time flies...

a) when you're having fun?
b) working full time?
c) have two kids with birthdays within two weeks and four other friends' birthdays in less than a month?
d) there are only 9 days left of school?
e) one of your children (Ella) has to be sedated for dental work?
f) all of the above

And the answer is.... F! So, I have been terrible about posting lately. I will blame this on all of the above and the fact that we are temporarily without internet at home. Hence my few posts and all picture-less posts lately.

Ella turned four and Michelle turned six. We had a big birthday bash on Saturday, May 9, complete with friends, family, food, pinata, gifts, cake and ice cream and loads of fun. Pictures will come in a few days...







On Friday, May 15, Ella had to have dental work. She had 5 cavities and one was so bad that the tooth had to be extracted and a spacer put in. SO at 5:30 AM we headed to Primary Children's for her to have anesthesia and have dental work. We'll just say she wasn't happy when she first started coming out of the anesthesia. And mom is terrible at hospitals. I nearly passed out... and there wasn't even much blood. Don't know what my problem is. Primary Children's is a great place, but I really hate to have to go there. Fortunately, it was just for dental work and not open heart surgery. Ella's teeth are very close together and so she had cavities between a bunch of teeth. We really do brush and floss regularly, but I know I could do better in the mornings and... so my poor girl lost her first tooth. The tooth fairy gave her $2 for that tooth. (Wish the tooth fairy would give me several hundred to cover the cost of the tooth!)

Let's see... Lots of other birthday parties lately. Then this weekend we went to the zoo, to the Fun Center, out to lunch with daddy, etc.

Also, Ella had her preschool end of the year program. She has loved preschool and has learned so much from her wonderful teacher, Mrs. Barnett. She can write her name, knows almost all of her letters, can write many of her letters, knows her colors and shapes and can count. She loves doing "homework" like Michelle whenever she has some (usually just if she missed a day of preschool) and loves her friends at preschool.



I'm down to 8 days of school now (since school is now over for today). I've had a great class this year and really have loved my students. I'm a little sad for them to go, but also excited for the summer. I love being home with my girls.

Went to the doctor last week... Ella is underweight and about 60th percentile in height. Michelle is about 40th percentile and very lean. Gabrielle is about 25th percentile in weight (17 pounds 4 ounces) and I think he said 40 or 50th percentile in height.

Gabrielle is now past 9 months. She is pulling to a stand, cruising around, can stand by herself for a few seconds at a time. She can wave and clap. And she now says, "Uh oh". I think it counts as a real word because she says it if she gets hurt or does something silly. (She also says "mama" and "dada" and "ella la la" and some others, but I don't think they are real words yet because I don't think they are yet tied to meaning, but I guess I don't know for sure.)

Well, until next time... there's a long update on our happenings.

Happy Birthday Michelle!

My oldest is now six years old!!! I can't believe that it has been six years since they placed her in my arms. Michelle is such a sweet, silly, beautiful girl. She loves to read and is improving all of the time at reading in Spanish and English. She loves to write and draw pictures. She fills page after page with writing and drawings. She loves school (when I asked her about her favorite place a few days ago, she said enthusiastically, "School!" PAUSE "Oh, and Jungle Jim's and the zoo and church and, and, and ....") She is quite a little monkey and literally scales the walls in our home, spends hours swinging across monkey bars and loved her tumbling class and can't wait to take another one.

She has a soft heart and is usually so kind to her sisters and friends and others around her. I am so proud of her and pleased with the person she is becoming. I love you Michelle!!

great book

So I recently read an amazing book that you should all read. It is called Outliers and is nonfiction written by Malcolm Gladwell. He has also written Tipping Point and Blink, which were also great.

Outliers tells exactly why Asians outperform Americans in math. (And hooray, it is NOT because we are bad teachers.) It also shows that actually teachers are doing a great job teaching poor kids. And it shows what months you should be born in if if you want to be a great baseball or hockey player. (Did that get your attention, Greg, Jill and Heather?) He explains why Bill Gates is Bill Gates and what you need to do to become an expert or a great success at anything... Want to know more? Read the book. :) (Or ask me and I'll happily talk on and on about it as I have with Alfredo and my mom and several friends....) :)

fun contest

There is a fun contest (and tons of cute stuff) on the Ohsogirly blog right now. Check out her cute watches...and help me (or yourself) win... go over and make a comment on her blog today. It is listed on my blog list to the right.

rewarding

Some days my job is so rewarding and it feels like my hard work pays off. We are taking the CRT's this week. Not my favorite, but it has to be done.

So yesterday we were doing one of the math sections. There was a hard question on there, that really I felt wasn't fair. I expected most of my students to get it wrong. But they all tried so hard and many surprised me. One boy, who struggles in school and who isn't usually one of my most motivated students, worked particularly hard on the problem. He finally, after much hard work, arrived at an answer...only to discover that it was the wrong answer...I watched over his shoulder to see what he would do. I honestly thought he would look at his answer and just pick the answer that was closest to his (which would have been the correct answer in this case...he'd made a minor miscalculation which made him off by one)... but he didn't. He looked over his work, found his error and figured out the answer....getting the correct answer and marking it. I literally teared up. I was so impressed at his thinking skills (he used great strategies to solve this difficult problem) and at his tenacity. It is so great to see kids really work through a problem and come to an answer on their own. It is moments like these that keep me motivated to do my job.

happy birthday Ella!

I will post more later, but just wanted to wish my Ella bo bella a very happy fourth birthday!!! I was surprised this morning when she asked Alfredo if he was staying home with her for her birthday. He did last year, but unfortunately, with his
new(er) job he can't this year. I was surprised that she remembered, but pleased!!

I love my sweet Mirielle. She has the biggest brown eyes and is such a sweet girl. For preschool, she had to tell what makes her happy. She said being with mommy is what makes her happy! That made me nearly cry. She is such a good big sister to Gabrielle and she is learning so many things and growing so fast. She loves the gospel (she now basically bears her testimony in every prayer...it is so cute). Happy birthday sweet girl!!!

Gripe

Two quick gripes that I'll try not to dwell on:

First, a parent called my principal today to complain about me. The frustrating part of this is that all of the complaints were about things that happened months ago and that she had already talked to me about and that I had made changes or explained why I was doing what I was doing. And the mom blatantly lies to me and to others... Frustrating. My principal asked me to come tell my side of the story so we could document it in case the parent tries to take it any farther, and she totally backed me up which was the positive part of the experience.

Second, the legislature removed funding for teacher professional development days for this coming school year. Generally, we get 6 days per year to have training and to work in our classroom (4 days of training, 2 days in our classroom to set up before school starts) and because these are in addition to our contract, we are paid to attend. Because the economy is poor, because the budget is tight, these days were cut. So, we have one day that is part of our contract to set up our classrooms...and actually half of that day will be used for a faculty meeting...so actually 3 hours. Of course, that is not possible, so we will all still work most or all of the week before school starts (and probably off and on throughout the summer, especially because we have just adopted a new reading program and will get a boatload of materials to unpack and organize and learn how to use). But we will work for free...because we are dedicated professionals. Now, I'm sure that some people are thinking that teachers get paid plenty and that we're always complaining. I don't think most people realize how much time and effort most of us put in. And I do realize that I am lucky to have a good job. And I do get a decent salary. Definitely things could be worse. But it is still frustrating. We will work 30 or more hours before the school year starts and not be paid a penny. We will then have to do any training after school or during breaks.

Okay, enough griping. I have had a great school year other than a couple of bad days. I'm disappointed about the professional development days. I am frustrated by this parent. But I have a great school, a great principal and have had one of the nicest classes I've ever taught. I have been very blessed to have a job that I consider valuable and important and that I mostly love doing. It's hard to juggle it all at times, but I know that I'm blessed.