...A Picture a Day Keeps the Blues Away...: January 2012

Saturday, January 28, 2012

#28/366--Animal Print Pants

Darn it, Target. Why must you have such cute clothes when I am out shopping for someone else...

"This is how I roll, animal print pants out of control..."

;)

#27/366--84 Balloon Clips

As in...84 balloons that deflated after being blown up and clipped...that had to be re-inflated for today's carnival and tied shut. Yep. All in the name of kids.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Saturday, January 21, 2012

#21/366--Good Cry

Catching up on tv I've missed this past month(3 episodes). DVR was out for awhile (long story there), so I watched via internet...love me some Parenthood.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Tonight, while driving, I (as usual) was frustrated with other drivers. Michael started laughing at me. He said, "Mom, I love you. You're the best mom. You aren't hot or cold...you're like porridge....you're just right!" Then, he quickly added, "...and don't put that on facebook!"

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

#17/366--New Laptop...

...means I can work more from home!

...and I say that a little sarcastically, and yet, a little excitedly. Odd.

Monday, January 16, 2012

#16/366--Evening Sky

Sunday, January 15, 2012

#15/366--Brotherly Baking

As promised in my older blog,

I am posting my "bafting/craking" (baking/crafting) pic

that I made for some folks as Christmas gifts....

"Sand Art Brownies"--yummy stuff.

(Want the recipe? Let me know)

My kiddos baked one of the extra jars tonight...

...and I just watched. They turned out dee-lish! Scrumptious! :)

Saturday, January 14, 2012

#14/366--5K and Fun Run in Honor of...

...a coach and a student...

...that passed away from cancer...

...this past year at my daughter's school...

(Lauren was busy socializing--being a teenager--thank goodness <3 )

((my runnin' buddy and me...

...at 7:45 in the morning...

...in freezing temps...

...getting ready to see how far we can run...

12 minute mile--no kidding...

...we walked only about 3 minutes--

we used our Couch to 5K ap))

Friday, January 13, 2012

#13/366--Blur

The picture is blurry...but it's representative of how fast it feels the time flies when I'm with my girl.

I am proud of the young woman she is. I usually save this sort of blogging for birthdays, and such. But I'm just feeling so old lately...every time I look at the people that were once my babies...people...they are becoming more than just my kids. I treasure each little moment, and feel weepy and thankful and blessed.

Tonight, Lauren and I spent time just catching up. Life has been so busy since school started back--and, yes, I do mean since two weeks ago. She's been so stressed with mid-terms (is that REALLY what they call it in 9th grade?)--She studies more than I did when I was in college. I think all the stress has weighed heavy on her. Headaches/migraines are almost a daily occurrence. My girl went to bed early tonight. For that very reason. A migraine. I see it in her eyes. This preAP/IB business is insane. It's turned my 14 year old into a 24 year old. Although I am thankful that she isn't a dramatic child, and she doesn't have the craziness that comes with being a teenager...sometimes I wish she didn't have to deal with the weight of what she carries. Let me tell you, my girl is academically driven. She wants this. But then again. She doesn't.

As an educator, you could say I've "noticed" things have changed this year in our business. It isn't the teachers. It's those who are not in the classroom. Raising the bar. Heightening the challenge. Planning. Doing. Studying. Acting. Intervening. Testing. Assessing. Pushing. Pulling. Creating. Demanding. And it's not helping the little ones. It's hurting them. They are crushed under all this pressure. Suffocating. Dying. I hate it. Don't get me wrong. I love my profession. When it's treated as such. But as of late, those who are not in the classroom seem to think they know what's best and have taken the "profession" out of it. You may have heard that Teaching is a calling. And it really is. A teacher has a passion in her heart. It's a sort of passion that brings a teacher to tears when she talks about her classroom, her children, her strategies, her beliefs. When we see our babies hurting, it hurts us. And we are trying to shield them from the wolves out there who see these babies as a number. A dollar sign. They are individuals. With individual needs. And developmental needs. Professionals know how to meet those developmental needs. With developmentally appropriateness. Seriously. You tell me. Is it going to truly for real seriously benefit my daughter to learn sine/cosine/tangent in 9th grade vs. 12th grade? I mean sure, it may save me some money if she gets those college hour credits but truly...in the long run...will it really get her a better job? Like I said, when I was in 12th grade trig/calculus, "when will I ever use this in real life?" Frankly, as a Kindergarten teacher, I don't.

Except that I wish I remembered it so that I could help my child study and remove that burden from her shoulders...

Thursday, January 12, 2012

#12/366--Counting Jar

I send home a daily counting jar (it's a peanut butter jar) for the students to fill with items and bring back so we can estimate and count, together as a class, then record in our "Counting Jar books." One little boy brings back the jar, filled with pinto beans. Pinto beans. I explained that it was too much for us to count as a class and to try again. I gave him some ideas, etc. So he brings it back again today. Pinto beans. Half as many. Oh well. We counted them anyway. In groups of ten. 390. Yes. 39 sets of 10. With a group of 20 kindergartners, sitting ever so patiently, as kindergartners do....good times.