Congrats RB!!

Being educators some think life is great. We get an extra long Christmas break, long summer, and every major holiday off. Well, all of that is really good! However, dealing with parents is not always easy, and the great state of UT has some wonderful legislators who always put education first. Haha. I wont get into all the things we are/were supposed to be getting and now are not. Well one hoop we have to jump through is taking some tests to make us "highly qualified teachers." These tests cost about $120 each. You do get reimbursed for them once you pass by your district but this only when you pass. If you do not pass these tests within your first 3 years of teaching then your district can fire you. There are two tests you have to take.

Test 1 is a content test. It is all multiple choice and takes a full two hours to finish all of the questions. Being elementary teachers our content test has questions from 1st to 6th grade. Yes we are supposed to have a fountain on knowledge where answers come readily now that we are educators. The only problem is nobody tells you were this fountain in located at inside your brain. Anyways, RB had to take this test before he graduated. I took it my first year of teaching. Both passed with flying colors.

Test 2 is more complicated. It is a principle and application test. It consists of multiple choice questions based mainly on theorists. Then there are short essay questions that consist of a,b,c, and sometimes d parts. So you have to make sure you answer all of the questions to the fullest or you get doced (? on spelling) points. Once again it takes the full 2 hours to take and I'm talking scrabbling to read and write and fast as you can full 2 hours. I barely finished with 2 min. to spare. The first time RB took it he didn't finish 2 parts of an answer. This time he didn't finish 3 parts.

RB was not feeling very confident with this last test and was anxiously waiting for his results. Well they haven't come yet. However, the ETS site that gives the test has a new option on it now where you can view your results. (I wish they had that when I took mine.) YEA, HE PASSED. I'm so proud of him. RB struggles with tests but he passed this one. We are very excited to have both tests over and done with for both of us. :)

Christmas 2008 In WY

Christmas in WY was really good. It's good to be home though too. Sorry Chel for not posting last night. We had too many things going on to get it done.

Christmas eve we went Christmas light looking. MJ loved it. We went down one neighborhood who had put up the sacks with a candle inside. It was fun to drive down the street looking at them. On Christmas MJ opened one present and it was a bag of marshmallows. I was a little perplexed that my mom gave my children a bag of marshmallows until I saw the next present, marshmallow shooters. We had a blast shooting each other.
MJ laughed a ton when shooting daddy.

Not so happy when she got shot though.

RB shooting Chel.

This is how Chel defended herself. Cover the face and try to hide.

Even I got hit when I was an innocent bystander.

Here are some more pics. of dinner and opening presents.

This is an updated pic of the grandkids. We are missing my sisters 3 kids and that's it.

MJ and Lil slept in the same bed most of the nights. Lil did really well and we are now in the process of taking down her crib.

The trip home was good. Dry roads until we hit the melting UT snow. But then they were only wet. That is until we hit our home town. Then we had snow covered roads that didn't look like any of them had been plowed. Here is RB shoveling so we can get into the house.

MJ loved playing in it while we were trying to shovel.

I do want to say thank you to who ever shoveled half of our driveway!! It was nice coming home and being able to pull into the drive. If you know who did it please thank them for us. We really appreciate it!!

I hope all of your Christmas's went well. Have a great day.

You know you're in WY when...

We are still here in WY till tomorrow. I decided to post even though their will be no Christmas pics. until we get home. We had quite the trip here. WY weather is very strange for those of you who have never lived here. So I've compiled a list of things that will let you know if you are in WY.

You know you're in WY when...
1) All through UT the roads are wet. As soon as you hit the WY border they are bone dry.
2) They stay dry all through Evanston.
3) As soon as you hit "the sisters" you are in a blizzard.
4) While traveling over the sisters you look up to see blue sky's above you. You look ahead to a white out.
5) Every other town you travel through is wet roads, dry roads, snow covered roads, dry roads.
6) Even though the temperature is 19 degrees you know with the wind chill it is well below zero and will stay that way all day.

Needless to say we were grateful when we were off WY roads and grateful they didn't close them because of the wind blown snow. Have a great day and I'll post Christmas later this week.

An Early Christmas

Since we will be in WY for the holidays we decided to have our own Christmas early. Yesterday we opened our gifts and had a GREAT DAY. MJ loved opening her presents and Lil followed her sisters example and tore into hers as well. Then RB and I spent most of the day before and after church playing games while the kiddoes were entertained by their gifts.

Here is Lil pouting about something. She's such a character.

The girls playing with their gifts.

This is MJ's favorite gift, "the shirt with the bunny on it." Her favorite present was, "the one with the M on it." The gift had her name on it and she thought that was great.

MJ in her new PJ's. She would wear then 24/7 if I would let her.

Lil was the first wake on Sun. morning so we went down stairs and played. While my back was turned she would the presents. This is her getting caught in the act.

A post or two ago I showed this pic. and said MJ added her own two ornaments. I neglected to tell you what they were. The one is the balloon and on the bottom left of the tree is a yellow hair ribbon. That one kind of blends in though.

We had a great Christmas with our family. Now we get to have another one in WY. I can't wait!
Hope you all have a great Christmas!

Snow and Crafts

Sat. was our first real snow storm. We didn't get outside to play in it until later that afternoon. By then the snow was not very good for packing. But we tried. Here is our mini snowman. Pretty cute but pretty pathetic too. At least we had fun with it.

Here is a close up of it. Yes, that is a carrot nose too.

MJ and I rolling down the lawn.

Lil actually looking happy. She face planted in the snow twice within the first 5 min. of being outside. She was not happy for the rest of the time.

You can't play in the snow without making snow angels.

This last weekend I also finished a craft. The pics. don't do it much justice. The summer is red and white with blue lettering. Not orange. Now I need to find cute things to go around the blocks and with them. This is my type of decorating. Turn the block and it's for a new season. Easy and cute. Got to love it.




Have a great day!