Field Trip

Tuesday is free day at the Houston Natural Science Museum downtown, so last week, Ariane, Kari, and I made the trek with our kids. I'm not big on museums in the first place, and Caleb could have cared less, but it was fun to get out of the house and do something different. Once Caleb is a bit older, I know these outings will be more fun as he can talk and be more curious about everything. Here are a few pictures of Caleb and I:

Ariane and I carpooled, and here are our babies zonked out on the way back.

Cooking Blunder!

Matt is very easy to cook for because he is not a picky eater. The downside to that, however, is that whenever I ask him how a meal tastes and whether he likes it, his common response is, "It's good." We've talked about varying this response a little. The only thing Matt doesn't like is really spicy food because it doesn't sit well with his stomach.

The other night I was making a casserole that required approximately 3/4 of a packet of taco seasoning. Last time I made the meal, I decided that it was too bland, so I just added the whole packet of seasoning this time. When we start eating, I take a bite of my dinner first and have to drink some water immediately after. I caution Matt that it is a bit spicier than last time, and perhaps he might want to add some sour cream to help tone down the spiciness. He adds some sour cream, takes a bite, swallows. Then he adds some more sour cream, takes a bite, and swallows again. This process continues for fear of hurting my feelings, until Matt admits that it is just too spicy for him, and he can't eat it. (It was burning my tongue too, but I hate to waste food!)

I consider myself a decent cook, and so my pride was a bit wounded that I had ruined a meal and Plan B would have to be cereal. I couldn't believe that another tablespoon or so of taco seasoning could make the meal so spicy! Matt thought the whole thing was funny as we started dumping the meal in the garbage. He happened to see the empty seasoning packet in the garbage during this process and pulled it out. It turns out that I had accidentally purchased a "Hot" Taco Seasoning instead of the "Original" kind. (I now know to check the packets more carefully at the grocery store!) Instead, we had a fun night of Frosted Mini Wheats and Cheerios while we watched American Idol.

Birthday Week!

Matt and I both celebrated our birthdays this past week. My birthday was on Sunday the 30th, and Matt's was yesterday, April 2nd. (I turned 25 and Matt turned 26.) I feel bad that my birthday tends to overshadow Matt's since mine comes first, so this year, I decided to throw a party for Matt. Matt is such a 'social butterfly' so spending the night with friends and family is his ideal night. We were so grateful to everyone who came, especially his siblings since they live further away. I did not do a good job of taking pictures, but here are a few shots from the night:

Matt blowing out his candles while Hunter and Makayla (nephew and niece) eagerly await cake and ice cream.
Later playing "Four Men on a Couch:" a good 'ole BYU Family Home Evening activity.
Some of the decorations. I had my internship earlier that day, so I had limited time to throw everything together. It was a hectic afternoon!

My birthday was very low-key. It landed on a Sunday (and a fast Sunday, so I was 'deprived' of one of my favorite activities...eating!), so we had church in the morning, I got a nap (a birthday present from Matt), then we got together for dinner and cake with my family later that night. I just love to be remembered on my birthday so thanks for the emails and phone calls and mail. I guess Matt needs to work on his picture-taking abilities as well in the fact that these are the only pictures from the night! We are not quite used to taking lots of pictures of us, although we take plenty of Caleb!

Drew practicing to be a big brother.

Dallin, Drew, Caleb
I love this picture!

Happy Easter!

We enjoyed our Easter day yesterday. When Caleb gets older, it might be more of an exciting day maybe with some Easter egg decorating and egg hunting, but it was just a typical Sunday with church in the morning and a relaxing afternoon. Each year we celebrate by getting together for dinner with as many people in my family as can come. This year we were missing my parents who took a week-long vacation in Utah, so it was just my siblings and spouses. Somehow we managed without my parents :)

Easter dinner
Caleb and Drew

(Kari and Jared's son)
Ariane, Zane, and Baby Dallin

(taken when Dallin was just a few weeks old)

Internship Update

So I am finished with 35 of my 130 hours. This is going to be a long process! Unfortunately I am not having quite the experience I was hoping for, so I am looking to do my last 65 hours at a middle school. At the elementary school I am at right now, library time is part of the students’ rotation time. ‘Rotations’ is where students go to PE, music, art, or the library for 45 minutes while the teachers have their conference/planning period. So the librarian I am working with teaches all day long with an hour and 15 minute break for eating lunch and doing all the library stuff that needs doing. She does have a librarian aid/paraprofessional, but the aid is also in charge of the ‘In-School Suspension’ students, i.e. the bad students. Therefore, she doesn’t always get the day-to-day tasks done. I’m sure they see me as their saving grace.

With all 800+ students visiting the library weekly, the circulation is really high, so the most time-consuming task is reshelving the books after they are turned in. I have probably spent over half of my time so far doing this very mundane and boring task, as well as check the organization of the books for inventory at the end of the year. (Needless to say, that’s why I’m not quite having the experience I was hoping for.) I’m glad to be able to help, and I have gained a lot of experience doing other things as well. I have labeled new books that have come in, entered new books into the catalog system, helped with weeding (they have quite a few books from the 80s that NEED to go or be replaced with newer editions), and checked books in and out. I am frequently assisting students with research using search engines or databases as well as guiding them through the nonfiction section to find the subject they are looking for. I am becoming quite good at memorizing where the different subjects are—jokes? 818, sports? 796, space? 523, cookbooks? 641 (surprisingly the most popular section), biographies? 920s, aliens and UFOs? 001 etc.

In all my SHSU classes, the professors have highly stressed flexible scheduling, where teachers can schedule library time but there is no fixed schedule such as rotations. The librarian I am working with is literally a teacher all day long, turning in weekly lesson plans as well. (Funny side noteà they just voted for teacher-of-the-year, and the librarian was not on the ballot because she is not considered a teacher, although the PE, art, and music teachers were.) It’s only at the elementary level that they have library time as a part of the rotations schedule, so I am hoping to be able to do the last part of my internship at a middle school and get more of the experience I was hoping for…

On the plus side, Caleb has been doing so great for my mom. He did very well with the transition. He is such a champ when it comes to eating cereal and baby food now, although he still doesn’t take the bottle all that well for anyone. After this experience, I have such a new respect for working moms. It’s a lot of stress, and I’m only ‘working’ 10 hours a week! With all the preparations beforehand, and then coming home to all the house duties and other errands, I can’t imagine doing it day in and day out full time. I also think it affects Caleb since he’s out of his home environment, and sometimes I have to alter his schedule as far as waking him up earlier etc. We’ve both adjusted well, however, and it’s been good for both of us. Matt, as always, is super supportive of the whole ordeal.

The Best of Times and Worst of Times

We have the same routine each night as far as getting ready for bed. Caleb eats some food, followed by a bath, and then we'll do "quiet" activities to calm down for sleeping. Caleb has always loved his baths, but he HATES with a passion getting dressed afterwards. It is a huge fight every night with a lot of screaming (mostly from Caleb) and kicking. Last night, Matt and I tried to catch some of our routine on camera. So the first few pictures are of his bath, followed by the fight to get clothes on him. We actually had a difficult time catching Caleb's anger because whenever Matt took a picture, Caleb would automatically smile--he does so good with pictures. (So now we know how to make getting dressed a little easier!)

A random picture of Caleb in a new outfit.

Family Pictures

We took some family pictures at the beginning of the year. I just recently got some copies to post:

Whole family as of Jan. '08
Without the in-laws
Minus the babies
Dad and the girls
Matt, Caleb, and I