Bella

I wanted to take a minute to tell you all that Bella is a great movie! It's not playing in every theater, and The Chateau in Rochester is the only one playing it, but only for a limited time. It was only supposed to play through yesterday, but I just checked out their website and they currently have it scheduled for another week. Anyhow, this movie is a great film with an excellent message. Apparently the people behind making it are involved in a grassroots effort to promote good cinema. I really don't know much about the background, but I do know the theater was packed, and it was excellent! If you have some time and it's playing nearby, I highly recommend it. :)

Sarah's Favorite Things...

I've been thinking that I want to share my favorite things, so here goes. Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens... :)

• I love singing and being a part of the worship team at church. I was able to do that this weekend again, and it was such a joy! It was a choir weekend, which is even more spectacular and fun, and I just kept thinking that it felt like worship the way it was meant to be-- a total PARTY!
• I love my cat. This has come as such an unexpected surprise. I never cared that much for animals, but getting Blazer has been so entertaining, and he really is a sweetie!
• I love Sunday afternoon naps! John and I will often fall asleep on Sunday afternoons with the football game on, and there just is nothing more relaxing and comforting. (We did get a short one in this past Sunday- yeah!)
• I love reading! Students in my class will occassionally be rewarded with "Read and Relax" times. It's kind of a sneaky way to get kids to read and be excited about it, but it is so fun. I've planned one for tomorrow. I tell them the key word of the day is "Read," but to feel free to bring a pillow, blanket, slippers, snack, and/or beverage to help them relax. They really get excited about it- and it's not even a true "party." They just come and read for a straight 45 min. to an hour! It's fabulous. As an aside, my favorite way to read is of course on a beach or curled up by the fireplace on a snowy day.
• I love laughing! John and I totally got the giggles tonight while at our birthing class. It was completely embarrassing because it was while we were supposed to be quiet and practicing breathing, but just when one of us would calm down the other would start up again. I was crying I was laughing so hard!
• I love Thanksgiving! It is one of my favorite holidays- all of the food and family time is fabulous. Plus my birthday is always nearby, which is an added bonus. This year it is on Friday, and I get a real kick out of telling my students that we get that day off especially for me. I tell them that I arrange it every year with the Superintendent. It's pretty funny because they're not quite sure what to think.
• I love dates with my husband. This weekend I got 2! First, we went to a local "Ice Hawks" hockey game on Saturday night after church. We met up with the Jones' from church, and had a great time. Then on Sunday we saw the movie Bella, which I highly recommend, by the way. This Friday for my Birthday we are going to a MN Wild hockey game. I am pretty pumped about that, too. This week should be a blast.

Okay, I suppose that's enough favorite things for now! I'm sure I'll think of more later, and I can have a "Part 2" post sometime. :)

The Latest

Well, I'm not really sure where to start tonight. I guess I should begin by saying that we had our ultrasound at Mayo on Friday afternoon. This baby wasn't being terribly cooperative, so now we have some areas that require further examination. Namely, his left hand and his heart. He wasn't positioned well, and he also kept wiggling around so much they couldn't tell for sure that everything is as it should be with his heart, and they never caught sight of all five fingers on his left hand, so that is a bit of a question mark as well. So, all of this to say that we've been referred to a Mayo cardiologist now, and we will be going in for another (that's 6, if you're keeping score) ultrasound to see if they can't rule some potential problems out. This, of course, was not quite what we had anticipated prior to our visit. However, we know that this is not out of God's hands or plan, so we're feeling pretty peaceful about the whole thing. Our next visit at Mayo will happen a week from Monday on 11/5. We'd appreciate any prayers for our developing little guy, as well as that he would cooperate and be positioned well for the next ultrasound. Thanks! Oh! And Ebby- there's still only ONE in there!

An unexpected weekend!

OK- so the weekend itself was expected, but how it turned out was unexpected. We had planned to be in AZ over the "MEA" weekend, but as seems standard for us now, it didn't quite work out. Our flight got delayed, which would have resulted in us missing our connection in Denver. John figured all of this out before we even left the house (but not before we packed and loaded the car). John spoke with the airline, and there was literally no way of getting there on Wednesday anymore, and we wouldn't have been able to get to AZ until about 11am Thursday. We talked it over and decided it was a bust, so we opted for a refund.

We ended up going to dinner at the Macaroni Grill (YUM!), and just spending some good quality time together. It was wonderful! We both got some work done around the house, slept in, and we even got to go up to visit my sister Kristi and her husband Chris north of the Cities on Saturday/ Sunday! What fun! By the way, for the Carlsons who read this-- we did miss you! It was just great to take advantage of some time off. Oh! And my key to the school wouldn't work this weekend, so I literally couldn't do schoolwork- fabulous! :)

In other news... we had another Dr.'s appt. this morning. It was great to hear the little guy's heartbeat. We did get referred to Mayo for a level 2 ultrasound, though, which was unexpected. Apparently because they were unable to clearly see the heart and because they noticed there is only one artery in the umbilical cord (or something like that) they want us to get a closer check on how baby looks and is developing. I don't think it's anything to worry about-- I'm thinking it's more like a precaution. As our friend Jennifer J. said- they refer us there because they CAN. ;)

We ARE having one BOY!

That's right! The verdict is in!
Today was our "last chance" ultrasound, courtesy of Maureen J. out of the goodness of her heart! I had been advised by various people to drink sugary or caffeinated drinks to get this baby moving this time around, so after school got out I ate a bag of skittles and stopped by Dunn Bros. to get a nice BIG coffee! Yum! Anyhow, Maureen put the wand down and immediately (like in a millisecond) saw the goods. Her exact words: "Oh! You ARE having a boy!" No question this time, folks! It's time to start buying blue...

Parties, Colds, and a Visitor!

OK, so I've been told that I need to post again (just for you, Ebby!). It's been a while again-- it just seems like sometimes our life is too boring to post about. Since last posting I took my students on a neat field trip to the Olmsted County Historical Society- but who really wants to hear about that?

Then I had a combined Tupperware and Tastefully Simple party at my house, which was fun and tasty- but a post?

And then, this past week I was sick with a cold. Boo hoo! :( So let me just say that having a cold when you are pregnant is no fun at all! I wasn't able to take any of my favorite cold meds, so I ended up staying home sick 2 days in a row! I suppose that's why they give teachers sick days, but it was still pretty nasty (and sub plans are downright annoying to make). The good thing about being out of my classroom, however, is that I was able to do a little test run with the sub I might use for my maternity leave. :) Oh, and my kids were awesome for the sub, so that made my day!

OK, so now-- we have a visitor staying at our house. It is our good friend Ron Ray who is here to play drums on the worship team at our church. He's just staying tonight, but we are super excited to have him. Yeah for Ron, but "boo" for not having his wife Ebby here with him! We'll be super happy to hear his amazing drumming abilities at church again, and then we are going out to Famous Dave's for some good eats! Yum- the baby's eating good tonight!

Oh! And speaking of baby... I've been feeling the little one more and more, which has been totally great. It's pretty funny because I couldn't tell whether or not I was actually feeling the baby move until John felt it and asked if that was baby. After paying a little more attention I finally figured out that I was feeling the little one. Very cool feeling to have, and I'm looking forward to some good kicks (remind me later that I was looking forward to this).

Well, that's all for now. This is getting to be a trademark-long-Sarah-post. Hope everyone is doing well!

Where have I been?

Well, I just read the Ray's blog, and I was reminded that I hadn't posted in a long time again. I think that's my problem. I don't post for a week or two, so when I do I have LOTS to say- hence the enormous posts! I actually was purposely waiting this time around because I was hoping that John would post for a change. He's been so excited about the baby, but then doesn't post- silly! OK, so enough with the blabber- on with the updates!

• School's been mostly good. Being in 5th grade this year has been quite the adjustment! It seems that EVERYTHING is different! There have been some things that I love, and other things I really miss about Middle School, so I'm keeping an open mind about the whole experience.
• We get to have another ultrasound tomorrow (yeah!). Maureen, our friend from church, did the last one for us, and the baby was a little too young, so she said we should come back. It was incredible to SEE the baby! She said if she had to guess it was a girl. Hopefully we'll find out even more convincingly tomorrow.
• My favorite excuse for not having homework done so far happened last week. It went like this. Me: "Why don't you have your homework done?" Student: "Well, I don't really know why, but I've been worrying about my Birthday." Me: "Uh... Really? So, when is your Birthday?" Student: "September 17th." Me: "That's next week. Is there any reason you should be worried?" Student: "No. I don't know why I am." Me: "Hmmm... I'd suggest you worry less about your birthday, and more about getting your job done." OK- seriously?! Worried about your Birthday?! That's definitely a first. I had a hard time keeping a straight face on that one! Imagine when the kid turns 30! Ha!
• Blazer, our lovely cat, was naughty today! I bought a fresh loaf of bread last night at the grocery store and left it on the counter. When I got home tonight I found that he had ripped into the bag and loaf, and eaten several pieces. There were little bits of bread all over the counter, and one big piece on the floor! That darn cat! What cat eats bread?! You'd think we never feed him or something. Oh, well. We love him.

-Sarah :)

Hooray for Saturday!

OK, so I brought up the last post I made, and HOLY COW! I write the world's longest posts! Ooops! I guess I just have a lot of details to get out. What's funny to me is I know as I was typing I was leaving some things out so it wouldn't get too long! HA!

Today is Saturday, and I got to sleep in! Yes! After this week that kicked my butt, I really needed some extra sleep. I have to say that after Monday at my new school, every day did get progressively better. Tuesday was perhaps a slight digression in some areas, but that's another story (that I won't tell or this post will be ENORMOUS!). By Friday I was feeling pretty good, and now I am only debating whether or not I should stop back into my classroom over the weekend. I'm mostly ready and could make things work, but maybe I want to be SUPER ready! :)

Well, that's all. I know. It's shocking. This is short. :) More later...

Back to "Real Life" and other news...

Hello again!
So, I suppose I should go in the order that things have happened, which means I should explain what happened with our vacation first. We ended up picking Phoenix as our alternate vacation destination, and left within hours of my last post. It was a bit crazy getting that all set up last minute, but it turned out okay. We stayed at a timeshare not part of the system we use, but we got a great deal on it, so it worked out great. We did get to see some family and friends while we were down there, making it less like our "normal" vacation experience, but it was great! In fact, we got to meet our new niece Nevaeh just a little earlier than we'd planned. She was an absolute sweetie! Arizona was PIPING HOT while we were there, which was okay. We were able to stay indoors for most of the worst heat (even saw 2 movies!!!), and also sat by the pool 3 mornings. I finished reading The Count of Monte Cristo (EXCELLENT book!), read a young adult chapter book called Ida B., and also starting reading a Jodi Picoult book. I think John finished a book, too, so that means vacation was exactly what we like. :)

Now, upon return we had a very relaxed Sunday night, but then life got VERY crazy/busy for me. I went back to school for Workshop Week early Monday morning. It's been a tough week for me-- moving to 5th grade from Middle School has been a tough transition. I really thought it would be easier than it has been. I'm really not complaining, I'm just surprised by it all, I think. My school and team seems nice enough, even though not everything has gone how I thought it would. It's amazing how even basic things that I've been doing for years (such as ordering copies) are done completely different at the Elementary level! How could I have anticipated that??? I think I also really miss knowing what I'm doing and being a bit of an expert. I feel like I'm starting from scratch, and it certainly has me out of my comfort zone. I'm convinced that if this doesn't kill me (and it probably won't), it will make me stronger. I'll be better off having experienced this than not. Oh, and might I add that all Elementary level meetings are run quite differently from Middle School meetings. It seems like no matter what the meeting is about there is usually someone there who feels strongly about the topic (usually against), and chooses that moment to bring it up and debate it. As far as I can tell this is actually normal, and not an anomaly. I'm sorry if I've offended someone out there, but this is my observation!!!

One last comment before I go... I got to read up on our good friends the Ray's through their blog this week! This was very fun, and I wish I was writing more in their silly style than my own, but oh well. One thing I read that I identified with is how come no one comments on our blog?! Ebby pointed out that it was lonely, and I agree. So, if you're reading this, please post a comment so we feel that there's a point to this! We like comments. :) OK-- that's all for now. I'm glad I had a minute to get this thing caught up!

Busy Week!

Hello Everyone! If you missed our news, check out the article below this one. :)

Julie had her baby girl on August 9th- two weeks early! So, we are an uncle and aunt again! Her name is Nevaeh Marie, and we can't wait to meet her in October. She managed to get a major eye infection this week, though, so that was pretty scary. Julie says things are looking better after 3 medications and antibiotics. We're praying that the infection doesn't cause any long-term damage.

This past weekend I got to go visit my dear college friends Kirsten and Karen. We stayed at Kirsten's place in Uptown Mpls, and we just had some good girl fun. We watched movies, talked, and also went shopping at MOA! Both Friday and Saturday night there were some pretty hefty thunderstorms, so that made for some interesting sleeping. We also got caught walking in the thunderstorm when we went to go get dinner Saturday night. We walked about 8 blocks to get to Chipotle (yum!), got our take out, and headed back. Right as we left it started raining, so it was a soggy walk back. It was an adventure nonetheless.

Monday to Thursday I worked for the school district writing Communications 6 curriculum. It was good to wrap up what we had started in June! I also was able to get going on putting together my school website at Bamber Valley Elementary for this coming year. I'm pretty excited about it. If you want to check it out, just go to: www.rochester.k12.mn.us/school88/carlson. Also this past week I was able to track down the 25 boxes I sent over to Bamber from my 2 schools back in June. I was concerned because they were nowhere to be seen, but it turns out they were being stored in the classroom next door to the one I will have this fall.

This morning our new kitchen table arrived! We looked at IKEA tables, but ended up going with one from Trademart furniture in Rochester. It is an AAmerica brand table, and has one leaf. We are excited to have something that should last a long time and that fits our space a little better.

On to vacation news... We were supposed to leave for Cancun tomorrow, but Hurricane Dean has affected our plans. Even last night we thought we'd still go because it was only a Category 2 storm. However, by this morning it had been upgraded to Cat. 4, and they expect it to get up to 5 in no time. We figured we'd be idiots to still go to Cancun, so John just cancelled our flights. The good news is we won't lose our money or our timeshare week. Now we are currently considering our options for the next week. We'll see what kind of vacation we take. This should be interesting!

We're having a BABY!!!

That's right! The rumor is true- we have a little one on the way! As I am writing this I am 13 weeks pregnant, and the due date is February 12th, 2008. We are SUPER excited! We found out while we were in Vegas in June, and have managed to keep it a secret for quite a while (it was really hard). I haven't had any morning sickness (praise the Lord!), but we did have one scare at week 9. We got to hear the heartbeat just last week, though, and all seems to be progressing normally. I'm not really showing yet, but John seems to think I am. As the weeks and months pass we will try to post some pictures for those of you who don't see us regularly. Oh! And I've already painted the baby's room! It is a fun shade of light green- which should go well with boy or girl things. We hope to find out if it will be a boy or a girl in September.

Since Vacation

Since our Vegas vacation I've been busy. As a teacher I get my summers off... YEAH RIGHT! The first week back I worked on curriculum writing for the district, and the following week I was involved in an "Educators in the Workplace Seminar." Later that week we visited Uncle Dick and Aunt Donna in Sartell. The week of the 4th of July I had some free time, so I painted the main-level bathroom. We also went up to Apple Valley for the Carlson 4th of July get-together. And this week I began teaching 5th grade Summer School. It is 4 days a week for 4 weeks, and I am determined that we are going to have (educational) FUN! I guess I find a way to stay busy! :)

Vegas Vacation...

Our vacation to Vegas was fantastic and a much-needed break! It was a great idea to get out of town right after school got out to force me to clean up my classrooms and wrap up loose ends right away. Vegas was hot the week we were there (in the 100's), but that dry desert heat is a little different than the heavy humid heat of MN, so it was very tolerable.

Getting back home was a bit of an adventure... John got the good idea to go home 12 hours earlier in the day so that he could get back for a good night's sleep before going back to work on a Saturday. Unfortunately, he could only get himself confirmed on a flight, so I was on standby. This seemed like a sure thing, that is until a Detroit flight got delayed and then cancelled... That caused a bunch of people to re-route through Minneapolis, which meant I didn't make it on the flight. 12 hours later (and several delayed and cancelled flights later) I finally got on the plane that brought me back. It was a l-o-n-g day. No hard feelings, though! It certainly did not ruin my trip!

Sarah's 2007-2008 Job

I am making a big job change for this next school year. After teaching for 5 years at the middle school level, I was offered a 5th grade teaching position at Bamber Valley Elementary in Rochester, and I decided to take it. It should be an interesting new adventure and challenge for me! I am hoping the job will give me a fresh perspective about teaching in the middle school, as well as open up some new opportunities for me. So, don't bug me this summer! I'm figuring out a whole new curriculum! :) J/k. I'm sure I can use all of the distractions I can get!