I know...I know...

I know I'm actually terrible about updating this blog...I try to remember to do it, I think I just don't realize how much time actually goes by between my updates....
My sister says "EVERYONE" is asking about the Guinea Pigs so I guess I'll start there...We have gotten rid of two of the babies. Now both Mommy's and baby 3 (the last born..the one that "dad" gave birth to in the "isolation" cage) are living in our classroom. I have one student who calls the baby her own but when it comes down to it, she really doesn't have the money to buy a cage for it or even feed it when it goes home...so I just keep holding on to it for now. We are 90% sure it's a girl...and you know how good I am at sexing Guinea Pigs, Soooooo I'm sure we'll have another "litter" in about 3 months!!! :) Actually one of the mom's is getting quite fat again...I think It's a little soon for that but I'm a little concerned. I'm more concerned due to the fact that if she is preggo, it'd put her due date in the middle of summer break!!! Which would leave me stuck with who knows how many guinea pigs, at my house! It's one thing to have them at school...but at home, I'm just not ok with that!!! Enough about them...moving on...
Work is going really well for me. I'm so excited that we have exactly 4 weeks left of school. I actually have to work a few days after the kids get out but I have 20 days left with kids. Speaking of kids, I have a new kid coming in to my class next week. I was supposed to have him today but he never came, so I guess he'll be there Monday. I'm a little nervous, we have a really good dynamic now in our group and it always turns their whole worlds around when someone comes or goes! My kids and I had the privilege of going on a field trip this past Monday. We went to Disney's Animal Kingdom! It was a wonderful little trip! We were only there for about 2 hours which was good for my kids, they were ready to leave by then. They really don't have much of an attention span or much energy so 2 hours is pretty much their breaking point for any activity! :) We were fortunate enough to get the tickets for free so we didn't feel bad only having them there for 2 hours. Pretty much all we got to do was go on the "Kilimanjaro Safaris" which was absolutely awesome!!!
One of the several elephants we got to see! The whole ride carries a message about conservation and poaching.

These are some pictures I took with my phone, because, of course with all the excitement, I forgot my camera!! :(Here's a BABY giraffe who was just standing there watching us go by!


That's about all for my work at the minute. Chris is very...well, I guess "unsure" is the word, right now about his job. He's still doing well there but is getting bored, more or less. He's just not being challenged at all creatively and he's starting to look for places to move on to. However, with only 3 months experience, his options are limited. So, this is probably not a move that's going to be happening anytime soon. He realizes he needs to put in no less than a good solid 6 months before he moves on.

I'm looking into working at summer camps as an option for summer employment. I did attend an information session about teaching summer school but there seems to be a lot of interest in it from ESE teachers and seeing as how jobs are awarded based on seniority and I'm the newest teacher in the world, I think I'll back away from this idea. My other thought is that doing something different over the summer is really going to help me not burn out as quickly. So...I'm looking at camps in the area, I'm sending in applications...if all else fails, I'm fully prepared to go work at Disney for a few months!!!

I'm thrilled that today is friday! I'm off to bed as we speak! I can't wait to sleep-in tomorrow morning! I know it's a sad day in my life when the highlight of my week is waiting for the one day when I get to sleep in...and no doubt, I will awaken at 6:30 and not be able to force myself back to sleep!!! :( Ahh well...have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for reading!!!

House Pictures....FINALLY...

I know, I know, we've been in Florida for an awful long time to have not yet posted pictures of our house. These are some shots that Chris took, I think the first week we were here...
Hey, you know what they say, "better late than never" Right? Well, here they are...

OUR HOUSE!!!


Our Pretty Little House Again!


our front porch


Our living room with the little Christmas Tree our friends set up for us before we arrived! It really made it feel more like home...since we did move the week before Christmas!


Our living room again, looking a little more "lived in"


Ozzy, enjoying the Florida sun


Tank, LOVING the new fenced back yard!!!





Chris and our "Tankers" happy to be in Florida!!!

An unexpected lesson plan...

Ok, so you probably know that right after I started teaching, my temporary assistant Teresia convinced me that my students were in desperate need of a class pet. She just so happened to have a few baby Guinea pigs at home that she really wanted to get rid of. I thought it would be a GREAT idea...not to mention, it would probably win me some favor in the eyes of my new students. So we agreed, she would give me one of her baby Guineas and I went out and bought everything for it to live a full and happy life in our room as our class pet. So, then she decided she really needed to find a home for two of them and since mine was going to be alone on the weekends it might get lonely...and we can't have a lonely class pet, so I needed two of them. She assured me at the time that she had become an expert on "sexing" Guinea pigs because after 4 children, she had learned her lesson with unexpected reproduction. She provided me with two male Guinea pigs. They were babies at the time. They had only just been weaned. They really were SOOOOO cute and the kids fell in love with them instantly! I continued to ask her to make sure they were both males and she again assured me they were, showing me how to tell by looking at them, and I checked to and agreed, "if that's what a male Guinea pig looks like, they are definitely both males." So, today it has been several months since we took on the precious little furry things and welcomed them into our class. I noticed on Monday morning what looked to be like blood on the bedding of the cage. I was worried they had gotten into a fight and one had gotten hurt but they both looked very healthy, and so my worry ended. As I feed and watered them this morning, I noticed another spot of blood, again I was concerned. I went on about my day. Just before my students went to lunch, they were up walking around the room and one of my girls went to check on the Guinea pigs. Then it happened...she yells...at the TOP of her lungs...MS. HOLLAND...BABIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I said, NOOOOOOO! They are both boys, they can't have babies honey...and just to make sure I checked the cage..."OH, NO, YOU ARE RIGHT...HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN??? BABIES???" I immediately pick up the phone to SCREAM at Teresia for this little gift and make a joke about how GREAT she in fact has proven herself to be at sexing Guinea pigs. So she says, "Well, you have to get the Dad out of there, he could hurt the babies. make sure you know which one is the mom and separate them as soon as you can." I got Dad out right away and put him in a rubbermaid tub while I ran to Wal-mart to buy a new cage. Of course they only had ONE and of course it cost $40. I'm really ready to kill Teresia at this point. So...I go back to school. Set up the new cage and put Dad in there so he can feel at home. He seems to be adjusting pretty well to his new surroundings. Word travels around the school about our little "miracle of life" and they even come to take pictures of our little additions for the yearbook! Everyone agrees, they are pretty cute. Wednesday is an early day for students but not for teachers. So, I walked the kids to the bus at 2:00 and on my way back I stopped by Teresia's room and asked her to come out and see the babies. She came in to the room and we stood and gawked at the cute little things for a few minutes. My assistant was there too, and the teacher next door came in with her daughter. As we are standing there, looking at the "nursery" cage, I look down at "Dad" in his cage...and, then, I see it, something is moving. Something little, white, furry...OH! NO! I literally SCREAM! I look at Teresia...I'm convinced at this point that I have adopted transsexual Guinea pigs!!! We are all in shock. Four GROWN women...screaming at the top of their lungs...HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN...we run through EVERY possibility. Is that the Mom? Did we separate the wrong ones. What is going on? They are both girls, they both gave birth, where's the male? I look around the room panicked and I say, but we've had them for 3 months what is going on...the light bulb FINALLY comes on...They are both female, she gave me TWO pregnant Guinea pigs! I can't believe this...I had 2 this morning...2 boys for that matter, and now I have 5. Feasibly, I could have up to 7 by tomorrow morning! Needless to say, it was a bit of a traumatic day! Here's a picture of "Dad" just after "he" gave birth to our 3rd baby for the day!



and here are the pictures of babies "one" and "two" along with their momma

Babysitting pictures...finally!!!

Sorry it took so long but here they are...
There are more of Warren because he's a little more stationary at this point than Benjamin...not for long! :)

It's BATH TIME...or SPLASH TIME...can't decide which!


THIS chair tastes SOOO good, You should try some!!!


Even his little hands are sweet!




"Oh, HI, you want to play too?"


The Yummiest toy in the world!


Just LOOK at these eyes!!!


The one and only smile I got out of Ben


Goofing around


Silly Ben



My Brother = the greatest guy in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!!

Absolutely, 100%, believe me when I say this...

Baby sitting is the very best form of birth control possible!!!
I told my sister this after keeping my lovely adorable wonderful nephews for the evening...really, just a few hours...and she asked me what had gone wrong. I politely explained "nothing" they've been wonderful. They ate, took a bath, played, and went to bed all fine...the issue is, I've discovered, that I like my arms, hands, and legs and I absolutely love the ability to do whatever I want with my arms, legs, and hands at any given time. I can honestly say at this point in my life, I NEVER want to give that up.
I love these kids, don't get me wrong but HOLY COW! Having babies, it's non stop. You have to be in motion all the time. And the key to remember is that your motion is never for personal gain! All the things you spend you're entire day doing for yourself you now have to do for someone else, and maybe yourself, if you have the extra time. Time? What's that...it's 15 till 9 and it feels like midnight. How in the world can someone have kids, and work a full time job? I have a whole new list of heros after tonight!!! More power to all you mothers out there!
I have pictures, tons and tons of them. I will post them tomorrow. I have babies sleeping in EVERY room of my house. Warren in my room, Ben in the office, and the dogs in our third room. We're in the living room watching TV with the volume down. Did I mention how much I love my freedom?

finally, I'm updating!!!

I know I haven't updated this blog in quite sometime. I've been really busy and just haven't taken the time to sit down and do it. Things are going well for us.

Work is going great for me. It's busy and gets a little stressful but compared to what I was doing before, this job is nothing. It registers very low on the overall stress scale.

Chris has been really busy at work. They have a big client that has been turning in tons of orders lately and he's been having to work quite a bit of overtime. He's a little frustrated because he feels like he is having to put his personal relationships with some clients he has brought in on the back burner to take care or the bigger client. This too shall pass. He's working very hard!

We are looking forward to Ash and the boys coming up on monday. we get to babysit the boys and we're very excited about that. I promise to take pictures and post them. I've been informed that mom doesn't like to read blogs without pictures...so, sorry about this one...i'll do better next time.

Thanks for reading. Love you!

update...meningitis

the baby is good. they confirmed today that the meningitis is viral and sent him home almost immediately! We are so excited it was not more serious. He's feeling better and better. thanks so much for all your thoughts and prayers!!!
I got to go down there last night and hold him and love on him a little bit and he seemed pretty happy....obviously, he's not feeling perfect but my sis said as she took him out of the hospital today he looked thrilled with the whole world around him!!!