National Boards - Part I

For the past 10 months I have been working on my National Board Certification with two very good friends, Joanne and Jessica. Today, we finished the first part of the process, mailing our portfolios!

Here's my portfolio all packaged up. It's not very impressive looking. It consisted on 4 entries (1 writing, 1 social studies, 1 science/math, and 1 of my accomplishments as a teacher).


Me as Vanna at the packing "party".


Yay! Me, Jessica, and Joanne ready to go to the post office!


Jessica mailing her Boards.


Joanne mailing her Boards.


Finally, me mailing my Boards.


The girls celebrating the end of the first part of the certification process.
We will finish our application process when we take the written assessment on May 8th. Wish us luck!!

Happy Birthday Harry!!!

Today Harry turned 29! We celebrated his last birthday in the 20s (gulp!) all weekend long.

On Friday night Joanne threw a karoke party. Harry and I rocked the house... ok, so Harry rocked the house (he can actually sing). The house survived me (I cannot sing, AT ALL).

Harry with the birthday cake I made him.

On Saturday, Harry and cleaned up our yard and ate dinner at the Penguin Drive-In. Yummy!

Today, Harry and I hiked at Crowders Mountain State Park.

It was a beautiful day to be outside!

Happy Birthday Harry!!!

Snow Day!

Harry had to go outside a couple of times during the storm to knock snow off our cherry tree.

Four beautiful inches of snow and no school!

March

Today is March 1st. I have been looking forward to March for the wonderful events...

March 1 - Karen's Birthday - Happy Birthday Karen!

March 22 - Harry's Birthday

but also dreading it as a deadline...

March 31 - National Board DUE!

And now, we are forcast to get 6 inches of snow. It is currently 33 degrees and pouring rain with a cold front moving in later today. I think it might happen!

Although we are already making up 2 snow days (including 1 on a "protected" teacher work-day) I think this might be just what I need to make me feel better about my Boards progress. 

Could we awaken to a winter wonderland tomorrow?

Part of me really hopes so!

Trivia

This is a common household item that was invented in 1923 by a Polish-born American named Leo Gerstenzang. It was origionally called "baby gays". What was it?

We quessed baby oil. Check out the "Comments" section for the answer.

New Post

Harry is working and making a ladder bookcase. He will be done by the end of the week (hopefully).

I am working on my National Boards, I wrote for 7 hours yesterday. 

Nothing else exciting now.

Tomorrow we will go to work and then trivia. 

No pictures... our camera is broken. Hopefully it will be fixed soon and you can enjoy pictures.

"Anynonyms", hopfully you are not dissapointed! :-)

NC State Beverage

Thanks to the trivia lady, I now know that the North Carolina State Beverage is...
A. Milk
B. Pepsi
C. Beer
D. Sweet Tea
What's your guess?
(see the comments for the answer)

Oyster Roast and Crab Bake

Today Mom, Dad, Harry, and I had a seafood feast. We purchased fresh oysters from the local fish market and dungeness crab. It was a messy meal, but delicious!

There was a lot of cleaning required to get the oysters ready to steam. First, mud needed to be washed off of each of the oysters. Then, mom, dad, and Harry scrubbed each oyster (I was rinsing with the hose and taking pictures). Then, the oysters were rinsed one last time. The whole process took about an hour.

Me, preparing the dungeness crab.


Dungeness crab cooking


Steaming oysters





All of us, enjoying our meal.


Dad and Mom, all cleaned up, after the meal.


Harry and I still eating.

Carolina Beach State Park

Today, Mom, Dad, Harry, and I went to Carolina Beach State Park. It was a cloudy day in Wilmington, but still beautiful.

Looking out towards the ocean.


Harry and I with the river in the background.


One of the many swamps on our hike toward Sugar Loaf.


We got lost along the way, because "the trails were closed" so Harry needed to stop and rest.


Finally, we made it to Sugar Loaf Mountain... "the highest point in North Carolina."


Dad and Mom at Sugar Loaf.


Harry and I at Sugar Loaf.

Thompson Christmas

The Thompson's at our house for Christmas Eve dinner.









Leaving for Christmas Eve service at DCPC.

Getting ready to tear into some presents.
(I'm actually the only one that tears. Harry and Laura carefully slice each piece of tape open; an event that takes about 15 minutes to open a single present... very annoying!)

Mom and Dad opening presents at a normal pace.



Our gift to Dad didn't quite fit.













Playing...

Sleeping....

More Sleeping

Christmas Cookies

Only in this family would Christmas cookies include Clemson Tiger Paws.

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

On Friday Harry and I attended an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. It was awesome!

Our friend Shannon came over on Monday to create our Christmas masterpieces.
Here is what we came up with!


Harry and I at the party. My sweatshirt says "Have a Beary Christmas".
Harry's turtleneck has kittens in stockings and reads "Santa's Little Helpers".


The girls... Jessica, me, Shannon, and Allie looking lovely as ever!


Harry and our host, Bryan enjoying their festive outfits!


The gentlemen in all their glory!


The ladies... pure eye candy!


Enough said.

13.1

Beginning in September, Harry and I have began training for Charlotte's Thunder Road Half Marathon. Yesterday, we ran the 13.1 miles we've been working towards. It was exhausting, but also very rewarding. We finished in 2 hours and 23 minutes (averaging about an 11 minute mile). We don't have pictures to post yet (we were a little too busy running to snap pictures) but we did have some friends at the finish line, so we hope to post some soon.