Cleaning, Cleaning, Cleaning

Unfortunately I dont have any pictures. Oh how I wish I had had a camera with me this week. Wednesday was our last day of school, and my sister and I drove to my mother's house in Kennewick. We started cleaning that night and actually made it through the shed and her garage. On Thursday, we started at 7:30 in the morning and worked straight thru til 11:30 at night! We made it through almost every room, but still had the craft room to clean. On Friday, we awoke early and went to a few yard sales. We spent from around 11 in the afternoon until a minor break down on my part. I had spent four hours in the craft room and you couldn't tell I had done anything! I went in the livingroom and did a little stomp dance to get my frustrations out and then spent until 11 finishing. We spent Saturday doing a bit of shopping and then returned to do some last minute organizing. My sis's boys went with us and they were awesome! Today, we let the boys sleep in and visited with my mom and her husband Dan.
Dan had been in the hospital with a leg infection that will not heal. (He's had this for 11 years!) They let him go home, but he is still in a lot of pain. We enjoyed the morning relaxing in an organized home! (By the way, thank you Dale for teaching for me today!)
We are going back on the 8th and 9th to have a yard sale of our own! My mom has more than 1,000 movies she is selling (I think its more like 2,000)!
By the way,I still haven't been told if I will be changing grades or not! :(

Another Busy Week!!

This week has definately been a busy one! I started off by taking pictures of my classroom before I literally stripped the walls and moved everthing out of the way. Our school is replacing its heating and air as well as all the lights. Should be interesting. For those of you who know that I have been patiently waiting to find out if I will be able to change grades, I haven't heard anything yet! I am guessing I haven't really learned how to be patient yet because Heavenly Father keeps sending me trials.



After years of dreaming and a full summer of packing rocks, clearing ground and lots of sweating, my waterfall is up and running! I love it and hope I can finish the rest of the hillside. I'm not sure how many years that will take me.



Casey finished his track season with a bang! He made it to state and became my hero (see past post) and this week he is having a track party. So, I spent most of my weekend creating a scrapbook for each coach. I am hoping that all of the team shows up so they can sign their page and write a comment to their coaches. We had two great coaches and I am so grateful for the support they gave my son.

Hopefully, next week will be a bit quieter, but I doubt it will be. I am going to visit my mom on Wednesday night and Cindi and I are going to help her get organized. I will let you know how it goes. :) Have a great week!

Another Busy Week!

Well today's post is going to be a little bit boring, but I have not had any time to take pictures. So, I am just going to fill you in on whats been happening in the Sorensen household.

Casey started spring football this week and we were lucky (???) enough to attend the first football meeting of the year. They filled us in on what they are changing in relation to concussions and how they would be training our boys differently this year. Yikes! Here we go! On Saturday, he took his SAT's in the morning then headed straight to the Red Cross to take his written exam for lifeguarding. From there, he went to the Wenatchee High Pool to take his swim test! Happily he is now a certified lifeguard. Go Case!

This week, I had training in Wenatchee and my nephew's last baseball game to attend. Needless to say, I missed three days of wakling with Shannon and Celeste. I cannot believe the difference walking makes for me. My self-esteem went in the tank by Saturday morning! I had a busy weekend as well. My very first preschool student and my neice Danielle graduated from High School on Friday. Both of them invited me to their graduation parties on Saturday, so I was quite the "partier". I then came home to try and get some cleaning done and prepare for my lesson today.

I still havent received any news on classroom placement for next year, and I am really praying to have the opportunity to change grades. I will let you know (soon I hope). I will try and take some more pictures for next week.

My Hero!

I just have to share my hero of the week. Casey made it to State in both discuss and shot put. Just the fact that he qualified to go was a huge accomplishment. However, two things happened that caused my respect and admiration to grow. First, in discus, they lined up all the qualifying athletes and introduced them one by one. They finished and had not introduced Case. He just shrugged his shoulders and didn't say a word. That was minor compared to what happened in the shot put competition. Casey had the opportunity to throw three times, with his highest score being 43 feet and 4 inches. As they finished the second flight (thats what they call the seperate groups of athletes that throw, they only had two flights) it became clear that Casey would be considered 8th. The excitement and emotion was so obvious in Casey's face and those around him. However, when he went to warm up, he was informed that he had only thrown a 43 ft 2 in throw. Confused, he spoke with his coaches and stoically accepted that he did not qualify. As we drove home, it kept bothering me because I was positive I had heard the scorer call out 43 4. So, I decided to look at the video that Kelly had taken. Sure enough the score board read 43 4 for Casey and 43 2 for the other athlete. Of course Casey was upset and spent about a hour and a half being very quiet. But then he sat up and said, "Ok, I'm over it!" Now if mom could only get over it. :) He inspires me. I love his spirit and energy. Although he is frustrating at times,times like these remind me of what a sweet spirit he has. I am one lucky mom! I just have to remember that when times are tough!

Well I have made a good effort at getting 10 things done in 10 days! I started out by making a daily checklist to remind myself of important things I need to remember each day. I enrolled Casey in a Lifeguard Certification class and he has already attended two sessions.

I had a couple of changes as you can see below! Trey decided he didn't want a motorcyle cake but wanted a 'Puppy Cake', so Cindi and I did the best we could.



I did clean my classroom, but still have quite a ways to go! It is looking good though.



Kelly helped me clean up most of the leaves in my waterfall and we have a bit more to do before we can turn it on again. Pictures to follow soon!!!

I am writing my letter to Laura today, so I am only a day behind! :)

Good News! Casey is headed to State in track! he qualified in both discus and shot put! Go Casey!!!

Another week has flown by! Casey qualified for Districts in shot put and discus. I have kept busy teaching and walking with Shannon and Celeste. I have decided to take Shannon's 10 things in 10 days challenge. So here are my 10!

1. Make a checklist for daily schedule.
2. Organize the pantry.
3. Find out what Casey needs to do to get Lifeguard certified.
4. Clean my classroom.
5. Help Cindi make a motorcycle cake for Trey's birthday.
6. Organize and clean my closet.
7. Take stuff to Goodwill.
8. Vacuum leaves and clean waterfall.
9. Develop a Summer calendar.
10. Write a letter to Laura.

As you can see, I have a lot of work to do. However, I think this will really motivate me to get things done. I will let you know how it goes!

A Week of Learning!

This week has been an extremely eventful one. I spent Wednesday night attending a temple session by myself and definately felt more at peace. I took some time to just contemplate some of the events that have happened and to reflect on all that I have.



Because I am the secretary for WABE (Washington Association of Bilingual Education) I was forturnate enough to have a private dinner with three highly renowned women! Alma Flor Ada (author) Suny Paz (singer) and Isabel Compoy (author, singer, and poet) It was just me and the three of them!!! I had my own private seminar! We had over 600 attendees and were extremely busy, but I loved every minute of it.