Teri Parris Ford's Blog

Treading Water

It's great exercise even though you don't get anywhere. Anytime I realize I'm just staying afloat, keeping up, or treading water, I remind myself that at least I'm not drowning. Sure, I like to be busy, but I don't leave a lot of time for stuff to go wrong. Today Erika called me a bit disorientated, saying she needed to go to the emergency room. Anyone who's been, knows it'll ruin a day and most likely an evening as well. I'd have no part of that so I called GHC and asked to talked to the nurse who instructed my daughter to call an ambulance and go to the hospital ER. While I was on hold, I made it home to see what state Erika was in for myself. She had a very high fever, her throat was in a lot of pain and she seemed confused. When questioned by the nurse earlier, Erika felt that nursed seemed to think she was having a stroke, which only made her conversation more flustering. Erika could hardly speak since her throat was in so much pain-- that also made communication cloudy. In the end we were given an appointment and I was able to drop her off and go back to work. Her dad stayed in town today, luckily and picked her up. Strep throat was the prognosis with penicillin prescribed. We all are avoiding her and her cups for fear of plague.

I took Balt for a quick walk and then picked up Monika and Jessi to go to dinner out (away from the strep throat coodies). My husband and I had dinner and then went out for coffee, a bit o' conversation and reading (away from the coodies). Right now illness would be desasterous for any one of us but Erika. It's hard to tread water when you can't breath...Nada Surf's Treading Water captures my mood so perfectly... it's a great song. 

March Madness started today

I have 4 weeks until Spring Break, 8 weeks until prom. As yucky as winter can be, there's a slowing down that makes it quite enjoyable at times. The buds of my spring flowers have started to pop. I noticed them yesterday. I looked at this week's forcast and saw 50's in there for 7 out the next 10 days. Today during backyard juniors had their ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS competition. Next week is the showdown for all the grades. Also today in Backyard, JMM's first NEWS program premiered at last. I've been wanting something like this to happen and had hoped my community art class could have pulled it off but Joe did it with his photo 3 kids. Monika is hoping to get involved with this exclusive video club (see below). During PCT we talked as a department about field trips, Spring Week of the Arts, Senior awards and the gallery shows coming up. I have a show openning tomorrow. I'm excited, but I am going to have to monitor it daily. 15 days until the Vernal equinox, but Spring landed today in my mind.

Valentine Serenade

I left treat bags out last night for the three girls to have when they woke. I went to work with treats for my friends but not my students. One student offered me a kiss and I gleefully accepted reaching out my hand for chocolate. I worked on a department poster during my free time and went swimming at lunch. During 5th hour the chorus class went around singing to special students. Jessi was chosen and I was there to record it (above). After school I went out for a pedicure and had to spend an extra 10 bucks for them to get rid of my calluses. I picked up Balt from daycare. I had them wash him so he had a new bandana for Valentine's Day. I went back to school to pick up the girls and do a few things in my studio. We grabbed some sandwiches on the way home and sat watching the Bachelor while we ate. It's been a Tuesday tradition for the past month. We have a good time discussing who we think Ben should chose. Once the show was over everyone got to work-- school work for all three of us. It was a nice day but it would have been a little nice with a husband in town. I think he may have plans to make it up to me on Friday.

Find a smile

The last week of the semester is always a bit crazy. There's not a lot of procrastination time left-- not for students, not for teachers. Everyone seems pretty busy in class and a few are kind of stressed. I got a new camera from the school district for my classroom and it has an "auto portrait" feature that causes the camera to snap a picture when it sees a smiling face. We had fun playing with it; taking turns making faces and smiling then laughing when the camera snapped!

I was so glad that Balt had daycare today. The morning was stormy and cold- the snow was blowing! By the afternoon it was all cleared up, but I stayed after school for a few kids. Jessi had BB and Monika had work to do. We all got home around 5:30 and made sandwiches for dinner, watched a bit Hulu and then the girls got to homework while Balt snoozed and I read. In celebration of Betty White's 90th birthday, I've included a favorite SNL skit (from Hulu) with her most famous line to make you smile!

Goals

I thought about my daily goals today. I may have accomplished all of them today... Everyday I try to:

• exhaust my dog
• feed my children
• have a meaningful conversation
• exercise
• clean something up
• take a picture
• read and write

I watched a few MLK videos on YouTube. His words are so inspirational. As I perused his many clips available to watch, I was struck by the video I embedded below where he talks about not adjusting to evil in society. The idea that just because everyone is doing it, somehow makes it right is not right at all-- we still deal with a few of these issues in our society. His "I have a dream" speech is also amazing. I was sharing with my students last week that when I was a kid we used to have today off to celebrate Lincoln's birthday and then the following Monday for Washington. At one point (around high school) they combined them to make "president's day".  I think they should combine Lincoln's and MLK's birthdays into one holiday. Both strove for similar "unalienable rights," both are worthy to be celebrated.  

What to do!?

So 2011 has come to close and now it's time to think about new year's resolutions. I've been thinking about a Ted talk I heard earlier this month (for you below). I love this idea of trying something new for just 30 days... or to just doing ANYTHING consistently for 30 days. I would like to spend the next year trying something different in my life for 30 days at a time... today I start with my first 30 days.

14 Now!

The Christmas tree is up and blinking so it's starting to feel like the holidays, but no snow in the forecast. We had a few flurries today, but nothing substantial. It certainly cold enough for snow though. I wrote on the board at school 25 work days left. That's it, until the end of the semester-- the half way mark of the school year. Sometimes it feels like it can't come soon enough and other times, it's all flying by so fast. It was a PCT/Backyard day, so the day went by fast with a mellow art department meeting at the close. 

All three girls have a lot of projects and homework. Erika is working on a speach and she decided to have me be her subject-- it's a eulogy. She asked me to take a picture of my office (shown here) so she could use it in her speach. I should've straightened things up a bit before taking the pic, but I didn't see the mess until after when I was looking at the picture! Does this represent who I am? I rarely sit in this space actually. It's just the only place in the school that is only mine. I share everyother space. 

Monika's working on a couple of videos for her art class. I don't think I ever posted her very first project for the class- a self portrait. I didn't take video of the kids when they were little-- lots of pictures though. I gave her one of the few of her that was taken with my old Sony Mavika. It used big floppy discs. One disc would hold 5 images or a very short video. I know my mom will enjoy this... and yes, I know. It's too short!

Only 18 now...

Today was very long. I was very glad that Balt had daycare all day. He was pulled from the room he normally plays in because he "had a hard time taking breaks and being polite". When I asked about his behavior, I felt like a guilty parent, but was told it was not all Balt. He just was a bit too intense with a new dog and they had to be separated. I can't believe sometimes how much having a puppy is like having a toddler. 

I had to work on the parent newsletter with a kid in my media class. I managed to get a swim in and had a protien shake for lunch. I needed to go to the glass store during my 5th hour but couldn't find my phone so I didn't have enough time. Instead,  I hung out in Joe's photo class. It's was the only down time I had all day. After school I worked on layout with the newspaper kids. Jessi had basketball. We all left school after 6pm. I made a quick dinner of leftovers and then sat to work on the December issue of the newspaper. I think that I will only do a quick edit, but then I start tweeking and I'm sucked in. I enjoy the work and have thought if I were going to change careers, I would love to work for a magazine. 

An art student is working on a series of Spartan Athlete videos. He just finished one on a swimmer senior. Jessi's in the video in little bits and there's even a flash of me and my husband in the stands! I love the series.

Orange Wednesday

I figured out that if Friday is Black, Thanksgiving is Brown, THEN today must be Orange (orange + black = brown). Black Friday was originally called black because of massive traffic jams and overcrowded malls. Thanksgiving is all brown-- turkey, gravy, bread roll, pumpkin pie! Yum! Today is orange because I fell like today is the peak of the Autum season-- images of autumn leaves, pumpkins, the changing of the season after today begin to change into Winter madness. Orange a color on the edge, a color of change and a color of business and yes, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is usually a busy day with so much to do before the holiday. I tried my best not eat much.

Both Jessi and Monika had a 10am morning appointment to get their wisdom teeth removed. They needed to go to their 1st hour classes for tests and their dad needed to drive in from Minnesota in time to pick them up. A parent has to wait in the waiting room for them-- so it was nice I didn't have to take the day off. I had to finish up the boys basketball program to get it to the printer in time. My media class has begun posting blog posts on the newspaper blog. Today a student posted about our media class and the post was reposted on the district facebook page. Another student in my class finished up a team project with one of Joe's students and we posted their video project on the school's website. It's so exciting to see our kids doing cool stuff. Watch it below- it makes me so proud to be a teacher!

The art teachers from Middleton High School also came by after lunch to visit and talk about our curriculum. It was kind of nice to see them all, but I had been so wrapped up in my project, I forgot all about their visit and caught surprised. After school, I did a bit of work and then finished up the girls freshman and sophomore basketball pictures for their program. I didn't leave school until nearly 6am-- a ten hour day.

By the time I got home, both Jessi and Monika were starving. I got them some soup from Panera and then took Balt for a walk in the dark. I'm going to need to buy him a bike light or something. His blackness makes him nearly impossible to see in the dark. I finally got home to build a fire and enjoy some family time. All five of us were home plus Erika's boyfriend. We watched old Office episodes. Monika's doing a speach on humor so the past week has been spent watching nothing but comedians and comedies. The girls seem to be doing fine without wisdom teeth but I know the meds are doing their work.

Making media move

We have a great group of students working on videos at school. It's a new art form that has taken hold and I believe will continue to grow in our department. Monika is in the very first art class this year completely devoted to creating nothing but video. One student is creating a series of school sport videos. He started with boys soccer, then made a football one and has begun on the girls swimming video. I think they are marvelous and am very excited for these all to be done. Each one gets better. I do my best to help, sometimes I feel like I'm just being a cheer leader, but I truly feel excited about the stuff these guys are making.

Today during 3rd hour, I ran out to get Monika and I sandwiches because I had meetings all during lunch. As I left the school I notice a very distict smell of pot smoke. It was pretty strong, like someone had filled a room with the stuff very recently. For some reason I made a comment about the smell on my facebook page. Within an hour of making the comment, I had 20 some-odd likes and few comments, mostly all from alumni, including a cute "lol" from Erika. By the time school got out I had nearly 45 likes. I forgot all about it after school as the day got busy with meetings, walking Balt, getting dinner, and going to yoga. I called an old friend and chatted for an hour or so before finally getting to the computer to write my blog and check email. By 10:30pm I had over 50 likes (clearly the buzz was over), but was asked to take the post down by another teacher. I've never made a comment that got that much attention so quickly before and I'm a little baffled as to why, but maybe I shouldn't be. It's estimated that about 40% of our students smoke pot, I've heard numbers as high as 65%, but nothing lower that 30%. I like the 40% number, but think it maybe closer to 65% one. Of my 1400 friends on FB, most are alumni, some current students. So if only 40% of them smoked pot, that's about 500+... so 1/10th of them saw my post and it resonated somehow, enough to like it. Interesting.

Living in the present

 After driving all the way to Indian Hills dog park with my spouse, we found it closed for a race-- super dissappointing for Balt especially. BUT we ran over to the Middleton park. Although it is inferior, we got a good walk in. It was quite brisk this morning but warmed as the day went on. Today was a busy day for the Ford family, but not too busy for an afternoon yoga class. Jessi had a big swim invite that I decided not to attend. I knew it would be exciting, but it would take the whole day away and Monika had a soccer game. Monika ended up getting a ride with her friend to the game and her dad went to watch, so that gave me even more time to cook and do laundry. While I enjoyed my yoga class, I missed out on taking pictures of either Jess or Moni, but it made for a very relaxing day...

During yoga we are asked to come to the mat and practice in the present. All thoughts of the day, the week the season, the future and the past are let go. I think only of what it is my body is doing and sometimes what it needs, like to stop and breathe or drink. Today was a tough class but a very present hour. Below, Melissa shared an animation about how we think of time and I thought it extremely interesting. I thought I'd share it too. I came to better understand how it is I think of time after watching it.

 

Halloween Candy Time

Last night I went to Costco to get supplies to make quiches for Jessi's swimteam breakfast. Every year the juniors host a big breakfast at the beginning of October, so I made quiche for 30 girls. While at Costco, I grabbed a big bag of halloween candy since it was on sale and I knew the family would like some-- especially the girls for their lunches. I have given up sugar for the month and thought I could withstand the temptation and I did... last night. So a big bag of chocolate candy filled with everyone's favorite and which one do you think was the hardest one not to eat?

After a wonderful day of going to the dog park, cleaning my car, yoga and making tacos for dinner with whole family, I was cleaning up and the dish with the candy only had one chocolate calling my name... can you guess which one? And while I would love to eat all of them, Snickers is the least tempting-- mostly because of the famous "watermelon and snicker diet" I did in 9th grade. My husband goes nuts of over peanut M&M's, but not me. Love the Kitkat and Crunch and I must say Reese's is a favorite but not the one that will make me break my no sugar diet. Of course, it's the Almond Joy. All that coconut and big almond covered in chocolate. Had they included dark chocolate, I would have had two.

After dinner Monika and I went to the fabric store to buy fabric for my halloween costume. I got an idea for this year since halloween is on a school day. As I was getting my fabric cut out the lady next to me had the same color fabric and was ordering almost as much as I was. I over heard her tell the person cutting her fabric what she was going to be and it's the SAME thing as me! I couldn't believe it. I almost changed my mind, but Monika assure me I would not bump into this woman at work, so not to worry about it. Okay, now I have to cut out a pattern and actually sew it together... I got three full weeks still. I can't wait! While I'm in the halloween costume spirit, I thought I share my favorite snl halloween costume bit by Adam Sandler. Enjoy!

Homecoming Thursday

What I thought were allergies, I think was the beginning of a cold because I am coughing now, alot. I felt like calling in sick and probably should have. I had to run out of my photo class to up chuck in the bathroom and felt like it several times throughout the day. Jessi wasn't feeling well either and went home from school. She told me half the swim team is out with something. It's not serious, just not nice. 

The banners are up and voted on. I have to wait to find out until tomorrow during the pep rally, but I heard it was close. Monika's sophomore banner is awesome but the juniors and seniors have cool ones too. It was lumberjack day at school. It's the first time we've had a lumberjack day. I thought it was kind of dumb until I saw all the cute outfits girls were wearing-- including Jessi and Monika! I wish I had a picture of them in their plaid tops.

It rained this afternoon, so I didn't take Balt out for an evening walk but this morning's walk was good. His limp seems pretty much gone. I even video taped him running just to make sure (you can take a look). I guess he pulled  a muscle because rest seemed to fix it.

Dogs, cats, kids and me

So after my morning walk with Balt, I hooked him up to his leash outside to enjoy a bit of fresh air while I finished getting ready for work. I heard a bark that wasn't his and ran out to see what was going on. A beautiful alaskan mix looking dog was playing quite nicely with Balt. He was running around and I hoped someone would be looking for him quick. I let them play but when Marty came out to investigate, he got chased up a tree. He was at the very top on a light branch swaying when I finally just left him up there to go to work. I tied up the dog and put Balt in his crate inside.

Once at work I ran in to ask Geof what to do. I knew he would know and he told me to call the police. The dispatcher called the dog rescue to pick up the dog and then informed me that the fire department do not save cats. They promised me the cat would eventually come down. Well after 10 hours, Marty was still up in the tree. He had managed to come down a couple of feet and was asleep in a branch crook when I got home from work. At lunch I had put some tuna on the only branch I could reach but it had not enticed him down.

Monika had a tennis match up against Beloit that she and her partner easily won. She came home early so that she could make her up the tree to get Marty. From a ladder she got half way up and got stuck for a while. She finally kept climbing until she could almost reach him. The fire department would not come to save my cat (yes, I called) but I knew if Monika really got stuck, they would save her. I kept telling her not to fall -which was  kind of freeking her out so I stopped... I video taped her once I knew she was safe (see below). Once all were home safe and sound I ran out to get pizza. It seemed like a nice way to end a crazy day.

Laundry, cooking and cleaning

My first day off of work and I felt overwhelmed with housework. I had let everything go and it was kind of gross. I have to admit to being frustrated at being the only one in the family who does any cleaning. I hadn't been down in the basement all week and I went down to find someone had gone through all the laundry, throwing the stacks of clean, folded clothes onto the floor and mixing it in with dirty laundry. Obviously someone was looking for something in a hurry, but it makes me just want to take it all out to the trash can. 

I wanted to get things as cleaned up as possible, at least downstairs, in time for my husband's return home, but I also needed to get Balt to the dog park and deal with my vegetables. I seemed to get nearly everything I needed to get done, done. It was raining outside for most of the day on and off, but I squeezed in a wet visit to the dog park with a friend mid morning. I made a new batch of salsa and some Italian tomato sauce for a spaghetti dinner with garlic bread.

I made it to a yoga class late afternoon today. It's always difficult to get back into yoga after just missing a few days. My name is listed on the website for completing my personal revolution, but I haven't had time to go since. I was surprised at how tight I was. By Monday, I'll be good as new!

I worked this evening on the newspaper, cleaning things up and adding a few forgotten items. I have a couple of power points to do before Tuesday. I know I have a few days, but I know it will go by fast.

While I was cooking and cleaning, Geof was working on a video. Check it out! You'll see Monika in there at the beginning, at 14:30, and I'm in there at 19:15. It's nice look at our day on Thursday.

Allergies or Empathy?

Balt developed some weird pimple-like bumps on his nose yesterday (one near his eye) and I immediately thought he was taking on some of my stress. Maybe adolescent dogs get acne? It made me think of the scene in 101 Dalmatians where the dogs look like their owners (or vise versa)-- see below! So, I ran him over to my vet, who is a long time acquaintance of mine and asked what she thought. She prescribed some benedryl, assuming he got his nose into something that was upsetting his system. He won't let me pick at them, which is probably really good. If I didn't pick my own, they'd look a lot better on me. His pimples seem a little better today... but I'm still not sure what they are (they better not be warts!).

Monika got her wish and got to play in the soccer tournament today. She played so well with the white team that they ended up going to the finals and the ride she had, couldn't stay so I had to drive up to Fond du Lac to pick her up from the afternoon championship game. I got there right at the half and got to watch them go from 0-2 to 3-2. It was pretty exciting. Monika was then asked to play with the team for all of their tournaments. She was pretty pleased to get a medal for tennis yesterday and a trophy today for soccer. It was quite the weekend despite her flare up of allergies. 

Summer; Week 9, Day 1--the last sleep in day!

Today the girls all slept in late. Tomorrow both Monika and Jessika begin tryouts for their sport. There was a lot of tension in the air this evening. While I don't quite understand why either would be nervous since they both made varsity last year, but now there is that standard to keep up with. But no matter how you look at it, my schedule changes tomorrow-- my life gets a bit busier but all I'm doing is making sure everyone is getting where they need to be; 7:30am swim team, 9am tennis drills, 2pm tennis match play, 4:30 swim team, and on Monday's and Wednesday's 6pm soccer. I know there are some who tell me to let go and let my kids get to where they need to be without my help. The moms I know that do that are working full time. But I'm at home enjoying being a full time mom for only 3 more weeks. I only have 3 more years of doing this mom thing with kids at home and I know a part of me is going to miss it all when it's gone.

I'm rethinking my diet. I'm trying to eat healthy, low fat and low calorie so I can lose weight without dealing with deficiencies. I have muscle spasms in places other than my eye lids, notably my neck and legs. It's just that no place drives me as crazy as my eyes. Dehydration is a common cause for deficiency, especially with heavy exercise. I don't think that I exercise enough, especially because of all the foot pain I have, but the yoga I do is intense. I have been trying to drink a full nalgene during yoga and another after. The eyes felt a little better, but then my neck stepped it up. 

I had hoped to get to writing this summer, but my motivation is off. I have ideas, but feel confused without a writer's focus. I had hoped to get to writing these two weeks that my husband is gone and the girls are especially busy. Instead of writing tonight I got caught up on Hulu with the Glee Project-- my new favorite reality show. Below is a favorite character singing one of my all time favorite songs...

All City Final Day of Swimming

Today was a great day for Jessi! I made sure to come home from my week in Minneapolis to catch her swim today. I had hoped she would make finals and she did.

Her medley relay came in fourth in the city. She swam next to the Shorewood team during both of her relays and made the difference in beating them both times. It was kind of funny. She moved to Parkcrest to work harder and swim faster. The fact that she got to swim with her high school team peers seemed to be icing on the cake. She made the consolation heat for the freestyle championships. Her time improved so much she should have been 8th in the city but consolation heat swimmers don't bump kids off the heats above them. 

She had a nice break during her day to rest and eat a sandwich. I went to yoga and got reaclimated to the intensity of hot yoga. It was good workout but I was pretty stiff and my feet were just killing me.
I came home showered and down to the pool just in time to see Jessi swim her last race of the summer season. Her freestyle relay came in fifth place, earning enough points for the Parkcrest team to edge out against Shorewood and come in 3rd place. Jessi was so happy. I, of course was pretty proud of her.

Below is last leg of Jessi's freestyle swim. She is in a red cap swimming just behind her team mate (also in a red cap)...

Heat Wave

The day started early. Saturday swim meets do that. At 5:30am I took Balt out and got him breakfast, then woke Jessi at 5:45.She had warm ups at 6:30am across town (Seminole Pool in Fitchburg). I ran over with Balt to the dog park and I was suprised how many folks were there before 7am. Everyone was talking about how hot is was going to be this week--extreme, even record-breaking, heat. 90's every day in Madison, but only 89 today. After only 1/2 hour at the park, we went to get bagels and pick up my CSA vegetables. I got back to the meet in time to see Jessi swim her first relay. She had a winning day and I enjoyed hanging out at the pool chatting with pool parents, taking pictures and a video (below) and just enjoying the sunshine. Bring on the heat.

I got sandwiches for the girls for lunch and then went to the pool. I ran home, changed and went to yoga-- the class was a bit overwelming. I came home, showered and then turned on the air conditioning for Jessi (she's so much like Jim when it comes to needing air). I then spent my evening dealing with vegetables. I made 3 salads; a pasta salad, a potato salad and a mixed green salad. I started a quiche to cook early in the morning and then just chopped and put the rest away. If I am taking Balt to the dog park tomorrow, it's going to have to be early. We're in for an even hotter day.

Jessi is in the lime green cap in lane three. She wins a little too easily. I can tell she stopped swimming hard at the end. What for?

Countdown to take off

Today I finally really started getting ready for our trip. I still had lots of picking up and dropping off, but in between it all I had Uhaul put a hitch on my car and I set up the cargo box that we will be putting our luggage into. I went to the grocery store to get a few items to hold us over until we leave (only 1/2 a gallon of milk) as well as a few needs for the trip (gum and sun screen).

I took Balt to the dog park at noon today and have found that he foams at the mouth when he's really hot and excited. It only happens at the dog park. It's super gross. I'm so excited to take him on the road trip with us, but am concerned about finding appropriate places to walk him everyday. It will certainly put a damper on our going out to eat, which I hope to be a good think since I really don't want to overeat. '

I didn't make it to a yoga class but I did get a second day in to the pool. My feet are still really hurting and swimming doesn't make it worse as at times yoga does. Jessi had a basketball game today that I only watched the end of because I wanted to get into the studio to finish up my glass project. I got close, but will need to finish it tomorrow-- which will be a super busy day. 

I used a 8mm app on iPhone to shoot this clip of Jessi playing tonight. She is number 50 with white wide headband.

Summer Day One or just a Saturday?

Today was graduation day for the class of 2011 at JMM. Fellow art teacher and my friend, Joe was the key note speaker. Two of his photo 3 students worked on a class video featuring much of the graduating class in a video that moves me everytime I watch it. I suppose knowing many of the blur of faces that blink throughout the movie helps, but I think that mostly I am just moved by the fact that another group of students are moving on. The right of passage that is graduation is a big deal. Joe spoke about  whether they  were "done yet" and while maybe our students are done with high school, they are not done learning, growing, creating. This year's batch was a creative bunch.

Well, late last night I worked on the summer grid. Jessi and Moni keep me so busy over the summer, I have to make an excel spread sheet to keep up with their schedule. It's mostly Jessi, but when you add Monika to the mix, there's no way I can work a summer job and keep up with these two. Both girls spent today napping and resting up as much as possible. Jessi worked for part of the afternoon at the pool (it was cold today, so she didn't enjoy it). I took Balt out early, attended graduation, cleaned my car, fell asleep, missed an amazing soccer game (JMM girls are going to state!) and went to yoga. It was a nice way to start summer and not a bad Saturday.

The Last day of school and it was a hot one!

Today was a crazy Monday. There was so much going on and not alot of down time until the school day was over. We had our annual Significant Senior luncheon which was nice, but a little rushed. A couple of students couldn't make it but all in all it was a great celebration. 

The second annual JMM teachers "flash mob" was today as well. I don't dance, but I do video tape! I go to use my new camera which I still am not fully familiar with but I think I pulled off some nice movies. I posted both on facebook and now are on youtube. Last year's video has been viewed over 1300 times! In the first day of posting today's dance I'm over a 100 views! Kids love that teachers dance. I'm not sure why, but you can check them out here.

This year I got BOTH performances and it was a good thing I made it to the A-wing during the second half of the day because I got our head principal doing the Dougie with them! It was pretty awesome.

With a high of 96 today, I went straight away to the pool! I came back and took Balt for a walk then went to yoga for the 6th day in a row. Yes, I'm feeling like it's summer.

Open to Miracles...

I would not call this Easter anything special... no family photos were taken for the scrapbooks so it won't get remembered.  Other than the loads of chocolates and gift cards stuffed into the Easter baskets presented to the girls this morning, it was no more special then any other Sunday. Jessi was openly disappointed that she did not get a new iPhone (which I would have liked to have gotten for her, but then I would have needed just as nice a gift for her sisters and I couldn't make that happen). I asked the girls if anyone was interested in going to church and I did not get any takers. I decided a leasure morning with them eating strawberry bundt cake and watching the latest Harry Potter DVD would just have to do. Erika left for work at 11am and then I took Balt for a walk in the woods. I came home to clean up a bit and then made it to an afternoon yoga class.

I am always so glad that yoga studios are a lot like Chinese restaurants, Christian holidays do not seem to give them any reason to close or even change their schedules.  While the teacher started the class asking everyone to set aside all the reasons for the day, whether we believe or didn't, she asked us just to breathe. But then near the end of the class she offered up the idea of opening ourselves to the miracle of Christ's resurrection after playing plenty of what I would call Christian music (Amazing Grace is overtly Christian, but there is a lot of indie/new age music that is hard to tell). I find it miraculous to find that after missing my opportunity to spend time in worship at church on Easter, I am given the time in a yoga class. While leaving the class, I bumped into a past student who was there with his mother and shared that he thought the class was, "a lot better than church!" I had to agree.

I made a nice Easter dinner for the girls and then spent the rest of my evening helping Jessi finish her English project. I always find it interesting that I am so much more technically savy then my children, save Monika. Where did this gift come from? My parents didn't teach me. We laughed at dinner about it. Erika tried to blame me...She said it was my fault that they couldn't cook, clean or write DVD's. Bogus.

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Challenging Day Three

This is kind of a crazy week.  There just seems like there is a lot going on.  Today after school there was an in-service (optional) from 4-7pm that included dinner... pizza, spaghetti and meatballs.  I only had salad with two meatballs then later ate a bit of tuna once I got home.  It was hard not to cheat, but I had already allowed myself coffee, so I felt like I could stand strong.

I had to leave the in-service early to take Jessi home from bb practice and take Monika to her jazz band concert.  Even though she is in the orchestra (concert next week), she gets invited to play with the 8th grade band along with her jazz band gig.  She plays well, so it's fun to watch her!

Last night's news...

Have You Ever Seen the Rain?

Snow Day (in front of our condo)

the interview

Last night I went to bed at 4:30pm, trying to kick my cold.  Luckily, I don't sound too sick in the interview!

tonight's news cast

Tonight's news cast post of our ceremony in the drawing room...

spirit

In the spirit of crazy mondays, halloween preparations, and motherly frustration; today I posted a video.