Feb 11, 2007

February 11, 2007

Anyone else out there sick of the subzero temps we have had for two weeks now? You know its bad when we are excited that today’s temp will climb all the way to 33!! Yee-haw!! I may have to get in my swimsuit, it will be so warm. Just kidding, that would be scary!

We had a jam-packed week full of lots of exciting activities:

1. Marisa took the ACT Saturday morning. She thought it was hard, but actually felt she did really well. I think it’s exciting that she gets the chance to try it so early. I think she wasn’t so thrilled it took almost 4 hours, but that’s ok. She also had “New Beginnings” for YW this week and they had a Princess Party. She came home with a bag full of neat things.
2. Kayla had her first gymnastics meet yesterday. She did GREAT!! She won 3 blue ribbons (the highest you can get) and 1 red. She also won a medal!! I think that got her VERY excited for the next meet.
3. Hal and Corey came up and did 6 science presentations at our kid’s schools. They did Tyler’s 3^rd grade class (plus the other 2 3^rd grade classes in the school) and they did Kayla’s class (and the other 2 5^th grade classes as well). Then, they even did Alayna’s preschool class! I didn’t have to sub those days, so I was able to go as well. They did the coolest demonstrations on air pressure. They made garbage bag mummies, made marshmallows and balloons expand in a vacuum chamber, made a water balloon suck into a glass jar using a match, let kids use a giant straw, and of course, blew up some diet coke with mentos, which is always a hit!! Thanks for doing that, Corey and Hal!!!
4. We had a fun Survivor premiere party with root beer floats. I really could never be on that show. I would never sleep or eat and therefore, would not be pleasant to live with. Actually, I could probably make it to the final 2, because everyone would want to take me with them to the final two, so they could have an easy win. Maybe I should consider it?
5. We went to the cooking cottage again to make some meals. The older 3 kids really love going and whipped through making our meals in no time with all that extra help.
6. I finished my online application for the Cedar Rapids district and activated it yesterday. Things are slowly coming together. I must say, I am curious for what is in store for me next year.
7. Marisa is babysitting a dog this week across the street. She just barely had 4 puppies. So, the kids have been over there playing with them this weekend. The puppies are so tiny and barely have their eyes opening. They are once again trying to talk me into getting a puppy, its not gonna happen.
8. Yesterday was our 14 year anniversary of when Bob asked me to marry him. Can you believe that?

Well, I guess that about sums it up. Happy Valentines Day, everyone and enjoy your week!!!!

Feb 5, 2007

February 5, 2007

School was delayed today. Wanna guess why? For frigid temperatures. Wanna guess what constitutes “frigid” here? Well, that would be -38 (with the wind chill) !!!! The wind chill was so bad last night. They warned against anyone going outside as frostbite can start after only 10 minutes outside! I noticed you people in L.A. are at 76 degrees right now. That is just wrong...

Well, let’s see what is new in our chilly, icy, “frigid” neck of the woods: Marisa was accepted into the metropolitan orchestra. She auditioned and made 4th chair out of 25 kids who were auditioning for 2nd violin. That’s for the whole Cedar Rapids Metropolitan area (7th graders). She was able to perform in a huge concert in the Paramount Theater downtown. It is such a cool experience and she had a fun conductor. My favorite number that they did was “Farandole” by Georges Bizet. Wow! They did a great job. She sure loves being a part of such an amazing program.

Kayla also had her school musical performance about Lewis and Clark. She was an indian. It was a great performance and I took a picture of the costume we made for her. Actually, she made most of it and did a great job. I think she is becoming a real performer.

Bob was called to be ward clerk this week and released from the Elder’s Quorum. I was thrilled for him until he was at the church Sunday from 8-5:30- now I am not so sure. I know it won’t be that way every week, but we sure miss him when he isn’t here. Our family history class is going well. We are learning to navigate through the different research websites. It’s amazing how much information is available on the web for genealogy now!

I have been busy subbing quite a bit. I have also been working on a couple of papers for one of my college courses. I spent a good portion of Saturday filling out an electronic application for the Cedar Rapids district. It took forever. But once you have it all complete, it automatically scans you for all jobs you are qualified for and sends ALL your information to the person hiring. Or, if there is a job you really want, you just push the apply button and it sends your stuff priority. It’s actually pretty cool.

I guess that is all that is new here. We did have sick kids for a few days last week, but everyone is well now. We do have a giant snow storm headed in tonight so school may be cancelled tomorrow. Hope everyone else is staying warm and having a great week.

Love,
Kris and family

Jan 28, 2007

January 28, 2007

It’s a gorgeous 0 degrees this morning, but with the windchill is -15!! Anybody else out there ready for spring to begin? It may be cold, but that sure doesn’t slow us down. We have had lots going on around here.

The most exciting thing this week was Tyler had his very first pinewood derby!! He was so excited about it. We watched the movie “Down and Derby” last weekend so he could see what it was like. Those dads on the movie seemed unrealistic- or so I thought, until we went to our derby! Anyway, Tyler tried to paint lightning on his car, but it didn’t work. So, he just painted yellow and orange blobs over the red. I will post some pictures- he was SO proud. He ended up winning his first four races and lost his last four. He is so excited for next year that he has already created his “design” which is Spongebob and Patrick riding in a blue car. I will let you know how it goes!

Bob and I were asked to start attending the Family History course. We are very excited to have a time set to work on it and lots of people to help. Thank you all for sending us the work you have already done. I was shocked when we downloaded Grandma Cunningham’s file to see 6,500 names. Holy Cow!!! Marisa is excited to help as a personal progress project. Very cool!

We got all of Alayna’s kindergarten paperwork this week. Her orientation is in February! In some ways, she has grown up very fast.

This week is full of “stuff”. Marisa has her chair auditions for the Metropolitan concert she is playing in next weekend. She also has a choir concert this week. Kayla has her 5th grade musical. She tried out for a part and didn’t, make it which was heartbreaking! But she was chosen to be an indian, so this weekend we have been working on designing her cool costume. I’ll send pics when we finish.

One of my professors started sending me assignments even though its not an official class yet. I see many hours of work ahead of me. Jobs are already starting to be posted, so I am trying to get prepared. It was a quiet sub week. I only subbed a half day. I do sub tomorrow all day. Bob has been working overtime the past few weeks and is almost done with volleyball season.

If any of you are interested, this is the address where we posted all our family slideshows.
We take all of our pictures from the year and put it together with music. We think they are fun. Please let us know what you think. Have a wonderful week!

http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewalbum.html?bm=67415



Kris and Family

Week in Review- Jan 15, 2007

January 15, 2007

Week in Review:

1. Tyler’s expander broke, so we had to take an unplanned trip to the dentist to have it fixed and recemented on.
2. Marisa placed 2^nd in the school Geography Bee. Here is what I wrote on that:

Marisa placed 2^nd in the whole school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She kicked butt the first 5 rounds. She never missed a question. She beat out all the 7^th and 8^th graders! She got to the final round and then went against a 6^th grader for the championship round (this kid had missed one question, but you have to miss two to get out.) In this championship round their slates went clean. They both got the first question right. Then Marisa got the next one wrong, the boy got it right, then they both missed the last question , so she lost. She was beating herself up over it, but I am WAY proud. 2^nd in the entire school is nothing to sneeze at.

3. I taught Kayla’s class for ½ day this week. I also taught another 5^th grade class in her school on Friday and another class at the middle school for ½ day. Another very busy sub day!
4. We had a very sad loss of a special member of our family. Our 9 year old TV finally gave out. As devastating as that was, it was more devastating knowing our favorite show “24” was back on this weekend. So, we moved the DDR TV into the living room and scooted our couch and chairs all within a few feet of the TV. WE plan to get an LCD flat screen someday…someday…
5. Speaking of 24…it was awesome!!! I can hardly wait for part 2 tonight!
6. Bob is finally feeling better but now we have Kayla and Alayna sick. Note to self: must convince family to stop sharing everything with each other!!!
7. We had our first giant snowfall last night. So, since the kids have the day off, they went out to build a snow man and play in the snow. Since they built it on the side of the house and its 8 degrees outside, I wont get a picture taken of it today…
8. Nothing else new going on. Have a great week!

Kris and Family

January 8, 2007

January 8, 2007

Quick note for the week:

I got hit with a cold dose of reality on Wednesday morning at 5:45am , when I had to get up and get ready for work. That vacation was way too short. Anyway, I was given the opportunity to teach Mrs. Yerke 7th grade reading classes for W/TH/F. I really enjoyed it and love being able to see the same kids three days in a row. Wow- what a difference that made!! I will admit though, I was very tired on Saturday. I ended up having to deep clean Saturday instead of my normal Friday.
We found out Marisa placed 1st on her team (150 kids) and qualified for the school Geography Bee which will be held Tuesday. I am subbing Kayla’s class that morning but subbing at Excelsior for the afternoon so I will be able to see the school Bee. I know she is nervous, but she is just hoping she does better than last year.
Bob was up all last night sick. So, he stayed home from work. Hope I don’t get it, I have too much going on. Tomorrow after the Bee we have gymnastics and then babysitting for a family in our ward.
Glad Grandma Annie made it home from the hospital and is doing well. We were so sad to hear though that the girls bunnies died. Anyway, I know this is short, but its another busy one. I will write more this weekend.

Kris

January 1, Part 2

January 1, 2006- Part 2

I want to start out by saying you should ALL go see “Night at the Museum”!!! It was such a fantastic movie and I thought Ben Stiller was great in it. We took the kids over Christmas break and laughed through the whole thing!

Anyway, continuing from yesterdays blog (Part 1)...We had a prefect Christmas. It was so relaxing and well, just perfect. The kids got great gifts and they played with their new stuff all day. We had crepes in the morning and enjoyed a turkey dinner in the evening. We also watched lots of fun movies.

On Tuesday, the kids had gymnastics and Bob’s parents and brother, Jeff, arrived. We spent lots of time watching movies and hooking up the 5 computers to play “Midtown madness”. We went to the special Japanese Restaurant called “Osaka” where they cook your food in front of you. The food was excellent and it was very entertaining. It was our way of celebrating our family finishing reading the Old Testament! We also went out shopping to spend our Christmas money.

This weekend Bob took the kids to Illinois to play at the Harts home and celebrate New Years. I stayed here to get my mile high pile of things to do done. The last day of school I turned in all my teaching applications and portfolio. It looks like there may not be any jobs available this coming year, but there will be next year when they expand a new middle school. So, I guess I will just see what happens. Another year of subbing may be in the cards. So, anyway, I have enjoyed a quiet weekend and hae gotten so much done. Its amazing what you can do when you don’t have to constantly be on your toes making sure no one cuts their hair off!!

We are excited for this new year to come and , as always, wonder what it has in store for us. We wish all of you a Happy New Year and may your year be filled with health and happiness!

Love,
kris and family

January 1 - Part 1

January 1, 2006- Part 1
This Holiday vacation has flown by so fast! I didn’t even get a newsletter up last week. I thought I should catch up on all this fun stuff that has been going on here.

First, Marisa was once again accepted into the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Orchestra for middle school. That was exciting news and she looks forward to the performance in February. She has auditions coming up soon for which chair she will be.

As shared with some of you when the event actually occurred, Alayna actually cut off her hair. I will quote my exact thoughts here:

“And the Mother of the Year award goes to...Me!!!! For NOT beating my child when I found her cutting off all her hair!! She was only alone for 5 minutes. She had been playing with daddy and he ran to the bathroom. She did it that fast. Thank heavens, because of years of experience, I didn't beat her, I just screamed in unholy terror at the site before me. A dorky looking boy with a mullet. I have a friend in the ward who was an angel and did a night house call on the spur of the moment. She did a great job fixing it considering the circumstances. It figures- the night before Alayna was to accompany me to help run the medieval fair. Giant- Ugh!!! Wishing me luck raising this kid... PS She keeps crying and saying "I want my hair back!!" Well, tough luck, sista! Should have thought of that instead of your other bright idea. She doesn't want to face people at the fair tomorrow. Instead of a princess, I may just dress her up like a squire!”

She was quite devastated for a while, but then we found her with scissors the next day trying to cut hair off a wig. Ugh!!! We did find some cute headbands and hair bows and calmed down after I reassured her she had NOT turned into a boy just because her hair was short!

Marisa also had her school Medieval Festival that week which I was able to volunteer for. (I was actually the photographer which should scare you all!) Anyway, it was similar to the madrigal dinners we used to do in High School. Marisa played in an orchestra quartet for the Royalty. Alayna was allowed to come too- she heard from Marisa it was a Prince and Princess party so she went all out dressing up for it. I will include some pictures.

That same day, Alayna and I went to Kayla’s classroom to help out with her Winter Party. They made marshmallow igloos, tried to unwrap Hershey kisses with gloves, and had lots of treats. It was so fun to go spend time with her in her classroom.

It did end up being a long week since I worked 3 days and volunteered one. I guess I got a feel for what a full time job/full time mom would be like. Can I just tell you how long I slept in on Saturday?

On Sunday, our family was asked to do a musical number in church. We were asked to sing “I believe in Christ”. Marisa accompanied us on her violin and did an amazing job. We sang in 3 part harmony and I think we did a pretty good job. We had a fun relaxing joyous Christmas Eve that night. Tune in for Part 2 of our holiday vacation!