Welcome!

I got home from Best Buy yesterday with my BIG purchase and when I turned on my new MacBook, I found this fun "Welcome" video playing! I was so excited that I grabbed my Flip and started recording.



I'm still learning the ins and outs of my laptop, but I'm sure by the time summer is over, I'll be a pro! I'm sitting here right now with Jill and one of her Journalism friends that's in town for a meeting. The three of us have our Macs out, and I'm glad everyone here supported my purchase yesterday.

Enjoying my birthday present!

No, I didn't get a baby ... or an Exer-Saucer for my birthday.

I got a Flip camera! Molly & Erik got one before Ellen came and I've been super jealous of them. I was so surprised to open up my present Friday night and find my very own, white & silver Flip!



Tonight, I decided to test the camera out on Miss Ellen when I went over for dinner. She was quite the show-off in front of a camera. The other videos that I took were of her rolling over. However, all I could focus on was my voice saying, "Roll OVER! Roooooooolllllllll OVER, Ellen! You can do it!" I'll have to work on the editing this summer because my voice will start to annoy me & cause me NOT to post videos.

In the meantime, you'll just have to enjoy this video of her playing away ... and then giving a giant yawn! I'm interested to see just how many of you yawn after watching this video :)

Trip to the nursery with Mom

This afternoon, Mom & I ran a few errands. We went to look at new sink faucets for my birthday (Are all the rest of my adult birthdays going to be this exciting?), and then went to Suburban Lawn & Garden so Mom could get some herbs & plants for her house.

She knows what most flowers are and she's so speedy when we go there, so I was in charge of the cart (which is so big you can hardly get down any of the aisles in the place) and I snuck in a few great pictures, too.

I know I just posted a slideshow, but this is such a great way to post a lot of pictures without it filling up the entire page! I hope all of you in KC got to do something fun outside in the beautiful weather this weekend!

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A View (from) Across Town

Okay, here are the pics that I promised last night. I decided to put them in a slideshow so they didn't take up the entire front page of my blog. Lemme know which ones you like. I'm constantly working on my photography, and I never know what looks good and what doesn't.

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She's back on my good side ...

... after her pretty good behavior at Jilly's kickball game tonight downtown. I say "pretty good" because she spent a fair amount of time whining and yelping at all the other people & dogs that walked by and didn't stop to pet her and say hello. How rude of them! ;)

This is just one of many photos I took tonight. I'll try & get them posted this weekend. There were so many great ones (if I do say so myself) that I couldn't pick which ones to upload for a post. It helps when you have beautiful weather and a GREAT backdrop of the downtown skyline when you are trying to take a "Picture of the Day".

For now, you'll just have to enjoy my girl enjoying the breeze with her head sticking out of the car window. I love how the sun is shining on her smiley face! :)

Dog for sale ...

Ahhhh, yes! Back door open. Sun still shining. Home before 4:30. I might even get to take my sweet dog for a walk.


Uh ... what the hell is that!?!? I that a pillow? It's ripped up? The zipper is crumpled with teeth marks. WHERE.IS.SHE?!?!

There she is ... hiding from me up in the loft. She knows she's in trouble and now things are going to change around here.

Miss Minnie has slowly gained my trust and more freedom in the condo. We first started with her just in my bedroom upstairs.
Then, earlier this year, I came home to her chewing a spot in the carpet right by the baby gate that kept her in my room.
Then, we moved down into the back hall, because that was the only place in my condo that didn't have carpet. That, of course, meant that she was on a hardwood floor and behind a baby gate, again. That lasted a little over a month until I came home one day to find her on THIS side of the gate, with no clues to how she escaped.
Then, I decided that she really was just mad at me and wanted to have the freedom. For over a month, she's had the run of the condo during the day with perfect places to watch the happenings outside AND she could relax on her favorite pillow! She's three years old, surely she's outgrown some or all of her bad puppy behaviors ... right?

GREAT! Things have changed again. She literally pulled on the zipper handle to open this pillow cover and then started chewing up the stuffing inside. What possessed her to do this? I've been home before 5:00 every day since Spring Break. She's going to be really sorry tomorrow when she's back to her kennel :( I'm a grumpy Momma!

Life List

I was reading some older posts on "Notes for my Kids' Therapist" (the author is a friend of Jilly's from Wichita) ... and I found this list. I thought it was pretty cool, and it would give me something to do since I was a bit bored tonight when I read it.

The rules: Bold the things you’ve done, and post on your blog!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Bought your own home

I'd say that 38 items on the Life List isn't too bad for my 27 (almost 28 - Yikes) years. I feel pretty lucky that I can mark most of the major traveling items and I thank my parents for planning such great trips for us while we were growing up. There was no #100 on the original list, so I added mine, because that is one of the things that I'm most proud of. I did it all on my own! There also might be a few other things that I wasn't sure on. I'm bet if I'm missing something "distaff" and "..." will be sure and let me know! :)

"It says he was an English Explorer ...

... that means he was from America, right? We speak English in America."

Oh holy research! We started a research project today in 4th grade that involves every student reading about and collecting "evidence" on one of several European explorers. We found after all 3 classes had a full hour of research in the library, that our kids DO NOT KNOW HOW TO GATHER INFORMATION FROM EXPOSITORY TEXT!

It was seriously terrifying! The kids had no clue that someone that was a French explorer would be from France; and Italian explorer would be from Italy; a Spanish explorer would be from Spain; and clearly they didn't get that an English explorer would be from England! They also had no clue that the two dates in parentheses after the explorer's name had anything to do with the dates he was born & died ... and some of mine couldn't even figure out that the later of the two dates was the date of death. Yikes!

We spent the rest of the afternoon moaning & groaning about how the kids don't know how to research and don't have the background knowledge needed to take notes over the correct information. I read the following quote recently on a blog I read, and I thought it fit the situation quite well:

"At which point did children stop going to school to ask questions and go to school to be given answers to remember?"

We are too busy teaching our students the information that "will be on the test, I know it will be, so make sure you are paying attention" that we don't have time for them to explore (pun intended) to find the answers to the questions they have about the world around them.

Something to chew on ... I'll step down from my soapbox now!

Here at The Orchards, it's already Summer!

The pool was filled last night and all the furniture is set out and ready for a nice day with lots of sun! Doesn't it look pretty?

I love the leaves on this tree! They really were that neon green! In just a week or so, I'm sure they will be a darker green.

This is my favorite tree in the development. I've been taking pictures of it all year: Impressionistic tree, budding tree, snowy tree, tree branches, etc. Now that it finally has new leaves again, it is really beautiful. The branches grow out to the sides and the leaves fill the branches so it is almost impossible to see through it. It also creates the best shade. I love how the leaves cascade down the branches. I don't know what kind of tree it is, but if I am ever planting trees at a house, this is the kind I want!

One more view of the pool with the newly budding hedges around the fence.