Sunday, September 13, 2009
New baby puppies, the end of the tomatoes, and another very busy week!
September 13, 2009
New baby puppies, the end of the tomatoes, and another very busy week!
Taylor, one of the dogs we regularly babysit, had her babies. She had two girls and one boy. I will post the pics because they are so adorable!
This week Marisa got results from two different violin auditions. She made it into chamber orchestra, which is an advanced group that meets before school and performs in a Masterworks concert with the school's top choir, a jazz music concert with the school's top jazz band, and is in the pit for the school's spring musical (They are doing Fiddler on the Roof this year!!) She also made 2nd chair of the 2nd violins in symphony orchestra (the top orchestra), which is her class during the day. This is really good for a sophomore so we are very proud =) Lastly, she made it through the local level of Iowa All-state orchestra auditions. She is really excited about this and this will be a very good opportunity for her. Please send her lots of money and candy and gifts to encourage her...=) (She inserted that sentence by the way) School is going pretty well for her. She's taking French 4 and Spanish 1 this year so she gets her languages messed up sometimes but it's getting better. She's friends with a lot of foreign exchange students which is really fun for her. She and Kayla were in an adorable little skit by the young women yesterday at our ward party. It was about facebook, those of us who have one thought it was hilarious. All the old (I mean elder) people sat with lost, blank stares on their faces. That was funny too.
We are DONE with the tomatoes. If I never see another tomato again until next summer, it will be too soon. We made the rest into this awesome spaghetti sauce. It will be so nice not to have all our Saturday filled with canning, but I think we have a good supply of garden goodness to last through the winter.
There is always a lot going on, but this week it was a lot of the same stuff. Kayla did have their first volleyball game this week in Iowa City, but they lost. She has two home games this week and I am excited to see her play. She was also sustained as the new beehive president and she is very excited about that. Alayna moved up to Level 2 in gymnastics which was exciting for her. I guess that’s it for the week. We sure miss hearing from everyone…hint, hint, HINT!!
New baby puppies, the end of the tomatoes, and another very busy week!
Taylor, one of the dogs we regularly babysit, had her babies. She had two girls and one boy. I will post the pics because they are so adorable!
This week Marisa got results from two different violin auditions. She made it into chamber orchestra, which is an advanced group that meets before school and performs in a Masterworks concert with the school's top choir, a jazz music concert with the school's top jazz band, and is in the pit for the school's spring musical (They are doing Fiddler on the Roof this year!!) She also made 2nd chair of the 2nd violins in symphony orchestra (the top orchestra), which is her class during the day. This is really good for a sophomore so we are very proud =) Lastly, she made it through the local level of Iowa All-state orchestra auditions. She is really excited about this and this will be a very good opportunity for her. Please send her lots of money and candy and gifts to encourage her...=) (She inserted that sentence by the way) School is going pretty well for her. She's taking French 4 and Spanish 1 this year so she gets her languages messed up sometimes but it's getting better. She's friends with a lot of foreign exchange students which is really fun for her. She and Kayla were in an adorable little skit by the young women yesterday at our ward party. It was about facebook, those of us who have one thought it was hilarious. All the old (I mean elder) people sat with lost, blank stares on their faces. That was funny too.
We are DONE with the tomatoes. If I never see another tomato again until next summer, it will be too soon. We made the rest into this awesome spaghetti sauce. It will be so nice not to have all our Saturday filled with canning, but I think we have a good supply of garden goodness to last through the winter.
There is always a lot going on, but this week it was a lot of the same stuff. Kayla did have their first volleyball game this week in Iowa City, but they lost. She has two home games this week and I am excited to see her play. She was also sustained as the new beehive president and she is very excited about that. Alayna moved up to Level 2 in gymnastics which was exciting for her. I guess that’s it for the week. We sure miss hearing from everyone…hint, hint, HINT!!
Sunday, September 06, 2009
What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it. ~Charles Dudley Warner
September 6, 2009
What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it. ~Charles Dudley Warner
Who knew that such a mild-weathered summer would make our garden flourish? The tomatoes just keep on coming. Yesterday we canned 9 large jars (I think they are called quart size?) of spaghetti sauce. It was our first time trying this recipe and I admit I was a little nervous about trying something new. Bob found this GREAT recipe where you don’t even have to take the skins off! It just has to cook a long time to thicken. Our kitchen smelled heavenly! We still have more tomatoes. I will probably make more spaghetti sauce this week. Our raspberries have finally taken off too, but we are having to fight a major war with the Japanese Beetles.
Apparently there was some awesome football game last night? Bob had some friends over and I heard hours worth of hootin’ and hollerin’. I had to miss out because I was grading papers and doing lesson plans for hours. That’s all on top of making spaghetti sauce and the several hours we spent doing yard work. I look forward to the day when I can sit and say “Hmmm, I have nothing to do”! I dream that that day will be wonderful!
Once again, it was a busy week. It’s a good thing our family is color-coded or I would get everybody to the wrong place on the wrong day!
*Marisa received her academic letter she earned last year in an assembly this week. She has all-state auditions coming up this week. She is extra busy with homework and seminary which we found out will be starting 10 minutes earlier next month. Yikes!
*Kayla is super busy with the volleyball team. Games start this week. She is also taking French this year (Tyler is too in his world languages class) So I have 3 people speaking in a language I don’t understand. That could be bad. She also joined Jr.SODA(Students opposing drugs and alcohol) and is on the yearbook committee. She gets her braces off this month and couldn’t be more excited.
*Tyler is settling in well to middle school. He is in the band (playing trombone) He also joined Jr SODA and the fantasy book club. He has also been trying to put together a Battle of the Books team for the winter competition.
*Alayna is doing AWESOME this year and I think it might be because I am now home in the mornings. She is excited for school and loves that I can take her. She is enjoying gymnastics- she has a lot of talent, like Kayla. You wouldn’t ever want to see me do a cartwheel or try one of those flip thingy’s.
We have a VERY fun family Labor Day planned tomorrow. The weather has been GORGEOUS! We are going to go play tennis, have a BBQ, and have a Psych/Monk Marathon. We need to relax and have some family bonding time.
What a man needs in gardening is a cast-iron back, with a hinge in it. ~Charles Dudley Warner
Who knew that such a mild-weathered summer would make our garden flourish? The tomatoes just keep on coming. Yesterday we canned 9 large jars (I think they are called quart size?) of spaghetti sauce. It was our first time trying this recipe and I admit I was a little nervous about trying something new. Bob found this GREAT recipe where you don’t even have to take the skins off! It just has to cook a long time to thicken. Our kitchen smelled heavenly! We still have more tomatoes. I will probably make more spaghetti sauce this week. Our raspberries have finally taken off too, but we are having to fight a major war with the Japanese Beetles.
Apparently there was some awesome football game last night? Bob had some friends over and I heard hours worth of hootin’ and hollerin’. I had to miss out because I was grading papers and doing lesson plans for hours. That’s all on top of making spaghetti sauce and the several hours we spent doing yard work. I look forward to the day when I can sit and say “Hmmm, I have nothing to do”! I dream that that day will be wonderful!
Once again, it was a busy week. It’s a good thing our family is color-coded or I would get everybody to the wrong place on the wrong day!
*Marisa received her academic letter she earned last year in an assembly this week. She has all-state auditions coming up this week. She is extra busy with homework and seminary which we found out will be starting 10 minutes earlier next month. Yikes!
*Kayla is super busy with the volleyball team. Games start this week. She is also taking French this year (Tyler is too in his world languages class) So I have 3 people speaking in a language I don’t understand. That could be bad. She also joined Jr.SODA(Students opposing drugs and alcohol) and is on the yearbook committee. She gets her braces off this month and couldn’t be more excited.
*Tyler is settling in well to middle school. He is in the band (playing trombone) He also joined Jr SODA and the fantasy book club. He has also been trying to put together a Battle of the Books team for the winter competition.
*Alayna is doing AWESOME this year and I think it might be because I am now home in the mornings. She is excited for school and loves that I can take her. She is enjoying gymnastics- she has a lot of talent, like Kayla. You wouldn’t ever want to see me do a cartwheel or try one of those flip thingy’s.
We have a VERY fun family Labor Day planned tomorrow. The weather has been GORGEOUS! We are going to go play tennis, have a BBQ, and have a Psych/Monk Marathon. We need to relax and have some family bonding time.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
5 things we learned this week...
August 30, 2009
1. Apparently you CAN have 2 great floods one right after the other. Last year’s was much worse though. We had about 3 days of straight rain. By the time we left school on Thursday, the road to the school was closed because it was a river, and the ENTIRE high school was a raging river!! Some people in our ward had their house on the raging river’s path. Marisa went to help sandbag to try and save their home. The entire Linn-Mar football team was there to help sandbag all the homes in the path.
2. Who knew a crop of tomatoes could be this big? Our tomatoes and zucchini grew like crazy this year. We canned 14 large jars of salsa last week and 11 jars of tomatoes and 4 jars of salsa this week and we still have more! So I think we will attempt to make spaghetti sauce this coming Saturday and I will let you know how it goes. We also made 10 mini loaves of zucchini bread.
3. Our kids just keep getting busier and busier. Alayna started gymnastics this week at a new gym and she is isn’t quite sure what she thinks about it yet. Tyler had OPUS rehearsals all week and he auditions for it soon. Kayla is on the volleyball team and has a lot more homework this year. She may start on the yearbook staff for this year too and she is doing SODA (students opposing drugs and alcohol). Marisa earned an academic letter last year for her high grades and is getting recognized in a ceremony at school this week. She is busy working on music for all-state and has a very busy schedule for symphony strings.
4. Fudge from Nauvoo rocks! The girls had a temple trip to Nauvoo yesterday. They got to stop at the fudge factory and brought home mint fudge, chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge, and rocky road. Yummy!
5. I am convinced that Iowa is one of the hardest places to be a teacher. If you ever want more info on that, I’d be more than happy to share.
Until next week…
1. Apparently you CAN have 2 great floods one right after the other. Last year’s was much worse though. We had about 3 days of straight rain. By the time we left school on Thursday, the road to the school was closed because it was a river, and the ENTIRE high school was a raging river!! Some people in our ward had their house on the raging river’s path. Marisa went to help sandbag to try and save their home. The entire Linn-Mar football team was there to help sandbag all the homes in the path.
2. Who knew a crop of tomatoes could be this big? Our tomatoes and zucchini grew like crazy this year. We canned 14 large jars of salsa last week and 11 jars of tomatoes and 4 jars of salsa this week and we still have more! So I think we will attempt to make spaghetti sauce this coming Saturday and I will let you know how it goes. We also made 10 mini loaves of zucchini bread.
3. Our kids just keep getting busier and busier. Alayna started gymnastics this week at a new gym and she is isn’t quite sure what she thinks about it yet. Tyler had OPUS rehearsals all week and he auditions for it soon. Kayla is on the volleyball team and has a lot more homework this year. She may start on the yearbook staff for this year too and she is doing SODA (students opposing drugs and alcohol). Marisa earned an academic letter last year for her high grades and is getting recognized in a ceremony at school this week. She is busy working on music for all-state and has a very busy schedule for symphony strings.
4. Fudge from Nauvoo rocks! The girls had a temple trip to Nauvoo yesterday. They got to stop at the fudge factory and brought home mint fudge, chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge, and rocky road. Yummy!
5. I am convinced that Iowa is one of the hardest places to be a teacher. If you ever want more info on that, I’d be more than happy to share.
Until next week…
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