Halloween Rerun

Well, life is certainly keeping me busy here on Maui. I feel like I don't have time for anything else beside school and family. We still have boxes that haven't been unpacked or found a home - good thing it NEVER rains here:)

But we did have some Halloween fun. Since I knew that I wasn't going to have time to make new costumes, and since no one here had seen them, we opted to rerun our Harry Potter costumes - and they were a hit (of course). Here's a run down of our Halloween activities:

1. Thursday Night was our ward Trunk-or-Treat. There was a good turn out, though it was really dark - not many lights in the parking lot - it's an old building - but it was fun enough. One of my students attends the ward and it's always fun to see her outside of school - it takes her a second to remember that she sees me at church stuff, too.

Here's the "trunk" of our van. The lighting effect of my cool battery operated candles isn't as spooky when the camera is flashing, but you get the picture. Nothing fancy - just whatever decorations I could find before we left.

2. Friday night was the school's Fall Festival - basically a Halloween Party. We stayed for the costume parade and contest (which 2 of the kids won in their grade level) and then headed out - it was hot and crowded in the small cafeteria. There were games and crafts, but I was ready to go home and Cameron didn't argue with me about it:)

Here's a picture I had one of the other kindie teachers take for us before we left.

Not quite as cool as last year, but close.

3. Sunday night - well, I wasn't really too excited about Halloween being on the Sabbath, so I decided to nix the traditional trick-or-treating (I was really mean and didn't even hand out candy), but instead we all watched cheesy Disney Halloween movies all afternoon and then went to bed. Terribly exciting, I know, but I just couldn't do Halloween on Sunday. And since we no longer live in a predominantly Mormon community there was no trick-or-treating on Saturday (like most of my Utah/Idaho friends had). We survived, and the kids didn't seem to care too much, they still got to gorge themselves with candy and stay up late since we didn't have school today (Monday - I did, but they didn't). However, I am looking forward to a non-Sunday Halloween next year where we can walk around the neighborhood. I better start figuring out what we will next year - we're running out of ideas that involve the right mix of 6 related characters. Suggestions???

And just because I haven't blog in like FOREVER, I thought I would give you all a little treat and include a few pictures of my classroom. Not the greatest pics, but there was an afternoon a couple of weeks ago where all the kids were playing so nicely during center time - basically free play time, but I assign the center they go to and then we rotate as time allows. Usually I'm dealing with someone or something, or reminding everyone to play nice or quiet down. But this day for some reason everyone was getting along and actually doing the activity they were supposed to. You know as opposed to building towers with the books, throwing the blocks, or chasing each other around with the play food. Seriously - you'd think I was in a room full of 5 year olds.....oh wait, I am. Well that certainly explains A LOT!!! Just kidding. I'm learning to love it all - even the annoying crazies brought on by the full moon. (Seriously, full moon=crazy kids....it's true, ask any teacher.) And you'll notice that I blacked out the kids' faces that were showing - their my kids, but not really mine, so I want to protect their privacy - I also blocked out any names that were on the walls and readable for the same reason, so excuse the dots and blurs.

This is the front of the room and our main learning area (on the rug). The blue tape are the kids' spots on the rug. They usually get mangled or torn off pretty quickly. These have been on for a few weeks, I'm impressed that so many are still there. This is also were we have our reading center with our class library. I would love to have pillows and beanbag chairs, but I'm not sure that the kids (or my classroom budget) can handle them right now. Maybe after Christmas break.

This is the favored side of the room. It has the play kitchen and the puzzle centers. As much as I LOVE that I have a kitchen, it takes up so much space in my tiny, tiny room. But we make it work as best we can.

This last picture is of the block center (that you can't really see) and the math center, which is just connecting cubes in different colors that the kids can make different patterns out of. I have pattern strips in the box with the cubes that they can copy, or they can make their own. I had originally planned to change this center out to different things, but the kids keep requesting this one, so if I don't have anything else specifically planned I get out the cubes.

I've added a few things to the room since I took the pics, but not too much. I should really take more pictures, I just don't remember to bring my camera to school. Though these were taken on my camera phone and they turned out pretty good.

Well, this has taken a lot longer to post than I thought it would, of course, but I wanted to get something up for Halloween. And I'll leave you with my top 3 reason I love being a teacher so far:

3. I get to work when the kids are in school (well, except for Juliana). We get up and get ready and go to school together at 7am and then they come to my room and supposedly do homework while I prep and then we all head home together at 3:30.

2. Scholastic book orders! It's like Christmas every month. We have an additional program that allows most of my class (17 out of 20) to order books from Scholastic for free each month. And Scholastic has great programs for teachers to earn free books for their classroom library. (Side note: If you're a teacher reading this and you don't do Scholastic book orders - yet - let me know and I'll give you referral info and we both get FREE points for books.) I just got our October order in today, so I'm a just a little excited about all the free books right now!

1. I have 20 more kids (you know, besides my own) - 20 kindergarten babies, that I love to death, who whine and cry and tattle and complain, but at the end of even the worst day they give me a hug I get to send them home to mom and dad, hopefully a little bit smarter than I got them in the morning:)

Musings From Just Another Paradise

I'm SOOOOO sorry that I haven't been blogging in like forever, but I'm sure you can understand that life has been a little busy. Well, maybe you understand.... let me explain for those of you who aren't up to speed on the Peterson Household.

First of all - we no longer live on Oahu. That's right, we left paradise - and headed for another. We are now living on Maui. In a town called Kihei, down on the southeast side of the valley the runs through the middle of the island. How did that happen, are you asking? Well, I was offered a position teaching kindergarten at a school here and I took it! It was very fast and crazy - I got the job right before we left for our vacation to the mainland and then I had to report to work 6 days after we got back, with no place to live and cars on the wrong island. I told you it was super crazy. But we did it.... well, I did. It was too stressful getting us all over here in 6 days, so I went over by myself for the first week. Rented a car and stayed in a hotel room (well, at least at night) and work all day in my classroom to get it ready for my students. The one thing that didn't happen was finding a place to live. It just wasn't happening. So I went back to Oahu for the weekend, and came back Monday morning alone, again. Stayed in hotels, rented a car, and met my students. Luckily we just had orientation and individual testing, so I still had time to get my room organized, because even with all that time I had the week before it was still ...... unorganized. Found a few housing options, but hadn't made any decisions yet. The house I loved was a little more expensive than we wanted to spend, so we tried to negotiate, but it didn't pan out. Meanwhile I had another landlord calling me because he wanted us to live in his house - it was nice, a little small, with only dirt in the backyard, but he was willing to put in grass and it was totally fenced in - a big plus when you have 4 kids that are used to playing outside all day. However, it did have a studio apartment in the garage that was occupied by a single gal - less room for us and having to share the driveway, washer/dryer, water heater, etc. Anyway - that's where we ended up, price wise it was great for what we get and he threw in cable and use of his internet connection, so we couldn't turn it down. And it was in the boundaries of the school I'm teaching at, so the kids could just go there without having to do transfer paperwork (because they were to come to school with me no matter where we ended up living - benefit of being staff). So I was able to bring the big kids with me when I came back after the second weekend so they could start school - only a week late. And that week we also got the van shipped over from Oahu, so we were able to pick it up half way through the week, which was so nice. I missed my car. Then a week later Cameron and Juliana finally made the trek over and joined us. The container finally made it and now we're here - finally. However nothing is really unpacked yet. We just kind of find stuff we need as we go. The back yard is full of stacks of boxes and and bins. Luckily it NEVER rains here - we're on the leeward side here. I wouldn't mind a little rain now and then to keep the dust levels down, but since a lot of our possessions are outside at the moment I'm very grateful. And we did buy a shed to put up out there, but we haven't set it up yet. I mean seriously - when do we have time. Every weekend we say we're going to stuff, and every weekend flies by.

But overall I think we're starting to adjust. Its strangely different here than Oahu - I mean I knew it would be, but its more different than I thought it would be. But we're meeting people and making friends. We've attended the ward here (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) for a couple of weeks now and it seems like a great place to be. The kids are liking their teachers and still think it's fun to come to my room after school to do their homework (I'm thinking that will wear off eventually, but so far it's still cool). I get to see Isaac and Danielle at recess, and usually see Abi walking back or forth from her recess. Cameron and Juliana keep each other company and home and usually drive us to and from school so they can have the car during the day. However we did pick up our other car just today - it will be nice to have 2 cars again, just in case. Now Cameron and Juliana won't have to get up so early just to get us to school so that I can get things ready for my students.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Life is so crazy, like I said. But we're here, we've survived the summer and have even made it to the beach once. I know - sad isn't it.

Unexpected Choices

Well, as some of you, perhaps even most of you, know there are exciting happens going on in the Peterson household. Most of which at the moment involve packing and moving yet one more time, but not to where we expected. Not that it's a secret, but I don't really want to publish it on the world-wide web until it's official and all the papers are sign and what not, so it will still be a while. Until then, if you happen to talk to one of us you'll probably hear the news. So if you are SO anxious that you can't wait a few more weeks to find out what's going on you'll have to either call or email. Otherwise I promise an update with details as soon as I can.

PS - for those of you who don't want to look it up ;) our email is cnlpeterson@gmail.com

The Tides are Finally Turning and Life Decisions

I'm very optimistic that the ukus are now under control. I know it hasn't been 2 weeks, but it has been over one and I haven't seen a live one in a few days now. I'm not ready to declare victory yet, but I'm close!

Other than that, there's not really a whole lot going on here - physically anyway. Mentally and emotionally our panties seem to be all in a knot as we're trying to decide what the future holds for our family. Now that I'm done with school we don't really have a hold on our life here in Hawaii, rent off-campus is way too expensive to just be "hangin' out" until we figure things out. Seriously, every time we make a decision, something happens that makes us rethink the choice we made. The mental seesaw of chaos is getting heavier and heavier by the day. But we have faith that the Lord has a plan for us, we just need to be patient in our waiting to find out what it is. In the meantime, I'm applying for teaching positions - mostly in Utah, but I have applied here in Hawaii as well. There look to be a few jobs available on the east coast, but as that's unfamiliar territory (well, at least in our married/kids lifetime) I haven't actually put in an application anywhere out there yet. I'm also waiting for my actual teaching license to be issued, that will be immensely helpful in the application process:)

So, nothing too exciting, just wanted to update you all on the buggy battle, as I know you're all waiting breathlessly to make sure that our heads are clean before we all may or may not visit you over the summer - I would be too:) I did take the perfect summer nap picture of Juliana the other day, but its still on the camera and I'm too lazy to go find the camera and the card reader...so sorry!

I think the ukus are winning

Seriously, I'm so close to waving the white flag and just letting them have our heads.

For those of you that are not local, an uku (pronounced oo-koo) is a louse, as in head lice. We've been battling them pretty steady for the last couple of weeks and I'm beginning to feel defeated. See the heat and humidity here in Hawaii are just the perfect climate for these little parasites. And quite frankly I wonder how we made it for 3 years without a single infestation - but this one makes up for it all, believe me.

It all started back in May - I went to the Big Island with my fourth grade class for 4 days. I came back and the next morning was kindergarten "graduation". As I was getting everyone ready for school I say down to do Abi's hair and before I even put the brush in it I knew - she had ukus. A LOT of ukus. The infestation was all the way up to the crown of her head. Live lice as well as so many nits I don't even think I can put a number on it. After a quick check of everyone else's hair I promptly put Abi's hair in a tight pony and put a hat on her head and called her in sick. But she did come to Danielle's "graduation" with us. Then I had to head off to school myself, but Cameron washed Abi's hair with the lice shampoo I happened to have on hand - seriously, it was bound to happen and I found some on clearance on shopping trip that didn't expire for a long time, so I picked it up.

So I got home Friday and picked.....and picked....and picked some more. Oh and on Saturday, too. Oh, and Sunday. On Sunday I picked until about 10:30 at night and called her uku and nit free and sent her off to school on Monday.

So that was the end of it, right? Right??? We did wash everything and I check her hair every day. I did pull out a few more nits here and there, but they were pretty far up the hair shaft, making them old and I wasn't seeing any new live lice.

Until my birthday. Which started out great - I slept in. We were finally all moved over to our new place as of Saturday night. I had nothing on the docket for the day and I was planning on just being good and lazy. That was until I was lazily laying with my 2 yr old as she was waking up from her nap and I was running my fingers through her soft and gorgeous baby hair (which is finally getting thicker, if not longer) and here they were - NITS. A lot of them. I didn't find any ukus on her head though. But there they were on Abi's head, and Danielle's, and Isaac's. I was not a happy camper. And as my father so witty-ingly said "it made for as lousy birthday". Get it "louse"-y. Funny right - I totally didn't get it the first time. Maybe it was my grumpy mood at the moment that made me miss it, because it was funny. Anyway, the rest of the day was spent picking and shampooing and washing and drying. Loads of funs - literally loads (you know, of laundry).

And every since then it's been a constant battle. Everyday I find just one or two little suckers hanging out on someones head. We've used every kind of shampoo we can find. And last night I finally got some coconut oil - hello! Hawaii, it's not hard to find, and it's what everyone uses, but somehow I got stuck on the shampoos. And then just today a friend reminded me that she used Listerine on her daughter a couple of months ago and it worked great.

So that what we're doing this week - Listerine treatments everyday and coconut oil on every night. For two weeks - I'm serious. I'm going to squash these little buggers if it's the last thing I do!!!

Actually, I think Juliana and Isaac are clean. So 2 down, 2 to go. Oh and I'm treating myself just to make sure. Cameron's avoided everything so far. But coconut oil is going in everyone each night, I'm not messing around. And tomorrow I'm seeking out some tea tree oil - I head it repels ukus. Anyone around here know where I can get some? I figure I'll at least have to drive into Kaneohe or Kailua, but I'm willing to drive all over if I have to.

Wish me luck!

**I thought about starting this post with a nice big picture picture of an uku, but I decided I'd spare you the grossness - and also the pity you might feel for me having to pick them off of my kid's heads.

I'm DONE!

I did it, I'm done, and I just wanted everyone to know!

Today at 2:30 pm (Hawaii Standard Time) I handed in my final papers and forms to my advisor and walked out with a paper stating that I passed and will be recommended for licensing! Yippee!

It's only taken me 15 years, but I've finally officially graduated from college!

PS - the May Day post is all done, but I can't get the videos to upload. I'll try loading them on youTube next week and post it all then.

May Day 2010

OK, while I’ve had the commentary all finished up for May Day for this year I hit some major snags when I was trying to upload the videos. And since I actually made sure to take some good video this year I wasn't about to post this without it. So I finally broke down and uploaded the videos to youTube instead of blogger and embedded them here for your viewing pleasure. {Those of you who get this by email will need to click here to see the post online to watch the videos.}

So without further ado, I give you May Day 2010. For those of you long-time readers, you'll notice that this year's commentary is a little longer than usual since not only were the kids in their May Day at Laie Elementary, but my "kids", well students, and I were in our May Day at Hau'ula Elementary.

For those of you who may not have read here about May Day before it's a big production here. This is our fourth year running, so if you want to check out past year’s posts:

{Sorry, wasn't blogging back then... so you can't link to May Day 2007}

Here's the link to May Day 2008.

Here's the link to May Day 2009.

Here's the run down this year. Laie's May Day was first. Like usual the performance was at the Polynesian Cultural Center ampitheater. And for some reason my pictures keep loading in backwards order, no matter the order I upload them in, so Abi's up first even though she danced last out of the three.

Abi and the third graders danced to a song from Disney’s Hercules, among some other Greek music. She looked great in her toga and gold leaf laurel crown.

Isaac and the first grade were paying tribute to New Zealand. Isaac's favorite part was the boy's haka - I think even I have it memorized for how many times he practiced it at home (Juliana has it memorized, motions, too)! His face painting was really cool, too, but unfortunately it was washed off by the time the performance was over and we were taking pictures

Danielle and the kindergartners danced to a medley of British import songs - all decked out in their hippie costumes. And Danielle had a special dancing part that we didn't even know about, so that was fun.

Hau’ula’s May Day was a week later, thankfully. It’s certainly different working May Day from the teacher side, a LOT of work, but really fun none the less. The most unexpected part for me was the kids getting tired of practicing. They would be so excited all morning, knowing we were going to practice later – to the point that it was distracting to them. But the second we got out to practice they would all grumble and moan and not want to dance! But it did finally come together. There were a few things that we would have liked to add to it, but we just ran out of time. It didn’t help that we left on our Big Island trip the following Monday, so we were preparing for that at the same time, too. Anyway – I got to participate in May Day in 2 ways. First of course was with my students. The 4 graders decided they wanted to do something with Michael Jackson, so my cooperating teacher and I set to work to come up with a medley of songs and dances for them. I think it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. And just to toot my own horn – I did all the choreography thank you very much. Well, and a big THANK YOU to youTube and all those faithful loader-uppers, because it would not have been nearly as cool if I had to do it all from scratch.

The second way I got to participate – at Hau’ula the staff and faculty do a number of their very own! Hello – so much fun! We did an African number which I think turned out great, though attendance to practices was a little sporadic as teachers really don’t have much free time, ya know.

All in all we had some great May Day festivities. And that was just the beginning of the May crazies. As I mentioned, my fourth grade class went to the Big Island the next week for 4 days, then the day after we got back Danielle “graduated” from Kindergarden. Then the following Tuesday was the last day of school, Wednesday was Abi’s 9 (!) birthday, and Thursday was my last day of student teaching. Not that things really calmed down after all that though – I was working nonstop on my portfolios so that I can actually be done with school and trying to pack up the house at the same time. I am ecstatic to say that now both are done!

**Whew! This better all work - it's late and I've been working on this FOREVER! Hope it works...I'm going to bed.