Koolatron Fun Cooler for our car

I mentioned recently that I had the privilege to host a CSN Stores giveaway on my other blog (which is still open!) and to write a review on this blog. Here is my review!

It was really tough, deciding how I wanted to spend my gift credit. I was toying with picking out a steam mop, a grill pan, or this Earth Pan (still researching this product). Ryan and I finally decided on a plug-in cooler for our car. We do a lot of traveling and keeping our food and drinks cold is ALWAYS an issue for us. (We're not McDonald's type people - although I know it would be much easier if we were!) We always stop at hotels last minute on our road trips, and it's a hassle if there isn't a fridge in the room. We are curious to see how the Koolatron Fun Cooler changes this aspect of our lives.

We purchased two different things to go with the cooler, which made the whole purchase more expensive. We decided it was important (for us) to also get the battery saver and adaptor. The battery saver allows you to keep the cooler plugged into the cigarette lighter while the car is turned off. It prevents the car battery from draining if you forget to unplug it. (As forgetful as I am, we knew I'd end up doing this at some point.) Personally, I feel like this is a feature that should be built into the original plug-in, but it's not. The adaptor (which I actually purchased from Amazon because I didn't see it on CSN) allows you to carry the cooler inside and plug it into the wall. (I've tested it out inside - it works.) This will hopefully be our answer for constantly worrying about ice on trips.

We read many reviews of different coolers. There are different sizes and price categories. This particular one is $86.95 on CSN. I looked to see if I could buy it at Wal-Mart, but they didn't appear to carry this particular size. We chose this model because it was the least expensive one we thought we could get away with for our size of family. We also chose it because it would fit comfortably behind the driver's seat, in front of Sissy's car seat. Overall, there seemed to be good reviews for this one. It is a lot of money when regular coolers are so inexpensive - but like I said, we were constantly worrying about our ice melting or having to re-freeze our cooler packs. And we do a lot of traveling so I think it will be worth it to us.

As usual for CSN, we received excellent customer service, and shipping was super speedy. We didn't think, based on what it said, that we would be receiving our package for a week or so. However, it only took a few days. (And Ryan adds that it was very well-packaged.) The same cooler appears to be two dollars cheaper on Target.com and Amazon BUT CSN offers free shipping. Purchasing it from CSN ends up being the best deal.

We tried it out today while we were out running errands. I put our drinks in it while we were driving around and while we were in the library. They stayed cold, even in the 100 degree heat. Now, I'm not sure how long you can leave it in the car turned off before it started to warm up. I know we could throw in a couple of ice packs if we were going to leave something in the hot car for awhile. We'll just have to experiment with it for awhile, and I'll let ya know how it goes. Thank you, CSN!

My $40 CSN giveaway is open until this Sunday night.

The only requirement is to leave a comment about a CSN item that is on your wishlist!

Mommy's Piggy Tales: 8th Grade

8th grade...once again, as I started thinking about this post, it went sort of like this in my head, "Oh, not much happened that year, I'll just write a little paragraph and keep it short this time." Then as I start really thinking about it, everything comes rushing back.

near San Antonio

We took our family vacation the summer before 8th grade to Texas. That was my parents' trip destination of choice any year we were able to travel. Most of my mom's family lived/lives in Texas, we were able to stay with them for free, and we always had a good time. Several of them lived near Houston. My aunt and uncle had a lake in their backyard, and we would also hit up AstroWorld, San Jacinto Monument, and Galveston Beach, among other places.

A summer or two before this, we were all packed and ready to go camping. Mom and Dad were on vacation, and we'd even invited our neighbor Ben, who was my brother's best buddy growing up, to go along. That morning, my parents woke up and said, "Hey, maybe we should go to Texas instead!" They called Ben's parents, told them about the change of plans, and even cleared it for him to go with us. The 5 of us kids packed into the back of our wood-paneled station wagon (sans carseats or seatbelts) for our 10-11 hour adventure. One more kid didn't really cause any discomfort, and Ben was like family, anyway.

My 13th summer, however, we also included San Antonio in our sojourn. My Uncle Wimpy lived/lives there. We visited the the capital at Austin, the River Walk, and the Alamo, etc. We stayed in one of Wimpy's rent houses, which included this neighborhood pool.

That's me with my brother. This leads me to another topic that began when I started junior high. My brother is 2 grades ahead of me. I have mentioned that our school was pretty small; everyone knew each other. In other words, all eyes were on you at any given time...and in my case, especially the eyes of my older brother.

He knew what was going on in the minds and lives of his friends and schoolmates, and he wanted me to stay far away from all of that. Although, I think he was definitely more protective than he needed to be, (I had a pretty clear sense of the life I wanted to lead, and I certainly didn't want to disappoint him or my family, anyway.) I am grateful that he was always looking out for my best interests. There were times he took it way too far. (I'll try to fit in the Florida/security guard story on a later year's post.) My husband loves hearing these stories, though. He loves that my brother was standing in between me and every guy at my school, literally or merely metaphorically - and that the boys actually considered his presence.

Here are a couple of examples: In the 8th grade, I liked this 7th grader named Michael (who did end up becoming my boyfriend for a month or so). I thought he liked me, but I was confused about why he would never ask me to "go" with him. Finally, it came out that he was afraid my brother would pick on him. I wrote in my diary: My brother has gotten all of the 7th graders afraid of him, telling them they better leave me alone.

There are several other examples from later years. Too many to post. Here is one: During my 9th grade year, there was a senior who liked me. I talked to him and enjoyed the attention, and my brother was furious. This guy didn't have the best reputation, and he wasn't someone I should have been dating. I went riding around with him one night (along with 2 of our other friends - we weren't alone). The next day, Matt found out about it. As soon as this guy walked out of the cafeteria, my brother (looking furious) jumped up out of his seat and went after him. It was like in a movie - a hush went over the crowd, and all heads turned to see what was going to happen to this guy who dared mess with Matt's sister. I jumped up and ran after both of them to make sure my brother didn't do anything crazy. He offered a bit of advice to the guy (along the lines of "stay away from Jenny"), but luckily, that was it.

Sometimes I was able to shrug off my brother's overprotective methods, and other times I was horrified and thought I would never forgive him. His friend Daniel (who I thought was hot!) asked me to go to prom the next year. Matt told Mom and Dad they shouldn't let me go, and they listened to him. I was livid.

So...yes, my hair was pretty big in the 8th grade. It wasn't THIS big EVERY day. But this is a pretty good example of my hair at its "finest." This picture is from the night my mom took my sisters and I to watch the ballet performance of Beauty and the Beast in Springfield.

On the friendship front...Lori (above) and I had gotten to be really great friends by this point. I was still friends with Sarah and Deanna, etc., but this was the year the girls in junior high apparently went cuckoo. There was a month or two that I was physically afraid of a few of the girls because they threatened to "beat me up." I remember crying all of the time about it, having to buy a lock for my locker, and sitting in group meetings with the guidance counselor. In my diary, I wrote that one of the girls was dating Isaac, who was my best guy friend. He and I were really close pals all throughout junior high and high school. People would tell her that I was spending too much time with him or whatever. Surely, that couldn't have been the only reason for their torment, but maybe it is what originally triggered it. Funny stuff. Fortunately, since I was relatively a pacifist with no desire to get into a fight (and I still can't believe kids actually got into physical punching fights at school!), everything eventually worked itself out. To this day, I hate conflict, and I hate it when people are mad at each other.

I definitely wasn't perfect in how I handled everything. There are moments that I chose something else over my real friendships and the feelings of those friends. I did desire to "fit in," and there were a few moments I can think of that I treated someone poorly because of that. I am a person who cares deeply about the feelings of others and the actions of myself...so it's tough to look back on.

There are other moments that I wish I could erase, for sure. For instance, to get back at one of the girls, we snuck into her locker and found a poem she had written. It was actually a poem she had written about me, how she missed our friendship - all very private, vulnerable thoughts...and we wrote it on the chalkboard in one of our classes. Everyone saw it, and she was humiliated. No matter how much I thought she deserved it at the time, I feel pretty rotten about doing that.

That's me, standing at the end.

I was in the same activities my 8th grade year - cheerleading, concert band, marching band as a pom pon girl, and volleyball. I was also in student council and FHA. The cheerleaders did our dance routine that year to Another One Bites the Dust. I can still do part of the routine for you. It was great fun riding to the games on the bus. I can't believe they let the cheerleaders sit amongst the players in the back of the bus. There was some "Truth or Dare" going on. I wonder if they let them do that now.


I was still greatly involved in my youth group, and I felt an overwhelming desire to get baptized. (I attended a Baptist church at the time.) I was too embarrassed to walk to the front of the church, though, in front of all my friends and the older, cute boys. I asked God to give me strength to do it, and I also asked Him to understand why I was too self-conscious to make the "walk." (Present day, I have different feelings - with great respect for all ways - about how a church service might be initiated.) I never did get baptized, either, until the year after I graduated high school.

This is kind of funny, but a pretty big part of my junior high years were my walks to the mailbox, especially during summer vacations. We had this really long, hilly, driveway on our 10 acres. I was obsessed with sending and receiving mail. I guess I would have been since there weren't many other forms of communication at this time, and I lived in the country.

Tommy Puitt from Life Goes On...hello, Tyler Benchfield...

I'm sure I would have been crazy about the ripped jeans and the tank...even the hair.

One of my obsessions included writing fan letters. Those who know me will not think this is a big stretch. I am still a little star struck in my old age. I wrote so many letters, though - to anyone I liked in the slightest. I remember writing Jason Bateman, Kirk Cameron, Chad Allen, Tom Cruise, Tommy Puitt, etc. My letters were often rewarded with an autographed photo or a fan club generated response.

This is one of the photographs I got. That's "Brad Carlton" from The Young and the Restless. I was really into that soap opera, plus Days of our Lives. This is a funny story about me and soaps: on Y & R, there was a character named Phillip Chancellor III. Around this time, his character died, and it really upset me. In my diary, I wrote something like: I can't believe he died. I'm taking this harder than I could have imagined. :) A year or so ago, when I was standing in line at a store, I noticed on the cover of one of the soap magazines that Phillip is alive! (He faked his death! ha!) That made me smile.

It wasn't just the fan letters that sent me to the mailbox twice daily. I was also constantly entering sweepstakes, etc. and filling out coupons for "free stuff." My family called me "Jenny _____, Sweepstakes Queen," which rhymes with my last name.

This was probably around the time I got two penpals, as well. One was from Texas, and one was from Pennsylvania. I wrote such long letters back and forth with Jenn and Jamie for many, many years. I recently got back in touch with Jennifer on facebook.

My sister recently mentioned this funny fact on her blog. We would generally not have stamps in the house. All we had to do was put a quarter with the envelope in our mailbox. That is amazing. (I just looked it up; a stamp did, indeed, cost $.25 in 1989.)

The biggest change to me physically, besides the amplification of my hair, was getting braces. When I knew that I was going to be getting them, I looked upon it with dread. I referred to the situation as "the end of my social career." I got my bottom braces on first, which weren't so bad. When it was time to get my top ones, I didn't feel as bad as I thought I might because the boy I had a crush on at the time was dating a girl who had braces. Therefore, I figured it was all good. The reason I don't have a picture of my braces is that I never smiled with my mouth open for the next 2 years. Not without putting my hand over my mouth. I think there is only one picture in existence that shows my braces, and I can't find it.

Oddly enough, I do still have my headgear I had to wear at night. Why was I saving this? I guess I should continue holding onto it. It can be one of those things I throw at my kids one day when they're crying as a teenager that "I don't understand!"

"Oh, yeah? Check out what I had to wear."

Fortunately, I only had to wear it at night. I am the most finicky sleeper ever; everything has to be lined up perfectly, so I have no idea how I got any sleep with that thing in my mouth.

Linking up at Mommy's Piggy Tales!

Mommy's Piggy Tales: 7th Grade

My days as a school-loving, teacher's pet were over.

Junior high was upon me, and the only thing I could think about was: boys.

How I wish I had a do-over.

There were other things going on in my life, of course. I was still playing the flute and piano. I was on the cheerleading squad, which was lots of fun. I was a pom pon girl for the marching band. I also really enjoyed being on the volleyball team. I think I made about 2 weeks of junior high basketball practice before I realized my basketball career was going no further. I did like playing, and I mentioned before that I had adequate enough skills. I just never developed the mind of a player - never had that sense of where I needed to be and when and never had the confidence to take charge. This was kind of a bummer realization.

I got to visit Worlds of Fun in Kansas City for the first time, which was exciting. Our cheerleading sponsor, who my friend Erin's mom, took a few of the cheerleaders (along with some others) for a cheer camp.

The Unicorn Club continued on for a little while in the 7th grade. (My 12th birthday cake had a rainbow and unicorn on it.) We asked a 6th grader, Lori, to join the club. She became one of my best friends and remained so throughout highschool. I sort of hate that we had a "club," and I feel terrible if anyone ever felt left out. I'm sure they could care less about our silly club, but I think about these things, nonetheless.

I went to my first school dance. We had a lip sync contest. 3 of my girlfriends and I performed I Think We're Alone Now. (I loved Tiffany and Debbie Gibson.) I remember "holdin' onto one another's hand" during our "act," and then shimmying down to the floor to "tumble to the ground and then you say..." We also had a freeze dance contest, and I won.

My main boyfriend this year was Brent. We were kind of "on and off" from 6th-8th grade. We had our first kiss in the 7th grade. It was very "planned" (almost like a "1, 2, 3, go!") - behind Galena School. (We had been writing notes in class like this - Him: "Have you thought about it?" Me: "No, have you?" Him: "Yes. Do you want to?" Me: "I don't care.") It wasn't very impressive. (The experience - not him.) One of the times we stopped "going together," one of his friends came up to me at a ballgame and said, "Brent broke up with you." I rolled my eyes and said, "I broke up with him a long time ago."

me and Erin

Our biggest change at home this year included the renovations we made on our house. My mom's brother, Tom, and his wife came to stay with us while Tom, a carpenter, helped Dad build another bathroom at the back of our big living room. Before that, we only had one bathroom for our family of 6 (complete with a bright blue toilet, sink, and tub) - which was fine but maybe not for my brother and dad, amidst 4 women. That was really exciting, getting to pick out new fixtures, carpet, and wallpaper. We also had a shower in our house for the first time.

A big addition to my life was joining the youth group at my new church. My brother had been attending this church with some of his friends. This church would remain a large part of my life until graduation. I loved our youth group leaders, Tim and Marcia, and it was fun to be around the kids in the group.

I was completely enamored with one of the seniors - Russ. I know he just thought I was a kid, which felt tragic to me. He always smiled at me, though, in the hall, called me "Jen" (which no one else did at the time) and also called me "Ugly," which actually made my day. My experiences at my church and youth group honestly weren't all about boys. Sunday School and Sunday Night Church, followed by hanging out at Tim and Marcia's house were great experiences for me, and my faith and relationship with God was an immeasurable part of my life. Thank goodness I had that during this time of angst and self-absorption.

with my youngest sister Tracy on one of the trips we took to St. Louis that year

The rest of 7th grade was full of friend drama and feeling like I was in love with one boy after the next. I'm sure that I cried all of the time and was an emotional wreck.

I think this is best supported by a few excerpts from my diary:

I kind of like junior high. All of my teachers are okay. Everything would be great if it wasn't for my brother and Erin. Everytime I pass Matt in the hall, he scowls at me and says something mean. I guess he's embarrassed that I'm his sister, but I don't know why. And Erin. She's supposed to be one of my best friends, but I often wonder. (Present thoughts: Matt, you have some explaining to do.)

My parents are treating me like a baby. They won't let me stay home alone and at the hotel in St. Louis wouldn't let me leave the room without them. (Uh, I'll tell you who is NOT going to walk around in a St. Louis hotel alone - my 12 year old! Thanks, Mom & Dad.)

I feel awful sometimes. I feel like I'm a total nobody...I made a list of my faults and how to improve them. I think what I need is to stop being so quiet. (At least I had a take-charge attitude!)

My sister Cary, who is 9 years old, acts all like a crybaby lately. I love her, but she's really getting on my nerves. I'm trying to keep my cool about it. (Ha! Sorry, Sister!)

This summer's so boring. Well, not that bad. But I do wish something fun would happen. (Um, yeah, I'm still sort of like that.)

I'm sick of my parents expecting me to get as good of grades as Matt. They don't understand I'm not as smart as him and that I don't care about school. But tell that to them, and they practically ground me. (Oh, why didn't I listen?)

I've had it with boys. I don't like anyone now, and I've decided not to, either. It's too stupid.

I don't think I'm going to trust people anymore. You can be nice to someone, and they can talk behind your back.

Ooo. I'm cringing. I definitely want a do-over.

Muffin Tin Monday: ABC's and 123's

I linked this up a few weeks ago when I didn't realize there were upcoming ABC and 123 themes. I thought I would go ahead and link up again to get everything all in the right spot. Sorry if you already saw this!

As I was getting ready to post this, I noticed that the upcoming Muffin Tin themes in August are ABC's one week and 123's the next...oops. I started to wait on posting this until then, but I had already decided to take a bit of a blogging break at the end of August. So...here's our combination ABC-123 Muffin Tin Meals a few weeks early.

I told them I was going to use their blog names, which didn't really matter to them because they are their nicknames, anyway. Tornado really wanted me to also write "Twister" and "Hurricane." (I told them we'd better stick to one extra word. Momma's got to eat sometime, too!) They had:

applesauce cups with their age spelled out with chocolate chips.

a number cut out of bread - Tornado got a "4" because that is the grade he is going into.

another random number cut out of squash

letter fries (Ian's Alphatots) with mustard and ketchup

Amy's brand alphabet soup

Road's End Organics 123z & Chreese

guacamole with a letter shaped tortilla

Dash wanted his to say, "Dash loves Momma." I don't know about that ornery kid sometimes.

Sissy wanted her extra word to be "Princess."

I used soy cheese and apples & pears for the miniature letters.

More Muffin Tin meals over here!

Playing with Ice Blocks

We haven't been doing a lot of "schoolwork" the past month. This is one activity they enjoyed recently, however. I froze plastic toys in bowls of water. (I had to freeze them in layers since most of my toys floated.) I gave the kids spray bottles of water, squirt guns, eye droppers with a small bucket of water, and little hammers & chisels, etc. This kept them busy for a good hour and a half! I got my house clean, and they had lots of fun. When I do this again, I think I will use new toys to add another exciting element to it.

Toward the end, they resorted to crashing their remaining chunks of ice against the driveway. Which was enough fun in itself. Read about what other families are doing with their "preschoolers" and siblings at Preschool Corner, hosted by Homeschool Creations.

Mommy's Piggy Tales: 6th Grade

6th Grade...honestly, every time I sit down to write one of these "chapters," I think, "I'm going to keep it really short this time." It ends up being so difficult to abbreviate. Believe it or not, these are the abbreviated versions of my years. I fear it will only get worse as the timeline progresses, and my memories increase.

I did not get the teacher I wanted for 6th grade. (Again, I'm sure she's a lovely person. These are just my 11 year old thoughts.) She was very strict, and we thought she was "mean." (Update: this is what I found I'd written in my diary: She's okay, I guess. She things of good projects to do. But if you do something bad, she'll make you feel really low and embarrassed...She even bawled Sarah out the other day for no reason, which surprised everyone.) I do remember, though, that she had a lot of fun ideas. And I usually completed my assignment first so she, like all of my other teachers, let me write reports, etc. for extra credit.

This was Mrs. B's discipline policy. If we broke a rule at all, she would look at us fiercely and say, "Do you want a verbal warning?" If we got a verbal warning, we missed out on the cooking project at the end of the week. It was really a great system, I admit. It was just scary! We did not want her to give us that look and use that voice, and the cooking projects were so fun! We got to make things like pudding and English muffin pizzas, etc.

I think I only got a verbal warning once. Erin didn't have her spelling words finished before recess. I gave her my spelling words I'd already finished for the next day. The plan was for her to hand it in with her name on it, then do her own and replace it later before Mrs. B saw it. Well, she saw it, recognized my handwriting, gave us both verbal warnings, and made us both do more spelling words. I loved Erin dearly, but I think she probably "helped" get me into trouble more than once.

Oh, yeah! Mrs. B also made us hold our pencil "the right way." If she caught us holding it incorrectly, she would say, “If I see you holding your pencil wrong again, you’re getting a verbal warning!” I know she meant well, but as soon as the year was over, I went back to holding it the way I had always held it and have ever since.

The top picture of me was taken on the first day of 6th grade. Our pictures went into our "time capsule," along with these index cards we filled out.

I devoured books. These are the names of the books I read just during the summer before 6th grade. (The list also continues on the back!) My mom took us every week to the Republic Library.

I'm not sure if the Unicorn Club started in the 5th or 6th grade. I was obsessed with unicorns and had a whole unicorn "collection," consisting of figurines, music boxes, posters, etc.

The club actually started as the G.I.L.W.B. Club. Any ideas as to what that stands for? "Girls In Love With Boys." I didn't think of the name; I'm sure Erin did. We had sleepovers and meetings at recess, and apparently "every 5th day in a month," we selected new officers. :) It was serious business. We continued to do a lot of toilet papering houses, snipe hunting, and prank calling. We also watched a lot of horror movies - yikes - but not at my house! I remember watching Rags to Riches (I loved that show!) at Tammy's house. We all agreed to be Chris J.'s joint "secret admirer," and we inundated him with attention.

I had my first (Unicorn Club) sleepover at my house! My sister Cary wrote a note and slid it under my bedroom door. It said something like, "If you need anything, I can be your maid!" That makes me smile so much.

We also had a gigantic crush on Chad, an 8th grader, who recently moved to our town. His parents bought a local mercantile, and looking back on it, I wonder was he even cute? But we were convinced he was, and at recess, we would sit as close to the junior high doors as we were allowed so that we could smile at him when he walked outside to the next building. Then we'd also stand and wait for him to come out of the building after school. We sometimes called him and asked him who he liked. He was tall and had longer, wavier hair than most of the boys. I wrote in my diary that I was so mad at him because on the phone and at the mercantile he would talk to me and joke around, but at school he ignored me because I was only in the 6th grade.

Uh...yeah...authentic 1987...

Sunday Night Dedications on the radio station Rock 99 were a big deal at the time. I always listened to them in my room and had a blank tape in my sterio, ready to push the record button whenever a good song came on. And it was fun to listen for any names we recognized. (Ryan B. dedicated Next Time I Fall in Love by Peter Cetera to me in the 4th grade.) Well, once when I was in junior high, there happened to be a dedication from "Jenny to Chad in Crane" - Should've Known Better by Richard Marx. Everyone assumed I did it for Chad, but I promise I didn't. I even went up to him in the hall and said, "That dedication wasn't from me." He totally smirked and said, "Right..." I was so embarrassed.

I was, once again, on a basketball team in the 6th grade. This was us after we won 2nd place at the Galena Tournament. We were actually pretty good. I'm the last one on the front row. I wore the smooth stone necklace from my Granny's house every game underneath my shirt. It was the only sort of good-luck charm I ever had.

Deanna, Me, Erin, and Tammy

We took a field trip at the end of the year to the skating ring in Springfield. The girls had the DJ dedicate Bon Jovi's You Give Love a Bad Name to the "6th grade boys from the 6th grade girls."

Mommy's Piggy Tales: 5th Grade

I missed recording 5th grade last week because we were in Dallas. Catchin' back up now...

I felt a little sentimental about turning 10 (which is the age of my oldest son now!). My Mom sat on my bed in my dark room the night before my birthday and said, “How do you feel? It’s your last night before double digits. You’ll never have 1 number in your age again!” Reminds me of how I felt just turning 35…

5^th grade was a time of big changes for me. I started playing the flute in the band (which I absolutely loved during that year and for the next 7 years). By now I had gotten my ears pierced. I hit puberty. I got my first perm. And I went shopping for my first bra.

I did not always like the fact that I was the oldest girl in my family, and all of this had to happen to ME first. Mom took me to buy a training bra at Sears on the mall. I remember my little sisters giggling and teasing me, trying to peek in the dressing room. My Mom would say, "Leave your sister alone." And I was just really embarrassed that I knew my Dad knew I was going to buy a bra. I think for the first week or two I wore a sweatshirt everyday to school so that no one could see I was wearing a bra. The boys at school would always come up behind girls and grab their shirts to flip their bra straps. I'm sure that could be some sort of lawsuit today.
This was taken on one of our field trips (My Mom went on this one as a chaperone.). We took trips that year to Table Rock Dam & Fish Hatchery, the museum at School of the Ozarks, and Wilson Creek Battlefield. I became very interested in the Civil War this year. That's me, second row from the top, wearing a blue jacket. That's my friend Sarah sitting next to me.

This was the first year I really had an opinion about who I wanted my teacher to be. It was quite a relief that I got the one I wanted - Mrs. Stephens. She was nice and funny, and I liked her the whole year. (We recently became friends on facebook! She's seriously a GEM.) This is what I had written in my 6th grade diary: Mrs. Stephens understood I was shy and didn't like to read my writing. She didn't make me, either.

I did not want the other 5th grade teacher. I thought she was mean. (Disclaimer: I'm sure Mrs. L is a good and lovely person altogether - these are just my memories of how I saw it back then...and ironically, she was a potential mother-in-law for me years later.)

Mrs. Stephens

I did have to go to Mrs. L's class for reading group. (My diary says: It was the pits!) One day we had to write some kind of story. I absolutely loved to write, and I was still a really great student. I think I've made it pretty clear how terribly shy I was; it was so hard for me to read something like this out loud. I didn't mind reading from a book aloud. But if it was something I wrote myself, I felt vulnerable and self-conscious...and sometimes I just couldn't do it. I think I was supposed to stand up and read my paper. I froze. (My friend Chris J. and I would always look at each other sympathetically because it was hard for him, too.) This still happens to me today on some level, to a lesser degree. This is the quality I like least about myself. I use to fret in elementary school about what I was going to do about giving a valedictory speech at graduation. Seriously. I was the best student in my class, and I wondered if I would have to give up the honor if I couldn't give a speech! (For the record, I did not end up being valedictorian.)

Anyway, I clammed up, and she was practically ordering me to read it. I murmured that I didn't want to. She told me I was going to get a zero on the assignment if I didn't read it. Okay! I was fine with that. (I was not only shy, I was stubborn.) She very coldly told me to go to the hall. She was treating this as if I was disobeying her, but I really and truly couldn't help it.

This happened to be the year my Mom volunteered at the school. And she happened to be walking by so Mrs. L stopped her and told her I was refusing to read my paper. My Mom asked me why I wouldn't read it. I said I was too embarrassed, and I couldn't do it. She told me she really thought I should read it. She could tell, though, that I wasn't going to read it and that this whole situation was devastating me. She told Mrs. L that I didn't have to read it. This is one way I love my Momma (who was only 29 at the time!). She might disagree with me to my face regularly, but when it comes to other people being involved, she is always on her children's side and will staunchly defend them.

In an almost identical story, I did not feel warm and fuzzy about my elementary music teacher, either. I love to sing, but I also had a hard time singing in front of people. (Fortunately, I overcame this a lot by highschool.) Every quarter, we had to go behind the piano with a partner and Mrs. A to sing "Frere Jacques." She would sing, "Are you sleeping?" etc. The students would sing each line back. (Looking back, how on earth was this relevant to our grade? We just sang songs for fun in elementary music class.) I didn't always have a hard time doing this. It was just this particular time, I felt overwhelmed, like my throat was closing up. When this happens to me, it's like my brain freezes, and there's no amount of money that could convince the words to come out of my mouth.

Mrs. A was not happy with me. She called my parents and told them I wouldn't sing. They had a talk with me about it, and I told them I would try to do it next time at music class. So this is what she did - takes me out to the hallway, which happens to be the Junior High hall. The bell rings, and my brother and his friends were out there going to their lockers, passing by, and smiling at me. And Mrs. A is singing, "Are you sleeping?" and expecting awkwardly-shy me, in the throes of puberty, to sing it back to her, right in front of junior high boys. (I'm getting worked up just thinking about this absurdity!) Of course, I didn't, and that's why I have "Refused to sing" forever imprinted on my 5th grade report card.

My big exciting moment in the 5th grade was getting to be on the MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour. There was this amazing, energetic, small lady, Dorothy Leake, who was in her early 90's. She was an author, researcher, educator, conservationalist, and environmentalist (before it was a popular choice) who happened to live in our small town. She devoted her life to protecting the wildlife and streams in the area. We took trips to see her and learn from her on more than one occasion.

One day our teacher told us something like this: the first people who finished their work had the chance to sign up for something. She wouldn't tell us if it was something fun or a chore; we had to make the decision based on whether we wanted to help or not, without knowing what it was. I finished my assignments first, as usual, and signed up right away. Since I loved school (except for reading and singing out loud!), I was always ready for an extra project or responsibility. The kids who signed up were thrilled that we got to spend the day with Dr. Leake and be on television. From what I remember, they only showed little flashes of us helping her, but it was a really fun experience altogether.

a Dallas Museum and Dinosaur Valley State Park

We took a little road trip this week to celebrate my birthday! It was a rather short adventure - we left Wednesday, arriving in Dallas about 7 p.m., and we got home late Thursday night (well, actually Friday morning at 2 a.m.). Dallas is about 5 hours away from us.

Our first stop Thursday morning was the Museum of Nature and Science,

located in Fair Park.

There are actually two different buildings, where the nature and science sections are located. You gain entrance to these two museums by purchasing a ticket ($10, adults; $7, kids - I think). Fair Park is home to many other attractions, including an aquarium and discovery gardens.

The kids were really excited about the dinosaur skeletons. I think this was first museum they've ever visited that included real dinosaurs and parts, of this magnitude. Dash, of course, was especially thrilled.

It really is something else to see these structures in real life. Ryan's favorite was the Protostega, an underwater turtle with an 11 feet long shell. Can you even imagine something like that coming at you in the water?

There were plenty of hands-on activities, like this ball-release roller coaster.

One of our favorite rooms to explore was the Mineral Room. There is no way the pictures can do it justice. I would not have thought I, or any of us, would have gotten that worked up over a room of rocks, but seriously, they were amazing.

I realized I am a big fan of the Amethyst.

The area in which the museum is situated - all right there next to the Cotton Bowl - is large with lots to do. This little lake is right in the middle of everything. The kids LOVED running around on these paths that were right over the water.

I was just WAITING for one of them to fall in, but we managed to all stay dry, thank goodness.

It was hard to tear them away from here.

I asked Ryan to please build me something like this, all throughout our woods. :)

now onto the science building...making bubbles

We spent entirely too much time in front of "A trip down intestinal lane," a description of what exactly happens to your food during digestion, complete with a catchy song.

And, yup, it even shows the people rushing to the bathroom.

Another one of our favorite exhibits: push the button and make this guy puke.

Could there be anything more fun than that?

There is also a Children's Museum portion in the basement of the science building.

We finished up our visit with some playtime down there.

Lunch and my "birthday party" were at the same place we ate all of our meals on this trip:

Spiral Diner.

(I wrote about the food portion of our trip on my other blog.)

Next stop on our journey: Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, Texas. Dash really needed to take a nap, but he kept saying, "I can't go to sleep because I'm so excited!"

This area "contains some of the best preserved dinosaur tracks in the world."

You can learn more about it by watching this video.

swimming in the Paluxy River

I can't even tell you how nice it was being out there.

We found the perfect little circular pool here.

Aww...so relaxing...a great way to end my fun birthday trip.

Linkin' up to Field Trip Friday!