The Bets Week Ever

Still playing catch-up

2009-11-12T19:01:00.003-06:00

I feel like I've been playing catch-up since I returned from my 7 sick days. Being gone from work when you are sick is SO MUCH WORK when you are a teacher. In many other jobs, if you are sick, I assume you don't need to leave plans for others while you are gone. I bet you might need to leave instructions or directions to find things, but you don't have a substitute for the day coming in to do YOUR job. Granted, I've only had a job as a teacher ... but I'm guessing that is how it works.

Sometimes when I don't feel well, I'd rather just stay at work than make lesson plans and directions for a substitute. I'm so anal that I tend to over plan and write out more details than necessary. You never know what kind of a substitute you are going to get in your room. I'd rather leave too many instructions than not enough and return to things not done correctly.

Thankfully, of the 7 days I had to be gone (plus one more day for a curriculum meeting), I had only 3 substitutes. 1 was our building sub who knows the ins & outs of 4th grade ... 1 was just for the first 1/2 day when I came but had to leave with a fever ... and 1 was there for five days. She even cancelled other jobs to come back to my class when I found out I had to stay home longer than planned. She was GREAT!

Long story short ... I've been back at school for almost five full weeks and I STILL feel like I'm playing catch-up. I've stayed late at work almost every night. I hate being the last car in the parking lot, but I have a hard time being productive during the day when I'm surrounded by friends, students, to do lists and more!

Minnie's gotten the short end of the stick because I've been working ten hour days and when I get home, it's too dark for a long walk. Poor baby!

I keep thinking things will slow down ... let's just hope it will happen sooner than later.

No pictures! No pictures!

2009-11-07T16:24:00.004-06:00

Ellen is already aware of the paparazzi ... now that she's famous!

In case you didn't hear, Ellen was the Grand Prize winner of the Kansas City Star's Cutest Costume contest. Say that three times fast. Molly got the call early today and by the time we got home from shopping & running errands, they had already posted the news online!

Check out this screen cap. There is our little salmon sushi roll ... on the front page of the KansasCity.com website! The other winners had some GREAT costumes, too!

Thanks to all of you that voted for her online. I'm not sure how Ellen will top her first Halloween, but I bet Molly already has some idea in the works! :)

Best Sushi In Town???

2009-11-04T20:02:00.004-06:00

Okay ... that's not really what we are voting on, but we are voting on who was the Best Dressed Kiddo in KC this Halloween!

Miss Ellen is one of the 166 entries in the latest KC Star contest.

She would LOVE to win and she's begging you for her vote! :)

Here's the scoop:

She is submission #139 out of 166 of KC's best dressed kids. {You should seriously check out her competition. Some of the pictures are so blurry you can't even tell if it's a pic of a child or a magazine picture! Ellen has a real chance to win!}

The winner is the photo with the most number of votes. Voting is open from Wednesday, November 4th at 5:00am - Friday, November 6th at 5:00pm CST, once per day. {It's not too late to get a vote in today!}

You do have to register on the site to vote (wah, wah, wah). Be sure to check the box to not send any unwanted emails. After the contest, you can send an email to privacy at upickem.net to remove your email from their list.

Here are the links you need:

Click here to REGISTER (it took me a while to get my confirmation email ... don't give up! It will come.)

Click here to VOTE!

Completed while waiting for Trick-or-Treaters

2009-11-01T17:26:00.005-06:00

I spent my Halloween evening with the Chittums, enjoying some yummy veggie soup, salad, bread & sweet treats.

Earlier in the day, I hung out with family & took about a trillion pictures of Ellen's first Halloween costume. You've GOT TO follow the link to see her cute, homemade costume! Jill had mentioned that she'd like to do a jigsaw puzzle, so while I was at Mom & Dad's I picked one up. I LOVE completing puzzles and the one I chose was one of my favorites growing up.

This particiular puzzle is called a Talking Jigsaw Puzzle. The picture on ours is an office building, but apparently they were made of a high school, hospital, hotel and other locations.

What is unique about these puzzles, is that the picture on the box is NOT the actual picture of the completed puzzle. They've jumbled up all the "windows" on the building so you don't know what the puzzle is supposed to look like. You have to read what is happening in the windows to figure out where all the pieces go. Here is an example:

You can see that these two people are talking so they would go side-by-side, but then we also had to use all the other clues to figure out what rooms & floor these people were on. There were 9 floors in our office building and 12 rooms on each floor.

Jill was in charge of the details. She would use the puzzle box to put together the individual windows. I was in charge of the big picture, so I would read all of them to figure out their exact location. There IS a way to check your progress. You can turn over the pieces (which are all the same size & shape) to see if the words "congratulations" match up where they are printed many, any times!

It only took us about 3+ hours to complete. Yes, I realize we are missing 3 pieces, but apparently when I was little, I marked the locations for the 3 missing pieces on the box. That helped so we knew when we were actually done.

This was a fun way to pass the time ... I wish that I had more of these, but after searching for a link to share, I've realized that they are no longer made and the ones that are for sale are going for $30-$70 each. Yikes! Thanks, I think I'll pass.

Two different dogs?

2009-10-25T21:59:00.002-05:00

Minnie about 2 weeks ago:

Minnie today:

I finally made an appointment for her to be groomed. Minnie's haircut is the same price as mine and we both were due to get a cut this month. Thankfully, Mom helped me out by treating me to MY haircut, which meant that it didn't hurt my bank account too terribly today when I paid for Minnie's cut!

I like how Minnie's ears start to fold over again when her hair gets long, but I also know that she looks SUPER cute when she is groomed! I've been taking Minnie to PetSmart to be groomed since she was a puppy, and today for the first time, they gave me a report card on her behavior.

Here's how she did:

Skin - "Splish, splash, gave 'em a bath". The other choices were bad reports about needing flea treatment or having itchy skin.

Teeth - "Picture-perfect smile". (Too bad my vet says $185 will make her smile better.)

Coat - "Fur-riffic head to toe". The other choices tell owners to buy more products.

Ears - "Perfectly ear-resistible".

Nails - "Trimmed, but a nail grinding will smooth over the rough edges".

Notes - "Minnie is SO adorable and very sweet. I really enjoyed grooming her today! I would love to see her again! :)"

I know the attached coupons for new products are the real reason behind the new report cards, but it is nice to hear what they've checked on her. Normally, I just pay and then they hand her over.

She's had a rough day and is already fast asleep on the couch! Getting pretty is exhausting! :)

I love fall ...

2009-10-22T20:14:00.001-05:00

... and this is one of the reasons why. What's better than this beautiful sight? Not much.

That's it. That's all I wanted to say. Nothing else to share. :)

Career choices

2009-10-18T13:20:00.002-05:00

Ellen has lots of choices when it comes to possible jobs as a grown-up.

She can be ...

a hat model,

a meteorologist,

the lead singer of an 80s cover band,

a percussionist in a symphony,

a yoga instructor,

a magician,

a foodie,

and an American Idol.

Today we've found a new possible career. It's either a package loader at UPS or a Mommy pushing a stroller. You decide!

Modern day journal post

2009-10-17T15:52:00.004-05:00

Outside my window... the leaves changing colors. I love fall & I love that I live in a place where the trees actually change.

I am thinking... about all that I have to do this week! Today's goal is to get some new earrings on my Etsy page.

I am thankful for... a healthy family and friends that I can count on at all times!

From the kitchen... went to the grocery store this week, but only for treats for work. Hooked on Honeycrisp apples right now!

I am wearing... jeans, running shoes, favorite scarf & hoodie. Pretty much my normal weekend wardrobe.

I am creating... new earrings for Etsy store. Also working on my photography skills every day. Would love to make it a bigger part of my life!

I am going... to enjoy my "me" time this weekend and use it to catch up on relaxing & DVR :)

I am reading... hmmmm ... reading. What's that? Haven't picked up a book in a long time, but I read multiple blogs every day. Does that count?

I am hoping... to travel to visit friends before summer comes.

I am hearing... the TV, cars outside and knitting needles.

Around the house... you'll find piles & piles. I haven't had a chance to really spend a few hours deep cleaning. Needs to happen before I go crazy OR Minnie starts eating stuff she finds. One or the other.

One of my favorite things... being creative. Spending time with friends. Sleeping in. Playing with Ellen. Wait, did you say one thing?

A few plans for the rest of the week... parent/teacher conferences Monday & Tuesday night and all day Thursday. Crafternoon on Friday with the girls!

A picture to share...

A fun "edited" picture of me & Ells from last week. I like how it looks kind of like a watercolor.

Who let the dogs out?

2009-10-10T16:58:00.003-05:00

From my visit with Ellen today. She is now all over the house, crawling, scooting, climbing & pulling up! Today we read lots of books, watched the falling leaves out the window & played with EVERY toy in the living room! I love the way she talks to herself and "sings", too.

Pretty darn cute!

Like the Sky Mall catalog ... only better!

2009-10-06T07:49:00.000-05:00

So, I got my mail today after work and found this catalog in my mailbox. It's the Harriet Carter - Distinctive Gifts Since 1958 catalog. By the picture on the front, I assumed it was for pet supplies.

Then ... I opened it and realized that this catalog is like a giant As Seen on TV infomercial. Are they watching me at home? Do they know that I LOVE watching infomercials? Well, I realized that I've ordered some products online (that I've seen on TV) and they probably sold my name.

Anyhoo ... started flipping through this baby tonight and found some GREAT items ... and some not-so-great items. I thought I'd share:

Portable Yarn Organizer: Jill, aren't you lucky that I know you already have a yarn organizer? Check out this thing! This is for serious knitters!

Rolling Pants Trolley: Seriously? I'm pretty sure I have a wire frame for hanging files at work that looks just like this! I can't really decide if this would do great things or bad things for nice work pants.

Domino Holder: Now, I think this item would actually be helpful. It is kind of tough to see your tiles when they are perpendicular to the table you are playing on. Do I want to pay $13 for all my domino teammates to have the holders? No.

"Peek-a-boo" Dog Bed: Why would Minnie want this bed when she can just play peek-a-boo in MY bed covers? I would only be interested in paying $25 for this if the cute pup came with the bed!

Alphabet Cake Pan: I think you can click any of these pictures to see a larger image, but you might want to look closely at this pan! It's pretty inventive. I bet Erik's Mom would love to try something like this. I'm wondering how well the cakes actually bake in this movable pan.

Hair Umbrella: Can you imagine if you walked into your hair salon next time and everyone were wearing one of these? I would die laughing! I can't imagine that it's really that much easier to clean cut hair out of all the folds in this "collar" than it would be to just sweep up your floor.

Big Top Cupcake Set: Amy emailed all of us this summer with information on this Cupcake Set. She had been up in the middle of the night feeding Griffey and saw the infomercial for this. She had to write to confirm with the girls that this was either a) the stupidest invention ever OR b) something that she could call and order immediately!

Daughter-In-Law Afghan: Your DIL doesn't want this, I promise you that. She would rather that you just gave her the $30 you would have spent on this blanket that would never leave her linen closet.

Microwave S'Mores Maker: Huh? What? Are you telling me that I can't put my marshmallows in the microwave & watch them grow 500x their original size anymore? Thanks S'Mores Maker, for taking the fun out of my yummy treat!

Shredder Scissors: These shredding scissors seem like a good idea ... but I'm here to tell you that they aren't. I bought a pair through our school fundraiser last year. I've used them about 3 times. It's next to impossible to cut through an old credit card with them and it takes too long to cut through junk mail with them. Not only that, but you can't use them as regular scissors (duh) when you need to simply cut something. My hands are MUCH faster at just ripping up mail I don't want anyone else to read. Save yourself the $6.85.

Cat Talk Book: Minnie was thinking about buying this for the mothers of her two kitty friends, Betty & Gracie. I told her that wasn't necessary because their mothers already know what they are saying, "Get that schnoodle away from me AND out of my house!"

Dickey: Should stop being manufactured. Period. End of discussion.

Dog Tweeter: I just thought this was funny because of the name, "dog tweeter". Like this was going to update to the dog's Twitter account as they were on a walk. P.S. I'm fairly confident that if Minnie had a dog whistle on her leash, every time she pulled we'd have all the dogs in the neighborhood following us around.

White Wizard: This product is definitely worth the $7! Erik's Mom, Ann, gave me a tub of White Wizard and I can't tell you how many times it's come to the rescue! Maybe you should know that I'm a complete klutz, I have off-white carpet and I've spilled red drinks on my floor approximately 10 times. I have ZERO drink stains on my carpet, which should tell you how great this product is! If you ever see White Wizard out in the stores, you should buy a tub to have on hand just in case!

Those are the Harriet Carter products that I felt were either completely ridiculous OR totally worth the money! I hope I may have helped out with some of your Christmas (or White Elephant) shopping!

The extent of my fall decorations

2009-10-05T06:19:00.000-05:00

My glitter crafty project started with the glitter acorns I saw at Curious Sofa last week. I saw them and thought, "I can do that!" as I do quite often. Well, that night, I collected a bag full of acorns from Molly & Erik's backyard.

Then ... I was sick for a week. I didn't have the energy to deal with the acorns I brought home. When I finally opened the bag, I found that all of the acorns were moldy & went straight in the trash.

So, I found pine cones on the ground during my walk with Minnie. I started with just 6 ... and then went to pick up 10 more ... and then found a bag of plastic pumpkins, acorns & squash at Michael's today.

I think they turned out really cute!

I then went in my storage closet to find the rest of my Halloween/fall decorations and they were all housed in that cute Trick or Treat box. So ... I set it all out. I'm not a HUGE fan of Halloween decorations, but I do like these. AND, my fun glitter decor can stay out through Thanksgiving (I think) with maybe some new turkey-inspired decor. Anyone have any ideas?

Checking off the list

2009-10-03T23:24:00.003-05:00

This map shows the 24 states that I've visited. I adjusted it from the original 15 I had with the help of Dad. {I think I need some help from family ... am I missing some states? 15 doesn't seem like very many when we did a lot of traveling as a family when we were growing up.}

Visited 24 states (48%) shown in red.
Create your own visited map of The United States or website vertaling duits?
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I saw this on another blog today & thought it was a cool way to keep track of your travels. There are many other states that I'd like to visit ... most of them in the Northeast.

Do any of my readers have a bottomless bank account that would like to take me on a trip? ;)

Teeny, tiny, little tongue

2009-10-01T22:06:00.003-05:00

She was SO focused on getting a treat from me!

I know it's a while until the season starts ...

2009-09-29T18:23:00.001-05:00

... but I saw this today and HAD to share it! Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!

Stink!

2009-09-28T22:37:00.004-05:00

You know how every Monday morning you hear your alarm and think, "I wish I could just sleep in and lounge around today!"? Please tell me I'm not the only one that thinks that. Well, I got to do that today.

Although, I am only lounging on the couch because our wonderful school nurse sent me home after she told me I had a 100.1 temperature before the bell even rang this morning. I think teachers are SO lucky to have a nurse at their workplace. Without her, we would all probably just walk around spreading our germs even more. I woke up and wasn't feeling great but thought it wasn't bad enough to stay home AND I had zero lesson plans, so I had to go in. Well, I rushed around for 90 minutes to get plans made and then walked out the door and came home to retreat to the couch.

I had 5 kids out sick in my room, across the hall in Brenda's room, she was missing 14 (that's 1/2 her class) and her student teacher went home sick right before me, and Mitzi was missing 6. Next door in 3rd grade, one of the student teachers went home in the morning, too. The end of our pod must just be a breeding ground for germs & the flu. Yuck! Word from all the parents is that someone in the family has been diagnosed with H1N1, unofficially, because they don't want sick kids infecting others by coming to the hospital/doctor's office ... and then it just spreads between siblings, neighbors and friends. With 9 & 10-year olds that don't know how to "sneeze into your elbow" and "REALLY wash your hands" the flu is bound to spread and multiply quickly.

Well, my temperature has been going up and down all day (as low as 99.0 and as high as 100.8) and I'm home tomorrow again for sure. If my temperature isn't normal tomorrow, I have to take Wednesday off as well. While that sounds find & dandy that means I'll have to sneak up to school when everyone is gone for the day to make plans. Those of you that are teachers know how painful it is to make sub plans. I'd much rather just be there myself to teach.

Send your healing thoughts my way. My flu shot is on October 13th and I was hoping that I could make it until then. Clearly, that didn't happen ... but I would still like to get better ASAP!

A tour of my "office"

2009-09-15T18:13:00.004-05:00

Thanks to Twitter & "meeting" all types of educators on the web, I've seen ideas and classrooms all over the country. Many of these teachers shared pictures of their rooms as they were decorating and preparing the last few weeks of summer. I enjoyed seeing all the different classrooms and even got some new, great ideas for this school year! {Thanks, Kelly for the RR pass idea ... it's working well!}

Sooooo ... I thought I'd take some pictures of my home away from home & share them with all of you, people in my Twitter PLN or the rest of my readers. I spend about 50+ hours a week in this room, so I do the best to make it an enjoyable place to be. It's exactly as I like it to be, minus the VERY messy "teacher corner" and some of the other messes around the room that are unavoidable! I hope you like seeing how things turned out this year!

This is the front of my room. Fancy new SMARTboard that I got last year and what little space we have on the floor for class meetings and story time.

My corner that is ridiculously messy! I just can't manage to keep it clean. Even if I start the day with a tidy desktop, it is buried by noon. How does this happen?

Counter with turn-in folders. Month-long calendar and birthday cupcakes. I bought these bulletin board sets my first year of teaching (when I got hired 3 days before school started) and I still love them. This cabinet is full of supplies so the kids don't have to come ask me for them. In the drawers: notebook & scratch paper, highlighters, grading pens. In the cabinets: rulers, crayons, markers, scissors, pencils, etc.

Here's my helper chart. I have 15 jobs and rotate the kids (cars) under the jobs along the road each week. They'll have 15 weeks of jobs & then have 11 weeks off. It works well for me. Love this chart because I have a VW Bug. :) Cutting board in front is from my class my 1st year. They all signed their names on it. They are 7th graders now.

Our built-in cabinets & counters. The paper dividers on the bottom left are their mailboxes.

Bulletin boards above my Reading Groups table. The one of the left has "Summer Headlines" on it now, but it changes for the holidays & seasons. I have the kids make themed art to decorate the board. The one on the right with the 6-Traits of Writing stays up all year.

My classroom library. I have so many books, the rest of them fill another cabinet and an entire file cabinet. I pull out themed books throughout the year to put around the room.

These are our new cubbies that we got last year. They are INSIDE our classrooms, which I was very leery of at first. The cubbies used to be in the hall, so I was worried about the mess. I'm now more of a stickler about leaving a mess AND I'm loving the extra storage & display room they provide.

Overall view of my classroom. The decorations from the ceiling also change with seasons and holidays. Laterns --> GIANT spider web & spiders --> snowflakes --> conversation hearts --> shamrocks --> wind chimes --> flowers. I love to change my decorations!

The view outside my classroom. This wall used to be on the outside of the building. After our building remodel and addition, it now is a hallway for 3rd & 4th grade classrooms. To the right of that bulletin board is a door that goes to the playground. We love the easy door for recess.

More of my messy corner & my computer desk. See my cute curtains? They are new this year & a FABULOUS colleague surprised me with them the week before school started. They are so girly & fun and SO me :) I got lucky with 2 corner windows that look out onto the playground.

Another close-up view of the disaster area. See that Diet Coke on the floor? One of my lovely parents brought it up to surprise me as a Happy Monday present. I was so excited, I hugged her in the middle of my lesson! You can also see the rolling cabinet I saved from the condo dumpster & recovered this summer.

Classroom door, ABC spelling cards, and an area to show my Jayhawk pride. Rock Chalk!

A new initiative this year: Word of the Week. So far it's going really well. They announce the word on the video broadcast every morning, the Spanish teacher teaches them how to use it in a sentence, there is a quiz over the definition. I think it's a great idea!

Board at the front of the room with all sorts of important information. Daily Schedule, Classroom Norms, Specials' Schedule, NO HOMEWORK incentive poster, etc. My Elmo is also on this front table. I don't love it here since when I'm writing, my back is to my class, but I can't find a better spot for it.

Okay ... are you bored yet? That's all I have. I hope all my teacher friends are off to a great start. We have progress reports due this Friday. How in the world are we already half-way through the first quarter? I feel like I just met my class! :)

The first thing I do when I wake up is hit "Snooze"

2009-09-13T19:26:00.004-05:00

She does this!

Every morning when we get up, Minnie promptly goes over to the sliding glass door I have in my bedroom. It goes out to a balcony, but she never really scratches at the door to go out. My bedroom is on the 3rd floor of our building, so I don't like for her to be out there alone. She mostly just wants to sit there and watch for any birds, squirrels, kids, cars, leaves, whatever that might move by her line of sight.

Sometimes she just sits here like this. Sometimes she completely lays down behind the curtain, which is strange to me, because that means she can see even less of what is going on outside. Sometimes she hides completely behind the curtain so I can't see her.

I've been meaning to get a picture of her doing this, but I never bring my camera upstairs with me. By the time I would get out of bed to go get my camera, she'd move to follow me downstairs. Last night, I got smart and brought my camera up with me BEFORE bed. So smart!

Just wanted to share a little bit of our mornings.

So, a dog & his owner walk into a bar.

2009-09-08T21:46:00.001-05:00

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If only I could teach Minnie to do this ... I'd probably be a very rich lady :)

I stacked them up ...

2009-08-29T21:33:00.004-05:00

... and she was quick to knock them down.

I spent the afternoon with Molly, Erik & Ellen and we had a lot of fun. I got to see her crawling in person and we played a lot of peek-a-boo around the house. Thanks for spending your Saturday with me, Ellen! I had a lot of fun! :)

I'm slacking on the blog, but not on much else.

2009-08-27T19:35:00.006-05:00

Thanks (?) to my daily photo blog, I feel that there is nothing really worth blogging about without photos to accompany my words. I assume that the readers of The Bets Week Ever are also tuning into The View Across Town ... so I don't want to double up on photos. That has led to a long delay between posts here. While I do take photos EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. sometimes I'm taking pics just to get a post up & there isn't really a story to match.

Today there is a story, but no pictures to match.

I've been overwhelmed with beginning of school. At this time tomorrow night I will have made it through 2 full weeks that included:

26 new names to learn

1 Early Release day

1 Fantastic Friday

1 Back to School Night (2 sessions)

3 strikes given to students

1 broken shelf from a student making it a chair

5 days of recess duty

1 video clip played (about the Iditarod)

6ish times I've really raised my voice

2 students crying

1 fire drill

1 indoor recess

1 game played on the SMARTboard

8 chapters read of our class Read Aloud, Raymond & Graham Rule the School

2 library check outs

1 tornado drill

3 students with birthdays

8 homework assignments

3 sets of papers I've actually graded

30ish feet of laminating that I've cut out

6 nights of staying until at least 5:15pm

260 high fives given at the end of the day

300ish emails

100s of copies

437 times I've said "My turn! Turn off your voices. Listen to me." (Okay, it only seems like I've said it that many times).

Do you see why I haven't sat down to post lately?

The good news is that things ARE getting better. We are always scared at the beginning of the year when the kids don't know anything & don't know how to follow the 4th grade rules. It's easy to forget when the last time we had kids in our classrooms, they were doing so well & we had prepared them to move on to 5th grade. Every year it gets better ... and with a few more weeks of training, we will be like a well-oiled machine!

I'm still here ... I'm just a busier, more exhausted version of me being "here"!

10 Years Later ...

2009-08-16T14:50:00.002-05:00

... and we are still best friends!

It's happened so fast!

2009-08-11T22:17:00.005-05:00

Tomorrow marks the day that I officially report back to school. This weekend is my 10 year high school reunion. My students (26 this year!) start on Monday. Next week will be crazy while I try & get settled into a routine and then before I can blink, we have Meet the Teacher night on Thursday.

Basically, what I'm saying is that if I didn't see Ellen today, it wasn't going to happen for almost 2 weeks :( She's at the point now, that she's changing so much and doing so many new things ... I don't like to go too long without seeing her because I'll miss something. I know how lucky I am to be able to live 15 minutes away from my niece. My friends that have family across the country ... well, I don't know how they do it! I think Ellen is really starting to recognize me, which makes a really long, crappy day a zillion times better! It may have something to do with the high-pitched, "Ellen! I've missed you! How's my baby?" that I give her every time I walk in the door. That is also paired with waving my arms above my head and clapping for her! Surely she's thrilled to see ME ... not the dog & pony show ... right? ;)

So anyway, tonight Minnie & I went over for dinner, a bit of crafting and to hang out.

Look at this big girl! She doesn't look like much of a baby anymore :(

And look at why she was smiling so big! She's standing up ... almost all on her own! No, she's still not a fan of tummy time, rolling over, or thinking too hard about crawling ... but she seemed to love this! We know that Ellen is the perfect product of her two parents because of her large head & short body. You can't really tell this is the case when she's laying down or sitting up. However, when she stood up for the first time, I couldn't stop laughing because she looks like a little lollipop ... big round head on tiny torso and legs! :)

Here she is chewing on her gums. The poor thing is getting a tooth & you can tell she's feeling it!

Ellen is finally to the age where she likes to hold onto a lovey. She even gets one in bed with her. Molly, if you aren't too careful, she might grow up sleeping with a baby blanket far into high school ... and college ... and her adult life! :)

So excited to see Minnie that she just about flew away! You should have seen her bounce & wave her arms & giggle! Ellen is so stingy with her laughs ... of course, Minnie was the one to get her to squeal time after time after time!

Now you get to see the two of them in action! We know that the girls have played very well together this summer ... however, now Ellen has a love of grabbing things around her. {You should click through to the link above, I'm amazed at how much Ellen has changed in just 2 months!} It's one thing when it's sunglasses or earrings, but Ellen's Mommy was starting to get worried when she was grabbing & pulling on Minnie's muzzle. She's got a pretty strong grasp. We tried to split them up and after a while, Minnie was pretty cautious about getting too close. I guess it's MUCH better that Minnie be afraid of Ellen than the other way around.

Thanks for a GREAT night, Molly, Erik & Ellen! It was the perfect end to a long day ... and it helped me relax before the next few full work days! Hugs & Kisses!

Burgers & Bowling!

2009-08-07T08:04:00.000-05:00

Two weekends ago, we decided to go out to dinner & then to enjoy a few games of bowling.

We started out at Blanc Burger. ALWAYS a great meal, but that night the restaurant was filled with smoke (from what we assumed was something that burned in the kitchen), and the diners that were waiting for a table have very little room to stand, so they started spilling into the tables area. I've since talked to 2 other people who also said Blanc was smokey when they were there. This means a) their cooks need more training or b) their ventilation system needs more work.

Here is Adam's burger. See the GIANT onion ring on it. Yummy!

And, of course, we got shopping carts full of fries & rings. This time we got the truffle fries (not my favorite, but everyone else likes them), the sweet potato fries (definitely my favorite) and the beer-battered onion rings (first time to try them, and I liked them)!

Then we headed over to College Lanes to bowl. Other than the grandparents that were there with their 6 grandkids, we were the only people in the entire place! I had a coupon for buy one game, get one game free, so that was nice!

I was happy that the pink bowling balls were the perfect 8 pound size for me. Mitz has her own bowling ball & shoes. I'm jealous :)

Great pic!

Something about this picture cracks me up.

"Lefty" Adam getting ready to bowl. None of us did particularly well, but we got better as we got into the second game.

I'm pretty sure this is our first time. We totaled our points from both games & Mitzi kicked our asses!

Finally, some other people started coming to bowl. This was the lanes next to us with 6 college-aged kids. Thank goodness they came & were buying food & beer, because we were starting to feel bad for the waitress that worked the bar there.

It was a fun night! I'd like to play more often, and maybe improve my skills before next year's Turkey Bowl at work! :) I took tons of video on my Flip, with the plan to practice my editing & make a bowling montage. That hasn't happened yet, but when (if) I figure it out, I'll be sure & post that, too!

Momma! I don't feel too good :(

2009-08-05T20:59:00.003-05:00

It's August. That means 2 things to me. 1) It's time for summer to end and for me to go back to work. 2) It's time for Minners to get her yearly shots.

Neither are particularly good news, but Minnie having to get her vaccinations has NEVER been an easy thing. This is year 4 and we've always had issues since she reacts poorly to all her shots, I think mostly she's allergic to her rabies shot.

Last night, she knew something was up. She refused to lay down on the couch with me & instead found this spot on the staircase. Giving me the stink eye ... .. .

And then this morning, she didn't want to come downstairs, even when she heard me pour her food. She's a smart pup!

The car ride is normally a huge treat for her. She loves to sit on my lap (please refrain from lectures about how this is an unsafe spot ... I'd rather have her still, here, than jumping all over the car) and watch for the neighborhood landmarks she knows.

And, she's normally very excited when we pull up here, but this morning, I had to literally drag her out of the car & carry her inside. She used to love coming here because all the employees are so friendly & they know EVERYTHING about Minnie. However, the last time she went, I dropped her off for the weekend. First time to be there for more than a day.

I went inside to fill out paperwork, and I was doing my best to be positive & not let Minnie know how nervous I was. Every time she gets her shots, I get all worked up. She is my baby & I don't like to see her hurting. When I left, she tried to follow me out the door. One of the girls had to pick her up & take her in back.

While Minnie was getting her shots & staying so they could keep an eye on her, I decided to head up the street to get some more work done in my classroom. I worked very hard, from about 8:00am until 4:45pm. I did take time for a lunch break with my friend Chelsey AND a break to hang out with Amy & Griffey!

Finally, it was time to pick the girl up. They said she did great & if she had any reactions, to give her some Benadryl. I had to pull my car over on the drive home to put the little girl in the grass so she could get sick. Then, as soon as we got in the condo, her eyes started puffing up again. Poor thing!

Here she is telling me she doesn't feel well. You can't tell from this picture, but her eyes were swelling up, ears bright red, muzzle was puffing up, too.

Then, the Benadryl kicked in and she got a little nap in. The puffiness in her eyes went away, too.

She woke up & was panting to go outside & see the neighbors. I was on the phone with Mom telling her that Minnie seemed to be feeling much better & then she got sick again. She finally laid down on the chair & she's still sleeping away.

It's been a very big day for my little Minners & a stressful one for me. Every year, I hope that she's outgrown her allergies to the shots, and every year it hurts more and more when she feels crummy. Just wanted to share about our eventful day! The good news is that I made so much progress at work, that I'm not going back until Monday which means that I can stick around here & relax with Minnie!

Zero Tolerance Gone Too Far?

2009-08-04T12:56:00.003-05:00

Thanks to Dad for passing this hilarious Colbert Report clip along.

My favorite part was Steven calling birth control Fallopian Dope or Baby Proofies!

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Nailed 'Em - War on Birth Control

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Tasers

We have a zero tolerance policy on bullying at our school and some of the parents don't understand why we make records of bullying, no matter how small the situation was. I think it's important in that case, because bullying at a small level can lead to more dangerous or painful problems. However, when it comes to zero tolerance policies with drugs ... there is a fine line between ridiculous and meaningful!