Yeah yeah yeah...

I know. I haven't really blogged since my birthday. Sorry about that. As usual, time has been whizzing by my head and all I can do is whip my head around and blink twice and say, "What the heck was that that just flew by?" Plus, I'm 9 1/2 weeks pregnant, people!! I'm busy making a baby! I NEED MY REST!!

Anyways, school is definitely keeping me busy. The team leader thing is very time consuming, as most of my after school time is spent making the list of detention attendees and preparing reminders for the following day. My kids aren't too bad this year (as of yet), but once again, my last block of the day seems to be my most challenging. It goes in order this year, actually. My first block is really sweet and participatory. My second block is mostly good but a little talkative. And the last block, well there's a lot of blurters in that class. Yet, they don't have anything to say, when it comes time for volunteers to share answers. That's a little frustrating. We're working on that.

I'm feeling okay by the way. Fatigue is by far my worst symptom at this point. Yeah, I wake up feeling icky and again before mealtime, but it's not too bad. No throwing up, so that's a blessing. I just feel whooped at the end of each day. And on the weekends, my energy level is that of a paralyzed snail. I want to get more done, but my body wants to just let the couch suck me in until Monday morning. I really hope my stamina picks back up or I'll never get essays graded over a weekend! But hey, at least I'm prodcutive at work. Although, I do feel a little forgetful and ditzy lately. The baby is sucking my brain!

Well, hubby will be home and Mason's watching Elmo. Ta ta for now.

Found 'em

Here are the other shoes I got yesterday. And these were only $4.50 (because of BOGO at Payless) Yeah for more shoes I won't have to tie when I can't see my feet anymore!!

Happy Birthday to me!!

Today was a pretty good day. Most of my kids remembered to tell me "Happy Birthday" (since I mentioned it yesterday) and one even gave me a book. My hubby bought me a laser printer for my classroom (so I don't have to use the communal one like everyone else), Ms. Cindy gave me a Target giftcard (worth $29!) and my in-laws sent me a check. Which I took and bought these shoes.
And another pair of Airwalks, which I couldn't find a picture of. They're cream with brown and pink plaid stripes. Fun.


Happy Birthday to me!

Stucco, Doors and Shelves!!

Our new house is on its way! We went by there today, and they've stucco'd the outside and put interior and exterior doors on. And there are shelves in the closets! It's exciting. It's one step closer to being ours. :)

Week Two: Almost Done. Really?

Wow. It's been a crazy week. I'm just getting into the swing of things with being one of the two Team Leaders for the 7th grade, so it's taking some practice (things would go smoother if I had an aide, but that's another story!). I've started actually teaching some (mostly still review though) and it's gone okay. Most kids are being receptive and are well behaved, but there are already a few that are trying to make themselves known. I'm enjoying Mrs. Principal's son, which is a lot of fun. I have a handful of kids that are really, really a lot of fun to have in class and they've already begun to share things with me and it seems that their comfort zone is real relaxed with me. That's good. We'll see how the year progresses.

Well, I'm off to watch a little mind-numbing tv and then beddy-bye time. Goodnight and tomorrow's Friday!!

P.S. My birthday's in 5 days!! :)

The greatest day of Mason's life. Ever.

Yesterday was the ultimately perfect day for Mason. The best part was when we went by our local Christian store and Bob and Larry from Veggietales were there! We weren't real sure how he was gonna react (I really predicted he'd stand off and look at them from a distance), but he ran right up to them and hugged them and gave them high-5's and wouldn't leave them alone!! It was really cute!!

Later, we went to Ms. Cindy's littlest daughter's 4th birthday party. Mason had fun there too, as he knew most of the kids and they played with Play Doh and Potatoheads and he got to help her open her presents. Later, we had cake.

I'm sure Mason won't remember yesterday as years pass, but as of right now, it was the best day of Mason's life, by far.

Week One: Done!!

I can't believe it's Friday. Really. The week went by really fast. I guess with the first 3 days of school being a weird schedule and doing the Boot Camp thing, the days just zoomed by. I was really happy when yesterday arrived and we were on regular schedule. It was nice to start the real routine. I'm still not exactly in the real swing of things (as I feel it would have been wasted to delve headfirst into the curriculum too soon as a lot of kids move around and leave and whatever for the first couple of weeks), so I had some down time at the end of each block. Luckily I have Mad Libs which keep them entertained, and they love reading my Guiness Book of World Records or Ripley's Believe It Or Not books. Next week we will do some real work.

And I'll be glad when next week comes, then I will only have after school duty. The first week, everyone is on morning and afternoon duty, as kids get used to maneuvering around the building and finding their classes and getting into their lockers (oh, how the 6th graders look to be on the verge of tears the first few days over those darn lockers!!) and all that jazz.

Now I just need to get a T.A. I had my pal Hockey Boy (one of my 7th graders from last year) as my 1st period T.A., but the P.E. department stole him from me! So, because I am one of the 7th grade team leaders, I am scrambling to find another former student to be my T.A. There's a lot to get passed to other teachers and stuff 1st period every day. We'll see if I can snag one up on Monday.

Now, it's Friday night, I feel whooped and I have 2 days of rest!! Ms. Cindy's littlest girl is having her 4th birthday party tomorrow, so that should be fun. No other plans. Just resting. And getting ready for Week Two.

Day one: DONE!!!

I survived the First Day of School and I can say it wasn't THAT bad. I was really stressed and even felt the anxiety on the inside, just because I didn't feel like I was as prepared this year as I was last year. I ran around this morning before school, trying to get some things done and I didn't get much of it done, as they asked teachers to go to their duty stations 10 minutes earlier than planned. Apparently since school starts an hour and 15 minutes earlier than last year (last year: 8:45, this year: 7:30), there was some confusion on when we would open the doors in the morning and let them in for breakfast. I sure hope they get it figured out, because if I don't get to school until 7, 7:05 is gonna be unreasonable to start duty. We'll see.

Meeting my kids was interesting today. I have 4 students this year that are siblings of students I had last year. That's kinda weird. I am going to try not to compare them. I also have Mrs. Principal's son this year and I think he's gonna be a firecracker (and if you knew Mrs. Principal, you'd know why. She's admittedly ADHD and very high spirited!)! I predict he's smart but a little quirky. I can deal with smart but quirky...

Didn't tell them I won't be there the last quarter of school, as I wanted to ease them into that. I'll probably tell them soon though, because I don't want it to be a secret and they're gonna start asking pretty soon, since a lot of my regular clothes don't really fit me anymore! And perhaps if they know, they will be sensitive to the fact that I will need to eat in class and run to the potty while the neighboring teacher watches the class.

This year I'm helping with Boot Camp. Not military Boot Camp (yeah, could you really see me doing sit-ups or running or anything resembling an excercise?!?), a kind of training we give all of the students on the rules and regulations and procedures for our school. Basically, the first 3 days of school are Early Release Schedule for regular classes, and then they spend the last 2 hours of school in Boot Camp. It's mini classes on all the stuff we want them to know. I am getting to teach Drills (Fire Drills, Lockdown Drills, etc.). We teach the class 8 times a day. That's saying the same thing 24 times over 3 days! I don't mind being a part of it, but I really wish I had recorded my shpeel and could just press play for each class...

Well, I would really like to spend time with my son and hubby now. I shall get back to you soon!!

A lot to say and not a lot of time to tell it

We are heading out here soon to celebrate our 7th Anniversary (the real day is tomorrow), by going to see "The Simpsons Movie" (Hubby's choice, of course) and eat at Red Lobster (my choice!). But I wanted to stop by and say I didn't drop off the planet or have my baby yet (we've got another 7 1/2 months to go, people, so calm down!). Just been REAL busy. School starts Monday and I guess I'm ready. Eeek! Can you ever be ready? We handed out schedules for 7th and 8th graders last night and that was interesting but tiring. I saw some of my students from last year and they were bummed to hear I wasn't going to be teaching them for 8th grade. Oh well. At least I get to see them every once in awhile when they pop in to say hello. I even saw a few of my 8th graders from last year, as their parents were getting their siblings' schedules. That was fun. We've also been doing a lot of house paperwork stuff and tomorrow we go to pick out countertops and flooring! Yippee!! Lastly, I've had little to no energy a lot of the time, being that I'm about 6 weeks pregnant now. The morning sickness kicked in the day teachers had to return to work (of course!). It hasn't been too bad, I just feel icky and my stomach churns. No blowing chunks. Yet. Yeah, and I've been trying to enjoy the last few moments of summer with Mason and my hubby before school starts.

So that's what I've been doing. And it's only gonna get busier. I will try to write again, probably Sunday about the house stuff or after the First Day of School. Ta ta.