Ok, some more photos.

Decided I better add the photos from my camera now that I have finally got all caught up on all other photos!


Little vain?


Our Dear Sweet Makenna! How we love her!



Kris playing with part of the Harry Potter game board.

Aunt Marianne and Uncle Andy!

We managed to talk Kristina into spending the night. Santa must have known - he dropped a little off for her here too.

Hope she got enough... but if not, more to come.

Maybe my morning breath?

Chris and Bec playing on the computer.

Sweet Little Cutie Pie Blaike! Love her hair!

Rest of 2010 (264 photos), by Lara West

I'd like to share my Walmart Digital Photo Center photos with you. Once you have checked out my photos you can order prints and upload your own photos to share.

Here are the updated pictures through the family Chistmas party in Danville. Enjoy - Next year, I vow to be more dilligent in my updates, haha.

Expanding Emilia's English Vocabulary

So... stuck at mom's house, Emilia and I decided to play a round of Scrabble Jr. All I wanted to do was expand her vocabulary. They are all real, REAL, "Real" words. How many can you find? HAHAHA, have fun and I hope you enjoy!!!!

Pictures? What are those!?!

Dad painted my nails for the colts game. I can't believe I let him do that, but they actually don't look too bad. That little basket on the table is the cutest gift that Ashley made for me. It is all blue and white/silver for the Colts. It has blue nail polish, white nail polish, a bracelet, chap stick and a pen all hot-glued to blue and silver sticks, and then a ball Christmas ornament in the middle. And... I absolutely love it.

Here we are at our seats with the Hoffman's. They are our neighbors, and they have been looking forward to this game since we got the tickets! Glad they could keep us company at the game, because they are super fun. And the Colts won - as we heard people saying - "Colts not only had to be the Jaguars, they had to beat the officials too." It was a poorly called game on several occasions. We are so sad that it was our last game of the season. My dad, brother and his kids Robert and Jenny are taking our seats for the Titans game over New Year's.

Family Christmas

One, actually two, family Christmas Parties down - one more to go.


I really love the Holidays. Just gathering together with the family that you never get to just kick back and relax with is great. Although it has been stressful up to this point... Emilia had to decorate the tree or it wouldn't have gotten done... I hope things are going to start calming down for us. Chris has one last work trip to make this year. He is in Chicago tonight, flying to Houston in the morning, and hopefully returning home on-time for Christmas Eve.... Santa may not leave his gifts here if he doesn't make it home...


And guess what? I DID get a camera from my mother and father for Christmas! Just in-time for the Holidays....well, not including the big family party, but I had it to take to the Colts game this afternoon. So, party on people - pictures will be alive and flowing from this juice box again soon. :) Meanwhile, Special shout-out to my cousin Rebecca for putting this lovely picture of all us cousins with our Grandma on FB.

We'll be seeing the rest of the family in Tennessee over New Years!

Celebration Quiz 1!

Last week of school this semester. Science Final, and two quizzes in history left till I am finished. I hear myself chugging along, "I can do it, I can do it, I can do it." Making the most of my math skills, I calculate what I need to get an A in History. I need 20 points on the last three discussion boards, which have yet to be graded. I have only lost 2 points out of all the discussion posts this semester -which is more than my average - and that was a week that I just wanted to get something done, so it was not my best work. Hopefully, I continue my hot streak and get full credit. Anyway, so I need 20 points on all three of those, and I needed at least 20/25 on both of my last quizzes. Just took my first and earned a 22/25- so as long as I don't blow this last one I should be good to go.

As for Science - I some how managed to get that D up to a 89% B. No grades on our last 2 lab reports or our only three discussion board posts, which really IRKS me, because I don't have a good gage of my grade. Just going by what is graded and a possible on the final - I can only squeeze out an A if I get a 100% - which is not likely, but something to strive for. I can get 50% and still hold on to a B...so I think it is going to be a B. Boo... but better than the D I did have.

It's boring...

to blog with out any pictures. I need a camera bad! I found one on ebay -cheapy - but it will get the job done.

Anyway - so last weekend we went to Indy and hung out with Mom and Dad West, Brent, Amanda and Makenna. Stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn - woot! Ate at The Old Spaghetti Factory - A place that Chris has been wanting to patron forever. We also took a horse and carriage ride around downtown, and swam in the pool...er... the hot tub, but it's all good. Sunday we went to Peeps for brunch, Circle Center Mall, Jillians, and then the COLTS game. Too bad the Colts lost.. bummer.

It was extremely cold, yet we all braved it. I bet it is colder now that all the snow has fallen, and wind is picking up (at least here in MC it is.) Love hanging with the family.

Chris was in Connecticut for work all last week. He came home and organized the basement, got the pool table ready to-play, set up the PS2 to the projector in the basement and washed all the dishes and started laundry.

What did I do? Well, homework.

Whew!

Twelve days of classes left at college... Twelve days till vacation at work. I am debating on classes to take next semester. I have my degree completed with the exception of the Praxis test, which I will register for at the start of the year.

My advisor...has advised me... to take a second biology class, another level 200 English class, and another Sociology class with my "free" semester to save money when I transfer. So, the Bio class is not offered at a time that I can participate in, and the only sociology class being offered that I haven't already taken is Multicultural Society... and I'm taking Multicultural Classrooms now, so I am really not interested in another multicultural class at the moment. SO... I THINK (at least at this moment) I have decided to take Social Psychology and Technical Writing. The psych classes transfers as a sociology class at PNC... so... I'm assuming it will be alright.

Christmas is just around the corner! Where has the year gone!!?!! I am so not ready for it. Shopping and Decorating left to finish in a hurry, but I think I'll be alright. Can't wait to see all the family though!

Vacation Days 3 & 4

Monday:

We woke up 6AM early.
Got hotel Danish and Yogurt for breakfast.
Shopped the French Market area.
Checked out more of the French Quarter.
Checked out the St. Louis Cathedral.
Cajun Cabin for Lunch.
"Window" shopped the paintings in Jackson Square.
Tried some dee-lish Beignets (basically, square funnel cake) - Thanks Heidi.
Watched tankers on the Mississippi River.
Witnessed a drug deal.
House of Blues for Dinner.
Pinkberry for Desert.

Haha, those are the highlights for Monday. We have had a total blast.

Tuesday:
Another 6AM wake-up.
Hotel Breakfast again - Waffles and cereal today.
Walked to St. Louis Cemetery #1.
Rode the trolley.
Checked out the Aquarium.
Bought some gummy worms and a magnet.
Fed the Sting-Rays.
Downed some Oysters and a Po-Boy at Acme Oyster House (yummy!)
Waiting to go on the Vampire Tour.
Looking forward to hitting the hay and taking these shoes off.

Another amazing day with Chris, Emilia, Thom, Heidi, Matthew and Andrew.

Andrew is amazingly cute! Hungry little bug, but cute as can be!
Matthew is adorably cute! So sweeeeeeet...most of the time. Really loves Emilia because she is wrapped so tightly around his little finger, he knows she will always put him on her shoulders.

---Emilia just asked if Matthew was going on the Vampire Tour and I shook my head, and she told me, "you look so serious." To which I responded, "I'm too tired to smile." Because it is true. I am waaaaayyyyy toooooo tired to smile.

Vacation Days 1 & 2

Friday after work/school we finished packing, ran to the bank for some cash and hit the road for Tennessee. Chris drove most of the night. I only drove for 3 hours, but I'm sure it helped. I like traveling at night if I have to drive, and during the day if Chris wants to do all the driving. Hehe.

So we arrived in Murfreesboro Saturday morning about 1am. We got up around 7 and chilled at the house till about 11, when we left to buy some shorts at Walmart, get lunch at Jim-N-Nicks BBQ, and then stop at the ever-so-amazing Geographical Center of Tennessee. (Yes, we even pointed the fingers! lol) --Pictures are on Emilia's camera since I left mine at home! It's broken anyways - needs a new one. --- Then we returned to the house, took naps, and played the Wii and watched "The Proposal" before heading to bed.

We woke up at 5am, left the drive at 6AM. We stopped in Alabama to see the rocket at the Welcome Center, and arrived in New Orleans about 2:55pm. Met up with Thom and Heidi, checked into the hotel, and then hit Bourbon Street for dinner at La Bayou. Yum!

Saints had a home game and they won, so we opted to make it an early night to avoid the crazies. But tomorrow night - the town is ours!!!!

School update -

Pulled the Physical Science grade up to a B - hopefully with an extra credit lab going in for grading I will have enough to pull that grade to an A - and then I just have to keep it through the final exam. =D

Keeping a strong 90.2% in History and rocking a 95.3% in Multicultural Classroom. Only three weeks left to go this semester. I'm looking forward to it being over, and getting a much needed break.

I was hoping to be finished with Ivy Tech this semester, but... PNC does not offer special eduction, while IUN does. It would be a longer drive for school, but it is a dual degree - which would open more doors for opportunity. If I go for IUN, I need four more classes - Decisions, decisions.

Super Stoked

New Orleans trip is getting closer!!!!! We cannot wait!! Staying in the French Quarter this time and then having Thanksgiving at Thom and Heidi's house in Biloxi! Can't wait to love on Matthew and baby Andrew! Need a new camera still, but this one will at least get us sssssooooommmmeeee pictures. =) Hopefully we run into Matthews silver guy friend - Bo!

Work at the School

I am now 2 weeks into my new job at the high school. It's exhausting, but it really does feel absolutely amazing when I'm working with the students and suddenly they realize they can understand the homework. There really is light bulb that you can just see turn on behind their eyes. One extra person in the classroom to spend just a few minutes with them really does help, and I have already had a substitute in the classroom that thinks the school is spending too much money on para's...boo to him.

One of the teachers who is totally amazing with the students, and took time everyday the first week to run through each of the students back grounds with me so I can understand them better has been hospitalized for the better portion of last week. Not sure if it was a stroke or what, but she is in the ICU - There was a rumor that she was being transferred to South Bend. I got a card with music for the students to sign on Friday and I took it to her at the hospital after school with some balloons. She did not look good. She moved all of her limbs, but couldn't move them on demand when asked to. Another teacher I work with showed up at the same I did and asked her what food she wanted her to have read when she returned to work, and we tossed some places out there, and when we got to Culver's she said "...That...sounds...good..." But then the doc asked her if 1) she knew her name - no - 2) if she knew where she was - no - 3) if she knew what city she was in - no - It was so sad. =( So we are not really sure if she knew who we were - but she smiled at the card, and her sister read her all of the students names and 'get well' 'come back soon' messages. The card had baby chickens on it, and said "Just wanted to give a little shout-out...." Open > "To one of my favorite peeps." and played SHOUT. Of course, I bought it thinking she would be back on Monday, not realizing how serious everything was.

Back to a happier note - My schedule is great because I change classrooms every period but the last 2. Second and Forth are the same teacher, but totally different classes and students.

1st: low-learning English class
2nd: US History
3rd: MO room - class with intellectual disabilities, students with autism type classroom
4th: Literature
5th: Life Science
6th: Lunch
7th: Algebra 1
8th: Algebra 1

Catch Up

So Emilia went Trick or Treating tonight...and yum! She brought home lots and lots of candy!

Tomorrow is my first day working at the school. I start at 7:45 in the am, and I can not wait.

School is going much better. I'm sticking with the Science class. The instructor has offered enough extra credit that I can score a B in the class, and though I typically would not be happy with a B - It is just going to have to do because I don't want to have to pay for it again. I am at an 89.6 B in History, but as long as I get all the points for my discussion board posts when she grades them I will be in A range again easily. The Multicultural class is good. Had a scare where I thought she gave me a zero, was just a mistake where she forgot to save before submitting, but it was really a 57/60 - which I will happily accept.

Chris has enjoyed being in China, but I think that the he is about as ready to come home as I am to have him here. He went out for a steak the other night, because the real Chinese food was getting old.

I've lost my camera... not sure if Chris has it or not, but either way - we need a new one.

Back to the Classroom!

I am so excited to be going back to school...as a teacher's aide! Thankfully, I am already an approved substitute, so I can start work on Monday and work as a multi-day substitute until the board meets again and approves my contract.

Now, I am about to log-in to the phone service and answer calls for Aber. and Fitch/Hollister. Who knows where that road may lead. I hate to quit so soon, but the school has better hours, and will be preparing for my own classroom in the future. I guess I'm slightly torn because I hate to think I just wasted the other companies time and money in training me... although... when I submitted my resume to them - I never changed the objective statement, which said "To gain working knowledge of the classroom..." So... maybe they should have known, lol.

ANNNNND.... the company just announced yesterday that all employees who are M-F - must swap out a weekday for a weekend. Everyone was really upset and the "boss" refused to even discuss it, saying we were all told about the upcoming change when we interviewed..which I know I wasn't, so I can only believe that the other people were not either....so... I don't think I really want to continue working for a company that is going to steam-roll everyone like that anyway..

Can you tell I am trying to convince myself it is alright to quit? LOL

Reading List

The reading list has been updated - Surprsie, Surprise. However, I have finished the ENTIRE Sookie Stackhouse series available.

The Pot Roast Disaster

Sunday I decided to make Pot Roast for Emilia and I. After Amanda saved the day to email me the awesome recipe, I went to work. Luckily I did have most of the ingredients memorized, and what I didn't have memorized, I had at the house already. So I didn't need to make a second trip to the store.

So, I started off with getting my oil tooooo hot. Fixed. Apparently, medium on my stove is REALLY HIGH. Because before I even realized what was happening the smoke detectors were going off...yeah the detector right above the stove has got to go...

Now, the alarms have never gone off before, and of course, they are not just simply take the battery out and everything is silent... NOoooo... they are wired through the house to the very, very, very loud and embarrassing sound box on the front of the house..

Yes, the ENTIRE neighborhood was standing in their yards looking, parents from a couple house down sent their teenage sons to see what they could do to help. ANNNND, I had no flipping clue how to turn the alarm off. I had to run across the street and ask!!! That neighbor called the Scroggins, who we bought the house from, to tell me what to do.

Needless to say, I was pretty mortified. So, I just poured in the beef stock and the veggies and tossed it in the oven. I was over making the pot roast at that point. It was still good, but obviously not as great as it could have been with some flavoring, lol! But I didn't care.

Leavin' and Cookin'

Chris is leaving for China this weekend. Emilia and I are taking him out to Chili's for our last dinner with him for a few days.

I think Saturday Emilia and I are going to try and visit a pumpkin patch so we can pick the perfect one for carving!

School is going alright. I am falling slightly behind in History with adjusting to working again, but I'm not too worried because that class is self paced all the way through. I think I am dropping the Science class. I should be able to attend the face-to-face class next semester. If so, that is what I plan to do. Have an a in History and Multi-cultural classroom courses. WooooHooooo!

We are on the prowl for Lion King tickets if anyone of you happens to find some decent priced ones laying around anywhere... =D

Tonight (Thursday the 21st, hehe) Emilia is making like 60 Cinnamon Rolls from her mom's recipe. Some are going with her to school, some are for the neighbors, but there should still be some left if you want her to freeze some for you, let me know.

Work Update

Training has included a LOT of information, but the days have flown by. We started email responses today - believe it or not - there are no automated responses, just templates to get you started - but even those leave you with much to address. :) it took me just under an hour to complete 2 of them!! BUT...I did have a room full of people chatting in my ear because the person 'sharing the screen' didn't have a clue what she was doing, and that makes me so frustrated. I can't turn the room off because there is really helpful information sometimes...and I don't want to get called on and be gone. AND THEN, I did an entire response just to get to the end and find that the shirt I recommended was only available in small! LESSON LEARNED! haha. =)

I can't imagine

...trying to tackle this semester with a full-time job and kids!

Apparently all three of my instructors had the same idea....*Light bulb* assign lots of reading, and when we don't assign lots of reading - lets make a 15 question quiz over 130 pages of information and only allow 35 minutes to complete the quiz, and then when there is only 3/4 of the original large amount of reading - but it is really not an opportune time to give that disaster quiz - hey! let's assign 4-6 smaller assignments that all require research!!!! ....Yay, being an instructor must be so bloody fun!!!!

Ok, now that rant is out of the way - I am going to sell Scentsy now! There are not that many consultants in the area, so I figure - it's a good time to starts .... I have a little time to invest in it, and I love the product. So, Heidi has finally managed to talk me into it.

Pictures will be coming soon! A lot has gone on since the last updated post - lots of pictures to be shared. But first... I must create a rubric for the lesson plan I created last week...and then I have to create a graphic organizer, make a journal entry on something multi-cultural that I experienced this week...and that is only part of the assignments for one class, for this one week, due by the end of the week. I'm going to get ahead somewhere soon, I can feel it!

New Job!

So.... I decided to pass on the Xbox job offer, and just enjoy spending time with Emilia. However, she is making a great stock of friends - and - because I can't stand not working... I have taken a job with Abercrombie as a Professional Customer Care Consultant. Training starts the 23rd, and I begin my first day on my own October 8! Never worked a job like this before, so I'm really just testing the waters. We'll see if it is for me. =D

Makenna's Birthday!

After the boat races we headed to Champaign to celebrate Makenna's 4th birthday!


The birthday kids - Makenna and Chris.


Blew them out once for Makenna, and once for Chris.



The icing was reeaaally good - can you tell?

Ah ha - Family photo!

We got Makenna a Jessie doll from Toy Story 3!

More Brazil Pictures

I'm coming

I'm still here - I hope to have the rest of the Brazil pictures posted shortly. School semester has just started, and I'm playing catch-up still and trying to get back in the habit of reading full chapters throughout the week again. That's one thing I don't miss about online classes...reading. I'd much rather go to class and be told what I need to know - haha.

I also have a Labor Day post coming.

Part of the Brazil Pictures.

We stopped at a mansion which is now a museum. It once was the working place for the Presidents.

On the rocks in the gardens.

In the gardens of the mansion.

The mansion was beautiful. The door knobs are awesome.

The real picture.

The had OTIS elevators. Chris had to pose next to it.

A portrait of Isabela's favorite president.

This are the pajamas that the President was wearing when he commited suicide. If you look close, you can see the bullet hole near the pocket.

Isabela's College.

This is a drink...it is tea. (pronounced: Mah-Chee) ? We had some straight from the barrel and with lemon on the beach.

The Flowers we bought for Grandma. Dinner there was AMAZING!!!

Chris with the painted cow! haha!

Food at the Hippie Fair - OMG, this place was a blast! It is like our version of a flea market or the Covered Bridge Festival.

Eating our corn on the cob at the hippie fair.

Getting a snack. I know -lovely picture right?

That's better. Chris is addicted to Guarana - a Brazilian soda.

With Isabela in the street!

Getting ready to go up the cable cars to see Sugar Loaf. You have to go up one and then you can walk around, and then you get on another cable car to go up higher to another. It is really, really great. We highly recommend it.

This little cutie came out to say Hello.

Sugan Loaf was such an experience. One that we almost didn't take because I had such a terrible headache after the heat of the day at the hippie fair, and the bus ride to Sugar Loaf. Once I got some tylenol it was okay, but I had to use threats to convince them that I was fine and wanted to go. Plus, Chris wanted to go really bad.

Isabela knows how to pick 'em, lol. This guy that took this photo must be a photographer because he was like, "no, no - you got shadows. If you must look at the sun, you look at the sun." It was entertaining.

Family Portrait at Sugar Loaf before leaving.