525,600 minutes

Yep, that's how long it's been since I left the comfort of my old school and began a new chapter in my teaching career!  Now that school is officially over with the kids, it's given me a little time to reflect on my past year of adventure. 

First of all, let me just say... I am not a huge fan of change.  I am all about feeling comfortable, not being put in an awkward position, etc.  (Yes, I hate awkward silences.)  I was at my former school for 5 years.  I think about that sometimes... 5 years???  That's a really good amount of time!  It was with the same principal, assistant principal, and the majority of the same teachers.  I saw kids come and go- it was a small enough school that you knew who most of the kids were beginning in their 6th grade year.  I had the 8th grade math curriculum down to a T, having taught on both the regular ed and special ed sides of it.  My department looked out for one another.  My principal was great.  I had so many friends and knew exactly who to ask for what.

So, why did I decide to leave?  I had thrown around the idea of elementary school (I think I had had one too many attitud-ish comments said to me from a 14 year-old) but wasn't really planning to act on it.  When this job kind of fell into my lap last spring, I was very excited about it... I think I was ready for change.  So, I went for it.  All summer, I was excited about my new position... but, walking into the doors of pre-planning in mid-July, realizing you really don't know a soul, was a scary feeling for me.

It was a hard year... being between two schools each day, getting to know who does what and who to ask for what, getting to know two totally different administrations, learning all the teachers and para-pros names (I think I'm still working on that!), being hugely pregnant for half the year, missing out on 8 weeks of school, getting to know how the heck to teach a 1st grader how to read... it was all a huge challenge!  I felt like a huge stressball for so long. 

But, now that it's all behind me and I'm looking back, I realized that... I made some really good friends.  I put myself in a situation where I didn't know anyone and was able to form really positive relationships.  I learned how to work with a completely different age group than I was used to.  I learned how to teach in totally different ways.  I realized that I do have more patience than I thought I did.  I realized that I love getting hugs and love and sweet drawings from my little students.  I have just now realized that I can't imagine not seeing the people I see on a daily basis now every day.  It's funny how one year can be... it can really change so much.

Do I regret anything?  No.  I miss a lot about my old school, but I've found that when you remove yourself from a situation, you usually only remember the positive things.  That's what I remember about my old school, and I'm glad for that, even though I know that things weren't always positive there.  Do I wish I could take what I know now and re-do this year?  Absolutely! ;)  I laugh when I think about some things I didn't know at the beginning of the year (like what the heck are Dolch sight words?) But, then again, when I was offered my very first job as a provisional special education teacher, I asked my sister, "What is an IEP?"  ;)

I will be at one of my schools next year full-time, so this week has had me packing up my room at one school and toting it all to the other school.  It's allowed me to reflect on how sad I will be to leave those teachers and students I got to know.  It also makes me excited to be more fully involved in one school for next year. 

So, here is to accepting change in my life, putting myself outside of my comfort zone, and to summer break!  Looking ahead to a good 2011-2012 school year.

Field of Dreams

So, the K-Bashes ventured down to south GA this weekend for Stephen's family reunion.  His sweet cousin wanted to take me and the girls to this field filled with beautiful yellow flowers and take some pictures.  So, we did!  I loved how they turned out.  It was around 6:30, so the lighting was just perfect.  Here are some of my favorites!

Comfortable yet?

The many positions of Sydney playing on my phone.  This is at the age of 2... what will it be like at 16??

We have a playground!

Sydney's 3 year-old birthday present arrived today, via 2 hired guys and a truck.  8 hours later, we have a playground!   (and yes, I realize Sydney's birthday isn't for a few more months.  And yes, definitely, this is more like her 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th birthdays combined.  Christmases, too! ;)

So sad to have to leave... but don't fret, we can play again tomorrow!

Happenings...

It's been over 2 weeks since I've posted a blog!  Man, I am slacking! 

Ok, so what has been going on?  We've had a busy few weeks, with even our "low-key" weekend being filled up.  It has all be so much fun, though.  I really love it when spring time is in full swing and everybody is out and about.

Ok, so let's recap the last few weeks:

We've been to three birthday parties in the last three weekends.  We'd be going to a fourth next weekend if we weren't going out of town.  'Tis the season (for the next 15 years, I'm sure! :)  Besides neighbors and family, Sydney really hasn't gone to many "friends" birthday parties.  These three girls were either friends from school or from church. 

Party #1: Princess party, including big bouncy princess castle in backyard, princess jeeps, princess cupcakes, and tons of princess stuff in the goodie bags.  My little princess loved it.

Party #2: Another princess-themed party, where the girls played dress up and had a tea party.  I had to miss out on this one, so Stephen took both girls.  I'm sure he bragged about that to his friends. (haha). 

 

Party #3: This was held in a cute "diner" type restaurant in downtown Monroe.  They have a separate room that they rent out for parties.  The kids could pick their flavor of ice cream and choose their toppings.  They could color and decorate plain Varsity-style hats.  They also had a chance to hula-hoop and play hop-scotch.  Very fun!

OK, so that's it for the parties.  In the mix was Mother's Day weekend. That Saturday afternoon (day of princess party #2 where I was MIA), me, my mom, my sister, and my two nieces went to my mom's church for the annual Derby Day/Mother's Day luncheon.  We are supposed to make our own hats, and they have a contest with different categories for hats.  (my sister was jipped this year!) The husbands all serve the women.  It's a lot of fun!  Here are some pics:

That night, my sister, her hubby Matthew, me, and Stephen went to the Zac Brown Band concert.  It was a ton of fun, and they are a very good live band!

Grandmom and D-Dad brought my two nieces down to our house and watched all 4 girls that night.  This is what we arrived home to:

Sleepover party, falling asleep to princess movies.

Mother's Day was great- Stephen cooked a huge breakfast for everybody before we all went on to our own churches.  I got a beautifully carved frame with one of our family pictures in it, along with a sweet card.  I got lots of arts and crafts from Sydney and Taylor.  I also got the stomach bug that day that Taylor had a few days before.  So, sadly, my Mother's Day afternoon was spent asleep in the bed.  I had to take two days off of work, too. :(

This past weekend was a lot of fun- neighborhood Bunco, birthday party #3, and my friend Allison came over for dinner Saturday night, which was a blast!  It's so neat- Allison and I have known each other since we were both two.  We grew up across the street from each other.  It's funny to look at Sydney and imagining us at that age, playing together!  And speaking of Allison, do you remember that mysterious gift Sydney got from Amazon.com?  Yep, that was from her!  (although she had requested for it to be gift-wrapped with a card, and they did neither... LOL!)  Sydney loved hanging out with her "Aunt Ali".

Besides that, we've just been hanging out around the house, working, and counting down the days 'til summer vacation!  For me, it's 8 more days with the kiddos, and 10 more days of work!  I'll leave you with a few more random pictures from the last few weeks.  These blog posts wouldn't be so long if I'd just post a little bit more. :) 

Starting to sit up on her own!

Oh yeah, and I got my braces on!  Hard to imagine Taylor will be TWO when I get them off...

5 Months!

Happy 5 months to my sweet Taylor!

5-1-2011

Let's see... what's new with her? 

• She had to go on her first round of breathing treatments, due to a cold/wheezing.  :(
• She can grab her toes.
• She went to a couple of birthday parties this past month.
• Taylor celebrated her first Easter!
• Eating solids... so far, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, and peas.  She likes all but the peas.  See picture below.
• At her sick check up, she weighed 18 pounds, 15.5 ounces (Let's just say 19 pounds :).  Wow!
• Trying her darndest to sit up.
• Taylor went to her first Easter Egg hunts.
• Got new car seats in both cars... her legs were getting too long for the carrier, plus she's about to hit the weight limit!
• Talks, laughs, coos more!
• She sleeps on her belly now- we put her on her back, but she'll shift to be on her side, and then eventually her tummy!  (I panicked the first few nights and slept on the floor beside her!)

Taylor's new play toy.


My sister mentioned that this was a pose my Grandmom used to do, and it's so true!  The pose, the smile... it looks like her!

This is after trying peas for the first time... not such a fan, eh?

Her hands are always in her mouth! 

She loooooooves her big sis! (and vice versa!)