In My Opinion....

5th and 10th grade are doing a 10 part series of paragraphs that express their opinions and thoughts on numerous subjects. While all of 5th grades paragraphs will be published here, some of 10th grades will be published on his blog, 10th Grade Big Dawgs. If you can, go over and give him a little support on his site.

In My Opinion by Jordan

I help to take care of a baby. His name is Littlest Rottie*. He is three months old. He is so sweet and loves to watch TV. He loves to eat and loves to get tickled. He eats eight ounces in the morning because he sleeps twelve hours at night. He is Caucasian with blue eyes. He loves to stand up and is trying to roll over. He wears size two diapers. He is a foster kid. I hope he finds a good family that loves him and takes care of him. I hope he always remembers us.

*His blog name :)

In my Opinion by Jeffrey

When I grow up I am going to open my own detail shop. When I turn eighteen I am going to college. I am going to take a business course. I am also going to study about automobiles. I want to design new hybrid cars for the future. I want to trick out old school cars for a living. You can see some of my designs at 10th Grade Big Dawgs.

Palm Sunday

We have 1 more week of school before spring break and it will be a short week. We had initially planned an Amtrak trip to Chicago, but may postpone that until warmer weather. I heard today that we are expecting more snow in our region. UUGGGHHHH! I have had enough winter.

We have a 10 part series planned for our blog. 5th and 10th grade have written 10 paragraphs discussing favorite things, beliefs and thoughts on various subjects. Some interesting thoughts to come.

On we go....

Happy Birthday Princess

Today is my daughter's birthday. She is 11 years old. I cannot believe that the little baby that they handed to me at the agency is the young lady that I look at today. She is very smart, funny, a voracious reader and very nurturing to the little people that come into our home through foster care. She started off calling herself, "Mommy #2" when the new baby came in January, but has since taken over and now calls me "the other mommy". LOL!

For her birthday, she slept in, has taken the day off from school, ate a cookie and grapes for breakfast and is currently playing a computer game. Such royalty!

Happy Birthday, Kid!

First Grade College Planning

There has been a lot of talk about college lately as my 10th grader is starting to do some college planning. Last night before bed, first grade and I were talking about life and stuff when he mentioned that when he goes away to college that he would miss me. I told him that he would always be able to come home for visits anytime he needed to and he said, "When I come visit you, I will bring you a fish sandwich."

The door to my heart... a fish sandwich! LOL!

Girls, Girls, Girls

My daughter is the only girl with 3 brothers, 1 foster brother and 2 little boys that come over for after school for care during the week. While she likes being called "The Princess", she has strong feelings about not having any other girls around... and she is not shy about expressing those feelings. LOL! Last weekend, we had family visit us from out of state and amongst the cousins were 3 girls, my 2nd cousins. What fun!

We went skating at our local YMCA, but could not go swimming as 1 of the cousins could not get her hair wet....sigh...but after skating there was giggling and spats and silliness and drama and multiple clothes change and tears and incessant chatting and popcorn, chips, twizzlers, nachos, ice cream, cake, 4 movies (none of them seen all the way through as they would change their minds and then change the DVD midway through the movie) and finally, quiet... as they crashed from the sugar high!

We survivied the weekend and funny thing, she has not been complaining as much about being the only girl. I think she is use to the drama-free life that boys provide. ~Smile~

The skate park at the Y... more falling than skating! LOL!

Week 30, 10 To Go

We are beginning our 30th week of the 2008/2009 school year. We have about 10 weeks to go. Our spring break is April 13- 17 and it will be a much needed break.

I have not done progress reports as usual, but good progress is being made by all.

On the baby front... we still have our little foster baby, AKA: Littlest Rottie, and he is growing so big. It always amazes me how my kids share so much heart for the children that come in and out of our home. This will be a tough one for my 5th grader as she has really enjoyed helping to care for the baby. She does such a great job of being aware of his needs and kisses and hugs on him continuously. He hears her voice when she walks in the room and he just lights up. He 'talks' so animatedly to her... both will miss each other very much.

On we go...

Lamination

I have discovered lamination and I love it. When the crew needs extra practice on skills, I often print something off from one of the many sites that I frequent and that paper is consumed. I first figured it out by putting a piece of paper in one of those plastic protective sheets and letting preschool use a dry erase marker. Then it happened... I was ordering school supplies on E-bay and the automatic feature that says: You might also like... showed a lamination machine. I found a nice (and by nice I really mean affordable) one and won the bid. This will not only save on paper, but it will save a great deal on ink....my biggest cost for school.