beaners

My garden is growing!  We nearly have some corn that's ready to pick...in a few days we'll have fresh, hand-shucked corn!  : )  Here's our mini corn field.  I'm thinking of making it into a maze for Graham when the corn is done growing.  Maybe I can invite his little baby friends to the maze.

And here are the beans!  Last year I planted some beans; I have no idea what kind they were but they were gross.  The beans inside were dark grey and tasted like chalk.  But this year I planted Blue Lake Bush Beans (following my dad's suggestion, since that's what they plant), and they are much better!  So here's my first picking.  I've picked one more time since then.  (I turned this batch into baby food, but the next batch was for the big people.)

Seeing as I now had some really good beans that I think are worth their weight in gold, I didn't want one to go to waste.  We decided rather than trying to eat a bowl-full of beans once a week (or more often), we'd can them so I ordered this bad boy off Amazon.  It arrived the next day.  I unpacked the box and read the instructions very carefully.

I got my jars ready, cleaned and cut the beans, and packed the jars.  I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed I only got three jars of beans.  : /  I guess we'll just add to our bean collection a few jars at a time.

Then I put the jars into the canner, and prayed that the whole thing wouldn't explode.  

Then I watched the pressure rise...keeping a safe distance in case it exploded... (this might be an irrational fear, but I was just sure shards of metal, broken glass, and hot bean water would go flying everywhere, impaling the walls and anyone who dared stand close enough.)

Good news...it didn't explode!  We lived to tell another tale.  Once the pressure was down and the jars were cool enough, I took them out and ta-da!  Here they are!  I don't want to open them they are so pretty.  Now if only we could can zucchini.  It's just the start of the growing season and we already have too much.  Anyone want some?  (Zucchini, not beans.  : ) )

new tricks

Sometimes Graham doesn't realize his own strength and accidentally kicks over his toys.  No matter which way we put him under this little thing he wiggles himself around so his little feet can touch one of the legs which results in the whole toy crashing down.

But he sits too!

He thinks it's pretty amusing.

But we always have pillows just in case he gets lazy.

Graham eats naners: a play-by-play

Ew...these are squishy.

Take a little bite...

Hmm, what is this?

Bleh.  Not today, Daddy.

What, did you really think I was going to eat those?

happy half-birthday to you, happy half-birthday to you!

Yesterday was Graham's half birthday!  He is now six months old!  Six months sounds pretty substantial, I think.  He sure doesn't seem like he should be six months old already.  We had a doctor's appointment today and Graham was given a good bill of health!  He currently is...

17 1/2 pounds
26 3/4 inches tall

Graham is the best baby!  This last few months he has been on a great sleep schedule.  He goes to be anytime from 7:00 to 8:00 or so (its gotten earlier), then wakes up at 6:00, eats a little bit and usually goes back to sleep for a little while.  Then he takes 3 naps over the course of the day, and does so on his own.  We haven't figured out how he knows it's bedtime and that he should sleep, but somehow he does.

We've started him on some baby foods, and he doesn't want anything to do with them.  Poor little guy gags.  Oatmeal is gross.  He does better with pears, but rice cereal and oatmeal are gross.  : )  I told Graham it's okay that he doesn't like oatmeal because I don't like it either.

Graham is super wiggly.  As soon as he figures out how to move, he's going to be unstoppable.  Right now he rolls over and sits up pretty well.  He's just about too big for his little baby tub, so as soon as he can sit on his own and control his wiggles a little bit we're going to lose the baby tub.  But Graham's sitting is pretty cute.  He seems too teeny to sit up like a big kid.

Graham is also pretty ticklish and has the best squeal/laughter when he gets tickled.

Long story short, we love him to pieces!

One year ago today was the worst day of my life

Okay, that's an exaggeration...but...

I wrote this following post last year.  I didn't post it at the time because I wasn't sure if I was going back to school in the fall and didn't want to risk being fired for posting things about how I strongly disliked my students this day.  But here it is.  Last year, on the last day of school, was the worst teaching day in my life.  At that moment I was so done, and was not returning to that horrid place.  But over the summer I decided I could give teaching another go, which turned out to be for only the first quarter because Graham was born. 


Anyway, here's the post...

Since day one of this school year, my 5th hour class has been my nemesis. Consider them the kryptonie or the Lex Luther of this school year. Either way, this class was bad. Yelling, name calling, verbal assaults, you name it. And, I've never heard the f word so many times in my life. They were all bad eggs. All of them. Each day I would suffer through the 60 minutes they were in my classroom, only to dread their return the minute they left. I don't know why I expected the last day of school to be any better.

The last day of school was on a Thursday, and like normal, my 4th hour came and went, ending with students thanking me for being that "cool" teacher, and not crying when they were rowdy. I'm still not sure why they had this fascination with me crying, but they were one of my classes that was actually good. They actually tried, and they actually didn't bother me.

The students in my 5th hour started filing in. Naturally, they were out of their seats, talking, playing a guitar, and doing everything else that they know they shouldn't be doing. After a few minutes of coercing them into their seats, I started to explain their final. When I started passing the tests out, they started talking, which was no surprise, because I had given them that one second of silence that they think means go ahead and talk. Now, excessive talking is something we've been battling in this class for a long time. I had tried everything. I wasn't surprised, and was going to get them settled down when Student A (to keep things anonymous) started yelling at the class to stop talking. Some of the other students didn't really want to hear Student A tell them what to do, so they yelled back. One student, Student B, in particular. Well, Student A and Student B started to have at it. Yelling, telling each other to "shut up" and so on.

I had had it with one of these students yelling at other students, so I called the office and told them to send security. This wasn't the first time this had happened, and today I wasn't going to put up with anything. It was the last day of school, after all. And a finals day.

While I was on the phone for the 5 seconds it took me to ask for security, the heated conversation quickly elevated. In no time they were calling each other everything they could think of, and like a flash, Student A was out of their seat heading for Student B. In a quick moment that seemed to go in slow motion but only lasted a second, they were out in the hall hitting, screaming, scratching, pulling, etc. In an equally quick moment, that also went in slow motion, two teachers from neighboring classrooms were in the hall helping me break it up. I didn't physically get in the middle of them because I knew one of the them would have hit me because they didn't want hear me tell them to stop. (Added later...   And because I was pregnant, I wasn't going to risk anything.)

To make things better, one student, we'll call them Student C, who wasn't involved in the fight, had the incredibly rapid reflex to record the fight.

Once the fighting students were taken away, and after they yelled at the assistant principal because they didn't want to go, my class was somewhat in their seats. Well, Student C decided to show one of his friends in a neighboring classroom his video. Needless to say, that teacher got mad and I was mad that he went into another classroom and bothered that class. The assistant principal was back and gave the class a much needed "what in the heck are you thinking" talk. Student C was on his way out.

Adding to my list of students, we'll bring in Student D. Student D thought they would get some laughs and be a smart alec to the assistant principal. And another student out of my room.

We finally started the final.

This is a day that will go down in infamy.

reading for leisure: a confession

I have never read Pride and Prejudice.  There, I feel better now.  Shameful, you might be thinking, since I was an English major, and high school English teacher.  My least favorite class or set of classes was British lit.  zzzzzzzz.  Sorry I fell asleep just typing that.  : /  American lit was more my style, and world lit wasn't even that bad.  I would try to get my students to feel the same excitement for some of my favorite reads, but I think I may have sent some of them into a depressed state when we read things like Of Mice and Men, and Death of a Salesman (my fav) back to back.  They would always end up begging for a story with a happy ending.

Anyway, I digress.  I wanted to share with you something I read on Thursday....

LOVED it.  It was a very leisurely read, and I couldn't put it down.  I had to, though, when Graham was awake.  But I read while he was sleeping and stayed up late reading.  I finished it in one day.  It is such a cute story.  If you haven't read it or heard of it, it's a true story about a city girl who meets a handsome cowboy she calls Marlboro Man.  It's the story of them dating and getting married.  Way cute, very clean, and too funny.  I did find myself ready for the story to progress when it got the point where they were getting married...there were a lot of pages of her swooning over her handsome cowboy.  But other than that, it was great.  I have to slowly remind myself that I enjoy reading, especially now that I don't have to read The Count of Monte Cristo, Anthem, or Huck Finn for the umpteenth time.

sooo sleeepyyyy

This morning Graham woke up nice and early, so I fed him and a little while later he joined his daddy for some rice cereal.  After breakfast, Matt set Graham on the couch while we cleaned up, and when we came back to Graham, this is how we found him.  Zonked.  : )

note:this is a reenactment

Yesterday I put Graham in his chair so I could make a sandwich.  When I turned around, he was doing this: (note: this is a reenactment, after I strapped him into his chair.)

and this...

Probably because his toy was on the ground and he couldn't reach it.

"Oh, hey, mom!  Were you watching?"

"Pretty funny, huh?"

Graham eats rice cereal

He wasn't too sure what to think of it, but I think he got a few bites.  He's still a little too small for his high chair, so the bumbo will do for now.

excuse me, sir...

Nice blazer. 

.
I saw this blazer in The Children's Place last month when my sister Hannah came to visit.  It was too cute and a little too expensive for something a little baby would wear.  But then it went on clearance, online only.  Then there was a sale, and free shipping, and I couldn't resist.  Although it's "dry clean only" (and who would make a baby jacket dry clean only?  Are they nuts?), I had to have it.  It's still a little big, but don't worry, it's just as handsome as his daddy's.  Don't you love it?  There aren't many things cuter than a teeny baby that wears a navy blue blazer.  (Now I don't think he'll wear these shorts with it, but Matt said his onesie and the blazer looked very business-casual.  I said it looked very Stan Van Gundy.)

lounging

 

Graham likes to lounge.

Oh, sorry buddy.  Did we disrupt your show?

That's better.

airplanes

This last weekend we flew to Idaho Falls on Allegiant Air (which was GREAT) and drove down to Salt Lake for Matt's sister Allison's wedding!  This was Graham's very first ride on an airplane, and he did great!  He slept most of the way there when Matt was with us.  Graham and I then spent a week in Idaho Falls with my family, and then we flew home by ourselves!  It was a little scary, but everything went just fine.