The Latest

This is a "picture less" post (gasp!). We've been busier than usual. Damian had his "procedure" last Friday. Everything went well. He has been really sore and right now we are waiting for Kaiser to call us back. We think he might have an infection.
Thursday night was the boy's Blue and Gold Dinner for Scouts. They had a nice time. I had Damian go with them while Olivia and I had a skate date at Rollerama. We had planned to go to scouts as a family, but Olivia has really been needing some one on one time. She actually did very well! For those of you who know my dear daughter, she is fiercely independent. She did not want any of my help. She was so cute! She'd shake her little booty as she skated. It was also my school's skate night and I won a Starbucks gift card which I gave to Mr. Hall. I hate coffee, bluck! Now if it was a Dr.Pepper, I'd be blissfully happy! I miss Dr. Pepper terribly! I have yet to fall off the wagon. It's been about six months since I've had one. Well at Rollerama, a little toot wasn't paying attention and sped up behind me and took me out. She knocked my legs right out from under me and I ended up on my back. Needless to say, I'm still feeling it! It's been warming up here and I'm so itching for Spring to arrive!

I've Been Selected for Another Creative Team!

As some of you already know, I've been designing traditional scrapbook pages for our local scrapbook store. Last October, I took a photoshop class with Jessica Sprague in order to learn the program, but it turned into another obsession for me. I now love to digital scrapbook as well which has now led me to another design (creative) team. I was recently invited to join Stacey Sansom's Creative Team at Dragon Flaire Studios. I was given a blinkie to use at the end of all my online posts and I couldn't help but add it to my blog as well. The "Princess" layout I made using Stacey's papers. The "Giggly" layout is a hybrid layout (a layout using digital and tradional elements) I made out of boredom. If you would like to know who made the items I used, remember to click on the side bar link to my gallery at Digi Shop Talk.

Happy Monday!

I'd like to share a poem I teach my kindergartners to commemorate President's Day.

George Washington is tops with me.
For he cut down the cherry tree. He saved us all from British rule
So we could all stay home from school!

Ok, I know the cherry tree thing is controversial, but my students love this poem!We're all starting to feel better, but now the granny nanny has a fever. Hope she feels better! The Lawson boys came over to play a video game and for some backyard fun with the big boys. Olivia wore every princess dress today (not at the same time of course)and watched Max and Ruby (her favorite show). Jack was in good spirits and happy to have mommy home. I squeezed in a little digi scrapping (yeah!). I finished a layout for Nick last night and one for Olivia today. I've posted a link in the side bar to my online gallery at Digi Shop Talk. You can peek at what I create and find credits for the materials I use. Hope you had a happy Monday!

Oh Happy Day! & My Daily Ramblings

I just want to share with you how much I love Saturdays!!! Especially lazy Saturdays!! Here's today's reason why!! I have the revolving door class this year. I started out the year with 19 students (9 girls and 10 boys). My population has changed. I now have 14 boys and 5 girls. Don't get me wrong, I love little boys and I hate to make generalizations as it is not true for everyone, but boy,oh boy! Do I have my hands full!! They are a bundle of energy and very precocious! I had to laugh as my long term sub from my maternity leave left me with a vivid analogy- some of them are like squirrels on speed. I love these little guys, but they take every ounce of patience!! I've had an highly unusual frequency of biting with my boys. I also have what I call a "mystery pooper". A poop accident happens, but I find little pooplings on the floor regularly (I think I figured out "whodunnit") The boys just cannot keep their hands to themself. I find myself having to be very creative this year with my classroom management. My class academically is an interesting mix. I have 10 reading (yeah!), I have 5 almost there (we are working on what to do with our sounds now that they know them), and 4 that are lost (three of them are my new boys) and have a learned helplessness. So what that means for me is that I'm either attending to the needs of the high as they are so fast with everything, or attending to the low students by constantly prodding them to finish any work and cheering them on that they can do it! They keep me on my toes, make me laugh, and at times, give me more gray hairs. So that is one reason I treasure and relish my Saturdays, a day off! It's also my day to spend with my kids (I miss them so much during the week), tinker away at the computer, and hang out in my jammies!!! Damian and the boys went fishing with Grandpa today. Jack caught a bug from I believe, the Dr.'s office. I took him in last week for a rash(exczema), a few days later he had a fever and croopy cough. Yet another reason to hate Kaiser, no well baby/child waiting rooms or exam rooms. I haven't taken Jack anywhere and no one else has what he has.ARghhh! Despite not feeling well and lack of sleep, we are both still in good spirits! I am finishing up my photoshop class this weekend. Here's a layout I made last night.I plan on creating a few more tonight. Have a happy Saturday!

I Learned Something New!

Last week, Jessica added a tutorial (Photoshop Friday 2007 #7 on Jessica's blog)on how to do a text overlay to our course work(completey optional, but I am always game).So I took a layout from an earlier post and added a subtle text overlay. I think it adds the finishing touch I was looking for.

Happy Birthday Mr. Lincoln!

I'd like to give a shout out to good ol' Honest Abe! Without the great things he did for our country, we would all be in school! I just finished my last assignment for the "Now we're Rockin" with Photoshop" class at www.jessicasprague.com. I'm totally bummed out that it is almost over! Here's the layout for this week's lesson. I've learned so much! I'm looking forward to the advanced class in a few months! I hope everyone enjoyed this happy Monday (well at least I did)!

It's Been a Rough Week for the Wolff's!

So here are the layouts I've created in my photoshop class! I am having a blast!!! I have a little less than two weeks until I'm finished. I am dreading it! I have enjoyed making these layouts after a long day at work. Jared had his birthday party at the bowling alley last Saturday. The kids had fun and that's the important thing. I however, did not! We went to a different alley than we normally visit (Westchester, yuck!). The linoleum was coming up all over the place. I went to get all the boys some drinks. I admit, I had a premonition of falling with a tray of drinks. I was walking very slowly and right as I got to the lanes, you guessed it, I ate it!! There was a huge chunk of linoleum sticking up. My shoe got caught, I lost my balance, lost the drinks and landed on my left knee. All they did was comp our drinks. I should have given them more attitude. Our games and shoes should have been compensated as well!! By Sunday, my knee was bruised, my thigh was sore and I think I had whiplash as I couldn't turn my head to the left. I am just now feeling functional. Today was supposed to be Damian's big day to get "fixed" if you know what I mean. Before I begin there is a little background information. The day we brought Jack home from the hospital, Damian called to get the ball rolling on this process. We thought we could be done before I went back to work. Nobody returned our call. So we called the week before I went back. They finally scheduled us for the "class". So he goes to this class in October and gets all the info. about what to expect and what to do the night before. They didn't schedule an appointment there for the procedure as they wanted him to go home and think about it. Whatever?!! He told them "I'm 32 years old and I have four kids, there's nothing to think about". They said we'll call you in two weeks instead of four. Do you think they called? Of course not! In November, Damian called to bug them and got an appointment for January. Well we get a call in January that the doctor hurt his hand and Damian needs to reschedule. OK, we were miffed, but stuff happens. What ticked us off was that they made us wait another whole month!!!!They rescheduled him and we made our plans with work for today. It stinks for me as I am all out of sick time as I used it on maternity leave. Basically, no work, no pay. My mom received a reminder call yesterday that his procedure was scheduled for 9:00am. So I drop the kids off at school. We were running a bit behind (by about 5 minutes due to traffic). Damian has Kaiser, so you can't just call the doctor. We tried, but kept getting recordings. We got there at about 9:06. I went to the window before Damian as he was checking in and this nurse gives me attitude about rescheduling. He comes up behind me and this witchy nurse told him that he has to reschedule. He went into the office with her and she told him that we were supposed to be there at 8:30 and that even if we were there at
9:00, we were too late. Nowhere in his packet (which he showed her) or by any phone call was he told to be there at 8:30. I hear this whole conversation from the lobby and those of you who know my husband know he is very easygoing and laidback. He shouts to her (because of her witchiness) "That's crap!". If I were back there, I would've ripped her head off! She tossed him a card with a rescheduled appointment for a month from now and said something to the effect that "I've handled it" and walked off. So of course, we're on the road home at 9:20. He called Kaiser and filed a formal complaint against the nurse and the fact that no one told him to be there at 8:30. They said they'd call us back in two days and try to get him an earlier appointment. I told him that's fine as long as that nurse doesn't touch him. This Dr. is the only one Kaiser has so he's going to have to deal with her again. I am so tempted to have my husband drop his insurance so we can use mine. Kaiser is the DEVIL and this isn't the only problem we've had with them. They better schedule Damian for one of the President's Holidays!! I've already missed two days in the past few weeks and money is a bit tight! Wow! Venting to our blog does wonders, I feel a bit better now. Well , I'm off to vote!