Alayna with Whitney and Taylor

Just learned how to cross eyes

Dont worry! We warned her about them "sticking". :)

Middle Ages Festival

Derby Car

Back to Normal and the Epitome of Stupidity

January 25, 2009

Medieval Festival: Kayla’s team finally had their Middle Ages Festival after being cancelled twice because of the unbearable cold. J She was one of the “ladies” so she got to wear a beautiful dress. They had a King and Queen, guards, Lords and Ladies, and even peasants. They have a talents show and even do a procession through the school. They have a big lunch too. Kayla said it was so much fun! The pictures aren’t very good because each time I walked in, a whole bunch of kids would start yelling “Hi Mrs. Hart!!”, “Hey, look, its Mrs. Hart”. So, I had to sneak pictures so I wasn’t a distraction.

Geography Bee: Another teacher and I ran the school Geography Bee this week. It was so fun and all the kids did such a great job. We start Battle of the Books on February 4 and I will be running most of the matches. I am very excited about that too.

Pinewood Derby: Tyler had his final pinewood derby. He didn’t win, but he sure made a sweet looking car. He was so proud of it. It lasted over 2 hours which I was not happy about since my book was in the car but I wasn’t willing to go out in the -20 wind-chill to retrieve it.

Basketball: Tyler FINALLY had a game on Saturday!! Almost every game and practice this season has been cancelled because of weather. He made three baskets!!

Epitome of Stupidity: Ok, so here is my embarrassing moment of the week. I had to race to go to the bathroom between two classes (they only have a 4 minute passing period so you have to be quick) When I was done, my cell phone fell into the toilet!!! I gasped VERY loudly, grabbed it quickly and then freaked because I am a MAJOR germaphobe! I dried to dry it and clean it (as well as disinfect my hands about 20 times) but it was to no avail. It died a slow and agonizing death. I thought I would die the two days I went without one. I didn’t realize what an appendage it had become. I am proud to announce that I went and bought a new slide phone and am now back in the loop.

Dog-sitting: We babysat Whitney and Taylor again, this time for 9 days while their owners went to Cancun (insert massive jealousy). They are very well behaved and Alayna sure loves when they would run into her room to wake her up each morning.

Talk: Marisa gave a great talk in church today about the new YW value: virtue. You should ask her for it.

I guess that’s our week in a nutshell. Would LOVE to hear from everyone else!!!

Snow day fun!

Kayla attempting a snow angel in 7 inches of snow








Alayna trying to make a snow man







Tyler taking a break from shoveling







Where's Kayla?







Alayna stuck

Hypothermia and Jealousy

Winter In Iowa

When it's winter time in Iowa,

And the gentle breezes blow,

About seventy miles an hour

And it’s fifty-two below.

You can tell you're in Iowa

cause the snow's up to your butt,

And you take a breath of winter air

And your nose holes both freeze shut.

The weather here is wonderful,

So I guess I'll hang around,

I could NEVER leave Iowa.

My feet are frozen to the ground

(I don’t know the author)


This week was an absolute doozy!!! Here was our schedule:

Monday: Massive snow storm, early release from school; Bob had to work
Tuesday: Massive snow storm, late arrival schedule to school; Bob had to work
Wednesday: Massive snow storm, school cancelled; Bob had to work
Thursday: Life threatening wind chill, dropping to -41, no school; Bob had to work
Friday: Life threatening wind chill (frostbite sets in in only 10 minutes), hit a record low of -51, no school; Bob had to work
Saturday: We finally got out of the negative double digits so we dared to venture outside to get groceries.

Cancelled this week:
YW, scouts, basketball, violin lessons, bowling team, Geo bee, band, chamber orchestra, Kayla’s medieval festival, our annual staff luncheon, etc.

As you can imagine, I consider the “hazardous weather” a ginormous blessing (and yes, that’s an actual word!) Being stuck inside, all warm and cozy, snuggled in a cocoon of my cashmina blanket, watching the giant snowflakes fall…well, it’s a little bit like heaven. It was almost like a mini-vacation. Thank heavens for the Wii!! We were stuck inside for many days and the Wii with its 4 controllers saved the day as well as my sanity! We were able to catch up on Lost (sweetness), 24 (double sweetness), Superstars of dance, American Idol, and other shows. We were spoiled, I think. This week we have to get back to work.

I must say I am very jealous of those in L.A. who have been experiencing a heat wave. It's just not fair. Or those family members in Phoenix who have had absolute perfect weather. We envy you!
Marisa got SOOO lucky. Because school was cancelled three days in a row all finals were permanently cancelled. She was ecstatic as you can imagine. I never got out of any finals.

TMI (too much info) alert: We are dog-sitting again this week. It was way too cold for them to go out to do their business. But one day they wanted to go out anyway. When they came back in we heard something hard hitting the floor. At first, it appeared that her poop had frozen on its way out and stuck. Later we found that stones from under our porch had literally frozen to her butt. Yuck!

Until next week…