Hanging Out

It was an interesting week last week... all three kids were sick; 2 with strep, 1 with ear infection and a high fever and then passed out... twice! They are all doing better, but will probably cough for the next month... yuck!


We have soap, we have hand sanitizer, we are getting sleep, we are exercising/getting fresh air, we are eating mostly healthy and yet now, Daddy is sick. Oh, boy...


I am good... I don't have time to go down. My class ends Nov. 30th and I am sooooo ready for a break. I was just telling my sister that most of my life has stayed intact, but there are areas that really need a hand... and then I found a check she wrote me in MARCH, yes MARCH. We laughed and laughed. I so appreciate all of my friends who have helped me to keep my perspective or have at least humored my moods and tantrums during my adventure in graduate school. I just registered for my next three classes for Spring semester (spring semester begins in Jan... weird). I am definitely on the down-hill slide with an uphill climb ahead of me.


So, we are doing more hanging out around here. Enjoying each other and trying not to cough or breath on one another.


Happy Monday!

Strawberry Shortcake

Anyone else love Strawberry Shortcake as a kid? I went through a phase.

Baby Girl isn't really into it, but she does have the card game... the characters are so cute!

We found a cute site with pictures to print and color.



So, on this very rain and cold day (with no school for baby girl) we will be coloring and playing cards... Strawberry Shortcake style!

Self Portraits

During nutrition week (where we talk about good food for our bodies as well as how we feel about ourselves), we made self portraits. I wanted something hands-on and reusable. I'm sure I saw this idea somewhere on the www and I loved it. The kids did too!



I put out many different shapes of pasta for the kids to use to create themselves. They loved using the egg noodles for curly hair and long spaghetti for long hair. Easy to prep and fun to do!

Tie Dying with PreK kids

For the second year, to celebrate Rainbow week, I have tie dyed shirts with my preK kids. It is a lot of fun and makes the parents nervous every year. They kind of give me a funny look -- tie dye... with kids?!?!??!

Funny enough, the process doesn't stress me out. I like to be in control (stop laughing), so I keep the process simple.

1. All children bring a cotton shirt from home (new or used, doesn't matter). Make sure everyone's shirt is labeled with their name in permanent ink.

2. The night before we tie dye, I bring all of the shirts home and twist and rubberband them (note... next year I should do this the day before in class with the kids. I think they can handle it.)

3. The morning of tie dyeing mix up all tie dye. I mix up three colors: red, yellow and blue. I like to use the die in squeeze bottles. Fill up tub to soak shirts.

4. Students come to the tie dye table one at a time. They wear an apron! They place their shirt on their tray and we talk about getting color all over their shirt. (Shirts should be in a ball, so that the ink can run through them, but so that the dye soaks into the shirt. I don't like the die running all of the tray... it makes a mess and is wasteful.)

I love to watch their faces when the see the colors mix together to make orange, green and purple. It is a real aha moment!

5. Place each child's shirt in a ziploc bag and seal. Let them sit.

6. When I finally get home (it always seems like I pick the busiest day to do this project. This year we had soccer practice, soccer party and the church carnival) I rinse out each shirt individually. I then run them through my washing machine on a quick cycle -- no soap -- and dry them. It is like opening a gift with each shirt I rinse. I love to lay them out and see all of the different designs.

7. I like to give my students their shirts the next day... they are so excited to receive them. We have a Noah's Ark party (instead of Halloween party) and I give them their shirts at the end of our reenactment of the story of Noah. Many children choose to put their shirts on and some give their away to their sister. All scenarios are acceptable. It is so much fun to see them wear their shirts to school throughout the year.

I can't find the pictures of the final shirts... I know I have them... I think I have to get on my other computer... They'll be here soon...

shhhh :: Don't Tell

It's Friday morning and my Friday's are always planned for me. I am either
a) in Baby' Girls Kindergarten class (they meet every-other Friday) or
b) I'm in my own classroom prepping for the upcoming weeks.



Today was suppose to be a Kindergarten day, however, Pepe is home with an ear infection. He's been on meds for over 24 hours, but is still experiencing pain. (Or he's doing a really good job pulling one over on me.)



So, now I've canceled the Kindergarten morning and I'm just at home. I feel like I'm hiding... sneaking from someone or something. I'm going to "pretend" like I am in Kindergarten and work on my action research proposal. I've not had a chance to work on it all week and I need to have the rough draft finished NOW. (I've found that I am so exhausted in the evenings, that I'm no prodcutive in this class at all. I have to save my work for day-time hours -- which I don't have many of.)



So, between my proposal and laundry (thought I'd go ahead and get a weekend jump on it), I will be busy for the next few hours.


Happy Friday!

Keeping It Real

I wasn't in the mood for Halloween this year. I forced myself to carve pumpkins withe the kids. Wasn't I stunned when they did most of the work themselves... happily.



I couldn't wait to be done coaching soccer... now I'm done and I'm gonna miss those kids. It is for the best... they all need someone else next year. It was a nightmare at times, but so enjoyable at times as well. Both of my teams certainly made me proud.



I am so frustrated with my graduate program... I will make it, but it is so tough to find a balance between mommy, wife, teacher, friend and student.


My son's team lost their first game today... my heart broke for them. They didn't deserve to win... they didn't play well, but I ached for those kids. And then, in a moment I was so proud of those kids. They ran across the field... high 5ed everyone, got a piece of candy, and headed to a team-mates house to hot-tub and have pizza and cupcakes (a totally last second invite). They spent a couple of hours playing and bonding. They were bummed that they lost, but that happens. They know what went wrong. As I talked with some of the other parents we all had the same idea... it was bound to happen (the loss), the kids are working so hard to gel as a team and the biggest goal we all have for our kids is to not get burned out... HAVE FUN!



We are trying a new Halloween tradition... the Gnome/Fairy comes and collects candy a child doesn't want and in return leaves cash. Guess what... I hate it. It made me sad to watch my kids after all of their fun of collecting candy and looking at all of it to have to decide what to give away. My kids love money, so their give-away bowls are huge, but they aren't happy about it. It makes me sad. I feel like the rug was just just pulled out from under their feet. Now, how do I fix it. I love the concept, but not for our family. I don't mind if they have candy... our Halloween candy typically lasts until Easter. A little here and there won't kill them.




I thought I was suppose to have it all figured out by now... I don't, but I'm trying every day. I'm tired of my mood swings and crabby answers... when you are tired of yourself, it is time to make a change.



I'm keeping it real....

Photos, photos, photos

What do you do with your photos?

I am completely digital... I upload my photos off of my camera and when I have time I send them to Costco or Snapfish to have prints made. I love to scrapbook, but don't have time for it right now. So, my photos sit.


I realized that I have a TON of photos just sitting on my laptop and I need to back them up. I used to burn them to a cd every few months (right now I have almost 8 months worth on my laptop and over a year's worth on my pc). I've also loaded them to sites like snapfish; where they offer free storage.


So, this morning I started uploading to another site to keep my photos safe. It is quite a process as I take a ton of photos. I'm trying to be patient and go through each folder and quickly deleting all of the oops photos. It's tough... I hate to delete photos.


Should I also back them to a cd? What do you do? How do you handle your photos?


Pictures randomly selected from my folders...