Day 182: Food, KU, & Parties

Today was quite eventful!  In the morning, Eric and I went over to Eudora Baptist Church to pick up our food from the Angel Food Ministries.  It is a program that provides boxes of food at reduced rates - all you have to do is order online or through a church that hosts the program.  It is available across the country and we stuffed our freezer with at least 2 weeks worth of food for $31.  They've got something like 8-10 boxes that you can choose from, check it out here - http://www.angelfoodministries.com/menus/menu_2011-01_en.asp.

Then there's the KU Basketball game...ahem...  In the last minute of the game we were down by 2, and then shot a 3 pointer for a 1 point lead!  It was incredibly stressful, but we won!

Then Eric headed to work and I went to Olathe for Andrew's 1st Birthday Party, and my 25th.  At the combined "Jessica & Andrew Birthday Bash" was Mom, Kris, Sarah, Andrew, Ashley, Paul, Deb, Shannon, Sean, Deb, Emma, and Zayne.  I think that was it... Eric and Alan were working.  We had a sheet cake that was chocolate and vanilla - Andrew stuck his hand and sock in the frosting while we were getting pictures.  There was also a smash cake for Andrew, which was quite the experience!  He was hesitant to touch it, then lost balance and his hand went through the whole cake when he fell forward.  Then he got his foot in the frosting and wasn't sure what to do, so he just held his leg up in the air until he got tired.

Sarah fed him a bite of cake without frosting and he ended up gagging on that, haha!  Everyone dispersed and we ended up playing games with the remaining crowd.  Eric and I registered for Scattegories and this is the first time it's been played, but we had a good time!

After I left the Wenberg house, I met Eric at home and we got ready to have Steven and Leslie over.  They brought the makings for a fun Christmasy drink - hot chocolate, mint chocolate Bailey's, Chartreuse, whipped cream and cinnamon.  We also exchanged our gifts - Steven got a Juice-to-Alcohol fermentation kit, Leslie got a drinking bird (him/her/he/she) and jumbo Mad Libs book, I got a KU pin and wall hanging, Eric got Star Wars Force Unleashed, and S&L got Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 for both of us!  I ended up giving Eric his present from me early - .  A Ducti wallet with red stripes, because he dropped his old and already worn wallet in the toilet a few weeks ago.

Then we played games all night.  Mad Libs, Scattegories, Taboo, and Apples to Apples.  It was really awesome to hang out with them again - we haven't seen that duo since October!

All of this food for $31!

[To the tune of "I'm a Little Teapot"] I'm a little Jayhawk, red and blue, I have a beak and yellow shoes, when I see my team play, hear me shout, "Rock Chalk Jayhawk, Go KU!"

I got to share a birthday cake with my nephew!  Mom even made my icing green :)

Andrew's little smash cake

The two of us before we blew out our candles!  

He wasn't so sure about the texture of the icing.

But he liked the little present that came on top of the cake!

Andrew accidentally got his foot in the icing, and wasn't sure what to do with his foot.

He tasted the icing,and wasn't terribly thrilled.

This is when he leaned forward, lost his balance, and put his whole hand through the middle of the cake.  He ended up having half of it stuck to his hand.

Kris helped him try a bite...still not digging it.

"Mom...Dad...can I be all done?  This is messy!"

Yay!  Bathtime!

Mom helped him open gifts.  He did a really good job tearing the paper off and then looking for the gifts inside!

Auntie Jess and Uncle Eric got him a trike that one of our neighbors was going to throw out.  It's a little loved, and too big for Andrew, but I'm sure he'll love it next year!  

He climbed all the way up the stairs with his Nana.

Mmmm, Christmasy drinks.

Leslie's drinking bird.

I made some of the Angel Food Ministries Mac & Cheese.  It came in frozen pouches that you boil...and I burned my arm because I was playing with the tongs near the boiling water.

Group picture!

Eric's Juila Roberts impression...

My Julia Roberts impression...

Addy avoided all of the crazy people in her house by sleeping on the guest bed.

Day 181: Nerf Wars

Last weekend we got a pair of Maverick Nerf Guns in a White Elephant gift exchange.  Now the cats are learning to dodge darts and I am being ambushed while working on homework!  Speaking of homework, I forgot to mention on Tuesday that Eric is totally done with his fall semester.  He only has 4 more credit hours before he graduates!  Talk about an easy spring semester!  I finished my two classes tonight.  I could have finished my Master's between the spring and summer semesters, but my sanity is worth more than a degree, so I'll only take one class in the spring.

 I slowly saw his head popping through the door horizontally...I noticed the Nerf guns too late to react!
Remaining Comments

Day 180: We Love Our Babies!

I'm working on making sure we've got plenty of pictures of Mystic.  She is still the happiest cat you've ever met, I think her purr'r is broken, because she never stops!  She's obviously getting more sick, but it's not hurting her yet.  For anyone who hasn't been following all along - we lost her brother, Bubsy, just after the wedding to kidney failure.  At Mystic's most recent vet appointment, she was showing the same signs of starting down the same path.  Over the last year or two she has lost a lot of weight and is barely holding on the 6-7 pounds, and now she's drinking water like it's going out of style.  The vet said we have a few months to a year left with her, but we're making sure it's all happy times!

 I was so surprised, neither cat objected to this!  Usually they both cry when I hold them together.  Also, this shows just how fluffy Addy is!  She is twice as big as Mystic, haha.

Day 179: A Blah Blah Bad Day

Today was blah and bad for both of us.  Work isn't getting any better for Eric - a new guy was just hired and is already getting more hours than Eric, who was given the impression he would be full time when he was hired nearly 2 years ago...  I got some bad news about placement for a student of mine, which will end up translating to hours on end of extra work for me after New Years.

 But in the evening we ended up hanging out in the office with the space heater on, cozying up to appreciate what we've got and forget about the happenings of the day.  I ended up working on my New Super Mario Bros Wii game...I say my, but I bought it for Eric's birthday...  I'm up to 99 lives, I've beat through World 8-2 and have 115 Star Coins!  I am determined to completely beat the game!

Blahhhhhhh, naps solve all problems!

Eric was whistling along to his game music.

Day 178: Happpy Birthday Ashley! (and Shannon!)

Oops, I totally forgot to say anything about Shannon's birthday...actually, I think I've missed mentioning quite a few birthdays here.  Anyhow, today is Ashley's 20th birthday and Shannon had her 20th last week!  Eric and I headed out to Olathe to see Papa before going out to dinner with Mom, Alan, Ashley, Kath, Zach, and Belle.  We went to Red Lobster, which is so great because Ashley and I LOVE snow crab! 

We got Ashley and Shannon each a file box filled with color coded files and hanging file folders.  I also made them a list of important items to file, suggestions for how to group them, and important items to keep in their fire safe lock boxes.  It seems like the most boring and serious gift ever, but nobody ever taught me how to file - I just knew there were some papers that seemed too important to throw away.  The first few years of being moved out my filing system was a box of important papers.  Now they can start off on the right foot and know right where everything is!

Ashley with her file box and Mom with Ashley's tissue paper!

Me and my mommy!

 

Blurry but cute!  Ashley shared her birthday dinner with me so we both got free dessert!

Day 177: Groupon Supporting Schools

In August, I signed up on DonorsChoose.org, a website that supports teachers.  Teachers can shop on specific websites and create projects that specify what materials they need to support their classroom.  Then donors can look at the projects and choose which ones to support.  I had a project for a student of mine who requires a lot of physical movement throughout the day - and requested one of the balls with a handle that you bounce around the floor on, and a mini trampoline that we can bring into the classroom.  Last week I started a project targeted to motivate students to learn, with items like stress balls, stickers, and ink stamps.

Today Groupon posted an opportunity to buy $25 toward DonorsChoose for only $10, or $50 for $20, or $100 for $40.  My first project just got fully funded, and my second project went from a balance of $250 to a balance of $100!  I'm really excited to get these items in my classroom soon!

Thanks so much to Mom, Kath, and anyone else who has supported these projects!

Go check it out!  You can search by state (Kansas) and city (Lawrence) if you want to support me, or you can support your favorite teachers or causes!

Day 176: Graduating FPU, Again!

Tonight Eric and I graduated from Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University for the second time this year, along with Mom, Alan, Paul, Deb, Alison, and Rob.  We are really excited to have gotten so many people started down the track of being weird!  Molly and Nate are going through right now, and Papa and Ashley are starting in January!  Through all of our classes we earned tickets for various things and they drew 2 names on the last day for some prizes, and Mom won the first place prize!

Zach was SO HAPPY that Andrew finally came to Dave Ramsey with us!

Addy had a lazy night...yawwwwwwn.  Her new favorite spot is in front of the space heater!