Tuesdays and Thursday MEMORIES

The girls and I are so lucky because every Tuesday and Thursday after school they get to go to my mom and dad's house. They have such awesome grandparents. They get amazing healthy and yummy meals, they get one-on-one help with their homework, and they get lots of special attention. This has been so helpful so I can see my clients in the afternoons a couple days a week. 

(This picture is when my dad read with Jordyn for about four hours straight so she could finish an AR book in time for the trimester to end. Jordyn's big struggle is completing her reading goals, and grandpa is so incredibly nice to help her with this!!)

I love to pick them up and hear all the stories. Random things like funny movies they have watch, poems they have learned, or family stories they have heard.  I really need to capture more of these special days on video or pictures but I snapped this one on the way out the door the other day and it captures the essence pretty well! I love it, and every day I feel thankful for such a blessing. It is these sorts of experiences that help shape who children become. Grandparents can be such a huge role in children's lives, and big role models. Our children are very blessed to have four amazing grandparents!

P.S. I love Jordyn's face in the first picture. She is holding a cardboard crown that she and grandpa worked on for part of her school's open house project. It was a prototype, and I love it!

Lex and the Principal's Honor Roll

Way to go Lexi! Lots of hard work went into this one! Lexi is so dedicated to making her goals, she set her alarm for 6:30 every morning so she can get her reading done. That is her own decision and doing, even when I tell her she cannot read in the morning, she still does it!

Leprechauns

I'm not sure exactly what started Peyton's deep interest in the leprechauns, but as St. Patrick's Day approached she kept talking about all the things leprechauns do. She was looking forward to her classroom being messed up, as happened last year in kindergarten. She thought maybe the chairs to be tipped over or something silly. Sadly, she has a long-term sub who is like 75 and very much in the retired mode. So she didn't get anything fun at school. 

Anyway, to back up, the night before St. Patrick's Day, Lexi and Jordyn kept encouraging me to make sure the leprechauns visited for Peyton. And when Peyton awoke, that was the first thing she thought of. In fact, she woke me up from a dead sleep in the middle of the night and asked to get in our bed. In the morning, she admitted that she actually got up in the middle of the night to see if the leprechauns had come!!! I could not believe it. When she told me this, I was in the shower, so I called to Tucker to come in the bathroom, and I asked him if the leprechauns had left green milk in the fridge for Peyton, wink wink. She was so thrilled with this!  Cute girl! I think we all love having someone around so sweet and young and believing. 

My Job

This is a picture of Peter and I a couple weeks ago at the training that we did for the city of Fresno. It was a blind awareness training and we were able to teach 30 city employees, who all work in the public works division, more about blind awareness and how different city structures and intersection decisions impact the blind. We even got to blindfold them and have them do a experience crossing streets and walking with canes. It was so awesome, and I was very glad to be a part of it. Peter was my master teacher during my internship, and continues to be a mentor and helpful part of my career. He has done this job for more than 10 years, and addition to teaching blind children and babies.

We were even featured on a couple news stations! That was really fun. I am hoping we can orchestrate ways to actually hold more of these trainings, maybe even in the private sector.

Then, Peter met me while I was working with one of our clients, Glenn, who is hilarious, and we took turns being blindfolded and doing a refresher lesson. It's so important to do this once in a while to remember the perspective of being blind and remember if you're teaching things correctly. We walked up and down mooney boulevard, in the rain, with tons of traffic. It was craziness! But it was awesome.

I had to include this picture that I snuck and took out two of my clients, Heidi and DJ. They are two of the most unique people I have ever met in my life. They give me a headache almost weekly. There strange, socially awkward, and have a dysfunctional relationship. They're both totally blind and so I also feel bad for them. But blind or not, they really are crazy though.

Luckily, that is not how a majority of my clients are. I have met some of the most awesome people and I absolutely love my job!

Clay Jog-a-thon

So last week the girls had a jog a thon at school. Unfortunately, none of our girls love to run, so they complained about it for the weeks leading up to it. But the day finally came and Tucker and I went to support them and help out with some of the paperwork that day. It was fun to get to see each of them with their classes! Pey ran 14 laps, Lexi ran 18 laps, and Jordyn ran 17.  Way to go girls!

(Lexi and Suzanna)

Tetherball?

So the tetherball used to be one of our girls' favorite outdoor activities. It would keep them entertained for hours, which would also include a dozen or so bouts of tears and injuries. Nevertheless, they loved it. But the tetherball broke sometime ago and we haven't replaced it yet. 

Yesterday, they wanted to play so bad that they decided to make their own. We still had the pole out back, so Jordyn and Lexi decided to take a ribbon and a wiffleball, tie them together, tape them to the top pof the pole...poof! Their version of tetherball. The funny thing, it has really entertain them for hours this weekend! I love it. Creative! And makes a mom feel happier than seeing them sit in front of the TV!

Feeding the Missionaries

So today we had six missionaries over for dinner. SIX! I had to document this because it is SOOO Tucker. He signed up for the missionaries, because he's much more nice than I am in that way. I wasn't terribly excited when I found out all six missionaries wanted to come. We originally signed up for two missionaries, but because they had heard about his famous hamburgers with all the fixings, The other four asked to join. I also wasn't excited because it was the same day had to give a talk. Guess I'm kind of a Scrooge like that.

Tucker said he would gladly fix dinner. He doesn't ever make dinner, but when there is somebody to entertain, he suddenly loves to open a restaurant in our home. He literally did everything. I made sure the house was clean. But he went to the store and bought everything, cookedked everything, and even made homemade cookies! I had a stake meeting, so he even did almost all of the preparation by himself!

When he got out our four tier silver appetizer display and said he wanted to put chips in it, that's when it really clicked. He loves this. This isn't just feeding the missionaries, this is putting on a show. It's fun to him! And to be honest, the missionaries could not have been more excited.

We had hamburgers and hotdogs, and the toppings included cheese, actually five kinds of cheese, homemade chipotle mayonnaise, pickles, tomatoes, lettuce, grilled mushrooms, caramelized onions, avocado, and bell peppers, oh and don't forget the pineapple!

We also had two kinds of soda, three kinds of chips, and raspberry simply lemonade. Not to mention the homemade cookies, which included chocolate chip, as well as butterscotch/white chocolate chip.

It was quite the success! We even used our pewter cups and China from his grandma, instead of paper plates and cups like I would've chosen. It was fun to see him have that much fun with it. Maybe I should invite the missionaries over more often?

Santa Clara Dance Convention

Fist things first.  Our hotel in Santa Clara, the Hyatt Regency, was right across from the new and upcoming football stadium for the SF 49ers.  Tucker, of course, requested that our room be in view of it.  So even though the other dancers were on the 4th floor, we were up on the 10th so we could have that beautiful view! 

Anyway, this Dance Convention was a first for us.  It was three full days.  The girls not only danced in the competition, but they took 12 classes total from some of the most talented choreographers in the world.  It was both intense and awesome.

Here is Jordyn stretching before Applause!

Lexi, ready to go on stage!

Jordyn ready to go!

This convention was called NUVO.  The "juniors" were girls ages 11-12

It was so fun to have Shana, her mom and Maren drive down to see the girls do one of their dances!

I thought this was so sweet...Peyton Woods, Peyton's team sister, put this on Instagram.

All the girls after Applause won the High Gold award!

This is what the ballroom looked like where the girls spent hours doing their convention classes!  FULL of girls!

Kira with Jordyn and Lexi, quick snack break

The team early in the morning before classes.  I love these girls and I love their directors.

First day of convention was Valentines Day...so daddy brought the girls each roses.  He surprised me with Chocolate Covered Strawberries the night before from my favorite place, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.  I am spoiled because he brings me those more than I deserve ;-)

Spotlight Dance Competition

Our first dance competition of the year was in Fresno.  I didn't get a ton of pics of this competition, but here are a few.  It was a really long day in Fresno between the three dances and two awards ceremonies.  We got home about 11:30.  But its worth it. I love to watch them dance and seeing it on stage is so different than the studio.

I do about a million checks of the suitcases to make sure they have all their costumes, tights, makeup, hair pieces, jazz shoes, team warm ups....everything!

Sweet sisters on the way to the competition!  I sure feel blessed to have these girls.

Roberta got a choreography award for the dance Applause!

Peyton - Star of the Week

Peyton got to be Star of the week in January.  She was nervous about it, just sort of nervous about having to be "on the spot" I guess?  She had something special each day.  She chose to bring her rainbow loom to share, along with her umbrella that Uncle Derek gave her from China.  She also brought "Go Dog Go" to read to the class.

She invited Tucker and I to be her lunch buddies and requested we bring her Subway.  She loves Subway, but all she gets is a white bun with ham and NOTHING else on it!  Plus chips, of course.

Trinkets Grand Re-Opening

I've been selling things at Trinkets for 4 1/2 years.  I've stuck it out through lots of hard times...and almost quit about a hundred times.  When I was doing a long term sub for Kindergarten.  When I was getting my Master's.  When I was doing my internship.  So many times.  But I'm thankful I stuck it out. I really do get a lot of enjoyment from making signs and now I definitely have a following of customers.

We decided we needed a big "makeover".  Just time to freshen up and change a lot of things around.  We ended up closing for a few days to accomplish all the changes, and it has been very worth it.  People have loved it.  It was a LOT of hard work but worth it.


This painting was on the wall since we opened in 2006.  It was time for a little change.

This is what I created instead.

I love my new section.  It really shows off my signs much better.

Julia and Danielle

Peyton love to be a helper.