We were inspired by Betsy's blog

Betsy's family had crawfish so we thought we would have lobster. This was Olivia's idea. We had plans for a simple lobster, but we added the motor and a second claw that opens and closes as it moves. The kids played with it for days.

Garrett started it

We caught Garrett doing this and once we took a picture Olivia had to join in.

Kindergarten Preschool Graduation

Olivia graduated today from preschool. They had a cute little program with 3-4 songs and with each child receiving a diploma. I didn't catch her actually getting the diploma with the digital, but I'll post them when we get them developed off the other camera. Olivia did such a great job sitting and singing! We're so proud of that big girl!

Hullabaloo

Olivia and Garrett have been having a great time with a game called Hullabaloo (from the makers of Cranium). The game comes with 12 pads of different colors, shapes, and pictures. It also comes with a talking contraption thing that calls out instructions. The instructions say things like "Skip to a blue. Swim to a food. Crawl to a musical instrument and pretend you're playing that instrument." Here's a couple of pictures Robin took of us playing tonight.

INCAS

According to the Utah state core third graders should learn about the Incas of South America. I started teaching about the Incas. We did a timeline, we looked at some myths and legends, we have done some reading about them. We made an Incan couting thing called a Quipu, I even made a keynote presentation to show them. This next week I will put the students in groups and they will get to make a poster about a certain aspect about the Incan Life. They were a fascinating people. Did you know that when they would marry they would exchange sandles or that they had built a road system that was over 12,000 miles long but they had no wheeled vechiles or that they didn't have to pay taxes, instead they had to do a service like working on the temples or roads and that was their contribution to the empire. I really didn't know that much about them before I started to do some research on them.
Here is one of the myths about the Incas. I thought that is was interesting that one of their myths is similar to a Bible story that we believe as Christians. Even my students made the connection to the the Noah Story. So here is the question Jeremy and I were asking each other: How do two different groups of people who live across the world from each other have similar stories?

INCAN FLOOD MYTH
At one time, people became very evil. They were so busy doing evil deeds that they neglected the gods. Only those in the high Andes mountains were honest and true.
One day, two brothers who lived in the high Andes mountains noticed their llamas were acting strangely. They asked the llamas why they were staring up at the sky. The llamas answered that they were told by the stars that a great flood was coming. The brothers believed the llamas. They moved their families and flocks into a cave they found on the highest mountain.It began to rain. The rain continued for four months and four days. At last the rain stopped. The water receded. The brothers and their families repopulated the earth. The llamas were most grateful to the stars for warning them about the flood. That is why llamas prefer to live on the mountain tops, safe from floods, and near their friends, the stars.

If you want to learn more about the Incas go to:
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9 years and still going

Jeremy and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on May 16th. It was a really nice day. Jeremy got me a porch swing for our porch and I got him an ice cream maker. We also bought the kids a new pool to play in the yard. So now we can sit in our swing, eat ice cream and watch the kids play in water. It is great!!!
Brent and Shayla were nice enough to come over and watch the kids for us and we went out to Octavio's (one of our favorite resaurants) It was so nice to be out without the kids and actually be able to have real conversations. Then Jeremy, Which shows you how much he love me, took me shoe shopping. : ) I bought myself two new pairs of shoes. I'm so blessed that I married such a great guy.

look for pictures to come of our new porch swing and the kids playing in the little pool.

Mother's Day

Olivia came running in this morning and gave me a card that she made for me. It was super cute. She had mad a book for me. She loves making books. It was in an envelope. Then we got up and Jeremy had me sit on the couch and then he put a present on my lap. Garrett was so excited. He climbed up in my lab and gave me a kiss. It was really sweet. Jere got me a matching dishes. This is something I have been saying I wanted for a long time. And of course he got he chocolate which he knows I love. At church today Garrett in his Nursery class made me a card. He was so proud to give it to me.
I love my kids and I love that I have the opportunity and priviledge to be a Mom.

Here's a picture Jere took of me and kids this morning next to my Honey Suckle Bush. It is just a pretty bush in the spring time with its pink blossoms.

"My arm's not broken anymore!"

Olivia got her cast off today. They used a cool saw. It was completely harmless to the touch but it cut right through the cast. After the cast was off, they took two more x-rays. Olivia was not very well behaved. She cried and she protested. Robin stayed in the van because Garrett fell asleep on the way there. We were in and out of there in about 20 minutes. The bad news is that Olivia still has another month without bike riding or playing at the park. Oh well, at least we can go swimming.

Dessert for Dinner

For dinner tonight Robin and I made Chocolate Chip pancakes. Instead of maple syrup, we smothered them with Cool Whip and Robin's homemade chocolate sauce. They were so good! Needless to say: Our kids ate their dinner tonight!

HIGH STAKES TESTS

I have been doing state core testing all week. It is exhausting!! Tomorrow is the last day and I will finish the test. It should have been done today but they added another section to the test. The first two days of testing the kids were doing ok. Today they were dragging and I could tell they were having a hard time staying focused. I was constantly reminding kids to read the directions, not to put their heads on their desk and to actually read the questions. I would have some kids completely done with the test 1 minute after we started. Some kids wanted to get done so fast that they would work on the problems while I was reading the directions. It was very frustrating. The most frustrating part is seeing a question I know they should all know like when to use a Thesaurus and 90% of them missed the question. I just wanted to yell "DON'T YOU REMEMBER ALL THE TIMES WE USED THIS!!! I just hope they do well on these tests. I know I have worked really hard getting them ready for it. Only one more day of testing.
But when testing is over the next question is "What do I do for the next 3 weeks to keep them busy?

I'm so old!

So we're at the school carnival. I guess people knew my family was there but didn't know who they were. Someone saw Mom and exclaimed, "You're Mrs. Brunner? I didn't know Mr. Brunner was married!" Which although that could be a compliment to Mom, I wondered why someone would think I was married to my mother. Then a little bit later I was standing next to a 24 year-old first grade teacher. A student approached the teacher and asked her, "Are you Mr. Brunner's daughter?" What?! And to top it off today I got a hair cut. I couldn't believe all the gray hair!

School Carnival

Kristi and her children came to visit. While she went to a wedding, Jeremy, Vickie and I went to a school carnival at Jeremy's school. Olivia and Garrett went on a pony ride. They both thought it was great. They really loved playing with their cousins. Olivia was really sad that they left.

No More House Guests

Brent and Shayla Nelson have been staying with us for the past month while they waited for their home. They closed on their house last Friday. They spent Saturday cleaning the new house and have started moving into their new home. They are now sleeping at their new house and they have a truck to come and get the rest of their things this coming up Saturday. We have enjoyed having them here. They stayed downstairs in our finished basement. We had to share a kitchen so we took turns cooking. It was also fun to have another couple around to play games with. We are just excited that we are going to have family living nearby. They will be living in Eagle Mountain only about 10 mintues away.