Operation G.O.O.D. thank you

Thanks for the money Addi!

Addi is my sister Leah's co-worker- she sent my girls money for their service project although we've never even met her! I feel like I know you though, from reading Leah's blog, and from seeing pictures. We really appreciate your willingness to give. You will have to come visit us in Iowa and walk through the forest and notice they are mustard weed free! :)

Mikayla need $40 more dollars to reach her goal and Jenna has reached hers. The money is due by Friday so we are going to have to go to a new neighborhood to solicit money for Mik. It's not an easy thing to do...go to a door and ask for money- people want to GET something in return but in this case they don't, except for a clean state forest. People in the public think its weird to not receive something...

Thanks to those of you that have given...we appreciate it.

Track Meet

Jenna had her first every track meet yesterday. They left at 7:15 in the morning. She was so nervous! She wanted to leave the house at 6:30 to make sure we got to the school in time, it only takes 10 minutes to get there!!!!!

It was a beautiful day- 73 degrees. The team got back to the school around 3:30. Jenna did awesome! She placed first in her heat for the 50 meter, and the 100 meter, and her relay teams placed first in their heats. She ended getting 2nd place in the finals for the 50 meter. She placed in the top 5 in all her events. In discuss she placed 5th. We are realizing that running might be "her thing." Last Saturday she went running with her track coach. The farthest Jenna has ever run before at one time was 1.5 miles. She and her coach ran 3 miles! Jenna stopped to walk literally 5 steps over the 3 miles. Her coach was amazed. In p.e. she ran an 8.35 minute mile. That is pretty good for an 11 year old with really no running experience. Jeff is a very fast runner so we are hoping we can develop this talent in her.

We are very proud of her. The hosting track meet school will send us the final placements for all the events soon and I will be able to post those once I get them.

Neither Jeff nor I were able to attend the meet because of work and we feel very sad about that. She only has one more meet and it is a Saturday, but guess what?! I have to work that day! A Saturday! Can you believe it? It is an open house for the community to come in and visit the school. I am so bummed! Sigh...

Conversations in the Tack-Mobile

Yesterday at school, after the noon recess, I was standing in the hallway and a mother was there who had just helped serve lunch. She has a little 2 year old girl that is so cute. Mikayla was standing there and she heard me say to this mother, "I miss that age!" Flash forward 4 hours later in the van...

Mik- "Mom, remember when you said today that you 'missed that age' when you saw Becca." (the name of the little girl)

Mom- "Yes, I do."

Mik- "Well mom, your luck just changed! because some day I'm going to be a mom!"

Mom- "That's awesome! But, I don't think it will be a long time though."
Haley now gives her 2 cents worth...

Haley- "Mikayla, that's not really that interesting (the pronunciation was insresting) because we're all going to be moms someday because we are all girls."

Mik- "That's not true Haley, you can decide if you want to be a mom or not."

That caused Haley to pause for a split second and then she said...
"Well...how you do stop that baby from getting into your stomach then!?"

Mikayla didn't know how to respond to that one...and at this point I said, "Girls do you see that duck over there in the pond!?"

Whew, dodged THAT conversation just in time!

Snapshots

Yesterday I took my class on a field trip to visit an Amish farm. We have been studying the Amish. We had a great time. Here we all are up in the hay mow in the HUGE barn! The picture doesn't let you know how enormous this barn was!

House pictures

Here are some new pictures of the house. They have started the "dry walls", as Mikayla says. They have also started siding and you can see from the middle picture the one beside it the color we have chosen. It is kind of a yellowy, creamy color. The middle picture is a picture from the street behind us, looking at the back through the trees. Jeff's dad and brother are coming this next Thursday to start painting. The top right picture is taken from MIkayla's room looking through Haley and her adjoining bathroom. A week from Monday they are going to come in and do the wood flooring and then the tile will go in next. When the wood floors are done, the kitchen cabinets go in. Our target date for moving in is the first weekend in June. I get done with school earlier that week so it worked out good.

Have a good one!

G.O.O.D.- Giving of Ourselves Day!

Good Morning everyone! This isn't going to be my usual post. I am writing asking for...money! Now, stay with me, don't automatically skip this post! Please read on...

Thanks for reading! Our school does something every year called Operation G.O.O.D. It is our major fundraiser for the year. Each child is asked to bring in $200 in donations. So for my family we need to raise $400, next year, $600! Here is what happens. For 4 weeks the students bring in donations. On May 2nd the whole school will be spending several hours working for the Army Corp of Engineers in the local parks and forests. We walk miles in the forest and pull Mustard Weeds and pick up trash. It is a hot and dirty job. (Yes, teachers have to go and work too!) Mustard weeds will choke out every other kind of growing thing so they must be picked, they even talk about how bad they are on the news each year. Our school is the only group that picks them. We "Give Of Ourselves" so that the whole community can benefit. So we are asking for money, and in return we will work for our community on a service project.

Would you be willing to donate to Mikayla and Jenna??!?!?? If so- please leave a comment and I will email you back our address so you can send a check. (Even if you have our address leave a comment so we can all get excited about how much money is being donated! :) ) Make the check payable to HCS. We would need to get the check by April 28th. I will split all money between the 2 girls. We really would appreciate it! Thanks in advance.

Success!

This past weekend Mikayla accomplished a milestone in her life. Something I didn't think would ever happen. All last summer she tried and tried but she finally did it! She learned to ride without her training wheels. She is so excited and just wants to be outside all the time on her bike. She won this bike this winter. Every once in awhile we will go to Perkins to eat on Tuesday nights bc Kids eat free that night. One night they were having a drawing for a free bike and she won! She is finally getting to use it- although we are supposed to have snow showers tomorrow night and Saturday. Sigh... Tonight there was tornado warnings...sirens going off...Iowa weather stinks. One day it is raining and then there are tornadoes and then it snows the next. Gotta love it!

Happy Birthday G & G!

This past weekend we celebrated my parents birthday, they are a week apart. They came over Saturday evening and we had supper and then we had cake and ice-cream and opened presents. In the first picture we made them "draw toothpicks" to see who got to open up their present first. This is what my mom used to do to my siblings and I if we were in an arguement over who got to do something first. Now this is the way I solve arguements with my kids. (If you have 3 toothpicks, you make 2 of them shorter, and the one to draw the longest goes first, the next longest goes second and the shortest goes third) The girls thought it was so funny to make them do this. We usually have to do this on Saturday mornings to see who gets the first pancake.

If you remember, back in October, the girls gave Jeff underwear for his birthday (yes, at Christmas too) and they wrapped candy bars in each pair and then wrapped it seperately. My dad thought that was so funny. So for his birthday we did the same. Mikayla is trying his underwear on.

Answered Prayer!

For almost 2 years now Jeff's sister and her husband, Ken and Katie, have been going through a battle that had potential to destroy their lives. Katie's daughter Megan, falsely accused Ken of abuse. She is a troubled teen and very rebellious. All 3 kids were taken away from them and sent to live at their dads. (He is the one that put Megan up to her false charges) To make a LONG story short the State of Illinois DROPPED the charges after almost 2 years! They deemed that there was insufficient evidence to take this to court. The trial was scheduled for April 14th, one week away! Praise the Lord, Ken was exonerated! Katie and Ken have been through a terrible ordeal and we need to pray for healing in their lives and also the lives of her children. Please pray for restoration in their lives as they attempt to put their family back together, that will need another miracle as the kids have been told many lies against Ken and Katie and haven't talked to their mom in over a year. The ages of the kids are Megan-17, Jessica-12 and Austin 11. Katie will be coming in tonight to spend awhile with us to rest, relax and heal. Your continued prayers are coveted!

Corn Cob Dolls

Mikayla and I are reading Little House on the Prairie together- we read how Laura didn't have her own doll, Mary did, but she didn't. She had to play with a corn cob. She wrapped the corn cob, named Susan, in a handkerchief, and "she was a good little doll." One day, the girls were complaining that they didn't have anything to do. I went into a big tirade about Laura not having a doll etc. etc., no toys to play with etc. So, the next time I drove by the nearest corn field (right by our house) I got out and picked up 2 corn cobs, took them into the house and told the girls to play with them. Their mouths dropped open,,,but believe it or not, they did. If fact, I had to confiscate Haley's and pitch it or she would have put it in bed with her, she is such a pack rat. I don't think they will ever complain again of having no toys to play with. :)