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Halliday Family Blog

Halliday Family Blog/

District Solo & Ensemble Festival and New Laundry Room!

Today was the District 204 Solo and Ensemble Festival.  Sarah and Brittany participated in it (Kirstyn’s is later) and they did a great job.  We are so proud of them.  There were no rankings given out, however.  The normal area Solo and Ensemble Festival that they have yearly was canceled because they couldn’t find a school in the area to host it.  🙁  Since I was at work, Angela got to go to see their performances.

Tonight, I took Sarah and Brittany to the Solo and Ensemble Honors Concert.  This is a performance by a selection of the top musicians in the district.  All we could say was WOW!  Some of the performances just blew us away!  The ones that were especially impressive were the clarinet player, a couple of the strings ensembles.  We sure have a huge amount of talent in this district.  I guess that’s why one of our district’s high schools receives a Grammy every year.  🙂

In addition to that, the laundry room is finished!

The kids really love their lockers and couldn’t wait to get their stuff in them (Angela and I couldn’t either)!  🙂  Our laundry room looks SOOOO much better now!

By |2011-04-03T06:09:57-07:00February 21st, 2011|School|0 Comments
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Kirstyn’s First Talk in Church!

Kirstyn gave her first talk at church today!  She did a GREAT job and wrote a wonderful talk all by herself.  She was really nervous, but when she got up in front of the congregation, you couldn’t tell at all.  She seemed very calm and ready to go!  GREAT JOB Kirstyn!  We are very proud of you!

By |2011-03-17T04:42:43-07:00February 13th, 2011|Church|0 Comments
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Crazy, Busy, and Hectic Day!

Today was an absolute crazy busy day!  Where to start…  Sarah had the ACT today and was very nervous about taking it.  She has been studying and feels ready but still hates taking tests!  She got up early and Angela drove her down to a high school in Plainfield to take the test.  She was gone for about 4 hours.  Meanwhile, I got up early and went down to Joliet for some church training.  When I got back home, I finished up the laundry room cabinets!  Yea!!!  Right in the middle of it, we had a blow-up at work and that took a chunk of the afternoon (because of which, I missed another 2 1/2 hour church training that I was supposed to be at).

Sarah went straight from the ACT (which she said she feels good about) right up to the high school, for a band performance.  As usual, she did a GREAT job and had to hurry and run home after that to finish up her list of chores.  By this point, we were all tired but weren’t done yet!

Tonight, the girls had a fireside they went to at the Naperville Stake Center where the daughter of President Monson spoke to them.  They said it was very good.  Kirstyn came home after that and Sarah and Brittany stayed for a youth dance with multiple stakes.  When it was over, I went and picked them and other friends up and brought them back home.

Whew!  I am emotionally and physically exhausted!  The laundry room is done, however, and looks GREAT!

By |2011-03-17T04:41:21-07:00February 12th, 2011|Church, Home Life, School|0 Comments
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Open House at Gombert!

Tonight was the Gombert Elementary School Open House.  We have been at that school so many years now, I think we now have the record!  This is our 12th consecutive open house there!  We figured we had 8 more to go before we didn’t have any more kids in elementary school.  I think that we have been at Gombert longer than any other family ever!

Zach had a great time and he showed us everything he was working on.  We were able to spend more time with him because we only have 1 kid at the school!  🙂

We were able to do some timed math practice with him (Angela did great, I hate those things)!  🙂 and have him show us all his artwork.  We are struggling with him a bit in school with some respect issues and talking problems so we had a little chat with his teacher.  He’s not trying hard to be bad, he’s just a boy with a lot of energy.  We are concerned, however and are trying to work with him on his attention skills.  We’re sure he’s going to do better!  We love you Zach!

By |2011-03-17T04:35:38-07:00February 10th, 2011|School|0 Comments
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Kirstyn Chorus and Band Concert

Tonight Kirstyn had her band and chorus concert at Still.  They did a GREAT job!  It seems as though every year, the kids get better and better for their grade level.

That is what we really like about this school district.  They really value the Arts and work hard to provide this to the kids.   That’s the reason why one of the high schools in the district has received grammy gold status every year for the past few years.  They really are that good!  🙂

Way to go Kirstyn!  Keep up the GREAT work!

By |2011-03-17T04:28:29-07:00February 9th, 2011|School|0 Comments
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Happy Birthday Kirk!

Ouch!  42!  Today was my birthday, and we had a great dinner of steak on the grill, along with mashed potatoes!  🙂  I then opened my presents and had a great time! Zach made me the most original present.  I’m wearing the mask he made in the picture below.  It was funny!  🙂

Nice 12th anniversary of my 30th birthday!  🙂  Tons wished me happy birthday on Facebook as well!

By |2011-03-01T10:02:11-07:00February 7th, 2011|Home Life|0 Comments
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Laundry Room Work, Couponing Class

Today, was a pretty busy day!  Angela (with me as her tech crew) started the day off early with a couponing class at the church.  She and a friend/sister in the ward presented a class on how to save money through couponing and it was well received.  They did a great job and will have an encore session later on for those who couldn’t make it.

While she was finishing that up, I took Zachary and we went to the store and picked up the baseboards for the laundry room.  They are now installed and look great!  I can’t believe we didn’t do this much earlier!  The laundry room looked so gross before!

This afternoon, Angela and I went and purchased all the cabinetry for the laundry room from IKEA.  I went on-line and used the virtual kitchen planner to design the room the way we wanted it and then all we had to do was pick up the cabinets and hardware!

I’m really excited to get the cabinets all assembled and hung up!  The kids are especially excited about their lockers they get!  Each of them having their own cabinet space for coats, shoes, gloves, scarves, backpacks, etc. makes them really happy!  And…  it makes mom and dad really happy too (if the kids’ stuff actually finds its way into the lockers)!  🙂

By |2011-03-01T06:10:11-07:00February 5th, 2011|Church, Home Life|0 Comments
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The Day of Shoveling!

Well, we still can’t get out of our neighborhood so I worked from home and school was canceled again!  The snow plow came late in the evening and they did a REALLY bad job of plowing our road.  It must be because our neighborhood doesn’t have any Aldermen or School Board members in it!  🙂  They plowed the south side of the street and left huge piles of snow on our side of the street!  We had to shovel an additional 10 feet out from the end of our driveway to to be able to get out!  We also had to shovel all of that away from the mailbox so we can get mail tomorrow.  I tried to flag down the plow to come back and take a swipe at our side of the street, but he blew me off (saw me but ignored me) and kept going.  The weird thing is that there is about 1 1/2 lanes worth of street to drive on.  Not sure how that is going to work when cars have to pass each other!  🙂

The kids still loved having all the snow and enjoyed being at home again!  Nothing like having 2 days to get caught up on homework that didn’t get done!  🙂

By |2011-03-01T05:57:40-07:00February 3rd, 2011|Home Life|0 Comments
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Tile Finished! Crazy Blizzard!

The tile was finished yesterday and today, we wiped down the floor and sealed it!  The washer and dryer are back in their home!  We are very happy and are doing a BUNCH of loads of laundry to get caught up!  🙂

Last night a blizzard started that could end up being the worst in history.  I left early from work and as the snow was just starting and it still took over an hour and a half to get home.  When we got up this morning, there were snow drifts to the top of our 4-foot high fence all around the yard.  We opened the garage, and there was 3 feet of snow blocking it!  The streets are totally impassable and so I worked from home and school was canceled.  We spent most of the day shoveling snow and it was crazy!

It was crazy how much snow there was.  As you can see from above, we had drifts over 6 feet tall.  Our roads still haven’t been plowed.  We went over and helped our neighbors shovel out.  The kids had a lot of fun playing in the back yard as well!

After all of that shoveling, we are VERY tired and sore!  😐  Turns out that it was the 3rd largest blizzard in history for our area.  It just looked worse becuase of all the snow drifts 3-5 feet deep!  It looks like school will be canceled again tomorrow and I’ll be working from home again!  Our driveway is nice and clear, but that’s about it!

By |2011-03-01T05:48:12-07:00February 2nd, 2011|Home Life|0 Comments
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Construction Project Continues

Construction still continues!  We have been without a washer and dryer for about 4 days now and Angela is getting tired of it being in the hall.  The good thing is that it blocks the running track that the boys use to chase each other around in circles and that has been a blessing on the side.  It’s been a little quieter!  🙂

Today I finished prepping the floor and getting it ready to tile.  Angela and I went out and bought the tile, new baseboard, and paint for the room.  I painted most of the day, and it looks really good!  It’s a bright yellow, (a little brighter than it looked in the store) but we like it.

Our friend is coming to do the underlay on Monday, the tile on Tuesday, and the grout and cleanup on Wednesday morning.  We are really excited!  On Thursday, we’ll be able to move everything back in, put in all the baseboards, paint them, and then work on cabinets!  Yea!

By |2011-02-24T06:01:54-07:00January 29th, 2011|Home Life|0 Comments
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Kirstyn “Hang-Out” Party for Birthday

Happy 12th Birthday, Kirstyn!  It’s hard to believe that our little baby girl is already 12!  Time is flying by so fast!  With Kirstyn turning 12 on the 26th, we had a small family party for her which she loved!  She also, being the socialite that she is, wanted a little party to hang out with a couple of her friends.   That event happened tonight…

Instead of a cake, they made a giant cookie and decorated it.  They hung out, played Wii and other games, and watched a movie.

She had a great time and wore herself right out!  Did she go right to bed after her friends left?  Of course not!  🙂  She wanted to stay up even later!  🙂

By |2011-02-24T05:57:19-07:00January 28th, 2011|Home Life|0 Comments
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Happy Birthday Kirstyn!

Happy Birthday Kirstyn!  Wow, it is amazing how old our kids are getting!  Kirstyn went to her first Young Women activity yesterday and everyone sang to her!  It was really cute!  On Monday night, we celebrated with a birthday dinner at Sweet Tomatoes!  We ran into a friend of Sarah’s that works there.  HE gave us GREAT service!  🙂   It was very sweet, we thought.  Brittany and Kirstyn kept teasing her about it.  Every time he would come by, he would look Sarah and smile.  When we finished, it turns out I had no cash for a tip, so I ran to the bank while the rest of the family finished up eating.  🙂

By |2011-03-01T09:58:35-07:00January 26th, 2011|Church, Home Life|0 Comments
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