mastered addition

Got a bright and cheery note from Osten's teacher today. She has said he has mastered addition and now should really start working on subtraction. Way to go Osten!

avengers infinity war

Worst movie ever according to Osten.

He has been talking about this movie for months. "How many months, Mom?" "I'm so excited to see Infinity War!"

The ending was very unexpected (I love unexpected endings). The theater stayed through the very end of the credits to see if there was going to be another twist. There was a scene, but it just confirmed the ending that we had just viewed.

The more I ponder, the more I really love the ending and find the movie even more interesting because of how it was left.

 

great field trip

Oh, my, goodness. Yesterday we had a memorable Arbor Day field trip to a family property outside River Falls. The Valentines invited all 84 children and families from the Lower Elementary grades to their property on the Upper Kinnikinnic River to enjoy the landscape and plant hundreds of trees/get hands literally dirty/drink from a hose/play in the mud near the river/visit an established cemetery--Civil War vet, Spanish American War vet and WWII vet/blessing of the trees and picnic lunch on the beautiful grounds of their home.

I had 7 awesome parent volunteers join us for the day and got to interact with many other parents from other classrooms. I had mentioned that when I was a second grader on Arbor Day, our class planted a tree with a time capsule under it. The Valentines loved it and incorporated that concept into our planting.

It was a great day.

pops concert

On Thursday, Katie and the Meyer Middle School musicians performed. Everyone was dressed in black and white. The select choir, madrigal, 7th grade and 8th grade jazz bands performed. All are auditioned groups that meet before school 1-2 mornings per week.

Katie goes to school early every Tuesday morning for her select choir practice.

It was an impressive concert and I feel so fortunate to live in a community that values music to the level River Falls has committed.

Katie is in the front row, 2nd from left in black and white striped dress

family night

On Wednesday evening, Katie, Brad and their confirmation class presented at family night. Brad found a fun way of learning the books of the New Testament and they presented. Here is the way you can remember the books:

Everyone remembers Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

You go to church, it's really cold, you go to the back of the church and start cutting wood with an ax to get a fire going. (Acts)

You are so thirsty when you are done cutting wood that you get a Royal Crown Cola (Romans, 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians)

Then you go to a wrestling match and at the wrestling match you see giants eating popcorn (Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians)

 

There are cheerleaders at the wrestling match saying--Thes, Thes, Tim, Tim Ti! (1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus)

At the wrestling match you see two wrestlers wrestling--Philemon and James and Philemon gets the best of James in fact he bruised James. (Philemon, Hebrews, James)


James is so tired he needs to go home and put on his P J Js (1 Peter 1 Peter, 1 John 2 John 3 John and Jude)

and the last is Revelation!

Everyone really enjoyed their presentation! Congratulations kids.

inaugural bike ride

Brad brought the bikes down, Anders filled up my tires and then I put on my gloves and rode to school this morning. WOW, it felt pretty incredible. Welcome bike season.

many thanks

Tonight I was preparing for my alpha lesson (1st graders) on the North American countries of Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. I always knew that people in Haiti live in poverty, but watching a video about how many kids live on the streets in Haiti really put it into perspective. It's alarming the differences between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Haitians average life expectancy is 53 white Domincans live to be 77. They live on the same island-Hispanola.

What can I do? I want to know so this trend can change.

still kind of light out...

So happy that it's 8:10pm and the sky is still tinged with light. It was a beautiful day today! Our first graders worked on some more cursive writing, our second graders had a fun adverb lesson and our third graders played triangle detective.

I have a great job!

earth day---horray!

Today is Earth Day and I am planning on getting outside, doing some raking and maybe some hiking and biking. I have to see the condition of our bikes after a long winters nap.

I'm teaching Sunday School here is an hour and then we will go to church and come home to start on some projects.

Thank you God for giving us such a beautiful earth. The Olsons are doing our best to take care of it!

first line dry

Whoot whoot--the first line dry of the season. A mere 1 month after spring landed in the northern hemisphere!

tranquil

Last night, I got a chance to spend some time alone. Katie went to a friends house right after school then went to the movie Truth or Dare with a posse of 6th grade girls. Anders was out with Emma. Brad and Osten went north for turkey season and I stayed at school, wrote my newsletter, did a little lesson planning and walked home in the glorious sunlight.

I arrived at home and got ready to head to Hudson to get a fix for a favorite necklace that broke and have a little dinner at Panda Express where I enjoyed steak and shrimp stir fry on chow mein with cream cheese wonton. Then I headed to Target to do a little birthday shopping for our soon to be 8 year old and find a replacement for my broken french press.

Then I headed to Hudson Theatre to pick up Katie and escort her to her next adventure--a sleepover at friend Grace's house. Back home at 9:45 and I got to watch two netflix movies--Can't Buy me Love and Princess Cyd. I started another movie and then decided it was time to sleep.

Woke at 9am today and started watching a little of the movie I hung up last night. Went to pick up Katie, dropped by the library to see our art exhibit, came home to hang laundry on the line and now will finish the movie--The Longest Week.

So nice to relax and not have a time commitment!

lovely locks

This evening, Katie and I went to Fantastic Sams to get her hair trimmed. It's been a while since she had her hair trimmed. The hairdresser realized how long her hair was and asked if Katie wanted to make a donation. She agreed and is thrilled with the results...

sore throat

Katie started having a sore throat last night. I also have a bit of a stuffy nose. I wonder if that is because of allergies or do we have some sort of virus/bacteria?

On another note, I attended an informational meeting last night to hear about Anders' band/choir trip to Orlando next spring break. The photo of the hotel they will be staying at was pretty spectacular and they will get to go to Disney/Epcot and the list goes on. He would be performing for marching band, concert band and concert choir. Very busy boy.

this was Woodbury, MN high school at Disney a few years ago

happy silver wedding anniversary Cory and Joan!

It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that my treasured brother Cory Lee married his beautiful bride Joan Lee 25 years ago today. May your marriage continue to grow and flourish!

2 hours late

April 16 and school has been called 2 hours late. I know we had a snow day in May a few years ago, perhaps this will be a repeat?

The sun is shining oh so beautifully--promise of nice weather to come.

flying

This weekend is just flitting past. I have prepared for my week in the classroom and am going to finish a book I started a long time ago (Light of Paris by Eleanor Brown) and then I'm going to start preparing dinner...the weekend is just flying past though. YIKES!


Brad is painting the stairway going downstairs (way overdue) and I'm starting to think about some home improvement projects too...we will see what is to come.

just can't shake it

Winter winds continue to blow. The air is filled with flakes and the ground has turned white once again. My friend Michelle said--groundwater is the only way it makes me happy that we are still living in winter. Thanks for the positive spin, Michelle!

October 26-April 14 Still winter (photo and caption from a friend)

it's a hard knock life

Tonight, I am going solo to the Middle School musical Annie. Katie is attending with a friend and I will go alone to the presentation as Osten isn't interested in attending. It will be fun to see a play solo :)

timberwolves

Last night, Brad got a chance to go see the MN Timberwolves in action with his brother Brent. The game went into overtime and the Timberwolves won over the Denver Nuggets 112-106. Because the wolves won, they are headed into post-season play against the Houston Rockets on Sunday.

Brad said it was a great evening and enjoyed spending time with his brother.

happy national siblings day

here we are at my first Christmas...Kent, Diane, Chuck, Kurt, Kyle, Cory and me

Here we are at Cory's birthday?

first robin

This evening, I went outside to throw something in the garbage and spied my very first robin of spring...welcome! Momma, I've seen a robin, I hope you have too!

is spring on its way?

Last night, the snow was gently falling as I went to work out and this morning when I went to work out again I could still see my footprints in the snow...could spring be on the way? Could the snow be a memory?

We shall see ;) 

star and a ? also visit from the Weaver-Olsons

Saturday morning, Anders' madrigal group received a 1 star on their performance. They are moving onto the next level.

His second performance was good--a lovely duet with Emma singing Ave Maria but we don't know if they will also go onto the next level.

Nate, Kimberly, Natalie and Micha came to hang out Saturday afternoon and evening. We ate fried chicken (fundraiser for the River Falls Baseball program) and headed to Swinging Bridge and Rush River for adult beverages. Ran into a man with the last name of Kubes--a bus tour had stopped and everyone was wearing a nametag. He is the girls hockey head coach from Red Wing and is probably somehow related to my lovely sister Kim.

music contest and running

This morning, Anders and I headed to Baldwin High School for round one of music contest. His madrigal group performed and then I had to rush him back to work part of his shift at DQ today. At 2:45, I will pick him up again and take him back to Baldwin to sing a duet with Emma at 3:38pm.

After that, I will drive him back to DQ to finish his shift (he intends to stay late to try and make up for time missed) and we will be hosting Brad's cousin and his family for an afternoon/evening of dinner and visiting.

Should be a fun day!

relay

Tonight is the River Falls Relay for Life. Soon I will drive Katie and a friend to the high school for the evening. I think it's wonderful that our community comes together to raise money to fund research that will impact the fight of cancer. I am also excited that Katie is wanting to spend the night at such an event.

Update: Katie ended up having a small slumber party hosting three friends at our home overnight. We heard giggling until early in the morning coming from the bedroom. What a wonderful sound. This morning, Brad made them waffles and bacon and then Heather, Maggie's Mom came to pick up three girls for trap and another girls, Maya got a ride home from her Dad.

a bright, beautiful and brisk morning

As I was walking home from Anytime at 6:30, the sky was really starting to light up. Now that I've had breakfast and bid farewell to two of our three children, I see the sun up in the sky and it appears that the MN Twins will have clear skies for their home opener.

Today, Brad is going to his friend Paul's Mom's funeral. He is currently telling me a story about her...she was a very funny lady. Thinking of Paul today and wishing his family all the best memories.

the voters said yes!

INITIAL RESOLUTION NUMBER I AUTHORIZING GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $45,860,000

BE IT RESOLVED by the School Board of the School District of River Falls, Pierce and St. Croix Counties, Wisconsin that there shall be issued pursuant to Chapter 67 of the Wisconsin Statutes, general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed $45,860,000 for the public purpose of paying the cost of a District-wide school building and improvement program consisting of: improving, upgrading, renovating, remodeling and maintaining various school facilities including Greenwood, Rocky Branch, Westside and Montessori Elementary Schools, Meyer Middle School, River Falls High School and the transportation and maintenance buildings; constructing and equipping additions to Greenwood, Rocky Branch, Westside and Montessori Elementary Schools for classrooms, multi-purpose/flexible space and cafeteria/kitchen space; demolition of a portion of the Academy Building and portable classrooms at Westside Elementary School; upgrading technology infrastructure; site and athletic facility improvements; and acquiring furnishings, fixtures and equipment.

INITIAL RESOLUTION NUMBER II AUTHORIZING GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $2,100,000

BE IT RESOLVED by the School Board of the School District of River Falls, Pierce and St. Croix Counties, Wisconsin that there shall be issued pursuant to Chapter 67 of the Wisconsin Statutes, general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed $2,100,000 for the public purpose of paying the cost of school facility improvements consisting of the addition of artificial turf and lighting to outdoor fields, parking and other improvements.

winter wonderland endures

Today we are experiencing another beautiful snow day. Our spring break has been extended. I have been spending the morning working on school things from home and will soon walk into school to do some planning and collaborating with colleagues.

Happy birthday to my beautiful sister in law Joan Lee Blomgren. You have been my sister nearly 25 years and I am so thankful for all you have brought to the Blomgren family.

20 years ago today

Our sweet, kind, funny, engaging and just plain precious Godson, Ross Isaac was born. His Daddy wrote a beautiful tribute today and I will share it here:

Last week many of us recall the events from the 20th anniversary of the Comfrey/St. Peter tornado. Four days after that catastrophe, our family was blessed with the birth of Ross, which was 20 years ago today. This is me welcoming him into this world on that day. We were all reminded just yesterday on Easter that Jesus has conquered the grave, which gives us a peace that passes all understanding.

arisen indeed!

Happy Easter to all and I didn't get a good April Fool's joke pulled but my Mom tried to convince me a tornado was headed to River Falls when I called her this evening.

We did get prepared for Easter yesterday with egg coloring, Easter vigil service and going out to eat at Mariachi Loco.

The Easter Bunny did visit last night and left 6 baskets--including one for Anders' friend Emma. She found it this morning when she joined us for going to Grandma and Grandpa Olson's house for Easter scalloped potatoes and ham. We watched Katie's new movie Thor Ragnarok on our drive north.

We learned of Grandma Betty rising during her turn as helping with communion this morning. She tripped and fell while holding communion wine. She fell and then arose and took communion and helped calculate the offering after the service, came home and served 10 people for Easter dinner. I'm so happy she is ok--she did bruise her hand and her chest, but seems to be in excellent spirits.

Back home this evening, ate a beef roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, bread, carrots and broccoli and then I went to Anytime for my workout (first one since March 23).