Barrow Axtero

There's a new villain in our house, Barrow Axtero. Jude, Captain America, told us, Thor (Mom), Wolverine (Dad), Hulk (Clara), and Iron Man (Lucy) about him this morning. He's a shadow, walks on the ceiling, and he steals pugs only to put them in the trashcan.

I think this inspired Jude's creativity.

Jude sings Thanksgiving

My media assistant has an ISBN

So when I came into my new job, I had no idea what my assistant would be like. Would we get along? Would we have the same goals? Would she like gardening, dogs, and food like me? Well, as it turns out, she is 100 shades of awesome. Betty runs circles around me each day, loves the kids, loves having a great library space AND she is a gardening goddess, has a sweet dog, and is ever down for a mini-Twix break.

Betty's main claim to fame is a tutoring program she founded in the media center for the many refugee children we have at our school. The program is wonderful and she describes its inception and challenges in the book. The real jewels are the personal stories of the children who have gone to our school. Not every story is happy, as the child only spends so many hours a week at school, but the insight into their lives is so valuable to me as an educator. Another significant part for me was the degree to which each group of refugees in different. Some remember their country, some were born in refugee camps, some have escaped through jungles, some attended school in the past, and others have never sat in a desk.

I scooped up a copy immediately, and mine was the first book she signed. I work each day alongside an author. Pretty dang cool.

Vids

One of these videos is from Jude's birthday playdate where the kids create their own eXtreme version of ring-around-the-rosie. The second is Jude taking the slide at the Caniac Carnival.

We moved and other newness

I haven't been posting as much in general since Jude has been mobile, but lately we've been in a real writing dry spell because we moved! We are back in our North Carolina hometown of Winston-Salem. I have a new media coordinator job in Greensboro, Jon has a new grant evaluation job in Winston, and Jude will start a new preschool in a couple weeks. Yea for new things!

One of the bright spots of the move is our transition out of an apartment and into a house. We did not buy the house we are living in, just renting for now, but we are so happy to have a yard again! We also have a den and a screened in porch that we are very much enjoying. The pugs are especially enjoying the lack of stairs at the new house.

What will we miss most about Raleigh? C&A, our MOB friends, Piebird's peanut butter pie, being close to the beach, Neomonde, the many brunch options, being in Caniac Country, the many offerings at the MVP Sports Factory in Wake Forest, North Hills Farmer's Market, Marbles, someone else mowing the grass, and a Starbucks in my usual Target shopping location. Luckily all of these folks and things aren't that far away.

What are we happy to have back in Winston? The chance to get together with Winston friends (Brian and Deborah!, the Websters!, and many more!), Dewey's, a bit less chaos on the interstate, The Loop, Salem Kitchen/Village Tavern/Salem Tavern, walks at Salem Lake, diners with Greek food, more locally owned and budget friendly places to eat, and Terry's Deli though technically it's in Kernersville, a baseball team in town, and the chance to see some Demon Deacon sports.

These pics are Jude at basketball in Wake Forest at the Factory and Jude in the apartment doing downward dog. The kid loves some yoga.

More to come!

Hey Diddle Diddle

Jude Laughing

Jon heard about something called Cute Roulette, and we sat down and watched a few videos. Jude was amused. This was his fave http://youtu.be/qaXmSxcdO5w.

Jude shouts the NHL

Jude is a big hockey fan. He spends part of everyday pretending to be a Hurricane and wearing his jersey. When we were at the NHL Fan Fair, he got a hockey sticker book and he's loving it. He's got just about all the team logos down.

A little this, a little that

First, just let me brag on my husband a little. I was sick this week, and, Boy Howdy, I mean sick. Dehydrated and weak, I drug myself out of bed Monday morning and made it to the couch. Jon didn't bat an eye about staying home for a few hours, getting Jude started on the day, taking care of the dogs, and going to the grocery to buy me the biggest jug of Gatorade available. I'm still not sure what happened, virus (though Jude and Jon are both fine) or some type of food poisoning issue, but it was U-G-L-Y. I was so thankful to have Jon here to take care of things and keep the household going. I am so thankful to feel better though my stomach is being a little weird.

Let's see, next I bought Jude a water bottle for soccer with a snack cup in the bottom. A Mom I

know from Little Gym has 2-year-old triplets and runs a monogramming business at night and on the weekends. And no, I have no idea how she does it. It turned out so cute! It's Carolina Hurricanes colors to boot. Jude picked the paper out, but I'm not sure he remembers, so I'm excited to surprise him with it. He's only had a few things with his name on them before.

In other news, in case you didn't hear me talking about it on Plurk, Facebook, Twitter, or screaming from the rooftops, Jon and I learned to curl. We went to a class put on by Triangle Curling Club. It was a blast! They said we would know how to curl before we left, and we did! I can't say that I'm a master or anything, but I can slide that 42 pound rock 140 feet down the ice while balancing on one

foot that is sliding on a piece of Teflon. So awesome! This pic is me throwing with Jon sweeping. There were several jokes when Jon and I were finally able to sweep together. ;) Our team played 3 ends against another team during the lesson and we won 3-0. Prodigies? You betcha.

Jude's been mega-entertaining lately. He's taken to acting like a cat sometimes and asking for "cat juice" and a "cat snack." Tonight he took things up a notch by meowing "Let's Go Canes." Jon and I totally jumped in. Also, we're really working on potty training. Jude has already earned his first reward. He stayed dry all day, and we took him to Chuck E. Cheese's. He's still talking about it. Also, those tickets are goofy. Prizes are 1 cent or 1 ticket. We skipped the line and payed 20 cents for a piece of candy and a sheet of stickers, and Jude was quite content. Now Jude's working on staying dry 3 days in a row to earn a big boy bed i.e. we convert his crib to a toddler bed with rails. He's 2 days in!

Graduate school is finally winding down, and I just might graduate! There have been a number of difficulties with my master's paper, but through a very supportive husband and advisor, I might just squeak in by the deadline. Graduation is on Mother's Day, so I'm kind of emotional about that. I'll save that for another post.

Everything will be ok

I need this t-shirt and possibly this phrase tattooed on my forearm, so I can reference it daily. :)