It's the most wonderful time of the year.....

My most favorite time of the year is now.....I LOVE football and I love that all 3 of my boys play.....I also LOVE getting my classroom ready for the new year......my mornings are spent in my room and my nights are spent on the field, love it, love it, love it......So far football has been great, this is Danny's first year and yes I caved and let him get a mohawk, his hair grows fast and I'm sure by the time school starts it will be all grown in ;)  at least it better be, lol.....Actually it came out much better than I thought, I don't cringe everytime I look at him, I think he looks pretty darn cute. John took yesterday off and helped me move furniture around in my room, it is really coming along, it's an odd shape and I was starting to panic~everything I did, did not look right. I loved my room from last year, it was HUGE and so bright and the best part was the door leading to the outside of the building.  I would be able to go in today if I wanted to.  I really want to get as much done as I can, because you know when everyone starts coming in, we chat way too much.   Anyway, I will bring my cam on Tuesday and take some pics.  In the meantime, I got my class lists yesterday, 18 in the morning and 15 in the afternoon, how great are those numbers!!! That's all for now, hope you have a terrific weekend!!

First day of practice



practicing some moves




love this kid



Yay!!! He's BACK!!!

Flat Stanley is back!!!

How excited were we on Thursday when Danny't teacher handed me a huge package that came all the way from AUSTRALIA.  So cool!  If you remember Stanley left us for sunny CAL-I-FOR-NIA back on January 25 and he has returned to us practically 4 months to the day.  Stanley missed Danny terribly but he had some awesome adventures. He traveled to Knots Berry Farm and got to see Angel Stadium too while staying with our fun cousins(WISH WE WERE THERE INSTEAD)  Anyway, then it was off to Australia to stay with Annie's blogging friend Libby.  He spent a few days with Amy and Christy in the land down under, saw some aussie scenery, but his favorite part was going to Sydney to see Mary Poppins!! Lots of fun!!   Thanks Annie and Libby, that was a great treat!

Whirlwind couple of weeks

We have been so busy practicing for our "KINDERCOLORS" play and the big day finally arrived this past Friday.  My grade partner, who I think is the greatest person in the world has been putting this on for the last probably 10 years.  It is adorable.  We started off by singing some songs that she made up all about colors, then I get up and recite Brown Bear, while the kids tell me what they see, everyone has an animal on their headband.  Then we sang another color song and the kids turn their headbands around and they become crayons. After that each group of colors recites the color poems they have been practicing.  Kathy then gets up and recites The Crayon Box That Talked and the kids each have a part.  Finally, we end with "What a Wonderful World" in sign language, it was great, loved it. If some one gives me some pics from the actual show I will post them, I can't do it justice trying to explain it. But trust me it was adorable.  After, we went back to my room for a little celebration.  One of my mom's made the cutest cookies for each kid(see below)  In the meantime, Jack got his braces off....YAY!  I put up a pic from last year when he got them on and this year when he got them off, I can't believe how much older he looks :(  My kids are growing up way too fast.  And today was my youngest sisters graduation from college, yahooooo!  So much has been happening with the budget here that I haven't been posting much, don't want to bore anyone with the details, just hope I have good news soon, just keeping my fingers crossed.  Anyway, there's only 21 days left and after next week, we can actually do some things that are not in the darn pacing guide!!!  Maybe I can post some cute stuff again. Here's to a great week!!!  

Kindercolors



Crayon headbands



How cute are these????  A mom made them for all the kids to take home.....and they were YUMMY too!



Animal headbands

Jack on May 5, 2010 getting his braces



Jack on May 12, 2011 BRACES OFF!!!



Kerry graduates from Fairfield University May 22, 2011

Bronx Zoo or bust.........

Ok so we set off this morning for the Bronx Zoo.  I made it down to Fordham Rd in 45 minutes.  I was so pyched.  We get to the zoo exit and it is bumper to bumper.  Normally it would take 5 minutes from the exit to the parking lot.  IT TOOK AN HOUR AND A HALF!  We were ready to scream.  We get to the parking lot to find that it is full and so are all the other ones.  GRRRRRRR!  The Bronx Zoo was a bust!  I didn't want to drive all the way home, so I decided to take the kids to one of my favorite places, Manor Park. I have such awesome childhood memories there.  My parents used to take us a lot and we'd go for walks and climb on all the rocks.  It is such a cool place. 

I love this place!

Yes, they are practically wrestling on the rocks.....one word ~ DOPES! ;)

Climbing one of the "huts"



Hi Ry!





Danny just relaxing



The only one who will really pose for me now

Shore Club in the distance, cannot wait for the summer!

                         

Lacrosse has begun......

"Turn on the heat!"

Boy what a difference a day makes.  I know these are not the best pictures, but I just wanted to show how horrible the conditions were yesterday for Jack's first game.  It was 41 degrees, with pelting rain and wind.  John and Jack were absolutely freezing.  I think Jack's hands and lips were blue were a good hour or two after the game.  The good news is they won!  Onto today, what a nice day for Ryan's first game.  About 60, a little breezy, but the sun was out for the most part.  And we're 2 for 2, Ryan won his game too, woo hoo!

Jack wanting nothing to do with taking pictures.  Too cold!



Ryan #4



Getting talked to by the ref for spearing, still learning the game lol.



Great job Ryan!

 So excited for this week, it's SPRING BREAK!!  So glad we don't have to wake up and rush out the door.  I think we'll head into the city one day and the Bronx Zoo another day. Well, that's all for now, off to do some yardwork.  Hope you have a great Sunday!

Winter Football League Champs!!

Jack #56

Have I ever mentioned that I like football???  Like??? I LOVE IT!!!  lol.  Jack played in a winter league and I was in my glory, I love watching my kids play.  His team went undefeated 6-0 and they won the championship.  He had a great season and great time.  I cannot wait for him to play in high school.

Awesome catch!

Way to go Jack!!!

This was the championship game, it was the day after the art auction.......I was a little tired and needed lots of salty things to eat if you know what I mean ;)

Happy Birthday Cara! My California Girl!



Me and my ADORABLE god-daughter :)




Cara and Annie, Brunch at the club, Easter 2010




Happy Birthday!




Angels - Yankee Game  Cami, Cara, Ry, Jack, Annie and Danny

Wish we were together again this year celebrating!!!  Hope you have a great day, miss you all so much!! Love you!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This years Leprechaun Trap.



2011




2010 trap, actually a little lame now that I see it again.




This trap we had for years, until the leprechaun destroyed it 2 years ago.

 Hope you all had a wonderful St. Paddy's Day!  It kind of crept up on me, I didn't even put out the decorations this year and John and I didn't realize it until today.  I just have too much on my mind to think about the fun little stuff that I should be thinking about.  I just hope poor sweet Danny does not get jipped.  Every year, John builds a "Leprechaun Trap"  they are always quite elaborate, well yesterday around 3 he realized we haven't built one this year yet.  So he rushed off to Home Depot to get some wood after work to build this thing, Danny thought it was great, but I'd like to compare it to years past....although last year was pretty lame too, lol.  Anyway, the boys enjoyed green bagels, green rice krispie treats, shamrock cookies and grapes for lunch.  One of my students came in this morning and said she had green milk, I wish I had thought of that.  I hope they thought it was a nice day.  Speaking of a nice day, my principal is the sweetest guy, he made us all breakfast this morning, and I mean breakfast!  He cooked bacon and eggs in the cafeteria and sent us down to another room where it was totally decked out in green, we had green bagels, fruit salad, coffee and juice.  The moral at my school is so great, I love it there and ya know it all starts at the top.  What a good guy!  Hope you all had a great day too, TGI almost F!

Dr. Seuss and other random stuff...

What we're doing for our Dr. Seuss party next week.....
On Tuesday I am going to read after we discuss Dr. Seuss, the kids will make Cat in the Hat headbands.  I have red templates all set up, the kids need to cut them out, add white strips and glue onto red poster board to make the headband.  I will save these in our room for our party the next day.  The kids are set up in groups of 4-5.  We will have 4 centers set up and will rotate every 20 minutes.
After listening to part of The first group will go to snack and eat green(lime) jello egg shaped jigglers along with alphabet cookies and juice.  I have a student who is allergic to almost everything and this is what she can have.  I would love to eat green eggs and ham though, maybe next year!
The next group will listen to part of  after they will fish for rhyming words from a blow up pool.  I bought these at Michael's and wrote words from the word families we have gone over so far.  After they pick up a fish, they will write what is says on a cute little worksheet and write a rhyming word in the fish next to it.  If I knew how to download I would, I need to figure that out :(  sorry.
Group 3 will listen to part of .  We have a button maker at school and we ordered Dr. Seuss buttons that say I Love to Read!  that the kids will color and make into buttons.

Group 4 will listen to part of  and make these adorable Cat in the Hat pictures with different color hats and bow ties that the children will choose.  They will then cut up the sentence "The hat on my cat is ____." and put it back in order and add a color word.  Danny came to school with me today and he made an example:
We're only reading part of each book because of timing issues but Dr. Seuss is my author of the month and I will read those during March.  I thought it would be fun to have a mystery reader throughout March as well, I know the kids will get a kick out of guessing whose mom or dad or grandparent is coming in to read to our class.
In other news, we all went skiing on Friday night and had a blast. I haven't skied in probably 17 years and I loved it. Skiing is like riding a bike, once you get going again it's a piece of cake. All 3 kids made it look so easy. Ryan and John had gone just a couple of weeks ago and Ry picked it up right away, so I didn't really see him the whole night. I felt a little sorry for Jack, it was his first time and all of his friends have been going for years, so he kinda just hung out with me and John. Something a 14 year really wants to do...NOT!  His buds were going on black diamonds and he was stuck with us :( Maybe next time he goes, he'll have more confidence and try the bigger hills. Danny was awesome, he looked so cute skiing down the bunny hill, so serious too, it was so funny. Unfortunately, it started to thunder and lightning which freaked him out so we called is a day, but he hasn't stopped talking about it since. The rest of the weekend was filled with basketball games and YAY!......football. Jack is playing in a winter indoor league and the jamboree was on Sunday, our real games start this Sunday coming up. Woo Hoo!  I love watching him play. And today was back to school and back to reality.




Danny riding up whatever this is called, sort of like an escalator.  Pretty cool.



Jack and Danny.



Even when he fell, he was all smiles!



Way to Go Ryan!

The proud recipient (April 2010)

Here we are at Gillette Stadium

For the second year in a row, Ryan has been awarded the Pop Warner Little Scholar Award. To receive this, you must have a grade point average of 96% or above(Ry's is 99- woo hoo),community service hours along with playing pop warner football. The kids and their families are invited up to Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots for a luncheon and then the award ceremony takes place. It's a huge honor and it's very hard to come by in this part of New England. It seems most of the awards are given to kids from Mass and RI...that's where the headquarters are ;)  just sayin' Last year when we went, many names called were from that area. However,  needless to say, I am one proud mama! Way to go Ry!