YEAH Addison!

Addison has really made potty progress this week! She has started using the potty consistently on her own! We are so happy to be nearing the end of potty training!

Today started off as one of the worst days ever with my kids. By 10AM my IA was ready to go home (not that he would, but that's just how awful the kids were). Mostly, the problems stemmed from the field trip we had today...kids who didn't get to go let us konw what they thought about it in the form of verbal lashing & thrown books, chairs, desks, slammed doors, stolen items. It was quite lovely. Then - miraculously - when the field trip kids left, the remaining kids calmed down. It was one of the most productive days ever. They did better a P.E. today than ever before. They completed assignments. They asked nicely to do this or that. They followed directions. Maybe it was the gorgeous weather. Maybe it was the thought of missing another field trip due to sub-standard academic and behavioral performance. Whatever it was, I am so very thankful that it happened. It turned out to be an amazing day.

We had yummy pizza from Paulina's tonight for dinner. Addison didn't really eat. I think she's going through a growth spurt again. She usually stops eating a lot when she's growing. Robert & I thought it was delicious as usual.

Robert got a new "job" today

Today I officially turned over the roll of household bill payer to Robert. In the last six months I have made three late payments, and nearly had a fourth today (which is exactly 4 more than I've had in 9 years of paying my own bills). Today's problem arose because of my lost wallet and resulting canceled credit cards. It was an oversight, but could have cost us our television and internet. I am frustrated & sad & I QUIT.

Tag! You're it, Robert.

Happy Birthday Evelyn!

Today is Evelyn's birthday! Happy Birthday Evelyn! Hope it's a great day!

I got my new USAA Debit Card today. Sadly, it's not the checking account that I use, but I guess it's better than having no debit cards for another day. Hopefully the CCBG one will come in soon. I really want to get a credit card that has some kind of cash back option on it. In retrospect I guess I should've asked about that last week when I called USAA to tell them my wallet was stolen. Oh well.

Robert & I stupidly stayed up and watched the entire Oscars telecast last night. I did pretty well today considering I only slept for about 6 hours, but I really hit a wall around 1pm. Unfortunately, that's during my most attention-intensive class, so I was completely wiped out by the end of the day. Then I had two meetings: 1) about the $12 million dollars in cuts Leon County Schools has to make for next year and 2) about the field trip my team is taking on Thursday to Romano's Macaroni Grill. Both of those were exhausting to sit through. Notes on the meetings: Hopefully I will still have a job next year. I'm still an annual contract teacher since I took off half a year after Addison was born. It is entirely possible that I will be on the chopping block with all the other annual contract teachers at my school. Wish me luck. In happier news, we had 9 kids out of 18 make the field trip criteria. 50% is pretty good for my babies, so I am thrilled! I get to stay behind at school with the kids who didn't earn the trip - YEAH! (yes, that is sarcastic) - and do work. Wish me luck on that, too.

Addison just set her cup down on our end table & she was thoughtful enough to use a coaster. She actually moved the coaster to the place where she wanted to put her cup. She's the bestest daughter ever. Probably even more awesome than I was...

my students are the absolute BEST!

What a blast I had tonight! Pace held it's first annual Talent Night at Fairview's "cafetorium" and it was AWESOME! I was plesantly surprised at how great it turned out. The kids were so focused & appropriate & wonderful! It was a great experience & I really hope it turns out to be an annual event! If we have one next year, I will invite you all...it will be well worth your time!

Here's a picture of Addison & Tema before the show started.

language skills

Addison amazed me today. In the car, she blurted out, "that's an H. H is for Henry". Stunned, we questioned another letter of a kid in her class. "C. That's for Conan." This went on for quite a while...we were shocked.

When she was in the bath, I would randomly select one of her foam alphabet letters, say its sound and ask her what letter it was. She did well with that, so I mixed it up. I started asking her what sounds they made. She did very well with that, too. Then I mixed it up again and asked her to name a word or name that started with the letter I showed her. She did wonderfully with that! H is for Henry (boy in her class), C is for Conan (another boy in her class), D is for Doodah, N is for Nonnie or Nicole, M is for Mommy, R is for Robert (sometimes she says Daddy), G is for Grace, B is for Brown. And those were just the ones I didn't have to prompt her on.

Smart little girl.

potty time

I would like to publicly praise Addison for her outstanding efforts today using the potty! She used the potty consistently with only one accident! I think the pep talks from Nonnie & Helen really helped! Thanks guys!

Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well for Adds at school tomorrow...she wants to wear "big girl pants" all day!

missing wallet, Happy Birthday Mom!

Today at breakfast, I realized my wallet was missing. I'm embarassed to say that my initial reaction was the think that one of my students stole it, but that's where my mind went. We searched at home, I went to school to check my room, I watched yesterday's video of my classroom (on 32x speed & yes, my classroom is continuously monitored by video), but no wallet. By 1pm, I decided to call & cancel all my cards. I spent a lot of time trying to decide what in my wallet was replaceable and what wasn't. Mostly, I'm sad about the photos that I can't replace. Thankfully, all my cards got cancelled quickly and there weren't any fraudulent charges on any of our accounts. I have no idea where my wallet is. Maybe I dropped it (the last time I remember having it was Monday at a Doctor's appointment), maybe one of my kids found it & took it, maybe one of my kids found it & threw it away. Who knows? All I know for sure is that I'm sad that I'm having to rebuild my wallet. It's a lot of time & energy I'd rather spend on other things.

On the upside, today was my Mom's birthday & I got to see her twice. Happy Birthday/Valentine's Day, Mom!

Birthday news

I had a GREAT birthday! Robert sent me flowers at work which was exciting. The kids were amazingly well-behaved today. FCAT Writes went well (Read: No one refused to complete the test!). Addison sang "Happy Birthday dear Mommy!" at least twenty times! I got some great gifts (thanks everyone!). My mom & dad came to have cake with me tonight. AND there was beautiful weather all day! I couldn't have asked for a better day.

And then something not-so-awesome happened. My camera card died. All my special birthday pictures and videos are now lost in computer/digital camera oblivion. Thankfully my mom & dad took some pics when they were here. Hopefully they will email those pics to me! (Please and thank you, Mom!).


Happy Birthday to me!

A song from Addison

A new song that Addison learned at school. See if you can guess the lyrics!

ducks at the park

This morning was a shopping morning. Addy & I went shopping together while Robert did secret birthday shopping for me. She picked out a new dress (which I'm not sure will ever go on her body again) and some cute pink jelly shoes. She had to put the shoes on the minute we got in the car. She wore them all morning, and only has them off now because she peed all over them and they're currently drying after a bath. She said to Robert, "I don't like my black shoes too much. I just like my pink shoes, Daddy." Such a fashionista.

After we met back up with Robert we had lunch at Addy's favorite Chick-fil-A (ok, it's just about my favorite, too!) and then we trekked over to Lake Ella. Addison walked around the whole lake, stopping to look at every dog, duck, squirrel, or sea gull that passed our way. We wandered for about an hour, ran into Kenley who was bike hunting with a friend, then headed to Barb's Brittles & Ice Cream for a snack. We also went to Quarter Moon where I bought at bluish-green dress for our cruise in March.

big girl pants, tv

Addison's potty training is progressing nicely. She's been hit or miss at school using the potty, but she keeps trying. She's done really well at home. I think she just gets distracted at school by all her friends and forgets. We bought her big girl pants today. We'll try them out this weekend. Wish us luck.

Very excited that Hell's Kitchen is back on now. Also enjoying American Idol. The guys are out-performing the girls by far this year. We've already got a favorite - Danny Goeke. He's outstanding - good tone, good control, he's a music teacher and church music director in his real life which would seem to give him a slight edge with arrangments later in the competition. His best friend, Jamar something, is also quite good. And there's this Indian guy (who's name I can't remember) who has an amazing voice...nothing at all like you would expect at first glance.

I keep looking forward to my birthday until I realize how old I'll be. Then it doesn't seem so cool anymore.

Thanks to those of you who'd checked out Heather's website and blog. She's had to take them down for legal reasons, but will hopefully get to put them back up before too long.