high five for Friday, (and Saturday, and Sunday...)

I seriously slacked off this week on my Friday blog post!  I did so well for so long, and now I'm posting late...it was bound to happen sooner or later!  Anyone who knows me knows I am late for everything!

Anyway, it was a pretty uneventful week, but I can easily find 5 things to talk about:

1.  I visited my student's homes this week.  Part of our preschool program is "home visits" which we do twice a year.  We do them to get to know our kids and their families, and to help build our relationships.  My kiddos were SO EXCITED to see me at their homes, and most of them had to pull out toys to show me or take me to their bedrooms.  It is nice to see them at home.  It also helps me to remember where they are, what they come from, and where they are headed.  I think all teachers should do home visits.  It really puts your students into perspective.

2.  I had no homework for my MSU class.  A free week!  Yippie!  Only one week till my final, and another class down!  I'm still holding strong with a 4.0 !

3.  We had a nice dinner out at the Outback on Friday evening (thanks for the gift card Mom & Dad!!) .  Kirk has made dining out not so pleasant recently....I think it's just a part of being almost three years old.  Friday he was well behaved, ate his food, and he enjoyed his new "Action Chugger" train (Chuggington) that we got at Toys R' Us when we went to get his friend Ella a birthday gift.  No tantrums, crying, or screaming.  It was nice to have a good day/evening!

4.  I went to a "sprinkle" (not a shower...haha!) for my friend and OBGYN, Andea Kellar on Saturday morning.  It was good to see friends and celebrate Andrea's baby #2 (a girl!).  I wish her luck in being a mother to 2....I'm not sure I could do it!

5.  We went to the Green & White game on Saturday afternoon.  It was great to see friends, tailgate, and good to be back in the stadium.  Kirk had to take his football and football helmet.  He ran his legs off chasing the ball when J.D. threw it.  They had a great time, and I think Kirk is really going to love this football season!  He's excited that he gets his OWN seat this year!  GO HERD!


I took a few pictures at the game, I'll have to post those later.  We only made about an hour in because it started to rain, but we had a good time anyway.  Kirk slept for almost three hours when we got home!

I'm looking forward to my last full week of work (last day May 7) !!!!!  I can't believe my summer is already here.  I am looking forward to spending time with Kirk and catching up on things around the house.  We only have three weeks until we leave for Myrtle Beach!  I'm so excited to see Kirk at the beach again, he tells me everyday what he's going to do there....."build a HUGE-MON-GUS sandcastle, swim in the ocean, find some sea shells, and catch a sea turtle." I don't know about the sea turtle, but we can probably do the rest!

Have a great week!

High Five For Friday

Who gives a better high five than Dora and Boots?  No one, that's who!  "We did it!" they exclaim as they jump in the air and slap palms after a job well done....if only we could all be so excited to congratulate each other!  I had an EXHAUSTING week, which ended yesterday with a big good bye to my tenth group of preschoolers.  I gave them all extra tight hugs when they left for the day, and I even got some "I love you too"s back.  It's like leaving home, because they are what has come to feel comfortable to me for the past 125 school days.  It's what we do as teachers.....help them learn, grow, and move on.  A teacher once told me that our job as educators was not only to love our students, but to make them lovable to others.  I had a very lovable group this year, and I will honestly miss them.  So in a few weeks I will begin the summer months, and I will continue to pray that they are all happy, safe, and successful in kindergarten.  I enjoyed singing, dancing, laughing, learning, and creating with them and I look forward to what the next school year will bring.

So here are my top five things for the week, in no particular order:

1.  Our last day of school was "Preschool Field Day."  It was great!  The kids played outside all afternoon and everyone got a "Mr. Snow" snow cone.  It was delicious, and everyone had so much fun!

2.  Not that material things matter, but check out this AMAZING Vera Bradley beach bag that I got from one of my kiddos!  It is the BEST teacher gift I've ever gotten (and I've gotten some good ones!).  Kirk has already planned what to pack in it....his "goggles, bucket, towels, and sun-scream."  Haha!

3.  I also got a gift certificate for a massage at Studio 21, a Scentsy warmer, and a Visa gift card!  Like I said, material things and gifts are not all that matters, but they sure do make a girl feel special!  I had some awesome families this year!

4.  We had an iMac training on Tuesday evening, and although I have dreaded it for weeks, it was actually a lot of fun!  We played around with the photo booth, and laughed until we cried!  It just showed me again that every situation is what you make of it!

5.  Kirk had a couple rough days at day care and at home this week.  Why did this make my top five for the week?  Because I made it through doing what I know is right.  I didn't bribe him or promise him anything for changing his behavior.  I just talked to him about making good choices and being good for the sake of being good.  It would have been easy for me to promise some M&Ms for decent behavior in CVS, but instead I just kept talking, trying to reason, and dealt with the tears and him pulling at my clothes.  I didn't threaten him with things I wasn't going to do.  He didn't get to watch tv for 2 days (punishment).  I know it's hard for him to go places with me after his long day at day care.  He has shared toys all day, waited his turn, and been served foods he doesn't like.  I understand that he's 2 years old and isn't able to tell me that he's just tired and wants to go home to his own things.  But life is all about learning to cope, and hopefully I can help him to learn some of the skills I had to learn much later in life.  Doing what I know is best is the hardest thing I've ever done (much easier with my school kiddos!).  I know in the end, I will have a child who can make good choices, feels confident and has self respect.  If I can just keep my head up through all the screams, foot stomping, and noodle legs........haha.


If you're reading this and you're interested in reading about positive guidance and discipline, please look into some of the books below.  I love Dr. Becky Bailey's work, and reading her books and practicing her techniques have changed my life as a teacher and a mother.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Bailey, B. A., (2000). Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline: The 7 Basic Skills for Turning Conflict into Cooperation. New York: Harper Collins.


Bailey, B. A., (1997). I Love You Rituals: Activities to Build Bonds and Strengthen Relationships With Children. Oviedo, Florida: Loving Guidance.


Bailey, B. A., (1996). There's Got To Be A Better Way: Discipline that Works. Oviedo, Florida: Loving Guidance.


* These books are all available on Dr. Bailey's website, http://consciousdiscipline.com/

More spring pictures!

We love our spring pictures from Kristi B.!

High Five For Friday!

This picture is one of my "high fives" for the week, for sure!  This is our sneak peek of Kirk's spring pictures, and we should receive the rest in the mail soon.  If the CD comes tomorrow, I will need to add it to my "high five" as well!

Here are my top five things for the week:

1.  Easter candy....especially peanut butter eggs!  Yum!  I am glad they are gone though, I'm sure I would have slipped into a sugar induced coma had I eaten any more!

2.  Sesame Street Live with Kirk on Wednesday night was a blast!  Kirk loved it, and he was really into the story of the show, and asked questions that made sense. I was really proud of how well he followed along.    He reached out for Bert and the Count (this is huge because of his character wierdness....)!  Kirk was very well behaved, and I notice it more when we are around lots of other kids his age!

3.  We let our butterflies go today at school.  It is a bittersweet moment for me each year, because I always do it at the end of the school year and I think about the butterflies flying away, just like my little kiddies are going to fly away soon!  It's such a sweet moment with them.  

4.  I got a very touching note from the mother of one of my students.  She told me how much she appreciated me and how thankful she was that I was her daughter's teacher.  I cried a little bit, so it's a good thing that I was reading it while my kiddos were having nap time and my classroom was dark!  It means so much to be appreciated, but even more that I made a difference.  Even though some days I complain, I really do love my job.  I feel guilty sometimes for leaving my own little boy who needs me, but I know in my heart those 20 preschoolers need me just as much.

5.  I finished my next to last assignment for my class at MSU!  I am two weeks away from putting another class under my belt (and another "A"....my post graduate G.P.A. has always been 4.0 !), and I think this class will give me 193 hours of college credit....ridiculous!  I never would have thought that after a Bachelor's and Master's degree that I'd still be in college!  I am almost halfway done with my Rank 1, which I think I may turn into an Ed.S. degree.  I'm a sucker for a pay raise!

I also registered for a summer class.  At least it only lasts a  month!

I hope you all had a great week!  Take some time to think about your "high five!"

Enjoy the weekend!

"Here Comes Peter Cotton-Candy Tail...."

Kirk spent the Easter weekend singing about "Peter Cotton-Candy tail!"  It was so funny!  In the picture above, we are dying eggs, which he had about a 5 minute attention span for, so needles to say, most of our eggs were pastel looking.  It was fun, though, and he liked sticking the stickers on later.

Kirk is checking out his Easter basket that he found VERY quickly, to my dismay!  My mom always hid our Easter baskets, so I hid Kirk's on top of the washing machine and he found it in less than 5 minutes!  He loved his Thomas the Train pajamas, his new trains, and of course his candy!  Peter Cotton-Candy tail had to watch over his basket as well, and he was wearing his new Thomas sunglasses, but Kirk pulled them off first thing!

Kirk and cousin Jalee at Granny Dean's 

Kirk was seriousl about hunting eggs at Granny Dean's.  He wanted to do it over, and over, and over again!

Kirk and his cousins William and Halle

We had a great Easter!  Kirk is still wearing his bunny ears and hopping around the house!  I'm pretty sure his Easter candy will last for the next 6 months, since he only gets one piece after dinner each night!  It was so fun to watch how excited he is about EVERYTHING!  We are headed to Sesame Street Live tomorrow night.  I'll post pictures soon!

High Five For Friday!

So, it's Friday again, and I'm three weeks into my weekly "High Five For Friday" posts, and still going strong!  I really do like these planned weekly posts, and it actually helps me appreciate each week, instead of just letting it fly by.  This week, of course, has flown by.....since I was on spring break!  Kirk and I went to visit Rachael and her family in Lexington, and Kirk had a great time playing with Suzana and Leo.  We are looking forward to Easter with our family, and Kirk is excited about what he might get from the Easter Bunny.  He sure wants his basket, but he wouldn't go near the bunny at the mall.  He said he was "WAY TOO GIANT!" I kind of agree.....an over sized, cartoon looking bunny?  Kind of creepy.....

Anyway, here are my top five things from this week, in no particular order....

1.  We had time before music class this week to walk around on campus a bit.  Kirk loved running in Buskirk Field, and walking around the Student Center.  I loved hearing all the, "Ooooh, he's so cute!" from the college girls.  He just smiled and waved, what a ladies man!

2.  We visited Rachael, Suzana, Leo & Josh in Lexington on Tuesday and Wednesday.  We had a great time, and it is nice to get our kiddos together and know that they haven't forgotten about each other!  Kirk loves Suzana very much, and he really looks up to her and she takes such good care of him!  They rode around in her Barbie jeep, played in her play kitchen, and played tunes on her piano.  Kirk went along with everything she said.  On the way home, Kirk was asking me when we could go back!  

Group bath....Leo liked playing with them from outside the tub!

Suzana leading Kirk up the inflatable at Monkey Joe's

Kirk on the little merry go round at Monkey Joe's

3.  I got NEW TOMS!  How exciting is that?  I have been drooling over them for months now, and honestly couldn't make up my mind on what I wanted.....glitter, canvas, black, silver....too many choices!  I finally decided on the gray ones, and I ordered them a week ago and they finally came.  I love them, they are so comfortable.  What's even better about the company is that for every pair of shoes that is purchased, a child in a third world country gets a pair as well.  The company's "One for One" slogan means that a pair of shoes is donated each time a pair is purchased.  How amazing is that?  There are tons of pictures on the website of kiddos running around in the shoes.  The style of shoes is modeled after traditional Argentinean shoes. I love the company, and love my new TOMS!

4.  Tomorrow evening, (which is actually still part of my week) one of my best friends Angel Blake, will join the Catholic Church at St. Joseph. I'm very excited and very proud of her.  Her husband Brad is a "cradle Catholic" like me (just means we were raised Catholic).  She made this decision for her family, and will raise her children in the church as well. God bless the Blakes during this exciting time, and we look forward to sharing our faith with them!

5.  The best part of this week by far has been spending some extra time with my precious boy.  I am counting down the days until my summer vacation starts (21 school days). He is so amazing to watch, and he makes me laugh hysterically several times a day.  We've got lots of "adventures" to go on, and things to do together.  I think it's going to be my best summer yet!

On another happy note, one of my butterflies hatched today!  I order caterpillars every year for my school kiddos so they can observe the life cycle.  I've never had to worry about spring break (we usually don't get one because of snow days), so I had to bring my cocoons home, and our first butterfly hatched today.  Kirk is amazed, and I know my students will be too.  I hope to have them all hatched by Monday, so we can have our butterfly release party!  It's so beautiful watching them fly away!

I hope you had a great week, and a wonderful Easter weekend!  Take time to enjoy all your blessings!  Happy Easter!

Kirk's first Easter, 2010