Best of Friends

No matter how many times a day I try to redirect Emerson's attention, she always finds her way back to our cat, Owen. We have been working hard at getting her to pet him gently, and our efforts seem to be paying off. (For any of you who have the pleasure of knowing Owen, you know he does not bestow his friendliness on just anyone.) We were worried about how he would react when Emerson was born, but he has come through the past year with flying colors.

Wanna know a secret?

Come on, let's go see what's out there! Just you and me!

Teacher Talk

Last week I posted about the hardships of teachers. I was actually just trying to get a frustrating week off my chest, but Christina asked what parents could do to support their kids teachers. So, I have been thinking about that a lot lately.

My list so far:

* Make sure your kids are fed in the morning. If this is something you can't accomplish right now for whatever reason, seek out your school's breakfast/lunch program and sign up for some help.

* Try to get them into clean clothes...and on this one, if possible, try to wrangle them away from their favorite sweatshirt a time or two during the week to wash it!

* Help them with their homework. Set aside a time and place to do homework and make sure it gets back into their school bag so it's ready for the next day.

* Talk about the Golden Rule with your child. If every one of my students kept this rule in the back of their minds during the day, we'd have a whole lot less nit-picking going on.

* Let them know that it's OK to ask questions in class. That in fact, the teacher will love having questions to answer.

* When given the change to go to a Parent's Night, Open House or Conferences, do your VERY best to be there. It seems that the kids whose parents are present at these activities tend to do SO much better during the year. Not hard to figure out why: both the student and the parent know what to expect in the classroom.

* Try not to doubt the teacher when he/she calls you and tells you your kid has done something bad. Sometimes kids slip up and the teacher has the dreaded job of calling home.

* Show your child you care: talk to them about their day, try to help them with their homework, study for a test together, encourage them to get involved with new friends they meet or an after school activity.

* Communicate with the teacher. As a teacher myself, I'd rather a parent call often than not at all. Email works great if you're not a phone person or if you keep different hours from the teacher. Personally, it takes only a minute to respond to a parent email, and often many minutes to have a conversation.

Some of these things may seem so simple, and many of you may be doing these things already. Keep up the good work!! Please feel free to comment and add your thoughts. I'd love to hear what other teachers and parents think is important!

Monkey Love

Lately, Emerson has been totally taken with Curious George. She has seen the TV show as well as parts of the movie, but the thing that gets her excited is George himself.

Showing some love....

One Last Ride

This summer flew by in a blur. It went so fast, that until about a week ago, we didn't realize that we hadn't visited Captain Sundae! So, we rectified that with two visits in two weeks. Yummy ice cream!

Of course while we were there, we had to ride on the turtle!

School Days

Well, I survived the first week. Many ups and downs. I am trying to start off the second week refreshed from a great weekend and optimistic about all the potential my students are showing.

I want to just throw one thought out there: Who is raising your kids?

The last time I checked, the primary job of raising children should go to the parents. I do know there are many wonderful teachers out there that have many wonderful "mentoring" qualities.
However, teachers would have to be superhuman to tackle the job that sometimes lands in their laps. I hope that during the school year, teachers are able to do what they do best (teach!) and parents are able to do what they do best (parent!). Teachers would be no where without the support of parents. Now.....if everyone would just work together!

11 months

Emerson Grace, 11 months

Party Time! Excellent!

This is what we kept saying to Emerson last weekend to build up excitement for my sister's wedding. The weekend was a long one filled with lots of family. It's crazy how the time from engagement to wedding can be filled with so many activities and can fly by SO fast! Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Keith and BK Casazza!

Almost the entire wedding party...the most my husband could capture from his seat in church! There were 12 attendants, two flower girls, two ring bearers and two ushers! Quite a crowd!

BK and I in between the wedding and the reception.

One of my oldest friends, Hallie and I hanging out with Emerson. Em was SUCH a trooper through the rehearsal, wedding and reception.

My mom and Hallie with me at the reception.

My dad dancing with Emerson at the reception. I dare say, that she came quite close to stealing the bride's spotlight! She got passed around so much that there were times I didn't even know where she was!