Happy Mother's Day!

We love our mommies! Look at these beautiful young women. Hard to believe they are mothers at all! ;) Kevin and I went to lunch at Red Lobster with my Mom and Dad, and Mama Deb. We were all about ready to pop by the end of the meal, but we had a really great time!

Like mother, like son! What a couple of cuties.

Spring Release

With Mother's Day and Spring Release came the

SPRING 2009 WINE TOUR PARTY BUS!

When Miss Eva Joe invited me to be her date for a wine tour on a party bus, I was so excited! And I was not let down. We had a fabulous day. Perfect weather, terrific wines, beautiful balloons, and amazing company.

We started off by visiting L'Ecole No. 41 and Woodward Canyon. We were off to a wonderful start. I absolutely loved the Syrah at L'Ecole, and was amazed with the dry Reisling at Woodward. I just had to buy them both, I mean...after all, what's a wine tour without a little to remember it by?

Next we were off the Cougar Crest, where I enjoyed the wines, but the conversation more!

Lunch at Dusted Valley Vintners was fabulous! We had a picnic with sandwiches, salad, and of course WINE. Here we met the most wonderful pourer, Andre'. He was fabulous, and kept us ladies in full supply of the wines. To sum up our time here, let me just say
I LOVE ME SOME SYRAH (slurp)

After lunch, we jumped..or swaggered back on the party bus, and headed to Rulo Winery where the bus driver, Richard showed us that chivalry is not dead. On a side note, I think Dick has a little crush on Marci Marce.

Walla Walla Vintners was really nice. I really enjoyed their Cabernet Sauvignon, and I also enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Every time I drive up Mill Creek to see my parents, I comment on how I'd like to check it out. Worth the drive.

Incubator Wineries was very interesting. The set up reminds me of the houses on Edward Scissorhands. They all look the same, but in different, sherbet colors. Very cute. We only really visited Kontos Cellars while here. That was fun, since Kevin farms right next to Chris Kontos, who was pouring wine for us.

Quick pic of Eva, Carrie, and Jason outside the tasting room at Kontos Cellars. We were all pretty droopy eyed at this point in the day.

Last but not least, we were off to dinner at Dunham Cellars. They have some wonderful wines, and the food was delicious as well.

The tasting Room at Dunham

The decorations were beautiful at Dunham, and dinner was great!

Eva and I had a wonderful time; we are definitely doing it next year! Thanks again, Eva for a great time.

My Classroom

A lovely view of my super enthused 6th grade class. (Notice the boy SLEEPING in the second row. I was clearly very entertaining that afternoon.)

Our "classroom read-aloud bookshelf" We are currently reading A Wrinkle in Time.

My 'to be graded' basket. Amazingly enough, it was empty. Not at all typcial!

View from the front. My room is crowded with 27 student desks. Thank goodness I have an actual classroom this year, and not the portable I had last year. They just wouldn't have fit.

Our windowsill displays student mailboxes, hand-in baskets, Late-work basket, No-name basket, and 'Extra' basket (for extra copies of worksheets and such)

The white board at the front of the room, Math Tesselations and Weekly vocabulary words are displayed above and below.

My corner! I spend A LOT of time at that computer!

View from the back.

Computer Research Center.

Coat rack and Math manipulative shelves. Parts of Speech on the wall!

This is our classroom library corner. Students often read or work on team activities in this corner. I'll need to expand it for next year; I just got a hold of some books that need a new home!

Skill Reminder Wall. Currently displaying Fraction opperations, Elements of Literature, and Good Reading Strategies. The Weekly spelling list is also displayed here.

Our Math wall. Measurement, multiplication, and Mountain Math bulletin board!

This classroom community tree is the first thing that I made to go up on my wall at the beginning of the year, and I am very proud of it. Each apple has a student name on it; Mrs. Chabre is up there too!

Our classroom calendar, rules, expectations, homework policy, birthdays, weather report, and classroom jobs chart is all on this bulletin board by our door.

Each week, students are given a new classroom job. They check the "current job openings" board every Monday morning to see what job they are responsible for that week.

My 6th graders will soon be Jr. Highers, so we just had our elections for 7th grade ASB officers. Each student was required to write a speech and make a poster for the candidacy of one office. Here are the posters, displayed on our classroom window.

Classroom Website

Well, April is gone and we're on to May! This is crazy to say, but we only have 30 more days of school until summer. And just think, if the Swine Flue hits, it may be even less. Just kidding!! Work is going really well; I just had my end of the year evaluation and it went great! All Satisfactory +. I also just finished creating a classroom website. I am seriously obsessed with it.

The URL is www.teacherweb.com/WA/PrescottSchool/MrsChabre

Our school has really been emphasizing getting parents more involved with their children's education. I agree, very important! So I thought that this site would be a wonderful way to do just that. It allows parents to access daily assignments, extension activities, class projects, expectations, rules, discipline policy, and so much more!

So check it out; and don't tell me you don't love it- I know you do! :)

April Showers

Holly just had her bridal shower. I can't believe she is getting married in 3 weeks! Congratulations, Holly and Jim! The shower was really fun. We played little games, gave Holly advice, and my favorite part was making wedding dresses out of Toilet paper and ribbon! Here's a picture of the winning design. Brought to you exclusively by Chabre-Reser Designs. :)

Here is Holly enjoying herself with Sarah Hoffmann, sister in law to be, and a friend from work. Holly had a 'honey do whistle' that she could blow whenever she wanted to be waited on. The power went to her head for sure!

The Day after the shower, we had a big BBQ and planted a vegetable garden! Holly and Cindi helped me set up a 'master plan' for the garden. I planted my herb garden already. Basil, Thyme, Rosemary, Parsley, Cilantro, and Chives. I planted a ton on green beans, so let me know if you want any once they are ready to harvest. I have started seeds inside for Roma tomatoes, Cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and yellow squash. Cindi just brought me sweet onion starts, and she is also starting watermelon and bell peppers in her greenhouse for me. I think we'll plant strawberries and carrots too! We have had rain showers pretty constantly since planting, so hopefully that will help the plants grow big and bountiful!

I swear it's not just dirt! Notice the dogs like to walk through!

A few flowers by the front steps. Lovely!

The Scudders came over to hang out, and Chris broke out his huge grills to slow cook ribs. I promise I'm not just saying this to make Chris feel good- MMM, MMM they were good!

Here are Jesse and Bradley; they spend most of the afternoon painting pet rocks with Deb. Debi had the most fun of all, I think. Love you, mama! The rocks are now a beautiful addition to my first ever attempt at a garden! We'll see how it goes.

Here's the new Cherry Blossom Tree Kevin planted for me, and my favorite potted plants on the porch!

Easter

Here are a few pics from Dinner out on Friday night. El Sombrero, or "The Hat" as David likes to call it. mmm mmm, good Margharitas! Aren't Mom and Dad cute? :)

David brought his new girlfriend, Christan home for Easter weekend. The family had a great time, and everyone loves her! I made them stay here with me and Kevin, so would have more of a chance to see them. Usually when Deej comes home, I see him once for dinner or something, and then he's off to hang out with his friends. So THANK YOU BROTHER... We went out to dinner Friday night, and then to the Brew Pub for a few drinks. Saturday morning, we checked out the Hoffmann's cattle branding. WOW, I have never felt so bad for animals. They were making un-godly bawling noises, but it was interesting. Kevin and I had a relaxing afternoon, and then my parents, David, and Christan came over for what Kev likes to call a 'redneck barbeque'. Needless to say, the night didn't end with dinner. Mike, Amanda, Jim, and Holly came over and we started up the bonfire, and then headed to the Tux for Karaoke! Clearly, my idea!! Overall, a really fun night...well, except for getting Kevin into the house when it was all said and done. ha.

Amazingly enough, Kevin and I woke up early enough to go to the 'Sunrise Service' up Skyrocket, which was actually at 9am... so not actually when the sun rose (I think that's when we were getting to bed). Then brunch at 10am at the Community Church in Prescott, and up to my parents house for 'Easter Dinner' at 11:30. Back to the house to sleeeeep for the rest of the day, and then had tacos for dinner. *insert the obvious joke about Kevin and I being lard-asses*

All in all, a great Easter Weekend.

The Tale of the Slushy Escapade

Well, it has been exactly a week since this paramount event in my life ocurred, but I still feel the need to mention it. You may think I'm being a bit extreme, but you will see that I am NEVER over-dramatic. But was it dramatic, you ask? YES....yes, it was. So here goes.

Last Thursday evening, Mike Reser was having his bachelor party. So a few of us ladies, (meaning Robyn and I) along with Mike's fiance, Amanda and a few of her friends, planned to go out and have a little dinner and do a some gambling at the the Blue. On the drive in, the crazy weather began. It was around 7 pm, I believe, when the FREAK snow storm blew on in. I was driving my little car on Harvey Shaw Rd. (very windey and out in the boonies, for those of you who are not familiar) Let me paint a picture for you...

It was a dark, cold night. The road was slick with a layer of freshly fallen slush. Although slush on the ground, in the air it was frozen snow, being pelted at the poor girl who would soon be its victim. (and when I say 'pelted', I'm talkin' like Star Wars style. It was coming at me like I was going light-speed, or whatever they call it---of course I WASN'T going the speed of light; quite the contrary. I was plodding away at 30 mph, KEVIN!!) Anyway, back to the picture...Little did the poor wretch know that she would soon by lying in a ditch, wishing she had cell phone service on this God-forsaken road. Wait, backup. I skipped a part. Before actually being IN the ditch, She was driving about 20mph after crossing a bridge, and could not see the road even a few feet ahead of her. Up behind her stormed a set of huge headlights. LOVELY. Of course, they distracted her even more. Not that it would last long. The driver, who she could only assume was a MAN sped by her at a speed far exceeding what she considered to be safe. So there she was, following a large 4 wheel drive Ford F-150, which of course was having no problem at all navigating through the relatively shallow pile-up of slush. 'Perfect', the girl thought. 'This wonderful, concerned driver ahead of me almost pushed me off the road!' But it was actually a good thing that he passed her, as it helped her focus on the road in front of her. His tail lights were easy to see, and as long as he kept going at a slow enough speed, she would be able to follow him all the way to town. But it was not to be. Being the man that he must have been, he felt the need to drive way to fast for road conditions. 'Thanks a lot, buddy', she said sarcastically. (Well, she may have actually used a different, more colorful, and accurate term, but you get the picture.) I suppose it was unavoidable that the girl's car began to protest against the weather. Bit by bit, the tires began to skid and hop out of the ruts in the road that the truck had left behind. All it took was one jolt. The car was all too quickly heading across the center line and toward the other lane. Suddenly, the car was out of the girl's control. Panicked, she pumped on the breaks and tried to veer the steering wheel to the right, cautious not to steer too suddenly. The last thing she wanted was to make the car spin. (shudder. Clearly this has happened to her before) Her efforts were fruitless. 'Shoot, Shucks, Gee Golly', the girl squelched through clenched teeth (or something like that). All of the sudden, it was over. The car was leaning almost on its side in the muddy, slushy, brush ridden ditch. The adrenaline was pumping through her vains. Her head was pounding, her hands shaking. And that was it. 'At least it's over', she thought. 'I'll just reach for my purse (now in the back seat), and get out my cell phone, call my husband, and he'll take it from here. Whew' But as many of you may know, the cell phone service on Harvey Shaw is at the least, hit and miss. It's really all up to chance. And of course, to continue the lucky events of this particular evening, the girl's cell phone did NOT have service. 'OK, I'll just have to walk down the pitch-black road a little ways', she suddered to herself, trying to hold back the tears. 'Fine; I can do this.' But then there was climbing OUT. Determined, she kicked open the passenger side door, climbed out and up the bank of the ditch (without getting a bit of mud on herself, I must add). And off she went, down the windey, ice covered road--the slush-snow pouring down on her, RUINING her very cute hair-- with her cell phone clenched in her frozen hand. At last, one little bar popped up on her cell phone, and she made the call. Being a bit nervous that she would start crying if she heard her husband's voice, she called her sister-in-law, Robyn, whom she was on her way to meet. 'Robyn,' she spit out, 'My car's in a ditch. Help!' The quick-witted and ever-poised Robyn replied, 'I'M ON MY WAY!!'

Well, that's about it. Except to say that some very nice people stopped and let me sit in their car, and borrow their WORKING cell phone to call Kevin, while I waited for Robyn to come pick me up. As I drove away from my car, the road became bare, and it turned out that the roads were in perfect condition everywhere else that night. OF COURSE.

Needless to say, the night was off to a rough start, and ended up being a headache in every sense of the word. I Ended up driving home with Kevin about 2 hours later. Honestly, I should have just stayed home.

Additional Information:

• My car is fine, other than having a loose bumper and a few minor scrapes
  
• In general, I am fine as well. (Thanks for asking, KEVIN!) Nothing a lifetime of massage therapy can't cure, right?


• I learned that I have a horrible insurance plan, when it comes to having your car towed. But after $548, and a new set of tires, we were off scott-free.


• Needless to say, we are adjusting our car insurance plans...

Here are a few pictures from Mike and Amanda's Wedding, which was Saturday, March 7th.