Progressive Dinner!

With a few people gone for the holidays this week, it was decided that we wouldn't hold normal Bible study groups but rather team up with other groups and do fun activities. Our Bible study and another decided to have a progressive dinner! I'm sure you have all heard of these ... you travel from house to house for different courses of a meal enjoying one another's company as well as the new surroundings at each spot. It was a great time! I didn't have my camera out the whole evening but I caught a few pics to share!

Our first stop was Megan and Devin's apartment near DMU. WOW! It was so beautifully decorated for the holidays and their appetizers were delish!

Allison and I had the pleasure of hosting way more people than would fit in our little house for salad! :) We were apprehensive but it turned out just fine and we all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly!

Ava was singing a lovely song for Allison and we all were listening in and giggling to ourselves! :)

Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like an elf and her jolly friend.

Ashley and Ava enjoying the sights and sounds of the season.

Derek and Brandon loving their salads.


Here's Allison and I posing in front of one of our Christmas trees but I'm pretty sure it just looks like there's a star coming out of our heads. The tree is back there, I promise.


Without some background information, this picture is just positively silly. You see, Ryan was one of my leaders this summer for my outreach group for Epicenter. We were a part of the "Body Builders" - our goal was to use our actual bodies to build up the body of Christ in our local church. We helped countless people move and.... well, that's mostly what we did. We gained some serious muscles this summer and by the looks of things, we are still buff and tough.
Salad was a success... onto the main course of lasagna at Heather and Molly's! Yum Yum! Here's a shot of Katie and Allison relaxing after a great meal!


What a fun night! It was great to spend time with our church "family" before heading home to all of our other families for Christmas. I'm so thankful for the people the Lord has brought into my life and always love spending time with them.

I'm home now in Minnesota .... BRRRRRRRR!

Hodge Podge...

Thank goodness I'm on winter break! It was a long time coming and I even got an extra day tacked on the front end because of a wild winter storm. Don't worry, I get to make it up at the end of the year... boo.

A few pictures...
Last week, our bible study and another got together for a festive sweater party. It was quite an occasion. I forgot to get my camera out until the very end but was able to get one picture of my roommate Allison and I in our lovely sweaters. Allison borrowed hers from her co-worker but mine... mine is a true original worn by my mother in the early to mid 1990's.


Like I said, the weekend started early due to the winter storm. This weekend, we had planned for my sister Emily and her husband, Bud, to drive down and my dad to drive over from Chicago to do Christmas at my Grandma's in Knoxville. Because of the weather, Em and Bud ended up coming in Thursday night and we had a great slumber party here on 27th Street. Friday morning, we tried to go ice skating at Brenton Skating Plaza but it was unforunately not open because of the thick snowy ice combination. So, we went to Caribou instead and I took them on a short driving tour of my life in Des Moines. We headed to Knoxville that evening and decided to open presents right away after dinner!

Yes, that's really me and yes, my hair is apparently capable of being straight. My good friend Angela cut it on Friday and finds it to be a good challenge to blow dry it straight afterwards. She's a miracle worker - I could never do that myself! It's a nice change for a few days.

School Story...

Here's my funny story for a frigid Monday! On Mondays, I usually have the students write me a friendly letter about their weekends and have them include a "high" and a "low." I also usually attempt to allow them to share ONE thing with the class, which most often turns into "Friday... and then... and then... and last night...." - you get the picture. One of my more famous students (for those of you who know me/where I work, you can figure this one out...) just couldn't wait to write his letter and/or wait until the afternoon to share with the class - he HAD to tell me the minute he walked in the door. He proceeded to share about his entertainment for the weekend. This included using a laser light pointer (and a strong one, I might add), to annoy the neighbors across the street by pointing it at their television screen and causing them to get up and attempt to wipe off the "spot." He would then run around the corner into the hallway so as not to get caught!

Isn't that hilarious? When asked why he would decide to do such a thing, he admitted "Well, they stole my skateboard!"

I told my Dad this story on my way home from work and knew it was a good one when he proceeded to really belt out the Grandpa/wheezing laugh.

Hoping for an early out tomorrow - heavy snow in the forecast...

SNOW DAY!

It's true - teachers LOVE snow days just as much as the kiddos. It's also true that we dislike making them up at the end of the year. Throw us a few freebies, will ya? But really, I was thankful to not have to make the drive down to Hartford today as I'm sure the roads were horrible. I got the call before my alarm went off, which i was also thankful for and I checked out which other schools were closed today and went back to sleep! Days off sometimes tend to go so much faster than normal days! I went to Target, put up our other (4th) Christmas tree (yes, I said 4 - one biggie, one little in Allison's room, a ceramic and now a skinnier than the biggie) and wrapped presents and before I knew it, it was time to head to Ankeny for dance class. It was a productive day, none the less. I will take some pictures of our beautifully Christmasy house soon. I left my memory card in my laptop at school yesterday! Oops!

Chicago Part II

For some reason, blogger didn't like my long post...

Like I said in my previous post, it was ridiculously cold last weekend. I mean, really cold. I like to think I'm a bit tough being a Minnesotan and all, but really, it was freezing. Snot crystals kind of freezing.

For dinner, we returned to the same place we ate at last year - Grand Lux Cafe. If you are ever in Chicago and find yourself wandering around about 600 N Michigan Avenue, do yourself a favor and go eat there because it is AMAZING. The best part about it is that it's on the second story of a building and overlooks Michigan Ave. which is so beautiful this time of year with all of the trees wrapped in white lights. The food and service is also excellent!

After a terrific meal, we made the trek back to the red line at Chicago and State and headed toward the hotel.

Sunday morning, my family left to head for Minnesota and Allison and I scooted back downtown to make a few shopping stops we weren't able to get to on Saturday. We found some great deals (which was eventually counteracted by the over 10% sales tax-yikes!). But we were able to drive by my old apartment and ride the train some more which is probably my favorite thing about Chicago!


Overall, a wonderful weekend. I'm looking forward to the next trip to Chicago when the threat of winter weather is no longer upon us!

Annual Chicago Trip!

This weekend was the annual trip to Chicago with some ladies of the Carey family. It all started when i was living in Chicago doing my student teaching during my senior year of college. My mom, grandma and 2 of my aunts came out to visit me and we decided it needed to be an annual trip. This year, we decided to maybe change the date of the trip to a different season where we wouldn't have to walk around wearing 7 layers of clothes! After treacherous roads during my trip to meet them last year, I decided I needed a travel buddy so this year, one of my roommates, Allison, joined me for the weekend!

What's a road trip without some great tunes? Hanson it is!

And tasty snacks!

Our first stop on Saturday morning was Macy's. It's a tradition to head there to see the big tree, Holiday decorations and any other good deals we can find!

What we didn't expect to see, was a celebrity! As we walked into Macy's, we promptly asked where the nearest Starbucks was and were excited to hear there were 3 in the building! The friendly customer service lady informed us to go this way and that to avoid the Jessica Simpson fiasco. WHAT? Really? Well, I'll be the first to admit that as I'm not necessarily a fan of hers, it was fun to see a celebrity in our midst. She was promoting her new perfume (also not a fan...) and was there to sign autographs and meet fans. We rode the escalator a few times to catch a glimpse!


Our next stop was the outdoor Christmas market at Daley Plaza. This is another one of those things we do each year and this year, for some reason, it was absolutely FREEZING at this point during the day; windy, snowy and just plain COLD! So, I broke down and bought a hat. I had been talking about how I wanted one when we went ice skating last week with our bible studies and I found the perfect one! Allison bought one too. We were really stylin!

It's almost the weekend!

Tomorrow is finally Friday! What a week. It actually went super fast. Tonight was the big 5th grade concert and the kids were great! It sure made for a long day but it was worth it to see such vocal and instrumental musical talent.... :) I guess the staff gets to perform in the spring concert. Joy. But really, I mean, one of my my roommates from college, Kyli, and I were musical geniuses at the recorder so I think I can handle pretty much anything! :)

Girl's weekend in Chicago this weekend and I am so pumped! Praying for good driving conditions and good conversation with my mom, aunts, cousins and sweet old little Grandma!

Sometimes I wonder...

exactly what my students think of me. I tend to sometimes wonder about what they do at home and they are always curious about my life. They LOVED the story of the wayward kittens and usually laugh at my corny jokes. As tough as my class is this year, they do bring so much joy into my life. It amazes me sometimes to think about the fact that I'm responsible for 25 10 year olds day in and day out, what they learn about school stuff and life stuff. What a blessing.

Today, we started a unit on data and graphing. We practiced writing survey questions with multiple options for answers to make bar graphs. This is what I was read from one student as I flipped through the papers...

What do you like about Miss Wilson?
a)her hair
b)her laugh
c)her smartability (yes, one word)
d)her shoes
e)her clothes
f)her funnyness (again, original spelling)
h)her smile
i)all of the above

:)

Laughter is the best medicine...

I haven't figured out yet how to insert a movie in so, you'll just have to go the extra mile and click below to check out this video.  I've been laughing all night at this.  Thanks to Jill for sharing it with me.  Really people, it's hilarious.  And a perfect way to get into the holiday spirit! "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!  OK?  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"

Dave Barnes Christmas Extravaganza

How much is too much?

So, I'm just really thinking now about what to write about. I guess not so much what to write about but how much of my life to share and what kinds of topics are blog "appropriate." Lots of people these days use their blog to stay in touch with loved ones and to share pictures and stories. Sure, sounds good. Some people use their blog to rant and rave about things on their mind or things that bother them. Not really my style. Yet, some use it as a journal, bearing their souls. Well, I have a journal and that stuff is between me and the Lord! Consensus? I guess we'll just see how it goes.

I'll start with a recap of my Thanksgiving weekend. Long weekends are the best. You keep reading about business and other places of employment moving toward the 4 day work week. Note to Carlisle CSD - SIGN US UP! I really love my job. I do. It seems though that there just aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish all of the things you want to in life outside of work.

Anyway, I was blessed with an extra long weekend beginning at 12:45 on Wednesday. I had a great day with the kiddos, making pilgrim hats and performing Reader's Theatre. That's a recipe for success if you ask me. I made the trek home to Minnesota and had a relaxing evening to myself. I was able to do some searching and sorting through my old closet as I waited for my mom to get off work. I always come upon hilarious sights and tend to come back with more than I arrived with. Such is life. Thanksgiving Day was glorious. I REALLY enjoy the holidays and all of the special foods of the seasons. I don't know about you, but I don't get to eat like that very often, meaning, I'm no Rachel Ray. The best part of the day was watching the little kids play and interact. What do families without little ones do? They provide SO much entertainment!

Kylee Rose smiles for the camera!

Abigail and I getting ready for our new Christmas ornaments!

Friday morning, we braved the crowds to get some Christmas shopping done. Surprisingly, Target was not so busy but the Mall of America was pretty chaotic. I pretty much despise that place to begin with so heading there on Black Friday was obviously NOT my idea. But, we survived and found some good deals! After shopping, I headed back to Iowa to join some friends to hang out and play some 500! Lots of laughs were had, mostly with my roommate and I making hideously ugly faces at one another across the table and leg fighting. Not to mention, watching my pastor sing and dance in his chair to High School Musical tunes. Priceless.

Today (Saturday), I met my good friend from college, Heather, for breakfast at Bruegger's. Nothing beats a good bagel and good conversation with a wonderful friend. THEN, I met an old co-worker at the mall and did some more Christmas shopping.

At church tonight, the pastor talked about one of the top things on my list of "Things I'm Thankful for in the Year 2008..." - FELLOWSHIP. Wow, he brought up some great points and so many reasons as to why I'm thankful to be where I'm at. I'm more and more convinced of God's faithfulness in His plans for our lives.

And to think... the weekend isn't even over yet! :)

I'm in!

I feel like everyone's doing it these days... "it" being blogging, of course.  I pondered it for a long time reminiscing the days of my LiveJournal and other internet musings.  I feel sometimes that I don't have all that much to say but, in reality I think I probably do... I know I do.  So, here it goes - thoughts, feelings, experiences, reflections, funny teaching stories of course and more.

I think I'm looking forward to this....