Super Teacher

It is spirit week at school.

Yesterday was favorite hat and scarf day.

Today we were supposed to dress like our favorite hero or super hero.

I figured that to a Preschooler, a super hero would need to have a cape, so I wore my red sparkly cape and was Super Teacher.

I glued some crayons, markers, pencils, and a glue stick on the cape.

I wasn't calling myself a super teacher, that would be boastful, so I wore it in honor of all the teachers that I have had over the years who truly were my heroes.

It was a fun day.

With a school full of super heroes, there was no chance of a bad guy entering today.

Tomorrow is PJ day.

We can just roll out of bed and head to school.

Ice Skating with Tiz

We just got back from a fun filled weekend in Oshkosh.

I asked Courtney if she and Paul didn't want to go out on Saturday night so John and I  could come and babysit.

I really wanted to spend time with the girls.  I wanted to play with their new Christmas gifts and I wanted to try out my new, slightly used ice skates that Tiz wanted me to buy and use with her.

I was afraid the winter would be gone before we ever had a chance to skate.

Luckily, Courtney and Paul agreed to go out to a movie and dinner, why wouldn't they, really?

We started out by ice skating on Lake Winnebago.

When I first stepped out on the ice, I was nervous that I wouldn't remember how to ice skate and that I would fall down.

It didn't help that as soon as I stepped off the bench out onto the ice, I fell on my butt.

But, just like riding a bike, I guess one never forgets how to ice skate.

I started out slowly, but then it got easier.

Okay, neither of us are ready for the Olympics, but we did a pretty good job out there.

I love that I, as a 60 year old grandma was able to share ice skating with Tizita.

I love ice skating as a child and teen ager and I am glad she is going to be able to enjoy it, too.

 After our skating adventure, we took the girls to Glass Nickel for our favorite pizza and nickel nuggets.
Soli fell asleep on the way to the restaurant and she slept through our entire dinner, by the time we got home, she was ready to go.

We had fun painting with the girls.
While Soli painted she never took her little hand off of Grandpa's arm, it was beyond cute.

After some art projects, Tiz wanted to put together a graham cracker house from a kit she had gotten.
When we opened the box all the crackers were broken into small pieces.
We did the best we could to put that thing together.
We had a lot of laughs even though it looks like a disaster relief housing project.
It did taste good though.
Today we all went to church after enjoying donuts that grandpa got for us.
Then we had a nice lunch at Caramel Crisp and took a hike to enjoy the warm, balmy weather.

 There was lots of snowball fighting going on as we walked along the trail.

After the hike, it was time for us to head home.
The weekend was everything I hoped it would be and then some.
We are blessed!
Before I end this post, I wanted to post a few pictures of the first time we took our girls skating on the river near out house.

And if I could locate it, I would post the picture of the first time I skated on this same river with my dad.

Two years ago

 Two years ago, Tizita was here with John and I for a little over a week while Courtney and Paul traveled to Ethiopia to meet our little Natnael.

John and I had such a great time with Tizita during those days.

She spent the days at school with me.

Such sweet memories.

 There were always so many kids at school that just loved having Tiz there.

They always included her and made her feel to welcome.

 It was so easy to have Tiz here for that amount of time.

She always slept right between John and I in our king bed and never had a problem with missing her mama and papa, although I am sure she did miss them.

 It was spirit week at school while Tiz was there.

Here she is with two of her good friends dressed up for Hawaiian Day.

 We took her to Bloomington for the weekend to celebrate Alissa's birthday.

She got to spend time with so many people who love her so much.

Grandpa and Tiz enjoyed some fun times in the motel pool and

Gigi, who also came with us, had more than one toast with Tiz.

Just look at how happy Tiz was.

 Tiz was also at school for red, white, and blue day.

Grandpa was one lucky guy because he got to spend his birthday with Tizita.

One day her took the day off and stayed home with her all day.

I got home after a long day at school to find a fort that took up the entire playroom.

Those two were sitting in the fort and all I could think was, "who is going to put all this away!"

I also could not get to my bedroom to change my clothes because that fort was in my way.

Those two made quite a team!

 Our time with Tiz was almost over as we took her to the airport to meet her mama and papa.

 The time had gone so quickly.

 The memories we made together during those days will last a liifetime.

 At night, we would always look for the moon (not sure you can even see it in this photo, but it was there in Bloomington) and we would talk about how mama and papa were seeing that very same moon.

Even though they were a half a world away, we still shared many things.

Courtney and Paul shared some wonderful times with their precious son, Natnael.

Little did any of us know that just a few short days later, he would be called to his heavenly home without ever getting to his home here.

Bittersweet times.

And I got the Pictures to post!

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 I had to switch search engines in order to allow the photos to load, but it finally worked, so here are some of the photos of Alissa in honor of her Birthday yesterday.

The top one is from her second birthday.

I vividly remember that cake, it was so over done with decorations!

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 I just love the above and below pictures.

They make me sad because John and I looked so young and so happy.

Not that we are not happy now, but wow, those were the best days of my life for sure.

I also think I need to take this photo to my hair stylist so she can make my hair its natural color.

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Just look at all the hair on that sweet little girl.

This was a Halloween costume, one of our best creations, especially the braids.

It's PippyLongstocking in case you couldn't recognize her.

I used hangers to make her braids stick out like that.

The girls enjoying a kitty cocktail at Grandpa Ken's bar.

He was their personal bartender.

We still enjoy our times down in the basement around this bar, so many happy memories of Ken.

A Mother's Day a long time ago.

And I will leave you with this photo of the girls on one of our many trips to St. George Island.

Such good times down on the Island.

So, now you have been able to see some photos of Alissa and the rest of us.

Like I said, it is bittersweet to see these photos.

Sweet memories for sure, but bitter because I miss my life back then.

Would I wish it back, probably not, because I am sure I am only recalling the happy times and forgetting  the stressful, worrisome times.

When we are eighty, I will probably look at photos from today and think that it was the best time of my life, too.

A Polar Vortex and A Birthday

We have been in the midst of what the weathermen are calling a Polar Vortex for the past two days.

Schools have been cancelled all over the Midwest due to this Vortex.

Facebook is full of people experimenting with blowing bubbles and throwing hot water into the cold air.

I tried the bubbles and it was a huge failure, but I have seen FB pictures of successes with the frozen bubbles that look like glass balls.  Maybe using the bubble gun was not the best idea.  I did not try the hot water throw but that looked pretty cool on people's videos, too.

I did freeze some colorful ice cubes and make a suncatcher, but that is still out frozen in a cake pan.  I will have to check on that later.

Now I am done with this so called Polar Vortex and ready to go back to school.

Now on to some other news.

34 years ago today, I had a baby girl, my second.

It was a very snowy day, but there was no Polar Vortex that day.

She arrived, delivered by a nurse, with a head full of beautiful reddish hair.

Her birth story is on this blog more than once, so if you are interested in it, just go back to this date in past Januarys.  You do this by going to the sidebar and clicking on the year and month you want.

If I knew how to put a link right here to those past posts, I would do that, but I can't figure it out.

At any rate, here are some of my photos of Alissa in honor of her birthday:
Well, scratch that, I can't load any pictures today, so I will just close with this.
I scanned lots of photos today, too.
I will try to upload them another time.
At any rate, Happy Birthday to my daughter, Alissa!
Tomorrow we go back to school.
I must say I am ready to get back because today I was at my wit's end.



Go Pack Go!

In just about one hour, the Packers will play the 49ers in their first play off game.

It will be way below zero at Lambeau Field with the wind chill.

We will be watching it in the comfort of our nice, warm home.

I hope they do well.

It would be nice to see them go a little farther before the season ends.

While I was scanning the other day, I found a few oldies but goodies from a trip we took to the Packer hall of fame.

Here they are:

So, Go Pack Go!