Pumpkins, Parties, and Happy 15th to Tyler!

I was reminded this week that I am doing a great job in my quest to be Mother of the year.  The girls claimed we haven't carved pumpkins “in Years!”  I reiterated the fact that its too much work and makes a mess.  So, they decided they would do it themselves.  Can you guess which one is Alayna’s?

Happy 15th Birthday to Tyler!  We had dinner at Olive Garden and he got a remote helicopter called  the “Quad Copter”

Tyler had his band extravaganza and last home game.  Both very awesome!!

(Tyler is on right side)

(Tyler on the right looking in shock!)

(yes, Tylers costume is pajamas with a snuggie)

Tyler and Kayla had a Stake Barn Dance:

Kayla and Emily played a prank on Merritt’s car:

The new Kum and Go is cooler than it looks with milkshake and “Coolee” machines…

Another crazy and amazing week at work.  Look at the note left on my desk from the high school principal:

Kayla's Catapult

Temples, Teen read week, and Tons of apples

Tyler and Kayla attended the youth temple trip to Nauvoo yesterday.

We borrowed an apple press from a friend in the ward.  We only did 3 boxes but got 4 gallons of amazing tasting apple juice!  We will finish the other 10 boxes next week.

I had another amazing week at work.  I had a “Dress up like a book character” day to celebrate Teen Read week.  (Apparently they have never done anything like this before).  The kids were so excited and we had great participation.  I received many emails from teachers and staff saying how grateful they are that I am at their schools.

(At the middle school with my Para, Sherry)

For the middle school, I did fun a scavenger hunt around the library with treats.  For the high school I created a murder mystery which was pretty brilliant if you ask me.

Someone came in and told me that they had talked to the Anamosa public head librarian and that she was so excited to meet me and has been hearing amazing things about what I have been doing at both schools.  I cant even express how much things like that mean to me.  

I had 3 teachers approach me this week to thank me.  Apparently I have hooked many of their students on books and they are seeing huge progress in these students.  Have I mentioned how much I love my job? I run 2 book fairs the 1st week of November.  Wish me luck!!!

Newbo, Catapult, and more Marching

It never ceases to amaze me how busy we seem to be.  Its strange but I am CRAVING another cruise.  I remember how relaxed I was…

We have officially lived here 9 years (on Oct 1) and we just recently discovered Newbo market down town.  I got a giftcard for it about a year ago but had no clue what it was.  Anyway, we went to go visit and explore (after we got our flu shots).  Its like a giant outside and inside market with crafts, produce, and authentic food.  We had Caribbean Jerk chicken and oven fired pizza along with some of the best ice cream we have ever tasted!  It was very fun and we would like to go back again.  Then we went to see Tyler perform…

Tyler had a very long day yesterday.  They performed in a marching band festival at Kingston stadium, where we went to see him perform.  They came in 1st place and blew everyone else's group out of the water!  I would say it was almost flawless!  Then they quickly packed up on buses and headed to a huge competition in Des Moines to compete for the 1st time against some of the best marching bands in the state and they placed 4th!!!  They were so excited.  I picked him up at 2AM, so yes, a very long but awesome day.  He has the Metro marching classic tomorrow and the Indoor marching classic Thursday!

(I believe Ty is the 5th face from the bottom)

Kayla had to a build a catapult this week for Physics class and hers went the farthest!  I will have Bob post the video of the practice ones she did here at home.  Way to go, Kayla! 

Oh how I continue to love my job!

This week was homecoming week and yes, even I dressed up.  You can see pics of the students on my blog, which by the way is almost up to 2,000 views!!

Character day: (with my para Lisa)

I am actually a Superwoman in real life right?….

Hawaiian day:

Panana Game Day (we supported Staff team Camo):

You can see all the teams competing in the egg toss.  They had to put oil on their hands- it was pretty funny

I even made the school newspaper (even though the person who interviewed me got most of the info incorrect.  Oh well)

Now for the crazy story of the week.  You wont believe me, but its true!!!The door slammed in our library and a kid said, “Huh….my finger just fell off.”  Lisa (my para)ran over like a beast and sure enough his finger came off!!!!!!  It was the top finger joint on the middle finger.  She grabbed him and raced him to the front office where they got him immediately to the hospital.  When she got back, a teacher opened the door and the finger fell on the floor.  One of the other teachers picked it up.  Gross!!!  They weren’t able to attach it, but he was back in the next day and put a sign in our library to be careful with the door cause you may lose a finger.  He's a great kid!  But I must say I really hope not to ever see something like that in my library again…

Heres a pic of his group so you can see more of my library…

Homecoming, Marching, and a Major Storm

Kayla went to Homecoming last night with Barak from our stake.  She looked so beautiful.

Tyler marched in the homecoming games as well as the Marching Invitational on Saturday in which Linn-Mar took 1st place!!

We had one of our major Iowa storms again.  Once again, the trampoline was flipped but thank goodness it didn’t injure the fence again.  I cant say the same for Bob…

We even made homemade granola bars.

Marching, Cali, and Apples, oh my!

Marching Band Festival

Tyler’s marching band competed in 2 competitions yesterday. He says his legs feel like Jell-O!

(2nd from the left)

(Center- a little to the left)

Reassignment to Los Angeles California!

For those who don’t know, Marisa’s Visa still hasn’t arrived, so she has been reassigned to Los Angeles, California and Torrance (where we lived for 5 years) is in the mission! She is very excited about it all and we are excited for her. (We are especially glad we don’t have to send warm clothes!)

She also had the privilege of singing in the LDS Women’s broadcast from the tabernacle in Salt Lake City. Special thanks to Nina for getting a picture!

Guess who got asked to Homecoming?

Kayla got asked to Homecoming by Barak (a boy in our stake). I got a picture of the card but not the cute brownie cake that went along with it. Thank goodness she found a dress the 1^st night of shopping! She has been working almost 30 hours a week so we never see her and she doesn’t have much time for dress shopping. Hopefully it will be a very fun night for her!

Dogs and Viola

After much debate, Alayna quit viola. I guess she felt the need to concentrate on homework, sports, and choir. She also spent the weekend watching the neighbor’s dogs again. They just put up their house for sale. I guess they are buying a new one about an hour away.

Apples

We picked the apples off the golden delicious trees and literally filled 16 boxes! Crazy! We hope to get a press and make apple juice and some other assorted fun things next weekend.

Library Stuff

The 1^st exciting news is that my awesome brother got an autographed picture of Snake Eyes for me at Comic-Con! I almost passed out! It’s sad though how many people don’t know who he is. He is awesomeness, that’s who he is!

Some incredible things have been going on in the libraries again this week! I hope some of you are following the blog as that gives you almost daily updates on what I am up to.

1. I am creating a murder mystery for the high school students to come do using the resources in the library. (Made a scavenger hunt for middle school).

2. Had a teacher come say she had tons and tons and tons of boxes of books in her basement and do I want them? Yes I do!!

3. Last year in September, only 57 books got checked out, this year we have already crossed over 300!!! That is 6x the checkouts from last year.

4. On Friday, a lady came in looking for the Media Specialist and I told her that was me. She runs the public library in Anamosa and said, “I just HAD To come meet you!! Everyone is talking about you and what an incredible difference you are making in both schools! They said you have gotten all these new books and have so much enthusiasm and you inspire them to check out!” I was so excited!!

5. A student came in and said they had 1 cookie left from their FCS class and he wanted to give it to me (he is the same one from weeks ago who hadn’t read a book since 4^th grade til I got him hooked on Ashfall.) I was touched.

6. My blog has had almost 1,500 page views!

So, all is well and better than I could have hoped for.