Goodbye Tree

Today Dalton's Tree service came to cut down the rest of the tree. They got here around 8am and started working right away. I took pictures throughout the day to see the progress of the cutting down of the tree.


8:15am



9:40am




noon




1:15pm




1:54pm




2:50



Monday afternoon



There are still 2 more steps to go to finish getting this monster of a tree all the way out. Sometime in the next week they will come and get the piece cut from just above the stump out. They were going to cut it into a bunch of smaller pieces and take it out that way. But while cutting it he ran into metal and dirt and had to stop cutting. So now we're stuck with a monster piece of tree in our backyard. Dan found another tree cutting company who has a special crane that can get the piece out of the backyard by taking it over the house.

Then this spring when the ground has thawed out, he will come back and grind the stump and roots out and take all the grindings out of the yard. This will leave us with one HUGE hole to fill with dirt and plant grass on.


This was taken last September before MidAmerica came to take down the branches over the powerlines.


I know it was the right decision to take the tree down after seeing all the rot and hearing of more rot then we knew about, but it's still sad. The tree was so big and provided so much shade, yet enough sun got through to have grass. It's going to be so strange this summer to have so much hot sun, luckily both side neighbors have large trees that will provide morning and late afternoon sun. I'm also excited to be able to have a bigger garden that will grow better with more sun.

100 day of school celebration

Today was the 100th day of school.

My class had a special breakfast. Every kid brought in 100 pieces of cereal. I brought in Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I like that cereal. I also brought in a collection of 100 warm fuzzies to show my class.


And on the 101th day we did all the activities like we counted 100 pennies to make 1 dollar. They were real pennies and fake dollars!

I passed all my math tests!!

By: Simeon



In my math class we take weekly timed tests. Everyone started with addition. When you passed it in less then 3 minutes you went onto subtraction. Then when you passed that level you went onto multiplication, then division. After that you go onto super multiplication which has 72 problems you have to get done in 4 minutes or less. The last level was super division with 72 problems in under 4 minutes.


Now I do a sheet that has hard addition and subtraction problems (that I think is easy!) It's not times, but I do it during the timed test time. I also get a bonus sheet with story problems that are harder to do at home.
Every week I brought home a "High Five Challenge" sheet. I had to do my math skills flashcards (which ever level I was on) 5 minutes 4x's a week and have my parents sign it off. Doing the flashcards really helped.
I like math alot.

Corrine's Assembly

by Corrine

Both the 2nd grade classes did an assembly today for the whole school and the 2nd grade parents. We sang a song called "Character counts", did a readers theater and sang another song called "Trustworthy". We wore blue shirts because that's the color of the pillar of character trustworthiness.






The Character Counts song had 3 verses and it was about having good character.

For the readers Theater I was narrator 4. It was based on the book "Liar Liar Pants on Fire" by Diane Degroke. I did my part with Mckenzie and Miles. We had to yell so the kids could hear us talking. I loved the readers theater because it taught us how to be trustworthy with other friends. It was kind of a funny story because in the story kids get confused about whats on fire, when really the kids just said Liar Liar pants on fire.

Trustworthy song-It told you about being trustworthy. You have to spell trustworthy in the song. My teacher wrote the song.

At first I felt nervous because I was singing in front of 300 people or more, and then I felt better because it actually wasn't so scary after all.

After we did the assembly we took some pictures. This is my silly picture. Then Mrs. Basfield gave the 2 classes got 88 tickets to feed the leopard because we did such a great job! When we show good character at school we earn tickets to feed a stuffed leopard in a glass cage. When the cage gets filled to different levels we get special parties.

Character Counts! Character counts!
In everything you do.
Character counts! Character counts!
Its part of me and you.
When you're at work,
Or when you're at play,
You show your character everyday.
Character counts! Character counts!
Show your good character in large amounts.

When you're trustworthy you will be loyal. You will be honest too.
When you're responsible, you'll be dependable.
People can count on you.
Try to show respect.
Try to be fair.
Be a good citizen and show you care.
Character counts, character counts
Show your good character in large amounts.

Character counts, Character counts, in everything you do.
Character counts! Character counts!
You can help the sun shine through.
You can be polite or you can be rude,
It all depends on your attitude.
Character counts, Character counts!
Show you're good character in large amounts!


Trustworthy song
Written by Diane Jetter-my teacher
(sing to the tune of Mickey Mouse March)

Lemme Leopards! Lemme Leopards!

We should all try to be trustworthy
T-R-U-S-T-W-O-R-T-H-Y

Tell the truth, do your best, you will be trustworthy
T-R-U-S-T-W-O-R-T-H-Y

Trustworthy (Shout: Tell the truth)
Trustworthy (Shout: Do your best)

Forever let us show good character!
Trustworthy Leopards will forever shine.

T-R-U-S-T-W-O-R-T-H-Y

Rebecca

There was something about Rebecca today that made me take out the camera and click away. She is such a talker and in so many pictures she was telling me things like: hand, foot, up, book, baby or head. It's been so fun to have her tell us things. Lately we hear "help please", "thank you momma", "more please". She is truly a parrot and repeats what you say.

This is my favorite picture of her. Her smile is so big and bright and she's holding one of her favorite things-her baby doll.


Rebecca just discovered her love of Curious George. She was so sweet reading a "George" book to her baby.


Rebecca was so patient letting me click away while she played and showed me things.


Then she decided she was done done with pictures and hid from me.

Fast Reflexes

What do you get when you use 2 lightsavers to block nerf bullets shot at you? Fast reflexes!


This is exactly what the boys were doing today after school. They took turns shooting and dodging. Simeon was rally fast at moving out of the way.


I love Ammon's HUGE smile in this picture!

As they were doing this the dryer repairman was down in the basement. He probably thought the ceiling was going to fall down!

My Bike

When Corrine turned 2 we got her this bike and she LOVED it!! (Insert a picture of Corrine on her 2nd bday on the bike. Coming)

Now it's Rebecca's and she LOVES it!! The other day I pushed her to the corner and back for over half hour. Today we got home from errands and Iistead of carring her into the house like normal I got her out of the van and let her walk in. Instead of walking in she went to her bike and wanted a ride. It's in the low 20's today, but she wanted a ride, so that's what we did.
We put on the helmet and gloves and went for a walk around the block decked out in her snow suit.






When we got back from walking the kids to school this morning, she did NOT want to take her snow pants off, so she wore them to the store. She must have known that we'd be going on this walk and having to wait to put her pants back on just wouldn't have gone over good

She looked so cute from behind. Her helmet is called "cupcake" and it's the perfect fit for her. She's a sweetie all the way through like those cupcakes on her helmet!

Mid Year Reunion

I had a great time skiing with my friend Kyle this weekend. Cameron joined us for part of the day.

My fear of heights is gone after going on the ski lift. I went on the ski lift 100 times and crashed 20 times.


Ski lessons were boring. I already knew all the things they taught us.

I lost my skis twice and pools twice on the ski lift. They sent them up with another person so I could ski down the hill.

"Yard sale"-is when you fall and you lose all your skis and poles.

On Friday we stayed up till midnight, and Saturday we stayed up until 1pm. "I read my book while I was sleeping. There was a light on outside that if I held my book just right I could see the words and read. I did alot of reading when I should have been sleeping."

On Sunday we went bowling. I bowled with Wyatt and Cameron.

Next year I'll be going again because it was alot of fun!

My new toy

My parents got me the FUNNEST toy ever. When I opened it on Christmas I had no idea what it was. Then a few days later my mom put batteries in it and put it in the bathtub.
When I first got to play with it I was so excited I squealed, and laughed, and giggled and clapped. I now have my very own running faucet in the tub everytime I take a bath.


It came with 3 cups to play with. The blue cup has a wheel under it that spins when the water pours on it, the red one has holes in the bottom that drips the water out, and the green one has a yellow floating piece. There's an arm that holds all the fun cups too.


I want the water on all the time even if I'm not playing with it. If my mom turns it off I tell her "back on" and push the face to turn it back on. I sometimes like to have it run on my leg, or hands, or back. I also like filling a cup with the water then drink the water out of it. It grosses my mom out-but I LOVE to do it. I fill up the cup, drink some then tell my mom "more wawa" and do it all over again.


My other toys look left out sitting on the side of the tub dry. I'll play with them again I promise.


My mom told me she thought it looked like such a fun toy that she gave 2 of my cousins one for Christmas too. She got it a few months back and wanted to take it out so I could play with it for almost 2 months because she was so excited.
I already loved taking a bath, but now I LOVE it even more. I try to climb in the bathtub all the time. I go get my mom and tell her "bath" and go into the bath room and try to climb in.
I'm glad my mom found such a neat toy for me. If your wondering where she got it, she got it from Toysrus and it's from the company Yookidoo.

A NEW year

Today is a new year. It's a time to start fresh. It's a time to look back and see how much we've grown, see what we've accomplished, see who we are now. It's a time to review past goals and set new ones.

I want to remember what the kids looked like today this 1st day of 2011 and what their "stats" were.


Simeon Johann
59 lbs 4'5" size 3 shoe

Goals-
Be neater
Keep my desk at school clean
Improve spelling
Write neater


Corrine Kaitlynn
52 lbs 4'2" size 13 shoe

Goals-
Stop sucking my thumb
Be kinder to my brothers


Ammon Eli
39 lbs 3'8 1/2" size 11 shoe

Goals-
Learn to ride a 2 wheel bike
Read better


Rebecca Lucy
20.8 lbs 2'5 1/2" size 4 shoe

Goals-
Sleep in twin bed
Potty train

Rebecca is either allergic or very sensitive to anything in the citrus fruit family. She eats tomatoes on occasion and hasn't had any problem yet.

No stats of us-but know we have them and would love for some of them to be smaller this time next year!

Johann
Lose 11 lbs
Do more trading
Walk 3 times a week


Kari
Stay on budget
Print blogs books for past 2 years
Organize recipe folder
Catch up on scrapbooking
Lose 10 lbs
Be better at bday cards and thank you cards
Declutter the house