Happy Halloween!

This is the first year that the boys' costumes do not go together. But I did sew and craft them from thrift store finds once again.

Mid-October

Well, not a lot of news to report mid-October. Everyone is looking forward to MEA -- although I am not sure that I will actually enjoy two full days home with the boys now that I am used to not having to entertain them for very long! It's almost mid-term at school and so parents and students are starting to be concerned about their grades. Conferences are only 2 weeks away and so the end of October will be busy when you combine that with Halloween.

Connell has been a part of the "run club" at school which means that certain days of the week during recess, instead of playing on the equipment, he can opt to run around the field a number of times in order to get punches on his punch card. This past week he hit the 10 mile mark and said that according to the chart, he was the first 1st grader to hit that mark -- and there are well over 100 in the grade. Of course not all are so goal-oriented and so most have chosen to just play on the play equipment and hang out with friends instead of continually run. But we are happy that Connell has been getting the exercise while the weather is nice!

Life in general

Life is going well. The boys are adjusting to school/daycare and I am as well. I have gotten quite used to all the new equipment in my classroom.

I did have a week filled with ups and downs as my ceiling mounted projector quit working in the middle of the day on Monday. Since everything (worksheets, presenting of information, correcting sheets, etc.) is reliant on the projector, I had to improvise for the rest of the day. Then I created a Tuesday lesson plan that avoided its use. By Wednesday I had been able to secure a traveling projector on a cart to hook up and use. Unfortunately I didn't realize that I needed to change the settings on my laptop to use it (mirror imagining or something?!?!) and so I needed the IT lady to bail me out in the middle of the first hour I attempted to use it. Later that same day, the AV guy came and changed the bulb in the original ceiling-mounted projector and so I was back to the old one. He suspects that there is a mechanical problem with the projector and that within a month it will go out again prompting its removal for weeks (shipping it off for repair). So I am holding my breath every day hoping that it won't happen. One day at a time...

Boys

My mom had been asking for an updated photo of the boys. I realized that the last cute one I had taken was from May 2009 and so I attempted to take one yesterday. This was the best shot of them.

Tiger Scout

Connell recently joined Cub Scouts and therefore is a Tiger Scout. Here he is in his uniform that I helped with (sewing on the patches!) So he and Ray have been busy going to den and pack meetings and other activities planned by the group. He also is taking part in his first popcorn/wreath fundraiser.

Wedding

This weekend we made the drive up to Villard for Ray's cousin Wyatt's wedding. The boys were NOT on their best behavior to say the least. It was a beautiful day -- crisp and yet sunny. We drove up and back the same day and so at least spending 5 hours in the car allowed us to check out the beautiful Minnesota trees as they change color.

Back to a crazy lifestyle...

Just finished the first week WITH students and it has been crazy. I am been busy using technology (like creating PowerPoint presentations for the kids, introducing them to international songs/videos on YouTube, learning all about my InterWrite board, posting things to Moodle) and getting to know the students while diving into the material in the texts as well. Add in the work at home (picking out outfits and cooking and cleaning) and things are just wild! Since I have three different things I am teaching and they are all brand new to me (as far as the new curriculum is concerned) and span two different languages, I barely know which language I am supposed to be speaking each hour. I can't get ahead of the game and don't expect to for quite some time. But I do like being back and it almost feels like I never left. Kids are kids and they haven't changed although most of the ones I have now were only in 2nd grade when I had Connell and was last working in the school system! Wow - time sure does go by quickly.

So it's time to pick the kids up at daycare -- Connell got a cold the second day of school and has been snorting and sniffling and miserable ever since. Time to load up on rest and vitamins and hope for a healthy year because it will be VERY hard to do sub plans since the sub doesn't have the use of any of the technology (except for a DVD player) and will be doing 3 different levels and languages.