Happy Halloween!!

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Wacky Work Wednesday

This afternoon after this kids had all left for the day we were working away on the back nine (or, far far away from the actual school) and being rather productive..Melisa was organizing and tossing old materials and I was on the phone talking about our newest prek entering the wonderful world of special ed. when all of a sudden the person I'm talking to says...

Wait - why is everyone walking out to the field? All the K, 1 and 2 teachers are walking out with their stuff....

He checks with someone walking by....

I hear:

Get your stuff and get out to the field, there's an evacuation.

Me: are you joking?!?! what -- why?

Him: They found an unexploded ordinance out in the parking lot. (They started to dig today to put in a new sidewalk)

Only on a military post...though I suppose we shouldn't be to surprised considering pearl harbor and all, but still -- we park in that parking lot everyday. Makes you wonder where else they might be.

But the best part?

We never would've known if I hadn't been on the phone. We'd been having wasps in and out of our room all day so we'd closed the doors/windows and turned on the a/c (more like a high powered fan -- we're in a portable). No announcements were made. We would've had no clue.

THAT is how our school operates.

AND....

No more friday work days until Nov. 13th. Yep, we're all furloughed. Well, except the custodians -- their union hasn't reached an agreement yet. Marches and speeches galore are planned for this friday -- the first furlough friday, with a performance by Jack Johnson. Note to self: stay away from town (a.k.a. honolulu).

Road to Iraq

Yes, the Cardinals are even in Iraq

Sunrise in Kuwait

Just hanging out in Kuwait after landing from the long flight

Well as you can see the travels back to Iraq went without any problems. Not to say everyone really wanted to come back to this wonderful place but there was not much we could do about that. We ended up spending about 3 weeks in Kuwait and then came up here to our former home of Camp Speicher. Not much has changed from last time we were here, the major difference is we have "prime" power. You might ask what does that mean, well we no longer require generators to power anything here. Now that is not to say that we still don't use generators, we do only when "prime" power goes out, but that is not to often.
Everthing here as I said is going ok. We are flying a lot and have very little down time which makes the time go by fast. You can tell a big difference from last time when you fly, a lot of the small bases are closed and people are moving out, back to the states, again which is good. I will try to post more pictures but since we fly at night everything is dark and well pictures of darkness are boring and not much to see but some city lights.

The Good, Bad, Ridiculous and the Best

"Kids have strengths. Everyone has gifts and graces. We as a society need to do everything we can to lift them up."

- Kevin Drollinger, Executive Director, Epworth

The Good

-my head-butter sitting for 20 minutes today; he came in with a big smile on his face ready to work (or as some people would think, play). He actually shook his head no instead of acting out when offered a toy he didn't want. not.one.temper.tantrum.

-a good (short) week with all of my more "challenging" kiddos. They'd just come back from fall break and I think we all needed a break. The one that cries the entire time? Reached for bubbles and actually chose the right picture when asked, just once, but still! The one who is a screamer/hitter in group situations? requests favorite items using pictures in one-on-one sessions. The one I was at my wits end with? Actually seemed to engage and not just cry/be miserable. (are you seeing a trend with some of my pre-k? They aren't ALL like that -- we do have some non-tearful sessions)

The Bad

-That /r/ sound. Its my nemesis.

-5 IEPs in 3 days.

-Going over that 50 mark

-Probable furloughs=pay cut

-Paranoia over due process (oh that clarification of services blurb...)

The Ridiculous

-My fellow SLP has a K student that's in a wheelchair and not independent; he needs a 1:1 to get through the day. What did the administration do this week? Oh, they just took the 1:1 away. Came down to wording in the IEP (or budget cuts, honestly). Every team member said no, he needs it, but that didn't matter. Sure, the school said the aids would help him throughout the day...and there are 8 other K kids in this fully self-contained class. huh. like that's really realistic.

AB-SO-LUTE-LY RIDICULOUS.

And that's how we roll at our school...sigh...

The Balance Sheet

-The good outweighs the bad no doubt, but I'm thinking its a wash between the good and the ridiculous. But honestly? That's just a typical week at our school.

The Best

-There's two of us...we are not alone on this planet called public school.

-(most) of my kids coming in happy...good-a-mornin-miss-a-becky is how one of my prek says it and its the cutest. He makes all of us smile. I wish you could hear it.

-knowing that you earn every penny. I do not have the answers for every child; I am not a miracle worker. But small success are amazing.

Go Cards!

Hawaiian weather

Updated: Canceled!

We are under another tsunami advisory -- this is our second in the past few weeks. Its not something you necessarily expect, even when living on a rock in the middle of the ocean. But, I suppose back in StL there are tornado watches/warnings, winter weather advisories and so on. Here we get hurricanes/tropical storms and tsunami watches/advisories. Never fear though, the lawn maintenance people are outside going at it with their weed wackers (they're always out somewhere around here). We shall see what develops. Last time we just got waves of about 3 feet.