Happy Birthday Avery!

Today was one of the most important days of my life. It was the 1st birthday of my son, Avery. It's still hard to believe that a year has gone by. Watching him grow up everyday is a constant reminder that life is a beautiful thing.

During moments of his birthday I found myself reflecting back to the night we received the phone call that he was born. Since that day, memories of excitement and pure joy have filled the life of my wife and I. Again, we are truly blessed!!

As you would expect, he was rightfully spoiled by our families. He has everything and more that a 1 year old could need and most importantly we have him.

Happy Birthday Little man!

We love you!

Papi

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¡Viviendo el Sueño! (Living the Dream!)
Mr. Anibal Soler, Jr.
http://www.anibalsoler.com
http://anibalsoler.blogspot.com

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to me! Today I turned 31 years old... boy does time fly by. I have to say in retrospect I have lived an excellent life. I have been very fortunate, and blessed in my 31 years of life so far.

Whenever I have a birthday I often find myself being more appreciative of what I have been giving and the experiences I have had. I still have a lot of work to do to ultimately get where I want, but I know I am on the right path.

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¡Viviendo el Sueño! (Living the Dream!)
Mr. Anibal Soler, Jr.
http://www.anibalsoler.com
http://anibalsoler.blogspot.com

Birthday Weekend

Well my 30th birthday weekend has come to a close. It was a great three days that begun on Friday with a visit at school from New York State's, Department of Education. The State's Education Department was visiting our school as part of the process to help remove us from the "persistently dangerous schools" list. A list which any educational institution is not proud to be on.

In retrospect I felt that the visit went extremely well I was the first person on the agenda to present. I presented to the "team" from State Ed. our schools' Microsoft Sharepoint Intranet site. I mainly focused on how we as a school our using this to increase our electronic communication and collaboration as a school building. I emphasized the power of having a digital library of resources for staff to reference from our site. I also spoke about how we use it to post school news, events, meeting minutes and weekly bulletins.

The visit had other presentations and facets to it that I rather not go into detail about. I will end this piece by saying that the visitors were very cognizant of the realities of urban education. They understood the importance of our work and how difficult it is when you have a numerous amount of external factors that we cannot control going against us.

The highlight of my weekend was my birthday party. My wife spent a lot of time coordinating this event. As usual we had a plethora of food and entertainment. My gifts ranged from educational books to gift cards. The highlight of all my gifts was a shadow box my wife created for me. The shadow box was a snapshot of my 30 years of life. The shadow box is unbelievably amazing and I can't wait to hang it up in my office at work. I have included a photo for those of you who may never have a chance to see it.

Lastly the weekend ended better then I could have ever expected. I was able to spend time with those individuals who matter the most to me in my life. My wife, family and friends really know how to make every moment together enjoyable.

Thanks!

Living the Dream!

Anibal Soler, Jr.