I didn't know what to title this. Preview? Heavenly preview? Reunion? Homecoming? The choices were endless. I am in Seaside, Oregon by the grace of God. Literally. We flew from Idaho Falls to Salt Lake City at the crack of dawn on Wednesday morning. From SLC we flew to Portland, OR. Two of my teachers, Jim (who is nealry 60) and Tina (mid-20s) drove the mini-vans two hours to Seaside. The problem was that it was raining non-stop and one of the roads out here was being closed down. We rode with Tina, who is young, single and brave. She drove through the water without a second thought. Water was up to the BUMPER on a school bus. It's a wonder we even made it through! In any case, we got here and our hotel rooms were nice. My staff are right on the ocean with a kitchenette and fireplace in their hotel rooms. Nice. Our hotel is maybe a little nicer but no kitchenette or fireplace (but they serve free breakfast here -- it's a tradeoff). I'm not a huge drinker but I'm not going to turn down the chance to 'socialize' with (most of) my staff. We had a wonderful time at the banquet. For me, it was great to catch up with my college roommate Heidi. We had a lot of laughs and she fit right in with my staff. We stayed up until 1 a.m. talking. So fun! It's that type of thing that makes it feel like a reunion and homecoming. I also ran into Debbie, a friend I've pretty much known my entire life through church and then school and then college. So then I wonder, "Is this a preview of heaven?" Some great reunion of those of us who love and live for Jesus? It sure has been more fun than I can share here.
Kathleen is at home in Idaho Falls with Grandma Barb. They are both having a blast but I think it's wearing Grandma Barb out! They've read books non-stop, went shopping (when Kathleen put on her jean jacket, winter jacket AND wanted her sweatshirt-type jacket on... g'ma tied it around her waist), do art together... K went to sleep pretty quickly the first night. Last night, of course, she kind of caught on that things are different when g'ma is there. She slept for an hour or so and then knocked at her door to come out. Then she was awake until 10:30 p.m.! Which is 90 minutes later than her dad stayed awake at home! Poor grandma -- she will have to go spend time with baby Sophia just to recover for all the toddler activity!! Although it's been fun for her to listen to all the new words that K is saying, including "pink" and to watch her feed herself. She does pretty well with a spoon. She had been deathly afraid of the sippy cups with straws (or just straws in general) but I brought some of them to daycare and they've been working on it with her so she's been doing much better with them. I'm so proud of what a big girl she's turning out to be.
I'm sure there is more to share but I'm tired and need some rest. Happy weekend to everyone!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Harvest Carnival
It was a wild week. On Monday I had a dr's appointment, just to monitor my blood pressure. I felt like I was getting chest congestion but didn't say anything because my sinuses seemed fine. By Thursday I had no voice. :( I still had no voice at all today so I went in this morning to see Dr. Packer again. "Just a virus". Yeah, OK. He told me not to go to work and not to talk today. Ha ha ha. He even told me that he could write me a note. I'm not sure who I would give that to -- my secretary, maybe? She IS the person in charge around here! It's been tough to not be able to speak above a whisper all day. I scrapped my lesson plans for this afternoon and ended up renting "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" for my 3rd graders to watch so I could rest my voice. Keeping 3rd graders quiet -- so much for resting my voice. I did lock myself in my office this morning to work uninterrupted and then went to run errands from 10:30-12:00. The 3rd graders put on a 'circus' for the rest of the school -- very cute. I left after that and came back at lunch time. I did try to rest my voice, if not my body, for a while!
Tonight was our Harvest Carnival. I LOVE that we have a big, active PTO! They planned the whole thing and it was lots of fun! K wore her "ladybug" costume from last year and it is still SO cute! Everyone was going goo-goo over her. We had a "Plin-ko" type game where kids could win LIVE goldfish! (We won -- and gave our fish away...), a racecar game, a cake-walk (K was RUNNING around with me, it was so cute), a photo booth (one of the dads takes professional-quality photos -- it was awesome!), bean bag toss (K got one in -- with a little help), decorating pumpkins (with foam stickers), face painting (she has a pumpkin, which looks SO cute but she cried the whole time!)... it was such a good time. It runs from 6-8 p.m. which is just the right amount of time for little kids to be out on a Friday night! I know I will miss the Fall Fest at St. Paul's this year -- with it's over-the-top decorating and MOUNTAINS of candy that they hand out to the kids... but I won't miss all the prep work that always fell on the teachers. We charge tickets here so this is a great fundraiser. I made a big crockpot full of chili for them to sell and I also donated a case of water and a mini-Barbie cake for the CakeWalk. It was so fun though and people are so good to us here that it's just a small way to give back.
Time to call it a night. I went and got a Library card today while I was running errands. They have all kinds of great videos available there so goodbye Hollywood Video (they are really expensive, compared to Family Video in WI!) and hello FREE dvds. Although I did have to rent the DVD this afternoon since all their copies were checked out. Oh well. So it will be a weekend of library DVDs, hot tea and rest for us here.
Tonight was our Harvest Carnival. I LOVE that we have a big, active PTO! They planned the whole thing and it was lots of fun! K wore her "ladybug" costume from last year and it is still SO cute! Everyone was going goo-goo over her. We had a "Plin-ko" type game where kids could win LIVE goldfish! (We won -- and gave our fish away...), a racecar game, a cake-walk (K was RUNNING around with me, it was so cute), a photo booth (one of the dads takes professional-quality photos -- it was awesome!), bean bag toss (K got one in -- with a little help), decorating pumpkins (with foam stickers), face painting (she has a pumpkin, which looks SO cute but she cried the whole time!)... it was such a good time. It runs from 6-8 p.m. which is just the right amount of time for little kids to be out on a Friday night! I know I will miss the Fall Fest at St. Paul's this year -- with it's over-the-top decorating and MOUNTAINS of candy that they hand out to the kids... but I won't miss all the prep work that always fell on the teachers. We charge tickets here so this is a great fundraiser. I made a big crockpot full of chili for them to sell and I also donated a case of water and a mini-Barbie cake for the CakeWalk. It was so fun though and people are so good to us here that it's just a small way to give back.
Time to call it a night. I went and got a Library card today while I was running errands. They have all kinds of great videos available there so goodbye Hollywood Video (they are really expensive, compared to Family Video in WI!) and hello FREE dvds. Although I did have to rent the DVD this afternoon since all their copies were checked out. Oh well. So it will be a weekend of library DVDs, hot tea and rest for us here.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Welcome to Hope Lutheran!
Yes, I should've done this post MONTHS ago! So sorry... but I think it's time to take you on a short, "virtual" tour of our home-away-from home... This is the vinyl sticker sign on the wall outside my office door. Isn't it great? I got it on clearance at Kohl's! I've had a lot of people comment on how neat that is...
Here is my office... yes, it's not clean and organized but that's because I spent a couple hours last night moving my computer and reorganizing things... It'll get there! And, yes, the joke about it being "Kathleen's office" is more and more true everyday! (You can't see the toys in the corner...) Here she is in her usual pose -- with a pen/pencil and 'writing'...
This is our lovely 1980 gym/lunchroom. Enough said. This is the 3rd grade classroom that I teach in from 12:30-3 in the afternoons. Yes, every.single.thing is yellow in there. Here is the door to my office with my schedule. Yes, there is a money dropbox so parents and students can bribe me! Ha - just kidding. This room used to be the OFFICE and they can't switch out the doors. So every Monday the secretary or bookkeeper has to come in and check to see if anyone has left checks there. And I put any cash that parents hand me for hot lunch payments, etc in there so that it's secure. I bought the blue "HOPE" sign for $1 at Michael's and put little $.25 wooden things like a pencil, "Welcome", Schoolhouse, etc on it. Cute, right?
This is another view of our playground/soccer fields. The brown buildings are the 'modulars' -- the one closest to the gym door is for PS/PreK (middle photo). The right photo is actually the end of the PreK modular, looking out towards the Kindergarten modular. So much for "temporary", they've been here for years. Beyond the K modular, they've just finished paving that road (yea! Except it cost us $60K!) so we can dream of putting a more permanent building and getting rid of the modulars...
This is the classroom building. It sits between the gym (middle photo) and the church (see photos below). The red doors were just replace (to the tune of $10,500!... which was a memorial for someone) -- I suggested that they be painted RED so that parents/kids know to use those doors to enter the building. The gym doors (around the corner, by the modulars) will also be painted that color.... And, are you feeling sleepy? This is a lavendar bush, we have several around our building!
This is the main entrance to church, it is connected to the other side of school. I don't know that anyone actually USES this entrance. There is a parking lot to the left and most people enter through the side/office doors. Behind the tree (middle photo) are some bricks. They have our church/school sign. Do you see it? Yeah, neither do passing motorists!! That is on my 'list' of things that I'd love for them to change!!!! Here is Kathleen running from the gym to the front of the church. Funny girl.
Welcome to the church... It's sorta a "theater in the round" look... Looking up at the church balcony, you can (almost) see that this area houses the school library! The last photo is the church narthex that no one uses because, well, the coffee/cookies are in front of the side entrance by the school, so I didn't even know we had mailboxes or a guest book until -- last week, I think!
Thanks for coming on this 'tour'... ;)
SNOW way!
Oh yes, that's right!
There has been SNOW here this weekend! It started as the heavy, wet stuff on Saturday afternoon when we left the office at school...it melted right away so it wasn't too bad. We woke up this morning and the ground was COVERED. ACK! It's OCTOBER!!! But the parking lots are wet and it is supposed to be in the mid-50s by Thurs, so this won't last. Still, it's a shock to the system to see it this early in the year. Then again, when you live 5000 ft above sea-level, what do you expect, right? Did I mention that Kathleen managed to find EVERY puddle in the parking lot? Espeecially since she doesn't have boots yet? But she looks pretty adorable with her new outfit from grandma Barb and her blonde hair in curly pigtails.
Photo Captions: Kathleen outside with the snow/puddles; the school playground/soccer fields; K hamming it up in the hallway/entry to the offices. Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Looking Ahead
Wow! Things have been SOOOO busy around here!
We were in MN/WI the last weekend of September for Todd's grandma's 90th birthday party. It was so fun to see everyone from the McLeod/Johnson side of the family and spend a few days with them. Unfortunately, Kathleen had hand, foot and mouth disease (a virus) so she was pretty miserable and, of course, spread it to the other little 'cousins' there too! ARGH. It was a HORRIBLE flight back home for the last 45 minutes with BOTH of us in tears... but once we got in the CRV and drove back from Salt Lake City (about 3 hours away) she finally slept and life was a little better. She did miss most of daycare last week, which meant I had to juggle a lot of things at work. THANK THE LORD that we have a sub list and so many great people who are willing to sub!
I can barely believe that the end of the 1st quarter is on October 24th! We have parent-teacher conferences 10/30 and 31st so no school those days! I'm hoping that I can get some office work done those days.
Our church is in the midst of finding an Intentional Interim Pastor. Someone to help lead the church while we actually take a look at ourselves and our vision for the future and THEN find a pastor to match those things. In the past they've been in such a hurry to FIND SOMEONE that they've ended up with good pastors who just weren't the right fit for the congregation... so we're hoping to avoid that by taking 6-12 months and THEN looking for a new pastor. Yeah. Pray for us!
The weather is getting cooler. Can you believe that last week it was in the 80s all week long?! Just sunny and beautiful! Last year on Oct 1 they had snow here, this year it was 80! A cold front moved in over the weekend and although they promised some rain, we didn't get any. Oh well. They are saying it will snow and have a high of 47 on Friday. I'll believe it when I see it at this point...
...and did I mention that my winter coat and boots are somewhere in storage?! ACK. I will be ordering a new one from Lands End as soon as I get paid on the 15th! K's snow pants and jacket from last year still fit her, so she just needs new mittens and boots this year. That's easy enough.
I wrote an email to my school board to let them know that I would like to go home for Christmas. One person gave me the OK to borrow the money from our moving allowance so that we wouldn't have to come up with that money right now while we're trying to pay for 2 households and daycare, etc. Then the chairperson of board said that the church will donate the ticket to me since "it's not good for man - or woman - to be alone" and they realize the sacrifices that Todd & I have made to make it possible for me to be here. So right now I believe I'll have 15 days at home -- not sure how much will be in MN and how much in WI... but I'll let you know when we figure out those details.
That's all that is new around here. We're anxiously waiting for Todd's sister Sara to have her baby sometime in the next couple of weeks! I'm already thinking of all the cute pictures of K and Sophie that we'll be able to take over Christmas. (Hopefully K doesn't try to poke baby Sophie's eyes out... we'll have to practice with her dolls...)
Peace!
- Tanya
We were in MN/WI the last weekend of September for Todd's grandma's 90th birthday party. It was so fun to see everyone from the McLeod/Johnson side of the family and spend a few days with them. Unfortunately, Kathleen had hand, foot and mouth disease (a virus) so she was pretty miserable and, of course, spread it to the other little 'cousins' there too! ARGH. It was a HORRIBLE flight back home for the last 45 minutes with BOTH of us in tears... but once we got in the CRV and drove back from Salt Lake City (about 3 hours away) she finally slept and life was a little better. She did miss most of daycare last week, which meant I had to juggle a lot of things at work. THANK THE LORD that we have a sub list and so many great people who are willing to sub!
I can barely believe that the end of the 1st quarter is on October 24th! We have parent-teacher conferences 10/30 and 31st so no school those days! I'm hoping that I can get some office work done those days.
Our church is in the midst of finding an Intentional Interim Pastor. Someone to help lead the church while we actually take a look at ourselves and our vision for the future and THEN find a pastor to match those things. In the past they've been in such a hurry to FIND SOMEONE that they've ended up with good pastors who just weren't the right fit for the congregation... so we're hoping to avoid that by taking 6-12 months and THEN looking for a new pastor. Yeah. Pray for us!
The weather is getting cooler. Can you believe that last week it was in the 80s all week long?! Just sunny and beautiful! Last year on Oct 1 they had snow here, this year it was 80! A cold front moved in over the weekend and although they promised some rain, we didn't get any. Oh well. They are saying it will snow and have a high of 47 on Friday. I'll believe it when I see it at this point...
...and did I mention that my winter coat and boots are somewhere in storage?! ACK. I will be ordering a new one from Lands End as soon as I get paid on the 15th! K's snow pants and jacket from last year still fit her, so she just needs new mittens and boots this year. That's easy enough.
I wrote an email to my school board to let them know that I would like to go home for Christmas. One person gave me the OK to borrow the money from our moving allowance so that we wouldn't have to come up with that money right now while we're trying to pay for 2 households and daycare, etc. Then the chairperson of board said that the church will donate the ticket to me since "it's not good for man - or woman - to be alone" and they realize the sacrifices that Todd & I have made to make it possible for me to be here. So right now I believe I'll have 15 days at home -- not sure how much will be in MN and how much in WI... but I'll let you know when we figure out those details.
That's all that is new around here. We're anxiously waiting for Todd's sister Sara to have her baby sometime in the next couple of weeks! I'm already thinking of all the cute pictures of K and Sophie that we'll be able to take over Christmas. (Hopefully K doesn't try to poke baby Sophie's eyes out... we'll have to practice with her dolls...)
Peace!
- Tanya
Friday, September 19, 2008
Time to eat, sing and write!
Ok, she just cracks.me.up!! I broke down and bought a new microwave last night. It is awesome. For whatever reason, K is loving the $.88 microwave meals. I used to spend all this time carefully preparing her lunches for daycare -- raviolis or chicken breast, some crackers, fruit, baby carrots or frozen veggies, go-gurt, etc. She wouldn't eat half of it. I ran out of stuff like that to pack this week so I stocked up on some Chicken nugget/Mac & cheese frozen meals... She loves them. Eats everything. I send a cereal bar and/or Go-gurt along with to add some nutrition. I tried a lasagna meal yesterday since I ran out of the Chicken/Mac&Cheese ones, but she didn't like it. So now I'm going to buy 2 of each kind -- one to try at home and one to send to daycare (if she likes it -- if not, I guess that's an easy dinner for me one night...) I'm also going to still send the more 'homemade' meals a few times a week but if she'll eat the frozen meals (and $.88 is way better than $3 for 'hot lunch' there! Which was crackers, cheese, a pickle (!!) and some apple slices last time...) then I'll keep sending them until she decides that she doesn't like them anymore...
So we tested out Spaghetti and meatballs last night... and she loved them...
Since I have been home sick most of today (I subbed from 2-3 p.m. today. 4th grade teacher took my place on the 3rd grade field trip -- she also has a 3rd grader, so it worked out well) I decided to get some work done after school. Kathleen & I went to Perkins for a breakfast-for-supper meal and it was so fun. She was hamming it up and "singing" for everyone.
Then she got down to business and was "writing". My camera phone isn't the greatest but I sure LOVE having one on me at all times. :) So convenient!!!
So we tested out Spaghetti and meatballs last night... and she loved them...
Since I have been home sick most of today (I subbed from 2-3 p.m. today. 4th grade teacher took my place on the 3rd grade field trip -- she also has a 3rd grader, so it worked out well) I decided to get some work done after school. Kathleen & I went to Perkins for a breakfast-for-supper meal and it was so fun. She was hamming it up and "singing" for everyone.
Then she got down to business and was "writing". My camera phone isn't the greatest but I sure LOVE having one on me at all times. :) So convenient!!!
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