Parenting 101

Parenting* (like any behavior modification/management) is all about follow through. If you're going to threaten it, you better be able to actually live up to your threats.

Which is why I'm not questioning my neighbor tonight. She threatened to throw her 8 year old son out of her house if he didn't start acting right. And she did. For approximately 5 minutes, homeboy was pounding on the door telling her he'd straighten up.

Way to go, neighbor.

You threatened, he challenged, you followed through. Nice work.

Now if you could only control his screaming at you at 9:30 at night when I'm trying to watch reality t.v., that would be greatly appreciated. Or convince my management company to do something about the thin walls..

*I'm not a parenting expert, obviously. I just calls it like I sees it.

NYC

I'm finally coming down from my NYC high. Seriously, that place stole my heart. I wouldn't necessarily want to live there, but I did love visiting! Because I could give you a million details of the trip and I've been known to have the gift of gab, I'm going to do some pictures and give you a timeline of what we did.

Friday night, I arrived in late in the evening (after some delays, of course) looking as green as can be. Apparently the high winds and low altitude made for a bad mix for my tummy-- I was motion sick. I was so bad Jess even questioned my color. Got yelled at multiple times and genuinely wished I was back in the comfort of my own hometown. I was in so late that mommy was sleeping already.

Woke up early Saturday morning to do this...

Flying trapeze school! It was simply amazing. It was scary, challenging, and breathtaking. I loved every second of it! I even had the opportunity to do a catch-- basically, the things you see in a circus. A man on a different trapeze grabs you from your trapeze, and you swing together. Pure awesome-sauce.

Look at that! Amazing.

Saturday afternoon we wandered around, did some shopping and stopped by to check out the Statue of Liberty. I was super thrilled to see this. Jessica was, too.. but she was really cold. The winds were about 40-50 mph gusts.

That evening we wandered some more around Little Italy and ate at an amazing Italian restaurant. I believe it was Il Palazzo. I had some gnocchi. mmmmm. I heart pasta. I followed it up with some cannoli's at Ferrara's Cafe. Others enjoyed tarts, carrot cake, and chocolate cake. But I fell in love with cannoli's and what better place to enjoy them!

Afterwards, Jess and I enjoyed some drinks at the hotel bar. We attempted to solve all the world's problems.

Sunday morning, we wandered around looking for a breakfast place in Chinatown. Worst place to look for breakfast places. We found one, it was delish. It was not in Chinatown, though. We wandered some more, grabbed some scarves, jewelry, and purses.

Then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for...

Amazing. Simply Amazing. Wicked, on Broadway. Holy Batman, ya'll! I love musicals... this was simply spectacular for me. We saw the understudies for both Glenda and Alphaba, but they were amazing and I would never have known they were second best. I cried during intermission because of a mix of emotions. My dad and I had a love for musicals and I would have totally called him to explain the story and totally purchased the cd to belt out with him in the car. It was heartbreaking to realize he was gone.

After Wicked, we headed to another Italian restaurant for after show drinks and dinner with Mom, Jess, Jess's Mom, Jess's Brother, Jess's Brother's girlfriend. It was delish, as I'm sure you can imagine. Jessica and I walked around Time's Square and then headed back to the hotel.

Monday morning we woke up early and headed to a small diner to have some breakfast before we made our way to the airport. We wandered around Washington Square, took some pictures, and enjoyed one another before parting ways.



It was then we had to venture back to grab our bags and make our way to the airport. We parted ways, I had even more delays, so did Mom and Jess's Mom, but we all made it home safely. With lots of memories of a wonderful weekend full of good food, good times, lots of laughs, and great friends.

NYC Recap, Coming Soon!

I can't believe I didn't let ya'll know I was going to NYC! I suppose I was so wrapped up in grad school and babies (two friends of mine just had sweet little adorable I-want-to-hug-you-and-kiss-you-and-love-you-until-forever babies) that I just kinda forgot to tell you all. It wasn't because I wasn't excited, it was simply because my brain can really only digest one thing at a time. Thank you ADHD. Thank you.

 

And let me tell you (in my next post..) I LOVED NYC. I didn't initially, but like any great romance, love blossomed and I fell head over heels in love with Manhattan and all that NYC has to offer.

 

Bliss.

NYC

This is hilarious. Seriously. Your dog MUST be on a leash. But dogs aren't allowed.

Which one is it?

Como Say What?

Overheard...

 

"Yeah, Dude I totally put a picture of Ms. L on my Face-Tube. I bet you don't even have a picture of her."

 

Face tube? Face tube? Obviously I didn't correct him, but I laughed really hard. On the inside. And how cool am I to be on his face tube? Seriously. I'm that cool.

 

Coming in from recess, the same little guy decided to give me vivid details of how warm he is....

 

"I'm so hot I'm sweating through my boxers. Now that's HOT." TMI Little Dude, TMI.

 

On a different note, it is really warm here today. 65 degrees and I'm LOVING it. Except, the heat is still on in the school, so it's like a sauna in my room. We will be going out to do some measurement activities because it's beautiful outside and even I don't want to be learning math. You know it's bad when I don't want to teach math. I'm a closet math-lover.

 

 

Oops.

Wearing heels for outdoor recess when the ground is soggy? Notsomuch a good idea.

 

Having a Valentine's Party and a Birthday Party back to back? Notsomuch a good idea.

 

Wearing heels two days in a row for outdoor recess when the ground is soggy? A horrible idea.

 

Someday I'll learn.

Valentine's Day

Yes, I'm all about love. I'm a hopeless romantic. But this holiday sort of makes me want to vomit. I know, I know I said it before. But it's just a made up holiday. I'd much prefer gifts of any sort on one of the other 364 days in the year. Especially flowers. You just paid twice as much. I digress.

I'm not a total scrooge. I celebrate with my kiddos. I shower them with lovin' and I tell them just how special they are. I normally don't get any lovin' back because, well, my kids are special and they don't usually return the favor. I'm cool with that. Obviously, I don't do it for the money, or the gratitude. (I do it for the blog content, duh)

Except I got the best gift ever today. Little Man walked in and gave me a big hug and said, "I've waited allllllll year to tell you this-- I love you!" Keep in mind, I've had this kid for three years. He's never said this before. Ever. Not even close. He has more of a love/hate relationship with me.

Then, in the middle of a melt down about his bad choices, his ADHD kicked in and he remembered he forgot to tell me about the bus incident, "Someone was making bad choices and tried to pick a fight with me. I knew you wouldn't be happy with that choice, so I ignored him let the adult take care of it. Aren't you SO proud of me!?"

YES! Yes! yes! I've been working with him for 3 years on ignoring others' inappropriate behaviors and staying out of trouble. He loves trouble, so he can't stay out of it. And he did it. And he knew I'd be proud of him.

I love my job.

That Was Close..

Sorry I've been MIA, I was rather sick last week and then got wrapped up in the weekend. Now I'm doing everything I can to avoid homework/schoolwork, so here I am. But you're getting a list because I spent approximately 3.5 hours analyzing data for a huge meeting I have this week, so my brain is a little mushy.

1. Being sick, sick is actually no fun. Being stuck in bed feeling like you were hit by a truck and getting ABSOLUTELY nothing accomplished in 48 hours really puts a damper on things. It's like I lost two days this week.

2. My kids were good while I was absent, but they gave me huuuuuuuge hugs when I came back. Golly I love those munchkins.

3. The Boy gave me a really awesome surprise last week-- a flying lesson. This is really awesome because I would love to get my private pilots license one day. Flying has been a huge part of my life since I was little, so this is really awesome. The best part? It was a surprise for no reason. Those are the best.

4. I'm watching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills reunion show? Wow, these ladies are fake. Like really fake. Plastic is oozing from them.

5. Secretly? I kind of hate Valentine's Day. First of all, I hate hearts. Like hate them. When I was looking for wedding stuff, I vommed everytime I saw hearts. They make me sick to look at them. I also hate the idea of being forced to shower someone with affection. Gag me. Except, I love the idea of it in the classroom-- but I take the love part out of it and make it about friendship.

6. Ya'll! Big news! Be looking for a few changes around here. I'm in talks with miss Pink Lou Lou to get a bloggy make over. She's been SO awesome to work with. I can't wait to see what she whips up!

That's about it. I must get some homework and school work done. Stat.

Mommy of the year

Little miss got her paws on this by getting it off the counter. Am I horrible for not taking it from her?

It's keeping her quiet and out of my hair.... Like a pacifier for a puppy.

overheard..

Little Man: "Let's play pretend house. You be the cat and I'll be the owner."

 

Little Dude: "Um, I can't play with cats. My mom is allergic. It could like, kill her, if I play with cats and come home smelling like cats."

 

Little Man: "But, we're playing pretend. You aren't really going to be a cat."

 

Little Dude: "I just don't think it's a good idea."

 

Little Man: "Fine, just be a dog."

miscellaneous

Just left grad class, so you're getting bullets today. And you will like it, mmmmmkay?

• One of my kids may have said that love is when you go hump. I needed further explanation, as I was a little unsure of what exactly he meant by hump. Apparently in his little speech delayed world, he meant bump. When your heart goes bump. Bump. Not hump. Thank god. I would hate having to explain why we don't use that word in school.
• My professor says u-man instead of human. It drives me nuts.
• Same professor also says perferred instead of preferred. Also drives me nuts.
• Another cutie-patootie told me his bingo card had a lot of 3-ways on it. I couldn't help but chuckle.
• I have a pseudo-new student joining me everyday for our language arts workshop. He's a big-little guy with autism and he's probably the most adorable kid I've ever met. He's full of questions and I can really see how we're going to get really off task quickly. I may love every second of it. He can tell you all of the hosts on The View and refers to Elizabeth Hasselbeck as, "Last but not certainly not least, Elizabeth Hasselbeck!" She's his favorite because, "She has blonde hair just like you, Ms. L." Apparently he has a thing for blondes.
• He also disagrees with my use of adios as our dismissal cue. Apparently no teacher has ever used adios, and I shouldn't either. I was informed that I should change it immediately. I did not. And will not. He also informed me that he speaks English and all of my signs should be in English or he'll never understand anything I teach him.
• I might be sort of head over heels for this little guy, in case you can't tell.

Now I'm off to go reflect on who I am as a person and life events that have predicted my future. Yes, I'm taking a personality development class and I'm sooooo not into my feelings these days. Ugh. Guess I better get in touch with them soon. Or be a really good bs'er. I'll let you decide which route I take.

Meet the Teacher!

Cara over at The First Grade Parade is doing a Meet The Teacher linky party and I decided to join in the fun!

That's me, Ms. L. But you can call me Lori because I'm not really your teacher and we can totally be BFF's like that. I'm a twenty-something teacher who loves reading, learning, doing anything nerdy, and my pupp-a-rooni, Zoey.

The cutest pup, ever. End of story.

I've been teaching for 5 years (holy cow, where did time go?!). Two of those years were in resource/co-teaching in special education, grades 3 through 5, and the past three years have been in self-contained with students with severe emotional/behavior disabilities. I teach in a primary classroom. Currently I have all 2nd graders, but it's my first time having only one grade level and I'm totally loving it! My job is pretty ca-razy. Except this year it's been relatively sane. It's not unusual to have items being thrown while I'm teaching. Just sayin'. Not normal by any stretch of the imagination, but it's my life. Some people think that means I have the patience of a saint. But I really don't. At least not for most people. Just those under the age of 10 and with disabilities.

I graduated from Western Michigan University (Go Broncos!) with a BS (I just love saying BS.. I have a BS degree, ha!) in Special Education. I minored in Elementary Education, Math, and Science. I lived all of 10 miles from home while in college and never lived at home, but often came home for Sunday dinners and to do my laundry.

I'm currently working on my Master's in School Improvement/Leadership and I hope to one day become a principal.

And now on to the Q & A session:

Q: What would you be doing if you weren’t a teacher?

I would probably be doing something in HR, as that's what I did throughout college to make some extra money.

Q: What are your hobbies?

I enjoy cooking, reading, blogging, and shopping.

Q: When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a teacher, then a lawyer, then a funeral director. Apparently everyone knew I was going to be a teacher because I was ALWAYS bossing the other kids around a daycare and forcing them to play school.

Q: What are your guilty pleasures?

Horrible reality t.v. including The Bachelor, Keeping up with the Kardashians, and RW/RR Challenges. It's horrible. Honestly. I also love me some celebrity magazines.

Q: What is your biggest fear?!

Clowns, bridges, and emergencies.

Q: When you’re on vacation, where do you like to go?

The beach. I love laying on the beach with a cold drink in hand!

Q: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... it's learning to dance in the rain.

I've been through a lot in the past year and a half and this quote has gotten me through some tough times. Life isn't about the destination, it's about the journey.

Q: What do you value most in others?

Sincerity and work ethic. It's hard to take people seriously who don't work hard for what they have.

Q: If you could choose one of your personality traits to pass down to your kids, what would it be?

This is hard.. I suppose my enthusiasm for learning. That's lame, isn't it?

Q: If you could have lunch with anyone in the world….living or dead…who would it be?

My Dad. I just want one more day with him.

Now tell us one random thing about yourself:

I have a nickname that only a select few people can call me, Re. When I was little I couldn't say Lori, so I referred to myself as Re-Re. It was eventually shortened to Re. My parents and my brother call me Re, along with two high school friends. Beyond that, I simply won't allow it. My dad used to always spell it wrong (with an I, Ri) and I hated it.

Now it’s time for YOU to join the party!!!!  Here’s what you need to do:  Write a post titled “Meet The Teacher”.  Start with a brief “biography” and then copy & paste the Q&A {using your answers, of course!} 



Master's Schmasters..

This semester just might be the death of me. I'm taking two classes. One of them is an online class. I thought it might be a little easier, I think I totally thought wrong.

It's FULL of online lectures, deadlines, assignments, and the dreaded group work. Seriously, as soon as I get a syllabus I scan for those two words. Nothing kills my desire for learning like group work. I think it might  have something to do with my type A+ personality. And by A+, I totally mean I have to be in control at all times. I desire perfection. A 98% is unacceptable. 100% perfection. I love it when professors ask if they can use my assignment as an example. Yes, please. That's the highest form of flattery for me.

Which is why group work sucks. There's always a slacker in the bunch. Or, even worse, someone who thinks their idea is better than mine. Um, hello? Not happening. I refuse to let my grade rest in someone else's hands.

This class has 5 group projects. Not only are they group projects, they are online. Which means I can't even bully them in person to get their crap together. Ugh.

But I'm 5 classes (3 after this semester!) from getting my master's. I can do it. I will do it.

I just might become an internet bully in the meantime.

One bonus? I get to do my course work in my pj's, drinking a glass of wine, and cuddling with the little white dog.