Nice Combo...

OK... last pic from Hershey... I promise. Who can resist this sweet treat? Chocolate AND beer? Before you ask... those are NOT all my empty bottles... I had help!

Happy Valentines Day... Hershey Style!

How could I spend the week at Hershey and NOT bring back kisses for my kiddos? I held back and gifted them today... valentines day! The white packets are "Goodnight Kisses" cocoa. This is the cocoa that they gave out on the hospitality tables at the conference (NO I did not steal these... I bought them $5 for a box of four packets... hugely overexpensive... but a nice treat) At the conference, they put it out on the table with a big bowl of whipped cream. Need I tell you that I WAY overindulged?
The bag in the background is gifts for the hubby... no candy for him. He is trying to loose weight. Kinda defeated the effort by going out to an Italian Restaurant for dinner. We ate WELL! Delish Bruchetta; crusty bread; unbelievable salad with peacans on top; shared two entrees.... he and Sole rolled around julienne veggies; I had chicken breasts topped with lumped crab meat. For dessert... he had tiramisu... I had pumpkin cheescake.. We never made it to the movie... but dinner was excellent!

Scat the Cat

Scat is one of our "kittens" that live on our property. He was part of the first litter, born on April Fools day last year. Even though these are "outdoor" cats, my daugher plays with them almost every day. They love to be handled. Makes me wish that I could allow her to bring them in... but I am allergic. Scat is a big, beautiful boy who purrs like a madman when you cuddle him...

Recycle... Makes for Great Souveniers!

My kids have become quite used to "souveniers" from my conferences. They get really excited about pens, highlighters, and other gadgets that I bring home... This week there was a great bonus! Shiny balloons!

A Great Place to Meet, Greet and Chilax

I walked passed this fireplace a gazillion times this week. Not ONCE did I see an empty chair right near the fire. It is the coolest place to sit, websurf, meet with others or just take a nap. (I hear that SOME of my PLN were caught viewing the inside of their eyelids not far from here)
I really want a four sided fireplace in my house!

A Bit Much?

Something tells me that there has GOT to be more than just an XBOX in that box... hmmm...

Making Connections

This is a picture of a Plurk friend of mine... Stacy. She and I met last summer and have been great Plurk friends since. The PETE&C conference was a great way to make connections with lots of "virtual friends" that I had not had a chance to meet in person. I got to meet "Bubbly Thorp", "geoteach", "sciteach", "agapejen", "RobinMartin" and "nhill" just to name a few. I even got to meet "msoskil"... who is fairly new to plurk.. but teaches in the same district that I do... small world! Great to meet you all... NOTHING like f2f networking!

DEN Preconference! A GREAT DAY!

What a great day! One of the best parts was meeting all of my fellow Plurkers and Tweeters who I had not jet met face to face. Jason Ohler, the keynote was excellent. For links from all of the great break out sessions, visit the PA Leadership Council Blog at DE you will also find my Animoto of the pics from the day there... enjoy! We sure did! Thanks Discovery... you are the best!

Emeril Extends A Hand

This standup was quite entertaining while setting up for the DEN Preconference for PETE&C... we were not entirely sure exactly what Emeril was extending...

Heading to Hershey...

Heading to Hershey for PETE&C... today we set up for the DEN Pre-Conference. I am very excited... knew that I was getting close when I saw that the streetlights became Hershey Kisses!

DENIED

REALLY hard to work on a preso behind the school filter... going to have to finish it up from home... sigh

Busy Busy Busy

We had some homework issues in our house this week. Sean had an essay to write based on an interview. We found out yesterday that it was several days late and that he had all month to work on it. If he looks like he is focused on getting it done, it is because his 2 week long suspension from computer use goes up by two days every day the assignment is further late. Poor baby.

My New Puppy?

My daughter decided today that she was a puppy. This was the "puppy dog eyes" face that I got when I told her that it was time to go to bed and that she could not sleep with her "ears" on. It didn't work... but was still cute.

Yummo

Bar-B-Que Chicken, Pierogies with sauteed onions, and mixed veggies. THAT's what is for dinner tonight.

Snow by Moonlight

A light, fluffy snow is falling outside tonight. It looks really nice as it sticks to the branches of the trees. This one looks like undersea coral to me.

Bad Bad Mommy

I know... I know... bacon, not good for you. We probably eat it way too often (once a week). Tonight, when I gave the kids the option of what to have for dinner, and they opted for bacon and eggs... I said ok.. bad bad mommy.

I spent most of today in my car. Dropping kids off, picking them up, running errands.. and such. Typical Saturday for me. When I realized that I had not stopped to take a good pic, I snapped this one out of my side window... best that I could do today... sorry.

Busy Day

Today started out really early. My son Sean and I had to get up at 2:45am so that we could go to the church where his Young Marines troop meets. The troop is having a soup sale on Saturday and the local TV station came in today to do a spot on them. From 5am to 7am they would cut live to the church and do "teases" and "bumps" with the kids as they prepared the soup (well, they pretended to prepare the soup... in actuality it had already been made) Since they went live several times the news man Ryan Leckey interviewed each one there. Here is a clip of him interviewing the most senior YM, Jill. Here is a Youtube video that I recorded while he was interviewing Sean. Here is one that shows what happens to Young Marines when they get up at 3 in the morning...

After all of that excitement, I had to get Sean to school and pick up son Tim. Today was the day for his braces to come off! Little did we know that he now has to wear a retainer for a year! He is not too happy about that because the retainer makes his speech slur. Hopefully he will get used to it.

Tonight, son Matt attended a Scranton Penguins hockey game with my husband. The chorus that Matt belongs to sang the National Anthem before the game. Neither Matt, nor his dad had every been to a hockey game before. When I asked Matt how it was he said... "Those guys really beat each other up!" I don't have a pic for this, but another parent is supposed to be sending me one... if she does, I will update.

Since Matt and dad were busy, I took the rest of the kids to the "Rainforest Show" that was going on at her school. The show is put on by an organization called "Understanding Wildlife". They go from school to school and educate students about the rainforest and the importance of conservation. It was a nice show and the kids really enjoyed all of the animals. Sean got to be the "center" of attention for the second time today when he was chosen from the audience to help hold a giant albino python. Daughter Erin was a little apprehensive about petting the alligator, but she did it anyway. PHEW! What a day!

Anyone for a cold one?

I like my soda on ice... not the other way around.

More Snow and Ice

Another snow day today. We got about 6 inches of snow, but it was the ice that was the real problem. About 2 inches of ice fell and coated everything. The storm reportedly did a number on several southern states like Arkansas and Kentucky. I hope those people down there are ok.. they are not used to this at all!

Little Airport

I have never been to Williamsport PA before. It is a very old, very nice town. The downtown has lots of great architecture and nightlife. We visited this really neat old bookstore named "Ottos" and ate dinner at the Bullfrog Brewary (they make all kids of great beer, but I did not have any because I was driving). The parking lot for the Bullfrog is surrounded by this wonderful mural. After our training was over on Tuesday, I drove my co-trainer Joanna to the Williamsport International Airport. I have NEVER seen such a small airport. (Although Joanna says that she has been to one smaller). If you follow the link to the airport website, you see that all of the pictures of the inside of the airport are taken with a fisheye lens to make the area look larger... the "terminal" consists of one large room with some counters, and a few chairs and even some rocking chairs!

Working Hard

Today I was back to CFF training, this time in Williamsport PA. The lady in the middle is my co-trainer, Joanna.

Hot Stuff

Every year our Chamber of Commerce runs a hot wing and chili cookoff. These are big bragging rights for the restaurants, bars, and resorts in the area since Lake Wallenpaupack is a tourist area. This is the first year that my husband and I could attend. It was great fun. I LOVE hot wings. You would think that it would take a long time to get filled up tasting wings and chili one at a time, it doesn't... my only problem.. NO MILK! They served soda, beer and water. Anyone who watches "Food Detectives" knows that the proper beverage to put out the fire is MILK!

The picture above is of my average tray. The picture below is of my husbands...

Strange Company

We have a neighbor who throws corn out on his lawn for the deer. About ten minutes before thise picture was taken the lawn was full of large, adult deer. When the adults are done, the babies move in... and so do the wild turkeys.

Getting a Clue...

Picked up this game on clearance at Walmart today. The INTENTION was to give it to my son on March 18th for his birthday. I got sidetracked by a phone call when I came home from the store today and forgot to put it away. Kids found it after dinner and INSISTED we play. Harry Potter Clue is a GREAT game! The basic premise is the same as regular clue, but with a twist that could only be conjured up at Hogwarts! If you have Harry Potter fans in your house (5 out of 6 of us here!) We highly recommend this game. Oh... and by the way... it was Crabbe and Goyle in the Great Hall with Mandrake and I WON!

Duke Does the Hula

Our dog Duke LOVES to play in the snow. The only caviat, anything that you give him to play with... gets destroyed. He goes through Nerf balls like butter... he has "uncovered" at least a dozen baseballs this month. Tonight my husband gave him a Hula Hoop. He went crazy! The poor hoop did not have a chance!

Young Scientists

Tonight I helped my son's Webelo troop earn their "Scientist" badge. The boys and I explored air pressure; gas laws; weather; Bernoulli's Principle; and Pascal's Law. We had a blast making cheese balls "float", cds glide on a pocket of air; marshmallow ghosts expand, and soda cans implode. The highlight of the eventing was the "Vacuum packed cub scout". I took the picture above, but one of the scouts took the ones below for me because I was busy. When we were done the leader said to me that he has known these boys since they were 6 and he has never seen them be so engaged! My son glowed all the way home. When we pulled into the driveway he said to me "it's fun having a science teacher for a mom... thanks". THAT is what it is all about.

History

Whew! What a day. Today, our nation inaugurated our first African American president. The day was chock full of excitement. I watched the events unfold from home. NO sharing it with a class for me. I had a real hard time with that until a friend invited me to "blog live" with her class of 4th graders. What fun! The students were obviously excited... and intrigued with the concept of live blogging. Some of them asked the same questions over and over again... and that was ok because by the end, the other students were answering them. One student asked "How long will Obama be President?" In response, one of the teachers asked the group who served more than 8 years as President? Two of the boys actually "researched" the question and had the answer before the Inaugural speech was over. Many students admitted that they did not understand it all, but also were open to taking a closer look at the speech and poem later. The dialogue was incredible! They were all so engaged and honest. What a great way to share such an event. When I got home, my daughter had homework in her bag about Martin Luther King and Barack Obama. They had also watched the events of the day in school. My daughter was so excited to share! I love how much the kids got out of the day!

Now... I know that this blog is for MY pics... BUT there is a picture from this historical day that I absolutely LOVE. The picture is of Sasha Obama giving her dad a big "Thumbs up" after his inaugural speech. I am so happy that the Obama's have school age children. It is a wierd feeling to have the President and First Lady the same age as I am. They have kids the same age that mine are... they do so many of the same things that we do as a family. I think that I relate to them better because of it.... I KNOW that I LOVE Sasha Obama... SHE is a cutie Patooti!

A Special Day for a Special Man

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The anniversary of the birth of a great activist. With all of the news coverage of President Elect Obama's inauguration tomorrow... MLK Day has gotten a little lost. There was only a little "chatter" in my PLN about how to celebrate the day with the students. I am a little distressed by this. I would think that the irony of MLK Day being celebrated the DAY BEFORE the inauguration of our country's first African American president would be a bigger deal. At least Google made sure he was recognized today.

Happy Boy

Give him a ball and some snow.. he could stay out there all day, but I worry about his "wittle paws".

And the snow keeps on coming..

We woke up to 6 more inches of the white stuff today. More forcasted for tonight.

OMG! Finally!

For as long as I can remember I have been asking for "Thanksgiving Plates". It never made any sense to me that there were TONS of "Christmas" themed dishes, but none for Thanksgiving. Why not make a set of special plates for the holiday that is centered around the meal? My stepdaughter Jess and her husband found these at Cracker Barrel. They gave me a set of dinner plates and dessert plates for 12! I also got a teapot and sugar/creamer set that matches! Jess got herself a set too. Thanks Jess and Adam! I have wanted these for a long time!

2nd Christmas...

Every year my stepdaughter and her family join us for a "2nd Christmas" around this time. (She works in a bank and has to wait for a long weekend to come up). My grandson Cory had a blast and kept chanting "more presents"! Here he is pictured with the Noah's Arc his uncle Timmy got for him.

Pot Pie

The ULTIMATE comfort food... chicken pot pie. A staple in our house in the winter... YUM!

A Tangled Web...

Every day I say to myself.. gotta clean up this desk. Every day "something" else needs to be plugged in, turned on, or otherwise added to the clutter. My desk is a "hub" of activity. I think if I detangled the mess and cleaned it up I would feel lost..

Contradictions

I am a self admitted diet soda addict. I have been drinking diet soda since I was 11 and spent my weekends with my diabetic grandmother. Back then, it was "Tab" or "Fresca". My poison of choice these days is Diet Pepsi. I do not drink coffee or tea or frappa cappa moca latta chino... just Diet Pepsi. (I do enjoy a nice iced tea in the summer) When it comes to snacking, I am usually attracted more to the crispy, chipy, salty type snacks than to the sweet ones. During times of high stress, however, NOTHING beats chocolate. Diet soda and chocolate do NOT go together well. Eating anything sweet after swigging artificial sweetener leaves a horrible taste in my mouth. It is worse than the dreaded orange juice/toothpaste combination. So... if the combination tastes so bad, WHY do I snack on chocolate while drinking diet soda? Why indeed... go ask my hormones...

RELAX

Staying at the Hampton Inn in King of Prussia PA. Tomorrow I start a "New Job" as a Technology Integration Trainer. Full of anticipation... hope that I can sleep... wish it was as easy as the message printed here...

Man vs. Nature

My husband LOVES his tractor... growing up in Jersey City, while visiting family in Alabama, he always wanted one. When we moved here it was the FIRST thing he purchased. Mowing the lawn or plowing the snow is not easy, but I really think he enjoys the time with his machine. Either that... or the cocoa with marshmallow he gets when he is all done!