Snow Days

Not A Good Sub

Friday I was out visiting Mustang Elementary School. I had a sub that I was not familiar with. I left detailed lesson plans, however the sub did not seem to need them. When I checked in my room Sunday, I was very surprised. I left 3 worksheets and two artwork projects. I was worried it would not be enough to keep my darlings busy. I didn't factor in that the sub would let them mark on the whiteboard and ruin 4 dry erase markers. She also let them use markers all over the artwork when they got it done. Then I was told they ran down the hall to lunch. One of my little girls had to go to another classroom. I later got an email from a parent saying the same girl slapped her son. I was not happy. She was one of the worst subs I have ever had. I had messes to clean up on the whiteboard, on the smart board, we will have to re-do the artwork, and I have 2 worksheets to work in this week. So, after bus duty, she went out of her way to meet me. I was kind and I thanked her for taking my class. Then she asked. She asked! So, of course, I answered her when she asked how was everything? I was surprised to find all the dry erase markers ruined, what happened? Well, imagine my surprise when she had no clue they were ruined. I hope I don't get her for my sub again!

22 In The Class

I am having a great year. I have 22 in my class. They are all wonderful kids with lots of potential. There are a few with a fun outlook that I enjoy a lot. One of my boys went all last week without cutting anything he wasn't suppose to. That was a first! I entered a grant into Donors Choose and it is half way funded. It is for a piece of furniture that would organize our centers. I would really love to get it for my room. Maybe the other half will get funded before it expires in December. Today, I had a grant funded through the Shawnee Education Foundation today. It was so fun. The principal called me out to the hall. There were balloons and pictures involved! My kids thought it was my birthday! It was funny! So now I will fill out the p.o.'s to get my items ordered. Woohoo!!! Oh! I just remembered I need to order prizes for my kids. I am giving them a prize if they know all 26 uppercase and lowercase letters on Nov. 22nd. I have focused on two letters a week and we will be done that week. I have hopes we will have 22 out of 22 who know all the letters. Gotta go!

Quack Quack!

This school year has started and it is going well. I have 21 in my class. I am girl heavy for a change. I have really nice, kind kiddos. One of my boys came up to me and asked, " Do you want to hear my duck noise?" I said "Yes". So he said "Quack quack!", in a regular voice. Then with a straight face he said "That was good wasn't it?" I said "Yes", and he was happy! Life with 5 year olds is some days hiarious! We are working hard learning our uppercase and lowercase letters.

A New Year!

Today was the first day of the 2013-2014 school year. A full day of meetings, a couple of hours of last minute things to do, and an hour of Meeting the students and their families! What a day. I met 17 out of 19 of my students and their families. Several students were siblings of previous students. I always enjoy having siblings and cousins. Tomorrow is a work day. I have 3 children who are choosing to go by a different name than what their parents wrote at enrollment. So I have a few things to change tomorrow. There will be a lot of organizing tomorrow, bus meetings, daycare meetings, and other discussions about duties going on. I hope this post will show up. I am having a problem being able to compose. I will try to compose, but when you click on the keyboard nothing types. Sounds crazy, but it is happening. My mom and Bob will be here on Friday. I am getting excited to see them. They have been in Minnesota since they were here in May. This is my project last week in my room Everyone was doing such cute things in their rooms, so I decided to cutsie it up with these curtains.

Cute Clipboards!

Wow! Now it is August.  Time has been swift this summer.  I spent last weekend babysitting 2 of my favorite little guys, Oran and Mack.  We were very busy and we had a good time.   I was tired.
I have spent some time in the classroom.  I am still trying to get it organized.  I thought I wanted my desk at the back of the room, but the more I trhought about moving my laptop from the back to the front over and over I decided to move my desk back to the front.  I am still adjusting and finding places for everything.
My clipboards are looking ugly.  Previous classes have marked all over them and pencil will not erase.  I wanted to perk them up a little, so I bought some mod podge and painted mod podge on the paper to the back of the clipboards.   They turned out pretty cute.  A packet of 50 papers all in black and white was just the look I wanted.  Now all the clipboards look different and everyone can pick the one they want to take care of this year!  The mod podge dries quickly and washes up with water.  The mod podge leaves a nice shiny look to the back of the clipboard.

 I hope to use anchor charts this year.  These charts can be good reminders for the kids about what is currently being studied. I need to start making some that I might need at the beginning of the year.  I did however, get an all about numbers poster made.  I will use a dry erase
to write on it and then erase for the next number.  It is hard to see on the chart, but we will work with the number of boys and girls that equal the chosen number, money, time, tally marks, 10 frame, dominoes, addition facts to equal the chosen number, and ordinal numbers.  It will hit a lot of ways to make the chosen number.
So much to do!

The Last Month

Well, we have been home from Mexico a month.  It was such a good vacation.   We really had a relaxing time.  I would go back if the opportunity comes along.  We got home on Wednesday, I washed on Thursday, and Friday I left again.

Carol & me

My sister, Janet and I set off on our sister trip.  We went east on I-40.  Our first stop was in Little Rock, AR to eat lunch with Carol, a longtime family friend.  We had a good visit.  Our next stop was Memphis at the Peabody Hotel to see the pampered ducks.  Oops! We didn't know about all the road construction.  That stop didn't happen.  That's okay, all is good.  On to Nashville and Knoxville.  We stayed the night in Knoxville.  It was pretty late and we were glad to get out of the car.  We are both early risers so we were off bright and early about 8:00 ish to former neighbors of my sisters.  They now live on 28 acres in Mill Springs, NC.  Beautiful place.  I really liked it.  This is Saturday, and everyone wants to go hiking.  Yeah!  If you know me, you know this would not be my first choice of activity, but when in Rome do as the Romans do.  We went on a short hike to see some waterfalls.  They were pretty.  The hike was steep and the ground was gravel.  It was wet in some places, which worried me that it would be slippery.  I made it!  Well, that went so well, that we (they) wanted to do another hike. 

Our first hike

The biggest water crossing.

The beautiful waterfalls

 So we loaded up and went on another hike to see even more beautiful waterfalls.  This hike included 3 water crossings each way and a boulder crossing each way.  I took everything slow and easy and I made it with help here and there. 

 On Monday, we left Zeke, Janet's standard poodle, and we headed north.
We headed for Maryland.  We were staying at the Inn BoonsBoro.  If you read Nora Roberts, I a sure you loved the trilogy.  It was so gorgeous down to the last detail.  The whole town was like my imagination pictured it in the books.  We were not disappointed.

We saw friends for dinner Tuesday and  headed south on Wednesday.  We picked up Zeke and headed home.  We had a great week!
I spent a week at home, went to Kayla's to help out, and I have been home.  It seemed like I spent most of the week in the car running kids to and from.  Luckily, I only went to the wrong place once, but unfortunately it cost Madison and her friend laps because I got them there late.  Sorry, girls!
 I have been doing some cleaning out, sewing, working on school stuff, and enjoying some me time.  Now we are caught up!
  

Last Full Day

The white sand beach.

Ready for the multitude of people.

This is our last full day at the resort.  I have been amazed at all the languages I have heard.  It feels like the melting pot of the world right here on the resort.  So many nationalities.  I have never felt this feeling of being lost among so many kinds of strangers.  It is amazing to hear another language out of people who look and dress very American.  I went to Mexico around 40 years ago and it was as I expected, it seemed as if all the people not in our group spoke Spanish.  I lived in Germany and a lot of the Germans could speak some English, but you heard so much German when you weren't around military it was what you expected.  Here it is different you can't tell what language will be spoken.  This is a very popular place around the world.  It has been open for 8 years and it is beautiful.  It is very well taken care of and the people working here appear to be very happy.  The owner is a Christian and he wants the people working here to serve with their hearts, so anyone you meet automatically puts their hand over their heart and says hello with a big smile.  The people working are very purposeful in what they do and are always pleasant if not happy.  There is one man who spends his days with a brush of sorts making sure the microfiber on the chairs is going the same way.  Talk about attention to detail.  Wow!  They have it going on.  He does his job as if my happiness is determined by the way the chair looks.  Job ethic is very impressive here.  One thing that I had never seen before is the room service box or as Kevin coined it the magic box. You order they put it in the box flip the light and then you go to the box open it turn off the light and walaaah service!

Ken

Jo Anne

Ken and I had another massage last night.  Mine was great, Ken's was a little rough.  I think the massage should become a weekly expense.  I wonder if I can sell that to Ken?

Ken waiting on me again!

We went into town yesterday after breakfast, and it started raining on us.  It started, however, after I found these great puzzles for my classroom.  I was so excited, but I didn't take any money.  So we hurried back to the hotel in the rain.It was a cold rain, but it was fun walking in the rain with Ken.  We decided to go back downtown after lunch.  I took my money and got my puzzles.  I am so happy!  As Ken says it doesn't take much!  Today is another cloudy day, debating on going to the beach or pool.  We will see.

Day 4

Finally I was able to post.  It took all of day 4  and part of day 5 to get day 3 to post.  So, on to day 4. It was fairly uneventful.  We strolled down to the beach, pretty stinky.  We went into the ocean.  We were both surprised how cold the water is.  I do think the sand is beautiful, it looks so clean.  The breeze of the ocean is nice and cool.

Hmm!  What will I eat now!

After a bit, we went back to the pool.  I got one of the cool chaise lounges that sits in the water.  Oh, I did enjoy that.  I finished the new Robyn Carr book I started yesterday.  It is really good.  The second one comes out in July.  I have to wait, I get to anticipate where the story will go!

Look at all the choices.

Cooked to order.

We went to see the show again last night.  We decided it was the same actors/acrobats.  This show was also very good, showing off the strength and balance hanging from up above.

Turn down is the way to go! Ahh!

   I tried a new drink and found out I liked it.! Ken just happened to get thirsty while he was in the pool and saw one and decided to try it. I had one during the show, with the breeze coming in off the ocean. LIFE IS GRAND!

Day 3

Ready for day 3.

So glad I have my Tervis glass.

Day 3 was wonderful.  We got up leisurely, that means about 7 for me. Ha ha!  We went and ate breakfast, went to the pool, I spent some serious hammock time while it was the hottest part of the day reading the new Robyn Carr book, then it was time for our couples massage, dinner, and the show.  We are busy people for people on vacation!  For your information the couples massage was oh so relaxing!  We were so relaxed and loose feeling, I was surprised we were able to walk. The show was amazing.  It was full of music and aerobics.  The people in it were so athletic it was a sight.  There is no way to describe the lady in red heels and what she did on the pole!

We are enjoying each day and we love being together, even after 19 years!  Ken is so much fun to be around it doesn't matter what we do laughing is always involved.

You have to love turn down!

We Are In Mexico!

Our room!

we are finally on our vacation!  It is just beautiful here.  The landscaping is so pretty.  I love the constant breeze off the ocean.  It is sometimes warm, but it seems to pass quickly.  We picked a resort that is so friendly.  I went to the pool today and enjoyed it and the reading I got done while I was there.  I got in the pool with Ken, then I would sit out while I dried off then back in I would go.

Our view!

Enjoying the hammock!

We did have breakfast and listen to a sales schpeel this morning, but other than that we ate lunch, I read, Ken watched movies, got some room service, I read, Ken watched movies, we went to swim, enjoyed a cocktail, got in the jaquzzi, ate dinner, listened to some music, watched tv.  What a relaxing day.  I did finish a book and I started another today.

You've got to love the turn down service.

I discovered the pasta bar at one of the restaurants today.  You pick the kind of pasta you want, any veggies, the sauce and they cook it up for you in about 3-5 minutes!  My weakness!  This is so much fun.  Just where will we relax tomorrow?

Good-bye Luca!

It is finally time.  We leave before the sun gets up to go to the airport for a 6:00 am flight!  Woohoo!  I am so looking forward to our vacation.  We planned this back around the turn of the year, so it has been on our minds a long time.
So, sunscreen-check, pepto-check, swimsuits-check, sun hat-check, hand sewing-check, computer-check, camera-check, and books-check.  I think I have everything!  

Axel, Lena, & Luca Ludwig

Luca

 Luca's father and sister came and got Luca and they went on a vacation, but returned on the 6th.  We did a few things together over the weekend and Luca spent most of the day with friends and went to a going away party on Saturday.  He took his yearbook and many friends signed it.  After living here for 10 months he gained a few things.  Consequently, his suitcase was overweight.  So, he ended up taking his winter coat out and decided to carry it.  I got news he got home safely.  I was sad to see him leave, it was hard to say good-bye.

Ken, Luca, and Jo Anne

The Birthday Bash

Janet & Nicole - love their dresses!

Jane, Pat, Ken, & Mary Ann

It is June.  I had been planning for the first of June and Ken's surprise 60th birthday party for quite some time.  My sister, Janet, made the invitations-had all the creative ideas-went over the plans-encouraged me, Jane, a good friend, shopped for food-quizzed me on plans-offered moral support, Laura, another friend, got

Ken makes 60 look good!

Vicki, Duane, & Mom

Yes, we had movie popcorn!

Janet & Haley at the concession t

movie posters for me, Vicki, my daughter-in-law, made many lists-talked me down from high stress-went on many errands-generally kept me on task. On the day of the party Janet, Vicki, Mom, Mary Ann, and I were decorating like crazy and getting the last minute touches. Jane let us use her grill when Kenny discovered Mary Ann's wasn't working.  Everyone pitched in, I love my family and friends.  They all supported me and were willing to do whatever it took to make this day wonderful for Ken.   And a very big thank you to Mary Ann for opening her back yard up to us.  Thanks to everyone who offered me moral support.  Ken was surprised and very pleased.  I told him I would never ever give him another surprise party!  Success!

I have spent part of last week and yesterday on a interview committee to hire 3 K teachers.  I am thrilled to say we are done and we have hired 3 very good candidates.  We had many to choose from.  They will have a good year with a lot of willing, friendly, caring, and sharing people around them to consult.
It is raining again.  I have had enough rain for a month or so.

My fav - all 9 grandchildren together!

Ken Took A Day Off!

Memorial Stadium at Norman

In the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.

  Well, our time with Luca, our foreign exchange student is about to end.  So, yes, Ken took the day off so we could spend it with Luca.  Luca wanted to see the stadium at OU.  So we went over and drove around the university.  Luckily, they had just finished a practice for Norman High School graduation and all the students were walking out.  So we just walked in took a few pictures and looked around.  Then we were able to go into the football stadium and we took a few pictures.  We ate at Five Guys.  We, of course, forgot and ordered french fries and had way too many.  One order is ALL you need.  Then we went to the zoo for the afternoon.  We walked all over that place.  We saw the cutest one armed chimpanzee.  Most of the animals were active.  Then we had a bit of time to kill, so we shopped!  Then to Olive Garden for a wonderful meal.  Luca's father and sister got in about 8:49 and we got to the airport minutes before their plane landed.  They were surprised and Luca was very happy to see them!

OKC Memorial 5-25-13

We wanted to show Axel and Lena somethings to remember Oklahoma by, so we picked the Oklahoma Memorial and Bricktown.  I know they had heard of the Murrah Building Bombing, but they didn't know the particulars or the magnitude of the bombing.  They had a lot of questions and they felt the serenity while we were around the reflecting pool.  We ate lunch at Abuelo's and came home to rest.  Axel seemed to enjoy the Mexican food because you don't really find it in Germany or Switzerland.    

Boscoe Joe's in Seminole

Going to eat at Boscoe Joe's

Then later after everyone had some down time we loaded back up and went to Seminole for a great Bar-be-que meal.  Unfortunately, they were out of ribs and mac and cheese when we got there.  I tried some brisket with the St. Louis sauce on the side.  Sure was good!  We got home around 10:00 and everyone was tired.  It was a busy day.
 Today we got up had some delicious omelets, compliments of Ken, and went to church.  They seemed to enjoy the service very much.  Then we came home and had hamburgers cooked out on the grill, again thanks to Ken!  We talked some and then they were off for their vacation to Memphis, New Orleans and Galveston.  I really enjoyed Lena's sense of humor and Axel was very interested in everything.  I enjoyed meeting them a lot.  I am looking forward to them coming back in two weeks.  I will certainly miss Luca when he is gone.   Ken and Vickie went to see Fast and Furious 6 to relax and I went to the sewing room to work on a roman shade order I am sewing.  This has been one busy weekend.

I just got word from my daughter, Haley, that she and Steve, Kayla's husband just landed in Dallas.  They have been on a mission trip to Africa.  I am glad they were able to go, but I am also very glad to know they are back.

Summer Is Here!

Looking into my room from the door.

Friday was our building day.  This is the one day you get paid to close up your room.  This is a big day!  Everything you haven't had time to put up during the year, all the odd pieces from different centers that have been found, all the stray supplies, and everything on top of moveable furniture has to be put away for the summer.  In our school everything has to be moved off the carpet and onto the tile in order for the carpets to be cleaned.  Then the opposite happens, everything is move onto the carpet so the tile can be striped and re-waxed.  We are losing one of our custodians so they will be doing the work of three people.  I don't usually move my own furniture, but I did this year to help out.  Today I spent all morning at a workshop about centers.  We watched a video made by a lady who wrote two books about Literacy Centers and Math Centers.  Then we had a good discussion with a plan to meet more times during the year to check progress, get ideas, and troubleshoot.  Then we went to lunch.  A good day with fun girls!

Clouds looked like cotton balls.

Yesterday, we had some weather.  These are the clouds outside our house before the tornadoes came to Shawnee.  There are more storms and tornadoes today.  Moore just got hit.  Two elementary schools in Moore have been demolished and they were in school today.  I am so glad our school year is in the bag.  I have heard about 2 deaths yesterday in Shawnee.  I am afraid there will be more today.  Prayers for the tornado victims.  My sister texted me this morning to see if we were okay.  This would not usually surprise me, except she is on a trip to Israel.  Kayla didn''t listen to the news, but a college friend remembered she had family in Shawnee and called her to ask if we were ok.  She was taken by surprise, so she called.  We had lots of people check on us.  We are blessed to have so many people care about us.
I am working on some roman shades and they are done except for all the details like all the rings on the back for the string to pull them up and the eye hooks and boards to hang it on.  I also have to make a door curtain.  I am still trying to organize all the new material and the room in general.  I have a few other lesser labor intensive projects going on too.

Student Teachers

We are down to 8 days left of school.  I am working on getting all the paperwork done.  I have a student teacher.  Her last day will be this Friday.  I will have 4 days left.  Looking forward to getting the kids back after 13 weeks of 2 student teachers.

The End is Near

Well, the days are moving by fast.  Someone at school mentioned we have 18 days of school left.  Where has the school year gone?  It has been such a good year.  My kids have really excelled this year.  They have done a good job and I am so proud of them.
We were off to meet Austins new in-laws last weekend.  We got almost to the Texas State Line when our daughter-in-law called to let us know about the weekend mix up.  So we turned around.  Four hours of driving. UGH!
When we went to AZ over spring break, my mom's friend gave me all her material, because she has decided she couldn't sew anymore.  So I was lucky enough to get her entire stash!  Well, I just got through going through 4 13 gallon trash bags, a medium suitcase, a box, 3 brown paper bags, and 2 shopping bags full of material.  I am working on getting it organized.  I have all the material on bolts, but now I don't have enough shelves for all the bolts to sit on.  I am trying to design the last set of shelves for the sewing room.  It will need about 4 shelves for bolts, the ribbon caddy worked in, and a place for the stereo on the top.  I also will need some shelves for some containers to set on.  It is slowly coming together.  Ken has a rent house to get ready for a May 1st occupancy.  That means I am having to cook!  It is what it is!

March

Wow! The month of March has whizzed by.  I am not sure how it went by so fast or just what it was I was doing but tomorrow is the last day.  At school I had a student teacher.  That gave me some time to work on some centers, organization, and screening.  She did a good job and I was happy to have her.  Last Monday I got a new student teacher.  She observed last week and will start taking over parts of the the this next week.  I believe she will also do well.

Chicken Pot Pie!  Yummy!

Ken baked a practically delicious chicken pot pie.It was so happy it is great.
The week of the 18th was spring break.  We left Friday after school and drove to Arizona to see my mom and Bob.  Two days of driving.  We did a lot of fun things with them.  We went to see the play Oklahoma, saw the Royals and the Rockies play, saw the largest Wurlitzer organ, shopped a little, and went to a pizza party.  Each activity was fun.  We saw some of their friends that we have seen before, so it was like seeing old friends.  Luca enjoyed the new scenery.  He also got to go pick oranges.  One of mom's friends gave me her stash of material.  Way cool! (However, we had to buy a car carrier, a suitcase, and to containers to get all the material home.) Surprise Ken!  I am very excited!

Coloring eggs.

Our lovely daughter-in-law is now with us.  Her husband, our son, Bryn is in Korea until September.  He will come home to Oklahoma have 30 days leave and they will need to report in at Ft. Lewis Oct. 10th.  Bryn is still interested in becoming a helicopter pilot.  He is going to submit his paperwork as soon as he can.
We spent some time coloring eggs at home.

Ready For Spring

We went to Texas so Ken could rebuild shed doors for my sister.  While he did that Janet, my sister, and I went to her local water aerobics joint for a 5 K in water.  It was pretty cool.  The pool was a salt water pool and that was a first for me.  The 5k water walk was another first for me.  It was a lot of fun.  There were about 15 of us in the pool and we would all be walking the same direction and we would have a pretty good current going and we would be told to walk backwards or turn around and walk the other direction.  It was so hard you literally could not move for a bit. It was good!
In the half marathon training, hmm it is not going as scheduled.  We were seeing family and driving on Sunday.  I did not have time to do any training.  I went to OBU to walk on Monday, but all the treadmills were full so I rode for 6 miles.  Yesterday didn't get any training in, but today I got my Sunday's walk in.  I came and went right into a hot bath for about 1- 1 1/2 hours.  My left foot hurts-it hurts on the ball of my foot.  My back hurts on the left side.  The bath didn't seem to help much.  Maybe the corn bag if I can locate it.
I am tired of the cold, I am ready for spring.  I think I will take down all the hearts and snowmen. I have a student teacher and she is doing pretty good.  As soon as she leaves I will get another student teacher.   I don't have much time left with my kids this year.

Monday

Well, week 4 of half marathon training is over.  I got to walk 5 miles on Sunday.  I was tired after I got done.  Later I started feeling a bit stiff.  The stiff feeling continued today.  I am glad it is a rest day in my training schedule.
Today was a day of meetings.  I certainly could of used this day as a work in my room day.  I have a few things that need to be caught up.  I seem to be getting things out to get ready, using the things, or the things need to be put up.  Always looking forward, but the putting things up doesn't go on schedule as well as the getting out or the using.  Hmm!
I have a student teacher.  This is her third week.  It is hard to explain to a soft spoken sweet girl that she needs to dig down deep and get her teacher voice.  That is one of the hardest things for new teachers to gain.  Luckily I was a mom and it came naturally.

Valentine's Day Came Early!

Valentine's Day came early this year!  Our sorority had their Valentine Ball on Saturday night.  My darling husband set it up to be a surprise.  He arranged for a limousine to pick us up. The limo driver dropped us off at the hotel entrance instead of the Reed Center entrance.  Ken moved me down the connecting hallway quickly.  I didn't think much about it at the time, but it so happened one of his co-workers, Mindy was at the check in desk leaving a note where we could find our van that she drove up for us.  So, he walked me around to the Reed Center and said he had to go to the restroom.  Then he disappeared for a long time.  He happened to tell one of my sorority sisters, and so everyone knew we came by limo!  Later I find out about Mindy being at the check-in desk, the van is out front, and we were staying the night!  What a surprise!
We ate, laughed, and danced.  We had a great evening.  My husband is a special man and I am totally in love with him.  Happy Valentine's Day to all!

Training Continues

Here it is February.  It is Monday and yesterday I finished week 2 of training for the half marathon I am going to walk in in April.  It was a grueling 4 mile walk.  My time was 67.36 minutes.  Not sure if that is good, but it is what I did.  My legs hold up, my feet get tired, my mouth gets dry, part of the time I feel nausea, and I have a bit of trouble getting my breath, but I am sure happy to call it quits when my time or distance is up!

The windmills are 3D.

On a more fun note the transportation quilt went to the store and now the windmill quilt has also gone.  It is pretty cute.  I had a piece fall off my machine.  Not good.  I don't think it is a big issue, but I will take it in to John.  He is my go to guy.

I met the sorority girls for dinner last Thursday.  We didn't go to a movie, but we enjoyed the Mexican food and the laughter.  It was good to spend the time with such fun gals.  They always put a smile on my face and know just the right thing to say.

Yesterday was the Super Bowl.  We watched it for the commercials.  I asked my father-in-law who he was for and he really didn't have a preference, so I told him the Ravens would win and immediately he was for the 49ers.  I was very scientific in who I choose - the Raves wear purple!  Luckily, I was able to call a few times and ask if he saw that touchdown, what is the score, and when were the 49ers going to start playing?  We had fun, (at least I did).
Today I was in Norman for the Kindergarten Conference.  I picked up a few new ideas.  I get to go again tomorrow.  The sad thing is my student teacher started today.  She came by to meet me on Friday so I was able to let her know in advance I would be out.
I go to the oncologist on Wednesday, Have blood work, and squeeze in a mammogram.  It will be a busy day.  My friend, Charme' said we would just work around it.  I am truly blessed with the friends I teach with.

Half Marathon!

Okay!  My daughter, Haley called and told me about her new challenge for herself.  A half marathon in April!  Well, if you know Haley she is very persuasive, exciting, and encouraging.  She had me all excited in .  no time.  I asked Ken if he was interested, but the nice shorter answer is no.   I called my sister and got her involved.  So Janet and I were on board to walk the half marathon.  Now, I heard through the family grapevine that Kayla was not all that interested in the half marathon.  So since I know how competitive my girls are I texted Kayla and Haley the next morning about their Aunt Janet and I joining the challenge and sure enough she is on board!  So, now it is becoming a real family affair.  Haley, her husband, Kayla, her husband, Janet, possible Austin, his fiance, possibly ex--husband #1, and I will all be doing the half marathon in April.  I am excited about Austin and his fiance, I can't wait to learn if they will join us.  Sunday I completed week one of training with a 3 mile walk.  I do not enjoy the training, but it is good for me.
I sold the pink and yellow chevron quilt at the store.  I took a blue and red quilt with cars, planes, trains, and bus embroidered on it to the store.  I have another pink quilt almost ready to go it just needs to be bound.  So, as soon as I can find the binding I will get that to the store.
I downloaded two new apps on my phone.  One helps me with my walking.  It keeps track of the laps I have walked.  Haley keeps telling me it is all about the gear, maybe she is on to something!  The other app is a countdown app.  Everytime I turn on my phone I have a reminder of how many days until we go on vacation!  Life is good!

Great Weekend!

After

Presentation is everything!

Ken made such a great meal.  He was hungry for Mexican and he had seen this recipe somewhere, he couldn't remember where, so that is what he made.  Oh my gosh it was so good.  I had seconds.  The black olives were a good garnish.
The unhappy downside was that I had to weigh on Saturday morning.  I forgot that each of the crescents were like 5 points or more.  Sadly, I gained .2 Saturday at weigh in.  My sister, Janet, who is so supportive of my efforts tried to make me feel better by texting that is just s poop!  Of course, she lost 1.6.  I am so proud of her.  She is doing a super job tracking and losing weight.
My daughter, Haley, called on Saturday and told me her new fitness plan or idea.  She has decided to jog/walk a half marathon.  I had talked about doing one last year, but that is all it was.  Now it looks like I will get the opportunity.  Anyway, I talked to my sister and she wants to do it with me.  Now, Kayla, who is as competitive as Haley, wasn't real interested in the half marathon.  When she found out the three of us are doing it she decided to join us!  Woohoo!  Now, I understand that both Haley and Kayla's husbands are joining us.  What a family affair.  Which reminds me I need to see if Vicki wants to join us as well.  She should be staying with us by the end of March.  Training starts tomorrow!
We had a great day today.  We met Kenny, Sara, and the kids for lunch.  Then Kenny, the boys, Kevin, Nichol and Grandpa all came over to watch the game. Nichol left after a bit, she had other things to do. I enjoyed the boys, all of them!

blue and red  transportation quilt

This is one of the quilts I worked on Saturday.  I have it quilted, but I still need to put the binding on it.  I have a pink quilt that needs to be quilted and bound also.
There is a baby shower next weekend at our church that I am making some burp rags for.
No school in honor of M.L. King, Jr. tomorrow.  I will probably go work at school for a little bit so I will be ready on Tuesday.
I am also trying to organize the sewing room, the new scrapbook area, and clean out the red room.  I need to get it cleaned out because it will be needed soon.