Christmas 2010

I just looked at my blog and saw jack-o-lanterns!  I guess it is time to do some updating.  I will skip right to the holiday season.  I think I will give ten highlights of the season (in no particular order) and some pictures to accompany some of the events. 

1)  Snow!  Thanksgiving weekend got us in the mood for Christmas I guess!  The kids had an extra long

weekend.  We went to Lake Wilderness and did a little sledding, but mostly stayed indoors and enjoyed the time off.  We also went and picked out our tree that weekend. 

                 Getting ready to ambush David when he walks out the door.

2)  Visiting Santa Claus - I thought we were probably done going for our yearly picture with Santa, but I
guess the kids were not ready to be done (and I don't think I was either).  On the 23rd we went down to
Kent Station.  We had lunch and then headed over, seeing that the line had diminished.  We learned that '
Santa was feeding his reindeer and wouldn't be back for an hour.  Ugh.  I was feeling terrible, it was
pouring down rain and cold, but we did it.  Another picture for the book!


3)  A Christmas Carol - David and I took the kids to Palomino for dinner and then went to see "A Christmas
Carol" at the ACT theater.  It is one of David's favorite shows.  We had awesome seats and were really
impressed by the special effects and the wonderful performances - especially by two young actresses -
Morgan and Sarah Roberts.  Morgan and Alec and friends who met during the "Mary Poppins"
production.  She and her sister had parts in the play and performed in 47 shows this season.

4)  A Christmas Story - One of my favorite nights of the holiday season was when my mom, Alec, Hannah,
 and I went downtown Seattle to see "A Christmas Story - the musical."  We first hit the mini-donut stand
 by the carousel  and then did a little shopping.  We had a great dinner at PF Changs and really enjoyed
 ourselves.  Mom had to pack the left-over lo-mein in her purse (a little joke) and we went to the theater. 
 It was wonderful!!  Beautiful sets, great acting and singing, and very funny.

5)  Hannah's Choir Concert - We're so happy Hannah is in Ms. Hinami's honor choir.  The performance right
before Christmas was full of fun and beautiful holiday songs. 

6)  School Parties - Hannah had fun making Christmas gifts at school.  Alec lucked out when his school     lost power after several wind storms in Maple Valley and school was cancelled for two days before   vacation officially began. 
 
I decorated my classroom with Xmas lights and the kids were excited all month.  It was humbling though
to learn how many of the families of my students are struggling.  Our staff came together and helped to
make the holidays a little happier for some families. 

7)   Though, I ended up with walking pneumonia and had to miss several holiday parties I was really looking   forward to, we at least got to have dinner and a gift exchange with friends - even if the power went out
and we had to change venues.  Thanks Kim and Lynne!

8)  Christmas Eve and Grandma and Papa's.  The kids played all day and we had a delicious dinner.           Grandma always gives the kids matching pjs.  It has gotten harder as they have gotten older.  This year     she bought Husky pj's.  Alec almost refused to put them on.  She has promised that next year they will be    Cougars. 

9)   A visit from Santa!  Christmas Eve we surprised to get a visit from Santa Claus himself.  Our friend Rod paid the kids in the neighborhood a visit before they turned in for the night.

10)  Christmas Day - Our tradition is for the kids to wake us up.  We asked to please let us sleep in until    7:30 and they did.  Alec said he laid their for 70 minutes waiting.  That took willpower!  They opened    presents and then Grandma Toot-Toot, Grandpa Dick, Uncle Pat, and Cousin Dalton came over for    brunch.  In the afternoon, Grandma Shirley and Papa came over and David cooked dinner for us.        Grandma and Papa left when they'd finally had enough of Glee Karaoke on the wii! 

11)  One more . . . The LDS church has a beautiful creche display.  There are hundreds of nativity sets on display.  It is incredible to see the variety and those from around the world.  This is our third year going and it is such a nice way to start off the Christmas season. 

Jack O' Lanterns

Oops - almost forgot the carved pumpkins.

Alec chose sasquatch and Hannah's is the pretty one with the moon, bats, and stars.

Love Halloween

When I was a kid I didn't really like Halloween. My sister is six years older than me so she was through with trick-or-treating when I was little. My mom always had plenty of candy around the house so I really didn't care about that. However, my mom did. She wanted me to go out and get more! I remember one year I didn't even have a costume so we just put some fake blood on my face and out I went. At least this is the way I remember it?

Anyway, now Halloween is my favorite "holiday." Strange, huh? I love this time of year. I love finding out what the kids want to be and getting them all ready. Going to the pumpkin patch, finding a green pumpkin, and getting pictures with the scarecrows are traditions. The kids also like to pick out complicated designs for David to carve while they play or relax.

The Friday before Halloween the kids came to my school for our "Harvest Party (aka Halloween party)." I do think Jenkins Creek is one of the only schools I know where the kids can still dress up and take part in a costume parade which I love.

This year we went to the Trunk or Treat event at the Latter Day Saints Church. It was so festive and I think we passed out over 150 pieces of candy is about 10 minutes! The kids had fun with Brian and Katie.

On Halloween the kids went out for a couple hours with friends (David and I took turns). They were extremely disgusted that they didn't have the next day off from school Halloween should always be on a Friday or Saturday!

Dwight K. Schrute - Assistant to the Regional Manager We are huge "Office" fans. Alec is an expert at Office Trivia and loves Dwight Schrute. I'm not so sure if that is a good thing. A couple years ago I even took the kids to visit my friend Patty at work - she works in a paper company (the setting of The Office"). They were thrilled! In the show, Dwight considers himself a martial arts expert. Alec wanted to "attack" Hannah for some pictures but she was not a willing participant.

Finally . . . he got her.

Hannah wanted to be "goth" again this year. I'm a little worried that she likes this look a little too much!

The new addition to our Halloween stash, "Bones."

We went to a Halloween party but really didn't have the time to get ready, so Alec was "FACEBOOK."

To Carnation for our pumpkins. Gorgeous day!

Alec's green pumpkin in the bunch.

Where do I even begin?! For the past 11 years I was able to work part-time and really keep it a "part-time" job. In the years that I was Reading Specialist and then Literacy Coach, I rarely took work home with me. Now that I'm back in the classroom, I'm taking tons of work home with me, going in early, staying late, and working fulltime (or more) for half-time pay. Something isn't right! Being a teacher is so much more than most people realize. I have found though, that I really love being back in the classroom. I have so much fun with the kids and am excited to see them make progress. I wouldn't trade positions (did I say that?). The work will calm down, I know I'm probably going overboard at times. Thank goodness report cards are almost behind me! I did feel terrible when Hannah told me she didn't like my new job because all I ever did was work now. (Of course, Hannah loves 100% of the attention 100% of the time.) It was a good reminder though to set some limits. Anyway, long story short, I just haven't had time to blog in a long time. (Hey, I even started a classroom blog for my kids.)

First Day of School - 4th and 6th Grade

Hannah's transition to fourth grade was a piece of cake. She knew she had a nice teacher. She has good friends in her class. She was ready to start her year.

Alec, on the other hand, was contemplating homeschooling or dropping out I think.

Everything was fine until the night before school started and then the nerves started getting the best of him. In the morning I took him up the hill to Brian's house. He really wanted to ride the bus with Brian instead of the neighborhood bus. Well, I'm not going to dredge up all the details, but he had a hard time. When he and Brian were on their way to the bus stop, I started to get in the car. When I glanced over to the sidewalk, Alec was coming back! After some more coaxing he got on the bus with Brian. Then, David and I get texts to meet him at the school. By the time he got there, he had texted us again to say he was okay.

Six classes to have to navigate, barely any recognizable faces in the classrooms, riding the bus for the first time - all hard, especially for a boy who doesn't like change.

A month has passed, and aside from still getting used to one teacher who is "old school" in his philosophies and demeanor (a bit scary), he is doing great. He is doing great in all his classes, gets to see his friends at lunchtime, and has made some new friends as well.

On that first day, I did have flashbacks to his first day of kindergarten. I remember waiting with him in line and him looking up at me and saying, "Mommy, can we go home? My armpits are sweaty?"

Hannah (K) and Alec (2nd grade) walking to school . . .

I do miss those days!

Taiko Drums - Ms. Hinami

It is October so I guess it is time to finish up the summer postings! Life has been just a bit busy with the kids back in school, Alec transitioning to middle school life, and me going back to the classroom for the first time in nine years. No time for blogging until now. Maybe that's a good sign.

Anyway, in August the kids and I went to Redmond to see Ms. Hinami's Taiko Drumming Group. We packed a picnic lunch and had fun watching her perform. She has so much energy and I love watching her. The kids have had some really good teachers over the years, and I truly appreciate what they do because I know just how hard of a job it is. Ms. Hinami is going to be one of those teachers that will always stand out as someone who had such a powerful impact on Alec. She took such an interest in him and helped bring out a talent we didn't even know was there. We see the confidence she has instilled in him all the time.

A Slushie in the Face

As you may know, we are huge Glee fans. One of the recurring jokes is the kids in the choir get a slushie in the face from their less accepting peers. This summer I told the kids I would buy them a slushie (slurpee) when they heard ten "Glee" songs sung by the original artists. They kept track of the songs as they heard them on the radio and even in stores. Then they decided they would drink half their slushie and the other half would be thrown in their face "Glee style!"

Getting ready . . .

Yikes! Next time she needs to get a blue raspberry slushie so she doesn't look like she stepped out of the movie, "Carrie!"

1 . . . 2 . . .3 . . .

Alec didn't have as much left in his cup but he still
said it was ICE COLD when it hit.

. . . and a Glee slushie scene

Ocean Shores

Our friends, the Walls, invited us to their vacation home at Ocean Shores. We joined another couple and their son and Cavalier! Jones was very excited to meet Jake, but Jake was quite a bit more reserved. It was fun to have two Cavaliers around. We had only met Ken and Marietta a couple times brieflyand were happy to get to know them better - very nice and fun to be with.

The weather was cold and rainy. Lynne insists the sun does shine in Ocean Shores but I won't believe it until I see it. (She called me today and said it had been 97 degrees this weekend!)
We did manage to have a really great time. In fact, after our planned two night stay, the kids were asking me if we could pleeeeese stay another night. To their surprise, Lynne asked if we would stay longer. David had to go back, but the kids and I stayed another two nights and then rode back with Lynne.

Some highlights of our trip: playing games, reading, badminton, the ladies going to the wine shop, David and Ken saw "The Other Guys," spaghetti dinner cooked by the guys, beef nuggets and coffee together at last, swimming at the community (indoor) pool and playing games, picnic on the beach when the weather cleared up, watching the dogs, going for walks, a crab feast (Eric, Lynne, and Everett went through the process of picking out the crab while me and the kids stayed in the car. I don't want to see where my food comes from). I also should say "thank you" to Lynne who saved Jones from an encounter with a pitbull before we left!

Jake and Jones

The kids can dig and build for hours.

Eric took the kids for several boat rides. Alec loved driving the boat himself.

Alec's usual catch. Don't give up Alec, one day you'll catch the big one!

The "clubhouse" became "The Movie House" for Alec and Everett.

BFF

Hannah and Maddy

Maddy is one of Hannah's good friends. She is from the South (Florida) and has the sweetest manners. I always want to giggle when she calls me ma'm. She had recently been home to Florida and brought Hannah some neon rubber bracelets that are shaped liked various things. Little known to me, these are all the rage. I asked her if you could only get them in Florida and she said, "no, you can get them at Safeway too." Funny.

They dressed alike on this day when we went to a Tacoma Rainer's game. I didn't bring my camera to the game though. Lynne and Eric treated us. Lynne, Nej, Kim, and I saw behind homeplate and Eric and the kids (all seven of them!) sat a bit further up.