Mercy Implosion

What family activities do you do on a cold February Saturday morning? We headed up to Cedar Rapids to the hospital that Jason works at to watch one of the buildings implode. It was cool - not sure the kids agree though. They were cold and we didn't bring their heavy duty mittens. We also got there fairly early to get in the "good" watching spot.

Here is the before picture. They had started to tear it down, but it was taking forever and the demo guy said he wouldn't charge any extra to implode it.

The implosion video...

After some of the dust clear you can see the pile of stuff. It should take about 2 weeks to haul it all out.

We went to IHOP afterwards to have Jason's favorite breakfast - stuffed french toast. The kids just wanted to go home and cuddle up on the warm couch, but enjoyed their breakfast when they got to the restaurant.

KCRG had several really good videos of the implosion. If you are watching closely at the end of the video of Camera #1, you can see Jason holding Ally and Drew when they scan the crowd.

Breech

We are down to the final countdown - 5.5 wks left to go and Hammie is sitting on the exit. We have three weeks to flip or we have to talk about what to actually do. So the research begins. I have had many friends tell me that theirs has flipped no problem (thanks Jamie!) and that is LIKELY what will happen.

I have gained very little weight this time - WooHoo! It should all be off with the weight of the baby! I am measuring a couple weeks ahead which is no surprise considering Ally and Drew's size. The vote is still 2 for a girl, 1 for a boy, and 1 - don't care. Names are picked much to my mother's disagreement.

We are "ready" with all baby stuff bought except the bottle vents which I have to special order since they changed them in the last 4 years - arghhhhh.

Now I just need to get the sub plans written. I should be able to get on those since my student teacher is taking over more responsibilities now. Yes I have a student teacher - I might have been crazy, but at least I am know someone will know how to teach math and my routine. She will be doing her head teaching about the time that I leave. The real sub will only actually have to teach by herself for about 1 week. If you know me - I won't be able to let much of it be unattended anyway so I will be heavily involved which gave my principal relief. I/we still have to get the kids to school during my leave.

The cold fairy brought all four of us colds this week so Kleenex are getting used up quickly in the Willis household.

Not a Great Start

It is Wednesday - the day should be great! Temps are suppose to be pushing 50, the snow is melting and it is breakfast pizza day at school! I get there and announce my normal order and they look at me and say - it is Lent we aren't doing pizza today. Now most of you have either been pregnant or have lived with someone who has been pregnant. First - we don't like to skip breakfast (or any other of the 5 meals we have each day) and we want our favorites no matter the cost!

So with 35 minutes before school starting I had to get in my car and head up to Casey's to get breakfast. Not happy about it because what I picked out wasn't even very good when I got back to school.

Sad thing - Jason had volunteered to make me eggs this morning and I turned him down since it was pizza day!

Bible Council

I love my DVR. We don't watch much tv when the kids are awake, but when they finally go to bed this momma is also tired and can barely stay awake. The last couple weeks, Jason has enjoyed Survivor with me only making it through the first half.

On Saturday sometime I sit down and finish it - typically while folding laundry. Ally has joined me and has been asking a lot of questions about how to play the game. She remembers the colors and can figure out who loses and has to kick someone off. This week I had to explain that exile island was kind of like time-out. We will see if that one was completely understood when we watch again.

When Drew came up and asked her what she had watched, very proudly she said - we were watching Bible Council to see who was going to get kicked out of the game. After correcting her pronounciation, I chuckled - thankful that God doesn't kick us out of heaven!

Basement Lookin' Good

We have some boys coming to our house this weekend for Disciple Now so we had to pick up the basement. I realized that I hadn't added picts of our comfy place for awhile.

Jason built me some end tables after searching for 4 years (yes really)! I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier. It was a ton cheaper to have him build it than find one in the store. It was actually a project we did together. Okay I didn't do much but I was there and sanded a lot!

We did decide to splurg and just buy the basement bedroom set. It was going to be about the same cost as building it and it would take only 2 weeks to get here - where it would have taken Jason about 7 years to finish.

This last picture is for Rachel. She gave us one of her wedding presents since she didn't know what to do with it. The words were meant to sit on a shelf. Since we didn't have a shelf, I had Jason cut the back off and put hangers on them. I like them and it was obviously cheap. Hope that no one reading this blog gave them to her!

Now what will my house look like after boys stay in my basement - not quite sure, but I better get used to it since Drew is slowly getting up there. He did tell us tonight that he didn't want to get bigger - just stay the age he was. I could handle that!

Happy Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day was fairly uneventful. Jason and I didn't even get out the cards that we usually do - does that mean we are really old married folks? I had to run to church so I didn't even get to make a special breakfast for anyone. After cleaning the house, I got groceries - see next post.

For our evening activities, we all headed back to Newton to see Grandpa Melvin in the hospital. Earlier this week when we went he was in the ICU so the kids couldn't go in. This time he was in a regular room so they went in to talk to him. We met my parents there and went for pizza afterwards. Then home to crash.

We typically make a "heart-shaped" pizza and had planned to do that at Mom's, but we ran out of time. So our little family celebrated with our pizza on Sunday night. I love my family so much and can't imagine life without them. As we sat and ate supper, Drew was making weird noises and Ally didn't stop talking. I looked at Jason and said - What are we doing? What will our dinner table look like in a year when Hammie joins us?

It has started to sink in that we will be joined by a 3rd critter soon - especially after the tax program asked us how many dependents we will have for 2009.

Are you Expecting?

Yesterday Jason's present to me was having me go get groceries (without kids). You might think that would be awesome, but I hate getting groceries and like to torture all involved and make him go with me - so it was my Valentine to him not to go!

At the check-out (for round 2 - one side of Wal-Mart first and then groceries), I was asked by the really nice cashier (who reminds me of Carrie Shupp) if I was expecting. WHAT???? I know she was trying to be nice and didn't want to get popped in the nose if I wasn't, but come on what gave it away - the waddling to the cart to put the bags in or the big huge watermelon under my shirt? I told her that I have 7 wks left to go.

She preceded to ask if this was my first. I know she had no clue, but if it was just 2 of us I was buying a TON of groceries. And I had Trix yogurt, fish crackers, and a lot of other "kid" food.

I got a good laugh at the whole ordeal - because I know that I am either ENORMOUS or pregnant. Part of the really mean me wanted to say no - but that would have been awful for this really nice girl!

So less than 7 weeks left to go! Dr. Wenzel said that she wouldn't stop me after March 1st though - Now that is SCARY - since we aren't ready!

Jason's Talents

Jason has been busy at work for me. I will continue daily posting all of our pictures from projects from this weekend. I am looking forward to a clean garage. I think that it was only clean once in the past 2 years. A day when we can get BOTH vehicles in and have room. We did have them both in all winter, but it was snug! Too many toys!

I was looking through a woodworking book at Lowes when I ran across this handy thing for wood. I kept the page waiting for Jason to return from the back of the store. He was thrilled and drew it out immediately when we got home. Hopefully this wood holder thingy will keep all the random wood neat in the garage.

Stay tuned for either a picture of my new end tables or the new bedroom set!

Getting Ready to Show Love

This weekend we have been busy bees! We have gotten a lot accomplished - one project was getting our Valentine's ready for our classmates at school. Ally & Drew picked out their cards - Drew has Spiderman and Ally has Tinker Bell. Surprise! Surprise!

Drew had to write his name 23 times. His cards were slick and a normal pen wouldn't write on them. A washable marker wouldn't either since it wiped off - wet or dry. So we had to give him a Sharpie - YIKES. I closely supervised so that it wouldn't get on the table. He took a break after about every 5 cards. He did such a great job! He didn't have to write his classmates names on so it made the job slightly easier.

Ally got to write all her classmates names on their cards. She enjoyed it a lot and then had to put a pencil in each.

I remember doing this when I was little and thrilled and very specific about which card to give which friend. I am glad that Ally hasn't figured that part out. This week she made a picture while we were still at school. She said - Mom this is for my boyfriend. HUH???? I told her that kindergarteners don't have boyfriends. Her response - okay I will give it to Daddy.

Jason felt a little jipped out of the deal, but oh well - at least we are still boyfriend free.

Supper and Standing

Little boys confuse me. Okay maybe boys in general confuse me - but that is not the point tonight. We have pub tables that we eat at, so we have stools at all our tables in the house (except for the card table). Every night you can bet that we can't make it through a meal without Drew standing up on his stool and spinning around. I knew this happens and we always tell him to sit down. I think that he has only fallen once, but still didn't learn the lesson.

The last few nights I have been watching more carefully. So far he can't do it. The last two nights it has been towards the end, but it never fails - he stands. Why? Why? Why?

I don't get boys.

Another topic is why it also never fails that he has to go to the bathroom - always #2 during supper...

Crib Is UP.

We are moving right along and getting ready for the baby. After much contemplation about the bedding I decided that I really want it to "match" it's gender so I am going to wait to decorate until AFTER Hammie is born. We have a bed. We have a changing table and are ready, but want to paint and stuff after it is here so it's room will be good to go for awhile.

I have picked out the bedding and will order it once the time is a little closer. We tried to look at it when we went to Des Moines, but of coarse I picked stuff that is online only. If it is a girl then I want purple and green. I will make some of the stuff like the bed skirt and stuff. This time around we aren't going to get the quilt that never gets used! I really like this butterfly or flower stuff also - I think my mom and I can figure out how to get something close.

I am not 100% sure on the boy stuff, but have some green and brown picked out currently at Babies R Us. Probably a dark brown bumper and who knows about the skirt. The crib looks a little silly without one though. Haven't thought much about decorations.

Ally helped Jason put the crib together today.

Drew "supervised."

It is up and ready for a little person to come live with us in no more than 9 weeks - hopefully a little earlier!

I would have posted pictures of the guest room, but they ordered the wrong color of headboard so we are waiting for that to come in.

Have I ever Mentioned?

Have I ever mentioned that I hate our van. Actually that is pretty strong. I really do like our van - I never thought that I would drive a mini-van (yes Angi - you told me so....).

This lovely van has been broke it seems more than it has been driveable. I was watching the Today show last summer and they were talking about the biggest money scams - Extended warrenties were on there. In our case - it has SAVED us oh about $25,000. Yes and that is actually a LOW and conservative number. It broke down again this week for an unknown reason, but this time the warrenty company said - oh that part isn't on the list - ARGHHH. There are 600 miles left on the warrenty and over 20,000 miles on the engine (which has been the big problem).

So Amy keep reminding us that this van has to be gone by this summer!

What would you buy? Obviously we will be buying the extended warrenty - it was worth our money.

Happy 30-Something Birthday!

I had lots of fun this week. I didn't try and "bug" Jason about my birthday plans since I knew that there was no way that he could forget it. I had been counting down since Christmas.

Last year he was so bogged down with work that he was unable to get my cake finished. This year he stayed up late one night to finish my cake. He claims that it isn't his best work, but I still loved it. I love round two layer cakes, but he says there isn't enough room to decorate. If you can't tell - Tinker Bell is driving Lightnigh McQueen. Drew and Ally couldn't decide on the characters so we compromised!

The "best" (hear the sarcasm) part of my birthday was waking up to - not the blueberry pancakes that I typically get, but a van that absolutely LOVES our family. Yep - our lovely Kia Sedona is broke again. After much research, Jason discovered a pulley that is missing so the serpentine belt is off. Originally we thought (and are still hopeful it is not) the alternator. So he took me to school and headed to work. At least I didn't have to drive to work!

We went to HuHot for supper. The kids were thrilled since they love to make their own dishes and watch the guys cook for us.

On Friday Jason invited our small group over for Bunco and snacks. It was a lot of fun. If you notice in the picture my shoulder is SLIMED. I had been holding 11 week old Maddie who is a mircle from God. She had a pacemaker put in when she was a few hours old.

Saturday was my real treat. On Thursday I had opened a box with a backgammon board, Pottery Barn magazine, diaper and box of Mac & Cheese. What does all this mean - at first I thought another trip to Turkey, but a close second is a trip to Des Moines to Pottery Barn and Babies R Us - one of my favorite store and another necessity at this time that we don't have in our area. We picked up lots of ideas for decorating and just loved walking through Pottery Barn and decided we probably need to head back again to DM after we know that is REALLY in all those totes in the basement before we decide what baby stuff we need to buy. All this with NO kids. They stayed with my parents for the days - getting spoiled - they weren't in bed when we got back at 10:00!

To top the whole thing off - Jack and Sheryl and precious Lorelai born 2 weeks ago joined us for supper at Macaroni Bar and Grill - hence the mac and cheese. They are home for a couple months from Turkey on state-side.

So let's just say that I had a great birthday even though Jason keeps telling me I am getting close to 35 - Really I am still closer to 30 though!

The best part is that my mom sent me an email saying happy 31st birthday. I called her to tell her that I really was older. She didn't believe me until she pulled out her calculator and typed in 2009-1977! Thanks mom! Not sure if you feel older now or me!

Thinks He's Cool

I just got told at supper by my four year old son - Good job my friend - fist pump.

I don't remember what I did to deserve this high compliment, but sat there shocked as Jason about fell on the floor.

Records

The kids didn't have school on Friday - it was a teacher's meeting day. So they still went but got to play all day with their friends. But it was COLD. It was so cold that we kept our hat and mittens on the whole way and the heater never caught up. I stopped to get the picture of the thermometer on the way at the coldest part. By the end of the day, the temps rose 60 degrees. If you are in Iowa you know that we have had a some warm days with a high of 30. But what did you think of the wind on Saturday - Glad that the temps were reasonable. Our subdivision almost got snowed in!

This week looks a ton better and we should be able to head to school every day ALL day!

It's Cold

That might be an understatement, AND I am tired of being indoors and in my house. I think that when it warms up to at least -15 or so we might try and head out and do some errands. We won't have a whole day of school this week - now that is crazy!

Monday - Early out - 5 inches of snow and blowing
Tuesday - Late Start - Blowing and cold
Wednesday - 5-6+ inches of snow, blowing and Cold
Thursday - BITTER cold - exact words from the news cast
Friday - No school planned - teacher inservice

Drew is in HEAVEN!!! He likes his stay at home days. He would choose to stay home rather than anywhere - almost McDonalds is the exception I think! Last night as I was putting him to bed I told him that we would eat breakfast at home before going to school since we knew we had a late start.

He said - Mommy come here and look out my window.

We frequently do this to check for deer in the front yard or just to look at the weather or moon, but tonight he said with all sincerity (for our safety). The snow plows have plowed our streets, but they haven't gotten to the one to school yet. We will have to stay home tomorrow.

In his shyness (truly) he didn't want me to tell the story to Jason, but how could I not. About 15 minutes later, he got his wish for another stay at home day - so fort building, legos and other fun things to drive mommy crazy - here we come!

Rachael Ray

My daughter (and I) LOVE Rachael Ray. If we are home, we flip it on to mainly watch the cooking part of the show - I think that we are going to start DVRing it. Ally stops whatever she is doing to carefully watch what she is doing and asks questions. Today we watched her make a yakatori noodle bowl. We decided to make it for supper and it was a hit! There are no leftovers for lunch tomorrow - bummer! It was basically teriyaki chicken and noodles.

Maybe my little girl will be a chef?

Another Computer Guru

This picture is TERRIBLE but is shows what my little boy likes to do after nap - Nick Jr. I need to get a real mouse for my laptop so they can both be on it and the fighting will stop, but until then we have 15 minute turns.

Also nobody probably has ever noticed, but when we moved into our house we didn't have a hardwood floor mat for our office chair. After 2 plus we finally got a chairmat and the piece of cardboard is retired - and a good piece it was!

Snow - Snow and some More Snow

We keep getting snow and it really doesn't/shouldn't make the news. It isn't record snowfall or even really terrible to travel in. I can handle 2-5 inches at a time - it is the ice and wind that comes before or after that is not so fun. The last couple storms have been had no ice. We woke up to LOTS of snow on Saturday. I think we were suppose to get 1 inch but really what is the difference 1 or 5 inches. No big deal. We cleaned the house and then all went out to work and play. I love the snow blower - why didn't we buy one several years ago. I can't imagine how sore and tired Jason would be without it. I did help a little with it. It is a cold and wet job using it, but you feel like a champ when you are done. Please no comments about a 28 wk prego woman scooping snow - I wasn't in pain afterwards.

Today we got another 3 or snow inches (total about 8 on the ground - not too bad!) We got out of school early today. The 3 inches aren't the bad part it is the 35 mph winds that are following the storm. Like I said I don't mind driving in 3 inches - you can still "see" the road or most of it. It is the lack of visability that I strongly hate! We got home way before that hit. It actually probably got to our house about the time that we headed out after supper in the dark to clean off the driveway. It was fairly calm and then the wind came up and wow it burned your cheeks! We are in a blizzard warning tonight. Man I don't want another no school day - late start would be nice.

The next storm blows (literally again) either Tuesday night or Wednesday for another 3-5 inches and some more blizzard like conditions. So that would put about 10 inches on the ground and another chance for some on Friday. I love Iowa winter. I love that we have change so often and it is not always warm - even though there are days that I wish for some 70 degree weather.

One positive - Ally can define blizzard for you correctly today!

Dust off the Rook Cards - Some Math Ideas for You!

Ally brought home a couple weeks ago some "homework." Actually she has brought other homework home. I am becoming the parent that I get so frustrated with - the ones who "forget" to send stuff back! I am trying to get better, but for some reason it is always the mom that has to go through the book bag.

I am a big fan of math - for some obvious reasons?!?! Don't get me wrong - we read and have her sound things out. But it is not always our focus - I am not a natural "reading" teacher. But math is a different story. Sometimes I can't believe what she is "learning" in kindergarten math since it seems so basic, but I guess there are other kids out there that don't get their addition facts as early as our kids. (We taught addition at supper with eating bites!)

They have been working on pattern units and counting units. The counting unit has been interesting. Some ideas out there to do with your kids that will help them gain number reasoning skills (and I approve this message!)

1. When you grab a random amount of something - napkins, cookies, fish crackers, legos, etc have the ESTIMATE (tell you how many the THINK are there). Then have the count them. Estimating is a skill that many kids are weak at in the middle levels but hey let's help them out when they are young.
2. When bored at the dr. office while WAITING - have them figure out how many eyes are in the room or fingers or toes or legs on the chairs. Some may start out by counting each one but that is OK!
3. Teach skip counting (evens and odds) then work your way up to doing 3s, 4s, 5s, 10s. (hopefully then later they can do the dr. office game by using those strategies.
4. As a beginer (like Drew or a 3yr old) draw numbers on one side of the page and pictures of objects on the other. Have them connect the picture to the number. Or make big number pages on paper - have them search the toy room and find that number of objects for that number.
5. Our newest idea - from our favorite kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Glanz - She gave us number cards to 10, but I pulled out the Rook cards since they went to 14. You can make your own cards but I would put them on cardstock. I would have a stack of at least 4 of each number. Divide the cards out between you and your kiddo. Each flip a card. Whoever has the bigger number says - ME and gets the cards. ALly is much faster than Drew but sometimes he makes a mistake - tonight it was 9 and 6 so we "built" those numbers out of fingers or legos or whatever and he had to redecide. We did it with 12 and 13 also.

You can do different variations of this game - like playing which is least. We have also added the two cards together and one person gets the evens and the other the odds. (throwing in our skip counting stuff!) Tonight Ally and I made a new variation of having 5 cards in our hand and playing the bigger number to get our partners cards.

You can do so much with younger kids to build number sense. These are all great ideas, but the most important part would be your kid EXPLAINING why they are making the decision to you. At first they won't be able to do it and you should model the reasoning or give them ideas of how to start, but you know they understand it if they can talk it through!

If you want more ideas - let me know. And if you are a stalker that has some great reading skill games - let me know:)