My Garden

I was really proud of my first zucchini that I got out of my garden! Check out the pic...

What I am up to this Summer

Yeah !! I just registered for my first summer of Graduate classes at Drury. They have an awesome program that is offered in the summer, which is great because I am off all summer. It is a Masters in Studio Art and Theory... after three summers that is. I am really excited to be making my own art again. It is definitely not the same as teaching it! The only down part is that I can't travel as much this summer:(

A funny story I have for everyone is about one of my cutest kindergarten boys.
One day their class came into art and they had a bad art class the week before, so I proceeded to go over the rules with them about how to take care of our supplies. I told them that is they were quite for two whole minutes, then we could finish our paintings. If they were not quite they would be given a different assignment,one with no paint. When the two minutes start they are very quiet, then the cute little boy tip toed towards me and whispered..."Can we breath??" and looked at me with the most worried expression. With a big grin on my face I told him "Of course you can." Walking away he took a big sigh of relief. I was grinning for the rest of the class.

SPRING BREAK!!

Yeah it was spring break this past week!! Michael and I started it off with a fun trip to Kansas City to visit some friends. We had lots o fun and got 6 inches of snow on the first day of Spring!! The day before that the temp was 60 degrees! Then the rest of the week I worked around the house and did a little shopping. I spent most of the time putting down grass seed in our back yard. THIS WAS NOT FUN AT ALL! I think my arms are going to fall off. I hate my yard right now. Next house I get will have NO trees in the back yard!!
Michael started his first job that same week, whoo hoo. He now works at Enterprise and is busy picking people up and washing cars, and making some money!! He doesn't hate it as much as he thought, he gets to drive all the new cool cars around town, and he says his boss is pretty cool. He is still looking for jobs in his career field and hopes to find something else somewhat soon.

Acai - 3 week update

Well, I have stopped taking the pills this week and I feel like they helped a little bit, but not as much as the news lady. According to her blog she had increased energy, better sleep, and weight loss. Not me! Over all I think I was actually sleeping less and more tired in the morning. I did loose about 5 lbs total! Which is great, but I hope it doesn't just come back right to my bum!! I probably wouldn't recommend it to anybody, but I guess it has different affects on people??? If you want to try and see what it does for you, let me know how it goes.

Two week update on the Acai pills

Ok, I have lost a total of 5lbs since I started! Whoo hoo I don't think I have ever lost weight before. My energy levels are the same as normal. Although there have been some times here and there were I find myself having morre energy. All in all I like the outcome and will finish my trail and see what happens after that! I have a few more weeks to go. Until next week....

Visiting St. Louis

This past weekend we went to St. Louis to visit the O'Tooles! We had lots of fun on Saturday, we took Maddie to her last session of swimming school. She did really well and did not cry once!! What a great niece! Here are some cute pics..... Madeline using me as a crutch to stand up.

Here she is enjoying my Christmas gift to her! This stuffed giraffe if bigger than her.

Here we are before the swimming lesson, as you can see there is a really cool slide behind us. I was sad that is was closed!!

Maddie relaxing with Poppy and the Dogs.

Maddie started to get tired and put her head against me and sticks her thumb in her mouth....HOW ADORABLE!!

Week One

Well, I received my Advanced Acai pills in the mail last week and I have been testing them out. I don't really feel too much difference in energy levels, although yesterday I did feel more energized after working late, which is highly unusual! Not sure if I lost any lbs yet but I will weigh myself today at the Y. I am not sure if it is the pills or my craving for sweets, but I have found myself eating more sweets than normal. So I might have gained weight?? Hope everyone has a great week.

Just got back from the gym and found out I lost 3 lbs! I guess it is working.

Acai Berry Trial

Well, today I was looking around on the KY3 website, mainly looking for when the snow was supposed to fall and cancel school. Then I stumbled across this article about the new Advanced Acai Berry diet. This news cast lady was the Guinea pig to try it and do an article about it.
Turns out all her doubts were put to sham by the 12 lbs she lost in 5 weeks! I have heard a lot of great things about this berry in my workout classes and in shape magazine, but now it is on the news so it can't be too bad for me??
Well, I signed up to get a free trial ( which is what the news lady did) and I am going to give it a try. I just need to make sure I cancel it in 20 days or less or they will charge me $149 dollars!! Wish me luck, I should get the pills in 2-5 days. I will keep you posted each week as I give this stuff a test.

Cat piss smells bad

What do you do when your cat sprays the floor with his smelly smelly odor??? I have heard that some people put them in a room with only their litter box, food and water. This is supposed to somehow remind them of how to use it.? So we tried that. For about a week Mojo had his alone time in the spare bedroom, but after a while I felt sorry for him. Plus, he didn't pee on the floor in the spare room at all, so I decided to give him another try to wondering the house. Then, last night Michael felt a wet spot on his foot... MOJO!!! We could tell it was him and not Pickles because there was just a little mist of it, not a small puddle.

Does anyone have anyother suggestions because he is about to get the boot out the door!!

Cute picture of Maddie in her favorite shirt!!!

Michael Finally Graduates!!!!

Michael's parents, sister, and nephew celebrating his special day

Just the grad and his parents...Randy and Susie

Time to celebrate

Matt and his wife drinking out of the coolest winter cups ever!!!

Crazy Chicks

Being an Elementary Art Teacher

Now that I have started working and being in the classroom by myself I am pretty pissed off at the University for not preparing me very well. I think they tried but nobody, I mean nobody really understands what is going on untill you enter the classroom. I wish that I could get a quarter each time I hear MS. ROWE!! I NEED YOUR HELP. I would be able to retire next year! Today was a day that I just did not want to help anyone and I could not get away from it. I tell them how to do it, demonstrate how to do it, ask them questions about how to do it, and still they have no flipping idea what to do next.????

Hanging by the pool at the Wild Horse Resort

Staying at a resort is where it is at. We all had such a fabulous time in this place! I want to go back! It will be hard to go back to staying at regular hotels. Nice view of the golf course and the river. Beautiful weather, it would be fun to move to Pheonix for the winter!!

This was the medium temp. pool. We were so lucky to stay at a place that has three different tempetures in the pools and and awesome slide!!!!

The funest way to go down the slide was face first!

The dinner rehersal

I think Trudy just got a glimpse of the duck head!

So glad our ladies were able to make it to Phoenix!

The guys have no idea what they are in store for for dinner

Kayla and I at the Bridal Luncheon

Jen's 26th Birthday Embarrassment

So, to celebrate my 26th birthday we decided to go out to a karaokee bar and my friends thought it would be a good idea to sign Michael and I up for a duet....how embarrassing!!!!

Today was probably the worst starting day in a while. It already sucked because it was Monday, but I was glad because Maddie will be in town tonight. So, usually when I wake up in the morning I put pickles outside to pee and hit the snooze button for an extra few minutes of sleep. This morning for some reason I hit the OFF button. Two hours later I hear Pickles barking outside, glance at the clock and jump out of bed!! I have 30 minutes to get ready. Then when I go to the kitchen to get coffee and what do I see on the floor? Nothing other than a pile of fresh dog shit! Damn it! I don't have time to clean this up! But, I do it anyway because I did not want to leave it for Michael. Before I clean it up though I have to spank Pickles for her bad doing. As I am reaching for a sandal to whack her with she tries to escape and flings the shit all over the living room with her legs!!!! Damn Dog! Then I get late to school and run around like a headless chicken trying to get things done before the students get there. In the meantime my stomach was growling because I had no breakfast! The rest of the day has been OK but nothing ruins a day more than waking up to shit flying in your house!!

Pickles is One!

Yeah it was Pickles birthday yesterday!! She is so spoiled we took her to the river on the weekend and bought her a huge bone. When we first got Pickles she was the size of a gerbal, now she is full grown into a 30 lb awsome frisbee catcher!! Plus, she is great at whinning. We love you Pickles! P.s. Kayla when is Mojo b-day?

Labor Day Weekend at the Lake

Over the weekend on Labor Day a few of our friends got together and rented a pontoon boat. It was a really fun time.

New Friend in the House

Here is the start of documenting the adventures of Auntie Jenn! Hopefully I can post often and not be a slacker. We will see.

So my first story for you guys is how I found a little friend in my house two days ago. So I come home from a jog and I am getting ready to fix dinner. I look over in the living room to find Pickles acting really funny. She keeps looking under the couch and backing away. I go over and ask her what she is doing, she said look for yourself. Then as I am bending down I only see a tennis ball under the couch. Then, across the room I see a GIANT rat racing across the house!!!! I stood up quickly and thought to myself...did I just see that?? Then, behind my drawing board I can see a tail sticking out. Michael has just left to go to Walmart so I have to deal with this on my own. I go to the kitchen, take out the trash bag out of the can and rig the can next to one of the openings by the drawing board and the wall. Then I take a long fake flower and push on the other side. I heard a few squiks and then our friend went into the trash can. Yeah!! Victory! Then I quickly stand the can up and look inside. He was about 6 inches long, not including the tail. Just then I heard Michael coming home. So I go outside and show him my proud catch. He saw something move and thought it was a snake and went running!!! After we calmed down we decided it would be best to take it somewhere far from our house. So I had to get in the car with trash can, carefully making sure it won't tip over, and drive it to the field across our neighborhood. Now I am safe to say that our friend is lost and has no idea where he is.

Moral of the story.... fix your broken screen and don't use it as a doggy door because you never know what is going to crawl inside with it.

Here are some pictures from my big summer trip this summer. Me and 8 other art teachers went to Arizona and New Mexico to study Native American history and their art. We got to make pottery with Acoma Indian women. It was a fantastic trip!

This is Chimney Rock at Ghost Ranch

When we got to the top