Another Good Report

We just had our last parent/teacher conferences for this school year.... and surprise, surprise, it was another great one. I will try to keep this update breezier than the last one.

First up, Riley.

A note from Mrs. Stucky:

Riley is an absolute joy to have in class! He continues to exceed expectations. An area to improve would be in writing, more specifically the mechanics of it! Comprehension is harder for him but he does a nice job! Keep up the hard work! Mrs. Stucky

She says getting the ideas from his head to the paper, he gets things jumbled and switches which person he is writing in (1st, 2nd etc). He is still on par with the grade level and in his class. His ideas are usually very fun and creative, it's just organizing those thoughts! I can't complain.... I don't know how many writing assignments I actually did without the help of my dad.... who is the writing expert. All of Riley's writing assignments happen at school. He will get there.

His Reading level is T (he should be at Q by this time) so he is ahead of the game. She said comprehension doesn't always come right away, but if he reads it over a couple times, it all clicks. I asked with Reading state assessments coming up, if we should worry and she said no. He actually comprehends great at the grade level, so he will be just fine. This reading level is just pushing him more day to day.

Math is still a strong subject, and he gets his "gifted" math 30 minutes each day too. His gifted teacher says he is doing well! And Spelling is still a strong 100% (which came down from that 101%.... I'll have to get on him for that ;)

Music gave him all 4's, which means he is slightly above grade level in all areas. This concludes Riley. He really is doing well, and I can tell that his teachers really do enjoy him. I'm so glad he will have Mrs. Stucky for another year!

Next up, Reece.

A note from Mrs. Olander:

Reece is a mature, confident learner. He is very helpful and considerate of others. He is very responsible and completes assignments accurately and quickly.

Reece is reading at a level J, in Reading. G/H is what is expected at this time in 1st grade, so he is just above. He has been given above grade level in Reading and Math. He knows how to spell 34 of 35 first grade words. The word "when" gave him trouble.... he spelled it "wen." Silly silent H!

Mrs. Olander has referred to Reece as the "model" student, and she might really have a hard time passing him off to 2nd grade. I just love how much she cares for all of her students, but I think Reece has a special place in her heart.

Reece is really doing well in writing, he really pays attention to capitals and punctuation. Here is a sample of one of his writings when the class was describing themselves.

Reece is getting 3/4's in Music, but Mrs. Olander is amazed that he was given ALL 5's in PE. She has never seen a 1st grader with these high marks. He must really hustle and he is very competitive. With him doing so well in this area, why doesn't he want anything to do with organized sports?? Apparently he is beating up on 5th graders at recess in 4 square.... if only there was an organized 4 square team to join. Haha! I may just have to start signing this kid up in random activities, I feel like it may be a waste of talent if I don't.

Well, I thought this would be shorter, but at least it is documented. I'm so very proud of my boys, and I really look forward to these conferences! Keep up the great work!

Senior Night

My amazing brother, Shawn, treated me to SENIOR NIGHT AT ALLEN FIELDHOUSE!!! Yay!

(Technically, credit should be given to his new in-laws, but Shawn chose me to accompany him!!)

It was amazing.... and to be there for Senior speeches and farewells was even more cool. However, this year's senior's lengthy speeches may bring more strict regulations to future seniors. They were very detailed to put it nicely.

Here are just some of my pictures from the night. I still need a better camera, but it didn't help my camera that we were up at the top. And for your sake, I tried being super selective while uploading these!!!

2008 Championship trophy!
BEAUTIFUL!!

NO, I was not trying to photograph this random man, but the banner above is pretty sweet in the HALL OF FAME!

2008 Championship team above, 1988 below with Danny Manning.

52 minutes until tip off against the Texas Longhorns.

Here is the banner that is already outdated..... 2012 needs added.

Team huddle.... Big Jay and Baby Jay wore tuxes in honor of our Seniors.

Team swaying with the crowd to the Alma Mater.

"Hail to Old KU!"

We were behind the seniors.... here is the back of their framed jerseys to send them off.

Seniors: Tyshawn Taylor, Conner Teahan, Jordan Jeunneman.

Here we go!

We love to ignore those visitors during introductions... and BOO them.

"Believe in the Phog!"

After we won by 10, Bill Self introduced the seniors, but we also got to give junior Thomas Robinson a long standing ovation because we all know this was his last game in AFH too.... Off to the NBA, but he deserves it, and will be taking care of his sister in the process. He might be the ONLY underclassmen, we as fans won't be mad about leaving early. His life circumstances need him there!

LOVE BILL SELF!!

Thanks for the memories!!

(But the post season is just beginning, so make us more of them!!!)

Holding Back

Reece's teacher must be preparing her 1st graders for their big move coming up. They have had the same teacher and classmates for 2 years, looping for Kindergarten and 1st. 2nd grade may come as a bit of a shock for most of them.... the bubble will burst! Several weeks ago, Reece came home to tell me that he was never going to leave 1st grade. When asked why, he simply told me Mrs. Olander would miss him too much! Truthfully, he can stay this age awhile longer if you ask me..... 2nd grade is the age I remember school becoming more serious for Riley. It was actually the ONLY year Riley told me he didn't enjoy. I know Reece will adjust easily, but it will be a big change!

***

I have a feeling the awesome art that comes home from Reece will decrease too.... here are some of his latest!

Patriotic for President's Day!

Can you believe Reece drew these sunflowers? WOW!

Happy belated Kansas Day!

And 3D Kansas Day art too....

Very modern!

Highs and Lows

I can't believe March is here. February was quite the month.... as you can tell from the lack of posts, it wasn't too eventful, however the month brought a crazy roller coaster ride of emotions.

First came the sick loss my Jayhawks lost to their evil rivalry.... the Missouri Tigers. It was a tough loss, only because we were up by 8 with 2 minutes to go..... okay so that was petty, I'm over it.

Second was the big turning of 30. I thought it would be tough, but it really was not! I am at a good place, and a feel good. As the weekend that Jake spoiled me rotten was coming to an end, I get word that a high school teacher, friend, coach and mentor had lost her 13 year battle with cancer. The high came down quick and I cried myself to sleep..... I was so close to Mrs. Poynter, she even had a role in my wedding. She was such an amazing person, who NEVER wanted a single person to pity her or even treat her like she was sick.

I haven't lost many close people in my life, so I don't handle death well. I know her pain is gone, but I hurt for her young children who had their mother robbed from them at the age of 48.

So after celebrating another year in my life, the next day I had to face the loss of the most inspirational person I'd ever known. I had to say goodbye to her, and it still doesn't seem fair. She had a smile that would light an entire room and she never let a single moment go for granted. In her eyes, there was never a better time to do anything than right now. I want to be this way. I want this motivation.

During this same week, Reece came down with a double ear infection!! What? Babies and toddlers get double ear infections..... or so I thought. We can't even remember the last time we had to deal with this, but thankfully, he responded to the meds well, and was back to his normal self in no time.

Continuing on the roller coaster ride.... Jake worked late most of my birthday week. So my neighbor friends, Laura and Casey, made me a surprise dinner. They came over with homemade lasagna, bread, salad and the best part was homemade cheesecake! YUM! Along with some beautiful flowers, that I got to put next to the flowers my coworkers got me. I guess some people find 30 to be a special number. And by the end of the week, I was feeling special!

The very next morning, before Jake was off to work, he came to me and says, "I don't want you to freak out." Well of course I'm expecting the worst, and ready for my roller coaster to come crashing down. He showed me a paper his boss had put together, with jibberish I didn't understand. Turns out, we should be getting an unexpected bonus this year!! You see, this store, Menards, moved in right across the street from Lowe's this year in Salina. In a smaller area, when you have competition move in, your sales will be affected a bit. Well, a bit meant that it was so effected that not a single goal was technically met. Jake's awesome boss (I'm sure his awesomeness changes by the day in Jake's mind ;) went to corporate and told them in the market of Salina, it shouldn't be a big shock that sales were so down from previous years. Corporate finally budged and adjusted the numbers, so much that we will not only get a decent bonus, it will help us do another project on this old house. Yay!! The way Jake's career has gone here in Salina, it really confirmed to me that the move here was best for our family. As much as I miss my Gardner friends, our family's well being is better here. In Johnson county we were working to stay afloat(medical bills didn't help), but here we aren't feeling the same struggles.

Lastly, we got to take on the Tigers again. This game took me up and down and up all over again! It was supposed to be a payback game, and we were at our house. We never lose there. Well, we went down by 19 and the depression hit hard. But wait! Suddenly we were only 3 behind!! Then in the last seconds we tied and went to overtime!! Amazingly.... with every shot seeming to go in, and going back and forth, back and forth in OT, we were the lucky team to be ahead as the clock ran out of time. This game may have taken 10 years off my life. This was a high, for sure, and what made it so much better, my brother invited me to this Saturday's game, which happens to be Senior night! Woo hoo!! As up and down as February was, it definitely ended on a wonderful high!!

Now it's March..... the most amazing month of the year, a month that again will take time off my life. I may need anxiety medicine for future basketball seasons due to my emotional investment, which may or may not be healthy! ;)

Happy March Madness, Everyone!

Freaky Weather

Usually, in February, a picture that looks like this......

...and this....

...may seem pretty typical here in Kansas. Well, these pictures are not showing a snowy day. This is HAIL!

Seriously! Yesterday, after we got home from school, we had a thunderstorm with more hail than rain! It was crazy..... we might expect this closer to spring, but this is not typical winter weather.

**

When I took the above pictures, I had noticed how little action the camera has seen lately. Here is what I found....

The boys making their Valentines.

And the YUMMY Chicken Enchilada Pasta Jake made me!

Just looking at it makes me hungry!!

And that sums up the action on my camera.... sad, I know!!

Which technically sums up our last week. As Reece would say, LAME!

Look Who's 30!!

It's me..... I turned the big 3-0 yesterday. It was a wonderfully, calm day! For years I just envisioned this being a tough number to swallow, and it seems not that long ago, I found peace with it and I truly feel this will be a wonderful year!

For an hour I tried uploading my "gift" from the boys.... they made a personalized video for me. Wishing me happy birthday and promising me they will be extra good on my special day. Which mostly meant no fighting.... little do they know that in my eyes they are the best boys ever! Every day! I think the video was just too long to upload, but it was pretty funny and cute all at the same time!

Unfortunately, Jake had to work late on my day, but he did his best to make last weekend all about me! Cooked for me, took me shopping, what else does a woman need?!!? He really spoiled me, like he always does!

So the pain of growing older is not noticeable... In fact, I'm feeling so blessed to be healthy and happy. It's something so many take advantage of. And each day I see it more and more. Here's to a wonderful year, and hopefully 30 more!

What's New

So this might be a record for the longest I've gone between posts.... and each day I can see my mother's look on her face when she is disappointed that I haven't had any updates. Hehe.... well it bothers me too, but truthfully, my life has done JUST as I had expected it to once the wedding was over.... it calmed down. Considerably. I am border line bored right now.... but I know it won't last, so I am not complaining one bit!

So, while I have been quietly living, I have picked up some new addictions. They are called "Words With Friends" and "Pinterest."

I had purposely held off, on these crazes until I was done working in Wichita. Now I'm obsessed, just as predicted. I got 3 out of 4 of my sisters hooked too! So we now have daily interactions, even though it's just through trying to beat each other at a "Scrabble" like game.... then we have the wonderful web-world of Pinterest! I've already asked myself..... "So when do I get off and actually create what I've pinned on my online pin board?" I haven't come up with an answer to that yet, because it's too hard to get off!!

This was one of my first pins.....

And I just LOVE it!!

Another project we are working on is slowly getting our extra room ready for it to become Riley's room. The queen size bed we have in there, has really eaten up a lot of the space, so the right kind of shelving is important to us! Well this shelf has inspired me to have Jake build the kind of shelves we will need. It won't be exactly like this, but I thought this was fun! And it will got almost to the ceiling, so we will have shelving taken care of. I LOVE having a husband that enjoys having me come up with a new project to do, and he just does it. He really needs projects in his busy bodied self. Can't wait! I told Riley to give us until the summer to have this room ready for him.

**

Then I found this saying..... I need to get this for my "office." I am actually, never a fan of words on walls... but the set up of my house, and where I actually have the boys art on the curtain rod, I could do this! So this may possibly be a project I work on soon. I LOVE my kids art display, and this would be a great finishing touch!

Lastly, I am staring down at the big 3-0!

I am 4 days away..... sadly my husband will be working late most of the week, so he is treating me to my birthday dinner tonight. Usually we need to go out for these days, but I have come across a recipe that I am dying to try.....Chicken Enchilada Pasta. Yum!! And I have the best husband that would instantly make this for me, at my request..... so tonight we will be dining on this!

Now, I may sound a bit crazy, but there is a reason I want this specific recipe so badly. It reminds me of one of my first jobs. I worked at a pasta restaurant called, Semolina International Pasta Restaurant. You hear 'pasta' and think it was Italian, but it was ALL pasta dishes, inspired by cultures and countries from all around the world. It was some of the BEST food I've ever eaten.... and thankfully my active body could handle the carbs at that time. The Chicken Enchilada Pasta was with out a doubt one of the top dishes here, and ANYONE that I worked with would agree. Sadly this franchise was poorly managed, and it went away from Kansas, but I also guarantee anyone who worked here still craves these dishes to this day! So, I hope this dish settles my craving for a while.

So, other than what I've mentioned above, life is pretty easy going right now. I have started working out again, since I do have an abundance of free time again..... also thanks to finding a couple work outs on Pinterest to rotate between. Yay! Reece has been a funny kids, and I'm the bad mother who didn't write these funnies down, so maybe they will come back to me. And Riley is just being his sweet little self and waiting patiently for his own room. It will happen before you know it. They are getting so big, too fast!

**

Before I close out, here is a link to just some of the wedding pictures of Shawn and Kait! Enjoy!