Now A Family of *gulp* Six.

Roman has become a little bossy-boots lately. Partly because he's approaching three, partly because he is a spoiled only-child I suppose... last night he was futz-diddling around so I picked him up to put him in bed. He open-hand hit me three times on my arm, he was so angry! Then he fell apart crying because he knew he'd been bad. Tonight he told Daddy that he couldn't put Roman to bed. "No Daddy, you go. You're dangerous." That cracked us up. He just knows that "dangerous" means "you can't do it." Funny little boy. We won our second swim meet tonight. Still questionable as to whether we'll win the League Meet, but we're doing well. Lots of improvement seen. Today I was observed for the American History Grant by a guy named Tom Sleete, Michigan's "History Teacher of the Year." Tom doesn't intimidate me, but his credentials do. He was evaluating the lesson & activity being done, and he did give one compli...

Today we joined some of my coworkers, along with their friends and family, in Windsor, Canada for a lesson in curling. It was very cold on the ice. Had about 20 minutes of instruction. The game, indeed, is easy to learn. Easy to play, however, is a different story. Walking with tape on a foot to help you slide. The correct way to sweep (oh yes - there is a correct way). How to throw a stone. How to handle the stone. The point keeping (to a nonmath person - slightly confusing at first). We then had 1-1/2 hours to play a game. Because there was an odd amount of people, we ended up in a lane of 6 (there should be 8). So we shared sweepers. Since it was a friendly game it was no big deal. I can tell you that tomorrow my left knee will have a BIG bruise on it from banging onto the ice when I threw the stones. Also, my left leg in general is going to be a bit sore from the pushing, throwing, dragging you have to do. My evaluation of curling: it's definitely a sport. But I don't thin...

Well, here it is. The picture you've been waiting for. Went in this morning and got them majorly adjusted... makes me wonder what kind of deformed face and ears I must have. Anyway, here's a lazy Saturday night photo of me in my new glasses. In other news, I'm already down 2 games in the NCAA picks I do with my Dad each year. It doesn't help now to say I *almost* went with A&M, and I *almost* went with Montana. We'll see how this next round goes. Roman is in severe talking-back stage right now. When we ask him to be quiet or shush him he comes back with "don't say that!" or "you don't shush me!" Welcome to Power Struggle 101. Also in his list of favorite comments is "You can't yell at me!" or "You are not nice." It's great seeing his little personality bloom, but not so good when you're trying to establish authority and you want to laugh at him instead.

It took me 43 seconds to eat the darn moon pie. Those things are *dry*! Eh, not so good. But it was fun. March madness is upon us, so must get my basketball picks taken care of. Dad and I continuing the more than decade-long competition of picking the best, although we cheat and do "round by round." For some reason, Roman was so angry with me tonight (maybe because I wouldn't let him get out of bed to get a book instead of laying down and trying to sleep?) that he cried hysterically for his Daddy.... stopping only when Daddy said "you go ahead, Roman, cry it out." Well, we can't do anything that Mama or Daddy say! So he stopped crying almost instantly. Stinker.

I got my new glasses today, but no photos yet. Having some trouble adjusting them - they really need to be raised on my nose practically half an inch, and I won't have a chance to go back and get them adjusted until Wednesday morning. But I really like them, and got lots of compliments today as I got used to wearing them. We did timing at swimming today. These may not seem amazing to you, but we had an 8th grade boy beat his best time from last year in the 50 free - last year he had 29 seconds. This year, 26 seconds. Average at this age would be, oh, about mid-30 seconds. Also in the 100 backstroke, average for this age would be anywhere from 1 minute, 20 seconds to 1 minute, 40 seconds. Had a 7th grade girl go 1:09, and she was disappointed - her fastest has been 1:04. And it's beautiful to see their speed in the water. I just love swimming. Roman likes it too, because I let him press the red button. In his words, "I press button, I made the kids go backward!" Me...

Doug has been irritated by his hair, or lack of, lately. He accepts the receding hairline, but it's the "natural sweep-over" that has been bothering him of late. So in church this morning, instead of listening to the choir I turned to him and said, "why don't we go home and buzz your hair after lunch." Doug looked at me surprised and said, "Okay." So here's the new Doug, with what my jr-high kids call the "spring baseball buzz cut." I love it.

Today we cleaned the heck out of this house. 2-1/2 hours of Doug and I trading dusting, vacuuming, laundry, & bathroom-scrubbing duties. But the place smells good and practically sparkles now! I overheard Doug trying to teach Roman "Candy Land" while I Tilexed the shower. Roman prefers to just play with "the guys", the gingerbread men, on the board. But he's getting there. It was so gorgeous out today - in the 50s - that I pushed Roman on his Tigger bike up the street and to both playgrounds nearby. He loved just being outside, breeze through the hair... the hair that got cut in the bathtub tonight. Big EVENT! Roman laid on his back in the tub tonight, allowing his ears to be covered by water. Then he pretended to be a baby getting his first bath. Roman also got caught out of his bed tonight for the first time. It was only a few minutes after I left the room, and we heard a "thump!" Doug poked his head in and saw Roman, frozen, in the middle of his...

Sorry about the "entire" journal entries being sent to you, plus extra to some of you. I have fixed it - I will just email a quick note when I have journaled, so you can look at it if you want. This is my first attempt at it. What a pain in the patootie this is!

Swimming started today, and I'm assistant coach again. I've actually "outsourced" my paperwork to another teacher looking to make some money on the side. That has lightened my load at home by an hour or so a night. We've got a smaller team, but more talented than usual. Almost as many boys as girls, so if we win the League Meet it'll be because of the boys. Roman continues to make us laugh. The boy has a great sense of humor. He's taken to calling his Daddy "Doug" - I think just because it pushes Daddy's buttons. Tonight's example: "Doug, is Thomas in your car?" He sings along with songs in the car and keeps up fairly well. We heard the same song three times today and the third time he said, "Bear song again? That's silly!" He plans out his time, too. "Watch this first, then play trains." Or, "Eat fruit snack first, then dinner." Nice try. Schedules have been worked out at school, don'...

I think I've figured out how to notify people when I update. Not sure what will happen, though. So this is my test. And if you don't want to be on the list, let me know - I'll take you off.

To show how darn quick I can use a template - I did the page above in about a half-hour, and that's because I had some trouble getting the colors right.

I decided to switch "blogs" for a few reasons. Easy uploading of images, primarily. More organized and visible links, secondar(ily?). Also because the "adoption" is over and the "family" is continuing... thought I could use a fresh start. So welcome.