I'm still here...

I'm still here, I'm just taking an online course to help renew my teaching certificate. It's about contemporary issues in education. This has just started, and already I'm feeling overwhelmed! When I left teaching 7 years ago, there
was no September 11, no shelter in place, no No Child Left Behind, no Adequate Yearly Progress. Duct tape was for holding things together and plastic sheeting was what you put on your carpet when you painted the walls. Our school crisis plan was locking your door when you heard the code phrase on the intercom and unlocking it when the all clear was given. Besides the monthly fire drill and twice yearly tornado drill, that was it. A friend who's a teacher said his school buys bottled water for every student and teacher to have on hand (as well as duct tape, plastic sheeting, and a plan for a mock "port-a-potty") for their shelter in place. Each teacher has a label with each child's name to stick on their clothes during a crisis. My son's school even had a re-unification drill last year to practice getting the kids back to their parents. I'm waaay out of the loop on this one! Anyway, I haven't forgotten any of you, I'm just busy.

On a positive note, we finished painting the kids' bathroom. Yay! Some of you know about our adventures in painting. This one was pretty smooth. Just a wallpaper border to remove. For the record (and you can quote me on this), wallpaper is EVIL!!!!! The people who used to live in this house liked it way too much. Back to the bathroom - now I have to remove the tape, clean all the floorboards (unfortunately, I have to remove some of the previous owners' paint as well as my own), pick out new towel bars, and get them installed. Piece of cake, right?

After this, we need to paint our bedroom, the spare bedroom, and the other 2 bathrooms. Then the whole interior will be done (and we'll need to paint the exterior - UGH!).

Besides the course that I'm freaking out about and painting, N had a field trip and a party last week, we had A's first friend-only birthday party, N has had several soccer games, A has had dance class (which I almost forget about every week!), and I have to tally the volunteer hours from Nathan's school and submit my report. That and the PTO meeting, for which I'm making soup...I'm going to bed now.

Good night to all, and to all a good night!

***edit*** I'm not sure what happened to the font in the middle of my paragraph. Blog gremlins?

When a photo shoot goes bad...

Well, I thought it would be nice to shoot a few pictures yesterday for A's birthday. I thought, "We'll go outside before we head to school, nice and easy, and have some good pictures to remember her special day." *sigh* Here's how it went...
















Our first picture was very sweet and nice. I'm thinking, "What a great start! I CAN be a photographer!"





















For our second picture, A wants to do a goofy "hands-crossed-shoulders-up-cheek-crammed-into-my-shoulder-chin-crammed-into-my-neck" pose. I vetoed that one in a hurry. After all, I *am* the photographer.




















Uh-oh! We're not too happy with the photographer...



















This photo shoot's over!

(In case any of you were wondering why there were several scowling pictures in yesterday's post...)

OK, so maybe I'm not a real photographer.

Yet...

Happy Birthday!

Well, today my baby turns 5. Can you believe it?? I thought a trip down memory lane would be appropriate...






























































































































































I actually have several more of these, um, "lovely-expressioned" pictures that I could have posted...





















Yesterday she helped me make cupcakes for her class, and she got to do the sprinkles.















Yeah, baby! That's my girl!
















Mmmmm...

Please help!

OK - there's a website I found called Dolce Pics that has a fun little segment every Tuesday called What's Your Play? They post a picture, then you take your photo editing software and play away! Then you can post a link to your pic on their site. My problem is deciding which picture to post, since I now have 7 variations (not that you have to pick just one - I did 3 last week!). So, I need you to help me pick. Here's the original:















And here are my "creations":

#1 - Diffuse














#2 crop and soft focus



















#3 color replace













#4 sepia













#5 sketch













#6 fog













#7 hue/saturation













OK, ladies - which do you like the best? I could try to figure out how to do one of those poll things, but I've been on the computer waaay too long today already, so how 'bout you just leave me a comment. (Besides, I love comments - now that I know how to moderate them...)

Thanks a lot!

She did it!

Well, after much cajoling and pleading, it's finally done! A's finished with her training wheels! As you can see, one of them was pretty much shredded! We celebrated with a family ride in the park yesterday. Yay!



















































And to commemorate...