She Is A Dancing Queen

As you know Grace has started dance classes. They are Saturday morning at our cafeteria with Miss Stacey and Miss Denise. So far Grace is the only girl in the preschool class and she loves going. She got some new dance clothes which of course she looks adorable in. :)

The Promised Snow Pics

Another First

Yes, I realize that Grace is almost 3. Yes, I realize we've lived in Kansas City her whole life. However, we had a first for her today. I let her play outside in the snow. We got 4 inches of snow last night and it was the perfect wet, smooshy kind for snowballs and snowmen. Soooo after a warm lunch of soup I bundled the little one up and we went out to play.

We made a snowman with button eyes and a carrot nose. We tramped all around our yard and up and down the block several times. I took many pictures and plan on posting several tomorrow from school (home of the hi-speed internet).

To tempt you I'll tell you how adorable she looked in her boots (Mommy!! my Dora boots!!), her mittens and her coat. Don't fret grandma's, she had on tights, pants, boots, t'shirt, sweatshirt, coat and mittens and her hood was pulled up!

She hated to come inside but her hands were little icicles after about 20 minutes so we headed in, stripped down and curled up in bed to snuggle, read and nap. Ahhhhhhh! I love winter.

Ice Ice Baby

If you've watched the weather channel at all this week you'll know that KC has been getting slopped on. Albeit not as bad as those poor folks in OKC and Dallas but we are now in our third day with sleet and temps in the 20s! Yuck.

It all started Friday afternoon with sleet. I only had 7 kids in my afternoon class of 14. Parents just didn't want to get out in the mess and that was fine by me. By 2:30, though, I only had 2 kids. Yep, you read that right, 2. Many parents chose to come early and again, I don't blame them.

We still had daycare but most parents even picked up early from there too. However, at 5:30, the official end of day care I still had 3 students from 2 families. One family got there at 5:45 and it had taken mom about an hour to get there from i-35 and 75th (yeah yeah, i know, that info is only helpful to those familiar with KC but I don't know the milage.) She was so sweet and warmed up my car, scraped it and put a seatcover on the driver's seat so it would be warm when I got in later.

And it was nice not to have to scrape my car again when I got in at 7:30 that night. Yeah, we had a miscommunication combined with crappy weather that led to a student being in my care for most of the night. We had a fun time, though. We talked, watched cable (woo hoo cable in my room!) and raided the preschool snacks. I wasn't sure how long I would have to wait and I wsn't to keen on driving him home myself without permission from a family member but I did tell my principal that if he was still there at 7:30 we were going to get pizza and I would take him home. Who I really feel bad for is the kid. He had called his mom's work and she had left at 4:00. He was really worried about her and she doesn't have a cell phone so there was no way to reach her. His dad was working late and thus why we had to wait so late because he too does not have a cell phone.

The moral of this story is, make sure you have accurate emergency contact information for your child at his/her school and maybe every parent should have a cell phone, even if it is a pay as you go phone.

Saturday's dance class was cancelled due to weather but Grace and I did manage to get out to get our hair cut. We both are growing our hair out so we can have pretty updos for part 2. Gracie let Alissa wash her hair in the big girl sink. She wasn't too sure about it but mommy held her hand. As we were leaving the salon the sleet started up again so we hurried home.

Sunday brought more sleet and snow. By the afternoon these girls had a bad case of cabin fever so we ran out to target to pick up a few things. It was nice to get out of the house.

The good news is, there is no precipitation called for tomorrow--- just frigid temps so hopefully the road crews can get caught up. :)

Keep warm!

ONE HUNDRED

Today marks Neilson's 100th day of deployment. Now in most elementary classrooms the 100th day is a big deal. So when I looked at my donut of misery and realized it was day 100 I really felt like I dropped the ball. :P

And now I realize I have some 'splainin' to do. The donut of misery is an excel document that tracks the amont of time done and the amount left. It also has a circle graph as a visual. The graph has a hole in the middle and is thus called the donut. In addition to the visual figured in % (btw we are23% done!) it calculates how many days, months and weeks have passed as well as how many days, weeks, months, minutes, hours and seconds left.

And today is also Karen's birthday. Happy Birthday Karen!! Hope your day was fun and your evening relaxing. :)

Choo Choo!

Gracie and I had a lunch date this week. We went to Fritz's on 18th street for lunch on Friday. Now I know this sounds mundane but let me tell you about Fritz's. It is a train themed hamburger joint. You go in and seat yourself. Even at 12:30 we had to wait about 10 minutes for a table to open up. Each table has a phone by it. You look at the menu and use the phone to call in your order. A waitress brings your drinks but a train brings your food.

That's right, a train! There is a track that runs around the entire restraunt with stops at each table. Back in the kitchen they program the train to stop at your table and the crossing arm drops and your food is there. Viola!

Gracie loved it! Everytime the train would pass by she'd ask if it was bringing her food. (Even after she had her hamburger!) Needless to say she didn't eat her lunch~~ we took it to-go and she had it later.

So next time you're in KC we'll go check out Fritz's.

Princess Underpants

I give you Gracie, Princess Underpants. In Rosner tradition, Gracie recieved underpants in her stocking this morning. As you can see she was delighted with her Little Mermaid panties, so much so that she put them on her head and danced around the room. Yes, someday she will be mortified that I posted pictures of her and her chones on our blog but when you're that stinking cute you have got to expect it.

Merry Christmas all!

Blessings,

heather

YIKES

I got the cutest gift from one of my students. It was a gingerbread shaped jar full of gingerbread cookie mix. You know, one of those fun mixes that you add a few ingredients to and viola!! homemade cookies.

Well Gracie saw it and took the cookie cutter off the jar and brought it too me with the request to make gingerbread cookies. So we got everything together in the kitchen. Set the camera up to record our adventure and pulled up a chair so the princess could help.

I read the directions... grease a 9x13 pan. Later it said to drop the cookies onto a cookies sheet. huh?? What pan am I supposed to use--ummmm.... I'll go with cookie sheet. Ok, pour the mix into the bowl. OK, I opened the jar, turned it upside down and nothing came out. So with the handy dandy use of a skewer and a knife, a lot of digging and whacking the mix tumbled out into the bowl. I added the butter, the flour, the eggs it needed and finally got to the cloves. 1 1/2 teaspoons. Wow! That seems like a lot but that's what the recipie says.

Can I tell you the cookies were vile. They burned my mouth. Gracie took one bite and said, "Mommy, I don't like these cookies!" And into the trash they all went.

All is not lost, however. Gracie and I had a great time baking today. We made a ginormous mess but giggled and talked. It was a good day. And tonight we mixed up a batch of Grandma Mary's no fail sugar cookie dough so we can cut them out tomorrow. :) We've got to have something ready for Santa!

My Apologies

Yikes!! I've turned into one of "those" people who start up a blog, post with enthusiasm for a few months and then abandon it. So here is my post to update on what's going on in Kansas.

Gracie and I went out to Manhattan for the weekend for a craft fair. She ended up spiking a fever while we were out there so I stayed home on Monday to take her to the doctor. Of course she didn't run a fever all Monday so I looked like a big fat liar. Then when we came to school on Tuesday she proceeds to toss her cookies all over the room--- luckily Michelle, my friend was able to take her home and keep her today.

Monday we got a Christmas card from the Lakatoes with a cool picture of a Michigan snowman! Thanks! I also got the most beautiful, heartfelt card from my dear husband. It was the kind that makes you go sniff sniff a little. I'm a lucky girl.

So we're pretty boring right now. Maybe something funny will happen tonight!

Baby it's Cold Outside!

As I was laying in bed this morning our friendly weatherman said that it was 5 below zero windchill. Brrrrr!! On a related note, it should be 50 degrees on Saturday.

This was sent to my by Karen. It's kind of hard to read what it says underneath but the jist of it is, this soldier is the only one who can comfort this Iraqi little girl being treated at an American hospital. Her family was killed by insurgents and she was shot in the head herself. This wonderful soldier has been sleeping in a chair holding her so she can feel better.

Snow Day Part Deux

As predicted the Kansas City area got a snow storm yesterday afternoon. On Strawberry Hill we got about 2-3 inches. Enough to make it pretty, and to cancel school again. For those of you keeping score here's a rundown of our week:
A 6 day Thanksgiving weekend.
Work on Tuesday when temps were in the 70s!
Work on Wednesday where the ice storm hit and most kids were picked up early.
Snow day Thursday complete with a fresh snow storm.
Snow day on Friday.
And now the weekend!!
Gracie and I spent the day decorating for Christmas. We got the tree up, the 4 Nativity scenes, stockings and other assorted decor scattered around the house and we feel festive if not a little crowded. Maybe we'll make cookies this afternoon. yumm!

SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woo hoo!! I got the call late last night from our kindergarten teacher that we had a snow day today. I promptly rolled over and turned off the alarm clock.

In the morning I realized something. I hadn't been to the grocery store since looooooonnnnnggggg before Thanksgiving. Minor problem as I have an adorable minor who will eventually want to eat. hmmm....

So I flipped on the news, roads getting cleared, storm coming this afternoon. Yes, Gracie and I went out this morning to go to Price Chopper. Now before you all get worked up over my taking my little tyke out on icy roads let me tell you about some of my blessings.....

1. I am blessed to live on a primary route for the fire department therefore my street gets plowed and sanded first.
2. I am blessed that my street connects to an on-ramp for the highway and is also plowed and sanded early/first.

So the roads were clear and our travels were easy to the grocery store and we're home now safe and sound ready for round two.

Bring it on!

You Gotta Love It!!

So it was almost 70 degrees yesterday. But this is Kansas and if you don't like the weather wait 10 minutes. It was in the 30s when I left for school and by lunch time it was sleeting.

That's right folks, I get to drive home in the sleet! WOO HOO!

The good part is, most parents pick up early so by 2:30 I only had 6 kids and at almost 4:00 we only have a handful of daycare kids. Let's pray that they all get picked up quick!

Never Will Again NWA

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. I will blog later this week about all of our adventures in North Carolina but I have to take some time today to tell you about our travels.

About 6 weeks ago I made our travel arrangements on line with Northwest Airlines (NWA). I was a little nervous to make them so close to the holidays but I lucked out and was able to assign Grace and I seats next to each other. Well about a week before we left I realized I never received a confirmation email so I called customer service to make sure we had tickets.

The only way she could look my reservation was with the confirmation number.... argh! I didn't have one. Eventually I got her to admit that she could do it with my name and yes, we had tickets - YEAH!! But not before I was scolded by a customer no-service agent. I think this is where my troubles began.

Flash forward to the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. We check in at KCI like a breeze and get on the airplane. Only then do I realize that Grace and I are not sitting next to each other on the next leg of our journey. Don't know how that happened as I had reserved adjacent seats but this happens often to us.

I made sure I was at the gate in Minnisota early so she could reassign us before too many people checked in. I was told that she couldn't do anything about it. So I tactfully *wink* sat by the podium and called my mom and told her about our exchange. About five minutes later I had new seats presented to me. Yes, Heather was evil but she got her seats. *insert evil laugh here*

We made it to Raleigh on time if not early but had to wait awhile to find someone to drive the jetway to our plane but all in all it was a nice flight out.

Monday--- hmmmm... there must be a full moon or something. It was weird weird weird.
We got to the airport a little behind schedule but no biggie. The oddities began when we hit the ticket counter.

I used the kiosk to check in and it only printed boarding passes for the first leg of our journey and didn't give us seat assignments. When I joined the line to hand over my bags I of course chose the wrong line. Karen ushered us into the right line and we finally got to the front. They were not helpful and kept talking to me like I was stupid, asking if I had printed bag tags --- ummm no?? I printed boarding passes. Had they asked my name, well you know.

So we say our good byes and get into security --- behind parents with two babies who of course get stopped to search their bags. Well we cut and then I had the brilliant idea to check my phone to see what time it was. 8:05--- the flight was at 8:30 and we have to be on board 15 minutes prior and we still have to check in to get seats. Gracie got on my shoulders and I ran through RDU with my backpack, package and girl. I'm sure we looked funny.

As I ran up to the counter they handed me boarding passes for Minnesota, but not to KC like they said they would at the ticket counter. AND we were 5 rows apart on opposite sides of the plane. When I commented that my 2 year old was not seated next to me I was told that I was too late so they just assigned us and that they didn't know she was two. I didn't want to get into it but I *maybe* made a comment about how ghetto the airline was. Then I had to humbly turn around and ask for my second set of boarding passes... they said they couldn't do that. Well they had given me MY boarding passes but not Grace's so I went back and demanded it. I won *insert evil laugh*.

When we got to Minnesota I went to the new gate to get our seats switched. I promise, I was nice. I was polite. I also had to wait until 20 minutes before we were scheduled to take off to talk to someone! ARGH and her solution was to move us to one behind the other rows. :P Keep in mind they were rearranging everyone since there was a change in aircraft. When we finally boarded and my pass was invalid I asked again and I was told to take care of it myself on the plane--- which I was planning on doing--- and I was told in a snotty voice.

So the story does end well. When we finally got to KC I was expecting my bags to be late or nonexistant. They were there, waiting. They had come in on an earlier flight-- weird. Never again will I fly NWA.

Some Things Money Can't Buy

If I worked in nearby Johnson County for the Shawnee Mission school district I would make $11,000 more a year. No, that's not a typo, that is really the difference in pay. I'd be able to drive a new car and have really nice clothes. Grace would wear more Gymboree and I'd probably have season tickets for K-State football. I'd have more things.

But today at school I was reminded why I love where I teach. Ana, who is 4 was sitting at the table coloring with me. She looked at me and asked, "Mrs. Wahab, do you have a Jesus is my friend coloring paper?" So we looked through some books and picked out a paper that fit her description. She got to take it to the office and have copies made - proud as a peacock.

Where else would I have my kids asking for pictures of Jesus?
Where else would it be important to them?

So I have less stuff - makes it easier to move right? We wear clothes from Target rather than Gymboree and Ann Taylor-- I don't have to worry about expensive clothes being ruined by preschoolers. My car is 8 years old with 100,000+ miles on it-- and I know it's noises and shakes.

My students know and love Jesus --- and that's what it's all about.

I think I'll stay right where I am.

Uggg

It is the bane of elementary school teacher's existence---- head lice.
And I have two cases of it in my classroom, a classroom full of dolls, blankets and soft fuzzy items. It's going to be a loooooooooooonnnnnngggggg weekend.

Blah

Nerd Shots

As promised here are some of the "unique" people we saw on Saturday. The first one is a checker at the grocery store--- that's a wig she has on folks. The next one is California boy who was wearing shorts and flip flops! I don't remember the temp that day but I had to scrape my windows on my car so sufice to say it was COLD! The third one was a bird jacket. 'nuf said. The last one is some goofy chick who had a booth there. :)

Just a Little Over a Week

Neilson reported to me that he received his first box from home today! The exciting part is, it took just over a week to get there! Not bad in my book. Drop me an email if you want his address as I'm not going to post it for security reasons. :)

This Blog is Being Brought to You by the Number 2

Yeah, it's gross but I have to brag. Gracie used the pooped on the potty twice today at her on initiative! We have been pretty successful with the potty training but this was our "Little Big Horn." The more I pushed, bribed and praised the more resistent she was. Then today, she decided today that she was going to use the potty. Stubborn little toot. Wonder where she gets that. (hahahahahaha)