Report Card Time!

Ask any teacher, and they'll tell you there's nothing more hectic than the end of the school year...especially in Where We Live, where schools are year-round and many of us only get a week off before starting the NEW school year!

I'm lucky enough to have July off before our new crop of kinders hit, and to only be working half-time, but it's still crazytimes lately. Testing every kid individually, figuring grades, making report cards, planning a field trip, planning a promotion ceremony, prepping Father's Day crafts, rehearsing for three separate performances, planning our end-of-the-year party, finishing kindergarten scrapbooks, prepping for next year, and--oh, yeah--actually teaching have all been overloading our June "To-Do" list at school.

Most of my colleagues hate assessment time--as if there's nothing more fun than sitting across from 22 individual kids as they each identify every lower case letter, every capital letter, every lowercase letter sound, every capital letter sound, 8 shapes, 30 numbers, and 25 sight words at that ever-so-painstaking kid pace we all know and love?

I, on the other hand, am loving (almost) every minute of it, because at the end of all that fact-naming comes the grand finale: listening to every child read increasingly difficult books to determine his/her reading level. When you sit down with a child who entered kindergarten knowing zero letters, sounds, or words and listen to him read a Level 4 book almost flawlessly, you cannot help but hug and congratulate him with tears in your eyes...or maybe that's just me.

Here at the Bears' Den, things are considerably more calm (thank goodness). As long as I'm doing report cards for school, I figured now would probably be a good time to take a look at my 2010 Resolutions/To-Do List and see how much progress I'm making so far:

Bear Resolution: Go on at least one date per month.
Eeesh....should've started with an easier one. I'd say we've done this about 3-4 times out of 6, which certainly wouldn't earn us a stellar grade in this category so far! Babysitters are limited, as is our time off together, but as Yoda would say, "Do or do not...there is no 'try.'"

Mom Resolution: Limit Keira to 4 TV shows a day.
Thanks to the token system (which we've now phased out completely), we're all in the habit of keeping the TV turned off most of the day, and Kiwi's eyeballs are no longer turning square. It's a lot easier now that Elliana is walking and doesn't rely on me so much, and the girls play together so well that Keira doesn't ask for her shows nearly as often, either. In a development for which we Bears are eternally grateful, she has ditched Nick Jr. altogether (see ya, Dora!) and is now addicted to PBS kids shows, which are considerably less annoying and even more educational: "Mom, did you know that S and H make the SHHHHHH sound?!" Even Ellie dances and yells "WOH-WOH?!" when "Word World" comes on, so hopefully we won't have another TV addict in the making here!

Mom Resolution 2: Make a folder of craft ideas to do with Keira
I have 6 more months to do this. Next!

Replace our cleaning products with green alternatives.
Uhhhh....see above.

Cooking Resolution: Try 10 New Recipes
Now we're in business! Here are some of the yummy ones we've tried so far:

Rachael Ray's Paprikash
Chicken Tequila
Rachael Ray's Pasta with Broccoli, Sausage, & Ricotta
Chicken with White Wine & Garlic

There are at least 2 or 3 more that I can't remember offhand, too!

Finish the paperwork for my Reading Specialist Certificate.
Nexxxt.

Donate blood at least 5 times.
I've managed once so far, and then came down with a cold the next day, so I had to call and have them discard it. With the 8-week waiting period in between donations, I'm doomed to failure on this resolution!

Find more time, energy, and/or attention for Catey-Pup.
Funny, this one turned out to be unnecessary--she must've seen the flyers we put up around the neighborhood in search of a new family for her! She's been perfectly content to lounge in the back yard lately, and aside from a few trips inside to "clean up" the floor after the girls eat, she'd really rather not be in the house at all. Fine by me!

Let one or both of the girls spend the night at Grandma's house.
Ta-da! This is one I have to pat myself on the back for, because I was totally stressed about it...and did it anyway. The girls had a blast and slept pretty well (though I, of course, did not), and waking up to a quiet house and a long, peaceful shower was lovely. Check!

Read at least 3 non-parenting, non-childrens books.
I got sneaky on this one and read teaching books, which I've somehow been far more motivated to read than fiction! I read this:

and this:


And next up is this (I read Bonk by the same author, and it's hilarious...not to mention full of completely random and hilarious facts that'll make you the hit of cocktail parties. Or not.):

I can't believe we're halfway through 2010 already. Three more weeks of school, and then an entire July of vacation and possibilities lies ahead! Maybe I should get started on a Summer 2010 To-Do List...

When did I become Monica from "Friends," anyway??