Ancestry

One of the things I’ve been doing to keep busy this summer is work on family ancestry. I’ve always been interested in ancestry. My mom could tell you about when I was a little girl and I would spend hours looking through a Klaustermeier Family Tree book we had.

The Klaustermeier side of the family is not really much of a mystery to me, but every other side of the family is a little bit mysterious. I always knew a lot about the Klaustermeier side because I was the 5th generation to live on the Klaustermeier farm. My dad’s great-grandfather was the one who settled on that land. I also have a Klaustermeier book that’s nearly 450 pages of family history and ancestry.

I also knew a little about the Siewert side because of their prominence in Hamburg. I remember being little and my mom telling me about how so-and-so lived here or there or going to the cemetery and looking at headstones from relatives, etc.

Jeff’s family is another story. Jeff knows his grandparents names and that’s about it. So I set out to do some research of my own. His mom and aunts have been pretty helpful on his mom’s side of the family, but I don’t have nearly the availability of the extensive records on my side of the family. One of the things I’ve been spending so much time on ancestry.com is looking through census records. It never ceases to amaze me how many Frederick Finke’s there were born around the same time, or how many Jim Lewis’s (Jeff’s side) there could be married to Lizzie Ross’s. It’s made for quite a puzzle of things to put together. There should be census information out there on his family somewhere, at least back until the 1870 census, but it’s been a huge, frustrating, challenge. When I start to get frustrated I take a step back for a while but always get sucked back in! I know there’s a piece to that puzzle that will fall into place soon and things will start to come together if I stick with it.

So when my cousin, Gina, emailed me and asked about ancestry, I thought that maybe the best way to go about things would be to blog a little at a time about each person or married couple I’ve found. That way, those of you who are “in-the-know” about those people in our history could comment and add your own info, and we could all benefit.

Here’s a paragraph from an email I sent Gina a few minutes ago:

One of the things that has been the most confusing for me is the names. For example, on the Finke side we have:
Leonard Frederick Finke. Then we have William Frederick Finke. Then we have Frederick Finke (whose middle name was probably William). Frederick Finke had a brother named William Finke. Their mom’s name is Elisabeth. Frederick Finke also had a daughter, Lizzie, but she was probably “officially” named Elisabeth, too. Try keeping it all straight!

What do you think? Is that something you are interested in reading about? And adding to?

 

House is painted!

It is finished already!

 

House painting

We’re getting our house painted! We’re going a little darker with dark brown trim. The colors are cocoa truffle and bittersweet brown. Do paint names get any better than that? More pics to come!

 

A rose

This is the newest flower to pop up around our house….so pretty!
I’m excited to try out posting from my phone….let me know if you have any problems.

 

Birthday Week

Last week was a full week of snow days! So, the first day back to school after Christmas break also happened to be my 30^th birthday. Apparently either a staff member or parent sent out an email to tell people it was my birthday, because several students brought in yummy treats and many more brought cards. My coworkers brought me TWO cakes (there are only five of us) and presents, and Jeff prepared dinner (by going through my favorite drive-thru Italian, Fazoli’s) and set up candles and brought flowers and a balloon. He put the food on “real” plates and we opened a bottle of wine and had a really nice dinner. What a great 30^th birthday! It’s really hard to believe I’m 30. I remember when 30 seemed “old” and I really don’t feel very old. At all.

Since we had a full week of school this week, I feel like I’m back on schedule. The house is still relatively clean; I’ve been to the gym every morning (except Sunday) and have only made it home before dark one day- today. It is my goal every Friday to make it home to catch the 4:30 episode of Judge Judy. I didn’t make it home in time to see Judy today, but I did make it home before dark.

We have school on Monday to make up for having a week of snow days. Apparently we still need to go back in June for at least one day, and also apparently we’re supposed to get a lot more snow this winter, so we may be in school until July. We better not be. We have a vacation in 155 days!

On a serious note:

When I taught in New Jersey there were several Haitian families that I worked with. One of these families, the Marcellus family, has older brothers that are in Haiti. They have gotten word that the brothers are OK and were in an area of Haiti that was not hit very hard. However, several cousins that were in Port-au-Prince died in the disaster.

Please keep the Marcellus, Jean, and Destin families in your prayers as they all have extended family in Haiti and it may be a while before they know what is going on with their relatives. I cannot imagine what it would be like to experience such a catastrophe, and pray for those whose lives are forever changed because of it.

 

Christmas 2009

Today is a Great Day. School was supposed to start again, but because of the “cold,” it was a snow day. I say  “cold” because the low we -2 and the high is 12 today. To me, having grown up in Minnesota, it seems a little silly. Especially since when we left Minnesota yesterday morning it was -20.

The view from upstairs at Mom and Dad Klaustermeier's House

We had a nice Christmas this year.  Jeff’s sister and nephew came and stayed with us for a few days. There was a big snowstorm while they were here so we spent a lot of time inside watching TV and playing the wii. We went to Jeff’s mom’s house for a few hours on Christmas day, too. You would think that since we live nearby that we would see each other more often than we do, so it was really nice to spend time together.

Jeff and D'Ondre lookin' handsome

Jeff and Renee

We were in Minnesota for a really quick trip as well. We arrived at my parents’ house a few minutes after midnight on New Year’s. We spent New Year’s Day opening gifts and spending time with my family. The next day Jeff and I went out with friends for “brunch” and then my cousin Sara stopped by Saturday night and we got to catch up for a bit. We left early Sunday morning to head back to KC and we had an uneventful trip back.

Jeff and Isaac playing Nintendo DS

I’ll leave you with a picture of one of Jeff’s gifts for me this year. It was really hard for him to spend money on a Vikings jersey, but he did it!

The "06" is for the year we got married. How thoughtful!

 

I know, I know…

I know it has been way too long since I’ve posted. I’ve been busy with stuff around the house and, or course, school stuff. I try not to complain but having an hour of planning time a week can really wear a person down!
Let’s see… Since I’ve posted last….
My friend Christopher from college visited and we did a bit of a Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives tour eating at two places featured on the show. I don’t think I would make a huge point to go to either place again.
I helped to plan and execute the greatest Grandparents Day ever at my school, although I’m a little biased since this is the only one I’ve really taken the lead on.
I am in charge of Operation Christmas Child at church and have been working to publicize this to the congregation. I’m already thinking ahead to next year and how to make it even bigger and better. It’s been really well received except some criticism that it’s not a Lutheran organization. Oh well. We’re all Christians working to spread the gospel. Denominational lines do not matter, in my opinion. (From the Lutheran who married a Baptist…)
I’ve given up a bit of Friday Wine as I’d have a glass and fall asleep on Friday nights. I’m usually worn out from the week by Friday and the wine was definitely accelerating my bedtime. Plus, my mother-in-law was worried that I was posting too many pictures of alcohol on my blog.
Yesterday we spent a bunch of time cleaning up the beautiful yellow blanket of leaves covering our lawn. The picture below was taken at least a week ago. All of the leaves have blown off of the burning bush now, but it was pretty while it lasted.
Coming up this week is the school auction. It will definitely keep things very busy throughout the week!

For those of you that are wondering, we’re planning on coming to MN for Christmas on New Year’s Eve and staying until January 3rd.

Our beautiful burning bush adds a splash of color to the front of our home.

 

 

Busy, busy!

I’m trying to think what I’ve been so busy doing the last two weeks, and while lots has been going on, I’m not sure that it is exciting enough for my blog. Let’s see…. We made pizzas for a fundraiser at my school, tried to stay on top of things there but that never seems successful.
My new god-daughter, Ruby, was born on Sunday, September 27th. She is the daughter of my friend Liz and her husband Doug. Below is a picture of them. We went to St. Louis to meet her this weekend, and were able to stay with my brother and his family while we were there. You can also see a picture of Cara and Gus, and if you look closely you can see Jeff and Karin in the mirror in the back of them. We’ve had some growing going on around here; you can see some “in progress” pictures of my herbs and mums.
Also, we went to the Chiefs/Raiders game two weeks ago and Chiefs/Giants game today. Not a great time for the Chiefs fans in general, but it was a fun time regardless. I think that’s the end of my Chief’s adventures for the year, but we’ll see. I’m really looking forward to watching the Vikings (especially Brett Favre) beat the Packers tomorrow!
Excitement!

Doug, Liz, and baby Ruby

Cara and Gus

baby herbs after two weeks

The mums looking a little dry, but opening a lot. Do you like the MN Gopher colors?

Our view of Arrowhead from way up in the corner!

 

Lazy Saturday

Oops! It’s been too long since I’ve posted. I’m sure you’re all devastated! Ha!
My mom and dad were here visiting last weekend. They arrived Saturday evening and left Monday morning, so it was a short trip. We didn’t do anything too exciting while they were here but we did enjoy some Kansas City cuisine with our visit to Fiorella’s Jack Stack BBQ. It was delicious, as always. We enjoyed a bottle of wine with my parents Sunday evening, which was probably the best wine I’ve had so far.
I’ve decided to call it Weekend Wine instead of Friday Wine because many times on Friday nights I fall asleep on the couch before getting the bottle open!
Also last weekend we had a visit from Jeff’s sister Renee and took in a Royals game.
Other than that there’s been nothing too exciting going on here. Just plugging away at school and work! There is nothing on my schedule for this Saturday and that’s just the way I like it!
Enjoy the pictures!

The Rose Montaigne from Stone Hill from my parents with my mom in the background.

Check out the view in my sunglasses

 

First Week Down, 39 To Go!

The first week of school was a success. My 5th and 6th graders are great, my 7th and 8th graders will present a bit more of a challenge.
I’ve ordered enough copies of my first Literature book with 7/8th grade. Borders had free shipping this weekend, thank goodness.
I forgot how much school wears me out! I stayed rather late each night this week trying to get prepared and stay on top of things. I’ve decided to rotate Spanish into my literature circle times instead of dong 5th through 8th all together at once. However, I don’t know more than very basic Spanish. We use a video series where our teacher is Senor Morris. So, the series is on VHS and I brought the tape home to watch a few lessons this weekend and realized…. we don’t have a VCR anymore. There might be one in a box in the garage- all the more motivation to clean it up a bit.
We skipped the Friday wine last night, I was falling asleep on the couch by the time I remembered and decided to do it tonight or wait until my mom and dad come next weekend. I’m looking forward to their visit. Being so far from “home,” it is always nice to have visitors. So if you’re reading this and ever drive through or visit KC without stopping to see me, I’ll be sad! We have an extra bedroom and two air mattresses and sleeping bags and…..I could go on and on.
Yesterday marked my 6th full week of going to the gym Monday-Friday! I will be going shopping later on today to buy some new shoes to celebrate the accomplishment. At the end of 8 weeks I will buy myself a new top or two. I need major motivation to keep going now that I have to get up at 5:30 to get there and home in time to make it to school.
The most exciting thing going on here right now is that my friend Amanda ( http://fogelman-family.blogspot.com/ ) and her husband Jason are having their baby girl, Macy, in the next week or two. I’m on call to watch their 4-year-old, Katelyn, when it happens. Amanda and I were roommates at Seward and both ended up in the Kansas City area within a year of each other. It is really nice to have such a good friend so close by!