A new addition...

I am so excited! We have a new addition to our family! After talking about it for quite some time and looking around for the best deal...we finally got it...an embroidery machine!!!!!!!! Yeah! A lady at our church just got a new fancy one (really fancy!) and was looking to get rid of her "old" one (7 years old-not too bad) and I snatched it up. I am really happy about it. Crazy, I know, some people would not get so excited over something to monogram with-but I am thrilled!

I have not gotten to play with it very much, but as soon as I master something, I will be displaying it for all to see. It does not have all of the new cute programs, but it will do to put initials on hairbows and names on backpacks (thinking about the future).

Thank you, those of you, who are jumping for joy in your hearts for me. You know the happiness that is in my heart for this little piece of machinery.

Baby Max Julian

Calling all prayer warriors...
Please visit this blog and read about baby Max Julian...http://julian-family.blogspot.com/. His Aunt Karie (a friend of mine from Harding University) is updating the site often. I know the family would appreciate your visit to the site, comments of encouragement, and prayers. Thanks.

Professor Henderson and a 6 month old

Well, my first night as a "professor" is over...I was so nervous, but I think it went okay. I was super prepared and planned WAY too much stuff to do. But, better to be overprepared than just sitting around twiddling thumbs...right? I looked extra snazzy in an outfit purchased this weekend when my mom and sister were here. My goal was to look "professional" but Matthew thought I looked "hot". Poor guy...he's been forced to see me in jeans/sweats/shorts and t-shirts for the past 6 months. I guess anything that is a little dressy qualifies as "hot" nowadays :).

My class (according to the schedule) goes from 7:05-9:35pm. During our break, one of the students (mind you, she is an ADULT) came up to me and requested that we get out at 9pm for the rest of the semester. Um...no. I told her I would do my best to get out a little early every night, but couldn't make any promises. Was I out of line? Should I have granted her wish? I have been a little paranoid about it ever since then. My thought was, this is graduate school, you knew the times when you signed up for it. Should I let them out by 9pm each night? There is just so much to cover and we only have 16 weeks. Oh, well, I guess next Tuesday night, if she is still there, then she doesn't hate me too much.

On another note, my baby is 6 months old today! It is so hard to believe! We went this afternoon and got her pictures taken. She was adorable. I should have them back next week and will post them on flickr. The following picture is a cute one that my sister took on the way home from church on Sunday (they are her sunglasses).

How funny is she! She certainly doesn't look like the angelic little girl that usually has her picture taken.

Speaking of the angel...she refuses to nap right now...sigh. I'm off to see who is going to win this battle.

Treadmill Dance

I have been trying to lose all of my baby weight. Maybe I should try this workout routine...it looks like fun and all of the guys sure are skinny :). Enjoy!

Why do grades matter so much?

As a teacher, it was one of my duties to give grades every nine weeks. No big deal. I was a fair teacher and gave grades that the students deserved. Occasionally, I would have an upset mom call or email me and let me know that her perfect child has scored less than perfect on the all important report card. She wanted to make me aware that I had made a mistake and needed to correct it right away. Ummm, no, I'm not going to make any corrections! I have the final say because I am the queen of the classroom.

While I was in school (K-12), I did fairly well. I wasn't the valedictorian or anything, but I did manage to get in the top 10%. (By the way, I was friends with the valedictorian AND the salutatorian...does that give me smart points just for knowing them?) Honestly, I never really gave grades or studying that much thought while in junior high or high school.

Then, I got to college. Boy did I have fun my freshman year! So much fun, in fact, that I received a phone call from my mom right after midterm grades had been mailed out to remind me that I needed to get in a little bit of study time if I wanted to continue my higher education. So, I buckled down (actually, not after the phone call, but sometime before my freshman year was over) and studied (some) and even made the Dean's list a semester or two. I did not get to wear any of the "special" cords at graduation, but let's not be picky...I really increased my GPA from my first semester of college and graduated right in the middle! (Those people who were below me must have had a lot of fun all four years! Oh to be them!)

When I went to apply for my first job, guess what they didn't do? They did not ask to see my college report card (aka transcript)! Shocking, I know. I wasn't trying to get into any graduate school or even apply for NASA, I was merely trying to be an elementary teacher. And I got the job. Miracle! I bet even those over-achievers who graduated from college with a 4.0 (in the education department) didn't have to show their spectacular grades either. They should have had a little more fun.

Now, when I went to graduate school, I was a little more serious and cared a little bit more. I actually did graduate with a 4.0, but 2 months later, had a baby, and she doesn't care at all. Actually, the only person who does care is: my mom (she is breathing a huge sigh of relief because I stepped it up since my undergraduate days). I am very happy to make her proud, but no one, again, is ever going to look and see my GPA...they are only going to look and see that I have a Master's degree-that is all they (and by they, I mean future employers) care about!

Have you ever been around those adults that like to compare ACT and SAT scores? They drive me insane! Newsflash-we are ADULTS!!!!! Our ACT and SAT days are long gone. Those scores do not matter anymore. If you want to compare things-don't start with standardized test scores!

I write all of this to make myself feel better today. For those of you that keep up with my blog (all 6 of you), you know that I have a job facilitating for PBS professional development classes. For the past 3 weeks I have been "training". Well, yesterday we got our first grades for our training. I was VERY disappointed in my grades! Now don' t think the worst of me yet, I have a solid "B" right now. But, I assumed I would be receiving a 100...sigh! I have not emailed my teacher yet to let her know of her mistake-that I received a less than perfect grade. If she is anything like me though, she is queen of her classroom and I had better just get over it.

Orange Beach 2006

We had a wonderful time on our trip! Here are a few pictures of the highlights. You can look at all of them by going to our flickr account. We got home really late last night and have spent the day resting up from our vacation :). I hope to update later on...laundry to do.