Valentine's Day

We had a fun Valentine's Day this year. Case opened up his Valentine's gifts from family, and I got flowers including roses! We went to breakfast. Casen proceeded to talk to the people around us. Since then, stranger anxiety has set in I think. He doesn't talk to strangers as much anymore and usually wants to be held if someone he doesn't know talks to him. We went to an OC basketball game later which was fun. Case lasted about half the game so I thought that was pretty good for his first one. Then Casen went to his adopted grandparents in town while Josh and I had a date! Mexican food for dinner and a movie at the theater - can't beat that!

The Other Use of a Vacuum

Case thinks that the vacuum is also a great dogfood holder.
I like how he lines the individual dogfood pellets up.

Daily Lessons

Last month, we had a beautiful Saturday so we three went to the lake. It was so pretty outside, and very windy. As we walked along the path, we could watch the wind surfers above the lake and the kites along the shore. Notice the line down the path. One side was for the pedestrians while the other side was for the cyclists. As we walked along, Casen would walk for awhile on the pedestrian side with us, but then he would cross the line into the cyclists' lane. After we told him no a few times, he kept doing it - I think just because he could. So the next time he crossed the line, he got picked up and had to be carried for awhile. After he stopped crying (he LOVES to walk, especially outside), he got put down and was allowed to walk again. But a little further down the path, he crossed the line again and wouldn't come back when he was told. He was testing the boundaries I think. So we carried him again for awhile then he got another chance. As we continued along, I realized how evident it was that Case was crossing the line - quite literally. And he was just crossing it because he could. That was one of the first times I realized that parenting has begun. Am I going to keep my cool after Case crosses the line for the 10th time? Am I going to be consistent or just give in if I'm tired? Josh and I had talked for a long time about situations like this so I felt like we had a plan in place so that helped. Case stayed safe (out of cyclists' way), learned that there are boundaries - even at the lake, and we still had some great family fun.
Later, we got off the path so Case could run around in the grass. He found some sticks and pinecones - quite a load of treasures!
We had such a blessed day - seeing God's hand in nature. I'm so glad God made pinecones - I still love to watch Case find one and the look of pure glee he gets on his face when he picks one up...and then throws it.

Sweet Boys

Partying Wears You Out

The Day after Case's party...

Top Signs Students are Ready for Spring Break

1. Eyes are glazed over during lecture.
2. They keep asking you if they will get out early from class/lab.
3. Eyes are glazed over when you talk to them one-on-one.
4. They keep asking you if you are going to cancel Friday's class.
5. They stop coming to class.
6. Several students have emailed you as to why they aren't in class...they are "sick" or "not feeling well."
7. When it snows, they ask if the school is going to shut down for a few snowflakes. And they truly are hopeful.
8. Professors are called "mean" and "evil" for giving an exam the Friday before Spring Break (not me! I was smarter than that haha!)
9. You see sleeping students everywhere you go - on couches, benches, desks.
10. Stress levels are high among them...I actually heard some student yell at his lab partner today because he misread a number.

XMAS + BIRTHDAY = EXTRA FUN

We had decided to celebrate Xmas with the Nichols side of the family during Casen's birthday weekend. So the night after his bday party, we opened up Christmas gifts and played Dirty Santa. It was a great night!

The Best Way to Eat Cake

Case did NOT want to get his hands dirty while he ate cake...so he leaned over and ate it like a puppy. Silly boy!

Case never really had a lot of sugar up to this point. I think he had had a taste of a couple of things, but that was it. He liked his birthday cake. He loved his icecream! He also had some of a cookie. After he ate, I gave him a bath since he was covered with food. Then he had a sugar high I guess. He was running up to people, leaning into their face going, "Ahhh!" and running off. Then he would do it to someone else. I guess a sugar high really does exist!

The Color of Failure

The last two weeks in chemistry lab, we have done titrations! Titrations are always fun. Basically (no pun intended), the students standardize the concentration of a base solution then find the molecular weight of an unknown acid. In order to see when the acid and base has neutralized, we use an indicator called phenolphthalein which is colorless in acidic solution, but pink in basic solutions. To be the most accurate, you want to add enough base to your acid until you have a light pink solution. Of course, you usually get a bright pink solution the first time you do a titration (at least) because you don't know how much base to add. It's usually a competition between the students to see who can get the lightest shade of pink. I of course egg this on by "showcasing" the best solutions. Then the students have bragging rights -which they definitely use. Last week though, I heard one guy exclaim, "Oh man! I added to much! That is the color of failure!"

Apparently, he believed that the fuschia color was failure. Actually, he just knew better next time how much base to add.

Student Excuses

1. I don't think its fair that you cover information that is NOT in the text book!
2. I learned it a different way in high school.
3. I learned it a better way in high school.
4. I didn't study any of the material that you put on the exam (of which I wanted to reply, "...so...you didn't study then?")
5. I'm not really a [insert subject]-type person.


These are some of the excuses I have heard last semester and this semester...sometimes not to me directly, but overhead to another professor.
Of course, I'm pretty sure I said some of these when I was a student too!

Presents

After we sang Happy Birthday and Case blew the candle out (with a little help), he opened his gifts. Actually, he discovered the train behind the table so that's all he was interested in playing with at the time. Jaci also was interested in the cool train as well. So Josh opened the gifts and showed them Case. Casen really just wondered around playing with some new toy he got or a balloon. Or a box or a gift bag. You know, the fun things. ha!