I didn't know Spiderman used a silly-string AK47. What kind of parents let their kids play with these toys!!!!! (his friend brought it over to play...the whole time I'm thinking -I need a can of orange spray paint)

Nicole I know this freaks you out..worse than the mohawk? Even though I wouldn't buy him this particular toy...still hard to say no to his playing with it for a day.

I almost posted this with no caption just to see what kind of response I'd get...I chickened out.

One last story:

"The Kitty Toss"

Declan and Solomon were in watching Scooby-Doo in Declan's room, with our new kitty Moe. I started hearing giggling and decided I'd better check on them. They had Moe in his "Kitty Condo" and had it turned on it's side throwing a pillow on top. I told them they should play nice with him and that they were scaring him. I then asked Declan if they were doing anything else with Moe. He said "We were throwing him in there."


"Throwing?!" I asked.

"Yeah." He replied.

Wanting clarification, I asked "Where were you throwing him from?"

Declan walks over to his bed and says "We were throwing him from here, like this." He proceeds to mime the throwing. (they were throwing him 4 feet!!)

I then tell the boys their behavior IS NOT okay and that they are NOT to pick up Moe. I sent them to the couch for a time out. When I came into the living room a few minutes later, I found them sitting nicely and Declan was reading a book to Solomon. It was the cutest thing. The book was Bears in the Night and he actually did a pretty good job getting the story right.

Moe is fine. I can't wait until he gets bigger.

A few photos from Declan's birthday.

Fun, Fun, Fun!!!

Chuck E. Cheese Loot:

Boys will be....Sweet boys (mostly).

I've had Solomon over for the last two nights as his Mommy is out of town on business for a week. His Dad works nights and so he needed a place to spend a couple of nights. We love having S for sleepovers. S often sleeps over one night during the weekend when I have Declan. Fun is had by all.

Declan and Solomon have been so funny, cute, all around amuzing these last two days. The last couple of days were unusually full of anticdotes:

"The Thump"

D and S were playing in D's room. I'm a few feet away at the computer and I hear a pretty loud thump. I think to myself "humm, that sounded like a pretty bad bump." D is usually pretty damage prof and I just waited, and to my surprise he did start crying. I figured I'd better go check it out. D is sitting on the bed crying and S is hugging him saying "It's O.K. You're O.K." It was very sweet. I asked D if he was O.K. he replied "Yeah."

It was so sweet to see S comforting D.

"I'm Sad"

At bedtime, S was telling us about his plans for the next day over and over again. He actually seemed like he was barely holding it together and perhaps telling about his plans as a means of comforting himself. (His Mom was gone for a week and his Dad works nights and would pick him up in the a.m.) I finally asked "Are you O.K. S? Are you Sad?" (maybe that wasn't the best idea) the dam broke and the tears flowed. "I miss my mom."

It's so sad when S cries because it is alway so contained. (When D cries it's soo lound and external and intense). I felt so bad. I asked S if he wanted to sleep with D. He said no. I asked if he needed a hug. He said no. D heard the sound and peered down from our bed and asked what the sound was. I told him S missed his mommy. I decided to just let him have some space (he has cried before at bedtime, briefly) and went to brush my teeth.

I then hear S say "Declan, can I have a hug? I miss my Mommy."

D replied "Sure!" and crawls out of bed and gives S a big hug. Everybody is fine and goes to sleep. How cute was that?

"The Dreaded Car Rides"

Car rides with the boys have always been so much fun. It is a 40 minute drive between our houses and they always just chat away. It has always been such a cool window into their friendship. The tide has turned...I don't know WHAT has happened, but it was the only stressful time with the boys.

They both love to talk and suddenly neither one wants to listen...they only want to talk. All I heard was " I WANT TO TALK", "I NEED A TURN", "IT'S MY TURN TO TALK". They literally spend the whole time SHOUTING above each other. Eventually D would just scream as loud as he could. I tried to moderate the talking, but that didn't work very well. They had to just ride silently.

I hope that is a short lived phase, I've always loved listening to them talk in the car.

Well, I think that pretty much covers cute boy stories from the past two days.

Declan had a wonderful Birthday, my philosophy is to make the entire day all about him. From sunrise to sundown it's all about fun for Dec. I also let him have unlimted sweets and I think that was the best part of his day. His food intake for the day:

1/4 of a bagel with butter
3/4 maple bar
1 sucker
16 onces of a smoothie, freeze thing (basically frozen Kool-Aid)
1 hot dog
10 oz Kool-Aid
1 bite of pizza
1 HUGE piece of cake (like 2 normal size pieces)
1 gummi braclet
1/2 of those disgusting twist type lolly-pops

What does Declan normally get in the way of sweets? 1/2 a cookie or 3 peanut M & M's

This is where we're off to this morning. The kids love this place. They have actually added a HUGE snake slide since this photo was taken. 3-stories of fun, fun, fun. I already have lots of funny, cute stories about the last two days. Hopefully I'll get around to posting later.

Our Destination this evening:

I'm sure all you parents recognize this fellow :)

MY BABY IS TURNING 4!

Somebody is turning 4 tomorrow and is getting a head start on the the cake! His buddy Solomon is sleeping over tonight and we'll be off early for some birthday fun at the local kids club.

A little Scooby-Doo time with Moe.

Best 5.00 I ever spent! This little pirate set was on sale at Kohls and I let Declan talk me into buying it (why do boys like anything to do with monsters or skeletons?). It is really the coolest little set and it stores in the skull head.

Casey, this picture is for you. I was wrapping a package the other day and Declan swiped my tape. He immediately began tapping up the chair (?) Saying "This is how they wrapped chairs in the old days"

I asked him for clarification and he elaborated "In the old days, people wrapped chairs, bottles and pants. That's how they put things together in the old days." I'm wondering where in the heck he learned that little saying.

By Declan, who will be FOUR in two days!

1. How big is the whole world?
"Sixty-five, sixty feet."

2. What is a rainforest?
"It is a forest where rain drops on the trees."

3. What lives in the ocean?
"Sharks, and fishes and all kinds of stuff."

4. What color is the Earth?
"It's lots of different colors. Like Green and blue, every color, every color you can see on the Earth."

5. Why do humans live in houses?
"It's because if a fires not on the pavement you're safe" (What?)

6. Why do we celebrate Earth Day?
"It's because we don't know much about Earth."

Today, Declan had his first try at roller skating. He did quite well. After about 15 minutes, he didn't want any help at all.Also today, while we were outside assembling (RE-assembling) Declans trampoline, Moe joined us for some fun in the play yard. You can get a good idea of his size as he easily fits through the drawbridge opening of Declan's castle.
This was taken on Moes first night with us. It was the only time he slept in our bed. Look at those blue eyes.
Our Easter fun. Declan loved coloring and then eating his eggs!


Updates:

Curves:

I've been 9 days this month. Not as many as I'd like, but nine more than last month :)

Teaching:

I had an amazing day on Friday. One of those days where I really connected with the kids. Teaching math is so great because you will literally have those moments where students loudly proclaim "OHHHH, I get it!" This happened with about 5 students at once and I felt pretty great. I also asked them if they thought I should teach math or science. I've taught them both subjects. The class loudly proclaimed "MATH". I felt pretty great about that given my history with math and my very limited education in math. I also told the kids I had a rough time with math when I was in school and some one asked why. I said "Oh, I won't go into it." They began chanting "Story, story, story." So I told them the story of my relationship with math. They were amazed and asked "How do you know all this stuff?!" (I didn't tell them that I had been doing some intense review the previous 2 hours in the teachers lounge)

Since I don't have a deep math background, I think that really gives me an edge in my teaching. I can see some spots that will confuse the students, or where the given information makes a lot of assumptions. I check to see if they have all the background needed to move forward with a concept.

Anyway...I really enjoy math. I have not had the confidence I would like to have while teaching it, but my interactions with my students is really building my confidence.

On the Job Hunt-
I've only applied to two districts. As it turns out my Assistant Principal use to teach in one of these districts, and she is making some phone calls on my behalf. Infact the principal at one of the schools I applied to was her neighbor for 5 years! Wow, what great luck. Hopefully, that will help. I don't expect to be called for interviews until mid or late May. We'll see.

So, I decided it was finally time...Declan now has his first pet. Well, actually our neighbor gave him a Betta 2 months ago, but this pet can snuggle and scratch him :) At 4, I feel like I don't have to worry much about him terrorizing an animal.

He was so pleased; all the way home the kitten rode in his car seat with him. Declan told me that the kitty liked him better than me. He named him Moe, after a character from The Land Before Time. First he wanted to name him TreeCat or HouseCat, but I suggested that he name him after one of his favorite cartoon characters, he came up with Moe. I really didn't like the name much better, but it is HIS cat.

Moe is soooo tiny, only 6 weeks. I feel kind of bad for taking him from his mommy so soon, but it would have been us or someone else.

I didn't realize that it would be like having a baby again! Our bed is 4 feet in the air, so I had to get him up 2x for water and potty trips. He would also cry so I had to sleep with my hand on him most of the night. At least this will only last a few days, two weeks tops. Soon he'll be climbing the ladder with ease, or he'll be comfortable enough to sleep somewhere other then MY bed.

Kids can be sooo competitive.


This morning Declan is playing video games (GOLF) with his friends. They are so bad to each other; "I'm winning", "I'm the best." "Na na na na na na". So I told Declan that it was important to only be encouraging to your friends when you play a game together. I said you need to say things like "great job", "Wow, you're doing better." So he walks over to his friend and says "You're doing much better" (in a very sweet encouraging voice) then says, in the same voice "But you'll never be better than me."


It's so weird, one minute they are encouraging each other and the next they are bragging about their own abilities. I guess I'll just keep working on that skill and be thankful that they don't say "You're horrible" "You suck". I realize that they are focusing on good accomplishments whether their own or their friends.

Be Warned, this is a little bit of a rant n' rave:

So, on Friday I had a 30 + minute conversation with my "X". That was BIG DEAL, prior to that we haven't talked for more than 5 minutes. The plan is that (hopefully) I'll be landing my first teaching position in September. We have lots to work out in regards to a new parenting plan. Although our current plan is still completely workable if I move, because I'll still be the same distance away from her, but we would only need to modify the drop-off location for visitation.

Let me pause to say I was actually VERY impressed with our ability to talk calmly and without much negative emotion for 30 MINUTES. I really didn't feel angry or defensive or anything during the call. I didn't like some things she said and told her so, but without anger. infact I told her "I really know she loves Declan and is very good with him and I truly appreciate that I have her for an X. I've met a lot of single Moms in the last 2 years and I feel very fortunate that she is so great with him and he goes to such a safe, loving place every other weekend." Really that's pretty much what I said. I'm so proud :) I really meant it by the way.

During the conversation, I pointed out that we really don't need a new plan until he starts Kindergarten; She wants a new plan this summer because "we interpret the current plan differently and we need to clarify it." I said "what?" I was feeling very confused. I was thinking what am I missing here, what is she talking about?!?!

This, folks, is the part we "interpret differently":

blah,blah,blah (petitioner gets 21 days of vacation with child each year) "the only requisite being that the petitioner must actually be off from work and on vacation in exercising her vacation time under the parenting plan."

She thinks that she should be able to exericse her vacation time with Declan even if she isn't on vacation?!?!?!

First, understand this is a little (O.K. a BIG) hot button issue with me. Why? First off, at our trial, she only asked for 14 days vacation a year, and the Judge gave her 21. Pretty annoying. (She gets 21 days vacation a year and she should have the option to spend all that time with her son) From an objective stand-point that actually kind of makes sense, but still annoying an weird since she asked for 14 days.

In the last TWO years, how many days of her 42 vacation days has she used? THREE. Yes, folks you heard me right 3 DAYS, of her SIX WEEKS.

My next point? We were together 9.5 years. How many vacations did WE take together (without going to visit her family, or going somewhere with her family?) 4 times, and two of those were in the same year, one being a weekend trip to Vegas. It was always kind of an issue with me that ALL her vacation had to be with her family. This was also a chronic problem in our relationship her family came first (and the cats). Don't get me wrong, if you family is out of state, take one week to visit family, but the other week should be with your NEW family. If family is sooo important, and she loves Declan so much...why isn't she taking vacation with her son?

O.K., she is planning of taking up to 2 weeks this July (during my Birthday!) to take him on vacation, back East because they are having a family reunion. She gets to show him off.

During our conversation, I also had to listen to her say "I love him every bit as much as you!" I couldn't stop myself I replied "I know you LOVE him, but I don't believe you could possibly love him as much as I do" I'm thinking - "I would have never had and affair and walked out on my family giving getting only SIX days a month with my son. You better believe I'd take every bit of vacation/ time I could with my son. I can't imagine planning and executing a vacation that didn't involve my wonderful son, what has she been doing on her vacations these last two years?
Trust me, she has taken some nice vacations -she makes 65 - 75 K a year and her girlfriend makes the same...

Back to the original topic, she did ask to have Declan for one week last summer. I said "NO" because she wasn't going to be on vacation to spend the time with him...but her Mom would watch him during the day while she worked (with the help of a babysitter?!?). She was ticked and said she doesn't have to be on vacation to use her vacation....

To tell me folks, how exactly do you think SHE is interpreting this clause?? :


blah,blah,blah (petitioner gets 21 days of vacation with child each year) "the only requisite being that the petitioner must actually be off from work and on vacation in exercising her vacation time under the parenting plan."


By the way, HER attorney added that wording, frankly I was surprised and pleased at the time.

O.K. that was a long rambling entry. I think as I've thought about it more, it's irritated me.

I discovered this poem yesterday, it's title caught my eye. I was amazed to find that it really captured the meaning of the title of my blog. I found it in a book called Teaching with Fire.

The Journey

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you

kept shouting

their bad advice --

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

"Mend my life!"each voice cried.

But you didn't stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late enough,

and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world,

determined to do

the only thing you could do --

determined to save

the only life you could save.

~ Mary Oliver ~

I thought since we're in the middle of Easter weekend I'd share another great Declan story;

Last Sunday, his Sunday school teacher pulled me aside when I picked him up. As she was quietly laughing, she told me about their story time that day. She was teaching about Jesus dying on the cross and about how God then raised him from the dead. Declan said "But teacher God and Jesus are the same person."

The teacher a bit stunned, replied "You're right Declan, they are."

"Then how did God raise himself?" asked Declan

That's my boy: questions, questions, question. So much like his Mom. I was impressed that he had remembered our conversation over a month ago when I explained that God and Jesus were really the same person.

Then it got me to thinking. How do I know, why do I believe that they are the same person.? That is one of those religious concepts I've never really read about, and I'm just repeating what I was told...I need to do some reading.

May everyone feel God's presence and grace in their lives this weekend (and their personal journey through life).

There is nothing quite like waking up at 1 a.m. feeling confused and tired as your nearly 4-year-old Son vomits all over you. Guess I'll file that under "Cons" on the Should I Still Let My Son Co-sleep? list. Need I say more about what I've been doing the last 24 hours?

Back to the Grind.

Today was a very fun day...good way to come back from Spring Break. I'm a little surprised though. I knew my supervisor was going to observe me today, and I went to school having NO IDEA what I would be teaching at 12:45. My MT, decided to pass me on early to my new MT, where I am now teaching Math. After a quick meeting with my new MT, I found I would be teaching about simple interest, and reviewing percents. The lessons went very well, and I actually had fun. Interesting conversation with my Supervisor. The first time he evaluated me, he complimented me on my classroom management. He noted that my style was to keep pretty firm control of my class. The next time he talked about my style, he indicated that perhaps I was a little too firm with the kids. Today he commented that perhaps I need to keep a tighter control over the talking in my class. It's sooo weird, I really don't think my style changes that much day to day.

Perhaps I was a bit easier on the kids today. It was a strange day, my 5th period kids were completely respectful and engaged and quiet. They are normally a VERY loud, noisy unfocused class. My 6th period class, who is normally very focused and on task was very squirrelly today. I was mostly confused by the class dynamics. I wondered if it had to do with their abilities in Math vs. Science. I also gave them a little extra slack as it was their first day back. So I suppose I was less of a task master today.



Cute Declan story - while we were at the beach I was explaining the tides to him and that they were caused by the gravitational pull of the moon because it squeezed the earth and caused the water to move. He said "OHHH the Moon hugs the Earth." How cute is that?

Sunday Six...by Declan who is almost 4! If you want to know what a sunday six is, go check out Kelly's website.

"Random!"

1. What planet do you live on?

"I live on Earth" (I've been teaching about the Solar System for the last 6 weeks...so Declan has an advantage here. Tonight at dinner he told my parents that the planet Neptune is made of gas).

2. What happens if you don't eat all your dinner?

"You don't get any treats"

3. What happens when you are sick?

"Sometimes you die, sometimes you don't"

4. What makes a rainbow?

"A lot of colors"

5. Do you know everything there is to know?

"Nooo!"

6. What do you want to be when you grow up?

"I want to be a teacher." (Could you feel any prouder than when your kid says he wants to do what you do?)

"NEXT ________"

What is with the expression "Next _____" (insert any day here)

I sent an email to my supervisor at school to check and see when he would be observing me. He replied "Next Monday at 12:45. Does that mean Monday the 10th or Monday the 17th. I never really get that expression. If it's Friday and someone says "Next Friday" I know what they mean. If they say "Next Week" that also makes sense. When it's Friday and they say "Next Monday" it only confuses me.

Am I the only person who gets confused by this? It he meant this Monday, April 10th. Wouldn't he say "This Monday"

Update on GWA: Things have been much better with the girls. They seem to be playing some interesting little game of "Super Student". They are always wanting to read in class or participate in some way. I don't know what is going on, and I really don't care...I'm just glad they are not a problem. Recently one of them even "defended" me when the class was complaining. I had given them an assignment that was due at the end of class, but I let them work anywhere in the room with anyone they wanted to, and listen to their I-Pods. Towards the end of class one of the guys started to complain out loud about having to finish it and one of the GWA's said "Hey, she let us listen to our music and work with our friends, shut up." This next week will be my last week with them on a daily basis/

As for Curves, I still LOVE it. I've been 4 times now since I joined. That's pretty good considering I was out of town for 3 nights. My plan is to go everyday after I get out of school.

I think that pretty much updates any ongoing issues in my life.

O.K. here are the last photo's I'm posting of our trip. Which was FANTASTIC by the way. It was so fun to watch Declan having sooo much fun.

He loved the drinking fountains around the city (he loves to do everything himself) :






Looking a little more "Manly" on our 2nd trip to the pool:



Swimming:




Of course we had to ride the rides. Unfortunately, the first ride he wanted to go on was the Tilt-A-Whirl, which put me out of commission for 30 minutes. I found I'm getting to old for those spinning, twisting rides... :(



We found a great ice cream place, he was suppose to hold mine while I buckled him in!




Our last day at the beach. It was unbelievably hot for an early April day!




Lastly, we had to feed the Seagulls:



Now we're home and I'm setting up playdates for the remainder of our Spring Break, then it's back to the grind.

As for my job search, the school districts I've applied to on the East Side have posted 3 middle school job openings, hopefully there will be a job interview in my future.

"I'm NOT tired Mom!" ...This is what happens 5 minutes later-


After the nap, we visited a light house - (as you can see, I decided to go with the whole shoe thing..after all I don't really have my name or picture on this blog because of the privacy issues with teaching..so the shoe thing really works!)



More exciting was our visit to the Lewis & Clark interpreter center where he had SOOO much fun exploring the old gun torrents.



While at the interpreter center he found a "Tomato Bug" and played with it for 5 minutes. He wanted to take it back to our hotel.

Finally, we actually arrive at the beach! Tons of fun feeding the Seagulls, writing in the sand, and kicking his soccer ball around. He loved burying his feet in the sand as well.

Now we're in for the night, after a trip to town for ice cream. Now we're going to sit in front of the fire and watch Jurassic Park III (really, he likes it..he saw the first one last summer)

Someone is taking a MUCH needed nap, time for a quick update.


Chronologically these are in the wrong order...backwards-

Playing at the playground at our hotel (I don't know what the deal was with the two big sticks laying around the playground, but he loved them):

Our first activity of the day- SWIMMING! I really had no idea just HOW silly he looked, until I looked at the photos. He was all decked out with multiple swim aids and toys, don't those cowboy boots just match perfectly?

Last night.... this kid just didn't get tired. He kept wanting to go outside and "look at the stars" (and dance around making silly faces).