September 24

And yet - more progress on the bathroom.....

September 25

Today was a day of soccer.....2 games for Dylan, 1 for Lyndsi, Dylan's in Omak, Lyndsi's in Oroville. Despite the hectic schedule, the day was perfect! And the games were fun.

September 26

We took Flat Stanley to a movie today. It was quite a treat as we all got to go with him! The movie was that Guardian movie. Dylan loves the books so we had to see the show! It wasn't bad!

September 27
This is my grandma's vanity table. When she passed away, it became mine. I love the way it looks in my house but I discovered something even better about it. It still smells like my grandma's house! I opened the drawer and this soothing perfumey, woody, musty smell came wafting out.....Ah, memories! By the way, happy birthday Erin- Sorry we didn't call!

September 28

Another day of soccer, this time with a couple of dentist appointments thrown in! Clean check ups!

Finally....More Pictures!

But first, another fighter to keep in your thoughts. Bill has just been diagnosed with cancer and will be needing lots of positive energy shooting his way......

September 19

Here's how what our bathroom tile looks like. One more step down! Steve is a weekend warrior these days! Little by little gets the job done...

September 20

I had to take some photos for a project for my Masters program. I used Lyndsi's as my photo of the day. Kind of a cop out, I know!

September 21
Every year we have a bat or two that hang out on our school walls for the day (outside of course!). Dylan spied this little guy. They are really pretty cute! Until they show their little fangs....

September 22

We have the meanest Tooth Fairy at our house! We first realized this about a year ago, when Lyndsi woke up at the nice late hour of 7 and discovered no money to be found. It was almost like the Tooth Fairy forgot about her! Oh such panic! Well, between Steve and I we found the missing money hiding underneath the mattress and came up with the theory that because Lyndsi made the Tooth Fairy look for her tooth (it never made it under the pillow because it was lost before it could get there), he/she wanted Lyndsi to look for the money. Payback in a way.

Whew....such quick thinking...

This time, our mean old Tooth Fairy left this measly quarter. We're pretty sure it's because, once again, Lyndsi woke in a panic when there was no money under her pillow. Fortunately, we were able to console her that it was only 3:00 am and the Tooth Fairy would be there soon. We just don't think our Tooth Fairy cares to be doubted and he/she grabbed the first thing he/she came across....

Another whew...

September 23

Flat Stanley came to our house for the week! Tonight we took him to a spaghetti feed fundraiser for Dori and then to the football game.

Fabulous News!

But no pictures. Not this time. Partly because this news deserves a space all its own. Partly because I left my laptop at school....ooops. Partly because it's late and I'm tired.

But mostly because of the good news part.....

For the first time in 2 1/2 years, my dad is in total remission from cancer! That means he has beaten this horrible disease 4 times! Celebration time at the Schumacher house!

Not only has my father become a living legend, he has also, inadvertantly, helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for cancer research. Two Team in Training cycling teams have raised money in his honor.

In fact, it is because of fundraisers like those that my dad has beaten this last stubborn case of cancer. The study drug he was on was paid for through cancer fighting resarch donations. So when you have the opportunity to donate to cancer research, rest assured that your money truly goes to a good cause.

Way to go, Dad!

In all the celebrating, keep those positive thoughts flowing to Dori and Joey and to Jenny, a young teacher from Omak who is battling her second bout of cancer, this time in her sternum.

And back to a celebration - my friend's husband, John Knighten has had a successful stem cell transplant. Congratulations, John!

Not Quite Caught Up

But much too tired to do more than this!

September 14

This has become our newest form of entertainment. Lucy crazily chases the red dot from a laser light. We've had more laughs watching her run through the house and leap through the air to try to catch the light!

September 15

Have you seen Dylan's new room? I can't remeber if I've already taken a picture!

September 16

That blur is Dylan taking a shot at goal during his soccer team's Goal-a-thon. The boys were trying to earn money for a tournament in December. Dylan made 17 points and brought in about $100. Not bad!

September 17

Max spent the night tonight and the kids wanted a sweet snack after dinner. So - oven s'mores were created! Broiled marshmallows taste almost as good as the fire roasted kind!

September 18

We had our first Potluck dinner tonight with lots of good friends. This was the first dinner of our newly formed Supper Club. We plan to have dinner once a month. The host chooses a theme for the meal and everyone brings something. The theme of this dinner was "Asian". Everyone made such great food! I particularly liked the coconut soup made by John MacDonald. Yum! In this picture, Mary MacDonald tries to eat an inside out rice wrapped spring roll that fell apart!

It's Almost Friday!

Thank goodness! I'm ready to go to bed without setting the alarm...... I guess I'm pretty easy to please!

September 9

I love this cute red kitchen scale! I follow some recipes by a gal who measures her gluten free flour by weight rather than volume. It's always a bit tricky making the conversions so I decided my counter needed a bit of color in the form of a scale. Here it is - one of those things that just makes you feel happy to look at! Well.....it makes me happy anyway!

September 10

Lyndsi and I manned the Girl Scout booth at the fair on Friday. For two hours we sat and chatted with people about the entries to the booth and what Girl Scouts do. During some downtime we checked out Lyndsi's artwork and zucchini. She won blue ribbons for both and a Reserve Grand Champion for her veggie. Proud little chickie!

Septemer 11

This is my water glass at McGlinn's Restaurant in Wenatchee. It's a class weekend for me so we went to dinner. I haven't felt good all day so this water looked especially appetizing!

September 12
And here are Dylan's prizes! Blue ribbons all around and a special award for his art work. We're not positive what that award is for but we were told that only one entry per exhibit area is chosen. Pretty cool!

September 13

Here is our bathroom now......one step at a time! The boards are holding the Swanstone in place until the glue dries.

Nine Months into the Challenge

September 5

Kim and Robyn - Tomorrow is Kim's birthday (the 6th). We happened to all be in Spokane this weekend so Robyn planned a birthday dinner for Kim. Ali and Erin, the kids and I and my parents had a yummy bar-b-qued ribs dinner. Steve came for dessert. It was such fun to all be together - doesn't happen very often! I feel so lucky to have Kim in my life (well, in Robyn's life, so therefore, in mine!) and look forward to future celebrations with her.

September 6

Love the bounty of a garden! This all came from Steve's hard work. I especially like the way the garlic looks and tastes!

September 7

It's OK County Fair time around here! The kids have chosen artwork and vegies to enter in the fair. We'll see how they do!

September 8

Happy Birthday, Cathy! Another birthday celebration this week! This time we met at the Rockwall Cellars in Omak for the final Wine Down Wednesday music night of the season. A whole gob of us sat outside on the patio, shared bottles of wine and ate fruit, crackers and cheese - and then were in bed by 10! Big partiers!

In this picture - LeeAnn, Kiki, John, Cathy and Quinta

Arts and Crafts

That's what Lyndsi told Dylan she did in school all day on her first day of second grade. Now I know it sounds cute but, to a teacher, it sounds horrifying! We have a short 180 days to teach our little darlings some pretty major stuff and they have a mere 180 days to learn it! So there is no time to spend on "arts and crafts". I was shocked to hear that Lyndsi spent a full 7 hours on "arts and crafts"! Consider my further alarm when I realized that I was Lyndsi's second grade teacher and she was talking about what I had planned for my new students to do on their first day of school! Pure mortification! What are all the other kids telling their parents?

Actually, I did get quite a giggle out of this because what Lyndsi didn't realize was how much knowledge she was actually applying through those "arts and crafts". I giggled a little harder when I remembered that those were the same words my dad used when he was trying to describe my Master's program to my sister. Lyndsi didn't know I was assessing how well she could read and write, how much she understood about the workings of graphs, what kind of knowledge she had of numbers....the list goes on! AND I was able to assess every one of my 24 other students in the same way. After my initial shock of hearing those particular words used in reference to my teaching, I realized that the implication was that Lyndsi was enjoying her learning in a way that she wasn't used to. This is exactly why arts integration is becoming more and more important to me as a teacher. It's tough to do but so worth it!

Our first day of school! Lyndsi is in second grade and Dylan is in fifth grade.

August 30

Ah - the life of a coach's wife. I thought Steve said practice would be over at 5:30. It's now 6:21 and dinner is trying it's best to stay warm closed up in the microwave. Sigh....

August 31

I think my classroom is ready! I hope my stamina is!

September 1

First Day of School 2010! Lyndsi is a second grader and Dylan is a fifth grader at Virginia Grainger Elementary. This is Dylan's last year at the grade school - yikes!

September 2

Our pharmacy is closing. This makes me sad. This pharmacy was owned and runned locally. Very few of those left. This is one of the sad sights in our small town - closing stores.

September 3

First Okanogan Bulldog home football game of the season. This is one of the fun parts of living in a small town. I'm to the point in my life here that I know many of the players so I have a personal connection to the game. I still find that I can't keep my mind on what's going on on the field but would rather people watch in the stands!

September 4

I love these tractors (combines?)! Don't really know why, other than they remind me of Frank from the move "Cars". We pass by these guys on our way to and from Spokane. They are on Highway 2 and have been for a couple of years. I don't know thay they ever get used!