Dealing with the Unexpected

April 27, 2008

1. What a week! Most of you remember Marisa’s bike accident a couple of years ago when she had to go to the hospital in an ambulance and get several stitches on her face. Last year, we could not talk Marisa into getting back on a bike. This year she decided to try again. Tuesday night she was racing down and hill, didn’t slow down for the turn, laid her bike in the process, and skidded for several feet on her side. Thank goodness we had just gotten her a cell phone for her birthday! Kayla called, told us she was hurt, and we picked her up in the car. She has some serious road rash on the side of her body. I couldn’t get the pictures to show how bad it really is. We cleaned her and wrapped her up. By Thursday night, her wounds were covered with pus, quite lovely. We had to take her into the walk-in clinic. The doc said her infection was spreading. So, now we have her on oral antibiotics, so she should be feeling better soon. Its hard for her to walk, so she missed 3 days of school again this week. Yikes!!

2. My friend had a c-section on Tuesday. So, we took her kids overnight. I was reminded why I am not having any more children. The 3 year old wouldn’t go to bed until midnight and then cried from 1:30-2:00. Thank goodness I didn’t have to work the next morning! We have watched them every day after school until bedtime.

3. I came home Tuesday to several unexpected surprises. Bob and I had our 15th anniversary this week! He left a beautiful bouquet of roses on the table. In the fridge, he actually hand dipped strawberries in chocolate and decorated frosted brownies with them. Does he know me well or what?? We weren’t able to go out and celebrate since we were babysitting and Marisa chose to crash her bike (just kidding). Hopefully we can swing a lunch next week!

4. We had Family Fun Night at Linn Grove on Friday night. We took my friends kids again so we had a big family! They had walking tacos for dinner (one of my favorite meals) and lots of carnival games.

5. Kayla went to “take your child to work day” at Rockwell. Bob was actually her group leader. She said she had a great time. Hopefully she will take a minute to write up her experience.

6. Alayna played “fashion show” yesterday. Apparently she found some of my makeup and decided to do her own. It looked like she got punched in both eyes, but it was a nice try.

7. Marisa and Kayla went to the Beehive and Deacon Party since they had to be 14 to attend the Stake Youth Activity. They played lots of games, including kick the can. Next month Marisa will be old enough to go to the Stake Dances!

8. We have another very busy week ahead of us. The weather has been gorgeous! We are soaking up the sun! Tyler made a homemade birdfeeder, but no birds have taken advantage of the free food yet. Kayla finished her science inquiry project seeing what fruit conducts the most electricity. Again, maybe I can get her to hop on and tell the results.

Kaylas team on the obstacle course

Kayla on Centipede

Kayla on Burma Bridge

Germs, earthquakes, and baby chicks

April 20, 2008

Well, we got all the kids better, but I was very sick all week. Plus, I was on a long term sub and couldn’t get a sub. So, it ended up being a terribly long week!! I am feeling much better and its finally 70 degrees here! I just hope Bob doesn’t catch this. He is the only one that hasn’t been sick yet.

Odd news of the week: We actually had an earthquake this week. Who knew we lived on a fault line? We were asleep and didn’t feel it, but I had many students at school that did.

On Monday, I went with Kayla’s team up to Camp Courageous (as a teacher, not a parent chaperone) The kids are divided into teams and do all sorts of team building activities. I went with Kayla’s group. First they did the Burma bridge: it was a challenging cable bridge suspended 25 feet above a ravine that they crossed while securely fastened to a safety rope. Then they went to the Centipede (The centipede offers a very challenging climb up separate sections of wood. The climber then walks across a large utility pole approximately 30 feet off the ground. Climbers descend by way of a cable ladder that moves with you.) Then they did a group obstacle course, where they had to cooperate with each other to complete each stage. Then we had lunch, made a fire, and cooked smores. It was a fun day but a little chilly for my taste (32 degrees when we arrived). I will get some pictures up about it today.

Marisa had the Excelsior Orchestra Invitational yesterday. They competed with another school and had judges evaluate each performance. Then they topped it off with dinner and a few hours at Superskate. Marisa actually tried skating!! She even has lots of bruises to prove it. But she had a great time and their orchestra received high praise. She has also had a couple of tennis meets. She is doing really well.

Tyler had “Wild West day” at school on Friday. They made butter, made dream catchers, had a “saloon”, etc. He dressed up and said it was his best day at school all year!

Alayna’s class is hatching baby chicks. The eggs have been under an incubator for a couple of weeks. They just hatched on Friday. Our friends, who own a farm, are coming to pick up the chicks this week and take them to live at the farm. I will try and get some pictures of the new babies this week.

By the way, we got Marisa an early birthday present. We got her a cell phone!! She is pretty excited. I cant believe she starts driving next year!!

This week Bob and I celebrate our 15th anniversary (even though we already went to Florida for it). We have lots of other fun activities this week including Family Fun night at the school. Until next week…

Marisa dressed for her murder mystery dinner

I spoke too soon

April 13, 2008

The other day I was in a presidency meeting and they were all talking about how sick their kids were. I said, “We are so lucky, none of us have been sick for a long time!” The minute it came out, I knew I had jinxed us. Bob thinks I am crazy, but it’s true. We had 3 different types of sicknesses slam into us the past 2 weeks. We have had a stomach virus, severe cold, and the flu. Note to self: buy stock in Lysol! Marisa, Kayla, and Tyler all missed 3 days of school this week. Marisa had to miss the orchestra trip to Linn Grove and the 8th grade job shadowing day. I had the stomach virus last week and now have the cold.

I would love to give a report on what has been going on around here, but since we have all been so sick, there is little to report. We did, however, get a fun visit from Jonathan and his new wife, Kristi. It was so great to meet her and have them come visit here in Iowa. It even snowed while they were here so we could give them a taste of Iowa!

Marisa started tennis, but we have had almost constant rain so I think she has only had 2 practices. Yesterday she took the ACT again. Last week she went to a murder mystery overnighter with her friends from school. She had a blast, but she didn’t get much sleep. (We will post her picture) Alayna’s class is hatching baby chicks, they will hatch this week. Tyler got the solo for the 4th grade choir concert!! We are so proud of him! Kayla is extra lucky because I am subbing her math class for 2 weeks! I am subbing for her teacher who went in for surgery this week. Tomorrow we have a field trip to Camp Courageous ( with all the 6th graders) It should be 54 and sunny- good thing since we are outside all day. I have been subbing every single day, which is great. Still no job openings. Sounds like there probably won’t be this year.

Ok, I guess that’s my quick update. Hopefully we will all start feeling better and have a good week. We would sure love to hear from everyone- hint, hint!