Good Times!

I was so excited for this long weekend! We had a fantastic Valentine's Day party at school on Thursday (more to come on that later) and I got alot done on Friday, but I was counting the minutes to get out of school and get on the road! I picked up Cass and Tae and headed to Boise. Not the most tropic of locations but I couldn't wait!

When we finally arrived in Boise the twins came running when they saw the car pull up to the door. There is nothing better then seeing their excited faces when we arrived. They have changed so much!

Lauren had a night stay in the hospital on Monday. She was so sick! She had to have oxygen and she didn't like that much. They had to tape the oxygen tube to her face so she would leave it on. The tape left circles on her cheeks. Sharla calls them her crop circles!

Logan and Lauren give the best hugs and kisses.

Cassidy's only request for the weekend was to get new spring clothes. We ended up spending more time in Build a Bear because it was so busy. At the end of the day she ended up with a David "enchilada" Archuleda t-shirt for her bear. Okay, so I bought her the t-shirt because she wanted it so bad. But, I also bought her several shirts from Aeropostle. Sometimes she is such a teen but every now and then she is the little girl I remember.

Logan made a brown monkey named Coconut and Lauren made a pink monkey named Bananas.


Logan loved his monkey!


Lauren not so much!


We ended the night by going to the USU vs BSU game. We all dressed up of course to represent our team. Lauren supported her dad and wore her cute little cheerleader outfit. It was a heartbreaking game. Even with a lot of USU support they lost the game. It was such a bummer! It would have been so much fun if they would have won. We got a lot of weird stares with our mixed group. Anytime we would walk around we would take Lauren so we wouldn't get beat up by those crazy BSU fans!

Logan unwrapping his valentine gift from his mom and dad.

Lauren kept on saying "I go home" during the game. She wanted to go home and open her gift and play with her balloon.

Logan and Jeremiah were completely out numbered his weekend with a house full of girls. Now Jeremiah knows how George feels!


We decided to have a girls night while Jeramiah watch the Daytona 500. So we relived Sharla's 5 months of bed rest and all piled on her bed and did facials and our nails. It was fun.

Logan and Lauren helped pick out the colors

True beauties!

It was so much fun to spend time with Tae and Cass. The babies were very entertaining. I laughed so much. Thanks Sharla and Jeremiah for the great weekend!

Happy Valentine's Day!

If I was President, I would...

Part of our lesson today was about the Presidents job and if it would be easy or hard to be the President. We all agreed it would be a hard job. We talked about making laws and making good choices for our country. I told them if I was President I would make sure teachers got paid more money. (of course, you could have guessed that one) I then asked the kids "What would you do if you were the President?" They came up with the most amazing thoughts and ideas about what they would do as President. As I wrote down their thoughts I found myself in awe over their amazing little brains! I was so proud of their drawing and their ideas I took them around to show other teachers. I even took them into the principle for him to see what wonderful kindergarten kids he has in our school. Everyone got a good laugh at some of them and tears over others. I can't wait to show them to their parents during conferences!

If I was President of the United States, I would...

C said "help people stop smoking."

J said "make people who rob banks go to jail."
In his picture he had two people. I asked him "who the people were." J said "it is me and my wife." I said "your wife?" J said "Yes my wife. If you are President you have to have a wife." I was a little confused about were he got that from. Then I realized every picture I was showing that day was of President Obama and his wife, Joe Bidden and his wife, and President Bush and his wife. Makes sense!

M said "help keep our world clean."

J said " take of of business in the White House."

D said "keep the White House clean."

Several kids said "give people money who need it."

A said "Tell people to stop eating animals."
I wish you could see her picture. She had a horse with a really scared face. At first I though it was the Presidents desk. She said "no! It's a horse and he is scared because he doesn't want to be dinner!"

D said "I would help people find what they need at Wal-Mart."

M said "help people with cancer."

A said "take care of kids."

These were just the few I could remember. I'll post more when I look at them again at school.

Proud as Punch! (whatever that means)

I thought a lot about how to teach my kids about the inauguration of our new president, and how to teach them about it on their level. I wanted to make it fun and meaningful because I think it was an important event that they should know about. I mean...he's the President of the United States for heaven sakes! They should know that! I showed them some pictures of our new President and his family. We also watch a small clip of President Obama taking the oath of office. Then I showed them pictures of the White House and the Oval Office. The kids were so attentive and really into it. Especially the part about the President having his own helicopter and airplane. They thought that was cool!

I also wanted them to know that this was a historic event because President Obama is the first African American president. Again, how to do this on a level they would understand. I had a picture of President Bush and President Obama shaking hands up on the screen. I asked the kids to look for differences between the two men. They came up with, "One looks older", "One is taller", "One has a longer coat", and "One is waving."" Not one child came up with the difference in skin color! It made me realize that children truly don't notice or really even care about the difference of skin color. I love that! My students are so pure and untouched by the worlds racial issues. This gives me hope! Maybe we have hope that in the future everyone will truly be treated equally. I pray nightly for my students. Maybe, I need to pray for the world that these kids will be going into.

Better Late Than Never!

I had such a fantastic holiday season this year. It was busy but so much fun. Here are some of the highlights from the season.

Cassidy and her friend Kailey went to their first big school dance. With Karen and Ron out of town it was my job to get them ready to go. Ohhhh the memories of Junior High!!!

I decided to start the tradition of taking all the girls to the Nutcracker. It was fun but Lexi and Rebecca wanted to know if we go again next year, can we go to one that the people talk!

I spent Christmas Eve in Logan. We had a blast bowling at the Fun Park. Love the fashionable shoes!

Even the "teens" thought it was fun!

The kids loved it when they turned on the black lights,disco ball, and funky music!

Once upon a time I would put together a "show" with the kids. Just something for them to do. Now Cassidy has taken over. Loved the decorations! Yes, those are my old horse show trophies on the back shelf. I refuse to let my parents get ride of them! Pathetic, I know!

Finally the big moment! The kids woke up at 3:00 am to see if it was time yet. We talked them into going back to sleep until 6:00ish.

We were all excited for the Means family to finally get to Utah! We really needed Logan and Lauren on drums!

We all had fun at Hardware Ranch. Nobody told Sharla that the elk didn't care if she was color coordinated and looking cool. But she tried anyway!

Bring on New Years Eve! Ready to go and waiting!

What party animals! We all made it to midnight well...except for the twins. And Karen did disappear for a hour or two.

The next day we all just sat around and relaxed. Logan even found a few minutes to read the paper! He takes after his Grandpa George!

That weekend Lexi got baptized! It was nice because all of us got to go. I'm so proud of her! The best part of the day was when they opened to doors to the font and the bishop invited the kids to come and sit close. Logan made a sprint towards the font! Luckily he was caught in time before taking a dive. Right after Ron baptized Lexi and she was coming up from the water, Logan let out a loud OHHHHHHH! Just like it was the coolest thing he ever saw! His timing was perfect!

Lexi with Grandma and Grandpa! We all agreed that the thing we are most grateful for this holiday season is to have dad with us!

To celebrate Lexi's baptism we had a chocolate fountain for desert. Logan and Lauren loved the chocolate. Lauren loved it so much she put her plate on her head and rubbed the chocolate in. You've got to love them!!!

WOW!

What a crazy couple weeks I've had! I haven't been home since the 19th and I've been going steady. I think I ready for the relaxing, maybe even bored part of the holiday. So far...not yet!
We have...
3 family Christmas parties
Gone sledding
Played in the snow
Played every new game possible
Got addicted to Wii Guitar Hero (I think I will become a drummer after teaching!)
Shoveled driveways
A little bit of shopping
Watch my nieces/nephews put of several "shows".
And ate steady!

I've loved every minute of it!!! Now we can get ready for the New Years celebration!

Tis The Season!

What a fantastic Christmas week we have had! Last year I started a Polar Express themed Christmas party. This year was even better then the last. The kids got to wear PJ's to school on Wednesday to get in the mood to watch the movie. Then Thursday was the Polar Express Party. We started out with a visit from Frost the Snowman. He comes every year to my class to bring gifts. The kids love it when he visits except he starts to melt and leaves sparkly puddles of water all over the class. This year he brought each child scarves to wear with their names on it. (Yes that is 50 something scarves)

Then the wonderful moms showed up to start the party. We had hot chocolate and cookies in the morning and hot chocolate and doughnuts in the afternoon. The kids also made great crafts and played fun games.

One of the room moms had the genius idea of making snowman hats. She bought white foam visors and then the kids glued a carrot nose, black hat, and eyes. Then the kids put them on top of their heads and it was so cute!!! I will be using this idea again and again!

Thursday was also our Christmas Choir concert for the school. I have had so much fun working with the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. Can you believe we have over 90 students in the choir!! They are amazing.

Friday we had our school sing-a-long. Each grade picked a favorite song to sing. We picked Up on the Housetop. Of course I couldn't just settle for the original version I had to pick the funky version. We also had to each cute actions and a little bit of dancing. They were so cute and I think we were the only grade level that was asked to do an encore for the principal who missed it the first time. Okay, I know I'm a little biased but...my students are just the best ever! I absolutely adore them!

We ended the day with a visit from the big man himself! What a great day!

We had a busy but fantastic week! Thank you to all the parents, and grandparents that came to help! I'll see you next year! Merry Christmas!

Traditions

Every year my family goes up into the mountains in Idaho to pick out the perfect or as we like to say a Christmas tree with "character". In other words crooked, multiple trunks, and bare spots. But, it is a family tradition and most years the trees are beautiful. I didn't get one for my house this year and I'm a little sad about that. The artificial tree that I put up is just nothing in comparison. Oh well, I guess I'll appreciate a real tree even more next year! It was fun family! Lets do it again in say... 20 days! Next time lets not do multiple trips to the emergency room!

The snow started falling right when we got up the canyon. It was perfect!

Logan and Lauren tried out their new snow suits. We refered to them and the marshmellows!