Back to School August 16, 2010

The time has finally arrived!! Back to school. For weeks now the girls have been asking,
"What day is it? Is it a school day today? Is it tomorrow Mommy?"

"No honey, not yet! But soon, very very soon!!" was my reply for days!!

And the day before finally arrived and I was able to say..."Guess what tomorrow is? (blank stares) Tomorrow is your first day of school! You can get your school clothes ready and get your back packs out!"

They were both so very excited. They set out their shorts and tee-shirts, new socks and white shoes with the dangly heart on it, and put their back packs ready by the top of the stairs. "Can we go now Mommy"...."Nope not yet. After you wake up then we will get all ready and them Daddy and Mommy will take you to school!"

So I have been thinking about school lately. Remember the summer months seemed to fly by too quickly. There was never enough weeks or summer sun to last us long enough for all the baseball games, home-ward derby's in the front yard, or running around the front and back yard playing capture the flag. It seemed all too soon before we would have to go home after a day of swimming at the Natatorium or the baseball season seemed to end as quickly as the flavor of "Big League" chewing gum. Toward the end of summer, our Circle K runs would always end with us going by Liberty Elementary looking at the front doors to see if the lists were out for which teacher we had. Holding onto our Now n Laters, jolly rancher stick, and Charleston chews we would head home chatting about who we thought we were going to get. Once the list was finally up, we couldn't pedal home fast enough to tell Mom who we had and what things we "had" to have for school! I can still feel the excitement and anticipation of the first day of school.

I love to look into Kaitlynn and Hailey's eyes watching them dance with excitement and pure joy! I'm sure I had that same look in my eyes as a young girl. I hope that they will always have that joy and desire for learning. Im sure the teen-age years will be a treat, but I hope to keep them positive and full of the love of learning.

So my sweet children...I hope you have a wonderful school year!

HERE WE GOOOOOO!!!!!!

No!! These are not gang signs!! Its sign for K (Kindergarten)and 1 for First Grade!!!!

Hailey outside of school!

Hailey with her teacher Ms Shaw.

Daddy and Hailey girl before she goes into her class! Oh my little one!! My heart is pounding!!!!

Walking into school!

Kaitlynn outside of school!

Mikey sat in the hall at a desk and said..."Dad! Mommy! I reaeee for scoooo!!!" he sat there insisting that he goes to school like his sisters! Well, Im keeping my fingers crossed to get him potty trained by the end of next week so he can fill Hailey's spot at Pipal Preschool! It would be SOOO good for him! I wish he had more of a desire! Any help to teach a little boy would be so helpful! He just doesn't care!

Kaitlynn sitting at her desk all ready to go! She was pretty excited that her desk top opens up. I asked her what she is going to put in there and she said..."My Stuff!"
More to come I'm sure!

ALL ABOARD!!!

Well, of course I downloaded all of these pictures in the wrong order...and I don't want to go through all that again, so I will do my best here!
You ever wish you could travel back in time so you could experience some great things. One of those great things that I would have loved to do is to ride on the old steam engines back in the 20's-40's. Dressed in those old style dresses and have big trunks to carry...or rather have hired help to carry them for me.

So anyway, here in Omaha we were able to go to Train days where we paid $10 for the family and went to 5 different places to learn and experience the history of Omaha and Union Pacific. It was so great to go to all the different locations and learn so much. Some of the time I had to take a picture of the information page because the kids wanted to get to the next thing! We went to Durham Museum which was actually and old train station. I love going there. They got a ticket from the counter and they had to go to 6 different stations and get punches from men that were dressed as ticket masters. The kids thought that was so cool! They got to color trains, find a bow tie in trunks full of clothes, get on trains and look through all the rooms, watch a movie about trains, and finally they got to see a real train outside that Union Pacific made one just for the Boy Scouts of America. The Union Pacific has only made 12 commemorative locomotives in its nearly 150 year history. It was so cool to see it up close and to know some of the history behind Union Pacific and the Boy Scouts. Kaitlynn took the picture of us...she did a great job!

We also went to Lauritzen Gardens Here in one of the many themed gardens, they had huge model trains. They also had buildings from Omaha's history. Mikey loved watching the 7 different trains go around on the tracks. He wanted so badly to have one and get up close to it and touch and play with one. He was rather bummed when we told him "No Way"!! The other cool thing to see is two of the largest locomotives ever made! The "Big Boy" and the "Centennial". They were not kidding when they said the largest made. The rail wheels were taller than I was by quite a bit...I would say at least 6 feet tall. It was so cool! I REALLY wanted to get into the Big Boy and look around. It's too bad they had it all sealed up.

We went on mail cars which were neat! I couldn't imagine sorting mail in that tiny area and have to do all the work in such a warm car. I'm sure there were many workers getting the job done. How interesting! It would have been fun to try and do it for a while though!

We didn't have enough time to go to the Union Pacific Museum or to the Dodge house, but we were able to see an old and very small train station that was full of artifacts from over the years. There was acutally a lot of information about Sun Valley, Idaho which was really cool! They used an old locomotive engine to power the ski lift for skiing there! The first chair lift ever recorded was for the lift in Sun Valley and was made by a man and his engineering group here in Omaha!

I hope to one day go throught these places and spend a bit more time there learning and soaking it all up instead of rushing to the next thing! The kids had fun, and it was a great evening and day. We had a wonderful time and I look forward to when we can go again!

Homemade Raspberry Jam

So I have a raspberry bush out in the yard and it has turned out to make some very lovely raspberries this year! I am so proud of them! So I this year I decided I was going to try to make some freezer jam! So instead of freezing all the raspberries for the BEST smoothies ever...I used the first few weeks of pickings to make jam. So here it is and I have to say that it is rather yummy! Thanks Aunt Lorrie for posting about the new easy Pectin (LOVE IT) and thank you MOM for teaching me so many things!! I look forward for all the many more lessons you will teach me! I thought it was going to be hard to make and it was so simple! You shouldn't say easy as pie...because making pie is a lot harder than jam. The saying should be easy as jam! LOL!!! Give it a try! Try out the new Ball Instant Pectin! It's wonderful!

Happy Birthday to Ammie!

We Love you Ammie! We hope that you have a wonderful Birthday! Talk to you when you get back! Hugs and Kisses from us all!!!

Hailey's 5th Birthday

Time has gone by all too fast my little one. I remember these earlier days like they were hours ago! Happy Birthday Princess!!

New Born:
She was such a good baby! She has a smile that is so contagious! One you can't help but smile when she smiles at you! She lights up a room and lights up my heart!


One years old

Two years old

Three years old

Four years old

And NOW..... FIVE YEARS OLD!!!! We went to the "Birthday House" Red Robin! The kids love going to RR for their birthday's. We had a wonderful lunch and then headed down town to Rosenblatt stadium to watch the Royals take on the Cubs. Thank you to Papa and Gwamma and Ammie for my new bike too!! I love riding it and feel like such a big girl! (I will post some of those soon). Thank you for the cards From Great Grandpa and Grandma Amandus and Ammie! I got a new movie, Mermaid Barbie, and Strawberry Shortcake with a friend Raspberry Tart, they both smell "Berry Good"!!! My new bike is my favorite! I loved all my gifts this year and will have new things to keep me busy and out of trouble...at least for now...






My Girls