What a Week!

This past week was Fall Break! Hallelujah! I was starting to wonder how I'd make it to Christmas with out it... The kids at school have been giving me a run for my money to put it mildly. Does me having visions of duct tape and bars of soap give you an idea...?

Wondering what happened to all that patience I used to have, when I was young and babysitting my brains out and all the adults I knew would say, "Wow, Chelsie has the patience of Job!" sigh... I seem to have lost that somewhere along the way, or maybe my expectations are too high...? I don't think so. Please tell me if it's wrong for me to think that a 2nd grader ought not be swearing or that when I say not to do something and they do it again right in front of me that some consequences are not in order... oy.

Anyway, thank the Gods for a one week reprieve! My dad came down from Oregon for the week to play! Hurray! We spent 3 days in Show Low with some dear family friends,

and their furry children... I made a new friend, Bandytoes, who was gracious enough to model Tashi's finished Jester hat for us ;-)

went for a hike amongst the Aspens-where I collected scads of deliciously colored fall leaves, unlike anything we have in Prescott, as if I were collecting shells at the beach!

Celebrated a birthday-Happy 14th to Tashi!,

vegged out, went antiquing downtown Prescott with my mom, who came up for the day,

Went to the Tina Malia concert, well Steven and I did, at a yoga studio downtown, with around 50 people...? It was awesome! Dad headed for Whiskey Row to experience the night life of Prescott first hand on a Friday night... ;-) Need I say more...?

http://cdbaby.com/cd/tinamalia3 Listen to "The Silent Awakening". It's my new favorite song! :-D

and generally had a great time!

A Tribute To My Sweet Girl

9 years ago this week the sweetest kitten you'd ever meet meowed outside my front gate. After walking the neighborhood to find her owner we decided it was indeed meant to be me! After letting little Sky, (then about 18mon, now 10! ACK! ) play with the kitty...

We decided she was definitely a keeper! Sky came away without a scratch or bite; nor did we hear a hiss, growl or mew in contempt!

We took a nap on the couch together later that day. That's when she let me know her name was Fern. Her green eyes reminded me of the ferns in the forests of NW that I missed so much here in Prescott.

I knew that I would let her have one litter of kittens, and a year later here they came! I really had no idea when she was due, only a sense that it would be soon. On my way home from work I stopped by Albertsons to pick up a fruit box for her to birth in, and while I was trying to watch my favorite show on TV that night she wouldn't leave me alone; going from her box cave in the bathroom to me and back again meowing and carrying on. Uh like HELLO! I'm in labor here and some support would be nice! Oh yeah, ok! ;-) It was my first birth... what can I say...? Such a good mama she was, always there for her boys.

And soooo cute were they!

This is my all time favorite photo of her since it shows off those beautiful green eyes! and it looks as if it were a professional portrait if I do say so myself. ;-)

And last, but not least... (This is the last picture I have of her. She was fat and happy.) The Abundant Ferna! Helping me celebrate all the cash I saved up to play with during my trip to Portland this past March.

After a long bout with an unidentifiable illness (we think she may have gotten into some chemicals outdoors) Fern passed away on September 7th, at home with me beside her the whole time. She now rests beneath the Cherry tree in our backyard. Blessings on your journey Ferna.

Thanks for choosing me and sticking it out through all the ups and downs we had together. I miss you. I will always love you baby girl.

Mtn. Oak

Thought you might like to have a look at my new home away from home!

The following pics are meant to be a panorama but the confines of the web limit my ability to do that so you'll have to use your own creativity!


The fenced in area with play house is the play space and garden for the Kindergarten, 1st & 2nd graders. Sometimes they need a safe play space away from the "big" kids! We're a K-8 school.

Sand box Gazebo

My classroom is... well you can't really see it, but if you walked all the way down the sidewalk and took a left at the door you see-Kindy, mine would be the next door. So it's right about behind the green trash can you see next to the white sign ;-)

The main level has classrooms for After-School Programs-Me!, Kindergarten, 1st, & 2nd grades. The second level is 3rd-6th, and we have 2 houses next door-more to the right of this picture. One is the Office, and the next one is 7th & 8th grades, and the next house belongs to a Mtn. Oak family! Across the street there are no houses in our block. On the other side of us is a bank so we pretty much run the whole block!! :-)





To the right of the dome play structure are swings and a small b-ball court too.

Of course the pictures don't quite do the whole place justice, but you get the idea anyways... It's very sweet. Lots of flower beds, gardens, trees, soon chickens will join us too as part of the 3rd grade farming curriculum!

Snow in August!

I made it through my first week of school as the Director of After-School Programs at Mt. Oak without tearing out any of my hair or strangling any children! Hurray!!! Though I won't promise that won't happen in the future... ;-) I have 5 Kindergartners, 3 girls including a set of twins and 2 boys, from noon to 3pm and an assortment of children from Kindy to 5th from 3 to 5ish, ranging in numbers from 3 up to around 20 on Wednesdays-we're out early, at 12:30. The one child that is already giving me a run for my money is the one Kindy I have that stays after 3pm, of course! He seems unable to remember my name no matter how many times I have him repeat it, and so for nearly the whole 4 or 5 hours he's with me I hear, "Teacher, Teacher, Teacher!" complete with shirt tugging and/or arm wacking and for those of you who know me around children I am almost always quick to answer them on their first vocalization of a need. Though he seems to be able to get in 20 "Teachers" before I can blink an eye! He also seems to be perpetually going in the complete opposite direction of the rest of the class. When they're ready to play outside, he's ready to draw and when they're ready to draw he wants to go outside, sigh. Gonna have to work on setting strong intents for our time together this year, each day, each hour, many times an hour! lol Mostly, though all the children are wonderful and so creative! We've been having great fun creating beautiful yummy fruit salads for snack in the gorgeous wooden bowls Kristi donated to us, and discovering our favorite flavors of tea thanks to April who gave me a basket of assorted teas for Christmas. We're feeling quite sophisticated and civilized to be drinking tea each day at 4pm in Aftercare (Steven cleaned out a family restaurant in TX. and brought back ceramic mugs and small bowls that we've been enjoying as well!). Every parent that walks in to pick up their child sits down, sighs, looks about the room with dimmed lights, soft music and happy tea drinking children and comments on how peaceful it is. I've gotten thumbs up from several teachers who's rooms I admire as well as the principal who joined us for a quick snack Monday. All the work I've been putting in to create a wonderful space for us is paying off. I think I can breathe now.... And thank you to Kristi and Audree and Bree and Tashi for coming to help feng shui the room and rearrange all the furniture! Couldn't have done it without you guys!!

So, you're probably still wondering what's up with Snow in August... Well the 3 girlies I had in Aftercare Monday discovered a bag of feathers in the craft drawer. Now these aren't your regular run of the mill craft feathers, these are like fine downy fluffy feathers that they proceeded to blow into the air whilst I was in the next room washing dishes. When I walked in they exclaimed, "It's SNOWING!!!" I took a deep breath, said, "It sure is!" and asked if they'd like to hear some winter music to go with their snow. Of course they did, and being the good Girl Scout I am I just happened to have my camera handy! ;-) Oh and they even made snow angels too! lol

Hello Out There!

Ok, so I've finally made it to blog land, after much prompting from a few of my dear friends. Now what? Hmmmmm... How 'bout a picture? I always love seeing pics and many of you haven't seen me in an age so here ya go!Bet I got some of you with this one! he he ;-) This was taken on my friend Kristi's birthday last month. Those are balloons up my shirt in case you're still wondering... Everyone thought it would be great fun to have a preview of a prego Chels. Now that I have a boyfriend who wants kids the eternal question is when are we gonna have them?? The answer... I'm not sure, but/and you'll find out as soon as I do! :-)