First Day of school!

Today was the first day of school. It was a long day! We started out leaving the house at 7:15 in order to do any last minute touch ups needed to the room. We got home at 7:30 tonight after a Nielson welcome back picnic for the students and families of Nielson.

Travis has 19 students with a new one coming tomorrow to make 20 2nd graders in his room. He said they were so quiet today you could hear a pin drop. I think it's the goatee! :)

Misty has 20 students in her room. Her room was quite the opposite today! Her children weren't at all scared or intimidated by her, but spent the entire morning just chat chatting away to each other. In fact they didn't even seem to notice she was there. She'll have to work on that!

Funniest moment from today in first grade:

Me: How many of you gave your mom's and dad's kisses and hugs before you left today.....

(awkward silence)

Boy C: I gave my mom knuckles!

Me: Knuckles?

Boy C: Yeah like this.....(show fist pound)

Silly me for asking such a dumb question....I guess I lived in a different era..... :) :)

One Last Hurrah

Today was the final hurrah of summer break. Travis and I both wanted to spend the day together, but we also both wanted to do our favorite summer things (which happen to be different). In the end we decided to do what we love in order to get one last glimpse of summer vacation before heading to school tomorrow.

Travis watched the USA basketball team win gold. This was very exciting for him as he's cheered them on all the way often staying up late or as in this case taping the game so he can watch. After watching them clinch the gold he headed to the Quad Cities to spend the day with his dad. They went to Steel Dam to go fishing.

This isn't fishing on the dock, or even in a boat, but wading in the water. They guys walk out into the middle of the river and fish in waist deep water. I have been a couple of times and it is a lot of fun. I however, am more trouble than fun when I go because I don't bait my own hook, I get the line tangled, I need help getting the fish off if I do catch one. Since this was the first trip of the year due to flooding, I decided to let the guys bask in it's glory....plus I think it did Travis some good to have some de-stress time before tomorrow.

Travis won the "bet" of the day catching the biggest fish...a 3 1/2 lb. Catfish. Way to go Hubby!!!

I had some of my own "de-stress" time today. After church I went with my family and did my favorite summer activity. Boating!

We also have lost out on a lot of "family day's" because of the flooding. Today was beautiful. Not to hot, not to cold, the water was warm not a lot of wind to cause big bummpy waves. Ahhhhh Summer! We found a new sandy spot where we could pull our boat up in the middle of the river and tie on to other boats. Because of the flooding pushing the sand from the sand bar away from the sand bar we were literally almost in the middle of the river and out walking around in ankle deep water. It was unreal.

Both Travis and I have had a great summer filled with lots of fun memories of family and friends. We are sad to see the free time go but filled with anticipation as to what the school year will bring.

School Days, School Days

Ahhhhhh, Back to School.....

We've known it was coming, but still in the back of our mind we have thought "we still have time"

Times Up!

Today was Teacher's Institute day. :(

We met as an entire district for about 2 hours and then dispersed into our individual buildings.

I was lucky enough to have Travis' mom, Kay, come and help me with some mind numbingly boring tasks (thanks again Kay!)

While I was trying to fight for a spot in the copy machine line to get the copies for next weeks lessons, Travis was at Nielson working on putting names on every one's things, in between building meetings.

After a short break for football practice (Trav) and a follow up Doctor appt. (Misty) we went back to school to work, work, work. We finally called it a night at 9:45PM......

We will probably go back tomorrow afternoon to put the finishing touches on things.

Travis' 2nd Grade classroom, Nielson Elementary B~1

Now that's talent...he drew these Disney character's free hand (not even looking at a picture!)

This is his hallway bulletin boards. He chose a North Woods theme. The Picture on the left has a sign that says Mr. Stecher's room. The middle picture says "Have a 'Woody' Great Time in B1. The far right board says "Stinkin Good Work" with a skunk!

These are too cute.....what a great choice, the kids are sure to love them!

Misty's First Grade Classroom, King Elementary B~3

I didn't get any pictures of my actual classroom yet, I need more batteries in my camera. I'll try to get some soon though! :)

Here are some bulletin boards to tide you over! :)

Misty's hallway bulletin board, "First Grade is 'SCOOPS' of Fun!

B-3 is Out of This WORLD!

No, Travis didn't draw this. He could have....but he didn't' have time, so I used an overhead projector and traced it. :(

Cone Head

Buddy was forced to get a cone :(

He wouldn't stop licking his wounds and the vet was afraid they may not heal in a timely manner. So I drove to Monmouth to pick up the cone. The vet assured me I would be able to put the cone on Buddy. He's had one before so I figured no biggie.....

That was the first mistake.

1)Last time Buddy had a cone, the vet put it on after a surgery so he was still drugged. When he work up it was just there and by the time we got him he had adjusted to it.

2)Last time Buddy had a cone, the vet put a SMALL on him. This time all they had was a MEDIUM. Let me tell you, there is a BIG difference between small and medium.

3)Last time Buddy had a cone, he didn't run into much, he could still eat, drink, get up the stairs to bed, walk around corners without being heard.

This time, Travis and I had to wrestle the dog to put a Medium cone on when he was fully awake and in pain from a surgery. The cone is so big he's scrapping our walls, leading Travis to believe we'll need to repaint the house by the time it's all said and done. He can't get up the stairs from outside, or to the bed with out someone holding the cone up so it doesn't catch on the stairs and he can no longer drink without spilling the majority of the bowl on the floor.

And Eating? Well see for yourself......










This is Travis hand feeding the dog his food so he can eat. It was a real bonding moment.

We can't wait for the cone to come off.....in 5-7 days.....if the wounds are healing.....and he'll leave them alone.....and, and, and and!

Swiss Cheese....no that's just Buddy

Buddy had surgery today to eliminate some of those pesky warts. These warts are hereditary and grow from what looks like pimples to something big and ugly that breaks open when he scratches them or gets a haircut....YUCK!

He had several on his feet that he licks relentlessly during the night and it DRIVES ME NUTS!!! It keeps me up or wakes me up several times a night. So we decided it was time to get them fixed before school started. I dropped him off at 8AM and we just got back from picking him up.

Buddy was in surgery for over an hour! They stopped counting the warts they removed at 40! The vet said somewhere between 40 and 50 warts have been removed. They marked all the spots that needed laser treatment with purple marker so now we have a holey purple dog!
You can kind of see the big holes in Buddy's side here. This is where the laser took away the warts...in it's place is a divot.
Since getting home he's drank 2 bowls of water. I think the anesthetic they gave him has dried him out!

Thirsty, thirsty dog!


This looks worse thank it is. The discoloration is mostly the purple marker, but you can kind of see how deep they had to go to get rid of the warts. Usually they give a topical antibiotic to spread over the wounds. However, since so many of them have been removed and it would take literally all night and morning to do, the vet said it would be OK to give a oral antibiotic instead.



While at the vet we had him check Buddy's urine for infection because he has begun peeing in the house and what do ya know they have a pill to keep dogs from peeing inside! Technology I tell you!


The bad thing is with these hereditary warts, they will come back. Not the ones that they just removed, but new ones will grow. So the vet is going to talk to a dermatologist tonight to see if buddy can take yet another drug to keep the warts from coming back. He assures us this will be more cost effective than having buddy get cosmetic surgery once a year. While there they also found he has a staff skin infection so he has antibiotics for the staff infection (non transferable to humans thank heavens!)

So Buddy is back at home, looking like Swiss cheese or a driving range for you golf enthusiasts. He has antibiotics so the 40-50 holes covering his body don't get infected. He has pain medication. He has pee medication. He has staff infection antibiotics. He has Benadryl medication. He has ulcer medication. Man, I didn't know I was going to get to be a pharmacist before school started!

A real life book?!?...

OK, first of all I never meant for this to become a nerdy book worm kinda site...and I swear it's not going to....

However, I did intend for this to show what our lives are like here at home, and as summer quickly fades and the school year looms I find myself cramming the reading material I so enjoy but never have time for during the school year.

So it's Saturday night.....we're 26 and 27.....so what do we do??????? Watch the Olympics, read and eat leftover pizza....we are a real exciting crowd I tell you! :)

Anyway on my last post remember how I was babbling on about how I sometime...ok ok most of the time get so wrapped up in my books I think they're real? I have found a BLOG that has a REAL honest to goodness western love story! Again, Travis is on the verge of finding me professional help for this "odd" hobby of reading random people's blogs...but I rationalize that this is indeed what blogs were meant for. Right????????????????

Ok so look to the left of my posting....find Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. Click! Scroll down to the bottom until on the center right side you see Love Story with a cartoon drawing of a cowboy/cowgirl. Click on the picture!
Go all the way to the bottom to read this real life book...or, er blog by chapter.

I am totally addicted! I was laughing all night long out loud in big bursts! Travis couldn't believe it was coming from a blog. I read the whole stinking thing tonight! It is a continuing story, she's not finished with it yet and I can not WAIT for the next chapter! Take some time, get a glass of tea and settle in....

If you do read it, let me know what you think...I'm interested to know if anyone else is a sappy hopeless romantic like myself.

If you read our blog regularly and are tired of reading about books...have no fear....school starts in 8 days after that you'll most likely not see another book posting for quite some time! :)

Tear Jerker....Again....

Ok, so does anyone else just sometimes need a opportunity to cry....I mean not just cry but sob...ok, not sob, but utterly just gut wrenching tears? Me too! Sometimes it happens when I'm really stressed and just need a release, or sometimes it happens just because it hasn't for awhile, and sometimes it happens just because I'm a girl.

If you find yourself in need of a good release of tears read Karen Kingsbury, Ever After. Her books, as I've said before, often get to me and I always say this is my newest favorite...this one isn't my favorite, but man oh man will you cry. I couldn't even tell Travis what was going on during one point tonight.

Someone asked me why I read her books if all I'm going to do is cry. I LOVE her writing because she makes her characters so real. Travis will say, it's O.K. it's not real. But to me, when I'm reading (and sometimes after I'm done) it is real. Her characters and story lines seem to be like people I know, or could know, or things that could, or really do happen to people. I have even "be-friend ed" her characters in the Baxter Series. (Watch out for THAT post in September when the LAST book of the 15 book series comes out!)

Anyway, read Ever After....it's a contemporary novel and quite relevant to today's world.

Krista (my Karen Kingsbury buddy)~I don't have to return the book for another week to the library....let me know if you want it and I'll get it to you this weekend.

Happy Birthday Ben!

Today is Ben's (Travis' Dad) birthday! We were so excited to get to share in his birthday celebration! Yesterday Ben and Kay came down to Galesburg and we went to dinner at the Packing House.

After dinner we came home to our house and enjoyed a fire in the fire pit, some ice cream cake from DQ and presents.

Today Travis went and helped celebrate his birthday more by going fishing at one of their favorite spots, Lake George. I was unable to go because of working at Bergner's but I hear it was quite an exciting time. Over 10 fish each were caught, Kay even caught the biggest fish....Travis! She hooked him in the ear! he he he! He's fine by the way....

All of us had a great time celebrating Ben's birthday and we can't wait until the next birthday rolls around. Even Buddy was tuckered out by all the birthday celebrating!

We wish you a Happy, Healthy, fun filled 56th year of life! Happy Birthday Ben (dad)!

Here we go.....

Ahhhhh it's that dreaded time of year again...at least if you're a teacher.....it's time to start going back into school to prepare your classroom for you new group of kiddo's.

I have decided not to go in until Monday, however, Travis convinced me to go with him on Thursday night and at least get the background paper up on our hallway bulletin boards. If you are not a teacher understand that this is a time consuming effort of getting the paper measured out just right, getting it lined up with out creases in the paper, getting it stapled in a straight line and with no air bubbles. You then get to use an exacto knife and trim the edges.

Anyway, after we had taken care of my two bulletin boards we went to Nielson to tackle Travis'. When we finished we went home. That is not a normal teacher behavior....normally we would have found a jillion things to keep us there at school and just start diving into a bunch of different projects. Travis said we were just "testing the water" :)

So here is the saddest part of this entry. On Thursday night I had a horrible, horrible thing happen. Something that doesn't happen this early....something that doesn't usually happen until I get a class list......I DREAMT about SCHOOL!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I know it is shocking! :)
I didn't dream about kids though...I dreamt about how I could best utilize the $200.00 the district gives you to spend on your classroom for the entire year. Should I spend it all now...save a portion...what should I buy....I literally had receipts floating through my dream!

Well, I guess this is just a prelude to what is to come for us in the upcoming weeks.
Travis did go into school yesterday for about 8 hours. I held strong though...no school for me until Monday....I took the time and the beautiful day and went to the river with my mom and dad! It was beautiful...smooth as glass and hardly anyone out since it was still the work week.

Monday morning will come soon enough for me! We'll keep you posted! :)

Busy Busy Bee's

School must be getting close, Travis and I seem to be getting less and less T.V. veg time!

Last week I was blessed to be able to help with Vacation Bible School. My job was to be in charge of music at both the opening and closing and at 4 twenty minute centers. My first duty as music person was to enlist help! I was so fortunate to work with Pastor Gabe and Lindsay Long. Those two saved the day every day. It was fun to have some adults to be silly with so I didn't feel so crazy doing it myself. VBS on my end was a success! The kids loved all the songs from the "beach party" theme and also were huge fans of "old favorites" Pastor Gabe played! I too, must admit to learning 2 new favorites.....and they are still swimming in my head! :)

This past week and this current week I have been working with college for kids here in Galesburg during the morning. I have approx. 33 kids over 3 hours who have an interest in weather. We have learned about the sun, clouds, storms, lightening, tornadoes, and now we are learning to make and fly kites. It has been fun, but I'm glad to be done on Friday! Sometime have me show you how to make lightening in your mouth! It has been a kid favorite!

Travis and I went to visit his college buddy Matt this weekend in the Chicago area. It was fun to watch these two interact together and imagine what college life would have been for them! I can only imagine the shenanigans they got themselves into! While in Chicago, we went to Schaumburg to the Woodfield Mall. WOW! That place is impressive! We made a stop at IKEA first and then spent hours at the mall.....this alone was impressive to me...that the guys would let us shop the way we did! :)
After shopping we enjoyed dinner at one of my new favorite places...the cheesecake factory...YUM! Make sure if you ever go you get Pasta Da Vinci and the Key Lime cheesecake. Wow, we are lucky we don't have one in close vicinity, or I would be literally 300 pounds!

We got up early on Sunday morning (6AM) and headed back to Galesburg/Monmouth to attend church where our dear friends Krista and Blake Burns had their baby Delaney baptized. I was thrilled to be able to make it to such a great celebration! After church we enjoyed a beautiful day on the river with my family and got to spend time with my brother's new girlfriend Stormy. She's nice and seems to have a lot in common with Justin. I was thrilled to be able to partake in our Vancil family tradition of Sunday's on the River. With the recent flooding we haven't been able to go. It's nice to have something to look forward to on Sunday's again!

I always say I want to just post a quick little note and then end up with these long, novel length posts! I guess it's just like me to be windy and all! :)
I'm going to go now and give our plants a much needed water break. It's been so hot, I hope you all are inside with air-conditioning enjoying a good book, movie, or nap! Three of my favorite things!

Keep Cool! :)