Back to School Groove

Well, I survived the first week back to school! I even managed to squeeze some fun in this week, too. I feel I can rightly say I have earned this first 3-day weekend of the school year. I came home exhausted everyday. On the first day back, I left school at 5 and drove my 45 minute commute. When I got home, I cooked a nice, homemade dinner for me and Mr. Hubby. My feet were killing me. I told Mr. Hubby: "I don't know how working moms do this!!!" I just can't imagine going through this first week of school and then coming home to children. My hat is off to those hard working moms that do it everyday. The bright spot in my day was getting to Face Time our nephew, Beckham. It was his first day of kindergarten. Aunt Ashley just had to hear all about it. For those that don't know, I'm absolutely crazy about this little man! I feel so lucky that I've got to be a part of his life from the time he was just a tiny baby:)

Once or twice a week I help out a friend and watch his two little darlings until he can get home from work. I started this on Tuesday. Again, I got a glimpse into what life will be like as a working mom one day. 

I had 16 kids all week. I think I'm really going to enjoy my class this year. I've got some real sweethearts. I've already got some that I can tell are going to be good helpers and good friends to others. I started assessing them right away. The beginning of the year is full of assessments and learning routines. I feel we got off to a good start. That's not to say that I don't have some kids that are going to keep me busy, because I can already pick out 2 or 3 that will keep me on my toes. I was impressed by how many showed up with all their supplies. I gave them several opportunities to write this week. I was pleasantly surprised at their skill level for this time of year. I think I may have a group of writers this year. We did a pizza glyph where the kids could tell about their favorite kind of pizza. They got to make their "pizzas" according to how they answered their pizza surveys. They turned out real cute. I hung them outside our room.

It had a writing activity to go with it. They had to write what they would put on their pizza if it was as big as the sun and who they would share it with.

Please take note of this young man's description of his pizza and who he would share it with:

It says: "On my pizza I will put cheese, peopporoni, pineapple. I will not share." When I showed his mom this at Meet the Teacher Thursday night, she thought it sounded about right. She said he sure does love his pizza. I love that I already get to see some of their personalities this early on.

Every year I read my favorite book: Chika Chika Boom Boom. We talk about the vowels and see how many we have in our names. They get to make the alphabet tree from the story. There is a poem we have that talks about how the vowels are the glue that holds our words together. Then they write their name and circle all the vowels and write how many are in their name. Here is a picture of their trees:

I felt like we had a good first week. I'm excited to see what this year will bring for us. This coming week I am attempting to dive into my normal routine and get things started. I know it'll be a work in progress for a while. This year I have my formal observation by the principal. I know he starts those pretty early on, so I want us ready to show what we know when he comes!

This week wasn't all about work. I've managed to have some fun, too. We made Friday all about running our errands since we were going to have a fun day on Saturday. It was a rare Saturday off for Mr. Hubby, so we made the most of it. I went to one of my favorite clothing stores because they were having BOGO throughout the whole store, so I bought 2 pairs of pants. After a late breakfast, we got to make an unexpected visit to see my coworker's 7 week old baby. Her niece and nephew were there, too. Apparently, Mr. Hubby and I seem to attract young children....

Mr. Hubby and I went to our second ever couple's painting class to paint "lovebirds." We love this place we found in Grapevine called "Art in the Vine." I really enjoy these privately owned studios better than the franchise "Painting with a Twist." They allow for more creativity and are helpful. Here are the pieces Mr. Hubby and I did:

We followed the steps to create our background and traced a stencil for the birds, but the bird tails and all the other designs were completely free lance on our part. We didn't even attempt to make it look like the example. It was so much fun to get creative and see where we went with it. We can't wait to hang these in our bedroom!

Next, we went to Torchy's Tacos for the first time. I've heard so much about it, so I finally tried it since it was on our way home from painting. We shared the queso (you can see Mr. Hubby's hand dipping in the bowl). Mr. Hubby got the "Democrat" taco, and I got the "Trailer Park" taco and made it "trashy." The names of their foods are great! Let me tell you, it was definitely as good as everyone says. We will definitely be going back.

We ended up the evening watching college football. My Alma Mater, Texas Tech, beat Central Arkansas in a close game of 42-35. I'm so pumped college football is back! Mr. Hubby has the day off tomorrow, too! I can't wait to spend another whole day with him. I just love this man that I've been blessed to have in my life!

Back to School!

Well friends, it's that time of year again....back to school time. I went back to work this last week, and the kids come tomorrow! It's really hard going back to work after a 10 week break. Now, that's not to say that I didn't do any "work related" things while I was on said 10 week break, but it's just different. Gone are the nights staying up till midnight or later. Gone are the mornings of sleeping in till 9 or later. Gone are my reading marathons where my bottom becomes infused into our recliner. Gone are running errands in the middle of the week. Gone are the Hurricane Harbor adventures. Gone are the empty laundry baskets (since I wore the same thing most of the week...). I can't even stay up late enough to watch The Tonight Show:( I must record it and watch it the next day. Mr. Hubby doesn't particularly like my back to school schedule either. That means that more than likely he will get up with me earlier than he would normally if I was home. He also can't stay up as late as he normally would because I insist upon us going to bed together every night. I just think that it is important for married couples to go to bed together. I always go up to school a couple of weeks before I go back to work and get my room done. I like to enjoy my last week of summer vacation with no work related items to do. When I do return to work, it's all professional development. I like to use my 2 work days to add any finishing touches to my room and my plans. Here is a look at my room before I did any tweaks these past couple of days. Sorry, no updated pics were taken. You'll just have to use your imagination!

Friday night we had our "sneak a peek" where the kids could come and see their teacher and their room. Out of 19 kids on my list, only 8 showed up. I guess I'll have to wait in anticipation until tomorrow to see who else I have coming. The few that did show up seemed sweet. I have a love/hate relationship with the first of the year. I'm excited/nervous about what students I'll have. I'm sad that SOME of my previous students are leaving me, yet happy they moved on to second grade. I don't like starting over and having to teach the routines. Being a person who loves routine, I just function much better after the first few weeks when the kids finally have the routines down. I feel like a more effective teacher when the routines are learned and performed accordingly.

There are a few changes I'm going to TRY to make. And by try, I mean try to be more intentional about doing. Usually, I wake up at 6:30 and am out the door by 7:00. This year my goal is to be up at 6:00 and out the door by 7:00. I want to allow myself some time to have a cup of coffee, some yogurt, make my lunch, and do some reading. At the first of the  month I started reading daily devotionals from this free book I got. While some days they are good, other days just don't make much sense to me. They are also very short. I felt I needed more "meat" to my daily Bible reading. Our church puts out a weekly bulletin with daily Bible readings for Monday-Friday. They've been there all year long. I should have been putting it to use much sooner. Better late than never I suppose. I've added those readings to my daily devotionals. I've really enjoyed starting my day off with The Word. When you start your day with God's Word, you start off with something positive. It's a great building block for your day. This morning's sermon was titled "God is Calling." One of the points made was God is calling us to prioritize our lives correctly. This point is exactly what I've been trying to accomplish most recently. Instead of opening up email and Facebook as soon as I wake up, I need to be opening up the Bible and growing and prioritizing my life. So far, it's been surprisingly easy. When I catch myself opening that Facebook or email app first thing, I stop and remind myself that there is something else more important that I need to start my day. 

I've had a great and busy summer full of experiences and events that have shaped me for the better. Some things have caused me to re-evaluate how I am acting towards others and reflect on the person I am. I'd like to think that I'm a self-reflective person. Realizing my errors in behavior and way of thinking about certain aspects of how my life is going can be a daunting task; however, if one wants to grow, one must be willing to examine one's self and be willing to accept their faults and figure out a way to change for the better. So, as I enter this new school year, I enter with a sense of optimism and excitement for the lives that I hope to shape for the better. I'm shaping the future, people! For some of you reading this, that may be a comfort. For others, I understand your worries and concerns. LOL!

Stay tuned. Next week I hope to have many adventures to share with you!