Projects

We spent our last day of vacation at home, working on projects. Riley cleaned out his backpack and updated his reading log for school. Quinn worked on his book report project, and I hemmed some jeans. Oh, and both boys got haircuts. Super exciting, I know.

Quinn's book report project: a Jiffy guy of Walt Disney. He had to read a biography and fill out a report page. He had to make this Jiffy person too.

Inside his shirt, is a card with the name of the person Quinn read about: Walt Disney, along with the name of the book Quinn read, and the author: Who Was Walt Disney? by Whitney Stewart.

I hemmed Riley's jeans today. I used THIS TUTORIAL to do it, and it worked out really well. It was super easy! I am really proud of them. I did two pairs of pants! Three more to go!

Back to work I go tomorrow. Wonder what great things await me? I sent lots of behavior notes home the Friday before vacation, so we'll see what parents have to say about that.

Car Show!

This weekend was the weekend for the SF car show at Moscone Center. We decided to take the boys, and Kevin's parents, to the car show. We've been before, but the boys didn't seem to remember. They loved it. They loved that they could sit and "drive" any car they wanted-well except for some roped off fancy old cars, and some from Porsche-those meanies.

This little tiny car was right at the bottom of the stairs, when we entered. It's so cute!

I want THIS one for Christmas! The latest Honda Pilot. It's so pretty, even in white. It has lots of bells and whistles, and more importantly, I can play my iPod from it! Santa, I've been very very good.

The boys played a little foosball near the Ford and Tesla area.

Some old cars that the boys couldn't "drive."

Kevin and his bitchin' Camero. That is a mighty bright yellow.

This was my favorite little car though, the Mini Cooper. I love this color so much. It's called Interchange Yellow, and I like this car exactly as it is, except that I don't want a convertible. I want a hard top. I don't like my hair blowing in the wind. It gets in my eyes.

Outside of the show, they had a Land Rover/Range Rover driving area, complete with lots and lots of dirt and puddles and hills. There were four cars people could drive along the course. It was really cool to watch them get almost sideways on some of the hills. I wonder who gets to clean up the dirt?

This is a double wide post, so read on...

Part 2 SF Holiday

After the car show, we went to Union Square. We wanted to see the animals in the window of Macy's, and check out the holiday decorations.

I love this Old Navy! It's HUGE-three stories!! It's right on Market Street.

Macy's all decked out for the holidays.

There's an ice skating rink in Union Square!

My in-laws came along with us today!

I always love the Macy's windows. This side faces Union Square. It's a great view from those windows as well. We didn't go in today though.

The SPCA is responsible for the animals in the windows at Macy's. This year they have kittens in the windows. I didn't see any dogs, but maybe there were some inside. All animals are up for adoption.

The Neiman Marcus store. Notice their HUGE tree?

Here's the tree from the inside! It's impressive. Of course my MIL and I freaked out the makeup girl when we asked her if it was earthquake safe. It's a really big tree. Wouldn't you ask too?

Happy Saturday everyone!

We Love A Parade

The boys spent the night with my parents last night, so that they could go with them this morning to cut down a Christmas tree. They had a great time. Kevin and I went to see Morning Glory last night-it was cute! After Kevin picked the boys up today, we went to see Tangled, which is such a GREAT movie. I highly recommend it. It's really really good. We had dinner at Fuddrucker's (always say that sl-o-w-ly), and then we went to the Niles Parade, here in town. It was quite a busy, but super fun day!

Waiting for the parade to start.

There were all kinds of fire engines in the parade, and we actually watched the parade from in front of the new Niles Fire Station.

This is the first of Fremont Bank's big holiday balloons. It's cute.

That's Sharkie on the bike. He's the mascot for the San Jose Sharks hockey team. He had these big giant feet, and Kevin and I couldn't believe he could pedal that bike.

Uh oh, it's Darth Vader and some of his closest friends. This is the same organization that Kevin contacted a couple of years ago, for Quinn's birthday party. We tried to secure a few storm troopers for his party, and they never showed. It's a good thing that we didn't tell Quinn that they were coming. It was going to be a surprise...I guess the surprise was on Kevin and I!

Great American ("the Fun and Only") sent the Peanuts characters to the parade.

The second of Fremont Bank's big balloons.

That's not a horse! What is that anyway? Some kind of fancy cow. A bull? What is it?

The last of Fremont Bank's big balloons.

Santa and Mrs. Claus, the finale of the parade!

We about froze to death, but we had a great time. Let the holidays officially begin!

Preparation

I ran to the grocery store this morning, and also did some Christmas errands. While neither place was really busy, there seemed to be some "issues" in play. At the grocery store, the lines were not long, but Lucky couldn't get their acts together, so it took forever-a cashier actually closed her register just as I was about to put my first item on, because she had "to do something." After I picked a spot behind a man, and other patrons came along, she got called right back (Three's a Crowd), but of course she took the woman BEHIND me as my items were already on the belt while I waited for the cashier to talk to all of her friends and work on some "issue" with the man in front of me. The mall wasn't so bad either, and it's usually a mall that is nuts. Just people doing dumb things, and parking badly. Many of the stores are actually open tonight for Midnight Madness. Tempting. I managed to make a dent in my shopping though anyway. I had hoped to have it all done before Disney World, but I don't think that's going to happen if my local stores don't have the items I am seeking, which then forces me to go outside of my city to shop.

I came home and made an ambrosia, and these peanut butter chocolate chip cheesecakes. I think I've had this cheesecake before. Hope they taste yummy.

While out and about today, I came across these awesome Christmas decorations at Old Navy. I want them. I have a serious infatuation with these retro light bulbs. We put this kind on our house. I love them. I wish I could have these decorations. I wonder if I ask Old Navy if they'll let me have some at the end of the season? I doubt they'll use them next season. These three are my favorite colors too. I must have looked so weird taking pictures of them instead of looking at the clothes.

Have a great Thanksgiving tomorrow!!

Jumpy Fun

I took the boys to Elk Grove today. We went to visit a college friend and her son. It only took us about an hour and 45 minutes to get there. There was no traffic at all, it was just really really wet from the rain and wet roads. We visited for awhile at her house, and all three boys bounced around the house and then played with Legos. We had lunch at Panda Express, and then drove into Sacramento to Fly High Sports AKA The Trampoline Place.

My fortune at Panda Express. I swear their fortunes just suck. I do deserve respect. All teachers do, but often it is not readily available. This is not a fortune!

Quinn at the trampoline place. I made him stand still for the picture.

Riley, already sweaty, at the trampoline place. He had to stand still too.

This is what happens if photo subjects don't stand still. All three boys had a lot of fun, and were very tired afterward. I have also realized that we have one of these Fly High Sports in our area, so we will be doing this again.

This was the sky on our drive home. It was amazing. I pulled over in the canyon and took this picture.

I am loving these vacation days. What are you all up to?

A Field Trip

I took the day off last Thursday to go on a field trip with Quinn and his 3rd grade class. We went to the Tule (too-lee) Ponds here in Fremont. I have never been to the Tule Ponds. It was very interesting.

Pretty berries. I remember playing with these berries as a kid. Look at how pretty they are! The sun made this picture a little weird though.

This is the big lagoon (Tyson Lagoon) within the Tule Ponds. The ponds get filled with the flooding of storm drains and the rain. They were pretty dry this day, but it has rained a lot since Thursday, so I can imagine some of the ponds are a lot fuller now.

We were right on the Hayward Fault! This fault line is due for an earthquake. There are lots of important buildings on this fault line: hospitals, police station, schools, houses.

I thought the bird in that tree looked really cool-very Halloweenish.

Milk Weed. The kids were all fascinated with these pods.

Quinn wore his Indiana Jones hat since we would be exploring. Here he poses with his milk weed.

This is not Quinn's hand, but a friend of his. I thought it was very timely. Silly Bands and nature. How 2010!

Pretty purple something. I used to know the name of this. I actually think I have this in my backyard. A gardener I am not.

Quinn looking through a microscope at fuzz, the table top, leaves, his finger, and paper.

It was a really good field trip, and almost worth all the drama I returned to at school on Friday. Quinn was happy to have me go along, and as long as he still wants me to go on field trips, I'll go.

Oh Wow, I am Back

Sorry to disappear on you there! It's been CRAZY around here, and once again I find myself exhausted. I think I last posted on Monday. Since then, there's been school, meetings, a soccer pizza party, appointments, a craft fair, and Lego building.

One good thing at school right now. The kids made feathery owls. They turned out pretty cute, and the kids were happy to work on them. Warning: Gross picture up next.

Not so good, besides the never-ending girl drama and the horrible boy, is this...I received this last week. It's homework (late homework, so there are 5 pages). It was all stuck together with I have NO idea what. I got the first two pages loose, but the last three were really stuck, and after I fought back the urge to throw up, and then cry, I shoved all five pages into a ziplock and wrote a note indicating I wouldn't be checking in this sticky homework. What are people thinking? I would be mortified to send something back to school like this! Gross.

Quinn won a mustache at his soccer pizza party. He loves it. He got a nice, big trophy for soccer, and they get to play in another tournament.

This was from last weekend, but I don't think I posted it. Riley, out Scouting For Food. This weekend was the pick up. It rained. Neither boy got to participate as they were with Grandma and Grandpa while I participated in a craft fair, and Kevin went to a Celebration of Life for his friend's mother.

Riley made these. Lego versions of Luigi and a One-up. He also made Mario, but I haven't gotten a picture yet. The boys look these up on the internet, and then build them. They are hoping to get just plain Lego building bricks for Christmas.

Here I am, at my table for the American High School Holiday Boutique. I made a bunch of button bracelets, rings, and some hairpins. I did very well too! I think I will do it next year as well.

My table. You can see the rings up front in the square bowls and on the black/white tray. There are button bracelets all around.

My dad did this for me. I gave him my fancy jar, and he made it into a soap dispenser for me. Cool huh? I love it! My mom and dad gave me crafty genes.

Now I am off for a whole week! I am so excited. I didn't think I (or my students) would survive last week. They were nuts starting on Monday. I have written/emailed many parents this week. I have two very serious behavior issues that I am taking to our Student Study Team for assistance, since their parents are completely clueless and of no help at all. The other major problem is the mean little girls in my class (4 of them), who are bullying another little girl. I have 15 girls, and 10 boys. Let's just say heads rolled on Friday, when it all came to a head. I hate a bully. It won't be tolerated. Oh, and I get not one, but TWO new students the Monday we get back from vacation-both girls!! I don't need anymore girl drama. I'd rather have boys.