Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmas 2008

Christmas was merry at our house this year. We all got what we wanted and then some. Here are a few pictures of the festivities.




Hannah got the sewing machine she wanted.








Since we have 2 feet of snow outside, we had to resort to riding the bike in the house.



Gramma teaching Hannah how to sew.

Hannah's first sewing project was some jammies. She sewed all the straight seams and Gramma did the rest. Then Gramma had to make Halee a pair too!

Last night it started snowing . . .

and today we have 10-12 inches of fresh new snow.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Hannah's Christams Program

Last night was Hannah's Christmas Program. The First Grade class actually had 2 different numbers to perform. The first 3 songs they performed with the Kindergarteners and 2nd graders.

The first song they song was "Go Tell It on the Mountain." Hannah is the 2nd angel from the right.




The 2nd song was "Bethlehem Lullaby."


The last song was "The Angels Sing."


Then they sat down and came up a bit later to do a play. They didn't have any speaking parts. It was narrated by someone else. They just had lots of movements. Hannah is the angel on the right. When the wisemen were happy, they did the "Egyptian Walk." Stuff like that. It was quite cute!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Halee had her Christmas program tonight. The first number was a poem called 3 Great Kings.




Then they sang, We Wish You a Merry Christmas!



And a few other cute pictures I got tonight.



The last one we actually took yesterday.

One last thing I've been wanting to tell you about is my new TV armoire. When we were trying to figure out the floor plan, I found a picture in a magazine that I wanted to incorporate. We built this area just for this purpose. I had not been able to find exactly what I wanted that would fit into this space. Ed made these bookshelves. Ed's dad found the TV armoire at a garage sale for $25! It was the wrong color, so I stripped it and restained it and put polyurethane on it. It turned out very nice.

Some of the things I was looking for in the armoire were doors that opened and slide back on the sides and drawers to put all the movies in. It is perfect. The DVD fit in the 1st drawer, the VHS (yes we still have some of those!) fit in the 2nd drawer and the CD's in the 3 drawer. It is perfect!


Hannah has her Christmas program tomorrow. Check back soon to see how that went!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Thanksgiving and . . .

We had a great thanksgiving weekend. We stayed home this year and spent the day with friends. It is our first time ever to do that. It was really nice. We split up the cooking, so not a big burden on anyone. Then we spent the rest of the weekend pretty much at home. Ed worked really hard at getting the baseboard trim up. He got the whole entire downstairs done. Well, all most. He forgot one piece in the dining room. YEAH! It looks so nice. He also laid some vinyl in the under-the-stairs closet. We can actually check off whole rooms from our list that are completly done. That is SO EXCITING! I did some sewing projects that I need to get done before Christmas. We also got the Christmas tree up. Now, we are ready to head into December full force.

Another thing that I have been wanting to blog about is a fund raiser at Hannah's school. It is called SCRIPS. Basically what it is is you buy gift cards from them and the school earns money. The school can buy a gift card for lets say $22.50. I buy the gift card from the school for it's face value of $25. The school has just earned $2.50. They have decided to split that money 2 ways. The school gets half and I get half towards my tuition! You can get many different gift cards and each store has decided on whatever amount they want to donate. I have been buying grocery gift cards for the stores I shop at. I'm going to spend that money anyway, may as well be earning money towards my tuition and helping the school out all at the same time. Here is a list of what some of the gift cards that are available and the amount that the stores gives back:
Applebee's - 8%
Old Chicago - 6%
Outback - 5%
Alberstons - 4%
Barnes & Noble - 9%
Bath and Body Works - 13%
Cabelas - 11%
Family Christian Bookstore - 9%
Macy's - 10%
Payless Shoes - 13%
Town and Country - 2%
Texaco Gas Station - 2%
So, I tell you all of that to offer for you to help out the school and help us pay our tuition!! If you live here in town, and want to do it thru the school, the orders are due on Tuesday afternoon between 2:45-3:45. Cards will be available on Friday at the same time. If you live out of town, you can order them on the internet - http://www.shopwithscrips.com/. The enrollment code is B8F51DAB18686. I think that there is also a place for you to put Hannah's name so that we get the credit. Also, retailers have "specials" that you can learn about on the internet. I know Cabela's ran a specail where they gave and extra 3% back for a total of 14%. It all adds up! This is an on-going fund raiser. Think about us when doing your Christmas shopping or think about us when doing your grocery shopping! Don't feel obligated - just throwing this out there!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

First, some updates on the house. On Saturday, Ed's dad installed the first 2 of 7 wall sconces that we needed. Don't they look nice?

We also purchased the first 150 feet of baseboard. It is all stained and polyurethaned and Ed put in the first piece this evening. Oh, so exciting!

Okay, now on the the purpose of this blog. Hannah and Halee both had a little Thanksgiving program they put on. Yesterday, Halee's class sang the "Turkey Dinner" song and recited a poem.


Hannah's class has been working on a play. Today was the big production. Hannah had 2 parts. The first character she played is Captain Dermer. Here is the scene. I was on the wrong side of the auditorium, but you can at least hear her. She says, "We are here. Where is your village?" and "I see an Indian along the beach. Maybe he can tell us."


She also played the part of Chief Massasoit. She was too fast on her lines and I didn't get the button pushed in time. She just said, "Thank you for inviting us to the feast." She did a great job. Actually, the whole thing was great!
After the play, they all lined up to tell what they are thankful for. Here is Hannah:


Lastly, since I had the camera with me today at swimming lessons, I took this little video of Halee swimming. Her class swims in the deep end now. She can pretty much swim all on her own. They dive in (while sitting on the edge) and swim around for 30 minutes. Here she is:

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Hannah's Report Card

Almost 2 weeks ago we had Hannah's parent/teacher conference. She is doing great. Miss Swanson didn't really have anything we needed to talk about. She is basically a straight A student at this time. She is reading on a 2nd grade level. She does well in all other subjects. She did give us a break down of some of her grades:
Social Studies - 98
Language - 97.5
Spelling - 96.6 - she gets most of the words correct on her tests, but the grade also includes dictation where her teacher gives her a sentence to write to see if she can write all the words correctly in the sentence. Hannah has some trouble doing that. Her biggest problem is that she hurries through things instead of taking the time to do it right.
Reading - 96.2

Overall, 1st grade is going well for Hannah. We are extremely proud of her!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Photo Shoot

The weekend of November 8th, we went to Billings. There were 2 reasons for us going - 1. to pick up our new TV armoire. Ed's dad purchased it at a garage sale for $25. I'm refinishing it. It is solid oak and weighs a ton! The refinishing process has been interesting, but I think I know what I am doing now. I hope to work on it more this week. When it's done, I'll post a picutre.
2. To get our family picture taken at Sears. You can view our session here. I'm interested to know which picture you think I chose!

While there, the grandparents did their normal spoiling. This is what happens:

Thank goodness we had our pictures taken when we first got there Friday evening!

Gramma got some new dress-up dresses from one of her friends (Thanks Marilyn!!) We had a little photo shoot trying them all on.

This is Halee

And Hannah


The neighbor girl likes to come over and play when we come to town. She was involved in the photo shoot too. Here are all 3 beautiful girls. (The way Hannah looks in this picture kind of scares me as to what is to come when she gets older! What do you think???)


We also got to shop at Kohl's! That is my favorite department store ever. Whenever I go visiting friends and they have a Kohl's in their town, I always have to shop. Well, they finally got one in Billings. YEAH!!!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Trick or Treat

Halloween night here in Bozeman, Montana was very mild. The high for the day was around 68. So, we didn't have to bundle up to go trick or treating. Here is Hannah Montana and a beautiful princess ready to go.




We basically had the neighborhood to ourselves. We visited probably about 15-20 houses and got a sack full. We didn't see anyone else out! Plus only 3 people rang our doorbell. But the girls made out. When we got home, they dumped out their bags and we gave them 15 minutes to eat all that they wanted. Then put it away. That seemed to work fine. They had fun!







Thursday, October 30, 2008

Hannah's show

Today, Hannah's class and the 2nd grade class went to an assisted living facility and did a show for them. They did a great job. They have been praciticing every day for several weeks. Everyone was to dress cowboyish. So last night we were at Walmart buying a cowboy hat! We borrowed some boots from a friend.


Here are some snipettes of the songs they sang.





The last song included a little partner dancing. At the end of the song, the girls sat on the boys knees and did a hat bow. Too cute!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Halloween Party & Butterflies

We went to 2 Halloween parties last weekend. The first was a party for the college kids. We had a "spooky supper" where we were given a menu with silly names and you choose your menu. You never know what you are going to get until you get it! Halee got her spaghetti first but didn't get a fork until the 3rd course!

The other was a party at church. We did trunk-or-treat. This is what our trunk looked like.


Here is Hannah and her friends - Aliza, Denali and Annelise.


Halee and Mallory.


On Sunday we carved our pumpkin. Hannah really got into it. She practically did the whole thing herself. She cleaned out the inside pretty well. I helped her to do the final scraping, but she did the rest.


She and Halee picked a design and then punched it in with a corn holder. Halee did some of the punching too, but she lost interest quickly.


Then she did the carving. I helped her with the final touches, but mostly she did it herself.


And the final project!


For Halee's birthday, she got a butterfly garden. Probably about 6 weeks ago we received the caterpillars. We have watched them grow into butterflies. They have been butterflies for close to 4 weeks now. The weather hasn't been cooperative to release them yet. Well, today I noticed it was 60 degrees. So, we let them go.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Utah

Last Thursday, the kids and I went on little trip to Utah. We went to visit some friends in Logan. What is nice about this trip is that 3 families of friends live in the same town! So, we got to spend time with all of them.


Before I get to the trip, here are some good pictures of the girls that were taken on the trip!




On Friday, we all met at a park. It was a nice time to chat with Carrie, whom I haven't seen in about 9 years. She and I were roommates one year in college. She is now married with 2 children and 1 more on the way. (The next two pictures Halee took for me!)


This is Sydney and Hannah.



On Saturday we all went to the Heritage Center. This is a living history farm with tons of things for the kids to do. I was able to snap this pictures of 13 of the 14 kids in 3 families! (Aubrey volunteered to mow someone's grass that day and wasn't able to come.) The oldest child is 13 and the youngest is 3.


We all got rides on a pony, threw some apples into an apple press and watch them get squished, watched a lady make an apple pie and another bake cookies (the kids all got to eat a cookie). Then we wondered over to the "town." Behind the stores they had a hay jump. All the kids had a great time, including Tanya and I.


Three of the kids are missing their front teeth - Hannah, Caleb, and Sydney.


This is Halee and Tabitha.


Lastly we wandered thru a corn maze - and that is truely what we did. After a while we wandered out! Then everyone was tired and it was time to go home. After dinner, I gave my kids a shower and were in bed, lights out at 6:50! They had played hard. That was nice though, because Tony stayed home with the kids and Tanya and I went back to the corn maze and actually found the way and came out the exit! It was fun to spend time just with her and chat as we wandered.


I asked the girls what their favorite part of the trip was. Hannah's was jumping on the trampoline. That is what she did any time she could. Caleb would get tired of it and want to come inside, but a few minutes later, she was asking to go outside again. She hasn't spent that much time outside in one day all summer!



Halee's favorite thing was playing in the basement. That is their playroom. It is unfinished and they can do whatever they want down there. Halee was always asking to go down there. She liked to play beauty shop.



Sunday after worship, we headed home. It was so nice to see and play and visit with everyone! About 80 miles from home in a small town between Twin Bridges and Whitehall, they were having a cattle drive through town (which is only a couple of blocks long!) We had to pull over and wait. The kids had never seen that, so it was exciting!




While we were gone, this is what Ed worked on!

Sunday, October 12, 2008

This Weekend - Snow and Closet

Saturday we woke up to the first snow of winter. The girls couldn't wait to go and play in it. I put them off until about 9:00. The wind was blowing and there wasn't much snow, so they didn't stay out long!


There was a bit more snow this morning, but Hannah has been running a fever all weekend and I told her she needed to stay inside! Snow will come again. Halee is ready to go skiing!
The project of the weekend was closets, again. I decided on Friday that I was going to buy the "closet system" that we have been planning on buying. I got the money out of the bank and we went to Lowe's to make our big purchase. Low and behold, it was all 75% off! So we bought and bought and bought. Ed was just buying shelves for wherever! It was going to cost us $375 just for our closet. We payed $240 and got our closet, dressers for the girls closet, another shelf for the pantry and a shelf for the mud room. WOW! We were glad! Now I can put ALL my clothes in the closet (not just the season we are in) and we still have shelves left over!