Day 2

I wasn't feeling great this day so I didn't have my camera out nearly as much as I should have.

Where on Earth have I been?

Well, there's two answers to that question.

Answer Number 1- In a funk. I've been going through some more health issues lately (nothing kidney related, thank God) and they've made me quite moody and lacking energy. I had lots of blood work done and the doctor said I have a Vitamin D deficiency. I take my first super duper dose of the D tonight, hopefully it will help. Honestly, I'm not sure I'm happy with that answer from my doctor and I didn't feel like he listened to all of my concerns so I'll be getting a second opinion soon.

Answer Number 2- Disneyland! I ditched the husband and kid (sorry Monkey!) and went to Disneyland last weekend with some of my Laughingplace friends. While I missed Monkey and felt a little guilty about leaving him, I had an amazing time and I needed that SO bad after the last month. I haven't laughed that hard in a VERY long time. Here are a few pictures from the first day- look for more hopefully this week! The castle one is probably my favorite non-Monkey picture from this year!

Too Much Turkey...

Christmas Picture FAIL

I've been working on my yearly Monkey calendar today and I decided to try and shoot a few for the December page. I knew that working with the Christmas lights would be tricky and that I would have no idea what I was doing...but I didn't think that I would also have to deal with an uncooperative subject. He hurt his foot right before we got started and, despite me getting him "something cold" to put on his owie, he never quite got over it. He spent the entire time scrunching up his face, making whimpering noises and saying the most pathetic little "cheese"es.

Guess we'll try one of my other ideas tomorrow!

Fall Festival

Yes, I'm still working on Halloween posts. :) What can I say? I'm a bit behind. Anyway, on the 23rd we went to my school's Fall Festival. We had an awesome time eating, playing games and hanging out with my students and coworkers!

Blue Man Group

So when we were hanging out with Mamaw and Grumpa before Halloween, we had dinner one night at the Venetian food court. While we were sitting there a man came up to us and asked if we wanted to see the Blue Man Group! We thought it was a scam at first but it turns out that he was in charge of a large tour group and they had extra seats!

I was ready to tell Mamaw and Grumpa to go on ahead and I'd hang out with Monkey but he invited Monkey too! I wasn't sure how he would do, especially since he hasn't even been to a movie theater but he was awesome! It was so cute, before the show he asked every few minutes, "Well, where are the Blue Men?" He really enjoyed the show! My favorite part was when the Blue Men brought out a box of Twinkies for a skit. In the middle of the quiet theater Monkey said, quite loudly, "Twinkies are yummy!"

It was an amazing night. The only thing I regret is that we didn't have a proper camera. We had no idea we'd be seeing the show and no time to run up and grab one so we had to get Monkey's picture with the Blue Man with my mom's phone. The next morning we ran all around the Venetian getting his pictures with various Blue Man signs and statues!

New Furniture

Well, our old couches have been falling apart and are all stained and yucky so Daddy and I decided to do a little looking at different furniture stores last Friday night. We were at a used furniture store when we saw this enormous sectional marked $649. We figured there was no way it would fit in our living room so we left and checked out a new furniture store. Saw a few things we liked but couldn't decide on anything. And the middle piece has storage inside! I think we're going to put some cozy pillows and blankies in one side! :)

Well, when we got home we decided it would fit so we went back Sunday morning! We managed to talk them down to $500 for it! It is way comfy and has 3 recliners and a pull out bed!

More Kinder Art

Last week we were supposed to study worms in my class. We had gotten the worms about a week before Halloween and I got them all set up in their little worm home, hoping they would live happily in the closet until I was ready for them. Well, they died. And I didn't really feel like dealing with worms. So instead we spent a few days studying owls! We made these adorable TLC art projects, read a nonfiction owl book, made a tree map then used the tree map for interactive writing! Not bad for a last minute fill in activity!

The Redheaded Reverend asked last week what the kiddos learn from this activity. :) It's a great question, I do have to defend my use of art in my classroom, especially since our school has not done well with No Child Left Behind and we have a strong academic focus. Well, my kids learn a ton with these art projects. Many come to me with little or no English, unable to identify shapes and colors, and some have never used scissors! These projects teach a large amount of vocabulary, especially with positional words (over, behind, left, right etc.) And, of course, there's tons of review of colors and shapes! And, gosh darn it, these kids are five and deserve some fun at school! :)

Family pictures

Sleepover with Mamaw and Grumpa

Last week when Mamaw and Grumpa came to town we joined them for an evening in a suite at the Palazzo! The rooms there are gorgeous and they had a pullout bed perfect for Monkey and I! Again, Monkey had an awesome time just looking out the window! Our room was on the 37th floor and it faced the east part of the Valley. We could see a huge waterfall on the Wynn golf course, plenty of cars, trucks, helicopters, planes and the monorail! We were also treated to a spectacular sunrise the next morning!

Halloween in my Class

Just wanted to show off a few of the art projects we did in my classroom in October. First we made these adorable scarecrows!This little guy cracks me up with his skinny little arms!

We also did these adorable Trick or Treaters! They are one of my favorite art projects all year! I can't remember if I've shared about these art projects before but they come from a series of books called TLC art. They take TONS of prep work but the kids learn SO much from assembling them and all of the projects just turn out way too cute!

Jack O'Lanterns

As I said yesterday, we spent Saturday morning carving pumpkins! Monkey got totally into it. His job was to take the guts that Mamaw and Grumpa scooped out and put them in the trash. He ended up flinging goo all over the floor but he had so much fun that it was totally worth the mess! He got a bit messy himself...

My Jack Skellington and Oogie Boogie!

Mamaw's scary Jack O'Lantern

and Monkey's!

Halloween

Monkey had a GREAT Halloween! Mamaw and Grumpa came to town for the weekend and joined in our fun! Saturday morning we carved pumpkins together then in the evening we had family over for soup and trick or treating!

Monkey had a blast trick or treating with his cousins! The look on his face when the first piece of candy went in was adorable! At the second house I tried to remind him to use his manners by saying "What do you say?" His response- "I got candy!" That's my boy!

Farmer Boy

Yes, I said Farmer and NOT Cowboy. I could not find overalls in any stores (checked WalMart, Target, Kohl's, The Children's Place, Old Navy and two thrift stores!) so Klucky is so kindly mailing me some from farm country! And the hat was the closest thing I could find to a Farmer's hat. So, yeah, he looks more like a cowboy. But don't you dare call him that, it ticks him off!

Can't argue with that logic...

Me: Do you love Rowdy?

Monkey: Yes, she is cute.

Me: He is cute. Rowdy is a boy.

Monkey: No Rowdy not a boy. Rowdy is a dog. I am a boy. Rowdy is a dog.

Just more pics...

Gilcrease Orchard

It's too bad I have such an unhappy child...

Homemade Playdoh

I have an "exploration table" in my classroom. Usually teachers use these for water activities but I haven't been brave enough yet. The last teacher to use the classroom filled it full of rice and little alphabet beads and didn't empty it so I've been using that for the past two years. And I'm kind of done with the rice. Friday I caught kids putting their heads in it and getting rice in their hair. I'm sure the custodians hate me because of it (and the other messy art projects I do!).

So I decided that I'd make some homemade playdough this weekend to use in place of the rice. The table has a cover for it so I'll save the rice for later in the year when they are able to do a bit better with it (I hope). One of my friend recently made playdoh for her class and said it was pretty easy so I thought it would be a fun activity for Monkey and I this weekend. I wanted a ton so I quadrupled the recipe I found online.

The ingredients (and my little assistant!)

First, we put in 8 cups of flour.

Next, four cups of salt.

8 tablespoons of Cream of Tartar (It took me two trips to the store to find this because I had no idea what it was on the first trip. You can find it by the seasonings).

8 cups of water

4 tablespoons of vegetable oil.Mix well!Put over medium heat, stirring constantly. This is also when I added the food coloring. I was going to hold off and wait until it was off the heat and make several different colors. Then I realized that the OCD part of me would go insane when the colors inevitably got mixed. I decided on one color just to lower my stress levels.When it has a playdoh consistency, remove from heat. When it's cooled enough, start kneeding it. Then it's ready to play with! Monkey spent his morning making snakes, balls, burritos and flashlights (?) with his!

Honestly, I'm not sure I would do this project again. It didn't seem to be saving that much money and it made a big, huge mess. And, after scrubbing the pot I made it in, Daddy made me promise I wouldn't attempt it again...

Future Architect

Monkey made this structure tonight using two different size blocks. It was very symmetrical and probably one of the coolest things he's built to date!