Thursday, January 29, 2009

Need your help and ideas..
Ok, i am the least creative person. I have a little girl in my class who is not a napper. She is loud, very spirited, and was uncontrollable my first three days in this classroom. She is now laying quietly for at least 15 minutes on her cot. I bribe her with marshmallows. She lays quietly for 15 minutes she gets a marshmallow (in a baggie, to take home). Today she laid quietly for 30 minutes. Then I let her have a stack of books, one of which is the 3 bears.. she loves this book, and a magnetic set of the 3 bears, goldilocks, and 3 chairs. She sat quietly for the rest of naptime playing with this magnetic set. HOLY COW BATMAN! I cut this set out with my cricut, laminated it, and put magnets on the back. That's it. It was all cut with scraps too. So, I am making some different magnetic sets, and sticking them to a cookie sheet for nap time. I NEED COOKIE SHEETS! I am looking for some gently used cookie sheets, I am going to spray paint them. If you have any you would like to donate, please email or call me. If you have any small cookie sheets, that would be wonderful!
This is what I thought I would make:

Penguins,
Red Riding Hood and characters
Gingerbread Man and characters
cars, signs, and paint a road on one of the cookie sheets,
letters,
her first name
numbers (include dice, she rolls the dice, finds the number that matches it)
counter pieces (she rolls a dice with numbers, not dots, places that many counters on the cookie sheet)
Shapes, small cookie sheets are a different shape, she places all the same on each cookie sheet
colors, she places the same color counter on the color cookie sheet
princesses (cause everyone deserves a day to just play)
cars (thanks fickel for letting me borrow your cars cartridge, like several moons ago)
I am going to use some leftover chalkboard paint and paint a chalkboard on one of the sheets, and.....
community helpers (thanks to my community cart) AND and now i am blank.
i have no idea what else to do, any ideas??


Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Octuplets! Are you kidding me?
Could you imagine having EIGHT rileys running around at family gatherings? I cannot even imagine having EIGHT babies at one time. I couldn't imagine having twins, let alone more. I pray they are all healthy, have no struggles to just live, and their parents are prepared for their care.
peace
whimp

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Yet another post..today.
look what i did with my expression and SCAL..
it is a font i have on my laptop..kinda witchy to cut out! All the swirls and stuff, just make sure you have a new blade in your machine. this is just a trial run, I want to make a sign (out of paper) to hang in our hallway that says something like Bla...... with est. 2002 or something like that under it. (Sorry about the erasing..didn't just want to put our last name out there.)

whimp
Life with the Nutballs..
Gottal love 'em.
enjoy
whimp
Finally..2009 calendar for Gma Pat.
Sorry about the pictures being weird, and try not to notice my messy table. (or the bag of hot tamales :)
Whimp
January
February
March (notice the john deere rubons?)
April (annual easter egg hunt)
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Praying to the Snow God...
Join me please..pray for a snow day on Monday...
just one will do.
thank you
whimp

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

It's a great day to...
be an American.
I got to watch this historical event today at school. I read the book "Duck for President" and we went and watched Barack Obama become the 44th president of the United States. What an amazing event to witness. What an amazing dream to see become a reality. It was 45 years ago Martin Luther King gave a speech and revealed his dream. I believe it has finally come true. I can honestly say, as I watched a brave man make a pledge to this country, I cried. Change, has definitely come to America.
Praying for Peace and for an ornery shit named Zach to come home safely.
whimp

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Going through pictures...
man it stinks! I have a very hard time deleting ANY pictures from my computer, but gosh, the poor thing is about to die..it has so many photos on it. I do back up the ones I edit to CD's, but I still keep quite a few on both my computers. While going through folders on my laptop, I found this pic I took of "Tater" at Jake and Emilee's Wedding. My heart broke for her because she wanted Uncle Jake to pick her up and dance with her..while he was having his first "married" dance with Em. I love this photo. I think I am going to enlarge it and hang it up.
Enjoy, (tomorrow, if I get around to it, be prepared for the Riles in her panties, spongebob pj pants, on her head, and nothing else.)

whimp

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Baby it's cold outside!
Is an understatement. It is so freaking cold..your nose hairs freeze. I still had almost all of my little darlings today. This is one of those times I wish we homeschooled (not that would be a good idea, because i don't know who would make it out alive). We ALL could have slept a bit longer.
Danno is spending the night with bubba tomorrow, and the riles called granny pat to see is she could spend the night with her. So, chris and i are gonna be big kids! We might watch an R rated movie! lol.. i just feel like staying home and vegging tomorrow. Any good rentals out there?
I might actually set up my scrapping stuff and finish gma pat's calendar. I could scrap all night without any disruptions! wahoo! i might do that..it is the middle of january ya know. She might actually want to USE the calendar THIS year.
peace
wendy

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Mindless Ramblings (grumblings) of a preschool teacher,
I love my job. Love it. I get hugs from 13 children at least 3 times a day. I get to play with playdough, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, doll houses, kitchen sets, glitter (and it's not at MY house AND there is someone else to vacuum it all up), read my favorite children's books over and over, watch the imagination of our next generation take flight, and look at the future with awe. AND i get PAID to do it. So what is up you ask?
If your child is ill...please don't give said child tylenol and bring him/her to school. Just don't. ALSO, don't TELL your child's teacher you gave your child tylenol at 7:00, but his/her fever is down now, so he/she should be fine. Because, honestly, I will tell you, "I'm sorry, you will need to take your child home, give them plenty of love and rest, and they may come back when they have been fever free for 24 hours." In my head I might be wanting to say, Are you smoking crack? (thanks aunt brammy for lending me one of your favorite quotes) and please keep him/her home until they are well.
We are learning about winter weather this week. Why it is important to dress warmly for the weather, (cooked chicken skin in the freezer best represents what happens to skin when it freezes, it just doesn't turn funky colors), how snow is formed (it forms around a piece of dust. I use a the smallest piece of confetti i can find, think grain of salt small, and glue it to a piece of paper. Then pass it around to the kids.)
Sometimes, we make snow cones too! lol.. that is usually a Friday and at the END of our day.
One of the best things I have discovered as a parent and teacher is how well animated literacy helps with letter recognition and letter sounds. Riles preschool teacher, the very bestest Mrs. Barney, introduced us to the video "Letter Factory" by Leap Frog. The. BEST. video. EVER. This video, which takes you on a factory tour of the letter factory and teaches children the letters and sounds of the alphabet, makes learning fun. Now, I have the fridge phonics and word whammer from leap frog. Riley still plays with hers, and the kiddos at school love the one I have there, but this video helps do wonders. I show this video once a month. Usually the last Friday of the month, but sometimes we have been known to bust it out in the middle. It doesn't take long before the students sing along, and start recognizing the letters of the abc's.
Go get it. You will not be sorry.
whimp

Monday, January 12, 2009

The Riles is sick today.....
God only hopes this is the reason she was so....spirited over the weekend. She has been running a high fever, (ok..102 might not be high to some, but to me...i am dramatic, so it is high), has a bad headache, (motrin isn't taking care of it), and her BIG TOE itches. We have a phone call in to dr. marcy (we talked to aunt "tachelle", uncle fruit loops, last night. She said it is probably a virus, but if the headache isn't going away, to take her in). Gotta love the fact that aunt "tachelle" is a PA. That is better than webmd or google my friends, and I only go there to help our Aunt Michelle diagnose herself ;)
So since my husband, who was SUPPOSED to stay home with the riles today, got called in at 4:30 this morn (gotta have clear roads ya know), i get to take ANOTHER day. I swear. The last time I taught in O, my kids were always sick. I hope this time is better. I am almost out of time. Wish us luck my friends. I hope she sleeps A LOT today. I have been up since 2:30 when she needed one more glass of water.
happy monday
whimp

Sunday, January 11, 2009

I saw this on Cathy Z's blog.
Grab some tissues and call your girlfriends, mothers, sisters, aunts, nieces, and enemies. It's that good.


i treasure you all.
wendy
ho hum..
Kiddos, Gma Pat, and I are just sitting around watching Kung Fu Panda. We bought it yesterday (finally) what i paid to rent the stupid thing 3 times, i could have just bought it! lol.. oh well. I am making Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti tonight for supper. I will let you know how it turns out. I am not going to put pimentos in it, cause i don't like them. :) I was going to buy garlic bread to go with it, but forgot. Oh wells. Mom is back in the hospital, but she is doing good. She is starting her clear diet today, and will hopefully be moved to food tomorrow. Hopefully she will be home by the end of the week. Long week for me, but next week is a 4 day week. yippee! Gonna start planning the kiddos bday party. Danny isn't sure what he wants on his cake. Riles wants a camo tank..go figure. We are thinking of getting them (together) a w i i. Then get each a game to play on it. We shall see. Have a great sunday.
whimp
UPDATE:
OMG!
The chicken spaghetti is awesome! I ended up adding an extra can of cream of mushroom soup, and garlic pepper to the chicken while it cooked. Hopefully, it is a hit with the kiddos.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Chocolate Chip Cookies...mmm..
The kidlets and I made chocolate chip cookies today. They are baking in the oven right now. I have the best choco chip cookie recipe. I think aunt brammy gave it to me when she lived in G. I tweaked it a bit, and they turn out great almost everytime. I remember now why i used to always use butter instead of margarine. The dough is so much nicer, and it makes such a better cookie. Good thing I stocked up at Christmas time.

Here is the recipe, enjoy.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
1 c butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2- 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c chopped nuts (optional)
1 pkg (12 oz) milk chocolate chips
Directions:
Heat oven to 375°. Mix sugars, butter, vanilla, and egg. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt. (dough will be stiff) Stir in nuts and chips. Drop by rounded tsp about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until light brown (centers will be soft). Cool slightly and remove from cookie sheet.
I don't use the nuts. Neither of my kids care for them that way.
happy baking
whimp