new birthday pics

I have finally added more pictures to the birthday post. Scroll down to see them.

First Day of First Grade

Caroline's first day of First grade went great. She was a little nervous the night before, which I thought was interesting. We went and dropped off all her supplies and met the teacher last week. She was across the hall from Mrs. Mullins last year and saw her in the halls all the time, but I think that the Kindergarten teachers used the phrase "Well, when you get to first grade..." a few too many times and it stuck in Caroline's head. As soon as we got there and she got with her friends in the halls she was fine. She is across the hall from her good friend (who was starting kindergarten) so Caroline put on her brave face for Maddy.

She has been practicing using her princess alarm clock (no buzzer for this girl- Cinderella sings to her), but yesterday she needed the added Dog Alarm to get out of bed.

She got a new backpack (like Diego's) and lunchbox this year (all pink camo). You may notice that last year's lunch box is going to school with Mommy. She also got a bunch of bows from a friend that moved away and no longer attends Trinity. She loves the giant "school" bows. Hopefully that means we won't have to have the discussion on why she can't wear camo bows to school ("But then no one will be able to see my hair. Won't that be cool?")every morning.

The best part of Caroline's day was definitely meeting the new kid. Ryan, her bestest friend from preschool came back from the storm and is in the same class. They will be great buds.

Being a WM not a WAHM

A many of you already know, Watt Watchers- the grant funded non profit I have been working for for the past 6 years- will not be funded for the next fiscal year. It has been a sad summer as we have worked hard to replace the funding and don't want to see the Watt Watchers program wither and go away (nor do the teachers and School Districts that we help). But with no funding on the horizon, I made the choice to make a change.

I am going back to the classroom. I have been working from home (WAHM is work at home mom for those not familiar with the lingo) since Caroline was born. Going somewhere to work has been a big change for my family. Poor Caroline is taking it like a champ. For the past few weeks she has told everyone we meet that her mom was going to lose her job (We are reading Kit Kitteridge: an American Girl right now about the Great Depression- probably not the best book to be reading while your mom is losing her job). Now her story is "My mom is a teacher. Not a teacher of teachers like she used to be, and not a teacher at my school, but a big kid teacher. She teaches about chemicals you shouldn't put in your mouth."

Monday Aug 10, I was hired at Ball High School in Galveston to teach science (Chemistry or Integrated Physics and Chemistry most likely). Wednesday Aug 12 I started New Teacher training and Monday Aug 24, the kids arrive. This has been a whirlwind.

A bit about my teaching background- I taught life sciences (bio and environmental) in a predominantly white upper middle class area in a brand new school with over 3000 kids. Ball High is , well it is none of those things. Ball lost 600 kids after the hurricane and is expecting 1800 kids to come back this fall (9th -12th grade). ALL students are on free and reduced lunch due to the hurricane (everyone was considered homeless for one year) and that number will drop to around 70% after September. The school was built in 1854 and I am teaching physical sciences. I have not seen my classroom but this picture of my hallway was in the paper yesterday. (these are some of the thousands of volunteers still here to help with recovery)

One thing is the same. When I started in Pearland I was a new teacher without any "stuff". What washed away in the hurricane from our house? My teacher boxes. So, I am starting back up without any "stuff". I have a stack of posters that Watt Watchers has published that I will use to start with. C and I may hit the teacher supply store this weekend to find some 'inspiration" posters and background material for bulletin boards.

So, say a little prayer for us over the next few weeks. C will start school on Tuesday Aug 18 and Daddy will be the one to take her.

Ice Skating in Summer

Becky and Marc (my Iowa parents) are on a road trip to visit family out East and Caroline and I drove up to Fort Worth to meet them for a few days (I know Texas is not on the way but how can you resist meeting up with a cute granddaughter).

Today we went ice skating at the Dallas Galleria. Caroline has never skated and I have not skated since I was in the ninth grade. For those of you counting that is almost 20 years.

Caroline did great! She had no fear and took off. No marching for her. I had not planned for skating when we packed so both of us were wearing capris. We bought her a pair of mittens and put a pair of knee high socks on under her capris. After an hour we took a five minute break and then went back out for another 30 minutes. By the end she was skating almost the length of rink and could skull and snowplow stop. I, on the other hand, did not retain much of my skating ability. I can honestly say I cannot "shoot the duck", sit spin, or do many jumps. Yes I tried them all.

At the end of the skating Caroline's pants were soaked through from falling. We had to buy her a new outfit at Children's Place to get her dry and warmed up.

I think we will definitely be ice skating more often.

Carolineism's and other funny stories from this week

Yesterday I cooked a turkey for dinner. Caroline came over and turned on the oven light to take a look. After peering inside she had this to say, "Mom, I think there is a problem. Your turkey turned into a chicken." At dinner she kept calling it ham. I think we need to watch more Top Chef.

This past weekend was my sister Jill's baby shower. When I asked Caroline what she wanted to send she had this reply,"When someone has a baby you send something old, something new, something borrowed, and something Blue's clues." That sounded like a good plan so that is what she sent.

One of her birthday presents was an Imagine Next boat and submarine (thank you Kaylyn and Holly). She has identified it as the Calypso and named the characters Jacques and Phillippe (That's my good Marine Biologist). They go on deep sea explorations and rescue missions- while Polly Pocket drives the ship in her teeny tiny high heels.

7-17-2009

My baby is 6 years old! Where does the time go?

We were talking about when she was born (and exactly when she would turn 6 which Caroline found very important). When we told her she was born at night (8:52 to be exact) she got all excited and replied, "That means I am nocturnal." Is that why she stays up reading in bed? So, she told everyone that called to wish her a happy birthday that she was not 6 yet and she would not be 6 until after the party because she was nocturnal. There was lots of explaining from mom after those calls. We were up late swimming with the twins and C kept asking what time it was. We began giving her the countdown and finally she was actually 6 years old. She did a cannonball off the dock to celebrate.



The Pirate Party



When we began planning a party I gave her the Oriental Trading Catalog and told her to find things she liked. Over four weeks we narrowed it down to a Girly Pirate themed party at our house. (not a private party as so many of our neighbors thought Caroline was telling them.) So last night we had an old fashioned, come to our house to play and have dinner, party.
The kids had a blast checking the crab lines (OK maybe that never happened at a party I attended as a kid) and digging through the bait bucket to see what cousin John had caught in his cast net. They did some girly crafts and chased each other with live shrimp. They ate hot dogs and attacked a pinata.

And of course they ate cake (yep, I made it myself). In the days of outsourcing the entire event to an event planner or destination, this was really a fun low key party. All planned by Caroline.
That is John and Adelyn (my twin niece and nephew) behind Caroline and the cake. They came up to spend the weekend with us and help celebrate. And this is the unexpected guest- a juvenile Roseate Spoonbill. Caroline would want me to add that this is my favorite bird. He landed on the neighbor's dock in the middle of the party. I guess he wanted to see what John was catching or maybe get in on the cake.

Happy Birthday America

Happy America's Birthday everyone! Caroline did some decorating yesterday and helped cook a couple apple pies. Today we have golf cart races, a parade and a community party (at which I am entering the cookie bake off). We hope you all have a wonderful weekend.