Author: Andrea

    I Love Birthdays

    Birthdays were always a big deal in my family. We have lots of pictures of birthdays I don’t even remember. My first birthday memory is mini-golfing on a freezing cold, rainy, windy day at the end of August (remember, we lived in Wisconsin). Another vivid memory is my thirteenth birthday when my mom created a scavenger hunt at the mall for me and two friends. My eighteenth birthday was a fun karaoke party with the whole swim team. After getting married, Jesse planned a surprise twenty-third birthday party at a park with lots of our college friends.

    This year I celebrated my last year of being in my twenties. We spent the weekend in Wisconsin with my whole family. My mom cooked my favorite meal. We made homemade ice cream, and I got great presents. On my actual birthday my co-workers celebrated me with Starbucks coffee, cupcakes, and fun gifts. Jesse brought home flowers, and we went out to dinner and a movie. I also got lots of fun phone calls, e-mails, and Facebook messages. As the month of August approaches, you will often hear me say…”I love birthdays!”

    My dad and I after eating my black raspberry cobbler “birthday cake”. Yummo!

      Where Have All The Bloggers Gone?

      Not only do I blog myself, but I keep up with a lot of other people’s blogs. Some of them are blogs about things I am interested in (gardening, marriage, reading). Others are blogs about people I like to keep in touch with (family, friends, strangers I like to stalk).

      This summer I have noticed a decrease in the blogging world. You probably have noticed a lack of posts on this blog. Part of the reason is summer and everyone’s busyness, but I think part of the reason is people are not communicating as often through blogs.

      Why do you think this is? For myself, I found that I had little to share with people in person because everyone was reading my blog. I also would often be surprised when people would mention something I wrote about because I didn’t realize they were even reading The Sutherland Road.

      The real reason I haven’t blogged since May is that I got behind. Things kept happening and adventures began, and I couldn’t keep up. I didn’t even know where to start. But when I did blog in May, I was encouraged to see all of the readers who were checking in on my site, and I have had some requests for more posts. So…here I am…this blogger has come back.

        Growing Things…

        When we moved into our house, I bought this hanging basket.

        Growing up, my mom always planted her flower bed Memorial Day weekend, but she never enjoyed gardening. I have slowly taken on gardening as a fun hobby.

        Behind our house we have a perennial garden that I inherited from the previous owner of our home. I have since ripped out ALL of the spreading plants and tried to replace them with things that I enjoy. My greatest accomplishment is that I now know what is a perennial and what is a weed.

        On the side of our house, I have four raised beds. I have grown tomatoes, carrots, green peppers, green beans, yellow squash, carrots, strawberries, basil, and cilantro. This year I am filling them with strawberries, green peppers (grown from seed), potatoes, and green beans (my first attempt at pole beans).

        Closer to the front I started a black raspberry patch. You can find out why by reading this post.

        In the front I have two planters and a hanging basket which I like to fill with annuals. This summer I am also attempting sunflowers.

        In addition to all of my plants, I have started using a rain barrel for watering and composting for soil.

        The funny thing is each year I start from scratch as I never really remember what I did the year before. This year I am starting a garden journal. I am jotting down quick notes about what I planted and when. Hopefully, this will help me make better decisions from year to year.

          Change…

          This has been a difficult school year for me. I have loved teaching second grade for the sixth time, but I was beginning to find myself more frustrated by the little things and complaining on a more regular basis. I know these things are heart attitudes and I needed some adjustment, but Jesse and I also started having conversations about doing something different.

          Right before spring break, I found out that the media specialist at my school was leaving our library. In December of 2010 I finished my master’s degree from Mankato in the middle of a blizzard. You can read about that adventure here. Spring break gave Jesse and I the perfect opportunity to talk about next year at Diamond Path.

          In the fall I will no longer be a second grade teacher at Diamond Path. Instead I will be taking over as the library media specialist at Diamond Path. I will teach first through fifth grade students library skills and a love of reading and books. I am very excited but also very nervous. Thankfully, when I told my class of second graders, they boosted my confidence…because they cheered!

           

            Magic Kingdom…

            I need to keep posting because I am quickly falling behind on documenting our adventures.

            We spent our third day at Magic Kingdom…classic Walt Disney World.

            Our favorite rides included Space Mountain and Splash Mountain. Jesse was devastated to find out Big Thunder Mountain was closed for remodeling. We snacked on Dole Whip and waited in the longest line for the smallest glass of water.

            Throughout our trip, Jesse began to admire the vision of Walt Disney, and the brand he worked so hard to create. We relaxed on a railroad ride around the park and enjoyed a spooky ride through the Haunted Mansion. The visit would not have been complete without a spectacular fireworks show on a balmy Florida evening. It snowed Monday in Minnesota, so I am especially missing the warmth and magic of our trip.

              Hollywood Studios…

              The next day we headed to Hollywood Studios…previously MGM Studios. This was our favorite Disney park. We mastered the FastPass and rode lots of fun roller coasters. We started the day on the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. It goes 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds.

               

              We also rode a couple of rides that made me feel a bit queasy. The Star Wars ride and the Tower of Terror were not my favorite! I didn’t even try Mission: Space.

              We really enjoyed the shows at this park. We saw Lights, Motor, Action. The stunts were amazing. We also saw Beauty and the Beast, The Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, and American Idol Live. American Idol was really fun as they had live singers audition and perform in front of a live audience. We then got to vote for the vocalist who moved on to the finale evening performance.

              We finished the day at Hollywood Studio’s evening show of Fantasia. It had awesome effects, fireworks, characters, and favorite Disney tunes.

                The Happiest Place on Earth…

                Jesse and I spent spring break at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. We spent one day at each of the Disney parks and an extra day reading next to the pool. The weather was great. The time together was refreshing. We had a blast.

                Our first day we visited Epcot.

                After entering the park, we went straight to the most popular rides…Soarin’ and Test Track. Test Track takes you through different tests they do in creating cars and Soarin’ flies you above the scenery of California. Jesse also braved Mission: Space, but with my history of motion sickness, I decided to sit out.

                We appreciated being in Epcot during the Flower and Garden festival. Horticulturalists made organic creations of lots of different Disney characters.

                We at lunch in “Germany” and enjoyed seeing the “streets” of many different countries.

                We had a few sprinkles while we were listening to a Canadian celtic band, but we had a bench spot under an umbrella. The rain stopped by the end of the show.

                We were tired at the end of the first day but ready for another day of action at Hollywood Studios.

                  Introducing…

                  On March 5, 2012 my brother and Alaina welcomed Roman Eli Lashbrook into our family.

                  We had been waiting for his arrival since February 16. Knowing our busy schedule in March, Jesse and I decided to head to Neenah for a weekend visit even though Alaina was not in labor. Saturday morning we headed to Cedar Grove for a visit. We enjoyed a walk, dinner together (at Texas Roadhouse of course), and playing games.

                  Early Sunday morning we began receiving texts that Roman was on his way. My parents headed to Cedar Grove right away, and Jesse and I packed up and relaxed throughout the morning. In the early evening everyone headed to the hospital, and Jesse and I joined my dad for the vigil. At 2 AM Jesse and I decided we needed some sleep and headed to the hotel for the night. The next morning we awoke to no news, so we headed back to the hospital. Roman decided to wait until 4:21 PM to join us.

                  Coming Home from the Hospital with Grandma Lashbrook

                  You may notice that there are no photos of Jesse and I with Roman. 🙁 Because we had to work on Tuesday, Jesse and I headed back to Minnesota at 4 PM on Monday, March 5 and didn’t get to meet our adorable nephew. We were so sad but are looking forward to meeting him this coming Easter. More pictures to follow.

                    Two hours…

                    My friend recently got a sign that says, “Snow Please…I’m A Teacher”. Last winter Minnesota had well over 80″ of snow. We had two storms classified as blizzards and LOTS of snow, but all of the snow happened on the weekends or days off from school, so we had no late starts or snow days.

                    This week they were predicting a huge snow for the Twin Cities on Tuesday into Wednesday. All the teachers I know started crossing their fingers. As it rained all day onTuesday our hopes were dashed. I was out and about on Tuesday night as the rain began to shift to snow, and the puddles became ice. I slept with my phone by my bed.

                    At 5:45 A.M. the phone to rang to announce a glorious late start. School was delayed for two precious hours. It truly is the simple things in life…two hours that make my day.

                      To Do List…

                      At the end of every school year, I start the summer with a to do list of all the house projects I want to complete before the next school year begins. These projects usually involve deep cleaning, errand running, and decorating…things I usually need time to sit down and think about.

                      Last summer, I only completed one of the projects on my to do list: deep cleaning the entryway. This involved taking my area rug to be cleaned (this took 4 weeks…long story), vacuuming out the entryway closet, thoroughly cleaning the baseboards and banisters, and repairing cracks and repainting the wall going upstairs. I intended to get the area above the closet decorated, but I am still working on this.

                      If my summer to do list remains undone, it usually waits for the next summer. But this year, I have actually been motivated to continue some of my projects. I deep cleaned our laundry/utility room and re-organized one of the downstairs linen closets.

                      Another project on my list is photo albums. My mother-in-law always prints out pictures from each year and puts them together into an album. I enjoy computers, but it is nice to look at photos in an album or photo book, and it is so much easier to share those photos with other people. For one of our anniversaries, I started this project for Jesse and I but never continued it. This winter I began again. I am now current through 2009 including some of our big vacations.

                      But, of course, every project has multiple steps. Every time I look at the photo albums, I have to take them off the shelf to determine what year I am looking at, so I have also always wanted to label them in a cute way. On President’s Day, I enjoyed a day off making labels for my photo albums. If only I didn’t have two more years to finish before I can check this item off of my to do list…