Reading and Riding!

Over spring break the school set up a competition for the kids. If they cumulatively read 40K min's over spring break then Ms. Barton, their principal, would ride a Harley. I was asked if I would chauffeur Ms. Barton on the back of my bike. Well much to our surprise the kids hit 46K. A few of them read over 1K by themselves. Our Jolie was one of those and they all received recognition of their achievement during an assembly this morning.

After the assembly was our cue to proceed with the ride. So.... to the surprise of the entire student body Ms. Barton began suiting up in the riding gear for this ride right before them.

Here we go!

Ride over Ms. Barton got off the bike to address all the students and send them back into the school.

Ms Barton was supposed to walk back into the school with all the kiddo's but decided that she'd had so much fun that she wanted to ride back instead.

Off we go!

What a day!

The beginning of the competition... We arrived to the presentation table all set up and Olivia's recipe and 9 others being displayed with their chef hats waiting.


Olivia all decked out and ready to get cooking.


















Here are the 10 finalists... from 10 different elementary schools in the district.
We were told that the district narrowed down the playing field to the top 100 recipes and then down to the top 10. These are the elite! ;-)






Olivia preparing the crescent roll base for her Vegetable bars.

While the kiddos were all cooking David walked over to the prize table to see what was what. The bike, helmet and IPod are for the 1st place winner. The Razor (scooter), helmet and IPod are for the 2nd place winner. The Digital Camera and Backpack are for the 3rd place winner. All of the kids received Achievement certificates, medals and a bag of goodies which included a really nice kite.





















Olivia's recipe.....



All done!

Channel 11 news was there.

Olivia's presentation and 5 judges plates

The judges tasting all the wonderful snacks the kids made.

This particular judge came all the way from Oklahoma City for this competition.
And the winners are?

Jeff Coleman is the Head Chef at the District.

Pretty cool experience...

Happy Birthday Jessica! The big ____!

I'll leave your age blank only because I now officially feel old. Love you! MOM & the group

This time, just a blip!

Well Easter was wet for us........ kind of. The snow started off and on Saturday a.m. But developed into a heavy wet snowfall by late evening. We were all excited to see it coming down as our area is now 27" behind in precipitation for the year. So Easter morning I jumped out of bed at 6 to see what amounts we'd been blessed with. The roads were clear as was the sidewalk to the house. Oh well, at least the snow was sticking to the trees, bushes and grass. By 11 a.m. it was all gone and everything was completely dry. Our weather remained cloudy and cool though the day and by evening we were having a bit of rain and later it developed into the large, wet snowflakes again. Today we got up to a barely damp driveway and the rest was drying up quickly. Now the sun is shining, temps are rising and supposedly we still have the possibility of more precipitation today. We'll see.

Happy Easter!

More News....

Do you remember February 5, 2009? (click on the date to see what happened that day) I'll wait.............

Wasn't that interesting and fun! Well ...

To think, Kristina took 3rd place out of the entire school district for her Blue Cheese Apple Salad recipe (click on the pic to see Kristina's entry and for the recipe). Wow!

Well Olivia entered the "Healthy after School Snack" contest a few weeks ago with our "Vegetable Bars" recipe. Imagine our surprise when the phone rang yesterday afternoon and it was a representive of Sodexho food services. Olivia's snack was picked to compete. Hers was the only recipe chosen out of her entire school and she will be competing against the top 10 recipes chosen for the entire district. So check back next Tuesday or Wednesday to see how she does!

Of dead cars, highs and lows and all the other stuff...

As our temps keep dipping down and then back up again, everyone is either getting sick or having horrible allergy/asthma attacks. I think after almost 2 years of staying well, that I may be headed down the road of being sick, myself, it all started this morning. I'll start drinking orange juice and make sure that I get my vitamin. (YUK! Its big enough to make a horse blink twice) Hopefully this will stave off any interesting bugs that might be hanging around.

After 13 months of laying on its side dead our garage, the Cadillac is gone. Last Saturday I called and found a tow company that would come and take it to its final resting place. The guys who showed up were very respectful of our loss and great with the kids. All of the kids got to push the buttons that made the bed of the tow truck go up and down. They enjoyed themselves immensely. David and I on the other hand watched with some sadness as an old friend was pulled from the garage up onto the tow truck and driven away. I guess we're more connected to our vehicles than I had ever thought.

Knitting keeps moving along and I'm just about ready to complete a long project which I'll be able to use next year, the Wintersweet Scarf (at left). It really has turned out to be quite lovely and I'm looking forward to being able to wear it. Nice weight. I'll post another picture when I have the hood inserted. In the mean time I've also completed another smaller project, MY! Mini Mochi Fair Isle Hat, which you see hanging from our tree out front in all its glory. This is the 5th one that I've made and the first that I've been able to keep. Just about all of my larger children have the other ones that I've made. I have started on another sweater for myself called the "Cerulean Cardigan". Just a very plain cardi that will be a great weight for the fall, winter and early spring. Its a beautiful blue violet color and the yarn is a 70% merino wool and 30% silk. I couldn't resist and even better the yarn was 35% off at the time. It really is heaven to work with.

Poor Kristina. Yesterday we found out that she is going to have to have her wisdom teeth pulled in June. Poor kid. Fortunately for us our regular dentist will be able to pull her teeth as they are not impacted. These teeth are starting to move around all the orthodontic work that she had done. I'll keep you all posted on her upcoming ordeal. We're hoping to schedule this around our girls only camping trip the beginning of June and possible company a bit later in the month. I'm sure we can make it all work.

Mother's Day is coming up and my group is taking me camping up at the Cripple Creek KOA. We will be staying there for two nights (13th and 14th of May). Though this is a week after Mothers Day it is a special weekend since quite a few KOA's are offering one night free if you stay over the weekend. So while up there we'll be going to the Florissant Fossil Beds and maybe into and around Cripple Creek to try and find the ever elusive wild Donkeys that roam around up there.

A second post in less than a week....and a movie too!

I guess there's really not that much going on. I'm having trouble typing, the keys seem to not want to co-operate. I hit it.......... hit it again and finally exhale deeply and thump the key I want and finally I get letter to make the word I'm typing make sense. The f and g keys are the worst. Anyway......

Yesterday we took the kids shopping for new shoes and ended up freshening up their wardrobes a bit as well. Here is part of their fashion show......

While David was in New York City last week a package arrived for him. We couldn't wait for dad to get home to see what was in the box. Unfortunately he didn't know what the surprise was either. So opening this box was quite the thrill for this group. Heres what was inside.... This is a gift from the Alumni Association from the University of Phoenix. A framed copy of his article.

I'm still working on my knitting, though today I'll be taking a break to work on the house and get it ready for the upcoming week. I did clean the dining room out of all the camping supplies (which are now located on the breakfast table), I cleaned up my bedroom and the kids have finished the basement and their rooms. So there isn't much left. Here is a picture of the project that I've been working off and on for the last couple of months....

it measures 58" and I have 29" left to knit after I bring the other "half" up to length with the front half. This is a hooded scarf. You can see the hood on the floor next to the scarf....