day 304

Happy Halloween!

The Browns get a little freaked out by all of the doorbell ringing and noise outside on Halloween so we're pretending not to be home. I wonder if there will be any spider rings left in the basket by the end of the night...

day 303

Today, as a part of our Five Senses Fall Festival, I taught the kids to make these spider hats. I wish I could post the photos of the kids' smiling faces - even the 6th graders loved the hats!

day 302

This week was Red Ribbon Week, a time when we talk to the kids about saying no to drugs, alcohol and tobacco. We decorated the door with our anti-drugs - the things we like to do that keep us from getting involved with drugs. It was a theme that was used years ago that I always really liked. My kids are such great little artists! One of my girls suggested that we needed a sign so that the kindergartners wouldn't think we were saying all of these activities were drug-related. :)

day 301

For my birthday, Nanci gave me a certificate to go with her to a wine and cheese class at The Prado in Balboa Park. It took place in a terrific little room upstairs from the restaurant. The owner of Venissimo talked about her the cheeses and there was a sommeliere who spoke about the wines she chose to pair with them. Afterward, we went down to the Prado for a bite to eat before driving home. There was a really good two-man band performing in the bar so it make for great atmosphere.

Thank you so much Nanci, for the thoughtful and FUN gift! I hope that we do make it a tradition and will plan to sign us up for something for your big day in May. I love you lots and lots! :)

day 300

I'm back from NY and back to work.

We received our pen pal letters today, from Carlisa's second graders. The kids were SO excited and wanted to read them out loud, have me read them out loud and talk about them incessantly. It was so much fun to see their excitement. :)

day 299

Mom and I wandered around Greenwich Village this afternoon and both decided we'd be happy to live there. It's such a wonderful neighborhood!

day 298

My mom and I went to see Wicked this afternoon. It was my first Broadway show and was AMAZING! The set was incredible and it was so well done, from start to finish. This is an illegal shot - we were not allowed to take any photos at all. :)

day 297

This is my beautiful cousin Jeannine. I am in New York for her baby shower and to spend some time with my mom. I didn't get any good shots of Jeannine that show her belly, unfortunately, but I really like this one.

Congratulations to you and Brian, Jeannine! I am so excited for you both and can't wait to meet your baby girl. :)

day 296

side note... I can't believe I have been doing this for 297 days already! Wow!

I am drinking cheap red wine at the airport bar, en route to NYC. I can't wait to get there and stuff my face with some real, live NY pizza pie!

Shot with my Palm Treo.

day 295

I took some photos today as my students sorted dominoes...

day 294

day 293

day 292

We took 80 kids to the Pumpkin Patch today. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect but it was a lot of fun. They had a pen of animals to pet and feed, a hay ride, corn maze and a real pumpkin patch where the kids were able to pick their own pumpkin to take home with them. We had a great time!

day 291

 Mr. Alert - watching over the neighborhood. :)

day 290

We were a bit nervous at the vet this morning. Hershey wanted to hide but there wasn't much room with Charlie in the way so she ended up with her nose to the wall, sitting on him. Too funny!

day 289

We had a visit today from the Border Patrol's Agent Mike and his robot. He spoke to the kids about a number of safety issues including what to do if they find a gun. Good to know...

day 288

My class held a coin drive to raise money for Feeding America and I took the money to Wal-Mart yesterday. They have a Coin-Star machine there and you can donate the money directly to several different charities. We raised a total of $243.88 - that's enough to feed a family of four for an entire year. :) It's pretty crazy how heavy the coins were. Pictured here are only the pennies - 5988 of them, to be exact!

day 287

Charlie had a seizure at about 4:00 this morning. It's an awful thing to witness. He seems to be doing fine now and we have an appointment with the vet on Saturday to figure out what's going on.

day 286

Goodbye Colleen and Jake... I love you! Hurry back!

day 285

Colleen, Jake and I went to Sea World today. My absolute favorite part was petting the bat rays and feeding them. It was SO cool! I love how this photo turned out - it doesn't even look real.

day 284

Today is Jake's 6th birthday and he wanted to go bowling. We met up with Colleen's friends, the Kamanus, at EastLake Tavern + Bowl and had a great time!

day 283

We took Jake to Legoland today. Since Halloween is coming soon, they had the place decked out with decorations and also had an after hours event called Brick or Treat.

day 282

day 281

It's my birthday. :) Colleen and Jake arrived today and will be here until Tuesday. After that long flight, we didn't think it would be fair to make Jake sit at a restaurant so we decided to go bowling with my friends and have dinner there. A lot of photos were taken but I didn't take many myself. This is a photo of Arijana right after she got her first strike. She had never been bowling before!

Thanks everyone! I had so much fun with you and I'm so glad to have spent time with my favorite people on my birthday. I love you so very much!

day 280

day 279

Halloween is everywhere! This is a storefront in Mission Hills, one of my favorite neighborhoods in San Diego.

day 278

Is it really October already?!

day 277

Last weekend Arijana and I went to Trader Joe's to do a bit of shopping. She recommended these frozen pastries that have chocolate inside. You leave them out overnight (to rise) and the bake them in the morning for about 20 minutes. All week long, I forgot to leave those little guys out but I finally remembered last night. O-M-G. Fantastic!

day 276

I had a date tonight with Holden (and Robyn and Hannah too!) for dinner at Macaroni Grill. It was such a fun surprise to get to hang out with them! The kids are so much fun and I love it when Holden gets giggling - it is too cute.

Thank you Elsmores! I love you so, so much!

day 275

We finally had some time today for the kids to have some one-on-one time with Seymour. Their reactions to him are always so funny. They kept asking me to take more photos. Cute!

day 274

We had a Parent Workshop tonight and were able to use Mater Dei's lecture hall. The architecture of the campus buildings and the landscaping are so simple and low key - it gives the whole campus a very clean feeling.