Updates

Alright!  I feel like once school is in session, all my fun little extracurricular things (a.k.a. talking on the phone, blogging, having a life) are gone. ;)  Ok, not really.  Actually, we've been really busy lately- the challenge is finding the time to fit everything in!  Here are some updates:

Last weekend, Stephen and I went with some friends to the Goo Goo Dolls/Matchbox 20 concert.  It was great!!  Two of my favorite songs of all time (Iris by Goo Goo Dolls- all time fave- and Long Day by Matchbox 20) were played.  It was a great time.

Sydney and Raegan having a pseudo-sleepover that ended when the grown-ups got home.

Stephen took Monday off and he and Sydney went to White Water!  I don't have any pictures of their adventure, but they had a BLAST.  I was jealous, having to actually work while they got to do something fun.  I guess I see how Stephen probably felt this summer. :/

Today, we worked at our church for a few hours this morning, helping with the landscaping since all this rain has made a mess of everything.  Sydney left church with her friend, Savannah, and is playing at her house all day.  Tonight, we're going to Raegan's birthday party at a water park. 

On a random note, remember when we planted our garden back in June?  It has been going CRAZY lately!  I know it's because of all this rain.  We had to have an intervention with our crazily sprouting tomato plants- we had to add more wire to contain it from growing onto the other bushes, and we had to tie them to our little fence to hold them up straight.  It is insane.  We get about 10-15 ripe tomatoes a day.  Our green beans are growing like crazy, too!  We just started picking those, and are trying to save them up to have enough for a couple nights' dinner for all of us.  Our little green bell peppers are growing.  No luck from the okra plant yet, though one has grown gigantically tall.  It is so fun just going to the backyard and grabbing some fresh veggies!  I'm looking forward to starting earlier next year and planting new things.

Today's harvest.

Our 2 little bell peppers.

The massive okra plant.

Our mess of a garden!



The girls and Parker have adjusted to going back to school full-time.  All three of them are moving up to the next class this Wednesday, when school officially starts here.  All three have coughs (boo) so I'm trying to stay on top of that to make them feel better.  Stephen is going to be traveling a bunch in the next few months, including a trip to HAWAII (jealous!).  Busy times, but life is good!



I survived...

the first full week of school!  I've been really tired every night this week, but things are actually going really well!  Not to jinx anything, but the kids have been pretty good; we are moving along with the curriculum; I'm building relationships and am happy to teach some really wonderful kids.  Now, I realize we are only in week one and that things can change... but let's hope it sticks like this for a while!

One both good and bad thing are the hours I have to work.  I don't have to be at work until 8:30 (hello sleeping in!) but I don't get off until 4:30.  And, for all you teachers out there, you know you never leave at 4:30.  At least, not for the first few weeks.  So, by the time I get the kids, get home, eat dinner, bathe everybody... it's pushing 8:00!  Parker usually goes down at 7:15ish.  So, we may have to look at shifting their sleeping hours back a bit.  But, it is verrrrry nice in the morning, not being so rushed (like I did when I had to report at 7:00 AM when I taught elementary!) and actually being able to get things done in the morning.

Here are some pictures of the happenings during the first week of school!

Me and Ebony on the first day of school.  We go back 9 years together at CMS.

Our 8th grade math team planning.  Our county is all about "tweeting" (a WHOLE new world to me) and we're supposed to take pictures of all that we do.  This was one tweet by my co-worker.

Using our new curriculum- what the kids have done.  I have a color for each class, and they write down vocab words they don't know.  As they learn them, we move them over to the "Words we know" side. 

Here goes week 2!

Back in session!

School with the kids officially started yesterday, though I've already been mandatorily "back" for 2 weeks now.  I had 3 days of textbook/curriculum training, 2 days of new teacher orientation, a day "off" (last Monday, which wasn't really a day off since I worked the whole day), Tuesday through Thursday as pre-planning, and Friday as the first day of school. 

My biggest stress was getting my room set up and ready.  Once that was done, then I realized that I probably should figure out what to do when the kids actually get there.  I definitely could've used more than 3 pre-planning days, but I got it done.  At least, I got the important things done. 

Here are some pictures of my room:

A little sign I made.

I was also interviewed by the local paper as a "new" teacher to the county.

Thursday night, we had open house.  I have to admit I had some difficulty breathing right before it.  I was so nervous.  I've never started the year off with a homeroom, I haven't been in the classroom in 2 years, and I haven't been around 8th graders in 3.  All of that adds up to some nerves for me.  But... it was great!!  I got to meet most of my homeroom, I had to pronounce my last name at least 60 times, I got to meet some nice parents... it was great.  I left feeling good, but anxious about the next morning.

To summarize Friday... It was GREAT!  I couldn't have asked for a better start!  I was mentally prepared, I had enough things for the kiddos to do, I was surprisingly organized.  The kids were good- definitely have some talkers or some who I'll keep my eye on- but, they were awesome for the first day!  Here's a little activity I did:

I had 4 sheets on the board, each with a fill in the blank or question on it.  Each kid got to answer the question/statement on a sticky note.  

Math is important because... (almost everyone said something like "We use it everyday in life".

Our classroom should be ___ everyday.  Most answers were either fun, clean, or quiet.

What will Mrs. K need to do to help you this year?  I got a wide variety of answers- some as simple as "nothing" (those confident kiddos!) and others very detailed.

My goal for math this year is _____.  Most were either to get an A or to pass the CRCT in math. 

I was definitely EXHAUSTED at the end of the day and I went to bed at 8:45.  Today, I am much more energized, feeling good... but now I need to figure out all the plans for next week!  There's no turning back now!



10 Months!

10 months!!!  Parker is getting so close to one year!  Time, slow down!

He has had a very big month.  Accomplishments include:

• He is officially on the move!  Shortly after his 9 month b-day, he started crawling.  It's amazing how quickly that process is learned.  He went from rocking back and forth to taking a couple of crawls, to clumsily crawling, to crawling like a champ, all in a short time.  (and let me tell you- it is hard to babyproof and keep a 2 and a 4 year old's little toys off of the floor!)
• He has tried all kinds of new food, including different beans, ground beef, kiwi, avocado, spaghetti, pancakes, turkey, crackers, and more!
• He celebrated his first 4th of July!
• He pulls up and stands up on his own.
• He's just starting to walk around things, while holding on.
• It is virtually impossible to change this boy's diaper!  He moves every which way, turns his body the opposite direction, etc.  
• Finally got the hang of the sippy cup!
• One of his top teeth has popped through, and the other is about to.
• He's been doing this for a little while, but it's really become evident now- whenever he wants something (food, a person, etc), he opens and closes his hands over and over until he gets it.
• He will crawl over to the feet of someone he wants and puts his head down on their feet- like a little puppy!  (He does this when food is around, too!)
• He recognizes a lot of things- if I say "daddy" or "bottle", he'll turn to look at them.  If I ask for a kiss, he will lean into me. 
• This boy has to be going through a growth spurt... he is SO hungry all the time!!!!

Time to get that gate back out!

I like how he sleeps with his little bottom up in the air!

Summer Bucket List

I made a summer "bucket list" of 48 items I had wanted the girls (and specifically Sydney, since she's old enough to do a lot of fun things) to do.  I found this idea on Pinterest, and LOVED doing it.  It was a fun "goal" to have, to do all of these things.  It created some excitement about all the things we would get to do, and it was fun checking activities off the list.  It also helped me- when there was a lull in the day, I could pull out our list and find some activity to do.  We will definitely be doing this again next summer!  It's fun to look back at these activities and remember how much fun we had doing them. :)

As far as how we did- we did great!!  We were 46/48.  We were missing going to Bay Creek Park and going fishing.  I'm hoping to do these two things in the near future.  We did have to modify a couple of activities as well. 

Anywho, here is how our summer went: 

1.  Go to the library.

2.  Pick strawberries blueberries. (we missed the boat on strawberry season!)

3.  Do a treasure hunt.

4.  Chuck E. Cheese's

5.  Swim in the (backyard) pool.

6.  Make tye-dye t-shirts.

7.  Practice shoe-tying.

8.  Vacay at Lake Junaluska.

9.  Make homemade popsicles.

10.  Plant a garden.

11.  Go to the zoo.

12.  Play putt-putt golf.

13.  Vacation Bible School. Build-a-Bear. (We were on vacation during VBS!)

14.  Play at Meridian Park.

15.  Watch fireworks.

16.  Play on the slip n' slide.

17.  Build an indoor fort.

18.  Play at Destination Park.

19.  Play with sidewalk chalk.

20.  Have a picnic.

21.  Fly a kite.

22.  Make a pizza.

23.  Go to Stone Mountain.

24.  Play with bubbles.

25.  Do a puppet show.

26.  Play hopscotch.

27.  Make trail mix.

28.  Make 4th of July t-shirts.

29.  Finger paint.

30.  Have a movie/popcorn day on a rainy day.

31.  Feed the ducks at the pond.

32.  Swim lessons.

33.  Make cookies.

34.  Get a pedicure.

35.  Go see a movie in the theater.

36.  Loganville Toddler Park.

37.  Eat frozen yogurt.

38.  Ride bikes around the neighborhood.

39.  Go on a number scavenger hunt.

40.  Make beaded necklaces.

41.  Play in the sprinkler.

42.  Do a photograph nature scavenger hunt.

43.  Chick-fil-a playground.

44.  Go fishing.

45.  Go to Bay Creek Park.

46.  Paint with watercolors.

47.  Make paperbag puppets.

48.  Get a manicure.