Love of Reading Week

I know this is going to be a strange post for my family blog but I thought it was important to get out there. You see I am the PTO president at the boys' school and I was asked to head up the Love of Reading Week activities this year. I immediately "googled" it and found next to nothing to help me. No official website, no official date, no activity examples...nothing. So I went ahead and come up with my own activities and not to pat myself on the back but I think they turned out really great! So if you have come upon my blog by searching for Love of Reading Week...welcome and I hope you can find something to help you. We have a k-6th grade school.

My principle and I decided to do it during the week of Valentines...you get it...LOVE of Reading. I was very aware of planning activities that did not interfere too much with instructional time, I wanted the teachers to like me when the week was over. Here is a break down of what we did. Good luck with your planning.

Monday

Decorate Door Day

Read your Valentines

Instead of decorating the doors the teachers opted to decorate a poster and hang it in the cafeteria for the other kids to see.

Tuesday

Guest Reader Day

I invited local "celebrities" to read to each grade...the mayor, the sheriff, pageant queen, cheerleaders from local college, ER doctor, police man. They read to a class or two at time for about 25 minutes.

Wednesday
Hat Day

The students paid a $1 to their teacher for the privilege of wearing a hat in class. We donated the money raised to our public library.

Thursday

Donate a book day

Students and teachers donated new and used books. They were given to our local hospital for children being treated. I printed a label and put it in the front cover telling where the books were donated from.

Friday

K-3rd grade met with a local children's book illustrator, Wes Hargis. He had just published a book with Al Yankovic. He had a power point presentation that was AWESOME! The kids loved it!!

4th-6th grades got a treat. I bought packages of the large smarties and wrapped a label around it that said...Reading is Sweet. Simple and easy. Many of the teachers were bummed that they didn't get to meet with Wes Hargis so he agreed to come back to the school another day and meet with the older grades.

Here are the books that Wes has published, they are available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Where to even begin...

My apologizes to all of our adoring fans. I don't know what my problem is, I just haven't been interested in blogging lately. Today I plan to remedy this. So sit back, relax and get ready to catch up with the Wright family!

The week prior to Christmas we celebrated Carson's 7th birthday. It's not really fair that the kids get cheated out of a real birthday every year because we are so caught up with plans for Christmas, but he takes it all in stride and hasn't complained yet. This year Dave and I planned an intimate party at home. I'm glad we didn't do something more extravagant because most of the guests ended up sick and couldn't come. I called the neighbors an hour before it started just we would have some guests.

The menu was taken from a restaurant we went to in Tucson called the Cereal Boxx. We had several different types of cereals and toppings for the kids to eat. They loved it! We then played a few games, opened gifts and had carmel apples for dessert (Carson choose this). The evening ended with the kids watching 'Despicable Me'. It was very low key but I think the kids had a good time. Carmel Apple with candles?? Yep!!

Carson got to preform in a school Christmas program. Only the younger grades put on the Christmas show. He was a cute little elf!

Next came Christmas. As usual we spent Christmas Eve at my grandparent's house. We did the nativity, Santa visited and we played a crazy game of white elephant. Then we hurried home to get in bed. Dave had to work this year which was a bummer, but we made it work and Christmas turned out great! The boys got up Christmas morning, played with their Santa gifts and stocking gifts. Then I allowed them to open one specific present...the Wii. I got that set up and working for them, then we got ready and went to my parents house for breakfast and more gifts. Dave got there about 11am and we headed back home to open our gifts. It was kind of nice because it made the day last longer. We all got some great gifts! The older boys got Paper Jam guitars, bikes and basketballs. Brady got lots of toy tools...just what he wanted! Daddy gave the family a big popcorn machine. Mommy was given a Silhoute machine and a indoor grill. Daddy got a iPod full of songs and conference talks.

Thank you to everyone who helped us have a wonderful Christmas!

The Polar Express 2010

Please pause my blog music to hear the slideshow music...

It's our family tradition to go on The Polar Express train ride in Williams, AZ every year. This was our 5th year to go. It's always so magical and always gets us in the mood for Christmas. This year was no exception, it was wonderful!! Enjoy a slideshow of pictures from our adventure to the North Pole.

Customize your own free photo slideshow

I'm Home

It's no secret that doctors can be very unpredictable and today was no exception. This morning the surgeon came in to see me and then a few minutes later my doctor came in. They both said that I was looking great and that I could go home. So by 9:30 I was home. I have to be on 2 different antibiotics for 10 days and follow up with the clinic in a week but other than that I'm good to go.

I want to thank all of my family and friends that came together to help me and my family. Thanks for watching my kids, washing my laundry, making me dinner, visiting me and bringing me snacks and things to keep me busy. And most of all thanks for all of the prayers!! I am so blessed!!

Now I finally feel good enough to play with the new camera Dave bought for me, he called it an early anniversary gift. I have to get comfortable with it before we head out to The Polar Express at the end of this week. I am so excited!!

I've got nothing but time...

I'm usually not one to air my dirty laundry or embarrassing secrets to everyone but today I've got nothing but time to do just that. The reason being, I am laying in a hospital bed with no where to go, no kids to chase, no dinner to make and no duties to fulfill. I might as well blog...thank goodness this hospital has internet!!

It all started last Sunday. My tush was a little sore and it hurt to sit in certain positions. I didn't give it a second thought until Monday morning arrived and it was worse, then Tuesday morning and still worse. Dave talked me into going to see the doctor. I was mortified!!! My only saving grace was that now my clinic has a female PA on staff. She was so sweet and sympathetic to me! She assured me it happens to lots of ladies and I was nothing "special". She put me on antibiotics and sent me on my way to sit on a heating pad.

Well...I followed her instructions to the 'T' and it still got worse. Thursday night I was tempted to call the on call dr but I knew I'd end up in the ER and there was no way I was going that route!! I toughed it out and went to the clinic the next morning. She took one look at my backside and immediately got on the phone with the surgeon. He suggested lancing the abscess and admitting me to the hospital. That's just what she did. So here I sit, feeling much better, getting pumped full of antibiotics.

They'll let me go when the infection is better and under control. They suggest I see the surgeon soon to see if the infection created a fistula in my colon (yeah).

That's the latest...I'll update if it changes. Thanks for letting me vent. Sorry to gross you out.

Halloween 2010

Halloween was pretty low key and easy this year. Adam decided at the last minute to be the same as last year...Harry Potter, Carson wanted to be a skeleton and I chose the costume for Brady, he was a train conductor. We enjoyed going to the church to Trunk-or-Treat and then to Grandmother's house.

Carving Jack-O-Lanterns

AZ State Fair

It's been a long time since we have gone to the state fair. We decided to take the kids a few weeks ago. Adam's friend, Amanda, got to come with us. It was really fun having a daughter for the weekend!!

We stayed overnight in a hotel near The Bass Pro Shop. We had never been so we decided to eat dinner there and explore. It is such a great place. I ordered alligator as an appetizer but the kids were not very impressed. At least we can say that we've eaten alligator. The kids loved all of the activities they have at the store. They got to pretend to be hunters, Uncle Scott would be so proud! They also got to drive in a race car simulator.

The next day we headed out to the state fair. We enojoyed looking at the animals and the petting zoo. There was a dinosaur exhibit and Carson went crazy! He ran through and looked at all of the dinosaurs and then ran back to the begining to read all of the signs. He compared their facts with the ones he had memorized from his books. It was too funny. Adam is my little dare devil, he wanted to go all of the BIG rides, Amanda and Carson were not as brave.

After we left the fair we drove over to the state capital and let the kids explore the park across the street. There are lots of memorials and statues. I love teaching them about our country and state histroy.