Personality Differences

Just looking at these two pictures crack me up. It is so obvious to see the differences in personality between Tim and I. Tim thought it would make a cool picture if I layed down in the wildflowers. At first I refused and but then gave in after some more pleading. Do I not look terribly uncomfortable in this picture? All I could think about was what insect would bite me, what might get in my hair, or what snake might wander over and wonder what I was doing on this level. Tim on the other hand had no problem being amongst the wildflowers and probably could have been quite happy taking in the view for ten minutes or so from down there. What I wouldn't give for that laid back, no stress personality. It is something I have to work for on a daily basis...acutally an hourly basis. I really don't think I will ever achieve it. I'm so glad my better half makes a great compliment to all the stress in a day so nicely.

Wildflowers

Tim and I took a Sunday afternoon drive out to Shell Creek Rd. to check out the wildflowers. They were pretty incredible and so close to home. It was about a 30 min country drive and was totally worth it. If you have the chance to take a drive and check them out, I would highly recommend it. I think there only a couple good viewing weeks left. It was a pretty popular destination. I was surprised at the amount of people out there picnicing, biking, and walking through the fields.

Joshua Tree

We took a roadtrip out to Joshua Tree for the last extended weekend of spring break. We saw lots of wildflowers, did some hiking, climbed lots of boulders, and braved some fierce winds. This is where Tim grew up. Enjoy all the pictures.

The Beginnings of a Spring Break Project

We decided that after five months of being in our new place, it was time to begin to tackle the landscaping. Having bought a bank owned home, it was apparent that no one had done anything to the yard in quite a while. The grass was being taken over by weeds and most of it was dead. In this picture the lawn actually looks pretty good because it was just watered. The hillside is another beast that we are going ot have to tackle.

The city was offering a rebate program for those saving water. They gave us $500 to tear out our lawn and do a dryscape. We didn't want to water all of this lawn all summer here anyway with the extreme heat, so we took them up on their offer.

Tim built this really cool rock wall as a feature. We will also be building a couple more on the side of the house. We planted an olive tree in front of this wall.

We also went for the river rock dry bed feature. I was extremely sore after helping Tim put all of these rocks in place.

The best part was heading to the nursery and going on a shopping spree for new drought tolerant plants. (grasses, sage, lavender, breath of heaven, agapanthas, etc.) We will keep you updated on the finished product. Next step, lots of bark!

A Busy Month

March has been totally crazy at school. It is the longest month of our school year and is completely packed. I took the fifth graders to outdoor science camp for three days (which was totally exhausting) I only had 1 student throw up on me! (A new record) Tim and I celebrated our two year anniversary on March 15! Sad to say, but I was away at camp. The next week was open house. The big horrah for every project imaginable to mankind. Which included grading them all. I am happy to say that as April approaches, spring break begins. I am so ready for a break.


Artwork gracing the halls. Making us beautiful on the outside as well.

This 3D state report map of Wisconsin was actually made out of Velveeta cheese. Makes sense right... Wisconsin? I was not tempted to eat this one when the kids left for the day.

Another awesome smelling project. Ever made a cake in the shape of South Dakota?

This 3D map of Hawaii smelled phenominal. It was made from brownies. Every time I would walk by I contemplated sneaking a little bite. So glad I never attempted eating it, I heard the boy describing to his friend how he put glue in the brownie mix to make it stick together.

These were book reports representing an animal as the main character of their book. They enjoyed showing these off more than they did having to stand in front of the class giving a 3-5 min oral report on their book.

We have been working on sacrifices for lent during the last six weeks. Every day the students have to write how they are doing with their sacrifice. Some of them are pretty funny. For example: "My goal is to take out the trash without my mom asking me" Journal Response: "The trash wasn't full. I didn't have to do anything." We are talking big sacrifices here...

The cool thing about this 3D state map was that each piece was a cut up sponge and represented the different counties in Kansas. Her parents commented that it started out pretty easy until they realized how many counties there were in Kansas. Apparently there was no turning back.

Believe it or not, all of these projects in one room and 36 fifth graders! You don't want to know the craziness during the day that it was to store the projects in any nook and cranny available so they could actually use their desk space. Being so anti-clutter that I am, I think I had the hardest time with all the projects in the room at once. The kids loved it of course.

My New Favorite

I absolutely hate washing my face. It's the last thing on my long to do list before my head hits the pillow each night. I enviously watch Tim jump into bed everynight while I spend all my time at the bathroom sink. I hated washing my face, until I discovered this! I'm sure you know about the electric toothbrush, well now the makers of the electric toothbrush have developed the clarisonic for washing your face. I'm sure its been out forever, but I just discovered it. It's kind of like getting a little face massage every night. The brush spins for exactly one minute while massaging and most importantly cleaning your face. Its a little expensive and the selling point for me was that it is supposed to clean off your makeup and any dirt up to six times more effectively. I will really be ranting and raving if it actually takes care of the lovely acne that hasn't left me alone since middle school. I don't know if its a miracle worker like they claim...only time will tell.

Connecting with the Youth

I gained a little bit of coolness this week with my students when teaching them how to spell the states and capitals. For some reason kids have the hardest time spelling Florida. I constantly get it spelled Floridia. Well, needless to say, all Florida issues have subsided. I brought up the rapper Flo Rida. They all knew who I was talking about and instantly knew how to spell his name. Problem solved. Now they all believe that I endorse and thoroughly enjoy listening to Flo Rida.