Finally It's Friday

Yay! It's the weekend! I only ended up working a half day today. I decided to go see the doctor about my arm. It really, really hurts. I can't raise it very high without searing pain. It was quite comical this morning as I tried to blowdry my hair, and then use my flat iron. At school, I couldn't write on the whiteboard (but the kids LOVED writing for me). My range of motion is very limited right now. Anyway, I left school around noon and went to the doctor. I have a badly bruised bicep muscle, but nothing is broken. I have to take Motrin and ice it. I shall live. I carried on with the rest of my day: picking kids up from school and chess, and baseball for Quinn tonight!

The girls are hanging out. They really like each other.

Happy weekend everyone!

Art, Books, Meetings, Birthday Parties, Baseball and a Fall

So today was a super busy day! Work-more state testing, but luckily it was the last part of our Language Arts test. Next week, math, and the kids are super excited to take that part! This group is not freaked out about the state testing at all. It's nice. They are working hard. I have to think of a really good reward for them, when we are finished next week-after we all do our big sigh. After school I had a meeting that went an hour, and then I had to rush and get Quinn to get him to a birthday party, which we were late to. We were there for awhile and then headed over to the baseball field to drop off the four raffle baskets for casino night on Saturday. We didn't get home until 7.

We are working on these Charlie Harper prints at school. I gave each of my students one to color-they are all different. I trimmed them and mounted them on black paper, and put their names and the date. Currently they are working on stories to go with their pictures. I love that they are all different, and I am excited to read their stories. I'll put them up for Open House. Oh and these prints came from a Charlie Harper coloring book that I picked up at Paper-Source.

I read this book to my class yesterday. It's hysterical! It's all about THE TEST. The kids understood the humor in it, although my para and I laughed really hard. There's a part where the principal is freaking out about #2 pencils-hysterical. I'm going to order my own copy. Run to your bookstore or library and check it out. So funny, and sadly, so true!

Oh, on my way to deliver the last of the 4 raffle baskets (I had to make two trips), I tripped over a short fence and fell flat on my chest. I had nothing to break my fall as my hands were full of basket. I knocked the wind out of myself, and now my arm really, really hurts. The worst part though is that I ripped the wrapping on the basket, and now I have to rewrap it tomorrow. Annoying.

Wishful Flip Flops

So yesterday it was supposed to rain, but really it only showered. Today it was supposed to shower, but it full on rained. We had rainy day recess (yuck). I used to love rainy day recess, and I still do, if I have yard duty. I don't this week, so it just means I don't get a kid-free break. Don't get me wrong, I love my little class, but that 15 minutes I have, to myself, in the quiet of my classroom, is so nice.

After dinner tonight, for Kevin's birthday, we went to Target. I bought flip flops in the hopes that it will warm up and be spring tomorrow. We'll see if it works.

I took pictures of the girls today. They are getting to know each other. Aren't they cute? The dark haired one will have a name in about 4 days. Vote in the poll, please.

Arden is sporting her yellow eyes, and no-name is sporting her pink eyes, which make her look distant I think. Actually, they both look distant don't they? I know you are thinking I have lost my mind. I have. It's gone.

It's the middle of the week! Already! One more shift on my team's week of snack shack duties. No calls so far! Yay! I will be so glad to have this week behind me. Talk about stress.

It's Only Tuesday

I feel like I have hardly been home lately. Busy weekend, and a busy week so far: snack shack duty last night, staff meeting and teacher appreciation meeting and scouts tonight. Not too much on the agenda for tomorrow, but it is Kevin's birthday.

These are my bowls in my cabinet. Aren't they cheery?

Quinn was a bee in his little scout skit. His den presented a little skit about the growth of a flower. Cute.

Maya's sweet face. Let's see what she's been up to...

Oh, looks like she killed (really killed) her duck. It's been flat for awhile now, as she had previously removed the stuffing and squeaker. Ha. Funny I referred to it as "removing." It's not like she's carefully picking out the stuffing. She GOES to TOWN of stuffed toys, ripping the stuffing out of the toys. Today she got the head off, and she somehow turned the body inside out. She's talented.

Keep voting in my girl's naming poll.

Want!!

Oh my gosh! I was searching around Etsy, looking at clothes for my new girl. After that I went to eBay, looking at cool glasses for my new girl. Then I flipped over to Valley of the Dolls and LOOK at what I found-a possible new sister for my new girl!

She's called My Little Candy. She is yummy! Look at that pink hair! She is so freakin' adorable, but she's pricey-it's the pink hair. Her clothes are super cute too. Want. Want. Want.

By the way, I have started a new poll to name my new girl. Please vote.

Baseball Weekend

What a beautiful day today! It was a great weather weekend, and a great baseball weekend. I was unable to attend Quinn's game today, as I had a baby shower to go to, but Kevin kept me filled in on the progress, via text messages.

Apparently, Quinn got three hits today, and his last hit was a really good, solid hit to a hole in the shortstop area. He also got the game ball. The Hot Rods lost today, but they all had fun. Quinn got two Otter Pops from the Snack Shack and gave Riley one-and the RED one to boot! Another game tomorrow!

Another Great Mail Day!

So it's Saturday, and we are getting ready to go to Quinn's baseball game. We were literally going out the door when the mailwoman arrived. Look at what she delivered!!

A package! For me! Can you guess what it is? There were three boxes total.

She's HERE! My new girl is HERE! Look at how CUTE she is!!!!

Arden (aka Hello Harvest) is sporting her "factory" outfit, and greeting her new unnamed sister (aka Punkaholic People). They don't look like they are very sure of each other, but they have been chatting all afternoon. The new girl has earrings! She has two in one ear, and the long, dangly one in the other ear. She also has painted fingernails. Her eyes are aqua, orange, green, and pink eye colors. Arden has purple, light green, orange and yellow eyes. Arden's cheeks are rosier, because new girl is a goth punk rocker chic. Quinn likes her guitar.

Here's Quinn, on the field during his game. He got two hits, but the first one was a really nice hit down the 3rd base line! He also got batted in, so he scored a run for his team. We played the Lugnuts. Lots of those kids were on the same team as Quinn last season (also called Lugnuts), so it's fun to play together. We won this one today, but the Lugnuts have also beaten us, and we tied another game with them. I don't think any of the kids worry about winning or losing. They all just have fun. We play them again tomorrow. Gooooo Hot Rods!

Finally Friday

I bet you are wondering what these are, aren't you? They are going to be bumble bee antennae. Why, you ask? Well Quinn and his den are performing a little skit about plant growth, at the pack meeting Tuesday. They practiced at last week's meeting. It's really cute, only too bad for me, because I will miss it. I will be in the snack shack that night, and actually for THREE nights next week. That's a long story, but the short version is that I signed up to be the team mom, and there are a lot of parents who do not want to do squat. That leaves me, a one woman show. Pisses me off to no end. Lately, LOTS of things are pissing me off.

Kevin was at a Toastmasters contest tonight, so I got the use of the office. I made the picture frame thingy, and a hair clip for Arden.

I'm happy it's Friday. Sick of a stressful situation at school. We have baseball all weekend. A game tomorrow and Sunday, and also Monday.

Finally Blue Sky!

The sun was out today, and it was beautiful! It was a little on the chilly side, but still, beautiful. Just look at the sky! I took the picture from my classroom. I just love a sky like that.

A Good Mail Day!

So a friend of mine from work, has a husband who is a personal trainer. He agreed to "train" several of us from school. We went today for the first time, to do cardio. OMG. I thought I would die. Moving push ups are not my friend. My legs are sore, but in a good way. It was really a good workout, and the exercises we did, I can do at home too! I wonder how sore I will be tomorrow? Oh well, no pain, no gain, right?

I splurged and bought Maya a new toy, a Kong Wubba. I gave it to her at 4:14 this afternoon.

Destroyed at 4:55 pm. It brings her such joy to destroy her toys.

And finally, in the mail today...

My new best friend! Kevin got me a new computer. My old one was running out of hard drive space, and Riley needs a newer computer. He gets my old best friend. I like this one. It has a pretty keyboard-it glows purple under the black keys. Pretty. The best part though? It smells new!

I Won!!

I bid on a Blythe doll two days ago, on eBay. I had no expectations of winning the bid, as I generally don't win anything I bid on. Alas, I WON!! I won! I won! Look at what I won!

Punkaholic People! Nobody else bid on her, so not only did I win, but I got the low price ("Wow, that's a low price!" Staples commercial). Happy Mother's Day to me! It made my whole day! I couldn't wait to come home and pay for her, so she can ship! She's coming all the way from Taiwan! Can you tell I am just a LITTLE excited? Just look at her. She's so cute! I'm still yelling about it!

Now, what shall I call her? Perhaps a poll is in order? She's super cool, so she needs a super cool name. Suggestions? I have one name in mind. I am seriously considering sending out baby announcements.

More good news: 57 days until U2, and I think Kevin and I are going to see Blondie and the B-52's this summer. I also want to see Cyndi Lauper, but I have to convince Kevin that he does too. It's almost summmmmmmmer!

Monkey Business

Happy Monday! It was mostly a very pleasant day. We are getting a ton of stuff done at school, and we are preparing for our state testing. I really feel these kids are ready. We've been practicing all of the math problems that normally frustrate me during the test, and they are breezing through them. Here's an example: 3+2__7 They have to pick the answer that makes this true. Here are the choices: A) = B) > C) < D)+. I watch in utter horror as students choose A) =. It makes me want to bash my head against the wall. We have practiced a bunch of them, and they have done really well. The true test (ha) will be the test! I have faith in them though. I know they can do it.

I finished the sock monkey I was working on. It's a Lakers inspired monkey, made for a friend, for her friend's birthday. I'm not sure I like the nose-of the monkey, I've never met my friend's friend. These socks were a pain to work with too, by the way. They were very stretchy, and hard to stuff. He looks a little lumpy in parts. Oh well, authentic handmade.

There are only 7 Mondays for me to teach! 42 school days until summer, and 58 days until we see U2!!

Maya got to visit the dog park today! It was her first time. Kevin and the boys took her. I got to spend the afternoon with some friends. The weather was beautiful today, a taste of summer. It's supposed to rain on Tuesday, but I am trying not to thing about that. I quite enjoy wearing my capri pants and flip flops.

Quinn, Riley and Maya at the dog park. Apparently Maya liked all of the dogs her size, except for a bull dog. She hated the bulldog. She ran all around and didn't come when she was called. Any ideas on how to train her to be off her leash, without running away?

Yesterday, when we went to Santana Row, for dinner and a little shopping, I found the above treasures. Paperclips made from fabric yo-yos (SUPER cute)! Magnetic glittery birds (adorable)! The best treasure though, are those white matryoshkas. They are measuring cups! Both ends are for measuring, and the heads are a little flat so they don't roll over. I LOVE them!

I also got this Charley Harper coloring book. It has really cool pictures in it, of his great art work.

Arden is sporting her red hat, colorful dress, and her converse shoes-I replaced the white shoelaces with the black ribbon.

I have made a bid on a new Blythe doll-Punkaholic People. I have 1 day and some hours left to wait. We'll see what happens. I'm not usually lucky on ebay, but I have some hope. I will keep you posted.

We were up early this morning! Quinn had a 9 am game, and then the rest of the day was free. I took a two hour nap. I had wanted to go and do something fun, but nobody wanted to go and do something fun with me, so I opted to sleep instead. I am a tired girl. We did go out for dinner and some super fast shopping. Oh and I did sew a sock monkey for someone, but it's not quite finished. Tomorrow.

Quinn got two hits in his game today, and was even responsible for a RBI! He got the game ball. We played a team that's pretty good, but we beat them. Technically, the game was over and we had 10 runs, and the other team none. Our coach let the other team have a last bat. They managed to score 8 runs. There was no way they could have won either way, but the other coach seemed appreciative. At least it isn't on the boards as a slaughter. Quinn got the game ball. He was thrilled.

See that little body in the short stop position? That's Quinn. He's actually playing three positions, short, 2nd and field! Several boys had to go potty at the same time. LOL.

My passenger yesterday. It's still weird to have him climb into the front seat.

This is Quinn before the talent show yesterday. I think this is the cutest picture!

Talent Show Time!

Today was the big day! The talent show at school, and then the evening performance. These guys did such a great job! Turn up your sound, and take a look at Quinn, Ryan and Zack!

Play Ball, Again

After 15 days, we are back into baseball! The boys have not had a game or practice in 15 days, with spring break, and a busy work schedule for the coach. They lost tonight, but only by 2 runs. Quinn got a hit-first ball out of the machine, and he made it to first base. His teammates were unable to bat him in though. There was no score until the last two innings, when the other team scored their two runs.

It was a beautiful evening at the field. Here are my feet at the game. Would you believe that my school secretary and I have the same pair of mismatched socks, and that she wore hers today too? True story! We were sock twins.

Tomorrow is not only Friday, but it's also the school talent show for Quinn and his buddies. Tune in tomorrow night for the video and pictures!

Tag!

Tag!

Stole this from another blog-Thanks Noelle, and wherever you stole it from:

Hair – sunkissed :-) it's what my hairdresser says
Your Mother – Bonnie
Your Father – Bob
Fav Food – Indian
Dream Last Night – hmmm, can't remember.
Fav Drink – Gold Peak Tea-diet
What room are you in? – Family room
Hobby – all sorts of crafts and sewing and reading
Fear – spiders
Where were you last night? – PTA meeting for the boys' school
Something that you aren’t – patient
Muffins – no, yuck. Haven't had them since pregnancy with Riley-they made me throw up
Wish List Item – a new Blythe doll
Where you grew up – Fremont, CA
What you are wearing –PJs
Your Pet – dog and three cats
Friends – awesome
Something you’re not wearing – jewelry
Fav Store – Target
Fav Color – lime green
Last time you laughed – today at the board meeting
Your Best Friend – Kristi
Best Place you go over and over – Disneyland and Target (of course)
Person who you email regularly – myself (pictures) and my baseball team parents
Fav Place to Eat – Mimi's Cafe

I tag YOU!

Feeling Blue

I'm sorry I don't have a picture for you. I probably should not blog about this, but I have to get this out, and off my chest. I am only human.

I just came from the school board meeting. I'm feeling depressed, deflated, and unappreciated. It has caused me to do a lot of thinking. The future of California education is very uncertain. There was a rally before the board meeting tonight, and if there were 100 teachers, then that was generous. My district is huge with closer to 2000 teachers. I understand people are tired. I'm tired. Tonight was my one free night, but I went to the rally, to show my support for the students and teachers in my district. You see, my district is proposing cuts unlike ANY of the surrounding districts. There are still parents at my school who are clueless about how these cuts will affect their children. It has caused me to reflect. I don't think people realize just how hard teachers work, for their students. Are there bad teachers out there? Oh yes, there are. There are teachers who have no business being with kids. My child has had one of those, but for the most part, teachers want their students to learn, grow and thrive in school.

Let me give you a little run down of my sweet little class, for perspective. I have 7 EL students-kids who are second language learners. All 7 have different levels of EL classification. I have two students who have been retained. One of them came to me at the end of the school year last year, from India. She spoke very little english, yet was expected to meet the standards. It was her mother's idea to retain her. I did it, and I kept her. She's THRIVING. She would not speak to me last school year. I didn't push. This year, she talks my ear off, and she's smart too! The other one I retained was an excellent candidate for retention. I kept her as well. She made incredible progress. Her mother and I were thrilled. She was right on target, then she started missing school. So far she has missed almost 30 days of school. She's not making such great progress anymore. I also have a student with special needs, who has his own aide. There are many struggles. I have a student who really struggles with spelling. That same student was brought to tears today by bullies in another class-I have to handle THAT one tomorrow. I have a student who I should challenge more, but don't have the time, and luckily her parents are super supportive, and they challenge her at home. I have a group of extremely chatty kids, nice kids, but ALWAYS talking no matter where I move them. I have a girl who could possibly end up a "mean girl," if I don't nip that in the bud. I have two kids who barely speak, that I have been nurturing all school year-I am making progress-one follows me around at recess and the other hugged me for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Then I have students who are right on target, and are always doing what they are supposed to be doing, without much prompting from me, and they have great parental support. I have sensitive kids. I have kids who love to learn, and who hug me all day long, and are sad to go home at the end of the day. I don't really have any discipline problems. The rewards I get from their accomplishments are incredible, just incredible. The rewards are the reason I teach. I do make a difference in the lives of my students. I work my ass off for my students. Most of my families are appreciative, some are clueless, but I have to play nice (oh how I wish I could say what I want to say). I want the best for my students. I want the best OUT of my students. I know my students. I LOVE my students. We have the most interesting conversations, and they are becoming good people. They are works in progress.

I just feel that the district I work for does not value everything teachers do for their students. I also don't think they have a CLUE what we do all day long. This school year they took away all of our prep time. We have no time in which to prepare lessons, get things ready, correct, etc, during the school day. We do it all on our own time. We are teaching ALL subject areas, and a new math program, not to mention giving a zillion tests. We get to go to the library every other week. Still the district is proposing more cuts-elimination of ALL elementary prep (the upper grades get a little prep right now), and increasing class sizes in grades 1-3. We could have 30 kids in our class in the fall! Tell me, when will we have time to learn anything about our students? You would think that with all this taking away, there would be less work to do, but our workload just keeps increasing. The district keeps throwing things at us, which adds to our workload. They don't seem to care that we have serious time issues, and students to actually TEACH. Anyway, the board meeting was completely depressing, and I don't know what they will do. We shall see. At least I know that there are lots of other teachers out there, that also feel the same way. I am lucky. I didn't get a pink slip. It's hell to be a new teacher in our district-I could go on and on about that one too. I guess what I want to say to you is: love and appreciate your good teachers. They love and appreciate your children.

On a positive note, my Target has opened up their grocery section!! Yay! It was pretty dang cool too!

Oh Hey, It Didn't Rain!

Great day! Busy, but great, because it didn't rain! Not one drop!

This was the sky as I was leaving PTA tonight. Beautiful! I just love a pretty sky.

Oh Hey, It's RAINING!

First day back from Spring Break. It was quite pleasant, except for the RAIN. The kids handled it really well, and they got most of their recesses. It poured at the end of the school day though. I was super productive today. I worked. I went to Target to buy snacks for Quinn's Scout meeting. I cooked dinner-shocker-it was honey pecan chicken, and it was so yummy. It was from my Weight Watchers Cook it in Minutes cookbook. We scarfed it up so I didn't get a picture. Next time. I took Quinn to his Scout meeting while Kevin took Riley to his Scout meeting. I created a ballot for PTA tomorrow night. I emailed the baseball parents important info and pleaded AGAIN for some help filling snack shack positions. Homework got done. The dog got a treat (or three), and I enjoyed some serious Facebook time! Gooooo Me!

I am so glad I got these rain boots! I have really gotten a lot of wear out of them. Here are my rain booted feet in the Target parking lot.

Look what Riley got accomplished today! He researched and found all of these pictures off the internet, for his project on Men and Women in Athens, and he printed them out. They are now all glued into place, ready for school tomorrow. I LOVE that he is self motivated, and just knocks out these projects. Gooooo Riley!

By the way, if you've never had Gold Peak Tea, you should go to your grocery store and pick some up! I first had it in Florida, but couldn't find it here in CA. My Lucky store now carries it, in the refrigerated section with the orange juices. I have the diet tea, and it doesn't even taste like diet. It's so yummy. It's like sweet tea, if you've ever had that.

Last Day of Spring Break

I have to say that I am mighty sick of the rain! It poured today. It rained when we took the boys to their swim lessons (what a crazy place THAT place is). It rained on our way back from the lessons. It rained on our way to talent show practice, and back. It POURED rain when we tried to go to the Bricks By The Bay Lego event today-we didn't end up going in as there was a huge line to park and a huge line just to get in. My friend said they closed it early because there were so many people. It POURED when we went to Best Buy, and when we came out. It rained while we drove to my in-laws house for dinner, and on the way home. Rain rain go away. It's supposed to rain tomorrow. I so look forward to 20 kids just back from a week long break, and stuck inside for a rainy day. Is it summer yet?

We had pizza for dinner, from Frankie, Johnnie and Luigi, and strawberry shortcake with whipped cream for dessert. That's my MIL there with the boys. Do you like how they all match? Stanford red!

My MIL is filling Quinn's mouth with whipped cream. Riley had the option too, but he declined.

Whipped cream coming out of his mouth!

These pictures are courtesy of Kevin's iPhone.

I Made Something!

Well, an entire week off, and I only crafted one thing. I thought about crafting something, a lot, but alas, I just didn't get there. I do have a sock monkey to make, and I hope to do that tomorrow.

I absolutely love the story of Alice in Wonderland. I made this necklace using a counter top sample (formica). I covered the sample part with paper, sanded the edges, and then embellished. I left the back alone-it has a wood feel to it. I added some DG3 Art Gel by Judi Kins, to make it shiny. I strung it on some fancy cording I bought last summer in Texas. I'm happy with the way it turned out. The Alice image is from a small deck of cards I purchased at a stamp show I went to last year.

Kevin and I went to see Date Night today. It was hysterical! We laughed through the majority of the movie. So funny.

Our Last Day of Spring Break

Sadly my Spring Break is coming to an end. It was so nice to not have to go to work. There are many challenges ahead, in the remaining 48 days of school. I very much needed the break as I can't remember a time that I had been so tired. I'm hoping I have enough energy to power through these last 10 weeks of school. The boys were happy to have the break as well. They were pretty lazy, playing all day long, not a care in the world.

I took the boys to see How To Train Your Dragon, in 3D. It was AWESOME! A really great movie. The flying scenes were incredible.

The boys and I also made a trip out to Valley Fair, to get this shirt, at Old Navy. It's for Riley to wear for his 6th grade promotion in June. It's linen, and very white. I want him to look nice, but I don't think he needs to wear a suit or anything. That seems like overkill. This shirt with khaki pants, and nice shoes, will work just fine. I saw it when I was there on Wednesday, and thought I might as well get it now. Check that off my list.

See the detail on the front? Cool huh? This would look great with a lei too! It's similar to a Hawaiian shirt. Did you know that Riley wore a Hawaiian shirt almost every day of his Kindergarten year?

I also got the boys new Stanford shirts, at Old Navy as well, of all places. They had a bunch of college shirts.

I'm reading this book. I'm not very far into it, but I like it already.

Trains and Soccer

The boys actually left the house today! I dropped them off with my mom, so I could go have lunch with my school friends. They walked the lake with my mom-well technically Riley rode his bike, and Quinn, his scooter. They had McDonald's for lunch, and hung out at her house. When we returned home, they went about their normal, lazy, vacation activities. Riley had to clean his room, so he did that.

Quinn pulled out the Brio trains and built a track. Maya was very interested.

I registered Quinn for soccer today. Riley didn't want to play. He likes to golf, so I think we will be looking into that come summer time. So this is Quinn's uniform. I think this is the lamest thing ever. The ENTIRE league has the same uniform, same color. Everybody has a blue shirt and a white shirt. The game schedule depicts when you wear the blue one and when you wear the white one-gee I wonder how many times a kid shows up with the wrong one? Oh yeah, and it is also quite possible that you can have 2 (or nine) players wearing the same number on their shirts. When I asked the guy about this, he said, "we don't identify the kids by their numbers." Um, then why have a number? Isn't that the exact USE for a number? Anyway, if you want to come to one of his games this fall, come to the field (where 4-8 games are being played), and look for his team. They are blue.

OH Look at This!

Looks like Punkaholic People is the winner of my poll, but look...

Isn't this one adorable? This one is called Casual Affair. Hmmm. Decisions. Decisions.

Pure Laziness

We have been pretty lazy. For two days now. It's nice. We are on Spring Break after all.

Quinn worked on coloring his giant dragon poster. Neither boy has gotten dressed-although they did have showers tonight and now have fresh pj's on.

Even Maya has gotten into the laziness. This does not look comfortable.

The boys played with the Galactic Heroes for most of the day. Remember that nice clean room from last week? Yeah, well, it's not so clean now, but at least it's just one type of toy, instead of all of them.

I love this little scene. I love that the Incredible Hulk, and Spiderman, have crossed into the Star Wars world. What are they going to do to Hulkie? Is it a lynching? They better not make him mad.

I managed to get out today, to get the last of my Fiesta-Lemongrass. The Fiesta was the cheapest of the season at $21.99 a place setting! I love Macy's. I also went to Nordstrom Rack and scored some $20 shoes, a necklace for me to embelish, some cute bird earings, and some Lucky Brand bracelets.

The boys have to get dressed tomorrow. We are getting out of the house.