A published ARTIST in our family!

Konnor was very excited when his dad showed him what he had found in the Hillsdale Daily Newspaper Monday night. Konnor's drawing of Walmart was chosen to represent them in the Business Ad section. He had to explain to me that those are the milk and eggs setting on the baggage turnstyles....."they never put your eggs and milk in your cart first." Pretty smart for a boy who hasn't been grocery in a long time.

We had K3's Basketball banquet at 6 tonight. Doesn't really fit into the packing the clothes thingy but I guess I get to start that now. 2 days and counting.....Kraig went to the doctor today for a bad ear infection...better today than Friday. Konnor got his "Florida haircut" today after school. It was the only way I could convince him to get it cut....it's been a very looooong time. We told him he would have too many white places once he was tan. What do ya know, it WORKED!

4 DAYS and counting.....

Oh my GOSH!!! I can't hardly believe that we only have 4 days to get ready to leave. YIKES!! We tried to get the house and laundry under control this weekend. The car is cleaned out and the snacks are packed. Tonight is "start packing the clothes night". We are hoping to set sail on Thursday evening after K3's baseball practice and Kraig's track practice. Hopefully we can knock a few hours of the trip on Thursday night and then finish the rest on Friday. Watch out Florida HERE WE COME!!

The windowsill says it ALL!

As I was doing my dishes this morning, I noticed that my windowsill was sending mixed messages. The fundraiser daffodils are sending one message(spring is just around the corner) and the snowman(winter is hanging on way too long) another. That is exactly the same message the weather is sending us. We may have beautifully sunny skies, but the tempratures drop into the teens last night. Hunter is way too comfortable being a house cat and will soon find that her house has been moved back out to the garage. The sunset last night was beautiful. The light was reflecting off of the snow falling from the clouds.

Watch out WNBA!!

This morning I was greeted by a husband holding the newspaper still laughing outloud! Yes, you guessed it! I made the paper Friday for being an AGGRESSIVE TEACHER. Not really good press if you ask me. Especially since I had that run in with the upset parent just last week.

I was so excited that I actually had about 8 pts. this game. I had backed off on defense and just concentrated on making the shots. And what do I get in the paper for....DEFENSE!

The boys were talking smack all week....so we did what we had to do....beat them!

LOOK MOM....no more food in my braces!

Today was an exciting day around the Putnam house. Kirk got his braces off!! His teeth look wonderful. Please excuse the close up of the scruff, I don't know how to do the fancy picture editing on the computer. Kraig is writing a letter of protest because he got his braces 4 months before K3 and now he still has a long way to go. I told him Dr. Mayer won't be impressed by the letter.

19 DAYS until we leave for FLORIDA!!

Only 19 days until we leave for Florida....but who's counting?! Yeah, that would be me. The 3 day weekend and warm weather sure got me in the mood. I really need a break from work before work BREAKS me! During PT conferences Thursday, I spent the time getting everything around for 5th grade boys vs. Staff basketball (this thursday), puberty ed. and HIV ed (April), tie-dyed t-shirt project (April), and Track and Field days (May). Why couldn't one of these major projects have been in January or February when things weren't so busy? K3 starts official baseball practice tonight. Spring sports already! Yippeee, Kraig is started weekly baseball practice on Sat., and I'm sure it's just a matter of a couple weeks until soccer starts for Konnor and I. So in order to cope with this busy schedule....I'm staying focused on Spring Break!

Last day of SNOW?!

Konnor decided to make the most of his last day of snow for the season. He and Mitchell snowmobiled all morning and then I took them snowboarding in the afternoon. By the end of the day yesterday, everything was pure slush! Kayla got to find this out first had when konnor pulled her behind the snowmobile on the sled....there wasn't an inch of dry anywhere on her body. Today Steven and Konnor have already been hunting and are now playing in the melting ice dam beside the garage. I was even able to open windows yesterday and today to clear out some of this winter air.

Whatever happened to brotherly LOVE?!

I know that it is fairly normal to hate your brothers at some point and time....but why does it have to be everyday? I know that many of my friends that have boys this age are able to leave them alone for a few hours and everything goes fine. Unfortunately that does not happen in my case. Yesterday K2 and I had parent teacher conference and decided to let them stay home by themselves with the help of Kayla....after my 5th phone call by 11:30 I decided that it wasn't gonna work. I took Konnor to Jen's....thank God she could help me out. Unfortunately we have not been able to discuss this issue with the kids yet, but that discussion will definately happen today. Any suggestions Kandi?

I am applying for a job at Walmart today!

I can't believe what a stressful day I had yesterday....hence the reason I am applying for a Greeter job at Walmart. I had a girl-boy fight in the morning that included hair pulling, face scratching, clothes ripping, etc. Not a pretty sight. Then my really naughty Kdg. girl (I swear she is possessed) decided to go on a pinching and hitting spree and then told me "it was an accident". OK, maybe she has terrets of the hands?! NOT!! The afternoon started off fine and then a boy that I had asked numerous times to sit down, be quiet, and keep his hands to himself decided it would be appropriate to tell me "he was going to punch me in the face if I yelled at him again". Of course, Scott (the principal) was in a manifestation hearing and could not deal with the situation, so I had to snap suspend him per the 2nd in charge (Mr. Coakley). When the mom came to get him, I tried to explain what had happened and she then decided that it must have been my fault that Burley snapped so easily.....excuse me??? She said I was getting an attitude with her....accused me some more of yelling at her and her son...and then finally said she would not be spoken to that way and she was done talking to me. Of course, the non-confrontational Kristin, started to cry (after I was back behind closed doors of the gym) because she couldn't believe that the mother had sided with the child that just threatened me. During the whole mother-son thing, Bailey called to say Konnor's stomach was hurting and he needed to be picked up. It was his first day back this week. So he went a total of 3 hours this week. Today and tomorrow no school for kids. Hmmm....yeah I think that about sums up the day. Today is professional development in the morning and confrences all afternoon and evening. I used to really enjoy conferences, but now they are just a looooong day! No one comes to see the PE teacher. Yep, I'm definitely applying for the Wal-mart job today!!

What a BUMMER!!

I know I'm not supposed to whine.....but this weekend definitely didn't turn out the way it was supposed to. Friday night K3 had his last basketball game at Columbia Central. It was a great game and Kirk had 11 points. What wasn't so great was the drive home. The roads were horrible. There were times when you couldn't even see the road in front of you or there were times the road turned into a one lane trail with high drifting snow. Thank God for 4 wheel drive. I decided I wouldn't head back up to Jackson to scrap with the girls. That really was a big bummer because it was probably the last time until May or June that everyone can get together. Instead I did laundry, cleaned the house, and ran children around town. Kirk 2 and the varsity coaches were a Soaring Eagle speeking at a coaches clinic. Then to add insult to injury Konnor started puking at 3 AM. He seems to be doing ok today....just a few trips to the bathroom still. Hopefully he can go to school tomorrow.

Stations 4 Heart is OVER!!

What usually last 5 days or 35 sessions has gone on for over 2 weeks because of snow days, delays, and sick days. Blickum! For those of you that know what a control freak I am, it won't surprise you that having 7 stations of stuff going on in one gym is enough to drive me insane! The good news....I had 68 students donate a total of $2,019. I had set my goal at $2,000 this year, so I guess that means it was a success. Here are just a few shots from today.