Ahoy Matey!!!

Yesterday was Timmy's birthday party with his friends from school. I had eight boys here living the life of a pirate :) I am thinking I don't have too many years left of having the boys do a craft at a birthday party so I took full advantage of it this year. They boys made hooks for their hands out of black paper cups, cardboard and tinfoil.

Here's Timmy doing his best pirate interpretation LOL!!


I bought some wooden boxes at A.C. Moore and my sister stained them for me a couple of weeks ago. I filled them with plastic gold coins. The boys used glue dots and attached jewels to their treasure chests. They also added a few jewels to their treasure chests as well.


















They all had a great time, enjoyed their pizza, played hard and we are done until next year!
Today is the party for my granddaughter who will be one on Tuesday. It's also her dad's birthday today. This is a busy month in our family!!! Hopefully next weekend I'll get a break LOL!

take care,
Dawn

School is back in session

The beginning of a school year is just so exhausting!!! I don't think a lot of people realize how much work the first week of kindergarten is. The children come to school so excited and ready to "play" and the poor kids need to practice waiting: waiting for everyone to check for notes, waiting to see who is buying lunch, waiting to find out who brought peanutbutter (we have allergies in our school), waiting to learn routines and schedules, waiting to take a turn to talk, waiting for a turn with a favorite toy. All they really want to do is play with their friends. We spend the first week slowly introducing rules and routines.

We also have a lot to do to get ready for these little guys. I felt like a walking zombie these past two weeks. I don't seem to have much of a break for the next couple of weeks either.

take care,
Dawn

Back to School!

After a glorious 70 something days off it was back to school today. I don't know why after 16 years I had the "can't sleep because school starts tomorrow jitters". I woke up at 2:00 this morning and at 4:15 when I was still awake I chose to just get up! I made a lasagna for dinner and another to freeze. I emailed a few people and took a leisurely amount of time getting ready!

Most of my friends think I'm a little "off" because I like to go to school early. I get there at 6:30 some mornings and 7:00 others even though I don't need to be there until 8:15. I really enjoy the quite morning when no one is there. There's not waiting for the copy machines or laminator. I can get some work done on the computer. It really lovely!

The thing I haven't figured out is how the staff can't seem to realize that we need the same things on the first day EVERY YEAR!!! Why is it a shock when we ask for, oh say, a class list, appointment schedules, bus lists etc. Every year there is always mistakes over the schedule, this year has been no exception.

We spend the next three days meeting the incoming kindergarten children one on one and then they all come for the first full day on Monday.

Here's to another school year. I hope it's a good one!

take care,
Dawn,

My baby is 8!!

Yesterday was a happy day in our home for Timmy. He can't believe that he is 8 years old LOL!
It was bittersweet for me. It was exciting that it was Timmy's birthday but sad that it was the last day of my summer vacation!

I asked Timmy was the best part of his 7th year was. He said Mackenzie being born was the best. He liked that Philip Jr. (the fish) didn't die. First grade was pretty good too! The worst part of his seventh year was that three fish died.

My birthday wish for Timmy is to always be happy, enjoy his creativity and to continue being the great kid that he is!

take care,
Dawn