Marshmallow teeth, dang Sketchers, and the missing trash can lid...

The kiddos are learning about dental hygiene and this is such a cute idea! EXCEPT that they're marshmallows (not the healthiest food for your teeth or your body...)! I still like them :)

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God, it's just like Sketchers to come up with something as ridiculous as these shoes!
That pink dot at the bottom of the shoe is a spinning disk so that girls can spin near the ball of  their foot. RIDICULOUS, right??? They remind me of those Heelys, the shoes with the wheels at the heel.

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Can you spot the trash can lid?? I was walking around the blacktop in the rain trying to find it! The lid has been stolen before, believe it or not! This time, it blew over the fence and into the other school's yard LOL (To the left of the staircase, at the bottom. I know that the photo is kinda small :/ but it's there!)

I know someone who can jump 724 times in a row!!!! Plus job news and drinking escapades LOL

I should have her face covered, but OH WELL. I think her hair covers her face enough LOL

The kids were having a BALL when they were jumping and I started counting for them. Three girls wanted me to try and count as fast as I could. The first girl stopped at 328 and I was thinking "This is UNREAL!!!" but the other two just kept going and going and going... The next girl dropped off at about 525. Finally, this one stopped at 724 and she took a brief pause and started up again! I had to tell her, "No! That doesn't count because you stopped!" What I really wanted to do was stop counting! 

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This was during nap time, and it's a hit and miss with this one. She's a little firecracker :)

Well, she fell asleep and we were joking at work, saying, "She had one too many drinks." HA HA HA

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Lastly, I have a boy who goes around wearing girls' Jordans, complete with shimmery fabric and pink details. I was helping him to tie his shoelaces and he points to Michael's logo on the shoe and says, "See, that's me! I'm running fast like a tiger!" (This is the same kid in the "Polar Express" story below... Read it to find out what I'm referring to :P) And he started to snarl and growl.

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EXCITING JOB NEWS:

I just accepted a job as a Preschool Teacher with Bright Horizons, one of Fortune magazine's "Top 100 Companies to Work For" (13 years and counting)! I start this job on April 2nd :) I feel pretty good about it, the staff is really nice, and there are lots of opportunities for advancement. 

I've worked so hard, going to school and gaining all of this experience, and now I can say that I've made it. All of that work is paying off :D Wish me luck, everyone. I hope this will be a fulfilling time for me.

Cheerios, China, and Stickers

Hi, folks. What I really wanted to do was video blog about this... It's really difficult for me to find a spare moment to videotape myself, but I'll get that done today!

In the meantime, you can read about them first:

1) We were gluing Cheerios and having the children count them as they glued, then one of the girls looked at a Cheerio, then looked at me and said "O!" like "Okay!" I looked at her with a quizzical look and said, "Yeah, I guess so..." then she said, "And like... 'Oh!'" Yes, lol, like "Oh."

2) One of my boys wanted to help me wipe down the tables after snack. He said, "You know how they say 'clean' in China? 'Sparkle' like 'sparkle and shine. Shine and sparkle.'"

3) This girl earned a sticker for being responsible and lying down in her cot right away for nap time. When it was time for bed, she looked at her hand and asked "Where is my sticker??" I wasn't the one who gave it to her, so I didn't know where she had it before, so I said, "I really don't know where you put it. Why don't you go to sleep and we'll look for it when you wake up." She turned over and this is what we discovered:

How to Make Friends & Friendship Week

So I figured that the only way I can share my stories is if I post right away! Everything will still be fresh in my mind and I can give as much detail as possible.

1) My favorite valentines day cards:

How did she know that Justin Bieber was my FAVORITE??? LOL 

2) Someone special gave me flowers:

We're not supposed to have favorites, but I'll just say that the girl who gave these to me is a sweetheart. She's a live wire, for sure, and she has a really hard time listening! However, she's such a goofball and really full of joy :)

3) Let's fix a broken heart.

While working on collages, one of the boys said, "Look, I fixed my heart!" It ripped on the top and he glued it back together.

4) Shhh!!! The dolls are sleeping!

The kids thought it was hilarious when I made the dolls talk, then I laid them down on the carpet and I tried to say, "Okay, I think they're going to sleep now..." but before I could finish, one of the girls said, "SHHHHH!! They're sleeping! You're too loud, teacher!" Oops, my bad.

4) I saved the best for last. If you want to make friends, you must do the following:

Taking your vitamins, definitely important. Giving them your ice cream... Hey, we need to make sacrifices for the sake of love. What can I say?

WOW - Look, ma, I'm on video!

Hey, everyone. So I've recently gotten out from the rock I've been hiding under LOL

My kids have been great and I still love my job just as much as ever. Now I finally have time to sit down and tell you something....

I'll be good, I promise. In the meantime, check out my first video blog!

I feel kinda strange putting a video up of myself, and it's still not the same as if I told you in person. SOOOOO, if you ever see me and you read up on a story that you want to know more about, go ahead and stop me! I'll tell you all about it :)

Been on vaca, now back to more storytelling!!

Hi folks, so I haven't logged on in a while... but I wanted to get some feedback. I've been talking to my brother about my blog and he suggested video recording myself as I tell my animated versions of the stories that I've been writing about. He said it could bring more LIFE to my stories, and it's really a lot funnier when I can add emotion and emphasis on certain things. So I think I'm gonna do it!

Lemme know what you think. Who knows, people might not wanna see my face! LOL

Thanks :)

Kiwi, binoculars, and Polar Express!

I realize that I haven't posted in a while... I've been trying to finish up classes and took my last final today! What a relief :)

This was adorable:

We were having lunch, and instead of the usual bananas, oranges, or apples, we got KIWIs with lunch! What a treat!

One of the kids bit into a kiwi and said, "It's so sour. It makes my face go like this." So he shuts his eyes really tightly and makes a squished face. I wish I could have taken a picture of him so that you knew what he looked like.

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Kids are so creative. We have these multi-colored blocks that come in rectangles, triangles, and other cylindrical shapes. They have magnets on the ends of them so that they can be connected together and stay in their place.

Common themes are airplanes, cars, a house... This girl decided that she could use her's to "see things." I asked her what she saw, and she said, "Mickey Mouse and Christmas."

I told her that they are called "binoculars." So adorable. Gotta be one of my favorite pictures of all time.

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This one takes the cake. I want to make sure that you are sitting down so that you can handle it!

I start singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" with the kids, and here this boy comes in and he says, "That's like Polar Express!" "Yes, " I say, "like Polar Express?" 

"Yeah, except it's a bigger train! A BIG, BIG TRAIN!!" His eyes get really large and he's holding his two hands up to show me that it's BIG. At this point, he's practically yelling because he's so excited. Okay, got it.

We keep singing the song, and he can't get over it, "It's a bigger, BIGGER train!" then he starts turning his arms like the wheels of a train, "Choo, choo!" 

So he says it again, "It's like Polar Express, except a BIGGER train, MOTHER F***ER!!"

Oh HECK no! "I don't EVER want to hear you say those words again!! Those are not school words, do you understand??"

I was totally caught off guard. I wonder where he got that from?

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Lastly, I had an issue with a student (the same student who called me a loser, the same student who wouldn't park the bike. :/) and he would not stop talking during nap time. He kept talking to people across the room and totally disregarding the sleeping people around him. HOW RUDE!

So after moving his bed, reprimanding him, and verbally threatening to bench him during play time, I finally said, "I need to talk to you outside. This is not okay." He gripped his bed tightly and shook his head "no." 

I told him, "Can you walk over there by yourself or do you need me to help you? I'm going to count to three and if you're not up, I'm going to help you. 1-2-3." He sat up at "3" and sluggishly trudged over to the door. He looked like he was near tears, but I wasn't going to take it!

We got outside and I asked him what was going on. No answer.

So I told him, "When it's time to play outside, you can sit on the bench until you're ready to talk to me. But no playing until you talk to me." That got him talking right away. 

Then I said, "When you go inside, what are you going to do?"

"Sleep."

"Good idea. I want you to go straight to your bed, no talking. If you're talking, that means you don't want to play outside."

"But I do want to play outside."

"Then stop talking."

He went right to bed. That was a victory for me because I really thought I lost him. Thank goodness for perseverance. 

I'm ready for happy hour. LOL.