Tree Day Part 3

Nick and his men also trimmed every tree in our yard. There were a lot of branches to be cleaned up after the trimming.

Here they are dragging them all to be chipped up in the chipper.

They did a great job trimming my wonderful pomegranite tree. By the way we got so many pomegranites off this tree last fall that we got 13 gallons of juice from this one tree. Once a warmer weather comes this tree will leaf out and bloom with bright orange blossoms and it will be beautiful.

We also are planting an apricot and a peach tree just down the hill from where we took out a couple of the big trees. Duane is digging the holes to plant the trees. He'll run the bubbler down to this spot so the trees will get lots of water. We'll continue to post more as we work on the yard and do our yard makeover. Stay tuned for current up to date information.

Tree Day Part 2

After the tree was down the men dug down about 4 inches below the ground and then they cut the trunk leaving a pretty big stump.

They tried to get as much as possible with the ax but there ended up being a pretty big stump.

Duane drilled holes all around the outside of the stump and then he poured Round Up into the holes hoping to kill the roots. Our neighbor did the same thing and he said it really killed the roots.

Today was such a beautiful day with perfect weather. Most of the day I didn't even have to wear a jacket. Our neighbor, Troy, came by to visit while we were working outside. It's nice to have such nice people around us.

Tree Day Part 1

Well today was the big tree cutting day. For quite some time now we've been dreading the inevitable. We have loved having so much shade in our yard, but our front yard is just way to small for the large trees we planted with gigantic root structures. The nasty roots have been causing havoc so it was time to do the dreaded deed. The roots have lifted up a section of our sidewalk which now is going to be taken up and repoured. The roots have also been pushing the ditch out and causing other problems in general. We hired Nick Huerta, a man around the corner from us who cuts down trees to come and do the job. There were 5 men plus Duane and I working all day. They were amazingly fast with their chain saw and chipper.

They cut the big branches off a little at a time and then the trunk. I was amazed how fast they worked.

We even did the trees in our side yard because they were also too close to the driveway and the ditch and also the main water lines which ran to our house.

This chipper was really amazing. They chipped up most of the trees making a whole truck load of wonderful wood chips. A neighbor who has a huge yard and garden wanted the whole truck load which they graciously gave her and delivered to her house. It was so fascinating I stayed outside all day to watch the action and couldn't get much work done until they left.

Mammals Part 2

I guess you can probably recognize these critters but we have a tiger and a grizzly bear.

Here we have a lion and a cougar head.

How's this for a large vertebrae? This is one vertebrae from a whale. Wow if your disc slipped it would be a HUGE back ache!

Now we move onto feet. On the left is the foot of a rhino, an elephant foot in the middle and a giraffe foot on the right. After a couple of weeks I'll return these to the museum and get some other mammals. My school children are loving our revolving museum this year. I'll have to admit even the adults including me are pretty fascinated to see God's wonderful creatures up close.

Mammals Part 1

Well I just checked out the first batch of mammals from BYU's museum. It has been a huge hit not only with my students but also with many visiting classes that have come into my room to view them as well. In the cat there is a ring tailed cat, a very large squirrel, a hedgehob, and an armadillo.

In this picture you can mostly see the wolverine and the badger. They are both very mean animals.

Here you can see a bobcat, a river otter, and a wolf.

In the back is an arctic fox and a little weasel in the front.

Christmas Around the World Part 3

The next country that did their presentations was Italy. These girls did a wonderful job in their presentation. They brought some yummy food. Italy was another country that we had a speaker for. Marianna is a foreign exchange student from Italy and she did a fabulous job. The kids all loved her. She was a little nervous but hopefully we made her feel comfortable. I think she had as much fun doing it as we had hearing from her. It was a very fun day.

The last country was France. These children told about traditions in France and the decorations they use. They told us about Pere Noel who is their gift giver. After they did their presentation I told the children a little more about France and their customs since Duane served his mission in France. When we were through we had a Yule log cake called Bushe de Noel. The children also brought other foods. Everything was delicious and enjoyed by all.

Shock!

Don't have a heart attack but I just blogged four months of events in my life! I think I made 12 posts today. Maybe within a couple of days I'll have a couple more. Stay tuned for more updates.

Cookies, Cookies, Cookies

Heidi loves making sugar cookies! She got a little crazy and made several hundred this year. She decorates each and every one with the decorator tips and makes each one unique and different. She would love to give a plate to every family but by the time she finished with these she had just about had enough of the sugar cookies. We had many families plus she made a special cookie for each one of my students as well.

Heidi got on line and found some really cute cookie cutters. These little JOY cookies and NOEL ones were really cute.

I loved the light bulb ones, the snowflakes, and the mittens the best.

This is a fun tradition! By the way, she still has a large bag of dough in the fridge. Maybe she'll do it again for Valentine's Day.

Christmas Around the World Part 2

The children in this group presented Christmas in Mexico. This was another country that we didn't have an exchange student for but they did a cute presentation and even had a pinata for the children to break with candy inside. This is a tradition they have during Posada. The food was very good also.

These boys shared about Christmas in Norway. They shared yummy food from Norway and had a cute presentation.

This is Silje from Norway. She is also a foreign exchange student living with another family here in the valley. She told us about Norway and the many traditions they have there. She was a cute girl and the students really enjoyed listening to her. They loved to hear them speak with their accents.

Christmas Around the World Part 1

In December, we had a lot of fun. I had 7 countries that I had the kids study about their Christmas traditions and give a report on. This group reported on Germany. They had to learn and tell about where their country was in the world, what kind of climate they had, what special celebrations their country had and what special decorations were unique to that country. They also had to tell about that country's gift giver, how to say Merry Christmas in their language, what special songs came from that country and what were some foods that the country had at Christmas time. They also had to bring a food from that country to share with the class. We have several foreign exchange students living here with families in the valley so the ones that were from some of the countries we studied came and spoke to the children. It was really interesting to hear about their country and their traditions. We had a boy from Germany named Felix come and he told about Germany and how they celebrate Christmas there. It was so fun. The children loved it.

These girls told about Sweden. In Sweden they have a girl dress in white named St. Lucia. She wakes the family up and brings them food in the morning. She wears a wreath on her head with candles in it. The girl on the left has a boy living with her family from Sweden. His name was Emil. He also spoke with the children about customs at Christmas time in Sweden.

These boys told us about England. Everyone brought food to share. We didn't have anyone from England to speak to us except the children.

Field Trip Part 3

When we arrived at Anderson Dairy we were taken into this cute room where a cow talks to the children and she tells them a little bit about the dairy. They also have a talking chicken and other animals. It is kind of like a Disney production.

Here the cow gives them more information and instructions.

Next we go on a tour of the dairy. The children get to see them make ice cream, cottage cheese, bottling juice and also milk in various size cartons.

After the tour we go back into the room we started with and see a film which gives the history of the dairy and how it began many decades ago and then the dairy serves us all a delicious ice cream cone. It was a fun day for all.

Field Trip Part 2

The next part of our field trip was in the aquatic room. They had live fish in a large tank. This is a manta ray.

They also had several sharks swimming around for the children to observe.

There were many other tanks showing lots of different fish that I didn't take pictures of. After the tour of this museum we went outside and ate our lunch at the park behind the museum. It was the most perfect weather. We had a wonderful time.