Ok, so I haven't been here for a while...
I will be posting some video of Kaleigh's band concert and Cole's part in his Christmas Play! I am praying that the kids stay well enough to do both!

Ack! Stress! Need a massage or something!

Preschooler's Answers to If I were a....

In my class of 4 year olds, I have a class book that I make called, "Community Helpers".
Basically I ask the kids which community helper they would like to be and why. Of course most of them usually say Firefighter, but I offer some others as well. This year with only 8 kids, I anticipated that most would say firefighter. I was not disappointed.
There were a couple others...but firefighter won, hands down.
For example..it goes like this, "If I were a firefighter, I would... Put out fires-one twin.
"If I were a firefighter, I would...Put out all the fires-second twin.
"If I were a firefighter, I would...Spray water out of a hose-M.
"If I were a firefighter, I would...Help People-K
"if I were a doctor, I would...give shots-M2
"if I were a doctor, I would...make people breathe in and out-A
"If I were an animal doctor, I would...make all the dogs better-A2
"If I were a mail carrier, I would...put mail in the mailbox-L

Now I don't know about you but those sound about right. Pretty simple right? It was tough trying to give them other ideas about what to be. The other options were, Police Officer (which surprisingly got no takers), Teacher, Dentist, Librarian, Nurse, and Garbage man.
I put initials for the kids names since I don't want to put names to the photos that I sometimes post. Then they all get to dress up in their community helper gear, I take a photo and that goes along with the words in the book. Neat book, fun to put together. At the end of the year each child gets to take home a class book. I always have about 13 books to make sure everyone gets a choice instead of having to take the last one book if they are the last to pick.

The Twins...

So far my class is wonderful! A very sweet group of kids including these two! They are twins and the girl is just 8 minutes older than the boy. She is very talkative and he is quiet, she is into her own thing, and he is curious about everything and everyone! She is helpful, he is timid...wow totally different! They all seem to be at the same approximate developmental age which for me is a huge plus!

Last year I was not so fortunate!

But this year seems to be shaping up pretty well...of course tomorrow is only the second day so...

Meet Your Teacher Day!

So, today was "Meet Your Teacher Day". Kaleigh and Cole went with their Dad to theirs and K has her friends in her class and a good teacher, not the one we were hoping for but as far as I can tell, all the 6th grade teachers are good! Cole has a great teacher, one of my co-worker's daughters. My co-worker retired so that she could take care of Cole's teachers baby! I am happy that it worked out that way. Cole also has his two best friends in his class! Good news for Sacramento! They have an overnight trip and hopefully one of his friends will share the room with him and Carl. Of course that is if the hubbys can get off work!

Anyway, they had a good day!

I am always very anxious about meeting the new kids coming into my class. I had a pretty rough year last year and so understandibly I was nervous! I knew one of the kids from the three year old program from working extended care. Two others were also from our school but they were in the tu/th schedule so I never saw them. Then I had 5 completely new kids! Ack!

But I have to say, after meeting them all, I seem to have a very sweet and nice class. So far...I only have 8 and that means they can add anyone at any time. My main concern is a little girl with Cystic Fibrosis in my class. The mom seemed very nice and even gave me a booklet on what CF is and what to expect as a teacher. I appreciated that because I had no prior knowledge of the disease. It isn't as severe in little children as it is in older children and adults. My biggest worry is the enzyme supplement that MUST be taken before eating. I am not the best at remembering myself to take vitamins or any other kind of medication on a regular basis! We have snack at school and I will probably remember for that but for special snacks and parties? I just don't know what problems arise if they don't take it when they should! I mean is it an "oops!" or is it a "OMG!!!" Hopefully it is the former and I will learn as I go! I have to talk to the parent and our office to see if the little girl can actually bring it with her snack so we both remember! I don't think it is harmful to anyone if taken so maybe they will allow them to bring it with snack.

So I am exhausted after all the mental worry and preparation of my classroom. I will be going in one last time to sort through a cabinet that has food in it and such...so a little more prep work and I am ready to start! Wish me luck...or pray...that is even better!

What a great Day!

Well, this ended up being a better day than what I thought it would be, barring a few little missteps! : P

After we got there, my friend Nancy took three of the family in and we waited for the next friend, Dave to come. He came and signed the other three in and at the same time told me that it was probably going to be a pretty quiet day with the park only having an estimate of 35, 000! Wow, that is great! I was expecting more like 65, 000! So Connie and family were able to get to everything they wanted to see plus more! They even got to go on one ride twice! So it was a good time!

I think the favorite of the day was Grizzly Rapids! They got drenched but that was fine since the day was rather warm! Most likely it was around 90!

They also got to see Captain EO! Very nostalgic for Connie!

So all in all, I would guess they had a great time!

Day Four...Disney!
All I am going to say for now...dropped the Johnson's and my two off this morning at 8:30! They got signed in by some very nice friends of mine and now they are in till 10pm. I completely forgot to tell them where we would pick them up...but I figured if we are right outside of the exit gate, we can't miss them!

So more to come!

Last few photos of the day with Byron!

The surf was fantastic and as you can see, we weren't the only ones who thought so!

This day was a blast! Thanks again, Byron!

More of our Boating day!

As you can see, Catherine drove wonderfully! The families in front of Ruby's (compliments of Byron), and more photos to follow! What a great day!

Day Three, On Byron's boat!

Today was I think one of the highlights for Connie and family...us too actually! It was awesome!

We got to where we needed to go at 10am and met up with Byron. We parked a couple blocks away and got on the boat. The kids were pretty impressed! We pulled out of the dock area and then Byron asked the kids if they wanted to drive! Wow, Mikael was the first and did a great job, Kaleigh drove, Aaron drove, Catherine drove and so did (at the end) Cole. They all did well...well, when they were paying attention! : )

We pulled up the the Fun Zone and rode the carousel, then we met Byron at Ruby's for lunch. It was just as I remembered it from about 30 years ago! Whew what a long time ago that was!

Lunch was delish and we all ate alot! Then we got back on the boat and rode around some more. Byron took us to the wedge where the waves were Gigantic! It was truly awesome to see! Then we got back in the boat and drove all around the area. The next blog will show some boats that have pelicans on them and Sea lions!

Tea for 2!

Well, today was our relaxing day! The kids stayed home and went in the pool a bit, watched movies, played legos and played some video games too! Connie and I were able to get away for an hour and enjoy tea and lunch. It was nice and relaxing and we enjoyed our teas! Connie had the Bora Bora tea (a blended black tea), and I tried the Bossa Nova (a blended white tea). Everything was yummy and we were able to just visit with no kids around! It was lovely!

Tomorrow is on the boat with Byron!