top 10

There are two teams from Florida ranked in the top ten in college football. Guess who they are and guess who is ranked higher. yeah you know.

Faith like a child

Today while walking my class to their favorite home away from home, the gym, one of my boys saw a sign being held by a homeless man stating "God isn't real, give to me and not the church." My boy looked confused, but I didn't think anything of it, because he is naturally a deep thinker type with odd facial expressions, until we crossed the street and he reached out to take my hand. He says to me: "Mrs. DeVore, that guy is SOOO wrong, and do you know how I know?" "How" I asked, holding my breath for the answer, because really, with 7 year olds, you never really know...."because, the Bible is thousands of pages long, and who would waist their time writing that much stuff if it wasn't even true?!" His face was one of pure horror and shock combined. I thought for a minute and then all I could say to this 7 year old with wide eyes was, "good point love, good point."

Experiment

I've been face deep in School pictures for the last couple of days so I decided to take a short break and play a little. I used a white background for the kids so I wanted to try it with something else. Here is what I came up with. Not sure what to call it yet but I think it is pretty striking. I am leaning towards "Infected" for the title.

(Click it for a bigger view)

A night in New Jersey

We spent Saturday Afternoon and night at Erinn's wedding in NJ. We got to rent a car for the day and overnight. We intended on getting a Ford Fusion but upon arrival at the rental place were informed that only SUV's were available. SO they upgraded us to a Ford Edge. It was a nice little surprise. I think our existence in NY would be a lot different if we owned a car. It's fun driving around in Manhattan. Just make sure you have a place to park at night. We had to drive to LaGuardia airport at 3:00a to return the thing because we could not find a place to park in the city. It's also fun trying to get to the airport when you have no idea how. Remember that we have only been passengers in taxis going to and from the city.

The new Ford Edge. Nice orange color don't you think?



Picking up Cole and Raymond from their building.



The city skyline just after we came out of the Lincoln tunnel on the NJ side.



The Boss tipping the valet (tipping well I presume)



Bruce Springsteen checking out the family photos. Scott is so close to him right now, notice my sweet photo skills, they are nowhere near up to par with his.



Cole, Amy, Erinn, Nancy, Anne. The bride was beautiful, the ceremony was sweet, and the reception was a fun, 6 hour long open bar festivity.



The country club. I never knew NJ could be beautiful.



Celebrating in the fading sun. It was pretty chilly, somewhere around 55 degrees.



The Max Weinberg Seven played at the reception. They are Conan O'brien's house band.



Cole and Raymond



Amy and Labamba. He's a really nice guy. I told him "I love you guys" and he didn't get scared. I'm pretty sure he loved me too....just look at us.

Picture Day(s) :EDITED:

As you may or may not know, I was given the job of school photographer for Amy's School. The job consisted of two days shooting 140 kids in two locations. The kids were great and easy to work with. There were the usual shy or scared ones but eventually they all came around. The older ones were great and wanted to pose like models and the little ones had stories to tell and high fives to give. Thanks to Andy who helped out on the first day. I'm calling it a success. I am happy with the pictures and I think the parents will be too. Lets hope they buy a bunch. Here's the setup for the littlest ones.

Permission has been given so here are a couple of examples of the results..

Meanwhile in the other room...

Thad and Amy are watching a movie on the computer. This was the alternative to watching UFC in the living room. If you notice that is Mary-Kate and Ashley on screen. Super cool.

Room With a View

The thing about NYC is that there is never enough room. People live in apartments that are 400 sq ft or less, 2-4 siblings share one bedroom, and schools such as mine share space with a Baptist Church. My classroom is held in the church's nursery, which means that every Friday afternoon all of my stuff goes into storage, and out comes the cribs, toys, and highchairs. I need to be thankful though, because I am one of the few teachers who actually have their own room. Others have to share with another grade using only a thin divider in between. My room is also the largest, plus boasts the best views due to a full wall of windows. Here it is, my classroom, home of the 2nd grade at The Geneva School of Manhattan.



12 little chairs for 11 little students



Lots of room to spread out on the floor for reading



Our Library, displaying artwork and silly stories from our first day of school today.



The view from the window ledge seat



View from my desk-Starbucks



The view from my rocking chair-Carnegie Hall. Not too shabby.

Erinn's Wedding Shower

The girls and I threw a wedding shower this past week for our dear friend Erinn, who is getting married next weekend. The shower was held at Cole's apartment on W 42nd St. Next weekend, all of us will pile into rental cars and head to the NJ shore for the ceremony. By the way, Bruce Springsteen will be there too. He's friends with Erinn's Dad. We'll probably become best friends. Or....at the least, take a picture together that I can post here.



Erinn is the tall blond gal in the center.



Our spread. We had to fit the 4 of us, and all of this, into 1 taxi. Our driver tried to scam us, but that's another story.