Botanical gardens photo shoot

Last Saturday I was able to take some senior pics for one of my students.  I know, it's almost graduation, but this family isn't one that has a lot of money for things like that, so since I got my new camera and wanted to practice, I offered to take them.  It was really fun.  Abbie isn't one who likes her picture taken, but when I saw her face when she looked at her pictures, I was glad I got her to let me take them. :) Her mom was, as well.  

 This is Abbie's favorite.

 Cael was with us, so we had some entertainment.

 Mom! Can I touch the water? Can I touch the water? Mom? Can I touch the water? Mom? Mom? Mom? Can I touch the water?

 Mom! Take MY picture!

 High-five, dude.

 Got to get my groove on!

 Bunny ears!

 This is actually one of the senior class photos I took.  I put their class scripture verse on the bottom (Jeremiah 29:11).  They have a theme of moving forward, walking in faith, etc... going on, so I figured this was a good shot.  Charissa (admin assistant) was so happy when she saw this, it is going to be the cover of the graduation program.

Soooooo, I have a lot of pictures, ok?

No, really.  I have 18 on here, I think.  

Here's Cael at Easter looking for eggs in the living room, since it was blizzarding outside.

Here's a good pic of Allen at the "Night of Dinner and Music" we had at St. Paul, Bonduel.

One of my friends in Nebraska is going to China soon to get their second little girl.  Since my Life Skills class is making rag quilts, we asked if we could send one along so she could give it to a little girl at the orphanage. She is very willing to do this for us, so here's the beginning of it!

All but 3 of my kids at Prom.

Me and Charissa.  She's the amazing lady who runs our office at school.  We've been working on lots of the events together, such as, well, Prom.

I'm going to take senior pics for a few of my kids, and Cael and I went out scouting possible spots. This is the "channel" that comes off of the Wolf River. Apparently you can see the sturgeon "run" (spawn) up this dam at the right time of the year.  Should be soon, I think. 

 We went out to Shawano County Park.  The ice hasn't completely broken up, and the wind coming off of the lake was chilly, but it was pretty, so I took a few.  Yes, that's snow on the beach.

 Cael had some fun on the park equipment and made a few friends.

 We were told about some trails out by our sledding hill, so Cael and I set out to find them.  Beautiful!

I ran from Shawano to Bonduel today on the Mountain Bay Trail.  It was 8.72 miles from our house to the spot where Allen picked me up.  I didn't see any bears, but I did see/hear turkeys, frogs, and several cranes.  It's pretty dense forest in some spots, and the echo was pretty loud! What a symphony of nature for my run!

Cael's VoiceThread

We've been playing with VoiceThread today, since I want to use it in my classroom.  Cael was so stoked about this. After every picture he narrated, he did a little "I'm awesome" dance.  It's so fun to watch him put his thoughts behind his pictures.  We'll be putting more up when he gets more pictures drawn. :)

Pi(e) Day

My Life Skills class made pies for pie day.  

 Crusts from scratch!

 Accessorizing is very important.

 Tempering eggs.  Yes, we can!

 The winners! Mississippi Mud Pie.

 Get it?

Cover art

This is what I made on tagxedo.com.  I believe it will be our cover art for the yearbook.  That, or the inside of the coverpage.  :)

Trivia Night

Tonight was the 1st Annual Wolf River Trivia Night fundraiser.  Our table came in second place.  A few answers that we "should've" answered correctly, and we would have been in 1st.  Oh well.  It was a fun night.  Allen and I sat with our admin assistant, Charissa, and her husband, Scott.  Also at our table was the pres of the board, Dennis, and his 2 adult sons.  Allen and Scott are the same kind of goofy, and Charissa and I get along really well, so I think we might try to do some stuff with them.  They don't have kids, but that's what babysitters are for, right?
Next Friday night is the basketball game of the kids vs. adults.  Allen's actually going to participate.  I just hope he doesn't get hurt.  I think he's going to try to go 70's with it.  Shorty shorts, cut-off shirt, headband.  It should be interesting.  

New job, old hat

Lately, Wolf River has been going out to the middle schools and talking to kids about enrolling.  I'm not sure if it's working, but it's worth a shot, right?
Allen has been working at Time Warner Cable out of Green Bay for almost a month now.  He's been looking desperately for something else, because he absolutely hates what he's doing.  He hates going door-to-door trying to get people to bundle their cable.  He's been working the ghetto in the frigid temps of northern Wisconsin.  Not fun, and frankly, not successful, either.  During training, he was actually teaching the trainer about satellite stuff.  He would make an excellent technician, but they want him for his sales experience.  Go figure.  On Sunday, we dropped off apps at the Farm Inn on Main (restaurant) and Charlie's Country Store (grocery).  Yesterday, Charlie's called.  He went in for an interview because of a situation with the frozen foods/dairy manager that hasn't been going well for them.    He was brought in for another interview today and met the actual "Charlie." He was hired.  As soon as I found out, it was like a weight was lifted.  He's going to work in frozen foods, and when he feels comfortable enough to take over, he will become manager.  Yes, he left Super Saver to be in the Army.  Yes, he has a bachelor's and military training. Yes, he felt unsatisfied in grocery.  But you know what?  He's good at it.  He's feeling like he is needed and has worth again.  After being medically discharged, that tank was pretty empty.  He's in his element, and he's excited again.  I'm happy that he's happy and support him 100% in his decision.  AND it's in town! Our gasoline bill is going to drop like a rock.  Very happy about that.  It was discouraging for him to put out resumes and applications and not get accepted so many times.  Yes, he has a lot of training, but not a lot of experience.  He kept putting his college on applications, and people would think he was overqualified.  No win situations.  It seems that we have a winner.  For the time being? Maybe? Maybe he'll stay there for quite a while, or maybe something else will come along.  I don't know.  God does, and that's all that matters.  In the meantime, I'm going to thank Him for the positive change for our family.