The Night of Fruit Experimentation

So tonight I got this great random idea that I passed by Miguel. He of course thought it was one of the best ideas ever, so we went with it! We decided to go buy every kind of weird, rare fruit we could find from a grocery store and then eat them all. Now if you know anything about rare fruits, you know that not only was this a rather scary idea , but also an expensive one. But it was worth it for one night of experimentation with a totally cool kid who's willing to try ANYTHING.

We went to Harris Teeter because it happened to be the closest grocery store to our current location and we found many rare fruits - cactus pears, horned melons, pepino melons, red tamarillos, and quinces - and also some more common ones - papayas, guavas, mangoes, kiwi, and starfruit. We bought them all! Miguel had a little cart, the kind that are made for little, little kids that he thought was one of the coolest things he'd ever seen. As he pushed it around, people kept coming up to him saying things like, "Wow you have a lot of tropical fruits in there!"

The coolest looking one by far was the horned melon. Here's a picture of it. Even on the inside, it looked really cool! If you look in the second big picture at the top, the one with all the fruit on the plate, you'll see this orange fruit with green stuff inside. That's the horned melon! It actually was slimy like gelatin on the inside! The green stuff was just like jello! The cactus pear was also neat but it kept giving us little espinas (prickly spiny thorn things) in our fingers. I still have one in one finger.

Some of the fruits were better than others. We liked the kiwi best and the guava, pepino melon, papaya, mango, and horned melon weren't bad. Actually the cactus pear wasn't bad either (although Miguel said that "cactus pear" in Spanish is "tuna" which is really confusing) except that it has TONS of seeds inside that you have to eat because they're spread all around the inside like watermelon seeds except way more dense. And the seeds are very crunchy little round balls, so that's kind of weird. Some of the fruits were really sour. Our final advice is to stay away from the red tamarillos - unless you want your face to look like mine in this picture!

Wells in Africa

WOOOO HOOOOO!!! School's out!!! I'm freeeeeeeeee! I am just so excited. I slept for 11 hours Wednesday night and 9 hours last night.

On the last day of school we collected all the coins from the classes who were saving coins to help build a well in Africa this summer. There was a big red gas container in the front hall that classes could come dump their coins into. The reason we used a gas container is because that's what they use in Africa to get their water. Big, dirty gas containers. Then, after we had collected everybody's coins, my incredibly accurate 8-year-olds counted ALL the coins!

Guess how much our school collected in only TEN DAYS!!

OVER $310.00!!!

The really cool thing was that we had some kids who brought everything they had to donate. Their classes weren't even participating but they heard about it and wanted to help anyway. One of the kids was a kid I know whose family doesn't have much extra money. He brought a little container filled with coins and said that his class wasn't doing "the Africa well thing" but he wanted to help. He said, "This is all the coins I have." And dumped it into the container.

I love these children.

Last Day of School

FINALLY IT'S HERE!! The last day of school! Tomorrow. One more day. And then it's


SUMMER!!!!!

I am so exhausted! I'm frantically trying to make a video of my class right now...waiting until last night to start it was possibly not the best decision I've ever made in my life.

This past weekend was awesome - 8 soccer games and 1 baseball game in two days. Miguel came in first in his soccer championships and his brother Ivan came in second! And we won our baseball game! So all in all, it was a winning weekend!

We went to my mom's house for dinner on Saturday and to go swimming in the lake. Peter and my sister were there too. After dark we went hunting for tree frogs and we found a ton of them. It was especially awesome because Miguel was surrounded by all these adults who love paying attention to him. For about 45 minutes to an hour we were huddled around the pond searching for tree frogs with Miguel! It was totally cool. I took pictures of everything...soccer, baseball, swimming, frogs...but I'm too tired right now and too busy making this movie to post them right now.

One more day.

but wait...there's one more!

Wow I just found ANOTHER Katie picture! They're just popping out of the woodwork now! Here's AHS graduation day!

The hardest person ever to photograph

So when we were younger, Katie HATED, and I mean with a passion HATED, to have her picture taken. We always tried to capture her on film, but she would conviently throw up a hand in front of her face at the last second. Well I was going through old pictures, and I found what few pictures we were able to snag of her.

Here is our life from 8th-12th grade, existing in 8 pictures. Hiking, dances, school, hanging out, ...

Superdog Baxter

Here's what Miguel said yesterday about Baxter:

"He's stronger than water.
Smarter than a potato.
He can kill a goat without moving a muscle.
Who is he?
He's Baxter, the superdog without underpants!"

Happy Memorial Day!

Yesterday, to celebrate Memorial Day and Kathryn's graduation, we had a party at my mom's farm. Lots of people came, including a ton of people we didn't know (like friends of my mom's and Mike's), but a bunch of friends that we did know came. Chaos the dog and Georgia Roo the dog came, and they played and played. Peter came and Miguel came. Jeff, Mary, Collin, and Marryn Adams came. My nephews, Nolan and Ezra, came. Our little baby niece and nephew, Payton and Leland, came. And all my brothers and sisters came too! It was awesome!

We played in the lake and Collin did magic tricks for my brother Jacob, who spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure them out! Miguel taught Collin how to play soccer better! We all played baseball and the kids shot off foam rockets into the air so they could chase them. We had two canoes and two kayaks and lots of floating pool toys, like tubes and rafts and stuff! The kids all went out in kayaks and canoes and had a blast rowing around the island and back. Chaos and Georgia Roo swam with the kids and chased sticks out into the water.

Kathryn made this insane cake - an eagle named Gus Gus. Her school mascot at Georgia Southern University was an eagle so she made the cake to be like her mascot! She made the head out of blueberry muffin because Peter won't eat desserts and it was the only way he would eat any cake at all (if it was muffin instead of cake). The rest of the cake was a mix between yellow and chocolage cake in lots of layers. The eagle even had two wings and a tail that held together! It was quite impressive!


Kathryn's big present for graduation was a trip to Discovery Cove at Sea World! She is going to do the Trainer for a Day program which allows her to spend an extended time swimming with dolphins and trainers and learning about how to train dolphins. She'll get to ride the dolphins and do tricks with them! This is a picture of her reading the certificate for the trip! A lot of people joined in together to get her this present - my grandparents, my stepmom Diane, my parents, and her friend Caitlin! She was SOOOOO excited and so surprised! She can't wait to go. I'm going with her and hopefully her friend Caitlin is going too!


Here are more pictures from the party - kayaking, playing in the water, baby Payton, me and baby Leland, and an exhausted Georgia Roo trying to sleep!

Building Wells in Africa

Here's what my class is being a part of:





We are joining the effort to give communities clean water to drink by helping a local group of people who have a goal of raising the $3,000 necessary to build a well in Africa. My class is so excited about helping give other kids clean water to drink! Each day we've been watching little video clips of the water situation in Kenya and other countries in Africa. We talk about it, look at pictures, see the difference we can make in someone's life on the other side of the world.

Other classes in the school have started to get involved too! And there's only 8 days of school left! We've already filled up 4 four water bottles with coins in just two days and we're busy filling up more! The kids talk about it all day long, saying things like, "We're so lucky that we have a water fountain right down the hall." Another kid, as he took a drink of water from his water bottle, pointed at his bottle and said, "Look, Miss Tice. Clean water." And then he took a drink.

You can tell it's in their thoughts all day long. Cool. Very cool. We're supporting the organization at charitywater.org. Get involved! Spread the word! Help someone else have clean water to drink!

why i love this job

This is what one kid said to another teacher at my school today. This right here is why I love showing up every day.


J: Mr R, is it possible to have babies if you're not married?

Mr. R: Uh. . . . yeah. Why?

J: Awesome, cause I want kittens and my cat is NOT married.

i am

got this idea from a friend's blog and thought it was totally cool.



i am: loved by God

i think: Legos are one of the greatest inventions of all time

i know: I need to read my bible more

i want: to see Elias within the next month

i have: a cat, 2 lizards, 4 newts, and a pet fox named Zorro

i wish: I was fluent in spanish

i hate: people that make no sense, cars driving too slow, and people who hurt animals

i fear: that I will never be married or have my own child

i feel: compelled to sing and dance when I hear a song I love

i hear: exploding sounds outside my house often and just pretend they're fireworks

i smell: really good after japanese cherry blossom lotion

i crave: another trip to Disney World

i search: for ways to really let people know that I care

i wonder: what my life would be like if I trusted God more

i regret: not spending more time with my dad when he was alive

i love: collecting things and being obsessed with learning something new

i ache: for every child growing up in fear, sadness, or pain

i care: about my friends more than they know

i always: carry a giant backpack filled with computers, cameras, and ipods

i am not: someone who gives up easily

i believe: that every person should go to Disney World at least once in their life

i dance: poorly

i sing: songs about Jesus, pirates, and a cebu when I'm in the car with kids

i don’t always: wait patiently for God's perfect plan for my life

i fight: for children's futures

i write: books for people as presents

i win: when I play against John and Jenn in Settlers of Catan

i lose: my temper when I bang my head on my car

i never: have trouble sleeping

i confuse: pretty much anyone I talk to

i listen: to about half of what people tell me, although I'm doing better with that

i can usually be found: with holes in my pants from falling while playing sports

i am scared: of living my life without God

i need: to live my life more for others than myself

i am happy about: learning to solve a rubik's cube



You?

Congratulations Kathryn!!!

Sorry I disappeared from blogworld for a while! It's been crazy busy around here! I went to my sister's graduation last weekend in Georgia. It was totally cool and a nice break from school! (Only 14 days left, by the way.)

My mom, Mike, and my grandma came down with me to watch her graduate. We had a lot of fun spending time together. We worked on her house to get it ready to sell...lots of painting, cleaning, installing floors, etc.

We went to Savannah one day to show my grandma the beautiful city. The weather was beautiful all weekend long!

We dressed up Kathryn's dog, Georgia, in her graduation suit and Georgia so patiently tolerated it until we were finished taking picture after picture. I even wore a dress to her graduation...shocking, I realize. Don't worry though...after the graduation I spiked my hair up and put on a soccer outfit so I could restore my image. :)

Pina Gato

So here's my little cat with a pineapple on his head because I thought it looked good there. I bought a whole pinaeapple for the first time and I decided that my cat would look good as a proper pineapple. He was not amused, but tolerated the pineapple head long enough for a picture!

not so great of a day... :(

So today was not so great of a day. It started out great because yesterday I went to sleep at 5:30 PM and only woke up for a little bit at 10:30 before going back to sleep. So I got a ton of sleep and really felt great all day. But I made a huge mistake at school and got in a lot of trouble. I feel really bad about it because I should have known better and it was stupid what I did. I just didn't think. Then I went to the first baseball game that I've been able to play so far this season and I got one hit, but I made two errors at second base and we lost miserably. Then I went to my Spanish exam and the exam was fine. Great, even, because I love tests and I love Spanish so put those two together and I'm very happy. But it meant the end of my Spanish class and I really liked the teacher of the class. I can take another class in the fall...but that's SOOOOO far away. So I'm really mad at myself about what happened at school today, really frustrated that I couldn't hit better at my baseball game, and really sad that my class is over. All in all, not a great day.

a zorro state of happiness

so today I kept Zorro in my backpack until all the kids had arrived at school. Then I gathered them all together on the floor and released the long-searched-for Zorrito from my backpack. They all screamed and one of them jumped up to give him a huge hug. They passed him from kid to kid, hugging him and talking to him.

Then we hung up "FOUND" signs across the "Zorro is missing" posters so that everyone in the school would know that Zorro's been found! (Since all 550 kids have been looking for him for the past 10 days.) At lunchtime I walked into the cafeteria filled with 175 second- and fifth-graders and I held Zorro up high in front of me. As I walked in, the ENTIRE GROUP OF CHILDREN started clapping and cheering and shouting Zorro's name! All the fifth graders stood up and applauded Zorro, shouting out, "ZORRO'S BACK!!! YAY ZORRO!!!"

It was hilarious. That little stuffed fox has no idea how much he is loved. As the kindergarteners walked past us after recess, they all ran up to hug me and say, "I'm so glad you found your fox!" Third graders ran to my room at the end of the day to verify that it was true - Zorro really had returned!

ZORRO'S BACK!!!

GUESS WHAT!!! I JUST FOUND ZORRO!!! HE'S COME BACK!!!

Oh you just have no idea how happy I am!

And the crazy thing is that I just got back from Barnes and Noble where I bought one of Zorro's friends, a raccoon named Mapache (pronounced Mah-pah-chay), to make the kids feel better while Zorro was missing. When I got home, I put Mapache next to my keys, ready to go to school tomorrow morning. Then I went upstairs sadly, wishing Zorro would just come back. Right before I was about to get in bed, I thought, "Have I looked behind my desk?" Yesterday I looked under every cabinet, bookshelf, sofa, even behind the refrigerator. But I hadn't looked behind my desk. So I did and HE WAS THERE!!! I shouted out (scared the cat), "ZORRO!!! THERE YOU ARE!!! WE MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!!" He was looking very sad and scruffy cuz he's been gone for so long. BUT I FOUND HIM! Ahhhhhh, a sigh of relief. Zorro is back.

And on another note, I just learned how to solve a Rubik's cube. No matter how messed up it is, I can solve it! It still takes me a while though. My 9-year-old friend, Collin, can solve it 3 times in the amount of time it takes me to solve it once. I've gotten it down to about 5 minutes now, I think. So that's my latest obsession. I carry one with me everywhere and obsessively mess it up and then put it back together again.

Zorro and a Rubik's cube. Life is good again.

still missing

update: Zorro's still missing. We looked him for all last week. The kids put up their "Zorro's missing" posters around the school. I cleaned my house and looked for him this weekend. And still no Zorro. It's so sad. I don't know where he could be.

ZORRO! COME BACK!!!

I have terrible terrible news to disclose. Zorro is missing! I can't find him anywhere! Poor Zorro! He's not at my house. He's not at school. He's not in my car. Maybe he ran away.

I CAN'T FIND ZORRO!!!!!

So...um...if you see him anywhere, please tell him we miss him and to please come back home. We really love him. :(

WHAT THE HECK????

Can I just say, for the record, I am SOOOOO glad that 2007 turned into 2008. Between my numerous traffic incidents (3 weekends in a row) and my family's current house problem, this year so far has been right on track with 2007. First I was in another car accident which caused over $700 worth of damage to my car, then the next weekend I was pulled over by a cop for making a right turn. FOR MAKING A RIGHT TURN. On a street on which you can make right turns. Ridiculous. Just paid that ticket at $111. I cannot believe I just had to pay $111 for making a right turn. And no I didn't go to court to contest it because I forgot that the court day was yesterday until it was 8:30 PM YESTERDAY.

Then the next weekend I was pulled over by a cop for absolutely no reason at all. I obeyed EVERY traffic law there could possibly be. So imagine my surprise when I see the lights of the police car behind me. I pulled over and said, "Officer, why on earth did you pull me over?" He simply said, "License and registration, please." I gave them to him and said, "Could you please just tell me why you pulled me over?" He said, "I just have to make sure you're not wanted in Oklahoma." WANTED IN OKLAHOMA??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???

So then...on Saturday my brother Ryan's house burned down. His family (Ryan, Jessica, and their 3 kids) are all fine but they lost everything in the fire.

And my sister just called me to tell me that a drunk guy just smashed into her house with his car. He ran right into it, tearing bricks out of the wall and creating holes in the side. Then he proceeded to run into the house behind my sister's and actually drove THROUGH THE WALL. The firemen looked at my sister's wall and said they think it's structurally sound enough to sleep in tonight. So that's the good news we live by in 2008. GUESSING that we have a structurally sound enough wall in order to sleep after a drunk guy has just crashed into our house.

Seriously, what is God trying to tell us????? I wish we could just figure out what it was so that we could learn the lesson already.

oh and one more thing. I am now officially DONE WITH 2008.

Best Grandparents Ever

I am so blessed to have the best grandparents ever!!!

The Many Adventures of Zorro the Fox

Well Zorro had a very exciting trip to Florida! He told us on the way down that he had a dream of meeting a princess, a real princess. By the end of the week, he had not only met a real princess, he was KISSED by one! He met Cinderella (she's the one who kissed him, right on the snout!), Sleeping Beauty (also known as Princess Aurora, although I had no idea that was her real name until this trip), and Belle from Beauty and the Beast!

At Sea World, he had a really huge adventure! Among climbing trees and bushes, he got to meet a real live squirrel who was extraordinarily friendly! Then we found a boat for Zorro! It was really the container that had held my cookies, but it was shaped like Shamu and it was the perfect size for Zorro. So we cleaned it out and gave the boat to him! He was SOOOO happy to have his very own boat! Then we took him to the stingray tank and sailed him! He was surely the first fox ever to sail in the stingray tank! It was a very short sailing trip, just back and forth a couple of times, but it was enough to make him smile from ear to ear. You can see the picture of him sailing in the top picture on this post!

He also saw one of his best friends from my class! She just happened to be in Florida at the same time and found us as we were getting ready to watch the electric parade at night! Zorro recognized her immediately and wanted to sit with her for a picture!

Zorro had a trip he will never forget! He's the happiest fox in the whole world, and possibly the only fox who smells like stingrays right now!