Halloween, It's Finally Here!

At last. The day all kids wait for, besides Christmas. The next best thing. Halloween! To distract our two, we got them up early and headed to the city. We visited the Disney Family Museum. It was awesome. I'll post about that tomorrow, as today is now all about Halloween.

We had a Boba Fett (Quinn, if you can't tell).

And a mad scientist who would have nothing to do with a crazy hair, gray wig, being a quiet subdued guy himself. He's a natural mad scientist instead-even the spikey hair was a challenge. Kevin practically had to wrestle him to the ground to get it spiked. I actually like his hair like this. Riley, he does not.

Riley's holding pens that look like syringes of blood.

Perhaps the mad scientist injected Boba Fett with something-hopefully not H1N1.

Word of the Day: Freak. My friend had a little haunted house at her house tonight. We walked all the way there so that we could go inside. We went in, and as soon as the screaming characters started, Quinn FREAKED. He cried and cried and cried. I guess he isn't a fan of haunted houses after all. Oh well, the rest of us liked it.

A Change of Career Perhaps?

Today at school, we had a fire safety presentation. One of my student's dad is a firefighter, so he came to talk to some of the 2nd grade classes. He talked about fire safety, what to do in case of a fire, stop drop and roll, and he demonstrated what all his gear is for. It was really cool.

You may be wondering why I am dressed like a firefighter. Well, I'm thinking about a change in career. Just kidding. Our friendly fireman had me try on all of his gear. It was HEAVY. Don't you think I look like I was born to fight fires?

Word of the Day: Breath. Breath is a good thing. I can't breathe. I have developed a cold, and I am the most congested I have ever been. It's really annoying. I can't clear my nose or my ears. Do I have H1N1? I took a Dayquil, but nothing. It super sucks.

It's Halloween Time Around Here!

Can you feel the excitement? Halloween is near! I know my boys are pretty excited, and the kids at school are super excited. Just two more days! I had a lot to do tonight to get ready. The boys' school is allowing costumes, and Riley's class is having an "observance," with-gasp-FOOD! I made treat bags for my class and Quinn's, and a snack for Riley's class.

Here are all of the treats for my class and Quinn's.

Quinn's class: stickers, rings, erasers, spiders, skeletons, but no food.

My class' treats: stickers, erasers, rings, spiders, and no food.

I made these "hamburgers" for Riley's 6th grade class.

Closer look: Nilla Wafers (buns), Keebler Grasshoppers (meat), green dyed coconut (lettuce), red frosting (ketchup) and yellow frosting (mustard). Super easy to do.

Word of the Day: Nice. It was a little chilly today, but the wind is gone. Thank goodness. It's so much easier to deal with things when the wind isn't blowing you over.

Safety First

October is fire safety month. One of my parents (of my students) is a fireman. He's coming on Friday to talk to the kids about fire safety, and he'll bring all of his gear. It's really cool.

In celebration of our visiting firefighter father, the kids are going to make this guy. He wraps around a cup. Is he not so cute? I wish I could find these guys for every season. We will make them tomorrow, and have them on the desks when he arrives.

Word of the Day: Christmas. It's on its way!

Soooo Very Exciting!

I don't have much for you today. Busy day. Ortho (again), meeting, cooking, homework, scouts. Oh and I got these beauties...

U2 tickets!!! I am a subscriber to U2.com and I was able to presale up to 4 tickets for the show, which isn't until June 16 (232 days away)!!!!! I started the process at school, as I had a 3 pm purchasing window, and I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to get tickets as we had a staff meeting that would go until 4:15 pm. I thought I would give it a try at school, while I waited for the meeting to start. I got through the ENTIRE thing, but came up with "Access Denied," on the very last step! Crap. Our stupid district and their dumb rules about what we can/can't look at on the internet. Anyway, I was anxious the rest of the meeting. When I got home, I thought I had to start the whole process over, so I tried, but the site wouldn't take my code-said it had already been used. Frustration. I logged into Kevin's account, and they were STILL there! Yes! After a quick trip to Target for printer ink, I printed them, and we are a GO! I am so happy. I was so bummed that I didn't get to see them this leg of the tour, as they skipped our end of CA. I'm super excited now though! Check out the You Tube show!

Word of the Day: Wind. It was cold and windy today. I like the cold. I hate the wind. Good news for me though, as I had no yard duty this week, so I could hide inside my classroom, away from the wind.

Ornament Swap

I am participating in an ornament swap! I did it last year, and it was lots of fun. Go HERE to read all about it. Basically, there are 5 girls in my group (and I am assuming in the other groups as well). We make the same ornament for our group-mates, and mail them. Soon we will all have 4 or 5 (depending on if you make yourself one too) new, handmade ornaments! Tons of fun! Here's a glimpse of what I made for last year's swap...

I used these little churches last year, and I made...

These! I loved them. I'm hoping the girls in my group loved them as well, even if they were a little messy with the glitter and all. Don't tell my mom about the glitter though. She hates it.

Here's a close up! OMG, I can't WAIT for Christmas!! I'm wondering if I can pull off a craft a day, or a craft a week on this blog? Let me think about that. Could be interesting. Any thoughts?

Word of the Day: Orthodontist. Riley had the first of four ortho appointments today. We saw our friends there too! Anyway, he has a spacer between his last molars. They would have put one on the other side, but the tooth next to it is just hanging by a thread. Riley is supposed to wiggle it and get it out tonight, or else the Dr. will pull it tomorrow. He's not wiggling it though. Poor Riley and his teeth pulling! He's already had 7 removed by dentists, and now this one. He tried gum (and we don't do gum), he tried Swedish Fish. He had hard crusted pizza for dinner. It's still in. Well, it won't be tomorrow. So he has impressions done tomorrow morning. He'll be late to school. Next week they will begin putting in the mechanics-an expander, and some braces on his top teeth only. He's a little anxious about it, but hell what ISN'T he anxious about. I swear he thinks these dentists are going to kill him or something. I guess it's just the unknown, and I know I had my worries as a kid (killer bees), so perhaps he comes by it naturally.

Bridge School Benefit

We spent the entire day at the Shoreline Ampitheater, in Mountain View. We went to the Bridge School Benefit concert. There were many bands and performers, including: Gavin Rossdale, Wolfmother, Monsters of Folk, Fleetfoxes, Adam Sandler, Chris Martin of Coldplay, No Doubt, and Neil Young. Neil Young is the founder of the school, which benefits severely physically impaired kids. It was a very good show. Gavin Rossdale was very good-nice acoustic version of Love Remains the Same. Oh and when Quinn and I went for a walk, we wandered over to this teepee that was set up, and who was standing over there as well? Gavin Rossdale and his son, Kingston! For those of you that don't know, Gavin Rossdale is married to Gwen Stefani (No Doubt), and Kingston is their child-the older one. Anyway, lots of great performances. Adam Sandler was fun-sang the Hanukkah Song, but not the Thanksgiving Song. Chris Martin was really good as well. He played "Clocks," with just the piano, and minus the rest of Coldplay. He was really funny, and he sure can play the piano! No Doubt was awesome, as usual, but the drummer was fully clothed at tonight's show. We left at a little after 9 pm, (after No Doubt), and Neil Young still needed to do his set.

It was a beautiful day in Mountain View today. These boys had lots of fun, running around, and Quinn enjoyed dancing.

Quinn was very happy as he found this $5.00 bill! The benefit benefitted him!

Look at that sky! It was nice and warm, and beautiful outside!

The lawn section was almost completely full. We had a great spot.

All three boys, hanging out.

Word of the Day: Busy. What a busy weekend, but it was great fun! Next weekend is Halloween! The boys are so excited to trick or treat. Kevin purchased tickets for us to go to the Disney Museum at the Presidio, in San Francisco, on Saturday. We look forward to that, and to seeing Where the Wild Things Are-couldn't fit it in this weekend. Happy end of the weekend to you all!

Pumpkins and Friends

Today we trekked out toward Napa, to visit some really good friends, Cathy and David and their kids Melanie, Emily and Nicholas. We had yummy BBQ chicken sandwiches for lunch, and caught up. The kids had a great time playing together. I met Cathy when our oldest kids were 12 weeks old, in a Mommy and Me class. There are two other moms that we met as well. We all became fast friends, forming a playgroup that met once a week. All of our oldest kids are 11 years old, and now there are siblings. All four families have stayed in touch over the years, even though two of the families have since moved out of California. What an adventure watching all of the kids grow up. Although we are all far apart, we still maintain the friendships. I cherish the friendships, and all that we have been through together. I love you guys! Oh, so after we ate, we all went to a really nice pumpkin patch, overlooking vineyards in Napa! It was so pretty, and it was so very hot outside.

This pumpkin patch had quite a variety of pumpkins!

Riley, taking a breather. I love this picture of him.

Kevin, among the pumpkins. I love this picture too!

Two boys and a very large 850 lb. pumpkin.

Emily, Riley, Melanie, Quinn and Nicholas. Back row is all about smiling, while the front row is all about silliness.

If you want to see the rest of our pictures, go HERE.

Word of the Day: Sonic. We finally made it to a Sonic! It was ok. The Sonic Blast has nothing on the Dairy Queen Blizzard. Glad we went though.

Ahhhh, it's Friday!

Made it to another Friday. Oh how I love them, the prospect of a full weekend ahead. We have busy, fun plans this weekend. After a lazy afternoon, Riley was dropped off at a Scouting event. Quinn and Kevin and I had dinner, then I dragged Quinn along with me to DSW, the hated Walmart, and Macy's. Macy's is having a sale!

Quinn has a very wiggly tooth. It's just dangling there, making him look like Snaggletooth. He won't pull it out.

DSW fun. Why is it that kids think these shoe things are so entertaining? At least he had fun. I didn't. No shoes for me.

Success at Macy's though! They are having a sale. I wanted a red purse. I don't have a red purse, and now I do. Is it not ever so cute?

Word of the Day: Nice. The weather was perfect today on this Friday. It's supposed to be a really nice weekend as well. Good thing because we have two outdoor activities planned this weekend. I am also hoping to see Where the Wild Things Are this weekend. Happy Friday, everyone!

In The Mail

Friday Foto Fiesta! I am playing along with Candid Carrie. Go to her site, and check it out! I chose two official photos, they are the first two on this post, although there are four total. I think these two pictures depict the personalities of my boys, almost perfectly, and I love both pictures. Oh and I love both boys. Let's take a look...

Quinn. Outgoing and spunky. He loves an audience. He's also got lots of style. He loves to talk, and he does a great impression of Michael Jackson. I love him to pieces.

Riley. Quiet and sensitive. A thinker. He's got a great heart. He LOVES to read, and loves books about random things/facts. I love him to pieces.

Oh these, they are not my boys, but they were both in my mailbox today! Catalogs! CB2 and Crate & Barrel. Full of yummy Christmas goodness. I have to say, I am ready for Christmas!

One cat. Happy to be home. He is eating up all of this attention. Silly boy. Where was he for two weeks? I guess we'll never know.

Word of the Day: Survivor. I was sad to see Russell have to leave Survivor tonight. I hope they will invite him back for the All Stars game.

The Cat Came Back

Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States of America...

Mr. Obama wants to wish you a very happy Halloween!

I hosted a baby shower today, for a colleague. Isn't the cake cute? One of my other colleagues got the cake, from Lucky.

There were presents, and really cute little girls!

Looky here! Our cat, Salem, came back!! He just showed up at the sliding door, meowing to eat, like he hadn't been gone for TWO weeks. He feels a little thinner, but he's fine. He seems really happy to be home too, and he's really, really hungry. I sure wish he could talk, so he could tell us where he has been.

Word of the Day: Ten. There are ten days until Halloween. Can you feel the excitement? The kids (my own, and my school kids) are all so excited.

I Get Knocked Down

Another busy week. Yesterday was Riley's checkup for his tooth extraction. It's healed up nicely. He's still not eating much which requires chewing, but it's getting better. After that, we headed to the Hello Kitty store for a girl birthday present. On the way, it POURED rain. Today I had a SSC meeting at my school, then home to clean for the baby shower I am hosting tomorrow for a colleague. Union meeting Thursday, and sleep on Friday. Sorry this blog just isn't that exciting. We do have some fun plans this weekend, so stay tuned. It gets better.

Quinn and his big hands. He gets...

knocked down, but...

He gets up again. He was twirling all around his floor with these hands.

Word of the Day: Math. My math lesson today (from the book), was on math naming boxes. You have a box. In the top left corner, you label it with a number. The rest of the box you fill with ways to show that number. It can be words, pictures, numbers, math problems, etc. We were working on the number 12. Showing all the ways we could name 12. One of my boys came up with 100,000-99,988. Do the math, it equals 12. Awesome huh? Second grade! I must be an amazing math teacher....JUST kidding! One of the boys had done 60-48, and then someone else had done 80-68, and I pointed out the pattern: first number ending in zero and second number ending in 8. From that, my one boy came up with the giant problem. Great thinking!

A Mustache, a Castle, and Some Dessert

Quinn grew a mustache at Adventure Time today. I suppose we'll have to teach him how to shave now. He's a man.

Look at the picture I took of the castle! Notice that there are NO people on the bridge! There was a show going on at the end of the bridge, with the band, Goofy, the Mad Hatter, a Dwarf, and some other characters, so the castle was closed to people traffic. Awesome.

I was good, and I didn't have one. I bet they are yummy though. Pumpkin muffins. Mmmm mmm good. Cute Mickey heads on them too.

Word of the Day: Sleepy. Must go to bed soon. Very tired. It rained (unexpectedly-I think). It worked out ok though, because it was the last recess that we lost at school, and that is my yard duty for this week, so SCORE! No yard duty for me today! Let's hope for rain in the afternoon tomorrow too! Oh, and I played Mother Nature in our "Cool the Earth" assembly today. Fun times.

Halloween Time-Disneyland

Here are some pictures of my special trip to Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure (DCA), for Halloween Time. It was awesome. I love the Halloween decorations, and the Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy was really really fun. The windows on Main Street, in Disneyland, were truly amazing. They always are, but I LOVED the Halloween things. All kinds of vintage looking items. I would love to know how they acquired all of the Halloween items. They are so very cool. It was really really hot yesterday-almost 90 degrees-but we got through it. Lots of airconditioned places in both parks. I am hoping that it won't be hot when we go in November.

Minnie greeted us at the main gate. Donald was there, and Goofy, and of course, Mickey Mouse, but he was in the middle, and we entered at one of the sides. Too many people to fight for a picture, so I chose not to.

The Haunted Mansion is themed for Nightmare Before Christmas every year. I actually prefer it this way. There's so much more to look at, and I really like that movie, and the characters. It will still be up when we are there in November, as it ties in both holidays!

Jack Skellington, greeting us at the gate to the Haunted Mansion.

I love this big Mickey pumpkin head! Of course, people were hogging it all day, and we couldn't get all that close to it. I was content to have this picture of it, instead of one of me with it.

The decorations on all of the lamp posts down Main Street. Pretty huh?

Word of the Day: Home. We got home really quickly today-by 2:15 pm. I still can't figure out why it took us so long to get there on Friday. I guess the traffic was worse than I thought it was.

If you want to see more of my Halloween Time pictures, GO HERE.

Halloween Time-Disneyland 2009

The following pictures are from Disney's California Adventure park, the current home of the world's largest candy corn! Oh and some pretty kick-ass rides.

World's Largets Candy Corn. Yum-no wait, I don't particularly care for these. Kevin loves them. I can eat a few and then they are gross. Oh, by the way, don't buy the candy corn kisses on your next Target trip. They are super yucky.

So terribly cute! Candy Corn Carrots! There was also Candy Corn corn, cactus, and other assorted veggies. Fun.

I am sure the city of San Francisco would love to decorate the Golden Gate Bridge like this, but alas, it's just too big. This is not the real bridge. This one's in DCA.

This is a picture of our picture from Tower of Terror. See us at the front? I am on the far left, holding on for dear life. Next to me is Roberta-my roomie for the weekend, and next to her is Tamara and Sarah. We work with Sarah-or we DID until she took the district math coach job. We met up with them. The rest of the people are complete strangers. This ride is totally fun.

Word of the Day: Forgot. I forgot to update my blog last night, Saturday, so think of this as my Saturday post. I was doggone tired.