Merry Christmas

The Holiday Countdown a-la-us...

10...million times I think I heard, "Mom, it's just what I wanted!!!!"

9...stones in the earrings and neclace I got for Christmas

8...trips to three different Walmarts in 8 days

7...times Camp Rock has played on the DVD since the 25th

6...Christmas parties

5...trips to the end of the driveway with all the garbage

4...trips to Hobby Lobby...and two of them were in one day

3...extended days of winter break due to bad weather school was cancelled the 18th, 19th and 20th

2...excited girls that got guitars at my house from Santa

1....birthday party

The pictures you've been waiting for.....Halloween and the first snow at our house...

Halloween pictures.....coming soon....

Why is it that my camera won't "borrow" power from the computer when it's hooked up to the computer?? My old one did. I had to scrounge for batteries so I could download the pictures and since it quit in the middle of it, they did not download...so since I didn't want you all to go without seeing anything, here's a picture of me the night I received my Elementary Math Teacher of the Year Award from the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics. Denise got to present it to me. The ICTM President is on the right.

Why is it that sometimes life is either full of go-go-go with barely time to breathe or nothing's going on?

This week has something on the calendar every night...how do I find time to blog you ask? I'm contracted to be at school until 3:30 - and usually stay a little longer just for some "me" time. Sure I could be researching how to get 5th graders to memorize math facts...but this is a little more fun!

I'll post halloween pictures sometime...they're being held hostage on my camera with no batteries, maybe tomorrow?? I'm not counting on it.

Carving Pumpkins

I'm slightly late in posting this...we carved pumpkins late last week

They've wilted a bit...Madison is going as a punk girl...to her that means dressed in a red & black wig, wearing black tights with a black skirt and shirt and a guitar hanging from her back. Kaylee is going as a butterfly...although even yesterday she was changing her mind and said she wanted to be blues clues...no time to find that costume.

So, fall has been busy, so much I haven't blogged in over a month.

Here's pictures of my home improvement project for 2008 - concrete pad in front of the garage. The girls LOVE riding their bikes on the concrete and Kaylee's always wanting the chalk.

Why is it that this entire week the alarm went off at 5:45 and I just thought - oh, please - 5 more minutes...but today, it went off (I didn't set it for Mon-Fri...it was set on daily, duh!) I couldn't get back to sleep...might be this late summer cold I've caught somewhere. Kaylee and I both seem to have it.

No big plans for the weekend other than recovery from the first week back at school. For me, I felt like it was just an extension of last year - I know all of the kids, know what they've done in math, and am just ready to keep moving forward. The kids...not so much...next week I'm slowing down to a more relaxed pace...think I've scared a few of them though, especially 5th graders...third day of school and bringing home homework that is a review of long division...they're all in a panic. I told them a year ago that they should expect to use their multiplication facts on the first few days of school...I couldn't go back on my word! At least I will know who needs help and who remembers what they're doing. They'll think next week's assignments are a piece of cake!

Madison's transition was much easier this year - I was worried after her first day, she was very withdrawn and quiet...well, that only lasted the first day. Kaylee got her first time-out at the sitter's this week. She's very protective of cousin Cliff now that he's there too. She got a little over protective to two other kids her age - didn't want them messin' with her cousin!