SCHOOL IS OUT!!!

Friday was our last day of school. Now I am the parent of a 1st grader and a 4th grader. Wow! The real work now begins. Fourth grade is a big transition year and first grade is the beginning of more structure. Wow! It will be a year of change for us.

We celebrated by going camping to St. Louis. We arrived at our campsite about 10:00. We got set up and had a restful night of sleep - listening to drag racing and then rain. We discovered over night that the water proofing we did on the camper was not quite right. The bunk ends were wet and anything that touched them was wet (pillows, sleeping bags, air mattresses...).

Saturday morning we headed to downtown to get first pitch tickets for the Cardinal game after a breakfast of scrambled eggs & bacon. We got ticket vouchers and then headed to the zoo. We had a great time seeing active animals - highlights were the polar bear swimming and then crawling around, a bear standing on it's hind legs, monkeys jumping and leaping, snakes crawling all around, and peacocks who were courting and showing off their feathers. Wow! What a day. After a quick lunch in the car we headed to the St. Louis Cardinal hall of fame & bowling hall of fame. Michael said he could not remember going there - so we planned another trip there - but once we got into the hall of fame he said, "oh, this is what you meant. I remember being here. " Oh well, we had fun and I scored a 125 game in bowling :) Wow! I have not done that well in along time. I even got two strikes :) AFter the hall of fame we grabbed an early dinner at Hardees and then got in line for first pitch tickets. Wow! We got great tickets - section 160 & section 235.

Sunday morning we had a breakfast of pancakes & beef sausage patties. We elft to go to the stadium after adding some tarps to our camper. The kids got an autograph, made 3 Cardinal crafts, got Cardinal popsicles, & walked around the stadium before the game. It started raining - pouring actually - during the game so there was a rain delay. Luckily we got ponchos and had brought them along - we needed them. The kids were intrigued with the tarp and the work doen to get the field protected. They started to panic when lightning hit a building across from the stadium - but cheered when it cleared off long enough to finish the game. After the game we headed to Pujols 5 for dinner. We enjoyed the items which Albert Pujols had collected over his baseball career. Then we headed back to the campground for a game of Life.

Monday morning we got up and ate a breakfast of pork steak & french toast. Cooking on a camping stove is kind of fun. AFter packing up we hit the road for home. Then the work began - drying out stuff & getting things washed. I headed off to a laundramat with the sleeping bags and pillows while we opened the camper and draped tarps in the backyard to dry.

Today it was back to school for teacher's meetings. We met this morning and I worked on report cards & permanent records in the afternoon. I got them done. Now the work of cleaning and sorting begins.

I will post pictures later - just wanted to recap before I forgot everything!

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. I salute all those who have served our country.

The Countdown is On

Wow! It is difficult to believe that we only have 3 1/2 more days of school. Today I spent quite a bit of time in the computer lab with my 1st graders - helping them finish up a project about animal classification. They created books about all the 5 vertibrae animal groups - mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish & birds. It was a fun project as the kids researched animals, recorded their research, and then produced a project on the computer. Quite involved - but they enjoyed it. I am pretty much done with all the subject matter that I will teach - am just getting some "extra" stuff in science in to kill time. Summer is near!!!! Sleeping in is near!!!! Having a flexible schedule is almost here!!!! Praise the Lord!!!!

Time travels quickly

Wow! It is difficult to believe that next week is the last week of the 2006-2007 school year. It will be the last week of being a teacher of this class of 20. It will be the last week of being a mother to a kindergartener and a third grader. Never again will I have the same opportunities that I had this year. Wow! It has gone by so quickly - and summer is just around the corner.

Wow! This summer will be a full one - here is what we know of our summer plans

* Camping in St. Louis Memoria Day Weekend
* Michael's baseball games
* Emily going to summer camp
* Going to Wisconsin for Greg's ordination
* Going to Indiana for Andrew's baptism
* Doug and Michael going to father/son camp
* Emily going to fashion camp at a local mall
* the kids and I going with mom to the farm
* going to visit Craig, Amber, & Amelia for a weekend
* going to Cincinati to watch the Cardinals play the Reds
* a few days of VBS (as we will leave the week of)
* going to Texas to see Doug's mom as well as be there for cousin John's wedding
* visiting in Arkansas with dear friends

Wow - and that will just be June & July. I think I got everything, but may have missed an item or two.

I guess I know what my fall will be filled with - scrapbooking the summer. I better catch up from the spring so I can stay current as I will have lots to scrap about.

Have a great weekend! Doug and I are going to the races tomorrow with two couples. The kids are going to be with one of the couple's kids so they should have fun. Don't plan on betting much - but just have a lot of fun and social time.

How do you keep 20 little first graders quiet during the last two weeks of school?

loose your voice

It is true!!!! I could talk a little today, but on Monday and Tuesday I could not talk. My allergies are hitting me about 2 months later than normal. I usually loose my voice a day or two in March, but this year due to a weird frost, my allergies are hitting now. I finally found some musinix D (not sure how to spell it) which seems to be helping on top of claritin. It is amazing how quiet the kids are when the teacher has to whisper and use hand signals.

Too bad it is not working well with Emily and Michael. Althought they have answered me in whispers, they are both wired tonight. :) At least they are outside playing for the moment.

Happy Spring!!!

Birthday Party

Well, Emily had a successful birthday party with 10 girls. All of them made some great jewlery - their personalities really showed through their creations. Emily made a blue, white & pink bracelet and earing set. It is very nice. She also got some great gifts. She got two webkinz and spent time after her party and some time this evening checking out their website. I sat with her and explored with her so I would know more about what they are.

If you don't know - they are stuffed animals that come with a code to create an online account. Then the animals play on the webkinz website. The child is responsible for feeding, clothing, creating a shelter, and checking on the health of their webkin pets. When one buys a webkinz, you are given 2000 in webkinz bucks. More can be earned by playing games on the website. The money is spent by buying clothes, furniture, rooms, ... It seems like a very addicting thing. You can send webkinz mail to other webkinz owners - if you know their username, as well as visiting chatrooms. Parents have the option of locking out the chatrooms - which we did. I have a feeling we will have to limit her to the amount of time spent playing with the webkinz site.

In addition, she got crafts, movies, books, a gift card, a travel desk :), bath stuff, and other girlie things. She did get a animal DVD game which looks really neat - will have to try that one out as a family I think.

Michael went to play with two buddies who have sisters in Emily's class - so he did not have to experience the party - making jewlery was not up his alley.

All in all it was a great party! I will load pictures later, as I can't hook up our camera right now as we had to redo our whole computer and I do not have the camera software loaded yet.

Again, Happy Mother's Day!

Good Morning

Well. today is Saturday. Emily and I am preparing for her 9th birthday party. We picked up her cake from Kroger. We also picked up drinks, ice cream, and candles. We already had the goodie bags created and the napkins/plates/spoons/forks bought. At 2:00 10 girls will gather to create jewlery at a jewlery shop. It should be a good time. Something different. Will see if she gets what she wants from her friends. All she really wants is a Webkin. She does not have one of these "hot" items yet - and she really wants one as most of the other girls in 3rd grade have at least one. Will let you know later.

Michael is with Doug working on the camper. Right now the camper is at Doug's bosses house - so there is more room. They had to work on the lights and Michael went along to help. He loves being at Bills's house as there is lots of grass to run around on.

Last night I went to scrapbooking night at Church. There were only 2 of us, but we both spent a lot of time talking and solving all the world's problems. I did get about 10 pages done - so I was productive as well.

Have a great day and to all you mothers - Happy Mother's Day!

4 wheelers

Today we went to Doug's bosses house. He has a whole group of 4 wheelers set for kids to ride. Emily and Michael went for rides on them. They had a blast. Emily did make a quick turn and tip it over once - luckily it landed next to her and not on top of her. Both kids can't wait to go back and ride again. Bill has some trails out behind his house that he has built for his grandkids. Next time they hope to go on the trails. I did not have my camera along, so I don't have pictures, but they had a great time! They both felt so grown up.

Derby Day Activities at School

Michael marking his spot in the balloon drop
Emily in the run for the rose
Emily and Michael with some classmates

We had our annual Derby Day at school. Emily did the Run for the Rose (wine glass relay). Michael did the balloon race drop (using bean bags). It was indoors due to the weather - rain, rain, and more rain.

Oak's Day Lillies

Last night we went to view the Oak's Day lillies. It sure smelled and looked beautiful. The kids got two horse pins which they added to their collection of Derby pins. Tomorrow we will watch the Oaks race and see the winner get these lillies.

9 year old

Wow! It is hard to believe that we have a 9 year old. Kind of scary - makes a person feel old to know that she is 1/2 way to being able to vote, and over 1/2 way to being able to drive. Kind of scary to think of how much technology has changed in just 9 years. Scanners & e-mail were just coming out into homes when Emily was born. We spent time sending voice clips to grandmas and grandpas when she began to babble. Now there are blogs, places to post videos, cell phones, ipods, blackberries, laptop computers... Wow! Just imagine what will be there in another 9 years.

We celebrated Emily's birthday by going to a favorite restraunt - Fiesta Mexicana. After dinner we opened presents and had some cake. Then she watched a short movie and got ready for bed. She had taken horse cookies to school for a class snack as her birthday always falls during Derby week. We will have her party with all the girls in her class next Saturday. She is going to have a jewelery making party. Should be a fun time.

Author visitor

On Tuesday, May 1 Cathryn Coquet the author of Little Freddie Goes to the Derby came to our school to speak to the 1 - 5th graders about writing books and horses. What an awesome experience to get books autographed by the author and actually meet an author.

Parade Preview

Getting Derby Princess autographs
Emily in front of the Care Bear balloon
Emily and Michael in their Derby hats by the "Mad Hatter"

We attended the Pegasus Parade Preview. It was a time to see the floats and balloons which would be in the Derby Pegasus Parade. Getting the Derby Princesses autographs, creating derby hats with the "Mad Hatter", and picking up all kinds of "prizes" created a memorable evening.