Don't miss anything

I just added a post that I started yesterday so it is before the one with the list, so make sure you read about the parties I had in my classrooms!

56 random thoughts from me

Yep, 56! I used to think that was prettttttttttttty darn old. Used to read that age in the obits and think, "Well, they lived a long, nice life." Huh, not anymore... Soon I will be like my mom who looks at obits and says, "Oh, she was so young, only 77." Age is just a state of mind. So, on that note I am sharing 56 random thoughts with you here. I don't really expect or care if you read them or not, I just want to have them in print for future generations and I enjoy doing this kind of things. And yes, I took the idea from facebook!

And here we go...
1. I like chocolate chip cookie dough much more than the actual cookies.
2. I like my chocolate chip cookies cold, not right out of the oven when the chocolate is still runny.
3. My favorite OT Bible story is The three men in the fiery furnace
4. I have no interest in the super bowl or all the hype unless the Packers are playing
5. I am married to a man who is not afraid to speak his mind especially in the political arena, I like that about him.
6. I want to have a martini or two for my birthday
7. I like the way my dad checked out, quickly, quietly, and not too, too old
8. My wonderful Ohma tried to teach me to sew when I was a teenager, the only thing I made was a tie for a boyfriend
9. I only had one serious boyfriend before John
10. Charlie Shortino is my favorite weatherman, I want to run into him someday
11. I once broke a shekkori (sp) in the Milwaukee Public Museum
12. I almost drown in a lake in Tomahawk when I was three, A pastor saved me
13. I once witnessed a beer filled boot walk right off a table in a bar in Madison
14. I loved taking my kids to museums
15. I always dressed them up when we went to museums
16. John used to get mistaken for Mike Holmgren until Mike got fat and old
17. I want to write a children's book someday
18. I can teach effectively without any lesson plans, I just improvise as I go
19. I love book stores
20. I am looking forward to my birthday weekend with my family in Milwaukee
21. I am very competitive and I am not a gracious loser
22. One of my mottos is, "Breathe in, breathe out, move on."
23. Another motto is "Hope for the best, expect the worst and roll with the punches."
24. I am deathly afraid of snakes.
25. I fell off my bike on the Glacier drumlin trail and had to ride five miles with my sock on my bleeding knee.
26. I have very talented daughters
27. My favorite movies are Gone with the Wind, The Graduate, and Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion
28. I loved math, but didn't care much for english
29. I love gossip and cannot keep a secret for the love of me
30. I used cloth diapers for both girls
31. I hate doing housework
32. I love organizing things
33. I love to scrapbook, but don't think I am very good at it
34. I have a glue problem
35. I went on lots of family vacations as a child, my dad loved to travel
36. I don't have patience for shoes that don't stay tied
37. When you tell the Bible story about Jesus calming the storm, make sure you make a thunderstorm with lights flickering and a drum for thunder
38. I cannot sing
39. I had a second grade teacher who hit kids with a belt called the Brown Uncle
40. I grew up as tomboy with a neighborhood full of boys
41. I never learned to dive and always wanted to learn how
42. I sat at many, many swim meets when the girls were growing up
43,Swim team families are a unique group of people
44.I love my granddaughter, Tizita more than life itself
45. I want to be like my mom when I grow up
46. I am generous to a fault
47. I feel like my niece, Mallory is more like my daughter
48. I love playing wii
49. 5 is my favorite number
50. I believe in God, heaven, and the Bible
51. I want to live on St. George Island someday
52. I was a tennis champion in Watertown when I was fourteen
53. I wore a gym suit in High School
54. I was caught drinking in my college dorm and had to go before the dean
55. I smoked marijuana in college and liked it
56. I am off to have a wonderful birthday today!

Done, done and done....

Hapy Birthday to Me!

Friday morning's class with my gift.

Thurday's afternoon group with all the nice gifts.

My Thursday morning class at the party they had for me.

I don't really care for big birthday celebrations, but there is something about having a birthday with Preschoolers that just makes for such a sweet day. I actually had three parties. One on Thursday morning with that class, one on Thursday afternoon with that class, and one on my actual birthday, Friday with that class. The card that one little girl picked out played Pretty Woman. Her mom apologized for the verse which was not appropriate for a three year old to give to her teacher, but she insisted she wanted that song for me. How sweet is that?
I also love how I can tell my kids that I am 25 and they believe it or I can tell them I am 80 and they believe it or I can tell them I am 56 and they believe it. Age is of no significance to them unless you are turning 5 which is the biggest thrill in their little lives! So, at each party I can be a different age. We ate cake, sang Happy Birthday, played some games, and I opened gifts.
Such a good way to celebrate!
PS An added gift, one of my little guys made me a wii character on his game. Now does it get any better than that?

More Dinosaur fun

Today my afternoon preschoolers pretended to be paleontologists again and went hunting for dinosaur bones. One of my students had brought in a 3-D puzzle with 50 pieces so I thought it would be fun to hide the pieces and then go on a hunt for them After the hunt I figured we would work together to put the tyrannosaurus rex together. Well, that was the most complicated thing I have ever tried to put together. One of the kids acutally said, " I think we need to call a real paleontologist for this project." It is rather difficult to hold the attention of ten kids while I am struggling with reading directions and trying to fit pieces together even though I tried to involve them and kept reminding them how difficult this would be with real bones in a real museum. Finally I put my aide on the case while I did another activity with the kids. She did manage to get the thing together but it never stood on its own. It seemed there was a problem with the leg and foot, it may have been backwards. I snapped a quick picture with the proud kids. Our dinosaur unit will be over this week, but I think the kids have learned a lot about dinosaurs and had fun while learning.

Does it get any better than a Tizu filled weekend?

We started our long weekend with a visit to Calvin, Jacob, and Meghan's house for some playtime. We had a great time even if our faces don't show it here!

Tizu really wants Grandma to crawl through the chair, but I didn't want to get stuck!

Tizu enjoyed helping Mallory crawl through the chair. Mallory fit better than Grandma did!

Enjoying an apple.

Tizu created some masterpieces for all of us.

Grandma, Tizu, and Gigi working on changing Mimi's diaper.

Grandpa shared his brownies with Tizu for breakfast.

Tizu and Gigi enjoyed many special bonding moments this weekend. What a lucky lady to have such a loving Great Grandma.

Cousin It (otherwise known as Gary) showed up for a visit! Tizu enjoyed pulling Alissa's hair in front of her face! We say she never looked better. Alissa is growing her hair for locks of love and it is really getting out of control long!

Some fun times with Mallory's sunglasses just before Tizu had to head home to Oshkosh.

We had such a fun weekend when Courtney, Paul, Tizu, and Alissa came to visit. Courtney and Tizu arrived on Friday morning. We started with a fun visit to see the twins and Meghan. Tizu enjoyed playing with all the different toys especially the trucks and she loved throwing things with the boys!
After pizza for supper, Alissa and Courtney left for Madison where Paul's band was playing. John and I got to watch Tizita again! We read books, did some playing, and then I was able to get her sleep very easily. She slept through the night, another success!
On Saturday, Courtney and Alissa went shopping with their cousin Mallory who just got her license and a cadillac. How funny that Mal has the best car of the three of them! They enjoyed some great bonding time. John and I watched Tizu again and this time I was not successful in getting her to nap, but she napped on the way to Madison where she and Courtney went to pick up Paul and bring him back here. While they were gone Mallory, Alissa, and I played some cooking mama wii and got ourselves into such a goofy mood. We were laughing about anything and everything. It was a great afternoon.
Saturday evening we all settled in for Miss America. We all picked our favorites and watched it unfold. No one had picked Miss Indiana however so we had no big winner.
After the pageant Courtney asked if we would babysit yet again while she, Alissa, and Paul went out in Watertown. I guess we had done such a great job the night before. This time Tizu was already sleeping so it was a piece of cake for us.
On Sunday we all went to church and enjoyed lunch together before everyone left for home.

Everytime we spend time with our precious Tizita we marvel at this sweet little girl that has joined our family. She is adjusting so well to her new life here with all of us. We see her becoming more comfortable with our house and with all of us each time she visits. It is just such a joy to have her as part of our lives and I hardly remember a time she wasn't here with us. As I lay beside her watching her fall asleep I just say a prayer of thanks to God for bringing us together and I think of where she has come from and what she left behind. It is nothing short of a miracle that we ended up with her! A match made in heaven.

A letter from Jenna and Barbara

I just heard Jenna and Barbara Bush reading the letter of advice they wrote to Sasha and Malia Obama. I have always liked the Bush family. I liked the way they raised their daughters. I liked the way George and Laura treated each other. I liked listening to him speak because I always thought he was just doing the best he could. I liked to think that our family would have been very comfortable going out for a night with the Bush family. They were a real family to me. A nice, American family. I am not very political, but I was moved by the letter that these two women wrote to the new children living in the White House. It was full of very good advice and happy memories. It was about holding on to your identity in such a public arena. It reminded the Obama girls to never forget who they were before they lived in the White House and to hold tight to the love in their family especially when things get rough and they will get rough for them, too. I don't know how this new family will fill the White House. I hope they follow the advice of Jenna and Barbara and things go well for them. It is always difficult for young children to be thrown into the spotlight like this. I wish them the best! Thanks Jenna and Barbara for sharing your wisdom and God Bless your family as well as the Obama family.

What is it about Preschoolers and Dinosaurs?

Autumn carefully wrapped the fossils and dinosaur bones for shipment to a museum.

Andrew brushes the fossils until they are clean.

Emma takes important notes on the location of the finds. Notice she has her compass next to her. Andrew is in the background studying the map of Illinois for dinosaur dig areas.

Digging for fossils and dinosaur bones.

This week we started a unit on dinosaurs. This is always one of the most popular themes with Preschoolers. I think it is because the dinosaur names are so much fun to say and they are so big. Yesterday and today we talked about Paleontologists, fossils, and dinosaur digs. We pack up a backpack with all the things we will need on our dinosaur dig and then we role play the entire expedition. We make fossil necklaces out of my homemade hardening clay and little dinosaurs. I put sand in the our sensory table along with lots of fossils, teeth, bones, and shells for them to dig up and discover. Today my afternoon class of ten students spent their free time role playing the whole dinosaur dig thing again all on their own. It was so much fun to watch them working through all the different steps we had talked about the day before. I had used a map of Illinois as our map. (I just told them that it showed dinosaur dig areas) Such is the beauty of children who cannot read yet! Today they would unfold that Illinois map and show one another where they had to travel to dig up fossils and bones. Some of them cleaned the fossils with little brushes while others wrapped the fossils in tissue paper and put them into boxes to take to the museum. Still others studied the treasures with magnifying glasses. It was all too funny! Just when you think they aren't listening to anything I tell them, they surprise me by reenacting the entire lesson. Way to go kids!

Happy Belated Brithday Alissa!

Yesterday we went into Milwaukee to celebrate Alissa's belated birthday with her. My mom, Kev, and Mal also came along. We started out at Riverfront Pizza for lunch-always a tasty choice. We had a table with a view of the Milwaukee River where we spotted a tugboat named the Leona B. We think if must have been a sign that my grandma, Leona Bertha Kohlhoff was making an appearance at the party to wish Alissa a Happy Birthday! After lunch the guys headed to the Irish Pub for cigars and beers while the ladies did some shopping in the Third Ward. It is always fun to look at all the unique, fun items in the shops. Mal bought a bag with artwork on it created by an artist in New York while the rest of us bought chocolates. We went back over to Alissa and Nathan's for a few more beers and some serious wii Cooking Mama. Mal cooked up some wonderful creations. We had cake and opened presents. Headed home after a fun filled day. Alissa always does such a nice job of planning these outings for us. Happy Belated Alissa!

One dead deer later...

Last night we went out with our friends, Debbie and Pete. It had been way too long since we had last spent a fun night out with them. We let them pick the place to eat since they always find very quaint, out of the way places where John and I would never think of going. You see, John and I rarely if ever step out of our comfort zone while Pete and Debbie thrive on discovering new places and having new experiences. Last night we went over to the Fox and Hounds near Holy Hill. I hadn't been there since high school so I was excited to see how it had changed. We had a great fish fry, the kind that only Wisconsin knows how to prepare and serve, some drinks, and lots of good conversation.
On the drive home we hit a deer with Pete and Debbie's brand spanking new Volkswagon Taurengo SUV with only 2500 miles on it. The deer was dead, the car was hurt, (whole front cowl and grill smashed) and we had to sit in the car for a half hour waiting for a deputy to come and write up a report for insurance purposes. Apparently our big county of Dodge has only a few patrol cars out and about and he had to come over from a town way on the other end of the county. When he arrived he looked all of sixteen. He apologized for taking so long and asked if we wanted the deer. Well, NO! Report was written and we headed home.
It is always an exciting time with Pete and Debbie no matter what we do. They sure know how to make a night memorable.

Happy Birthday Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Yesterday I did a lesson on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with my four year old Preschool class. (I didn't even attempt it with my threes since they can't grasp the whole concept of time lines and would get all confused with Bible story characters and Dr. Martin Luther King)
Anyway my first job is to get them to understand that this is not Martin Luther who nailed the 95 theses to the door and started our Lutheran churches, but rather a black man who lived hundreds of years later who was in no way related to Martin Luther. Second concept is that black people actually have various shades of brown skin and are not really black. I used the word brown when talking about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as opposed to black. Actually when I showed them the first picture I had, they answered my skin color question with orange! The picture gave him an orangish tinge. Okay, on to the actual story.
I have a very nice biography that tells his story in simple terms for little ones. They gasped in unbelief when we read about white only playgrounds, bathrooms, and bubblers. We had a lively discussion about how that would make them feel, etc. and then of course, how instrumental Dr. King was in changing things. They again felt so badly when they heard how he was shot. One little girl said, "I want to cry when I hear all of this." They also talked about how they want to give him a big hug when they meet him in heaven. Wow, I think, I am really getting through to these little guys. So I press on and tell them how far we have come to be having a brown president. Oh boy did I ever get discussion here! My students come primarily from conservative families and they were not afraid to let me know that this new brown president killed babies. One little girl further tried to explain that he doesn't really kill the babies but allows the mothers to decide if they want to kill their babies. Oh brother, this is pretty intense for four year olds. I merely wanted them to understand how far our country has come to have elected a brown president who as a child probably couldn't even play on some playgrounds here in our country, but they couldn't get past the issues. They weren't being racial at all, they wouldn't have wanted any president (white, black, or orange) who killed babies at this point! They continued to say that they wanted the white haired grandpa to be president. I told them that God had control of the situation and we had to show this new president respect. They settled down some and I tried to get them back on track. I think we ended our lesson on a good note. I think they walked away knowing what a great man Dr. King was and how much he changed our views of brown people. They asked to sing Happy Birthday to him so we did.
On a side note, they sure do love to say the name Barack Obama, it just rolls off their little tongues. At least they can say lots of prayers for him by using his name, he will need all of our prayers!

Welcome to the deep freeze that is winter in Wisconsin

No school tomorrow due to the bitter cold temps! Now in the olden days when I had to walk to school three miles uphill each way they didn't close schools due to cold. Maybe if a water pipe broke or the boiler wasn't up and running we were granted a snow, cold day. Even on snow days, the city kids were expected to get to school while the country kids could stay home. Now days that would be considered some type of discrimination and someone would probably sue over it. However I am not complaining at this point but rather I am looking forward to a nice day at home tomorrow with perhaps a little wii with Mallory. Personally I don't know if there is much difference between ten below and thirty below zero, it all feels way too cold to me, but there must be that magic number where schools close. I have heard that we haven't been this cold since 1994 when Alissa was in 8th grade and Courtney a sophomore in High School. Wow, does that ever seem like a long time ago! At any rate, we survived that cold spell and God willing we will survive this one, too. Enjoy your day off if you are fortunate enough to have one tomorrow. And I agree with my husband when he says, "Thank goodness for global warming!"

The Babysitting adventure was successful!

This is the happy smile we saw all night long!

We practiced our cutting skills because Grandma says I need to know how to cut before I start Preschool.

We had fun playing with beans in the sensory table from Alissa and Nathan.

"Oh-Oh, I just dropped a bunch of beans on the floor!"

Grandpa got his share of nice hugs.

We went up and down the stairs a few times.

Enjoying our Rocky Roccoco pizza for dinner. We put Tizita on this box so she could eat at the table with us. Usually she sits at her little table. She can really put away the pizza!

Tizita played some peeka boo with Grandpa.

We gave her a bath before bedtime. No problems there.

Here she is all lotioned up and ready for bed. She looks just a bit confused about how this is all going to play out. I did end up rocking her to sleep instead of laying with her. She kept making me laugh when I tried to lay down with her. She was sleeping soundly by 9:00 and slept the entire night.
John and I passed our first grandparent babysitting assignment with flying colors! We hope we will have many, many more opportunities to stay with this lovely lady.

Officially babysitting for the first time!

I can hardly contain my excitement! Tomorrow night John and I will be babysitting for Tizita for the first time. Technically we did stay with her one Saturday while Alissa, Courtney, and Paul went our for a few beers, but she was asleep and they returned home before she even had a chance to stir, but this time we will get to be with her from 5:00 on! Courtney and Paul will be making their way to spend time with some friends and celebrate a birthday. At first they wanted us to come along and watch Tizzy at the party, but I think I convinced her that we can be trusted to watch our granddaughter without doing too much damage in the process. I know that Courtney is worried about bedtime, but if Tizita doesn't go down happily for us we will just keep her up and play. Problem solved! We will be heading up to Oshkosh tomorrow morning. I am bringing along some shaving cream and glue mixture that is so much fun to fingerpaint with. I used it with my Preschoolers today and they had a ball. Most of their nice snowmen turned into a blizzard scene by the time they were finished. Definitely process as opposed to project which is good for one's creativity. I am also bringing my bingo dabber painters along to see how she likes painting with them. This is the longest stretch that John and I have not seen our Tizita so we are anxious to see how she has changed. We haven't seen her since Christmas Day-16 days, but who is counting? It should be a very nice weekend. Bring it on...

Where were you 29 years ago today?

Twenty nine years ago today, I was having my second baby. Alissa Marie Damman entered our world at 6:50 A. M. just twenty minutes after arriving at the Hospital. If you have followed my blog, you will remember that she was born before the Doctor arrived and there were no other doctors in that crazy, quack hospital. She had so much hair, I think she broke some kind of hair record. She weighed just over 8 lbs. Today as I celebrate her, I want to thank her for 29 years of great memories and good times. So, Happy Birthday, Alissa! Have a great day.
(If you would like to read more about Alissa, go to the post from Dec. 4)

"Not Me! Monday"

I absolutely did not try to get into a silver Nissan Rogue thinking it was John's silver Kia Rio yesterday at the video store. I didn't actually have my hand on the door handle opening it, not me, I would never get vehicles mixed up!
I did not just pray that schools would be closed for one more day of vacation today. Not me, I am so excited to get back to my preschoolers I would never pray for a snow day!
I certainly did not sit with my husband's chocolate chip birthday cake and eat a bunch of it right out of the pan with a big glass of milk. I always cut a small piece so I have control of my portions.
I did not spend three hours playing wii mario brothers circus games with Mallory yesterday afternoon. I would never waste my time in such a way as that.

There you have it, my "Not Me, Monday" post. Now I have to get ready for school and I am so excited to jump right into that! Just a few games of tetris before I get ready!
Have a great Monday everyone!

Happy Birthday John! 54 years and counting!

John's birthday is Sunday, January 4. I have celebrated at least 35 of John's birthdays with him. Sometimes the celebrations are bigger including family members, sometimes it has been a small celebration with just John and I . No matter what the festivities there is always a cake, usually german chocolate and presents. One year my mom made him a pink angel food which he has never let her forget. This year it will be white cake with chocolate chips and chocolate frosting per his request. There will be chicken gumbo barbeque and a goodie box from my mom.
I wanted to take a few minutes here to document 54 reasons why I love John so much, why I am glad I married him, and why I wish him a wonderful, happy birthday!
1. He knows just how to order my hamburgers with pickles only
2. He lets me lie diagonally in our bed with my legs all over the place
3. He is a kind and gentle bear of a grandpa to Tizita
4. He takes me places like Dave and Buster's even though that is not his cup of tea
5. He runs to the store for me whenever I don't feel like going out
6. He tells me I look good in whatever I am wearing
7. He still has a good looking ass (that is what attracted me to him in the first place)
8. Layoffs do not get him down for long
9. I love his hairless chest and his hair full head
10. He and I love to be "bitter" together
11. He washes a car like a pro
12. He always cuts the lawn and has never made me feel guilty for not doing it
13. He appreciates my shoveling even though it is not up to his standards
14. He drives me and my mom wherever we need to go without complaint
15. He loves hanging out with Mallory and doing things with her
16. He has strong political views and is not afraid to express them
17. He does not philosophize
18. He is always encouraging me to buy new stuff and spend money
19. He puts up Christmas decorations with perfection
20. He wraps lights up so I can actually get them unwrapped the next year
21. He does all the heavy lifting
22. He loves his daughters
23. He takes time to blog and share his ideas and beliefs with anyone willing to visit his blog
24. He appreciates having a job and doesn't ever complain about the commutes
25. He shops with me and acts as if he enjoys it
26. He has a short fuse, but it goes out as quickly has it flames up
27. He worries with me when there is a legitimate reason to worry
28. He makes me laugh
29. He loves his Packers with a passion
30. He is calm in stressful times
31. He is happiest in his basement
32. He does all the calling for credit cards, billing questions, etc and makes the exchanges
33. He knows who to call when something is broken, he knows not to attempt to fix it himself
34. He calls charter when I need help with the computer
35. He grills a mean steak
36. He prays
37. He enjoys biking and exploring new trails with me
38. He loves St. George Island just as much as I do
39. He doesn't spend time worrying about money for the future
40. He believes in God
41. He is going to heaven
42. He looks as good now as when I met him-the years have been kind to him
43. He tells me where the icy spots are on our walks
44. He supports me in my career choices
45. He lets me work part time and for little money because it is what I want to do
46. He doesn't swear
47. He dislikes New Year's Eve every bit as much as I do
48. He agreed to move in to my childhood home with my mother (close to sainthood as one gets)
49. He is my eyes when it is too dark for me to see
50. He appreciates a swim up bar as much as I do
51. He hugs tightly when I am scared or stressed
52. He is the best heating blanket ever
53. He always puts family first
54. He is my best friend ever!

Happy Birthday John!