The WORST Part About Teaching 4th Grade

I can't believe that I am about to begin my 8th year of teaching.  It seems as if I'm fresh out of college, but then remember as I make my student loan payment; that is not the case.  As all the back to school festivities and plannings commence, it makes me think back to all the kiddos I have grown attached to over the years and looking forward to seeing my former students.  That's when it hit me.  I was thinking about all the faces that I don't get to see.  All of my 5th graders that are going to middle school will no longer be some of the smiling faces I see in the hallway.  I started thinking about when I taught Kinder, how I saw those kids as 1st graders, 2nd graders, and will be about to see them as 3rd graders.  It made me think back to my very 1st teaching interview.  One of the teachers on the team decided to ask me what is my favorite thing about Kindergarten.  I answered about how I love their age group and all the fun things we do and their innocent things they say...then it was followed by her question of what do I not like about Kindergarten, to which I answered- lining up.  Yeah, you try getting 22 five year olds into a quiet straight line and tell me how much fun you have!  Today I still stick with that answer...that and tying shoes, however the best thing would be that if you're lucky, you get to see those kids for their next 5 years of school.  Which led me to ask myself..."What's the worst thing about teaching 4th grade?"  I have come to the conclusion that it is the fact that you only have one more year of seeing those kiddos around the building.  Then it's up to fate for our paths to cross in the future.  There are some I see more regularly because of siblings, but as their siblings age, they too will be moving on in the school system.  I look forward to those moments in the future, bumping into one another and seeing how they're doing and where life has taken them.  I want more than one year after they leave me!  That has to be the worst thing about teaching 4th grade!

On that note, I am working extremely hard to get ready for my new class this year!  Looking forward to another great year in the books!

Back to School

Call me crazy, but all of Logan's school supply shopping is done!!  I would rather finish it quickly before all the good stuff is gone!  So after a painful (for me anyway...due to the chaos that are my kids) trip to Walmart today, we are done!  I had ordered his backpack and lunch box from Pottery Barn a week or so ago, and have been waiting for them to come in.  The nerd in me gets a little giddy when thinking about and shopping for school stuff!! I am just excited that my little guy is finally going to be at my school!  I have been thinking about this time for years now, and the day is rapidly approaching.   When he goes to 3rd grade, Carter will then be with me, and I know that it will be here in the blink of an eye.  I am actually looking forward to coming back!  We have done so much this summer that we have lived life to the fullest, and it's time to get back in our routine.  I will still be savoring the last of the break, because I know the year will start in full speed, but we still have many more memories to make before it ends!

Sold on Disney

I have to say that after my trip in June, I can totally see myself being one of the families that travels to Florida annually to visit Disney World.  I only have 2 trips under my belt, but it wasn't until this most recent trip with my family that I was caught up in the magic and can't wait to return.  I am sold on Disney.  I think there are a few reasons behind this decision.  This time I was planning the trip and started months in advance, and there was a 9 year time difference, which allowed for advances in technology.  I planned online as early as possible to get the Fastpasses.  This allowed scheduled times for us to use the rides, so we didn't have to wait.  We also used these to meet the princesses.  I will take more advantage of this the next time we go.  We also booked character dinings.   I highly recommend this.  This was how we were able to meet most of the characters we did.  All the other ones we had to wait in line to meet in the heat, and many of the times, after waiting a few minutes they closed the line for breaks.  I will make sure the next time we visit, we have these planned out.  I really wanted to eat at Cinderella's Royal Table in the castle, but 2 1/2 months in advance was not enough time to get a reservation!  It was all booked!  This would be more for Gwen and I, but the inner child in me was so excited to meet Princess Aurora....oh well, next time!  Also now that I am more aware of the restaurants there, we would also eat at Be Our Guest in the Beast's castle.  For the parade we waited for almost an hour on the side walk curb to have front row seats for the parade featuring the new Anna and Elsa.  It was totally worth it.  We all got a perfect view and the characters in the parade interacted with us.  It was worth the gallon of sweat we shed on the pavement!!  We also purchased the Memory Maker photo pass.  It was worth the money because we had tons of great shots by them and plenty of whole family shots which are harder to get.  The boys keep talking about going back, and I can't wait to do that! I think the next time we go though, I will take a few days off of work and the first part of the Thanksgiving break to return.  This way it will not be so hot outside!  There were so many rides that we didn't get to ride, and characters that we didn't get to meet, that we have to go back.  Seeing Disney through my child's eyes was awesome!!  They truly felt like they were meeting their favorite characters.  Everything is made with impeccable detail, and they go all out in the themes and decoration for each ride and costume.  I love everything about Disney and hope that we will be able to enjoy many more family visits!!

The look on Carter's face was worth every penny!

Look at how Logan is looking at Rapunzel!  Amazed!

Totally smitten and look at Carter in the background!

Of course I had to release my inner child!

With Winnie the Pooh

We had a truly magical time despite any child meltdowns.  Next time we will go when its cooler, plan even further in advance, and stay on Disney property.  It will make for an easier commute and possibly some nap times!  I can't wait to return!

A Summer Bursting with Fun

I don't even know where to begin to describe how this summer was much better for me than summers in the past.  We are finally at a point where we are transitioning out of the "baby" part of our life.  What do I mean by this?  The fact that we aren't having worry so much about diapers, naps, special requirements, etc. that go along with having an infant/toddler in tow.  It also does not require and arsenal of equipment needed to leave the house!  Carter is finally becoming a preschooler!  Working on potty training by fruit snack rewards, and now it's going pretty smooth.  This makes outings and vacations much easier than previous summers, so finally being out and about, makes doing those fun things sound more appealing!  I'm looking for more fun  places to take an almost 3 year old and 5 year old in San Antonio, when we get out during the week, so please send your suggestions my way.  Things we can check off of our summer fun list consist of:

1. Disney World

2. Gatorland

3. Sea World

4. Zoo

5. Red Sox vs. Astros at Minute Maid Park

6. Witte Museum



7. Swimming (several times)



8. Circus



9.  Movies- How to Train Your Dragon 2, Tammy, and Planes 2: Fire and Rescue  (this is actually and world record set for me!  I might maybe catch 1-3 movies at a theater per year, but this I have completed in one month!

     

We also have a trip in the works to Port Aransas for Labor Day weekend.  We have a cottage there for 3 nights!  My family is coming along as well, so extra fun added in!  It will be a nice way to spend the 3 day weekend after 2 weeks back at work!
 
The kids have started a stage where they are constantly fighting with one another.  Both of them are having lots of whining fits and most of my days are filled with the repetitive sound of my name...Mom.  It seems like it either stops or becomes more tolerable when we leave the house, so I have been making it a point to have something planned all the time.  I am enjoying the summer and hope to do many more things, in addition to improving the suntan all the days outside is providing me with!  Only 3 more weeks left before we return!  Looking forward to seeing all those smiling faces, bring my baby to kinder at my school, and seeing my friends, just going to miss all the time to do whatever we want!  It is because of this, that I am going to slow down managing the mobile vet clinics and spend more family fun time with my husband and kids!

Snow Day?! I think not!

Here in the lovely town of San Antonio, we completely shut down every few years for harsh weather conditions.  There were words from meteorologists that are rarely spoken such as, but not limited to: snow, sleet, ice, road closures....  Using words like this in Texas gets our hopes up for the white stuff....of which we got none!  However, we did get tons of ice!  As matter of fact there was enough ice on one of the patio chairs, that if you scraped it together, it looked like snow!  Our entire city is full of bridges and overpasses which pretty much makes traveling anywhere impossible due to the amount of ice on the road.  I heard a crazy statistic of around 300 accidents this morning!  Glad that I got to spend an extra day with my sweet boys and a few extra hours with my honey!
In this time off I have managed to drink around 2 pots of coffee, finish a wreath (during naptime...the boys would never allow that to occur while awake), go through some clutter of schoolwork and mail, and do the dishes and even some laundry.  It was great to get a start on this before the weekend!  Since I do not work a vet clinic tomorrow, maybe I will have more time to enjoy life's little moments!
Not to mention more time to get the major changes done that are going to happen in the boys' rooms!  Recently, Carter has decided to become a big boy.  By this I mean that he has begun to climb out of his crib.  At first he would call for us, but now with no given notice, when he is awake, you know because he is near you saying, "Hi Mommy, Hi Daddy!"  I am fearing a broken limb, so instead of transforming crib to toddler bed, we are giving him Logan's race car toddler bed, and have recently gotten Logan a bunk bed/desk set.  Now Carter's bedroom decor doesn't match a "race car"  so I am struggling to come to terms with this.  Being that we painted his room green a year ago, not quite ready to repaint and change everything out.  I am desperately trying to find "How to Train Your Dragon" bedding for Logan, but have had no luck finding a comforter.  I can only find sheets, curtains and a throw blanket.  I know what you're thinking...try eBay, Amazon, Google....been there done that, got the T-shirt but no comforter.  I went through all 21 pages of websites that Google suggested, but no dice.  Before the bunk bed can be moved in, I need to paint it.  We certainly have our weekend cut out for us!  Needless to say, glad to have the extra day, but all the excitement of snow for nothing!  Maybe next winter!

Home for the Holidays!

So it's been too long since my last post....that is because school has started so I'm back to the grind.  In addition to my personal blog, I have a classroom blog going, and a grade level blog that I "co-parent" with another fabulous educator.  I just can't seem to keep up in all the hustle and bustle with the postings!  When I finally sit down at night, I just decompress and feel like doing.......ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!  Does this make me lazy???  Sometimes when I look at the state of my house after a day, I think yes, why yes it does.   Then I think about all the things that I have going on.  Here is a run down of a day in the life of me
5:00-5:15-1st alarm (yes, first because usually there are more to come, but my husband has recently banned my snooze button.....so I have devised a different plan)
5:15-Go downstairs and brew coffee (it has a prebrew setting....but I never feel like preparing it at night (remember the sit around and do nothing?!) )and set second alarm because I then fall asleep on the couch while I wait for my coffee and get some extra time in
5:25-5:35- maybe get up or one more snooze
5:35-6:15-shower, do make-up, get dressed and throw hair in a bun (because I have snoozed too many times to actually wear it down)
6:15-Wake up Logan and get his stuff ready for him to get dressed
6:20-Get his breakfast and lunch ready
6:30-Make sure he is brushing his teeth and do his hair
6:40-Out the door (HOPEFULLY!)
7:00-Drop Logan off at school
7:15 Arrive at work and try to make another pot of coffee to get me through the busy day that will commence
7:35-Get kids from gym
7:40-2:40-Teach my little heart out
2:40-3:00 Dismissal
3:00-3:45- is usually one of the following activities depending on the day-tutoring, meetings, or newspaper club.....Friday is the only time that I have this period to do whatever needs to be done.
3:45-4:45-This time is usually spent lesson planning, copying, grading, emailing, and prepping for the next day
4:45-Go pick up Logan
5:00-Go pick up Carter
5:30ish- Come home and then begin to start cooking dinner
6:30ish-Eat dinner
7:00ish-Bath time
7:30ish-Carter gets bottle and then bedtime
7:45-8:00ish-Logan get stories, prayers and bed time
And that is pretty much what ever single week night looks like to me.  Luckily Chris just got a shift change, so he arrives around 6:30 to help with the later part of the evening.  Prior to the change, it was all me, all night.  So after reading that....I'm sure anyone would want to just sit and do NOTHING!  Not to mention 3/4 of my Saturdays are spent managing the vaccine clinics.  So I leave around 8am and return around 6-6:30pm on those days.  
Lets just say that being home for this week is truly rejuvenating. I am trying to do all the things I need to do around the house....but again I just want to relax!  The weather is so cold....I just want to sit around on the couch and drink coffee!  What's wrong with that?!  Well my kids don't appreciate the relaxation efforts....so today we will do something fun!  I think we are going to make Santa Claus handprint ornaments that I found on Pinterest so we can have some quality time!  Tomorrow, we are making some adorable turkey cookies and baking my favorite dessert.....cherry pie!   I also have been doing some online Christmas shopping!  It's great to not have to venture out into the cold to get some things done!  I will post some pictures of how our ornaments and cookies turn out!

Taking it Easy

I can't believe that today is the 19th of July!!  That means that teachers return to work in exactly one month from today!  I don't know where the time has gone!  I have really enjoyed this time with my family!  The last two summers I taught summer school, so I don't think that 3-4 weeks is really a "restful break."  During the school year, I don't get to spend but 2-3 hours a day with my own children before bedtime.  I usually leave work after 4:00, go get Logan, then go get Carter, cook dinner and then it's baths and bedtime.  Chris doesn't get home until close to 10:00, so not only am I doing everything with the boys alone, by the time he gets home, I am so exhausted from the day and getting up at 5:30 that I am sleeping or ready for bed.  On Saturdays I work vaccine clinics all day, so my time is few and far between.  A comforting thought is that after this coming school year, Logan will be going to Kindergarten at my school!!! Then Carter won't be too far behind.  We laid low this week due to all of the things we did last week.  Carter started going back to school on Tuesdays, so when we picked him up, we stopped by my Oma's house to see her, my dad and brother for a little bit.  While we were there, my brother was in the garage.  Logan went out there, and the next thing I knew, when I looked out the window, Uncle Adam was showing him how to skateboard!  It was the cutest thing.  I didn't really want him to do it because I am a helicopter mom, and I think the sport is too dangerous, plus he didn't have a helmet.  It just melted my heart to see my brother holding Logan's hands and helping him.  He did really good and eventually slowly coasted across the floor with no hands!

Also, I decided that when we aren't out and about doing things, Logan needs less TV time and more school type activities.  Although, doing it with him made me realize how much fun helping him with homework in the future is NOT going to be!  He is whiny and acts silly even though he is perfectly capable of doing everything.  He knows all his colors so we worked on matching the colors to their spellings.  We also did some counting and number recognition.   We are continuing to practice reading and popcorn words.

I gave him a sticker on each one which he totally loved!  I am so proud of him!  I hope he has a love for school as kiddo.  I think he will because all he talks about is going back to school and seeing his teacher and is always talking about what he is going to take to show-and-tell.
The most eventful part of our week was going to the Mckenna Children's Museum in New Braunfels.  I bought a Groupon back in April or May, so we went with my friend Erica, and her daughter Reagan.  I LOVE this place.  It is so open (unlike San Antonio's) and tons of stuff for them to do.  I like the outdoor area.  It has a giant water table area, musical instrument area, a climbing structure, and a few other things.  Aside from Carter tripping and busting his lip open, we had a great time!

I realized I didn't get any pics of the 3 kids together because I was busy chasing my boys in 2 different directions and continuing to put Carter's shoes back on!  We had lots of fun and then took them to McDonald's after.  That was the only time in our day when Erica and I got to chill and talk!  After a 30 min nap for Carter he was woken up and him, Logan and I headed to BJ's to meet up with my team and meet our new special ed inclusion teacher.  We had a great time, but the boys were a handful.  I am surprised we stayed for the amount of time that we did!  Probably because I was missing my friends!  Now I have the joy today of cleaning house, doing laundry, and dealing with an overtired Carter.  I am being punished because I haven't done housework in a couple days so the house looks like CRAP!!!  I don't understand how people can have immaculately clean houses with kids.  I know some people have a maid that comes a few times a month, but that luxury isn't in our budget, so woe is me.  I guess I have spent enough of a "break" on the computer.  Back to the housework it is!!!