We took another trip this past weekend to NYC!!

We had a great time visiting the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

We also wandered around Manhatten, Times Square, and The Fashion District.

We wanted to go see WICKED but couldnt get tickets so we went and saw Cirque De Soleil and it was pretty

A*W*E*S*O*M*E

We also enjoyed walking around central park despite the fact that my knees were giving me issues

(ridiculous really, Im only 26 and already my knees have "issue", its just wrong!)

That's what Ive been up to!!

Other things Ive been doing . . .

Well i havent posted in awhile . . .

so i assume some people may be wondering what Ive been up to this summer ....

Well I moved to upstate NY (ithaca)

I took a trip to see some long time friends including Maggie!!

We went kayaking and hiking --- got to get back to our Colorado roots every no and then!

Friday Night

Friday came and it was super rainy and cold. Evan was crazy cranky and tired (presumably from all the meandering in the woods), so Andrew and I stayed up late (8:35), yep folks we are CRAZY like that. I hid some clues around the house and he had to figure out the riddle to find his next clue, he was pretty good about it -- very impressive. At the end he found his free movie ticket. . . how cool is that!!??

Okay -- well its pretty cool if your 4 (almost 5, might i add!!)

Then since I'm apparently horrible at trying to figure out how to work complicated TV setups he chose to watch "Diego" on my I-Pad while lounging around in the tent we had set up for our fake campout -- which turned out to be a knights lair . . . 

Yep - - - thats pretty much how to be AND stay the FAVORITE AUNT of ALL TIME!! :) 

Spring Break -revisited!

Finally getting around to finishing up my Spring Break Trip

On Earth day we jumped the minute the rain stopped and headed to the local nature center.

Upon arrival Andrew recieved his Explorer Backpack compete with Binoculars, maps, pictures of the local plants and animals, a bug scopey thing, and a marker! And he was OH so EXCITED!!

We began by taking the "turtle" trail around the loop. It was very scenic and I really enjoyed the peaceful walk with the boys.

Andrew enjoyed looking for animals (of which we saw none), but it kept him busy none the less. Evan decided that after about 30 minutes of sitting in the stroller that he would rather walk, so after a few failed attempts to distract him from his true desires, I let him out and he calmly followed along behind us. He thought he was one pretty cool cat walking around!

After out little jaunt around the "turtle" trail Andrew succesfully got us back to the visitors center where we bought fish/turtle food and went to find us some turtles. Sadly the fish seemed more interested, but that was okay with us as they were jumping like mad men on pogo sticks for our tasty treats. The ducks did get in the way, and I had to take matters into my own hands (ie using a long stick to poke them out of Andrews fish food throwing distance). We had a great time and took AWESOME naps afterwards!!
Yeah for NATURE!! 

Pancake Artist-o

So this morning I decided we should have fun with BrEakFaSt! I got lots of response when I popped these onto to Andrews plate. He alone ate 5 pancakes.

Evan was in a constant mode of demanding more, I couldnt keep them coming fast enough(apparently the combo of P.B. and syrup was a hit!).

I made 12 pancakes and THEY ate them ALL.

I had cereal!!

LOL

I would call breakfast a SuCCess!!

Sour

Evan has discovered a new love for lemon juice . . . though it did take a few sips before he liked it!

haha so funny

Circus Time . . .

I am spending my Spring Break in Cincinnati with my brother and his family. We went to the Circus on Saturday night and it was A*W*E*S*O*M*E

Thanks Doug and Heather!! :)

Bubble cups

The weather is finally turning warm so we worked as a class to earn class points for a surprise activity at the end of the week!!

The surprise was ..... BUBBLE CUPS

and they LOVED it!!

HariKrishna

its just been one of those weeks . . .

This week has been one of those weeks from you no where. . . 

I've got too many students (54 to be exact) and they are all so different and have so many different needs and often needs that I cant meet when I have 27 of them at a time in my classroom! 

So we made it through the week -- no one died and I still have hair . . . so just for fun I thought we would go to the gym and play some games! We kicked some giant balls around for awhile and then we got out the parachute. I was very impressed with how well we listened and we were able to do lots of fun things!! :) 

I-pod Mania!!

At the beginning of the year I applied for a grant to become an "i-classroom" . . . and due to my supurb writing skills I was accepted. I took 5 weeks of "training" -- ie playing and then we got our ipods. We have a set of 35 ipod touches and are sharing them between 4 teachers. So we get i-pods on Thursdays!! The kids love them and are so good with them. They are so careful and catch on so quick to learn the new games and things.

Things I hear when we do i-pods . . .

"Teacher, this is AWESOME!!"

"Teacher Teacher -- can we do ipods...... PLEASE!!!"

I like them because:

1. Its so QUIET -- with 27 little people its never QUIET. Its not silent with the ipods but its quietER!!

2. Its engaging . . . my quick learners go through the levels quick and can learn on their own -- my low kids can work on their letters and sounds all by themselves AND they LOVE it!!

3. Its a huge MOTIVATION for them -- It lets them be responsible and they actually get their seat work done so that they can do the ipods.

4. Its fun to listen to them giggle and call out "teacher, teacher look what I can do!!"

I-PODS for KinDerGarTen = So much fun!!

Poor Little Guy . . .

Wednesday was a tough day for some of my students and myself. There seems to be about five different illnesses floating around including ear infections, strep throat, head colds, and the flu.

I found this little guy sound asleep during seat work time.

Phase 1 -- sleeping at his seat -- though  i dont know how with this lively one next to him!!

Phase 2 -- no longer seated on the chair but rather on the floor. How this transition happened, i have no idea!!

Phase 3 -- I moved him onto some carpet squares, so he was out of the way and covered up. 

Poor little guy was not feeling well. he slept for about an hour and then woke up kinda whimpering. He had a high fever but mom didnt have a car to come get him so, he slept in the office and rode the bus home. Poor little guy. 

Hope he gets better soon! 

mmmm FoOd!!

So I did not eat well at all this week and was craving something "healthy" . . .i know right, coming from me??

Anyway -- so i dug out some things that I had around and came up with this DELIcIOs little gem.

its only takes about 10 minutes which is also a great perk!!

Start with a tortilla, put a little mayo on it,

cut up some Peppers ( i used red,yellow, and orange)

Add some avacado

place in pan and cover with cheese.....mmmmm cheese

Place 2nd tortilla on top and let cheese melt. I flipped it over once to get it all warm and gooey.

Cut into pieces

and enjoy!!

Great invention, i think i made 3 times in 2 days . . . thats how good it was

(the fact that i didnt have any bread or other easy food items around may have also played a roll in the obsessive eating of this!!)

Climbing

So I really enjoy rock climbing! During the spring/summer last year I started going with some friends from my ward. We went a couple times and it was super fun. . . but then we all got busy and its been about 5 months since we went.

But . . . Friday night was the night. We finally got it together and had a blast.

I think we ended up playing around more than seriously climbing, but hey we still had fun and got a pretty good workout from it!!

Cute Faces

We have been learning lots of things. One day I decided to take some pics of us doing our math centers. I feel lucky (on most days) that I get to see so many happy smiling kids all day long!!

Baby Pattern Baldness

So I went to check up on Squirmy.

He's doing just great.

He's starting to pudge up a little.

Only down side-- is his old man hair line!

Hes really loosing his hair in a very old man fashion.

Hopefully it will only be a phase!!

Kid- izums . . .

Today while asking each kid the question of the day, which was, " Do you have an Oo in your name?"

Me: "Gabby, do you have an O in your name?"

Gabby: Blank Stare

Brayton: Behind her in line, chuckles to himself, then said, " If she had an Oo in her name it would be Gabb-o" 

Gabby: "Teacher, my nose is just running away today"

Madajha: "Teacher, I think there is something crawling in my stomach"! 

LOVE IT!! Makes my day all worth while!! :) 

Peyton decided sleeping over at Oma's and Opa's was really fun!! (of course it is when her FAVORITE Aunt is there!!)

Well on Sunday morning she woke up and was all upset when she realized she wouldnt have a dress for church. (dont worry we had thought of a solution and were just waiting for daddy to drop it off)

She was being dramatic and so I came up with a quick fix --- Get out my '80's Flower Girl dress from when I was about 4.

its PInk,

its SilKy,

its got HuGe SleeVes,

lots of RuffLes,

it SpIns

and she LoVed it!

She immediately wanted to wear it, of course

and it became the Sleeping Beauty Dress -- so

we of course had to play Sleeping Beauty!!

(dont worry, when her real dress was dropped off, I coaxed her out of the pink one and into a normal dress for church, with the promise that we would play sleeping beauty again afterwards!)

The Crafty Bug . . .

Since moving away from home I havent been the crafiest of all people. Mainly because you kind of have to have a stash of completely random things to be able to do many craft projects!

Well when I come home -- I am lucky because my mom has an amazing stash of completely random things!!

So . . . i got some new crocs that were just a plain black ballerina style flat. They had kinda a funky looking top that I wasnt fond of. So I decided to take matters in to my own hands and make them a bit more fancy and something that I would wear frequently!!

So I looked online to find some cute ways to make fabric flowers and walah. . . I now have a new favorite pair of black flats!

... and apparently I have an addictive personality (ie I get addicted to random things pretty easily), so I spent all afternoon making other fun little flowers that I plan on making into broaches or just sewing onto some plain shirts when I get back to my place!!