My Guilty Pleasure Revealed

Ok, I can't deny it any longer. I am a huge American Idol fan. I realize that not everyone appreciates the show like I do. In fact, I'm sure that most people reading this probably think the show is silly and juvenile. I thought so too, during the first two seasons, but by the third season I was hooked! Eventhough I watch the show regularly, I have never loved any of the contestants. Sure, I had my favorites and even voted every once in awhile, but there was no one that was really fantastic for me. Then this season, a cute boy from Austalia auditioned named Michael Johns. In my opinion, Michael was the best contestant ever. He is a talented singer and he has a very unique stlye. I expected that he would make it to at least the top three finalists. Then tonight, sadly, he had the lowest number of votes and was sent home. I was very disappointed. I guess I'll have to rely on old YouTube videos if I want to keep hearing Michael sing. I hope that he makes his own CD, you know I would be the first to buy it!

Here is my favorite video of Michael Johns singing Bohemian Rhapsody. I think it's fantastic. What do you think?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=EUfE993iucg

Autism Walk

Nate and I will be participating in a fundraising walk for Autism on Sunday, May 18th. Autism is a complex neurobiological disorder that typically lasts throughout a person's lifetime. Today, 1 in 150 individuals is diagnosed with Autism, making it more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. Autism impairs a person's ability to communicate and relate to others. There is currently no medical detection or cure for autism.

As an early childhood teacher, I have worked with several children who have this complex disorder. I have seen firsthand how devastating Autism can be for both the child and family. For this reason, I chose to participate in the walk for Autism. I am looking forward to walking for such an important cause.

You can support Nate and I by making a donation at our website:
http://www.walknowforautism.org/siteapps/personalpage/ShowPage.aspx?c=kpILKTOCJqG&b=3616691&sid=cuLNJaOXIkITL8PNIoH
You can also suppot the Autism cause by viewing the Five For Fighting music video at: http://www.whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/videos/view/id/408214
Every time the video is viewed, a donation is made to Autism Speaks (it's a cute video to watch).

Spring Break Road Trip!

After spending Easter weekend with Nate's family, I stayed in Des Moines for a few more days to hang out with some Iowa friends. First I visited my good friend Eric, then I stayed with my friend Cari. Cari is also a preschool teacher, we met during our coursework at Iowa State. I visited her preschool classroom in Waukee, Iowa. It was nice to get away from my preschool for awhile and check out a different classroom. I got a lot of great ideas from Cari's classroom.


After a few days in Iowa, I drove down to Kansas City to see Jill, one of my old roommates. The above picture is of me, Jill, and her friend Maggie after our "girls night" dinner. Jill and her husband recently bought a new home and puppy. It was a lot of fun seeing their new place and meeting Charlotte, their adorable dog! How cute is this picture of Charlotte?

Easter #1

Alysa, Brianna, and Zoe hanging out after our big Easter meal.

This year, Nate and I will get to celebrate Easter twice. Orthodox Easter is not until April 27th this year. Although it's very late, it is nice because it allows us to celebrate with both our families. We went to Des Moines to celebrate Easter with Nate's family last weekend. We went to church on Friday and again on Easter Sunday. Nate's mom made a nice dinner for us on Saturday night.

It was also Brianna's spring break, so we were able to spend a lot of time with her. Her 12th birthday is next week. We are sad that we will not be there to celebrate with her, but at least we had some fun together over Easter weekend. (Have a Happy Birthday, Brianna!) It's hard to believe that Brianna is turning 12 years old! She seems so grown up now. Even Alysa is acting more like a preschooler than a toddler. Our nieces are growing up so fast!

Pizza, Breaded Mushrooms, and Napoleon Dynamite

Nothing says "Happy Valentine's Day" like pizza, breaded mushrooms, and Napoleon Dynamite! Nate and I had plans to go to a nice restaurant to celebrate Valentine's Day, but the place was booked until 9:00PM. Neither one of us wanted to wait that long for dinner so we settled for the next best thing... pizza and an order of breaded mushrooms! We brought the pizza home and watched Napoleon Dynamite. I'm sure we had much more fun staying at home than we would have had at the nice restaurant. Plus, it was nice having a laid-back night after such a crazy day at preschool. Valentine parties are never a calm affair. I cannot even tell you how much sugar came through the preschool today. There will be a lot of hyper kids at school tomorrow! Anyways, although I think the holiday is silly, I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day.

Is it summertime yet?

Today is the third snow day we have had this year. Our predicted snowfall is 9-16 inches by the end of the day. CherryVale Mall and the movie theatre are both closed for the day. I can't remember this ever happening before. Even Nate, who never gets a "snow day", is sitting here at home with me today. All government offices have closed. It has been snowing constantly since about 4am this morning. It's a very heavy, wet snowfall and everything is covered. Nate and I went outside to take some pictures (what else is there to do?) but they don't really do justice. The snow storm is a lot worse than it looks in these pictures...

What does all this mean? I AM SO SICK OF WINTER! Forget everything that I said in my previous posting. I'm ready for summer... so ready that I've spent a lot of time today surfing the internet and planning our summer vacation. For those of you who are intersted, go to http://www.greeka.com/dodecanese/karpathos/. It's a refreshing website to look through on such a yucky winter day.

January Is Not So Bad...

January is typically my least favorite month of the year. I hate the never ending cold weather, snow, and ice, etc. This month makes me want to move south every year. But today, as I was driving home from work, it was lightly snowing and it made everything look so pretty. It made me think that maybe January isn't so bad. I still don't like January and I can't wait until spring, but today I didn't hate the month as much as I usually do. Once I got home, I took Zoe outside with me to get the mail. She looked so cute running through the snow and, since her hair is white, she sort of disappears in it! I think even Zoe enjoyed today's snowfall. As soon as she was back inside the house she sat on her favorite blanket (thanks Jenny) and looked out the window. Tomorrow's predicted high temperature is -3, so don't be surprised if this posting is deleted and replaced with another entitled "I Still Hate January".