My New Toy!

Only because I'm so incredibly excited am I blogging about this now. (and because Kevin is currently experimenting with said new toy :). But what could it be?
Well, recently, I started really, really, REALLY missing my piano. See, when we moved into our apartment, we agreed that both the weight of the piano and the noise it would cause for the neighbors meant it was probably best left at Mom and Dad Fowler's. :( And, though I appreciated the times when I was able to play it when we visited there, it just wasn't satisfying my music craving.

When I brought up the idea to Kevin, he agreed that I should look into digital piano options. They have weighted keys, so they feel much more like a real piano, but they also have volume control (which I'm sure the neighbors would be grateful for).

I shopped online, shopped in-store, and after trying out a couple, I found one I liked that was within our price range. And though I will admit, if felt a little strange to be assembling a piano, it went off relatively without a hitch.A mere one hour later, we are able to present to you our Piano.
And, here's to many more evenings that look like this: :)

The Only Way to Spend an Evening

We have a porch. It's tiny, and it's one floor up, but it's ours and recently, I've taken a great liking to decorating it. Last spring, my flower experiment was a failure (completely!), but I'm not letting that get me down. We're trying again--this time with some easier flowers.

Aren't they pretty? We've also got a white annual, but it doesn't have as many buds yet. Here's hoping a little water and lots of sunshine is sufficient to sustain these little guy, because my thumb is as far from green as can get.And.....

I've got a tomato plant! Yay! Again lack of green-thumbness may mean we get no maters, but we're giving it a shot. Everything I've read says that tomatoes are fairly foolproof gardening. :)
AND...

Since the weather's been absolutely lovely, we've been frequenting our newly-flowered porch. And what better way to frequent it than to take along a game we both loved when we were younger?
We played late into the night, as you can see from the lack of sunlight behind me.
We did have to decipher, change, and compromise with some of the house rules that we're used to. :)
Hope you're enjoying the spring weather in ways that are special to you! :)

Parakeet Playtime

While we're in fierce disagreement that owning a pet (dog, cat, bird, lizard...) is good "practice" for raising a child one day, I will admit that it is fun to have a little life around that we care for. His name is Optimus, and we brought to our home in the midst of a harrowing hail/thunder/lightning storm (and he consequently didn't move from his perch for 3 days afterward).

As we fast approach his one-year anniversary of being with us, I thought I'd give some glimpses into a day in the life of Optimus J. Prime.
For starters, this is the face that greets me every morning, as I remove the towel covering his cage.
Though he isn't really a morning bird, sometimes I can still get one or two chirps out of him before I leave for work.

Upon returning from work, we always try to greet him and ask how his day has been. For the most part, his days consist of water, play toys, and oatmeal (never knew this, but parakeets can eat a wide variety of human food, and this one can suck down plain, uncooked oatmeal like there's no tomorrow!).
In the evenings, we try to spend quality time with him. He's developing quite a love for technology.
As his wings have grown back, and he's been able to fly around and explore the apartment, he's made quite a few "friends" out of his reflections in various fixtures around our house. His favorite we've named Charlie, who resides in the ceiling fan of our dining room.
He also took quite a liking to his shadow recently as the sun streamed in.
It's not uncommon that we catch Optimus stretching his wings (pun intended) and attempting to add new skills to his already well-rounded set of skills like biting the hand that feeds him and playing with the food on his plate--er, dish. Today, we caught him perched (another pun intended) precariously. While I don't think he appreciated our laughter at his expense, I must give him props--I couldn't stand successfully with one foot on a ladder and another on a swing!
And while he can't talk, he does sing quite well. We've found the best way to encourage this singing is to play music he's fond of. Caedmon's Call and Casting Crowns are among his favorite bands to sing to.

And, finally, we've learned that though he can't vocalize his contentment, he can show us in other ways that he's happy. For example, when he puffs up and stands on one leg, he's showing us that he's happy right where he's at. :) See that little pink dot beneath his wing? That's one claw that he's curled under.
So, here's to another year with our little budgie! :)

6 Reasons Kevin is a Fantastic Teacher (and why he'll be an even better father!)

6. He's not afraid to call it like it is. If you're a male in Kevin's class, you are either acting like a man or a boy. He dispels the myth of adolescence on the first day of class.

5. He makes current events in the world real, starting out each day by asking his students what's going on in the world. If he'd have been my teacher, I would have had a much broader scope of world happenings than I had when I was in 8th grade.

4. He thinks of creative forms of discipline. The kids didn't bring their books to class? No problem. They simply sing a lyric from a Miley Cyrus song in front of the class. "Party in the USA," anyone?

3. He's not afraid to have fun (even with something so seemingly boring as history). Last year, his classroom turned into a veritable street corner, with signs plastered all over encouraging student to vote one way or the other for classmates who were running in Kevin's classes very own presidential election (including various classes assigned at the House, the Senate, and the Supreme Court).

2. The students respect him. Thus they don't want to disappoint him. Thus the only students he's ever calling out in the halls and/or writing up are those that aren't his.

1. He's the boss. There can occasionally be room for discussion/explanation; however there is no room for arguing.

Suffice it to say that I never knew what a history nerd I was until I married one. A love of history and knowledge of our country's past, present, and future is something we hope to pass on one day. :)

Surprise--We're Here!

For those of you who don't remember, last March, Kevin and I flew out to Texas and surprised my mom just for the fun of it. It was a hit, and recently, Kevin was getting a hankering to do it again. The only thing was this time, we were driving North, not flying West.

After a whirlwind planning (pulled off in less than 3 weeks), we jumped in the car and drove to Pittsburgh, PA last Thursday, spent Friday and Saturday with Mom and Dad Skidmore, and then drove back on Sunday (also known as "Easter"). Fortunately, my mother is a very easy person to surprise because she's sort of clueless when it comes to being suspicious of things. (So, that's where I get it from!?)

I didn't bring our camera, but we did get a video of the actual surprise. Kevin took the video while holding his iPhone against his chest, so it's a little shaky, but definitely worth a look-see. :)