January Highlights

First off, I haven't yet praised James for his recent amazing accomplishment. He won the troll! And not just any troll--the Fantasy Football Trophy Troll. I'm so proud. Although I don't share his love for fantasy athletic teams, I'm glad that it makes him happy. He just loves making trades and refreshing his computer to see the point updates on his players. Apparently he's good at what he does! Here's the evidence. It says, "Mr. Fantasy Football." Names are listed on the red of people who have won the last 3 years. James has his name on it twice now. =) I was thinking that to be a part of this trophy, I could add my high school cheerleader troll to the side. What do you think? I'm thinking that'd be a good looking couple.

Together, our favorite hobby has been rockin' out to Guitar Hero World Tour. We just love it. Recently, James bought a mic to hook up to the game so we could sing along as well. We haven't learned how to master the mic yet, but there's time. James likes to challenge himself and put the 2 together.

Multi-talented for sure. That's not a double chin in his defense... it's just very difficult to hold a mic with no hands.

On Mondays, we get together with Clark and Joey to feed our appetites for TV shows and delicious grub. With DVR we're able to watch the Bachelor and 24 in less than movie time. Of course, there are built-in breaks in which we eat snacks or play Guitar Hero. This last Monday we had pizza night, and boy was it delicious. This was our chicken, bacon, tomato, ranch pizza (in memory of Ben and Bri). Yum. I don't have a picture of the fruit pizza, but Joey did a great job with making it beautiful and tasty.

On Sunday, we woke up to a chilly apartment. In the shower, I was complaining to James that it felt colder than usual, and he just dismissed it because I'm always saying I'm cold. After the 3rd comment or so, he decided to check the thermostat, and low and behold, it wasn't working. This would happen on snowy Sunday when no workers were there to come fix it. But nothing will compare with having our apartment flooded with sewage, so it's really not that bad. It's now Wednesday, and the heater still isn't fixed, but we have enjoyed the little life savers they gave us in the meantime--space heaters! Thank you, little box of heat.

That thing is amazing. We'll put it in our room a couple of hours before we go to bed, and it's toasty in no time! I think we're going to have to invest in one of these.

This month at school has been going well, but it's still hard to get up and go when it's dark and freezing outside. I'm looking forward to a little light and warmth. My problem is, you can wear a coat outside, but you can't call outside recess. Bummer. Having all the kids inside for the full day is a little much sometimes, but I have hope that it will end soon. I can say I'm enjoying getting to know my students better. There are always those few who like to stir things up, but overall, I have a fun, pleasant group. I have to remind myself to enjoy the day more with them and laugh more because there are plenty of things to laugh about. I love some of the off the wall comments from one of my kids. Luckily, he's okay with other kids laughing with him when he realizes he's way off. It kind of lightens the mood. The good thing is he's trying to participate, and I love it. I just hope I can help prepare these kids for middle school, and we only have a couple of months left. Crazy!

Last but not least, my lovely tulips. I love these For-no-reason-at-all flowers. James thinks they've been growing since they've been in the vase. Is that possible?? Either way, they're beautiful. It's my little touch of spring in the freeze.

Get excited for upcoming photos and possibly a video of our Die Hard team playing innertube water polo. It's as good as it sounds.