Blog Slacker

I've been such a blog slacker lately. Being a working mom is tough and I find that I have very little time to do much of anything during the week and weekends. I'm going to try to be better about it because blogging means so much and keeping track of my girls and their memories is so important. So here are some catch up photos. We are spending the weekend at the beach to celebrate Kyle's grandma's (Granny) 95th birthday. I'm amazed by her and all that she can do at 95! So we are enjoying our time with family but I only wish we could stay longer....we have to go back tomorrow. But, it won't be long till we both have a little break in our schedule and we can look forward to the summer. I'm so ready for a little break and to enjoy my girls during the week more. 

Belle having fun in the pool. Notice the cotton balls we have in her ears....dang you tubes!!!! But, she's not been sick once with them...so I guess the cotton balls are okay. 

Belle, Ella and Allie-Ann

Just wanted to let you in on how our eating times go with Belle everyday....

Allie-Ann practicing her art skills

Allie-Ann's Expert Project

I went to Allie-Ann's school today to see her Bird "Expert" Project. Her teacher invited all the parents to attend the presentation. Basically, the students stood in front of their project and provided facts to the parents who came by to see their work. Allie-Ann chose the roadrunner and had a month to put together the facts, take a survey, and collect pictures on the Internet. She also created her bird using recyclable materials, made a nest from clay and designed an egg using paper mache. It was interesting seeing all the students' work and how close the nest and bird resembled the real images they collected. I was very impressed. Allie-Ann, as proud as she could be, was beaming when people came around to find out more on her roadrunner. She made sure to tell her guest that the roadrunner doesn't just run on roads. She knew that the roadrunner lives in Mexico and in the Southwest. She found out that it has four toes on each foot, two in the front and two in the back. In addition to the research, she also created a question to use for her survey. I'm so proud of her and the rest of the students at her school. 

Strawberry Picking 2013

Just because...

I thought I would share two pictures of Allie-Ann and Belle on a typical Saturday morning.....just because.

I love Saturday mornings....especially now since becoming a working mom. I love being able to have a relaxing morning, cooking pancakes and playing with my girls. I value my weekends so much now. 

7 and Bottom's Up

Tomorrow, Kyle and I will have been married for seven years. April 8th was a very special day, it was the day that I married my best friend. Although, after seven years, the best friend might have turned to just friends....ha. Seriously, I'm the luckiest lady to have found Kyle and I can't wait for us to grow old together and experience the ups and downs of parenthood together. He's such a good daddy and husband and my girls are just as lucky to have him as I am. 

So, even though we are going through a stage in life together when we might just walk into seeing this...

I know I married him for the sole reason of experiencing life with someone I know I can laugh with when faced with challenges. 

So, to celebrate I found this awesome present for myself...ha. I bought it at the Red Door, a unique antique store down the road from us. I saw it and knew I had to have it. I don't do that often but thought this was too neat to let go.

I now have a place to put the girls shoes when they come home from school. 

My Job

I haven't been able to blog about my new job. I work for a district that has 13 elementary schools. It's a big district that has done a good job trying to understand what goes on in their schools but falls a little short. They hired me to be the district's response to intervention specialist. On my first day on the job, my boss basically told me was that I was hired to be part of a "SWAT" team to help improve their failing schools, specifically in helping students who fail to met standards in the classroom. No pressure but I wasn't quite prepared for the "big" job they hired me to do. I'm currently at a low socioeconomic  school working with students who have many different issues and problems. The school is such a special place and the students already have my heart but many come to school not prepared. 
It breaks my heart to see some of our students unable to write their name, numbers, or letters. Many have never seen a crayon or even a book. Their education basically started at a 2 year old level when some students, who came prepared, are starting at a 7 year old level. It's a wide gap considering that the 2 year old is getting the same amount of instruction as the 7 year old....the gap widens as the students who are behind continue to move through the grade levels, making their reading abilities further and further behind their peers who came prepared on the first day of Kindergarten. The students who are behind are very capable students and intelligent, they just haven't been exposed to books and vocabulary around the home, which puts them at a disadvantage. 
Time is a big factor in my job, and I've always felt that failure is not an option for any child, but I have to be realistic and realize that when a child is two grade levels behind, catching them up is literally impossible in a school year. These students can have the most effective teacher but when they are behind, it's just impossible to make up that time. That is why it is my passion to educate every parent on the power of reading every day to their child....and it starts at birth. I have read to both of my girls since they were born and I know that both will be ready on the first day, they may not be the smartest but they will be ready. Many children don't get this opportunity and there are some bright children who will, even if they start behind, catch up but there are many others who will not and it all amounts to the exposure these children have to words and books and the time they have to practice reading. 
So, although I love my job, it is not an easy one because we live in an educational society based on test scores. I've had teachers come up to me asking how I can get their students to improve in their test scores....but it's so wrong. Instead, these teachers should be asking me how to get their students to love reading or to help them in understanding what they are reading, and it's not the teachers fault because they have a lot of pressure on them but we have to get back to the real reason for teaching our students. 
I know I really got on my soapbox here but this is such a passion of mine and I just want more attention given to early childhood education. Reading at birth, spending time talking with your child, are key to having them ready on the first day. 
My days at work are spent working with students who are behind, I was hired to work with K-5 students but decided to focus all my attention on K-2. I just feel that if we lose our students early, by the end of second grade it's tough to get them back on track. We can do our best, but it's key that we don't lose them in the critical early grades.
Please don't think I'm preaching because I'm surely not but I just know that reading is one of the most important things you can do with your child and I just want as much exposure out there as possible to those who don't realize this. A simple library card can go a long way in building an excellent educational foundation for your child....and that's totally free.

On a different note, I found Allie-Ann working on this piece of work the other day. I just love her art, it's just precious.