My week in photos

This week has been extraordinarily eventful in the G house AND extraordinarily full of picture taking. So, I thought that I would give you a run down of my week through the photos I took.

Last Saturday my mom and the kids went to the Butterfly Show at Krohn Conservatory. This is a
picture of one of the butterflies we saw while on our visit.


Henry turned 6!


The last day of school! (This caption is for the next two as well)
This picture is from Sydney's first grade awards assembly. She received Honor Roll (all year) and Tiger Cub (all year). (Tiger Cub means that she was well-behaved)


It is a little blurry, but this is Henry shaking the principal's hand at Kindergarten "Graduation"


Henry leaving school, never to return as a kindergartner AGAIN!


Henry bridged this Saturday to become a Tiger Cub Cub Scout (not to be confused with Tiger Cub at School). This is a picture of him getting his Tiger Cub neckerchief tied on.

And finally, but not least, my very own grill!! I love grilling and here is a picture of Saturday night's dinner on my new grill. It was DELICIOUS!

Well, as you can see it was a very exciting week here.
(Not to mention the almost tornado Saturday night)

Thanks for reading!

Nothing

It has only been like 4 weeks since I said that I would try and blog at least once every week... I think the operative word there is "TRY." Especially, because I have tried, I swear!

For the life of me I can't think of anything to type, that would not take a lot of time and not be really boring.
For instance, I could maybe start writing some of "Max and the 11th Dinosaur" on here, but that would take a lot of time, especially since it has been a REALLY long time since I wrote anything fictional and not for a college class.
Or, I could write a little about what I'm doing these days, but I don't think people want to read about how I am writing VBS curriculum for my job/church and I am very far behind and a little stressed about it... because that is all I am doing these days. I would just say the same thing every post.

I was talking to a friend the other day and she has started a blog of pictures of things that she thinks looks really neat (actually she told me that my sunglasses are on it... I need to find the blog) and another friend of mine finished a year long thing where she did "self" portraits...
I don't have anything interesting like that to do, and I definitely don't want to have about 365 pictures of myself on the interweb... YUCK! (Chris, which is only to say that pictures of myself would be yuck, I really enjoyed yours)

Well, either way, I am going to keep blogging away. I think it is a habit I need to strengthen (unlike my terrible habit of eating food ALL the time... that one needs to END). And maybe after VBS is through, I WILL start on some "Max and the 11th Dinosaur"... that would be fun.

Yay!!

I am subbing right now and as a result I can't get onto facebook. Maybe that is a sign that I am attached to facebook a little too much... But since I haven't blogged for last week I figured I could blog right now.

Anyways, I wanted to tell everyone about my grades from my first year of Grad school. (Note: I don't think it is pompous to tell everyone that I'm in Grad School, which is why I tell everyone about it when I talk about school) I just checked my final grades and I got A's in both of my classes!! Which means that I have gotten ALL A's so far in grad school!!! That is really exciting! I have never gotten all A's in my college classes... at least post children college classes.

Also, just a few words about high schoolers. I LOVE them! (That is where I am subbing right now.) I have been listening to them reagale us with information about this past weekend. It was prom and apparently the "senior campout" and today is senior skip day. Oh Man!! Just the various discussions that are occuring... and thier passion about all of it is amazing. They talk about the events like they are the most important things ever.

Well, thanks for reading! I'll blog again later this week!

What I learned after a weekend with 16 preteens

So, as promised my blog a week is here... and Rachel, I'm sorry it isn't "exactly" a week from my last one, but it is "within" the week from the last one.

Let me give you some background to this post before I start. Last weekend, actually exactly a week from when I am typing this, I took 16 preteens (4th-6th graders) and 3 adults to a CIY convention (a humongous event for kids to learn more about Jesus.. to put it very simply). It was just ONE night, and even within 24 hours. However, this was everyone's first time doing something like this (including me and one of my adults) and I learned A LOT! Here are a few of them.

• Always tell children explicitly what is going to happen and when. Or you will have to repeat yourself 16 more times and the end result is like herding cats.
  
• You must take careful notes when talking to a parent about what they expect you to do for their kid and follow it to a tee. (I'm still waiting to see how this one ends up)
• If they are on stage they are immediately a star (this is probably even true for us adults, too) NOTE: I have a picture for this, but I left it on my other computer, I'll get if for you soon.
  
• A large Caramel Frappuccino can go a loooong way (but beware of the side effects)
• Sometimes you really just need a break...

So, there it is, 5 bullet points of pure wisdom... ok, well, maybe not PURE wisdom, but there is a little bit in there. If you want to get in-depth stories of any of the points email me or call me I'll be glad to share.

My To Do Lists...

Since it is Monday and I am in the office, I usually write a to do list of all the things I have to get done this week. I did it today and this is what it looks like...
I don't know if you can see it, but the left column is School stuff, the middle column is Home, and the right column is Work. OH MAN THAT IS A LOT OF STUFF.
And even though the school one has only 3 things they include a final exam, putting together a resource notebook, and an entire presentation on Japan's involvement in WW2!! All due by next Tuesday.

Yet, here I am, blogging for the second time in a week.

GET TO WORK, SELF!

A Day at Eden Park

On the 24th I am taking (so far) 14 preteens downtown for a convention and for two hours of that weekend our group has a play time. For our play time I am sending them on a picture taking scavenger hunt around Eden Park (It is going to be AWESOME). To prepare for the hunt, the family and I went to Eden Park Saturday and I took 118 pictures. Some of them were for the hunt and some of them just for fun. Here are the ones that are my favorite. I hope you enjoy them.




Also, I think I am going to start working really hard to blog at least once a week.

The Adventures of the Tooth Fairy

As promised here is what happened last weekend.

Sydney lost her third tooth. She had been working on loosing it for about a month and then in the middle of eating spaghetti at Skyline out it popped. And for your information, having someone's tooth fall out while you are eating, is DISGUSTING.

Earlier in the evening Sydney came into the kitchen and explained, aloud, that the Tooth Fairy was not to take her tooth, and how Sydney was going to write the Tooth Fairy a letter. I asked her why she was telling us this again. Her reply was "Well, the Tooth Fairy cannot read minds. So in order for her to know what to do you have to say it out loud." I just loved this, because of all the fictional characters that come and visit your house, the Tooth Fairy is the only one we do in our house. (well really its the only one I do in our house, Rob thinks the whole things is silly) Then after we made got home from Skyline, with the tooth securely in a baggie, Sydney comes out of her bedroom with a homemade envelope with a letter inside. I asked her what it was and she said that it was a letter to the Tooth Fairy.

Fast forward to Tooth Fairy time. In comes the Tooth Fairy and picks up the tooth and a letter. She opens it and this is what the letter said:

"Dear Tooth Fairy
Leave me a note Thank you
And be careful if you go on the toy box"
(which by the way was a total mess)

Needless to say the Tooth Fairy found some note cards just for this occasion and left a reply.

In the morning, the note was the talk of the house. You see, Henry had whispered to me before he went to bed that I should leave Sydney a note, so Henry said that I had left Sydney the note. Sydney's reply was, Mom doesn't have these note cards!

Maybe it is wrong to lie to my children about the existence of a fairy that comes in and "takes" your teeth (in Sydney's case it is just placing them in my jewelery box) and leaves you money instead. But I think that it is so exciting to see my children's minds just make up a whole world beyond theirs made up of teeth and fairies and American currency. And to my defense the Tooth Fairy is not affiliated with any Christian holiday.

Here is a picture of Sydney's letter. Notice the Tooth Fairy, I love her and her wings and her crown.