A work in progress...

As you may know, we recently got new furniture for the living room, since our couch was damaged in the move to Illinois. We're still working to get things set up the way we want, but I thought it was decent enough that I could take a few pictures.

The view towards the hallway.

From the dining room. See how we mounted the TV on the wall?

Looking in from the garage door.

(Yes, our DVD player is currently sitting on a box in front of the fireplace. )

View of the sectional from the front door towards the garage.

View from the hall.


Our old TV is still sitting on the floor in the living room.

We don't have anywhere to put it yet!

You can see that we still have some finishing touches to take care of, such as hiding all the wiring to the TV and removing some old stuff from the room, but I'm very happy with all our purchases thus far. It sure beats me and Jason squashed together on the love seat for all those months!

(Oh, and don't worry Michelle. That super nice TV stand is still in the room, next to the sectional with the cable box on it. We just couldn't part with it so soon! Ha!)

And Two Shall Become One

Jason and I were lucky enough to visit El Paso for Ben and Danielle's wedding. I was a bridesmaid, which was a blast. It was great to meet up with our old friends and see how the Sun City has changed since we were there last. Here are some pictures from the wedding events:

Us at the rehearsal dinner at Cattleman's Steak House

Me and Danielle at the rehearsal dinner

Getting ready for the wedding ceremony

Ben and Danielle in St. Mark's

Jason made me dance in front of everyone!

Enjoying the last of my dessert from the chocolate fountain!

Me with the bride

Me, Danielle and Lauren at the reception

Me, Jason, Ben, Danielle, Lauren and Julio after the reception

As you can see, I was not having a very photogenic weekend! Nevertheless, the trip couldn't have been better! Congratulations Ben and Danielle!!!

May All Good Things Be Yours

By Joanna Fuchs

Your happiness begins

With your wonderful wedding day.

You’ll share everything together;

Through it all,

your love will stay.

Congratulations to you,

As you begin your happy life.

May all good things be yours,

As new husband and new wife.

Blogs to come...

I have several things that I need to write about (and pictures to post) on here, like our trip to El Paso, Jason's new truck, our new furniture, our office makeover, my kiddos Easter egg hunt, the AAR concert on Thursday, and our trip to Missouri this weekend. But I simply don't have time to write about it tonight. Or maybe until next week.

Hold on a little longer...things are just too crazy around here at the moment!

The Cat in the Hat

If you don't teach young children, you may not be aware that Dr. Seuss' birthday is March 2nd. Luckily, I am a shaper of young minds and therefore, know such things. This is why I decided that this month in my classroom was really going to focus on reading and books. (Even more than usual!)

Of course, when most people think of Dr. Seuss, they think of The Cat in the Hat. We decided to start the month off with a bang by reading this classic, even though I thought it was too long for my preschoolers VERY short attention spans. Much to my surprise, they loved it and hung on every word! This doesn't happen very often for a lot of the kids in my classroom...many of them are rarely read to and have little appreciation for or interest in books. Since Monday, we have also read other Dr. Seuss books like Hop on Pop and There's a Wocket in My Pocket! I'm so happy that the kids seem to be picking up on all the rhyme from the stories. Honestly, I have never been a huge Seuss fan, but after this week, I'm jumping on the train because my classes love the books....and they're learning from them too!

We have been working on an art project this week to display in the hallway. Here's how it turned out:

"Spring into reading with Dr. Seuss!"

A close-up of some of the cats!

And yes, we did make "springs" out of pipe cleaners!

Reading Magic

I am reading yet another wonderful book that I wanted to share with you. Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Change Their Lives Forever by Mem Fox is all about the importance of reading aloud to children.

Here are a few interesting points that I took from the book:

** Experts say that on average, a child needs to hear a thousand stories read aloud before they are ready to begin reading. (This sounds like a lot, but reading just three stories a day easily covers a thousand books. You could read the same book three times, or try reading a favorite book, a familiar book and a new book).

**It is important to allow a child to talk back about what you read. As you read, make comments and ask questions about the plot, characters and pictures to engage the child in conversation.

**Read to your child from all sorts of print: signs, cereal boxes, newspapers, catalogs...

**Reading to a child from birth can help to increase a child's attention span. Children who are never read to have a hard time sitting through an entire story because they do not have the required listening skills or desire. (Look at the kids in my class if you don't believe me!! You can tell which children have been read to which haven't!)

Some of the topics in this book seem common sense, but maybe that's the teacher in me! I'm sure there are many parents who don't know how to make the most of the time they spend reading with their child. Reading aloud WELL is a skill you have to work at, so any one can benefit from practice. I would highly recommend this book to any parent or teacher. It's easy to read and well-written. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I feel that I learned some valuable information from it.

Home Visits

If you are unfamiliar with the Head Start program, you probably don't know that Head Start staff members are required to visit the homes of all of their students twice a year. February is the time of year that we are doing the second of these visits. Basically, it's a parent-teacher conference at the child's house instead of school. Since HS students are low-income, this gives us a better idea of what type of conditions the kids are living in and helps us to get families the help that they need.

As you may imagine, these visits are quite a little adventure. You have not smelled the things I have smelled in these homes anywhere else. Many of them are dark, dirty and cluttered. My visits at the beginning of the year were shocking. I had never been in such rundown homes before. I couldn't believe people actually lived in some of the dwellings I entered. Thankfully, this time the homes have been much improved overall from the first of the year.

Still, it is a bit scary to go in some of the homes. There was one with a huge pit bull right outside the door. The family actually had to meet us in the yard so they could hold down the dog on its back and cover its eyes as we walked into the house! The dog was growling the whole time, and the mother (who was holding the dog down) couldn't weigh more than 9o pounds. That was a little scary. I am nervous around big dogs anyway, especially ones that want to kill me. Then we went into another family's home that was filled with these little gnats. They were circling my head the whole time I was trying to fill out the paperwork. Sadly, these home visits were pretty good overall though. At the beginning of the year we went into some houses that were so filthy we couldn't even sit down...the furniture was black with something that looked like tar. Since then, that family has moved, so I can only hope their new home is cleaner! Don't get me wrong, there are parents who keep their homes clean and do a lot with the little money they have, it's just that the majority of my families are not like that. I still have another full day of visits this Friday.

I love the kids in my classes, and after seeing the environments they face when they go home from school, I understand their needs much better. I wish I could take them all home, so they could see what it's like to live in a nice, (usually) clean home where they get regular baths, clean clothes and attention. There are kids all around us that don't have the basic things we take for granted and most people will never notice. My job has opened my eyes and my heart to those kids. I will never forget the things I have seen this year and I will be a better teacher in the future because of it.

Will you be my Valentine?

This week at school we've been getting ready for Valentine's Day. We decorated our mailboxes for our cards, sang Valentine's Day songs, and read books like The Night Before Valentine's Day.

Today was the big Valentine exchange, and the kids were SO excited! They were all so proud of their cards and they couldn't wait to share them. Unfortunately, they were also so excited that they were having a hard time doing pretty much anything we asked of them. We had a LOT of fighting. We survived (pretty much in one piece) and got all the Valentines delivered. We had three children who forgot to bring cards, but luckily I had bought extras, so I just wrote out the Valentines while they were playing in centers and everyone had something to give. We got tons of candy...I may have gotten more stuff for Valentine's Day than I did for Christmas! The cooks made the kids rice crispy treats with Valentine sprinkles too, so they were thrilled. Anyway, the week is over, since we have tomorrow off for Lincoln's birthday (a definite perk of living in Illinois!) I have to work on Friday, but the kids don't come back to school until Tuesday, so it should be a restful 5 days.

NOTE: I bought the kids those Nerds Valentines, the ones that come with the candy. Just an FYI, I did not care for the messages on the cards once I opened them. I wouldn't have bought them if I'd known I would be giving the kids cards saying "Love the nerd you're with" or "Here's looking at you, nerd." What kind of teacher says that to a kid??! I guess this one does!