On the HIGH Side!

"Friday-Friday-Friday... FRIDAY!"* (sang to the tune of my "Tony, Tony, Tony" song)

It's about time you got here, my dear.

It's been a busy week of teaching and stuff.  Claire had her first dance class.  I had open house.  It's Bristol weekend.  These things wear a girl out.  Enough--on to the celebration!

Claire and Papa--reunited again again.  So, Papa came to visit and it was just like she hadn't seen him in months (when really, they had their big reunion LAST week).  It was fun to watch, and so nice not to be the one she jumped on for like five minutes.

Claire SQUISH

Never-before-seen-behind-the-scenes Dance Class.  This is a "derpy" moment.  I don't know what we were supposed to be doing, but one of us isn't doing it right.

ermergerd... dance class

FORK... oh... that's what she was trying to say all along.  Well, that makes the video on my phone a lot less hilarious when you know that.  Oh well.  Claire eats with a FORK now.  Nevermind what you think she's asking for, I assure you, she's saying "fork."

Shut the "fork" door

Say Cheese!  Claire likes to ham for the camera, so I took some pictures.  At least I didn't look really really horrific.  Just mildly.

mac'n'cheese?

And a bittersweet one... This week Claire started to identify The Count on Sesame Street.  She even does his "ah, ah, ah" laugh.  And then today, Jerry Nelson, the iconic voice of The Count, died.  I was sad... but watching her enjoy the character makes you truly understand how these wonderful people will live forever through their gift to children.  Even I loved the count when I was a kid.  Thank you, Jerry Nelson.

"ah, ah, ah"

 Make sure you link up with Lauren @ From My Grey Desk!  I'm loving the stuff she's doing on her blog... and if you haven't checked out her sister's blog-- Kate @ The Small Things Blog... you're really missing out.  

52.33.Twirl

Around our house...

we are ballerinas!

 Claire has a real interest in dancing.  It's something fun for her, and she loves to move to the music.  We decided since Claire does take issues with following directions in a class setting we'd go ahead and enroll her in a Toddlin' Twos class. 

 

Claire is great when she can do her own thing.  She loves the balance beam (and she doesn't need my help, although I insist on holding her hand because I'm afraid she'll fall) and she likes to play with the scarves. 

 

I won't lie, we had some tearful moments. 
 

Hopefully though, after a few more classes under our belts, she'll start to see the light about following the actual instructions of the class!

52.32.Tangle

Around our house...

we are on Tangle Patrol!

Claire has such long thick hair now (seriously halfway down her back when it's wet) we have quite the handful combing out her hair.  She will now brush her hair all on her own, but anytime I want to brush or comb her hair, she gets upset because it hurts.  Now, I'm very gentle because I too know what that's like, but was having no success convincing Claire.  So a while back we bought "Tangles" spray for her hair.  She has a whole after-bath routine which includes asking for lotion, putting that on, and asking for "tangles" in her hair which means the spray.  As long as we have the spray, there's no more drama in combing out her hair!  Great success!

Happy Friday, Y'All!

Lauren will be so proud... I'm still gonna post a H54Friday and I'm doing it at almost 9 o'clock at night!  I have SO much to be thankful for, though, I just had to get it in.  Remember to visit Lauren's blog @ From My Grey Desk and if you're blogging too, why not link up while you're there?
Alright, here we go!

1.  Since it helps set up the week--my dad has been out of town.  Out of the country even.  He took his Goldwing all the way to Alaska and back with some friends.  How awesome is that?  He saw all sorts of cool stuff, but we really missed him.  Here's one "person" who missed him--this is my favorite cow who I have since named #17.  Aptly named, #17 is distinguishable by her unyielding love of grain and her ear tag, which says #17 (and yes, she has horns).  She totally thinks I'm cool after I got her some grain.

2.  "Oh Geez, Peoples!"  This is baby cow.  Baby cow was so excited to see me (ironically on the day they'd escaped their pasture--like, he SHOULD have run the other way) and he looked like he was going to jump into my arms.  "Peoples!  They know where the grain is!"  And I do.

3.  And Papa got home.  Thank goodness!  We've missed him!  So this is Claire throwing herself at him.  He brought home a very realistic wolf puppet (he's almost scary looking) from Alaska.  Claire thinks it's a puppy and she'll snuggle up with it and say "awwww".  So.  I guess he's not that scary after all.  Imagine my surprise, since we have to hide her Murry from Sesame Street because he scares her.  But this came from Papa, so, "awwww!"

4.  I went back to work!  I can't express how blessed I am to have such a wonderful job.  I have wonderful new students and I'm so excited about these age groups.  I'm not kidding--this is a dream job.  (I blocked out the name, sorry).

5.  Folgers Coffee.  I am not a morning person.  Even though I woke up every day at 6 a.m. anyway, for some reason, when I'm waking up to actually present myself as opposed to waking up just to function, I get really really tired.  So this is my new best friend.  We don't go anywhere without each other.  I'm not kidding, I take a huge cup with me, and I practically lick it clean every day.  I need coffee. 

So that's my week in a nutshell!  I've been super busy and just haven't had the camera in my hand, but I'm hoping this weekend to spend some extra special time with Claire and get my Project 52 squared away (late).  I've already got next week's photo planned.  Unfortunately, I've only got a few days to catch up on this week!  Hope you've had a good week, too!  Share, share!

Pinterest Wednesday

In an effort to post more blogs (and somehow get more readers) I am trying some new blogging ideas I've found.  One thing that I really enjoy from Kate @ Classy Living is her ventures on Pinterest.  If you know me, you know I spend some quality time with my Pinterest (if you're Pinteresting, and you're not following me, you're missing out!)

This week I did some major resorting on my boards and creating a "Sweets" and "Savory" board for different categories of food.  My best new food find?

Source: fatgirltrappedinaskinnybody.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Don't these look delish?  I seriously wanted to make these and just sit and eat them all.  I've had a lot of "eat my feelings" type of moments going back to work and all.  I feel like I'd really enjoy eating my feelings with these.

Since I'm back to teaching, I've found a few good pins for that as well:

Source: tatertotsandjello.com via Melissa on Pinterest

So inspirational!
 and...
My new partner in crime (the new reading teacher next door) showed me this cool app for the iPhone!  I've got to inventory my books, stat!

Source: itunes.apple.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Thank goodness she's got my back on Pinterest!

And finally, for good ol' fashioned laughs...

Source: 25.media.tumblr.com via Melissa on Pinterest

If you know Wally, you know he and I are great friends.  Snuggle buddies.  BFFs.  And when I read this I just had to "lol" if you will, since seriously this has happened to me.  Multiple times.

Wally approved!

Check out Kate's blog for more awesome Pinterest, and if you aren't Pinteresting, join up.  I'll even send you an invite.  Oh, and if you're not following me on Pinterest, please do!

The LAST Friday! High Five!

The last Friday... the very last.  Unless I get very talented, I don't know that I'll be doing H54F anymore because I'll be back to working.  I know I could do this Thursday night... so we shall see.  Make sure you're following Lauren @ From My Grey Desk because even if I fall behind, she always has her post nice and ready to read!

Here we go!

1.  Wally snuggles!  We've been developing a new Olympic sport.  The snuggle olympics!!  And if that was truly a real sport, we'd win, because no one snuggles like Wally.  This is him fast asleep on my lap.  This is where you'll find him every evening before bed.

2.  My classroom has been coming along.  I have a swank new building and swank new classroom.  I've never had such a nice room, so I didn't want to muck it up.  I took a page from the other teachers and decided to use some fabric to give my room a splash of color.  This is my desk area.  What you see covered by fabric is actually just a table and a small bookshelf.  But it looks like I have two desks and gives me a place to stash boxes since I'm still not completely moved in.  I love the little owl on top of the books on my desk.  I also have my crayon wreath above my desk.

Excuse the excessive mess on the desk.  The top of the bookshelf has become a stapling station for paper turn-in.  I hung the purple lantern, the flowers are pens, the purse won't stay up there.  The owl is right under the wreath (which is up in the corner).  And the calendar is delicious.  Because it's Tony Stewart. 

3.  My reading area of my classroom.  I inherited a rough looking couch when I moved into this classroom, so I covered it with a sheet (I tried to make it really fancy, but wouldn't you know it, the staple gun wouldn't work on this).  I also bought a fancy wacky colored lamp.  Unseen in this (for a reason) is my redo of the very ugly bookshelf.  Which is still kind of ugly, but again, from a distance, it's juuuust fine.

And... notice all those computers?  There are more!  I have a lab right in my room!  I'm so excited!

4.  READ!  This is my book shelf to store textbooks and reference books.  I took my regular border strips and put it around the sides just for a splash a color, and the letters are made from the cardboard letters at Hobby Lobby, some scrapbook paper, and Mod Podge.  I SHOULD have made a "write" one, but when I put the letters together it looked so weird so I just stuck with "read."

This is in the back of my room.  The white board will be for a weekly list of what's up (this pic was taken before I finished it yesterday).  I've got plastic containers hung for handouts now, it's divided in 3 sections for each grade.  Also the lone desk is my "safe seat".  If I get really adventurous, I'll get the folder put up with a sheet to fill out about behavior.  That's a big IF. 

5.  Free Printables!  Like this?  It cost $4.  I bought $1 frames at the Dollar Tree and I found some inspiring free printables on Pinterest.  I thought these were super cute.  I did group them instead of spreading them out all around the room.  Not without purpose... notice there are some markers strapped to the wall?  Those go to the Mimio board.  And these nice white walls have some smudges that I can't clean.  So I covered a bunch of them up.  I also bought some stick on wall borders (the pink and green circles) and they cover a lot of the mess, too.  Yay!

I'm probably most proud of this area.  This is where I'll be spending all my time so I'm pleased that there are some lovely messages up right here... and I think it looks super sharp, especially considering the price.  I'm going to get into printables.  Watch out, bathroom, you're next!

BONUS:  This is my Miss Sassy-Pants.  She now takes her breakfast at the big girl table.  Only. I'll miss my little girl.  I think that's the hardest part about this being our last Friday.  I just want to sit here all day and stare at her.  That won't be very productive though!

We talk a lot in the morning.  This is a particularly sassy face as she's telling me about what we will and won't do on this day.  Hilarious.

So that's my week!  I really hope I can manage to keep this going even though I'm back to work!  I need to learn to take more pictures, because there were lots of awesome things this week.  My new school community is awesome and I'm very blessed to be a part of it--hopefully I can catch THAT in pictures next week.  Then you can be jealous of my super cool job!  ;)  Happy Friday!

52:31:Summersault

Around our house...

We're getting into the Olympic spirit!

Claire has been able to do an unassisted summer-sault most of the summer.  Now it's become a staple in her dance routines and the show piece of her gymnastic efforts in our living room.  I've wanted to capture a photo series of the stages of the summer-sault (that's a photographic goal), however, it's pretty difficult.  If I break Claire's concentration she's apt to run for the camera to look at the pictures or she'll get all shy on me and just stand there and tell me no.  So I was very lucky to capture this... kind of like getting big foot on film.  She's really gearing up for the fall and her first dance class though.  I'm very excited for her and when we ask her about dance class, she acts really excited, too.

52:30:Eat

Around our house...

We eat a lot of apples!

Claire asks for a "bopper" a day.  I'm not sure how apples became boppers... I think because it looks like a ball ("ba") + the name I give them... APPLES ("pp") + Claire's way of twisting around "l" and "r"... which isn't always what happens so I'm not terribly worried. She's getting better saying "apple" or something close to it because I tell her I don't know what she's asking for and she tries to clarify.  The first time I gave her one, I mostly did it to stop her from crying about it.  She took off bites and then spit them out.  All of the house.  Yuck.  The second time we were stuck in the kitchen and I told her if she spit out the pieces she couldn't have the apple, so she started to eat it.  And she ate the whole thing!  She didn't do the best job, but I just let her gnaw away.  I'm glad she's excited about things like fruit, but it would be a lot easier if she ate slices.  Or easier to eat fruit.  But she doesn't.  Oh well!  Boppers it is! Gotta love her. 

High Five for Friday!

Friday, let's get something going here.
It's been an odd week.  I think Claire is getting a new set of teeth (I don't think, I know, but whatever).  Also I only have a week left of not working.  So I've been sad about things because no offense to my wonderful job or great students or this new blessed opportunity... but I really like being around for my kid.  This is the guilt they talk about for working moms, I guess. Don't forget to Link up with Lauren with your own weekly adventures!

So lets see some highlights of this week:

1.  We had another overnight!  This time at my mom's house and it was really successful.  Claire had a lot of fun and I feel like every time I'm not being fun enough she name drops and brings out all the cool things Grandma got for her... just to rub it in.

2.  Olympics.  Yup, I'm obsessed.  I'm trying to avoid finding out scores before prime time so I can watch and be surprised, but a couple of times I got so anxious I had to look it up.  I'm most annoyed I can't get one snippet of any of the equestrian events on television.  After Matt told me Dressage was the easiest thing in the Olympics, I've been set to prove him wrong.  Except wouldn't you know it, according to NBC, that isn't even happening.  I mean, it's happening.  Right now.  But you'd never know it.  Thanks, Michael Phelps.  ;)

3.  New china cabinet!  I had this big monstrosity of a china cabinet.  I got it originally to refinish it or paint it or something (painting would have made it match our white/wood furniture).  Unfortunately life happened and I never did.  So I threw it on craigslist and found a buyer.  Then I took that money and bought a new, smaller, nicer one.  I am interested in replacing the hardware but it seems like a bigger undertaking.  It's a lot of glass on top which gives the illusion that it's not taking up much space.  It's also a richer wood color that matches our cabinets (it looks a little light in the photo, sorry).  Now to just get a new table...

And don't worry, I normally don't leave it on/plugged in.  That cord hanging is atrocious, I am aware. 

4.  Potty training!  I read this awesome blog post about how to just immerse ourselves in potty training.  So I created a "potty land" in the kitchen, got all the best toys and play things, got the potty, and locked Claire and I in for some sweet naked potty time (well, I wasn't naked, but she was).  Every 15 minutes or so I'd ask about going, and she'd parade her toys on her potty, complete with making her own version of potty sounds.  After two hours I knew something wasn't working because she hadn't gone although Abby and Puppy had gone several times.  Then she tinkled on the floor.  She got so upset and was beside herself (the blog I'd read didn't make it sound nearly so... tearful) so I cleaned up and got her a popsicle and she requested a diaper and I obliged.  I fully think Claire has the ability to do this--she's shown all the signs and shown interest.  I think the real thing that got to her was that she sees me clean up "messes" a lot, and even though I wasn't mad and didn't say anything, she just took it hard that I was cleaning up her "mess".  So we're back to the talking stage.  My kid might be obsessed with cleanliness.

Adventures in Potty Land.  Little Abby is on her way to the potty.

5.  Cleaning!  Claire and I have to take turns with the dusting "wand".  She's actually dusting things for me (hilarious).  She does a really thorough job, complete with sound effects of cleaning sprays.  So she learned "my turn" because of cleaning... so I could borrow the "wand" to get to all the places she couldn't reach.  Hilarious. 

She dusted the heck out of this... even in the crevices and such.  Like... cleaning skills and wisdom beyond her "year".  So cute!