The Growl Prowl and Going “Gansta”

"In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, 'I have finished.' There is a lot of satisfaction in that." Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon co-founder

Well, we did it!! Our family finished our very 1^st 5K! (Alayna didn’t do it with us since she was still recovering from the scarlet fever.) It was a very cold morning (around 41° when we started), but it felt so great to finally do it! We all reached our main goal, which was to make sure we didn’t come in last (some cut it closer than others). As we reached the stadium, and headed in for the final stretch, they had an announcer who announced our names as we entered and then again when we crossed the finish line. It was invigorating and satisfying to see our success. Now we are contemplating doing the Turkey Trot next month.

(Where I found Marisa after the race)

"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." -John Bingham, running speaker and writer

Artistic Talent Continues to Run in the Family

Kayla finished her art class at school. She had to make a book and create each page to go along with each art lesson. I took some pictures for you. She has a lot of talent. She loves to decorate and design. These pics don’t do it justice.

Alayna drew this elephant. She traced the main outline of the elephant and then drew everything else. I think it is beautiful! Plus, Alayna is my new decorator. She has been DYING to decorate for Halloween so I gave her the huge Halloween bucket and told her to have at it.

Update on Alayna

Alayna was still sick on Sunday but started eating. Her skin continued to chaff and peel off. I called the doctor Monday and they said that is the only medicine besides the one she was allergic to that kills the scarlet fever. So, she has had to suffer through it this week. Her skin is dry and cracked. My wonderful friend gave me some all natural diaper cream and we have been putting it all over her skin and she is doing so much better. She is back to running around and getting her strength back. Thanks to all of you who kept her in your prayers. We truly appreciated it!

Summer is Definitely Gone

Besides the cool, crisp weather, the leaves are turning and falling off the trees. I know people love the beauty of fall, but it just makes me sad because I know ice, freezing temps, and snow that never melts is on the way. But we try to make the best of it, so…

The kids requested pumpkins this year. I haven’t done them the past couple years because they are messy and so much work. They promised they would do it all and they did! They got 3 pumpkins, spent the afternoon carving, cooked the pumpkin seeds, and cleaned the whole thing back up. I’m loving this “kids-are-old-enough-to-do-things-without-me” stage.

(The one Tyler is holding was carved by Kayla, the skeleton was carved by Tyler and Alayna carved the traditional pumpkin face)

The girls had the stake Halloween dance last night. They spent weeks trying to decide what to be and went shopping everywhere with no luck. At the last minute, they decided to go “gansta”. Um, what? Ok…They ended up looking really cute though. I think Kayla has a little “gansta” in her.

Odds and Ends

We have the dogs for another week. The kids have done a great job taking care of them and taking them for walks.

Football and Homecoming

October 10, 2010

Football

The weather this week was amazing! It was so gorgeous and warm-even hot some days. Bob and the kids went out to play football in the back yard several evenings. Kayla is a force to be reckoned with. I think she should petition to play with the high school team! The girls also went to the LINN-Mar Homecoming football and we won at the end of a very intense game- the 1^st time in like 20 years.

I didn’t even know it still existed

This has been the longest, worst week I have had in a long time. I had a horrible week at work, but I won’t go into that now. But something else weird happened…

So, Tuesday night Alayna said she wasn’t feeling well and a rash had started on her chest. By the morning the rash spread from Alayna’s head all the way to her toes. Her stomach hurt and she felt like she was going to throw up. So, I frantically tried to find a sub for my classes. I had to drag her with me to my classroom to set stuff up for the sub and leave sub notes. She started feeling worse and the rash started spreading across her face, so I called the dr and they told me I should bring her in. They did a strep test (where she gagged and started crying) and sure enough, not only does she have strep but she has scarlet fever!! Scarlet fever??? I didn’t even know it still existed! So, I had to go get her some meds, and she almost threw up in the car. We got her on the medication and then her fever spiked. It took me 3 hours to rock her to sleep that night because she was so miserable and her stomach was in so much pain.

The next morning she was even sicker. We couldn’t get the fever down, she wouldn’t eat, and her stomach hurt. I rocked her 3 hours again that night. By morning, I knew something was seriously wrong. I called the doctor on call and we came to the conclusion that Alayna was allergic to the amoxicillin. Once we got her on the new meds, she started doing better. Her fever FINALLY went down and the severe stomach cramps subsided, until the next day. Yesterday, she laid down again all day. Stomach hurt, fever kept spiking and now her bum is all chapped. She has finally started to eat a little but its hard getting anything down her.

Last night she and I were up all night again. So, I missed my 1^st 5k (which I was so sad about) and I slept until 1:00 because I feel and look like death. She still has the fever today and still laying down. I hope she feels better soon- bless her heart, this hasn’t been a good week for her.

Homecoming

The big day finally arrived. Marisa and friends got together at 1:00 to start doing their makeup and hair. I guarantee the boys didn’t take that long to get ready. She went with David Kaiser and they went with a huge group of youth from our ward and 2^nd ward. All the girls looked so beautiful. Almost every dress had to be altered to make it modest, but I was so proud of the girls for doing it. Thanks to Grandma Hart for the amazing job on Marisa’s dress!

They had a homemade dinner at Alissa’s house. Then they went to the dance and then came back to the house and played games. It sounds like they all had a wonderful evening.

Pink Hair, Poems, and Partying Saturday

October 3, 2010

Pink Hair

So, we had pink day on Friday. My hair is so dark that it came out more red than pink. I added glitter too. My students were very impressed that I actually did it, although some were disappointed it wasn’t bright “fluorescent” pink. I took pics of all the teachers but you cant see them very well. Our blonder teachers wore wigs.

(Sara and I- but the pic doesnt capture the pink very well)

(Alayna wanted hers done too)

Saturday

I need a vacation from Saturdays!! This Saturday, Bob and I actually went on a lunch date! Then we went grocery shopping. We have been working hard to plan out meals and NOT take the kids shopping with us. You would be amazed by how much we save.

Kayla and Justine babysat Rory (Beth’s daughter. Beth works on my team at school). They came over here in the afternoon and played.

We made 4 apple pies and 4 loaves of banana bread. I am here to say that the apple peeler machine is the most amazing invention in the whole wide world!! It was 10 times easier making apple pies when I didn’t have to cut and peel all 24 apples by hand!! We also picked all the rest of our tomatoes and made homemade pizza sauce and put it on our homemade pizza. We also watched “Prince of Persia” while I folded all the laundry. Marisa had a Symphony All State clinic at UNI. Then she and her quartet came here to practice for the wedding they are playing for in a few weeks. It’s pretty cool cooking in the kitchen while being serenaded by beautiful classical quartet music! Sara (who I work with) also came over with her daughter, Lanie,  to take a break from work, hang out, and help me with the pies.

(The peel from the apple machine)

(Alayna and Lanie making pies)

(Justine holding Rory while she wakes up from her nap)

(Kayla using the most amazing invention ever)

(Lanie, Alayna, and Rory playing Spongebob operation)

(Quartet practice)

(Playing on the playground)

(Getting the extra cinnamon apples)

(Rory, Alayna, Lanie)

(In the giant cardboard stove box they made into a fort)

(Playing football)

(Playing football- Tyler got tackled when Kayla jumped on his back and took him down)

(Alayna reading to Rory)

New stove

Bob got the new stove put in!! I was so excited! Tyler and Alayna wanted to make ramen for lunch. I threatened their lives if they made even one iota of a mess on the new stove. Well, I guess the ramen overflowed, Alayna got scared (knowing her very existence was in danger) so she used a washcloth to start cleaning it while it was still on. It burnt the washcloth, stained the stove, and scared her to death. So, we are still trying to scrub it off and she felt awful. I felt worse than she actually thought I was serious. Poor thing. I guess this is how we learn.

Poem Alayna wrote about herself using the letters of her name (in red)

Amazing

I Like pizza

A girl

Yo mama

Likes kNock knock jokes

HAs never been stung by a bee

Hungry

HAs friends

Rabbit lover

smarT

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!