Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Wii got it!
December 28, 2008
Merry Christmas everyone!! We have had such a wonderful week! Who knew that this “relaxing” thing could be so fun!! It will be brutal when school starts again and I have to get up 6 hours earlier than I am now!!!
We had a fun week preparing for Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we made tons of Christmas goodies and delivered plates to our friends and neighbors on the ice covered streets. (Apparently that warehouse that held all our city salt for the winter was destroyed during the summer floods, so we have a salt shortage.) We also got Alayna’s hair cut and it looks adorable. She says she looks like “Alice” from Twilight. (Don’t worry- she didn’t see the movie, but with Twilight fanatics around here, she was bound to learn about it.)
Christmas was such a beautiful day. Everything turned out just perfect. Thank you so much for all the wonderful gifts you all sent to make it such a great day. We had a relaxing day playing games, watching movies, and really enjoying time as a family.
The kids have been working since June to earn a Wii by doing chores, helping around the house, etc. They have worked very hard and finally reached their goal! We surprised them with the Wii for Christmas. I should have caught the reaction on videotape because it was absolutely priceless! Tyler had a blood-curdling scream which was appeared to be a mix of sheer terror and total joy. It was hilarious. Yesterday, Bob created brackets and we had a family Wii tournament all day. Apparently I don’t use my right arm very much because I can barely use it today. The kids love it and have each created some pretty funny mii’s.
One day Bob and the kids went out to play in the snow. They built forts (took 1 hour) and then proceeded to have a snowball fight (lasted 5 minutes). They all came in freezing and scarfed up some hot cocoa. The funny thing is the next day we had this HUGE thunderstorm that came through and melted all the snow. That night it totally froze into sheets of ice and then it dumped about 1-2 inches of snow. Always exciting weather here I tell ya!
I think that is a quick summation of our week. Hope you all had a wonderful and joyous Christmas and are having a relaxing vacation.
Merry Christmas everyone!! We have had such a wonderful week! Who knew that this “relaxing” thing could be so fun!! It will be brutal when school starts again and I have to get up 6 hours earlier than I am now!!!
We had a fun week preparing for Christmas. On Christmas Eve, we made tons of Christmas goodies and delivered plates to our friends and neighbors on the ice covered streets. (Apparently that warehouse that held all our city salt for the winter was destroyed during the summer floods, so we have a salt shortage.) We also got Alayna’s hair cut and it looks adorable. She says she looks like “Alice” from Twilight. (Don’t worry- she didn’t see the movie, but with Twilight fanatics around here, she was bound to learn about it.)
Christmas was such a beautiful day. Everything turned out just perfect. Thank you so much for all the wonderful gifts you all sent to make it such a great day. We had a relaxing day playing games, watching movies, and really enjoying time as a family.
The kids have been working since June to earn a Wii by doing chores, helping around the house, etc. They have worked very hard and finally reached their goal! We surprised them with the Wii for Christmas. I should have caught the reaction on videotape because it was absolutely priceless! Tyler had a blood-curdling scream which was appeared to be a mix of sheer terror and total joy. It was hilarious. Yesterday, Bob created brackets and we had a family Wii tournament all day. Apparently I don’t use my right arm very much because I can barely use it today. The kids love it and have each created some pretty funny mii’s.
One day Bob and the kids went out to play in the snow. They built forts (took 1 hour) and then proceeded to have a snowball fight (lasted 5 minutes). They all came in freezing and scarfed up some hot cocoa. The funny thing is the next day we had this HUGE thunderstorm that came through and melted all the snow. That night it totally froze into sheets of ice and then it dumped about 1-2 inches of snow. Always exciting weather here I tell ya!
I think that is a quick summation of our week. Hope you all had a wonderful and joyous Christmas and are having a relaxing vacation.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Can you say "frigid"???
December 21, 2008
When we moved here 4 years ago, we quickly learned what it meant when the weather man said it was going to be “frigid”. We now know that “frigid” is when the wind-chill is -35, the car doors are frozen shut, your car will barely run once you actually get inside, you can see your breath in the car, and when you inhale the inside of your nose completely freezes creating tiny hair icicles in your nostrils. Bet you didn’t know that- you’re welcome!! It is -33 right now and they ended up having church today. That was an experience. It is nice to be home and warm now.
On Monday, I survived an observation by the principal. After long hours of great stress and about 12 hours of prep, it turned out to be a huge success. (2 down one more to go) That night it snowed hard (I think we got about 5 inches). They had school on Tuesday, which was surprising, but I stayed home with Tyler and Alayna who still had that horrible cold (and was able to escape the dreaded Reading Committee Meeting!) Alayna’s music concert and gymnastics were cancelled because of the weather. (insert jig of joy here)
On Wednesday, Kayla helped babysit for a woman in our ward who just found out she has breast cancer. Then Marisa and Kayla helped babysit kids at the church so parents could go shopping for Christmas.
We had a massive storm hit Thursday evening. Alayna’s concert was rescheduled for Thursday night and they still held it. She was so absolutely adorable-(you could almost believe the innocenceJ) She even had a speaking part and did a fantastic job! I hope Bob can post some of what he taped. It continued to snow and snow and snow. That afternoon I went to Walmart to get supplies to make ice cream cone trees in my classes. I was up all night wondering if our last day before break would be cancelled. By 5AM they posted that it was cancelled- I bet you could hear my “hallelujah” song all the way out there in Utah! I crawled back into bed and slept 6 more hours than I usually do. If I could give you a definition of “heaven”- that’s what it would be! We hung out and relaxed (after the weekend deep cleaning, my poor kids)
Saturday was spent doing some major shoveling, making Christmas gifts, and practicing for sharing time (at night Bob went to a friends house to watch “the game”. Not exactly sure what game that was but I guess it was an important one?) The kids shoveled for hours only to have the 40 mile an hour winds blow the snow right back on the driveway. They had the “winter-in-Iowa-really-sucks” look on their faces.
When we woke up this morning, we were shocked to death that we still had church. We are all sick except Bob I think. The kids (and Bob) did a fantastic sharing time. We did an adorable puppet show acting out the Christmas story called “The Last Straw”. It was a HUGE hit! Now the kids (and Bob) are practicing their “Sunday band” which includes Tyler on the trombone, Bob on the trumpet, Kayla on the clarinet, and Marisa on the violin. They have been practicing Christmas music lately and they sound great. Maybe I can secretly tape them and post it on the blog?
By the way, we will soon be posting our end of year picture slide show. I know some of you have been waiting patiently for that!
A special Happy Birthday to Grandpa Ribera tomorrow. We have a fun week of relaxation and several movie marathons planned (like the mummy). I have decided I will need someone to physically tie me to the couch so I can force out some relaxation. We also wish you all a very Merry Christmas!! We hope you have a warmer one than us!!
When we moved here 4 years ago, we quickly learned what it meant when the weather man said it was going to be “frigid”. We now know that “frigid” is when the wind-chill is -35, the car doors are frozen shut, your car will barely run once you actually get inside, you can see your breath in the car, and when you inhale the inside of your nose completely freezes creating tiny hair icicles in your nostrils. Bet you didn’t know that- you’re welcome!! It is -33 right now and they ended up having church today. That was an experience. It is nice to be home and warm now.
On Monday, I survived an observation by the principal. After long hours of great stress and about 12 hours of prep, it turned out to be a huge success. (2 down one more to go) That night it snowed hard (I think we got about 5 inches). They had school on Tuesday, which was surprising, but I stayed home with Tyler and Alayna who still had that horrible cold (and was able to escape the dreaded Reading Committee Meeting!) Alayna’s music concert and gymnastics were cancelled because of the weather. (insert jig of joy here)
On Wednesday, Kayla helped babysit for a woman in our ward who just found out she has breast cancer. Then Marisa and Kayla helped babysit kids at the church so parents could go shopping for Christmas.
We had a massive storm hit Thursday evening. Alayna’s concert was rescheduled for Thursday night and they still held it. She was so absolutely adorable-(you could almost believe the innocenceJ) She even had a speaking part and did a fantastic job! I hope Bob can post some of what he taped. It continued to snow and snow and snow. That afternoon I went to Walmart to get supplies to make ice cream cone trees in my classes. I was up all night wondering if our last day before break would be cancelled. By 5AM they posted that it was cancelled- I bet you could hear my “hallelujah” song all the way out there in Utah! I crawled back into bed and slept 6 more hours than I usually do. If I could give you a definition of “heaven”- that’s what it would be! We hung out and relaxed (after the weekend deep cleaning, my poor kids)
Saturday was spent doing some major shoveling, making Christmas gifts, and practicing for sharing time (at night Bob went to a friends house to watch “the game”. Not exactly sure what game that was but I guess it was an important one?) The kids shoveled for hours only to have the 40 mile an hour winds blow the snow right back on the driveway. They had the “winter-in-Iowa-really-sucks” look on their faces.
When we woke up this morning, we were shocked to death that we still had church. We are all sick except Bob I think. The kids (and Bob) did a fantastic sharing time. We did an adorable puppet show acting out the Christmas story called “The Last Straw”. It was a HUGE hit! Now the kids (and Bob) are practicing their “Sunday band” which includes Tyler on the trombone, Bob on the trumpet, Kayla on the clarinet, and Marisa on the violin. They have been practicing Christmas music lately and they sound great. Maybe I can secretly tape them and post it on the blog?
By the way, we will soon be posting our end of year picture slide show. I know some of you have been waiting patiently for that!
A special Happy Birthday to Grandpa Ribera tomorrow. We have a fun week of relaxation and several movie marathons planned (like the mummy). I have decided I will need someone to physically tie me to the couch so I can force out some relaxation. We also wish you all a very Merry Christmas!! We hope you have a warmer one than us!!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Concerts, colds, and a date night
December 14, 2008
Monday: Marisa had an orchestra concert and did a great job. I am always amazed at how wonderful the HS orchestra sounds.
Tuesday: School and other activities were canceled due to an ice storm. We were supposed to get 6 inches of snow on top of the ice but the snow didn’t come. The roads were very very slick! The kids made a gingerbread house (I won't tell you how we cheated)
Thursday: A day of pure insanity. I won’t list it all, but we did have two concerts that night. Alayna and I went to Tyler’s vocal concert where he had a solo. He has such an elegantly beautiful voice and I was so impressed. You have to be brave to do a solo in front of so many people! Then Bob, Tyler, and Kayla went to Marisa’s Chamber orchestra concert that had some pieces with the HS jazz band. I heard it was pretty awesome!!
Friday: Date night. We haven’t been on a date forever! Wait- I will tell you all about it. We went to Walmart!! (haha) We ate dinner at the Subway there, then shopped for Christmas presents for 4 hours, and then went to Culver’s for frozen custard before we went home. Although not exactly romantic, it was very productive and I now have almost all the Christmas shopping done!! Whoo-hoo!! (Did any of you receive our Christmas cards we sent out?)
Saturday: Tyler was up all night with an awful cold and ended up missing his all day Lego League competition. He was devastated! We spent the whole day trying frantically to catch up on life. Bob took the kids to the ward party while I stayed home with Tyler and folded laundry. Let me tell you how exciting that was! But I hear it was more exciting than the ward party, so that’s cool.
Sunday: Now Alayna was up last night and she is very sick. So, I stayed home with Tyler and Alayna who have gone through an entire box of Kleenex just this morning!
Coming up this week:
*Tonight- Giant Survivor Party…Go BOB!!!!!!!
*I will be observed by the principal tomorrow. (Talk about massive serious stress!!)
*Alayna has her school musical on Tuesday and she has a special speaking part. Maybe I can remember to record her speaking part and post it?
*Last week of school before break.
*Massive ice storm hitting tonight. With the windchill the temp will be -20!!!
Monday: Marisa had an orchestra concert and did a great job. I am always amazed at how wonderful the HS orchestra sounds.
Tuesday: School and other activities were canceled due to an ice storm. We were supposed to get 6 inches of snow on top of the ice but the snow didn’t come. The roads were very very slick! The kids made a gingerbread house (I won't tell you how we cheated)
Thursday: A day of pure insanity. I won’t list it all, but we did have two concerts that night. Alayna and I went to Tyler’s vocal concert where he had a solo. He has such an elegantly beautiful voice and I was so impressed. You have to be brave to do a solo in front of so many people! Then Bob, Tyler, and Kayla went to Marisa’s Chamber orchestra concert that had some pieces with the HS jazz band. I heard it was pretty awesome!!
Friday: Date night. We haven’t been on a date forever! Wait- I will tell you all about it. We went to Walmart!! (haha) We ate dinner at the Subway there, then shopped for Christmas presents for 4 hours, and then went to Culver’s for frozen custard before we went home. Although not exactly romantic, it was very productive and I now have almost all the Christmas shopping done!! Whoo-hoo!! (Did any of you receive our Christmas cards we sent out?)
Saturday: Tyler was up all night with an awful cold and ended up missing his all day Lego League competition. He was devastated! We spent the whole day trying frantically to catch up on life. Bob took the kids to the ward party while I stayed home with Tyler and folded laundry. Let me tell you how exciting that was! But I hear it was more exciting than the ward party, so that’s cool.
Sunday: Now Alayna was up last night and she is very sick. So, I stayed home with Tyler and Alayna who have gone through an entire box of Kleenex just this morning!
Coming up this week:
*Tonight- Giant Survivor Party…Go BOB!!!!!!!
*I will be observed by the principal tomorrow. (Talk about massive serious stress!!)
*Alayna has her school musical on Tuesday and she has a special speaking part. Maybe I can remember to record her speaking part and post it?
*Last week of school before break.
*Massive ice storm hitting tonight. With the windchill the temp will be -20!!!
Sunday, December 07, 2008
All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!
December 7,2008
Monday: I had to work and Marisa had school, but the rest of the kids had the day off. Trimester grades were due and I was able to get them done pretty quickly. Then I was in meetings to differentiate instruction according to NWEA scores. When I got home, the younger kids had cleaned the house, made brownie cupcakes, and made jello-beans! I was so touched!!
Tuesday: The morning started out with a knock-out…literally. The kids were playing “Kung-Fu” after watching Kung Fu Panda. Kayla karate chopped and hit Alaynas mouth, partially knocking out her already very loose tooth. I was able to help it out the rest of the way.
Then Kayla, Tyler, and Alayna came and helped me get new bulletin boards up, reorganize my room, make a new check out table and outline a beehive. Well here is how the day went:
I woke up, Alayna got the tooth knocked out, we went to my classroom to work for over an hour, ran and got my eyebrows waxed, dropped Tyler off at Hunter’s for Lego League research (competition is in a few weeks), did the dishes while I ate my lunch, grabbed 30 minutes nap, picked up Tyler, took kids across town for flu shots, went to learning ladder for school stuff, came home and gave kids Tylenol. Ran Alayna to gymnastics, and then Bob and I finished all the food shopping. As you can imagine, I was out cold by bedtime!!
*I started this newsletter before Thanksgiving and never got it done! So, now I have to go by memory. Yikes!
Bob’s Birthday: Happy 40th to Bob!! We celebrated by dragging him to Twilight (which he liked!)and then went to Happy Joes (his traditional birthday dinner). Grandma Hart arrived in time to go see Twilight with us and Grandpa Hart was sweet and took Alayna to see “Bolt”.
Thanksgiving: Debbie and family arrived in the morning. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! In the afternoon, they even played a “turkey bowl” in the backyard.
I don’t remember much about the rest of the weekend. It was just an enjoyable relaxing weekend that I think we all needed! I also finished reading “Midnight Sun”. Now I am frantically reading through all the books for Battle of the Books!
Saturday: Bob and his dad decided they could fix the washing machine on their own. They ordered the part they needed and put in on Saturday. They actually seemed like they knew what they were doing. Now it works just like new.
This Week:
Kayla took home the “baby” for her Family and Consumer Science class. These babies are AMAZINGLY advanced compared to the silly egg I had to bring home!! She had a bracelet that had some kind of computer chip in it. It recorded every time she got near the baby. Sometimes when she went near it, it cooed. When it cried she had to try and change the baby (it had a sensor), try to feed it (lips and bottle have a sensor) or rock it (again could sense it). She had to try whatever she could do to make it stop crying and do it until the baby cooed. She had a VERY long night (She was up around 10 times). She was almost in tears by morning- brought back some sweet baby memories for me. Dang glad we have moved past that stage!
Monday night we had our annual put-up-the-Christmas-decorations- along-to-Christmas-music night. Our house is all decked up and ready to go. Now if Bob and I could get our act in gear and buy some presents, we may actually be ready for Christmas!!
Tyler had his first basketball game. He should hop on here and let you know how it went. He is excited to play basketball this year.
Alayna has been taking gymnastics and can do some really cool stuff. I took some pics I will include.
We finally got a quiet family night at home last night! We all worked real hard yesterday cleaning, grocery shopping, lesson plans, etc. Bob made this incredible pioneer bean/ham soup from scratch, honey wheat bread from scratch and some chocolate covered peanut butter balls (again from scratch) He and the kids rocked!!! Then we cozied up in pajamas and blankets, put the fire on, and watched “Prince Caspian”. I love quiet nights at home! They are my very favorite!!
Our first massive snow storm hit this past week and we have another one headed in tomorrow. Today it was 1 degree. Yep, you heard me right, 1 degree. The snow flakes were so huge you could see the individual design on each one. It was incredible! Not loving the slick roads with the ice, but I guess we have to hunker down and accept that winter has most definitely begun!!
Coming up this week:
Marisa’ orchestra concert
Tyler’s Lego League robotics competition
Tyler’s choir concert
Marisa’s chamber concert
Marisa’s bowling meet
The ward Christmas party.
Monday: I had to work and Marisa had school, but the rest of the kids had the day off. Trimester grades were due and I was able to get them done pretty quickly. Then I was in meetings to differentiate instruction according to NWEA scores. When I got home, the younger kids had cleaned the house, made brownie cupcakes, and made jello-beans! I was so touched!!
Tuesday: The morning started out with a knock-out…literally. The kids were playing “Kung-Fu” after watching Kung Fu Panda. Kayla karate chopped and hit Alaynas mouth, partially knocking out her already very loose tooth. I was able to help it out the rest of the way.
Then Kayla, Tyler, and Alayna came and helped me get new bulletin boards up, reorganize my room, make a new check out table and outline a beehive. Well here is how the day went:
I woke up, Alayna got the tooth knocked out, we went to my classroom to work for over an hour, ran and got my eyebrows waxed, dropped Tyler off at Hunter’s for Lego League research (competition is in a few weeks), did the dishes while I ate my lunch, grabbed 30 minutes nap, picked up Tyler, took kids across town for flu shots, went to learning ladder for school stuff, came home and gave kids Tylenol. Ran Alayna to gymnastics, and then Bob and I finished all the food shopping. As you can imagine, I was out cold by bedtime!!
*I started this newsletter before Thanksgiving and never got it done! So, now I have to go by memory. Yikes!
Bob’s Birthday: Happy 40th to Bob!! We celebrated by dragging him to Twilight (which he liked!)and then went to Happy Joes (his traditional birthday dinner). Grandma Hart arrived in time to go see Twilight with us and Grandpa Hart was sweet and took Alayna to see “Bolt”.
Thanksgiving: Debbie and family arrived in the morning. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! In the afternoon, they even played a “turkey bowl” in the backyard.
I don’t remember much about the rest of the weekend. It was just an enjoyable relaxing weekend that I think we all needed! I also finished reading “Midnight Sun”. Now I am frantically reading through all the books for Battle of the Books!
Saturday: Bob and his dad decided they could fix the washing machine on their own. They ordered the part they needed and put in on Saturday. They actually seemed like they knew what they were doing. Now it works just like new.
This Week:
Kayla took home the “baby” for her Family and Consumer Science class. These babies are AMAZINGLY advanced compared to the silly egg I had to bring home!! She had a bracelet that had some kind of computer chip in it. It recorded every time she got near the baby. Sometimes when she went near it, it cooed. When it cried she had to try and change the baby (it had a sensor), try to feed it (lips and bottle have a sensor) or rock it (again could sense it). She had to try whatever she could do to make it stop crying and do it until the baby cooed. She had a VERY long night (She was up around 10 times). She was almost in tears by morning- brought back some sweet baby memories for me. Dang glad we have moved past that stage!
Monday night we had our annual put-up-the-Christmas-decorations- along-to-Christmas-music night. Our house is all decked up and ready to go. Now if Bob and I could get our act in gear and buy some presents, we may actually be ready for Christmas!!
Tyler had his first basketball game. He should hop on here and let you know how it went. He is excited to play basketball this year.
Alayna has been taking gymnastics and can do some really cool stuff. I took some pics I will include.
We finally got a quiet family night at home last night! We all worked real hard yesterday cleaning, grocery shopping, lesson plans, etc. Bob made this incredible pioneer bean/ham soup from scratch, honey wheat bread from scratch and some chocolate covered peanut butter balls (again from scratch) He and the kids rocked!!! Then we cozied up in pajamas and blankets, put the fire on, and watched “Prince Caspian”. I love quiet nights at home! They are my very favorite!!
Our first massive snow storm hit this past week and we have another one headed in tomorrow. Today it was 1 degree. Yep, you heard me right, 1 degree. The snow flakes were so huge you could see the individual design on each one. It was incredible! Not loving the slick roads with the ice, but I guess we have to hunker down and accept that winter has most definitely begun!!
Coming up this week:
Marisa’ orchestra concert
Tyler’s Lego League robotics competition
Tyler’s choir concert
Marisa’s chamber concert
Marisa’s bowling meet
The ward Christmas party.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
Took a speed boat to a beach alcove (30 min). Took a 45 min truck up a windy mountain. Did a huge obstacle course in which I repelled down ... -
Tyler Jazz Band Tyler not only told me he had a concert, but he told me he had a solo!! So, I finally got to attend one. Here is the link t... -
Long Beach- Day 1 Headed out to beat a huge storm with -50 windchills! Flew to Long Beach and enjoyed the next day there.