Look Below

I wrote quite a few posts. A good blogger would probably spread the wealth out, but I am a very busy blogger with no internet at my home right now. You might ask how we are surviving :)

On another note, Denver boasts 300 days of sunshine a year. I would just like to say that it has pretty much used up its allocated 65 days in the past several weeks. During May, it would be sunny all week and then pour on the weekend when I could finally enjoy it. Now that I'm done with school, it just rains all the time. This has proved difficult trying to move our stuff.

Now before you Texans start telling me I'm a wimp, I know. And that's why I (mostly) like Denver.

The Clever One

So Cuddles the Clever has recently proved just how conniving a kitten can be. I guess she didn't survive as the runt for nothing! Here is a picture of her in our apartment bathroom sink. She took it over a couple months ago when she decided she liked to drink running water. Apparently the water bowl wasn't cutting it. Her routine had become when we got home she would run for the bathroom and jump up on the counter meowing til her thirst was quenched. When we would fill up their food and water bowl, she would stand by the sink waiting to lick the remaining droplets from the faucet.

Eric was not a fan. So he decided that we were not going to let her drink out of the bathroom sink at our new home. I a-okayed and that was that.

ha ha ha.

Late last night, Cuddles the Clever started meowing. I followed her to her food and water bowl and noticed that their water had gotten a little dirty. When I picked up her water bowl, she stopped meowing, and I went to fill it up. As I was filling it up in the bathroom sink, she came bounding in and jumped eagerly up to the faucet. That was all she wanted.

As I told Eric, we can never fill their water up from the kitchen sink!

Our Family's First Night....

in our new home! It was a pretty exhausting day. We attempted to move some bedroom furniture around.. but tiredness won out! Remind me to never again fix up a house to move into and plan to leave the country in the same week!

Here is the man behind the beautiful kitchen in our new home. I am slightly afraid that he will be left with quite the mess to deal with when I fly away. And I am very happy he let me document him in a first night picture :)
These are the kittens who were not very happy with us when we moved them in the rain. I think they are going to be okay though. This morning they just ran around my feet meowing. I felt like a mother with toddler twins.

Dorks and Dip Fun

On Saturday night, Eric and I went to our friend Allie's house ready to celebrate all things dorkish. It was a lot of fun!

Eric pulled out a Berkner Band shirt... said he'd have no problem being a dork with his wardrobe! We played some good ol games like Around the World (Eric rocked it!)

We also played some old school video game... Mario maybe? (Apparently I do not have the same skills as my husband has to draw from... )

And most importantly (besides eating some rasberry salsa that took me back to college days), we discovered that Sarah is a gamer!

Settlin Settlers

I settled the score. yep.

Saturday night Eric and I joined some of our friends for a rousing came of Settlers of Catan. If you know what I'm talking about you're probably saying "Oh yeah!" If you don't know, you should play with us sometime. And if you're groaning, well then you're probably just Sarah or Susan.

Anyways, as all settler players know, there are six people that can play with the expansion pack, but we had seven. So Eric generously offered that we would be one person together (you know that whole marriage thing).

And so, it was my turn. And I used it.

"Eric, just stop talking!"

See, back in 2004, when Eric and I first started dating, we were introduced to the game by our dear friends Julie and Chase. Since many people were present, we were placed on the same team. In the game, you trade resources and another players asked if we had what they needed. I answered affirmatively and received a serious rebuke from Eric- "Nicole, just stop talking!

How we have laughed about it... and 5 years later we were finally on the same team again!

There might only be a couple of people who can appreciate this story, so I dedicate this to you.

Love you Eric!

A Child's View of My Class

Today our students wrote letters to the new first graders (for the next school year). They offered their advice and told them what to look forward to. They were all cute... here is one example (no changes... my helpful interpretations will be in italics).

Dear First Graders,

It is fun her! You'l git to lite a litebolb up! I think you no apowt know about fun Friday You will play with something cold oblick oobleck- think Dr. Suess! I-
t is green woter exept it is sticky and win you scwes it... it sticks mar! For Riggs som of you wil go nextor next door! Just thin-
ck if arte is fun pe P.E. is funer! Yven Even because thers alot of fun you gus guys stil haft to folo the rols be kind always be safe be a good listener and be respec-
tful to everyone to...

From one of my students that I will miss!!

I think the word breaks were the best! Other letter comments included... don't worry writing isn't scary (yay!); don't steal sticky tak (a not so fun this year adventure); what I like about school is math because I like when we take tests (we'll see if that continues...); and you should eat lunch even if it's gross (we actually have good food too!). I will miss these kiddos!

3 more days!!

One Room Down

Inspired by the fact that we had a house guest coming to live with us last weekend, Eric and I successfully finished the guest room. And I have to admit, getting some of my furniture in there was definitely a moral boost!

Witness the transformation...

from this:


to this: