Friday, I'm in love.

It's Friday. I'm in love. Two days of no loud five-year-olds. Two days of no one saying my name on repeat until I look their way. Two days of no green boogers running down faces. Two days of sleeping past 5 am. Two days of snuggling with my hubby. Two days of no school. It's Friday. I'm in love.

This past weekend.

I told you about the 10K, but I didn't tell you how incredible the rest of my weekend was. I was really hoping for a long drive to see some beautiful foliage. Chris agreed, but we needed a destination. So, we chose Amherst and I'm oh, so glad we did.

We started by driving out the Pike which help up our hopes and had many breath-taking views. Once in Amherst we started at the UMass Bookstore to get Chris a sweatshirt he's been wanting. After that we headed to downtown Amherst for a yummy brunch at Lone Wolf. It was scrumptious.
Following that, we went to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. Eric Carle is my favorite children's book author/illustrator and I've dying to visit the museum for quite sometime. And while the museum is small, it did not disappoint. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the original drawings and words for The Very Hungry Caterpillar (originally, Willi Worm- who knew?!) as well as some of his unpublished illustrations. Chris most enjoyed some of the original illustrations for Winnie the Pooh.After the museum we drove around, enjoying more scenic views of leaves and farms, and ended up in Northampton. Such a fun town. We enjoyed lots of nice shops, got a cute set of owl salt & pepper shakers and I discovered an Caramel Apple Spice at Starbucks. OH MY GOODNESS! That drink is so delicious. It is dessert in a cup, I tell ya. Try it! But only if you like reallllllly sweet things.

The day was perfection. More than what we did, it was getting to spend the day, undistracted and de-stressed, with my husband.

Mission Accomplished: 10K

I woke up this morning with the sun shining through the wind and a cool breeze causing our curtains to flutter and just knew it would be a good day. And it was. It really, really was. We drove into the city with Chris's parents (his mom was my running buddy) and everything we very smoothly. We got our numbers, put our timing chips in our shoes, got our freebies, checked our bags and then headed over to the warm-up. The warm-up was great because it was coooold this morning! It also reminded me why I like running better than aerobics classes- too much coordination needed for that.

They started seeding around 11:30, precisely when I realized I needed to go to the bathroom again. So we waited in a long line that seemed to not be moving. Finally, when we were second from the front, we saw the race start moving, so I freaked out and decided to just hold it. We made it up to Beacon St in time (people we just moving in closer, not running yet). Waiting for the start was amazing- so many women in one place.

The buzzer started us and it took about five minutes to reach the start line. Once we did things picked up a bit, but it was hard to stay calm because it was packed. It took until about mile 2 to feel like I was really going at a good pace. The entire race was filled with passing people and watching out for people's feet in front of you.

Overall, I felt awesome. All the training really paid off and I was able to finish right around my goal time and didn't feel dead. Chris's mom was a great running partner and very helpful motivator.

The course was breath-taking. I really wish I could've carried a camera without it being a nuisance. We ran over the Longfellow Bridge (or Salt&Pepper) and then along Memorial Drive down to the BU Bridge. There we doubled back to the Mass Ave bridge and ran across. This whole part had amazing skyline views. The race finished back at Boston Commons.

I really could not have asked for the day to have gone better. It was a really incredible experience. I'm sure we'll do it again next year and we're even hoping to do a half-marathon in November.

This Day in October.

October 11, 2008

One of the best days.
Joe was here for a visit.
My parents still lived here.
The weather was perfect.
The apples were ripe for picking.
The cider donuts were freshly baked.
We took one of my favorite pictures of us together.

Inspired by Nie Nie.

embracing the chaos.

sometimes you just have to roll with the nuttiness that is kindergarten. this morning, with it being friday and all, i decided i would. we have playtime first thing friday and legos were a huge hit this morning. I ended up being attacked by "Darth Vader," multiple spiders, a horse-house able to travel into space and multiple lego guns aiming for my eyes and neck. It was loud, crazy and one little guy kept saying there was a spider in my butt (what???) but it was good. those moments, when i stop caring about the noise, make me love them more.


happy friday :)

Writer's Workshop: Summer

It's Writer's Workshop time again over at Mama Kat's blog.

I chose the prompt:
2.) Find your one very favorite picture of Summer and write a poem about it.
(inspired by me)

While I can't say its necessarily my very favorite ever, this picture is one I really like and I'm writing a haiki about it.

Sitting on the sand
A sunset to toast the day
Fall, one day closer

Because, after all, they are cute.

I haven't shared cute stories with you and really should. Today I have two fruit-themed stories. We have been studying our five senses and finally today we got to our sense of taste. We tasted one sweet, one salty, one bitter and one sour item. Our sour item was a lemon. I gave the children a small slice and told them they only had to lick it. After the children had some fun making silly sour faces, I checked to see if we were ready to move on to trying our sweet item. As I did so, I looked over to see the Dopey's lemon was gone.
"Where's your lemon?" I asked.
"I ate it!" he replied proudly.
"The whole thing?!"
"Yeah, it was good. My lips are burning, though."
I'm still in shock that he ate the lemon peel.


Just minutes before this, as I was cutting the lemons I was thanking the kids for being patient because it was taking a while for me to take out all the seeds. Smiley said, "Oh my gosh I swallowed a cherry pit once. It almost went down to my stomach and grew a cherry plant out of here" as she pointed to the top of her head. The kids, understandably started laughing. "No, guys" she interjected, "I almost DIED."

Problem: Identified

This school year has been off to a somewhat rocky start. I have been very tired, fighting a cold and struggling with how to handle my 13 new students. This weekend and today at school I think I have identified my problem(s).

1- Like I've said before, 13 students is a heck-of-a-lot more than 9. That's enough to make a huge difference on my energy and motivation levels.

2- Potty Mouth and the Only Child spend the day making each other laugh. At inappropriate times. And by saying things that aren't funny. GAH! Calling someone eyeballs isn't funny. Neither is drinking your water in, only to spit it right out. Saying things like goo-goo, wee-wah really isn't funny because you are NO LONGER A NEWBORN. ok, enough. clearly those two are a big part of my problem :)

3- The Grown Up, as I mentioned in my Cast of Characters, is reading at at least a second grade level. So, obviously, all the alphabet review, work with rhyming and beginning sounds is more than a slight waste of her time. I am feeling a lot of stress to differentiate her work so that she is being challenged everyday. I've had advanced kids before but nothing like this.

4- Similarly, but opposite, Freckles doesn't even know her letters. So, I have to modify everything for her so she can learn her letters. Such a huge range in this class. Its a great challenge, but geeesh!

I'm glad to have finally figured out my major sources of stress are coming from. The next step is to solve this problem. My first goal in that direction is to simply focus on my children that are right on level and have made great strides in following directions, using inside voices and raising hands :)

Another Monday

This kind of describes how I'm feeling today.



It's just another manic Monday
I wish it was Sunday
'Cause that's my funday
My I don't have to runday
It's just another manic Monday


Happy Monday to you. Hope its a good one.

T.G.I.F.

Oh. my. goodness. It. is. Friday. Teaching is sucking my dry at this point in time. I'm sure it will get better. I don't remember wanting to bust out of that school so badly ever before. and trust me, that was not just at 3pm. it was at 7 am, 8 am, 9 am, 10 am, 11 am, 12 pm, 1 pm and 2 pm as well (and maybe a couple times in between). Those kiddos are wild! Soooo, happy weekend! My mom and sister are in town so I am a happy camper!