a glimpse of this life ...

Family, by Christy Burden

2010-07-02T12:13:00.001-05:00

I'd like to share my Snapfish photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.
Click here to view photos

Labor Day Weekend! Can't Wait!!

2008-08-28T20:40:00.002-05:00

So the last few weeks of school have been crazy stressful! I'm soooo glad that Labor Day weekend is coming up because I don't know what I'd do without a break. And what a great break it's gonna be!! Craig moved to Charleston about a month ago now and I get to see him THIS weekend!! I can't wait. I fly out tomorrow and will be there till early Tuesday morning. Craig and I are planning on going on a ghost tour of historic charleston (scary :)lol) and to the U.S.S. Yorktown, and to tour Ft. Sumter, and also to his new church there - Seacoast Church ... from what I've heard from him it's a lot like Granger Community Where I attend so that should be fun! It's gonna be AWESOME! Plus I can't wait to see Craig ... even though we've kept in contact through phone, and text and stuff, there isn't anything that compares to seeing him in person! yay :) I'll definitely post pics when I get back!

Vacation Bible School

2008-07-22T08:50:00.004-05:00

This was Raegan's second year participating in Vacation Bible School and she absolutely loves it! This year's theme was Outrigger Island (last year was Game Day Central). Both years were a ton of fun. Last year I worked on the Recreation Team so we played games and had fun with the kids out in the sun. This year, I was on the Music Team and that was also a blast. I think I actually liked being involved with the music team better because I got to see the kids learning the songs and the dance moves instead of just seeing them perform on Family Night. It was awesome! It is so neat to see God working in their little lives :)

i got tagged (twice) ... but here is one of them ...

2008-03-16T09:43:00.003-05:00

ok, so niki tagged me twice ... i didn't even realize the first one because i haven't been on blogger for a while, but i figured i better complete at least one of them. so here's the first one that i got tagged in ...

p.s. the second tag is writing 7 weird things about myself ... i'm really not all that normal, but i'm still gonna have to give that one some thought ....

anway ... here goes that first one ...

Whats your name spelled backwards? ytsirhc

What did you do last night? slept from 6 till midnight ... then went to bed (i hate being sick)

The last thing you downloaded onto your computer? music

Have you ever licked a 9 volt battery? uh .... no (who does that?!?!)

Last time you swam in a pool? May 2007

What are you wearing? sweatpants and a redwings sweatshirt

How many cars have you owned? 4

Type of music you dislike most? i really like all kinds of music ... so i guess the kind i like the least is probably classical ... but it's not bad if i'm trying to sleep or something and i need some background noise

Are you registered to vote? yessiree

Do you have cable? sure do

What kind of computer do you use? dell at home, iMac at work

Ever made a prank phone call? for sure ... middle school memories are coming back to me :)

You like anyone right now? uh-huh

Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving? i'd love to try both

Furthest place you ever traveled? europe ... used to live there

What's your favorite comic strip? calvin and hobbs

Do u know all the words to the national anthem? yes

Shower, morning or night? mostly mornings ... every once in a while i do the evening shower if i'm going out

Best movie you've seen in the past month? Juno

Favorite pizza toppings? pepperoni

Chips or popcorn? tortilla chips

What cell phone provider do you have? verizon wireless

Have you ever smoked peanut shells? what? no ...

Have you ever been in a beauty pageant? nope

Orange Juice or apple? orange

Who were the last people you sat at lunch with? the other sixth grade teachers i work with

favorite chocolate bar? snickers ... but i don't really like sweets

Who is your longest friend and how long? Melissa .... 14 years or so

Last time you ate a homegrown tomato? last year sometime ... my mom and step dad grow em

Have you ever won a trophy? yes

Favorite arcade game? Pac Man

Ever ordered from an infomercial? yeah, i really shouldn't watch those 'cause the stuff is never as good as they say it is ... never

Sprite or 7-UP? Sprite

Have you ever had to wear a uniform to school/work? yep, at Target (among other work places)

Last thing you bought at Walgreens? antibiotic

Ever thrown up in public? unfortunately, yes

Would you prefer being a millionaire or finding true love? finding true love

Do you believe in love at first sight? no, i don't ... love is something that develops over time

SPONGEBOB OR JIMMY NEUTRON? I've watched both because of Raegan ... i would rather not watch either of them ... but if i have to choose, i'd choose spongebob, i have actually laughed at that one because i think it's just so dumb

Did you have long hair as a young kid? yes, i did

What message is on your voicemail machine? hi, you've reached christy and raegan ... can't get to the phone right now, but if you leave a message, we'll get back to you as soon as possible!

Where would you like to go right now? Texas

Whats the name of your pet? No pets right now

What kind of back pack do you have, and what's in it? i don't have one anymore ... or at least i have no clue where it is

What do you think about most? if i'm gonna make bills this month .... when does life get easier?

Bloggers I'm tagging? Jess, Jenn, Nichole

I'm back

2008-02-17T14:48:00.006-05:00

I kind of went MIA for over a year but I'm back! A TON has happened since November of 2006. I graduated from Purdue with my BA in Education in May and started teaching 6th grade at a local middle school in August. I love my job and my students ... even though some days I think, "what have I gotten myself into?!?!"

Raegan graduated from preschool in May and then started kindergarten in August and she is loving it. Although she might tell you otherwise if you asked her .... aren't all kids required to say they hate school even if they secretly enjoy it? Raegan has made quite a few little friends in her class and one of them even lives in the same apartment complex as us. So they play together after school quite often.

Raegan's preschool graduation picture

Raegan's first day of kindergarten ... anxiously waiting in the car for her teacher to come out

Raegan's first day of Kindergarten - Got her backpack and ready to walk in

Here are some other pictures .... Raegan has grown up a TON!

kind of random

2006-11-16T16:57:00.000-05:00

I don't have a whole lot new going on. I'm just barely keeping my head above water as I'm attempting to drag myself across the graduation line. Ok, so it's not that bad. But some days it does seem like it is. On a more positive note, I started out the semester with 15 credit hours and now I'm down to 12! I "tested out" of my Linguistics course by getting perfect scores on the first 6 assignments and earning some bonus points along the way! So thats kind of exciting! However, I am going to miss the class because it was one of my favorite classes this semester. It's funny to me that I've always considered English to be my least favorite subject, but the past 3 or 4 college English classes I've taken (Linguistics included) have been by far my favorite courses each semester. I think one of the huge reasons is because we get treated like adults in Non-Elementary Education courses. Don't get me wrong, I am really looking forward to becoming a teacher, but I don't understand why they make us pretend we are 2nd graders every other day. That gets really old, really fast. I guess at this point it really doesn't matter though, because ...........

I ONLY HAVE 3 WEEKS OF CLASSES LEFT AND I CAN'T WAIT TO BE DONE!!!!!

That's right, I'm done so soon I can taste it! I do have to Student Teach still next semester, but as far as on campus classes go, I'm practically finito!! I really can't wait! Is it obvious?!?!

I really don't have a whole lot more to tell ... so I guess I'll just leave you with some pics ....

***************************************************************************

I finally got around to developing a couple of rolls of film that I've had for several months now. Here are a few of the pics from the rolls:

I had to include this one becauseI just love the shape of her little face. She's so precious!

Raegan hanging out at Mom and Mike's house

Raegan and Levi playing in the sand

This is just a random picture I took of an old shed.
I love old barns and sheds that are falling apart ... I think they make interesting photos.

***************************************************************************

Ok. That's all.

:-)

Haircut, Purdue Football, and Halloween

2006-10-30T18:25:00.000-05:00

I've been feeling very overwhelmed with classes this semester so I've completely lost touch with the blogging world. I thought I'd post some new pics to update. I feel like I should post at least once per month and now its been exactly one month since my last post. Here are the pics!
Enjoy!!

Raegan got a haircut on October 12. Here is her before pic while she was getting it shampooed.

And her after pic right when she was done getting it cut.

This is Raegan with her cousin, Levi. They were picking berries in my mom's back yard.

Raegan being a complete goofball. That's really nothing new, though. She's always been goofy. This picture is funny to me because its one of the few times that I've looked at Raegan or a picture of her and actually seen myself in her.

It was so cold outside, but Raegan insisted on going barefoot in the sand. Don't her feet look sooooo cold! brrrrrrrr!!!!

Raegan was trying hats on in a Halloween store. Here is one of the hats she tried on. This was my favorite one!

Raegan trying on another hat in the costume store. She was cracking everyone up with these hats.

This is a picture of my friends, Bo and Lindsay, and me taken this past Saturday at the Purdue vs. Penn State game. Bo and Lindsay are both in Elementary Education with me. Bo is also one of the Purdue Petes this year. (For those of you who don't know, Purdue Pete is Purdue's mascot).

This is Purdue Pete (crowd surfing in the student section)

Here is Raegan in her Halloween costume. She's going to be a pumpkin. She said she'd rather be Cinderella but I told her she could be Cinderella next year. Personally, I think she looks adorable as a pumpkin. (Plus, we already had this costume and I didn't want to buy another one since she'd never even worn this one before.)

Hippie Child

2006-09-30T11:32:00.000-05:00

Raegan was pretty proud of this hat she made.
I think she looks pretty darn cute! :-)

Everyday lessons ....

2006-09-21T11:36:00.000-05:00

Last night, Raegan and I decided to draw pictures together. She started drawing this beautiful picture, so I grabbed my digital recorder and asked her to tell me about her drawing. The following is the transcription of the conversation we had about what she had already drawn and what she continued to draw while I was recording. (Side note: Raegan was unaware of the fact that I was recording her. She would have acted differently if she had known).

Me: Ok, tell me all about your drawing ...

Raegan: First they start out like this (points to caterpillar)

Raegan: Then comes winter, then they … when its nigh-night time in the winter, they build a … all around them, a big cacoon, then they end up like THIS!!!! A butterfly!!!

Me: It's beautiful Raegan!

Raegan: I made it!!! And look at all these leaves that the caterpillar ate! (Points to the leaves with bite marks on them).

Raegan: What if I draw another bug on here? Like a worm!!! What color are worms? Hmmmm….which color should I use?

Me: What do you think? Have you seen any worms outside?

Raegan: I think they’re brown like this (picks up the brown colored pencils and draws the outline of a worm next to the butterfly. Then she colors him in with different colors.)

Me: Well that looks like a worm to me.

Raegan: See! Look! There’s his little mouth.

Me: Why only a mouth?

Raegan: Cause worms don't have EYES or NOSES!!! Just little mouths!! I have a bigger smile than that worm. See look how big my smile is? (Cheesing as big as she possible can) (Giggles a bunch). I’m a nut! HAHAHA! That cracks me up!! I’m a nut!!!

Me: You are a nut!

Raegan: You’re a nut too, mommy!

Me: Yeah, we’re both nuts.

Raegan: Yeah, but Daddy’s a dork! Cause he always calls me a dork. (whispers) but guess what? I’M NOT A DORK!!! I’m a butterfly!!! See!!! (Raegan runs around the room flapping her arms like a butterfly).

Me: So why is your worm like three different colors? I thought he was gonna be brown?

Raegan: Cause he's getting new skin!

Me: Oh, neat!! Thats really cool, Raegan. I love your drawing! Do you want to put your name on the back of it?

Raegan: Hold on! It's not done yet. I have to make a sun, you know?

Me: Of course! What would they do without sunshine?!?

Raegan: They would FREEEEEZE!!! If it was snowing outside they would really freeze!

Me: Where would they go if it was snowing outside?

Raegan: They would go HOME!!!

Me: Go home?

Raegan: Yeah, like us! We're home!

Me: But it's not snowing outside right now.

Raegan: Yeah.

Me: So what do animals do in the wintertime?

Raegan: Um, they just go to sleep like this (puts her head down and pretends to snore). And um, after the winter they just come out.

Me: Cool. Where did you learn that?

Raegan: Um, from Spongebob.

Raegan: Look! It's almost done! Now I just have to make grass and flowers!! (Draws the grass). Sometimes caterpillars go in the grass! Oh, Oh, Oh!! Guess what?!?

Me: What?

Raegan: Before today, we saw, uh ... uh ... four ... uh .. ummm ... climbing things today. They were straight and they were looking right at us!!! And the cimbing mantis, he stuck his tongue out at us, and I called him Big Face!

Me: What were they?

Raegan: Climbing mantisis.

Me: Climbing mantids, huh? I don't think I've ever heard of a climbing mantis. What color were they?

Raegan: Um, one was brown and two were green.

Me: Wow. Well thats only three.

Raegan: Well, we saw one on the other tree, too. That makes four.

Me: Oh, what color was he?

Raegan. Hmm. I don't remember. Well, I'll draw one for you ...

Me: Ok!

Raegan: (grabs a green crayon and begins to draw). Here's his tongue. And he's mad. And here's his straight body.

Me: Neat! Did he have arms and legs?

Raegan: Yeah. And pointy things sticking out of his arms. Look, he's hanging from a branch!

Me: Cool!

Raegan: See, thats what he looked like!

Me: And this is a climbing mantis?

Raegan: Yeah.

Me: Do you think it might be a praying mantis?

Raegan: Oh yeah. (Whispers). It's a praying mantis.

Me: Ok, a praying mantis.

Raegan: Have you seen one of these before?

Me: Yeah!

Raegan: They're really cool.

Me: I wasn't sure what you were talking about before you drew it, but now I definitely know what you are talking about. That's a praying mantis.

Raegan: Yeah, and look at his tongue. He's sticking his tongue out at us like this (sticks her tongue out at me and giggles).

Raegan: Hmmm.... now I need to draw the flowers.

Me: Wow! Those are some pretty flowers. Have you ever seen flowers like that outside?

Raegan: No.

Me: (surprised) You haven't?!!!?? I've seen flowers like that before (I point to the red one). And like that (I point to the blue one).

Raegan: (points to the green one) But you haven't found green flowers!?!

Me: Yeah I have.

Raegan: Where?

Me: Sometimes they're just green before they bud.

Raegan: (giggles) Bud?! What's bud?!?!

Me: I mean when they are just buds.

Raegan: You just said bud again!

Me: I know. Bud.

Raegan: (Very serious sounding) Why did you say bud?

Me: Do you know what a bud is?

Raegan: No.

Me: Well, its like this of a flower (clasp my hands together and Raegan clasps her hands together too). And then when the sun shines down on the flower ....

Raegan: Oooh! Oooh! Oooh!

Me: What? What happens?

Raegan: (opens her hands up wide).

Me: Yeah! Then the pretty part comes out. All the colors show then!

Raegan: Wow!!

Me: So maybe that green one is just one that hasn't opened up yet!

Raegan: Yeah!!! Uh, huh!!

Raegan: (Grabs the blue, red, and purple colored pencil and drags them all around her whole picture). It's a rainbow!! IT'S ALL DONE!!

Me: It's beautiful Raegan! I love it.

Raegan: Mmmmm. I love you, mommy!

Me: I love you, too, Raegan!

You are My Sunshine, My only Sunshine ...

2006-08-28T18:47:00.000-05:00

This evening, after a terribly long day of classes and being tired from not getting enough sleep last night, I have a horrible conversation with Best Buy Credit Card Customer Service. Let me just say that I hate credit cards and am not very fond of the customer service department at Best Buy either. So, long story short, the mean credit card people had me in tears on the phone and Raegan happened to walk in on the end of our conversation. Just as I'm hanging up the phone, Raegan realizes that I have tears streaming down my face, and she rushes over to me, wipes a tear off my cheek and asks, "Why do you have tears all over the place?" I tell her that the mean lady on the phone made my cry and she tells me she'll be right back. She comes back a minute later with a huge grin on her face and a piece of toilet paper in her hand. She says, "I got you a kleenex to wipe your tears!" I'm getting chocked up again just writing this because she is just so darn precious to me. I start crying again because now she's made me happy but she thinks they are still sad tears. So she gives me a big hug and kiss and goes to get more stuff to try to cheer me up. She comes back with her favorite stuffed animals, a juice box, and a thing of yogurt ... all to try to make me feel better! How sweet is she? Then she tells me she loves me and asks me if she cheered me up! Are you kidding me?!!??? Of course!! Seriously, does it get any better than that?

Back to School .... for the last time!!

2006-08-23T17:25:00.000-05:00

This is my last semester on the Purdue campus! I will still have student teaching in the Spring, but this is my last semester of regular, on campus, classes. I'm excited that the end is near, but I'm trying to savor every minute of it because I remember how much I missed it last time I left. The "real world" is nothing like college life ... that's for darn sure!

I bought Raegan a Purdue Cheerleading outfit that I thought was absolutely adorable. And it was 100 times cuter on her than it was on the rack. Why does that not happen for me? I find clothes for me to be the opposite ... cuter on the rack than on me. Oh well. That's life. So here are the picks of the Raegulator sporting her Purdue Gear!

Texas

2006-08-11T13:20:00.000-05:00

July 31, 2006
On the airplane on the way to Texas ... Raegan and Sprinkles were listening to music! :-)

August 1, 2006
Raegan and I playing in the pool ... it's HOT in Texas!!

August 2, 2006
Annie, Raegan, & Megan - Annie and Megan are my first cousins, but they are closer in age to Raegan. Annie is seven and Megan is 4 (she's 3 months younger than Raegan).

August 2, 2006
Cousins, Megan & Raegan, taking a stroll around the pool.

August 3, 2006
Raegan and I by the pool in the evening. It was about 8:45 pm and the air temp was still 92 degrees ... the water was 89. It felt good!

August 3, 2006
Raegan posing for the camera! She can't swim on her own yet but the pool has nice wide steps and Raegan likes to play there without her life jacket on. It makes me nervous, but if I'm not in the pool with her, than I'm definitely not far away.

August 3, 2006
Raegan having a night swim. The pool was so refreshing and relaxing. She constantly wanted to be in there!

August 7, 2006
Megan, Annie, & Raegan playing dressup.

August 8, 2006
Raegan had her sunglasses on top of her head cause she said she wanted to "look like mommy." Isn't that cute!! She's such a sweetie!

August 8, 2006
My friend Jessica and I. I hadn't seen her in 5 years because we had lost contact with eachother. It was so nice to see her and her family!

August 9, 2006
My aunt and uncle and me. This was our last day in Texas, so Julie and Bill came over with the girls one last time. Raegan and I enjoyed spending time with them so much.

August 9, 2006
Megan, me, Raegan, and Annie. They were about to leave and I realized I hadn't gotten a picture with them yet so we shot a quick one before the left.

August 9, 2006
Aren't they cute?

August 10, 2006
Our plane was scheduled to leave at 7am so I got up at 4am to start getting ready. Raegan was exhausted, so I let her sleep a little longer, but I had to snap a picture of her while she was sleeping. Wouldn't that hair tickle your face? I don't know how she does it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had a ton more pictures from the trip. To see the complete album click on the album cover below. Enjoy! :-)

Texas

Jul 31, 2006 - 151 Photos

Take a trip with me ...

2006-08-03T13:59:00.000-05:00

.... a trip down memory lane, that is. Recently I found a ton of old APS film canisters from my old camera when I used to have one of those oh-so-cool-pre-digital-craze Advantix cameras. Anywho, its the kind where the film stays inside the canister, so you can't actually just pick up the negatives and hold em up to the light to see them. Luckily for me, I work at Target Photo!! So, a few days ago, I took a plastic bag full (around 20 canisters) of film into work with me, and during the slow time between developing film for guests, I ran my film to see what was on them. A few of the canisters dated back all the way to 1999 - my freshman year at Purdue! So, I decided I needed to do a photolog of my pics ...

August 19, 1999
My friend Jamie helped move me down to Purdue and she stayed the night with me the first night. I was finally in college! I can't believe how long ago that seems!!

September 1, 1999
My friend Sarah and me ... I met her my freshman year. She lived across the hall from me.

March 16, 2000
Grandpa Elliot and me (he was my great-grandpa on my paternal grandmother's side).

March 16, 2000
My Nana and Papaw (my dad's parents) and my cousin Annie.

March 20, 2000
This one was taken at my dad's house in Texas. This is my friend Jessica and her daughter Hayley.

May 8, 2000
Jenn & Me. This picture was taken on my last day at Purdue my freshman year. I was just leaving to go back home for the summer. Even though I'm smiling big in this picture, I was feeling pretty sick - I had scarlet fever!! I was so sick my last week that I had to miss two of my final exams and take them at the end of the next semester!

May 21, 2000
George Straight Country Music Festival! 7 of my friends (four girls and four guys ... the four girls pictured here) and I took a trip to Ohio for Straight Fest and we had sooo much fun! We saw Asleep at the Wheel, Leanne Womack, Mark Schultz, Martina McBride, Kenney Chesney, Tim McGraw and George Straight himself! It was a blast!!

May 21, 2000
Straight Fest - the 8 of us!

September 16, 2000
Purdue Football with the Shoemaker Girls!

September 16, 2000
Purdue Football game - Annie and me!

October 21, 2000
During my sophomore year at Purdue, Jamie came to visit me again … this time while I was living at Shoemaker.

October 31, 2000
Halloween Party! Annie and I went as “Charlie’s Angels”, but I think the real reason we didn’t dress in costume was because we were much more concerned with looking cute. This picture is of 8 of my pledge sisters and me.

November 10, 2000
Me in my purple room at Shoemaker. I went through a purple phase where I loved everything purple. My roommates were even nice enough to let me paint all of our walls a violet color and have one dark purple “accent” wall. It was fun at the time!

February 25, 2001
A few of us from Shoemaker went out to Jakes for dinner with our Pledge Educator, Courtney (the blonde in the middle with the white top).

March 26, 2001
My sister, Megan, and I at my mom’s house.

March 31, 2001
Shoemaker Sister Retreat – my roommates, Tracey, Courtney, Margo, and me!

July 28, 2001
Hayley and me. Hayley is the daughter of Jessica (pictured above in March 2000). I was one of the bridesmaids and Hayley was the flowergirl at Jessica and Donny’s wedding.

September 24, 2001
Mom and Mike right after they got married.

October 1, 2001
Waiting at the doctor’s office to have my ultrasound to find out if I was having a boy or girl.

December 31, 2001
New Year’s Eve & very pregnant! I definitely wasn’t out partying this night. I don’t even remember if I lasted until midnight to watch the ball drop.

February 3, 2002
Raegan was born at 9:30 in the morning weighing in at 9lbs 2oz! That’s one big baby!!

February 3, 2002
Raegan and me – our first picture together!

February 7, 2002
First visitors at home – Bobbie and Sue came to visit and to bring enough food to feed an army! These are two of the most generous and caring women I know!

February 9, 2002
My first time giving Raegan a bath on my own … I was so nervous that I was going to drop her because she was so slippery!

February 10, 2002
Reed and Raegan at church. Raegan was exactly one week old and this was our first big outing! Everyone wanted to hold the new baby!

February 10, 2002
Raegan with her “Pawpaw”. Rusty and Michele had a little “Welcome Baby Raegan” party after church.

February 15, 2002
Raegan with her “Mamaw”. Michele came to visit several times during Raegan’s first few weeks.

February 26, 2002
Grandma and Raegan. This is one of the few pictures taken with Grandma before she passed away on May 23, 2003.

April 11, 2002
Raegan taking a bath in her little portable tub. She was a little nervous about this tub, but I felt a lot better about using this than trying to hold her up and sponge-bathe her. There was a lot less chance of her slipping in this tub than in my arms.

April 29, 2002
Raegan and I in her bedroom at our first apartment. We lived with my mom and Mike until Raegan was a month and half and then we got our own place about 15 minutes away.

June 10, 2002
I love this picture! I put a bandana on Raegan’s head and she was smiling at herself in the mirror. I thought it made a super cute picture!

July 4, 2002
Raegan and Bobbie. This was our first time visiting Mike and Bobbie at the lake cottage and we had a blast.

July 27, 2002
Megan, Grandma, Sarah, and Alek. I wanted to include this picture because it is one of the few pictures I have of my sisters and another of the few of my grandma before she passed away.

September 11, 2002
I hung the American flag up on the wall and laid down a white sheet and took some photos of Raegan to commemorate the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11.

Thanks for taking a trip with me down memory lane! :-)

For My Sis :-)

2006-07-06T13:11:00.001-05:00

My big sis, Megan, lives out of the country and I told her I would post more pictures from the weekend at the lake because emailing a ton of pictures takes forever to upload. So here you go, Meg! Hope you enjoy!!! Love ya! :-)

P.S. You can view the pictures in a larger size by clicking on the pic ... it will open the pic into a full browser page (depending on the original picture size, that is). You'll probably have to use the back button to go back to the Blogger Post though. Unless you right click the pic and specify that you want to open it in a new window to begin with. Ok, enough explanations ... here they are for real now! :-P

Raegan and Mamaw (mom). Mom is handing Raegan the toy lizard she found. Raegan played with it the whole rest of the time she was there. I think she even named it, but I can't remember what she called it.

Raegan and Sprinkles. She loves this lil guy.

Raegan found a toad and she was very proud of it. Bless her little heart; she loved him so much, she practically squeezed him to death.

Raegan and the toad.

me :-) One of the few pics of me from the lake since I was the one with the camera the whole time. Plus, I'm not thrilled about pictures of myself.

Levi. The picture is a little dark, but its still a cute one of him.

Mine and Raegan's footprints on the pier. I love this pic. :-)

Mike and his boat.

Raegan swinging. If Raegan wasn't in the water, there was a 99.9% chance you'd find her on one of the swings.

Raegan and Judy playing in the water.

Raegan and Pawpaw (Mike) swinging. You never get too old to swing!

Little Ethan. What a cutie! He's growing up so fast. His first birthday was just days before this pic was taken.

these flowers were all around the cottage. I thought they were beautiful in their simplicity.

Geese family ... aren't they sweet.

Raegan .... you guessed it .... on a swing.

Raegan and Sprinkles again. She dragged that poor hippo around everywhere. He layed on the beach with her. He sat on the pier while she was swimming. He even went on a boat ride with her. After the two days we spent at the lake, he was so dingy looking from all the sand and dirt. I gave a him a "bath" (aka threw him in the washing machine) and he's back to his old blue and green self again.

I loved this weeping willow ... the way it swayed in the wind ... I thought it was very peaceful looking.

When I got back home from the lake, these gerbera daisies were waiting for me at my apartment. Brian bought them for me while I was gone! :-) I love gerbera's ... they're my favorite flower.

I'll leave you with this series of shots I took of Raegan right before she ate dinner the first night we were there. She's so happy and animated in the first few ....

.... then, just like that, her mood shifted. Gotta love it! :-)

Vacation at the Lake Cottage

2006-06-17T22:46:00.000-05:00

Raegan and I took a mini-vacation up to Michigan to the Lake Cottage that my mom and Mike rented this past week and it was very fun and relaxing. I got some pretty cute pics of Raegan and my nieces and nephews. This post is mostly just gonna be pictures cause I kind of have blogger's block and don't know what to write about ... as you may have noticed by my absense for 1.5 months. Ok, so here's the pics:

I love how blue her eyes look here. Thats the color they naturally are, but pictures don't always pic up the true colors of eyes.

Sunsets on the lake. What is more peaceful than this?

Marissa getting ready to go tubing on the lake. She was super excited!!

Cousins! Raegan, Shell, and Levi! :-)

Raegan asleep on the beach. She was pooped from playing in the sun all day!

Levi adores his cousin, Raegan. And she adores him back. Aren't they cute? When did Raegan get so big?

My nephew, Ethan. He's such a cutie-head!

Raegan will her gummy lizard. She found him in the sand and played with him the whole time we were there. She treated him like a real pet. She's so funny. I tried not to think about how dirty the thing was ....

Here's another nephew, Maecon. I'm sorry if I spelled that wrong. I just know its a different spelling than the typical Mason, and I think I'm close. I guess I'll find out ....

Schooooool's out for the SUMMER!!!!

2006-05-03T21:17:00.000-05:00

WooHoo!!!! Yippeee!!!! Can you tell I'm excited to be done? I thought last semester stunk, but this one was pretty darn bad. I took an exam today that was ridiculous! I am almost positive that I failed it, but I know for a fact I'm not the only one who did poorly on it. It was a horrible class and although the professor is very knowledgeable about Geology & such (it was an Earth Science class), she has no idea how to teach it at our level. Nor did I think she has any desire to. She seems to hate teaching and hate us (the students) even more. She'd come in every other week looking angry at the world and she'd even yell at us sometimes. When people would ask her to explain stuff they didn't understand from the text she would belittle us and say its written at a very low level ... as if elementary kids could understand it. She was good at making us feel very stupid. At the end of the exam today, there were like 30 people standing outside of the testing room griping about how hard the test was and how we had not learned half of that stuff. One girl even said that she wrote that on her test for the questions she didn't know. Instead of leaving it blank she'd write: "please tell me when we learned this stuff in class, because I'm positive we did not." Some of the girls were so upset they wanted to go straight to the head of the Earth Science department and report her. These were 4.0 students who studied for this test and still felt like they failed it. I feel like our teacher set us up for failure. And to top it off, she has a very strict grading scale that she insists on sticking to. Instead of the typical 90-100 A, 80-89 B, 70-79 C scale, and so on, her scale is 92-100 A, 83-91 B, 74-83 C, 65-73 D, and so on. That scale totally sucks! And the exam was worth soooo much of my grade!!! I'm scared I failed or got a D in the class. If I did I'm gonna have to take a class over the summer to bring my GPA back up and then take EAS again next semester. :-( Pray that that does not happen!

For my other classes I did not have final exams but the final papers that I had to write stunk worse than exams. For my literacy final, I wrote 12 pages about these two kids I had been tutoring, for science I wrote a 10 page reflection of a lesson I taught, and for my math class I wrote a 6 page reflection of two lessons I taught. And this past Saturday I took the second Praxis tests. The Elementary Curriculum: Planning, Instruction, and Assessment wasn't too terribly bad, but the Reading Specialist one totally sucked! I don't understand the reasoning behind us (El Ed majors) having to take a Reading Specialist test. The explanation for this test states that the test is designed for persons in a master's program seeking a master's degree as a Reading Specialist. HELLO! Elementary Education Undergrad HERE!!! Not in a master's program. Not attempting to be a Reading Specialist! I seriously felt like I just started making designs while I was coloring in the bubbles on the scantron sheet. 120 questions that seemed like they were written in a foreign language. We had not been taught hardly any of that stuff in our classes. It seemed like a cruel joke to play on us. Luckily with this test, its not a one-shot deal. Yes I have to pass it in order to Student Teach and to eventually get my teaching license, but I have about 2 more opportunities to take and pass it before I'm scheduled to Student Teach. The major downfall is that the it costs $190 to take it. :-( Let's just hope that I passed it this time so I don't have to take it again. I'll know in about 3 1/2 weeks.

On a lighter note, SCHOOOOOOL'S OUT FOR THE SUMMER!!!!!!

Raegan, Raegan, and more Raegan

2006-04-22T07:55:00.000-05:00

School has been pretty busy and tough lately as I'm nearing the end of the semester, so I have found it difficult to come up with anything interesting to post about. Therefore, I have decided to devote yet another post to my Raegulator!

Here is one of Raegan's drawings from school. She made this one back in February. She told me it was a picture of "Raegan and Mommy". Notice how she spelled her name ... her "N's" are much better now, but she used to make them like "M's".

This one was also made in February. She gave it to me for Valentine's day. Aren't her hearts precious?

This last one was made in March. Raegan told me it's a "picture of Raegan and Mommy swimming in the ocean. There is a dolphin and a shark, too." Notice that she spelled ocean as "ocen". She can spell her name without asking, but she normally asks how to spell other words she doesn't know. Then she writes them on her own as you spell them for her. I'm not sure who spelled ocean for her, but I think it's still cute the way it is.

Here is Raegan's school picture which was taken at the end of March. She looks so grown up sitting there like that!

Here is her class picture which was taken the same day. She's in the 4's and 5's room this year and she'll be in there again for one more year. Then it will be time for Kindergarten for her! I cannot believe how fast time is flying!!!

Here is a picture of Raegan that I took on Thursday, April 20th. We bought her a pair of new sandals at Target and this was the first day she got to wear them. I'm loving this beautiful weather!

Here is a picture of Raegan later that same day with her new umbrella. It was an Easter gift from Brian's parents. I think she kind of likes it. ;-)

Here is another picture of Raegan with her umbrella ... this time she wanted Brian to pose in the picture with her. Oh, by the way, we don't believe in the "bad luck if you open an umbrella in the house" superstition. Besides, if we believed in that one, we'd also have to believe that it's bad luck to receive an umbrella as a gift. And since this one was given as a gift ... I think you could just keep on going with superstitions. It seems like if you believe in one you have to believe in all of them.

Look! Raegan's a quacker!!!

Hike at Happy Hallow

2006-04-08T17:15:00.000-05:00

Today Raegan and Brian and I had breakfast at Bob Evans and then went to the 12 o'clock showing of Ice Age: The Meltdown. That was a really cute movie and I think Raegan liked it a lot. Then afterwards, Brian had to work and I needed to get back so I could finish watching the moive The Insider for my health class. (I thought that was a really good movie and I would recommend it to anyone.) Raegan got awfully bored while I was watching the movie which is obvious from the way she was hanging upside down on the couch. At one point she called from her room, "Mommy!?!?! It's a beautiful day to go to the park! Can we go after you get done watching your movie??!!!???" How could I resist that? So, of course, I said yes. So when the movie was over, Raegan and I went to Happy Hallow Park. I thought we were just going to go there so she could play on the playground but Raegan said she wanted to go on a hunt. I think she meant "hike" but whatever. I knew what she meant, so we braved the trails together at Happy Hollow.

It was a lot of fun walking through the woods with her although we had a couple of close calls when we went up too steep of a hill. It was hard getting up it and even harder getting back down. But we managed. Raegan was pretty tired by the time we got done so she took a little break.
Then she was reenergerized enough to go run and play hard on the playground for another hour or so.

Play Date

2006-04-07T19:28:00.000-05:00

Raegan had her first play date today with her friend, Armani. Armani is in Raegan's school and she also lives in the same apartment complex as us. As soon as Raegan found that out, she's been begging me to have Armani over to play with her. I told her she could come over this week, so in preparation for that, Raegan set aside half of her littlest pet shop toys two days ago. She wouldn't play with "Armani's" toys cause she didn't want to get them mixed up. The row on the left were Armani's and the ones on the right were Raegan's. It was funny cause when Armani got here today, Raegan took her straight over to the pet shop toys and Armani didn't even want to play with them. She wanted to explore in Raegan's room. Raegan wasn't prepared for that. I think she had this idea in her head of exactly how this play date was going to go, and it wasn't going as she had planned. They butted head's at first cause they each wanted to do different things, but after a while they started to figure each other out and they began to get along better. They played dress up and traded dresses. Raegan's dress is the ballet outfit that Armani is wearing and the dress that Raegan is wearing is Armani's. Here are pictures of them dancing around together.

Then they decided they wanted to take a "traditional" picture together, so I attempted this one but Armani accidently stepped on Raegan's toe while I was taking it (notice Raegan is barefoot and Armani is wearing plastic dress-up heals - ouch).

Needless to say, Raegan was upset. She ran off to cry by herself, but when I tried to take a picture of her crying, Armani jumped in front of the camera (hence the out-of-focusness of this pic plus Raegan pouting in the background).

I did end up getting one of Raegan crying, but luckily she was fine after a kiss on the toe by mom (how does this magical kiss work anyway? It's a mystery to me).

Then Raegan was ready for another shot at the posed picture. But this time Armani wasn't ready ... I think she was trying to make sure she didn't step on Raegan's toe again. So this is what I got. Oh, well. Its hard to get a good one of two four-year-olds anyway.

I think, overall, they had a lot of fun together. We ordered Pizza and they watched or I should say attempted to watch (they got distracted easily) a couple of movies. All in all, it was a good first Play Date!!!

Girls Night Out!

2006-04-02T20:36:00.000-05:00

Fun Times with the Girls!!! These are my friends, Lindsay and Rachel. The three of us went out on Friday night to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants and then went back to my place. My other friend, Amber (not pictured) joined up with us later cause she had to work. Its fun to have a girls night. We just stayed up super late talking and being goofy. I think it was like 2:30 or 3:00 when I finally got to bed that night! We were all in Block III together last semester and this was the first time that all of us had gotten together again! It was definitely fun times. Since next semester is our last semester at Purdue together, we're hopeing to get classes together again.

Finally Moved In

2006-03-27T22:41:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm finally moved into my new place. Raegan and I are really happy about the move. Its closer to campus which is a huge time saver. And Brian (coincidentally) lives .5 mile away now. It now takes me less than a minute to drive to his house as opposed to 20 minutes (which is how long it used to take). That is really convenient. Its just so nice to be closer to everything. I'm gonna post pictures as soon as I'm done unpacking everything. I'll be done by this weekend cause I'm having some of my friends over on Friday night for a girls night to celebrate my birthday. I'm turning 25 years old next Tuesday! I can't believe I'm gonna be that old!! It feels even older to me than it probably would if I were not surrounded by 20, 21, and 22-year-olds day in and day out. Oh well. Here's a fun fact: Brian and I share the same birthday. Of course, he was born 3 years before I was, but we both celebrate a birthday on April 4th. I thought that was kinda cool.

Spring Break is Over, But Only 6 Weeks Left of the Semester!

2006-03-20T16:46:00.000-05:00

Today is the first day of Spring!! I'm so glad the winter is coming to a close. (Although we have a winter storm advisory for tomorrow and we're supposed to get 6 inches ... figures.) We started classses again today. I wasn't ready to go back. I'm afraid I'm gonna get Spring Fever big time these last few weeks of classes. I'm gonna try really hard though to stay motivated to keep the grades up though cause at this point I think I'm getting 4 A's and a B ... but I guess we'll see.

For Spring Break I just stayed in the area and packed cause I'm moving this weekend to an apartment closer to campus. That'll be nice. I'm tired of spending the gas and the extra 20 minutes to get to classes every day.

This past weekend I went to Brian's home town with him. I enjoyed that. I really like his family so thats a definite plus! :-) He spent the weekend making sausage with his dad and uncle and a few other people ... but all guys. No girls are allowed to this thing. But I knew that going into it, so I had planned on entertaining myself and hanging out with his sister, Marissa and his mom while he was out with the guys. Last night after an extremely delicious dinner (I think I ate way too much, but it was sooo good ... pot roast, carrots and potatoes ... Yum) we played Name That Tune: 80's Edition. I love playing board games! Brian and I were on a team together, and, althought we didn't win, we had fun. Actually, I think I have fun with him no matter what we are doing.

I guess I should get back to packing and stuff. Raegan will be back from her extended weekend away in about an hour. I'll be glad to see her! Although it was great to spend the weekend away and not have to worry about her, I missed the little bugger! :-)

Spring Break

2006-03-13T20:39:00.000-05:00

WooHoo! I'm on Spring Break! Am I going to a tropical paradise? No. Am I working over Spring Break? No. Well then I must be relaxing at home and doing nothing? I wish. No, I'm spending my spring break packing up my apartment. Thats right! I'm moving ... again. Raegan is barely 4 years old and she has already lived in 6 different places, this next move will make lucky number 7. And, since I'm graduating in one year, we won't be here long either. I do not plan to stay in the Purdue area after graduation. I hope to move back to my home town, but I guess I'll just have to see about job availability.

So thats what I'll be doing over the next week, cleaning, organizing, and packing up. You'd think I'd be a pro at this by now and so used to it that I could do it in my sleep. But I hate moving. Well, actually, I love it and hate it at the same time. I hate the actual day of moving because it normally wears me out, but I do really enjoying reorganizing everything and purging the junk. Hopefully I'll post again before the move, but if not, I'll let you know how everything goes afterwards. Maybe I'll even post some empty apartment photos and full apartment photos. We'll see. It depends on if I actually try to make the place look cute and worthy of posting or if I just make it livable with the bare necessities. I guess we'll see!

Megan and Daniel

2006-03-12T21:58:00.000-05:00

I know its been so long since I posted, but its been a really busy month. I want to post more soon, but for now, I just wanted to put updated pictures of my nephew on here. I got to see him and my sister one last time this weekend before they head back to Iran. I am going to miss them so much. Here is a picture of Daniel taken on March 10.

Here is a picture of my sister, Megan and baby Daniel with Raegan. She loves her aunt and cousin!

And here is a picture of my sister and nephew and me taken today, March 12.

3 things about me? I'm pretty sure this is 9 things, but whatever

2006-02-13T01:48:00.000-05:00

Ok, Darcy, you tagged me once before and I dodged that one, so now I guess I have to do this one.

THREE THINGS ABOUT YOU!!!

Three Names you go by:
1. Christy
2. Mommy
3. Ms *******

Three of Your Everyday Essentials
1. White milk ... I love it
2. chips and salsa ... Brian is attempting to change that about me, but I'm addicted
3. Euchre ... i like to play euchre online at least once a day ... i enjoy it :-)

Three Things You Are Wearing Right Now
1. Purdue Sweatshirt
2. Khaki cords
3. socks

Three of Your Favorite Songs
1. Journey - Don't Stop Believin'
2. Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want to Have Fun
3. Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond
.... the list really does go on, but according to the title of this thing, I must stop at 3 :-(

Two Truths and a Lie (in any order)
1. I've been in a car accident
2. I've been in a train accident
3. I've been in a plane accident

Three of Your Favorite Hobbies
1. Photography
2. Being a mom :-) ... guess thats not a hobby, but whatever! This is my list, do what you want with yours.
3. Being with people I love

Three Things You want to do really badly right now
1. Go to bed ... its 2 am
2. be done with homework for the rest of my life
3. can't think of another ... I'm too tired right now ....

Three Places You want to go
1. Italy (again)
2. I'd like to take a long weekend sometime and grab a map and a traveling campanion and a good camera and just drive for a weekend and see what I see ... it would be neat!
3. Backpack across Europe

Three Things You Want to Do Before You Die
1. Graduate from College!
2. Get married
3. Be a grandma (I'm looking very, very far into the future Miss Raegan ... don't get any ideas about anything in the next 20 years or so! ;-)

Three people I would like to see take this quiz
1. Nichole
2. Joanna
3. Elizabeth

My Baby is Four Years Old!

2006-02-07T22:00:00.000-05:00

Friday was Ragan's fourth birthday and we decided to go home for her birthday so she could see all of her friends from her old daycare. She had a party Saturday at McDonald's playland and she had so much fun. Here is a picture of the kidlettes at her party. From left to right: Leah, Raegan, Genvieve, Dylan and Jakob. They were told to look 'scared' in this picture. These were her best friends from CCYC. She misses it there so much. I'm hoping to get her enrolled there for Kindergarten when I'm done at Purdue. Let's pray I'm able to find a job in the area.

Here are some more pics from the McDonald's party:

On Sunday she had a party at Mike & Bobbie's house and Buffy & Brian and Lindsay & Brock came over for it. It was so good to see them and share Raegan's birthday with them! It just wouldn't have been the same without a party at the Wogoman's. Raegan has had every single one of her parties (before this one) at their house, so it would have seemed weird not to have something over there this year. Here are some pictures from that party!

Daniel

2006-01-31T14:17:00.000-05:00

Here's my new little nephew! Isn't he a cutiehead?!?!

through the eyes of a child ...

2006-01-29T21:36:00.000-05:00

Today Raegan and I went to the library to return the DVD's we had previously borrowed and to get a couple of new ones for her. While we were there, Raegan asked if we could go upstairs. I told her it wouldn't be any fun up there cause there weren't any kid books or movies, but she said she wanted to go anyway. So we went. With every step we took up the staircase, her eyes got wider and wider with wonder! She was so excited to venture into this 'unexplored' part of the world (her world, that is). We got up there and she saw, what seemed to her, endless stacks full of books! She thought this was soooooo cool! She went in and out of every stack and didn't really look at any of the books, but just kind of had this look of awe in her eyes at how many there were. She wanted to look in every nook and cranny in that library. She kept asking me, in an excited whisper, "MOMMY?! Can we explore over there?!?!" I heard her whispering over and over to herself, "this is soooo amazing!" And I was thinking to myself, its just books. I actually said it aloud at one point while she kept saying that, and she heard me, but that didn't seem to make it any less amazing to her ... she just kept saying it again, "but its so amazing!" I think it would be awesome to be able to (as an adult) look at the world through the eyes of a child ... even if only for a moment. I can't even begin to imagine how much more we might appreciate and enjoy this life ...

Oh, Baby!!

2006-01-27T21:01:00.000-05:00

He finally arrived!! My nephew, Daniel Evan, was born at 11:50pm on Wednesday, January 25th ... 8lbs, 4oz. Welcome to the World, Baby Boy!! I'll be going home next weekend for Raegan's birthday (she'll be 4 on Feb. 3) and we'll get to see the new addition to the family. I'll post a picture of him when I get back! Can't wait to meet him! :-)

Learning a lot

2006-01-24T19:30:00.000-05:00

I've really actually been enjoying this semester so far. I don't have any fun classes at all like Art or Music, but I feel like I've learned so much more in the past 3 weeks then I've ever learned in any 3 week period of time in any other semester. I'm sure I could credit part of that learning to the fact that I've actually done 90% of the assigned reading for most of my classes (100% for some of them) and I've been really paying attention in class. Whatever the reason, I wish I would have started this earlier in my College years. ;-)

Today I met my second graders who I'll be spending the next 13 weeks with. I'm excited. They were a bit out of control today, but I think thats partly because they had a subsitute teacher. The school where I'll be doing my TIP experience is really neat. They are an open concept school so their are no doors on any of the classrooms and there actually weren't even walls between the classrooms but about 10 years ago they put up partitions that can be opened an closed as needed. I think the concept is really neat.

So for Block IV I'll be spending a lot of one-on-one time with 2 students from the second grade class. The students have not been assigned to me yet, but I'm anxious to get started with them on Thursday. We'll be doing a Get to Know You activity, so that should be fun. I think I'm going to have them make a poster or decorate their folder with fun facts about themselves. We'll see.

Well, time to get some more reading done!

...all others will be towed

2006-01-20T09:25:00.000-05:00

My Thursday:

I went to bed around 1am and fell asleep while thinking about what time I needed to set my alarm for (so I never actually set the alarm).
Woke up at 7:45 (but I would have liked to have woken up by 6am).
Got myself and Raegan ready for school as fast as I could but was in such a rush to get out the door that I forgot a few supplies that I needed for Health class.
Dropped Raegan off at school at 8:50. Drove like a bat out of hell to the parking garage closest to my class (don't have a permit to park there but my class started at 9:00 so I took the chance).
Made it to Literacy class right at 9:00.
While in class, I told my friend Joanna that I forgot the supplies for Health. She forgot them too so we decided we'd stop by her apartment before lunch and pick them up.
We got out of Literacy class 30 minutes early (10:30) and headed over to the parking garage to get my car. I always hold my breath when I park there for fear that it will have been towed. It was still there and no ticket. I got lucky again.
We pull into Joanna's apartment complex and I just park in the closest spot to her door because the plan is to just run up and get the supplies. Once we are up there though, I realize its too early to go to lunch so we start watching TV.
At 11:20 (20 minutes after our class was supposed to get out) I call Brian and let him know we're at Joanna's and ask him if he can pick us up to go to lunch. He says he'll be there at noon and we hang up.
12:00 we head downstairs to move my car to a visitor's spot and leave with Brian.
PROBLEM *1: THE ION IS GONE
I look at Joanna and say, "Isn't this where my car was? Am I just not seeing it?" She kind of gives me a nervous look and the realization sinks in that my car has been towed. Apparently I parked in Employee parking for the mexican restaurant that is below her apartment complex. Oops. I'm not going to pretend that I didn't know that I wasn't supposed to park there. The sign read "Parking for (Restaurant Name) Only. All others will be towed at owners expense." I just didn't realize that it was employee parking. I thought it was customer parking and how would they know we weren't customers.
Brian is already there waiting for us so I just shrug my shoulders and say I guess I'll deal with it after Health class. Once we're in the car, I ask Joanna if the sign had a phone number on it. We can't see a phone number from the car but Brian is pulling away by then anyway. He asks why we need a phone number and I tell him that my car is gone. His eyes get huge and he says, "IT GOT TOWED?!?!" So I say, "yeah, I guess I parked where I wasn't supposed to and we were in there for longer than we had planned." I say I'll just get the number after class and ask Brian if he can take me to pick up my car.
We go to Captain Gyros for lunch which I love but I don't think Brian or Joanna thought it was that great. At lunch I ask Brian if he wouldn't mind swinging by the apartment complex on his way home to find out the number for the towing place and to send it to me through a text message. He says he will but that he'll call for me also so that I won't have to after class.
At 1:15 Brian drives Joanna and I to campus for our Health class which goes from 1:30-2:45. While waiting for class to start, I make the remark to Joanna that I've just been assuming all this time that my car was towed but what if it wasn't. What if it was stolen. I then shrug off the idea because we hadn't even tried calling the towing places yet.
At 1:30 I remember that I need to send Chad a text message to let him know that I'll be slightly delayed from meeting him halfway at 4:00pm. So I run outside to send the text messge cause there is no service in the basement of the building.
At 2:45 Joanna and I leave class and head (on foot this time) back to her apartment. On the way I call Chad to make sure he got my message and he did. Then I call Brian to find out if he knows anything and he informs me that he cannot find my car. He called the apartment complex and they gave him the number for the towing place they use. He calls them and they say they don't have my car. They say they have a 2004 Saturn Ion with Purdue plates, but the one they have is white. Brian thinks thats odd because the entire description matches except my car is berry red. Way different than white. He asks them if they are sure and they say yes they are sure that it is white and not red. So he hangs up and calls the mexican restaurant thinking maybe they use a different towing company. Well they don't even speak English apparently so Brian asks them if someone is there that does speak English. They say not until 5. Guess they understood him enough to know that. So Brian calls all of the towing companies in town and can't find my car anywhere. At this point, he's getting frustrated because he wants to help but he's feeling powerless because he can't find my car for me.
PROBLEM *2: HAS THE ION BEEN STOLEN?
I thank Brian for going through all that trouble and let him know that once Joanna and I get back to her apartment we'll get to the bottom of it. Brian reminds me that he's called all of the towing places in town so there's a chance that it wasn't towed and thats its been stolen. I tell him that I'll call him back once I figure out whats going on.
We stop into the office and pick up the business card for the towing company. I see the name on it and remember that this is the one that Brian called first that said they didn't have a red Ion but they had a white one. So the whole way up to her apartment different thoughts are going through my head like, my car's been stolen, my purse was in it ... i'm gonna have to cancel all my credit cards, Raegan's booster seat is in there, how am I gonna pick her up from school without her booster seat ...
Once we get up to Joanna's apartment, I call the towing company and tell them that I think they may have my car. I tell them its a 2004 Saturn Ion. The guy on the phone asks me if its the red one. I say yes and he asks if it was towed from the apartment complex. I say yes again and he says yes they have it right there. He gives me directions and tells me the damage is 70 bucks ... cash, mastercard or visa. I thank him and hang up.
I call Brian to ask he he minds taking me to get my car. He's still in a cruddy mood for not finding it himself and now he's even more frustrated with this company because they did have my car and they told him they didn't.
Brian picks me up at about 3:15 and we go pick up my car. I thank him for his help and apologize for the trouble he went through for me. He tells me not to aplogize because he was glad to help ... he wasn't mad at me, just frustrated with the tow place. Which is understandable.
I head over to Raegan's school at about 3:30 to get her and call Chad on the way to let him know that I can meet him at 5 now.
I get to Raegan's school and head down the hallway to get her and the secretary calls after me that they're not there.
PROBLEM #3 - TRACK DOWN RAEGAN
The secretary says they went for a walk and they are over at the train station across pedestrian bridge. She says I can drive over there to meet them and get her from there.
So I'm driving across the "driving" bridge and I see all these little blurs of color walking on the pedestrian bridge ... heading back towards the school. So I pull into the train station and park. I see a cop in the parking lot facing my car and watching me park. So I double check to make sure I'm not parked illegally and then I run up all the stairs to the bridge as fast as I can. By this time I'm out of breath because I'm not much of a runner. When I get to the top of the stairs I see the little blurs of color more clearly and see that Raegan is at the front (farthest from me) running at full speed with the rest of her class in tow. They are almost completely across the bridge and I contemplate whether I should go back to my car and drive back to the daycare or cross the bridge and get her. I decide to cross the bridge to get her and when I was within ear shot from them I hear her teacher say, "Raegan there's your mom!" Her teacher yells an apology to me and I yell back to not worry about it. Then Raegan starts running to me and yelling, "MOMMY!!!! HOW'D YOU FIND ME?!?!?!?" I tell her it wasn't easy, but I tracked her down!!
We walk all the way back across the pedestrian bridge and down all the steps (by this time I'm carrying Raegan cause her little legs are worn out) and I'm wondering if my car is still going to be there. I feel that with my luck, it will be gone. To my surprise, its still there. I start putting Raegan in her booster seat but I have this odd feeling that I'm being watched. So I turn around to see the two girls in the car next to me starring at me. I give them kind of a nervous smile and then turn back to Raegan to finish buckling her in. One of the girls rolls her window down and calls out to me, "you got any jumper cables?" In my head I'm thinking, you've got to be kidding me. I glance over and see the cop still parked in the parking lot and I look back at her and say, "um.. yeah ... I think I might have some in my trunk. Let me check." So I finish with Raegan and pop my trunk to see if I do. I pull out the emergency car kit that I have never even opened and find jumper cables in there still wrapped in plastic. I hold them up so the girls can see and the passenger gets out and asks if I know how to use them. I tell her its been a long time since I've had to use any and I don't trust myself to not blow up the cars. She says she'll go find someone because their car is dead and they need a jump. I tell her to go ask the cop parked across the parking lot. She heads over there and he says he can't for liability reasons or something and she goes into the train depot to see if she can find someone in there to help.
While I'm standing there thinking about what an odd day its been, the girl walks out of the depot with a man and he asks me for the cables. I hand them to him and start my car and put it in reverse. He give me kind of an odd look, so I roll my window down and tell them I just have to turn the car around cause my battery is in the trunk. The guys says there's no way cause that would be too weird. I say I'm pretty sure its in the trunk but he tells me to put it in park and pop the hood. So I oblige and I pop the hood. He can't figure out how to get it open so I do it for him. He looks in and, what do you know, he doesn't see the battery. I tell him thats cause its the trunk and he still looks like he doesn'believe me. So then I pop the trunk and we walk around to the back and I pull of the flap where the spare tire is. Sure enough, the battery is right where I thought it would be. He says thats really weird and I tell him I should probably turn my car around so we can get this done. It takes two tries for me to get the car close enough for the cables to reach both batteries. He hooks the cables up and the other car starts right up on the first try. Praise the Lord! I can finally be on my way.
The jumper guy starts winding my cables back up and I say thats alright he can just toss them into the trunk. He says he doesn't mind trying to get them back the way they were. Then he pulls out the plastic bag that they came in and tries to get them back into it. I say its really not a big deal and he can just toss them in the trunk. He says it would be much better for me to store them in the bag. I let him finish and he lays them in the trunk for me. While he's doing this, the girls are thanking us for our help. I let them know that its the first time I've ever used the emergency car kit but that it was really pretty cheap from Target and that it would be a good idea for them to get one too. I tell them all goodbye and they thank me again. I tell them it was no problem and wish them luck that it doesn't happen again. Then I pull away. I call Chad to fill him in on the setbacks because by this time its almost 4:30 and it takes me over an hour to get to the meeting place. He says its ok cause he's just leaving his house. I should have known that ... he's late most of the time. ;-) I hang up with him and Raegan and I are on our way.

So that was my day. Pretty exciting, huh?

The best part is that the supplies that we needed for Health class were not that important afterall. We would have been just fine without them ... go figure.

girls just wanna have fun ...

2006-01-17T02:38:00.000-05:00

have I mentioned how much I love being a mom to my Raegan Faith? Well if I haven't said it on here yet, I'm gonna say it now! I just love the girl to pieces!!!!

Today, we were driving around listening to fun old 70s and 80s (gotta teach her the good stuff to listen to!) and we sang along to Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper! She didn't know the words, but she tries and she picks up fast. She had the title line down at least!!! So we're just driving along, just the two of us, windows cracked cause it was a beautiful 55 degree day, singing at the top of our lungs! How fun ...

My next DVD purchase must be Girls Just Wanna Have Fun staring Sarah Jessica Parker! I hadn't seen it in forever, but a year or two ago I did get to watch it with Buffy and her sisters at the Dague residence.

I miss home.

I should go to bed since its closing in on 3 AM ...

study break

2006-01-16T22:40:00.000-05:00

So I took a bit of a study break (a very long one) to change the header picture of my blog. At least I kept the same name ... right Darcy? ;-) I think I find the most fun in changing things around. It was fun going through old pictures ... I even included a really, really old one of Raegan when she was still in her bouncy activity center thingamajig. I don't know what it was called. All I know is it wasn't a baby walker cause I heard those things are unsafe. Raegan was so chubby back then and her hair was sooo dark. I miss those days ...

Well, I guess I should be getting back to my homework. I have a ton of reading to do for tomorrow and its almost 11pm. Eek!

Science hurts my brain

2006-01-16T00:57:00.000-05:00

Its 1 am and I just spent the past 3.5 hours reading science. :-( I hate reading from textbooks, but science and history are my two least favorite subjects to read about. I think history is because its hard for me to remember all the dates and different wars and all that so I start feeling bogged down and I just give up. But with science its because I feel like I'm reading a foreign language (one that I've never learned). Seriously. For example, (and this is just one of my many confusions) I don't understand P waves and S waves and L waves and why P waves can pass through solids and liquids but S waves cannot pass through liquids. What are they anyway? And I don't even have a clue what L waves are. I had never even heard of them before tonight. Its actually short for Love waves. Whats that??!? And this is just the beginning of my confusion. I think I'm going to have permanent wrinkles on my forehead when this semester is over because I am really confused right now and I have only finished the first assigned reading. :-( I hope this gets easier. The funny thing about this class is its supposed to be Capstone Science. Basically its supposed to pull together all that we've learned in all of our other science classes and have it all make sense together. What if I'm still confused about the basics of each class I took? What then? Gosh ... I think I'm in trouble ...

Found some pics

2006-01-14T16:28:00.000-05:00

After I posted about Buffy & Brian's wedding, I remembered where I had some pics of Raegan from it. I just spent an hour reminiscing while I looked through my file drawer filled to the brim with picutres. I found these at the very bottom!

These were given to me by Bobbie. She told me that before the wedding, Raegan was fascinated by the flowers. She just kept looking at them. So Bobbie snapped a few pictures of her. This wedding was on March 20, 2004. Raegan had just turned two in February.

Here is a picture of Raegan that I found in the drawer while looking for the pics from the wedding. She was only 7 months old here! I took it on September 11, 2002. I hung up on American flag over our fire place layed a white sheet on the floor in front of it and put Raegan on top of it. I thought it turned out pretty good. I meant to scrap it or at least frame it ... guess I got lazy. Better late than never!!!

One Week Down, 15 to Go!

2006-01-14T13:36:00.000-05:00

Wow ... that sounds like a lot. So the first week of classes went fine. I think my classes are going to be a bit boring though. This semester I am taking EAS 312: Capstone Science, which ties together all of the science classes I have taken thus far; HK 320: Health in the Elementary Schools; and Block IV, which consists of Math in the Elementary Schools, Science in the Elementary Schools, and Literacy in the Elementary Schools (Part II - I took the first part last semester). Doesn't sound all that exciting, does it?

Last semester consisted of a ton of papers and I think this semester is going to be a lot more of just reading. Its so hard to discipline myself to read textbooks! There is just something about them that screams, "daydream about something else while you are reading me so you'll have to keep going back and rereading the same paragraph over and over!!" It never fails. I know I am not alone in this because I'm constantly hearing it from my fellow classmates.

Speaking of fellow classmates ... one great thing about this semester is I have every single class with my good friend, Joanna. We met in Earth Science class two semesters ago and we had Physics together last semester. Well this semester our schedules are exactly the same so we can work on group projects together and all that good stuff. I'm looking forward to that!!

Changing the subject ...

I just got off the phone with my good friend Bobbie from back home. Raegan really wanted to go there but she doesn't realize that we are 2.5 hours away and we can't just jump in the car anytime we feel like it and go back home. It makes her sad sometimes and it makes me sad, too. I miss everyone from back home so much. While Raegan was on the phone with her, Bobbie asked her if she wanted to talk to Buffy (Liz) - she's one of my best friends who I don't get to see or talk to very often. So Raegan talked to her for a little bit and then I got to, too! It was good to talk to her. We were in El Ed together at Purdue when I went there the first time. We met in a more round-about way than that, but its too complicated to explain on here. ;-) So anyway, we became good friends and we've stayed close ever since. In fact, Raegan and I were both in her wedding a couple of years ago. Raegan was the flowergirl and I was one of her bridesmaids. If I had a picture handy from the wedding I'd scan it in post it on here. It was Raegan's first time being a flowergirl, and she really didn't know what she was supposed to do. During the rehearsal she ran down the isle toward Brian (the groom) and wanted him to pick her up. Glad that didn't happen at the actual wedding. Instead she stood over by us (the bridesmaids) and dumped her basket of flower petals on the steps and put them back in one by one. Then she decided it would be fun to lay down on the steps. She sure got a lot of attention. But the wedding itself was so unique that she didn't steal the show (thank goodness Mike knows how to make things interesting ... if you went to the wedding, you'd know what I'm talking about).

Anyway, I guess I'm done going off on my little tangent. I'm actually procrastinating doing my homework (stupid reading) and I find this the best way to do so!! Hopefully I'll have something interesting to post about this semester and not just whats going on in my classes!

4 8 15 16 23 42

2006-01-08T23:21:00.000-05:00

For those of you who were unaware (or just in need of reminding), a brand new eposode of LOST will be on this Wednesday!!! I cannot wait .... its been 6 weeks!!!!

Oh yeah ... the title ... I want to hear peoples ideas about the numbers. I've heard lots of things, but I like to hear what other people have to say about them too.

Ok, now I'm really going to bed :-)

Back to school

2006-01-08T22:24:00.000-05:00

Well, tomorrow I'll be back to the ole grind again of classes and homework. Lets hope Block IV isn't as bad as Block III, cause that one kicked my butt!

I'm off to bed! Wish me luck! :-)

Goodbye Christmas break ....

A Few More Days ...

2006-01-04T20:28:00.000-05:00

On Monday I start classes again and I'm dreading it. This break was definitely NOT long enough. I'm so glad I came back to Purdue to finish school but I do enjoy my breaks in between classes when I can bask in unproductivity! Today was a perfect example of that ...

First, I took the Raegulator to school around 9:30 and then headed over to Brian's. We watched Dr. Phil (Brian poked fun of his accent the whole time) then we watched Price is Right. Oh my gosh, I am such a Price is Right fan it is ridiculous. I want so badly to go to that show sometime before we lose good 'ole Bob Barker. I have a feeling the show just won't make it without him. Brian disagrees with me. What do you think?

After PIR, Brian and his roommate, Monica, and I headed over to Olive Garden for lunch. We got seated and waited for a good 15 minutes before anyone even acknowledged our presence. It takes a lot for Brian to get mad and he was pretty darn mad at OG by the time we left there. Needless to say we didn't stay. We figured 15 minutes was long enough to be ignored so we left and went to Chili's. I ordered their soup and salad special and for my soup I got chili. Now you would think that one could safely assume that the chili at Chili's would be good, right? It wasn't that great. I was disappointed. Luckily I wasn't very hungry though.

When we were done at Chili's we took Monica home and Brian and I went to see Fun with Dick and Jane. I thought it was a funny movie. It was also very clean. I think I remember one or two cuss words at the most. So family friendly and funny. After that it was about time for me to pick Raegan up from school. Picked her up, met up with her dad halfway between here and where he lives, came back home and now I'm writing in my blog. That was my day. Completely unproductive but I enjoyed it just the same! :-)

Here is a pic of Raegan just for the heck of it.

blog-lifter ... sort of :-)

2005-12-29T22:19:00.000-05:00

first of all, I need to confess ... I really liked how so many people have a photo in their title and then my friend Darcy made one, too. I thought, 'hey, I could probably do that!' So I'm a blog-lifter of sorts. It really makes the blog more personal. Don't worry Darce, this took me absolutely forever too. I'm positive that I did this in the most round-about complicated way possible, but I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I'm glad it turned out looking the way it does though. I also found a whole 'nother website with blog templates on it, so I was able to do a little more with my template. More blog-lifting, but oh so fun. I'm loving this way too much. I don't know how I'm possibly going to find time for classes onces the Spring semester starts up.

Just kidding.

But I am addicted.

Raegan on Christmas

2005-12-25T13:35:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of Raegan (a new one, finally) and her Bitty Baby in their Christmas dresses!!

I just had to edit this post because I stumbled across this pic of Raegan from Christmas last year.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!!!

2005-12-25T13:19:00.000-05:00

Today we had a wonderful service at my home church. I miss going there so so much!! It was so nice to worship Jesus in His house on the day of His birth! The message was awesome and so was the worship! For any of you (Darcy) who read my blog from the beginning, you'll notice I made some changes to it. The main one now is the look. It was all black and white. But the other change is the title. I originally titled it Take You Back, which is the title of one of my favorite Jeremy Camp songs. The song is about a person who has either strayed away from Jesus or completely turned their back on Him. Its about how Jesus will always take us back whenever we come to Him in repentance. In Jeremy Camp's song description he references the story of the prodigal son which can be found in Luke Chapter 15. That was what the message was about today at church. What perfect timing for me to hear that message. Especially after my post from last night. I love to see how God works and how He speaks to me in different ways. I never hear booming voice or any voice at all for that matter. But He speaks to me through songs, through worship, and through other people ... just like the message this morning.

Keep the Faith

2005-12-24T20:20:00.000-05:00

I was reading a friend of mines blog today and I was reminded of the reason I came back to Purdue to finish my education. I had been feeling this calling from God to return to Purdue and get my degree. The verse that kept coming to mind was:

Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."

This verse spoke volumes to me when I felt scared or worried about my decision to step out of my comfort zone and to leave behind my friends and family and the security of a good job to finish my education. I didn't know anyone in Lafayette anymore and I was older than most of the 'traditional' students. The whole idea of going back was just plain scary. But this verse and also a song by Casting Crowns kept popping into my head. Not only that, they kept appearing in random places whenever I was doubting my decision to go back. One instance that stands out in my head the most was when I took a trip back to Purdue to register for classes. I left early in the morning from Goshen and drove down to Lafayette and visited campus and a day care center for Raegan. The day care was scary! I couldn't imagine leaving my little girl there for hours every day. And being back on campus and feeling so alone on the big campus was overwhelming. But all of a sudden the words to the song I mentioned earlier started playing in my head ....

Oh what I would do to have
The kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I'm in
Onto the crashing waves

To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown where Jesus is
And He's holding out His hand

But the waves are calling out my name
And they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
Time and time again. "Boy, you'll never win!"
"You'll never win!"

That was exactly how I felt on that day. I felt scared and I felt like I was gonna fail. But then the chorus to the song followed in my mind ...

But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, "Do not be afraid!"
The voice of truth says, "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth

That very weekend at church the Jeremiah 29:11 verse was displayed on the powerpoint presentation and the song by Casting Crowns was performed by the worship band. I thought, "if this is not a sign from God, I don't know what is ..."

So I listened to God. Raegan and I packed up and last January and we moved to Lafayette. We left our friends and family and my job behind to listen to God.

One thing I've noticed since I've been back at Purdue though is that I've put God on the back burner. He was such a central part of my life before I came back here. He was the center of my life. He was the reason behind my return to to PU in the first place. But once I got here it seemed like I got so busy and caught up in the daily hustle and bustle of college life that I started to forget. The last few weeks that fact has become more and more relevant to me. I've been taking steps to get Him back at the center again. I feel like I'm on my way, but so far they've just been baby steps. I've looked up a few churches online in the Lafayette area and I'm planning to check them out as soon as I'm back after the holidays. Things have just been so hectic this year but that is still no excuse for letting my personal relationship with God suffer. I don't think anyone should ever use the excuse of "I'm too busy to work on a relationship with God." If anything, you should be too busy not to work on that relationship. That is what I have to keep remembering. If I make the time for God, everything else will fall into place.

Christmas Eve

2005-12-24T19:31:00.000-05:00

"Today was a good day." That was what Raegan said as we were leaving aunt Mary and uncle Dave's house this evening. We (Raegan and I) spent the day with mom and Mike in Walkerton and had Christmas (eve) dinner with Mike's family. I always love going there for holidays. Mike has a great family and even though he is my "step" dad, his family has always treated Raegan and I just like we've always been part of their family. Its really nice. I love being with family, so having them is awesome. While we were there we played a gift exchange game where you had to role doubles with a pair of dice in order to win a gift. Once all the gifts were gone, we played for five more minutes only this time when you rolled doubles you got to steal a gift from someone else. I only rolled doubles about 5 times. Thats not much compared to how many times everyone else rolled doubles. Even though I didn't win much, I still had fun. Raegan had a blast playing with all the kids and dressing up like a ballerina. For a while there were a couple of other girls there for her to play with (Makayla and Sailor) but when they left, Raegan still had fun playing with the boys. She played catch with Jeff for a long time out in the living room. Dinner was really good also. We had ham, deviled eggs (Raegan's favorite kind of eggs), greenbean casserole (which I absolutely love), and baked beans (made by Uncle Bill so of course they were delizioso - he makes them spicy just the way I like them!) Looking back on the day, I'd have to say Raegan was right on the nose ... today was a good day!

GRADES

2005-12-21T08:57:00.000-05:00

WooHoo!!! Grades came out today and I got all A's and one C! I expected the C. I've never been much of a science person and that was in my physics class. But my A's for were for my Block III classes (which just about killed me ... one was 6 credit hours and the other was 3) and the last A was for my art class! I'm so excited! I made Semester Honors (3.71 Semester GPA) which I haven't done since first semester freshman year. Go me!!! Yeah, I'm a dork! :-)

Hair Cut

2005-12-20T10:40:00.000-05:00

I got my hair cut pretty short back in July of this year. Raegan's hair had been very long, but when I got mine cut, she wanted to also.

This was her before picture:

And this is her after picture:

It has grown quite a bit in the last five months. My camera is at my mom's house, so when I'm home for Christmas, I'll be sure to take lots of pictures so I can get some more recent ones up here.

tulips

2005-12-19T11:12:00.000-05:00

I created this artwork in my Art & Design 201 class this past semester at Purdue. This has been one of my favorite classes I've ever taken. I love art of all kinds. Drawing has always been a passion of mine but photography is something I love to do also. I took a couple of black & white photography classes in high school that I absolutely loved. I would love to someday have my own dark room. Its my dream to be an elementary teacher during the school year and to spend my summers and other breaks working on art. It will be interesting to see if that dream someday comes true!

How I did it: In my art class we spent hours drawing pictures of flowers and plants. One of my favorites was my contour line drawing of these tulips. For one of our projects we had to take one of our favorite drawings and 'make it better' by adding color to it. The technique I used was a long process. First I experimented with two media and 3 colors. I chose a yellow and an orange crayon and a black oil pastel. So I took a 9x12 sheet of white drawing paper and covered the entire thing with yellow crayon. Let me tell you, my arm was hurting big time after that cause my art teacher said to press hard until we had a waxy finish. Next I went over the yellow with orange. Then for the final preparation I covered the whole page with black oil pastel. The next part was a bit time consuming as well. Since my art teacher, Dr. Geahigan wanted us to use a picture we had already drawn, we had to 'transfer' the original image on top of the prepared surface. So I had to trace my tulip drawing, turn over the tracing paper and cover the back of it with chalk and then place the chalked side on top of the oil pastel surface and then trace over the tulips again so that the chalk line would show up on the black surface (whew ... that was a run-on sentence if I've ever seen one). Then, with a sharp object (I used a ball point pen, but a paring knife would work well also) I scraped off the black layer in the design of the tulips. I then added richness to the picture by scraping off a texture pattern in the background and in a select few of the tulips. And the tulip picture above was my finished product!

Meet Raegan

2005-12-19T10:34:00.000-05:00

So here's the cutiehead daughter I was talking about. This is Raegan Faith ... AKA the Raegulator, Raegy-butts, goofball, munchkin ... it really all depends on how I feel and how she's acting at any given moment! :-) This picture is actually almost a year old, but I'm on the wrong computer right now, so I didn't have access to a newer one. Besides, she's still cute in this one! More to come about the Raegulator soon ...

Here I am

2005-12-19T09:52:00.000-05:00

I've been reading a few of my friends' blogs and I decided, what the heck! I think I need to start a blog too! It may be a while before I have anything of value to say on it, but I thought I'd get started on it anyway. So life's been pretty darn interesting lately and I'm sure over the next 2 or 3 weeks I'll have plenty of time to blog about it. I'm on Christmas (yes, I said Christmas, NOT "Winter") break right now from school so I have a lot of time on my hands. I'll still try to keep it up as best as possible when I'm back in January, but I'm not making any promises.

For now, I need to get my cutiehead daughter off to school. So I'll post more later! :-)