Hawks, Hail, and Helicopters!

Hawks, Hail, and Helicopters!

It was a really weird week. One day when I was taking Alayna to school, a huge helicopter flew right over our house. It looked like it was mere feet from our roof! It was super loud and we both stood there with our jaws dropped, staring at the sky. Right after the helicopter passed, a huge hawk with a giant wing span came soaring into our yard and landed on the tree house. Alayna and I were looking at each wondering what the heck was going on. I raced in the house to get the camera, but by the time I came out again, it was gone. Also, this week, a freak storm hit with golf ball size hail. I would have gotten a picture, but I was too busy trying to convince a room full of 6^th graders that we weren’t in the middle of Armageddon! My poor van has dimples all over it.

Apple pies

We made 4 apple pies this week and we got pretty creative with the top part. We baked one of them in the toaster oven (our oven has been broken since Alaynas baptism) and it was so yummy! We have another huge crop coming in so this weekend we are declaring “Apple Day” and will bake til we drop.

Things that make me go “huh?”

Here are some school funnies that happened this week:

One of the questions on the Daily Geography test this week was “What two countries border Mongolia?” Now, mind you, this exact question was covered in class and we even showed it on the class map and their atlases. One of my students wrote “Salt Lake City and Provo!” Bet you didn’t know those are countries that border Mongolia!

Same test, same explanation as above. The question was “What continent does Central America belong to? One kid said “Denver”.

Another day, while working on Daily Geography, I saw that a student was getting frustrated.

Student: Mrs. Hart, I cant find North Dakota for the life of me!

Me: Ok, where are you looking?

Student: I’m trying to find a close up map of Iowa because I KNOW its in Iowa but I just don’t see it.

Yep- my job is SO not boring.

Things I have learned this week:

~Tyler woke up on Tuesday morning running around like a loon saying he was late for jazz band. Um, you are in jazz band? Apparently he had auditioned and made it and “forgot” to tell us. So, congrats to Tyler on this cool new activity to participate in.

~Do any of you know what “jeggings” are? Apparently it’s this new type of pants- they are skin tight (like Leggings) but made out of jeans- hence the “jeggings” name. Weird, right?

~Did you know that the only type of pink hair dye spray they make here is “fluorescent”? Just what I need-hair streaks you can see from space! Big day is this Friday.

~I’m going to suggest to Congress that they pass a law which says in order to be a parent you must spend an entire week with a teenage girl trying to find an appropriate Homecoming dress that is “the one”. I think people would think twice about having kids.

Ok, so I won’t go into the details about how many stores and how many hours we spent looking for a dress. You wouldn’t believe me even if I did. Apparently the new “style” of homecoming dress is to make sure it as low cut as possible, no sleeves, and as short as your undies are. After several huge failed attempts, I got a brilliant idea (it was either this or I become a homicidal maniac). I said we should look for long dresses and cut them off. So, that opened up many more possibilities. So, this week we went to David’s bridal again (the 3^rd time) and she tried on every dress her size, that was long on the clearance rack. (That is not an exaggerated statement-trust me!) After 2 ½ hours, we got it narrowed down to 3. She loved the yellow one, I hated it. I loved the red one, she wasn’t excited about it. FINALLY, one of the ladies that worked there said, “Do you mind if I give my opinion? You guys have been here longer than I have!” So, thank heavens she liked the red one more. Marisa looks so stunning in it. (I just think she doesn’t like how it shows she has a figure). So, we bought it (a $200 dress for $40!!) and Grandma Hart, the amazing magician that she is, cut it and fixed it! So, I will include the original dress picture and you can see the fixed one at Homecoming.

Misc Extras:

Tyler and his partner won their match again this week. 4-0

I finished Al Capone does my Shirts this week. It’s a Newbery Honor book and I loved it. It’s about a boy whose family moves to Alcatraz because his father gets a job as a guard there (during 1935). His sister is autistic and how that affects him and his family. A really sweet book. (Based on the true history of Alcatraz).

Raspberries, pink hair, and a squishy helmet

Raspberry heaven

I keep forgetting to share our raspberry success. We have had them coming out of our ears and absolutely love it! We make this amazing chocolate raspberry pie, raspberry syrup (for crepes), and we freeze the rest to have with cereal or chocolate ice cream. The crop is almost done and I didn’t take any pictures, but I’m already looking forward to the spring crop in April.

Pink Hair

Was anyone “dyeing” to know why I am dying my hair pink? Well…our school had a magazine fundraiser to raise money for all the clubs and sports we have. Several of us teachers agreed that we would dye our hair pink if the 6^th graders made their goal of $7000. We knew they wouldn’t make it since they haven’t the past few years. Not only did they make their goal, but they tripled it!! So, we are dying our hair pink (although I only agreed to streak mine). We are using the stuff that should wash out in a week. I’m gonna look like a geek this week, but whatever…(will include pics next week)

Book Review

Dairy Queen- I just finished this week and it was awesome! The author is brilliant and it is such a funny book. So, if you are looking for an easy read, this is a great one.

I’m almost done with Life as we knew it which is also a great book. Its about what life would be like if the moon was knocked out of its orbit. Very thought provoking.

Busy Saturday

We went out to a trail to go bike riding while the girls went up for the Stake Activity all day in Cedar Falls. The trail was so fun and the weather couldn’t have been lovelier. As we were backing out to go home, we heard this loud crashing sound. I thought Bob ran over a bike. Instead, we found out that Bob had run over his helmet with the car! Here it is….

Misc

Marisa auditioned and made 6th chair in the 1st violins of the symphony orchestra. She is very excited. She also made chamber again. She also qualified to attend all state auditions (you have to pre-qualify at your school 1^st) and will audition Oct 23.

Kayla auditioned on her clarinet and made 9^th chair. She was very happy. I think her 1^st concert for concert band is next month.

Tyler had a tennis meet on Tuesday. They play til a team wins 6 games. It was 0-5 and then they made an AMAZING comeback. Soon, I was 5-5 and then went to a tiebreaker. The other team won by 2 points! It was so close!! Then, they won their meet Thursday 4-0!

We found out how Marisa feels about buttering waffles.

Alayna also made a “train house” out of the dominoes and trains.  So cute!

How to ask someone to Homecoming…

Marisa asked David Kaiser (in another ward) to Homecoming. He couldn’t make the big teen hangout we had here, so she got everyone to help participate to make pictures that spell out homecoming. Then she printed the photos and put cardstock on the back. She put them in a shoe box and dropped it off to his house when he was gone to a fireside. He called the minute she walked back in the door to say yes! She was so excited! Anyway, here are the pics…..

How do YOU exercise?

“Life is like a game of tennis; the player who serves well seldom loses”

Tyler made the Team 1 tennis team for doubles! He and his partner won their 1^st match on Thursday. Tyler is thinking tennis is pretty dang cool. He also starts jazz band at the end of this month.

Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape. ~Author Unknown

One day Marisa decided to do yoga to one of my old tapes. Tyler said he would just sit there and watch her. She said “No way! You are doing this WITH me!” I snuck downstairs and this is what I saw…

When he saw that I took the picture, his response was, “Mom! You stink!”

"You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming." - Frank Shorter

We went to the track yesterday as a family to practice for the 5k coming up. I shaved almost 7 minutes off my time since the last time we went to the track. I thought that was pretty impressive. Bob spends most of his time running backwards, but whatever works, right? The one we are running as a family is 1 month away and I doing another one the week before that. My goal is to not come in last!

Dancing and kick the can

It was our turn to host the teen hangout night. So, we set up the stereo and they danced for a while, played kick ball, and had fun out back. When it got dark, they played kick-the-can for about 2 hours or so. Then they came inside, had s’mores and played games downstairs until midnight. I think/hope everyone had a great time. I, for one, know I must be getting old since staying up that late is getting more and more difficult!

Misc. Stuff

I’m the proud new sponsor of the school monopoly club. I had a student approach me and ask if I would sponsor it. Maybe it’s because I’m so cool?

We had TONS of apples, so we made homemade applesauce and apple crisp with Corey on Monday. It all turned out amazingly good! We have more apples coming- I smell an apple pie on the way….(I forgot to take pictures!)

Kayla made Alayna a pillow for her birthday!

Tyler and Bob were supposed to go on the Father/Son Campout, but it rained, and they were chickens, so they stayed home.  Tyler was trying to help out to make the foil dinners (which we decided obviously to cook here instead)  Anyway, I came to check on things and this is what I found.  I wonder if Tyler should go on one of those chef shows??

Book Reviews:

My favorite new books are National Geographic photobiographies. I would say they are “fascinating” but then Marisa would make fun of me for using that word (she says I use it too much). Anyway, I have read Triumph on Everest: a photobiography of Sir Edmund Hillary and Dragon Bones and Dinosaur Eggs: a photobiography of explorer Roy Chapman Andrews. Both easy reads, but very super cool! If you love forensic anthropology like I do, then you would really like this award winner called Written in Bone : buried lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland. If you are looking for a fiction book, I just finished another book by Jordan Sonnenblick called Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, which was excellent as usual. Such a gifted writer!

*Special Note: Tune in next week to see why I am dying my hair pink…

More and More Photos

Baptisms, Birthdays, and Bunches of fun, cont.

I put the writing on the cake and Alayna did the flower and heart!

Then we watched “Diary of a wimpy kid” while the other adults watched the BYU game in the upstairs LR.

Baptisms, Birthdays, and Bunches of fun

Baptisms, Birthdays, and Bunches of fun

We have had a wonderful few days full of so much fun! Hal and Corey came up from Illinois and Nina and family came up all the way from Tennessee!! We celebrated Alayna’s 8^th birthday and her special baptism yesterday. We have lots of fun pictures to share so this is more of a picture essay.

Everyone arrived Friday evening. Saturday morning we went for a walk up to the elementary school so the kids could play on the playground.

Played Tennis.  Nina’s kids have never played before so we went to play for fun.

The Baptism