School Work

This past week nothing really noteworthy happened. However, the girls had some schoolwork I thought you might want to enjoy. This is a penguin that Halee made at school several weeks ago. She is quite proud of it!
Here is another project Halee did at school. Her teachers made their names in dots and they were supposed to connect the dots to write their names. Halee has been interested in writing her name recently and we've been working on it. She sometimes gets confused with how to make the e's. You can see here she had some trouble also. She is only 3 and that is a tough skill! I think she's doing great. After they wrote their names, they dipped marbles in paint and rolled them around on their paper.

Friday was report card day. Here is Hannah's second quarter report card. I'm proud of her. She got S and S+ marks on most things. She got developing in indentifies sight words, reads simple words, recites grammer rules correctly, knows basic math facts and understands math concepts (I'm not sure I agree with this one as she is adding tons of stuff at home and writes math facts all the time, but . . . ). The comment her teacher wrote is, "Hannah is a very fun, imaginative student and is progressing well in school!" Nice comment and report card for a teacher in the beginning thought she could never make it!

Just a couple of funny comments: Halee has been into singing songs lately. Here are some of the words she sings - She's been singing Away in a Manger since Christmas. She kind of got confused on the words and would sing "The little lord Jesus on the telephone." She has also being singing the Fruit of the Spirit. She can' remember all of them so would sing, "Love, joy peace, love something control." We've been working to correct these but were funny in the beginning!

BBBBRRRRR

Satuarday Hannah spent a lot of time outside. First, she and her dad built this snow castle.

Then she wanted to go sledding. Ed didn't want to go to the sled hill, so he made one at our house. As stated in the last blog, our lot is a bit higher than the lot beside us. That is because when you build a house, you have to raise up the lot. The lot next to us is still empty, so we have a slight incline. So here they are sledding. Hannah did it for a while in the morning. Then in the afternoon, Halee joined her.

This is Halee.

Halee sledding movie!

Here is Hannah being silly.

Of course, Saturday night is bath night. The girls have been enjoying taking a bath in our bathtub. It is an "air tub" in which you can turn on the jets and lots of bubbles come out. Ed decided to add some bubble bath to the tub. Well, he must have overdone it because within a minute, the tub was overflowing with bubbles. They loved it. The second picture they are being santas and saying, "ho, ho, ho."

Monday nights we have the college age kids come over to our home for a Bible study. We always feed them something afterward. Here they are enjoying some taco salad and crazy conversation!

Today was Halee's school day. They are learning the letter "m" and everything they did today started with m. One thing they did was this following directions activity where Miss Sandie drew this monkey on the board one step at a time and they had to copy it on their paper. Here is how Halee's turned out.

Yesterday and today has brought frigid temperatures our way. I think the high yesterday was 3 below zero. Last night when the college kids left our home thermometer said -12 and that was under the porch. When we got up today it was -2 and now it is 11 - a heat wave! Want to come for a visit???

Week of January 14th

We had a very busy week. Mondays are always busy because I have scheduled all extra-curicullar activites on that day. I did that on purpose because then I would know everything is on Monday and I don't have to remember which day which thing is on! However, it makes for a very busy day! We start out with our bus driving and Hannah goes to school. At 11:30 Halee has gymnastics. At 12:30, Halee and I go to the bus office to work for 2 hours. Halee takes a nap on the floor while I enter in the payroll. We leave the bus barn at 2:45 to pick up Hannah and then do our bus route. At 5:00 Hannah has ballet. At 7:00 the college kids come over for Bible study. They leave and we crash in bed!

On Tuesday, Hannah and I went to Old Navy. I always go there in January and July because you can get everything at least 70% off. I buy a size bigger and save it for next year. One of the things we got were scarves. They girls have been wanting one. Halee wears hers all the time, around the house, in the snow, wherever!

At school on Tuesday, Halee made this lion mask. She is saying Roar when I took this picture!

On Thursday evening I went to the church building for ladies Bible study. While I was gone, Ed helped the girls make a fort. That has been the highlight of the weekend. On Friday when we got home they wanted to make it again. Then this morning (Sat) they made it again! They always want Ed to scare them. Here they are in the fort.

It started snowing on Thursday and it hasn't stopped! I think it may be done now, but we got a dumping - maybe 10 inches! Hannah wanted to build a snow castle. Ed helps by shoveling snow around it and Hannah packs it down. Hannah stayed outside today for over 2 hours playing in the snow. They got the sleds out and sledded down the snow pile on the other side of the garage. The lot next to us is still empty. Therefore, they haven't filled it up with dirt. So, it is a good little incline for a short little ride. She had fun and that's what matters!

Family Fun

We had quite the weekend! It started with a first ever sleepover. Hannah has been wanting a sleepover for quite some time. For her birthday (Sept. 19th) I told her she could invite a friend over. We happened to all get the flu at that time, so that was cancelled. We finally got together this weekend. We picked Denali up about 5:30 and headed for McDonald's. Ed met us there and the girls had a great time. We came home and they played until 8:00. Halee went to bed, but I let them stay up and watch a movie. Lights were out at 9:15 and by 10:00 all were asleep.

They woke up early (6:00) and were ready to start again. We took her home about 9:30 and headed to a birthday party at the Children's Museum. After a trip to Costco, it was home and naps for everyone! Then that evening we went to the movie. This was the first time all 4 of us went to the movie together. (Halee has a hard time sitting thru it still.) We watched the Veggie Tale movie, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. It was a good movie with christian undertones.

Sunday morning it snowed. On the way to the church building I mentioned that maybe we should go sledding. Then while we were there, Tisha said the same thing. So, we met at Snowfill. (Halee wasn't able to go because she was still napping - almost 3 hours!) Hannah was very timid at first and wouldn't go down by herself. Here she is with Denali.

It is a long sledding hill and tons of fun! However, when you go down, you have to come up!

Finally I got Hannah into the sled by herself. She was still a bit scared to go down, but I just pushed her off and let her go. The next hour was spent with her going down the hill by herself! She loved it!

We ended this eventful weekend with our small group and a birthday party. It was someone's birthday (Steve) and Tisha made a birthday cake to celebrate. Wow! What a weekend!

Family Fun

Wednesday we went back to Billings for Ed's Gramma's graveside get together. The girls had a ton of fun playing with all the relatives. Grove started tickling Hannah the minute we walked in the doorway and they were together the rest of the time we were there! At first Halee wasn't too sure of him and stuck close to Gramma, but she joined in the fun too.

Here is Grove and Hannah. This is the best picture I could get of them because Hannah was too busy being silly!

This is Aunt Lynne (Grove's mother) enjoying some talking time with Halee.

Wednesday morning Chloe came. As soon as Chloe walked in the door, she wanted to put a dress-up dress on and play. Of course they wanted Grove to play tea party with them. He was glad to!

Quincy was Hannah's other playmate. She played tea party with them too. She even made real toast for the party. AND since their wasn't enough chairs, she sat on the rocking horse!

Quincy, Grove, Aunt Lynne and Uncle Art took all the girls to the park too. They all had a great time playing (Art and Lynne's children are Quincy and Grove). I chose not to go to the park so no pictures, but it sounds like they had a great time!

Then Grove decided to teach them how to leg wrestly. It was pretty funny because they didn't get it and would just put their legs down!

So Grove and Josh decided to show them how to do it!

Being together with family is always a great time. We had a hard time leaving last night, especially the girls. We always say we'll have to do that again soon! Hope it does happen.

My Gramma is Cool

We just got back from Billings. Ed's Gramma's graveside gathering was today. Ed's mom asked Ed to give a little talk. The following is what he said. I (and everyone else there - it was all family) thought it was neat to see how Ed felt about his Gramma. Here is what he said:

My gramma tells a story of when John Dillinger was shot on the streets of Chicago and how the ladies came out and dipped their handkerchiefs in the blood. She doesn’t tell the story because she read it in a book, she tells the story because she was in Chicago when it happened. My gramma is cool.
My gramma is cool because she had a dad who was a police officer in Chicago and was known as honest Johnson because he wouldn’t take a bribe.
My gramma is cool because she was the Park Lady, and when the little boy fell down and got bubble gum stuck in his hair, she thought his brains were coming out.
My gramma is cool because I made a clay bowl for her thirty years ago, and it sat on her dresser until the day she moved from 1819 Belvedere dr.
My gramma is cool because her house was full of momentos from most all of us.
My gramma is cool because she would let me have chili for breakfast.
My gramma is cool because she would make a tent for me to sleep on the couch.
My gramma is cool because she would make popcorn for me before we watched Night Gallery on television.
My gramma is cool because she let me wash the baby doll in the bathroom sink, even though I am a boy, and even though dad didn’t want his son playing with dolls.
My gramma is cool even though she talks through all the movies.
My gramma is cool because you’re all full of canal water
When my friends and I would come to Billings on the weekend, we would always stop to see my gramma, because she was cool.
My gramma is cool because we always need to eat slow, not because it is a nice saying but because we were spending time around the table as a family.
My gramma is cool because she raised four children, nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
My gramma is cool because she can have a conversation with anyone, not because she has a motive or agenda, because she genuinely cares about that person.
My gramma is cool because she doesn’t care about things for herself; she only cares about the well being and happiness of those around her.
I will remember my gramma when I read Psalms 23, because it is here favorite passage of scripture.
The LORD is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name's sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
I will remember and try to follow the example of my gramma, because of her selflessness and her caring for others.
That’s what makes her cool.

Sad News

We ended up going to Billings this weekend unexpectedly. Ed's Gram passed away Sunday morning. While we were there, some family members came to be together. We enjoyed that greatly. Ed's brother, Josh, and his daughter, Chloe, came for the day. Hannah, Halee and Chloe all had a great time playing together. Ed's uncle Woody also came in from California. We all went to the airport to meet him. The girls had lots of fun being entertained at the airport. Here are some of the pictures.

Here we are going into the airport. All the girls had to hold Gramma's hand.

The first thing we saw inside the airport was this horse. The whole horse is covered with pinto beans. There was another horse and it has barley, wheat and horse hair all over it. They were pretty neat.
Then Uncle Josh came up with the idea of racing. So he and all the girls had fun racing to the wall and back.

Then they found the escelator. They would walk up the stairs and ride down the escelator. They talked Uncle Josh, Uncle Ed and Gramma to go with them.

They also played chase around the chairs. At least they were entertained!

Uncle Woody did finally make it in, but we missed the call for them to know they were here. So we weren't quite prepared and didn't get any pictures. I hope to get more when we go back on Wednesday for the family get together to remember Gram.

New Post

Okay. I did put a new post on yesterday. However, I did it on my mother-on-law's computer and something is weird there. It posted the date of December 23rd, which makes it under the Happy New Year post. So if you want to read it, you'll have to scroll down a bit!

Happy New Year!

I know it has almost been a week since I last wrote. There are several reasons but the most is that nothing real substantial has happened! So, I will update you on our lives.

Hannah is doing well with her recovery. Today I have only given her 1 dose of her hydrocodone. I'm not sure if that was good now that it is the end of the day! I asked her several times if her throat hurt and it didn't so I told her to tell me when it did. It seemed to hurt at meal time. I think I'll give her some (either that or ibuprofen) before meals. She has been pretty active, mostly back to her normal self. Today she and Halee mostly watched movies all day and she stayed in her jammies. It was good for them to do that!

Halee is finally getting better, I think. Thursday I took her into the dr because she had run a fever for 3 days and Wednesday it spiked pretty high. She had all the signs of strep, but the test came back negative. He gave me an anitbiotic anyway because her lymph nodes were swollen. Her fever finally broke on Friday. Saturday was a pretty good day, but Sunday and Monday were not. She slept a lot the last 2 days and I think today is finally feeling better. She wasn't whiney and wanted to play.

Ed also came home with a sore throat and a cough. He took a long nap on Sunday and felt much better Monday. I've been taking echinacea to ward all this off. I can feel a little sore throat, but hopefully it'll pass.

So I say all of that to say I think we are going to make it! School starts on Thursday and we'll be back at it all again. We will probably lay low again tomorrow and hope for the best!

Today was another productive day of working on the house. Yesterday I decided that it needed a good cleaning and spent an hour and a half cleaning the whole kitchen - cabinets and all. I was tired after that and quit knowing I needed to do the bathrooms and floors. So today, I scrubbed all the bathrooms and mopped and vacuumed. Since the kitchen was clean yesterday we decided to get the caulking around the countertops done. That lead to the spot on the half wall behind the sink that we didn't know what to do with. We had an extra board left over from the office cabinets, cut it in strips and put it there. Today Ed hung all the door trim on the main level and attached all the window sills. That just means that I need to get working on staining the doors again. I'll try and start tomorrow (only 3 left downstairs except for closet doors).

Because of everyone's illness we decided to just stay home last night. We were all in bed by 10:00! Today was just another day (as stated earlier).

Happy New Year!