Claire's New Room

Here are the pictures of Claire's new room design. She decided to go with a "tropical" theme. :)

Five More Days until Christmas!

Claire makes this announcement each day, to let us know how many more days until Christmas. It has been going on since December 1st when we got out the Advent calendars. I love her anticipation for all holidays (including birthdays), but of course Christmas is high on the excitement scale. I have done my shopping, made my Christmas party mix, mailed the cards, decorated the tree and now am just waiting, with a special countdown by my favorite girl. It scares me sometimes when I think I am ready for a holiday early. Am I missing something?? Did I forget to get a gift for someone?? Am I really READY? But, then I just sigh, take all that worry and give it to God (He wants it anyway) and then I feel ready. I am excited for Christmas. This is the first year in awhile we are staying home, and not going to a single place. It will be nice to wake up and just enjoy the moment, not having to get dressed, hurry and open presents. We are REALLY going to enjoy savoring the moment - in our pajamas :) I hope you are feeling "ready" this season. ENJOY IT! It won't come around for another 365 days!

Latest Pictures

Mike has been uploading some of our family pictures onto a new spot: www.flickr.com/mizner

You should check it out when you have a chance. There are pictures there from our recent trip to the Nellis Air Force Base 60th Anniversary Air Show. The air show was great! We got to visit with an old friend of Mike's from Civil Air Patrol, Nicole, who is now a Thunderbird Pilot. It was so amazing to talk to her in the morning and then see her fly, along with the other five pilots in the afternoon do an outstanding display of acrobatics. It was the perfect day too... partly cloudy, 75 degrees. It made a great backdrop for the pictures.

Also, Claire has decided she wants a website too! :-) She came to me one day, told me what she wanted, and even drew out a picture for me so I would know what it should look like. Here's what she came up with: cmizner.blogspot.com Check it out when you have a chance. They are all pictures that she has taken. She is becoming quite the photographer. When she takes your picture, it looks like she barely has you in the photo, but amazingly, they come out well centered. The composition of her photos is (on average) better than mine!

Pumpkin Carving

Claire has been after me for weeks to carve pumpkins. Not wanting to do it a month before Halloween, we finally picked out our pumpkins on Saturday (the 20th). We bought tools and transfer patterns this year which worked out wonderfully! (I highly recommend it-the tools make it so easy!) Anyway, she wanted this difficult-looking owl....So we bought two pumpkins, one for me to try out my new skills with an easy-rated bat, and another to carve the owl out of of if the bat went well.


As you can see, they actually look like what they were supposed to be! I have to say, I am very impressed with my new carving skills. I typically can't carve a toothless grin on a pumpkin, let alone a owl! Now you can see why I recommend the kit. It really makes it easy, but time-consuming. Claire was a trooper and helped empty out the pumpkins, but had to wear gloves because she didn't want to get goopy. (This coming from the girl who picks up bugs on a regular basis!) After an hour of watching, she got bored and went in to watch cartoons. We were able to light up the pumpkins that night and I'm still excited when I think about it -- you can tell what they are supposed to be! :-)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

School Thoughts

Last week, Claire had spelling words to study for the first time. She and I went over her words for homework, practicing now and then in the car. There were 11 words, a few of which she continued to struggle to spell. Yet, on Friday, she got 100% on the test! When we got home that day, I asked her how she did. She casually replies, "Oh, I think I got them all right. I got a sticker on my paper." The sticker was important, in fact she could care less about getting them all right. I, on the other hand, was totally excited she did so well.

As a teacher, I assign spelling words, homework, tests, etc. all the time. I have never been on the parent side of the equation before. It's a completely different world. I feel tied to her and her accomplishments....her wins are mine too. I now understand how a parent can feel when their child comes home with a good (or bad) grade. I can also understand why some parents become unglued when those bad grades come home. I didn't think I would feel so closely joined to her school work. But, I do. Every once in awhile my eyes are opened to new and bigger things, and I think this is one of them. Just thought I would share my new insights with you. :-)

Fall

Fall in Las Vegas = Wind Gusts. Or so I've come to believe. It's gorgeous, clear, blue skies, and the sun shining brightly down. It is picturesque outside our window. Well, it is, except for the wind. Just like back East you come to know the different types of snow falling, here you come to know the different types of wind blowing. Breezes are great, but those gusts make it darn chilly. Yesterday we were out with jackets; today, it looks the same but there is no wind so its now short-sleeve weather. It's something I still have to get used to--taking a sweater with me just in case the wind comes up. Well, that and I have to keep saying I love the "wind-blown" look my hair has recently. :-)

Traveling

Here's a picture of our latest trip to Venice. Well, a Venice look-alike anyway. Recently our good friend from Michigan, David, came to visit us for a week. While he was here, we of course did all of the tourist-y stuff, like go see St. Mark's Square and see the gondolas at the Venetian. (In the picture.) Although I've never been to Venice, this is how I imagine it, but here it's air-conditioned and you don't have to worry about weather. To me, it's the next best thing.

While David was here, we also saw the water show and the beautiful garden exhibit at the Bellagio. The gardens change with the seasons and they are always amazing. We ate dinner at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville (Claire's choice-she loves the Caribbean atmosphere.) One night, we had the buffet dinner at the Flamingo. My grandpa keeps thinking they still have $3.99 buffets--not quite. Good food, but go VERY hungry so you can feel you get what you pay for.

We were also able to go up to Mt. Charleston (where it was a very chilly 43 degrees.) Lunch was very quickly eaten outside so we could hurry and get back into the Jeep to get warm again. We did go on a quick hike on one of the many trails, but half way realized we weren't on the trail. By the time we got back to the trail we were supposed to be on, we were had hiked enough and went back. Overall, we had a great time while David was here. It's always fun to show people around town. And, each time I get to know the city a little better.

I even have my own travel guide I've created with brochures, print-outs and maps I've collected. (You'll laugh when you see it...everyone does.) It's where my OCD comes out a little. (well, a lot) BUT, our company can look through it, decide what THEY would like to do and we can go from there. Because they have my guide book to look at, I don't have to be responsible for coming up with ideas on the fly. To me, it's much easier this way. When you see it, you'll want one too. :-)

Embarrassing Moments

Do you remember going to sleepovers (or even when you're with a new group of people) and getting that question--What's your most embarrassing moment?? Sometimes those moments are hard for me to come up with...I guess I try to forget those times my face turns red and I wish I could hide. Well, after today I don't have to worry about trying to come up with one, I'm sure I'll remember this one just fine.

This morning, Claire and I get to church a few minutes late, about 10:05am. I take Claire to her class, say hi to the few people in the foyer and head into the service. Of course, since I'm a few minutes late, they have already started so I just try to take the first seat I can find, which is, of course, in the middle of the place. (Its a very small start-up church, so there are only about 40-50 people in this service.) As I sit down, Matt (the pastor) finishes his sentence and says, "Ok, you're dismissed." I look up at him, very confused and say "Wait a minute, I just got here!" At this point, as I look around the room to try to figure out what is going on, EVERYONE is looking at me, laughing! Matt comes over to me, informs me the FIRST service is getting over and the second starts at 10:30. It's of course a big production, he gives me a quick hug, laughing, and says I'm just early. HAHA.

AND THEN, I am in the second service (on time!), Matt's in the middle of his sermon, looks over my way, obviously remembers 45 minutes before when I gave him a good laugh going into the wrong service, laughs out loud and proceeds to tell THIS group of people what I did and he even demonstrates my reaction, in case anyone was curious. Everyone is again looking at me, laughing! Now another group of 50 people are in on the joke. I guess I'm glad at least the church is small.

(I have to admit, it was funny to watch him, and he did it in good humor.)

Well, at least everyone knows who I am now! It was embarrassing, but at least I was able to make everyone smile and no one got hurt, just a little red in the face.

The Beginning

Well, it's the beginning of blogging for me anyway. I have so much enjoyed reading friends' blogs, being able to keep up with their lives from far away that I decided I would try out this blogging phenomenon and see how it goes. We have moved so often in the last few years, it's difficult to keep in touch (regularly) with all of my wonderful friends all over the country. I'm hoping this blog will serve that purpose for them as their blogs have for me.

At the moment, Claire and I are on track break, so I think this will be a good time to start and be able to keep it going (at least for three more weeks until I return to school). We are at a year-round school here in Las Vegas. It's an awesome school, and only 1.5 miles from our condo! It couldn't be nicer. I'm teaching fourth grade, and Claire is in first. At our school, Betsy Rhodes Elementary, they have five tracks (or schedules) running all at once. Claire and I are on Track 2, which means we have break for three weeks in September/October, four weeks in January/February, and three weeks in May. (That is in addition to the two weeks everyone has a Christmas and one week in April for Easter.) The only down side I see so far is that once we return from track break in May, we don't have any vacation the rest of the summer. In fact, we go until August 10 and then have to return to the new school year two week later. Ugh. Hopefully it will be just fine. The upside, so far, is that I only have 23 students (compared with 35 in another fourth grade class whose track schedule is supposedly better so everyone begs for it), AND we get to take a ski vacation in February. :) I will keep you updated on how it goes and how I like the year-round system.

I'm off to enjoy the nice weather today and take Sam (our adorable lab) out for a walk. It is finally under 100 degrees, the sun is behind the clouds and a nice breeze is blowing through. I love it!