A few updates :)

Just thought I'd update on a few things. :)


First, life is great right now.  Totally busy, but really great.  Chris has been at his new job at ISU for almost a month now, and is LOVING it.  He's been playing racquetball at the university this week, and is really completely different than he was at his last job.  The increased sleep and less travel time has made a world of difference - both for him and for me. :)  I like my happy husband much better!

We've been able to pay off a good chunk of student loan debt lately, which feels SO good!  And on that same subject, we decided to move back in with my mom and dad in July!  They'll be upstairs by then so we'll have the whole basement to ourselves.  We committed to being there for at least a year, and getting all student loans and cars paid off, as well as get a good chunk in savings.  No more financial debt for us baby!


I've started Scandinavian Days dances at school...and although it's a lot of work right now (having to learn so many new dances with lots of Norwegian words!), it's really nice to know exactly what I'll be doing in each class - pretty much 'til the end of the school year!  I've just got a pre-school in-class concert next Friday, then two choir concerts and I'm done!


We're getting BIKES tomorrow!  Yippee!  More to come, I'm SO excited about this!


I signed up for the Minneapolis Half Marathon on June 5th and the Des Moines Marathon on October 16th.  Anyone wanna join?!?!  I need some running buddies!  


I'm signed up for the Kodaly 1 Certification classes this summer.  AND, since we're also signed up for the Foster Care classes this summer, that means that four of my yearly goals are committed to, and a couple more are on their way.  It feels good to be on my way with some of these things!


Amy and Matt's wedding is SO SOON!  I can hardly believe it, and am so excited for them!  Matt has been officially accepted into Pharmacy school, they know where they're living this summer/beyond, and it just feels like they're growing up.  Oh my baby sister!  This whole transition feels really natural though, since Matt's already my brother.  I like it. :)

It's been SUCH a blast having Matthew home for a while.  He got a job with Chick-Fil-A down in Atlanta, and will be leaving June 1st...but for now he's ALL OURS!  We love having him home, and I never want him to leave. :(  But, I'll take what I can get!

And there's the update!  Off to bed, have a SUPER FRIDAY!

4th Grade Concert: "Recorder Karate - Celebrate!"

The fourth grade concert ended up being...a recorder concert.  And it was NOT painful!  That was my #1 goal - no wincing ear-plugging moments by the audience.  And I think we accomplished it!  Then again, I did hear them when we started, so I might be a bit biased since I know the progress.  :)  Oh, a recorder mother's love!

My favorite part: we began and ended every music class by me saying "Good morning students", and them responding "Good morning sensei."  It was totally awesome, I felt really powerful for that moment.

1. "Fright of the Blunder B"

2. White Belt - "Hot Cross Buns"

3. "Tideo"

4. Yellow Belt - "Gently Sleep"

5. Orange Belt - "Merrily We Roll Along"

6. "Great Big House"

7. Green Belt - "It's Raining"

8. "BA Rockstar"

9. Purple Belt - "Old MacDonald"

10. Red Belt - "Twinkle, Twinkle"

11. "Obwisana"

12. Black Belt - "Ode to Joy"

13. "Big Round BAG"

And, some picture highlights. :)

 

3rd Grade Concert: "Some Music For You...and Character Too!"

I found a book of Character Counts songs a while ago, and once the guidance counselor found out we thought it would be neat to have them sing at the spring Character Counts Assembly.  I didn't want to teach them two separate performances, so we used the Character Counts theme for our spring concert as well!


The neatest moment was when they performed "Hazrat Bibi Mariam", a song in Arabic about peace.  We came up with some really great choreography and it turned out to be extremely powerful and moving.  I love love LOVE when things become both educational AND powerful. 

Character Counts! - "Inside Out"

 Trustworthiness - "Little Tommy Tinker"

 Respect - "Great Big House"

 Fairness - "Tikki Tikki Tembo"

 

Caring - "Tideo"

 Citizenship - "Hazrat Bibi Mariam"

Responsibility - "You Can Count on Me"

2nd Grade Concert: "Move Over, Rover!"

The second grade concert was a musical re-telling of the story "Move Over, Rover!" by Karen Beaumont.  This was such a FUN concert, and they did a GREAT job!  The students narrated the whole book, and then we sang one song that corresponded with every page.  I was really proud of them. :)

1. "Bow, Wow, Wow"

2. "Body Percussion Thunderstorm"

3. "Poor Old Rover"

4. "Kitty Cat, I Hear a Mouse"

5. "Raccoon and Possum"

6. "Let Us Chase the Squirrel"

7. "Here Comes a Bluebird"

8. "Black Snake"

9. "Mouse, Mousie"

10. "Great Big House"

11. "Skunk in the Barnyard"

12. "Are You Sleeping? (Frere Jacques)"

And here are some picture highlights. :) 

1st Grade Concert: "Brown Bear, Brown Bear"

I took a music friend's idea of basing a concert off of Bill Martin Jr.'s book "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and changed some stuff around to make it work for my first graders.  We played a music game (which we play a LOT of in first grade!) for each animal, and the last kid to get "picked" in every game came up and sang a solo to introduce the next animal/game.   It was pretty cute. :)

BROWN BEAR - "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear"

SILVER HORSE - "Here Comes Mrs. Macaroni"

LITTLE GREEN FROG - "Galump Went the Little Green Frog"

BINGO - "BINGO" :)

BUNNY RABBIT - "Here Comes a Bunny Rabbit"

*Notice the bunny rabbit in the soloist's hand...

MONKEY - "5 Little Monkeys"

*This one was HILARIOUS!  In this picture there are 2 monkeys left, "teasing" the crocodile on the floor.  I wish I could post the video (the whole concert is together so it's too long!), it was SO funny!

KITTY CAT - "Naughty Kitty Cat"

DOGGIE - "Doggie, Doggie"

BLACK FLY - "Old Black Fly"

BLUEBIRD - "Bluebird, Bluebird"

BUMBLEBEE - "Busy Buzzy Bee"

APPLE TREE - "Apple Tree, Apple Tree"

At the end a soloist sang "Students, Students what do you see?" and "Parents, Parents what do you see?", then "Teacher, Teacher, what do you see?" and I sang back the animals and they took their bows.  

Great job first graders!

Kindergarten Concert: "The Missing Tarts"

Since I'm throwing myself back into the blogging world with gusto, I thought I'd offer a play-by-play of our recent concerts. :)  Here are some highlights from the Kindergarten Concert! 

"The Missing Tarts: a Mother Goose Mystery!"

The Queen of Hearts has lost her tarts....which Mother Goose character can help her find them?!?!

The Queen of Hearts

 Hickory Dickory Dock

Cobbler, Cobbler

 Hey, Diddle Diddle

 Wee Willie Winkie

 

Little Bo Peep/Baa Baa Black Sheep

Bow, Wow, Wow

Humpty Dumpty
*I just thought he was cute holding the door - could almost be a humpty dumpty, ready to fall off. :)

Jack Be Nimble

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star/Star Light, Star Bright

Itsy Bitsy Spider

The Queen of Hearts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And some other fun moments!

Although there were some VERY naughty boys on stage (and I had to stop the program once to remind them how their "concert hands" and "concert eyeballs" and "concert lips" should act!), they were AWESOME!  They narrated, sang, and acted out their own program... and for kindergarten, that's pretty impressive!