Yearly Archives: 2012

/2012

8th Annual Teacher Appreciation Dinner!

Today we held our 8th annual Teacher Appreciation Dinner in our back yard.  We really love this event and so do all the teachers we invite.  This year we had 20+ people attend, so we had to hold it outside.  Because this is Sarah’s last year doing this, we decided to let her not only invite a couple from this year, but also invite those throughout all the years that impacted her the most.  With Brittany’s, Kirstyn’s, and Zach’s teachers, we had quite the party!

We started off with burgers and dogs on the grill and with the chips, salads, fruit, veggies, and the cupcakes Brittany made, we were all pretty full.  Each of the kids wrote appreciation letters or poems to their teachers and we did a “program” where they read the letters, the girls sang, Sarah played her flute, and the teachers really appreciated that.  Teachers don’t get enough appreciation from parents for the huge amount of time they invest in our kids and we need to honor them more.  🙂

Ben found himself a new best friend as well.  Sarah’s English teacher this year came (Mr. Solgos) and Ben had him up in the top of the play yard…

For the entire evening, Ben was totally hooked to his hip.  It was really cute although it was probably a little much for Mr. Solgos, although he didn’t show it a bit.  🙂

At the end, we took pictures of the group and some of the kids with their individual teachers.  A real treat was that Sarah’s kindergarten teacher (Mrs. D.) was able to come.  We have admired her for years, and we weren’t doing these events when Sarah was in kindergarten.  She was very impressed and also overwhelmed with emotion that we would still think of her and involve her in our special night.

She said with tears in her eyes that she wishes that more families were like ours (not wanting to brag) and that if all families had the spiritual values we had, that the world would be a much better place.  That makes these kind of events totally worth it.  We owe a lot to those who take care of our kids during the day, and this is the least we could do.

Thank you teachers!!!

By |2012-07-06T05:54:57-07:00May 14th, 2012|Home Life, School|0 Comments

Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother’s Day Angela!!!  You are very much loved and appreciated!  Today we all got up early and made breakfast in bed for Angela.  We made her crepes, sausage, juice, and fruit, which she really loved.  It’s always fun to see the kids do this for their mom.  🙂

Brittany got to give a tribute to Angela by speaking in church.  She was extremely nervous, but she did a GREAT job.  She talked about the importance of mothers and womanhood.  In addition, at the end of the block of meetings, all the moms got chocolate bars to top off a little “luncheon ” they had during Relief Society.  We think that they all liked this better than the potted flowers that they have received in the past.

We love you Angela!

By |2012-06-25T06:06:38-07:00May 13th, 2012|Church, Home Life|0 Comments

Ball Game with Zach

Today, Zach and I went to a Kane County Cougars ball game for the Ozzie Reading Club reward through school.  Zach really likes these events because he gets to be with his dad, eat junk food, and watch baseball.  🙂  Unfortunately, we missed the traditional parade around the inside of the ballpark for all those who completed the program (traffic, etc.) but Zach was OK with that.  We brought our favorite treat for the game (Red Vines) and when we got to the park, we bought our hot dogs and drinks (Zach’s was on the house as a reward for the reading program), picked up his free t-shirt, and settled in for a great game.

Zach probably had more fun this year watching the game than in any other year.  He seemed pretty interested in knowing what was going on, and we had a great time.  We thought that our Cougars were going to lose (down by a couple in the 9th) and then they pulled it out in the last inning of the game and won, which really brought on the cheers from the crowd!  🙂

Thanks for a great memory, Zach!  🙂

 

By |2012-06-25T06:01:43-07:00May 8th, 2012|Home Life|0 Comments

Metea Senior Awards Ceremony

Tonight, we attended the first annual Metea Valley High School Black and Gold Senior Awards Ceremony.  All the seniors receiving awards were honored tonight, and Sarah was the recipient of the 2012-13 Illinois State Scholar award which honors students for their outstanding academic achievement during the year.  Way to go Sarah!

She has also received many other awards for her academic work such as recognition for achieving standards in Math and Science by the State Board of Education, and school achievement certificates for earning a 3.8 or higher in multiple semesters.

Way to go Sarah!  Only 6 more weeks to go!!!!!  🙂

By |2012-06-25T05:54:02-07:00May 7th, 2012|School|0 Comments

Musical and Stake Conference – Part 2

This morning, we all got up, piled in the van, and drove to the general session of Stake Conference.  We went REALLY early in order to get a seat, and still didn’t get in the main chapel.  Elder Oaks came around and talked to as many people as he could, and we all got to shake hand.  Not sure the boys know how cool that was (they were excited to be kept busy with my iPhone and iPad).  🙂  The meeting was wonderful and we had a great chat on the way home about all the things we learned.

This afternoon, Sarah played for the matinee of the musical, and again, did an outstanding job.  We didn’t get to see her, but heard it went very well.

By |2012-06-19T06:59:00-07:00May 6th, 2012|Church, School|0 Comments

Metea Musical and Stake Conference

Tonight, Brittany and Angela went to the Metea Musical and had a great time just as we did last night.

Meanwhile, I was at church meetings for most of the afternoon and into the evening.  We had the Saturday sessions of our Stake Conference and Elder Oaks of the Twelve suprised us with a visit.  He was absolutely phenomenal!  The evening sessions are always my favorite and this one was by far the best one I had attended.  Having an apostle there was amazing and the other speakers did a GREAT job.   Angela was jealous she didn’t get to go, and I felt bad that I didn’t get to go see Sarah as well.  When you have so many things going on as we do with all the kids, you just have to split and hope that everything goes well!  🙂

By |2012-06-19T06:55:50-07:00May 5th, 2012|Church, School|0 Comments

Beauty and the Beast at Metea

Tonight Sarah played in the pit for Metea’s production of Beauty and the Beast.  She was so excited to have the opportunity her senior year to participate in the musical, and also have the chance to play music for one of her favorite Disney movies.  I took Zach, Ben, and Kirstyn and we had a GREAT time!  Ben and Zach were totally enthralled by the music and the costumes, and were VERY well behaved.

While I was at the musical with the 3 little ones, Angela and Brittany were at a wedding reception for some friends of ours.  Brittany was asked to help out, and Angela pitched in as well.  They had a great time.  Angela and Brittany are going to go tomorrow night to the production since they missed tonight.

Sarah and the pit sounded GREAT and they did an awesome job!  Way to go Sarah!

By |2012-06-19T06:49:11-07:00May 4th, 2012|Home Life, School|0 Comments

Happy Anniversary Angela!

Happy Anniversary Angela!  I can’t believe it’s been 21 years!  It’s been a great run and I look forward to the next 21 with excitement!

21  years ago I married my best friend.  The one I have laughed with, lived for, dreamed with, and still love with all my heart.  🙂

By |2012-06-15T06:04:18-07:00May 3rd, 2012|Home Life|0 Comments

Kirstyn Band Concert & Cubs Police Department

This afternoon, Angela took her cub scouts over to the Naperville Police Department for a tour.  They had a great time and learned a bunch about how police work “works.”  After that, we all went over to Still Middle School for Kirstyn’s final band concert of the year.  She was really excited to play and as always, loves to perform.

She is having a quandary right now, however.  She loves band and she loves chorus and will be doing them both next year, but she doesn’t know whether she’ll continue to play or if she wants to sing in high school.  She’s got another year to go in middle school, so she’ll have some time to make up her mind.  🙂

By |2012-06-15T05:49:57-07:00May 2nd, 2012|Church, School|0 Comments

Still Musical – Night 2

Tonight was the second night of the Still Musical and Kirstyn did an awesome job as well (according to Brittany).  We didn’t have tickets for night 2 but went over at the end to help clean up and strike the set.  After getting everything cleaned up, I took Brittany (because she wanted to be social with a certain young man – an older brother of one of the cast members), and Kirstyn over to the cast party at Culver’s.  They had a great time and came home talking up a storm.

Kirstyn was so happy that the Chorus Director there at Still gave her the chance to be in the musical.  She was really bummed last year that she didn’t get to be in it, and was really worried about not making it this year because of basketball.  We really appreciate her teacher to for giving her the opportunity to show her talents.

Way to go Kirstyn!

By |2012-06-15T05:43:52-07:00April 27th, 2012|School|0 Comments

Still Musical & Gombert Poetry Night

Tonight Kirstyn had the Still Middle School Musical called “Once on This Island,” and Zach had Gombert Poetry Night.  Both were very excited to be participating.  I took Kirstyn over to the musical and Angela took Zach over to the poetry night.  I was kind-of bummed because Poetry Night finished up and Angela was able to come over to the musical as well, so I missed little Zach’s poetry performance.  Angela said he did a GREAT job and loved showing off his talents in writing.

The musical went wonderfully well also!  Kirstyn had a minor part but played it in a major way!  The whole cast did a great job and we were impressed.  For a middle school play, they did a GREAT job!

Kirstyn’s best friend Ashley came to see the performance and support her as well.  Kirstyn was really excited about that!

One other cool thing was that I was responsible for the fabulous tickets again this year!  🙂  They turned out pretty good and it ended up saving the production a lot of money in printing costs.  They were in full color and on a quality card stock.  The ticket was on the front and I also designed a coupon for Qdoba, one of the sponsors for the back.

What a fun night.  The musical was one that we had never really heard of before, but the music was great and what mattered the most is that Kirstyn had a BLAST!  She’s looking forward to the musical tomorrow night as well!

By |2012-06-15T05:40:19-07:00April 26th, 2012|School|0 Comments

Literacy Night at Gombert

Tonight we had a fun time with Zach as we went to Gombert Elementary for Literacy Night.  The boys especially had the most fun listening to stories, and participating in activities.  The son of a friend of ours from another school came over with a storytelling group and performed for the kids.  It was pretty entertaining and funny!

By |2012-06-15T05:25:08-07:00April 24th, 2012|School|0 Comments
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