How to change a bad day into a good day.........

Anna made this picture in school. I loved her responses:

My favorite is number 2. She's a girl after my own heart.

Can ya see me now?

I changed the color of my font, so hopefully said person with said issues can now see what I write. It's unfortunate that the lovely template is going unseen by aforementioned said person (who knows who she is). But while it is so very lovely, I realize that most come to read my very interesting comments about life in general. How can you not appreciate the world from my eyes?

ENJOY!!!!

School is almost over!

Tomorrow we are having field day. The kids get to play all kinds of fun games, bounce in a bounce house and eat popsicles. Friday is early out, and so is Monday which is the last day! YAY! The day after school is Tristan's bday and he will be 12! Where did those years go? I can't believe he is already that old. That makes me old too.

I went and talked to the principal about my dilema. She says she is willing to work with me, and helped make me feel better. I am so relieved. I talked to another aide who just wants to work 2 days a week so I think I will work the other 3 and together we can do the job of one full time employee. I think that will work! It's nice to be wanted.

I'm glad I'm able to have the summer off, it will be nice to be able to sleep in and hang out with the kids. We need to find lots of fun things to do that are nearby so we won't have to use much gas. I just can't imagine paying much more than we already are.

What?

I'm really surprised I haven't gotten any comments to my last post. I really thought people would want to give me their opinion. Oh well, I'll figure it out on my own I guess. It's still a hard choice, but I think that talking to the principal about it to see what my options are.

Also, I have comments that my blog isn't loading very well. I can see it fine on my computer, how does it look on yours? There should be a green background with white, brown and orange flowers. The posts are on brown. The first picture you should see if a very bad picture of Anna's sad no book night. Please let me know what you see.

dilema

I am now working about 27 hours a week at my job. I am really really enjoying it. It's nice to be where my kids are, and be a part of their education. I have made some really good friends. I feel like I am a valuable employee. I have told them that I would be willing to work more hours (probably 35 hours a week). Now I am having second thoughts....

Being away from home so many hours a week is taking a toll on my family. I am tired a lot of the time. My house isn't as clean as it should be. Projects are going undone. Good meals aren't being cooked. It's hard to have enough energy to get the kids' homework finished when they need my help. Bedtimes are getting later to get things done.

I know that the people at work would be willing to let me cut back on my hours. I probably wouldn't be able to pick which classroom I would like to work in, I would just have to go where I could fit in my hours. I feel like I would be letting them down if I didn't work full time. I know it would be easier on them if I just stayed all day. I'm dependable if anything. I have hardly missed any work at all this year. I feel like I would miss out on things if I weren't there all the time.

If I had 3 hours a day at home without any kids here, I could get so much done! Laundry, grocery shopping, visiting teaching, scrapbooking (which has REALLY fallen by the wayside).

BUT, is it really 3 hours? Probably more like 2 1/2 because of travel time and being a little early to pick up the kids. But 2 1/2 is still 10 hours a week. (4 days since fridays are early out).

Now for the money question. All money is good money. I like earning my own money. It came in handy when Chris wasn't working as much. Part time I would still get some spending money and money for savings. Chris is working a lot and has jobs lined up in the future (he is really doing well and getting his name out there) so he can take care of our family.

Oh and one other thing.....after this school year I will no longer be PTO president. That takes away a lot of time and stress!

ARGH! What would you do?

Mommy guilt

I am not usually one to have tons of guilt. I mean, I do my best and I worry that I could do better and stuff, but I don't beat myself up a lot over little things. But this morning, I felt a little of the classic "mommy guilt".

I need to back up a bit to explain what happened. Last night, Chris and I needed to work together on the school yearbook video. He did not need my computer savvyness (that I have none of ), but just knowledge of the classes (which I have tons of). Chris only had a small window of time to get it done, and that window was opened just after we put the kids to sleep. I put Anna to bed and apologized and told her that we would not be able to read that night. We are working our way through the Little House on the Prairie series and just started the fourth book, "On the Banks of Plum Creek". We hugged and kissed etc., and then I turned off the light and worked with Chris.

Fast forward to this morning.....
I went to wake Anna up for school and saw a little note she had written on her whiteboard.
This isn't the best picture, so I will describe it. Now realize that she is not a reader yet, so her knowledge of spelling is very limited. The note started with a frowning face :( and the words "no book". That is all. GUILT!!!

It's just the saddest thing ever.

So tonight we read extra and all is well. I forget how important it makes her feel when I take the time to be with just her and do our reading. I know I look forward to it too.

Oh and Laura and Mary had lots of fun playing with the bugs in the creek.

Fun at the Park

There is a cute little park just about a block and a half away from our house. Anna wanted to show us how good she is at crossing the monkey bars. After one good wipe out, she did great!
Notice her tongue sticking out in concentration.

The boys were really into the swings today, and were swinging really high and jumping out. We got some great action shots!

For some odd reason, this winter some statues were added to the park. There are now four huge metal cats that look the same but are different colors. Connor likes to climb on them and this is his favorite.

We had a lot of fun and are glad for the nice warm evening weather!

I got tagged!

Becky tagged me!
Page 123
Here are the rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people and post a comment to the person who tagged you once you've posted your three sentences.

1.book is "The Vanished Man" by Jeffery Deaver
2.opened
3. found
4. We tell her that Donny looks fine and she's going on about this guy, yadda, yadda, yadda, and how interesting he is and she's all excited 'cause she's going to have coffee with him and he might be a real horse whisperer. I saw him downstairs, waiting for her. And the thing is, I'm like, what's wrong with his hand?
5. I don't think I have 5 readers, but I tag: Stefie, Tanya, April, and anybody else who wants to play!

My Many Hats

I wear many hats when it comes to my kids' school.

The most important hat I wear is that of a parent. I am involved in their education and talk to the teachers daily about what is happening in the classroom, how they are behaving, things they accomplished and things they need to work on.

Another hat I wear is that of an employee. I work in the Learning Center as an aide. I teach a reading group to four great kids. One eighth grader, a seventh grader, and 2 third graders. We have a good time together and the kids are really doing good! I hope that I am making a difference in their lives, and that they keep up with reading over the summer. I also help with a math class. I go into the classroom and help with 3 kids (one is Anna--I asked for her to be in the class so she could do first grade math). The kids just need a little more encouragement to stay on task and get their work done. The rest of the time I am there I am available to help in classrooms, tutor kids who need it and help with behaviors. It's a really good job. I like being where my kids are. I like the people I work with too, I've made some really great friends.

The third hat I wear is that of PTO (parent teacher organization) president. I didn't know I would be working when I decided to serve in the PTO. I think I probably would have done a better job in the PTO had I not worked too. But I feel like I have done a pretty good job. Our school is only in its second year, and the first year PTO kind of dissolved in the first few months of school. So essentially I was starting new. Probably not the best idea to have a person with no experience in a parent organization be in charge. I faked my way through though and did the best I could.

This last week was Teacher Appreciation Week. We had food and treats and flowers everyday! Kim, who is another wonderful employee of the school was my partner in crime, along with the rest of the PTO presidency and several parent volunteers were able to honor the teachers and staff all week long. Cindy, the PTO secretary decorated each classroom door and gave treats and gifts to the teachers everyday.
Here is a breakdown of happenings. It was pretty fun with a "Cinco de Mayo" lunch and cards on Monday, flowers from the kids and cookies and milk on Tuesday, more flowers from the students on Wednesday and a great sandwich and and salad lunch, Thursday we had pie, and Friday we had a catered luncheon by Olive Garden and lots of fun gifts. It all turned out really nice. I was a little frazzled by the luncheon, but it all worked out wonderfully. The staff even had a really nice thank you gift for me! They gave me a huge gift basket filled with scrapbooking supplies! It made me feel really good.

I will be glad and sad when school is out for the summer. I will only have my mom hat (which will never ever leave my head). The employee hat gets a summer vacation and the PTO president hat will be passed on to someone else. I will always be a member of the PTO, but am happy to let someone else have a turn as the President.

Why I walk.......

Anna, Tristan, and Connor at the first annual Autism Speaks Walk for Autism

See that very delightful child there in the middle of this picture? He has Aspergers Syndrome. Aspergers is a form of high functioning autism. He was diagnosed 5 years ago this month. He is probably the smartest person I know. He reads and reads and reads and learns. He will share his knowledge with you at very random opportunities. Whether you want to learn about it or not. I am so glad he is my child. I would not change anything about him. BUT..... I would like to be able to understand him better. I would like to be able to help him know how to act in social situations. I would like to have another child call and invite him over to play. That is why I walk......Let's get this puzzle figured out.

Ducks!

I have always loved ducks. I don't really know why. This lovely couple was visiting my neighbors beautiful yard one day. I tried to feed them some wheat bread and they wouldn't eat it. Tristan concluded that it was because they didn't care for the bread we offered. Maybe if they return for a visit I will have a more pleasing fare for them.