Project Weekend: Fun!

Dad O, Tracy, Cal, Hannah and Baxter came for a weekend visit. On Friday the guys had the project of putting in the dishwasher.



It was a great father son project and they did such an awesome job!

Here is a picture of me putting in my first dish in our very own, installed dishwasher!

Zach, Cal and Hannah had a snowball fight.

The family drove to Hamilton to pick me up after school and see where I work. It was fun showing them where I spend my days. After that we headed to our favorite Canadian restaurant, Montanas! We stopped for some Dairy Queen on the way home- what a night of good eat'n!

When we came home Hannah and I danced to Kung Fu Fighting in the kitchen (a tradition) Hoo...Hah!
Zach, Hannah, Cal, and I had a slumber party in the living room together.

We recently had our home painted so on Saturday Tracy and Dad helped us tremendously by hanging our pictures/decorations. It is amazing how much a coat of paint and picture on a wall can change the feel of a room.

Tracy and I worked on several projects together like cleaning our coffee maker, hot water pot, and the stove. (Vinegar fixes everything!) Zach and Dad also fixed a leaky faucet. Cal, Hannah, Zach and I had tickle fights, boys verses girls, and the girls totally won!
Tracy and I took a break to eat our Super Blow Pops we bought at the store.

Baxter got a treat too!

Saturday afternoon we started making pasties, an Olson tradition, for dinner. Tracy and I cut up the vegetables...

while the guys made the crust...

Assembly station...

Putting on the finishing touch...butter!

Zach and Hannah...

They turned out awesome!

It was the funniest thing. I was taking out the dishes to set the table and I turned to get something out of a cupboard. When I turned back around this is what I saw...Cal was here. :-)

So was Hannah...

Saturday night we had a taste test to try the two new Doritos flavors. We weren't too impressed with either A or B flavor.

Thank you so much Dad, Trace, Cal, Hannah, and Baxter for coming for a visit. It was so great to spend time just hanging out and enjoying each others' company. Thanks for all the laughs and wonderful memories. Come back soon!!

Wake up to Water...

So, Friday morning while I was at work I received an e-mail from Zach. Here is a part of it:
Tonight you and I are going to have some good quality "together" time. And we're going to have it in the basement. Our basement flooded last night. I was going down to take a shower this morning and when I turned the light on I noticed about 2 inches of water at the bottom of the stairs. I took off my slippers and socks and waded around and found the whole basement was under water. For some reason, our sump pump (the thing that takes water out of the basement) wasn't plugged in. I plugged it back in and before I left for church there was no standing water except for a few puddles. So tonight, I'm going to vacuum out the water from the carpet and hopefully we won't have to replace it. Alot of our cardboard moving boxes are going to have to be junked, though. As far as I can tell, we didn't lose anything except the Guitar Hero guitars. Most everything else was above the water.
Other than that--I've had a great morning! I hope you are too. I'm very thankful that none of the power strips by my desk sparked and caught fire (don't worry...I unplugged them!). It could have been worse than what it was.

Yikes! I left work as early as I could to come home to help. We ended up spending the evening having our "quality time" cleaning the basement. Ahhh, the joys of home ownership.



Like Zach said, we are very thankful it wasn't worse than it was, and that my mom and dad taught me to use plastic bins to store items in the basement.

One Two Three...Eyes on Me!

One Two...Eyes on You!!
That is a phrase I have been saying quite a lot in the last week with my new class of second graders. Two weeks ago I was called in to interview for a maternity leave position at a school in Hamilton. (The teacher went into labor 9 weeks early!) Two nights later I found I got the job! God's faithfulness and timing are truly remarkable. So I resigned from the part-time position at the school in town and had to stop coaching the basketball team to make time for this new job.
I survived my first week of teaching: 22 eight year olds, 8 different lessons a day, recess duty, and no prep. period makes for one busy day...and one tired teacher. I do feel my teacher stamina coming back more and more every day. It's been a lot of fun to be back in a classroom full time again, and I'm having fun getting to know this new group of kiddos.


There is a Smart Board in my classroom. I have only used it to show short videos so far; I am eager to explore and learn how to use it!


Mrs. Olson...or as the kids like to say, "Yo Mrs. O!"