Past Summer

Well, I know it's been awhile. Let me start with the past summer, seems like a good place to start on a cold November evening. Well, the summer was great, of course it went by too fast. I attended training for a week for my new position at STRIDE as the Reading Coach. It was intense, but good and has been very helpful to my job.

Then there were the ususal summertime activities like parades and activities. Emma was in the Monticello parade for her dance group. Here's a picture of the little sweetie. She's back in dance this fall and has moved into the competition group, so looking forward to that. So glad she's doing so well. For those who don't know, she was diagnozed with epilepsy last February, but is on medication and all seems to be going well for her. She's back to her usual 'diva' self.

We also did the usual Platte River Day (Yes it is only a 1-day celebration) right here in Royalton. We had Shannon & Jeff visiting from Michigan so it was great to have all our kids and grandkids here for the day. Of course Mark grilled some good food. Here's a few pics of the grandkids partaking in all the fun activities for the day.

That's Micheal doing the water balloon toss. A favorite of all the kiddos. Then next are Emma and Grace in the petting zoo. Kiara and Braiden waiting to face each other off in the water balloon toss. Kiara taking aim with her squirt gun and Emma using hers to cool off. Finally Braiden waiting for the parade to come by.

Be sure to come back as I'll post some more and read as I tell all about losing a bunch of precious pictures.

CAKES, CAKES AND YET MORE CAKES!

When my daughter was growing up and having those yearly birthday parties, I made many of her birthday cakes. When I lived in Wyoming, I had a good friend named Mary and she got me strarted decorating cakes. We made my daughter a Cabbage Patch Kid cake from a form. It had SO many stars on it that our hands cramped! But it was very cute and she enjoyed it, making it so worthwhile. I continued to make decorated cakes when she was younger, then as she grew, German Chocolate Cakes became her favorite. Over the past year I have started decorating cakes again. I even took a cake decorating class at Royalton Community School last fall and have been decorating more cakes this year. Hey, I even did my first cake for profit! So here are a few of the cakes I've made for birthdays for the grandkids this year.

First to have a birthday is Braiden. He turned nine this past February. He was happy with his transformer B-Day Cake. Of course the frosting is the 'bomb'.

Next to have a birthday was Ella. She turned one in February. I used the theme from the napkins and plates to decorate her cake. Of course she had a little cake all to herself.

Next was Kiara who also turned nine this year in April. Kiara likes the Bratz, so I tried to make a Bratz cake for her. The eyes were a bit tricky, but what the heck, those dolls have lots of makeup on anyhow.

Latest one the have a birthday living in around here was Emma. She turned six in May, and YES! she is into Hannah Montana, so she had a Rockin' Hannah Montana Cake.

Mark's other two grandchildren live in Michigan, so they'll have to wait for their cakes till they come at the end of July. Michael just turned 12 last week and Grace will turn 9 in July.

Well, here are a few samples of some of the other cakes I have made, (and took a picute of). These were cakes made for people at work. The one on the left was for one of our kindergarten teachers whose husband took a job promotion and they moved to New York this month. It was a big move for them and their two teenage daughters, but they are looking forward to it. The cake on the right was my first cake for profit. One of the gals I work with ordered it for her husband's 50th birthday. He is a dectective in St. Cloud.

Garden

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Mark and I worked on our gardens. Mark decided to move his tomato garden, so we turned the old tomato garden into a 'Rose Garden'. We put a fountain in the middle. I plan to make some mosaic stepping stones for the center of the garden and may possibly add some potted plants at the corners. I can hardly wait for the roses to bloom. Guess you can say the old song isn't true for me, you know "I beg you're pardon, I never promised you a rose garden", because I got mine!


My tulips are in full bloom, and they are starting to fill in nicely this year. They look so pretty and I think it means the spring is finally here in Minnesota. We go from 80 degrees yesterday to 50 degrees today, so it's hard to tell. I'm looking forward to my perenial garden this year, as it is really starting to fill in nicely. I'm going out to the farm that Mark grew up on to collect some rocks to edge the garden. Then I'm going to buy a nice swing and plan to spend many afternoons enjoying the flowers and the sound of the water as I sip a nice cool beverage of my choice. Maybe you'll have to come over and join me some afternoon!

Friends Over the Years

Sometimes people come into our lives and never leave. They contniue to be an important part of our lives as the years go by. These friends are the ones that we feel the close ties to. They are the ones that we can always talk to and it seems that no matter how far we may drift apart, we can always pick up where ever we left off that last time we were with them. I am fortunate to have a friend like that. Her name is Mary. I met her back when I was just out of high school. I went to St. Cloud Business College for legal secretary. I had wanted to be a beautician, but my mom thought being on my feet all day would be too hard. So off I went to become a secretary. Mary also had chosen the same school. Mary was from Wayzata. The city girl met the country girl. We immediately hit it off and soon we were sharing a room. The joke around the dorm when we couldn't be found, was that we were probably out somewhere sharing a coke. Needless to say, Mary and I had many fun and crazy times in St. Cloud.

As the years went by, we were always there to support each other in good and bad times. Of course there was both. As I think back, I'm not sure which made us stronger. We were there for each other's weddings, birth of children, and get togethers every summer after I had moved to Wyoming. Mary and her step-son Kurt and daughter Jessica even visited us in Wyoming. We have the kind of friendship that never judged, often gave advice, and where the other was always there when a shoulder to lean on was needed. Neither of us is perfect, nor do we claim to be, but we really appreciate the friendship we have had over the decades. Now we get together to share stories of our grandchildren and to catch up on how our kids are doing. We still laugh about some of the good times from our past, often wonder what happened to some of the people we knew back then, and most of all truly appreciate the great friendship we have.

In December, Mary's son Shane was married. Mark and I traveled to the cities to attend the wedding. It was the weekend after the snowstorm, and the trees around the cities looked like something from a winter wonderland picture. They glistened and sparkled with snow and ice. We had a wonderful time at the reception as we danced to songs from our younger days. Mary and I got together for a picture, remembering one from our younger days when we attended a wedding for a friend. It's amazing how our friendship withstood so much. Maybe it was what our friendship withstood that made it grow so strong. I hope everyone has at least one friend that is as special to you as Mary is to me.

Here's a couple pictures of the two of us with our 'guys'. Mary and Doug and Me and Mark. We're lucky to have these two great guys in our lives today.

Hands-on Math Lesson

The day before we left for winter break (previously known as Christmas break, but trying to be politically correct), my kids in math class had an assignment to follow a recipe. We used a no-bake cookie recipe. Being we have so many kids in school with peanut allergies, I had to find a recipe without peanut butter in it. It was a bit tough, but I did find one. So we made our recipe and then served our cookies to staff arond the building. We had lots of fun. Of course the kids loved the cookies with chocolate and sugar in them.


Here's a pic of me and the kids. The other is of Val, who teaches with me, and one of the whole gang.
Here are some more pics of the kids. Here are some pics from our morning reading group. We sort deviated from our regular routine and read stories about making snowmen and then the middle school kids came a caroling. They also brought hot chocolate and candy canes to the kids. Our parent group, PATHS, Parents and Teachers Helping Students sponsered it. The Paths also gave all staff members a $10.00 gift card to Target. Very nice!

Our students made their own snowman using marshmallows, pretzels and raisins. Everyone had fun. This last picture I just have to share with you is one of Val's socks. She truly was in the Christmas spirit!

First Post for 2008

Yes, I am still alive and kicking in Minnesota. I just checked my blog and couldn't believe that I hadn't blogged since October! Boy that's pretty bad. Guess I have a lot of catching up to do. First off, it should be easy for me to blog now, no more excuses. You see my hubby bought me a laptop computer for Christmas. He remembered when we first met that I would bring my computer from school at the time to work on over the weekend and that I liked the ease of being able to do that. So he got me my very own. He's a sweetie. Guess I'll keep him.
Here's a picture from Christmas Eve when I opened my new computer. I don't know if the picture caught my true surprise or not, but I WAS NOT expecting to get a computer. Now I have to learn how to do everything it can do. It's a wireless, so I can sit anywhere in the house and use it. Hmm, I wonder how far I can go outside and still use it? Haven't tried that yet, it's been a bit too cold in Minnesota to do anything outsied lately. But then this is Minnesota.

Well, stay tuned and check back, as I will do some more blogging to catch you up on what I have been up to. Oh, by the way, Happy New Year to everyone. I hope 2008 brings you happiness, good health and many wonderful memories.