Who does Malachi look like?

I was going through some old pictures we had scanned for our wedding, and thought it might be fun to share them here. So- who does Malachi look like? I don't know if these pictures all place us at about the same age, but I figure it's pretty close. Cast your vote by commenting. We look forward to hearing your thoughts! :)

Finally Dealing with being "Tagged"

OK people, I hope you have learned a valuable lesson here. It is no fun tagging Sarah because she is SOOOOO ridiculously slow at following up on it. My husband would claim it is because I am "not good with administration," but I disagree. It is just that I have so many other things occupying my time, such as cooking him dinner, that I don't always get to the things I'd like to. (I love you honey!) Anyhow, here goes...

• Attached or Single? Most definitely attached to John. It will be 5 years on Dec. 19th!
• Best Friend? I guess I'll take the cop-out answer: John
• Cake or Pie? Pie- that's what makes Thanksgiving so great! (j/k... sort of)
• Day of Choice? Saturdays
• Essential Item? Hmmm... chapstick- I always have some in my pocket. A close second is minty gum.
• Flavor of Ice Cream? Edy's Lite French Silk-- yum, Yum, YUM!
• Gummy Bears or Worms? Worms- there's something about biting off a cuddly bear's head that just isn't as fun.
• Hometown? Rochester, MN (there's a song I'm singing in my head right now that starts that way. It was written by a teacher from my Elementary School- ask me to sing it for you sometime!)
• Indulgences? Fancy coffee from Dunn Bros., Caribou, Starbucks, and the like. Now also from the Cafe at my church (YEAH!). I also love to read when I get a few minutes. Reading by the beach or inside on a snowy day are two of my favorite pastimes.
• January or July? July- I'm off from work :)
• Kids? 1- our sweetie Malachi (9 months)
• Last Movie I saw in a Theater? We saw an awful, awful movie that I DO NOT recommend to anyone. "Burn After Reading"- I felt like I needed to scrub my brain after watching it. It was the closest I have ever come to walking out of a movie.
• Middle Name? Nadine (I love my middle name! It's after my Grandma on my dad's side)
• Number of Siblings? 3 sisters, 3 brothers, 2 half-sister, 1 half-brother!
• Oranges or Apples? Oranges, except for in the fall. Then I just love a good crunchy apple!
• Phobia or Fear? I am afraid of heights- actually of falling from them. I'm also not a fan of bridges.
• Quote? "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phil. 4:13
• Reason to Smile? Some of these are so weird... I guess I'll say going on dates with John and playing with Malachi each make me smile. Oh! Especially when Malachi gets to giggling!
• Season? I love every season as it comes (my mother thinks I am nuts), but I do especially love Autumn. Plus, it definitely has the coolest name!
• Tag five more: I refuse! Ha, ha, ha!!!
• Unknown Fact About Me? See below...
• Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals? I am an omnivore.
• Worst Habit? Oops! I just discovered I missed this one. Hee, hee. I guess that makes it a bad habit- not quite following through with things. :P
• Xrays or Ultrasounds? Ultrasounds- I'm really not sure who would disagree.
• Your favorite Food? Shrimp, but a good steak or cheeseburger isn't bad, either.
• Zodiac? How should I know? I honestly don't pay attention to those things, nor do I really care. ;)

OK, that was part one. Now for part two. For this tagging wonderment I am supposed to come up with "7 random and/or weird facts about myself." Here goes:

1. I LOVE peanut butter. I've been known to take a big spoonful of the stuff out of the jar and eat it straight. Occassionally I mix it up and add a sprinkling of chocolate chips. Don't judge me!
2. I have 3 half siblings who live in Colorado. We hardly get to see each other- they are from my dad's first marriage. I feel bad that we don't have the opportunity to see more of each other, but I suppose it is what it is...
3. I am related to Rutherford B. Hayes- the president. My grandma on my dad's side was a Hayes, and she was related to him somehow.
4. Also on my dad's side we are related to the inventor of Tide detergent!
5. I wanted to be an artist when I was in elementary and middle school. I loved to draw and paint, and I hoped one day I would be able to do that as my job. It didn't quite work out, but every now and again I get to flex my artistic and creative muscles. That's how the painting of Malachi's room came about!
6. We had about a half-dozen different dogs as pets over the years growing up. None of them lasted more than about 2 years each before we sold them or gave them away. My family was awful with pets. Hmm... which reminds me of gerbils... Aha! Which leads me to my final fact...
7. I got to keep one of my class' pet gerbils when I was in 5th grade. After we had one I think my family bought one more. At any rate, they multiplied, and at one point we had more than 20 gerbils (I'm pretty sure it was 27-- AT HOME). We had this elaborate set up of plastic cages and tunnels. It was actually pretty impressive, and we all enjoyed them. After a couple of years it got to be too much, and the pet stores weren't interested in taking more than one off of our hands at a time. We decided to take the gerbils down to a nearby forest and "set them free." We went down there, and my sister took the bucket they were in and threw them (as in flying through the air) into the woods. I was SO mad at her, and am still a little miffed about it today. Those poor little guys probably broke their legs when they landed!

Anyhow... I am finally freed from the tagging! AND I refuse to tag anyone else. Sorry, but I'm notorious for stopping chain letters, etc. Oh! That was an 8th interesting fact. I better stop while I am ahead! Until later...

Some Pictures, etc.

Hello Friends! Apparently my attempt at making excuses in my last post didn't work so hot. You all got right back on my case. And, truth be told, I like it. It helps keep me motivated to get on here. I've had a lot on my plate lately, but I'm expecting things to normalize again here soon. 1st Quarter just ended at school, which might sound like a relieving sort-of-thing for the unobservant bystander. However, those of you with a teacher as a dear friend know that's not exactly the case. With the end of the quarter comes REPORT CARDS (da-da-DUM!!!). And report cards are no small thing to complete on a teacher's end. They take hours and hours, and unless you feel it's okay for me to stop teaching a class during the day so that I can accomplish this monumental feat of paperwork, that means hours and hours of my "free" time spent at school. I'm not complaining, I'm simply stating a fact. So, if you've wondered where I've been lately, the likely answer is holed up in my classroom grading and filling out reports.

So, enough with the excuses, already! I also still realize I've been tagged by a couple of friends. Now that report cards are done I may actually have the time to do superfluous and fun things. :)

Here are some pictures. I know many of you have been dying to see some of the growing boy lately. Here're some snapshots from our life...

From this summer- sitting with cousin Nevaeh and Grandpa Winston at Ron and Doreen's.

Beating up on his bigger cousin. :)

Malachi in his dinosaur costume that Grandma Sands gave us. He wore it to a costume party in early October.

Malachi's eating solids these days! He loves veggies, and is also now eating in his real high chair (not in this picture).

He's starting to sit up. Here he is sitting on Daddy!

It's cold around here! This jacket is cute and functional!

Although I struggled with whether or not to take Malachi out on Halloween (I never celebrated the so-called holiday growing up), I compromised and we went around our circle. It was fun, and Malachi was a good little froggy! (He started as a ladybug at daycare- but had a poo incident. A froggy was a good backup.)

I'm Behind

Have you ever gotten so far behind on a project that it just keeps getting moved to the back burner because it's easier to ignore it than it is to actually get caught up? That's how I've felt about this blog lately. There were so many things I had wanted to write about that I kept putting it off because it would take more time to type about the things I wanted to share than I had time to spend on typing. And the more I put it off, the more things there were to write about. I have finally realized that I just need to move forward on this, and forget about the past things I didn't have time for. Even so, here are a few updates.

So, in the past couple of months I went back to work at school with a new group of fifth graders. This year's students are more of a challenge than last year's students, so that's taking more of my time. Not to mention that we have a wonderful and loveable little guy taking up our time now, too. It makes for a busy day- going to work, picking up Malachi, getting him fed and in bed, and then finally eating ourselves (somewhere around 8pm). Then I usually have an hour or so to get things cleaned up, and maybe get one task done, and it's to bed I go. It's taking some adjusting, but I know I'll find a good rhythm sometime soon.

Malachi is growing like a weed! I have no idea how much he weighs, but he's wearing 6-9 mo. pants now, even though he still fits in 3-6 mo. shirts. He just has such long legs! He has so many teeth, too! He's currently got 6, and at least 2 more close behind (but I suspect there are more than that as I see the telling sign of bumps on his gums). This continues to surprise me. He's eating cereal and other vegetables these days- and he loves it all. He's also started eating in his high chair in the last week, which is very fun!

My biggest frustration has been my computer. Part of the reason I wasn't updating on here is because my computer broke down mid-way through September. It took a couple of weeks to get it back in working order, and I'm still trying to get everything back to the way it was. My super-star computer genius of a dad is responsible for getting it all fixed up for me. Thanks Dad!

Well, I better stop for now, as this is getting to be an enormous post. I have been "tagged" by two other bloggers in the last couple of weeks, so I'll also need to get that post on here soon. Plus I know some of you aren't too happy about the lack of pictures lately. I'll try to get on that, too! Until then...!

Waiting for John

I was going to write a post, but John said he was going to, and now here we are... So, let's see...

John got Lasik eye surgery yesterday! We took out too much money for flex. spending, and there are only so many band-aids you can buy, so we decided one of us needed to get the surgery to use up the money. John got on the ball first, and so he got to have the surgery. Actually, that was great for me because I was a bit of a chicken. BUT- they let me watch the whole thing yesterday (which normally I'm not interested in- ew!), and it didn't seem so scary anymore. A Dr. actually was nearby so she sat with me and explained everything they were doing throughout, which was also very cool. It totally took the mystery out of it, and now I'd love to get mine done next year. We'll see! Ha! Literally! I should also mention that John is doing well, and saw immediate improvement.

The past two weekends we made the trek up north to see John's family (I'll post pictures soon). The first weekend was planned- it was our niece, Nevaeh's, first birthday, and they were having a party for her. It was very fun! The second weekend wasn't planned. We went up for John's great aunt's funeral. She was 86, had cancer, and we knew her time was limited. It was still sad to say goodbye, but we know where she is now, so that is comforting. The funeral was beautiful- such a testament to her faith and honoring to her legacy. I was touched.

Today is Malachi's heart check-up appointment. I've been very busy getting in the last of his appointments and what-not before school starts. I've also been in my classroom a fair amount to get it set up. It's looking pretty good now, so I'm excited! I'm in a bit of a hurry right now, so I'm sorry about the "just the facts, ma'am" ending. Maybe more later... :)

Noodles Contest!

I entered this Noodles & Company contest- check it out! You might also give me a high rating while you're at it- maybe I'll win! :)

http://noodles.prm1.net/contest/gallery/detail.php?ID=90&f=1

Where's July?

OK- so I've been meaning to update for a while, and all of a sudden it hit me-- it's AUGUST! Where on earth did July go?! Not only does that mean I haven't posted on here in almost 3 weeks (yikes), but also that summer is just about over. It is always bittersweet for me. I enjoy my time off (and am sad to give it up), but as soon as I see school supplies in the store, I start to get excited about school starting all over again. Now I realize that most of my teacher friends do not completely share this sentiment- about now most of them are groaning. But, there's something about 5 cent notebooks, and 20 cent crayons that gets me excited. I always have to stay away from those aisles or I end up buying a cartload of cheap school supplies I really don't need. Actually, this year we got smart and I got to go down those aisles to support Running Start for School-- a very cool thing in Rochester. Anyhow, I'm excited about the prospect of a new school year and "starting over." Of course, that doesn't mean as August comes to a close that I won't have a couple of nightmares about not being prepared or about having a class from H-E-double hockey sticks.

So, you may be wondering what we have been up to lately. Here are a couple of higlights:

• Malachi turned 5 months old.
• I had my 10-year High School reunion (JM Rockets)
• I got a stamping/crafting day in with my friends (although more talking was had than crafing)
• We went to Madison to visit our friends Paul and Kim (and Noah and Micah)- it is definitely different now that there are 3 kids to keep track of between us. We had a blast, and especially enjoyed the Madison Farmer's Market-- HOLY COW that was awesome!
• Sarah enjoyed some lunches with friends!
• We housed Malachi's friend Braden's 1st Birthday Party! What a fun time!
• I hosted my dear friend Nurse Lori's baby shower on Sunday. She's having a boy, and we are super excited!

Well, that's about it for now. We'll see you soon or talk to you later!