Day at the Zoo

The zoo rocked! I love that place, and this particular zoo is ALWAYS the cleanest, friendliest, most enjoyable field trip of the year. It was 80 degrees and sunny, perfect zoo weather, and all the kids had a great time too. When you're a teacher, and you go on a field trip, there's usually very little relaxation time or enjoying time because you're constantly worrying about where the kids are, allergies, bandaids, lunches, time....the list goes on. But this trip was soooo different. I think it's mostly because I "retired" from being the person who plans all the field trips. I took this year off because I was the one who primarily had planned them for four years. Way too much. Anyway, I didn't plan a thing, and I got to take my mom who also had a blast. The three kiddos we had with us were fantastic! I couldn't have asked for a better field trip day. Here are a few pictures.....

Obviously we found Nemo....

I don't think this fish was having a good day....

I can't remember what this is but I loved it....

My mom enjoying the carousel....

I can't remember what the issue was that kept them from looking at the camera....

Finally, we got the picture.

Can you tell I loved the aquarium the best? Every year we take the kids on this field trip we run out of time for the aquarium, so this year, I insisted we get there. We missed the elephants but Kenny is already planning a trip for us soon:)

Good Day:)

I love days like this. It's Sunday, we worked hard all week and yesterday, and today was the day to unwind. First of all, I slept in. That's worth a million bucks by itself. I made a YUMMY breakfast and even yummier coffee. Then my mom arrived and we chatted and she showed me how to use our new weedwacker. THAT was fun. I mowed the entire lawn and did the weedwacking....I actually love doing that kind of work, so it's less work and more fun for me. My mom and I did a little shopping and then bought food to make burgers (more yum!) and now we are just relaxing. Kenny is passed out on the couch, my mom is watching cable (she doesn't subscribe) and doing suduko. Can it get any better?? My mom is going on my field trip with me as a chaperone tomorrow, so she's here for the night. Our third overnight guest! I only have four days of school left....I can't believe it. Time has flown. I'm happy and sad. I want the time off, but I will really miss these kids. I will, however, enjoy my time with them on our last field trip of the year tomorrow:) And of course I'll enjoy my momma being there!

No T13

For the first time in a while I didn't do a Thursday Thirteen. Guess I needed a week off. And what a week it has been. Every day at school has been packed with non-direct teaching activities. Usually, those kinds of things are saved for the last week of school, which unfortunetly, isn't until NEXT week. So I guess we're starting to wind down early this year. Because I have two grades in my class, things are very different this year as it comes to a close. I am seeing the second graders get a form of senioritis. Not kidding. They are starting to treat the first graders (the babies!!) different, almost mean. They are snapping at them, and tattling more too. I think it's because they know the end is near, they won't have me again as their teacher next year, they are moving on to the next multi-age classroom, and this is their way of distancing themselves from the first graders and even from me. Never in a million years would I have predicted this would happen. This is my first real year of teaching multi-age...I say real because my intership was multi-age, but that was only 4 months of teaching someone else's class. Anyway, it's interesting to see the changes. The second graders are going to be in the classroom next to me next year, so I will see them every day. That's making this transition a little easier on me. For most of the year, I have been prepping the second graders for this move to the big kids' multi-age class, and also prepping them on how the teacher is. He's older, stern, strict, and old school. Familiar with the phrase "he don't take no shit?" That's him. Way different from me. WAY DIFFERENT. So all year they have been nervous to talk to him, and I've encouraged them to be social with him so they would be more comfortable in his class this fall. They wanted nothing to do with him all year. Until yesterday. He came in to see them and to jokingly tease them, which is his style of teaching. My second graders ran up to him and hugged him and just couldn't get enough. I was floored! What a drastic change from the last time I mentioned his name! It kind of made me sad that they are ready to leave me, but also it made me feel good that they will be okay. I have to stop talking about the kids now....the tears are forming.

Every day this week I've come home and been busy until midnight. Monday it helping a friend with a project. Tuesday was our softball game (we won again!!) and then finishing up my grades which we due on Wednesday. Wednesday I mowed the lawn and watered everything, then potted a few plants and went though some more school paperwork. Tonight I came home and cleaned the entire house in about 2 hours. That's good for me...usually it takes half a day. I still have to water the potted plants and finish folding laundry. I'm taking Tasha's advice from a long time ago of doing one load of laundy a day and then on the weekends it's not overwhelming. Kenny has been so busy lately that I've been doing all the housework so he doesn't have to worry about it when he rolls in late every night. We are bad though. We have forgotten trash day two weeks in a row. Ooops. We are going to be swamped this weekend both days, so I thought it would be nice to get all the cleaning and stuff done today. He is so lucky to have me:)

I was going to save this for another time, but what the heck? Ever since September 11th happened, it seems that when I look at a clock, ANY clock, it says 9:11. I swear it happens on a daily basis. It can be the DVD player or cable box clock, my cell phone, in my car, the alarm clock....anywhere I look it seems to say that at that time of day, either morning or night. Every time it happens, I think to myself, "See, it's happening again! I'm not imaging it!" Kenny thinks it's because before Sept. 11 happened, no one really thought about those numbers like that. And now, because those numbers are so talked and thought about, I just notice it more when I see them. I still think glancing at a clock every single day unconsciously and seeing those numbers is wierd. Just wierd.

I should have titled this post as Dear Diary!

Weekends go too fast. All the time. I feel like I just woke up from my Friday afternoon nap. But it's already Sunday night. I have 9 more days of school with the kids. This has been the best teaching year. E V A H!!! I HEART these kids so much. It creates an uncomfortable feeling of anxiety when I think about the year coming to an end because they are so much a part of my life. Not that in the past my students weren't special to me. They all were. It's just this group is like family. I actually cried a little in the car yesterday when I thought about them not being mine next year. They will be someone else's. Ewwww. Don't like that thought at all. I'm just not ready to give them up yet. The end of the year is always a ball of emotions. Glad for the much needed vacation. But not looking forward to saying goodbye. And this year feels like it will be so much harder. I've only cried in front of my class once, last year, when one of my students (who ADORED me, which makes it that much harder) had to move away, and it was time for her to leave on her last day. She jumped into my lap and started crying that she didn't want to leave, and her dad happened to walk in the room right at that second, and she held on to the back of my neck and sobbed. The WHOLE class was watching this. I let her cry for a minute, and then her dad signaled for me to let her go. I tried. I swear I did. But she wouldn't budge. Then I couldn't hold back the tears either anymore. Finally her dad pried her away and took her to his car. He came back and asked if she could call me on the phone. So we kept in touch for a little while on the phone, and it made us both feel better. That's how I feel about not just one student that I have right now, but ALL of them. It's not going to be easy. I just have to prepare myself for it. I know I'll be fine. I'll see these kids every day in the hallway next year. I'm just going to enjoy them for the last 9 days. As I've done for the last 172 school days. Monday's only 2 hours away. Here goes nothin.

This Week's Theme:

ART

All year my students have asked to draw on the board.....they ask just about every day, and I usually say no because of the mess with the chalk they will make. This week, I finally caved in and said yes. They were beside themselves with happiness! And what a mess.....

Thirteen Things

I Do In The Morning

BEFORE Work

(in no particular order)

1. Make the bed (only if there's not still a body in it!)

2. Make coffee to drink in the car

3. Check email & weather

4. Think about doing any leftover dishes

5. Iron clothes (ugh)

6. Start a load of laundry

7. Pick up after Kenny (never-ending)

8. Pack my camera (yay!)

9.Take a shower

10. Get dressed

11. Hair/make-up

12. Get a call from my co-pilot informing me she's running late (10 minutes every day-I love her)

13. Kiss Kenny goodbye

3 Day Weekend

Happy Memorial Day!!

The last couple days have been a mixture of partying, laziness, and work....

On Friday evening, my bosses gave us a huge, fancy, appreciation dinner at a country club in a ritzy part of town. We have been jokingly calling it our prom. But it really was because the attire was formal. Because I was in my friend's wedding last month, I wore the same dress (can you believe I wore it again!!!) and shoes, and got my hair done which was really the only expense-yay! The dinner and dancing was great. Here's a pic of us....

And there's my boss in the black dress dancing and laughing with Kenny!

I just had to include a picture of the dessert because it was to die for. It was sooooooooooooo good. It took all my willpower not to grab another plate on the way out the door.

We decided not to go camping with our buddies this weekend because it was supposed to rain 2 out of the 3 das, and plus we have a ton of work to do around the house. I work up Saturday morning to Kenny messing with the outside lights on the front porch.... in wind pants and his DRESS SHOES that were still out from the night before. Thank god no one saw him, or if they did, they still don't know us so I don't care. Kenny claims they were the only shoes he could find. Yeah right. You know men....they just DON'T LOOK!

I had a big to-do list for myself yesterday so I could stay on task. Otherwise, I will end up like Kenny and there will be a million things half-done and nothing finished. So I stuck to my list!!! I got 7 things accomplished yesterday. I'm trying to do the same thing today. Plus it's nice outside today, which is more motivation to be out there and get some sun. Can you tell I'm trying to pump myself up to work??

Have a great Memorial Day!

This Week's Theme:

COLORFUL

The curtains I made for the "orange" room are very colorful. Lots of oranges, browns, golds, and yellows in the fabric. It looks great with the orange wall!

Hot

What a scorcher is was here in Michigan today!! Hot hot hot! I left work early today to go to a baseball game.....

But not just any baseball game. My cousin T plays college baseball and is AWESOME. His team played in Michigan today, so I actually got to see him play!! It was the PERFECT baseball day. And his team smoked the opposing team. My cousin rocks!

Went I walked back to my car, this is what I saw:

My car is on the left. 4 feet from the smashed window. My aunt told me to send this picture to my car insurance company and show them why I almost had to make a claim. 4 feet from that.

F O U R F E E T!!!!

8 Random Things.....

Lori tagged me so here goes:

8 Random Things You Don't Know About Me

1. I LOVE honey mustard and A1 steaksauce on many things OTHER THAN what you are supposed to use them for (and I hate ketchup)
2. Black wrought iron furniture (some) is a must in my house (Kenny is coping)
3. My cell phone is pink....yes, I'm one of those
4. I drive a teeny car with EXCELLENT gas mileage
5. When I come home from work, as long as I am not going anywhere else, I immediatly put on the comfy, stretchy, old PJ-ish like pants....talk about a slice of heaven!
6. I used to have DDDs
7. There are baskets everywhere in my house....I think it's becoming an obsession!
8. I love (and still play!!!) softball

Okay, so today is like Monday to me since I wasn't at work yesterday. Coming back to work after my class had a sub for the day....not a pleasant thing. The room is trashed, you would think the kids would keep it picked up the way they do for me....but NO. I guess it's like letting your own children (so I hear) run loose through the house without supervision. Except, the sub is the supervision, right? Wrong. My room is T-Rashed. I repeat. T R A S H E D. I know I know, what did I expect? It's always the same, I guess I just thought ONE TIME I'd get lucky and it would be decent. No such luck. The lessons I left (copies of work that required NO teaching, just passing out to simplify things) weren't done, and somehow the kids got into their math folders that were as far away from the lesson plans as possible. Those folders weren't to be touched, actually, because I hadn't taught those lessons yet, and I'm not leaving work that has a new concept that the kids haven't learned yet for a sub to do. No way. But the work was done anyway, clearly the kids were confused and had way too many questions....MAYBE BECAUSE I HADN'T TAUGHT THAT STUFF YET AND THAT'S WHY THOSE MATH FOLDERS WEREN'T IN THE LESSON PLANS! Is it that hard? Really? I guess I must take it for granted that I can read english and follow simple directions, and pass out copies of work when needed. Cause that's what I did when I subbed. I followed the plans the teacher left AND THAT'S ALL. If there was extra time, I played games, gave free time/recess when appropriate. Once again, I guess I just take it for granted that I can read english. And follow another adult's directions. Needless to say, I am not a happy camper this morning. I'm a PISSED OFF camper. Teacher.

Now I feel better having vented to the internet.

Three positive things I will focus on today........

1. My new camera is scheduled to be on my doorstep when I get home.
2. It's going to be sunny and beautiful ALL DAY!
3. I have a softball game today. Yay!

I Heart This Weekend

This weekend has been jam packed with fun-ness....new word!

After work on Friday we (my co-pilot, best friend, and co-worker) went down town because the weather was BEAUTIFUL! I can't even describe the mood I was in. Since February, life has been so fast paced and I feel as if I've been on overdrive. It was so nice to just relax and have fun outside, and it made it even better to have N's camera with us!!!

Here we are on our way to the river....

Then we walked down to the river and played like kids in the water fountains on the river walk. Across the river is Canada....home of Redneckmommy!

Friday the Tigers played, so of course I was planted in front of the TV for 3 hours watching them win! My mom came and stayed the weekend....our first overnight guest. Saturday we went shopping and then came home and started working outside, trying to get a jump start on the landscaping project we've created for ourselves when we bought this house. There are a BUNCH of bushes in the front of the house that I hate, and so they have to go. Now. So Kenny, my mom, and a neighbor helped us pull the first of 4 bushes out, using a chain and his truck ater trimming all the branches and digging some of the roots out. Check out the process:

And the results on the yard....

Kenny promsied me that it wouldn't kill the grass. Funny how when I mowed the lawn this morning that there was a nice strip of dead grass. Oh well, it was fun watching! And the best part is, we have 3 more bushes to go!

Good news.....my new camera will be here on Tuesday. I can't wait. Then I can stop begging Kenny & my mom for use of their cameras. My new one is the exact model of the one that was lost, so there won't be any I-have-to-figure-this-out time with it....just let me get my mitts on it!

This Week's Theme:

COOKED

13 Reasons

I Say NO To My Students Daily

1. "Can I go to the bathroom?" (they just went)
2. "Can I get a drink?" (they have a water bottle in front of them)
3. "Can I call home?" (your parents will hate me)
4. "Can I earn my recess back?"
5. "Can I eat lunch with you?" (teacher needs a BREAK)
6. "Is it time to go home?"
7. "Can I come home with you?"
8. "Can I get a bandaid?" (when the cut is microscopic , no blood, and they don't need it)
9. "Can I write on the board?" (they make a huge mess with the chalk and leave the caps off my dry erase markers.....expensive much?)
10. "Can you call my parents?" (again, they will hate me)
11. "Can I eat candy for lunch?" (you'd think they would get this after a while, but no)
12. "Can we skip language arts today?"
13. "Can I play instead of silent read when I'm done with my journal?"

I'm not heartless at all. I just say "no" a lot. My students deemed me the queen of "NO." I'm proud of that title. I'm not a mean teacher, I just have limits. And rules. And a breaking point.

Forgetfully Lost

Yesterday the kids kicked my booty. They were so on top of their game....all day long....and I was not. For whatever reason I came to work yesterday and forgot everything. I forgot they had art at 8:30am, I forgot the lunch cards, I forgot about a special program, I forgot my keys when we went to recess......I forgot everything!!

Should I be worried about getting alzheimers or dimensia? For real? Sometimes I forget things that are UNFORGETTABLE. I do notice that this tends to happen when I'm overloaded with things at work or still in the midst of unpacking a house. Or just plain busy. But that't normal right? Please tell me that you forget things when you are super busy. I'll feel much better. It's embarrassing when a student reminds to do something that I should be automatically doing. Ugh. I guess that's the joy of teaching multi-age. When they are slightly advanced, they are slightly AHEAD of their teacher.

Besides forgetting, I feel lost. I feel like this at the end of every school year. There's so much to finish up, so much to still teach, so much time to spend with my students and really enjoy them, especially the 2nd graders because they won't be with me next year, and with all these things to do, I just feel lost. Even with lesson planning and having things ready ahead of time, I wander around like I'm not sure which way is up. I know what I should be doing, I'm just losing the motivation to keep going another 5 weeks. I know tonight I'll go home, go to my softball game and hopefully win like we did last week, and come home again recharged. But right now, I forget what day it is!! Do you ever feel like this too? Or am I just crazy?

On a more positive note....I'm sure you all know that my camera was lost in our move a few months back. No, it's still not found, and believe it or not, I still get upset about it every night when I fall asleep. It actually keeps me awake sometimes. Anyway, I received a little bonus check unexpectedly yesterday, and guess what it's going to buy? Yup, you guessed it. My new camera. I can't get it ordered fast enough. You know what will happen as soon as I get it?? Some of you already called it.....I'll find the old one!

I'm still on weekend time

Back to the daily grind....

These weeks are flying by. And the weekends? I blink and they are gone. Kind of like when you drive through a small town.

We finally visited IKEA this weekend. It's not all that great! I mean, it was fun and all, big, lots of choices, lots of different ideas, but really? It's cheap furniture that looks appealing. They do have some higher end stuff, and EVERYTHING looks great, but I guess the quality reflects the prices. You get what you pay for! Don't get me wrong...there's nothing wrong with inexpensive stuff for the house! We bought at little chinese-like lantern as a bed-side lamp and some more lucky bamboo stalks. I put together my first post of lucky bamboo a year ago and since then, I can't get enough! And at $1.99 a stalk, you can't beat it!

In our house we have a plant box in the half-wall of the livingroom/front door area. I knew I wanted bamboo stalks there, I just didn't want to pay $25 for 3 stalks! So at IKEA we stocked up and this is how it turned out:

What do you think? Give me your honest opinions!!

Can you guess what my mother's day gifts were to my mom and grandmas?? Hint, hint.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day

to my momma and both grandmas....

I love you!

And to all mommas-Happy Mother's Day! Much of your work as a momma goes without being acknowledged most of the time. Enjoy and celebrate being a mom not just today, but every day.