Barney

Here are some pics to prove that the snow is finally GONE!!!

Hope our garden grows!



SIDENOTE: Jude has been eating lunch for a while. Actually he is done eating, but Barney came on and it has captured his attention. He was getting a little squirmy in the high chair as usual, but since Barney came on he is quite and his eyes are glued to the TV. I have noticed this before with Barney as well. I wonder what it is. He likes other shows too, but nothing does to him what Barney does. I tell ya, I don't get it!!!

On Turning 1

It has finally happened. Jude had his first birthday. It has been one year since his birth. We made it! We had a wonderful party with almost all family present. Mitch and Minette even surprised everyone (except me) by showing up from San Antonio! Here are some pictures of the birthday fun:)

Uncle Mitch and Aunt Minette

Yummy cake!
Cousin Ashtyn didn't like the messes Jude made, but she loved helping him open and play with his presents!

Playing with Ashtyn

Superman!

Gil working on assembling

Outdoor family pictures

Superman Cake

Jude had a Superman themed birthday party. I decided I'd make my own cake. I looked on line for instructions or guidelines, but couldn't find anything good. In fact the best one I found was crap. So I made up my own way. I'm going to give instructions for anyone who is interested in creating a Superman cake. I thought I did a pretty dang good job! And it was fun. Maybe I'll decorate another cake again someday...

Bake cake according to box and bake it on parchment paper. Then use your finger to outline the superman design.
Cut out the parts of the cake you will not use and transfer the cake onto a portable surface.
(This is just to show my messing kitchen during the process. Jude is also "helping")
You will need blue, yellow, and red frosting. Spread the blue around the sides and yellow on the top.
Outline the shape with red. I used a cake decorating tip.

Use the same red tip to outline the S shape.
Fill in the S shape with the same tip. Then go around the edges with a smooth blue tip.
That's it!
Pretty sweet!

Eggcellent!

Big egg next to normal egg. That poor chicken!


The other day Gil found a HUGE egg in our chicken coop. We were both curious about it. I decided to boil it and use it to make potato salad for Jude's birthday party. When I sliced into it I found two yokes! Apparently double yokers are fairly common, but this is the first I've ever heard of it. What is even stranger is just the day I cut into it there had been a story on the news about a large egg being found. Someone should tell them about the double yokers...or maybe I should call channel 9 news!

Jump High Daddy!

A couple weeks ago Jude and I got to go to a track meet of Gil's at my alma mater, Northwestern. Gil actually high jumped again and it was the first time I'd ever seen him jump. It was really neat. We also got to hang out with our good friends the Schuiteman's while we were there and went to the famous Blue Mountain Ang has always been telling me about. Very cool place!

Jude on the track

Bailey and Jude strolling together (Bailey didn't know if she wanted to share!)

Gil measuring the track

At the meet

at the meet

High Jump!

Jude looking at the kitties

Jude playing cards

Jude giggling at the puppy.

GIFT

I have spent the past 3 days subbing in the same ESL (English as a Second Language) classroom as I did in March. It was fantastic! I learned a little Spanish, taught a little English, met some great kids, and had some GREAT conversations. I didn't feel bad letting the girls (the classes happened to be mostly girls) chat with me. I mean we're working on conversation skills right?! So over these days I have really got to know them...and care about them. Some of the conversations were fun. We discussed foods we like, bands we like, how old we are (how many years we have), computers and the internet, hair, church, boys. And some of the conversations were difficult. I found out many had broken homes, family far away in other countries, one girl was already even a mother herself.

But the most difficult by far was when the most upbeat, cheerful, friendly, and sweet girl of them all came in from lunch very upset today. I wondered what could have gotten to her. She was quick to attempt to explain herself to me and I soon found out that a group of four boys had been mean to her during lunch. One boy had told her to, "Go back to Mexico." It is tough for these kids to fit in. They cannot speak the language and so have a major barrier. The other kids cannot understand them and are afraid of people who are different, not to mention they are teenagers and prone to meanness. I felt so badly that someone had made this girl feel so terrible. But we did have a great conversation about this incident.

And then she gave me something that I will cherish always. It is one of the best gifts I have ever been given. She had been telling me that she was going to give me something during the past few days. She said I was a good teacher. I didn't know what to expect. I knew that she was somewhat religious from our past conversations and I think that she knew I was as well. Today she asked me what church I go to. I told her that I go to a Catholic church in Sioux City at Briar Cliff. She was very excited that I went to a Catholic church. She then went to her locker and brought back her gift. It was a small ceramic nativity scene, all one piece, that opened up to reveal a small jewelry box on the bottom. It was an inexpensive item, but it was amazing. I told her thank you and that I happen to collect nativity sets. Now as I look at it I am reminded again of her kindness and giving spirit. How amazing that a girl who doesn't have much gave what she could, gave thoughtfully, gave joyfully, and gave with love. I want to be more like this girl. I want to have a giving spirit. I want to give gifts, time, talents, energy. I want to give what I can and give with love.

Easter Fun!

Jude with Aunt Brittany and Grandma Carolyn.

Jude and Grandma Carolyn.

Finding an egg.

Spilling the jelly beans.

Enjoying the jelly beans.

Shaking the egg.

Opening the egg.

Chillin' with Cousin Ashtyn.

Gil and I!

Riding in the Tonka.

Gil and I again!

Jude with Grandpa Gilbert.

P.S. This new picture on the blog is of one of the imitation stained glass windows at our house.

kInDerGartEn

I have been a busy teacher lately: PE, computers, 2nd grade, Science, kindergarten, and music in the last two weeks. It took me a long time to remember them because it seems when the day is done I hit delete and all information is lost. Or maybe it's just that I am in so many different places seeing so many different kids that one 24 hour period is all I can commit to remembering details, names, schedules, etc. But out of these experiences, kindergarten definitely stands out in the crowd. Kindergartners were a lot like 1st graders only had MORE questions, MORE tattling, and MORE hilarious statements!

8:20-enter 17 5-6 year olds. "Hi Mrs. R," they all said (kindergartners have amazing memories...way better than 20-something-year-olds!). "You're wearing Mrs. *&%&'s favorite color, do you know what my favorite color is?" They all had a favorite color. Some had two or three favorite colors. After guessing all of their favorite colors and names, they proceeded to centers. Most of the boys were rambunctiously playing with Lego blocks while the girls focused on drawing me pictures and writing, "To: Mrs. R, From: *&^^%" (only their hand writing looked like a kindergartners!). Here are a few of the other funnies that stood out to me during the day:

*Kids "stretching" not raising their hands

*Every kid raising his/her hand, but then repeating the exact same answer before them because they really have nothing to say.

*If they got upset with another student it was, "You're not coming to my birthday party." Whoa, pulling out all the stops on that one!

*I tied many shoes, some could do double knots, others couldn't

*"Mrs. R, so and so is doing such and such and he's not supposed to do that." (I wish I could type in the whiny little voice in which this was constantly reported).

*Everyone had a cut or scrape after recess and many needed a band-aid

*During roll call/lunch count the kids were in the routine of spelling hot or cold and then saying a phrase. Most of the time it was, "H-O-T, I love Mrs. R"....awwwww!

*The guidance counselor did a lesson on careers. No one knew what a career was, but they had fun guessing. One little girl thought it was probably a parade.

*When asked what careers people had in the school the most common answers were teacher and recess teacher.

*After watching the career video one little boy insisted he wanted to be a pirate (he meant Pilate).

*When coming up with words that start with V one little boy said, "Venchun." The others seemed to think that was a good word too. I asked them to enlighten me on what exactly a venchun was. I finally figured out it was an INVENTION. haha!

*They get stickers on every paper and man is that cool!

*Nap time is more about bugging the person next to them and tattling than resting.

So yes, kindergarten wins the favorite sub day of the week!