Random Monday-ness

School Stuff: On Friday I picked Em up after school and brought her to my school where we watched the spring play, The Idi-Odyssey. The play is a comedy designed to explain to students why they have to read "old" works such as The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer. It was cute, and I was pleased with Emma's behavior as I am certain she didn't understand much of the humor.

--33 School days left. Whew!

--My students are still somewhat "checked out," but after reviewing their crappy grades with them last week, more of them are "on board" for work time now.

Emma: DH and I are at our wits' end.... Getting dressed/hair brushed/out the door on time in the mornings has become a HUGE ordeal. I hate yelling...DH hates yelling....but it seems we result to this at least 2-3 mornings per week as Emma lays in bed stalling.

--We've tried a sticker chart for "cooperative mornings" where she could go to the Dollar Tree if she filled up a week. (Em LOVES Dollar Tree.)
--We've taken away evening TV time based on morning behavior.
--I've refused to pack her lunch and forced her to eat the school lunch (she WAY prefers packing) if she didn't cooperate in the morning.
--We usually leave at the same time. There have been many mornings I've left without DH and Em (poor DH!) Em freaks out when I do this, but it still doesn't change her behavior.

Em is usually such a sweet girl....but the dawdling in the morning is driving us NUTS! Any parental ideas of what makes your kids get up and dressed independently in a TIMELY manner?

DH: Plugging away at another book. He texted me last week that he finished the 5th chapter of his 3rd book. He continues to seek agents. I'm so proud of him!

--Sick, sick, sick. DH was vomiting and in bed much of the weekend. He seems to have caught a stomach virus. Bleck. Poor guy.

Me: My parents arrive on Tuesday evening for a 4-day visit. SO excited to see them! One of the greatest pleasures of Mommyhood is watching Em interact with my parents. Hearing her on the phone with them this weekend was precious. She is SO thrilled they'll be here to attend a school field trip with her this week.

--I got all of the house cleaning done this weekend. (Drat! I shouldn't have put it off....sick DH couldn't help out like he usually does!) Tonight all I have to do is change the bedding and the house will be ready for visitors. Yay!

--I finished the Percy Jackson book series. LOVED them! And was tickled to see in the acknowledgements from the author that he considers this "the first of the Olympian series." YAY! I assume this means there will be more Olympians in the future---awesome!

--I've been hooked on the Showtime series The Tudors. I've watched all of seasons 1, and 2. I'm halfway through season 3. (Season 4 recently started and I have them recorded and waiting for me on our DVR.)

--Last weekend I was able to meet more blog pals!!! I met Lynn from Wistful Girl and Kym from I'm a Smart One. We met at the Applebee's in Waycross, Georgia. It was super! We had over 2 hours of conversation. Topics included: IF-issues, Teaching, Insurance, Husbands, Childhoods, etc. Even Leroy from the original Fame TV show. We had great conversation! We're planning to meet up again this summer...I look forward to it!


Kym, Lynn, and I

School, Home, and a Playdate

I'm a little behind in the times again....

School: The good news: Our last district visit for the school year was this past Tuesday. We FINALLY had a positive review of our department. Guess my stress and work the past 2 weeks paid off. Whew!

The bad: Last week was the first week of 4th quarter. My students are already checking out. They are ready for summer... "Are we really doing lessons this week?" "FCAT is over, why are we starting a new unit?" Seriously??? We still have school until June 11th. It's going to be tough to maintain the kiddos these next few weeks. I truly don't remember having students feel "finished" quite this early before. Sighs.

More good: Em and I went to the last home Track Meet of the year this past Wednesday. 3 of my students are on the team----and I enjoyed cheering for them. Em loved standing in the grass beside the track, waiting for the gun to fire signaling the beginning of each race, and then she'd sprint down the length of the track and back. Needless to say, she slept GREAT that night!

Home:
The good: My parents are coming to visit and will arrive next Tuesday night! YAY! They will also be able to attend a school field trip with Em on Wednesday (petting zoo and picnic lunch,) which Em is very excited about. Then Em will stay out of school on Thursday and Friday to go on adventures with them while DH and I are at work.

The bad: There was a cat (in heat) making God-awful noises outside of Emma's room last night. Our dog woke Emma up with his barking just after 11. After I pounded on the window, the noises stopped. Em went back to sleep. Around 12:30 blast it if the whole thing didn't start again.... loud meowing/screeching outside and dog freaking out and barking inside. I have a feeling Little Miss will be dragging when I wake her up in a few minutes. Sighs.

Lastly for now....

On April 9th, Em and I were able to meet up with a blog friend and her Kiddos who live in St. Augustine. We met Katie and her 4 year old twins Megan and Jeremy at their house. Then we traveled together to a park. The kids played. The Moms visited. Next, we all had lunch and had MORE play time at their house. It was great! (Only one accident of the day---Emma and Megan were running full speed and ran into each other---Em had a large goose egg/bruise in the middle of her forehead, and Megan had a big bump on top of her eyebrow. Oops!) Overall, the kids got along together really well.

Katie is a freelance writer for a local newspaper. She made me giggle when she informed me that I had a type-o in the comment section of my blog. (I had written "Dear Reders" instead of "Dear Readers.") She was sweet saying she didn't want to embarrass me by telling me of the type-o in a comment where others could see it. People----I teach Language Arts for a living. I am a spell check Diva. If I have a type-o, I implore you to TELL ME.....because spelling inaccuracies drive me crazy! Thanks! :)

It was wonderful meeting another mom with Kiddos close in age to Em. It was nice getting to know someone I've only known for the most part via blog land. (Katie substitute teaches sometimes, so I had met her at my school before, but we weren't able to have much conversation time.)

I need to get ready for work, so must go. Pictures below were all taken by Katie. (K--THANKS for sharing your photography prowess!) We look forward to future playdates!


Megan and Emma




A smooch!




Em and Megan



Jeremy, Em, and Megan


Searching for red leaves

Friday Night Ruminations

Tonight is probably the last time my blog-buddy Danifred is going to host Friday Night Leftovers wherein bloggers can blog whatever random "leftovers" they didn't blog about yet that week. Check out other blogger's leftovers HERE.

Birthday Stuff:
a. New sneakers. I nearly forgot how nice it feels to have arch support. My old N.ewbalances were much in need of a replacement. On Wednesday I went to the mall with Em and DH. I was able to purchase new sneakers AND new sandals for less $$$ than I had planned to spend on just sneakers. AWESOME! I wore my new sneakers all day today....ahhhhh sweet comfort!

b. DH surprised me with "Percy Jackson: The Demigod Files" by Rick Riordan. Super cool! I didn't know there were other Percy Jackson related books. I'm in the middle of book 4 (of 5) and am loving the series! Looking forward to another fun read!

c. Rockin' bracelet. Yesterday we received a package in the mail from my sister Laurel. Included were birthday gifts for DH and I and some cute things for Emma as well. As Laurel recently returned from a trip to Spain (with some of her high school students on an exchange program visit) all of our gifts were purchased in Spain. Check out my awesome GREEN (my favorite!) bracelet. LOVE IT!



Yearly Eye Exam:
The bad---at my eye exam yesterday I was informed that I have an astigmatism in my left (already "lazy") eye. I didn't know you could "get" an astigmatism...I thought it was something you're born with. However, according to the eye doc astigmatisms are common occurrences "as people age." Gee, Mother Nature...happy birthday to me. ;)

Overall it's not that big a deal. Though my thicker contact lens has taken some getting used to.

The good---I always use my prepaid prescription card to purchase a year supply of my contact lenses. (I wear the disposable type that need to be replaced every 2 weeks.) I like the convenience of having the year supply on hand. In addition, I like that with buying a year supply, I always get a rebate. This year in addition to my year supply and rebate, my doctor's office had the perk of a FREE pair of sunglasses.... Thus, with my year refill of contacts I got a free pair of Vera Bradley sunglasses with lovely case! Price tag said $139. This is a definite upgrade from my usual $12 T.arget shades. Sweet!




Me in new shades.



VB glasses and case.



I didn't get to choose my case, but I love this teal/brown print.


Blog Friends:
Today Em and I met my blog friend Katie and her cute-as-pie twins for a playdate. I'll give more details in a future post (including pictures---Katie is a wonderful photographer!) A great time was had by all, and I believe future playdates are in store.... yay!

In 1 week I am going to a girl's-day-out lunch in Georgia. I'll be meeting blog friends Lynn and Kym in person for the first time. SUPER COOL!

That concludes this session of Friday Night Leftovers. Thanks, Danifred for being a swell hostess!

A Foiled Attempt at Limerick #2

First, my apologies for being behind on commenting. This is always the busiest time of year for me, as we are in "crunch time" in the final days before state FCAT testing. (My students test on March 9-11.) Additionally, we just finished 3rd quarter midterms and progress reports, which meant I had to keep my grades up-to-date. DH, Em and I did have a wonderful Disney get away last weekend....hopefully I'll get pictures and an update posted soon. I devoted my "spare time" last week to watching the Olympics. And did anyone catch the gold medal hockey game between the U.S. and Canada yesterday? Despite the U.S. losing, it was an AMAZING game!

I was hoping to create another Limerick for Weeble's Contest (see my prior post or the link in the left sidebar for further details.) My hope for Limerick #2 was to send a "shout out" to as many of my readers and blog buddies as I could as a "thank you" for the support I've felt since finding the ALI community. I'm still bummed I didn't find you sooner, but this is far surpassed by the gratitude I feel for the knowledge, insight, and love you've shared. I'm tickled with myself for being able to mention 12 of you and still maintain some type of rhyme scheme, even if I lost the Limerick schemata (which is why I'm not entering this in Weeble's contest.) If you aren't mentioned, I'll try to catch you another time...please don't feel less loved. Thank you, dear readers! I love ya!

(Note: I'm having difficulty linking the blog titles to the blogs....all names in caps below are listed in full on my blog roll.)

A Non-Limerick of Thanks
By: Alana Mar. 2010

I'm a WISTFUL GEEK, a SALVAGEABLE pregnancy is my quest,
I've "met" amazing online DREAMERS who support my ADVENTURE with zest!
SIPPYCUPS, SUNNY, CARRIE, and FISHSTICKS are other ANXIOUS MUMs,
They cheer me through my joys, and virtually hug me when I'm numb.
Though my EXPECTED END remains unseen, your blog comments are one reason I'm BLESSED!


Whew! I loved the limerick contest, but incorporating names of blogs was difficult. SOOOOO fun! Happy March, everyone. Xoxox