School Update

I am very happy to announce that I have officially finished my Masters of Arts in Teaching program. I have spent the last four months student teaching as well as taking classes.  I spent eight weeks teaching in second grade and six weeks in kindergarten.  I have had so much fun as I have worked with the students and teachers in these classrooms.
Now I am working on obtaining my teaching license.  Since my program was based in Minnesota I have to obtain that license first in order to get my Iowa license.  It may take up to eighteen weeks or longer to get through the governmental process so I have taken a part time job through the end of the school year.  I will be working in the early childhood special education room in the Reinbeck Elementary.  The superintendent/principal stopped me one day and asked me if I would like the job while I was waiting for my license to come through.  It is always nice when a job it basically handed to you.  It is just in the mornings so I have the afternoons to volunteer.  I can also come home and workout and enjoy some quiet before picking the kids up from school.

It felt really good to say I GOT MY MASTERS FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!   

Cub Scouts

Jonathan has joined cub scouts this year.  They just started meeting in November and Greg is his den leader.  He is in the Wolf den and has already earned his bobcat badge. He loves being part of scouts and tells everyone he can about it.  He has enjoyed showing off his uniform as well.  Thankfully Greg is good with a sewing machine and was able to take off his badges that he didn't need and change his troop number.  He as also sewn on all of Jonathan's necessary badges.  This has been great for me since that means I didn't have to do it. The first big thing they did was to decorate a tree for Gladbrook's festival of trees.  Here are the pictures of him and his troop.

It is a young troop.  There are two older boys, one of which is soon to leave cub scouts as he advances to boy scouts.  This leaves three tiger scouts and two wolf scouts.  I do have to admit that he looks pretty good in his uniform.  It is also nice to see him get excited about something other than Star Wars.

Halloween

This year because of my student teaching, I didn't have the time to make the costumes for Halloween.  We got lucky and found Jonathan and Madison's at consignment shops, which just left us with Andrew's to buy.  Greg was able to help Jonathan make a gun for his storm trooper and a hose for the Andrew's firefighter.  The kids really enjoyed going trick-or-treating this year.  We had to pull the red wagon this year because Andrew and Madison were just getting back to school after missing two weeks because of pneumonia.  They really tired easily.

Zoo Trip

During the summer the kids participated in the Marshalltown Public Library's summer reading program.  After going to the library and getting their sheet stamped three times they received passes to Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines.  We took the opportunity to go over Labor Day weekend since the weather was so nice.  It was also the last day for a special exhibit on dinosaurs.  The kids always enjoy going to the zoo and for us it is even better when they get to go for free because they spent time at the library.

Jumping like a Wallaby.

Jumping like a Wallaby.

Riding the train.

Jonathan spent the day writing down things he saw.  What great practice.

 

Labor Day Weekend Bike Ride

Over the Labor Day weekend we took the kids to the nearby Comet Trail to ride bike and to do some Geo Caching.  The kids really enjoy riding their bikes and especially enjoy going out on the trails.  It was a short ride though since Andrew tires easily.  Here they are looking at the cache they found.

They stopped to pose for a group photo.  I of course offered to take the picture as to avoid being in the photo.  Andrew also seems to hate having his picture taken.  I guess I know where he gets that from.  It was a lot of fun to go out and be active as a family.  I have only ridden my bike maybe twice in the last eleven years and it was great to be on  it again.

Madison's Camping Trip

Madison went to  Pine Lake in Eldora for her trip with Greg.  They enjoyed walking the trail that goes by the lake.  The canoe rental place was out of business so she was not able to canoe.

What a beautiful breakfast casserole.

Since they were not able to go canoeing they went to twister park in Eldora to play on Saturday morning.  After playing they went to Waterloo to the Phelps Youth Pavilion.  She really enjoyed playing at the pavilion.  There was a room that was based on books.

The Necklace and Tall Chief  were two of the books they had activities for.  She was able to string beads to make a necklace and then Tall Chief is about an Indian princess who becomes a famous ballet dancer so she is dressed up for that.
She really enjoyed her trip, but was tired when she got home.

Madison's Birthday

We celebrated Madison's ninth birthday on Friday August 12th.  She really wanted to have baked zitti for dinner and a spice cake with mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert.  She got an ipod speaker that also included an alarm clock and radio.  A picture of a ballet dancer and a suncatcher scratch art kit. 

Jonathan's Capming Trip

This year Jonathan went to Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt.  He really wanted to go canoeing and this was a great place to do it.  While he was there a couple let him use their fishing pole.  They go to Chichaqua bottoms to catch bait and then come to Marshalltown to the Iowa River to catch catfish.  Jonathan was able to catch a fish.

Here he is helping to get a fire ready for to cook dinner and just relaxing.

They found lots of frogs on this trip.  On Saturday they enjoyed canoeing for a while.

After canoeing they went to Train land USA and looked at the model trains.

They also stopped at a Geo cache.  Here he is going through the cache to find something to trade.

He really enjoyed spending the time with his dad and seeing the model trains.

The First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for the kids.  I met the day with mixed emotions.  I was more than ready for them to go back to school, yet I had to admit that they were growing up.

Madison started middle school today and is in fifth grade.  She decided she needed new clothes because she was no longer in elementary and needed to look like she belonged in middle school.  She is so tiny that this was not an easy task.  I stuck with the nice capri/ shorts and button up tops as much as possible.  In middle school they require all the students to carry trapper keepers of some sort.  Madison got a nice one for her birthday from my parents.  It is purple and has a shoulder strap for her to carry it.  I have learned from others that this is essential in helping carry the trapper and books to class.  Well her trapper is as big as she is and weighs about as much as well.  She also gets to experience changing for P.E. class.  She is not looking forward to this.  She said thankfully they didn't have to change today.  She is also learning to play flute for band.  This is one thing she is really looking forward to.

Jonathan is in second grade this year.  In a school that is k-2 he is now one of the "top dogs" in the school.  He hasn't really said much about school so I really don't know how he is feeling about it.  He teacher is really great and someone I would love to learn from. 

Andrew started kindergarten this year.  Boy how time flies.  I am excited to get the chance to see him learn and grow this year.  By time he leaves kindergarten he will be reading and doing basic math.  Hopefully his speech will be better as well as the problems with his fine motor development. 

Here they all are ready to leave for the first day of school.