SNOW DAY!!

~Let it snow....Let it snow....Let it snow~

The day before Winter break we end up with a SNOW DAY!!! I told Ryan he's going to wish we had this day on the first day back instead of today! I am so glad I was thinking ahead and brought the 37 Christmas gifts I had under the tree for students, faculty and staff. Otherwise I would have had to store everything for over two weeks! Ryan decided to experience a day at work with Mom! He got to see how long the day can be at the office!

This past week has been a trying one! First I was rear ended while Christmas shopping, my check engine light has come on, I fell on the back of my head on the icy parking lot at work and ended up getting many X-rays of my skull - which is still extremely sore! It's causing me headaches and periods of nausea along with times of "confusion". A few people have told me that I've been repeating myself within an hour or two. The doctor explained that I hit my head so hard that it caused my brain to move in my head and I'm experiencing these symptoms because of it. It's been 3 days now and the second day was worse than the first......hopefully soon I will start feeling "normal".

At GOGO our area leader flew in under the impression I would except a position as "area accountant". This would require lots of travel throughout the United States! Not too sure what she was thinking after I've already turned her down as future team leader and to train in New Jersey since "I DON'T WANT TO TRAVEL OR WORK FULL TIME" there. The position I hold is being "restructured" and they keep giving me other duties with other offices to insure I will continue to work there. After turning down the area accountant position I explained that I had an opportunity to go full time with the school in insure I would have benefits. They keep telling me I'm a valued employee and they will fight tooth and nail to keep my there......what ever happens - happens.

For the holidays I will be off on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.....it will be a nice break, as I haven't had that many days off ever!!!!!

Ryan's been doing well with wrestling. I was able to go to my first meet on Wednesday. I arrived while the other team was practicing and wasn't sure how I would handle seeing my son's limps, head and body tortured! What an awful sport!





Hope to post again real soon - HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!! ~Lisa

Looking Back - a month or two!

Among all the blog updating I've been doing for work and school, I've sort of let my personal blog fall off to the side! Football season is now over. Ryan's team had a awesome year, only losing 2 games. His coaches gave him many opportunities as the season went on. I'm sure the highlight for Ryan was having the entire team chanting his name as he was placed on offense and was handed the ball in hopes of completing a touchdown. Sadly, no one blocked for him on either play and he was tackled immediately - but still the memory of hearing SADLER, SADLER, SADLER by the coaches and teammates is the football story he will be sure to share with his kids someday!

With football season behind us- Ryan has now become a member of the wrestling team. He really seems to enjoy it - although I don't know why. It seems so primitive to me. He lost his first match - but so did every other boy except two! I haven't had the opportunity to see a match - but hope to do so soon. The matches are on several different weekdays - and Wednesday will most likley be the only day I will be able to cheer him on.

School has been hectic. Being responsible for FIVE supported ed kids can be stressful at times. Although it can be quite rewarding. Two of my students have come from intercity schools and scored ZERO's on standardize tests at the beginning of the year. They both could not read a single word- had no phonics foundation what-so-ever, and did not have any math concepts at all. They are actually making progress and although struggle even with the modified work - it is so heartwarming to see them stand so proudly and smile over their accomplishments. I even been getting "love notes" on my desk. Sadly, I've never worked with so many children from needy families. At our school, the majority of families are well off......since the restructure of our boundries, we have aquired some children that are part of a a different economic level. Ryan and I went shopping one evening and as I walked through the store all I could think of was how some of these kids don't have hats and gloves to stay warm at recess - where others have many different name brand coats, matching hats and gloves, boots and snowpants. I purchased some hats and gloves and brought them to school the following day. One boy was so grateful, it was as if he had won the lottery! Each year I contribute to the holiday outreach program for the families at our school that may be going through a difficult time. At one point, our school had a total of 35 families. Last year, I believe it was 15 families. This year alone, in our classroom there are 6!!! I am hoping to contribute to each of the 6 families - more specific for the second grade child of each of these families. A "wishlist" should be released soon.

Speaking of Christmas, I've begun to wrap the gifts I have purchased so far. I have a total of 41 people to buy for (not including the 24 students I will purchase something small for.) I've completed 31 people!! Once the holiday outreach list is released there will be 6 more gifts to purchase. I'm hoping to finish shopping/wrapping soon, so I'm not so overwhelmed with the holidays.

I've made several photo books through snapfish for that "special" gift. I just finished creating a book for my uncle and two cousins, in memory of my aunt who passed away a few months back. I'm sure this holiday season will be very difficult; as it is the first without her. I hope they appreciate the sintament and thought that went into it.

I've been trying to find out a way to post or embed the collection of photobooks I've made......stay tuned!

~Lisa

OCTOBER ELECTION?

Hard to believe we've entered Fall already. Ryan's football team is 2 & 2 so far. He's been enjoying his special team kick return position. He is rotated into the defensive line also.

Ryan was voted into the student counil as arepresentative last week and now has decided to run for the executive board as Treasurer. He will be speaking in front of the entire student body and faculty (over 1000 people) on Friday to persuade them to vote for him! Sure is a far cry from the boy who cried entering middle school just 2 years ago! He's asked me to attend the assembly to hear him speak - so I've arranged for a substitiute and hope to have good news to report soon!

GOOD LUCK RYAN!!!!

Where Has The Time Gone?

WOW! It's hard to believe my last post was in JULY!!! So much has gone on since then. Of course, school has started for both Ryan and I. AGAIN, Ryan was chosen as STAR STUDENT for the first week of school out of over 150 kids on his "team". I was placed in Second Grade, which is one of my favorite grades. (First and Second tend to be my favorites!) I'm with a teacher I worked with for my first two years at Brookdale. She changed from Kindergarten to Second Grade several years back - so it's nice to work with someone I know so well. Unfortunately, the only slotted on classroom for supported education students, thinking there were only 3 children qualifying. Two more students moved in that have IEP's so they were placed into my care! YES, 5 students (2 with autisim and 3 with learning disabilities). In addition we have 3 low students one with behavorial issues that require constant monitoring. I feel like an octopus at times - but since I was with two of the students last year I know them well enough to know their abilitities. It's the new students that I need to get to know better. They have been sending someone in to assist for about 1/2 hour during literacy since two of the children do not know the first grade sight words. I have been helping the teacher keep up our classroom blog. Visit us at http.//sandersscoops.blogspot.com to keep up on all our adventures.

In addition to this classroom blog - you will see at the right side of this blog under portfolio - I have designed around 20 blogs for teachers and the office. I've set up almost all of them and created a header and layout for all. Check them out - I even have teachers contacting me from other schools!

Ryan joined football again this year. He made starter for special teams and is very excited. He chose to keep his same number from last year (THE BIG 49!). He mentioned that the jersey felt a little tighter this year!! He has a big game at the high school football field on Wednesday against their rivals - so he's been practicing and reading his play book to prepare. He spent the night at grandma and grandpa's last night; so I decorated his bedroom door to surprise him when he gets home tonight. Yes, it's 3 dimensional! GO TRAILBLAZERS!!!

Among everything else, it was my birthday at the end of August. We celebrated at Hugo's Frog Bar in downtown Naperville. I received many generous gifts from family and friends and a message on my answering machine reminding me of how old I am!! Thanks Jacob!!!!

I hope to update MY personal blog more often - or at least as much as I update the office blog and the school blogs!!!

Until then.................

Summer's Flying By

It's hard to believe that 1/2 of the summer is already gone. This past week Ryan and I visited Cantigny. I wasn't sure what to expect, but after seeing some wedding photos a friend showed me that were taken there, I thought it might be something to go see. Ryan had been there on a field trip there in 5th grade - but it was primarily for the military tanks and museum. I was pleasantly surprised that even the area with the tanks was interesting and the grounds was absolutely breathtaking. After dinner, we decided to take Bill over to see the tanks and even though the museum was already closed he was fascinated to read and see all the tanks, including the tank his father operated during the Korean War.




Last week Ryan was in Football Camp. We had to get up a lot earlier than we've been use to and frankly we hated it! Friday the boys along with Ryan's friend went to see the Batman movie, The Dark Knight and then Saturday they went to the Sox game with Dave, Dan,Kim and Jacob. I, of course, enjoyed the time to work on the computer and enjoy the piece and quiet.

I can't remember if I mentioned in my previous postings that I was offered a new "role" at GOGO. After being a little overwhelmed at first, I'm finally able to organize myself between the two different office's accounting. The other office is located in Mahwah, New Jersey. I'm hoping to take on another office soon. Since Flight Center bought our company, they have been eliminating people in my position. It was such a shock to be one of the 2 people picked out of the entire country to be given the opportunity to assist the auditing department in auditing other offices finances. The entire company was put on the same monitary "retainer" and has to work on a commission incentive to produce business. They offered me a higher retainer in addition to working on my own personal incentive to reduce errors in both our office and the Mahwah office. So far, so good!

I still have not received word from the district on my "temporary" assignment for the next school year. The previous principal told me not to be worried about returning - I am the only part time employee at school. They have made "special arrangements" to keep me employeed at our building. This year we have a new principal who doesn't know me - so I'm hoping my special schedule is still exceptable!

I'm off to create a slide show of the Cantigny pictures......................

Dog Days of Summer

It's hard to believe we are already at the end of June. We've been out of school for two weeks and Ryan and I are sure enjoying not having the rush every morning to get out the door on time! Unfortunately, we had an aunt pass away right after summer break started. I worked closely with my cousins gathering photos of their mother so I could create a memorial disc to show during visitation services. After pulling an all nighter, I finished it the day of the wake. Everyone seemed to enjoy watching the disc and the family seemed sincerely grateful. My cousin asked if I could remake the disc to include 60 more photos she found at her parent's house. I just completed the disc and even though all the pictures were scanned into the computer and were old and not always vivid - I was very happy with the results.

For Father's Day we spent the day at my brother's house and a local fest. Ryan enjoyed a ride on the paddle boat.

Thursday night I went with my friend Julie to watch some of the first graders - now second graders play coach pitch baseball. Afterward we went to Boston Blackies for a bite to eat. Today we signed Ryan up for football camp the week of July 14th. Not too much else going on.

Quick Post

It's been a while since my last post. Things are extremely hectic with the end of school arriving next week. Between Ryan's school agenda and my school agenda, it's hard to keep everything straight.

I started a blog for the office and the home office was extremely impressed and will now be starting one of their own with my guidance.

Bill and Ryan leave for Tennessee on Friday evening and will be gone until Monday evening. This will be Ryan's first time on an airplane. He's looking forward to going but seems to be a little uneasy about the airplane ride.

We needed to decorate the office with a Hawaii theme for an area competition and a free lunch - Here's my entry:

I've begun decorating our last bulletin board of the year - it's something the kids are really enjoying. I left the black paper covering the board and the kids are taking colored chalk and drawing a First Grade Friends Theme. I'll post a picture as soon as it's complete. Here's the insect board I finished last week - - unfortunately it will have to come down in a day or two!

Until next time.......

Long Time No Post!

Life has been busy between the 2 jobs. On top of that I am coaching an afterschool Enrichment T-Ball team.




I designed all the t-shirts and personalized all the visors for both teams - It was worth it because they look so nice and it's easy to tell the teams apart. Each player is getting a team photo and an individual picture I framed too:





At school we've began the ABC countdown to the end of the year. Today was "A" day which means only 25 more days of school left. It was bring an "A"nimal to school day. Tomorrow is "B"ackward day!!
Last week we celebrated my mom's birthday. This weekend we will get together for Jacob's First Communion.



Ryan's joined the flag football team and is on the student council and joined plastic modeling club, so he's been very busy also. Bill's work and picked up considerably and has earned some extra cash for a new vacuum and grill! Until next time...........

Spring Break At Last!

Even though I'm still working the afternoons, it is still much more relaxing than having to get Ryan off to school, rush to get everything done before I have to leave, then hearing Mrs. Sadler from 26 kids for the next 3 hours! Actually I miss it a little - but before I know it, we'll all be back in the classroom counting down until our next day off!

The last day of school was jammed pack with fun stuff! We had a reptile assembly where I actually touched a 16 foot albino phython - of course I touched the middle of the body nowhere near the head! The owner of the reptiles asked if I'd be the "official" photographer while many of the kids held the "cold blooded creatures". I did get some amazing photos - my friend, Julie got to hold the alligator that was found in the DuPage Sewer System!

It was also Crazy and Wild Hair Day along with a Pizza Party for Lunch!

Prior to all the fun we were told that our principal will be leaving our school and transferring to another school as vice principal. My part-time status is always "ify" when someone new takes over. So between that and the other place of employment being sold and bought by another company, I see many changes on the horizon! YUCK!

Welcome to our NEW Blog!

After creating many many blogs for the teacher at the school I work at - I decided to change my blog over to Blogger. There are many more options than with Wordpress - and it's more user friendly.

This week is a 4 day school week due to Good Friday. We will be spending Easter at my parent's house which Ryan always looks forward to. After that, is a full week of school and then SPRING BREAK!!!

On Friday, I received the "passion" award at school. It is given to a faculty member that shows passion for the children and collegues. It is nice to be recognized for the award - however, I will need to present this award in a couple weeks onto who I feel has shown passion. I will do so at the faculty meeting in front of the entire staff............although, I know who I will be presenting the award to, I do not look forward to doing so due to the fact I will be in front of so many people.
Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day - The lepruchaun will be visiting Ryan's bedroom this evening and the first grade classroom prior to their arrival. Gold Candy Coins and a Target Gift Card is on the agenda for Ryan and Gold Candy Coins and pencils for the students.

Until the next time -
To the left you can visit some of the sites I've designed for the teachers. (Under Portfolio)