I'm amazed that it's been over a month since I last posted! March was busy, busy, busy! I kept meaning to write several posts, but it never happened (obviously!). I was super focused on Lent and spending more time writing on my Catholic Blog that I just didn't have the drive to write anything here. I'm afraid to even open up my Bloglovin'; I shudder to think about just how many posts I have to read!
So, what happened last month? Well, at the end of Feb., CH & I took a long weekend trip to see this one for Family Weekend:
It was a really good weekend. We got to see MS, meet his friends/classmates, sit in on a class, go to the casino and a baseball game, and just get a taste of what his life is like. We managed to get in some good food & drink, too!
(Gator...we discovered that it's acceptable to eat gator on a Friday during Lent!)
(Oh, yes I did! I also found out that Community Coffee has a King Cake Coffee, so I made sure to pick up a bag from Winn Dixie before we left!)
The live oaks on campus are just beautiful.
As an added bonus, I got to meet another Speech/Language Pathologist who invited me to be a part of an online group. We're called The Frenzied SLPs. It's an awesome group...most of us have at least 10 years experience in the field, and we "talk" frequently through FB Messenger. Anyway, this lady is just a fantastic person. We met in a coffee shop with our husbands for beignets & coffee. It was like we've known each other forever!
A couple of weeks after our visit with MS, I had Spring Break. CH took a week off, and we headed to Edisto Beach State Park to camp for the week. We left on Sat. & spent the night with some friends we met on our trips to The Keys. They live on Lake Murray, so they took us out on the boat to see the sites from the lake. We had Laika with us, and we were concerned about how she would do in a boat...with the noise. She was quite the champ; she acted like she had "been there, done that"!
They have a beautiful house. This is what we woke up to on Sunday morning:
Edisto was absolutely wonderful. Before break, when someone asked if I was going anywhere & I would tell them Edisto, I was immediately asked where it was. When we got there, I think half of East Tennessee was there! Most of the campers were from East Tennessee. After some boyscouts left, a family who lives a couple of streets over from us moved in! Spring Break deserves a post of its own, so I'll save that for another post. This pretty much sums it up:
I guess that's enough for this post! Next up...Edisto Beach, SC!
Back to the ol' grind. At least we had a Professional Development Day yesterday, and "Parent Conferences" (if we have at least 6 hours of parent contact, we don't have to actually be at school) on Friday, so it's a short week! Here's the breakdown of last week: (Don't forget to click on the pictures to make them larger!) Books: 2
(I was actually half through with this book. I got it as a freebie. Pretty good book.)
(I grabbed this off of my nightstand--where it had been for over 2 years--right before we left. I was glad I did! Excellent book!)
A friend posted this video on FB. I thought it was hilarious! I know that the stereotype of southerners is that we're not that smart, and this pretty much sheds a bad light on SC Education. (When we lived in SC, we used to say that the state's education model was "Thank God for Mississippi" because SC was ranked 49th in the country, and MS was 50th.) If it had been someone with a northern accent, I think it would've still been funny!The fun begins around 1 minute into the video.
Now that I have you laughing, prepare to be amazed! My FIL sent this video to me. Really cool (the trying on part..the signing kind of creeped me out)!
Thanks for all of the birthday wishes for Middle Son! I think he had a good day. He had soccer practice, then he and his girlfriend went to a concert. We usually don't let him go out on a school night, but, it was his 18th birthday and it was Drew & Ellie, we made an exception. He had seen this band on a Young Life Weekend and really liked them. He was so excited that they were going to be in "the big town"! He was jazzed when he came home last night. He said his girlfriend went in thinking she wasn't going to like it (she thought they were country singers), but she really liked them! He actually was there when this video was made:
Now for the real reason for the post:
This is the first time I'm participating in this Meme...looks like a good one!
1. I'm going to start off with Easter Sunday Mass at our old parish in SC. This church started as a mission church to the African American community, so the singing is outstanding! I've been singing the "Glory" all week. You can feel the love in that church!
2. A day off! Actually, I had 2 days off this week, but Thursday was spent with YS' high school band at a a band festival, so I'm not sure if that really counts! And, it was an absolute gorgeous day.
3. The Blind Side. We finally got around to watching it. What an exceptional movie! Sandra Bullock was very believable as the mom, but, in my opinion, Quinton Aaron was amazing. He had me feeling sorry for him and tearing up from the beginning of the movie.
4. YS' high school band participated in a concert band festival, and they received straight 2's (including a 2+)! If you know anything about band, you may be thinking, "why is she excited about a 2?" If you do know anything about band festivals/contests, you know that a '1' is the highest mark you can get. Well, our little band went to the same festival last year, and got all 3's. They are really improving. I was able to watch them perform, and, the whole time I sat there thinking how much they've improved the 5 years YS has been involved in band. When we moved here, there were only about 19 people in the band. 6 years later, there are around 50. The band director was straight out of college our first year here, so he's young and enthusiastic. I'm sure I'll be writing more about the band in the future!
5. This actually happened last Thursday, but my favorite coworker in the whole world made sure the staff ordered in last Thursday since 1) I was there (or so she gave that as the reason...I totally believed her!) and 2) we didn't have school on Friday due to it being Good Friday. It was nice not having to make sure I had a lunch ready to go that morning!
And, on the same day, my other favorite coworker in the whole world (especially when she brings goodies to school on Tues. or Thurs.!) brought this Orange Cake to school. She also brought the chocolate chip pie last month. The Orange Cake was so moist and delicious, and she said that it took her no time at all to mix up and get into the oven! I borrowed her picture:
and her recipe:
Preheat oven to 325
1 pkg. yellow cake mix 1 pkg. lemon pudding mix 3/4 C. orange juice 1/2 C. vegetable oil 4 eggs 1 t. lemon extract
1/3 C. orange juice 2/3 C. sugar 1/4 C. butter
Mix cake mix, pudding mix, 3/4 c. OJ, oil, eggs, and lemon extract. Pour into a greased bundt pan. Bake for 50-60 mins. (I baked mine 50 mins.) Let cool.
In a saucepan, cook 1/3 c. OJ, sugar, and butter for 2 minutes. Drizzle over cake. (I punched holes first using a toothpick)
Okay, everybody, click on the link below and join in the fun!
