Scoliosis

A student drew this characature of me in a drawing class as one of her final projects. Widows peak: check. Argyle sweater: check. Gangly arms: check. My posture isn't that great on any given day, but it looks like I have scoliosis in the drawing. My favorite part of the piece are the students' expressions. Look how happy they are to be learning in my classroom, basking in my enthusiasm for the English language. I think the girl in front would probably stab me if she had any fingers.

You can't see the entire drawing because my scanner isn't big enough, but the question I am posing to the class is, "How many roots are in antidisestablishmentarianism?" I had Katie in Etymology last year, and we actualy talked about this question. Turns out there are seven morphemes (not roots) to the word. It looks like I succeeded in boring the life out of another one! :) Thanks for the drawing, Katie!

Traveling Conversations with a Two-Year-Old

Boston - "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"
Dad - "Boston, don't scream in the car."
Boston - "Huh?"
Dad - "We don't scream in the car."
Boston - "Huh?"
Dad - "No screaming in the car."
Boston - "Huh?"
Dad - *No reply
Boston - "I not hear you, Dad. I not year you say, 'No screaming in the car.' What, Dad?"


Boston - "I want a song." (meaning a song from his playlist (yes, a two-year-old has an iPod playlist)
Dad - "No, we're listening to Christmas music."
Boston - "I don't want to listen to Christmas music. Not EVER EVER EVER!"


Boston - "We going home?"
Dad - "Yeah, we're going home."
Boston - "Why?"
Dad - "Because it's time for your bath."
Boston - "Then I eat ice cream?"
Dad - "Sure."
Boston - "YEEEAAAAHHH!"

Fun in the Snow

It's here! Boston and I have been enjoying our time in the snow the past couple of days. Yesterday we took a walk and tried to make our footprints look crazy. Boston also insisted on taking his Fisher-Price lawn mower with him so he could mow the snow. Today he helped me shovel the sidewalk with his very own shovel (thanks Mama and Papa!). I promised him we would take the sled down the hill when he wakes up from his nap. If it keeps coming down then like it is now, we should have no problem. And if it keeps coming down through the night into the morning, will that make for a two hour delay? I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Halloween

It was a pretty mild Halloween this year. The ghouls didn't have to wear coats over their costumes, and the Mary Janes didn't get hard by the time we arrived home. Boston was Bob the Builder this year, and very excited about it. He wasn't too thrilled about the hat, though. We started at Dad's and moved to Stacey's addition after that. Carson showed Boston how it's done.







We also hit up the Great Zoo Halloween for the third year in a row. We didn't realize they were only open day hours this year. We met Mom at the zoo at 6:00 and were incredibly excited to see an empty parking lot...only to find out they had been closed for an hour already. We ended up going directly after school on the Thursday before Halloween, so it all worked out. It wasn't near as spooky, but we had a good time trick-or-treating and looking at the pumpkins. Boston couldn't figure out where all the animals went, though.






I hope your Halloween was a spooky one.

Boston Stabafur

This is Boston's debut on the mic. Soon he will be rapping to all of your hip hop favorites. For now, we'll keep it simple: name and hobbies.

Fall is here!

Summer is officially over and we have been busy! September has just flown by! We were home for Labor Day, but the following weekend was spent in Gatlinburg, TN with Casey's mom, stepdad, along with his brother and his family. We had a wonderful time there. We stayed in a cabin...Casey's favorite part being the hot tub on the front porch! We were able to visit the aquarium and many of the small shops in the town. The next weekend we were off to New York City to see one of my friends from college get married. We were able to catch up with many of our 'Boston' friends and explore more of the Big Apple! This past week we celebrated my birthday and then ended the weekend with a trip to the Fall Festival at a local farm and brought home our pumpkins for decoration and carving. I can't believe it is time for Halloween already! We are preparing Boston by reminding him all this Halloween decoration is 'just pretend', but I'm not sure he always believes us! We hope to keep our blog posted a little more often now that we are slowing down a bit. Hope all is well with everyone! Much loves from the Stansifers'! :)

Chicago

A couple of weeks ago we took a little excursion to Chicago with some good friends, Bethany and Mike, who now live in South Carolina. It was great to see them again, and just hang for a couple of days. We started off by camping at the Dunes in Michigan City.


After we set up shop...



it was time to hit the beach. The water was a bit cold. Well, maybe "frigid" would be more accurate. At least it was clean, though (especially considering our scenic view of the famous Gary, Indiana smoke stacks).





All that hypothermia worked up an appetite, so the men went to building a fire. (Nevermind the giant bottle of lighter fluid in the background.)


Smores, anyone?



A little more campfire, then lights out.



In the morning we refueled with a good campfire breakfast (again with the lighter fluid) and some mediocre gas station coffee.



Then it was off to Chicago. Let's make sure we know where we're going, though.


Our first stop: Wrigley! I'm not a huge baseball fan (or sports fan, for that matter), but it was cool just hanging out. We had bleacher seats, which apparently translates to the "party section." I guess the ticket stub should have tipped me off when it read "Bud Light Bleacher Section." It wasn't so bad to start off with, but belligerence gets annoying after nearly six hours of baking in the sun.





After the game we hit up Giordano's for some handcrafted Chicago pizza and brews. Goose Island is good stuff!





Just be sure not to eat too much.


We finished the night by hanging out with Burt Reynolds before calling it day.


The next morning we started our day with the ORIGINAL Pancake House. Accept no substitutes. That was some good stuff. I see you eyeing my chorizo skillet, Bethany.



From there we went our separate ways. Mike and Bethany had some more business in Chicago, and Cara and I wanted to hit up IKEA: the greatest place on Earth.


We really weren't set out for anything in particular, but it's hard not to get inspired to completely revamp a room or two. Since Boston is now a big boy who wears big boy underwear, we thought it would be cool to give him a big boy room. We already have a bed, so we got some cool furnishings and whatnots to make it look pretty cool. I'll be sure to post some before and after photos as soon as we get some paint up and things put together. Had a great time, Mike and Bethany!