Mrs. Lovenda will be back this week and I know we will all be happy to see her!
Mrs. Judy is feeling better...I talked to her on Saturday. It seems she got the dreaded stomach bug that is going around at school. I hope none of our children have been sick with it over the weekend! I really hope having this three day weekend gets everyone feeling better and no more illnesses will go around!
My husband and I went on Friday to check on Bobby. While he is doing well, he is anxious another seizure will come on and frustrated this is happening again. He seems to like his neurologist and Jim and I are pleased he is looking for solutions, not trying to band-aid the problem. Bobby is frustrated he is missing work and will have more time he needs off soon...like his dad he never misses a day of work unless absolutely necessary and he is afraid he is going to be in trouble for having to take off time, especially since he was hired in August. He worked at his last job for 3 years and never missed a day and rarely got sick so for him this is really frustrating. He had another seizure this past Tuesday evening and called to tell me but was too upset/frustrated to tell me so he had his roommate talk to me. Thankfully he had just gotten back into his apartment from walking his dogs and slumped to the floor in the living room...without hitting his head or body on any furniture or counters. He had been feeling really great the past two weeks and had been driving and drove that day to work. (his guardian angel continues to look after him) The dr got him in right away the next day and double his dose of his seizure medications, ordered blood work in 3 weeks to see if the medicine is at a therapeutic dose and if his sodium levels are good and if not then maybe a change in medication or adding on another one will be possible. He is also sending him for a sleep study to determine if he has sleep apnea because that be contributing to the new onset of seizures. The trileptal he is taking worked great for him 12 years ago but maybe now it's not or maybe it's messing with his sodium levels and making them go to low which can bring on seizures. He really likes this dr and Jim and I are happy he is looking for solutions and not just band-aiding it and moving on to another patient.
This past week we studied snow/winter/ice. We decorated the felt snowman, played with animals in the pretend snow sensory tub, made ice snowmen out of big pieces of ice we froze in our freezer and played with the whales in a tub of ice cubes, we listened to stories about snow and arctic animals, discussed what types of clothing we should wear in winter and how birds stay warm in the winter and finally we made bird feeders for the birds. We used melted coconut oil and mixed in bird seed. Then we put them into cookie cutters and placed them outside to harden up in the cold air...turning liquid into a solid! We brought them back inside and when we took them out of the cookie cutters, most of them crumbled. :( That didn't stop us from helping out the birds in cold weather and we took all the crumbled bits outside and threw them over the fence under the big tree near the big blue slide and let the birds find the food there. The remaining few that stayed in one piece we hung on the bushes near the sandbox area!
This week we are traveling to New Zealand! When my husband worked for Harrah's Casinos, we did a lot of moving around the country and finally to New Zealand to get the new casinos ready for opening and to get them up and running. We lived there for about 2 years and Jamie was born there which gives her dual citizenship. The hospital experience with her was nothing like the US. I could only have a general practitioner dr because of my visitors visa. If I wanted a ob/gyn I had to pay for it. The general practitioner performed my c-section and she was born 6 weeks pre-term. He handed her off to my husband who kept telling the dr she was making these weird singing sounds when she breathed and the dr didn't think it was a problem until my husband insisted someone look at her. We where then both transported via ambulance to the women and childrens hospital in Auckland. (we lived across the water in Devonport) and my hospital room had a bed and night stand. The bathroom/shower was across the hall and I shared it with other women and down at the end of the hall was a large room with a tv hung on the wall and rows of chairs to sit if you wanted to watch tv. Thankfully this was my 3rd c-section and I knew how to get out of bed and what was normal and what was not. No snacks or juice cart came around and if you wanted a snack you walked down to the kitchen and made it yourself and cleaned up after yourself. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced in a hospital setting, to say the least! This was all taken care of on the government insurance we where covered under due to our 2 yr visas.
New Zealand has no poisonous snakes, no dangerous animals but it is home to the Kiwi Bird and the Tuatura lizard and a huge insect called a Weta. They are a peaceful nation and do not allow any nuclear military ships near their waters. The cost of living is really high there and I about passed out in the grocery store my first time there and I spent $465 on the foods we would typically buy each week in America. There was no a lot of prepackaged meals or frozen food. Most of the cooking was home cooked and from scratch. The measurements and weights are done in metric so I basically best guessed can sizes and measurements when cooking. The milk is amazing and so is the yogurt and ice cream! While living there we visited some absolutely beautiful areas like Rotorura, http://www.newzealand.com/us/rotorua/, and Whangerei...http://whangareinz.com/. A volcano erupted in 1995 and was shooting out boulders the size of Volkswagon cars! The area is called Mt. Ruapehu http://www.mtruapehu.com/ No one was allowed to visit the area until the air cleared. Once it was ok to visit, we took a drive down there and it smelled really bad, and it looked awful! New Zealand is home to several active volcanoes including White Island http://www.whakatane.com/activities/white-island. Our house in Devonport backed up to North Head, a tall and wide piece of land with tunnels and caves, which sits at the head of the entrance to the Auckland Harbor. It was used in the wars to protect Auckland from invasion. Rumor has it there are several planes hidden in the tunnels http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/67033079/Auckland-Underground-Missing-planes-mystery-in-North-Head-bunkers. We lived a block away from Cheltenham Beach and where frequently there enjoying the views of another volcano, Rangitoto across the shipping channel. My husband used to kayak over to Rangitoto and would get stuck there when a container ship was passing through. From our house we had views of the Auckland Harbor and could see the beautiful ships coming through. Auckland is known as the city of sails and at any given time hundreds of sailboats where in the water. Jim was able to take the ferry from Devonport over to Auckland then walk the few blocks to the casino and the kids and I frequently walked downtime and went to the book store, the toy store, the little cafe's and met some really wonderful people. Another place we visited was Mt. Victoria http://www.devonport.co.nz/Mt-Victoria-North-Head and it is also an "extinct volcano" but if you see in the picture on the webpage, there are painted mushrooms and those are vents to vent out the volcano...there are beautiful views from both Mt. Victoria and North Head. I could go on and on about how beautiful and gorgeous and wonderful New Zealand are as well as the people but then I would have a book written here! You have go visit for yourself! We where very fortunate to have been chosen to be on the opening team for the casino and while it meant taking Bobby out of the schools here and putting him in one in a foreign country, we wouldn't have changed it for the world. The elementary school kids walked to school barefoot and their backpacks where left hanging outside on coat hooks. Swimming and boating skills where part of their curriculum and they enjoyed morning and afternoon tea. Michael went to "nursery" (preschool) half days and they had morning tea...which was their morning snack. If you ever have the chance to go to New Zealand...don't pass it up!
Weather depending, we are going to make "bone" pendants commonly worn by the Maori people of New Zealand, decorate a mask, try to learn how to do the Haka...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiKFYTFJ_kw This one is being performed by the All Blacks...New Zealands Rugby Team, and then we are going to try the Poi Dance...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GXAapbacBc This is a dance performed by the women...the men do the Haka. We have a lot of things planned this week so hopefully mother nature will cooperate and also all our children and staff will be healthy and well!
Our letter this week is Qq, the number is 21, the shape is a heart and the sight word is "run".
Leaders This Week:
Monday: Charlie Kate
Tuesday: Brandon
Wednesday: Trenten
Thursday: Haleigh
Friday: Georgia
Reminders:
Please make sure your child has a hat/gloves for outside play.
Please make sure your child has a complete change of clothes in their cubby.
Have a wonderful week!
Mrs. Wendy
These are some pics of New Zealand
This is a Pohutukawa Tree
On the beach near our house...the kids had to wear flap hats outside at school. There is no ozone layer over New Zealand and you can get a sunburn really quickly!
One of the local cafe's
Hiking around North Head
This was our first house (it was for sale when we moved in but the owners let us rent it until it sold..and for cost comparison with the US...this house rented for $625 a week 20 years ago)
This was our 2nd house and it was on the bay. We moved here when Jamie was 1 month old...it was a mile down the road! This had great views of the bay and the Auckland Bridge
The Auckland skyline at night
The casino under construction...note the direction of the cars!
The ferry between Devonport and Auckland
Cheltenham Beach..down the street from our first house
One of the geysers at a thermal village in Rotorura
Bobby and Michael's friends...
For more price comparisons...this car was $10,000 20 years ago...it had mold in it, and the floor board was rotting. A brand new Ford Taurus was about $45,000 back then
This a neighbors dog who would come over every day and play with Bobby and Michael..we also had another neighbor whose cat Bill would come and visit.
This is Rangitoto...an extinct volcano across from the beach near our first house. Jim would kayak to this volcano. Huge container ships would pass through these waters.
This is what happens when you ask a child to go get your glasses for you so you can read something! :)
Attempting to make bird feeders
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