may 20, 2007

May 20, 2007

It shocks me that we are old enough to have an actual teenager!!! Happy Birthday to Marisa!!! Who turned 13 yesterday! We had a busy day and were thrilled Gma and Gpa Hart could come celebrate with us. In the morning, Bob and his parents started our garden, while I went in to Rockwell for my biometrics exam. Then, we went to Sonic for lunch, but it was too crowded so we ended up at Red Robin, which we love. However, the service was so slow that Marisa wasn’t able to get her free birthday ice cream or we would have missed the movie. So, we went to see Shrek 3 which was fantastic. Alayna was laughing so hard. We will have to rent it when it comes out. Anyway, we came home and ate the giant cookie I made and she opened presents. After that, the grandparents had to head home and we watched “Lake Placid 2” and “Iron eagle”. It was an enjoyable relaxing day.

Friday, on the other hand, was not so relaxing. Subbing middle school the last month of the year is for the birds! I was actually excited to sub Friday because it was 6th grade and they are usually the easiest to sub. Boy was I wrong. You will never believe this, but at one point I has 2 kids sliding around on papers, 4 kids writing on the board, one running around trying to be superman with a blanket cape, 1 throwing a football, 2 slapping each other with rulers, and 1 hiding behind the bookshelf all at the same time!!! So, mean Mrs. Hart had to emerge. I think I will focus the next two weeks instead on the 19 credit hours I have to complete ASAP to secure my endorsements.

Marisa ended her tennis season and next year starts with a position in 5th place. Isn’t that cool? Kayla has her final band concert this Tuesday, travels to Dubuque for a school field trip on Wednesday, gets to go to Superskate for the end of the year 5th grade send off on Thursday, and has her track and field day for school on Friday. Tyler had a field trip this past week as well. We also found out that Marisa is getting braces (only on the top teeth) on the last day of school. Kayla is also getting starting braces on her front 4 teeth along with molar brackets. Poor Tyler found out he has to keep his expander on until November! Alayna graduates from preschool this week!! She is very excited to start kindergarten.
I guess that sums up our busyness here….

May 8, 2007

May 8, 2007

Well, I haven’t written in newsletter in over a month and I don’t think anyone noticed. Anyway, life has been extra crazy lately. I guess May is the biggest sub month of the year, after subbing for weeks straight now I see why…that’s when the teachers take their personal days. It’s good for me though, as the work will help pay for all the classes I have to take this summer. I will try and sum up what we have done this past month. It wont be as detailed since after a week, my memory usually fails me.
1. Marisa has been on the school tennis team and is doing an awesome job!! Out of the 60 or more 7th and 8th graders playing, Marisa is ranked 14th! She has won almost every match and she absolutely loves to play. I think she may have found her sport!
2. In April, we had about 3 weeks where everyone in our family (except me) got very sick. Tyler missed an entire week of school, Bob was sick for a week and missed 3 days of work, even Marisa missed 3 days of school. It was awful. I took every vitamin under the sun and drank OJ like there was no tomorrow. Someone must have been watching out for me!
3. In April, Marisa’s orchestra, as well as the chamber orchestra she is in, got to compete all day in the Jefferson Invitational Competition. Her orchestras came in 1st and 2nd place!!!
4. April 22, we celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary!! We went out to lunch and then out for ice cream after dinner. It was a lovely day and we can hardly believe it has been 14 years!!
5. April 28, was our huge stake RS symposium. I was in charge of the women’s choir again which went so well. I also spoke during the main meeting. The symposium is always a lot of work, but it was a great success. And now they are releasing me from the Stake RS after being there for almost 3 years.
6. Sadly, Kayla chose to quit gymnastics. She says she just doesn’t love it even though she is very good at it. She has found a ton of things she would like to be in when she starts middle school in the fall. I think that’s great because she can try out several things and decide what she really likes to do. So, I guess I will take Tyler and Alayna out of gymnastics just for the summer so I don’t have to keep running over there. (25 minutes away!!)
7. We attended the Chamber orchestra recognition dinner for Marisa.
8. Bob has done an amazing job on our yard this year!! He planted 4 apple trees, a peach tree, grapes, black raspberries, red raspberries, and some lilies. We will start on the actual garden this month. He has been working so hard and we are excited about all of it!
9. I celebrated my 36th birthday yesterday. It was a perfect day. We actually started celebrating on Saturday. Our whole family went out to Red Robin for lunch. Then we went to go see a movie at the Theater but the projector had broken down so we got a movie at the Video store instead. On Monday, I turned down sub jobs so I could stay home and relax. We went out to an awesome Mexican restaurant for dinner, my friends dropped by a chocolate turtle cake, and we watched “night at the Museum”. It was peaceful and relaxing. A perfect day!
10. Marisa has a choir concert and orchestra concert this week.
11. I started 2 of my history classes and am studying like crazy. The classes are much harder than I thought they would be. After I complete them I will only have 13 more credits to go. I wont even talk about the job situation because it is horribly depressing and discouraging. Amazing that I have the qualifications I do and I am just not good enough.
12. Bob started his Spring softball team and they already had their first game. He is also doing a lot of overtime until June.
13. Alayna graduates from preschool in a few weeks. Her new school is almost completed. She is already looking forward to kindergarten.

I guess that sums up our month. Overall, we are doing well and are so very busy. We look forward to a lazy summer, sleeping in, and lots of swimming time. We could all use some good solid relaxation. Hopefully, I can make time for another newsletter on Sunday.

April 8, 2007

April 8, 2007

HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYONE!!!!! I hope everyone else had a warmer Easter than us. Our high today was 34. So much for taking spring pictures outside on the lawn. Brrr!

We have had a tough sick week. Marisa and Alayna both came down with terrible colds (body aches, chills, fever, cough, congestion and sore throat). Marisa ended up missing 3 days of school!! Thank heavens it was freezing temps this week so her tennis meet and practices were cancelled. Alayna missed one day of school. Bob has been coughing for a while and came home from work sick on Wednesday. He has been sick on the couch every since!! I feel so bad for him- this wasn’t exactly what he planned or his 3 day weekend! Tyler woke up this morning with a temp of 101. He and Bob are sickies downstairs. Hal and Corey were sweet enough to come spend the Easter weekend with us. I just REALLY hope they don’t get sick too. I woke up with a sore throat and pray I don’t get sick. I have two sub jobs this week I would like to keep.

A job opened at Excelsior and I applied. I had my papers in and talked to the principal before the posting had even been up for an hour. I will keep you updated if anything happens.

We did go to the cooking cottage on Saturday to make some more fun meals. That place can be a real life saver. Corey and I took Kayla shopping to spend bday money and take Marisa to get some clothes while they actually had some modest clothing in the junior section. Boy was that exciting. Then last night, we adults watched an intriguing movie called “The prestige”. Now I am off to conduct the Stake RS choir- we are singing for the upcoming symposium.

Not much else happened this week. We would like to hear from ALL of you.

Happy Easter!!

April 1, 2007

April 1, 2007

Hey, two newsletters from me in one week! Pretty cool, huh? I wrote the first one while I was subbing one day, but was too busy to ever get it posted. It’s been a productive weekend and I have completed almost my entire list of things to do. I love weeks like this when I can look back and visually see the work I have been able to get done. Here is what else has happened:

1. Marisa LOVES the tennis team. Her coach even came up to tell her that her serve looks great. When weather permits, she goes out every evening and practices her serve on the deck, covering the lawn in tennis balls. I am so glad she has found something she enjoys.

2. Tyler had his school musical. He had a special speaking part as George Washington when he was a child. I think we found his strength. We may need to get him in the drama club or show choir. He was smiling and singing with all his heart- he knew every word and action to every song. What a great performance!!! I will attach pictures. Marisa was also specially invited to perform with the Wilkins orchestra as an alumnus.

3. I subbed three days this week. I love being at Excelsior so much, but was disappointed that they don’t have even one position opening this year!! I applied for another job in a different district, but over 50 people applied for the same job who have more experience than me. It looks like there is a possibility of 1 position opening at Oak ridge. So, I may need to switch my focus for next year. I did find out I only need to take 18 credits to get my world history endorsement. I can take them all 6 courses online and 5 of those classes have no exams. It will be exhausting, but I think I could swing it this year, which will make me MUCH more marketable next year. I will be qualified to teach history through 12^th grade, so it will also give me more options. (It will cost about $3000- so I have been searching this weekend for educational loans.) Hopefully I can complete this idiotic middle school endorsement as well. If I get extra ambitious, I can shoot for the gifted and talented endorsement ($5000). If I don’t get a full time job by June, I will get started on all these classes and sub as much as possible. And to think I was excited when I graduated because I would never have to take another class again. Boy was I wrong!

4. Alayna had a nice Spring Break this week. Since I worked, she had lots of fun at friends homes. She had her friend, Jacob, over to play. I got some adorable pictures of them that I will include. They were playing “Princesses”.

5. Kayla is loving being 11. I see her trying to take on more responsibility. She is being a great babysitter for Alayna.

Well, I guess that sums it all up

March 26, 2007- posted late

March 26, 2007

Happy Birthday to Kayla!!! She turns 11 today! We had very fun party on Saturday. Kayla designed the whole party herself. It was a bunny party, done up in purple and green. She had 5 girls come, they watched “Flicka” and even had a treasure hunt. We even decorated her cake. We found a cake that was done already and on sale, and then put more frosting on the top and added coconut we colored green and two chocolate bunnies and covered it with jelly beans. It turned out so cute! I’ll include pictures. She got some very fun gifts and loved it.

Well, we survived Spring Break! I put together a comprehensive chore list and the kids worked for points for our “Family Spring Break Party”. The kids were AMAZING!! They were mopping, vacuuming, scrubbing, it was awesome. We deep cleaned and deep organized the ENTIRE house except Marisa’s room. I am so proud. Now, I can function. Well, for our party, we ordered the special cheesy bite pizza from Pizza Hut, we went out for ice cream and everyone got their own McFlurry or Blizzard, and then we watched Eragon. I have to say I thought it was a VERY violent film for a PG rating. But it was interesting anyway. Cool dragon!!!

We also went out to play tennis. Oh it felt good to have 70 degree weather- I almost cried. Marisa started the tennis team today and LOVED it!! They are doing try-outs this first week, and she said that so far, she is doing great! She will be working out every day after school for 2 hours.

Tyler tried out for and got accepted into the boys pre-team. However, it’s more of a money and time commitment, so as with Kayla, we will wait for summer. Tyler also had a fun scout campfire night on Friday night. He passed off some stuff (not sure what its called) and made s’mores. He loved it! He also has his school musical coming up and he got special speaking part as George Washington. I will tape the performance and take pictures.

Bob is busy putting in more overtime. At first I thought it was great (for the extra $), but now we just miss him. Alayna is doing great. We see her maturing and its wonderful. I am working full time 2 days this week, so she is excited to play at friends houses. Always more fun, probably, than hanging out with me.

Well, I should get back to work. Congrats to those in Logan on the success of the Messiah. So sorry we couldn’t make it.

Kris and Family

March 19, 2007

March 18, 2007

It has been another couple of busy weeks. To catch up faster, I will just list what we have been up to. We miss hearing from everyone!!

Marisa had her Festival of Orchestras a couple of Mondays ago. (This was the one she was 2nd chair for 7th grader first violinists) It was an awesome program despite the fact it was 2 ½ hours long. Marisa is doing such a fabulous job and looks like a pro out there. We also got to hear the HS Symphony orchestra (about 100 members) and they were amazing. They did William Tell’s Overture and the new Pirates music. I videotaped it if anyone wants to see Marisa and the HS.

Marisa is also starting on the tennis team after Spring break. She is so excited about that!

Marisa had her solo violin recital last weekend. I can’t remember the piece she played (Minuet maybe?), but she did a great job. She says she feels much more comfortable playing in a large orchestra.

Last weekend, a popular LDs speaker named Barbara Barrington Jones came here to speak to our Stake. She spent all Saturday (9-3) with the young women. Marisa LOVED going. The Stake YW president called Marisa and asked if she would play the prelude music before the main program. Marisa ended up organizing 5 YW into a string quintet to play the prelude and it was fantastic! So, I have asked them to do the prelude to the Women’s symposium coming up next month.

I ended up this week getting a bad stomach virus or REALLY bad food poisoning. I haven’t been that sick in such a long time. I feel much better now, but it knocked me out for a few days. I just hope nobody gets it this week- its Spring Break!!

Speaking of Spring break, I have spent the last few days deep cleaning and organizing. Its always a wonderful feeling to have this place almost perfect- even if it doesn’t last.

I had 3 parent/teacher conferences last week. All fantastic reports!

Last night we started rehearsals for the Stake RS choir I am conducting for the Stake RS symposium next month. We had a bad turn out- only 6 people. I hope we get more the next rehearsal.

Tomorrow Tyler gets to try out for the beginner Boys gymnastics team just for fun. I think he will have a fun time. Kayla still wants to be on team. She has already been accepted, but it’s a large time commitment. I guess we will see what we can arrange this summer.

The job hunt is stressful. I have started applying and pray some jobs will open up. There are some open for a school about 30 minutes away from here, but I think that is just too far away. So, I am hanging on, hoping something will open closer to home.

We celebrate Kayla’s 11th birthday this week. We have a fun party planned for Saturday.

Alayna is doing great. She is less of a pain and much more of a help nowadays. She has been a good listener and I just love it!!

Well, I guess that sums up our last two weeks…
Kris

March 4, 2007

March 4, 2007

Well I can sum up our week in two words “inclement weather”. We only had 1 ½ days of school this week and its even been too cold for the kids to go outside and actually enjoy the snow. So, now I know exactly what spring fever is and I am pretty sure we all have a bad case of it! This week is supposed to be much better with temps rising about 10 degrees which should help. This week will be full of makeup concerts and activities that had to be postponed.
We did watch a cute movie with the kids yesterday called The Great Panda Adventure. Plus, the kids love playing “Deal or No Deal” on the computer. I should have Alayna go on the actual show- she made a fake half million dollars yesterday!
Well, that’s it! Hopefully there will be more to report next week, until then…