Hard At Work

Sometimes, being a teacher is great!

Our class trip to Biltmore Estate on Friday.

Hosing off my students at field day.

Welcome Alex!

On Saturday, May 30 Alexander Grant joined our family as our second nephew.

Alex was very small when he was born, 18.5 inches long and 5 lbs 8ozs.

Mom and baby are both doing well.
Check out the full story at Keeping up with the Jones Kids.

Happy Memorial Day!

Harry and I wanted to spend this weekend in Wilmington at the beach with my parents and Clay and Karen, but since I have to work on Monday (for a snow make-up day) we stayed in Charlotte and made the best of the weekend.

We began our Friday downtown at Speed Street. For you non-NASCAR fans Speed Street is an event in downtown Charlotte that focuses on food, drinks, fun, and NASCAR!

Harry and I at Rock Bottom Grill.


On Sunday we went hiking at Lake Norman State Park.



Luckily, the stormy weather held off until we were in the car.
It was a great, albeit short, Memorial weekend!

The 80s Revisited

On Saturday, Harry and I helped our friend Shannon celebrate her 30th birthday at an 80s skating party. It was tons of fun that resulted in many hilarious picture!

Here are Harry and I as kids in the 80s... stylish, we know!


This is what we would have looked like as "yuppies" or "dinks" in the 80s!


Me and the girls (Joanne, Laura, and Shannon, the birthday girl) striking a very 80s pose.


Harry's outfit got too hot to handle, so he had to take his shirt off (and twist it around his head... true North Carolina style)!


Joanne and I look so 80s it is a little frightening!


Overall, we give 80s skating night a totally radical thumbs up!

A Busy Couple of Days

This week has already been full of events... and it's only Wednesday!

Monday night Harry and I went to the CMS EMMY awards to celebrate all of the district's teachers of the year. Our friend Joanne also won teacher of the year at her school, so she and her boyfriend Craig went to the EMMY awards with us.

Harry and I before the program

Joanne and I


Tuesday night we got free tickets and VIP passes to the Jimmy Buffett concert. Our friends Brendt and Joanne went with us to the concert.


Harry and I. It was hard to get a good picture of the two of us. Although it was a beautiful night, it was very windy.


Brendt and Harry


Joanne and I


The man of the evening... Jimmy Buffett!

A Great Day

Today is a great day. It is beautiful outside and I finished cleaning out our final closet (my spring break projects have consisted of cleaning the entire house and getting rid of a TON of unused items residing in our closets). Tonight Harry and I will go to a Death Cab for Cutie concert in Davidson and tomorrow we leave for Raleigh to visit Clay and Karen for Easter (mom and dad will meet us there on Sunday) so I am in great spirits.

On an unrelated note, I found this picture online and found it very humorous. Enjoy!


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I Want This Door!

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.