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!!!