A Sixth Tiziversary is just around the corner

Six years ago Courtney and Paul were in Ethiopia meeting Tizita for the first time.

I can't even put into words the emotions that were running through my mind at that time.

In many ways, I imagine it is similar to when a daughter is in labor with your grandchild, but in so many ways it is very different.

I was teaching Preschool at the time, but I don't think I was very effective while I waited to hear any word from Courtney about their meeting.

I do remember a call coming through during one of my stories and the relief I felt at hearing that Tizita was healthy, happy, and enjoying her time with her parents.

I could not wait to meet her.

On September 12, 2008, just two weeks after Alissa and Nathan's wedding and just a few days after John got a new job, we met Tizita Desta for the first time as she walked off a plane from Ethiopia and into our hearts.

I will never forget that moment.

I cannot imagine our life without our sweet Tizita.

We love her so much.
The reason that I came up with the idea of a Tiziversary was so that we could celebrate the day that we met Tizita.
We could take time each year to remember those feelings and to share them with Tizita.
Each year, I try to come up with a fun theme, usually involving something that Tizita enjoys at that particular time in her life.
I wrote a song for the Tiziaversary that we sing each year, I bake or buy some special cake, and we go out to eat at the Ethiopian Cottage in Milwaukee.
This year she will get the gift of gymnastics at a big gym in Oshkosh, she will also get a personalized gymnastics bag, water bottle, and hoodie.
We will have homemade cupcakes with little gymnastic girls on them.
All my items were purchased from Etsy.
I am excited to share them with Tizita, I know she will love all of it.
Here are some photos from previous Tiziversaries.

This is from her first Tiziversary in 2009

She loved Curious George at that time, so that was our theme.

 We used pandas as the theme for the second Tiziversary since she had just seen the pandas at the National Zoo in Washington D.C.

Here we are at the Ethiopian Cottage in 2010 celebrating her second Tiziversary.

Her third Tiziversary involved Princesses.
2011

Her fourth Tiziversary, 2012 was centered around this Barbie cake that I created.

 And last  year on  the Fifth Tiziversary, we gave Tiz a set of drums, so everything revolved around those drums.
Such happy memories.
So much to be thankful for.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think my grandchildren would arrive from halfway around the world, but I thank God everyday that He had the perfect plan for our family.
I am so excited to celebrate another Tiziversary.
I will post about all the things we did after the weekend.
I will close with this sweet face, which is the way Tizita looked that very first time I saw her!

Weekend Recap

We have had a very laid back kind of weekend around here and it felt good.

Sometimes we are on the go so much that it is nice to just be able sit around and do little.

On Friday night we did our usual grocery shopping and came home to watch a few movies.

On Saturday on had a "Coach Me" class at the gym at the early hour of 8:30.

John came with me and spent his time in the weight room.

I spent my time with my coach, Cathy, who showed me how to use some more equipment in the circuit room.

Now I have to go back at least two times this week to do the workouts.

I like the program because it gives me some accountability.

I have been going to the Y faithfully since I started the program.

When we got home from our workouts, John took the old steps out from our hill in the backyard.

My dad had put them in years ago.

They were made of railroad ties and while they served their purpose well for many, many years, they had started to deteriorate and were no longer safe.

John thought it would be a very big job and he came out armed with a pick, an axe, and other assorted tools, but because they were so rotted, they practically fell out.

Today John put dirt down and planted grass seed, so hopefully by next spring we will have a grass hill where the steps used to be.

I will miss those steps on trips up from the park, but the hill is small, so I will just have to climb up.

Another part of my dad, gone, but not forgotten.

So blessed to be living in the house that I grew up in and my dad lived in for all his adult life.

Little bits of him are all over.

After the step removal on Saturday, I did a lot of school work because a teacher's work is never done.

I made play dough with my essential oils and it smelled so nice in our house.

I know the kids will enjoy playing with it.

Saturday night we watched two more movies.

Sunday was church, grass planting, a walk, and more school prep.

A nice, quiet weekend.

It is just what we need every once in awhile.

Here's to another good week in Preschool!

Another First is in the Books

According to my calculations, today was my 36th or thereabouts "first day" as a teacher.

I have had other "first days" as a student and as a parent.

One thing does not change.

It does not matter if it is your first "first" day or your 36th "first" day, there is always that excitement laced with anxiety that goes with any "first" day.

I have watched parents shed tears as they drop their babies off at my Preschool.

I have watched more students than I care to remember shed tears as they are "left" in my classroom.

But today was different.

For the first time in all my years, I did  not have a crier!

I can only speak for the students, I am sure a few parents shed a tear or two.

What a blessing.

If the day is any indication of what the school year will be like, I think it is going to be one terrific year!

Here are just a few pictures of the smiles I saw today.

Bring on the year, I am ready!

Labor Day weekend Fun - Cow Chip Throwing contest

 John and I decided to go to Sauk City for the annual Cow Chip throwing contest over Labor Day weekend.

It had been two years since we had been there and we felt it was high time to go back.

We were not sorry that we did.

On our way, we stopped at East Towne where I bought some new back to school clothes because everyone knows it is easier to go back to school if you have new clothes to wear!

We ate lunch at the food court while the rain poured outside.

After the rain shower, we took off for Sauk City.

We started out at the park, walked through the craft show, bought nothing, and then watched the cow chip competition.

I actually had to bring a few cow chips back for Mrs. Hathoway's class since they had been discussing them on Friday in school, not sure why that discussion was happening but I was more than happy to oblige.

 It was the 40th year for the cow chip throw, so all the cows had birthday hats on.

 They handed out cow pies at exactly 3:14  (pies at pii, get it?)

 Here I am holding the cow chips for the kids at St. John's.

 We stayed at Ganser's Motel.

Such a bargain for a nice room.

 We walked on the riverwalk before having dinner at a favorite Mexican restaurant.

 The food was yummy.

After our dinner, we went over to a local bar to have a few beers and watch the Badger game.

We didn't know the start time and were an hour early, so by the time the game started, I was ready to head back to the motel.

The clientele in the bar did not help the matter either.

A lady almost pushed me off my stool at one point.

We bought a six pack and some snacks and enjoyed the rest of the evening in our room.

Badgers lost but even that could not dampen our spirits.

On Sunday, we took a bike ride around Sauk City and Prairie du sac.

It is such a great biking city for us because it is flat.

We biked for about two hours.

Shopped at Greenway Station on the way home and had dinner at Fazoli's.

Great fun weekend.

Now, one more day until school starts.

I feel ready, but am I?

An anniversary, an ALS challenge, and a new patio

 First of all, I want to give a shout out to Alissa and Nathan who are celebrating six years of wedded bliss on August 30.
They had a beautiful wedding in a chapel on the Illinois Wesleyan campus and a reception on the campus of Illinois State.  It was nice how they could bring both their colleges together for the celebration.
It was on the day after their wedding, that Courtney and Paul left to bring Tizita home from Ethiopia.
So much excitement in such a short time.

Happy Memories all around.
Alissa and Nathan just recently purchased their first home and we are waiting patiently for them to be settled so we can go down and see it.

Now on to the ALS ice bucket challenge which has taken social media by storm.
I really wasn't expecting to be nominated, but one morning as I checked FB I saw that Angie Uttech had indeed nominated me.
Since I was at Courtney's at the time, Tizita helped me with the challenge.
I am not able to post the video on here, but I did post a picture just to remember the moment.

After I did my challenge, Tizita did hers and Mallory also did it after I nominated her.
It is controversial in that the research for ALS supposedly uses embryonic stem cells, but my feeling is that you can still take the challenge to raise awareness of this awful disease and then decide where you would like your donation to go.
Some people even complained about the clean water being wasted to dump on heads.
That doesn't even warrant an argument.
Let it go, people!

And finally, John and I decided it was time to enlarge our patio.
We are quite pleased with the finished product and look forward to many happy times spent on our new bigger patio.

 John used my dad's old bricks from an old portion of the patio to make this cute little walkway.
We also saw remnants of my dad's old patio made out of rocks when they repaired a crack in the cement on the existing cement.
Happy memories of that man buried all over this house.

So, this weekend we are heading to Sauk City for the annual cow chip throw.
If John had never worked for Kapitan in Sauk City, we would never have known about this charming little town on the Wisconsin River where the cow chips are thrown each Labor Day.
I will be back after our weekend.

 

Another Exciting Weekend Comes to a Close

John took Friday off and we headed up to Oshkosh because you all know by now that we take any excuse to go up there and spend time with our precious little "girls."

We were going to Appleton to see Ron White on Friday night, so we made a day of it.

We started with a picnic by the lake in Menomonee Park, followed by the zoo, and a train ride for John and Soli.

Tiz and I had other plans which included a cake.

Soliana painted this beautiful picture on an animal house in the zoo.

 Tizita painted this cute bunny on the house in the zoo.

There were  slushies all around at the zoo.  They were so refreshing on this hot, humid day.

 While John and Soli rode the train at the zoo, Tiz and I went home to work on her cake.

Tiz loves to throw things together and create things.

This is her S'mores cake, no recipe, just Tiz's own concoction.

She used melted chocolate chips, marshmellows, and crushed grahams.

It was rich, chocolatey and really very good.

Perhaps Cake Boss is in her future.

John and I enjoyed our dinner and the show in Appleton.

We laughed a lot!

 And yes, we did finish this entire pizza!

 

On Saturday we took the girls up to Monkey Joe's and spent four hours having fun.

 They both love the big guy!

 WE had a great lunch and it included sodas.

 Soliana really enjoyed all the big slides.

 Of course, we had to buy a few tokens, play a few games, win a good amount of tickets, and pick out a few prizes.  Both girls were very happy with their treasures.

Soliana also enjoyed the area for the three and under crowd.

Here she is riding the Lochness Monster for her Uncle Cheddah.

 

We are home now and ready for bed.

It was a great, fun weekend of memory making once again.