mike came and spread the gravel out on the drive way today. it's so nice!! i can't believe we haven't gotten new grave in over 10 years. wow what a difference it makes.
i had dinner with christine tonight. we talked about old times, college times and what we've been doing since then. i can't believe her oldest is 20! wow where does the time fly?

first layout done in clean scraproom!!

well, i gave hansel one more day before i called the vet and the medicine finally kicked in. he's back to his normal self. :)
i got the scrap room all put back in order. it took almost two weeks. well, two weekends. it was awful. i have my whole life in this one room and trying to sort through it and toss stuff was overwhelming but it is done now. i just have to figure out how to pack my scrapbooks. they are so big and there are so many of them.
now i'm going to spend a little while just scrapping. i haven't done this in so long.

i can't believe how hot it was today. it gave me a bad headache. luckily i went grocery shopping early and was done by 10am, but even at 10am it was 87. tomorrow is suppose to be rainy and hopefully cool down.
hansel's eye is still red and he seems worn out but extra lovey which is nice. im calling the vet tomorrow.

hansel is sick, he had conjunctivitis in his right eye. it's making him tired and droopy. gretel on the other hand is her crazy self, except every once in a while she stops and goes over to hansel just to check on him...soo sweet!
we had the house power washed tonight. i havent gone out to take a look b/c it was late when the guys finished, i'll look tomorrow.
i've applied for 14 jobs on the olas. i sent out another 30 resumes and hopefully something will come through.
i updated the scrap blog tonight. i'm missing two columns....grrrr, hopefully i can find them or get them from a friend? syracuse scraps link
here comes the rain....goodnight

first post of 2009, wow!

well, it's the end of 2008. i sure has been quite the year. i was able to do lots of fun things with colin, i lost a close friend, found two new friends to love and i started a new job.

i went to work yesterday. i took down all the christmas decorations and put up snowmen. i also lesson planned for the first week back after the holiday break. i still have to scan some of my students writing to post on the blog.

i havent had much scrapping time in the past five months or knitting for that matter! i'll be scrapping with the we b gals on tuesday. im very excited about it.
i have been scrapping a bit today using my gorgeous expressions cricut that mom and dad gave me for my b-day!

i've been so neglectful with my blog, but, i started a classroom blog with my 2nd graders.

http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=222239

they are working so hard on their writing. they are super, uber excited about posting their writing to this classroom blog!

tonight is mom's play. she is so excited. i can't wait to see it.

tomorrow, chris is leaving. it's going to be hard, especially on colin, but he'll be back before we know it!

next week is a short week. i'll be testing the kids on unit 3 in math and unit b in science. wheewh!! i cant believe it's almost thanksgiving! the fall has flown by!

my next observation is jan. 23 with the superintendent of instruction. thank goodness it's after the holidays.

i can't believe it's been a month since i've posted. and oh what a crazy month. it is all true what they say about a teacher's first year teaching and that it's the hardest. there is so much thrown at you so quickly, that trying to juggle it all and teach is where it becomes hard.

oh, but am i absolutely loving it! yes, every minute, well, maybe not every minute. ive been going to quite a bit of training which is wonderful! my class is super. they are all very unique and endearing in their own special ways!!

im hoping to start a classroom blog soon. i'll link it here when it gets started!

this past weekend we went to vermont for our annual fall vacation! omgosh ive never seen the trees look so gorgeous! it was a wonderful weekend, im sad it's over!

dad got me the most amazing camera as a first day of school present. it is so cool and the best part, it's tiny. i can take it everywhere...and i have. ive already gotten tons of pics of my kids @ school.


ps: do i look tired...well, i was! first day of school!!

erica took some pics of the kittens, omgosh they are amazing! the yawning ones are so cute! we have the most beautiful kitties in the whole world!

wow, i cant believe its been two weeks since ive posted. these weeks have really flown by. so many things have happened.
colin had his first game. he did really well considering he was sick with a temp. he'll do better tomorrow at the next game, now he knows what to expect.

i found this idea on the internet. the teacher said to use pompom as positive incentive and call them warm fuzzies. i thought it would be cuter to put google eyes on them. so here is my jar of warm fuzzies for my students.

i made these pencils for my students for the first day. im going to have one on each of their desks with their bell work, desk folder and name tag. im going to sharpen them so they can get right to work and not have to worry about sharpening their pencils.

this is our fourth year taking colin to the great nys fair. i love it!! we had a wonderful time. we went to the horticulture bldg. for the first time with him. it was so nice, they have 2 atriums that are just lovely with flowers and plants. we had maple icecream and maple cotton candy. then we watched the nys police repel from a tower. colin said, "just like daddy." then we sat near the fountain and had some gianelli sausage (yum) and watch the twin magicians perform.

colin was super at his first soccer practice. he is such a good listener, he listened to everything that coach jim told him. he looked so cute all in green with his black shin guards. we are so proud of him!

my classroom is almost completely ready. mom has helped me so much!! i could never have finished with out her! i still have to put titles on my bulletin boards but other than that, it looks ready. i bought some calendar toppers today and three math books with reproducibles for bell work. i have to fill in the bell work for september until the reading program gets underway, at that point the bell work will be aligned with the reading program. im also making bookmarks for each student with a window that they can use when reading so they do not loose their place. i still have to lesson plan for social studies. The district gave me an account with united streaming, i love it!! i’ve already found science, math and ela videos to use in the classroom!!

wow, i cant belive its been so long since ive posted. two weekends ago we took colin to niagara falls. it was awesome, we took the train. he loved it! colin had never been on the train before. it was so much fun. we spent most of sunday in niagara falls, i bought colin a hat that said niagara falls on it. he loved seeing the mist from the falls and the boat full of people at the bottom.

my little sweeties are 3 months and 3 days old today. i can't believe how big they have gotten. they are both so snuggly and loveable. gretel is still the more adventuresome of the two and hansel is more cautious.

gretel <3

hansel <3

my state fair entries are all ready!! finally! mom and i are going to drop them off @ the fair tomorrow. im so happy they are done and that this year i am able to enter two double page layouts. i might win two ribbons...so cool! of course im hoping for a blue ribbon but i would be happy with any ribbon...after all i loved the pink 4th place from last year!! <3

i finished a few more things this week. bathroom passes. my room does not have a bathroom so the children will have to go down the hall to use the bathroom. this will be a brand new experience for them.
reading groups for the agenda board. i did seven different ones. i don't expect to have that many reading groups but i thought i'd give the students the chance to choose their own reading groups and i wanted to have enough variey for them.

i created an agenda board for my chalkboard. this way the children can see how their day will play out. i'll write the time that each activity will happen next to it. after these are laminated, i'll be glueing a magnet to the backs. my chalk board is magnetic.

i've been working alot lately getting ready for school in september. i have alot of ideas that i want to implement in the fall and it's so hard to organize them. i've been trying to put them in one notebook and slowly get them ready. like this lunch/attendance chart. my host teacher at franklin elementary used something similar to this for attendance. she had a smiley face on the top and a frowny face on the bottome. the kids came in first thing and put their clothes pin on the smiley side. all the absent kids were then put on the frown side. this is how she took attendance. i'm going to use it for lunch count (buyers or bringers) and that will also take care of attendance.

oh i got a package last week. i love it!!

here are a couple of pages for the mini album i made about the kitties.

i found this on myspace...too funny! i loved dr. who in hs!!

hansel and gretel were a bundle of energy yesterday. colin and i played with them most of the morning and they were so funny. running, jumping and rolling all over each other. finally when it was time to put them in their little bed, they were sleepy.