Ready to Head Home

Our Christmas will be officially over tonight at 7. That's when we'll be leaving Jen's house for Raleigh. We decided to travel at night so the Beast will sleep! (-: It will be a long night, but I'll be chock full of Sheetz tea. Mmmmm...
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Going to the Canes game tomorrow night. Meeting Robin, Kapp, and some others. Let's go Canes!!!

Merry Holidays To All

Heehee! That should make the conservatives angry! It is Christmas day, and I'm here sucking off someone's wireless network here in Vienna, VA at Kerry's folks. It's 36 and raining here. Had a great 5 miler this morning--in a downpour with some ice pelting down. I've put together a string of 3 good runs, so the OBX Marathon is looking possible--we'll see.
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Lucy made out with toys this morning! Her Grammie and Grandpa got her a huge kitchen, with plates and utensils. She loves it! Watch out Emeril!! I made out as well. I'm getting ready to rip my new 3 Doors Down cd to my laptop. Good tunage! Plus we'll be listening to that on the way to PA tomorrow. Christmas, Round II! I guess we'll be renting a U-Haul for the way home!

WHY IS HE ON INSTEAD OF CHEVY CHASE?

How does this man sleep? He spies on us? He has ties to oil rich countries who kill. Grrrrrr!

Have A Holly Jolly...

Well, it's the last week of school. It has been a busy time, with our 'World in Every Classroom,' all the typical holiday-type things, then everything else. We've seen some funky weather too, so that makes for even more interesting circumstances. But we're on the homeward stretch toward Christmas vacation. The family will make our annual pilgrimmage over the river and through the woods to Grammie and Nana's house. It will be a fun Christmas though--LUCY IS WALKING!
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The World In Every Classroom went well. We did a lot of neat, creative technology integration activities. A third grade teacher adapted Hansel and Gretel into a play starring our PE, Art, and other special teachers. I aided two of her students completing the audio using Audacity. I recorded a fifth grade class singing 'Deep in the Tomb of Egypt' and turned it into an mp3 for them to access. Teachers used digital microscopes, music, and a lot of other creative things. Lots 'o experience for Chris!! Each day secures me more and more of an authority, as we're even beginning a weekly podcast on writing, with more planned.
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Lucy does not pause very often these days. The weekend after Thanksgiving is when she took her first steps. I guess she waited until Daddy came home from his conference. She definitely wanted to wait until she had it mastered. Now she tears around the house, neighborhood, and pretty much Raleigh, uncontrollable. We took her to the NC Museum of Science, and it was so awesome to see her tearing around. It is still hard to believe it's our little girl walking! Where does the time go?
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Well...time for Nat'l Lampoons Christmas Vacation--heehee!

Lucy and Jarrod

 

Lucy had a great time playing with Jarrod at our 'Pre-Christmas' shindig with the neighbors last week.
 

Let this speak for itself...

Cha Ching...

Taken from the 3 Dec 2005 News and Observer:

Closing a 'casino'

I'm sitting here at the N.C. Education Technology Conference in Greensboro. This conference is a great way for teachers and administrators from all over the state to share ideas, learn new technologies and find better ways to use current technology. The conference lasts all week, and seemed to be calm; it's a conference full of educators after all.

Apparently not. For years, the NCECT people have hosted a Casino Night for teachers to unwind and play some games and mingle with each other. Instead of money, tickets are won to put into raffles for prizes. Earlier this week, state Alcohol Law Enforcement officials came, trying to shut the Casino Night down.

They returned the next day, threatening to arrest the coordinator and cite each person (over 1,000 at my estimate). Instead of Casino Night, the organizer scrambled to put on Activity Night. It was a success, but had many people scratching their heads.

As a busy educator, I scratch mine as well. We know there are numerous underground casinos and raffles going on in our state. Instead of going after these real gamblers, ALE officials go for educators. In a state that just passed a lottery and is contemplating allowing another tribe to run a real casino, our tax dollars go toward shutting down an innocent night of fun for our teachers.

I think I'll cash in my chips now.

Day 2 of the Pre-Conference

I'm sitting here in Day 2. This session is on Podcasting, and I get a free mp3 player. I was pleasantly surprised to walk in and see Juice and Audacity on the laptops. That's what I've found to use so far. I tried to ask a lot of people what they were using for podcatching and recording, but in at least podcasting, Raleigh, NC is behind the times. People look at me blankly when I mention it. Gives me hope, as I can help bring podcasting to Nash-Rocky Mount and the surrounding areas.
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Dinned at BoneFish Grill last night. If you have one nearby--GO! I had mahi that was sooooo fresh and tender!
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Going over to GUilford Courthouse to run after this session. Looking forward to it. The best of both worlds!

ncetc

Sitting in the Pre-Conference

Ok. I made it to Greensboro for the NCECT Conference. I'm impressed with the conference center and hotel.

I'm sitting in my first pre-conference on Windows Movie Maker. Yes, I've made a movie already (the four star 'A Day in the Life of Lucy'), but I'm looking for some tips for classroom use, adding video to a webpage, etc. What has shocked me is the wealth of really good material out there for use. Sites like freeplaymusic.com and ibiblio.org (a site with free video clips) can really help students and teachers learn the process. It's nice to see some free resources, instead of hearing about copyright, copyright, copyright. I hope to see more of these sites!

Tomorrow I go to a podcasting workshop, where I'll get a free mp3 player. Thank goodness, mine is fairly limiting. I am actually listing to a podcast on blogging now. What a tech nerd I am.

ncetc

Gobble Gobble Goodness

Another Thanksgiving, come and gone. It was our first as a family, staying in Raleigh. I must say, while missing family, it was nice to stay here, relax, and enjoy each other. Put up the tree and lights yesterday, so it's been fun keeping Lucy away from it. Went for a run, took Lucy to the playground, and just caught up on some reading.
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Conference in Greensboro Monday
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Lucy's baptism on Sunday
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Just finished Stephen King's The Regulators. Interesting read. Especially after reading Desperation this summer and seeing the connection. Wonder what the experience is like reading Desperation first. Stephen King is really underrated. Reading mastery. Even if you don't like horror, the creative story lines are amazing. Especially how he connects these two stories. Well, him and Richard Bachman. (-;

Bad Boys Bad Boys...

Whatcha gonna do? I gonna fight it!
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Got a speeding ticket on my way to work this morning. Only about 4 miles from home. I'm actually going to try to fight this one. He wrote down it was raining (it wasn't), so I wouldn't have been able to stop so quickly at the upcoming red light if I was speeding. Also, he wrote I was going both 54 and 59 in a 45 zone. Is this a technicality I can get off with? Hope so! Let me know if any of you have any suggestions!

Canes do it again. Beat Ottawa 2-1. They have done twice what only one other team has done. Then the Ottawa media makes remarks that a 'good' team doesn't lose 9-0. That either makes Ottawa bad, or us good. Canadians.

Taking Lucy to the Raleigh City Christmas Parade Saturday. While there will be no Clay Aiken (haha), we're looking forward to it. I think it'll be cold. It has been warm, it was 74 about 30 minutes ago, then we had about 10 minutes worth of showers, now it's down to 57. Friday's high is 48, so brrrrrr....Winter is back!

Ladies and Gentlemen...Elvis Has Left the Building...

What is up with the Hurricanes? EIGHT game winning streak? Phew! I thought they *may* sneak into the playoffs, but I had no idea they would do what they're doing. Just read an NHL article re: their great start. I definitely agree--it is a good combination of players. Cannot wait to make another game, probably in December.
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Have off tomorrow for Veterans Day. Just in time too! The past two weeks have been insane. It has been non-stop at Williford. We've had people in from DPI, NC State, our IMPACT Visit in Wadesboro. What a stretch. Things will stay busy, but a little less so.
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Lucy B is as cute as always. She took another step on her own today. Then she was pushing her hippo and 'bonked' me on the head. Then she let go of the hippo and clapped, standing on her own. It is such an awesome feeling to see your daughter do that!!

The Truth Comes Out...

See...I'm losing my Yankee heritage! The results are in, I don't speak "Yankee-ese" as well as I used to. Click the link below to see what language you speak!

Your Linguistic Profile:

70% General American English

15% Yankee

10% Dixie

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Also--two candidates that are in favor of busing won in Wake County elections today. All I have to say is Thank God! I guess that's an ironic phrase, since the conservatives are against busing. It seems they would like to deny the progress the county made (and receives national attention for) and resort back to the good 'ole days of segregation. Makes you wonder if you'll find a white cape and hood in some of their closets. Anywho, that's not a nice thing to say, so I apologize. Scares me though, as I know the ultra-conservatives like Cynthia Watson (?name) of Assignments By Choice will be going full force from now until the next elections.

A Much Quicker Week

I just had to post about a slow week. Well, this one was anything but. I spent Monday at Williford preparing for this roller coaster ride of a week. Tuesday we presented at DPI. Part of the IMPACT Model states that teachers should collaboratively plan with specialists (Media Coordinators, Tech Facilitators-me, etc). So our IMPACT Advisor asked us to present to the area Technology Directors on the benefits of collaborative planning. I prepared a PowerPoint, even including some video of a teacher, and some handouts. The presentation went GREAT! The people were very receptive toward what we were discussing. Yes, we received a grant for 1.35 million to install this model, but we really tried to focus on the collaborative piece and ensure them it could be done without money.

On Wednesday I had QTL in Raleigh. It was interesting, as I was given a possible job offer for another county at the county level. The man actually saw our presentation at DPI the day before and emailed questions to me regarding the program. Not sure if I'll follow up on that or not.

Wednesday night I headed south to Wadesboro, NC for an IMPACT Meeting on Thursday. Went by the Rockingham/North Carolina Speedway and past Pinehurst Golf Club. Wadesboro was this cute little town in the foothills, about 50 miles due east of Charlotte. It was neat to meet all the other schools and hear what they've done with their portion of the grant. I even had met some at QTL and other places, so I'm being to network with others in technology.

Came home Friday to our NCSU evaluators. It was a busy day, as our Awards assembly was that day as well, but it all went smoothly. Now this week we collaboratively plan, have two DPI people coming Wednesday, and a Chamber of Commerce event Thursday. Thank goodness Friday is a holiday!!

Our little monkey is still flying around. She is getting so steady with her walking, usually only using one finger. She loves being out in our backyard. We were out there yesterday, just kicking a ball around, eating hay, the normal!

A Slow Week

Enjoy the picture. Lucy and I are happy the Pens got their first win. Although we're happier that the Canes ARE LEADING THE EASTERN CONFERENCE! And ERIC STAAL is LEADING THE LEAGUE IN SCORING!!! Although one of their past five wins came against the Pens, the Canes are doing some spectacular things!
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I wanted to post something this week. Not much going on around these parts though. I have quite the busy week. We present in front of DPI on Tuesday. Last QTL on Wednesday, then the IMPACT meeting at Wadesboro on Thursday. It looks like this will be the busiest week. I will stay pretty busy through December. Then a well-deserved slow down. I have a week long conference in Greensboro the last week in November. We decided to Give Thanks in Raleigh this year, so it'll just be the three of us! (-;

Hockey, Spaghetti Monsters, Jim, N'at

Ok. So I don't live in Pittsburgh anymore. I can still use Pittsburghese, right? (-:

What's been going on this week?

Hockey is back. I find myself watching games, listening via internet radio, keeping up with stats--as much as Lucy Beast allows. I try to follow the Canes and Pens equally, but I see myself watching the Pens more. At least until THEY WIN THEIR FIRST GAME. Shesh. I'll vent more on that another time!
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Firefox made 100 Million downloads. I am doing my duty--spreading it among friends, colleagues at Williford, Wendell, and much more!
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Since Kansas, PA, and now Wake County, NC are trying to teach Intelligent Design along with Evolution in Science Classrooms, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is trying to take some of the steam out of the Religious Fanatic steamroller. Check it out here, and become more of a pastafarian!
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Anyone watching Martha's Apprentice? Is Jim not the most psycho guy in the world! Definitely a put on. People will tune in just to hope he gets kicked out.

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I guess now that all the hurricane names for 05 are taking, we begin various names. Probably name them from sponsorship deals.

Hurricane Budweiser
The Los Angeles Hurricanes of Anaheim
RBC Hurricanes Centre
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Yes, you've guessed it--Kerry and Lucy are in DC--and I'm bored!

Lucy on her Birthday Party (Unbirthday Party with her Playgroup)

Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain

Thanks goodness we're getting rain. We need it. It is so dry and dusty around Raleigh. I've been watering my new lawn out back each and every day. I actually finally got to cut it yesterday with the new ELECTRIC LAWN HOG. It was really easy and looks great now!
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Lucy had her play group birthday party. Boy, does the girl like cake! We're excited about having the Shearers and Flaniganes next weekend for her real party. Oh, and TOMORROW IS HER FIRST HOCKEY GAME!! How appropriate--Pens vs Canes!

The State of the Shearers

Ok. Sorry it's been so long since our last post. Things have been busy busy busy. With the new job, Sylvan, and Lucy getting ready to walk, we haven't a spare moment. I wanted to just drop a few lines to update all those keeping score at home.
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The job is GREAT! I'm enjoying it. Lots to do, especially since this is the final year of the grant, but I love what I do. We've prepared staff development opportunities for technology, collaboratively planned technology-infused units, and just provide support to the teachers. The teachers are incredible too. Each and every one is really an advocate for technology, which is amazing to see!
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Lucy is getting around pretty well. She's walking when pushing her hippo pal and when you hold her hands. She's actually pretty speedy. She can get up both flights of stairs pretty easily, so we keep gates up at the top and bottom. Every question gets her patented, 'Dah' response. Amazing how one word can mean so much! She'll celebrate year One in a few weeks. Hard to believe! The Shearers and Flanigans will be in attendance. Fun times!
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The great state of North Carolina provided us with a generous 2% raise. Don't know where we'll spend that--probably the Dollar Store. We did FINALLY get the lottery, so hopefully that will help the schools. If the bible thumpers don't kill us all first.

Test Test

Test Test

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All I can say is I didn't vote for him...
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Chris' Blog:
http://hurricanesfan66.blogspot.com/

It's the Most Wonderful...

time of the year, for parents. Definitely not for kids or children. Teachers come back to school this week, which means students will be close behind. Another school year. But no classroom for me! Hehe! I can definitely live with that. I've been doing a lot with the webpage, and I truly believe it to be my best ever. There's a racing theme at our school this year, so that will be pretty easy for me to theme various technology projects around.
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Just came back from the 'Burgh. We had a picnic with both sides of the family. It was a lot of fun, but boy was it hot! Yes, I live in NC, but PA doesn't have the amount of central air we do. Phew! Poor Lucy was all red and flush all day. Then being passed around from one person to the other was pretty tough on her, but she definitely enjoyed her time at Nana and Pap Pap's!

Chris, Your Friendly Neighborhood Tech Facilitator

Well, by my title, I guess you can assume I've taken the position at Williford as a 12 month Tech Facilitator. I started working this week, and while awfully busy, I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I also LOVE the thoughts that I won't be preparing my room, doing report cards, scheduling parent-teacher conferences, or any of that mess. Woohoo!

The school and staff I've met so far are very professional. There's a lot of work to be done, and they do it. With this being the final year of the grant, there still remains a ton of paperwork for staff development and purchasing equipment, but what a refreshing change.

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All good on the family front as well. Lucy is keeping us busy, as if we're not busy enough. She is crawling on her knees now and picks herself up on EVERYTHING. She also crawls up two stairs before tuckering out.

It's a Hockey Resurrection in Ralllllleeeeigh!

Finally, the rich and richer have come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement. Boy, as an educator in the South, wouldn't it be nice able to have a union negotiate a fair and market-value contract? Heck, I'm talking making a salary comperable to the rate of inflation, allowing me, Kerry, and Lucy to make ends meet. And both sides of this deal are arguing over multi-million dollar salaries. Anywho...

Sidney Crosby, say hello to Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, after winning the rights to draft #1 (and pick the most touted player since Mario Lemieux), will surely put his skills to good use. Could it be the second coming of a savior in the 'Burgh? I know the Novaks hope so!

I'll be posting about the job I've decided to take soon. I'll be a 12 month tech facilitator at a school in the next county over. Lots of room for advancement. I'm excited!

Judge me lest ye be Judged

Ok. I try to stay neutral, but with the government the way it is these days, I can't help but lean. Come on. What is going on in Iraq anyway. Yes, I certainly understand the negatives to having a specific timeline of withdrawal. What this has done though, has shielded us from the true fact that there is no PLAN. When do we know the 'mission' is over? How to we begin bringing back the troops? It really scares me that our national security is in the hands of a man who used to run a military supply company.
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Now we also receive word that O'Connor will resign from the Supreme Court. That will probably give conservatives two choices for justices. Can you say 'Stone Age?' Yes, I agree that after so long, a fetus is technically a being that could survive outside the womb. However, who are we to deny women who have been raped from erasing the proof of that? How can you even suggest that a woman keep that child/put it up for adoption? Conservative more and more means 'lacking common sense.' Should be interesting.

Lucy and Daddy on his first Fathers' Day. 

Google's Plot to Take over the WORLD

Wow! Just downloaded Picasa2 (well, at around 9PM--it's 11:53 PM now). So what have I been doing? Totally organizing 3 years worth of digital pictures. Wow! Picasa makes it so easy to organize, move pics, print, burn, publish to Hello or Blogger Bot. My little Cool Whip head below was published through Picasa.

Do you think Google will develop an OS soon? I mean really, all this stuff totally makes sense. Their maps (maps.google.com) easily beat MapQuest, googleworld is unbelievable, and all this other stuff. In the words of a very wise man, WOOF!

I'll be posting soon about my busy past two days. To sum it quickly--I have two interviews next week and begin part-time at Home Deepot.

My Little Cool Whip Head 

Summer Plans

Just wanted to give y'all some info on our summertime plans. Starting next week I'll work at Home Dee-pot for a few hours a week. Something for just a little extra money (and that discount card!) Kerry's still working at Sylvan. Lucy still isn't working, but there's hope for her yet.

Meeting the Flanigans in Topsail the middle week in July for the annual Drink Shoe Polish Fest '05. Lucy wasn't really sure of the ocean in OC, Md a couple of weeks ago, so this time we'll ease her into it more.

I'm working towards receiving my certification for web design this summer too. And redesigning my school website. So we'll be pretty busy.

The State of Education

It's really sickening that we, who educate and know the best about education, cannot publically comment on everything going on in this state right now. With the budget problems, both at the county and state levels, education in North Carolina is really going downhill.

Of course it began with "No Child Left Untested." As if one arbitrary test (and each state uses their own--how is that for validity and reliability?) can tell if a student learned in the course of a year and if the teacher taught in the course of a year. What this program does not account for are all the what ifs? Maybe the child's father passed away. Maybe she's not living with her parents. Maybe she watched the police arrest her dad. All of those things happened to people in my class this year. Ridiculous.

Anyhow, my employment is pending still. Many of the tech positions available have been converted from teacher assistant positions. The problem now is the great state of NC may reduce funding for TAs. So my dilemma is that if I accept a tech position now, and come fall the TA positions disappear, I could be stuck in kindergarten, first grade, etc. Blah!

A Real Redneck...

Yep, I'm from the North, but I've been redneckin' it the last couple weeks. We have been soooo busy! Went to a NASCAR race in Richmond with Kerry's dad (thanks for the sweet NEXTEL hospitality Luanne!). Then went to a Carolina Mudcats game where I threw out the first pitch. Kerry and Lucy went, along with Jenn, Tim, and Ashley, Robin, and family. Had a great time and definitely look to do that again! This past weekend met my folks in Ocean City, MD for the NASCAR race in Dover. Had a great time sharing the beach for the first time with Lucy Bea. She didn't eat too much sand, but seemed a little afraid of the ocean. Guess we'll try again in July when we meet Kerry's family at Topsail Island.

Still trying to finalize plans for next year. The DPI job didn't materialize as I would hope, but we have a few other possibilities. Keep us in your thoughts, and we'll keep you updated.

Job Offer

Will be interviewing for a new school on Wednesday for a technology position. I guess we've decided I'll go back to school in the fall, hopefully with this position, then work this summer at getting certified in various web design certificates. Then throughout the year I'll look for part-time web design work, and hopefully start full-time next summer. I'll keep you posted.

Jenn Kapp had her baby girl, Ashley. It was fun to hold such a little one again. She was so light! Definitely want more, although Lucy's keeping us on our toes for now! We went strawberry picking the other day. As you can guess, it was a lot of fun. I'm looking toward a fun summer with my girls!

Spread Firefox

Ok...So I am anti-Microsoft. Heck, if there was something better than Apple out there, I would switch operating systems. But there's not. Something that really annoyed me lately has been IE's total lack of common sense. Now that I'm teaching, looking for additional work, taking technology courses online, etc, my computer filled up pretty fast. I hated how IE kept all their different windows at the bottom. I would group them, but when I had a lot of different windows, I couldn't access them easily.

In walks Firefox. In reading the Washington Post over Christmas Break at K's folks, they wrote up this new browser, Firefox. It's different. It's new. It's safe. Hey, anything has to be better than Active "hecX," right? I went home and loaded Firefox. I LOVE IT! I've been using it for a few months now, and would never go back. I have the ability to have 5 things open and using tabs, go back and forth between them, easily. (See picture!) With available add on extensions (free!), I display the current weather, I can control any media player from within my browser. Awesome stuff! Hopefully they'll make an extension with a refrigerator soon. Then I'll never leave my browser!



They're really not paying me, honest!
Visit Firefox for the FREE download!

The Prunes Go In...

The prunes come out. Been feeding Lucy the prunes, and they seem to be working. Boy, how they work. We think we got too caught up in bananas and ignored veggies. Seems the pipes are back to working properly now.

The girls are at Shannon's tonight. Seems they're having a family reunion with Molly and Mabel (the goats). Daddy has the night off, although he still has to do job stuff. Dreaded job stuff! I think I'll go to Sheetz!

The backyard is taking shape. Yesterday, with my new metal rake in hand, I dug out most of the little white stones and have a level surface minus the rock and mulch. Next is to put down some soil, then reseed. Should be a great place for Lucy to play!

Lucy, Daddy, Barnaby, His Girlfriend the Vaporizer, and Bates. 

Baby Food and Constipation

Who ever knew the digustive tract of a baby could be so complex. Lucy has been having some difficulties lately as we transition to more and more 'semi-solids' such as bananas (phew!) and rice cereal. We probably overfed her the bananas, but gosh darn it, as she would say, "Pffff" which in Lucy-ese means they were so good. We've gone into oatmeal now and mix in a hearty bit of apples. Peas are also know as a constipation reliever, so we're trying those. Kerry is off to find some prunes tomorrow. Look out tummy!

Also spent the weekend fixing the backyard and hanging a shelf in the garage to put up the Christmas (yes I know Christmas was months ago) decorations. MY LIGHTS!!! We're trying to pull up all the stones, mulch, and blocks from the postage-stamp sized backyard to reseed it for more grass for Lucy Bea. We do one step at a time. Last weekend it was pulling up all the concrete edgers (which we gave away on WakeFreecycle--awesome site!) and plastic edging. This weekend I relocating the path blocks. Now I need a metal rake to rake the stone. Anyone got one to borrow?

Off to school tomorrow. Will probably stop for Sheetz.

My First Blog

by chris, 16 april 2005, 8 pm

Well, it's about time the Computer God (self-named) developed and maintained a web blog. For those of you reading it, I will begin to update and post my random thoughts, occurances, and Lucy tidbits as time allows.

Hopefully we'll get Kerry on her typing at times as well. Eventually even our littlest one, Lucy B will type some thoughts.