Lee Lee and I both wore shirts with collars and buttons today, and when I pointed that out to her, she was SO excited to be twins. She made sure she and I both wore sweaters, had our hair done the same way, and she even asked that I curl her hair because I curled mine.
I love all my little girls, but she really is my favorite five-year-old daughter!
Wednesday night we had a family movie night to kick off spring break. Now, you may be wondering what kind of spring break starts on a wednesday night...
Well, Thursday was supposed to be the last day before Spring Break (the district opperates on a four-day school week), and our girls basketball team made it to the state playoffs. They play Thursday night in Denver and so many of the school staff were going to be gone on Thursday to go down for the game (either coaches, parents, loved ones, or alumni) that the district had to close school due to the staff shortage.
Go Panthers and Happy Spring Break!
We watched Jumanji (the one from 1995).
We are nearly 3/4 of the way through the school year, and it is the time of year when sometimes you see big growth in children's progress... and when you're also really tired of the little annoyances that you've tried to look past all year (some from students, some from colleagues, some from superiors, some from graduate school, some from your own children, and some from your spouse). It's basically a perfect storm of time bombs and land mines that you are trying both to avoid letting someone trip your detonator, and you are trying to avoid being the one to trip someone else's detonator. It has never been my favorite time of year, and life in Rangely is no exception.
That said, I read this yesterday and its a really good reminder that I'm trying to focus on during this coming week.
I want to do a blog post, because that it what I do before I go to bed... but my brain is mush.
I do not know where the weekend went or what I did. Well, I do... Friday, we had friends over for the first time since before Christmas I think. It was really fun, and then I tried to do graduate work after they left, but Brady woke up from his nap, when he really needed to sleep more, so I tried to cuddle him back to sleep, and I accidentally fell asleep.
Then Saturday I did grad school all day as much as I could, while running kiddos to birthday parties.
Then Hubby and I did the Rangely Mardi Gras party, which was all-you-can-eat Crab that they fly in specifically for this town fundraiser. That was fun, but I was distracted because I still had a ton of graduate work to do (and assignments are always due Sunday nights... so I don't like to still have assignments to do on Saturday night - I like them done already).
Then Sunday, I did graduate work all day long. I listened to lectures while I made breakfast, I wrote discussion posts while kids were playing and arguing, I ignored them all and just got in the zone... and that's kind of where I still remain. I have had airpods in my years listening to lectures or audiobooks all day... and it's pretty tiring.
It really does feel like I didn't have a weekend because I studied special education all weekend...and now I go and work in special education all week.
The silver lining is that we have something special planned for next weekend, and so I am trying to focus on that carrot out there... and get next week's assignments done early so I can truly enjoy next weekend.
Just a typical Monday morning... just child number six trying to be helpful by getting his own breakfast.
Marry a man who brings you dinner while you're writing a graduate paper...
A few weeks ago I attended a professional development seminar with a few colleagues on a Friday in October. The speaker began the workshop by asking each of the attendees to share something for which she was grateful. The speaker said it could be something in our classrooms, and with our students, or in our personal lives.
Each of the other attendees shared something she was grateful for in her classroom and with her students. I, unashamed, shared that I was grateful for Michigan football.
Of course, I am grateful for hundreds of things in my life -- probably thousands of things in my life, but Michigan football has been very important to me this fall, even moreso than in past years.
I have had a long list of stressors in my life since May. I don't mean to complain, because a lot of these things are good things... but I have worked almost nonstop for months:
What I learned that previous weekend was that the only time during the week I let myself take a break and fully relax is when I'm watching a Michigan football game. The weekend that Michigan did not play a game, I didn't put my feet up and relax at all. I need that break each week and I really look forward to it.
I am so grateful for Michigan football.
I am also grateful that Michigan is undefeated with a 12-0 record for the first time since 1997. That just makes those Saturday games where I relax all the more fun to watch!
I teach some really awesome kiddos and they each are so perfectly unique. I teach one little boy in a small group twice a day for some help with reading and help with math. He really likes to be correct, so when he's working on learning a new skill, he has a tendency to get really frustrated. This means that in addition to the work we do on reading and math, we also work on some behavior outbursts.
He's been doing better and better as the school year has progressed, and really seems to thrive on routine.
All that said, yesterday he and another boy worked really hard for me on some math concepts. He also had to go back and look at a couple of problems a second time to make some corrections -- and he did so happily without any behavioral issues.
As he and the other student were leaving I thanked them both for working so hard for me.
The student looked at me and said, "Thank you for helping our brains get bigger."
That is one of those rare feel-good teaching moments I am going to hang on to for many years.
Pushing through this week of Halloween... Monday was exhausting. The kids arrived home Tuesday ASKING how soon they could go to bed. We had everyone down around 6:30... except Hunter who seems to be determined stay up until Daddy gets home.
Meanwhile I can barely keep my eyes open as well... and the week is not even half over. This one is a doozy.
Our week has had it all.
Deer.
Snow.
Halloween costumes/parties/candy.
Additional work.
Graduate school.
Jury duty.
Jury selection.
Foreman Jury duty.
House selling/buying demands.
IEP meetings.
Tears.
Sweat.
Blood.
Laughter.
Yelling.
Hope.
and
Despair.
We've really run the gamut this week.
The best remedy for that is tomorrow with some R&R, family fun, Michigan football, and maybe a few cocktails!
Who's with me?
Hubby shared this on facebook a few days ago, and it is a really good reminder because it is just not at all my nature to value the relationship over the product... but with children I need to. Not only the children I teach but my own children.
The homecoming theme is cruising through the decades, so Wednesday was decades day.
The high schooler grades were each assigned a decade, but the elementary students were allowed to choose any decades -- which I greatly appreciated.
Tracey dressed up like the 80s -- she wanted "the decade with the neon clothes"
Howard dressed up like the 70s -- like a man in the military. I tried to explain that in the 1970s we were at war in Vietnam, and he corrected me. "I'm fighting for American, Mama."
Caroline dressed up like a girl from the 90s -- in one of my old dresses from the 90s... circa 1994 if I had to guess. The curls and side ponytail really sold it.
Lee Lee dressed up like a girl from the 80s -- in one of my old dresses from the 80s... circa 1989 if I had to guess.
Mama dressed up like the 1950s.
Homecoming Tuesday - Color Day!
Tracey's class: Orange
Howard and Caroline's class: Blue
Lee Lee's class: Red
Hunter and Brady's choice: Blue
Teacher's uniform: Black
Homecoming Monday
Elementary - Dress up like a character/famous person
Jr/Sr High - Dress up like Adam Sandler
Tracey - Evie from Descendants
Howard - Raphael from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Caroline - Jojo Siwa, the singer
Lee Lee - Fancy Nancy, the cartoon
Hunter - Spidey, the cartoon
Brady - Paw Patrol - the cartoon
Mama - Pippi Longstocking
Daddy - a Rangely Panther
The last time I worked full time was the year Tracey was a baby. Even then, my days began at 5:00am and I was off at 1:00pm -- so it was a 40 hour week, but I got my afternoons and evenings with my baby.
Fast-forward 7 years and I am not only working full time, but I am filling two teaching positions -- one should be full-time by itself and the other should be half-to 3/4 time by itself. My plate is very full.
I'm contracted to a full-time position, but this job could easily take 60+ hours of my life... and of course, I want to do it well.
But I'm also the mother of 6, and I get off work at 4:00pm, and my children are headed to bed at 7:00. I get three precious hours to welcome them home from school, connect with them about how their day was, feed them dinner, help them with homework, get them baths, and ready for bed with a bedtime story. The evenings are even more full when you add sporting events, school events, and Hubby's evening school responsibilities.
If I do not devote my attention to my children between the hours of 4:00-7:00, the time is gone. Not only is the time gone, but everyone has a rough night, a poor night's sleep, and it carries over into a rough morning.
Sometimes there will be a work event or meeting that requires my after-school attention, but the RULE has to be that I am with my kids from 4:00-7:00 and taking care of them and their needs, and it will be the rare EXCEPTION that takes me away from that.
