Boo!

Comments & Myspace layouts

The plan is that R will be Harry Potter (3rd times a charm!) and L will be a Ninja Turtle like last year! Can't wait to dig through their candy and eat all the good chocolate!

The Results...

Well, I put in a ton of effort into one final (Education), and less into the other one (Communication). So I assumed that I'd get great results out of the one, and a bit less out of the other...

The one I put less time into I got 100% (pretty cool!) and the other... I got 167pts/210pts...OUCH! I thought I'd done so great...But that's OK because I still got 91.8% for my overall grade in that class, and in my other a 97%!

So that's 19 A's and 1 B that I've gotten for my 20 classes!

And, I'm LOVING my vacation right now!!

That's right, I did it!

Oh-Yeah, I did it!!! I finished my paper, my finals are all turned in, all my assignments are done, I'm ALL DONE!!!

Hellllooooo 4 months of freedom!

I can also say that I have a college degree!

It's a Great moment right now...

These are the classes I have completed (in order), each one was 9 weeks long and worth 3 credits, I took 2 classes at at time (90 weeks of school!):

SKILLS FOR LEARNING IN AN INFORMATION AGE
EFFECTIVE PERSUASIVE WRITING
CRITICAL THINKING
UTILIZING INFORMATION IN COLLEGE WRITING
WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
WORLD LITERATURE
NUTRITIONAL SCIENCE
CRIMINOLOGY
BASIC MATHEMATICS
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY: WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN AMERICAN EDUCATION

TEACHING AS A PROFESSION
ALGEBRA 1A
CHILD DEVELOPMENT
THE BRAIN, THE BODY, AND THE MIND: ALL TOGETHER NOW
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
INTRODUCTION TO BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE
DIVERSITY IN THE CLASSROOM
COMMUNICATION PROCESSES: YOU'RE A FINE ONE TO TALK

These all add up to an AA in Paraprofessional Education.

Now after these next 4 months of bliss I will start my bachelors in....?...Not sure yet!

I like that...

I'm on the last paper of my school year, and I'm full of rolling my eyes and heavy sighs since I just wish I was done already when...I got a nice little boost...I just recieved feedback for the essay I wrote about At-Risk students (I chose pregnant teens) on Sunday.

My professor told me, and I quote, "BRAVO...This is a beautiful paper...a FABULOUS assignment!"

I just love getting input like this for work I've done!

Now if I would hear, "Superb laundry folding! Exquisite dinner! Outstanding vacuuming!"

I think I'd just shine under that kind of praise and my work ethics would at least double in effort.

But don't get me wrong, I know my family backs me up a lot. Just last night J told me he thought I was just amazing and that I was doing a terrific job. Talk about a keeper! And all those snuggles and exclamations of 'I love you Mom!' from those boys sure don't hurt, I love those kiddo's! Also all the support from my friends sure help out too!

OK, reading this post shows me that I am a bit spoiled and a whole lotta loved!

So this is my Friday Favorites this week...Feeling special and loved from the praise of those around me.

Crack-Up!

What goes: Cruack?

An egg slipping out of R's fingers and falling to the floor...

So then what goes: Crack-splat-crunch-crack-plop-drick-crack-splut-plop-crunch-crack-clack-slach-scrack-crunch-crack-platt-crack?

A carton of 18 eggs slipping open from R's fingers and falling to the floor!

"I have the worst luck!" was his reply to the egg massacre...

No worries, we still had 2 eggs to make a pumpkin pie for dessert, and it turned out great!

Almost there!

I finished all my work for this week! It feels so good to have it all turned in so far! Now its just 2 capstone questions and the Finals for classes CMC and AED...and I have already started bits of my AED final...whew, so it's like 1.5 projects instead of 2!

The Time Has Come...

Well, it's time to 'batten down the hatches'. I have very mixed feelings about what I will be doing the next few days, terror, excitement, relief, anticipation, boredom, dread, fatigue...It's Finals time!

But the AWESOME news is, it's my last week of Finals for my Associates degree!!! If all goes well and I pass then I will have my Associates in Paraprofessional Education!
So can't wait til the end of next week! Then I'm taking 4 months off, 4 blessed months of just being a Mom and that's it! It's like all the major holidays all rolled into one!

But, the end of next week isn't here yet..

Before I tackle finals I have to complete:

-A 250 word check point of planning meetings.
-A 9 slide PowerPoint presentation on chairing committees
-A list of key signs that identify at risk students with a 150 word explanation of what to do
-And this assignment I'm not looking forward to:

-Creating an At-Risk Program, Due in Week Eight
· Paper is 1,050 to 1,400 words in length.
· Paper addresses what part of the at-risk population the program will serve.
· Paper addresses how students will be identified for the program.
· Paper addresses how the program will address the needs of the students.
· Paper identifies additional social resources available in the community that can be utilized for greater success.
· Paper identifies the potential positive impacts for the district, students, and community.
· Paper summarizes the necessary steps for implementing the program.
The content is comprehensive, accurate, and persuasive.
The paper develops a central theme or idea, directed toward the appropriate audience.
· Paper presents information with the local school board in mind.
The paper links theory to relevant examples and uses the vocabulary related to the at-risk student correctly.
· Paper uses and references three resources other than the text.


Once those are done I get to do these...

My Finals are:

AED 205 - For the final project, you create a plan for addressing the needs and issues in a multicultural classroom to add to your portfolio. Assume that the cultural make up of your classroom includes at least five different ethnic and religious groups. You must address how and why you would plan to create an atmosphere of tolerance, acceptance, and caring in your classroom environment. Your plan must include a comprehensive discussion of the issues covered in this course that are most applicable to your geographic area.

In addition, you must describe a plan for a culturally balanced bulletin board that could be used in your class to focus on either a traditional Western holiday or a multicultural celebration at your school. You may also include clip art to illustrate your plans.

This paper should be 1,050 to 1,400 words and posted as an attachment to the Individual forum. It must follow APA guidelines for format and style.

CMC 230 - The final project for CMC 230 is 1,500- to 1,750-word analysis of a face-to-face persuasive presentation to high school students, which either promotes online college programs over ground classes or vice versa. In addition to a bulleted list of talking points, your analysis will explain how you (the presenter) will:
· Justify a face-to-face presentation as an effective channel of delivery for this topic
· Establish rapport and utilize feedback
· Clarify purpose
· Analyze the audience
· Accommodate cultural factors
· Organize the main points
· Use support for the main points
· Design your appearance
· Use desirable nonverbal behaviors
· Eliminate unwanted nonverbal behaviors
· Incorporate strategies to promote active listening
· Respond to hostile heckling
· Respond to a questioner who monopolizes the floor
· Respond to people in the audience arguing with each other

Here I go...

Hot Off the Press!

Just like, THE best weekend!

We had a great weekend!

Here is J playing Monopoly Jr. w/R & L, and the evidence that its now cocoa season!






L's team won 11 to 4, way to go Bulldogs!



My Big Bro and his family came over for canning, cooking, shooting, bike riding!

Here's J's homemade targets!

Here's D After a wreck, getting right back on, wow!

Here's cool B who shared his bike all weekend w/R!

R getting over his fear of dirt bikes and having the time of his life!

My cool Big Bro!

And they had some old family pics they got from our Grandpa T last weekend that I scanned, priceless memorabilia...
Here's me and my family, My Momba, My Dad, My Big Bro, and My Lil Sis.
My Big Bro S

Me, Bonster

My Cutie Sis J


Here are pics of my Dad (he passed away in 1990)

I just love weekends like this!

Friday Favorites!

Hooray, no school for the boys today!

Some of the week's Favorites:

1. Canning -
Canning takes so long that I surprise myself that I actually like to do it. I finally found some jars to can with. It took several searches and had no luck. I finally got the base stickers on my truck and so I scored jars at the commissary. I turned my red apples into apple sauce, 1/2 my Fuji's into sauce as well (still have the rest to do) and canned the last of our carrots from my garden. They look so happy and orange, so exciting! I'm happy that it worked, I'm always so surprised when I hear that 'ding'. I am canning my tomatoes and more with my Sis-in-Law M on Saturday, can't wait!

2. Saturn - Saturn is amazing, I mean its just so majestic and those rings are what make it top dog in the planet world!
Just teasing, I mean this Saturn:
J had found this car for super cheap from a guy at work. But then J deployed, and the other guy did too and so it never went through. This stunk since we sold our old Saturn and thought we'd have this other car to replace it. Hmmm...Well, awesome day, we got a call the other night, and the wife of the guy finally got hold of us. It's almost the same Saturn as our last one, but has AC and less miles! When I told R about the AC he was so happy, he's just as tired as I am of sweatin' it out in the summer!

3. No Cavities -/span><

The boys and I had our dental check-up this week. Embarrassing...I had 2 cavities, I totally blame it on...well, me. I eat too much sugar and drink soda like its goin' outta style! And R had one, but L was cavity free! So he got to pick out a toy, he got a new transformer. R was pretty disappointed, but is now determined not to get anymore so the next time he can get a cool toy too. I thought it was pretty crazy that me, the Mom, had more cavities than my kids! Oops...

4. Messages - With J so busy I have started calling his cell phone a lot. But it's always turned off during the day since he's on the boat and if left on it will roam until the battery dies. So I just call him up and leave him messages throughout my day. He said that one guy was a little jealous since he had so many messages to listen to from me and the boys on his walk to the parking lot!

5. Pumpkin Patch - I LOVE pumpkins!!!!! I think they are just the coolest things ever to grow on a vine! We went to this farm last year and practically drowned in it, and we went for a short time on Tuesday with the scouts, and next week L has a field trip there. Today we went with friends. As you can tell by how often I've gone, I might have a slight pumpkin addiction!

Betty?

Oh-No, it's Bonster Crocker!

Yumm-O! I'm going to say that my battle cooking with yeast is a thing of the past! No more does my yeast baking yield up rock-like flat products, now its fluffy goodness! Well, in this case, cinnamon sugary goodness!

Whew, That was close!

Yesterday I picked up the boys after school, went straight to piano practice, then got them each a plain cheeseburger from McD's, then to Hunter Farms for the scouts field trip. The got to have a tracker ride to a the pumpkins and pick one out. Well, L had soccer pics at 6:10pm and so I had to leave early to get him there. There were 3 other drivers and room for R to get a ride to the church building after the scouts finished their trip. He didn't want to leave early, So I left him there and told him I'd pick him up afterwards at church.
He thought I'd be there waiting when he arrived. I was still about 2 miles down the road with L. While I was still at soccer with L I got a call from J asking where I was and that R was waiting for me. I told him I could leave right then and be there within minutes. As I pulled up to the church R was outside waiting for me. He told me all about how he was worried that I wasn't there and so had to call Dad to find me and that he now is memorizing my cell phone number. (I've given it to him before but he didn't care until now)

At bedtime R says to me, "Mom, I was really lucky that Dad was home when I called"
I said, "Oh-yeah?!"
R - "Yeah, cuz I only knew our home phone and 911!"

Now, there were still a lot of people at church when I got there (that we all know), and he had been there maybe 10 minutes. There were still other scouts there and the scout leaders too. But, I have no doubt in my mind that he was contemplating dialing 911 if he couldn't get hold of me! Now that would be a crazy situation! I tried to explain to him that he was fine, I knew where he was, and the leaders knew where I was, but that didn't matter I guess!

Grumble, brumble, hmmmm...Thankful!

I loved General Conference, well, I have to admit that I missed a lot of Saturdays due to L's soccer game and my inability to stay conscious in the afternoon when I'm sleepy! But I stayed awake for Sunday's, and yesterday I started listening to Saturday's on LDS.org. It really drove home the need to be grateful for the things I have been provided for. I think this is one of the big things I'm taking away from Conference, that and the overwhelming truth of the Savior from the wonderful testimonies given.
J has one yucky schedule. He came home 3 1/2 weeks ago and has had one day off. He has had duty too where he goes in to work in the morning and doesn't come home til the next evening. I've been informed that he won't be getting any days off this month either. I'm wondering if we'll get to have a whole day to hang with him before he ships out again, it doesn't look that promising. So needless to say this stresses me out a bit since I sure like to be around that guy!
With the beautiful changes of autumn comes the on sought of S.A.D (seasonal affective disorder) that I deal with every year. I absolutely love Fall, the smell in the air, the colors, the pumpkins, the anticipation of holidays! But I dread the time when I get sick.
So with these 2 added things in my life I started to worry more and feel extra stress. Hearing the messages from Conference helped me out. I decided that I needed to focus on the positive aspects of my life more. I want to express my gratitude to my Heavenly Father more. (Needless to say the boys have noticed the length of Family Prayer get longer this last few days!). I have already started to feel better. J's schedule hasn't changed, I still have to deal with and treat my affective disorder, but I can handle these things with a much happier heart.
I am greatly blessed, I am almost done with school, I have 2 1/2 weeks until I finish with my Associates degree and get my 4 month college break! I have my 2 wonderful boys and they are healthy and happy and I get to do so much fun things with them, I have a wonderful husband who takes care of us and works hard for us. Despite his busy days at work and how tired he gets he is a joy to be around when he gets home, he has no sharp words or grumpy looks, just love for us. I have so many wonderful day-to-day blessings that I enjoy and am thankful for.
I love a quote from Elaine S. Dalton from the Sunday morning session, she said, "In the Strength of the Lord I can do all things". I asked R to write it down for me and we put it up in the computer room.
So no more grumbly-brumbly sounds from me, just a Thankful Heart.

Friday Favorites!

Wow, a week went by already, how did that happen?!?! This week has flown by! There was choir, piano, we sold the Saturn, stocked up on food storage (complete with full kitchen inventory), J had a busy work schedule, I worked in L's and R's classes, procrastinated my homework (I'm paying for it today), took L to library school, helped boys with their homework, and listened to my fair share of kids books on CD while zipping around in our awesome truck running errands!

The weeks favorites are (there are more than 5 today)...

1. Music List - R helped me pick the music out for the blog! They are songs that are R approved and that we both enjoy. They are songs that remind me of J, the boys, and certain times of life. Yesterday we turned it up to help motivate us while doing chores. Well, I think R did a little more rockin' out and singing to it than cleaning! But who can blame him?

2. Take a seat -
We got this couch this summer (at a great deal of 50% off!) and we just love it. This week we got this table and chairs (30% off!). The last time I had chairs that matched my table was when R was a baby! It was so nice of J to get it for me! They both look so pretty, so different than my last table (now my computer desk) with its metal folding chairs, and our old couches...uh not going to describe those!

3. Early Bird - Well, I don't actually like getting up early, but I do like seeing J for that bit of time before he goes to work. When he's home in the morning I've been waking up with him and making him breakfast. Well, that morning he had to get up at 4:30am I just told him I loved him, have a good day, and rolled over and went back to sleep!

4. That L - I just love this little guy! He has been making such progress in his education and I'm so happy for him! Yesterday I had a meeting with his school about possible speech therapy. They will test him, it sounds like he will benefit from it. His teacher had some great things to say about his work. He has become a sponge and absorbs so much information that it just amazes me!

5. Choir - R has joined choir! With this school you get to join when you've reached the 4th grade. Well, R has arrived and he is pretty excited! So now every Tuesday morning R has choir practice before school at 8am, I can't wait for the concerts!

6. Apples - I have an abundance of apples! I love apples in the Fall and this week I put another project on...canning apples! I'm not sure exactly when this will happen, before they rot I'm sure...Anyway, I love canning apples, I am going to make apple butter, applesauce, and apple pie filling. I have red and Fuji apples from the fruit stand in town, hooray!!

7. Stocking up - As I said, we stocked up on food storage this week. L and I went to the commissary and filled the cart with non-perishables. Our cupboards are full of canned and boxed goods now. I took an inventory of everything we have (so organized!) and it's in the kitchen to help me keep track. I've calculated using MyPyramid.org how much each of us is supposed to eat in a day, so then a month, 3 months, 6 months, and 1 year. I want to keep building on our food storage, and our water storage. J and I are planning on a Costco run for some other staples...now I just need to find a place for it all!

8. Miracles - It makes me smile and laugh when I think about how really blessed I am, some days are very stressful and I tend to forget momentarily about this fact. Anyway, lets just say that I'm on a learning curve when it comes to anything that has an engine in it. When J was deployed I drove our trusty Saturn all over. As the days progressed so did this funny sound from the front end area of my car. I just prayed that it'd hold up and when J got home I'd let him deal with it. Well, he got home, I told him about the noise. He looked at me and asked, "Did you check the oil when I was gone?" Uh...why would I do that?! He never told me to check it! I told him no, but that I did do many other things that should be noted:
1. I didn't lose the kids
2. I aced my finals and started 2 new classes
3. I did chores day in and day out
4. I paid all the bills, didn't forget a single one
So these did help my argument a bit. Anyway, he checked the oil. The stick was dry, I mean dry....so he poured some oil in, still dry, a little more, still dry. Now I didn't asked him how much oil it finally needed and he didn't say. But the point here is I was driving around with my 2 boys in a car that was practically void of all oil. Now if that engine seized I'd be in a world of hurt. J was gone, I only had 1 vehicle and I live out in the boonies. Heavenly Father sure blessed me, and my family, when he mercifully kept that car going. I think if I'd ruined the car (a vital instrument in our daily life) I'd be driven over the edge of stress. Thank you Heavenly Father.
So the car was oiled, and it ran quite nicely no longer making that funny sound. Then J got us that awesome truck (another blessing) and a co-worker wanted to buy the Saturn. J tried to talk him out of it, told him it has an oil problem, a crack in the windshield, and has 130k miles on it, AND no AC! But he was not to be deterred. So we have a bit of extra money now and J is looking for another car that has lower miles on it for the boys and I. Wow is how I feel.

9. General Conference - I'm looking forward to General Conference this weekend. A friend of ours said that its their tradition to make special treats for when they watch conference. I plan on doing this this year! I can't wait to hear the Prophet and all the church leaders speak! I will be watching on the BYU channel and online.

Cool Dawg!

J used to read Hank the Cowdog by John Erickson when he was just a lad. Now R, L, and I are enjoying that Hank too.

I found 'Hank and The Watermelon Patch Mystery' on CD We listened to it daily for at least a week! He is just a crack-up, that Hank!
So I got 'Hank and The Case of the Tricky Trap' We just started it and yesterday came to the funniest part in it where Hank gets car sick. I laughed so hard, anyone who's ever been sick will be able to relate to that poor mutt!

So if you want to hear an amusing tale listen to Hank, or read up on that Cool Dawg!