Haircut

Luke was in DESPERATE need of a haircut and Gibi was happy to oblige. Here are a few pictures we took in the backyard the day he got his haircut (no, this wasn't his first haircut... probably his 7th or 8th).

ConKerr Cancer

Attention all Crafty (and non-crafty) Ladies - I have a new project for you. It's super easy, super fun and rewarding all at the same time...
A couple of weeks ago I was at Happiness is Quilting on the square picking up a few things for a "Hooray for Luke" banner I'm working on (another post, another time). While I was there I came across a brochure for an organization called ConKerr Cancer and they provide colorful and fun pillowcases for kids who are in the hospital undergoing longterm care. "ConKerr Cancer has had a profound effect on the families we have already reached, and we are deeply committed to providing even more pillowcases – and smiles! – to sick children everywhere." Anyway, I am by no means a seamstress (by any definition of the word), but I was able to whip up this pillowcase last night and I'm going to drop it off (and pick up more fabric) at Happiness is Quilting. A small, easy way to brighten a child's day (and get all of your pent-up creative energy out!). Instructions are on the website: http://www.conkerrcancer.org/ so be sure to check it out :)

More Jabbering

I've had NO TIME this week look through any of my uploaded photos, but here's a cute video of Luke jabbering at Cadence. I'm amazed daily at his development and especially the whole speech thing - it really seems like overnight he's started "talking" to us, Cadence, his toys, everything!

Go Fish!

Everytime we go to Wal-Mart we have to make a stop to look at the fish. Here's a video of Luke "talking" to the fish. He's been vocalizing A LOT lately!

Playing Ball

Much to his daddy's delight, Luke has started "playing ball" with us. He hasn't quite got the throwing it back part down yet, but he definitley knows how to catch it (and gets super excited when he does)

Looking for a house?!?!

Okay, I'm about to use my blog as a shameless form of solicitation - if you know anyone who might be interested in buying a super cute, one-story house with a beautiful golf course lot and an ideal location, please send them my way. Dave and I are in the process of buying a new house and are looking for someone to buy ours :) We really want it to sell quick (we're putting our offer in on the new house today) and avoid as much of the hassle of showing our house as possible. hehehe So if you know someone who's looking to move, feel free to pass along my email dave-and-andrea@hotmail.com

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Cutie

Thanks to a round of antibiotics (and lots of cuddles), Luke is feeling MUCH better. He's up and around and although he's still enthralled by his Baby Einstein DVDs, he wants to play while he watches them now. His nose is still runny and he's still coughing a little bit, but he has his "sparkle" back. :) This is a completley random picture of him playing one of his favorite games at Gibi's house (throwing his balls into his exersaucer and watching them fall to the bottom).

Diet Coke (w/cherry)

Over Christmas break I inadvertendly began a new addiction - Diet Coke (w/cherry). I happened to pick up a case at Tom Thumb one night along with my cases of regular Diet Coke and then had Dave go exchange all my cases of regular for cherry :) Needless to say, I'm often seen around school toting my obligatory diet cherry coke can (or Starbucks cup before 9:00 a.m.). Anyway, yesterday a student came to tell me that she was inspired by my ravings and tried one this weekend and she and her mom drank an entire case over the course of two days. They made a special trip to Target where the drink was sold out and Sidney proceeded to tell her mom that, "Mrs. McAnally probably bought them all". They then went to Wal-Mart where again there was no diet cherry coke to be found and now the entire 8th grade thinks that bought out all of McKinney and have this huge stockpile of Diet Cherry Coke in my garage. Needless to say, if you're out - pick up a case, it's awesome - if there's any left in McKinney, that is!

Who wins The Bachelor???

Okay ladies - I got a link to a video where a man says he has proof he knows who wins The Bachelor... if you're curious, check out
http://videogum.com/archives/reality-tv/grown-man-ashamed-to-have-figu_046041.html
I think he may be right! :)

Sick, but sweet (and snuggly)

With Luke's double-ear infection this week, he's been in a pretty low-key mood (to say the least). He's typically pretty wiggle and on-the-go so we've been soaking up this snuggly time while we can:

SnowBall

Saturday night was MCA's SnowBall and I'm proud to say it went off without a hitch. The setup was easy, food was delicious, music was good and I think that the students all had a great time. Next on my list: Prom, a Junior High Semi Formal and a Lock-In (complete with dance, dodgeball tournament, and other exciting things)

Case of the Mondays

Yesterday I officially had a case of the Mondays – and a bad one at that. Luke woke up miserable again, fever, coughing and the runniest nose I’ve ever seen. Dave wasn’t working so he took him to the doctor where we found out that he has a double ear infection! (side note - he weighs 22 lbs 14 oz) He’s on some antibiotics, but so far he’s still pretty miserable. All he’s wanted to do is lay on us and watch Baby Einstein (those videos have been an absolute LIFESAVER!).

Meanwhile, I was at school dealing with a Junior High that apparently forgot all of my classroom rules over the weekend. In my previous two years of teaching I think that I’ve given out maybe 4 or 5 detentions… it’s just not something that I really like to do (or that I find very effective). But yesterday was a completely different story… I had 4 classes and I issued 5 detentions (food in class, disruptive behavior, inappropriate language, dress code violation, etc.). After issuing one of the detentions, the boy got really upset and a few minutes later stood up in the middle of class and had an outburst calling his classmates “stupid idiots” and then he burst into tears so I had to take more time out of class to step outside and deal with/console him. Then I picked up a “slam book” (for those of you not a part of the world of 12 – 14 year olds, a slam book is pretty much a notebook that girls pass around where they write ugly notes about eachother… this particular slam book was full of cartoons depicting various members of their class – some of which, I’ll admit, were pretty right on point, but still not nice). When the student came to pick up her notebook after school (which she claimed was full of her History notes) I had the pleasure of telling her that I had given it to the principal. I’m sure that there will be several pages dedicated to Mrs. McAnally in their new slam book. :)

After my lovely day of adolescent drama I headed to CareNow. I have had a low grade fever and a lot of sinus congestion for the last week and a half or so and since my mom said that it’s not “normal” to have a fever for nine days and I had an extra few minutes I decided to go have it checked out. The doctor proceeded to chastise me for letting my sinus infection get so bad (I tried explaining to her that I was feeling better than I had been several days before…) and then wrote me a prescription for the sinus infection and the apparent upper respiratory infection that I didn’t know I had. After a trip to the pharmacy to pick up Luke’s prescription and drop mine off I headed home where after a couple of hours of watching Baby Einstein with Luke I fell asleep at 8:15.

Today’s a new day - I believe that my medicine may be starting to kick in (my teeth aren’t hurting anymore – which I didn’t realize could happen with a sinus infection) and I just said a prayer for my Junior High students, so hopefully the day will be better than yesterday (‘cause could it really get any worse?!?!?!)

Last weekend

Here are a few pictures from last weekend. The first page is of Luke eating lunch (and his high chair strap). I know I've mentioned it before - but he is a fantastic eater! He's doing lots of finger foods right now (peas, chopped cooked carrots, cheerios, crackers, etc., etc., etc.) along with his regular fare (to which we're adding meats). This page is just a prime example of how Luke is learning to express his ever-changing emotions. He has pretty much mastered the "pouty face", but thankfully we don't see it that often, and when we do it's always followed by a big silly grin :)

Super Bowl

So... I couldn't tell you who played or what the score was, but here's what I can tell you:

We ate great food (mozzarella sticks and cake balls, need I say more) and had great fun (thanks in part to some 3D glasses). Here are a few pics from the evening: Hope (in a super cute shirt) checking out the 3D commercial

Luke "playing" (if you can call stealing toys playing) with Noah

Jessica and Kate

Ya'll can thank me later for posting these wonderful pictures of you :)

Duo Day

Today was "Duo Day" and everyone came dressed as part of a duo or group. As you can see from the pictures below there were a lot of fun costumes... including a box of crayola crayons, the chicken and the egg, Wilma and Betty, Little Red Riding Hood and her granny, among others.
Ladies, take a look of my two adorable students on the bottom left, I know that we've all thought that there is no way that anyone could possibly look good in a true skinny jean, but I'm here to tell you it can be done - you just have to be twelve years old :)
For all those inquiring minds, I didn't post a picture yesterday, but I did dress up for character day - I was Old McDonald. And then today, I was Mary Kate Olsen (during her bag lady clothing phase).

Character Day

Today was Character Day and the students represented a WIDE array of characters. From Pippy Longstocking to Captain Underpants, Miss America to the Tooth Fairy and the Pilsbury Doughboy to Me (imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.... right?!?!?!) the day was an absolute riot. If you look at the picture at the bottom center that's one of my 8th graders dressed as "Mrs. McAnally". She wore a typical "Mrs. McAnally outfit" which included dress pants, a colored shirt, black sweater, scarf and high heels. She stood a large portion of the day with her hand on her hip (I had no idea that I did this!) and carried a stuffed bear named Luke :) Once again I was bowled over by the kids enthusiasm and was reminded of how much I love how I get to spend my work day. (We'll see if I'm singing the same tune on Sunday after I've run halftime at Friday nights basketball games, decorated for and chaperoned the Snow Ball on Saturday night, and represented the school on Sunday afternoon at our All School Open House).

Nerd Day

Today was Nerd Day for Wild Week. The kids were so enthusiastic and thankfully no one came dressed as their favorite math teacher :) I was completely rockin my teal sweatpants and monkey t-shirt, I just wish I had realized that my sweatpants made me look like I was wearing an adult diaper.

Slightly Askew Designs

I'm proud, nervous, excited, anxious, hopeful and eager to announce the launch of Slightly Askew Designs. For a long time, I've been urged to start my own very little creative business and so here it is. I've set up a website and a new email (which I'm still figuring out how to work), I have an ad coming out in McKinney Kids and I've even ordered business cards! (how official!) :) The plan is to create cards, invitations, logos, etc. for whoever will let me. I'm also working with another company to possibly do some cute screen printed kids t-shirts and other items. Anyway, right now it's a fun project, but hopefully with some good word-of-mouth advertising and some prayer (because that's always a good idea, right!) it'll turn itself into a legit operation. Wish me luck!!! (and check out http://www.slightlyaskewdesigns.com/)

What's the deal with the name??? Well - for as long as I can remember I've been teased about my love of having things be a "little off". I'm not a fan of centered and I think that things look better when they're a tad bit quirky. While working at Ambrosia on and off, Tammy used to make fun of how I liked things "slightly askew" and so when I was trying to think of a name I couldn't find anything that described my aesthetic better... so there it was. :)

Wild Week 2009

Today kicked off MCA's second-annual Wild Week, a homecoming-style spirit week for Varsity Basketball. It was "decades day" and it was fun to see the students dressed in all of their vintage gear. Here are a few pictures of the reason I love what I do:
(you'll probably have to click on the pic to see it)

Yes - that's me in the top left picture - as the Student Government sponsor I think it's kind of my duty to participate and set a school spirited example (but really, who doesn't love a good costume day?!?!). I'm not sure which number was greater today: 1 - the number of odd looks I got while placing my order at Starbucks during the morning rush or 2 - the number of times I was mistaken for a student (usually the fact that the pre-teens are in uniforms helps distinguish me)