Halloween. A time to scare and a time to share - mostly with the parents who can't legitimately ask for candy themselves. That is another reason we have kids, to get free stuff! We are gearing up for trick or treating. Each of the kids carved thier own pumpkin and are ready to go this evening. Kyleen will be going as a snow princess, Tyler as the NASCAR driver Tony Stewart, and Taunya, drumroll please, Pippi Longstocking. (No need for a wig or painted on freckles). Me, I have on a classic costume: An orange T-shirt which reads, "This IS my costume". I have gotten a bit behind in grading so I need to keep this short. I'll post Halloween pics when I get some. God Bless.

Okay, here are some of the thousands of pictures we took on the cruise. I'm standing behind the ship's map. It comes in very handy until you get the hang of it - which doesn't happen until the cruise is almost over. The car was along the promenade/mall area in the middle of the ship. Julie is standing in front of a sailboat with the name of 'Juliet'. The 'fuzzy/overcast' picture is from our hotel window looking out at the dock where Royal Caribbean sails from. The ship you see left Saturday night. The ship with the tenders next to it is the Freedom of the Seas. The world's largest cruise ship (for at least the next three years). Talk to you soon.

Okay, here are more pictures of the changes we have been making. Ignore the mess in the background. We had to empty the room to get the floor in. Anyway, you can see we have done a little changing of the home over the past year. The walls have been painted. Top left is the other side of the living room upstairs. Tyler's room is above, this is where it all started. To the left is the family room. What you can't see is that we have also added a new light fixture to the ceiling since the picture was taken. I'll also post some cruise pictures later today. God Bless.

An older picture of the living room. The walls are burgundy and feel like sand. It was an experiment with colour and texture. It works though.

I have a cool new toy to use. On Tuesday I was able to get one of the two new SmartBoards placed in my room on a trial basis. I'm always willing to be the guinea pig and try out new electronic devices or software. I must say a SmartBoard is VERY cool and definitely an electronic gadget guys dream. The only thing that will make this dream better is the fact I will have an AirLiner to use - it is a remote device (writing tablet) which will work along side the SmartBoard. The students are really excited to have it in class and see how it is used. They are a little more involved/focused because of it. I'm hoping the three kids will be able to come by and see it one of these days. I need to get grading papers, talk to you soon and God Bless.

It's been a few days since I've updated everyone on the doings of the Walther 5. We're gearing up for Halloween. Our church, as some of you know, has a Trunk or Treat for the neighbourhood so we can reach out to our community and make connections with them. Around 500 children show up througout the evening meeting other kids and adults from the church. A number of families have visited our church because of this ministry. Each trunk is decorated in some manner, many on some bibilical theme.
The kids are looking forward to going out and getting candy; I'm looking forward to taking the candy from the kids - it's not mean, they just don't eat that much candy and I take it to school to give away.
We're getting ready to paint the dining room; we have finally gotten all the wallpaper down. Once the painting is finished I'll be able to finish the new railing system we've decided to do and then we'll move on to the entryway. The big one will be the kitchen - many changes are being thought about, not sure which ones we'll actually go through with.
Sorry about the rambling way this blog is going. Talk to all of you soon. God Bless.

The weekend is up us. Well, at least here in MN where we have a long weekend for educators. Just stopping by to say hello. Conferences were last night for our three kids and they went really well. Kyleen's teacher told us she would like an entire class of Kyleens. Tyler's teacher singled him out to be an aide/helper to the new student in the classroom so the new student can adjust to school in the US. She told us Tyler had the patience to answer the many questions and be helpful. I was confused because the Tyler she was talking about didn't remind me of the little boy who doesn't show the same patience with his sisters. Taunya is on top of everything. A's in all areas and we found out during the conference her goal (at this time) is to become a teacher. She would teach reading or music. We didn't know she had that ambition. Gotta run. God bless and enjoy the rest of your week.

Another day draws to a close and I just finished creating a test for my HP students. We've been working on grammar by using sentence diagramming. I know, what is a former mediocre student like me doing teaching English? The answer: what else am I qualified to do? Anyway, I'm on my way home so I can eat and go to conferences. We'll see how the kids are doing and I'll update you in the morning on how they went and what grades the kids are getting. It's late and time to go home. :P God bless.

Conferences are coming to an end. This is the final of the first 3 conferences - only 3 more to go for the year. It is nice having this final conference in my classroom as I am able to grade papers, listen to music, and "waste" time by updating my blog. Julie has already posted a little something for today so I'll add my two-bits. I haven't been as diligent in keeping up with the family, especially calling on holidays like Thanksgiving (Canadian). But I did think of all of you afterwards. Tyler and Kyleen are having a lot of fun in school even if they aren't as busy as Taunay. I'm getting busier with school, keeping up with the new grading program, keeping my gaggle.net blog going (gaggle.net - student email approved for use in school), and working on finishing up the "remodeling" projects in the home. I'm excited to get them finished but don't relish doing some of the work - especially the high stuff in our dining room. We have been planning what we're doing with the dining room, entry way, and kitchen, but it will be a slow process as we save to get the money to do some of the projects. I promised you pictures and I mean to get them posted; it's just taking longer than I thought.
Hugs and kisses from the kids. You are all in our prayers. Say hi to anyone in the family who hasn't read this. By the way, if you're thinking of birthday presents for me - I'd like the new updated Monopoly game which uses figures and money for the 21st century.

Kai and I have entered yet another new milestone. Taunya had her first babysitting job today!! I suddenly feel much older. She offered her babysitting services to a family that used to come to my daycare(Sophie & Evan). This was her first day, and Erin (the mom) was home, too. I felt much better about her being 'watched' and I think Taunya did, too. Kyleen was a little perturbed that she couldn't go along to Taunya's job.

Today I went to print out some pictures of our vacation to bring to my scrapbook retreat(200+). Also today, I started peeling some more wallpaper. I wasn't too surprised that I soon had many helpers. "Yeah! Demolition!"

Tomorrow evening is our turn to go to conferences for each of our children. The school is nice enough to schedule all three on the same night.

I hope you have a great day!

Blessings,
Julie

Yeah! It is Friday! Kai taught me how to post. I am waiting for my children to finish homework before we go shopping.

Today I was able to spend a little time with Cary and play some cards. It has been a few months since we have seen their family -- which was evident in how their youngest, Callie, has grown. Cary's mom was over so I got a brief update on her life as well. It is so good to relax with friends.

I am looking forward to a craft (scrapbooking) getaway next week for a couple of days. I need to print out a bunch of pictures from our anniversary cruise. I am SO excited!! If you want to see where I will be, check out
http://www.legacyhouse-redwing.com/scrapbooking_retreat_minnesota_wisconsin.html .

Later! God bless!!

Wow, I have a personal request to update my blog, so someone can keep up with what's going on in the Walther houehold. This weekend will prove to be funfilled. Julie is attending an Awana conference and I'll be taking the kids to Lowe's to do one of the kids projects they do from time to time. Besides that, we'll continue taking down the wallpaper in the dining room so we can paint it. The weather here is quite lovely, windchills in the teens (fahrenheit), and we've seen snow flurries the last couple of days. Yes, we turned the heat on. The forecast for the next week doesn't look to bad, but you never know. The first two nights of conferences went well. I only had to tell one parent how immature and disruptive their child has been in class. The last night of conferences is on Monday. I'm looking forward to it being over and for the long weekend. Next Thursday and Friday is the MEA (Minnesota Educators Association) weekend; there is a convention which many teachers attend. I haven't been to one since my first year mainly because, as teachers, we don't research and buy the curriculum for the district, we review and suggest when the district wants to change it. It's getting late, it's already 4:30 and I should go home, I haven't really seen my family since Monday. Tuesday - conferences, Wednesday - Awana, Thursday - conferences. I'm looking forward to family time this weekend. Enjoy yours, God Bless, and all of you are in our prayers.

Time flies when parent-teacher conferences are just around the corner. Students begin to panic and are concerned about how you will discuss them with their parents. I decided long ago to be straight forward and honest about it. I missed calling family on Thanksgiving and I'm sorry about that. Taunya is very excited about the district choir. Tyler likes school and has increased the time he spends reading. I think he found a set of books that are a quick read but a good story as well. Anyway, this week will be the release of the last Lemony Snickett book called, The End. Something I decided to read because it was popular with students a few years ago. Have a fun day. God Bless.

Once more into the breech is a good way to start talking about today. It felt like I had to take on a number of fights, but I survived the run of the gauntlet I call my 9th grade classes. I'm not sure if it's the air or water but they have been a little restless the last few days and having presentations in class makes it hard for them to sit still and be respectful. Well, the day is done so I don't need to worry about it any more. On to other things, our friend Chad Strohschein received his first child last Friday. I say 'received' because his wife Heidi is the one who 'had' the baby. It is lovely bouncing baby boy named Liam. If you know him, call him and congratulate him. Not much else to say but keep God in mind and we're praying for you. "See" you next time, same bat-time, same bat-channel.

Ah, life in the fast lane. I got my first taste of multiple things to do on a single night. Taunya is a student ambassador and is giving tours of her school because the school district is inviting people of the community to come tour the schools as part of the Parade of Schools. A few years ago the district asked the community for a VERY large bond to pay for building improvements and now all those improvements are complete and the district wants to show the community where the money went. Anyway, I drove Taunya from her choir rehearsal back to her school so she could do her tour duty. She didn't get home until after 7pm. It was a quick glimpse into the future. Tyler and Kyleen are having fun in school, Kyleen really loves 1st grade and seems to have a natural knack for spelling. She got perfect scores on her pretests and does the same with the end of the week tests. Her reading is improving as well. Tyler is getting more into reading. I think he will be the one to be more into the fantasy/scifi books like Tolkien, Lewis, and Stephen Lawhead. He is presently reading a series from Paul McCusker, a writer and performer from the Adventures in Odyssey radio series. I better post this and go back to working. Have a great day and may God bless you throughout the day.