February 12 on the 12th....or 13th...or whenever

Due to Heather posting hers I figured I better get on the ball so here's my 12 on the 12th. Although I actually forgot on the 12th so these pics were mostly taken on the 13th.


* 4:24. That's a.m. people. This is Jim's alarm clock that went off at that time. The only problem was that Jim was out of town so I had to climb across the bed at this ungodly hour and shut the thing off.

* My alarm went off at 5:15. Crazy.

* I went to school early to help Jordan collect data for her science fair project--who has better balance, boys or girls?

* Our house as it is today.

* Filled up the Suburban today. I think the gas was $2.02 / gallon.

* Been spending a lot of time at Home Depot lately. I think Wal-Mart is getting jealous.

* The roses Jim got me for Valentine's day. He had to leave town Monday afternoon (V-day was wednesday and he was still going to be out of town). So thoughtful of him to get me flowers in advance.

* As I said, Jim left Monday to go to Chicago. Today (Tues.) he was flying to Toronto, Canada. He forgot that you now need a passport to travel to Canada. He found out that they'll let him into Canada without it; but he won't be able to get back into the States without it. I had to find his passport and Fed Ex it to him in Toronto. Since I'm writing this after the fact I can say that the passport got stopped in immigration and I was very nervous that he wouldn't make his flight back to the States on Friday (not normally a big deal but we were having Jensen's birthday party on Saturday). He was able to pick up his passport and make his flight in time thank goodness. So happy to have him home.

* The door to our temporary apartment. I can't wait for the time when I'll never have to see this door again.

* Jackson writing out his Valentine's for the class party tomorrow.

* 130 sugar cookies that I picked up for the 4th grade class for the Valentine's parties tomorrow.

* My last task of the day was to put together gift bags for the 3 Js for Valentine's day. They each got a giant Hershey Kiss, some other candy and a dvd---Jordan got Flicka, Jackson got Open Season, and Jensen got Cinderella III.

Some more photos with my new lens

These are from Jackson's cub scout Blue and Gold banquet last Thursday. The first is Jackson's centerpiece he made. He named it Bob.

The next is just Jackson. So cute.

January 12 on the 12th

I'm ready to post February, but thought I better get January done first so here goes:

January 12th was a Friday.

1. I usually start my day here...at the computer. Checking e-mail, reading the news and weather, etc. It's my morning quiet time with my coffee and cookies. Can't start my day without it.

2./3./4. I went up to Shadow Forest for some volunteer work. While I was there I checked out Jackson's piece in the Writing Gallery. This was big for him since he's doesn't much care for writing. His story was cute and very inventive...The Evil Kangaroo.

5./6. Pictures Jensen took of Jim and I.

7. The tile work in our master bathroom is almost done and I love it!!

8. Our house as it is today.

9. School pick up. Gave Madison a ride home today.

10. New York Pizzeria. Picked up a large Greek pizza to take to Jen's for girl's night out. Love the Greek pizza. Love the girls.

11. Heather and her new fancy pants Donna Downey camera bag.

12. A toast with the girls. Tried a new drink...an Italian cocktail with champagne, vodka, lemon, mint. Some of my favorite things, but the drink was just so-so. Toasting with the girls was awesome though! Love them, need them, so glad I have them.

Running Water!

First electricity, and now this

This was the first picture taken with my new camera lens--a 50mm f/1.4. Thanks to Heather for the enabling. And thanks to Jim for the purchasing!

Bridgefest

Jordan ran in a 1 mile kid's race on Saturday sponsored by our local YMCA. Look at her. She looks so happy. You'd never know it was 8:30 in the morning and only 35 degrees.

Catching Up

Since it's almost Feb. 12th, I figured I'd better post my December 12 on the 12th. The problem with waiting this long to do it is you forget why you took a lot of the pictures! Here goes, to the best of my recollection.

This was a Tuesday and we had a parent/child book club meeting at Shadow Forest. We meet at 7:30 a.m. before school starts. Jordan and I read the book The Lemonade Trick. The 3rd picture shows the room at school where we house all the books for the bookclub. This year, I chair the PTA Literacy Committee and the Book Club is one of the things I'm in charge of so I'm in this little room quite a bit.

Since it was a Tuesday, it was also a day I volunteer in the Library. the first picture in the second row shows Jordan's class lining up to go back to their classroom after their library time. It was "crazy hat" day and most of the kids were wearing Santa hats. I volunteer in the library every Tuesday--one week I'm there for Jordan's library time, the next week I'm there for Jackson's. I like this volunteer job because it's short and sweet. You are in and out in 30 minutes and the kids get to see you there and they love it. I check their books in, shelve the books, help them find new books, then check their books out. You get to meet and greet all the kids in the class and they get to know who you are.

This was the last week of school before Christmas vacation and class parties were going to be held on Friday. I head up the 4th grade room moms and we got together this day to put together the supplies for the party on Friday. The next picture shows all the goody bags we assembled for the 4th grade. The funny thing is the main activity we had for the class was for them to play Bunco. It was so easy and the kids loved it!

This was a school volunteer intensive week. Most weeks I am not at school this much.

If you look closely at the picture of my rearview mirror, you'll see that the temperature reads 75 degrees. On December 12th it was 75 degrees! Pretty cool how I can see myself with my camera in the mirror.

Off to Wal-Mart for some power Christmas shopping.

Next stop is Pier One for some ornaments to give as teacher gifts, hostess gifts, etc. Plus one for each of the kids and one for me. I love the Le Bien ornaments they have there that are hand painted ON THE INSIDE of the ornament. I've bought one for each of the kids the last two years to start a collection for them that I'll give to them when they have their first tree on their own. I had started this collection before our fire but have since had to start over. I hope they continue to make these ornaments for a long time.

The next picture shows the Le Bien ornament I bought for myself last year. This year I bought another heart ornament for myself.

Next is our little Christmas tree in the apartment. It's actually the tree that we bought the kids to have up in their playroom. It was the right size and fit the bill as our main tree this year.

Ahhhhh, love this picture. This was an early Christmas present from Jim. A beautiful new Coach bag that I absolutely love.

Our house in it's current state.

Let There Be Light

For a brief shining time last week lights were actually on in my house. This is the first time in over a year and a half that lights have been illuminated at the house. It was a very exciting moment. Currently the house is just hooked up to the temporary electric pole in the yard. The electrician still needs to run a permanent cable from the transformer to our house. This requires 2 or 3 days of no rain in order for them to dig the trench (this has to be 3 feet deep), lay the cable, have an inspector come out to look at it, and then bury the cable. I'm not sure when this will be but hopefully soon. In the meantime...light definitely brings hope.