Treetops skiing

So sorry. One day in the near future, I promise to learn how to turn my pictures. For now, humor me and turn your head slightly to the right. Trevor aka "Dr. T, the Politician" talked his way into Santa's pocket and wound up with light-up yo-yo's and lighting the Christmas tree at Treetops. Kaleb wound up with a cool skiing dvd and placed our tickets into Santa's bucket to try and win something cool. Well, we didn't win the Palace tickets to the rodeo (which Kraig was hoping for), but we won two XL t-shirts that had ski for life on them. The boys were super excited to actually win something!

Here are the super cool t-shirts. That night everyone wondered where the boys got their long pajama tops from. Trevor told one guy that if he just stayed one extra day, maybe the guy could light the tree and win a cool shirt, too. Not everyone is able to do these cool things. :)

An actual picture with everyone in it. We were super cold and ready to go back to the hotel. We had enough skiing that day and Trevor was cold because he continually wiped out for some reason. He thinks that he's probably growing.

The infamous hat...my family always knows where I am on the hill because they see the "ears" flying in the wind behind me. We had a really nice time and were able to safely navigate our way home in some pretty heavy fog.

Christmas photos

Kaleb received a surprise gift from Santa - a paintball gun. Dad received one from me and kaleb was super excited to be able to do something with Dad. Kaleb's favorite question, you ask..."Mom, you never would have gotten me a paintball gun, right?"

Santa also deposited a Wii at our house and I must say that you all have 8 safe years out on the roads because Trevor is all over the road. He plays Mario Kart like bumper cars.

I told Kraig that I am never in pictures because I am always the photographer. So, I always try and do the camera flip on myself. My brothers and I decided to stop with the gifts and do something together. We went bowling on Christmas Eve day and then everyone came to our house for sandwiches and games. It was a nice break to enjoy my brother. My second brother was stuck in Howard City with snow, ice and wind.

My two nephews, brother Greg and of course, Trevor. He had everyone in stitches with his Batman impression as he bowls.

Merry Christmas

My mom got this ornament for me after I had my first teaching job at B.V. She knew that my heart was for helping these kids to succeed. This is on our upstairs tree.

Kaleb's face on this ornament makes me smile because Mr. Grumpy pants is actually smiling, happy and full of joy.

Trevor made this wonderful angel that is our tree topper out of paper plates. Simple and yet sparkly too.

The painted Santa Claus is my favorite though because my mom painted it the year that I was born. Now, she was not crafty at all and would never admit to a paint by number, but I still smile when I think of all the jokes she would endure every year as she put up her painting.

SNOW DAYS AND VACATION

Merry Christmas everyone. Friday, I thought it was wonderful to be stuck at home - a snow day! Saturday was good as I got to leave the house and get milk, bread, the basics ya know. Sunday, another blast from old man winter had us with drifts up to our hips. Kraig got the snow plow truck stuck and he had to go to the job site to get his "heavy equipment" to dig out the plow truck and move the snow. Basically, Kraig had a wonderful day playing in his equipment. The boys made it outside for like 10 minutes and we stayed home as the wind howled around our home. I thought of you all as we missed the musicale.

Cathy waited very patiently and asked for pictures of any special ornaments or keepsakes. (The window is next to our tree and the camera wouldn't take a good picture. So, imagine something wonderful!) Christmas was my mother's favorite holiday and she used to deck out our house. So, I have 2 or 3 boxes filled with ornaments in the crawl space. I was the one who always had to help put the ornaments up and then put them back away (Half a day, at least). Yikes...I don't think there was a single branch that did not have an ornament on it. Sooooo, long story short, my trees are simple and anything that the boys want to put up, they can. I like a simple tree with just the lights. I have other things that I put up that remind me of "mom memories" because the thousands of ornaments and the Department 56 houses are definitely not my thing.

The update

Oh dear...what to write about. Hmmm, it's hard when life seems to be speeding by and I am just holding on by the skin of my teeth (except at school). The school days are going by exceptionally slow. These are the things that I hear from someone at least once an hour. "Ms. Klein, why we gotta do work every day?" "Ms. Klein, ain't you tired of teachin' yet?" "Ms. Klein, are we doing anything today?" "All we ever do is work, work, work." and the best statement is (drumroll please) "We don't have homework in anyone else's class!"

Do you know what it's like to hear the refrain of a child saying mom about 15 times in a row to get your attention? You know, the time when you are in the middle something that is actually important? The questions that aren't really questions but are those small notions of someone needing attention? That's what I get every day, and on most days, every hour! It is exhausting.

So, I've been pulling fast ones on the students and today after I heard the "work, work, work" comment, I said very quietly, "Bow to your sensei." I had the attention of a few...and then I used my best yell across the gym voice and repeated..."Bow to your sensei!"

It i s from a movie and only 1 student "got it" and laughed. I spent at least five minutes talking about Napolean Dynomite and still only 5 of my students had even seen the movie. However, after giggling with my one student after class, I had a smile for the rest of the day. Bring on those ridiculous questions. I am sensei, do my work!