I stacked them up ...

... 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.

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 ...

... and we are still best friends!

It's happened so fast!

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!

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 :(

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?

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

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

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The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Nailed 'Em - War on Birth Control
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Tasers

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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!