More sprng break fun!

It is Thursday of my spring break and as it always happens to me, the whole week is going by way too quickly. I am notorious for saying, "Now it is almost over," on Wednesday of our vacation weeks. The first few days always go nice and slowly and I say, "Wow, the time is going so nice and slowly," then by Wednesday morning I change my tune and the rest of the week is downhill and always goes by so quickly. And so it is with my spring break... Even if it is going by so quickly, it has been packed with fun times which I will share with you now. After the fun time at the museum with Lynne and company (see previous post), we went out to Fratello's for dinner. The food was very yummy as were the beers. The tablecloths are butcher paper and they give you crayons, so we had some fun drawing things as we waited for our food.

Grandpa put Tizita to bed on Saturday night after our dinner so Courtney and I could go out for a few glasses of wine and some nice conversation. It was the perfect way to toast my spring break. When we got home Tiz was asleep and Grandpa was watching a horror movie on retro TV about some sea monsters. Of course, Courtney and I were talking too loudly so he had to turn the TV up so as not to miss any of the important dialog of that suspenseful movie.

Early the next morning Tizita was up and doing crafts with Grandpa while Courtney needled and I organized. John was headed home that day so he had to pack in a lot of playing before he left.

After Grandpa left, Tizita and I took a spin on her little car. The hardwood floors in the Van Auken house make for some smooth, fast driving. We did bump into a few walls and we had a few crashes along the way, but nothing too serious.

Tizita and I spent about two hours up in her playroom. We played a lot of school, of course, she is the teacher while I am the student. She can be tough at times. Wonder where she gets that from? After a yummy dinner Tiz went to bed and Paul, Courtney, and I relaxed and watched TV. Since they don't watch much TV I had to bring them up to speed on The Amazing Race and Celebrity Apprentice.

On Monday, Tiz and Paul went to school while I finished up the cleaning and organizing and Courtney did some more "needling." We picked Tiz up from school and had another full afternoon of play. We made some brownies with the Easy Bake oven. Somehow the two of us managed to get more dough on the table than in the pan.

As you can tell, the brownies were yummy. We had Courtney's favorite hot dish for supper and after Tiz was asleep we had a few beers and watched Due Date which I highly reccommend for a good laugh.

We were up with the chickens on Tuesday, my last day in Oshkosh. As Tiz said, "We did not want to waste any of the daylight," and we didn't! We started with major crafting. Numerous projects were assembled. We painted, glued, colored, markered, and cut.

We went out for some shopping. At Hobby Lobby, Courtney had to ask me and Tiz to stop touching everything after we knocked a few items down, no breakage though. We had lunch at the New Moon, shopped at the Library book sale, and before we knew it, it was time for me to leave.

One of the highlights of the organizing binge I was on, was finding Courtney and Alissa's and possibly a few of Mallory's old Barbies along with a bunch of Barbie clothes. Tizita had such fun washing their hair, giving them baths, and then putting them out to dry.

The next day we styled all their hair and dressed them to the nines. I hope Tizita will enjoy playing with these dolls as much as her mom and sister did.

So that is how I got to Thursday of my spring break. I did enjoy a dinner at Applebee's with my good friend, Pam last night. We had to take some time to catch up on one another's lives and that we did. Today I have been doing a lot of nothing which has been nice, too. Tomorrow mom and I will go out to lunch with Mallory and do some shopping and then it will be the weekend, just like any other weekend and this spring break will be history! It will go down in the the history books or at least in this blog as a memorable, fun week.

Beginning my spring break with a visit to the museum with Lynne and company

My spring break began on Friday at 3:00. It could not have come any sooner. I needed the break and it began with another fun visit to the Appleton Children's Museum with Lynne, Melissa, Meghan, the boys, Courtney, and Tizita. We began our day with a lunch of hot dogs at the 1910 Hot Dog Company in Appleton. We had planned to eat at a restaurant in the museum mall. On our last visit we had all enjoyed chocolate chip pancakes, but as soon as we walked into that restaurant we could tell by the smell that it no longer was serving pancakes, but had gone Greek on us. Since none of the kids or me were interested in gyros, we went in search of alternative dining. We found the 1910 Hot Dog Company where we enjoyed some very yummy hot dogs. The kids enjoyed the decor and we all appreciated that it was very kid friendly. On to the museum. Tizita had to show everyone how the money machine worked.

The boys flew the plane while their two passengers buckled themselves in and got ready for the flight. Not sure where they were headed, but they sure had fun.

Oh no, Air Traffic Controller asleep at the controls as the plane tries to land! And yes, this really did happen at the airport in Washington D.C.

Meghan and Tizita enjoyed creating things at the Davinci Studio. Both of the girls used more than their share of glitter in their masterpieces.

Checking out Africa on the big globe.

Shopping in the Japenese store was fun for everyone.

We took a ride on the cat bus in the Japenese area, too.

Tizita is dressed in her kimono and ready to serve us some tea.

And finally, here we are in the famous lady chair. We took a picture here the last time we visited the museum together in Nov. of 2009. I am going to try and post the link here. http://sherri-damman.blogspot.com/2009/11/trip-to-children.html
I am having trouble making it possible to you to get to this link by clicking on it. If you want to see the last trip just go to older posts. We went in Nov. 2009. It is fun to compare the pictures.

It was a most enjoyable day for all of us. I have missed spending time with my good friend, Lynne and her grandkids. ( Melissa, too, of course) Life seemed to get in the way for all of us. I am hoping to see much more of them this summer. Thanks, Lynne and company for a great day.

Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em

Well, actually we could live without them, I suppose, but it would make life quite complicated and who needs that?
Oh, wait a minute, maybe I should tell you what I am referring to here. I am talking about CARS! When it rains around these parts with car repairs it pours.

First, our trusty 1998 Taurus wagon. That car has been our friend, so when it was not feeling so good on our return trip from Florida two summers ago, we got a small fix done, knowing full well we would have to put out some big bucks to fix the major problems that were bothering her. This January I had finally saved up a good amount of money in my "car" envelope, so we used that $500.00 plus to pay for a repair on her. Happy to report she is running like a charm and will be making her 14th trip to St. George this June.

Now on the the Kia, can't remember why John chose a Kia or why we thought it was a good purchase at the time. Everything about a Kia is expensive to fix. About a month ago, it cost us over $300.00 to fix the ignition which no longer worked. How is it that a 1998 Ford, the one mentioned above, has never had a problem with the ignition and this newer, not yet paid for car, has the ignition just break? Plus we have a maintenance plan on this Kia, but of course, it never covers the problems we have with the car. I mean, why would it?

Well, about three weeks ago, John mentioned that something on the Kia was not sounding quite right. He thought it had to do with the tires, which, by the by, are very expensive and cannot just be purchased at Walmart. Of course, he mentions this on a Saturday, so we have to decide who can look at it on a Saturday. He took it to Tires Plus or some such tire place and they looked at it and assured him it would run and there was nothing terribly wrong, but some new back tires were needed. So, last Sunday John mentions that it is not sounding right at all. Great, now it is a Sunday and there is no one to fix anything on a Sunday, so I have been driving the Kia while he takes the Taurus. I am thankful the wheels did not fall off!

Finally, today Jeff, our trusted mechanic was able to pick up the car. The news is not good. Four new tires needed and who knows what else, all to the tune of $700.00 or maybe more. Yikes!

We are graduates of the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University, so we do have envelopes stuffed with emergency money hidden away. It about kills me to take $700.00 out of one of my envelopes, but that is what an emergency fund is all about and just as I saved this amount, I can do it again and I will, just in time for our trip to St. George!

So, I guess it always could be then again as bad, right?

And I am not even going to go into the fact that we owe the federal government $1200.00. How does an unemployed man (for six months of last year) and his wife (me) who works for peanuts possibly owe that much money? Something is very wrong here. But that is a post for another day.

The Appleton Children's Museum Revisited

On Saturday, John and I took Tizita to the Children's Museum in Appleton. The last time we had visited this museum with Tizita was two years ago on one of our first solo outings with her. We had a wonderful, fun filled day at the museum yesterday and as I recall, we had a great time on our visit two years ago, too. If you have a minute please visit the link below and check out that visit from two years ago and see how much our little lady has changed and grown in two short years!
One big difference we noticed was that two years ago, John and I had to guide Tiz around and really show her how to use the different activities while this time around, she was our tour guide and showed us just where we should go and what we should do when we got there. Here we are ready to leave for our adventure. We took a picture in the same spot two years ago as we were ready to leave on that outing.

Tiz and I sat in the big lady reading chair just like we did on our first visit.

Tizita enjoyed her time in the Da Vinci Art Studio where kids can use all kinds of art materials to create many masterpieces. Tizita painted about a dozen pictures, made a glitter picture, and created some silly putty. Tiz would have spent the majority of her day right here in this area, but we had to move on to bigger and better things.

She stopped to check out the water area, but didn't spend much time there. As I recall, on our last visit, she really liked this area, although the raincoats were much too big for her at that time.

She drove the firetruck again.

And we finished our visit with Tiz piloting our plane to Ethiopia. I don't think we even saw the airplane on our last visit and if we did, it was not memorable.

There was a boy, who was about 11 or so, in the other pilot seat in the cockpit. The screen in front of her was broken, but she was watching the screen in front of the boy. When it was time for Tiz to move on and let another waiting child fly, I told her we had landed safely in Ethiopia and it was time to go. The boy next to her said, "Her stuff is broken, I was flying the plane!" Luckily that went right over Tiz's head so she didn't feel sad about it, but rude comments like that were evident all over the museum that day. I wanted to say to him, "Dude, this is a fake plane in case you didn't notice and no one is flying it anywhere!"

It started with a boy taking all her groceries in the Kwik Trip, a girl pulled her out of the seat in the firetruck, and no one would share a truck with her in the construction area. Tiz does normally not allow people to push her around, but what could she do. And there was not a parent in sight to help these obnoxious children learn some manners and proper behavior in social situations.

I see this trend in Preschool, too. Over my 25 years of teaching, I have watched a tranformation in students' behavior. Parents are too afraid to be parents, I think!

Despite the rude behavior, we did have a wonderful day.

After the museum, we brought Tizita home to Watertown for a sleepover.

Details of that exciting night will follow in a post in a few days.

Please take a minute to check out the link below and see the museum trip from two year ago:

http://sherri-damman.blogspot.com/2009/03/recap-of-our-day-at-museum.html

Bring on the weekend!

I mentally checked out of my classroom sometime around one today. It is Friday and it has been a long week. We have one more week before Spring break and the weather is finally taking a turn toward spring, all this added to my decision to just go through the motions. My afternoon class is quite capable of entertaining themselves and actually they can teach themselves, too. They are fifteen of the most "know it all" Preschoolers I have ever run into, so I didn't feel even a twinge of guilt about this afternoon.

I actually got a lot accomplished. I put up a new Easter display out in the hall with some really cute Easter eggs that the kids made today, I changed our airplane into a boat for next week, I emptied all the beans out of the sensory table and got it ready for next week's water fun. The kids kept busy with all the transportation activities that were out for this month. We ended our afternoon with a late, long snack and then the weekend began.

Tomorrow we are heading up to Oshkosh to get Tizita and take her to the children's museum in Appleton. The last time John and I took her to that museum was two years ago. It will be fun to see how much more involved she will be in all the activities this time around. I expect she will control the agenda and tell us just what we need to do. After the museum we are heading back to Watertown for a sleepover. Alissa is coming out to join us which will make it lots of fun. Tiz loves to play with her friend, Alissa. It should be a great weekend indeed. Bring it on. I am ready!

There is good news and there is bad news...

It is transportation month at Preschool. There is nothing more exciting to a preschooler than trains, planes, and automobiles, not to mention trucks and boats, too. (Well, unless of course, it is dinosaurs!) John and I made an airplane for the kids out of some boxes. We found some great accessories at Goodwill to use as a steering device and a throttle type thing as well as some walkie talkies. The flight is just taking off here. So far, so good.

Looks like things are going very well at this point of their flight. The passengers are buckled in properly and the flight attendants are waiting patiently to begin the meal. But, then again, look at the pilots, maybe all is not well after all. They seem to be discussing something up there.

Here you see the pilot that is making an important announcement at the microphone. Here is exactly what the pilot said, "There is good news and bad news. The good news is that we will be landing immediately, the bad news is that we are crashing!"

Oh, the joys of teaching preschoolers! Where do they come up with this stuff?

Tiz and Ava

Today Tizita came to my afternoon Preschool class instead of my morning class as usual. Today she made a new friend. This is Ava and Ava is Tizita's new friend. And of course, you all know Tizita.

First Ava and Tizita dressed up in tutus and built some pipelines together.

They pretended to be going to ballet class here.

Here they are just hanging out and being friends.

And here Ava and Tizita are holding hands and playing together in the gym.

I just love watching Preschool friendships grow. Tizita and Ava will probably not be together in class again for quite awhile, but I think both of them will remember the sweet friendship they shared today.

Since the Ethiopian adoptions are on hold, I am not sure what God has in His perfect plans for our next grandchild. Maybe he/she is not going to come to us from Ethiopia, but I am confident there is another grandchild in our future so I will continue to wait and pray for him/her.

Just experimenting

http://sherri-damman.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html

This was just an experiment. I have been trying to figure out how to bring former posts to my new post. Thanks to Courtney, I can now do it. Technologically challenged but learning.

Missing the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Today we woke up to lots of wet snow.
Today I am missing the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Today I am missing hanging out at Mal's pool
Today I want summer

Prayers needed

Our hearts are heavy today and I feel shaken to the core as this news has come out. I am not sure how this will affect the grandchild that is in our hearts already and waiting to come home, but our prayer is that God has a plan and is in charge. As I stated a few posts ago, international adoption can change at the drop of a hat and now we are in the midst of it.

I apologize, this is long, but if you feel so inclined take a read and take a stand of us.


Last week the Ethiopian Ministry of Women's, Children's and Youth Affairs announced their
intention to reduce intercountry adoptions by 90% beginning March 10, 2011. The Ministry’s plan for a dramatic reduction is apparently based on two primary issues;
1) the assumption that corruption in intercountry adoption is systemic and rampant and 2) the Ministry’s resources should be focused on the children for whom intercountry adoption is not an option. Without further announcements by the Government of Ethiopia, it is our understanding that the Ministry’s plan will be initiated this week.The Ministry’s plan is a tragic, unnecessary and disproportionate reaction to concerns of isolated abuses in the adoption process and fails to reflect the overwhelmingly positive, ethical and legal services provided to children and families through intercountry adoption. Rather than eliminate the right of Ethiopian children to a permanent family, we encourage the Ministry to accept the partnerships offered by governments, NGOs, and foundations. Such partnerships could increase the Ministry’s capacity to regulate service providers and further ensure ethical adoptions.The Ministry’s plan, which calls for the processing of only five adoption cases per work day, will result not only in systemic and lasting damage to a large sector of social services, but will have an immediate impact on the lives and futures of children. Moving from over 4,000 adoptions per year to less than 500 will result in thousands of children languishing in under-regulated and poorly resourced institutions for years. For those children who are currently institutionalized and legally available for adoption, the Ministry’s plan will increase their time languishing in institutions for up to 7-years.Joint Council respectfully urges the Ministry of Women’s, Children’s and Youth Affairs to reconsider their plan and to partner with governments, NGOs and foundations to achieve their goals and avoid the coming tragedy for children and families. There are many things you can do. The JCICS released today a Call to Action (again I copied and pasted from their post)March 8, 2011Joint Council: Emergency Campaign for Ethiopian ChildrenWhat You Can Do:
1) Sign the petition to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi – and pass it on!

2) Have you adopted from Ethiopia? Please send us up to 3 photos and 50 words or less with what you would like the Ministry to know about your child – we’ll compile the information and send a book to the Ministry of Woman’s Affairs. Send your photos and stories to advocate@jointcouncil.org by Sunday, March 12, 2011 to be included. Please note that sending photos and stories gives Joint Council unrestricted right to use the information you provide.

3) Share…Please send this Call to Action to family members, other adoptive parents, and everyone you know! Post, forward and share your adoption stories via Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. Make sure you include us in your posts so we can all hear your stories! Here’s links to our pages: Facebook, Twitter and our our blog.

4) Stay informed: Get up-to-date information regarding the situation in Ethiopia by signing up to receive information from us: click here to do so, make sure you choose “country and issues specific information” and “Ethiopia.” And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and our our blog.

5) Help ensure our advocacy can continue: Joint Council is a non-profit and receives no government funding. Please join us in ensuring more children live in safe, permanent and loving families. Donate today!
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And if you made it this far, you deserve a reward!

Thank you for reading and please say a prayer for Courtney, Paul, Tizita and all the rest of our family. Please ask God to grant us peace and patience and the abitlity to put it all in His hands.

Happy Fat Tuesday and other ramblings

No, I don't celebrate Fat Tuesday or give anything up for Lent, but just wanted to wish you a Happy Fat Tuesday in case you do celebrate. I understand the concept of giving things up for Lent, but reflecting on the sufferings and death of Jesus for our sins is enough for me at this time of the year. Although giving up chocolate would be a true suffering for me.

John and I went to Brookfield Square on Saturday. I wanted to try and find a swimming suit for our upcoming trip to St. George. I already own a good number of suits, but they are all old and showing their wear. It is hard for me to throw out a swimming suit that has served me well and that fits my body in a pleasing way, but it is time. Maybe I should give up some old swimming suits for Lent.
Anyway I went into this shopping trip fully knowing that it was going to be rather traumatic, after all there is nothing pretty about trying on swimming suits. I took about eight suits in with me. All of them looked really nice on a hanger and I thought I could envision them on my body, but alas it wasn't until I got to the last one that I felt I could actually go out in public in the suit. I did purchase the last suit and another tankini top to go with some shorts that I already have here at home, so I felt good and did have a successful shopping trip.
The beauty of St. George is that I never feel out of place wearing a swim suit all day long, it is just that kind of a place. No muss, no fuss just lots of people of all shapes and sizes in swimwear. June cannot come too soon for me!

We did get a fantastic deal at Sears. Unusual for us, we seldom fall into deals. John had forgotten the Sears charge, but since the swim skirt cover up I had found was only $14.99 we figured we could use cash. The cashier asked us if we wanted to apply for a charge card, told her we had one, she said it didn't matter and if we applied the skirt would cost us 74 cents. First, John and I protest, because if it sounds too good to be true..., but she insists and we take the two minutes to answer a few questions and we pay for the skirt with three quarters and get a penny back to boot. Not a bad deal even for us!

So, all in all a great day of shopping. Top it off with a pizza and pitcher of beer at Marty's and you have the ending to a perfect day.

Enjoy your Fat Tuesday in whatever way you choose to do that and Blessings to those of you who give something up for Lent. I am going to throw out those old suits now.

Waiting, Wishing, Wrapping up a fine week

A bit of "W" alliteration for today's post.

Waiting - Still waiting patiently for word on our next grandchild. Courtney posted on FB a few days ago that she and Paul are on month 20 of their paper pregnancy! These paper pregnancies certainly try one's patience much more than having a baby the physical way. Even my going three weeks past the due date with Alissa doesn't seem all that bad comparatively.

Wishing - Just wishing the wait would be shorter rather than longer.

Wondering - Simply wondering what our grandchild will look like, aside from the brown eyes which is a given. Wondering if he/she is already in the Care Center and how old he/she will be when we finally meet. Wondering if our grandchild has any idea how anxious I am to finally give that first hug and start to build our memories.

Winter - Just a note to winter. Enough already, bring on the warm springlike weather and take all the snow with you on your way out.

Wrapping up my week in Preschool - We did not have school on Monday due to a teacher conference so I have had a short week, but it has been a great week all the way around. Rachel Fischer is spending this week and next Monday in my classroom as a part of her Early Field Experience. She is a sophomore at MLC studying to be an early childhood teacher. It has been my pleasure to have her in my classroom. She is going to make one awesome teacher. I hope she can walk away with at least one or two good ideas from me. I am at my best when I have someone observing me, so I have been on top of my game this week and it has shown. I think I have to pretend there is someone in there watching my every move each day! Here is Rachel with one of my classes.
Walking - John and I have been walking three nights this past week. It felt so good to be out there walking again. I hope we can continue on our streak and make a nightly walk a part of our day.
So, there you have it.

Note to my future grandchild: I cannot wait until I get to hear your name and see your picture. I know that when that happens, this wait will seem like nothing. Besides anything worth having in life is worth waiting for, right? I also hope you will be able to be a part of my Preschool class just like your sister Tizita has been for the past two years. It is such a special time when Tiz and I share moments as not just a grandma and granddaughter, but also as a teacher and student. Stay happy and healthy, we will meet you soon.