A Christmas Visitor

Funny thing happened to me yesterday.  I think if I post the email threads, it will tell the story best.

Here is the subject line:

Quick Question

"I cannot remember if anyone is taking Sunshine over Christmas. Ryder has begged me to let him but I wanted to check with you first. If you would like for him to watch our class pet over the Christmas break please let me know. Thanks so much!"

Mrs. Kimberly Burch
3rd Grade Teacher

And my foolish reply:

"Sure we can.  Is Sunshine a hamster?  I ask because I had a pet hamster 36 years ago, and I named it Sunshine :)

I will be at the party tomorrow. Can we just take him/her/it home then?  Do we need to purchase any supplies ahead of time?

Thanks for letting us have this "privilege" ;)

Just kidding. Thank you. Ryder will be in heaven!"

Heidi

And her answer back:

THANK YOU! He is actually a parakeet! Very sweet and bright yellow. I have everything you will need.

Mrs. Kimberly Burch
3rd Grade Teacher

And my reply after I had already committed - not knowing really what I was committing to:

LOL - a PARAKEET?!?!?!?!

Totally didn't see that one coming :)


I guess the blessing in disguise is that I am ever so lucky that Sunshine isn't a python or boa constrictor!  And the real blessing is Ryder is so happy to have a friend staying with us for the holidays.

Another School Year Comes To A Close

Mother's Day Party with Ryder
Don't you love the hat he made me?!?!



It's hard to believe that the 2010-2011 school year is already over.  It flew by so quickly!!!! The kids are excited for some time off to swim and travel.  I'm excited to have them home more, and to be done having 4 kids in 4 different schools!  Next year we will be down to 3 schools, because Melanie will be in HIGH SCHOOL next year which means both she and Nicole will be at PHS!

Here is a hodgepodge of pictures from the end of the school year.

Darren's Freshman seminary class that he taught enjoying
their last early morning together for the year

Nicole's Seminary class on their last day

Ryder getting his picture taken with his 2nd grade teacher,
Mrs. Eggelston, after the awards assembly

Here is a sweet card that Ryder and I made for his teacher.  He really enjoyed being in her class!

He also gave her a "Nothing Bundt Cake"  white chocolate raspberry mmmmm. . .

Every year we go to dinner after the last day of school to celebrate.  This year we went to the Blue Goose to enjoy mesquite grilled tex mex yumminess!!  Here's Harrison enjoying the evening:

I notice the chips are already gone and dinner hadn't arrived yet :)  They make some really good salsa!

And I'll sign off with a picture of Melanie and her friend Thi modeling the masks they made as part of their last English project. 

Looking good girls.  Enjoy your summer!!!



Our Tax Education Dollars At Work

I love this picture of Nicole - my super intelligent honor student who takes an incredibly heavy load of classes at school.  Somehow, in the midst of all of the intensity and seriousness, she manages to have fun.  Although admittedly her "fun" looks a bit dangerous.

I'm not quite sure what you're supposed to learn from a lab where you light Cheetos on fire underneath a Coca Cola can that seems to be hovering in mid air - but I'm sure that they learned A LOT!!!

As her mother, I am ever so grateful she wore her safety goggles!

Will You Be My Valentine?

Do you remember way back in elementary school when you used to make valentines for all of your classmates?  You know, and you delivered them into a giant heart shaped "envelope" that had been painstakingly made out of pink and red construction paper in art class the week before and taped to their desk.  And if there was that special someone (or two or three) that you really liked, you agonized over what special words you could write on their card to declare your feelings? Good times. Great memories. Really, the fun and excitement of the first flutterings of a young heart are hard to ever replicate.  Thank goodness we have children who give us the opportunity to live vicariously through them.

This week Ryder was filling out his valentine cards for the kids in his class.  Now, back in my day (a.k.a "the good ol' days"), our teachers let us fill in the name of the classmate that we were giving the card to. This was great, because for our normal friends and classmates we could just write:

To: (classmate's name here)
From:  Heidi

Simple.  Done.

But if we had a crush on someone (or they on us), you could write something really fabulous like:

To:  Shawn

I really like you.  I think you are nice and funny.

From: Heidi

Your heart would race and flutter at the thought of actually giving it to them, and you would wonder (and worry) about what they would think when they read it.

Oh, and when I pulled each valentine out of my heart envelope, I would read each one carefully to see if anyone liked ME. What was really mysterious was when someone wrote me a love message and didn't sign their name.  The excitement and mystery of trying to figure out who my secret admirer might be was thrilling.

Well, nowadays teachers are much more valentine card savvy.  They have the kids write just their name on the card and bring enough for everyone in the class.  Like this:

To:  (blank)

From: Ryder

This is smart, because it:  1. eliminates having to send home a list of class names, 2. ensures that everyone in the class gets a valentine (kind of a Valentines Day "no student left behind" policy), and 3. saves a ton of time passing the cards out.  Do you remember trying to read what you had written on each card, and then trying to find each desk to deliver it...

Unfortunately, it also eliminates the opportunity to declare your true feelings to that really cute girl or boy in your class that you secretly admire.

When Ryder asked me if he could write a "special note" to a little girl in his class, I told him I thought that would be fine.  He could just keep it separate from the others and make sure he delivered it to her.

I am sooooo glad I let him write that special note, because it reminded me of what I love about Valentines Day.  Here is what he wrote:

Carlee I kinda like you i'm so scared about sendin this.
I'm shivering

Seriously, is that cute or what? The simple, heartfelt declaration of admiration from one 2nd grader to another.  THAT is what a good valentine card looks like.

So, to all you teachers out there: 1. send home the class list, 2. bring some extra valentines just in case someone gets forgotten, and 3. set aside an extra 15 minutes for your classroom parties so there's ample time for the kids to sort and deliver their messages.  Let their little hearts flutter and shiver as true love blooms.

Oh, and "Will you be my valentine?" Because I think you're awesome!

I'm so scared about posting this. I'm shivering.

6 Day Weekend

Well the kids went to school exactly 1 day this week - 1 day out of 5!!!  Now I know what you're thinking, "Those Texans just don't know how to handle snow."  Unh uh.  We handle snow just fine.  It's sleet and ice that really slow us down.  Monday night ice started falling from the sky.  Trust me it was really loud on the windows. By Tuesday morning there was a nice thick layer of ice on everything, and no one wants to drive in that.

I didn't really take any pictures of the ice, because well, it was just roads with ice.  I do have a video of Ryder doing some skating on it though.



The temperatures stayed around 0 degrees (wind chill factored in here) so the ice wasn't able to melt.  So the kids got to stay home on Wednesday and Thursday as well.  We were able to enjoy lots of family time together - board games, puzzles, TV, Wii, baking and some crafts.  Harrison, Melanie, and Ryder put together these little wooden craft kits that I had picked up for $1 each the week before.  My thought at the time was that I'd just stash them away for a rainy day or next summer when the kids are bored.  As fortune would have it, we got to use them much earlier than that.

These little kits were awesome.  As I mentioned before only $1 each, and they included all the wood, paint, glue, paintbrush, sandpaper and rubberbands needed to complete the project!  I think the boys can get some scouting achievements signed off for this too :)

Then Thursday night and Friday we got SNOW.  Probably a good 4-6 inches.  And it stuck.  In fact it's still here.  Unheard of!

Here is a picture from early Friday morning.

And snow or not, poor little Blossom still had to go outside to, well, you know. . . She got icy in the process.

Blossom's mad because her paws are cold!

The fun part is that snow is waaaaaaay more fun than ice! You can go sledding.

Or eat the snow (only pure white fresh snow please).

Or if you're me, you can slip and fall.  I know, cool huh.

The neighbor kids had been begging me to sled the ditch with them.  We all know how that would've turned out.  I kindly declined, and so today I can still say I have never broken a bone!

It's also quite beautiful to see our lake almost completely frozen over.

So as we enter our 5th day of isolation in our home, we are grateful for this little window of time where we could just relax and spend time together.  We are also grateful for food storage, and that I had just purchased milk, eggs, and fresh produce on Monday night!

Thanks for a wonderful break Mother Nature!



UPDATE:  Of course all good things must come to an end. . .

Coolest Field Trip Ever!

This past week I went as a chaperone for Ryder's 2nd grade field trip to Elm Fork Education Center at the University of North Texas.  What a great day!  I have attended quite a few field trips over the years with my children, but this was one of the best ones.  They were so well organized and kept the kids actively involved and learning the whole time we were there.

When we first arrived, our group watched a show in the planetarium about seasons.  Next we went to a class and learned about archaeology and how to set up an archaeological dig site.  Once they had learned how, the kids got to go be archaeologists and unearth discoveries in a mock dig site. Here they are getting some last minute instructions:

And starting to dig.

Ryder recording where his partner discovered a fossil.

Ryder discovering an artifact.

Then each group put their map of their unit of the grid on the larger dig map.  The collection shows what was found in the entire dig site.

The kids also participated in an aquatics study where they were assigned either the waterfall, pond, stream or wetland.  They used instruments to measure flow rate and oxygen saturation, then analyzed their data to see if it supported their hypothesis.

It looked something like this, but I was helping the kids and didn't get a chance to take pictures!

At the end of the day they searched animal statues on the site and categorized them as predator, prey or both. Here are Ryder and a classmate discussing how they should draw and categorize some prairie dogs.

Wish I would have taken more pictures!  It was a great day :)

Goody Bags

Every year I get at least one chance to make the goody bag for Nicole's volleyball team.  Basically it just means we're providing snacks for the girls to eat before their match, so they'll have lots of energy and WIN!

Last year I got to do the bags for their game on Homecoming Day, so I made these bags with little mini mums attached.

That was fun.  So this year I decided to make a fabric gift bag to put all their stuff in.  Here are the bags all sewed up and lined up.  I just love the volleyball ribbon I found for the handles!

Here's a peek at what was inside.  I'm pretty sure no one went hungry!  By the way, those Butterfinger Snackerz are delicious :)

What's inside

The girls must have had plenty of energy, because they beat their opponent easily.

Now the rest of this is just a tutorial to follow if you want to make a fabric gift bag.

How to Make a Fabric Gift/Goody Bag

You'll need:

1/3 yd. of 44" fabric per bag
12" x 22" piece of coordinating felt per bag
2 feet of ribbon for handle
2 feet of ribbon for ties
pinking shears for cutting top edge
coordinating thread
sewing machine

1/2" seam allowance is used for all seams

1.  First cut your fabric and felt rectangles.  I cut my 44" wide fabric into 12" strips with my rotary cutter, then cut them in half to make my 12" x 22" rectangles.  For my bags I used one black, one print, and one felt rectangle for a coordinating effect.

2.  Next I made a "fabric sandwich" layering fabric, felt, fabric together.  The felt should be against the wrong side of the fabrics so that the outside of the sandwich is the outside of your fabrics.











3.  Then with the layers pinned together I measured and cut the sandwich in half to make one front and one back piece.













4.  I flipped one piece over so that the finished bag would have a different fabric on the front and on the back.













5.  Cut the top edge of each piece with pinking shears, and pin handles and ties in place.  I just laid a yard stick on each piece and placed a handle at 4" and 8" with the tie pinned at 6".











6.  Stitch across the top of each piece to lock handle and ties in place.














7.  Pin and sew front and back pieces right sides together along 3 edges (2 sides and base).













8.  To create the bag base open bottom seam out flat to create a diamond shape as shown.  Draw a line where the triangle is 2.5" across.  Pin and sew across line.











9.  It should look like this.















10.  Turn right side out and there you have it!  Fill with your choice of goodies or gifts :)