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.

Camping & new camper

Emily, her junk skeleton, and the new camper

Michael & Emily in front of a really big tree we found while hiking

We tried out our "new" camper (it is a 1971 camper - so it is older than I am) on the 28th of April. We got it on ebay, quite a deal. We did do a little work on it, but still got a good deal. We went to a park just south about 30 minutes. There were some awesome hiking trails. One lead to a stream, waterfall, and a cave. We plan on visiting that park again for a camping trip, and exploring the park more thouroughly.

While we were there Emily and I worked on a science project - her junk skeleton.

Balloon Glow

Michael and I attended the annual Derby Festival Balloon Glow. He loved all the balloons. A football balloon, the Energizer bunny, and the cow jumped over the moon balloons were his favorite ones. He also enjoyed collecting balloon lapel pins & trading cards. It was a fun time for mom and Michael to be together.

Spring Sing

Whew! The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of activitiy. Let me start with a few photos of the Spring Sing. Michael was in the musical entitled BUGZ. I organized and created the costumes for 70 preschool - 2nd grade students. Quite an undertaking. It turned out cute and fun. Emily's choir presented a contata entitled The Three Trees. She was part of tree number 3. She also played in the band. It was a great night.

Thunder over Louisville

Michael in front of the Air Force Nascar
Emily trying on army gear
Thunder fireworks over the river
more fireworks

Yesterday was Thunder over Louisville. We went downtown around 10:00 and walked around the riverfront which was full of people holding down their plot of land. Caution tape marked off spots which were created by people. It is amazing what some people will cart down for the day - tents, tarps, chairs, coolers, grills, umbrellas... There were military exibits and one large on from Ford which we explored before heading to the car to eat a picnic lunch. After lunch we headed into Slugger Field for the day. We watched the Bats game as well as the air show from the stadium. We met up with our friends the Larkins so the kids could play together during the day. About 8:45 we went back to our seats and had to kick people out of them so we could watch the fireworks from seats. It was good we had seats good for viewing as michael was exhausted. He did not make it through the 30 mintue firework display. There were some awesome fireworks which we had not ever seen before - hearts, stars, circles that had bursts of color coming out of them... Wow! It was incredible. Michael sat on my lap and dozed off and on. Emily of course was wide awake and loved the fireworks. We left the stadium by 10:00 and were home by 10:40. wow! We have got a great plan figured out which has worked for 3 years! Others take hourse to get home. On the news it said they took 31/2 hours to clear out downtown. AFter getting the kids into bed we watched the fireworks replay on the local station. Wow! Although it was good on TV, I was sure glad we had seem them live.

Emily just woke up at 8:30, while Michael is still sleeping. I should have gone to early church as choir was sining, but since I have to play flute in late church and the kids were exausted, I opted to only go to late service. Hopefully they can all rest today so they can be back to school tomorrow with lots of energy.

YEAH God! NO RAIN

Just wanted to say that today it was supposed to rain and it did not rain during the school day. Praise the Lord for little things like a inaccurate weather forecast. Getting outside for recess is an important thing to a first grade teacher. Thank you God for good weather!

Emily has discovered a new author - Andrew Clements. He has some great middle grade books. I hope to read some of his older grade books, I am sure they are good also as his middle grade books are wonderful. If you are looking for books for any 3 - 5th grade child check out his website. http://www.andrewclements.com/

baseball

Tonight Michael had a game. It was the Cubs (Michael's team) against the Reds. On Saturday Doug, Michael & Craig saw the Cubs play the Reds. It was kind of a replay of the game. Of course this one was not so cold.

Spring Break

Doug and Michael at Wrigley Field
Michael at Ed Debevic's - giggle, giggle, giggle
Emily and Dana at the American Girl Cafe - notice the doll chairs :)

Emily has her Emily doll and her new doll which she named Maria - notice the hairdo in doll Emily's hair.

the octopus at the Shedd Aquarium
Emily and Michael with "Sue" at the Field Museum
Emily at the American Girl Store - notice the big smile - it never left her face

We just got back from a long weekend trip to Chicago. We left around 1:00 on Thursday and drove to Chicago. When we arrived there the kids went swimming and we got settled in the Courtyard Marriot by O'Hare airport. I had packed a dinner so we ate it on the way.

Friday morning we got up and took a shuttle from the hotel to the L station where we went downtown to Shedd Aquarium. It was exciting to see a dolphin show, sharks, a coral reef, and many other water animals. A highlight was seeing an octopus open up and move around. It was a great day! We ate lunch at the restraunt overlooking Lake Michigan. We were seated in a balcony overlooking the aquarium as well as the lake. We had planned to possibly go to the Museum of Science and Industry but we spent longer at the aquarium than expected so we walked over to the Field Museum (where our science center membership got us in free) and looked around there for a little over an hour. We then headed back to the hotel, swam, and then went to a chicago pizza place called Giordano's. http://www.giordanos.com/It was a wonderful restraunt - great pizza. We would highly recommend it if you are in the Chicago area.

On Saturday we split up. Emily and I headed to The American Girl Store while the boys headed to Wriggly Field with Uncle Craig. It was a little crazy getting to our two destinations, as the L was not running as usual due to construction, but after arriving at our two destinations it was fun. They boys were cold so they did not stay past the 5th inning. Emily was in heaven - we had lunch in the Cafe, saw a play, and shopped and shopped and shopped. She got a new doll, a doctor's kit, a flute (book, stand, flute, and case), and three outfits with accessories. She also got a hairdo for Emily and a new brush. She was grinning from ear to ear all day.

On Sunday we went to lunch at Ed Debevic's http://www.citybuzzchicago.com/index.aspx?Article=46 (click on the video to see the restraunt in action). It was fun. Michael giggled and giggled, and giggled. He really thought the waitresses were funny, and they played off his giggles which made him laugh even more. After lunch there we hit the road and headed home. On the way home the kids watched movies and slept - so it was a smooth ride.

Now school starts tomorrow so it is back to reality.

The Power of God

Our neighbor's house with their tree down

Yesterday we drove up to Terra Haut, IN (? about spelling) to get a camper which we had purchased on E-Bay. We knew it was supposed to rain and possibly storm, but we weren't too worried. We got there uneventfully and picked up our camper. We are now excited to use it.

It was on the way home that we experienced some situations which really made us feel the power of storms. We hit hail, hail, hail while crossing the bridge back into Kentucky. We drove in pea sized hail for a few miles. It was slow going, and the hail came down so much that it had covered practice fields at U of L, as well as accumulated a few inches alongside the highway, and inbetween lanes on the highway. We saw an awesome sight with a rainbow. It started at our car on one side, and finished on the other. Then as it moved, we could see cars drive through the rainbow and saw them become colored. It was an incredible sight - and I did not have a camera on me. When we got home, we discovered our neighbor's large tree had snapped and pulled the electricity off their house. It pulled the lines down across the street. Wow! What strong winds. We were thankful our trees were all fine as we have two large ones also.



wow! God kept us safe through the bad weather, wind, hail, and rain. God is a loving, caring God.

Thank you Grandma

Emily and Samantha in her new ice skating dress and skates
Samantha showing off her skating skills
Samantha the ice skater, Nellie the slumber girl, and Emily the cold weather girl

Michael in his new t-shrit from Grandma

Today we went to school and a package had arrived from Houston. In it was cotton for Michael's costume for the school play - BUGZ - and Emily's birthday present. Of course, grandma is always good about sending a surprise along for the non-birthday child, so both Emily and Michael has some surprises.

Michael got a t-shirt from NASA which he put on right away. Emily got 3 outfits for her American Girl Dolls, some body glitter and some money to spend when we got to the American Girl Place later in the week.