Sometimes the Rewards Are Great

Weekend Wisdom

"You want to be commander in chief? You can start by standing up for the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States, even when it's not politically convenient,"

Pres. Barack Obama

Thank You For Your Patience

I am slammed at work.  The next person who tells me how easy teachers have it and how their work day ends at 3 is going to get a textbook placed in a unmentionable location.  Last week I left work on Monday at 5:00, Tuesday at 4:45, Wednesday at 3:45 (on time, but only because the girls have a gymnastics class at 4:30), Thursday at 7:45 and Friday at 5:30.  (Then I started on the work I brought home)  This week so far- Monday 5:30, Tuesday 8:20 and so it goes on.

However, I am hoping this weekend to get caught up on things so please hang with us for a few more days and hopefully we will be back in business.

A Side Effect of Blogging

is that I haven't printed a picture in over 8 months (which I realized as I tried to find some current photos to send to Ethiopia with K's yearly post placement report).

And not only have I not printed them, they are sitting in my electronic "junk drawer" not organized and not even edited.  Not to mention not uploaded to Shutterfly. 

Is it too early to start wishing for a snow day so I can get some work done?

Weekend Wisdom

"It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes."

-Andrew Jackson

K Starts Her New School

After much debate (over many things like whether or not my principal would like that I have my own child in my class) we decided to enroll K as a student mentor (ie,typical peer) in my special needs preschool class.  

So far so good.  

And she has completely charmed everyone, but especially my principal (whom she ADORES as well)

One perk of having her in my class- Lots of first day of school photos

I Was NOT Going to Do a 9/11 Post

then A came home with a rather surprising school assignment yesterday.  (*and I will acknowledge right now that he often misses details that make a big difference but....)  He comes in and says his social studies assignment is to find a 9/11 video on You Tube and bring it to class on a flash drive.  He said there were no other parameters.   

(Really, You Tube?  A site with so much  educational content   crap available that almost every school (including his and mine) totally block it. 

So of course my first response "Okay we will do it together" since there is no way I allowing my 11 year unlimited access to You Tube to specifically look for videos about 9/11.  

Especially since even a cursory search yields videos with titles like  "Mysterious Deaths of 9/11 Witnesses",  "Phone Calls from the Towers",  "WTC Photos- Not for Children" and "Remembering the Jumpers"  

So yeah, there is NO. FREAKING. WAY. he is doing this assignment without parental supervision.

As we chose the most benign (and how inaccurate is that word to use) of the news broadcasts and he reveals that they had watched a bunch of videos in class and, what a big surprise, he was a "little anxious" about things. 

So after watching two videos of CNN and NBC filming between the time Tower 1 was hit but before Tower 2 was hit, and one substantially more horrifying one of the actual crash into Tower 2, he decided on the video he wanted to bring.....

One that acknowledges the tragedy, pays respect for the fallen and really captures the feelings of the days and weeks after 9/11 along with the strength and resilience of the American people

So yes, he is bringing a video from Budweiser to class and I couldn't be more proud of his choice.