It's fun knowing her so well. They have a family blog and you can see it here.

No Kitties at this KiDiMuseum!

Joseph and I traveled 50 miles north to Bainbridge Island to see our favorite friends, Jack and Claire. The day before, I told Joseph that we were going to the KiDiMuseum (Pronounced "Kiddie Museum," short for kid's discovery museum) and he asked me if we could take home one of the kitties. Such a cutie pie!

After we spent a good hour there, we all went to get ice cream at our beloved Mora's Iced Creamery. Joseph got chocolate and Jack got vanilla. Then we went to Andante (where Mary believes the very best coffee in the world is sold) and I got a decadent hot chocolate! We went over to the park and the kids got to play around. It was such a wonderful day!