New Haircut and New Smiles!

Chase got his hair cut yesterday (he was way overdue)! Well, they cut off more hair than we had anticipated but it's a lot easier to style now!

Chase also knows now to smile for the camera... and wouldn't you know it? He's a ham! Here he is, posing for the camera:

I know.... YIKES, right?!?

P.S. I just added an update to my previous post. Check it out!

Scorpions?!?

I just saw my first Texas scorpion...

...in my house.

It was hiding under one of Chase's puzzles! I picked it up to put a puzzle piece away and it scurried out. It could have killed my baby!!!!

OK, OK.... I'm being dramatic (which is so unlike me, I know). It was very small and we were told by our builder that the small ones are not uncommon around here and that they are too little to do damage to us. STILL....

There was a scorpion in my house!!!! Brian killed it and now I owe him a back scratch.

Update 11/17: I just found this information about Texas scorpions online:

• Scorpions are non-insect arthropods. All species of scorpion are poisonous. Texas scorpions produce a bee-sting like reaction in humans. It is very painful, but not life-threatening to most humans. Body size of the victim is very important. Children, because of their small size, are at greater risk of severe envenomation than are adults. There are no scorpions in Texas that are considered lethal to man.

It makes me feel a little better but I still don't want Chase to get stung by one! And next time I guess I won't let Brian kill it with a kleenex, either....

"Art"

Chase brings home art projects from his daycare a couple times a week. Many times they are super cute artsy-fartsy projects that could not possibly have been done by a 23-month-old. And then there are the times we wonder if the teacher just said, "Oh, crap.... I have to do art with the kids today. What do I have laying around?" Today's art project takes the cake:

It's a pile of pasta and shells soaked in glitter and glue... on a sheet of wax paper.

I know as a mother I'm supposed to keep all this stuff... but I just can't do it.

Blast from the Past

One big perk of being a middle school teacher is that I get to do spirit weeks all over again... but this time I can go ALL out, because it's expected of the drama teacher to go a little nuts. And I don't have to worry if I don't look cool because, hey.... I'm a middle school teacher! That alone makes me a dork no matter what I do!

The week of Halloween was our spirit week. We had "twin day," where I twinned up with a student of mine. We had "college jersey day," where I suited up Mizzou-style (of course!). Then we then had "role reversal" day (teacher/student)... and I went all out. I observed my students closely, took notes of "must-have's" and headed to Wal-Mart. I showed up that day with black nails, a black and red "goth" shirt, a black hoodie that had light-up "do-hickeys" that glowed red when I moved. I wore big earrings, rope bracelets, and spray painted streaks of red in my hair. As a finishing touch I wrote all over my hands and arms. Brian got top billing with "CW+BW" in a big heart, followed by his phone number (867-5309). I was, to quote my students, the "bomb diggidy." Waddup. I had planned on taking pictures, but (shame on me) I never got to it. I know, I know. I'm kicking myself in the butt for that, too.

But my favorite day was Flashback Friday. Of course I flashed back to the '80s/early '90s. Here is a photo of me in front of my classroom:

If you can't see it all in the picture I'll give you the gory details: I crimped my entire head of hair, put a half-pony tail on the top of my head, curled and sprayed my bangs like crazy (though I never did get them to go half as high as I used to be able to!), wore lots of blue eyeshadow and big red hoop earrings and bangle bracelets, tight rolled my jeans, scrunched my socks (though you can't see that in the picture, unfortunately) and... did you see my shirt?? Here, let me help you take a closer look:

Yes, that is a New Kids on the Block T-shirt. This is THE concert T-shirt my "friends" Holly and Carrie bought me at the New Kids concert they went to without me (but I'm not bitter... ha!) in the 8TH GRADE. It smelled a little musty but I was just thrilled it fit! What made it extra hilarious was that my kids actually knew who the New Kids were (because of their comeback) and I had to point out how YOUNG they looked on my shirt before they realized how old it was.

My students could not believe we actually used to dress like this. And they all thought I was from the '70s. *sigh* When I said I dressed like this in the '80s they said, "You were ALIVE in the '80s?!?"

This job is so funny.

Oh, I must also point out that this was on Friday.... Halloween. I took Chase Trick-or-Treating dressed like this. It was funny carrying on conversations with neighbors I hadn't met before and watching them try to figure out if I REALLY dressed like that or if I was just dressed up for Halloween. They didn't want to say anything... just in case. Ha ha!

"Wilderness" Living

Mom and Dad, this post is for you.

We are introducing Chase to wildlife down here. Here are a couple photos Brian took (from inside the house) while he and Chase were having breakfast yesterday morning (it was my day to sleep in so I missed it). The iron bars you see on the bottom of the photos are our back porch.

Our Little Monster

I know, I know.... It has taken me longer than I would have liked to post Chase's Halloween costume photos. Chase LOVED his costume. After we bought it he wanted to wear it all the time! We finally hid it so he wouldn't wear it out it before Halloween. Here is a decent full-body shot:

We went trick-or-treating to a few houses and it turns out it was a good way for Mom to meet the neighbors! We stopped and chatted at every house we stopped at, which explains why it took us over an hour to go to 3 houses! At the last house Chase just popped a squat on the curb while I chatted away. What a sport!

Chase did say "Trick or Treat" a couple times and loved waiting for people to come to the door after we rang the bell. And he was such a polite boy.... After each person gave him candy he said, "Thank you! Bye Bye!" (with prompting, of course). That's our sweet little monster!

More photos have been posted in our Photo Album if you're interested!

All Decked Out

Brian has dreamed of the day he could spread his holiday decor out into the yard and with this being our first big holiday in our new house we started what is sure to be a yearly tradition that will keep on growing! In addition to our jack-o-lantern carving, which we do every year (can you guess which one is mine?)....

...we also got some cool "ring-around-the-rosie" ghosts that dance around our tiny little tree in the front yard.

We are so ready for trick-or-treaters this year! Bring 'em on!