God Bless the USA

Last Thursday we had our Spring concert at St. John's.

There were lively band numbers, a few piano duets, and patriotic number performed by all the classes.

My Preschoolers did an amazing job with their performance of God Bless the USA.

I think even Lee Greenwood would have been pleased with the job they did.

I was one proud and happy teacher.

The audience seemed to really enjoy our song, too, because the applause was so loud and long for them.

I have had other preschool classes perform this song over the years and I always loved how it brings such joy and sometimes tears to the audience and this year was no different.

There is something so special about three and four year olds singing about their pride in the USA.

Here are a few photos from that wonderful night.

All the kids wore red, white, and blue and waved little flags.

It was magical.

These thirteen students are in my 4K class and are leaving for Kindergarten.

This is a bittersweet time of the year for me.

I am happy that they are ready to move on, but so sad because I will miss them all so much.

They were a fun loving, cohesive group that worked and played well together.

They were inquisitive especially about Bible topics.

They were great singers and could learn a new song so quickly.

They laughed a lot and had so much fun.

They added so much joy to my days.

They were sweet. loving, and gave hugs freely.

I wish them well as they go off to different Kindergartens.

I feel so privileged to have been a small part of their lives.

God bless them as they leave my classroom.

I would be lying if I didn't say that the best part of my whole year was having sweet Soli in my class.

She is only two, comes to school one day a week, and performs with the best of them.

She makes me so proud.

I am blessed to be her grandma and her first teacher.

Mother's Day

 These are pictures of me and my mom.

Today on Mother's Day I thank her for being the best mom ever and always being there when I needed her.

We went out to lunch with her, Kev, Vikki, and Nic.

After lunch, John and I went for our first bike ride of the season, 9 miles which felt like 25 to our out of shape legs.

We came back to plant some things in our garden and then we rearranged our bedroom which is no small feat with a king sized water bed frame that is falling apart, but we did it.

All in all, a great, productive day.

The day began in the best way possible too when my preschoolers sang and played instruments in church this morning.

They make a teacher so proud, just when I think they can get no better at singing, they do it even better than ever before!

They owned those instruments and played them like they had been playing them all their little lives.

Great way to start a day.

I am ending my post today with a picture of my mom and my mother in law.

One of these sweet moms is still with us here on earth and one is waiting for us to join  her one day in heaven.

This photo just shows the joy that these two women shared whenever they were together.

They were such good friends, such a blessing to us.

Hope all of you had a great Mother's Day!

High Cliff State Park

Today John and I delivered this antique wardrobe to Courtney and Paul.

It had belonged to my grandma and I have find memories of that piece of furniture

It was one piece of hers that I wanted after she died.

I remember it being in my grandma and grandpa's bedroom and I loved looking at all the treasures that my grandma stored in those doors and drawers.

I had it for many years, but now I am looking to get rid of a few items and maybe get a few new ones.

When Courtney showed interest in this wardrobe, I gladly passed it on to her.

It is very important to me that it stays in the family and now it will.

Courtney is planning on taking it to a furniture restoration place that also paints things in vibrant colors.

I think it will look very nice when she is finished with it.

We got to spend about a half hour with the girls which is always fun.

They were busy planting and sprucing up their yard when we arrived.

Tiz told us that she had scored a goal in her first soccer game and Soli proudly showed us her very own garden.

We left Oshkosh to go up to High Cliff State Park.

It was a beautiful spring day, the kind we had been waiting for all through this long winter.

I had not been to High Cliff State Park since camping there with the Girl Pioneers when my girls were about ten and eight, John had never been there.

We started out at the lookout tower.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't do towers.

My legs just won't go up those stairs, but today I was brave.

I made it to the top!

After our climb, we hiked a few of the trails.

Lots of pretty scenery, well marked trails, and info signs along the way.

This is the area where, I think, we camped way back in the day.

It was labeled group camping and I remember the only bathroom was a pit toilet.

I slept in a tent with another mom and had to use a pit toilet for a week.

Longest week of my life, but I did it for my kids!

Tomorrow is Mother's Day, I will be spending it with my mom, Kevin, Vikki, Mallory, and Nic.

My kids will be singing in church, well, not only singing, but also playing instruments and then we will be going out to a brunch.

The rest of the day is mine to do with as I please!  

Happy Mother's Day to all.

Visiting Carroll College, now University, where it all began

Yesterday was a beautiful day.

John and I went to Northwestern Publishing House to buy a gift for Nic's confirmation next Sunday.

Always fun to look at all the cool things at the publishing house.

We were lucky and found a few items for  him.

After lunch at Sonic, we decided to take our annual walk around Waukesha, revisiting Carroll College, now University where we met some 40 years ago.

We parked at Frame Park and began by checking out the botanical gardens.  There was not much blooming yet, but the tulips were pretty and made it feel like spring.

Next we walked past the apartment where Courtney and Alissa lived when they were done with college.

I know they had some great times in that apartment and it had lots of charm.

We walked over to the Carroll campus.

I checked out the five fraternity houses that were there and very active when we attended Carroll.

Seems they may all have been shut down.

The first frat house on our tour was the Beta house.
I had lots of great times in this house.
If those walls could talk, the stories they could tell.
The house looks abandoned now and very run down.
I think the Betas may still be active on campus, but live in the old TKE house, but not sure.

 The Delta Rho house also looked abandoned.
I never set foot in this frat house, they were a bit nerdy for my tastes in college although I imagine most of them went on to be very successful.

And here is my favorite house, the TKE house which is no longer the TKE house.
The TKEs lost their charter or whatever you call it for naughtiness.
They finally got caught, I guess.
John was a TKE and lived in this house for three years.
I had many, many fun times in this house, too.

The Phi Theta house used to be here on this corner, that one burned down at some point.
They no longer exist at Carroll either.

Finally, we have the Sig Ep house.

Smart to build that one of bricks since there was lots of smoking going on in there

The parties there were always fun, at least those that I can remember.

It is  now housing for Black students.

That ends your tour of fraternity row.

Not much left of it, glad I have my memories.

One of these houses was the President's home, not sure which one.

On one of the first days of freshman year, all the girls from my floor in the dorm had to dress up and go to the President's house where all the boys from the third floor of their dorm had to come and pick on of us to escort to the President's tea.  It was embarrassing and humiliating.

I doubt they do that anymore!

I was not picked first, but I also was not picked last.

 There are actually Indian mounds right on the campus.  John claims they were labeled when we went there, but how come I don't remember this at all?

 This is Main Hall where John and I first met in speech class. 

I wore short, short skirts and he gave boring speeches, but it still all worked out.

 This is the hill that my roomate, Joan and I roller skated down one day.  We ended up by slamming into the glass doors of the gym  The hill has been replaced with steps, perhaps too many people were roller skating down the hill?  Things that make you go, huh.

John said that it was the job of the TKEs to chop down the bushes that were in this spot each school year so that all of us, college students could cut through this area to get to our classes.
I guess the college got wise and cut the bushes themselves and put in a sidewalk.
I guess this is just one naughty thing the TKEs did.

 

This is the dorm that I lived in for three years of my college life.

Lots of fun times in this dorm.

I lived in rooms 319, 518, and 411 and I have no idea why I remember this.

I also worked the switchboard at the main desk in this dorm

Before cell phones, we had to talk on big wall phones with cords and there were only two per floor, so I had to direct students to the correct phone after I transferred their calls.

It was big important work for sure.

This campus is filled with so many good  memories for John and I.

Of course, the best being the fact that we met and fell in love on this campus.

As long as we are able, I intend to go back at least once a year to revisit this magical place.

Soli spends the night with us solo for the first time

Last weekend was a busy one.

On Friday night, we had the Candy Land extraordinaire at school.

After that, John and I went to Firecracker for a few beers to celebrate a successful Candy Land.

On Saturday morning I had the annual Early Childhood Fair at the High School.

My favorite part about going to this event is seeing so many of my old colleagues and friends that I don't get to see very often.  I made lots of connections in the Early Childhood field over the last 30 years!

This year for the first time since I started going to this event, I did not have to go in early and set up.

Our new blood at St. John's was excited to go early and cover the first shift.  I didn't go until 10:30, it was so nice.

John and I did the take down and took all the things back to school.

Then it was time to head up to Oshkosh to babysit Soli and Tiz.

Their mama and her sister, my two daughters, were having a sister weekend and Paul had a gig with his new band on Saturday night.

I was more than happy to offer to babysit!

Here are the sister enjoying their time together.

It makes this mama's heart happy to see how they love each other so much and enjoy time together!

We must have done something right.

As soon as we got to Oshkosh, Paul left for his gig, Tiz went off to a birthday party, and John and i had this little lady all to ourselves.

I brought her candy from the Candy Land game since she was unable to attend the event.

These are the gumdrops that she and her mama made for the Candy Land game.   They had a place of honor in the Gumdrop Mountains.

We had so much fun together.

We took some time to play the keyboards and do a bit of singing.

After Tiz got back from her party, we ordered pizza for dinner and then settled in for a night of movie watching.

On Sunday, we all went to church and then John and I brought Soli to Watertown to spend the night with us.

Tiz and Paul needed to go to school early on Monday so Soli would have no where to go until Courtney returned on Monday morning.

Again, we were happy to help out.

Since she slept on the way from Oshkosh to Watertown from 3-4, I was worried about bedtime.

I thought she might miss Courtney to begin with but add to that the late nap and I hoped we could get her to sleep.

I started the process at 7:30 after playing, watching TV, and snacking.

She finally fell asleep just before ten.

It was a long process, but not an ugly one at all.

She did not cry or seem to miss her family, she just wasn't tired.

In the morning, I had to get her up by 6:30 so we could go to school together.

She was a trooper and got up, got dressed, ate, and was ready to head out the door by 7:00.

She had an awesome day at school and was so happy to see her mama when she came to pick her up after school.

I loved every minute of the busy weekend, especially our time with sweet Soli.

Can't wait for the next time we get to spend time with her and Tizita.