New Shoes!

One of my students, unexpectedly, bought a pair of shoes for me! He works at JCPenny, and he just said he thought I would really like the shoes he picked out. (One of the girls in my class helped in the shoe selection too, I think.) They are super comfortable, and I really do love them. I told him he must be a really good sales person because he, apparently, can pick out the perfect shoe! :-)

Here's what they look like...cute, right??

Boy Names

The little guy is in there constantly kicking and wiggling around! He hasn't stopped moving yet...

And, I'm completely burned out on school work and lesson plans...

So, I just thought I would ask... Does anybody have any ideas for baby boy names? There are so many to pick from, and we have some ideas, but I was just curious what ideas you guys might have. I also want to make sure we don't miss a good family name, either! :-)

Any ideas are appreciated!! :-)

Baby Update - Week 18

IT'S A BOY!!!!

Full frontal view of the baby:

(pretty alien-like, still, but it was amazing to see!!)

The doctor says everything looks great, and we were able to see the baby's spine, heart, stomach, brain, and lots of little bones! It was so amazing. He is moving around like a champ, and we can feel the little thumps in my stomach. The doctor estimates he weighs around 9 ounces now and is about the size of a sweet potato. His heartbeat is down to 153 bpm. I have gained 5 pounds since my last appointment (yikes!!), making a total of about 11 pounds so far (double yikes!!). The baby bump, though, is starting to show, although most people still think I don't look pregnant at all! My students love touching my stomach, which is a little weird, and I have to be careful when I walk around the room since they don't always ask!! The nausea is all but gone (except for a few moments here and there), and I really feel like I am getting more energy back every week. The baby is really into grapes, milk, apple juice, and Oreos this month, so I am happy to indulge him!

We'll have our next appointment in a month, and we can't wait to see how much he has grown!

Happy Birthday Dolores!

We drove up to Dallas a few weekends ago to celebrate Travis' grandmother's 80th birthday. It was a wonderful celebration, and we were delighted that we could be there! It was so wonderful to spend some time with his family and to see the twins who have grown so much! It was also wonderful to get out of Del Rio; it's the first time I've left the city since November!!

Happy Birthday, Dolores!!

Travis modeling one of the baby presents that Diane gave us...a cute little hoodie towel!!

We went to the Dallas Arboretum to see all the flowers blooming. It was absolutely beautiful! We also had the chance to go to the mall (yay!) and some other choice locations, like Pappadeux and Yogurtville. (I've lived in Del Rio too long, and I miss all those options out there!!)

The flowers were so pretty!! I couldn't resist taking a few pictures....

Travis' solution for my concern about taking pictures of just flowers....

It was a beautiful day, and it was really fun to walk around and hang out with Travis. He's been busy at work, and I hadn't had any quality time with him for a while!! :-)

The twins are walking and babbling like pros, and they were thrilled about getting into everything! Notice all the supervision so they wouldn't get in the water!!

Hanging out with my grandparents in Rockwall - we had a fabulous lunch and then ice cream for dessert in this amazing shopping center right on the lake. It was so good to see them!

And, the twins. Boy, have they gotten busy! They are all over the place, all the time! They are about 18 months old now and are the cutest little people! It was really a joy to see them again!

They love to hang out in our dog crates...

We were thrilled to see how patient Rio was with the babies! She is just naturally patient and loving to the kids. She has also learned that having little people around means extra food crumbs everywhere. She was happy to clean up after the twins and to lick the crumbs off their faces too! Percy behaved just fine, but he needs a little more exposure to the babies before he is truly comfortable...guess he will get his experience soon!!

Carson loved playing in the dog's water, too. We had to keep refilling the bowl over and over again!!

It was a great weekend, and it was so hard to leave Dallas!! I really didn't want to leave, but luckily, I have a wonderful, amazing husband who I love with all my heart, so I was happy to go home with him. We are looking forward to seeing everyone again soon!!

Spring Break Update...

As promised, I worked really hard over spring break, and I am really proud of everything I got done! It was a pretty productive week and weekend, and I feel like I am ready to tackle the rest of the school year...

Here's everything that happened:

-I finished reading a 400 page textbook, 6 articles, and another 200 page textbook, and finished the 30-page reading journal I have to turn in on April 15th

-I wrote three essays for the online Pre-Cal class

-I wrote an 11-page article review after searching for HOURS for a article that fit the guidelines the instructor gave us

-I finished Geometry lesson plans for the next week and a half and planned out the rest of the year

-I finished Pre-Cal lesson plans for the next two weeks, prepared the next couple of weeks of lesson plans (but didn't finish them) and planned out the rest of the year

-I revised and submitted the last paper for my History of Math class

-I graded the Geometry quizzes and Pre-Cal quizzes I gave last Friday and updated all the grades online

- I watched a LOT of Law and Order, Without a Trace, Gilmore Girls, The Office, cheesy, sappy movies on TMC, remodeling/designing shows on HGTV, and baby shows on TLC :-)

So, for my masters classes, I am finished with two of them (Pre-Cal and History of Math) except for the final exams and am 1 big project away from finishing the Reading class!!!

For my classroom, I have both classes planned for the rest of the year and lesson plans through next week. The rest of the lesson plans for the year won't be bad at all, and we are only about eleven weeks away from the end of the year. Whoo hoo!!

For the baby, not much has happened yet, but I still have time for that. One thing at a time over here...

And then, this weekend, Travis and I worked on the house and our own personal needs. We made a quick trip to San Antonio on Saturday to shop and hang out with my parents, and we bought a few essentials - new shoes for both of us and stretchy pants for me!! :-)

Then, today, Travis scrubbed the shower, mowed the lawn, and FIXED THE SINK!! We are tired of waiting for the insurance company, and it looks like it will be another few weeks (maybe even months) before they take our claim seriously, so Travis just went and bought a new faucet and figured out how to install it. It works perfectly and isn't leaking anymore. We are thrilled to have a functioning sink back! And, I feel good because the house is finally starting to be clean again!! I finished some work, cleaned the bathrooms, washed all the dishes, and cleaned up the kitchen. And then we found a giftcard for Chili's that we didn't know we had, so we had a free dinner too. :-)

So it was a good, productive spring break here at the Daniels' household!

And, Happy (late) St. Patrick's Day to everyone! I bought cards to send out, but I totally forgot to mail them... I'll just save them for next year!! :-)

Spring Break 2011

Well, spring break is finally here, but it won't be much of a break for me! This is a self-imposed work week, but I have decided I want to finish all three of my online master's classes for this semester in this next week. I also want to get the majority of the lesson plans for the next few weeks completed, because I want to be able to do other things on the weekends for the rest of the school year, like play on the lake! I also need (NEED) to get out of Del Rio and do some serious baby shopping...I haven't left this town since November!! (Did I mention that my house is also a disaster?? No child should live here right now...) I have several trips, days off, and fun activities planned, but all of them are happening in April, May, and June! So I figured I would sacrifice spring break in order to have weekends free for the rest of the school year.

So, I wanted to put it in writing and make it official: lots of work over spring break, lots of free weekends later. (Keep me honest, family!! Help me keep the motivation all week, and then make sure I take that time off later!) I'm already finished with one of my classes (History of Math), and I have finished half of both of the other classes. For my Pre-Calculus refresher class, I have two essays, four quizzes, and a final left to do. For the Reading class, I have 14 chapters and 6 articles of reading to complete, a major paper, a couple of discussion board posts, and a major presentation/powerpoint to complete...this one will be a challenge. For the lesson plans for my high school classes, I have already finished Geometry and Pre-Cal up through the week after spring break (yay!!), so I will be working on the next few weeks after that.

I'm motivated. I'm anxious to finish this master's degree and the rest of the school year.

Bring it on. :-)

Charity Auction and More Baby Presents

This past Saturday, we attended a charity auction that the Officer's Spouses Club (OSC) organized in order to raise money for scholarships for students to go to college. I joined the OSC last August, am currently serving as the Corresponding Secretary on the board, and spent a lot of time helping to put things together for the auction. It turned out to be a huge success, and we raised almost $12,000! We will be giving the money to the deserving students in April at our scholarship banquet. I have really enjoyed being a part of this group and am excited to be doing something as wonderful as helping a kid go to college!!

The auction itself was really fun. The western theme gave us both a chance to wear our cowboy boots! I was working for most of the auction, so I didn't get a chance to take any pictures (sorry!!). We had a dessert auction, and the cake I made ended up selling for $30!! There was also a silent auction, live auction, and raffle of gifts that we had solicited from members of the community. There were several great items, and I was in charge of putting all the item descriptions together for the programs. It was quite a task and took up most of one of my weekends, but it was really fun to get to see all the items beforehand!

Only one item stood out to me - a basket full of baby gifts! There are several ladies in our flight who are pregnant, and a bidding war ensued for the basket once it came up during the live auction. Travis persisted and kept his paddle in the air, and we ended up winning (um....buying) the basket!

It was totally worth it... Everything in the basket is super cute!! Of course, it is all getting tucked away in a closet for another seven months, but it's still exciting!! Here's what was inside:

A cute diaper bag, made out of a flight suit (the uniform Travis wears to work everyday). The lining on the inside is all different patterns of red, white, and blue. The patch on the left is the patch for the base here, and the patch on the right says "My Dad's in the Military".

Next, several bibs (red, white, and blue, of course!), a little red onsie that says "I'm Made in America", and two white shirts, one with a USA airplane on it, and another that says "I'm Proud...My Daddy is in the Air Force".

And then, of course, a myriad of blankets, toys, books and other necessities...most of them airplane oriented! :-)

I'm looking forward to being done with my master's classes and with school so that I can start focusing on putting together a nursery. For now, this stuff is just sitting in a closet in the guest room, waiting patiently for September! :-)