Last Weekend of Freedom...

...And I am spending it doing school projects.  Of course.

School officially starts on Monday for both of us.  I am super excited to meet all of my cute little kids.  I have a very diverse population at Pemberton Elementary School.

Population: 650 students.  Ages: 3-11.  Ethnicity(in order): African-American, Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic, and... other.  Large Special Ed Program: Blind students, deaf students, many with down's syndrome, autism, behavior disorders, learning disabilities, and things that they can't seem to diagnose.  Oh, and did I mention that a surprising number of our students are homeless?  Oh, and there is a magnet program attached to my school, too.  Which means that the students in my county who have the highest test scores come to my school to have special 'magnet' schooling (separate from the rest of the kids).


Needless to say, I have a lot going through my mind right now.  Although my school is VERY diverse, their previous test scores and behavior charts seem to be great!  I am excited to work in this school.  Here are a few photos of MY HUGE classroom:

I also started a class website.  I have heard that the parents at my school, especially magnet parents, are very involved and love reading about what's going on.  So, I am giving it a try to see how many parents actually read it:  http://pembertonmusic.blogspot.com/

Busy, Busy, Busy

Last week Josh and I both started our new jobs!  We had some in services and meetings to go to, but more importantly, we both got to start setting up our classrooms!  Neither of us have ever had our own classroom before so we are both equally excited to get them finished and get kids in them! (Pictures later this week).

This past weekend Josh's parents came for a visit.  It was a lot of fun.  Friday we went to an all-you-can-eat crab restaurant on the Chesapeake Bay... awesome.  Saturday we spent the day at the beach on Assateague Island and went to Ocean City at The Sunset Grille for dinner and drink on the harbor while watching the sun go down and listening to a live band outside...  Wow.  That was a fun day.

This week Josh and I have more in service time and have the rest of the week to prepare our classrooms.  The kiddies come on Monday the 30th.  I am SOOO excited!  My school is part magnet and part traditional.  Students in the county who score very high on their standardized tests are shipped in to my school for the magnet program.  Then I have the traditional programs as well.  My school is VERY diverse and I am really excited to teach in a new environment.  The good thing about being a teacher (other than changing the lives of children, summer vacations, winter, fall, and spring breaks) is that we get a fresh start each year.  It  seems like it won't really get old this way... which is great!

I am also starting to look into grad schools.  I am required to have my master's in 10 years, but the sooner I get it, the sooner I get paid more!  I would love to be in this online program at WVU for Special Education... it seems PERFECT!  I just have to apply and take some tests and figure out some financial stuff first.  But I really hope it works out!  Ideally, I would still be a music teacher.  I would just have this special ed background to improve my teaching for all students.  Maybe I could be a special ed teacher for a summer job?

The Salisbury Zoo

Josh and I took a little trip to the Salisbury Zoo...

This is literally the first thing I saw.  I love him (or her).

So pretty :-)

I have fallen in LOVE with the OCELOT.  The most BEAUTIFUL animal on our planet!

BIG Buffalo

Peacock... (scroll down)

...With her beautiful feathers

This bear was psychotic.  I'm not kidding... there were 'warning' signs about it.  He was pacing for hours staring at that wall.

AND... Josh's favorite: the otters.

No, Summer, Please Don't Go Away

As I sit here filling out our health insurance forms and such, I am unfortunately reminded that our wonderful summer is coming to an end and we both have to go back to work :-(

I will admit, it was definitely wonderful.  Neither one of us had to do a lick of work, we got married, we went to Mexico, we moved into our (awesome) new home in a new city, we went to the Outer Banks with my family, and we both have (great) JOBS!  So why am I complaining?

It's because I like to wake up in the morning and... relax.  I love to stretch my morning as long as possible with a pot of coffee.  I am currently doing just that.  I sit and think about my day or read a newspaper or magazine or blogs or chat with Josh.  I love eating my breakfast slowly.  Especially if it is 12-grain toast with nutella and blueberries.  Or eggs and bacon.  Or yogurt with granola and peaches.  Or a big buttermilk waffle.  If I wanted to enjoy my morning this much on a school day, I would have to wake up at 4am!

On the flip side, I am psyched to start my new job.  I am so excited to have my own room with my own instruments and my own desk.  I can't wait to meet my little kiddos and have fun.  It's going to be a great year!

Our New Home :) Well, some of it...

View of our kitchen from the foyer.

I love this photograph.  In case you can't tell, it's raining, and instead of keeping himself dry, the man in the photo holds him umbrella over his cello.  And Josh and I found some really neat wall art to put around it.

Our kitchen table.

Really neat wine rack (Thanks, Jen & Justin) and pretty vases.

Living room and couch.  The flowers are from the church at our wedding... we don't know what else to do with them!

Living room

Pretty decorations... mostly from wedding gifts!

My BELOVED china cabinet.  We got some REALLY beautiful and old china from Josh's grandma for our wedding.

Picture frames were wedding gifts... we decided we liked how pretty the people were in the models, so we will wait to change them!  After our wedding, the Promise Willow Tree gift was waiting for me in our hotel room... Josh is so thoughtful.

Josh's treasured "WVU Room".  a.k.a. Computer Room.  a.k.a Guest Bedroom (with no bed)

We are SOOO excited to have a beautiful home that we love.  And we are thankful for everything that we have.  Please come visit us!!!!!

Please Read This.

Okay, so I totally stole this from my friend John Thrasher's Blog, but I felt the need to share with the world as well.  He got the original post from here.  It is all about what actually happens to your body after drinking ONE Coke (or any soda for that matter):

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Have you ever wondered why Coke comes with a smile? Because it gets you high. They removed the cocaine almost 100 years ago. Why? It was redundant.

• In the first 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor, allowing you to keep it down.

• 20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (And there’s plenty of that at this particular moment.)

• 40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate; your blood pressure rises; as a response, your liver dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked, preventing drowsiness.

• 45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production, stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.

• > 60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium, and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.

• > 60 minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium, and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolytes, and water.

• > 60 minutes: As the rave inside you dies down, you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like hydrating your system, or building strong bones and teeth.

This will all be followed by a caffeine crash in the next few hours. (As little as two if you’re a smoker.) Want to know what happens after that? Check out what happens to your body after you drink a coke, every day for a long time.

Coke itself isn’t the enemy here. It’s the dynamic combo of massive sugar doses combined with caffeine and phosphoric acid, which are found in almost all sodas. Moderation, people!

A Good Day For Josh

Today we traveled the 27 miles down to Josh's new school.  He got to see his room, look around, meet with the principals, and hear some great news.  And I got to do it all with him!!!

His principals basically told him that they wanted him to do anything that he wanted with these kids (Grades 4-7).  He can just do drum ensembles, choirs, dancing, ANYTHING.  He is jumping into a music class which was not  structured or set up to involve the kids.  So the administration's goal is: Get the kids involved.  They have even offered Josh an extra two hours after school (paid) to start extra music programs which can be available to all of the underprivileged kids FOR FREE.  They said that last year 86% of the entire school showed up all year.  Not kidding.

So we were excited to see Josh's room.  But... it was a mess.  There is literally few usable items because most of the (cheap) instruments are so old and banged up that they will probably need to be thrown out.  We took some pictures so that we will have 'before' and 'after' pictures later.  Here is what we saw today:

The room!!!!

Yes, it is a mess.

A small view of the closet.  I have no idea why there are so many plants.

This is a mess.

Yes, folks, that is an autoharp.  He has many of them and we are not sure why.

On the VERY bright side, his principal basically told him that they will pay for WHATEVER Josh wants.  They want him to start an African Drum ensemble.  Josh said, "That would be AMAZING, but honestly, it would be incredibly expensive to purchase ALL of the instruments this year for that many students."  Do you know what they said?  "Okay.  How about if we buy all of those and give you a couple thousand dollars extra?"   Uhhhhh.... needless to say, I am so jealous proud of him and excited for his year to start!

The Best Honeymoon Story EVER--Part III (Scroll Down for Parts I & II)

Needless to say, she stamped our declarations immediately and we were on our way.  But Josh didn't forget to take the trash bag out of the can and take it with him.  He actually said, "I'm just going to take this with me!"  It was hysterical.

On a side note: Josh has never been out of the country.  He was HONESTLY scared that if an airport person saw him sick, they would immediately assume that he had acquired malaria or yellow fever from a foreign country and hold him in a holding tank in Houston forever... You know? so they could spare the American population.

So when multiple people came up to Josh and asked him if he was okay, he would just wave them off and say, "Airline sickness!  Airline sickness!"

We started on our way to get our luggage with only 15 minutes until our plane left.  Josh was about 20 steps behind me throwing up into a plastic trash bag while I was hauling a$$ through the Houston airport.  I got to the luggage claim things and of course our luggage was not there.  Our flight attendants said Baggage Claim #5, didn't they?  I wait another minute just in case.  Nope.  Then I finally look at the sign and it says Taiwan.  Yep, definitely not us.

I find our luggage eventually.  I grab our 50-lb suitcase, our 27-lb suitcase, my carry-on bag, my purse, and Josh's laptop and start booking it for the Customs baggage check.  (with Josh in tow a few steps behind me).

I throw all of our luggage on the belt and help Josh with his shoes and belt to go through the scanner.  After this, we look at the clock.  6:48.  Our plane leaves at 7:00.  And it is on THE OTHER SIDE of the airport.

I am practically running.  Josh is still a few steps behind me and is stopping every minute off to the side to heave into the trash bag.

We finally get there at about 6:55 or 6:56 and we are the last ones on the flight.  Josh hands off the bag, sits down in the seat, asks for a drink of water, and says he feels a little better after throwing up so much.

This flight is much better because I overdosed him on Dramamine soon after we got on the plane.  (Just kidding... it wasn't that much.)  We landed in Pittsburgh, took a shuttle to our car, and I drove us home to Morgantown.  We arrived at 1:30am.  Josh was still asleep from the meds.  He literally didn't wake up the next morning until about noon.

We later found out that he had strep throat.  Yes, seriously.  He took an old prescription of mine of penicillin and was fine :-)

But, honestly though, a GREAT story to tell the kids someday!

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY

Josh got the job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We will spend the rest of the evening (and possibly eternity) celebrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!     Thank you, God.  We REALLY needed this :-)

The Best Honeymoon Story EVER--Part II (Scroll Down for Part I)

Once we finally got on the plane, both of our stomachs were hurting.  Neither of us likes to fly.  We find it terribly uncomfortable and awkward.

The flight itself was okay.  Only about 2 hours long.  We landed in Houston for our layover.  The layover was supposed to be almost two hours, but we were a bit late, so we had about 1 1/2 hours to kill.  We walked in to see that the customs line had about 400 people it.  I am not kidding.

We took our place in line.  At this point, Josh was having a hard time standing for so long.  He was getting dizzy and gradually feeling more and more sick.  There was no water in sight.

As a side note, while we were standing in line, I happened to run into one of my students' parents!  I also know them from my church.  So I talked to them a little.  They had just got back from a vacation to Costa Rica (one of my favorite places)!

OVER AN HOUR LATER, when we were about 15 people from the customs desk, Josh looks at me with glazed eyes and says "I don't think I can stand anymore.  I think I am going to pass out."  Just at that instant, a pregnant woman about 4 people in front of us passes out and hits the ground.  Once again, I am not kidding.

People start yelling "Emergency!"  "Help!"  "Emergency!".  Tons of people rush over, but I stay and stand with Josh just in case it happens to him, too!  Everyone rushed over except actual airport workers.  After a few minutes, an old, overweight woman with an airport uniform came strolling over.  She lifted the woman up to her feet and later another man come over with a chair.  They sat the woman in the chair and gave her a Huggie.  Yes, that's right, a huggie.  Remember?

Once they got the line moving again, we were almost to the end and there were only 25 minutes left until our flight was leaving!

I walked up to the customs lady with our passports, declarations, and boarding passes.  Just as I get up there and hand her the forms, I take a good look at Josh.  I immediately knew what was in store.  I say to the customs woman "He is going to throw up! Right now!"  She puts her trash can on the desk and Josh vomits into it and on her desk.  She starts to gag.  I am not kidding...

...to be continued....