This last week Erin and Erik both had try outs for choir and made it. They both had to audition and Erik had a slim to none chance of getting in, because they usually don't have room for 4th graders, because the 5th and 6th graders get priority. Also they usually have the choir set before the end of the school year. So it was a pretty big deal for both of them to make it and it was also really good for Erin who is quite shy in front of crowds. I am really proud of them both.
So be ready for some choir pictures this year!! I will be taking pictures of Erik at his gymnastics class here soon and be able to post them.
I am also excited about the good news of the VP candidate for McCain, Sarah Palin. She is quite a fireball and has a great head on her shoulders and also a really good heart. Having never heard of her before I went on line and starting looking things up and reading about her. She is absolutely amazing. Mother of 5, the last was born with Down Syndrome. Her comments and feelings to family and friends was such a joy to read. REALITY!!!! She loves life, her family, America and its people, its freedoms, and so much more. And believe it or not I got that all from the media. I can't wait to find out more about her. She seems like such a great role model and has nothing to hide. The only thing they critize her for is inexperiance, but her short track record is exceptional!! I am now getting more excited about this upcoming election! Great choice McCain!!!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
What's in a name
Melanie a friend of mine from OK, sent this to me. I put my married name in first and my maiden name next. My married name there are 77 more people in the US that has my same name. I happen to know of one who lives in Houston, (we got each others e-mails for a while. It was funny.) My maiden name, Yup only one! I am so cool! Try it out and tell me how many there are of you with the same names. I am going to do my kids and Hubby next. It ought to be fun.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Moving Trip from OK to CA
Ok this is so strange and I don't know how I have missed this for so long, but here are the pictures from the driving trip from Weatherford, Ok to Bakersfield, CA. These also include the shots of the damage done during the storm the day before we left at the Arney's house when Erik was staying there. It was eventful and interesting to see what a tornado does. The amazing thing is that no one heard it in the house, the neighbor's saw it though. The hail that was coming down drowned out the noise. No one was hurt thankfully. Poor Titia and Steph didn't find out about it until they got home from girls camp, it was quite an emotional shock.
The other cool thing was being able to see my sis. and her new place. Santa Fe is VERY unique. I am glad we got to spend the day with her and see where she works. We also got to eat out at this really good restaurant there. They had PURPLE chips which the kids thought was so funny. I am still surprised they ate them. We got to also celebrate Mikes birthday there too. I don't know where the shots are of him opening his presents are, but he got a cool Lightin' McQueen drag race set. He loves it and so does Danny. They both have cars (smart move by Aunt T.T. no fighting) and love to race Mater and McQueen. Well enjoy the show!
The other cool thing was being able to see my sis. and her new place. Santa Fe is VERY unique. I am glad we got to spend the day with her and see where she works. We also got to eat out at this really good restaurant there. They had PURPLE chips which the kids thought was so funny. I am still surprised they ate them. We got to also celebrate Mikes birthday there too. I don't know where the shots are of him opening his presents are, but he got a cool Lightin' McQueen drag race set. He loves it and so does Danny. They both have cars (smart move by Aunt T.T. no fighting) and love to race Mater and McQueen. Well enjoy the show!
Happenin's of the Weekend
Well we have had an eventful weekend. On Saturday the kids had the primary party and had a really good time. Matt on the other hand got to help one of his guys move. We also had our neighbors kids stay the night, which was really fun. I also had to give a talk on Sunday about Recognizing our Divine Nature which is attached if you want to read it. My folks and my sister Carrie came over on Sunday too, to have dinner and watch the closing ceremonies from the 2008 summer Olympics. It was a busy but fun weekend.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Disney pictures finally
OK so as you know Matt had the camera from Disneyland and I kept forgetting to ask him for it. Well I finally got it and downloaded them. By know means is it as good as Tara's blog pictures of our trip. We were just so glad to be able to go with them and have such a good time. So take a glance once again at the Disneyland post and also stop by Tara's blog, between the both of us I think it is a real complete picture of the day. Her link is on my blog list. My favorite picture I think is when Nathan is eating the lemon ice Charlie was giving him and making those great faces. It also reminded me about Charlies water trick at the fountain, with an unsuspected victims trying to get a drink. Great times and I can't wait to go again. Also in the mix of the picture is Matt's trip to Oxnard to see the Cowboys at Training camp. He was so glad to get a whiff of Texas!!
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
First day of School
Well school has begun as of August 18th. It has been quite an adjustment getting used to the way things are done here in Cali. So I am going to vent a little. Sorry, but this has been very frustrating and I don't understand why it is done this way. First thing is we didn't find out who the kids teachers were until Friday MORNING. Which to me was odd because to meet the teacher you had to be there from 9-10 a.m. Now I don't know many people here yet, but guessing by how much houses are and the cost of living is, not to many folks are available from 9-10 a.m. due to oh I don't know WORKING!!! (Some districts don't even allow the students to know who the teacher is till they get to school on the first day!) Matt had to take some time off because we had already scheduled a Dr's. appointment for Erik a month prior (which we would have changed if we had known about the class thing, explanation later.) So Matt took Erin,Mike and Dan to school to find out who the new teachers were and where the classes are. That went well till we found out we needed to buy supplies for each one of the kids!!!! Now in Texas this is normal and we get the lists 1 month prior to school beginning. So we are usually prepared for it and have budgeted for it. This was the WEEKEND prior to school beginning, so EVERY Parent and Child was AT Walmart, Target, Rite Aid, Walgreens, Office Depot, Office Max trying to get last minute supplies now required to start school on Monday. (Normally you just bring a backpack and maybe some fun pencils and stuff, the rest is suppose to be provided, at least that is what we were told, and reaffirmed by my mother and sister who are both teachers here.) Anyhow we get that all taken care of, and the first day begins. YIPPEE! Now all summer long we have been watching the website for the district to post a calendar for the school year that lists holiday's, 1/2 days and policies for late start days. Well we finally found it! It was under the student handbook policies, which came home on the first day of school. It informed us to look at the website and sign the last page and send back. Well when reading through in PDF file of the handbook low and behold, there was the district school calendar.(It didn't have the individual school events though,but still it was a calendar) Man and I thought it would be under the CALENDAR link?? Well as I was reading this wonderful piece of information, I looked at the daily schedule of release times. It looked odd so I looked a little closer and realized that each of the grades have a different release times and on Wednesdays 3-6 grades get out at 2 instead of 3. The 1-2 get out at 2 everyday and the Kindergarten afternoon classes get out at 3 everyday. And if they do a half day the afternoon and morning kindergarten classes are combined!! So if you were able to catch all of that, if you have more than one child going to school, say 3-4 kids, you could possibly being dropping off and picking up kids 3-4 times a day. Don't even get me started on the Middle School and High School!! So yes in my mind I did a rush calculation, I go to the school three times a day (this would be really bad if I drove on my gas mileage!) back and forth, and next year depending on if Danny goes to a.m. or p.m. kindergarten I will be at 2 different schools 6 times a day!!! There is one poor lady here who has 5 kids and has to pick up each of her 4 that go to school every hour from 1 to 3! Now mind you she dropped 3 off at 8, then her kindergartner off at 11:35 and has to be back at one to pick up the 1st grader. Then on Wednesdays it changes because of who gets picked up at 2 because of early release! And if you had just moved into the district from out of state, you think the office staff would have thought, we should give a start and release schedule to parents of newly enrolled children. If I hadn't looked at the handbook, (like I usually do because it is usually about discipline, attendance policies, and Internet use, the district calendar is in it, but we also receive the district calendar in the registration papers.) I would have never thougt to look there for the calendar or the early release. Oh and by the way I did ask the office staff about the calendar when I registered the kids and they said they had not updated it yet and it will be available before school started. So don't think I didn't ask.
Oh yeah before I forget about the explanation of why we didn't know when meet the teacher was, is because they didn't know when it was going to be when I went back on the 8th of August to turn in Mikes updated shot record, and there was NO calendar with events to let people know when things are going to happen.(I asked again about the calendar and it wasn't finished yet.) They did finally post something on the Marque on Tuesday, but obviously to late to change the Dr. appointment, because it would be another month before we could get him in again (I asked, just in case) and he needed to get these tests done asap.
So are you confused yet? Welcome to California, and ya wonder why they are having so much trouble understanding anything? No school district is perfect and I know that, but good grief can we have a set schedule of school hours that are from 8:00-3:00, Kindergarten - 8th grade, And high school 7:30-2:30. That way we could save on gas, time, and money? And have calendars available, so parents can be informed of pertinent information. OK done venting.
The kids are glad to be back in school and all of them love their teachers. They are starting to get used to the schedule. Erin has Mr. Kramer, who she says is really funny, and loves teaching. She is sitting in the back of the class and is glad to have a friend from church in her class. Erik has Mrs. Prickett, and Erik says she gives the best hugs. She is very aware of her students and Erik said by the first hour she had every one's names memorized and could name something they liked. (Great memory there is 24 in the class) Michael's teacher is Mrs. Maitia, and boy does she have it together. Michael says his favorite time is the Clifford reading time and playing on the bikes outside. Danny and I are enjoying the POOL :)!! We have also gotten to know the crossing guard Jerry. Him and Danny talk while we wait for the kids to get out of school. Danny just loves playing in the dirt at his feet and telling him stories of Transformers, Superman, and The Sword in the Stone. Jerry just keeps asking him questions and Danny will talk his ear off.
Well it is late. So off to bed, sorry about the long post, but it was nice to get that off my mind!!
Oh yeah before I forget about the explanation of why we didn't know when meet the teacher was, is because they didn't know when it was going to be when I went back on the 8th of August to turn in Mikes updated shot record, and there was NO calendar with events to let people know when things are going to happen.(I asked again about the calendar and it wasn't finished yet.) They did finally post something on the Marque on Tuesday, but obviously to late to change the Dr. appointment, because it would be another month before we could get him in again (I asked, just in case) and he needed to get these tests done asap.
So are you confused yet? Welcome to California, and ya wonder why they are having so much trouble understanding anything? No school district is perfect and I know that, but good grief can we have a set schedule of school hours that are from 8:00-3:00, Kindergarten - 8th grade, And high school 7:30-2:30. That way we could save on gas, time, and money? And have calendars available, so parents can be informed of pertinent information. OK done venting.
The kids are glad to be back in school and all of them love their teachers. They are starting to get used to the schedule. Erin has Mr. Kramer, who she says is really funny, and loves teaching. She is sitting in the back of the class and is glad to have a friend from church in her class. Erik has Mrs. Prickett, and Erik says she gives the best hugs. She is very aware of her students and Erik said by the first hour she had every one's names memorized and could name something they liked. (Great memory there is 24 in the class) Michael's teacher is Mrs. Maitia, and boy does she have it together. Michael says his favorite time is the Clifford reading time and playing on the bikes outside. Danny and I are enjoying the POOL :)!! We have also gotten to know the crossing guard Jerry. Him and Danny talk while we wait for the kids to get out of school. Danny just loves playing in the dirt at his feet and telling him stories of Transformers, Superman, and The Sword in the Stone. Jerry just keeps asking him questions and Danny will talk his ear off.
Well it is late. So off to bed, sorry about the long post, but it was nice to get that off my mind!!
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
More Pictures from Oregon
As I stated in my last blog I got my camera two days into our trip in Oregon, so I didn't get pictures of the lighthouse that we visited on the coast and the first day of activities at Great Grandma and Grandpa Escriva's house. Well my parents stopped by for dinner and brought their camera so I was able to down load the other pictures. Hope you enjoy them. They are of the kids playing in a compost ball, oiling the boards for the trailer, trimming grass around the trees before the mowing, and the Umpqua light house, which is stunning. The glass and brass are impeccable and so beautiful.
My sister Carrie also just got back from a trip in Japan, and two weeks prior to that a trip from Mexico. She has several beautiful pictures of both countries and neat stories from each. I am so glad she got to go. She brought back many souvenirs and memories.
Oh and I forgot to add if you don't see Matt in any of the pictures it is because he took a trip to Texas for a managers meeting. So he spent part of the weekend at home then drove down to Houston for the meeting. We really missed him, but glad he was able to go home for a bit. Can't wait to see everyone. And especially Marcus, Anna, Conner, and James who are moving there next week!!!! It will be so cool!
WATCH THE OLYMPICS!
My sister Carrie also just got back from a trip in Japan, and two weeks prior to that a trip from Mexico. She has several beautiful pictures of both countries and neat stories from each. I am so glad she got to go. She brought back many souvenirs and memories.
Oh and I forgot to add if you don't see Matt in any of the pictures it is because he took a trip to Texas for a managers meeting. So he spent part of the weekend at home then drove down to Houston for the meeting. We really missed him, but glad he was able to go home for a bit. Can't wait to see everyone. And especially Marcus, Anna, Conner, and James who are moving there next week!!!! It will be so cool!
WATCH THE OLYMPICS!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
My new camera
Ok so I finally broke down and bought a new camera. It is so frustrating blogging and not having photos of the events that we are experiencing. We were up in Oregon visiting my Grandma and Grandpa Escriva for the weekend to celebrate her 80th birthday and my parents were the only one who had a camera. So I drove into walmart the second day we were there and got an Olympus camera. It is nice because it is smaller that my other one and does everything it did, and this one has video w/sound on it. YEAH! So the wonderful weekend has photos and video of all of the fun things we did. My grandparents live on 10 acres in southern Oregon. So tractors were involved, my boys and there grandpa Teves got to mow the orchard and vinard and old corn patch. Erin, didn't want to, so she worked on the porch and staining the boards for the the new floor in the trailer. We got to sleep outside the three days we were there and enjoyed the beautiful stars, deer, owls and the bats. Yup, I said bats. They would come out at dusk to eat the insects. It was cool to watch. The first night, Danny was so curious about all of the noises. And kept asking what's that? Well I thought he had FINALLY fallin' asleep, because he had quit asking, and then I heard the deer coming through the back yard. Well so did he and in a very loud voice asked What's that? The deer bolted and it was pretty loud so it startled him and he sat up. I then replied,It was the deer, Danny. He said, oh and laid back down and was fast asleep. The deer didn't come back around the whole time we were there. (Good news for G.Grandpa's tomatoes)
The kids did have a lot of fun pulling each other around in the carts. Grandpa Teves had to do some minor repairs on them before we left. The other thing they had fun with was a compost ball. It was empty and they could crawl through the hole and roll each other around. Talk about funny!
While there we went to the coast to visit the Umpqua Lighthouse and go to Mo's to have some wonderful clam chowder. My younger two absolutely loved the chowder (two points for me on the fish food side) the other two wouldn't even try it. It was a cool day too, so the clam chowder totally hit the spot. We picked up a couple of souvenirs at the lighthouse gift shop, one of which was a 3D light house puzzle which the kids and I put together when we got back from the coast. It was so much fun. The coast was beautiful. The kids all want to go back, I hope our next coastal visit is Pismo.
Uncle Tim and Terry came to visit with Aaron, Rachel, Angie and Sam. It was also Aaron's birthday, (him and grandma share the same birthday) We had a really good visit with them and the kids enjoyed playing with their cousin Samantha. She is such a cutie and had the most beautiful curly hair.
On our way back home we took a detour to the Oregon Vortex and Mystery House. It was soo cool. A lot of optical illusions, but there is a phenomenon there that creates the appearance of becoming shorter as you go towards magnetic north. You can look it up on www.orgonvortex.com. The pictures are mixed in, but you can definitely see which ones are from there.
Our next stop was at my Uncle Donald's and Aunt Bernadine's. We had such a good time with them. We got there pretty late in the evening and my older two walked in a fell asleep on the couches. It was so cute. But the next day was filled with adventures, great conversations, and wonderful food. My kids made friends with the little boy Montana down the street and played the rest of the afternoon with him. We had a wonderful day with them and Dan, and are looking forward to there visit in October when Uncle Donald will be here for his high school reunion.
On our way home from there we took a detour and traveled around Mount Lassen and got pictures of the active volcano. It smelled like rotten eggs, but it was soo cool to see the activity. The boys thought it was awesome.
All and all it was a great trip and I know the kids will remember well.
The kids did have a lot of fun pulling each other around in the carts. Grandpa Teves had to do some minor repairs on them before we left. The other thing they had fun with was a compost ball. It was empty and they could crawl through the hole and roll each other around. Talk about funny!
While there we went to the coast to visit the Umpqua Lighthouse and go to Mo's to have some wonderful clam chowder. My younger two absolutely loved the chowder (two points for me on the fish food side) the other two wouldn't even try it. It was a cool day too, so the clam chowder totally hit the spot. We picked up a couple of souvenirs at the lighthouse gift shop, one of which was a 3D light house puzzle which the kids and I put together when we got back from the coast. It was so much fun. The coast was beautiful. The kids all want to go back, I hope our next coastal visit is Pismo.
Uncle Tim and Terry came to visit with Aaron, Rachel, Angie and Sam. It was also Aaron's birthday, (him and grandma share the same birthday) We had a really good visit with them and the kids enjoyed playing with their cousin Samantha. She is such a cutie and had the most beautiful curly hair.
On our way back home we took a detour to the Oregon Vortex and Mystery House. It was soo cool. A lot of optical illusions, but there is a phenomenon there that creates the appearance of becoming shorter as you go towards magnetic north. You can look it up on www.orgonvortex.com. The pictures are mixed in, but you can definitely see which ones are from there.
Our next stop was at my Uncle Donald's and Aunt Bernadine's. We had such a good time with them. We got there pretty late in the evening and my older two walked in a fell asleep on the couches. It was so cute. But the next day was filled with adventures, great conversations, and wonderful food. My kids made friends with the little boy Montana down the street and played the rest of the afternoon with him. We had a wonderful day with them and Dan, and are looking forward to there visit in October when Uncle Donald will be here for his high school reunion.
On our way home from there we took a detour and traveled around Mount Lassen and got pictures of the active volcano. It smelled like rotten eggs, but it was soo cool to see the activity. The boys thought it was awesome.
All and all it was a great trip and I know the kids will remember well.
Happy Birthday Erin
We celebrated Erin's 11th birthday this year in Ventura, CA. She wanted to go to the beach for the day. We had a wonderful time and the kids played in the ocean for hours. Mike and Dan stayed pretty much in the sand and Erin and Erik ventured out and jumped the waves. (it was amazing how much sand and seaweed can get into a bathing suit) We then took a walk on the historical pier. It was so beautiful and we had such a great time. My sister has all of the picture though so as soon as she gets back from Japan I will get some to post here of the days events.
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