WEEKEND GETAWAY

Last weekend we went with my family for a weekend at an indoor waterpark. There was also a bowling alley, rock climbing wall, arcade, go carts & restaurants on site. We had a wonderful time being together.

Allie after going down a slide.
Allie takes a ride on Uncle Michael's back.
My cuties!
Ben & Maddie in the water.
Scott almost makes it to the top of the rock wall...not quite though.

Aunt Kim & Allie
Jake & Aunt Mandy
Allie bowling
Jake bowling
Uncle Michael & Allie on a slide The kids in the hot tub
Jake doing a great job swimming after coming down a body slide
Allie coming off of a body slide
Kim & Scott by the pool...note Kim's expanding belly!
Mom & Dad hanging out by the pool Ben & Uncle Mike playing in the wading pool
Uncle Will playing in the wading pool

OTHER HAPPENINGS

Last week, we had Jake's Blue & Gold Banquet for Scouts. We also got more snow pushing our season total up to 48.8 inches, the 5th snowiest in our history. Allie had a Daisy meeting at the bead store & made a bracelet. Jake has been battling a fever & been down for about 2 days.

This week...we have dance, the Hansen Art Fair, Read Across America day, Religion, the Pinewood Derby and volunteering for me.

A bit dark & Jake is behind the ribbons receiving his awards for Scouts
Allie making her beaded bracelet at her Daisy meeting
Allie & her friend Sam at their Daisy meeting
Allie's Daisy troop (Riley, Madison, Allie, Sam, Chloe & Madison)
Jake & Scott working on the derby car

FUNNY

I thought that this was appropriate considering our winter. This winter is officially the 10th snowiest winter on record with 46.2 inches of snow....

IT'S MELTING

I laid down on the couch this afternoon to rest. I am trying to kick this cold once & for all. Anyway, I looked out the front door as I laid there & realized that the ice/snow on our roof must be melting because there is a constant stream of water coming from the roof. YES!! The sun is shining & it is about 25 degrees. Maybe Spring is coming? Think warm!

CONFERENCES & OTHER STUFF

The kids had their conferences tonight. Both are doing really well in school. Jake's highest grades were in spelling & math, which I suspected. Jake needs to work on his organizational skills...apparently his desk looks like a bomb went off in it....similar to what his room would look like if I didn't MAKE him pick it up. Allie's report went really well too. She is an overachiever...if the teacher asks for them to write 2 sentences, Allie writes 5, that's my girl! She needs to work on recognizing her "teen" numbers. We do flashcards at home & she is getting better. All in all, I was very pleased with their reports. I also got some REALLY cool art work to frame! Yeah!

I'm still sick of snow. We got another round of ice AND snow on Sunday, which caused us to miss school on Monday. The weatherman said that Waterloo has received 44.1 inches of snow this winter...no wonder I am sooooo tired of it (other nearby towns have received more)! We are under another wind chill advisory tonight...wind chills of -25 to -30. How many days until Spring???

I have been under the weather. I started coming down with a cough on Sunday afternoon. By Monday morning, I had a fever to go along with my cough. I felt bad enough that I laid around most of the day. Thankfully, I have pretty self sufficient kids!! I went to work today still not feeling great, but I had volunteer time in Allie's room & conferences too...I felt the need to go in. I drugged myself up with cold meds & made it through the day. I will probably pay for that, but oh well. Now if I can just get through tomorrow, we have Thursday/Friday off & I will lay low! For those ready to lecture me about getting pneumonia again (Kim), I had the school nurse listen to my lungs & she said as of this afternoon they sound good. I go to the doc on Friday for my yearly, I'll get my lungs checked out then too if I haven't shaken this thing!!

Here are those pictures from last week...
Allie & her classmates make a snowman out of Andrea using TP!
Jake's V-day box...it turned out very un-girly, just like he wanted!
Jake's class
Jake at basketball.
Jake's b-ball pic...he wasn't too happy with me for MAKING him take this!

SEND EMAIL...PLEASE!!

If you are reading this, I am begging you to PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE drop me an email with your home address in it. My PC crashed the other day & I have lost all email AND home addresses of my family & friends. A friend is going to attempt to pull some things off of my hard drive, but I'm not counting on that!! I guess from now on, I need to back up...lesson learned!!

What else happened this week??? Scott traveled to Atlanta for a seminar. He loved the decent weather there & rubbed it in a bit!!

Valentine's Day was nice. The kids had their parties at school & they were a lot of fun. Pics will be posted another day.

My mom came up yesterday afternoon. She stopped by the school & met some of my students & got to see the kid's classrooms & meet Jake's teacher. She had already met Allie's teacher when Jake had her. We went to dinner last night & then went to Jake's game this morning & out for breakfast. We had such a nice time. The kids always enjoy their wild game of UNO with Nana.

Jake was chosen for a speaking part in the 1st/2nd grade musical that will be held in March. He was pretty excited. He also got another 100% on his spelling test. He had a doctor appt. & got his chicken pox booster. He HATES shots & was all worked up about it. They used a "shot blocker" and he didn't even know that he got a shot!! What a WONDERFUL invention!

Allie took her friend Jordyn to her ballet class this week. The girls had a great time. Allie had her friend Renee come home from school with her on Thursday & they played & played.

On the agenda for this week is dance, religion, a Pampered Chef party, conferences, volunteering in Allie's room, no school on Thursday/Friday, a doctor appt. & basketball.

A TRIBUTE

On a completely differently note...a teacher at school sent me this email. I had to pass it on...

I am an alumni of Northern Illinois University. I spent my "formative" years on that campus. It is where I received my teacher education. I am so bummed. You always think "those tragedies" will happen someplace else. Now one has struck unbelievably close to home. Where will they end? Without meaning to date myself, here is my tribute to good ole NIU:

NIU--where I attended every single education class for 4 years wearing either a skirt or a dress no matter what the season. Windchill had not been invented, so we never knew how truly cold we were.

NIU--where I attended a candlelight vigil the evening of April 4, 1968 in honor of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

NIU--where my husband and I courted and fell in love 40 years ago

NIU--where we had hours in the dorms and they were strictly enforced

NIU--where men were allowed in our dorms twice a year on a Sunday afternoon for "open house" and the door had to remain open

NIU--where the cornfields met the edge of the dorms and where nothing big ever happened

NIU--where I spent one memorable Friday night dancing to the live music of the band "Tommy James and the Shondells" (those of you who are too young to know this band, you should google them!)

NIU--where I went to see the movie "West Side Story" because my mother wouldn't let me go and see it when I was in high school because it was "indecent"

NIU--where my oldest brother came to visit me for a weekend right after he returned from Viet Nam, and we had front row seats for a Righteous Brother's concert

NIU--where I huddled in the basement of the dorm during the spring of 67 tornadoes that struck Belvidere and then DeKalb

NIU--where nothing ever happened that was big.....until yesterdayGod bless the NIU community.

"Announce peace with your lips, but have it even more so in your heart." St. Francis

A GREAT BIRTHDAY

Friday was my birthday. Jake remembered at about 6:30 that it was my b-day & reminded everyone else as they woke up. He also announced to his class that it was my b-day so they all wished me a happy b-day as I passed them in the hall in the afternoon.

We went to dinner at Montage in downtown CF. We took the kids too since they were really excited it was my b-day. Scott came home from work with a big Isabel Bloom for me that he picked out all by himself. I absolutely love it & I was quite surprised!

The kids that come to my classroom for resource made a card for me & everyone signed it. One boy even made me his own card that said "Hippy Birfda". It melted my heart. Some of the kids were guessing how old I was & one little girl said I was 100, another boy argued saying no that I was 102 & another girl disagreed & thought I was 23, it was quite humorous! I took cookies for my "treat to share" and the kids flipped out over them. One boy asked if he could have the recipe so that his mom could make them. The sad part was that I cheated & bought Pillsbury break apart & bake cookies, so there is no recipe!!

Micheal, Kim, Mandy & the kids came up on Saturday to help me celebrate my birthday & see Jake play ball. They met us at Jake's ball game. We went to lunch at Pepper's & then left Michael with the kids while the girls ran to Target. The roads were awful & it was COLD, so we didn't do much other shopping. We ordered Chinese food for dinner & all went to bed early. We had lunch at Carlos on Sunday & they all left. We came home & did NOTHING all day. It felt good!!

This week...cold & snow are in the forecast, just what we need! Tonight Allie has dance & it is bring a friend day, so her friend Jordyn is joining us. I have a PTA meeting on Tuesday. Jake has Religion on Wednesday & Allie is having a friend over on Thursday. Thursday is also the kid's Valentine's Day parties at school. Friday my mom is coming to visit & will spend the night so she can see Jake's game on Saturday. I wonder how many of these events will be rescheduled due to this yucky Iowa weather???

OH BOY!!

Michael & Kim had their first official ultrasound done the other day & they found out IT'S A BOY!! Actually, Kim had a couple done at work & had told us it was a boy, but wanted to wait to announce it until the official ultrasound. SO, I've kept my mouth shut AGAIN & it about killed me. I can hardly wait 'til June to meet my new little NEPHEW!!

MORE SNOW??? LET'S MAKE SOME FUN!!!

We had MORE snow today. Over 5 inches, which isn't much compared to the 12 inches my parents got. We had another snow day & will make that up in June when we could be at the pool. Anyway, I cleaned the morning away getting ready for company this weekend & then decided that when the weather hands you MORE snow, sometimes you just have to make some fun & go sledding. So, we did!! We called a couple of friends to join us & headed over to the school to use their hill. We had a great time trying out Jake's new snowboard too. Jake & Allie stop by a large drift at the end of our driveway, note it comes up to Jake's shoulders.
Jake on his new snowboard. He didn't do too bad!
Allie & Jordyn.
Group shot.

Allie with our 2 year old neighbor Will. This was his first sledding experience.
Jake & friend Makenna on a sled.
Allie ready to go.
My friend Kristin thinks she can snowboard.
WRONG! Nothing was broken though. Check out her son making sure that she is alright.

Allie & Jordyn ready to go.

Paul & Jake with their new snowboards.

DINOSAURS

I helped Jake's class with their dinosaur unit last week. I helped out in the classroom constructing a large dinosaur with a small group. The kids had to be paleontologists & piece the paper bones together in the correct way. I was shocked at how much those kids know! I was also able to go to the UNI museum to dinosaur school with the kids.

Me, Katia, Cassandra, Jake & Austin with our dinosaur.
My group cutting out bones & starting with our blank sheet!
Jake listening to dinosaur facts.
Parker & Jake assembling dino bones at the museum.

Cassandra, Jake, Parker, Carter & me at the museum, this was my group!

DAISY MEETING

Allie had a Daisy meeting this week. She had a great time being with her friends and playing games. I somehow got roped in to co-leading her troop. I vowed that leading Jake's Cub Scout den was as much Scout leading as I would do...how do you say no though??

The girls are hiding their eyes for a game we were playing.
Allie's troop: Allie, Madison, Chloe & Madison (back) Abbie, Riley & Krisha.

TEETH, BASKETBALL, MOVIE & MORE

Jake lost 2 teeth in 2 days this week. Friday morning, Scott pulled one out & Saturday morning, Jake pulled one out. The tooth fairy made visit number 6 & 7 without any forgetting unlike visit 5!

Jake had basketball on Saturday morning. He's doing really well this year. He is a bit of a ball hog & we've discussed that! He didn't think he was hogging, he just wanted a shot!

Scott & I got a sitter last night & went to dinner at Hu Hot, then got to see a movie that wasn't rated G!! We saw Untraceable & it was really suspenseful, too graphic for me, but still good.

We are going to a Super Bowl party tonight at a friend's house. Tomorrow Allie has dance, Tuesday I help in Allie's room & Jake has his Blue & Gold Banquet for Scouts. Wednesday brings Religion & Thursday is Godfather's night for the PTA. We have company visiting the next 2 weekends, so we are keeping busy!

FISCHER REUNION 2008

My dad's family gathered at my Uncle Dave & Aunt Gail's house last weekend for our annual get together. Since our last gathering in January 2007, we welcomed 3 new babies, had 2 marriages and there is another baby on the way! There are now 38 of us & only 6 couldn't be there (they live in Washington & California). We are all looking forward to our next get together in June for Grandma's 80th birthday!!

The Great Grandchildren with their Great Grandmother Left to Right: Ben, Harry, Jake, Leo, Ava, Grandma, Maddie, Allie, Ty & McKinzie (Karlee is missing)
The Fischer cousins: Back Row: Michael, Troy, Grandma, Tim, Will Front Row: Brooke, Maggie, Abbie, Katie, Mandy (Abe, Tricia & Marty are missing)
My siblings: Will, Me, Michael & Mandy
The older kids eating (Ben, Jake, Ty, Kinzie, Leo & Allie)

ALLIE'S ADVENTURE

I got called to the nurse's office because Allie had a stomach ache yesterday at the very end of the day. As I chatted with her, I found out that she opted to only eat a cookie for lunch yesterday! I sent her back to her class (there was only 20 minutes of school left). After school, we headed off to Allie's dance class, where she got sick. She ended up throwing up in my hands in the dressing room & we ran outside (outside was closer than the bathroom was) & she was on Main St. Cedar Falls throwing up into a garbage can...reminded me of a drunk as the bars are closing!! She felt fine after she got sick & has been fine ever since. We don't have school today due to "blizzard like conditions" so she'll have another day to get well.

JAKE'S NEWS

Jake took his mid-year math assessment last week. It came home on Friday & I was SO proud to see that he had only missed one. I went through the test & found the one that we needed to correct. When I saw what he did wrong, I wasn't pleased...HE FORGOT TO ANSWER THE QUESTION!!! Once again racing to be the first one done!! A hard lesson learned.

Jake started his Science Enrichment class yesterday & came home with a ton of new knowledge about Madame Currie, Albert Einstein & George Washington Carver. This class is right up his alley!

Jake had Scouts on Sunday night & earned his Geography belt loop. He & Scott will start working on his Derby car soon.
The Cub Scouts earned their Geography belt loop: Back Row: Paul, Jake & Aidan Front Row: Nicholas, Sam & Will.

YELLOW LIGHT

Allie's teacher has a green light, yellow light, red light system. If you are good, you stay on green light. If you need a few reminders/warnings, you will move to yellow light and if you are really naughty it is red light time.

Yesterday after school, Allie came to my classroom & announced that she didn't know who was on yellow light today. I reminded her that it isn't our business who is or isn't on yellow light (she likes to report the naughty kids to me). Anyway, it quickly dawned on me that she "couldn't remember" because SHE was probably moved to yellow light. So, I added "unless it is you that are on yellow light". Her head quickly dropped. I asked what happened & she said she didn't come in from recess because she didn't hear the whistle blow. I walked her down to her classroom & asked Miss Pins for her version...it was MUCH different from my little girl's version. Apparently, Allie & her friend Madeline were on a snow bank arguing about who got to go inside last & didn't line up with the rest of the class. Long story short, she was put on yellow light for fighting & not lining up. Here's the kicker...ALLIE HAD LIED TO ME!!! I was SO mad!! Long story short, she was punished & felt awful about lying (or getting caught). She sobbed & sobbed & sobbed.

A funny ending to this story is that when the kids get into trouble at school (which is rarely), they have to tell Scott what happened when he gets home. So, Jake was giving Allie advice..."look him in eyes, don't mumble AND tell the truth...it will all be fine". I thought it was cute that Jake was looking out for his baby sister...he must truly like her!

SO SICK OF SNOW!

The weatherman announced on the news the other night that we have had 28.5 inches of snow since December 1st. What??? No wonder I am sick of the white stuff!! We got another .6 inches yesterday, so we are over 29 inches...there's snow in the forecast for Monday & Tuesday...UGH!

SNOW STINKS

I am sick of winter. I am really sick of the cold & I've had it with the snow that has fallen this winter. Last Thursday, we got about 4 inches of snow, yesterday it was almost 7 inches. We might get an inch tomorrow too. All of that combined with the unusually high amounts of snow and ice we got in December and the beginning of January has made for an unusually long winter. I can't wait for it to all melt away...although that probably won't happen until about June.

On a brighter note about the snow, once the temp gets above zero, I will take the kids out sledding & snowboarding. Hopefully, that will be sometime next week. Say a prayer!!

JAKE'S BIG NEWS

Jake has 2 big pieces of news. His proudest is that he climbed to the top of the rope in PE class. He got to add his name to the wall of kids that accomplished that this year, which for a 2nd grade boy is a HUGE deal (Allie swears that she almost made it to the top today too...I'm not so sure that I believe her).

His other big news (my proudest) is that Jacob has been invited to participate in a small group science enrichment program with the TAG (talented & gifted) teacher. He will get to use the scientific process to answer various questions such as "Is it possible for an egg to bounce without breaking?" Apparently, this unit is for kids that need an extra challenge...this doesn't mean that he has been identified as gifted...yet... :) Of course, I may be biased since he is my son.

IT'S FREAKISHLY COLD

I just checked the temp on the local news website and it is -1 degree with a windchill of -16. That is cold. When we left this morning to take Jake to his first morning of basketball, it was -24 with the wind. Wow!! Allie had a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's this afternoon & there were very few parking spots, so I had to brave the cold to drop her off & pick her up....it was just brutal!!

So, now that I am at home I have turned on the fireplace, begun sipping on a cup of hot cocoa, covered myself with a warm blanket & decided to spend the afternoon on the couch playing on the laptop & watching Lifetime...did I mention that I don't have to leave the house until Tuesday morning?? I don't think that I will either!

Think warm thoughts, please!!

BAD TOOTH FAIRY

Imagine the look on my 8 year old's face this morning when he came in my room to let me know that the tooth fairy didn't take his tooth or leave him his money! Wow, I felt SO awful, I failed the tooth fairy job! I told Jake that maybe it was too snowy last night for the tooth fairy to get here, after all there is no school today because of the snow. He was still very disappointed, but o.k. with that explanation. I still felt terrible! I had even left $1 on the island to remind myself to get it tucked into his tooth pillow once he was asleep. Yeah, that obviously didn't work! Scott told me to leave a note from the tooth fairy with the $1 telling Jake that she didn't want to track snow through the house. I did it & Jake bought it & was thrilled!! Whew, Scott saved the day and the tooth fairy's reputation all before 8 in the morning.

NO SCHOOL TODAY

The snow has cancelled school for us today. While I am not looking forward to making the day up at the end of May, I have to admit that I am pretty happy! I have my house picked up...gifts from this weekend have a home, laundry is done & errands have been run. Bills are paid, appointments made, plants watered, I've begun gathering tax docs. I have dinner figured out for the weekend, I've started Jake's b-day thank you's and I've even worked on some volunteer obligations. However, I haven't run the vac, swept floors or cleaned bathrooms. What a perfect day to catch up on that stuff! Now I'll be able to enjoy the upcoming 3 day weekend without having those chores hanging over my head! YES!!