Sunday, July 26, 2009
Time for relaxation?
July 26, 2009
Another busy week whizzed by! Where does the time go? I spent 30 hours this week doing my professional portfolio. It’s required here in Iowa. There are 8 Iowa teaching standards and each of those has about 5 substandards. You have to have 2-3 artifacts showing proof that you have met this standard in your classroom. So, if you do the math, it was about 120 pages that I had to include and write each thing met a standard. It was a flipping nightmare that took over 30 hours. My back end was planted at the kitchen table all week. Thank heavens the kids were perfect so I was able to complete it.
Tyler and Kayla went to volleyball camp this week and loved it. Out of all of LM district, Tyler and Hunter were the only boys that attended. I told him the other boys at school would be jealous that he and Hunter had a whole gym of girls to themselves! We have alos been going to play tennis as a family because the weather has been GORGEOUS!!! The summer has been so lovely. We had this incredible storm move in this week so that so majestic we had to open the sliding door and watch it (while praying it wouldn’t turn into a tornado!)
Our garden is flourishing! Our zucchini’s are out of control. We have been shredding them and freezing them. I have made yummy zucchini bread too. Now our green beans are taking off- any idea what to do with them all? Our tomatoes will be ripe soon and then we plan to can homemade salsa all day. Yummy! We also spent 4 hours as a family deep cleaning and organizing the kitchen yesterday. It looks so great now and we even know where everything is. Now maybe I can FINALLY relax this summer? Maybe??
Another busy week whizzed by! Where does the time go? I spent 30 hours this week doing my professional portfolio. It’s required here in Iowa. There are 8 Iowa teaching standards and each of those has about 5 substandards. You have to have 2-3 artifacts showing proof that you have met this standard in your classroom. So, if you do the math, it was about 120 pages that I had to include and write each thing met a standard. It was a flipping nightmare that took over 30 hours. My back end was planted at the kitchen table all week. Thank heavens the kids were perfect so I was able to complete it.
Tyler and Kayla went to volleyball camp this week and loved it. Out of all of LM district, Tyler and Hunter were the only boys that attended. I told him the other boys at school would be jealous that he and Hunter had a whole gym of girls to themselves! We have alos been going to play tennis as a family because the weather has been GORGEOUS!!! The summer has been so lovely. We had this incredible storm move in this week so that so majestic we had to open the sliding door and watch it (while praying it wouldn’t turn into a tornado!)
Our garden is flourishing! Our zucchini’s are out of control. We have been shredding them and freezing them. I have made yummy zucchini bread too. Now our green beans are taking off- any idea what to do with them all? Our tomatoes will be ripe soon and then we plan to can homemade salsa all day. Yummy! We also spent 4 hours as a family deep cleaning and organizing the kitchen yesterday. It looks so great now and we even know where everything is. Now maybe I can FINALLY relax this summer? Maybe??
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
July 19, 2009
The girls made it back safely from teen week yesterday and said they had a great time. Once again I am counting on them to post their pics and update their blogs with information on teen week and camp.
Tyler, Alayna, and I had a fun week here at home:
*we went to see Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. So cute, but our movie theater over doubled their ticket prices, so we may not be going there anymore.
*Alayna had a bike accident and scraped up her knee pretty badly. Reminds me of someone else I know…
*Alayna finished swimming lessons on Friday. She can do some pretty cool stuff now and is much more confident in the water.
*They went over to a friend’s house to play this week, and some friends came over to play.
*I got through several hours of stuff for Primary and have started stuff for work again. This summer has flown by faster than any other summer- ever!! I will focus this week on putting on professional portfolio together since the principal will be checking it in November. Talk about stress! I go back to work on August 13. Can we vote on a longer summer??
*Yesterday, Bob drove to pick up the girls, we cleaned and detailed both cars, did the laundry, cleaned the house, hair cuts, did the grocery shopping, and then watched Pink Panther 2 as a family. Its nice to finally have everyone home.
The girls made it back safely from teen week yesterday and said they had a great time. Once again I am counting on them to post their pics and update their blogs with information on teen week and camp.
Tyler, Alayna, and I had a fun week here at home:
*we went to see Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. So cute, but our movie theater over doubled their ticket prices, so we may not be going there anymore.
*Alayna had a bike accident and scraped up her knee pretty badly. Reminds me of someone else I know…
*Alayna finished swimming lessons on Friday. She can do some pretty cool stuff now and is much more confident in the water.
*They went over to a friend’s house to play this week, and some friends came over to play.
*I got through several hours of stuff for Primary and have started stuff for work again. This summer has flown by faster than any other summer- ever!! I will focus this week on putting on professional portfolio together since the principal will be checking it in November. Talk about stress! I go back to work on August 13. Can we vote on a longer summer??
*Yesterday, Bob drove to pick up the girls, we cleaned and detailed both cars, did the laundry, cleaned the house, hair cuts, did the grocery shopping, and then watched Pink Panther 2 as a family. Its nice to finally have everyone home.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
It's sure a sign of summer if the chair gets up when you do-Walter Winchell
July 12, 2009
Exciting News: Marisa got her driving permit this week! Whoo-hoo! Way to go Marisa! I also finished my 1000 piece puzzle this week. I was so proud.
Alayna: Alayna started swimming lessons this week. 3 days were rained out (2 were spent in the locker room learning safety procedures and we skipped the 3rd day cause we were tired of the same safety lesson.) It is supposed to be sunny and hot all this week so maybe she will have better luck? She is doing a super job of putting her face under the water, doing bobs, and learning to float.
Tyler: Tyler has been the great big brother to Alayna this week. He has been so good about spending time and playing with her. He also got to spend time at his friend Hunter’s house.
Kayla: We assume Kayla is alive. She is still in Missouri visiting with her cousins. She will head to teen week today. We sure do miss her!
Marisa: Marisa was at Youth Conference from Wednesday afternoon-Saturday afternoon. She said she had a wonderful time and she posted some fun pics on facebook. She leaves for teen week today.
Garden: Our garden has taken off like crazy! However, we are having a small invasion of Japanese beetles which is very irritating. We have zucchini coming out of our ears. Looks like I will be making lots of bread.
Primary Quarterly Activity: We had a big activity at the park. I forgot to bring the camera to take pics there, but I did take a picture of the 132 smiley face cupcakes I made. Tyler and Alayna helped me make the frosting and the cupcake batter. It was quite a project.
Exciting News: Marisa got her driving permit this week! Whoo-hoo! Way to go Marisa! I also finished my 1000 piece puzzle this week. I was so proud.
Alayna: Alayna started swimming lessons this week. 3 days were rained out (2 were spent in the locker room learning safety procedures and we skipped the 3rd day cause we were tired of the same safety lesson.) It is supposed to be sunny and hot all this week so maybe she will have better luck? She is doing a super job of putting her face under the water, doing bobs, and learning to float.
Tyler: Tyler has been the great big brother to Alayna this week. He has been so good about spending time and playing with her. He also got to spend time at his friend Hunter’s house.
Kayla: We assume Kayla is alive. She is still in Missouri visiting with her cousins. She will head to teen week today. We sure do miss her!
Marisa: Marisa was at Youth Conference from Wednesday afternoon-Saturday afternoon. She said she had a wonderful time and she posted some fun pics on facebook. She leaves for teen week today.
Garden: Our garden has taken off like crazy! However, we are having a small invasion of Japanese beetles which is very irritating. We have zucchini coming out of our ears. Looks like I will be making lots of bread.
Primary Quarterly Activity: We had a big activity at the park. I forgot to bring the camera to take pics there, but I did take a picture of the 132 smiley face cupcakes I made. Tyler and Alayna helped me make the frosting and the cupcake batter. It was quite a project.
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Trip To St. Louis, Summer 2009
Trip To St. Louis
Summer 2009
Sunday:
We drove to Columbia, Missouri (about 6 hours away) and stayed overnight at a hotel. It was the first chance we have had to take a family trip with the van. The dual DVD players were awesome. A mom must have invented that!
Monday:
Bob took the kids to the pool after breakfast and then we checked Marisa in to EFY at the University of Missouri (apparently called “Mizzou”). She was very excited to attend along with her cousin Jared. She will be posting pictures and info on her blog soon. She had a great time!
The rest of us drove the two hours to St. Louis and went straight to Six Flags. We spent several hours there checking out what rides we wanted to go on and what we wanted to do. We have learned that the daredevils in our family are Tyler, Kayla, and Bob. They rode: Evil Kenieval, Xcalibur, etc. Tyler has listed it all in detail on his blog. .
Alayna wanted to try a rollercoaster. She went on the Tony Hawk with the rest of the crew, but it scared her spitless and she said she never wants to do that ride ever again. But we did find lots of rides that she loved. We also got her picture with Scooby doo and other fun characters. (will post on the blog)
Tuesday:
We started out the day at Hurricane Harbor at six flags. We had an absolute blast! Alayna and I spent our time on the Lazy River and in the wave pool. Bob, Kayla, and Tyler went on some big slides and this giant funnel thing called the Tornado. Then we met up with them and they all went on the family raft slide, the Wahoo Racer, and some other slides. We were there from 11-3 and then went to six flags from 3-7. Our daredevils rode lots more rollercoaster’s while Alayna and I hung out at Bugs Bunny Nat’l Park so Alayna could ride all those rides. There were no lines so she got to go on every ride many times! While we waited for Bob and kids riding the batman, batman and robin came up and asked to get a picture with Alayna. It was so cute. (I will post)
Wednesday:
The kids went swimming at the hotel in the morning. Then we drove downtown to show the kids the arch and we ate at this really cool restaurant called “Crepes in the City” and it had the awesoemest food! We got a crepe with bacon, eggs, and cheese; a crepe with strawberries, nutella, and powdered sugar; and a crepe with strawberries and crème.
Then we met up with the Hart Grandparents and spent the afternoon at the St. Louis science museum. It was a free museum and had all this really neat stuff. We wore dr coats and got to do real experiments with an interactive touch screen computer. Awe got to see a science presentation (where Bob got to be the assistant). They were able to put together dinosaur skeletons (like a puzzle), and interact with some really neat displays.
Then we came back to the hotel and met up with the Missouri cousins and went swimming in the hotel pool.
Thursday:
We spent the ENTIRE day at Six Flags! It was perfect weather and the kids had a great time. I think they did every ride in the entire park. When we came home they did another swim in the hotel pool.
Friday:
The kids went swimming in the morning and then we drove back to Columbia. It worked out that Kayla could go with the Wilkinsons and spend the week in Missouri before teen week so we wont see her for 2 weeks.
Bob and Alayna went with the gparents to see the botanical gardens while Tyler played on the computer and I crashed out cold for a nap. Then we hooked up the laptop to the hotel TV and watched Inkheart.
Saturday:
Bob picked up Marisa at 7AM, bright and early. We got breakfast at the hotel and headed home. We arrived home around 2:00 and then hung out downstairs to watch all our fun shows for the 4th of July. (Actually we were all so exhausted we just couldn’t get off the couch.)
Now we are back to our regular schedules, Alayna starts swimming lessons Monday and Marisa has youth conference this week. This summer is going by entirely too fast!
Summer 2009
Sunday:
We drove to Columbia, Missouri (about 6 hours away) and stayed overnight at a hotel. It was the first chance we have had to take a family trip with the van. The dual DVD players were awesome. A mom must have invented that!
Monday:
Bob took the kids to the pool after breakfast and then we checked Marisa in to EFY at the University of Missouri (apparently called “Mizzou”). She was very excited to attend along with her cousin Jared. She will be posting pictures and info on her blog soon. She had a great time!
The rest of us drove the two hours to St. Louis and went straight to Six Flags. We spent several hours there checking out what rides we wanted to go on and what we wanted to do. We have learned that the daredevils in our family are Tyler, Kayla, and Bob. They rode: Evil Kenieval, Xcalibur, etc. Tyler has listed it all in detail on his blog. .
Alayna wanted to try a rollercoaster. She went on the Tony Hawk with the rest of the crew, but it scared her spitless and she said she never wants to do that ride ever again. But we did find lots of rides that she loved. We also got her picture with Scooby doo and other fun characters. (will post on the blog)
Tuesday:
We started out the day at Hurricane Harbor at six flags. We had an absolute blast! Alayna and I spent our time on the Lazy River and in the wave pool. Bob, Kayla, and Tyler went on some big slides and this giant funnel thing called the Tornado. Then we met up with them and they all went on the family raft slide, the Wahoo Racer, and some other slides. We were there from 11-3 and then went to six flags from 3-7. Our daredevils rode lots more rollercoaster’s while Alayna and I hung out at Bugs Bunny Nat’l Park so Alayna could ride all those rides. There were no lines so she got to go on every ride many times! While we waited for Bob and kids riding the batman, batman and robin came up and asked to get a picture with Alayna. It was so cute. (I will post)
Wednesday:
The kids went swimming at the hotel in the morning. Then we drove downtown to show the kids the arch and we ate at this really cool restaurant called “Crepes in the City” and it had the awesoemest food! We got a crepe with bacon, eggs, and cheese; a crepe with strawberries, nutella, and powdered sugar; and a crepe with strawberries and crème.
Then we met up with the Hart Grandparents and spent the afternoon at the St. Louis science museum. It was a free museum and had all this really neat stuff. We wore dr coats and got to do real experiments with an interactive touch screen computer. Awe got to see a science presentation (where Bob got to be the assistant). They were able to put together dinosaur skeletons (like a puzzle), and interact with some really neat displays.
Then we came back to the hotel and met up with the Missouri cousins and went swimming in the hotel pool.
Thursday:
We spent the ENTIRE day at Six Flags! It was perfect weather and the kids had a great time. I think they did every ride in the entire park. When we came home they did another swim in the hotel pool.
Friday:
The kids went swimming in the morning and then we drove back to Columbia. It worked out that Kayla could go with the Wilkinsons and spend the week in Missouri before teen week so we wont see her for 2 weeks.
Bob and Alayna went with the gparents to see the botanical gardens while Tyler played on the computer and I crashed out cold for a nap. Then we hooked up the laptop to the hotel TV and watched Inkheart.
Saturday:
Bob picked up Marisa at 7AM, bright and early. We got breakfast at the hotel and headed home. We arrived home around 2:00 and then hung out downstairs to watch all our fun shows for the 4th of July. (Actually we were all so exhausted we just couldn’t get off the couch.)
Now we are back to our regular schedules, Alayna starts swimming lessons Monday and Marisa has youth conference this week. This summer is going by entirely too fast!
BEFORE summer vacation trip
June 28, 2009
BEFORE summer vacation trip
I just didn’t have time to get this off before we had to leave for St. Louis.
Scout Camp: Tyler had his last year of cubscout camp. We had record heat and humidity that week and it was the worst on the day that Bob chaperoned! Maybe Tyler or Bob will write up how the week went?
Girls Camp: My fingers are crossed that Kayla and Marisa will write up about camp on their blogs (hint hint) We had a major storm with 60 mph winds and tornadoes come through so they had to be evacuated from camp. When they came back, all their tents were flooded and all their stuff was wet. So they slept in cars and other tents I think. They came home on Friday and were out cold.
Alayna and me: We had a fun week together with just the two of us. We went to see “Monsters VS Aliens”, we went to lunch with daddy, played some games, and watched some shows. We had so much fun.
Ok, that’s the week in a nutshell. I wish I had written it while I still remembered details.
Kayla with the gorgeous sunset!
Unpacking girls camp and scout camp and packing for St. Louis. Yikes!
BEFORE summer vacation trip
I just didn’t have time to get this off before we had to leave for St. Louis.
Scout Camp: Tyler had his last year of cubscout camp. We had record heat and humidity that week and it was the worst on the day that Bob chaperoned! Maybe Tyler or Bob will write up how the week went?
Girls Camp: My fingers are crossed that Kayla and Marisa will write up about camp on their blogs (hint hint) We had a major storm with 60 mph winds and tornadoes come through so they had to be evacuated from camp. When they came back, all their tents were flooded and all their stuff was wet. So they slept in cars and other tents I think. They came home on Friday and were out cold.
Alayna and me: We had a fun week together with just the two of us. We went to see “Monsters VS Aliens”, we went to lunch with daddy, played some games, and watched some shows. We had so much fun.
Ok, that’s the week in a nutshell. I wish I had written it while I still remembered details.
Kayla with the gorgeous sunset!
Unpacking girls camp and scout camp and packing for St. Louis. Yikes!
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