Blog Addresses

Hello Friends, A couple months ago I changed the design of our blog, and, sadly, lost all of your blog addresses. I feel SO out of the loop. Could you please send us the URL for your blog (via email or comment on this post). Can't wait to see what you are all up to. Thanks, Kelly

My New Favorite Picture

St. Patricks Day

Savannah wore her favorite shirt to school on St. Patrick's day... Minne Mouse.

Savvy acting shy.

Savvy's showing Mommy her shirt.
Savvy looking at her shirt saying, "Hi Minnie Mouse!"
And, I caught this one at school. When I went back to get the photo for the blog I thought... Gross!
When did whe start picking her nose! I guess she wanted to wear more green.

Savannah's First Hair Cut

On Saturday I took Savannah with me to get my hair done. She was a hand full, but after a while really loved it there. Everyone was so nice to her and even gave her a lolly pop. They showed me how to cut Savannah's hair. I just wanted to even everything and they gave me the confidence that this is something I could do myself. So, when I got home I did it!

Brian was really worried that I was going to mess up, but it was so simple. It came out perfectly even. Her hair was really long in the back was shorter in the front, but now it is the same length all around. I saved the first snip, tied a ribbon around it and put it away in her keep sake box.

Savannah wasn't too happy about getting her picture taken- she is so shy.

The FINAL product. She is leaning forward, but it really is completely even. She still has her curls, but when I blow dry it it flips up all the way around.

Tomato

Savvy saw a big, red tomato in the refrigerator and really wanted to eat it. I explained that it wasn't an apple (just in case that was the point of confusion). She was dead set on eating it. Brian asked if we should take it from her, but I thought, surely after she take a bite she will realize it is not an apple and give it back. Well, nope. She loved it. She at the entire thing. Now she loves to eat them all the time. However, they are really messy so I have to strip her down to a diaper when she gets one.

Dressing Up

Savannah got a bunch of dress up clothes from Auntie Lisa. She loves all of it, but especially those white beaded high heels and the red purse.

Valentines Day Party

Friends in our ward through a Valentines Day Party. It was super fun and Savannah loved it- Especially the bounce house. She love looking through the valentines day bad and looking at the valentine's and eating the candy.

Auntie's Funeral

Auntie's funeral was a while ago, but I wanted to mention it on my blog. All the details from the day, including photos, are on her ALS blog.

It was a touching and surreal day. I was asked to give the prayer at the luncheon and prepare all the snacks for the family's cars to the grave site. My friend Emily helped me shop for the stuff and pack the coolers. Peter came in from Dallas- looking handsome as always. Peter, Matt and my Dad were all pallbearers. My Mom spoke and told funny old stories. Savvy, of course, wore a huge, puffy Luann's dress (I thought Auntie would like that).

Peter's new look was fake black rimmed glasses. It's just for looks, but it totally adds to his new reporter image. Next thing you know he will be changing into his superhero outfit in a phone booth :)

Friends

A neighbor of ours is the lead singer in a country band. I always thought, OK, ya, lots of people are in bands. However, it turns out that he is in a really popular band. He invited Brian and I to watch them at the House of Blues in Anaheim, Down Town Disney. Brian stayed home with Savvy and I went out with my girlfriend. It's so neat that after almost 8 years I still have 3 great friends from high school- all three were bridesmaids at my wedding.

Rainy Day

A couple weeks ago it was really raining on a Wednesday. This is the day I work from home so we go outside and play a lot. Usually she rides her tricycle or we take Lilly for long walks. Since we were stuck inside we had a reading day. I set up her table and chair in the living room, made a big stack of books and we made it a game of going through the big stack. After a while she became very independent and wanted to read the supper small books on her own. By the way, I just love her big soft hoodie that she is wearing in the photo. Super cute!

A long Day

I snapped this photo because it was just too cute. After a day full of activities and school Savannah wanted to eat her dessert (pudding) on the couch. It just screamed, "Give me a break, I've had a long day".

Chapman Cubical

It's not fancy, but it's mine. I was given a office space for office hours with students. It's exciting to be moving towards this new carear. I am looking forward to someday being a tenured Professor... someday, but this is the first step.

Lesson Learned

I realized that I tend to always tell everyone about the good stuff when it comes to grant writing. However, I have hit a couple speed bumps lately. I have been trying to fund a new asset building program, but needed seed money of 1 million. So, technically this wasn't grant writing, and more like fundraising (aka begging). Asking for money face to face is just the worst. Imagine just me on one side of the massive board room table with two people on the other side. They ask how much do you need, and I have to throw out a number. This is actually a very strategic conversation- reading the room, their enthusiasm for the project and considering their financial situation. Today, was an off day- nothing went right in this meeting. Nothing is worse than asking for money and getting an immediate response of NO. It's just awkard- how do you wrap that up? How do you leave and still save face? It's awful. I rather just sit on the couch and write grants then go beg for money in person- it's AWFUL!

A Dream Come True

I started teaching at Chapman two week ago and absolutely love it. I was first asked to teach Personal Finance through the Business school and later was notified about a Non-profit/Non-governmental Policies and Practices course in the Education department.

It might seem over dramatic to say, but it's truly a dream come true. After years of studying, applying to schools, networking and strategizing it's finally happened. I remember in my Junior year during my undergrad when I announced to my family I was going to be a college professor someday. Peter responded with something along the lines that being a college professor is difficult (getting the sense that he felt I wasn't capable of doing it). Although Peter doesn't remember saying it, it really fueled me through all the long nights, papers, exams and hours of classes.

After my first personal finance lecture I got this email from a student:

Dear Professor Rogers,

I just wanted to say thank you for an awesome class today. I am more than looking forward to the rest of the semester! I cannot tell you how much of a breath of fresh air your teaching style is in comparison to other professors. I am thoroughly interested in personal finance and I KNOW that this class is going to push me in the right direction with my new financial responsibilities.

Sincerely,
Lauren F

She probably has no idea how much it means to me, but I am having this email framed. I will always keep it hanging in my office to remind me why I wanted to teach and the impact I want to have on the world.

Recent Readings

I have been reading a lot about k-12 educational reform. Something that has caught my interest is the voucher programs that allow parents to use public funds to send their children to the school of their choice (public or private).

I find this topic fascinating since all that I have really heard on the surface is that it doesn't improve academic performance and financially hurts schools. Well, that all crap. Looking at all the empirical research done 16 out of 17 geographic regions participating are having a positive affects on academic performance. The one region that is having no visible affects is Washington D.C.- which is the only program that is designed to not include the component of competition between schools.

As parents and tax payers it is worth reading more- check out www.edchoice.org. (Full disclosure- this is a site funding by the Friedman Foundation).

Friends

I am SO lucky to have amazing friends. They are all so kind, so caring, so sweet, so thoughtful, so giving, and so supportive.

Just a few people on my mind...

Bekka came to my Aunt's funeral service in the middle of a work day. She calls and cheers me up and helps me be me. She baked the cupcakes for Savannah's birthday party and helped set-up and clean up. She is always there for big events- baby showers, birthdays, book signings- and is the first one there and the last to leave.

Desiree came over and watched Savannah today when my meeting was moved up an hour. She waited until my new sitter came and explained everything to her. She comes to our family events and even gives me legal advice when I have a questions for work/personal stuff.

Emily came over to help me pack coolers with treats for the cars heading to my Aunt's funeral- all at a moments notice. She is always there and will send me happy, uplifting texts randomly. She is one of those people that are never down and always cheers everyone up. She has been to every major event in my life- always helping. She's always been the motherly friend in my life.

Erica is there when ever I need her. She inspires me to meet my potential and try even harder. She comes to help for parties and always helps me out in bind (like babysitting while I am out of town on business). She has remembered my birthday since I was 13 and is just always there.

Jill gave me a friendship bracelet today that she made me for my birthday. She is such a happy person and when I am around her she simply makes me feel good.

Kristine and Robin put on a Valentine's Day party today for the little kids. They had a bounce house, crafts, valentines and fun treats for the kids. It was obvious they put lots of time and effort to make a special event for all the kids and moms. Savannah had a wonderful time and I am so glad we were invited.

Leslie works with me at CCCS-OC and helps with EVERYTHING. She's fun and full of life. She reminds me to be happy and live life to the fullest. After Brian's accident I got behind making the decorations for Savvy's b-day party and she came over to help me at the last minute.

Lisa (my cousin) has become an even greater friend over the past couple of months. She helps me with Savannah and is just a a great sounding board for problems. She always has incredible ideas for saving money and takes beautiful pictures for our family.

Natalie works with me at CCCS-OC but helps me with last minute details for reports, helps me work through ideas and is the best source to vent work issues. She inspires me to be a better mom.

My life is crazy with all my commitments- and everyone knows it. When people say, "I don't know how you do it"- The real answer is that I don't do it all and usually I am just barely hanging in there. It's all my incredible friends and family that love and support me that really makes everything happen. I wish that I could do for them as much as they do for me.

My Auntie

Yesterday I was privileged to be with my cousins, my Uncle and my mom when my Aunt took her last breaths. She was there when I took my first breath and I was there when she took her last. It was the most beautiful and spiritual moment of my life.

The thing that makes me most sad is thinking of how much my mom will miss her.

My cousin Mark made a beautiful video of her life. It is on her ALS bloghttp://myalsjourney.blogspot.com/.

I will miss her, but am so glad she is no longer in pain. Watching her go through this trial has strengthened my testimony and changed my life. I have written my personal feelings/thoughts/experience in my journal so I can always look back on yesterday and remember the strong feeling of the spirit as she left this earth.

I love you Auntie.

Savannah and Beckham's 2nd Birthday Party

Savannah's birthday is on January 13th, 2009 born at 8:40 am. My cousin's youngest son Beckham was born on January 13th, 2009 at about 2 pm. They share the same birthday and since my cousin is living in Brea to help care for my Aunt we thought it would be a super idea to have a joint birthday party. What better theme for a boy and girl turning TWO than a Mickey and Minnie Mouse theme.

It's not too hard to believe that I got totally overboard for everything, but especially for holidays and birthdays. I like that homemade feeling so I spent a couple weeks getting this all together. However, since Brian was in a car accident just 5-days before I lost a lot of time for crafting. A couple of my friends from work helped with the last minute stuff and a couple others helped with the food. Thank goodness Bekka, Erica, Mom and Dad came a couple hours early since Brian could barely move. In order to get the party in the condo, I had to move our entire bedroom (that is currently in the dining room) out to the garage. After that I was able to start getting everything set up- needless to say I was literally running to get it all done.

When everyone arrived they got to wear their own set of Mickey ears that we made. Savannah had the cutest clip-on Minnie Ears and still asks to wear them almost every day. I also had special shirts made for Savannah and Beckham and the Mom's and Dads.

This is Lisa and her son Beckham. We are each other's only girl cousins and have grown very close- like sisters. She is a professional photographer and did double duty at the party as Mom/Photographer and took all the pictures.

The kids table was one of my favorite parts. I glued the plates to make a Mickey head, put juice and special Mickey straw on one ear and the cupcake on the other. The goody bags were a lot of fun to make and were filled with Mickey stickers, Mickey toys, and candy. All the tables in the house had Mickey Confetti (with the number 2 punched in them) that looked great against the yellow, black and red linens.

Bekka (my separated-at-birth friend) made the red velvet cupcakes and frosted them with cream cheese frosting. Erica (my for-always-and-ever friend) helped dress them up with a decorative cupcake wrapper I made and then topped them over with Mickey and Minnies.

My Aunt Caroline was able to come and Savvy was SO happy. She loves her Auntie Grandma, and loves to say her name "AUNTIE GRANDMA!" just as much.

All of Savannah's friend from nursery came and a couple of their older siblings were their too (including Lisa's older children). We ate costco pizza, cesar salad, snack foods and the red velvet cupcakes.

I was SO happy that my friends were able to come. I am so grateful to have amazing friends that support and love me so much.

Savannah is shy and gets worried when crowds of people sing. So, she cried when we sang Happy Birthday, but was excited to blow out her candle. Of course she LOVED the frosting!

I love this happy birthday sign. I ran out of yellow ribbon but it was supposed to match everything else.

I strung ribbon for streamers and made these really cute hanging ribbon decorations tied to the curtain rods.

This is my special shelf that I decorate differenly each month. For January I put up all the Mickey stuff. I made the red Mickey head with foam balls and red tissue paper.

The pinata was such a fun activity. My Cousin Lisa and her husband made it the night before. They are such crafty people. I can't beleive it was just something they threw together. It was amazing!

Lots of Presents!

Savannah Loves her GAMMY!

I love these pictures of Lisa and Beckham. So cute!

When Brian and I first saw the photos of Beckham and Savannah we laughed. They looked like an old married couple... kind of annoyed with each other.

The Daddy's.

Savannah was terrified by this giant blown up Mickey. She would get so nervous when it would get any where near her and freak out. Beckham loved him and tossed him all over the house.