31 Days of......

We made it!  31 one days of writing!  I can't believe it!  It's such a sweet feeling to be at the end of this month long journey.
31 days of stories
31 days of comments
31 days of growing
31 days of searching
31 days of learning
31 days of finding
31 days of reflection
31 days of new friendships
31 days of excitement
31 days...... we made it! :)

Celebrating... A day early

Super short tonight.  I'm celebrating.
1.  I made it through another day with my girls and we're all in tack. :)
2.  I've made it through March, blogging everyday!!!!

So..... I'm headed to go swing dancing!!!!!  See you all here tomorrow!

My Name

What's in a name.  I read this post by... I can't even remember who, so if it's you, please let me know so I can link it back to you.  I'm so sorry!  Anyway, I thought I'd let you know about my name and what I've been called in the seasons of my life.

I was born Maria Jane.  Each name was from a grandma.  Maria was one of my grandma's names (she had 5 names... she was from Spain) and Jane was my other grandma's middle name. Put them together and you have me! :)  Maria Jane is something I was only called when I was in trouble.
As a child, I was called Maria by my family but my dad called me "Ri" (pronounced like this... ree). He still calls me that today.  I'm not really sure if I can recall a time when he called me by my real name.  Hmmmmm...... probably when I was in trouble.
I was called this and Maria as I grew up on the softball field and volleyball court during grade school.  One of my coaches called me "Rae (said like.. Ray)" in softball.  I can still hear him say it. One of my dad's church friends also called me that and still does to this day.
Once I entered high school I was still called Maria by most of my friends except those who I played volleyball with.  My coach called me "Ri", just like my dad, and my teammates called me "Ria".
In college everyone called me Maria except the girls I coached.  They called me Coach Maria.  I had one friend who called me ria10 because that was my AOL sign in.  I miss hearing him say that... he's been gone almost 3 years now.
In 1999 we were blessed with the first nephew in our family. He's been a joy to watch grow up.  When he was old enough to say my name, he called me "Bia".  I don't know why it came out that way, but it stuck. We were buddies.  I watched him all the time.  We look alike so people always thought he was mine because I had blonde hair and my sister had brown.  And now... he's 17. He still calls me Bia along with all my other nieces and nephews. I adore it and I will cry if he ever stops calling me that.
I'm still called all those names above, but most importantly, I've added momma to that list.

A Little Help?!?!

Dear Friends,

I need some advice.  We are on spring break and my girls have been asking (well... pretty annoyingly begging) to go outside and play.  I am not a hater of the outdoors by any means.  I love for them to be outdoors.  Here's where my dilemma is.  I don't want to be out there with them.  I have stuff to do!  I have grades that need to be entered, research reports that need grading, bathrooms that need to be cleaned, closets that could definitely use a cleaning, and a multitude of other things that I want to do on spring break.  And by multitude I mean, sit by myself, on my couch, watch a few tv shows, maybe a bowl of ice cream and fall asleep. Because sometimes... isn't that what spring break is all about if you can't be sitting on a beach somewhere?!?!?!?!?!
The problem I'm facing is.... fear.  Can I let them play outside without the fear of someone taking my sweet little angels?  Right now, I can't.  They like to play in the front of our house even though we have a giant backyard.  Our yard is not fenced in, which again adds to the fear.  How can I get past this?  I don't know what to do except pull up my chair and sit outside watching over them, making sure they look both ways when crossing the street, and monitoring the trampoline jumping (across the street at our neighbor's house) they just have to do even though I HATE IT! (another fear)
Our oldest has been getting bolder and asking to bike around the subdivision.  I'm trying to be ok with it.  She usually goes with a sister or friend, but I'm not going to lie, I'm scared to death!  The other day I heard the sirens and all I could think of was, what if.  I'm sure this feeling will never go away, because it'll turn into other things that I'm afraid of......  Going out with friends to the movies, going on a first date (hopefully when they are 25), and more.  Our oldest is 11, but our younger two are 9 and 6.  They want the freedom too, but aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!  How do you do it?  Any advice besides just trusting them and the plan that has been already written for us?  I'll take anything, especially if your advice involves lots of ice cream or Speedy Freezes after Lent. :)

You're the best!!!!!  Thanks for your help!

1st Ice Cream of the Season

One of our favorite ice cream places opened up last Friday. We couldn't not stop there on our way to bible study.  I was the only one to get ice cream!  I love me some vanilla, soft serve ice cream. :)  Here's to many many more ice cream visits with these three sweet little ladies.

A Thief Among Us

There is a thief in our school building.
This thief comes in after hours.
Once the door is closed and locked.
The thief comes in dressed as a cleaning person.
The thief sweeps (well... sometimes that is questionable) and mops (or is supposed to).
The thief empties the trash and puts a new bag in nightly.
But....
The thief also took $5 that a student brought in for raffle tickets.
The thief took $4 that was sitting on my counter for 2 WEEKS untouched.
The thief recently took two bites out of a cheese block I had left in my fridge after a bridal shower.
The thief also took a Coke (OUT OF MY FRIDGE) that I had opened and drank out of since I drink one Coke over several days.
The thief took my cheese stick (OUT OF MY FRIDGE).
The thief has not just taken from me, they have taken from many others in my building.
Then, an experiment....  I left a donut on my counter, on purpose, Friday when I left school.
Then, the thief struck again.

Safari Part 2

Each year I have done research with my firsties and each year, I think, it keeps getting better.  This year was no different.
Here's a little bit about our process.
We start off with a class research project on Sharks.  I gather up all the books I can and we begin so I can work a few days ahead of the class.
Day 1: It starts out with reading the book Sharks! by Anne Schreiber.
On Day 2: I introduce the chart students will use to collect their information.  Each column has a color that corresponds to the tabs students will use to mark the information they find.

During our writers workshop time, students are browsing books and making their top three choices for animals they want to research.
Day 3:  Students are matched up with books and tabs are placed on the front of the books so that they can tab the information as they read.

Day 4 and beyond:  Our firsties begin to take notes.  By taking notes I mean they bullet and write one or two words until they have 3 or 4 facts.
Once notes have been taken, our firsties begin to write their chapters for each column.  A few of the minilessons throughout this 4 week period are on nonfiction text features.  Students will have to add 2-4 in their stories.  Now.... I had prepped my students from the beginning so they knew they were writing this piece twice since we were presenting to other classes and their parents.  I did not expect them to put these in their rough drafts.  Once this rough draft is finished, students begin working on their Title Page.  When most of the class is finished, I start working with small groups to edit/revise their work.  After this,  I take home all the reports for a final revision because.... I'm a little on the nutty side and 60 firstie pieces on a Friday night sounds amazing, right?!? :)  Then, my firsties write their neat copies, adding in nonfiction text features.  Our Safari is the culminating activity for our firsties to show off their writing to others.  It's a great day for all our firsties and they are so proud of their work. And quite frankly, I am too! :)

I know I'm leaving out things like.... we go over what we do if we can't find enough information in our book.  (look at others, go to the internet, etc.) If you have questions or want to know more, let me know!!! I LOVE to talk writing! :)

Safari Part1

Today was the day before spring break starts.  :)  I decided 4 weeks ago that today would be the day of our "Safari".  My students began with choosing an animal to research.  I taught them how to read carefully and tab information that would fit on our chart.  After that, I taught my firsties how to transfer what was tabbed into bulleted notes.  Once that was finished, I modeled how to write a story from the notes.  It's been a looooonnnnnnnggggggggg process, but an amazing one!  Our firsties truly see themselves as authors.  I mean, they really believe it now!  Here are a few snapshots from today.  This weekend I'll give you a more detailed description of what we did. :)

The Most Important Thing.....

Man.. I have got to start eating dinner when normal people eat.  I grabbed a few fries from my girls when I picked up the youngest from hubby who got home today!!!  Can I get a yahoo?!?!?!?!?! I was full-ish, probably because fries are a weakness and honestly, I didn't eat a few.  I ate almost all of them.  I have no self control. Fast forward 4 hours and I'm hungry... again.  Don't worry, I won't ask for anyone to get me a bowl of cereal, but I'm pretty sure I see a bowl of that in my future again even though it's almost 10:00 PM! hahaha

The other day I wandered over to see Angela at Slowing Down the Moments and found a post inspired by The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown.  It was about her daughter and it was beautiful.  Since I teach writing enrichment during our school-wide intervention block, my wheels started turning.  So this week, to kick off my new group of 2nd graders, we read The Important Book.  Then, students were allowed to choose what they wanted to write about.  Here's what they had to say:

 A tree.

 Water.

 A car.

 A tree.

 This was our K friend who joins us!  I love what she said about her house.

 A clock.

A bed.

I guess if I was doing this right now it would be The most important thing about dinner is that you EAT IT, at an appropriate time. hahahahaha

Happy *almost* Friday, Friends!!

Help a Girl Out?

I really need to go to bed.  I'm so tired, I can't event think.  I'm just sitting here.  And my belly is hungry for dinner. And by dinner I mean a bowl of cereal. :)  But.... to do that I'd have to get up off the couch.  And right now.... I'm too tired to even do that. Does anyone want to help a girl out?  I'm pretty sure there are multiple choices in our pantry. And you are more than welcome to stay, sit with me and watch Chicago Fire. :)  Any takers?  I would be eternally grateful!

HUGS!!!!!!!!!

Work

My hubby works.  He works long, long, long hours.  He's not a doctor either.  Sometimes I don't even know how he does it. Currently, he's been on a big project that has had him working long hours not only here, but in Baltimore as well.  I'm still waiting for him to call and he left this morning at 6:30 am.  It's now almost 10.  Is it worth it????? That's what I'm pondering tonight as I just finished up my report cards.  I guess we're really working the same hours, I can just work some of my hours from my couch.... at my house..... under a blanket. :)  

Addiction

I don't understand addiction.  Here are my two addictions:
1.  gum (Extra Sugarless Watermelon)
2.  exercising (it used to be running until my knee just went... I don't want to run anymore).
I have never drank in my life, never smoked, done drugs, nothing.  I'm not sure how to understand it or comprehend it.  I don't know why it makes people do what they do.  Here is why this is coming up.  Today, after school one of our firsties was to be picked up.  But...... we could not let him go.  Not to the one there to get him.  Because even though he is a newer firstie to us, we still love him. We want to protect him.  It's our job to do that.  I just don't understand addiction.

The Happiness Dare

Today, I took the Happiness Dare.  Not alone, but with my sisters, friend, and mom.  We are committing to try to find a whole lot of happy in our lives.  All-in-all I'm a pretty happy/positive person.  My glass is half full about 98% of the time.  BUUUUUUTTTTTTT....... There were times when that glass was not even near half full.  And.... it's ok.
It was so nice to be with all of them in a circle that was open, honest, and trusting.  We laughed, cried, shared.  It's going to be a journey.  A journey that we'll go on together and I love that I'll be travelling this road with these ladies.

Breakfast?!?!

I made this for our staff meeting on Tuesday morning.  I will make it again tomorrow morning for our girls. It is one of like 3 things I can make myself. :)  Have you ever had dump cake?  I can already smell it! :)  Would you like to come for breakfast?  It'll be ready at 7 am!

Broken Promise

One of my Lenten promises is to not yell.  Well..... I failed at it this morning.  Alarm clock went off, I snoozed, of course.  I should't have, but these late nights are wearing me down.  Then I heard my daughter's alarm go off at 5:55.  I had to drag myself out of bed after she came in for a quick kiss and snuggle. After that, I hopped in the shower and decided today would be a good day to shave my legs. I shouldn't have.  I don't even know why I did.  I HATE shaving my legs, especially in the winter and it's winter for a few more days. :)  After exiting the shower, I did my rounds, well round, to wake up the girls.  Two were already dressed and ready.  One....not.even.up.  Seriously.  I woke her up and reminded her of the importance of getting up and getting ready because I had to be at work early for Friday yoga! :)  (I'm a cardio girl, but today was my 3rd yoga session.  I'm liking it!)
I left her and went on to get ready myself.  I kept offering the reminder to get up and get moving.  She moved..... to the bathroom!!!!  For real. And you may think.. Oh, she's brushing her teeth, hair, getting ready.  She's not. She's reading.  On the toilet.  As my blood pressure is rising.

So today, I broke my promise.  I had to get out the door and she did not make it easy.  My voice raised to a yell.  :(  I take full responsibility and have already asked for forgiveness.  Tomorrow is another day and at least it's Saturday, so I won't have to worry so much about getting out the door. :)