Happy School Year!!!

Yes. . . it's that time of year again. . . new school year. . . back to the occasional school story postings. . .

So today was the first day of school. Now I have 26 little 3rd graders to once again spend my days with. It was a pretty typical first day of school. Parents come in, telling me things left and right about the things I need to remember about their little baby. The diabetic kid's mom had most my attention in the morning, then another mom grabbed me right at the end to tell me that there is a custody battle going on right now and that I was not to allow her son to go with his dad if he should happen to arrive. . . its a story I have heard several times in my few short years of teaching. . . but the dads never come. . .

until today. Police are called, official court papers are looked at, and as it turns out- dad is the one with full custody of the kid! Mom got a few weeks of summer with him and decided that she didn't want to give him back. So kid was pulled out of class, and dad took him home to Utah where he actually lives. It was a pretty interesting day.

I of course, got to witness hardly any of it. Principal comes in after lunch asking for the boy to come with him. And I don't find out anything til after school. Still was somewhat of an eye opener. Mom seemed so normal- I remember specifically telling her in response to not letting dad steal him away "we'll take good care of him!" Ha. . . makes me realize how little I really know what's going on in some of these kids lives.

I did my same garden theme classroom. . I LOVE it. Much is the same from last year. . . made a few modifications though. . . wish I got a picture of their tables with nametags. . . so cute! Maybe tomorrow. . .





A peak into 3rd grade-

"Any questions on what you should be doing?"
"Miss Kelly you're pretty"
"Thank you- but that wasn't a question."

I hope this one survives. . .

cuz I already LOVE it!!

I took a picture of my new living room with it. . .

Which I LOVE as well! :)

My last summer adventure (probably)

After a failed attempt to Indiana last week, I thought I best try it again this week. . .afterall, I start back to work NEXT WEEK! Couldn't give up my last chance to go for a couple of months! So I packed up my stuff once again (carry on only this time- last week my luggage went without me!), and headed out to try to hop my midnight flight to Indiana. SUCCESS! I had a layover in Cincinatti which ended up getting delayed a bit, so I ultimately arrived in Indiana about 11 in the am. Molly and the kiddos picked me up from the airport, then it was off for some lunch, and then home just in time for the boys nap (mine too of course. . . afterall- I basically missed my bedtime last night).
That night Molly and I laid around and watched tv because I was still pretty exhausted and it was still a work night of course.
The next morning came WAY too soon, but I dragged myself up and survived a pretty relaxing day of playing at the park and hanging out.

After work, Molly and I grabbed some dinner then headed to the movies and saw "The Switch," which was super funny.
Bryan got home that night as well, so the next day we enjoyed a trip to Red Robin for lunch, a little ceramic place to make plates afterwards, then finished up with a trip to Red Mango, a frozen yogurt joint which I really wasn't too impressed with. :(


Yup- that's me and Bry making plates. Molly and Bryan kind of made one together, Bryan was the official cutter of the glass until Molly started feeling sick so Bryan kindly finished up her glueing as well.

It was a super fun trip, Molly and I always have a good time together. Probably MUCH to everyone's surprise, we are quite similar to each other in many ways, and understand each other different than any one else. So it is usually quite the adventure doing even the smallest of things like shopping, or making projects, or just deciding where and what we are going to eat for lunch. The man with the giant soda mug in the gas station hit it right on the spot when he told us "the only thing different about you sisters is your hair." Oh how right he is.

Why dads are the best

I wanted to switch my student of the day trophy at school to a student of the week trophy instead. Since dad has an engraving machine, I asked him if he could just engrave me a new plaque thing that goes on the trophy instead of having to buy a whole new one. My text instructions were pretty vague, "Miss Kelly's student of the week, whichever color that is boy/girl neutral. 10 cm by 2cm. (actually he refused to accept my measurements until I converted them into "american" measurements for him :)

Couple hours later, this is the picture I got...


So many options, how will I ever choose??

Thanks Dad!!!!

Kelly family fun

The Kelly family Laughlin trip has come and gone. Of course the trip was filled with lots of fun, chatter, eating, sunning, and boating. I met my family in Laughlin the day after school ended for me. I left Doogle with a little family that asked me if they could watch him for a couple of days. So it was a very nice, worry free, end of the school year mini vacation.









I can't express my thanks to my great parents who pull us all together every summer to plan, and fund our fun little excursion each year. Afterall, what other parents will include the kids' gambling allowance as part of their vacation expense?? Though we didn't win big, we still had a great time bonding in the Laughlin casinos. :) (Good thing my gambling addiction only seems to come out while traveling and not in everyday living :)
On Friday I headed back to Vegas with plans to pick up the pups and then head to California to meet up with the rest of the family once again. But plans changed when my puppysitters eagerly asked if they could keep him a couple of more days while I was in California. So Doogle free, I met back up with my family that evening after taking a fun little detour. :-p And the California part of the trip will soon (hopefully) be posted about on my sister Molly's blog, afterall- it's more her story to share. :)

Yum

So I was supposed to go to Indiana this week, but after many attempts on the standby list, I finally gave up.

Sad day. :(

So here I am still in Vegas.

My friend Michael invited me over to help make cookies. Ha- all I really did though was read the ingredients off the paper and let him find, measure, and dump the stuff into the mixer. I know, not much of a fair trade, but he seemed to know what he was doing. . .

That is until we got to the final ingredient, chocolate chips. . . "Don't use the machine, just mix them in by hand. . . "

So he did. Two grubby hands into the cookie dough to mix the chocolate chips in "by hand". . .

Not exactly what I had in mind. . .

Summer is HERE!

Have I mentioned that I (finally) had my last day of school for my fifth year teaching? Scary how time flies. I have already been to Laughlin and California with the family and leave for Indiana tomorrow. 3 week summer vacation, better make the most of it! More on those trips to follow shortly (hopefully). Happy Summer everyone!!!