I haven't even looked to see when the last time I posted was. I had intended to keep things going and really continue my blogging since I had been doing so well. Anyway, off to my update...
School started with a whirlwind of activity this year. It just seemed like the minute we started going, we didn't ever stop. Each week would fly by and with no break in site I was getting exhausted. My kiddos were feeling the same way so I knew it wasn't just me. (And, after talking to several of my other teacher friends: elementary and high school levels, they all said the same thing) We all feel like we're just dragging this year. It's not that the year isn't going well and it's not that we're unhappy with things (there are always minor things that we can be irritated with, but nothing serious). I honestly wonder if the reason for the burnout feeling is that we really had no break from the moment we started school until today. And the only reason we got the break today was because of a crazy week of parent/teacher conferences.
Luckily for me, I had a nice break last week when I went to the Foreign Language Association of Missouri (or FLAM) conference. It was so nice to go and sit in professional development sessions that were actually valid and were useable in my classroom. Foreign Language is SO different than any other type of teaching, and I know that administrators and higher ups in the education word don't really understand that. Now if we started teaching this kids in the elementary levels, then maybe in the high school level, foreign language might look different, but we don't, so all of the FL teachers do the best we can and we try to implement these strategies that might not work in our classroom. We try them, they fail, we might try again because we're a tenacious bunch, but then we give up because it just doesn't work and we stick to what we know does work. Anyway, the FLAM conference was AWESOME!! I came back with SO many amazing ideas and I can't wait to use them. I'm actually going to be putting them to use starting next week!! I love it when I go to things and can immediately bring something new to the classroom. So that was a nice break - was it relaxing? No. Only because for me it's stressful to be gone from my family and it's hard work sitting in the sessions even when they are exciting and rejuvenating. Plus, it's always WAY more work to be gone from school than it is to just go and deal with it.
This last week, was a go and deal with it week - partly because it was too hard to be gone and partly because of parent/teacher conferences. Apparently over last weekend I did something to my back and my sciatic nerve was ANGRY! It was hurting so badly, I could barely walk, by Tuesday 11 am I was shaking and almost in tears from the pain, by Wednesday I was so done with it and was so grateful that I had a chiropractor and massage therapy appointment. I love my massage therapist - she's amazing. It's not fluffy feel good massage - she digs in there and actually fixes the problem. I don't feel it's a good session with her unless I cry on the table. I was upset though after I got up from my massage because I didn't feel instantly better, but I then went to the next room to my chiropractor and he got everything back where it was supposed to go! It was instantaneous - I could walk again. Now I'm having to watch it and still be careful because that muscle is so tight, but it's SO much better than it was.
Anyway, so I sat through parent teacher conferences with my back killing me, and just dealt with it because it was easier to just be there and get it done. Luckily, my students' parents are awesome. It was a great night talking to these families. I laughed a ton, I learned a lot about my students, and it's always nice to see the families that I know really well and that really enjoy seeing me. It made me feel so validated and that I'm doing a good job. Sometimes, as a teacher, I just need to hear that because honestly I feel like there are times what I'm doing doesn't matter at all.
So here we are, 1st real day off since Labor day. I got to sleep in, I'm enjoying my coffee while the kiddos play. We have a couple errands to run, but really today is going to be a lazy day. I'm going to do some cleaning because on Halloween night our French exchange teacher arrives. (More on that in a second). But really I'm just going to take it easy and enjoy being with my kids.
This weekend we're going to do lots of fun Halloween activities. Saturday evening we're going to a friend's party, I'm working on convincing James to go to the zoo on Saturday morning for Boo at the Zoo. Sunday we've been invited to two trunk or treats, and I think we're going to hit both of them, but one for sure. Monday the kids are off school so Ellie and Jake will be at daycare all day together - which both kids actually really enjoy (I love my daycare!!). I have professional development on Monday. I'm hoping it will be something actually useable in my classroom. I'm doing my best to go in with a good attitude because it definitely makes the day go faster if I'm not as grumpy.
Halloween is on a Wednesday this year - which kind of drives me crazy. I wish we didn't have to deal with it in the middle of the week. Can't we have a Halloween observed on a Saturday evening? That way kids aren't out super late and then are exhausted the next day? I don't know, just my opinion. We're doing a lot of our Halloweening (It can be a verb, right?) early because the French exchange kiddos arrive at 7:30 that evening. I'm making my whole family go to the airport to meet our teacher who will be staying with us. My kids are so excited to meet her and honestly I am too. This is going to be such an amazing experience for my family and for my students. Things I'm nervous about are: lack of privacy while they are here, how many activities we have planned on top of normal life activities, getting through my curriculum at school that I'm already behind on because of other things going on at school, etc. Plus I'm already worrying about when we go to France in March. I know it'll all be ok, I'm looking forward to France, but I'm also nervous about being away from my husband and kids. I know they'll survive without me, but I'm going to miss them terribly.
Anyway, the plan is to go pick up Francoise and then get home as quickly as possible to let the kiddos go trick or treating for a little bit before bed. We're all going to be exhausted Thursday morning, so I figure we'll just go with it. I think several of my students are going to come with us because my neighbor, Ellie's friend's dad, has this awesome haunted house behind his house and all my students want to go.
I'm hoping to post some pictures from Halloween and the French exchange while they are here, it probably won't happen until after the French leave. It might not happen until Thanksgiving. However, I am going to try and post at least once a month. I find that I handle things better if I can write it out and see it in print and realize what I'm worrying about is silly.
Friday, October 26, 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
Cookie Dough Dip
I've become addicted to Pinterest in the last several months - looking for recipes mostly because I'm always looking for better ideas for dinners. Well, this one post kept calling my name and it was the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip. So I found a recipe on Pinterest and decided to try it. It was not good. Basically it was cream cheese frosting with oats, flour, brown sugar and then m&m's and chocolate chips. It looked really appetizing, but unless you wanted to just eat cream cheese frosting - it was lacking.
So in my craziness, because I can't let this go, I decided to try and make my own chocolate chip cookie dough dip. It was awesome. Basically I took the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe, left out the eggs, mixed it all in my electric mixer and while it was mixing I added some milk. I have no idea how much I added, but it's up to you how much you want to add because it affects how thick the dip is. I wanted mine a little thicker than frosting so that it would stay on the chocolate graham crackers that I served it with. I tried my first bite and man I was thrilled. THIS was what cookie dough dip was supposed to taste like. The milk helped smooth out the flour texture and it was thick enough to be filling without being ridiculous.
As my friends and I were eating this last night, we thought of all the variations you could use: mini chocolate chips, m&m's, butterscotch chips, toffee chips. You can serve it with chocolate graham crackers or vanilla wafers.
We all agreed that I was not allowed to bring this back to game night because it was SO addicting. The entire bowl of it was gone by the time the night was over. In my book, that's a major win.
Stupidly, I didn't take any pictures of the dip, I wish I had, but it looked just like cookie dough, because that's what it was. I'll even attach a picture of cookie dough, so that I can pin my post to Pinterest in hopes of getting rid of the other nasty cookie dough dip recipes on there. Cookie dough dip should not have cream cheese in it, even though I LOVE cream cheese. It should taste like cookie dough, not cream cheese frosting.
So in my craziness, because I can't let this go, I decided to try and make my own chocolate chip cookie dough dip. It was awesome. Basically I took the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe, left out the eggs, mixed it all in my electric mixer and while it was mixing I added some milk. I have no idea how much I added, but it's up to you how much you want to add because it affects how thick the dip is. I wanted mine a little thicker than frosting so that it would stay on the chocolate graham crackers that I served it with. I tried my first bite and man I was thrilled. THIS was what cookie dough dip was supposed to taste like. The milk helped smooth out the flour texture and it was thick enough to be filling without being ridiculous.
As my friends and I were eating this last night, we thought of all the variations you could use: mini chocolate chips, m&m's, butterscotch chips, toffee chips. You can serve it with chocolate graham crackers or vanilla wafers.
We all agreed that I was not allowed to bring this back to game night because it was SO addicting. The entire bowl of it was gone by the time the night was over. In my book, that's a major win.
Stupidly, I didn't take any pictures of the dip, I wish I had, but it looked just like cookie dough, because that's what it was. I'll even attach a picture of cookie dough, so that I can pin my post to Pinterest in hopes of getting rid of the other nasty cookie dough dip recipes on there. Cookie dough dip should not have cream cheese in it, even though I LOVE cream cheese. It should taste like cookie dough, not cream cheese frosting.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Summer begins!!
I realized that I hadn't posted anything since Ellie's birthday. I'm a very bad blogger, however; there's been a lot going on.
We had Ellie's Birthday, followed by the 2nd grade Luau, then my sister's baby shower and then it was May. May is an insanely busy month, especially for a teacher. I actually looked at it looked like I had started a post, and left it because I just had too much else to do.
School ended on May 21st, which also happens to be my birthday. I had several students write me very nice notes, bring me cake, gifts, etc. They were so sweet. The last day of school was a really good day. I was glad to see my students one last day and to wish them a good summer. The best news was that I was moving upstairs near my friends in the normal part of the school. I'm excited to be getting a nicer room and to have some storage within the room to put all my stuff. I also had it confirmed that I will be teaching hours 1-4 at my school and then teaching 6th hour at the other high school. It'll be stressful but good. I honestly need to get my butt working and get vocab lists and power points made for the 1st chapters for all levels.
Anyway... With school ending, summer began. We've been to the pool a ton. Kids have enjoyed swimming and learning how to roller skate at the skating rink. We also started swim lessons this week. Ellie loves it, Jake kind of does but the water has been really cold!
Another exciting thing in our lives - my sister had her baby on June 3rd. Adrienne Esther made her appearance at 11:28 weighing 8 lbs 3 ounces. She's a doll. I'm so proud of my sister too, she absolutely rocked labor and delivery and it wasn't easy. I know I couldn't have done what she did - pushing for 3 hours, etc. She absolutely kicked major ass. There aren't enough words to express how excited I am to have a niece and how awesome my sister is.
Before school ended I started seeing a massage therapist who does really intense deep tissue massage. She's amazing. It hurts, but I can definitely tell it's helping too. I'm always nervous when I go to see her, but I know it's really working. I've really enjoyed the first part of our summer here. I'm enjoying spending the time with my kiddos, reading books, watching movies and hopefully I can get my bathroom redone - that's my other goal!! :) We'll see if that actually happens or not.
School ended on May 21st, which also happens to be my birthday. I had several students write me very nice notes, bring me cake, gifts, etc. They were so sweet. The last day of school was a really good day. I was glad to see my students one last day and to wish them a good summer. The best news was that I was moving upstairs near my friends in the normal part of the school. I'm excited to be getting a nicer room and to have some storage within the room to put all my stuff. I also had it confirmed that I will be teaching hours 1-4 at my school and then teaching 6th hour at the other high school. It'll be stressful but good. I honestly need to get my butt working and get vocab lists and power points made for the 1st chapters for all levels.
Anyway... With school ending, summer began. We've been to the pool a ton. Kids have enjoyed swimming and learning how to roller skate at the skating rink. We also started swim lessons this week. Ellie loves it, Jake kind of does but the water has been really cold!
Another exciting thing in our lives - my sister had her baby on June 3rd. Adrienne Esther made her appearance at 11:28 weighing 8 lbs 3 ounces. She's a doll. I'm so proud of my sister too, she absolutely rocked labor and delivery and it wasn't easy. I know I couldn't have done what she did - pushing for 3 hours, etc. She absolutely kicked major ass. There aren't enough words to express how excited I am to have a niece and how awesome my sister is.
Before school ended I started seeing a massage therapist who does really intense deep tissue massage. She's amazing. It hurts, but I can definitely tell it's helping too. I'm always nervous when I go to see her, but I know it's really working. I've really enjoyed the first part of our summer here. I'm enjoying spending the time with my kiddos, reading books, watching movies and hopefully I can get my bathroom redone - that's my other goal!! :) We'll see if that actually happens or not.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Happy Birthday Ellie!!
Today is my wonderful Ellie's 8th birthday!! It's hard to believe that 8 years ago at 12:37 AM she came into our lives. She has thoroughly blessed us and I know she will continue to do so. She is one of the kindest, sweetest, most tenderhearted children I've ever met. She makes me want to be the best person I can be and in turn the best mom I can be.
This morning she woke to find her presents on the couch. I was very proud of her for being patient about opening them. Jake had told Ellie yesterday that she got a nerf gun from him, so James wrapped up one of his nerf guns. Ellie opened that one first and wasn't super excited about it. I explained what daddy did and then she opened the real gift. She was much more excited about the Doodle Dog thing that Jake got her. James and I got her Cynder and Flameslinger for the Skylander's game. That was a big hit too. Jake almost got upset because he hadn't gotten a skylander, but low and behold I had one waiting for him too. All is well in the Owens household this morning!! :)
Now off to clean house because we have Ellie's birthday party next weekend and then Bobbi's baby shower here in two weeks. I'm hoping to really deep clean today and then just spot clean between now and then.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Joyeux Poisson d'Avril!
Now traditionally I hate April Fool's day, but that's because I'm a teacher and I've had horrible things happen at school on that day. Luckily this year it's a Sunday and I'm grateful that neither my husband nor I believe in playing tricks on each other. I will say the French have a cool way of celebrating. They try and tape a paper fish on the back of someone without being noticed.
"In France and Italy children (and adults, when appropriate) traditionally tack paper fish on each other's back as a trick and shout "april fish!" in their local language ("poisson d'avril!" and "pesce d'aprile!" in French and Italian respectively)."
I think that's a much better tradition than doing something awful to scare or hurt someone. I'm honestly hoping to just go through tomorrow at school without mentioning it at all.
It's been a month-ish since I last posted. Jake is well into being 4. He's had another ear infection this month, but I don't think we're going to get tubes right away because insurance wants 6 in a year before they'll pay for tubes. Currently we're at 4 but if we make it through April without any, then we're back down to 3. It's incredibly frustrating because obviously he needs them again. I'm worried about him becoming amoxicillin resistant like Ellie has become with ear infections. Other than the ears though, he's doing well. He can write his name - which is super cool. He's also pronouncing words more correctly now. He used to say, "lellow" for yellow and since they worked on the letter Y at school, he says "yellow" correctly. He loves learning the letters of the alphabet and is really doing an amazing job at recognizing them. But along with all that comes the age 4 tantrums and he really is incredibly bull-headed and he just wants his way all the time.
Ellie turns 8 in about a week. That doesn't seem possible. We're having a bounce house birthday party at our house again - I'm praying that it doesn't rain. We've had such beautiful weather up until now. She's super excited for her birthday party and honestly, I am too. How is it possible that she's 8. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was pregnant with her and student teaching...
Speaking of teaching, things are going relatively well. The weather has been so beautiful that students are just done, and honestly, I am too. I'm glad we didn't have too many snow days so that we get out on time (my birthday actually) and it seems like the weeks are going to go really fast. It's definitely been a year of learning for me. I feel good about how the year has gone and I'm thinking already of things that I'm going to change for next year. I have 5 students that I'm taking to France with the teacher from Truman and her 22ish students (I don't remember the exact count). It will be a 2 week trip, the same one I went on when I was in high school. I'm incredibly nervous about it. I'm worrying about hosting someone here, staying at their house in France, traveling with students (in general), how my kiddos here are going to handle my being gone, how much I'm going to miss being at home with my family. I know it'll be ok, but it's just getting to that point.
"In France and Italy children (and adults, when appropriate) traditionally tack paper fish on each other's back as a trick and shout "april fish!" in their local language ("poisson d'avril!" and "pesce d'aprile!" in French and Italian respectively)."
I think that's a much better tradition than doing something awful to scare or hurt someone. I'm honestly hoping to just go through tomorrow at school without mentioning it at all.
It's been a month-ish since I last posted. Jake is well into being 4. He's had another ear infection this month, but I don't think we're going to get tubes right away because insurance wants 6 in a year before they'll pay for tubes. Currently we're at 4 but if we make it through April without any, then we're back down to 3. It's incredibly frustrating because obviously he needs them again. I'm worried about him becoming amoxicillin resistant like Ellie has become with ear infections. Other than the ears though, he's doing well. He can write his name - which is super cool. He's also pronouncing words more correctly now. He used to say, "lellow" for yellow and since they worked on the letter Y at school, he says "yellow" correctly. He loves learning the letters of the alphabet and is really doing an amazing job at recognizing them. But along with all that comes the age 4 tantrums and he really is incredibly bull-headed and he just wants his way all the time.
Ellie turns 8 in about a week. That doesn't seem possible. We're having a bounce house birthday party at our house again - I'm praying that it doesn't rain. We've had such beautiful weather up until now. She's super excited for her birthday party and honestly, I am too. How is it possible that she's 8. It doesn't seem that long ago that I was pregnant with her and student teaching...
Speaking of teaching, things are going relatively well. The weather has been so beautiful that students are just done, and honestly, I am too. I'm glad we didn't have too many snow days so that we get out on time (my birthday actually) and it seems like the weeks are going to go really fast. It's definitely been a year of learning for me. I feel good about how the year has gone and I'm thinking already of things that I'm going to change for next year. I have 5 students that I'm taking to France with the teacher from Truman and her 22ish students (I don't remember the exact count). It will be a 2 week trip, the same one I went on when I was in high school. I'm incredibly nervous about it. I'm worrying about hosting someone here, staying at their house in France, traveling with students (in general), how my kiddos here are going to handle my being gone, how much I'm going to miss being at home with my family. I know it'll be ok, but it's just getting to that point.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Counting my blessings...
At a time when I'm feeling incredibly down, I feel it important to share something positive... (and yes, I realize I've done this a lot lately, but I've been kind of overwhelmed and down lately)
- Jake's 4th Birthday was Sunday. We had a small family get together at our house. Jake had a wonderful time seeing all the family and especially playing with Emory and all his new toys. Favorite line of the day, "Aww, more clothes?!" He was hilarious and having his birthday party on a day when I got horrible news definitely made the day more manageable.
- My friend and colleague Brandi got me a movie to show my classes for the rest of the week. I need a break and I'm letting the kids have one too. I'm grateful that she was able to help me out today with this.
- My dear friends and my wonderful family have been so supportive during this time. This is a huge loss for all of us and I have needed the support to get through this.
- Even my students today were super awesome and helpful. I know that they're excited about the aforementioned movie but I also know that they are sad to see me not like myself. I know I'll snap out of it and get back to being the teacher they know and love, but right now I'm just overwhelmed and luckily they understand that.
- Jake's 4th Birthday was Sunday. We had a small family get together at our house. Jake had a wonderful time seeing all the family and especially playing with Emory and all his new toys. Favorite line of the day, "Aww, more clothes?!" He was hilarious and having his birthday party on a day when I got horrible news definitely made the day more manageable.
- My friend and colleague Brandi got me a movie to show my classes for the rest of the week. I need a break and I'm letting the kids have one too. I'm grateful that she was able to help me out today with this.
- My dear friends and my wonderful family have been so supportive during this time. This is a huge loss for all of us and I have needed the support to get through this.
- Even my students today were super awesome and helpful. I know that they're excited about the aforementioned movie but I also know that they are sad to see me not like myself. I know I'll snap out of it and get back to being the teacher they know and love, but right now I'm just overwhelmed and luckily they understand that.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
RIP Tasha.
I found out this morning that my friend Tasha has passed away. My heart is broken. I haven't told Ellie yet, but when I do, I know it'll be bad. She was an amazing woman. She was a great teacher. She was just awesome. I was so thankful to get to know her.
She fought for over a year to beat cancer and had such an amazing attitude towards it the whole time. I only hope that if I were faced with the same things that I would have as much poise and grace as she did. She truthfully has inspired me in so many ways.
Rest in Peace, my dear friend, I hope I can someday be half the person you are.
Friday, February 17, 2012
If I could behave like my 7 year old and get away with it...
I would. I would eat whatever I wanted and then cry and complain when I couldn't have what I wanted. I would throw fits about not getting to do what I wanted to do. I would scream constantly about how unfair life is.
What's bad, is that this week I wish I could've acted like that...
The good news is that I have survived the week, now comes the unknown and the unknown is what I fear most. My friend, Ellie's former teacher, is not doing well. My heart is broken for her family and her other friends. Ellie isn't handling it well at all.
In trying to be a good parent, I've been talking to her about it and trying to get her to talk about her feelings. I got a book recommended to me by another friend (Thanks, Noelle!) called Heaven is Real for Kids. It's a beautiful book and I do think it brought some comfort to Ellie. She's read it a couple times now and since it is AR test worthy, I'm going to have her test on it. I also bought a card for my friend and Ellie has said that she wants to draw her a picture and write her something. I would like to get this done and in the mail today.
I think what's been really hard for me is that since Tasha has been in the hospital I've felt that she needed to be working on resting/healing/getting better/focusing on treatment, etc. I felt that people who were visiting her should be family and her close friends. I regret that I didn't ask to go see her, but at the time I was worried about those aforementioned items and also working with students I was worried about exposing her to illness. I hate to think that I have missed my chance to see her especially because now really is about family. I'm hoping/praying that I'll be able to see her this weekend. I'm still praying so much for her but I'm praying for her other friends and family too.
It's amazing how dealing with stress/anger/grief/most of the "sad" emotions can make you want to just forget how we're supposed to behave. I am absolutely at the point of stomping my feet, screaming and throwing a fit. I could scream, "Life isn't fair!" And the adult comes back into my head saying, "You're right it isn't." and I take a deep breath, wipe away my tears, and try to focus on the positive. So again, I'm ending this post with things that are positive.
1. My laundry is all put away (well everything that is clean).
2. We're going to the hockey game tonight.
3. We have tickets for the Comets soccer game next Friday.
4. Jake's birthday party. How is it possible that my baby boy turns 4 on Sunday?! That's a whole other post!
5. Hearing my kids play nicely and laugh while waiting a ridiculously long time to pick up the tickets mentioned in #3.
6. My amazing friends who have been my shoulder to cry on during all of this. They have let me cry, scream, rant and rave and during all of it they are understanding and supportive and honestly they're doing the same thing.
I know there are more, but I'm going to stop there. I have dishes to do and a house to clean up for a little guy's birthday party.
What's bad, is that this week I wish I could've acted like that...
The good news is that I have survived the week, now comes the unknown and the unknown is what I fear most. My friend, Ellie's former teacher, is not doing well. My heart is broken for her family and her other friends. Ellie isn't handling it well at all.
In trying to be a good parent, I've been talking to her about it and trying to get her to talk about her feelings. I got a book recommended to me by another friend (Thanks, Noelle!) called Heaven is Real for Kids. It's a beautiful book and I do think it brought some comfort to Ellie. She's read it a couple times now and since it is AR test worthy, I'm going to have her test on it. I also bought a card for my friend and Ellie has said that she wants to draw her a picture and write her something. I would like to get this done and in the mail today.
I think what's been really hard for me is that since Tasha has been in the hospital I've felt that she needed to be working on resting/healing/getting better/focusing on treatment, etc. I felt that people who were visiting her should be family and her close friends. I regret that I didn't ask to go see her, but at the time I was worried about those aforementioned items and also working with students I was worried about exposing her to illness. I hate to think that I have missed my chance to see her especially because now really is about family. I'm hoping/praying that I'll be able to see her this weekend. I'm still praying so much for her but I'm praying for her other friends and family too.
It's amazing how dealing with stress/anger/grief/most of the "sad" emotions can make you want to just forget how we're supposed to behave. I am absolutely at the point of stomping my feet, screaming and throwing a fit. I could scream, "Life isn't fair!" And the adult comes back into my head saying, "You're right it isn't." and I take a deep breath, wipe away my tears, and try to focus on the positive. So again, I'm ending this post with things that are positive.
1. My laundry is all put away (well everything that is clean).
2. We're going to the hockey game tonight.
3. We have tickets for the Comets soccer game next Friday.
4. Jake's birthday party. How is it possible that my baby boy turns 4 on Sunday?! That's a whole other post!
5. Hearing my kids play nicely and laugh while waiting a ridiculously long time to pick up the tickets mentioned in #3.
6. My amazing friends who have been my shoulder to cry on during all of this. They have let me cry, scream, rant and rave and during all of it they are understanding and supportive and honestly they're doing the same thing.
I know there are more, but I'm going to stop there. I have dishes to do and a house to clean up for a little guy's birthday party.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Things I'm grateful for this week...
So it's been another long and hard week here. I honestly think I'm just really tired and am desperately in need of a break from school. Because of how down I'm feeling, I'm going to talk about things I'm thankful for this week. I want to be more positive versus constantly focusing on the negative.
1. My family. While I feel like I really haven't had a lot of time with my husband this week, our kiddos have been SO well behaved. I'm so grateful that we've had a lot more praise than punishment here.
2. The weekend is coming. I'm looking forward to a couple days off school with my family, James included. I'm looking forward to watching movies and eating yummy food and cleaning the house.
3. waffles for dinner. Yep, it's night breakfast time at our house - why? Because I don't have the energy to make anything else and everyone will eat it.
4. being part-time. I love being part-time and being able to leave when I'm done teaching. I can come home and just veg, sleep, plan, whatever I need to do. sometimes I need to get housework done but at least I'm able to do that while kids are at school and are having fun elsewhere.
5. Jake's daycare and Ellie's school. They both go to great schools where I know they are safe. Even with all the little crap that I'm not thrilled about with Ellie's school, I know that most of the time things are positive and she loves it there.
Even just writing those 5 things has put a smile on my face. Now I can go pick up kids and have a nice quiet evening, with waffles for dinner.
1. My family. While I feel like I really haven't had a lot of time with my husband this week, our kiddos have been SO well behaved. I'm so grateful that we've had a lot more praise than punishment here.
2. The weekend is coming. I'm looking forward to a couple days off school with my family, James included. I'm looking forward to watching movies and eating yummy food and cleaning the house.
3. waffles for dinner. Yep, it's night breakfast time at our house - why? Because I don't have the energy to make anything else and everyone will eat it.
4. being part-time. I love being part-time and being able to leave when I'm done teaching. I can come home and just veg, sleep, plan, whatever I need to do. sometimes I need to get housework done but at least I'm able to do that while kids are at school and are having fun elsewhere.
5. Jake's daycare and Ellie's school. They both go to great schools where I know they are safe. Even with all the little crap that I'm not thrilled about with Ellie's school, I know that most of the time things are positive and she loves it there.
Even just writing those 5 things has put a smile on my face. Now I can go pick up kids and have a nice quiet evening, with waffles for dinner.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Hard week
This week has been incredibly hard for me. I'm not entirely sure why but I have a couple ideas.
1. Ellie's 1st grade teacher, who is also my friend, is battling lung cancer and we found out this week that she had to go back into the hospital. I love her dearly and I'm praying for her for healing and I am asking all of you to do the same. She's an amazing woman and she's fighting so hard. (Please God, send your healing to Tasha, please guide the doctor's hands to help her heal. Amen.) I'm so worried about her.
2. Evaluation time at school. I should be used to this by now, but I'm not. It makes me incredibly nervous because I want to do a good job for these students and I want other people to see that I'm doing a good job. My one meeting went very well today and I have another one next Friday. I know more than likely it'll be ok, but I'm overwhelmed with it all.
3. I've been worried about my kids getting sick. Ellie has felt off all week and of course that puts me on edge. So many kiddos are sick right now and of course they're both in germ factories all day long. I just hope that teaching them to wash their hands a lot and to eat healthy foods will help keep them from getting sick as much.
4. Even though my students really have been good this week, it's been stressful. I'm behind my friend at the other high school and I need to get caught up. I'm feeling overwhelmed with making sure they know what they need to. I do feel good though that my level 1 students wrote paragraphs about people, my level 2 students wrote really good stories about their friends having to do chores, and my level 3 and 4 students are working super hard. I feel like whatever I'm doing in the classroom is obviously working, so that's positive, it was just a hard classroom week for me and I don't know why. I think I can see all the stuff that I need to get done and it's not getting done. Period. I have this HUGE pile of stuff to do and it's not getting any smaller.
5. There's been some other school related stuff that I've not been really happy about, I'm not going to specify - if you really want to know - email me. I think it'll be ok, but I'm waiting to hear what happened today during a meeting.
All in all - I'm glad it's Thursday. I'm glad that tomorrow is Friday and 3 of my hours are taking quizzes. I'm not looking forward to grading all of them, but that's the life of a teacher.
I look back at the week - trying to positive, like I normally am - and see the things that made me happy.
1. Going to Zumba on Monday.
2. Taking Ellie to dance and getting to chat with my friends while she's at dance.
3. Ellie had a great p/t conference at her gifted program.
4. I made the kids "mock-donald's" for dinner (thanks Inga for the idea!) and they were playing with the apple slices and making mustaches, beards and unibrows with them - totally cracked me up.
5. My husband and just how awesome he is. And the fact that he has done a ton of dishes this week and started laundry this morning.
6. New babies!
7. Going out to dinner for James's brother's birthday tomorrow.
There's a lot to be happy about and that is positive this week. I need to focus on that and maybe I can get out of this funk. Plus it's almost the weekend!! Yay!
1. Ellie's 1st grade teacher, who is also my friend, is battling lung cancer and we found out this week that she had to go back into the hospital. I love her dearly and I'm praying for her for healing and I am asking all of you to do the same. She's an amazing woman and she's fighting so hard. (Please God, send your healing to Tasha, please guide the doctor's hands to help her heal. Amen.) I'm so worried about her.
2. Evaluation time at school. I should be used to this by now, but I'm not. It makes me incredibly nervous because I want to do a good job for these students and I want other people to see that I'm doing a good job. My one meeting went very well today and I have another one next Friday. I know more than likely it'll be ok, but I'm overwhelmed with it all.
3. I've been worried about my kids getting sick. Ellie has felt off all week and of course that puts me on edge. So many kiddos are sick right now and of course they're both in germ factories all day long. I just hope that teaching them to wash their hands a lot and to eat healthy foods will help keep them from getting sick as much.
4. Even though my students really have been good this week, it's been stressful. I'm behind my friend at the other high school and I need to get caught up. I'm feeling overwhelmed with making sure they know what they need to. I do feel good though that my level 1 students wrote paragraphs about people, my level 2 students wrote really good stories about their friends having to do chores, and my level 3 and 4 students are working super hard. I feel like whatever I'm doing in the classroom is obviously working, so that's positive, it was just a hard classroom week for me and I don't know why. I think I can see all the stuff that I need to get done and it's not getting done. Period. I have this HUGE pile of stuff to do and it's not getting any smaller.
5. There's been some other school related stuff that I've not been really happy about, I'm not going to specify - if you really want to know - email me. I think it'll be ok, but I'm waiting to hear what happened today during a meeting.
All in all - I'm glad it's Thursday. I'm glad that tomorrow is Friday and 3 of my hours are taking quizzes. I'm not looking forward to grading all of them, but that's the life of a teacher.
I look back at the week - trying to positive, like I normally am - and see the things that made me happy.
1. Going to Zumba on Monday.
2. Taking Ellie to dance and getting to chat with my friends while she's at dance.
3. Ellie had a great p/t conference at her gifted program.
4. I made the kids "mock-donald's" for dinner (thanks Inga for the idea!) and they were playing with the apple slices and making mustaches, beards and unibrows with them - totally cracked me up.
5. My husband and just how awesome he is. And the fact that he has done a ton of dishes this week and started laundry this morning.
6. New babies!
7. Going out to dinner for James's brother's birthday tomorrow.
There's a lot to be happy about and that is positive this week. I need to focus on that and maybe I can get out of this funk. Plus it's almost the weekend!! Yay!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The Winter That Isn't...
So everyone who lives in the mid-west knows that we haven't had much of a winter. Honestly part of me is really glad for this because I really want to get out of school on time - May 18th sounds like a lovely day for school to get out. Plus Bobbi is due on May 28th (with a girl!!) and I'd love to be able to be at the hospital with her during that time.
Anyway, as a teacher, I do find that I get burnt out this time of year much faster than I do at the beginning. I feel like the monotony of getting through each week and dealing with the same stupid complaints from the students gets to me faster. I'm worn out and I need a break. I'd love a snow day - just one or 2, nothing ridiculous like a week or 10 days. Just 1. Although I don't want to come back after my birthday (May 21st, if you're wondering. I like sparkly things.) Even my kids are feeling it. Ellie and Jake both have asked to stay home on multiple occasions and have been asking when they'll be able to sled again. All I can say is that I don't know.
I really feel like I've become this crazy person monitoring the forecasts and reading weather blogs to see if there's even a small chance of snow for the kids, for myself, for 1 stinking snow day.
All that being said, I almost feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. We've had a couple of minor snow events, and it's been so nice, I just keep thinking it can't stay this way. Eventually we are going to be hit by a major snow storm that will have us out of school for a week and that'll just really suck in May when we're all OVERLY done. We'll see what ends up happening. I'm going to continue to be crazy and watch forecasts and stuff. Maybe my diligence in buying my children winter boots and new yak trax things for my shoes will keep the crazy winter weather away.
Also to update everyone since it's been a while since I've posted...
Work is going well - My students are awesome, great kids in fact and I'm grateful for the opportunity to be in the classroom again. It really is what I'm meant to do. I need to remember that when I'm feeling down about things and hating getting up so early.
Obviously, My sister is pregnant with her 1st child. We're all super excited about the surprise and even more ecstatic that it's a girl!!
Jake and Ellie are both excelling in school. Jake is learning to write his name and the letters and numbers. Ellie is really amazing me at all she's learning. She loves school and we have been so incredibly lucky having another wonderful teacher this year for her. We've added IMPACT (the gifted program) to her schedule this year and she's enjoying that a lot too. She loves the challenge that they present to her and it's really encouraging her to think harder and explain why she got to that conclusion.
Ellie is in her 3rd year of girl scouts. We've been selling girl scout cookies like crazy and we have reached our sales goal and Ellie is super excited about it.
Anyway, as a teacher, I do find that I get burnt out this time of year much faster than I do at the beginning. I feel like the monotony of getting through each week and dealing with the same stupid complaints from the students gets to me faster. I'm worn out and I need a break. I'd love a snow day - just one or 2, nothing ridiculous like a week or 10 days. Just 1. Although I don't want to come back after my birthday (May 21st, if you're wondering. I like sparkly things.) Even my kids are feeling it. Ellie and Jake both have asked to stay home on multiple occasions and have been asking when they'll be able to sled again. All I can say is that I don't know.
I really feel like I've become this crazy person monitoring the forecasts and reading weather blogs to see if there's even a small chance of snow for the kids, for myself, for 1 stinking snow day.
All that being said, I almost feel like I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. We've had a couple of minor snow events, and it's been so nice, I just keep thinking it can't stay this way. Eventually we are going to be hit by a major snow storm that will have us out of school for a week and that'll just really suck in May when we're all OVERLY done. We'll see what ends up happening. I'm going to continue to be crazy and watch forecasts and stuff. Maybe my diligence in buying my children winter boots and new yak trax things for my shoes will keep the crazy winter weather away.
Also to update everyone since it's been a while since I've posted...
Work is going well - My students are awesome, great kids in fact and I'm grateful for the opportunity to be in the classroom again. It really is what I'm meant to do. I need to remember that when I'm feeling down about things and hating getting up so early.
Obviously, My sister is pregnant with her 1st child. We're all super excited about the surprise and even more ecstatic that it's a girl!!
Jake and Ellie are both excelling in school. Jake is learning to write his name and the letters and numbers. Ellie is really amazing me at all she's learning. She loves school and we have been so incredibly lucky having another wonderful teacher this year for her. We've added IMPACT (the gifted program) to her schedule this year and she's enjoying that a lot too. She loves the challenge that they present to her and it's really encouraging her to think harder and explain why she got to that conclusion.
Ellie is in her 3rd year of girl scouts. We've been selling girl scout cookies like crazy and we have reached our sales goal and Ellie is super excited about it.
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