My family exhibits an inability to stay on task

So, last night we were doing video chat as an extended family to celebrate some exciting upcoming wedding news, Yea!!! Whilst (bringing that word back) we were chatting, I noticed a new "Mustache" feature on the Google Video...hmmmm. Playing around, suddenly I had a mustache. Then one by one, we all had to do it. Hilarious! Make sure you check out the bottom row of pictures too!!

Parks and Recreation

B.; "J., you need to be buckled into the swing??"

With a little time to kill before our 1st attempt to see The Muppets movie...we headed to a park near my parents house with the 4 grandchildren. Of course, Daddy and Uncle K took this as a chance to show off their athleticism------>

Uncle! Uncle! Uncle, Uncle, Uncle!!

Thanksgiving Adventures Part One

This holiday past, we attended the day with The hubby's family, so off to IL we went. Some of our adventures while in IL included helping T. roll and tie the 23 Thankful cards and invites she had made for ALL of the guests including the DOG.

Then it was off to an old favorite restaurant of ours from back in our dating days: Courier Cafe. Love the skinny dippers, and there is a lot of Family History associated with these appetizers. Including a couple of recent jokes happening over phones to one person in particular (Jess.Ricah).
Following a delicious meal and fun visit ( Planning black Friday shopping and then not going until 9:30 a.m.!) We headed to our next stop: IN. After driving over and only being there for about 30 minutes my dear youngest sister yanked me kicking and screaming (of course. I'm not lying) to their mall to shop some awesome 50% off everything sales. Who can refuse? While there, we spotted this delight for T and the Dog. I was tempted, so tempted.

Happy 35th Anniversary to my parents!!

After a busy Sunday, we grabbed an hour to chat on google+ with the fam. Everyone but Curt and Vanessa was in attendance, and we missed them greatly.

I always love the chance to see my family as I talk to them. I get to see what everyone is doing while we talk, and to me it feels way more personal.

Tonight we celebrated my parent's marriage of 35 years. Whoah!! Seems unbelievable, but then again, I hit 34 in a week. I am grateful that in our immediate family, we have two very strong marriages to look to and see their examples. I can't wait to say I have been married as long as my parents have been. We just had our 12th anniversary this year, and have been together for 16 years. That in itself to me is pretty incredible. I only hope that I can be a beacon to my own children like my parents have been for me.

Primary Program Weekend Visitors

We had the opportunity to have 4 visitors this weekend to our house for the Primary Program. My mom and her mom drove up on Saturday, and arrived just in time to go out to see T. get up on
a horse (this is a student of mine and her pony) for the VERY first time. She was so excited that she was actually getting ON a horse, instead of just petting her. I was thankful that two experienced horsewomen were there to help me spot potential errors. I know that we have found something she TRULY loves and wants to do, because she has been talking about this for years, and now she hasn't stopped telling everyone about it all weekend long.

We had a really great visit with my mom and grandma, and ended the night eating some yummy seafood from our local Mexican Restaurant. Todd and I discovered a brand new dish that we loved there. Funny- Mexican and I have never been friends until recently.

Curt and Vanessa arrived around 1 a.m. (this is dedication!!), and we awoke to some seriously delish doughnuts from Mary Lou's in IN, courtesy of Grandma. YUM. We spent the morning hanging out playing the Wii and catching up, a really great day! After church, we headed home for a quick CAFE RIO meal before Curt and Vanessa had to hit the road. We already miss them. And we can now take down our trampoline for the winter, as we had to get one last jump in with the Crazy DUO!

"The coolest thing I have done in high school!"

...Was heard in my classroom this week. As a class, we are examining the cardiovascular system; which just so happens to concide with butchering and hunting seasons here in the midwest.
I decided to take FULL advatage of this, knowing that my students all live on farms or hunt, I offered extra credit for bringing in organs. First up was a set of heart and lungs from a slaughtered pig. The students LOVED (well for the most part) holding the heart and putting their fingers down the vessels to feel around the ventricles.
We also got 2 Deer hearts from the weekend, both had arrow punctures in the heart where the fatal blow was delivered. Again, the students could not believe that I let them dig around in the organs and hold the hearts. I love the real life application as a teacher. Helping students make personal applications is critical to my subject matter. I kept remembering to take pictures AFTER I put gloves on and was holding the hearts, so it did me no good, until I remembered that my students all had phones! Big thanks to them for pictures.

Halloween FUN

With a little help from T., I bring you our Halloween pictures!! T.made a painted pumpkin for Activity Days (at church), which unfortunately rotted pretty quickly. She did her own carving this year of "I'm A Happy Pumpkin", with a carving kit that Daddy picked up. I was pretty excited that she took the initiative to design the pumpkin on paper, she even did a design for her brother and I. After I cut the top off and helped her scoop it, she did the rest of the work!
The Boy also did his own carving, and just required a little help around the teeth. He really wanted to showcase the mouth design, but it had TONS of teeth. He also helped dad out with our outside decorating this year, and placed this gravestone as a backdrop for photos.
The morning of Halloween, I made our traditional Breakfast, Egg in the Hole (Pioneer Woman), but I cut out a pumpkin for the middle. The kids told me that they were impressed! After school, we rushed home to accomplish homework and piano, and then started getting dressed for the big kickoff. Following our traditional "Spooky Joes" meal, we headed out!

One of our Halloween traditions has been to trick or treat with our friends from the neighborhood. We started this tradition in 2006 when the boys were in Kindergarten together, and it has become "our thing" every year. It has been really fun to look back at the pictures of the kids from the time the boys were 5 and the girls were 3 and 2. J. is on the far left here. We had Cleopatra, a Ghoul, and Turtle.

Ah yes, even Bailey got her treats on. 3 neighbors provided her with her own treats, especially Grandma Meikka and Grandpa George. They were so excited they even took her picture!!!

Maybe....

I give you Vanessa's NEAR DEATH experience. Here is what happened as Todd and I recall that fateful July morning. The sibs and spouses who were at mOm and Dad's for the 4th were all cruising in our tubes all nonchalantly. Some of us looked to avoid obstacles. Others looked for their lost blueblockers. And still others looked at the sky (Vanessa, Curt Dawg).

Suddenly, Todd spied a huge tree down the creek that was creating a semi strong whirlpool. He called to the others to avoid, but Vanessa did not hear the warning. At the same time that some of us got stuck in what was 1 inch of water, Vanessa cruised into a branch. And got stuck.

We laughed, but then she started saying she was STUCK. And there were SPIDERS> read-Curt doesn't do SPIDERS. Not even for his wife. And, he was pretty far away. So we all laughed and watched Vanessa in 8 inches of water. Pretty soon she sounded a little more panicked. At this point I was videoing. Then Kyle was wading in towards her because she was really stuck and the spiders "were going to get her". And at some point she said she was drowning and needed a vest. "I guess I really needed my vest, I'm drowning (can be heard on the video)"
Todd laughed. Meanie.
Kyle saved Vanessa with Cole as backup for lifeguarding support, and all was well. BUT because I love Vanessa and this story needs to be recorded- here you have it.

Sept #2 Happenings

I truly love our family google chats. It's so nice to connect with siblings during the week and SEE them. They may not love seeing me, but I miss them dreadfully!! I have really struggled with balancing keeping track of folks that I love (talking to you Cornfeds and IC mover oners! What about you Champaign/Normal gals?? You too!!). The google chat and texting has become a method of quick communicating. Love you all!

Speaking of fun family stuff....



AND- I love my YW calling. I am the Laurel Advisor for our church (can't get enough of high schoolers! 16-18 year olds), and these girls simply R-O-C-K!!! KD here was on her homecoming court, and WF our babysitter is on the STELLAR dance team at the same school. So off our family went to see these ladies in action and also some other youth from our ward in the band. Little did the crowd around me know I would yell so LOUD for my girls. XO YW!!

September Happenings

Oh yea. Here is a hopping flash dance that I participated in for our homecoming week.
Check it.

Big month this past September. All kinds of busyness abounds. I had 2 Fridays in a row off, one because I was sick, and the other followed our parent teacher conferences (I know. They are indeed early).

Life is going well for me at school. I have settled in and shaken things up enough to make me happy and stay very busy. Balancing has become my middle name, and I find myself busier than ever! I am ever so thankful to my MIL for coming last week and holding down the fort while I was at school 3 nights in a row until 8, and Tdiddy was out of town. We now know to plan that better next time!

The kids and I pulled up the remaining garden items last weekend during the nice weather we have been experiencing. Frost at night, but warmish70's during the day. I personally am looking forward to cooler temps all the time. I also love the snow. But, I digress. Check this monster carrot out. We learned that the carrots really liked the corner garden bed, and plan to plant them again next year, they were delish.

Another activity, our annual trip to the local orchard. Fantastic weather, and we hit the honeycrisp season hardcore. It seemed that even though the season had just been announced that we were too late. That is until one 10 year old boy decide to go looking on the ground! We came away with over 45 lbs of apples. Because they were on the ground, they were $1.00 a lb. Score! In the back of the wagon in the orange polo is a counselor from our school, pretty cool guy. Fun to see him there with his kiddos.