I had the great pleasure to supervise the 7th grade boys basketball game on Wednesday night - V Day. Drew and Ally were with me for awhile until Jason got off work. My students had made posters for the game - geeks. They were letting Drew hold up their poster that said - Oh Wow! As you can see, Drew was trying to get his mommy's attention!
Drew and Ally enjoyed helping Chad with his chores the other night. They like feeding the lambs - mountain dew.
For those faithful blog readers, you remember the first week of October a tragic accident for one of my kids. We didn't think he would make it, but after 3 wks in a coma and several more weeks at the U of I hospital, he was release to another rehabilitation center in Ankeny. JR is not the same kid from before Oct 2nd, but has the same zeal for life as before. This little guy is Philipino and his mom has no family in the states.
JR makes daily progress and makes it through a whole day of school with no naps now. He doesn't want to leave the room now because he is afraid he will miss something - not typical for a normal 7th grader (if you didn't know).
Pray for his family as this has obviously made a lot of changes in his family and for his friends.
In this picture JR is with his friends. He is second from the left next to the kid in the red.
All last night I was SURE that we would have a snow day. We ended up staying up watching t.v. late with the assumption that we wouldn't have school. I had a lot of faith in the weatherman considering that it wasn't snowing at 11:30 yet and we needed enough by 5:30 to call off school for the day - but supposedly something good was coming and the radar showed it!
At 5:30 Jason got up and looked outside and said - about 2 inches - arghhhh. He went down to look at the computer and came back up 5 minutes later and said you are off!!!! YIPPEEEEE. I got the offical call about 6:00 and called Joe - my student teacher. I think it is amazing that back 11 years ago, my dad would CAREFULLY listen to the radio to see if we had school. They weren't organized back then - no ABC order. You had to keep listening until you for SURE heard your school because you never knew if you missed it. Now days we are sophisticated with the internet and all.
I think that it snowed until the middle of the afternoon. I don't think we actually got more than 4 inches, but it drifted pretty good. We got out and scooped the drive-way. Once again we are taking donations to the snow blower fund. I was trying to be a good wife and help, but I am PAYING for it now!
Here are some fun picts from the night.
Ally decided that we needed to scoop the backyard - she was on her own and gave up after a half hour.
Drew was a wimp tonight. He gets cold easily and went inside early. He must have been lonely because he kept opening the door and talking to us. He did have fun with his bike but was slowed down by the drifts.
Jason showed Ally how to make a snow angel. Then we had a snow clump fight - it wasn't good packing snow.
In the end we had a good cup of hot cocoa with marshmellows! Now back to school for an insane day after a snow day combined with Valentine's Day - oh boy!
Snow Day!!!! A much needed break which would be more appreciated if we didn't have Friday off already. The kids at school are starting to get the flu so maybe this day off will help slow down the outbreak. Thirty one eighth graders gone on Monday. I think that I had over 10 gone.
We will probably head out side later, but Ally wanted to paint. She just wanted her watercolors. I probably should have done that but I was in a crazy - let's be a fun mom moods. I think that my conjested head might have hampered my reasoning skills. We got out the finger paints - pulled up our sleeves and put a big on to slow down the paint from getting on our shirts. They had a blast and no paint is on any clothing. Ally completed 6 masterpieces. This last one is the begining of a bracelet with Ariel in the middle in an ocean of colors. She only has the bracelet done so far. The afternoon fun has just begun!
Grandpa Charlie convinced Ally that she needed to go to the Pet Store to get a puppy. If you know me well, you will know that NO DOG will EVER enter my house to live. We visited the Latcham Garage - AKA pet store. Chad's parent's dog had 12 puppies - 5 yellow and 7 chocolate labs! Yikes and I thought Drew was a tough labor!
Rachel had got a yellow one picked out for herself. Ally can't figure out why she would call it "Bear." They had fun. Chad also took them out to bottle feed the lambs. It was fun and the weather was much warmer 30s for an enjoyable trip!
It snowed I think on 2/6. We got out of school early which was really nice, but we probably should have stayed. I would have preferred a late start since the roads were only half visable. This week we had two bus accidents - noone was hurt though.
We got home a little before 2 and the kids went down for a nap - or at least Drew did. I had great intentions of being a great wife and scooping the drive-way, but ahhh I just didn't want to do it. I balanced the checkbook instead - I think I still got brownie points. When Jason got home we went out and scooped it all off. Yes I helped, but I am going to be the first in line at the end of the winter when the snow blowers go on sale! Sorry the pict is so dark, but it was close to 6 by the time we finished.
Drew wimped out pretty quickly in the balmy 6 above zero weather, but Ally stuck it out only losing her shovel 3 or so times.
Our Super Bowl Party was not exciting. I made Jason (and Drew some nachos). Drew thinks he is cool stuff!
Ally insisted that she get EVERY pillow and blanket in the house and make a "family" bed on the floor. She got the whole "family" (all the dolls) out and put everyone to bed and then tucked in and sang to Jason and I. Let's just say that she made a HUGE mess that everyone enjoyed cleaning up.
For the one minute this month they are getting along and ready and NOT in time out!
Meet the newest engineer in the Willis family. Notice how Drew is so meticulously working on the puzzle - by himself. Also notice that he is working on the puzzle from left to right and bottom to top.
Everything has an order and can't break the pattern - sound familiar?
Amy swears she will never visit Iowa again in the winter. We had a blast with the Scoggins. Drew talks about Trip and Ally asks when they are coming back.
They played and played and played. We got to go to the farm and hopefully Amy will post some picts of that day. We were outside a lot on the tractor, 4-wheeler, seeing the DIRTY cows and sledding. I hadn't been real sledding for a couple of years. I wasn't dressed properly - short socks, one pair of pants and boots that were way too big. The sleds were FAST! Amy claims that was here first time sledding. So sad - I think she should move here!
Grandma Rhonda let the kids lick the beaters from the cupcake batter.
Break Out Day is probably one of my favorite days of the year! Everyone is doing something fun and can be a learning experience. The 6th graders went bowling and to a movie and the 8th grade went skiing - yes we have fake skiing in Iowa! They headed down the big hills in Montezuma, IA!
The 7th grade stayed at school - probably because none of us were brave enough to take them out of the building - nah they are good kids. We had several classes that the kids could choose from. Below are some fun picts of the kids thoughout the day.
I taught a web design class, but one my break I went and decorated a cake. I couldn't let my husband get better than me!
This was probably the highlight of my day - this is the hip hop video. I didn't post the one with music because it is not nearly as hilarious as this one. Watch Nash on the far left side in the blue!
A group made our lunch of pizza and snicker salad and root beer floats. Not bad and I didn't even get sick!
Air-powered rockets was another fun hit. They made rockets that blasted over 75 feet down the school halls. You can tell by Jackie's face (teacher on the floor) that she had a crazy bunch of kids - aka Corey M.
Andrew is one of our resident crazy chemistry students. He is eating his ice cream in a bag! Not sure what happened to his hair???
This is my friend, Kate, the crazy chemist. She is teaching how to make a bouncy ball - most of which turned out to be a pile of slime.
Kyaking was also a lot of fun if you could stay in your boat - notice Jarret on the right halfway out of his boat again!
This group is making shadow puppets with the librarian, Ruth. They had a play with the light board on the left.
Dillon is hard at work at fly tying? It has something to do with fishing, but I am clueless on what they did!?!?!?
Amana has a lot of traditions in this small German community. Here the kids were making the bunny cookies that are made at Easter - a special recipe.
This video is how they decorate the Easter eggs. The stuff in the bowls is furniture glue and water boiled for 45 minutes with a couple drops of food coloring. Another great Amana tradition.
These girls are doing a day at the spa. They learned to make bath soak stuff and other stuff to relax the body.
Beading looked like a lot of fun. The girls sported their birthstone bracelets.
One of our couselors was crazy enough to give eight 7th graders paint brushes to paint a mural on the hall. It turned out nice!
I didn't get pictures of all the classes, but there were over 25 classes offered - quilling, make-up, up-dos (one word), snorkling, hunting, scrapebooking. They kids had a blast but were exhausted after a hard days of work and fun!
What keeps me going in the morning???? I am still not really old enough to be my students' parents. I am within about 2 years. Yes I could be their mom, but I would only be 18 and that is WAY to young!!
At 6:10 a.m. on January 22, 1977, the most beautiful baby was born. I would put a baby picture on, but we don't have a digital one and I don't want to try and fight the scanner tongiht. I have been blessed with 30 - yes I said thirty years of life. I have a wonderful - husband (aka cake decorator) and two fine but insane kids. I have lots of friends and a wonderful job. A gorgeous brand new house and a God that loves me more than anything. (remember this is a no editting site - i have noticed many incomplete/run-on sentences :)
Well for the fun of my birthday. My husband will take on one challenge a year (okay he is editting behind me and says one cake challenge he does do more than one challenging thing a year). He asks what kind of cake I want. Trying to stump him I think of the craziest thing that I assume that he will never try. Many of you have seen the Strawberry Shortcake Cake from a couple years ago. Being mean I thought - oh the kids would love a Backyardigans cake. So there it was. I really thought I would be lucky to get my name on it, but my dearest husband took the challenge on and did a wonderful job on the Backyardigans. Someday he wants to be known as the "Master Cake Decorator."
My parents came over for supper and cake. Ally and Drew had fun helping me blow out the 30 candles that my thoughtful husband put on.
See the smoke! We thought the smoke detector might go off.
The final question - what did I get for my birthday besides money. Some wood to build some furniture - a bench for my entryway!
Look out CinnaBuns here we come. Saturday morning Ally and I woke early to make some breakfast for the boys. We made some cinnamon rolls from scratch. 
We have finally started getting some snow. We had our first good snowfall last Sunday. We went to my parents for the evening not thinking that 2-4 inches would be a big deal - Iowa road crews are usually great. Well I guess not so much on a Sunday night before MLK day. It was a little treachorous coming home with wipers that kept freezing over.
We did have some fun at Grandma Rhonda's on the 4-wheeler. I got my first solo ride.
On Monday we came home early to play. We bundled everyone up in their hats, mittens, snowpants, coats to head out to sled. Jason and I had way to high of expectations. Drew could barely walk and just wanted to pull his sled or push the snow shovel. Ally was hesitant to go down a hill and for good reason. She has little balance and fell off and was covered in snow on her first and only trip down the slope.
We have continued to get more snow and their activity outside is getting slightly more adventurous, but pretty boring in my opinion.
We are slowly working on cleaning/finishing the basement. Sundays are usually good naps for kids, but for some reason it wasn't happening today. We thought we would try and work with them down there. Not sure we accomplished much.
Ally is all about helping Daddy with the hammer and drill. Jason start the screws in the board and she used the drill to put them in. She didn't do too bad for a 3 year old - better than Millikan!
Drew on the other hand was not the tough man that Jason might have hoped for. He did try and swing the hammer, but was a little skiddish around the drill.
This is it! I have this last post and I am caught up with most of the cute stuff of my kids. I am procrastinating... the upstairs bedroom has too much stuff in it to attack!
Thanks Aunt Laura for presents in January!!! When asked today what Drew wanted to do today - he said - Christmas. Oh goodness!
I am not at creative as some of my mom friends, but we made a shifty barn the other night. Ally was the farmer and Drew was - THE COW with an odd sound. He would go into his barn and sleep (with his dolly) and snore like his Daddy. Then wake up and "tweet" at the gate until the farmer would let him out.
All of our yard is not sodded yet. There aren't many houses out here yet so we see TONS of deer. We noticed this morning that there were more deer tracks in our yard. Ally was so excited and wanted to follow them to find the reindeer and feed them. She wanted to tell Santa too. I think she managed to stay out about 14 minutes in the BITTER cold!
A day last week, I tried to hit a deer. Ally and Drew wanted to turn around and find him to make sure he was alright!
Jason has been gone all week partying in Warrens, WI. Every time he leaves, someone gets really sick. Ally has had a 101 temp since Wednesday afternoon, but nothing else except a cough that is mostly gone. So I stayed home again today. By morning her temp finally broke, but I called in last night.
We are at home playing and doing lots of coloring. She is really good at writting her own name. She was coloring a picture for Trip and I asked her if she wanted to put his name on it and send it to him - yes Amy I am sure you are excited about some art work for your fridge!
I wrote it out for her on a paper and we have been practicing the letters in his name and everyone elses! She really likes to spell "Amy" because it has MY letters in it.
We are stuggling with the "k" in Chuck though.
There are lots of smiley faces! (u).
On New Year's Day, Jason went to help cousin Andy put in a new door to Grandpa Melvin's bedroom for hiw wheelchair. My mom said that she wanted the kids. I got to stay home all by myself in the quiet of the house and enjoy cleaning the office - as much fun as that can be!
While at Grandma's they had quite the fun day! They got to play play-doh, color, paint and ride the 4-wheeler with Rachel. It was sort of chilly and had to bundle up but nice for January 1st!
I love my Aunt Rachel - especially when she comes and watches us!
They also went on a walk to see the cows. After finding the cows all muddy, they decided to go tell Grandpa Charlie that he needed to clean them. Well Grandma finally talked them out of that trip - it was 2 miles to the other farm and Grandma didn't think she could carry them! Instead they went to find some deer - or Ally was convinced that they were looking for reindeer. They had to cross many fences and follow many paths which had deer feet on them. Well they couldn't find Rudolph but had lots of fun!
