Warm Weather..

It was an absolutely gorgeous day today. As of right now the temp is 83 degrees! I went to the park with some friends for lunch. Sometimes I feel funny cause they all have little ones, I feel like I am a scary lady intruding on mommy time....But it was fun. Here are some pictures from the afternoon. PS- I am waaayy sunburned.

And my favorite shot of the day...

Oh Boy!

Spring has sprung here in Cleveland! With that said, I am up to my ears in school. I have planned about 87 lesson plans this semester. I have read journals about what is developmentally appropriate for children this 4-8 years. I have written papers on ADHD, full day kindergarten, children from low incomes in schools, No Child Left Behind, a project approach classroom and constructivist approaches to teaching. I love being in the classroom but I cannot stand the useless garbage I am faced with sometimes. I want to be in a class of wonderful and brilliant 8 year olds. 8 is a great age for so many reasons....How ever I thought I would share some of what I have learned about all school aged children. Maybe it will prove that I DO in fact know what I am talking about...And that all this schooling is maybe paying off. Maybe it will also make me feel better about doing schoolwork 35 hours a week on top of being a mom, working, planning church lessons, gymnastics, cooking, cleaning and life.....YIKES....hope someone likes this:) Have a great day

5 year olds:

Physical and motor skills milestones for a 5-year-old may include:
Skipping, jumping, and skating with good balance
Maintaining balance while standing on one foot with eyes closed
Tying own shoelaces
Showing increased skill with simple tools and writing utensils

Dress and undress easily
Cut out shapes using scissors

Tell date of birth.

Can recite address (and SHOULD!)

Uses a fork and knife well

Cuts on a line with scissors

Sensory and cognitive milestones include:
Increasing vocabulary to over 3000-5000 words

Understands about 13,000 (meaning that they can correctly use 3-5 thousand words in language but can understand 13 thous.)
Identifying coins
Properly naming the primary colors and possibly many more
Decreasing aggressive behavior
Outgrowing earlier childhood fears
Questioning others, including parents
Strongly identifying with the parent of the same sex

Likes to argue and reason

Understands that books are read from left to right, top to bottom (I don't think people realize that this is EXTREMELY important in development!)

Invents games with simple rules

Can take turns and share, but doesn't always want to

Expresses anger and jealousy physically

Begins to have a very basic understanding of right and wrong

Sleeps 10-11 hours at night

Ways to encourage a 5-year-old's development may include:
Providing the necessary space for physical activity
Instructing the child to participate in -- and learn the rules of -- sporting activities
Encouraging the child to play with other children, which helps develop social skills
Playing creatively with the child
Visiting local areas of interest
READING TOGETHER!!! ( Dr. Suess book's are especially important. They include almost all of the neccesary steps needed to read fluently)

I think that ultimately, we need to realize that children are just that. I think that as parents, we expect our children to act a certain way or we expect them to do more than they actually can (sit for long periods of time, be nice to other children, not talk back). Children are not mini adults. Tommorow I will post them for 6 year olds.....Are you ready?

WooHoo!!

Woohoo for warm weather! James, Olivia and I went to the park last week and we had a great time. James and Liv loved goofing off....they also enjoyed death defying tricks! Here is some of the time at the park, Enjoy!

Reunion......

My aunt Joan retired recently and my aunt Lori had a party at her house to celebrate. My family was loud, crazy and had a little too much fun.....I left early because I was tired and my feet were swollen from working so much. Nevertheless, a good time was had and people traveled from a far to be there: California, Virginia, Florida, St. Louis, and Columbus.....Here is the result....

Spring?

This past week I have been on spring break and I am enjoying it fully. I have an extrememly bust schedule and the much needed break was a relief. James and I cleaned our patio which was full of leaves, mud, discarded buckets, bikes and other various things. Our patio looks really bare now but we will enjoy it soon. There is an amazing amount of bulbs that will soon explode with color. We are beginning to see the start of them already but I am not sure the warm weather will last. Living in the Cleve, there is always a threat of great weather and then it snows. In fact, snow is predicted again. Even though today is the first day of spring, there are bound to be a couple more false alarms before I can dig out my sandals....I hope the frost doesn't kill my hydrangeas......Let's keep our fingers crossed

Being Bummed

Today is one of those days. I am not usually a crier. I didn't cry when I had my transplant or when I got the call. I didn't cry when my grandpa, who was like a dad to me, died. I didn't even cry when Olivia was born. At the end of January, a really close firend of mine died. I didn't cry. I just don't do it very often. I have seen so much in my life that it feels like I have a steel shell. Things don't bug me, peoples words don't usually hurt me. But today, I cried for the first time in a really long time. Yesterday, I got a call from someone prososing an idea. They wanted to know if I would become a part of an ambassador program for the Cleveland Clinic. It involves lung transplant patients (which I am) going to different people and promoting certain drugs. I was super up for it. For those of you who don't know, I frequently give BIG speeched to large groups of people. I want to become and motivational speaker one day and travel all over to give speeches. Well, I was pumped. Then the woman involved told me that there was an all expenses paid trip to San Fransisco included. Then I was really excited. I thought my dream's door was opening for me to step right inside. I called her back this morning and she had said that they has only needed one person and that someone already had accepted their offer. My heart was crushed and I sat on my living room floor, curled into a ball on my side and cried. I am so bummed you guys. On so many levels. I thought for sure this was the chance I needed to get into motivational speaking. See, to do it, you need to get your name out there, do it around the city, then state, then country. I have done it around the city.....this would have let me go straight to country level. not only that but I would have gone on somewhat of a vacation. James and I, due to a new set of brakes had to potpone our trip to AZ, which I was REALLY looking forward to. I am under a ton of pressure from school. I have already quit one job and it is impossible to quit the second or we really lose money. We can't afford for me NOT to work. School is driving me crazy. EVERY day I think about dropping out. I only have two semesters to go, and those are in the classroom. But with schedling conflicts for next year, I might not be able to finish. I am stressed, tired, aggravated and short tempered. I have prayed and asked for help from heavenly father. I know that He "answers when appropriate" and "He knows" what's best. I feel like I am drowning in darkness, stress and textbooks. I don;t know abot you but I would never let one of my children come close to drowning, no matter what I knew. I was really excited about this and it feels like He ripped the carpet out from under me. Just when I think I am getting ahead and it might be a good year, He throws things like this at us. I DO think He gives us more than we can handle. He must not remember that my body CANNOT take this kind of stress. I am bummed and feel like He let me down. I have thought about this all morning, and prayed. I don't seem to be able to think anything good about this. Not even anything that happens until then seems like it would be "better that I didn't go."
A

Great Strides....and the rest

WOOHOO.....I am on a ROLL....I have been posting like mad!!! I guess I am finding it therapeudic....like a diary.....Anyways, I have been super busy. On May 16th, I am coordinating a team to walk in the Cystic Fibrosis walk at the zoo....I am doing an event at a coffeee house to raise money for it (which I think a couple boys at my church will be playing the live music)....and it is tough. Our team has a goal of raising 3000 dollars. Not tough you say...try it. I think it helps that someone donated 500 dollars....0ne donor....THANK YOU SO MUCH.....anyways, I will be speaking at the event to kick it off. I am hoping to reach out goal. I have posted flyers EVERYWHERE so that people will donate. All this on top of school, gymnastics, working and preparing lessons for Primary. Don't get me wrong. I love everything I do and I do it by choice. But it is tough. If you would like to donate, you can do so online here at this link....

http://www.cff.org/great_strides/FundRaisingSummary/?walkID=5997

We would love to meet our goal or beyond...Such a great cause.....Anyone who knows me knows how close to my heart this is. Thank you all so much and if you want or could, forward the link to everyone so they can walk with us or donate. Have a great day and let's ban together to help little kids breathe a little easier

A

It's a shocker, I know

This happens to be my second post in a month.....shocking, I know. I am now done with cheerleading and what a relief. The spring semester at school seems to eat me up alive. Olivia got sick, then I got sick at the beginning of the month. No sooner did we get over it then I got sick again. It stayed in my head and nose area for a long time. I went to the doctor and NOTHIN!!! No viruses, no bacteria, no herpes.....Im Just kidding.....about the herpes thing...LoL....anyways, I was fine. The doc said it must have been that warm weather we had for couple days. It must have stirred up something that affected my allergies. So I was ok.....Olivia, unfortunatly was not. She got a slight fever on a Saturday and by Sunday afternoon, it was full blown hot kid on my hands. She stayed in bed all day Sunday and Monday and slept until 1230 on Tuesday. She is now better but wow, that was a little weird. She is usually a 24 hour bug kid.....but this knocked her out. Then, James got sick. He is now also better. Needless to say that we are keeping GOJO and kleenex in business with all the Purell and anti bacterial tissue we buy. We are all good now and let's try and keep it that way:)

Jen and Brianna came this weekend! I am so excited 'cause we had a great time. I love Jen and Brianna has turned out to be quite the hip hop dancer. It makes me want to sign Olivia up, but alas, gymnastics takes up our time. I miss Jen as we don't see each other like we would like to. Miss You! But the Tequila Ranch was amazing and riding the mechanical bull is so fun! Thanks ladies for making our weekend great:)