One September day, a long long time ago...

Today is my niece Addison's first birthday.  I can't wait to see that little girl dig into her smash cake or ham it up for the camera.  Til then, I'm going to share with you the story of her birthday, a story I'm sure will be told to her COUNTLESS times since it was quite a story!

Kara's due date was September 29 and still no Addi, so they told her they were going to induce her on the 30th.

If you can't read it, the onesie says "If you think I'm pretty, you should see my mommy."  Well, we can see your mommy, Addison, but we want to see you!!!

I woke up at 3:00am the morning of the 30th to the sounds of rain dripping into our bedroom.  It had been a really weird week of heavy rain several days in a row.  Jason and I tried to temporarily fix the window, and then decided to stay awake instead of trying to get back to sleep.

I got dressed and went to Millbrook that morning, because I was scheduled to teach and video my lesson that day for a grad school assignment.  I was supposed to teach all day, but worked out with the teacher that I would only stay for first period.  When the students were in lab, I kept running into the stock room to check my messages.  Had the baby come while I was teaching anatomy students about the bones of the legs and feet?  Nope, not yet.

I rushed home at 9:00am, changed into "people clothes" (vs. the "teacher clothes" I had been wearing) and waited for Jill to pick me up on her way east from Charlotte.  We were in heavy rain the whole ride to Washington, but we got there about 12:00 or 1:00.  Mama and Daddy called us to give us updates, and when we arrived at the hospital, there was still no Addison.

The rain kept getting worse and worse.  At one point, they made an announcement over the hospital intercom that one of the parking lots was flooding, so people needed to go move their cars.  At around 4:00, Daddy went home to feed Charley and let him out for a while.  By 6:00, Washington was flooded, and Daddy couldn't make his way back to the hospital.  By around 7:00, Washington was on a mandatory curfew.  No one was supposed to be on the streets, and emergency vehicles weren't going to be able to come help you if your car got flooded or if you ran off the road.  We were at the hospital... which meant we were going to have to stay at the hospital until the curfew ended at 6:00am the next morning.

Addison was born around 9:00 or so (I'm sure Kara and Kelly know the exact time), and we got to see her around 11:00 after she was cleaned and measured and all the other stuff they do to new babies.  After an hour or so of congratulations and talking about how beautiful Addison was, we were all ready for bed.

Proud papa showing us Addison through the viewing window

Um... but we were stuck at the hospital.  After some choice words with the hospital staff who told us we were all (about a dozen total Bowens and Davenports) going to have to sleep in the waiting room, we were eventually given cots and beds in the mostly-empty maternity ward.  Jill and I, two grown people, shared a TWIN hospital bed.  Not how I expected the day to go!

Driving back to Washington the next day after the waters had receded... yes, this is LESS water than there was on Addison's birth day

That little baby girl we saw that first day is quite different from the one who is turning one today.  She knows her parents and grandparents, runs around like crazy, has a love affair with shoes (like her Mama!), and looks forward to her walks (or rides, I guess) around the neighborhood in her stroller or wagon.  Ten years from now, 15 years from now, she'll be a whole different person again.  But that said, she'll still probably have to sit through several family members' versions of the story of the day she was born.

Day 1

At 9 months

Fun with Photoshop II

Since our Black and White outfits weren't quite as visually stunning as The Incredibles or tourists, Gabe decided to play around with photoshop.

Here we are at a rooftop party, drinking crazy-colored beverages out of flasks and beakers (naturally).





Gabe living the high life with his two ladies, Jill and Megan.





My department chair, Tina, wore her actual wedding dress.  I guess that's what inspired this "throwing the garter" picture.




Yep, we have some fun.  Sure, I had to give up my lunch break all this week, but to get these pictures, it was worth it.

Black and White Day

This could have meant anything.  To the Science Department, it meant "formal attire."  Some people just wore suits or church dresses.  Others... well, others went a bit more extreme!

By the way, I'm "smoking" a metal bar weight.  Science geek through and through!

Fun with Photoshop

Gabe took each of our pictures individually and then photo-shopped them together.    It's kind of hard to see everybody's expressions, but I think my favorite is Aaron's "I'm doing this, but I'm not so sure about it" expression (far right, beside me).

You Just Won the Superbowl, Now What Are You Going to Do?

We're going to Disney Land!

Wednesday was "Going to Disney" day, which meant we were all supposed to dress like tourists.  What makes a Disney tourist?  I'm glad you asked.

1) plaid shorts
2) Hawaiian shirt, not in the same color scheme as the shorts
3) dorky t-shirt (I went with my Back to the Future shirt) not in same color scheme as the shorts or the Hawaiian shirt
4) tall white socks
5) flip flops with the socks
6) Mickey ears or something in the same vein

What does this look like?  Something like this:

Gabe (the guy behind the pictures, far right) made all of our Disney hats.  The three East Building teachers (Shelly, Aaron, and I) were Huey, Dewey, and Louie.  I call this shot the "family photo" because we grouped all the mice together and all the ducks together.

Then we got silly... pretending like we're on a roller coaster at Disney.  This time, I actually MEANT to have my eyes closed!

The three duck triplets, over in Mongolia (the East Building feels forever far from the Main Building where the rest of the science department is).

The best part of the day is that I kept forgetting that I was wearing the duck hat... until I would see my shadow on the overhead screen!

Can It Get More Incredible?

In addition to our group shots yesterday, one of the science teachers set up a little mini photo shoot and took individual pics.  He also gave us superhero identities.  Here they are.  PS, the captions are the photographers, not mine.

Anatomy Female -- About to open a can of knowledge on yo posterior

APES (AP Environmental Science) Avenger -- Iconic.  There should be a waving flag behind him, but I'm not that good.

Forensics Enforcer -- She has this expression on her face like she is challenging the sun to a fight.

Biology Woman and her soon-to-be sidekick -- Don't you dare come near my baby!

Chemigal -- She's just too happy to stop crime.

Earth Science Man -- Oddly happy about something.

Earth Science Woman who also does copies (he was struggling for titles at this point) -- Posing and pondering life's greatest mysteries.

Earth Physical Woman -- Not a person to run into in a dark alley.

Chemical Boy -- Has that hunger that only a deep dish pizza can satisfy.  

PS, that's the photographer.  THIS picture was taken my yours truly.  Yep, a Canon 7D fancy camera like Jason has... not too shabby, eh?

Biology Fantastico -- Hit you with the right.

Physics Man -- His spider sense in tingling.   So he better hurry because  getting into and out of these costumes can take a long time.

So that's some more from Tuesday.  Today, we were Disney tourists.  I'm waiting on pictures (I didn't take a lot today) and then I'll post them.  Let's just say one of my students saw me on the stairs today and nearly fell down the stairs laughing.  I didn't think I looked THAT bad!

"Incredible" Science Teachers

Spirit Week, day two.  It was Superheroes/Supervillains Day, and the Science Department decided to dress as the Incredibles.

Before school, I practiced some of my superhero poses.

"Don't mess with me" pose/"Why am I smiling?" pose

Stoic pose (if only I had wind in my hair)

Fighting pose?  Flying pose?

Candids before the big photo shoot.

Shelly doing the Mrs. Incredible pose 

Aaron and Charlie practicing the hands-on-hips pose

And finally... the group shot!

Yep, we are a force to be reckoned with.  And yes, Mom, all those people are science teachers.  Slightly larger than Jamesville's 2-person department, huh?

Double Mint... x 10

It's finally time!!!!  It's Spirit Week, and the Science Department takes it VERY seriously!

Monday was Twin Day, and the department got shirts made to go with khaki pants.  Here I am on my way to school.

Here's some other members of the department.  No, I'm not in the picture.  I had students making up tests in my room after school.  Oh well, there's always Tuesday...

Arboretum... Again

It's amazing to me that no matter how many times Jason and I take photos at the Arboretum, I still manage to find new things.  Yes, this is another post of flower pictures...

I watched this little buddy struggle to pull that flower back to his house for about five minutes.  Go, little buddy, go!

Weird-shaped flower... anyone know the name?

I liked this one with the bricks in the background

Reflection as I walked along the stepping stones

G-Money's Engaged, Woo!

Last week, I went to Gretchen and Jeremy's engagement party in Windsor.  I got to see some old friends (like Melody and Gretchen) and make some new ones (like Melody's roommates and friends Gretchen talked about for years that I finally got to meet).

I had a blast -- explaining to the non-country-folk what Brunswick stew and stewed potatoes were, shag dancing (or at least faking it) and doing the cha-cha slide.  I actually had so much fun that I forgot to take pictures until the end of the night when we were leaving!  Here are a few...

Center: Gretchen and Jeremy, as well as some college friends (like me and Melo, and G's former roomies Jess and E), church buddies (Becky, Sarah, Meg, Sarah, Adam), and Jeremy's friend Chris

Melody and I with "Mama D" (Miss Diane), the proud Mama of the Bride

Me and Melo

Tasty Treats of Deliciousness

If necessity is the mother of all invention, going away for the weekend is like the eccentric uncle.  Last Thursday night, I looked at my newly-opened 2-liter Diet Dr. Pepper and knew it would be flat when I got back from Jamesville.  I needed to drink a lot of it, and after dinner I still had a lot to go.

Enter the Moose Tracks ice cream.  No, the ice cream wouldn't go bad over the weekend, but since Jason was staying in Raleigh near our freezer, I knew the chances of seeing that ice cream post-weekend were slim.

The whipped cream?  Um... we had it, and I thought it would be delicious (it was).  The end result?  Voila!!!!

It was like a delicious vanilla float... with surprise peanut butter cups at the end (from the ice cream).  Soooo good!  Jason came home from pool night and caught me red-handed.  If he hadn't, I think I would have been really tempted to make a second float!

My name is Megan, and I approve of this float.

Trip to the Mountains

Jason and I headed to Nebo over Labor Day weekend to visit the family and to travel to Cataloochee (part of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park).  We were excited to see that LWC (Little Winston Churchill) had turned into a happy little kiddo in the four months since we had seen him last.

Fellas in hats

So glad to see a smile on his face!

To get to Cattaloochee, we had to drive down dirt-and-gravel one-lane roads with hairpin turns and steep drop offs.  Not the most relaxing drive!  The Mazda was a trooper, surviving the stressful road with other dirt to show for it.

We ended up driving three vehicles, so here's the whole crowd once we all got there:  Beth and Jake, Jason (and me, who's taking the picture), Benny and Jody, and Sawyer and Sara.

It was hazy, but Jason and I enjoyed the view.

Did I mention I had a cutie-pie nephew?