DH a SAHD

Yes, my darling husband's a stay at home dad.  Lucky dog - cashin' in on the deal after Caitlyn's already in school :)  Actually, I couldn't be happier.  Once, when I came home, there was a ROAST in the oven.  Once there were organic reverse chocolate chip cookies - baked from scratch.  Once there was a red velvet star bundt cake - cut into 3 layers and iced with cream cheese frosting.  I haven't done laundry in weeks.  He clips recipes for my recipe binder.  This is a man who spent 13 years as a commercial/industrial electrician.  And I am loving every minute of this.

queen of hearts

Well, we dealt with a Halloween fever for the little one. I finally finished sewing the Queen of Hearts costume that day - Caitlyn wanted it as much for the Mother Goose queen (you know, the knave stole her tarts...) as for the queen in the Alice in Wonderland books. She's growing fast (size 5) and loves dress-up clothes so I made it a little big (5/6). Pinning up the baggy bodice misaligned the checkerboard, but my perfectionism can take a rest for a moment.
Poor kid was draggin' for the first pictures, but she revved right up for trick-or-treating with her buddy, Leela. All were forewarned of her fever, but the girls could not be stopped.
All the parents dressed up and it was soooo much fun. We didn't make it far, but did grab a great shot of these two queens (snicker).

pumpkin carving

Daddy helped Caitlyn scoop out her pumpkin, and carved all the jack-o-lanterns by himself. The newspaper was a good idea - until they got wet and dropped the guts everywhere.

(a very sassy lady)

wedding + gift

Summer slipped by so fast, I didn't snap pictures of some of my favorite crafty creations. Two days before I started teaching my hard drive crashed and I lost all the teaching files and about a year's worth of photos :( That was a BIG bummer. Thanks to the blog I have some pictures intact - and new found motivation to document this & that. Today I have a gift, a card, and a lovely wedding to share.

My dear friend Java got married on 10-10. It was so moving and I teared up during one of the readings (e.e. cummings I think). Here are two shots to share:

I also took a rest from sewing for some beloved paper crafts - it's so fun to make a set of monogrammed cards and a wedding card. I love their color scheme, and there's just something wonderful about October weddings ;)

The card photos are taken at the Compton cabin, Pinecrest, in the high desert North-East of L.A. The sun was a wee bit shiny so it's hard to see the front of the 'Happily Ever After'. I like the white grosgrain ribbon on the front of the notecards - it's simple & elegant.

teaching again

After five years out of the classroom working as a high school science resource teacher, and nine years since teaching middle school – I find myself back again. I'm teaching 6th grade Earth science, 7th grade Life science, and 8th grade Physical science at a K-8 school south of San Diego. I have a huge, climate-controlled room with all new desks, chairs and equipment. The kids are great and we're all enjoying ourselves.

My first two classes are 7th graders, who've been growing 30 day seed-to-seed Fast Plants:

I have one 7th grade class with a RIDICULOUS size of 45 students. It's 1st period so they're half asleep, but still a sea of tween hormones:


I have one mid-day 6th grade class - small but with 1/3 ESL/special ed. Here they are learning about erosion using stream tables:
Sometimes they get over-eager, like this note-taking incident here:

My last two classes are 8th graders, doing parallel and series circuits here:

And electromagnet fun here:
Great kids, really. As long as you keep em busy ;)

first day of school

Our 3 1/2 year old started a mixed-age kindergarten class (3 1/2 - 5 year olds) at the Waldorf School of San Diego. She takes her little basket with organic lunch everyday. My wonderful husband took two days off work for her first days of school (I was teaching & wouldn't dare leave students to a sub the first week of school).
Here's the classroom during her 'kindergarten tea': the day before class kids come in small groups for an hour to get a feel for the classroom and their teacher. It's hard to tell from the photo but the silks give the room a rosy glow.

Here's Caitlyn playing at the seasonal nature table - the kids add little treasures they find at outdoor playtime.
And, here's her cubby with her very own ladybug symbol.

kaya

Our two year old German Rottweiller - Caitlyn's constant companion & personal nemesis. We got her in Ramona, CA the day before evacuations for the fires of 2007. The school district closed the central office for a week so I was home with baby Ky-Ky.
She's smart, loving, beautiful, loyal, stubborn, playful, and gentle. Her name's Kaya Von Compton Hall but we call her Beast.