The Ancient Fertility Monkeys

About 3 years ago at our cousin's wedding (Kori and Steve), a gift was given by our other cousin (Jama). The gift was the most beautiful ancient fertility monkeys. As Kori opened this beautiful gift, she read the note that went along with them. It said that these fertility monkeys were being sold by a missionary at ACU to help him raise funds for his mission work in Africa. They were pagan idols that would aide in fertility process. As Kori opened these monkeys, she was speechless because they were so "beautiful."

Well Kori wanted to share the wealth of these fertility monkeys so she gave them to her sister for her birthday. Well Becki (Kori's sister) didn't want to keep them for herself either so she brought them to our family white elephant exchange. And Shara (who helped Jama pick them out) ended up with this beautiful gift. Again, the monkeys traveled afar to share their fertility power as they ended up on the other side of the Tome family at the white elephant exchange, and guess who opened them? Jama!

Update: The monkeys were actually bought at Big Lots for around $10 and so far no missionary has used Pagan idols to raise funds. There have been no babies created and the moral of the story is, if you give someone a very ugly gift, be careful because they might give it back to you!

5 YEARS

Sunday was our 5 year anniversary. It is hard to believe that it has already been five years. We went down to Austin and got a room at the same hotel that we stayed in when we got married. The room looked very similar to the original, but we couldn't remember the original room number. We got to the hotel about 4 from being with the fam and then got ready and went out to dinner. We went to Pappasidos and it was very, very good. It was a special occasion so we even ordered dessert. We forgot to take our wedding video with us (we usually watch it every year), plus it is on an ancient VCR tape and I didn't see a player there. We will have to get Scott to transfer it over to DVD for us. We are very thankful for our 5 years together and we are looking forward to many more to come.

The Man Room

Jonathan has not felt settled in our new house. I know that part of it still just hasn't set in that we get to live here, but he is also a little frustrated because he has not been able to use his "man room." For those of you who don't know, a man has two primary places in the house-the living room and the garage. Our garage has kind of served as our junk room these past two months and we finally got to clean it up a little this weekend. We of course still have a lot to do, but it is looking better.

Jonathan finally got to set up his tool cabinet. And it is very organized. I asked him if he was planning on keeping it this way and he said "Of course!" So I told him that I probably shouldn't use it that much. I did get a key from him and he thought that was a little unfair, but what if I need a hammer or something?

Christmas Tree dilemma

Since we stayed home this year, we actually got our Christmas decorations up over the Thanksgiving break. It was fun, I think that this is the first time that Jonathan has been home to help me (I usually do it while he is at work). We discovered that we have lots of little Christmas knick nacks (I don't know how to spell that word) that we put on our mantle and in our living room.

We bought a Christmas tree two years ago. It is about 6 feet tall and it looked perfect in our little apartment that we had. Well now it looks very small in our living room here. I guess that is a good problem to have and I think that it will just have to be small for a while. I let Jonathan put the lights on the tree because he is a perfectionist about that kind of stuff and I knew that if I put them on there, he would just redo them anyway. We do need a tree skirt now, so that is on my list for next year!

I have started singing Christmas songs with my kids at school and that really gets me in the spirit! One of my favorite little songs that I sing is called Jacky Jack Frost. The lyrics are

Little Jacky Jack Frost bites my nose,
Little Jacky Jack Frost stings my toes,
Little Jacky Jack Frost climbs the trees,
Little Jacky Jack Frost paints the leaves.

I try to always explain the lyrics to my kids when we sing songs, but that one is a doozy. Try explaining to Pk and 1st graders who have only every lived in Texas what frost and icicles are.

Oh on a good note. You know there is always a debate about Christmas celebration at school? Well I can sing Christmas songs because they are printed in our textbooks and the books were approved by the state. Isn't that awesome?

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. Ruth Ann and Chris and their fam came and spent the night on Wednesday. We had fun as Ruth Ann gave a pedicure to my mom, we watched a movie, and we all went to Wal-Mart in our slippers. Its always fun to have people come and stay with you. It was really fun to have a house too, there were places for everyone to sleep!

Then on Thursday we all got up, ate breakfast and started the cooking process. We had cooked a couple of things the night before, but we hadn't started until about 9:00, so we didn't get a whole lot done. Mom had come up to help cook. Since Thanksgiving was at my house, I felt like I needed to cook the turkey and stuff, but I needed my Mom's help. So she was in charge and Ruth Ann and I were her assistants.

We had a 22 pound turkey! Here is a picture.


In total we had 17 people at our house and we had a lot of fun. Quentin got to come up and I haven't seen him in a couple of months, so we enjoyed seeing him. My Aunt and Uncle came up too! Here is a picture of them.


I got to play my flute with my nieces, Kimmie plays the violin, Brittney and Marjorie play the flute too. We had fun making music together. The little ones got a little board watching footballl and watching us cook, so we put a movie on for them. Here is an adorable picture of them.


Overall, we had a great time and I am so thankful for my family. Karen and Scott, we missed you, but we know that you had a lot of fun!

Scott

Scott let us ride in his car, it was cool. Now I understand why Jonathan always wants a sports car. When we took off from a stop, my head was actually knocked back. Scott gave us the feel of a real sports car experience. We had a blast with Karen and Scott, here is a good picture of them (I even made Scott smile).

Smores

Then we made smores and Karen was druling over them!

The Worlds largest air mattress

After visiting our friends, we went shopping all day with Karen and Scott. We went to boy stores and we got to go to the world's largets Bed, Bath and Beyond. Then we stayed at Scott's apartment because it was a little bigger than Karen's. We were exhausted from shopping and ready for some rest. Scott went out and bought the world's largest air mattress, here is a picture of it and my reaction.

Fun Weekend

We got to go to Dallas this weekend to visit Karen and Scott. It is my birthday this Saturday so Jonathan and I had an early celebration and went to Medeival Times for dinner on Thursday night. It was really cool they had sword fighting, jousting, horse dancing and really good food. There was no silverware, so we had to eat with our hands-that was messy.

We had some time to kill before the show because Karen was still at work and we got almost all of our Christmas present bought, go Target!

Friday we got to sleep late, see a dollar movie and visit some computer stores that we don't have in Temple. Then when Karen and Scott got off work, we went out to dinner and rented a movie.

Saturday we got up early and went to IHOP to eat with some friends from college. Here is a picture of Julie and Casey and their little daughter, Bailey. As you can see, Bailey loves to have her picture taken.

Perks of Being a Music Teacher

We just had a new textbook adoption for music books. The stakes were very high for Texas and both companies really wanted our business. While I did not get to partake in the voting (there were three music teachers at my school and only 2 votes), the company that I was rooting for got the vote. Their textbook actually has some stuff that I might use. You see the books are in some ways written for people who don't know anything about music, and therefore do not cover the curriculum that I teach. But this book actually has Kodaly stuff in it. I have already used like three lessons from it.

Anyway, back to the perks. On Thursday, my ipod came in! MacMillan/McGraw-HIll bought every teacher an ipod that was in a district that got their books. I'm sure that the cost was included in the price of the textbook in some way, but its still cool. The reason they gave us the ipods is so that we can load all of the CD's onto it and not have to use the CD's anymore. We just search through our ipod when we need a song. It is way cool! I have started loading CD's on their and that is a process. It took me about 2 hours to do one grade level, but I know it will be worth it! Go MacMillan!!!

Fried Chicken

We have lived in our house for about a month now and my parents had not seen it yet. So yesterday they drove up from Austin and we had lunch. My Mom brought her electric skillet and we made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and salad. It was wonderful! And I think that I might actually be able to make my Mom's fried chicken now. I did discover that I really do need to get an electric skillet though. That way you can regulate the temperature that the chicken cooks at.

We had a very good visit. We sat around and talked after lunch and we gave them the grand tour. My dad checked out the air conditioner, hot water heater and approved of all of the ceiling fans. He and Jonathan watched some football and did the male bonding and he took a nap on our love seat-the most comfortable couch in the world! Thanks Mom and Dad, it was great to see you again!

Speaking of eating, we got to eat on our new table. It has a leaf in it that tucks away inside when you are not using it. It is called the butterfly design, and it is very handy. Here is a picture of it.


On the table are some roses that Jonathan got me the other day. I got home from work Friday night and they were on the table along with a card. The card was beautiful and said how much he appreciates me. I thought he was so thoughtful, it was very sweet. He started a new schedule at work, he works Monday-Wednesday, open-close. Then he is off for the rest of the week. So I got to spend Thursday and Friday nights with him at home. I was telling Mom, I don't know if he has ever been off on a Friday night since we got married. I feel very blessed to be able to see him on a more regular basis now.

Retreat

Jonathan and I got to go on a retreat this weekend with our young marrieds class at church. It was in a little town about an hour and a half away, but don't ask me what it was called. It was a beautiful facility; they had paintball, volleyball, baseball, paddle boats, and a hay ride. One of the best things about this weekend was that they had cafeteria where we ate all of our meals. We didn't have to clean up, and the food was really good! It was nothing like the places I have always "camped at." But I must warn you so that you are not shocked, that it was not a Church of Christ establishment.

We got there Friday night and played games and talked, most of us went to bed by 11, we are so old. Then Saturday we got up and had about 4 hours of a mini marriage seminar given by the parents of one of our couples in our class. It was very good. We talked about spiritual leadership, roles as husbands and wives, and money. Jonathan and I have declared a war on our debt! They had some good pointers about paying off your debt, and Jonathan and I are going to try to implement them over the next year.

We also got to ride out to the retreat with some of our first friends that we met when we moved here. In fact for a while, they were our only friends. They recently placed membership at our church and it was good to see them again. Here are some pictures from this weekend.

How do you loose a child in your own house?

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted. Lots has happened. Last weekend, I kept Christ and Ruth Ann's little ones, 2 and 3. Jonathan was supposed to be here to help me, but he had to go to his grandfather's farm to help clean up after the hurricane. The kids were very well behaved, I was just exhausted. Wow I gained new perspective because this is the first time that I kept both of them. Go Moms!

Emmy gave me quite a scare on their fist night here. I woke up about 11 and I looked over to check on the kids. They had both fallen asleep in the bed with me. Nathaniel was snoring away, but I didn't see Emmy. I made palates on the floor for them before we went to sleep, so I thought maybe she had gotten up and gone to sleep on her pallet. But I looked there with no luck. I began to look around my room, under the bed, in the closet, no luck. I went into the living room, still no luck. I looked in Jeff's room, I looked in the kitchen. Then I started to panic, "I lost their baby!" then I realized that I had not checked in the office. I opened the door and there she was curled up on the one corner of the fouton that was not covered with boxes. She had to have crawled over a fan that was taken apart and lots of boxes to get there. I grabbed her and hugged her. When I put her back to bed, I made sure to lock the bedroom door so that she could not escape again.

Sleeping Through the Night

For those of you who know me well, you know that I am the biggest scaredy cat. I have never lived by myself except for the couple of days that I lived in our apartment before we got married. So I have never had to sleep at home alone. Well Jonathan closes periodically and it seems to be happening more often lately. He had to close on Sunday night and I wasn't sure how I would do in a new house. I usually try to fall asleep for about an hour, then my mind plays tricks on me and I get really anxious and hot. Then I end up going and laying on the couch and watching TV and dozing until Jonathan gets home. Well I guess I feel completely safe here, I had no trouble falling sleep and I slept all through the night. I think it helps that I have a false sense of safety from our 6 foot fence that surrounds all of the house except for the front windows. So I guess the house is a keeper!

A Sweetheart

Today as I was driving to work, I realized how much I missed Jonathan. No he's not out of town, he sleeps in my bed every night, but I just have not gotten to see him for more than 20 minutes all week. He has been working a lot of hours. Don't get me wrong, the money is good, but I miss him. If he is not closing, he gets home around 10:30 or 11, but I go to bed at or before 10. I get up at 5:45 and am off to work by 6:45, while he gets up for work about 9:30. He did the sweetest thing the other morning. He got up and ate breakfast with me even though he hadn't gotten home from work the night before until like 11:30. What a sweetheart. The way that I knew that I was really missing him...I heard I Will Be There on K-Love. We played that in our wedding and I just started crying. I had to quickly change the station when the song was over, I needed something upbeat. Elementary kids get very worried about you if you are crying! Mix 94.7, a secular station (don't worry I will go down front on Sunday), provided a little rock and roll to get me back on track. I slapped on a smile and greeted all my kids.

What a Weekend

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted, thank you to my loyal readers who actually will look at this even though it has been so long. We closed on our house on Friday! We moved in over the weekend. A group from our church arrived at our apartment on Saturday morning at 7:30 and we totally unloaded and the beds were even put together at our new house by 9:30!

We also got to see Karen this weekend and meet Scott. He was very nice and even laughed at some of my jokes, so of course he is in. He seems really sweet. I hope he realizes that every time he visits, we won't be putting him to so much work.

Poor Jonathan, he has not rearranged the living room about 3 times for me. We finally had to put the piano in the office because we could not fit it and the love seat in our living room. It is kind of a small living room, but don't worry Dad, we are going to get a coffee table for this one.

My bathroom and kitchen are completely unpacked, but I can't say much for any other rooms. I know that it will be a slow process. It is still weird to come home to this house and realize that it belongs to us. I had a renters moment when we moved in. The blinds in one of the bedrooms got bent by a mattress and I looked at it and said to myself, "We better fix those or we will be charged." Then I quickly realized that the blinds belong to us! God has really blessed our lives with this house and we hope that we can find a way to use it for him. Or hopefully we can find many ways!

24

There is this series that has been around for a couple of years starring Kiefer Sutherland. It is called 24. It is a show in real time. Each episode is one hours of a 24 hour day. It is action packed and one of those shows that you know is good because you just can't believe how quickly it went by. That is how I know that I had a good lesson at school, the kids say, "Its already over?" I love those days.

Anyway, so I hadn't really heard of this show, but I guess I was behind. One couple in our group at church bought the first season because they loved it so much. They let another couple watch it and then it has been passed around to nearly everyone in our group. Last Wednesday night Steve came up to me and handed it to me. He said, "I heard you were next." I was thinking, next for what. Well apparently there is like a waiting list for this show.

I am totally addicted. But Jonathan is like 4 hours behind me so we can't watch it together. I keep encouraging him to watch some more episodes, but I'm never up at the same hour as him so we couldn't watch it together anyway. I think that the show is still running, but I have not idea when. I will soon find out.

Meet Mr. Cool Guy

Koosh balls were the greatest inventions. I often use them in my classroom. But they were hard to find. My Mother-In-Law put an email out to all of the teachers at her school and I now have a wonderful collection of koosh balls. Meet Mr. Cool guy, he is somewhat of a celebrity in my classroom. I throw him to each student as I sing a greeting to them and then they have to throw him back to me as they sing their greeting. He is a hit in all of my classes, PK-5th grades.

The other day I decided to use a different koosh ball for my greeting, I just thought that I would add a little variety. Well kids love what they know! All of them asked where he was, was he sleeping, was he on vacation, was he taking a break. As you can guess I just agreed to whatever the reason that the kids came up for the absense of the Mr. Cool guy. But my favorite response from a 3rd grader was, "Is he (my new koosh ball) one of Mr. Cool guy's relatives?"

You never know what kids are going to come up with. And even though you (the teacher) are totally tired of something, that does not mean that they are even remotely tired of it.

Student Survivors

My heart goes out to all of those people who have been affected by Katrina. I have heard horror stories and received an email cautioning us as we get students who may have seen horrific things happen to family members and friends. We were warned that they might become very scared when it rains or the winds blow hard, that they could regress in behavior up to three years, and they might be very angry or feel guilt. To tell you the truth I didn't know how I would react when I got a student survivor.

My first students came today. First was little, well we'll call him Mark. I always ask my students where they have come from and so I pretended like I didn't know about Mark's situation and asked this question. Well when he responded that he had moved here from the Superdome, my eyes filled with tears. I was just thinking about this sweet little first grader trying to survive among all of those people. I wasn't sure how he would react to class so I was just kind of observing. We were playing a game where one student gets to be the wolf and he can either say that he is there, so he can chase us, or he can make up any excuse why he is gone. Some popular excuses are he went to Wal-Mart, he's brushing his hair, he's taking a nap, etc. But Mark had a turn and his reply was that he was playing the trumpet. That's New Orleans for you.

We Have the Keys!

The keys to our house came in the mail last night. I got to go over and look at it, its been two whole months since I have seen the inside. We are totally excited and I am finally inspired to start the packing process. Here are some pictures of the inside.