Back to School

So the summer has ended and school is back in full swing. Lesson plans and papers to grade are all well underway. We have only been back for 2 days and I am already behind. My goal this year is to stay organized and on top of everything. We will see how that goes.
Ryan has started to adjust to me leaving again in the morning and not getting home till the late afternoon. Today was the funniest thing. I was getting dressed and I asked Katie to grab me a tie and Ryan wanted one too... except he wanted the one I was going to wear. After a brief meltdown he was okay with another. He also wanted to put on a shirt so I was all ready to go except for my belt. I grabbed my belt to put it on and guess what Ryan wanted? yeah a belt as well. So he had a shirt a tie and a belt wrapped around his waist and he was ready to head off to work with dad. He was not happy that dad was leaving without him.

Ryan and his little active mind

So Ryan is just saying and doing things that surprise us everyday. While we were in Catalina Ryan slept in his pack and play and everywhere we went we were sure to put a hat on him to keep him out of the sun a bit more. Well today he saw his hat and the pack and play and he put his hat on and grabbed the pack and play to go bye bye. We think he wanted to go back to Catalina.
Then today the little guy peed in the potty twice! he went in and tried peeing like dad standing up but that didn't work out too well then sat down and made it happen. He loved flushing the toilet. This may be the start of something good . We wont push him... but who knows maybe he will keep doing it.

Endless Summer Just Came to an End

Walking on the beach as a family

Ryan liked the fish but didn't want to touch it

Katie and Ryan on the pier

Ryan loved to dig in the sand

Our dirty little boy after a long day of playing

Well the summer has been the best summer ever. Ryan is growing so fast and it was so much fun watching him talk more each day and just be a cute little boy. We had a great end of summer trip. We were able to go on the annual Doyle Catalina trip. It was the greatest trip ever. Ryan loved the water and finally warmed up to the people. We were able to snorkel, climb the rock wall, swim, go fishing and just relax. The Fields family adopted us or maybe we adopted them and we had a great time with them playing games and hanging out. Ryan loved Austin and Chris.

Ryan's week

Here are just a few pictures from Ryan's week so far. We have been taking it pretty easy because Mommy still doesn't feel too great.

Here is Ryan riding his bike and watching TV, he just looked too cute to pass up a picture :)


Tuesday morning Ryan and Mommy went to help Daddy with the bulletin boards in his classroom. Daddy made Ryan a robe with an extra scrap of material, Ryan loved it!


On Monday Ryan got a haircut from Grandpa, Ryan is always a good boy for his haircuts. This time he got to sit all by himself on the booster seat and didn't have to be held by Mommy or Daddy. His new haircut looks so handsome!

Home Sweet Home

So I have returned from my 8 day field study of the underground railroad. It is so nice to be home. The trip was great and i gained so much insight and knowledge. Not to mention the people that I met and the projects that we are going to being developing. This year there was a smaller group of teachers attending the trip. I think it really changed the dynamic of the group. We became a tight knit group and really established some goals for helping each other teach the material we learned about while on the trip. My big project this trip was creating a virtual tour of all the sites we visited using google earth. I hope to log each historic site and then create a link that will be full of images and sound bites and video clips also links to other sites and resources for students and teachers to make the history more accessible to everyone. It is going to be a large amount of work but the end product will be a great resource and will really help people know who I am and put my name out there for future job prospects. This trip and last years trip have really opened doors for me and helped me make some great networking connections. there are a few more projects and ideas that have some from this trip but I will have to hold of on them till i get this one completed.
Another part of the trip that is exciting is the service learning portion. Service learning is something that has been around for a while. Teachers connect classroom content to service projects. For example a teacher teaches about the role quilting played in family history and as a class they create a quilt. The quilt is auctioned off and the students select a charity to donate the money to. There are also other ways students can perform service. The whole point is to teach students the importance of being positive contributers in the communities in which they live and give them ownership of the information they are learning. I am excited to see the projects that come from this trip. Every teacher is requited to use the information they gained on the trip and create a service learning piece.
Ryan and Katie were happy to see me and I was happy to see them. Ryan would not let me out of his sight without grabbing his diaper bag and wanting to get in the car. He was not taking any chances of me leaving again i guess.

Did someone puch me in the face?!

So right now I feel like someone punched me in the face. I had a dentist appointment today and I had to have oral surgery to fix a root canal gone bad. There was a break in the root that caused a reaction that was eating away at the bone in my jaw. The Endodontist had to cut and pull back the gum and find the break then go in and redo the canal and he also grafted bone there to help the bone grow back quicker. It was a 2 hour ordeal. I am not one to complain about dentist trips. The actual work was painless and didn't bother me at all. The bad part is now when the shots are wearing off and I can feel all of the work that was done. I would post a pic of my mouth with the stitches but i don't want to gross anyone out. I am hoping that the pain meds kick in and knock me out for the night. We will see. For now I am sitting here on the computer trying not to talk or move too much.

Ultrasound and Due Date

What's that Katie's pregnant? Yes, yes she is :)
Katie had her first OB appointment today. Our little "bundle of joy" (as the doctor calls the baby) is due March 6th. That makes Katie about 10 weeks along. Much to our surprise the doctor performed an ultrasound right there in the office today so we got to see our "bundle of joy." We got to see the little heart beat and then we were looking at the arms and legs and Katie jokingly said "the babies not doing flips yet" (which is what Ryan did during his entire ultra sound) and just then the baby moved it's little arm up and down as to say "I can't do flips yet but I can do this." Mario was expecting to work today but they didn't need him after all so he got to go to Katie's appointment with her. It worked out great that he could be there to see the baby too. This ultrasound at the first appointment must be a new thing because they certainly didn't do it with Ryan. Seeing the baby brings a whole new reality to pregnancy, all in all it was a joy to see our little bundle of joy today :)

Falling for Canada

I almost got lost in a cornfield This is in Canada. I was told the corn was not for eatting

Look at me on the boat in front of the falls

Jump for joy Im in fornt of the falls

So last night we stayed in Niagara Falls And were able to have dinner right on the falls. It was so nice. At the end of our meal were were able to see the fireworks over the falls! How cool was that? This morning we went down to the Maid of the Mist. There is a bost that takes people to right up to the falls. It was wet and loud.

Some Pics

Spirit of 76 museum

Motown museum in Detroit

From the Freedom Center in Ohio

The Ohio River Jumping for Excitement