Get Your Grill On!

Oh, in life.....there are just some things I'd think I could endure forever. Here are ten that I can name in less than 30 seconds that fall in that category:

1) Three. Day. Weekends.
2) Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough Ice Cream
3) A Clean House
4) Good Conversation
5) The Last Few Chapters of a Good Book
6) A Napping Baby
7) Shopping in ATL
8) A Phenominal Half Time Show
9) An Off The Beaten Path Store with Nothing You Particularly Need, But Everything You
Could Want
10) Things That End Easily (a whole 'nother story)

So, on this 3 day weekend, I hope you get your grill on (not the teeth cover kind), but the kind where your weekend is just poppin' without the plannin'. What's on your list of things you could endure for A. VERY. LONG. TIME.?

A'ight

This weekend was a'ight. We went to two birthday parties on Saturday. The first was Chloe's, who turned 7. She had a skating party. The second was Bryce's party. He turned six. He had an outdoor party with an obstacle course, lots of food and games.

This is Libby waiting to get skates. We didn't even try the skate thing. I knew I couldn't skate anymore because I tried at the nasty Dalton rink with some students at an Attendance Incentive Time---T total embarrassment. I'm sure it was like watching a train wreck. Never again will I skate.

Libby was getting a pair of rent-a-foot disease, I mean rent-a-skates. I don't know why we didn't bring hers from home. We don't really have all our sense anymore.

She had fun until the "skates attacked her". She says they pushed her down and pretty much demanded they be taken off that second. My aunt put highlights in my hair last week. I hadn't been to the beauty shop in 3 months. Would somebody please keep me together? I don't even notice things. Too bad she doesn't do restilin and lipo at the shop. I'd be set. Oh, the skates were off and now....

She opted for the safer ticket games.

My blood pressure went down about 40 points with that decision.

We went to church on Sunday, and I thought I'd take a picture of Libby at 4 years old. Rarely can you get her to look at the camera. We have rolls and rolls of the back of her head or her as a blur. Finally, we found a camera on QVC (seriously) that catches her.

This was my favorite shot.

She just had to climb the tree. That's all she cared about. She didn't much like the dress or the picture taking. She said, "I climb duh tree, MMMwwwomy."

3+1=4

We celebrated Libby's fourth birthday Saturday at Chuck E. Cheese's. This is the 3rd party she's had at Chuck E. Cheese's. She really likes it. We didn't love this year's party as much as last year's. I guess what matters is that she really liked it. The reason we didn't love it as much as last year's party is because we had to have it at either 10am, noon or later. We wanted 11 am like in years past. We also didn't have my sister there to take pictures for us which was a bummer. We also used a party host and weren't impressed with her-- or lack of her. It just wasn't the same as the past couple of years when we've done it ourselves. Oh well, it was fun for Libby. Here are some pictures:

This looks like a good idea for those times she throws a tantrum. Hey, it's no worse than those kid leashes people have. It would have a fun slide. Okay, we'll leave it as a CEC thing.

Libby didn't want to go near Chuck E. Cheese, so Kaylee posed for the picture.

Libby had a dance off with Chuck E's television camera.

Libby is going to take off on 1 token and a goodbye.

To the left is my stepdad, Xavier. To the right is my dad, Tom. I don't thinkXavier was too amused at Tom asking him if it'd be okay if he just pretended to punch him in the picture.

Libby and Kaylee had fun!

Libby and Kaylee opened presents at home. Usually, you get to open them on the stage in front of your party table, but they cut our time all up. Grrrr. She opened them at home. Some people do that now anyway, but that wasn't our original intention. She got lots of fun things. She got cards and money from family out of state, Barbies, games, puzzles, a Bike, a Dora video with herself in it, a princess tea set, baby dolls, and lots more.

EVERYONE HAD FUN

WITH

THE 1,000 TICKET

GROUCHO EYE GLASSES PRIZE.

My Mother Would Forbid This One

My mom would be so mad that I put something this personal on here. However, I think she's quit reading my blog, so the censorship is stalled. As you already know because of my precious friend T Richmond's May blog, I got Teacher of the Year at my school. I wrote that small because I get real embarrassed at stuff like that. Now, I am NOT a bragger. I don't even know how to accept a compliment. However, when I ran across my application, I thought, "What friggin' waste, man". Then it occurred to me, before I trash this, why not post it? The funny thing is when we were standing to receive the yellow copy paper certificate of which I tossed on my way out the door because I thought it was dorky, Ken Richmond goes, "I know I won't win because mine was all about Jesus, but what else really matters....." He was hilarious because of his way of saying things, but very right. So, here goes nothing, maybe it will do more for you than it did for the anonymous panel of people who haven't been in a classroom since they were a student. The award was really something I'd just totally give back to the teachers I work with, they deserve it just as much as I do. So, sorry ya'll, I threw away the copy paper, generic certificate.

THE TEACHER OF THE YEAR ESSAY SCHMESSAY

Factors that influenced me to become a teacher were quite numerous, really. All of the factors, however, centered on a belief that I could “leave it better than I found it”. I can remember watching a lesson as a student and thinking, “That could have been so much better if…” Constantly, I was realizing that I could see more about the art and science of education than even my teachers. I became very interested in how kids learned, as opposed to what kids learned. Most of these education epiphanies occurred as an elementary student.

School was a major escape for me. I moved more than 15 times in my school career. I spent time reading anything I could get my hands on because, often, we didn’t have a phone or cable. Part of my childhood was spent in public housing which also showed me that education was the only way out (and up) for kids who started with nothing, but wanted everything. The fact that education, the way it was being done, was a diamond in the rough intrigued me. I begin to think of the possibility of “teaching kids to think” rather than teaching them disconnected facts. Education, to me, was a sure alternative to changing the future for learners. So, rather than analyze my childhood, I began to focus on learning because I knew that someday, I could be the change factor that I had so desperately needed for other kids.

As a student in middle school, I began to think if learning could be the escape for kids, why couldn’t it create a desire for thinking or even catapult them into greater things? I wondered why learning couldn’t be appealing, rather than just presented. These curiosities led me to the understanding The Paideia Principle which was that “…the schooling of a people does not complete their education…” Figuring out that I could see a need for dynamic, passionate educators who recognized kids’ needs led me to want to do one of three things: take over the class and teach it the way it was meant to be taught, rebel and do something as far from education as possible, or join the frontlines of people who were intervening on a daily basis thereby impacting our future. Eventually, because I knew that learning takes nothing for granted, I decided to be a teacher.

I knew I was gifted to do more for kids than what was ever done for me. I hadn’t realized my “gift” for facilitating and guiding learning, until I was in high school. A teacher called me to the front to explain a problem’s solution to the class. She knew she wasn’t making the class understand the concept. When I explained the difficult geometry concept to the class and was asked, by the class, to “please stay at the front and teach us”, I recognized that all these thoughts about learning were a gift and that not everyone had it. From a few excellent teachers in a sea of less than desirable, my philosophy of education developed. For as long as I can remember, I’ve known that education is the cornerstone of society.

Soon after I realized how crucial education was, I gained clarity about the effects that an excellent education could have on a child. Without an excellent education, the world would become destitute. Believing in the sense of urgency, I began to focus on the learner and not the learning. I knew that when the learner was considered first, the learning would fall into place because the child would have had a desire to learn instilled that was insatiable.

All educators make contributions. Whether an educator makes a positive contribution or not happens with every second that passes. Every single second an educator spends at work, they are contributing to the outcome of that child’s future. I consider every second I spend in education my opportunity to seize the next rung a child could climb or even the next aspiration they might capture.

From implementing the first School-wide Junior Achievement Program in an elementary school in Georgia to working with our county’s curriculum committee, every relationship and partnership contributes to what is being done for children. Mentoring a new teacher, consoling a parent, or soliciting community support---it’s all part of lasting contributions that could be a child’s turning point. It is imperative to make every second a contribution. I can step into my car each afternoon knowing that I have done everything I could do to “leave it better than I found it”.

My greatest accomplishment in education has been leaving a better performing school where my days weren’t as difficult and returning to our county’s highest poverty, highest English Language Learners’ population. Why would I consider this my greatest accomplishment? Because it is proof that I know an excellent education is something I can give to kids no matter the income, race nor environment. Taking the education plunge is not for the weak at heart, it is for those believe that you should teach kids to think and charm them into learning. It is for those, like me, who know that their successes are your accomplishments. Education is to be left by educators, better than we found it.

So I read this 'prairie radical from the 60's quote' that said: "It isn't the rebels of the world that cause the trouble. It's the troubles of the world that cause the rebel."

Now, that'a a hefty quote. It's one that I'm sure won't remotely help me understand the disobedience and control issues Miss Libby is exhibiting. Honestly, other than a Dr. Brazelton book on colic, I've never read anything that prepared me to not feel like a towel shaken to remove sand regarding parenting.

I sincerely hope Libby's latest rebel acts are tied to something in which she passionately believes---because I'm SO questioning my sanity and ability to trudge through 5 more seconds of one of her rebel moments. You know how celebrities go to posh rehabs to restore themselves back to normal. I think I might need that option. I don't have a drug, nor drinking addiction, but I'd pay any dollar amount at this point for the ability not to lose it inside. People say, "oh, just ignore it when she starts." Right, her wail registers a 7 or 8 on the ricter scale. Come on. When you ignore something, you assumably have the ability to not hear or see it. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMMOOOOOMMMMMMYYYYYY--uh uh uhhhh uuuuhh can't be ignored. Are you on crack?

I really wish I could insert a frequency table here so that I could visually demonstrate how often, how lengthy and how ridiculous these things are. I will spare your ears, her reputation and my appearance by not putting a clip of one of her fits in this entry, however. Let's just say that the dramatic moment occurs like this:

Mommy (hands full, doorbell ringing): Libby, would you open the door?
Libby: Not right now, Mommy. I'm busy.
Mommy: Okay, Kaylee, would you open the door?
Kaylee: Sure, Aunt Leia. (*5 year old Kaylee happily trots to the door*)
Libby: (SUDDEN MASSIVE GUTTERAL SCREAM) BuuuuuutIwantedtoopen duuuuuh dooooooor. You said meeeeeee. ***immediately resorts to an incomprehensible not even closed captioning could make sense of it wail with some type of words intertwined"
Mommy: Libby, you were busy and so Kaylee is helping you by opening it.
Libby: *see previous entry*
TEN MINUTES GO BY--same junk---trying corner, trying swat, trying ignoring......
Everyone: *drained and ill*

SO, HERE'S A STATEMENT FROM A REBEL WITH A SURE CAUSE: Heck, nooooo. We don't want anymore. My Goodness. Are you serious? Take her for a 3 day span in which you create boundries, get her to sleep, get her to wear something that matches and make an appearance on time with eveyone's hair brushed-------then, you have permission to ask: Gonna have anymore?

Baby Mama

Yesssssssssss. This going to be the shortest update ever from the "Baby Mama". In case you didn't know, according to someone who recently asked me if I was the "Baby Mama", that's me--- and that means I'm the mother of Steven's child. Interesting, huh? See, keep up with these posts and your days of White Rain and 80's lingo will be rapidly updated. Here's another one for you........ now it's a bit old, but this weekend we went to Pigeon Forge and didn't much answer our cell phone because "that's how we roll". That means we operate in a fashion conducive to what works for us or what is convenient for us, in accounting terms that's our S.O.P. (standard operating procedures). We really didn't have a good signal, so that's not how we roll, it's just how it was. You see what you pick up just by listening to others............G-AAAAHHH I am so 32. Well, here's what the Baby Mama got "burned with" today: Libby wants not a baby brother, not a baby sister, but a twin. How the heck. I actually tried to explain it to her. She heard my grandmother tell a story to me about my dad wanting to be a twin when he was little. She asked me what a twin was. I told her. Now she wants a twin. So, I suppose in the midst of my workday, Baby Mama drama, and the cloning project I have going---I'll go ahead and split her 32nd or some chromosome or something sciencey like that. So, if it works, would I be Babies Mama?