Interjection (the first rag quilt)

I decided just to put the pictures on here quickly and then take them right off the computer again and hopefully that will eliminate any problems from before.

This is my quilt that I made from my rag quilt class that Lynne just LOVED (see previous entry)!

Isn't it soooooooo cute? I took it out the other night and unfolded it and just looked at it. I love my quilt and don't know if it will ever be given as a gift.
Fairies!!
See my next entry for the latest on the rag quilt under construction.

Fun documentation (now with pictures)

So, as far as I know, my mother-in-law has no clue that this blog exists; I intend to keep it that way...at least until I'm finished with her Christmas gift that I started tonight. So, Lynne, if you know this exists...stop reading right now!

I thought it would be fun to document all of the labor that goes into this gift. I will try to post pictures, but am slightly reluctant to at the moment because of some problems with pics being on the computer. I will post them when I can.

About a month and a half ago I took a rag quilting class at our local fabric store, The Cotton Shop. That's my new favorite place to get sewing supplies and fabric. Anyway, Lynne (mother-in-law) saw my quilt and just oogled over it and LOVED it. So, when I was there with my own mother about 3 weeks or so ago, we were looking at the rag quilt kits and my eyes caught a new quilt that one of the employees had made. It was a CHRISTMAS rag quilt and soooooooooooo freaking cute! Oh my gosh!! Lynne immediately came to mind as my mom and I both oogled and ooooh-ed and ahhhh-ed over it. It was just fun and exciting. I immediately picked up the quilt kit and was willing to pay the $70 to make the quilt. When I went to pay for it, my mom inquired about a 20% off coupon to see if I could use it. The lady said yes and I said: "but it says no discounts on blanket kits." She said that only applied to the pre-made blankets you can crochet around. WOO HOO!! So my grand total was $59, after tax. It's just been sitting in it's plastic bag for 3 weeks. Then I got the feeling it will take me a while to finish this project and I think I am right. Tonight I pulled out the pre-cut squares and went through ALL of them and ironed them. That alone took me about an hour. But I couldn't be more excited about this project. I can't wait to give it to Lynne. Since it's a Christmas quilt, I get to give it to her early! Probably around Thanksgiving. :)

Hours so far on quilt: 1

Stay tuned for pictures and more updates.

UPDATE: PICTURES BELOW!

This is just after I finished ironing all of the pieces. The filler pieces aren't shown because you'll never see them anyway. They are just like the solid blue pieces, just tan.

This will be the outside binding. So, instead of having the outside edges be ragged, they will be bound like a regular quilt.
CUTE! Wait no! I would say beyond adorable!
There are many varieties of quilt squares. This one just happened to be on top! So, I'll alternate one of these striped border pieces and one of the pieces above.
This will be the back of the quilt. Just blue. Unlike my first rag quilt, this one will take longer because I have to pay attention to where I am sewing the pieces so I don't accidentally sew a blue piece to the front or sew one of the striped border pieces upside down. Ohhh, the horror!

This one is quick!

So far, so good. There will be days that are better than others, but overall, I think my kids this year already know how to behave better than my groups last year. The second grade Dual Immersion teachers are having one h*** of a time already! They come to lunch exasperated and ask me all sorts of questions about their students.

I miss my Hannah. She gave me a hug today at lunch. I only miss her when I see her--odd, but true. Though, I do have this year where Jennifer and Dani get so excited to see me in the halls when they are in Spanish for the week. Funny thing is, I know Jennifer will give me a run for my money but she is, overall, a good girl! Oh, and can I tell you that Hyrum and Max are wayyyyyy too cute for words? Oh their faces; I can't stand how adorable they are! Once Max learns to raise his hand, he'll be irresistable. May those two front teeth not grow in until second grade! ;)

The parents seem pretty normal as well. Hopefully that will last. I still have 170 more days to keep them happy. Wish me luck.

I'm sitting here at my kidney table (a table shaped like a kidney for those who are wondering!) wondering if my next student testing appointment forgot, or is in another appointment with siblings.I have a half hour to get stuff done and I'm blogging. WHAT AM I THINKING? I have so much to do! Blogging is a nice break I suppose.

Day 2 of the new school year is over and I am, in the words of my principal, "cautiously optimistic" about this group of kids. We'll see how it goes with the other group next week. Before school started, I was bound and determined to have better-behaved students than I had last year. So far it's working. Lots of positive reinforcement and reminders to myself that they are only 6 and have only been in school for 2 days has really paid off. I've got 21 dang cute faces staring at me all day long with little trouble. Of course, there are the select few that haven't caught on to the fact that I will ignore them if they are not raising their hand and just saying "Mrs. S.? Teacher? Teacher? TEACHER?" *sigh* They can't all be perfect, I guess. It did make me feel good to have the principal come in on the first day and whisper in my ear "You are doing amazing." *GRIN* That was the most fantastic thing ever.

Now my next challenge is getting settled on a daily schedule. Things around these here parts are just wild and I am trying to get used to an extremely crazy schedule. It's so complicated that I won't bother to explain. Just know that I might be pulling my hair out because of our schedule and not because of my students. ;)

Well, I should go and plan for tomorrow. Maybe it will be somewhat normal. HA!

dreams (or nightmares)

Ever since I ended last school year and have enjoyed my summer vacation, I continuously have dreams (or nightmares?) that my new class this year is so naughty! I hate those dreams. Kory says I have them because it's something I'm worried about. 'Tis true, but really, do I have to dream about it??

I did meet with my mentor yesterday that Diane asked me to work with this year. She is so great and I love that she seemed very non-judgmental. I already had some good ideas for improvement and so Debbie (the mentor) just kind of let me take the wheel. She offered a few ideas here and there, but really she is just around to do her job: mentor, if needed. I like it.

The kids come back to school in 12 days, I have to be back for training and Professional Development in 6 days. So much to do!!

In other news(sorry, it's kind of about school again): Kory signed up to take the GRE in October. He and I both decided he can't get his new video game that he wants until after he has taken the GRE. So, October it is! It makes me excited because it means that we're heading in the Grad School direction. The next question is, where will be be in a year? That answer will most likely come in January.

That's is for now.

Some pictures from Hawaii

Here are a few images from our trip to Hawaii. During the second family reunion (week 2) we stayed at Auntie Lucille's empty rental house (literally no furniture). There were banana trees outside mine and Kory's window and I was so enthralled by them. This is the first bunch of bananas I saw and I wanted SOOOOO badly to pick them because 1) the neighbors weren't doing anything about them and 2) aren't they just yelling "PICK ME" to you? I would get up every morning and look out the window at the bananas. Kory wouldn't let me pick them. He couldn't understand my infatuation! :)


During both family reunions, we had one day as a family where we were in charge of a meal. Week 2 we were in charge of lunch. Jase wanted to help make the tuna, so we let him "mix" everything in. So cute!














We only visited this beach one day because it was near the Kona side of the island and our reunions were on the Hilo side. This was the only sandy beach we played at. The beaches at the reunions were rocky. I'm a sucker for that gorgeous turquoise water.















I think this was the coolest part of our trip. One Sunday night we drove out to the lava flow. The Big Island is the only one out of the 7 that is getting larger because the volcano is active. When we drove out, we arrived at about 8:15pm. It was almost dark and by the time we park and reached the path to start hiking out, it was pitch black, just like the pictures. We were required to have water, flashlights, and good, sturdy shoes in order to hike out to the designated lava viewing spot. Our path was old, dried up lava marked with white and yellow paint. There aren't words to describe this experience. All I can say is that God is the creator if this Earth. We got out to the flow and these are the best pictures I could get in the pitch blackness.
The lava is flowing out of a lava tube underground and into the ocean. The more blurry parts of orange in the picture is the steam rising from the ocean. When I got up close, I kept trying to get a good picture and couldn't. This nice man next to me asked if I had ever used a tripod. I said no. He told me it would get a better picture for me because it would be steady. He asked fo rmy camera and hooked it up to his tripod. He said: "take as many pictures as you want so you can get some good ones. Let me know when you're done." So sweet! He also told me that if I turned off the flash I would get a better image. I took his word for it and these are the results--much better than the ones I deleted because they were taken with a flash. Off in the distance on the other side, we could see more orange glows. It looked as if a fire had died down and just the embers were left. On our hike back, that was our scenery and we kept stopping and saying "so cool." I couldn't believe that I had experienced something so absolutely amazing. This experience goes beyond words and I highly recommend it to anyone who visits the big island. It is just incredible. For more pictures (that I tried to download but couldn't) Google "Hawaii volcano" and check out the images. They will take your breath away. More pictures to come.

Funny

Not much to say. 3 more days. It's funny that we're counting down to Saturday because we don't actually go to Hawaii until Tuesday. But our vacation officially starts on Saturday. Yahoo!

Our Living Room looks like it's being attacked. There is stuff everywhere...mostly my stuff since I have nothing else to do all day except lay out things to be packed for Hawaii. Saturday needs to come faster. Oh man!! I can't stand it any longer. *sigh* I guess I'll just have to be patient. It's always exciting to pack; not as exciting to unpack. But we won't think about the latter part at the moment.

Funny story: We were at Ken and Lynne's (Kory's parents) Sunday night. Jase was there and playing around like running and jumping, etc. He had been told not to jump, especially not off the stairs, which he enjoys thoroughly. So, a little bit later, he jumps off the stairs and gets a spank for it. Then way later, he's on the stairs again and the look on his face is just screaming "jump, jump, I must jump." The four of us watching him warned him not to jump. Then one of us asked: "Jase what happens if you jump?" He says "I get a spank."
Us: "Do you want a spank?"
Jase: "no"
Us: "So what will happen if you jump?"
Jase (contemplative): "I spank myself." He promptly starts wacking himself with an angry face. It was so funny!!! We were rolling with laughter. He just kept wacking his bottom and then did it so hard once that he just stopped and looked at Kali as if to say: "Ow, that hurt. Do I need to cry?" It was hilarious! That was a moment when I truly wished I had my camera handy because I would have taken a video. Oh man that kid kills us!