Happy Birthday!!

I know I said I'd post about the house problems and post pictures, but I haven't had time, and Rozzie so so much more interesting anyway. It is Rozzie's 13th birthday tomorrow, so I thought I'd post a little journal entry from when she was born, much the same as I did with Morgan.

June 6, 1996

My Little Rosalin -

You are now eight days old and my love for you grows and grows each day. You are just a wonderful little girl. You sleep a lot and aren't nursing so well. You nurse for a few minutes and fall asleep, then want to eat a half hour later. It gets old, especially at night. Luckily, you are only up one time each night.

Let me tell you a little bit about your birth. Your pregnancy wasn't so easy. I was pretty swollen and had 6 blood transfusions (which were not fun). So, Dr. Spetalnick agreed to induce me one week early on May 29, 1996. Dad and I got to Vanderbilt at 7:30 am and got all checked in and settled. My nurse's name was Eileen and she was super. At 9:40 am they finally got the pitocin started. I thought the doc would break my water but he didn't. He was busy delivering two other babies that morning. So the contractions came, but weren't painful and didn't get me dilating. Dad and I were getting pretty bored, so at 1:05 pm, Dr. Spetalnick came over and broke my water. I knew at that point, there really was no turning back. It was kindof a scary moment. The contractions built up for a bout an hour and a half. At 2:30 I had dilated to 4 cm. By 2:45 I was asking for an epidural. The anesthesiologist came in and told me that after re-evaluating my case, they had changed their minds and decided I wasn't a good candidate for the epidural due to my low platelet count. That didn't make me too happy. I cried. At 3:00 I was moved to the birthing room and the contractions were getting very bad. I tried to focus on the windsock I could see out my window and count through the contractions. It seemed to help a little, but it was pretty crazy. At 3:30, I was at 6 cm and at 3:35 I was at 8 cm, so I was moving pretty fast at that point. I was also getting more and more hysterical. I had such an urge to push but they kept telling me not to; I did a little, but anyway - I couldn't help it. Finally, I was at 10 cm and in 3 pushes, you were out (4:17). After push #2, Dr. S. said you'd be here on the next contraction, so I sat up and pushed you out (TMI). My first reaction was surprise at your dark hair. I was excited about that. Then someone confirmed that you were a girl. It was such a relief to have you out! I had a minor tear - your elbow got caught. Dad cut your cord (wrapped around the neck twice) and then you were handed off to the Pediatric group to get some blood out of you. After a few minutes, I got to hold you for a moment, then you were taken off to NICU until your platelet count was back and normal. I had some hemorrhaging troubles but all was taken care of. (She was born posterior, hence the increased pain and I refused to stop bleeding.) I was ordered to stay in bed for 24 hours. It wasn't until 9:00 that night that I was moved to my room and reunited with you. Aunt Karen and Savana were here watching Morgan and so they were at the hospital visiting. Morgan was so thrilled to have a baby sister. She loved you and loved you. The days in the hospital moved quickly and how were are home trying to adjust.

When you are awake and alert, you look around and are so curious. Your eyes are dark and beautiful. Your tiny little body is such a miracle. I look forward to getting to know your spirit!

July 1998 -
Mom: Do you like your ice cream?
Roz: I like it ice cream, at home, at school, at play.

October 1999 - Grandma and Grandpa Smith are visiting. You love to sit with them and color or read or look at pictures. You were with Grandpa on the bed and your friend, Mariah Johnson came over and walked in. You said, "This is my Grandpa, Go AWAY!" Grandpa was carrying you down the stairs and he missed the last step. He fell and hurt his knee and tore his pants. You bonked your head. Down in the basement, Grandma and I heard the thud and came running. You were pretty scared. The next time you were with Grandpa and he was going to carry you downstairs, you said, "I can go down myself."

July 2000 - Grandpa Olsen's granddaughter (Brittany) slept overnight while we were visiting. She is about 13 or 14. She was so nice to you girls and you all just loved her and wanted to sit by her. After I put you to bed you asked me if she was the Brittany who sings, "Oops, I did it Again." You were thinking we had Britney Spears over for entertainment!

September 17, 2000 - Daddy was watching football - Miami vs. Baltimore
Roz: Who's winning
Dad: Miami
Roz: What color is your Ami

May 2001:
Roz: Mom, did you kill this chicken?
Mom: No, not this one (I've never killed any)
Roz: Who killed it?
Mom: The chicken farmers
Roz: Like on "Chicken Run"?
Mom: Yes
Roz: Why isn't there any blood on the food?
Mom: Most people don't like a lot of blood on their food.
Roz: Oh. What do they do with all the blood?
Mom: They pour it out.
Roz: Where?
Mom: At the chicken farm.
Roz: oh.

June 2001:
Dad: Do you believe in Jesus?
Roz: Yes, and I also believe in Santa Claus

August 2001:
Grandma O: What are you going to wear on the first day of school?
Roz: School clothes.

I could go on. Thanks for reading. Happy Birthday, Rozzie!!

Some of the Fun things in Life

I have a lot of things that are not so favorable to post about right now. However, I will post the fun things of last week. I already told you about the fabulous senior barbecue. The next day was senior "At Your Service" day. It used to be senior Slave Day, but they thought that wasn't very politically correct. Morgan had been waiting for this day all year. She bought Sarah Pannell. She wanted Hannah, too, but was outbid by Hannah's science teacher. They got hold of a wagon. Morgan set Sarah up with a toga. Sarah then hauled Morgan around campus in the wagon, feeding her grapes and sparkling grape juice. Too bad it rained very hard all all all day. Here they are before school started, embarking on their journey!

I got some pictures of me with my senior classes. This was our last day of class when everyone was going to be there. Some kids came to my class twice and are in both pictures. Things do tend to relax a bit at this time of year.

Steve is dressed like Britney Spears for Slave Day. He looked...interesting.in the back is dressed as Britney Spears for Senior Slave Day. He looked...interesting.

Jamison was in the picture because he had made a pact with the school. He would come to school SEVEN days in a row and we would give him a diploma. He got it!!

Last but not least, here is a cute little curl of Morgan's hair. Last week was a complete loss for hair. It rained everyday.

A little later, I'll post about the goings on at the Smith house. It has not been good. Get the Kleenex out!

A Senior Celebration

First off, here are my purple socks I finished last night, and I love them. They are so pretty and comfy.
Last year, I wanted to do something fun for my seniors who were leaving me. I thought a barbecue would be nice and Travis could come and flip burgers. I talked to Heather about it and we decided to expand it to include all our seniors in ESE. But what about the seniors I had who weren't ESE? We expanded it even more! The day came and Travis came and we grilled and had a great lunch. This year, we wanted to do it again. We invited all our kids, plus a few extras. As our ISS aide was calling around to see if businesses would donate food, she hit upon Walmart. One of our student's fathers is a big wig with the Mart and they wanted to do something for the community. They brought hot dogs, burgers, buns, ALL the toppings, chips, sodas, etc. They even grilled the meat and served. What a great service they did. It was so fabulous. Then the question became, "what about Travis?" My student, Garrett, immediately answered, "FUNNEL CAKES!" And so, Travis came and made funnel cakes for everyone. It was a hit. One kid asked, "Do we get a whole one?" It was such a fun day. Here is Travis making funnel cakes. Oh, and it was cold and rainy! Who ever imagined it would be 60 degrees and raining days on end? Not me!I love this picture. Everyone was laughing when we took this. Mind you, I'm 5'4". This is me with Garrett and Steve. They are my really tall students. It amazes me that kids this tall will listen to me and do what I tell them to do. I've had Steve for 2 years and will miss him a lot. Garrett makes us all laugh. He called me yesterday and told me his mom wouldn't check him out from school and he had errands to run so would I please mark him "present." No. We do have a lot of fun at school.
By the way, Garrett is dressed as a dog for Senior "At your service" (AKA: slave) day. He is going to the be Heather's dog in her Little Rascals group. And another note, I'm wearing a Tshirt at school as it was "College Tshirt day" where the seniors wear the shirts of where they are going to college. The teachers are encouraged to wear their college shirts, too. I made mine last year and it is two-sided. I went to BYU. That was where I wanted to go. However, I got married and moved to Denver, so I finished up at Univ. of Colorado and the back of the shirt represents my CU days. I bought 2 shirts, cut them up, and sewed them back together.

Not Quite Wrecktastic

I took the day off today to embellish The Cake. I didn't even care that I had this monumental task ahead of me - I was home by myself!! I kneaded fondant and danced around to "Wicked" which I think I listed to the whole CD 3 1/2 times today!! LAAA-LA-LAAA-LA!! So, I mixed and kneaded and colored and rolled. Here is a photo journey:

At this point it was time to take the cake to the clubhouse and set it up. Lani and Chantal came and helped me. Lani was really excited about how it looked. I am of two minds. On one hand, this is my first time doing anything like this, so it did turn out really cool and no one knew the difference. On the nother hand, I have seen the professional ones and I know the possibilities and I am frustrated at my inability to reproduce it, perfectly. So, I know there are flaws. Just be impressed with what I was able to do, thank you. Anyway, I have the picture of me with the cake first, then afterwards are the close up shots of some of the fun details. I really liked the little "pebble" border. The bow turned out decently. From across the room, it looked fabulous. Now, here is a picture of Rozzie, Maddie, Chloe, and Hannah dancing the "Hoedown Throwdown."I'm not including any other pictures of McCall's party as those are hers to share. I took a ton of pictures and will give her the CD's. We had a great time. Happy Birthday, McCall!!

A Mid-Week Blog - Who Knew?

Last week, I took a night off and went to a friends to stamp. I haven't stamped in ages. I didn't care what we made. Turns out, we made these adorable little Mother's Day Lunch Bag Scrapbooks. I don't think they are very photo safe, but they are so cute and I'll just get some pictures printed up for it. Chantal had the book all ready for us. We just glued and stamped. It was so much fun. So, here is your scrapbook journey, starting with the cover:

Here is a sample page. I love the little penguin. His little belly is very cute!
In the section of the lunch bag that opens up, there is a slide-out page (front and back). It has a handy ribbon pull tab!

This is another very darling page:

Next fun project is the amazing birthday cake that I still don't think I can do. I did Phase I: The Baking, yesterday:

This afternoon brought on Phase II: The Frosting. I knew that I could not do the fondant covering the cake as I have never dealt with fondant before. I know that it isn't perfect and you can see the frost lines, but I'm doing the best I can. I'm sick to death about cake. I hope it comes out OK. Stay tuned for the finished product. PRESSURE!Speaking of pressure, Morgan took her AP World History test today. She is relieved to have it behind her. I hope she did well. She really prepared herself for this with many after school and Saturday study sessions.

May day!! May day!!

It is finally May!! Mid-May, too!! School is really winding down and my first REAL year of teaching is almost done. I finished my reading class and I'm almost done with my ESOL class. It is just as annoying as the other classes. My seniors have only 7 days of classes left before their first final, and next week is "Senior Week" and their pool party, so I will only see them 3 days. I am so excited for summer! Speaking of summer, my first week of summer vacation will be spent at Girl's Camp. I am the "Level 2 Camp Crafter" meaning I have all the girls Rozzie's age and will be teaching them all the stuff they need to pass off in the camp manual. I get to take them on a 5 miles hike. I get to make breakfast with them over a camp fire. I get to teach them about clouds, poison ivy (Jake - any information?), and all sorts of other things. I have a lot to get prepared. However, instead of preparing for classes, I'm making each of the girls a cute little embroidered washcloth for use at camp, complete with their names on it so they don't get mixed up!!
The Camp Theme is "The Pathway of the Just" and for the cute side of it all, they gave it a "transportation" theme. The 1st level is bikes, 2nd level is cars, 3rd level is trains, and 4th level is airplanes. So, it is all very cute and I'm excited to go and to have Rozzie in my classes. Morgan is excited to be a junior counselor.

I had a nice Mother's Day. I wanted to get pictures with each of the girls for my cute little booklet I made, but it didn't happen. I got a gift certificate for PF Chang's (LOVE IT) and Rozzie and Maddie made me a variety of cards. When I got home from church Rozzie and Maddie had made me a pasta dish for lunch and had set the table nicely for me.
Travis made my favorite kabobs for dinner and they were delicious!!

Last week, we finally got around to taking advantage of our Valentine's Day gifts. We went to see "Wicked!" It was really fabulous. Morgan didn't want to go and was having a bad attitude, but then on the way there, she told me she decided to change her attitude. Guess what, she LOVED it. I'm proud of her for making that effort. Rozzie and Maddie were all prepared to get their t-shirts. They were so excited and had saved their money.
Earlier today, Maddie was working on an extra credit project for social studies. They have been doing "Oregon Trail" as a class and for extra, they could do their own scene from the trail. Maddie and her friend decided to do the scenario of losing an ox getting loose and wandering off. Licky is the ox. They are video taping. I asked how she planned to get Licky to cooperate and she said, "treats." They recruited Rozzie. I saw Maddie running around in a skirt and dress combination that was ... interesting. It is just hilarious.

That is about it for today. Time to eat and sew and walk and go to church!

Simply Saturday

I'm going to take a page from my sister's blog (the Shoebox Princess) and just make a list. I haven't posted in a while. Thanks for all your comments and support regarding my hate mail. We still get plenty of laughs out of it. I feel I have gotten a lot accomplished and am giving myself the rest of Saturday off to go upstairs and work on Morgan's scrapbook. Here is what I have done this week:

1. I did all my ESOL homework, even though I had an angry attitude about being asked how my class incorporates other cultures. I teach a British Lit and an American Lit class. We aren't bringing other cultures in! I talked about how British Lit is a culture all in itself. Sometimes we talk about the French or Spanish, though. Does that count? My class doesn't seem to care that I'm Scottish/Swedish/German-American. They haven't addressed my cultural needs. I could go on for hours.

2. I finished knitting the back of a sweater. It looks great and like it might fit!! I absolutely love the colors.

3. I went to a band concert. Morgan's bands did very well and I enjoyed it immensely.

4. I remembered to bring home my big paper so I can get Travis started on drawing pictures for me for camp.

5. I went to a Stampin' Up class and made a paper bag photo album that is cuter than cute.

6. I went to a National Scrapbook event last night and got Morgan's book caught up to Marching season. I will go work on that in a minute.

7. I started my May dishcloth; however, the poster-lady posted day 1 for day 2 so I need to keep waiting.

8. We made it to all violin and dance lessons this week.

9. I made dinner 4 times this week.

10. I got up and went to school every day.

11. I just went grocery shopping and saved $22 with coupons. Rozzie and Maddie were helpful shoppers.

12. I read my scriptures every day.

13. I made my bed everyday.

That is good enough. I feel better now and can go and play upstairs without guilt. I'll take my laptop and watch a movie!!