It's That Time...

To those who have asked, here are the wish lists for holiday gifts for each of the family members.  (Steve, you may use this as a reference as well so you don't have to ask me what I want on December 24th.)

Casey:

• Ipod/MP3 player

• DS Game "Legendary Starfy" (It is pronounced starfee in case you were thinking of making the embarrassing mistake of pronouncing it "star-fie" like I did.)
• Big lego sets
• Tech Decks (little mini skateboards)
• Pokemón cards (yes they are back together again this year)
• Free ticket to Legoland (I don't know what he meant by this, I can only assume he didn't want someone to give him the ticket and ask him to pay for it)

Bridget:

• Ipod
• Clothes (T-shirts, skirts, pants)
• Shoes (I think she meant like tennis shoes or flip-flops)
• Water color paper
• Chalk pastels
• Gel pens
• Stuffed animals
• Webkinz dog (no specifics)
  
• Tech-deck
• Beading kit
  

Gillian:

• Littlest Pet Shop (no specified types, just "big kit")
• Barbie clothes
• Gillian clothes (skirts and dress shoes)
• Baby doll (yes, another one)
  
• Necklace kit
• Anything that any other five year old girl might want with kits, art, doll stuff, dress-up, etc.

Meghan:

• Socks and/or shoes
• Dresses with long sleeves
  
• Long-sleeved onesies
• Winter knit hat
• Stroller (any kind of umbrella stroller, our very awesome maclaren stroller was stolen and now we have no way to pack it up and go.  Very tragic.)  Here is a sample of what it looked like but she would be happy with a used one or less expensive one like this.  She is not picky.
• Stacking toys--she loves to put things in their place, like shape sorters, etc.  We have a few floating around but she might like one little wee thing here or there.
  

Steve:

• Books (he has a wish list on Amazon.com and it is super boring--click here for details)
• Non-white button-up dress shirt.
• Tie

*Lee:

• Santoku knife
• Vans (any color size 9 ladies)
• Roxy Ts size large (any color but black or navy)
• Button-up dress shirts (any color)
  
• Book Catching Up Leading the Way
• Book Secret of Total Student Load
• Book Why Don't Students Like School
• Book The Global Achievement Gap
• Book Change by Design
  
• New headset for phone
• Mini Pastel Silicups
• Itunes anything

*Mine seems the longest because I know me best of the people on this list.  Also, I need to give Steve a long list of things in case he is at Smith's at midnight and can't find some of the other things.

This and That

I finally am taking a break from this whole school biz for a day or two to catch you up on the various and sundry events of my life.
1. Dessert Contest update

I need to take better pictures of the food before people eat and I will do that next time for sure.  We are down to final four:

Katie
Jeannie
Bridget
Me

So for the next round, Katie and Jeannie will duke it out in what will undoubtedly be the dessert match-up of all match-ups.  I will face my 8 year-old daughter.  I don't know if she has been winning on merit or youth but obviously it could be a humiliating loss for me.


2.   Grandma Jo and her sister's birthday.  A local campground featured an almost all-ladies cast of fun family activities.  Happy to see step-mom looking so good these days. We miss Hippie Artist but he would have wanted her to be happy and she was smiling.  Good to see.

3.  Any given Sunday in downtown Indy.  The Colts were playing the Pats, big game I guess.  Here is some of the evidence from my downtown stroll when I was on the road last week:

4.  Any given Sunday in SB--Meg and Katie as twinners:



















The Sunday toddlin' crew:

5.  Casey making Ebelskivers
















6.  High School Rally in Southern Illinois:

Theme for the game?  Meat house:

7.  Chillin with my eldest child on Wednesday, finally some reprieve after all this school fighting biz:

Update for the People

Latest update.

The reporter was so beautiful I decided not to even bother fixing my hair. 

The Bane of My Existence

A New Haircut

Sorry to beat a dead horse but here is one more video that shows the district's side.

Does not include my reference to our 6th grade scores outscoring every school so it makes it sound like he has data and we have touchy feely, but at this point, maybe touchy feely will get us a few more supporters.

What do you think of my new haircut anyway?

Last Night

Wow.  The show of community was incredible.  Check out this site and click on the video to see it live.

Does it seem like the 60s?  My mom would be proud.

Incidentally, I didn't march, I just met people there since I was nervous about presenting.

More propaganda

See if you can find my daughter in this vid:

Don't Close Our School

You have to click the little teeny link next to the closure sign that says "Video High"

Please Advise

Please read the following email exchange and provide your recommendations as to how one might handle this scenario:

Hi Lee,

I feel concerned with Casey's behavior at lunch time recess.  For the past few days he has been playing a game in which the goal is to push the other person over.  Clearly this is not allowed and I have explained to the group that they are not able to push several times. 

Please talk to him and let him know this is not ok. 

Thank you,

Classroom Aide

--
Dear Classroom Aide,

Wow, thank you so much!  I will talk to him for sure, I agree that is not appropriate nor encouraged.

Is he the instigator in this game or are there other boys playing with him?  Are there younger children involved?  I would like to know what questions to best ask him.

Thank you again for being proactive, and let me know if you do not see a change immediately.

 --Lee

 --

Hi Lee,

Casey has been hanging out and playing with *Jose, Jesus, Josue and another boy I don't know. 

They are all playing and active participants.  Jose has continued to be defiant and it has taken an "umbrella" effect where the other boys follow his lead.  They call it "cow tipping" and it is not ok.

A reminder that the lunch time supervisors (specifically, among all staff) need to be respected, and that the game needs to stop would be appreciated.

I will talk to Jose's mom also because it is not ok for this game to continue.

Thank you,

Classroom Aide

*Names have been changed to protect the victimizers

Thank you!

My girls love it and so do I. Meg will never get this quilt or pillow
away from the other ladies of the house.

A Job I Don't Want

Superintendent.

I understand what he thinks.

I understand that he does not support bilingual education if it means it brings down the average score of his API for the district.

I believe him when he says he has sleepless nights.

But I will agree to disagree with him and find it offensive that he stood in front of our teachers and stated that we are the only school in the district that asks lower level questions.  That is unpossible.

This business has to end pronto, I need to go back to my day job.

Hip Hop Halloween

I am behind, but I have a good reason.

But as it is a day of rest from my worldly cares, I am going to finally catch up on my blogging.

Well at least some recent events.

Casey and Bridget are taking a hip hop dance class.  I told them to pick a sport and they decided that hip hop dance was the way to go.  I must say, after watching their finale, I fully agree.

Here are some pics with my little phone, nothing spectacular.  I am going to have to steal some pics from any friends out there who might have some.  You know who you are.  First, we had an audience both days--I did not get a good picture of our larger audience on Saturday, but here were some fans that came to both our Thursday AND our Saturday performance:

Here are some in-motion shots of the kids...

Casey (not Bridget)

Bridget in the finale pose:

I personally thought that Casey was the best one in the group

Here is their teacher.  She is amazing!

Their next session they are learning "Beat it" and "Thriller" routines, straight from the video.  RIP.

Speaking of thrilling, here are the halloween costumes:

And along came a squirly spider...

 

Oh and my favorite costume of the season, hands down: