A Sweet Sound

Today I was working during my prep time at school and needed to bring something to a 7th grade teacher. I walked into the 7th grade hall and a mesh of sounds filled the air. Every teacher had his or her door open and I could clearly hear what everyone was doing. The classes consisted of Language Arts, Math, and Social Studies. Each class was doing something completely different but I realized that as I walked down the hall and took glances into every room, all students were engaged. In my 30 second experience I observed direct instruction, group work, and independent work time. It made me feel very proud of what our teachers are doing.

Times are very tough in our state at the moment, when it comes to education, but I see what teachers are doing and none of the "stuff" stops anyone from doing what they do best. Budget doesn't make teachers care any less or work any less. It makes me sad when I talk to parents who want their kids in private school for the sole purpose of avoiding public schools (I have also heard many valid reasons for why parents want private- this is not what I am referring to). Yes, the budget is horrific. We all know the devastation of it, but when it comes to it teachers are teaching just as they were when we were rolling in dough. Heck, I have more technology in my classroom this year than I ever have because our district applied for a big grant. Now my kids are given more experiences and options.

I digress, as I could go on and on. The bottom line is that today, as I walked down that 7th grade hallway and saw and heard what I did, it made me proud to be in this profession. It made me proud to work with the people I do. It made me excited that soon Haley will be sitting in a classroom and experiencing all that is school.

5

Our little girl is 5 today. She is a most beautiful soul. To us, she is perfect.

We Escaped a Shiner

Last night we were all dancing in the living room. My arms were flailing around and I NAILED Haley in the eye. She laughed and said I was dancing crazy, but she had a hard time opening it. It looked ok when we went to bed and I was anxious when I walked in her room this morning. I was sure I had just given her a black eye. It was all good when she woke up. Geesh! Mother of the Year?

My Recent Favorites

He's getting so big. Here are some of my favorites at the moment.

Words or phrases that crack me up: "boo-bee-dees"= blueberries, "ee-awk"= wiggles (who we rock out to on a daily basis), "wok"= milk, walk, or snack. You need to put it in context. "Awesome!"= awesome, "Hey doo"= hey dude, "sis, cool"= sis is at school.
The kid loves to dance and will bop to most anything. He will cuddle with me and tap my chest and say "Mama" as a way to introduce me to someone else. Kind of like, "you do know this is my mom, right?" As he runs he will yell, "ruuun!" If he has something for Haley or wants to ask her for something he'll put his arms out and say "Siiiiis? Siiis?" He loves instruments, especially the drums and guitar. He will let you know if it's going to be a bath with bubbles or without. He requests certain CDs in the car, either the Wiggles or PapaHugs. He knows the difference between the garbage and the recycle bins when you ask him to put something in one of them. He is busy.

Ry entertains all of us every single day. Our little guy...

Back in Step

I have been wanting to go to a step class for a long time. For the past few weeks I have intended to go to the 8am class on Saturday and just haven't been able to for various reasons. I realized that I hadn't been to a class since before I was pregnant with Ryan (3 years?). This seemed impossible considering I used to teach 4 classes a week.

This morning all signs pointed to going. I was up and ready to go. I got there and the music began and I was right back into it. It felt so great sweating like a dog and doing all the familiar moves to a room blasting with music. I was feeling awesome. Then, it happened. She called for a reverse hop turn, a step I have done 1,00o times. This time was different. As I came down from my hop, half my foot landed on the step and the other half missed. I felt three small pangs in my ankle and I fell, surprisingly gracefully, onto my ass. Now please understand that this has NEVER happened before. I have seen plenty of people do it, but I never have. Remember? I taught this class for a few years!

The two people closest to me came to my side and asked if I was ok. I was. I wasn't even embarrassed as much as I was entertained by and laughing at myself. I am glad no one else noticed, especially the instructor. If she had she would have had to check on me and ask how I was doing- into the microphone of course.

I walked it off and got back on the bench. It was a great workout. I will be interested to see how my ankle feels after it cools down. No swelling, no swelling, no swelling.

Can't wait to go back next week!

An Ugly Week

This week a series of things happened that show the darker side of humankind. My life, in general, has kept me sheltered from bad people and bad things. I know that I am naive about a lot and feel so disheartened when the ugliness of people rear's its ugly head. I'll make a long story short, but was almost scammed out of a lot of money (THANK GOD FOR MY MOM- she had heard of the scam and warned me about it), figured out that one of our students is most likely being abused at home, and saw a man in the middle of San Tomas Expwy stalled out in the pouring rain with no one stopping to help him. Before I got to him car after car just drove right on past.
I am so glad to live in my naive, happy world. I feel kind of funky to have seen what I did this week, but I know it's a good lesson. I always trust that everyone is just good and honest. I think I needed this to be smarter about all situations. Still, it would be better if I didn't have to be smarter because everyone had good intentions. UGH...I am glad it's Friday.

Snow Day!

Had a great birthday weekend! Got to go away with some friends and play in the snow.