Tyler's Pinewood Derby Car "The Black Falcon"

Alayna bundled up for the cold

A quick day update

Apparently, it CAN get colder here. When I took Tyler and Alayna to school this morning, the van registered -16!! And that was NOT including the wind-chill factor. It was brutal! I dropped off the kids at school and then headed to Kohl’s (long story). On the way, some guy was tired of me going slow (Helloooo! It was -16 and the roads were solid ice!) He moved to the next lane to pass me but went too fast. I had to speed up to avoid getting hit. I watched him swerving and sliding over the road and crashed into the embankment. He was fine, but it scared me to death.
After Kohl’s, I went out to get into my car. I was FREEZING! I was shivering and trying to get my keys out. I clicked the key to open the doors and they wouldn’t open. I tried again, several times. I started to panic. I had to be to work in an hour and at this point I was in my red jogging suit, with my purple coat, no makeup on, and my face was about to freeze off. I tried with all my might to open the doors, but no luck. I pushed the button to open the back and then went back there and lifted the door handle so I hard that I swear I may have even lifted the car off the ground. I was about in tears (a bad idea as my face really would freeze off) and then I noticed that the license plate didn’t look familiar. I turned around and saw my car behind me, with all the doors open. What an idiot! I just pray that their surveillance cameras don’t work or I may find it on Funniest Home Videos some day.
Anyway, after a crazy morning, I went to work half day in the computer lab. Now that is an awesome sub job! I will do that any day. Unlike the connections class I had Wednesday, where I wondered if chucking kids out the window into sub-arctic temperatures would cost me my job.
Noteworthy news: Marisa didn’t win the Geography Bee which really disappointed her, but even I will admit the questions were very hard this year. I think she was fine since Henry didn’t win either. Kayla started basketball today. It is just intramural games with no practices, so this first game was a bit tough. However, Bob is taking her to the church on Saturday for some practice. Tyler had his pinewood derby tonight. He did such a great job! He changed the name of his car from “The jousting machine” to the “Black Falcon” (probably since it was decorated with lots of black duct tape). He came in 5th place and we were very proud. I will try to get pictures up this weekend. And I am happy to announce that the Iowa board of educationers approved my Social Studies endorsement (insert hallelujah chorus right here!) and are sending me a copy of my new license as we speak!! I am half way through this next college course and have gotten great feedback on my papers.
Anyway, just had to sum up the day while I could remember what happened (my memory seems to be selective these days). I should get to sleep. I wish they would have a delay for school tomorrow. Temperatures are to drop to -30 tonight. Way to cold. I shall wrap myself in my cashmina cocoon until the alarm shall sound to announce another new day. Have a great evening!

Kris

It couldn't possibly be colder...

January 20, 2008

I wouldn’t use the word “cold” to describe the temperature here this week. I wouldn’t use the word “frigid” either. Let’s see…what describes something so bitterly cold that your car doors freeze shut, your roads turn to ice, and when you breathe through your nose it turns into icicles?? The weatherman says that in these conditions it only takes 20 minutes for frostbite to set in. Oh, fun. Ok, so I can’t find a good word, but I will tell you that with the wind-chill factor it has been (-25) degrees. It’s brutal…yep that’s it…”brutal”.
Oh the busyness of it all. When does life stop speeding up and start slowing down to that really nice, slow, relaxing pace? Next week is even crazier.
Alayna hasn’t been up to anything new. She is doing some fun things at school and loves to be home playing on the computer. I should probably not encourage the whole computer thing, but hey, that keeps her from cutting her hair, dumping shampoo, sneaking all the cookies or any of the other assorted activities in which she likes to spend her time. I may not win mother of the year, but I shall keep my sanity!
Tyler had his last basketball game on Saturday and his team won. This weekend he and Bob spent making his pinewood derby car for the big showdown on Thursday. He spent a lot of time sanding it and painting it black. Then they found out it was way to light. Next thing I know, they are taping a screwdriver to the top to add on some weight. Tyler thinks its so cool and he calls it “The Jousting Machine”. So silly!
Kayla has started with a new math club after school. She starts intramural basketball at school this week. Marisa’s geography bee got pushed to this Tuesday instead. I will let you know how she does. She has also been very busy trying to practice before the Metro auditions. We register her for her high school courses next Monday. Crazy!
I have been studying like crazy. I am trying to complete these classes as fast as possible. I actually enjoy the class (early adolescent development). Found out LinnMar has a new application process with 30 pages all online. That should be fun. I read an article this week about the teacher shortage in Utah…its enough to make me cry.
Tomorrow we finally have a day off of school. We have dentist appointments in the morning, but then we are playing all afternoon. We will meet Bob for lunch at Pancheros, go shopping, and probably go see “Alvin and the Chipmunks”. Notice all activities are indoors... we wouldn’t want that frostbite to set in now would we?

Have a great week-
Kris, bob and kids

PS- A special thanks to everyone who read our website this week. We sent out New Years Cards and finally got people to look. We had a record 27 people peek in. Thanks for checking it out and feel free to say hi anytime.

Alayna with Ragedy Ann and Andy

Alayna's "Project"

Completed Project

working on the igloo project

Concerts, igloos, and a winter wonderland

January 13, 2008

Well, Marisa had a very busy week. She was accepted into the NIESTA honors orchestra (kids from all over this side of Iowa) and spent all day up in Cedar Falls. Their bus left here at 6:50am yesterday (way too early for a Saturday if you ask me!) As soon as they arrived, they had to audition. Marisa made 1st chair for her section of violins!!!!! She was so excited she could hardly stand it! They rehearsed all day with a guest conductor and then had a huge concert that night. She got home around 10:00 completely exhausted but said she had a wonderful time! She has the Geography Bee this week on Tuesday which she is very nervous about.

Kayla had a very busy week as well. She was assigned to make a sub arctic diorama of sorts. She spent HOURS on this project and did a fantastic job!! I will include some pictures since my mere words won’t do it justice. We went to Wal-Mart to find supplies and completely struck out. When we went to Michael’s and struck gold. We found some cool stuff and she did the whole project herself. She also starts on the intramural basketball team next week. Her Battle of the Books team starts in February so she is trying hard to get all the books read this month.

Tyler had a basketball game yesterday and he did a great job. I also got to sub his school class for a couple of hours on Friday. I guess it went well since all his friends said I was “awesome”.

Alayna is busy working on reading and writing, especially her numbers. She enjoys playing computer games. She did regress a little this week. Just when I though she was starting to grow up! She twisted her hair and it knotted, so she got the scissors and cut the knot out! Really??? Aren’t you 5 years old now and past that stage?? I mean come on! At least it wasn’t as hideous as the last 2 hair cuts. Argh! She also dumped an entire bottle of shampoo into the bath to create a beautiful wonderland of sorts. Sheesh! We have also talked her in to shoveling the driveway several times for “fun”. We will take advantage of that as long as possible.

I was requested to sub every day this week, so it has been very busy. I am thrilled that people are asking regularly now, but was sorta looking forward to many days off. On Friday, while subbing Tylers class, the office said they couldn’t find anyone to sub the music class. So, I went in and taught 5 classes of kindergarten and 1st graders. That sure was interesting, way different than middle school! (Mrs. Hart, do you like parrots? Mrs. Hart you are so pretty. Mrs. Hart, my finger hurts real bad so I think I am gonna die) It was quite the afternoon! I also started a new college course this week that is brutal. This professor always rips my papers to shreds. I love the class content, the teacher is just very hard, too hard if you ask me. I also ran into some severe problems with my last required class. Just what I need, more stress in my life. Anyway, once again I feel like I am struggling to keep my head above water. I hope that I can whip this class off fast…like a band aid.

*Just so you know, we have changed our website a little bit. Bob was able to find a way for you to subscribe to it and then I guess it will send you an email each type we update it. Let us know if it works. We have also added a little survey question that we would love for all of you to fill out. It is fun for us to see that people visit our site.