Fruit Baskets

Well, I was surprised at Christmas when I got a fruit basket, and joked about feeling old, well for teacher appreciation every teacher and support staff member was given a fruit basket. I guess we are all old - or all live in fancy hotels :)

I did get the largest pear I had ever seen in my life from Korean student. In addition, I got some quiwi fruit, some oranges, some apples, some grapes, some peanuts, some peppermints, and a grape fruit. It all sounds so good since I am dieting. I do not have a scale right now (I threw it away as I was too frustrated with it last fall - I did not like the numbers I was seeing) so I am judging my weight loss by how a certain pair of pants fits.

Pray for will power as Monday was snack day and the teacher's lounge is full of snacks, snacks, and more snacks. Tomorrow is school supply day. At least that does not contain calories :)

R.V. and Boat Show

This evening we went to the R.V. and Boat Show. We heard an announcement that there was going to be a fashion show and cooking demo. (as it was ladies night) so of course that perked Emily's attention. On the way to the fashion show, we walked by a casting contest for kids. I urged her to try, even though she was hesitant. The woman at the desk, said come on, they will show you what to do, so she obliged and gave it a try. Much to our surprise, she ended up being the winner of the evening. She got 100 points and that won her a medal, a fishing pole, a target to practice with and a spot at the Kentucky State Bass Master's kids casting contest. Wow! It will be sometime this fall. Thus, she has plenty of time to really learn what she is doing. A friend of ours from school has a pond on their property, so I will talk to them about having her go out there and practice.

I also won a prize - the movie The Guardian. Sounds more like one that Doug would like, but will have to watch it one weekend night after the kids are in bed.

The movie, fishing pole, balloons the kids got, and coloring books more than paid for the admission price of $16.00. Of course the camera was in my purse, but it was dead, so we could not take any pictures of Emily or Michael casting or Emily getting her awards. Oh well, our memory will have to be good on this one.

We had been looking for some activitiy for Emily to do, since she decided not to play softball and swimming does not fit our vacation schedule very well, maybe fishing will be the thing :)

A Classroom Funny

Last week I was trying to teach my class about compound words. For some reason, they were having trouble grasping the concept. After 5 minutes of beating my head against the wall, one girl raised her hand and said "Father". I said, "No, fath and er were not words." She very seriously said, "Yes, fat and her are words, so it is a compound word." I laughed and said, "yes they are words, but would you call your father a fat her?" The whole class then laughed. "I said you might call him a fat him, but not a fat her. I then quickly said, I hope you would never call your father a fat him either." Wow! First graders sure keep you on your toes.

scrapbooking

Emily and I spent quite a bit of time this weekend scrapbooking. Doug and Michael were working on floors at Gene and Holly's house. Michael spent quality time with grandma and grandpa while Doug worked. Since Emily had a birthday party to go to, I stayed back with her. We watched movies and scrapbooked the weekend away. It was nice to sit back and relax, although now I have to catch up on laundry and all the other stuff that I neglected. Oh well. That is the way it goes sometimes.

Tonight I do have a great feeling! I finished scrapbooking 2006 :) Now my goal is to keep up with 2007 and spend time going back and finishing the years between 1998 and 2006. I have a good start on 2005 :) but still have some pictures to locate in albums and boxes. I sit back and laugh at myself now, as I got scrapbook stuff when Emily was born as a gift and I gave it away after a few years saying I did not really think I would have time for that or really enjoy it. Now I wish I had some of that stuff back, especially the good album I was given. Oh well. That is what I get for giving something away. :)

The kids have really gotten into scrapbooking, the only problem is getting 3 copies of pictures does get kind of expensive. I just picked up 160+ pictures from Walmart and have more to go as I realized I forgot a disk. Oh well. That is the way it goes. I guess they could have more expensive hobies. I just dont' know where we will put all the scrapbooks that they fill - they work pretty quickly.

100th Day of School

Well, here it is the end of January already. I am getting ready to celebrate the 100th day of school with my 1st graders. Wow! Where did the time go? Tuesday I will have my students bring in 100 of an item (m&m's, marshmallows, q-tips, leggos, Barbie shoes...) and we will do all kinds of activities with the items. In addition, we will explore the number 100. I wish we had done a 100 day celebration when I was in school - it is a lot of fun. Our Principal even dresses up as 0 Hero and leads the kindergarteners and 1st graders on a counting trip around our school.

School is not all we have been up to. This weekend was a girl's weekend. Emily and I spent the weekend scrapbooking and watching movies while Doug was helping Gene install flooring in their house. Michael went along to Grandma and Grandpa's house for some quality time. Emily and I have watched How to Eat Fried Worms, Hoot, and a BAbysitter's Club Movie. Today I think another movie is on the adjenda for after Church. I think I have almost finished scrapbooking 2006 :) All I have left is Christmas and I hope to finish that today. Then it will be beginning on 2007 and then the hard job - sorting and doing the years 1998 until 2005. It will be fun to relive the memories, but hard to decide what to take out of photo albums.

Other things that have happened this January include Emily playing intermural basketball. She is enjoying it. She especially likes guarding one of her best friends. It is funny to watch the two girls - they stick to eachother like glue. I dont' know what they care about most - sticking with one another and waving their arms around or catching the ball. :) Next week is their last game.

Happy 2007!

Christmas Re-Cap

middle - Playing Monopoly at mom and dad's house. Greg was the winner.

Right - two proud daddies - Gene, Andrew, Greg & Naomi

Left - Emily & Michael at alone creek



Well, here it is our first day back at school. It is hard to believe that Christmas break is over. We did many things over break - here are just a few highlights from the 23rd on:
* We traveled to mom and dad's house and spent time with Greg, Jamie & Naomi, Holly, Gene & Andrew, and Mom and Dad. We opened gifts, played games, ate, talked, and relived family memories. It was great to see Naomi again, as well as play with Andrew.
* Doug and I won the pinochle tournament!!!! We have been in 4th place for 3 years and now we moved to 1st :)
* Michael got the movie Cars, some cars to go with the movie characters, a Cars book, and Cars shoes. He also got the Curious George movie, Curious George books, Curious George stuffed animal, Curious George CD & a Curious George story DVD.
* Emily got clothes for her American Girl Dolls (she has 3 now), finger nail polish, American Girl books, and lots of books.
* Doug got lots of Cardinal stuff - including some World Series stuff.
* I got scrap book stuff, including a new scrap book suitcase.
* The kids and I enjoyed our time down on the farm. The kids walked down to the creek on their own and now call it alone creek.
* We were able to see Grandma and Grandpa's church with a finished remodeling. Wow! It sure was beautiful inside and out.
* While in St. Louis we were able to catch up with Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. What a great time to catch up.
* Doug installed pergo like flooring in our kitchen and refinshed our bathtub. Without any "helpers" it went pretty smoothly. He finished the trim up this evening and just needs to replace the trim on part of the cabinets to be done.
* We spent New Years back in Indy with mom and dad. We went to Holly and Gene's house, but all went back to mom and dad's at 10:00 as we were all tired.
* We watched the Rose Bowl parade and the Nebraska game at the same time - as Doug got a splitter and split mom and dad's cable.
* School started today at 8:30. I needed another day, as we had a full day yesterday, but oh well. One is really not ever ready to come back after a break.