Blogs

Recently I received this email from a colleague regarding an upcoming presentation we are making to staff:
Colleague - "...I need to review and think through my presentation notes – and you and I will need to decide who is doing what. How do you want to figure that out?"
Me - "I thought I would mostly be your hype girl…like stand beside you and cheer you on…but I could probably do more than that."

Mother's Day is just around the corner! I knew I wanted to dedicate this blog post to all of the wonderful mom's out there, but also wanted to capture the essence of ABC Head Start. Here at ABC Head Start we pride ourselves in being an agency who solicits feedback. We like to find ways to involve staff, volunteers, parents, partners and other stakeholders in decision-making. We value all of these opinions in making ABC Head Start the amazing program it is!

Music makes me very happy. At this time of the year I get excited for concert announcements, summer music festivals and outdoor shows. Music has always played a big role in my life. From piano lessons to voice lessons, to band, to musical theatre; my childhood and youth was full of music. Whenever music left my life for a period of time it would always return to me. When I attended University I sang in a rock band. Most recently I have worked as a karaoke host, all in attempts to keep music in my life.

The Canadian Government announced a couple of weeks ago they are eliminating the penny from Canada's coinage system. In about six months the Royal Canadian Mint will stop distributing the pretty little copper coins. In the fall, businesses will be asked to return pennies to the nearest financial institution where they will be cremated and their little lives will be celebrated (melted down and the metal content recycled.)

I was visiting one of our classrooms yesterday, sitting at the snack table with the children when a little girl who is learning english said to me in a very thick accent, "Miss Christi, it is spring."

"Yes it is spring!" I replied, "I LOVE spring!"

"What do you like about spring?" One of the teachers asked (modeling appropriate question asking).

A tragic event happened in my life recently. The Executive Director of ABC Head Start, Kathy Lenihan, announced she will be retiring at the end of August 2012. You may think describing this as tragic is a little dramatic, but unless you work at ABC Head Start it is hard to truly understand the impact this could have. I'm sure every loved one and close friend that called me the week of the announcement thought I was crazy because I got emotional every time I talked about it. One friend even said, "Your boss is retiring??

A few years ago, my grandparents moved from their farm to a care facility because of my grandmother's health concerns. It was at that time my Mom and Aunts, while cleaning out the house,found the story of my grandparent's lives written by my grandmother. She had written it out 3 times so that each of her sons could have a copy in her hand writing. This was a tremendous, invaluable blessing as my grandmother is in the last stage of Alzheimer's and my grandfather passed away in December. To have a record of their lives from their point of view is priceless.

I have a very dear friend named Chantal, who is one of the most intelligent, kind and caring people I know. I can feel her cringing right now because she knows now is when I begin to tell a funny or somewhat embarrassing story about her. But before I do that I just want to reiterate how intelligent Chantal is, she works as a medical professional, has a Master's degree = she's SMART.

HAPPY NATIONAL POSITIVE THINKING DAY!!! Ok, National Positive Thinking Day is really September 13th, but I would like to declare it TODAY. Do I really have the authority to do such a thing, sadly no, but I just wanted to get your attention. Think of this as a warm-up of sorts to the actual day. Now to kick off ABC Head Start's Positive Thinking Day please take 50 seconds and watch the video below...