Friday 30 September 2016

A Week in Review (September 18-24)

A Week in Review (September 18-24)

Watched: Another football game for the Cougars. The poor guys just can't seem to make practice translate out into the field. They can't seem to hold the other line long enough to be able to get off any good plays. What really cracks me up is that they will swear that they won because they stopped their two point conversions.  I guess there isn't a scoreboard, so if they think they won, maybe that's what matters. We were lucky and had Jack's baseball coach and his two boys stop by for the second half of the game. Jack had a good time playing with them after the game. 

Read: I finished up The Immortal Life of Heinretta Lacks. While this book raises many ethical questions, I felt it was a bit to repetitive.  I enjoyed the overall book, I just didn't find myself rushing to get back to the storyline because it felt rather cyclical.  Next, I started Truly Madly Guilty. I have to read 70 pages a day if I want to have it back to the library by it's due date. I am not sure if I can do it, but I am going to try!

Listened: To my students fall over with laughter as we played musical "shares". This is a twist on ordinary musical chairs. In this game, no one gets out and everyone just sits on each other's laps until they all pile into one seat and fall down laughing!

Made: It to my first District Accountability Committee (DAC) Meeting for the new school year. I kind of forget how overwhelming it all is in the fall because you have so many tasks that must be completed.  You get a lot of good information about one the district has planned and what's happening within the town that affects the school, so I enjoy it, but it's definitely one of those things you have to take a  deep breath afterwards. 

Felt: So proud of Jack. He had his first Landsharks cross country meet for the Fall series and he totally kicked but. He ran a mile and half in 12:29.6. He was totally exhausted and I think he left it all out there. He is a bit nervous about being able to beat it next week because he likes earning a day of paid vacation where mom does his chores for him. 

Planned: On going home after football practice on Friday night, but a couple of Nick's co-workers invited us over to their place for a fire pit in the backyard. They had hot dogs, chips and dip, and smores. They also had a lovely home for hosting the event.  It was fun to just sit around and chat with everyone. I thought it was funny when the two wives tried to claim they could hate Nick's Utah project more than me. Their husbands did work hard on it and did have some awful weeks. I don't think it nearly compared to the year and half we had.  I'm so thankful that project is almost entirely in the books!

Loved: Taking Jack down to the Burrowing Owl on Saturday night. We had a great time playing all the games that they offer and Nick was able to enjoy some more of their vegan food. We tried Spot It for the first time and that was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be.  Who knows, maybe Santa will leave it in my stocking!

Here are the pics for the week:

I really don't like vacuuming the stairs and was so thrilled when he chose to do it for one of his family responsibilities.  
 

Look at that stride
 

His fall third grade photo
 

My Friday night lights 
 

Game Day!
 


 
 

Monday 19 September 2016

A Week in Review (September 11-17)

A Week in Review (September 11-17)

Watched
Nurse Jackie. I was looking for a new show to watch in my free time and I had heard good thing about this show. It's quite entertaining. It's about a nurse whose addicted to pain killers leading several multiple lives. The shows are nice and short at just 30 minutes. All of the seven seasons are on Netflix currently. 

Read: I am still working on The Immortal Life of Heinretta Lacks.  It's really quite interesting, but it isn't the fastest reading material. I am hoping to be able to finish it up the next week so I can start Truly Madly Guilty. 

Listened: To my students giggle as we did the Silly Dance contest by Jim Gill. It's one of my personal favorites and I was so glad to share it with them. Even some of my students who hadn't participated before, enjoyed dancing along to that one. There is just something so inviting about the song that you can't help but join in. 

Made: A list of all the PTA dates for the Fall Semester. It was a good way to remind me of everything I have got going on. I like seeing all the fun things that we are doing for the students. I hope that they enjoy all the fun new things that are happening at the school. I am sure most of my next couple months will be spent working on the Fall Festival and the Holiday Shoppe. 

Felt: Glad the day was beautiful for the Beer Fest at Elitch's. The older boys were able to get several rides in before they head off into the Festival.  We let Sherry go for a couple hours while I took all the kids to Kiddie Land. I messed around on Pokémon go trying to find the big Pokémon to show off to the little man who installed it on my computer. We ended the night eating at BD's in Denver. Yummy!  I have grown accustomed to Hu Hot, but BD's sauces win hands down. 

Planned: On laying around all Sunday watching football with Nick on Sunday, but after his Chiefs won, he headed over to our friends to brew up some beer.  Jack went with him so he could play with the kids. They didn't stay there too long before they decided that they would rather come play at our house. They had a good time and the house wasn't quite as silent so that's a good thing. 

Loved: The cooler weather we have been having. It's nice to not be overheated just sitting in your house. It's made for some chilly nights at practice. I have got to be better about not just dressing for the weather it is when we leave for practice. Luckily, I had some apple cider in the house and was able to have a Apple Cider and Fireball to warm me up. Yummy!

Here are the pics for the week:

We convinced Nick to ride the Spider. He wasn't all that thrilled. 
 

The boys went on the motorcycles for Skyler. While I don't think they would ever admit it, they had an okay time too. 
 

Guess he was zonked from his day. 
 


Sunday 11 September 2016

A Week in Review (September 4-10)

A Week in Review (September 4-10)

Watched: Jack's team get creamed again.  They had some monstrous kids on the other team. I think he was already 5 foot and 120lbs.  They did really improve over the last week. They even managed to get a touchdown this time!  It could be a long season as I am pretty sure they will go winless over this teams that have been together for more than one season.  The one exciting thing that happened was that Jack got to be a kicker. He did pretty good. They almost recovered one of them for an onside kick. 


Read: A Monster Calls. As it has been documented, my reading has been on a bit of a slump. So when I went and picked up three books that came in off my hold list, I knew I had to get myself in gear.  Although I picked it because it was the shortest, I was wrecked by the end of this book. My heart totally shattered for poor Conor. It is important that we speak our truth and understand the duality of human nature. I would highly recommend this book for teens who are dealing with the loss of a parent.  Next, I debated if I should start Truly Madly Guilty or The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I thought I had decided on Truly Madly Guilty, but when I read the snippets to Nick, I ended up picking up Henrietta Lacks instead.  I've heard lots of good things about it, so I am hoping it's also a quick read. 

Listened: To Tooty-Ta nine times as I got back into the classroom and had my first two days with students.  It was a lot of fun!  I couldn't believe how exhausted it could make me.  There were tears for the three's, but the four's were all happy to see me.  You forget how little they start the year out, and since I hadn't been with a group of kiddos that small in almost three years, it just kind of shocks me.  I am looking forward to seeing what the year brings.  I am so glad that I found this school.  I think it will be a great group of women to be a part of and I am looking forward to being back in preschool!


Made: A successful Grandparent's Breakfast event for Jack's school.  We decided to host a free muffins and coffee event.  We ended up having about 20 more people show up than had RSVP'd so we will want to keep that in our back pocket for next time.  I think that the Grandparents really enjoyed themselves.  We made the muffins a little special by crafting the most darling toothpick inserts for each of them.  Luckily, we have a very awesome crafter on the PTA who put a lot of heart and soul into getting the materials ready so that we could help her assemble them.  Even with a large group of women working on them, we still had to take them home and work on them.  I brought home thirty and finished hot gluing them.  She spent four more hours working.  We also put flowers out on the table for a bit of whimsy to the day.  They also had a backdrop for grandparents to get their picture on.  I have to laugh at this photo that we took for testing out the placement of the words.

Felt: Like this was such a long week. When I sat down to write up the blog, I couldn't believe that it has only been a week since we were in KC.  I guess a full schedule will do that to you!

Planned: On a fun date with my hubby while Jack was over at a sleepover birthday party. We went to a local bar/eatery called the Burrowing Owl. It was quite yummy and totally hipster.  If you are eating a vegan lifestyle, I would highly recommend checking this place out.  I posted quite a few pictures of their cool decor.  Needless to say my bathroom selfie couldnt be cute in a room of purple!

Loved: Spending time with the Beane family. After sleeping in on Sunday, we drove back to Olathe to drop off Joe and go spend the day with them. First up was a delicious meal cooked by Patrick. It was fajitas cooked on the grill. There was homemade guacamole and a fresh fruit salad.  He is an amazing cook.  After lunch, we walked to the park where the boys played Pokemon Go for a bit and then played on the equipment. Once they were done, it was back to the Beane's house for a bit more chatting.  While conversing, it was determined the only piece of clothing that C doesn't own something Ninja Turtle in was shorts. So of course, I hopped on the Internet to see what I could find. JC Penney's had a pair of PJ shorts, so we got him those. While we were on there, he saw a Secret Life of Pets shirt, so we got him that too. We tossed a Minecraft for J in there too.Then we headed over to our hotel in Olathe to swim. It was a good idea, but the pool must have recently been filled with ice cubes so it wasn't the longest lasting. We went back to the room after a while for more chatting and for C to give me a lesson in Pokemon Go. We also spent plenty of time trying to convince Patrick to take a vacation down here so he could cook for us. Haha. We really miss being close to so many people we love. Some get working on that teleportation machine!

Here are the pics for the week:


Jack in his new outfit from Grandma and Poppa Blas brought back from Mexico



Grandparent's Breakfast




So the kid in this picture in yellow is the large third grader I was referring too.  Can you see how he totally is out of proportion to all the boys on our team?  It was so crazy!  Jack does look good getting ready to kick though.


The Burrowing Owl