Reflections and catching ups

As I look at all of my friends and their wonderful posts I realize it has now been over a year since I wrote anything! Oops, time flys what can I say! I am now very happily the 4th and 5th grade Social studies teacher, it has been amazing and challenging at the same time! But I must admit I am much better suited for this than Math!
My baby boy is now in Pre-School at a real big kids school (YIKES!) and he is loving it! He comes home with new words everyday such as, predicament, concentration and perplexed. Pretty big vocab words for pre-school if you ask me! :) We had a wonderful summer and P and I enjoyed me not being in school (at all) how weird is that? This was the first summer we've been able to just hang out ALL day and not worry about anything! So, that is pretty much it, Gordy is still in the same job and loving it. I am happy to report our marriage (after 8 years) is still going strong and is (it seems odd sometimes) even better than when we first got married!
So, if this works correctly here are some pictures from this summer! Parker's Tball
Last years 4th grade team!

Amazing!

As my last summer as a college student begins to wind down I feel a little bit of anxiety! I start student teaching in one week and I am not sure what to expect, although I am excited as well as nervous. I am student teaching at Evans and Hutch, awesome!! I can't wait to get out there and meet my teachers and kiddos, and to finally graduate! It is hard to believe that in this short amount of time I will be moving from being a Tech student to a teacher (and hopefully, God willing) getting a job in January). It's amazing to see how God works, and how, despite what I think, He is in complete control of everything. I never thought I would be so happy being a teacher, but I have to say I am pretty excited about this! Also, we got a new car, after much prayer, tears and wondering what we were going to do. My little blue car that got me through junior college and most of Tech decided to quite working for me (blown engines will do that) and so we had to find something else! God is amazing and with the help of Hayes motors (they're AWESOME!!) We found a Buick Rendezvous with 3 row seating even! God took an amazingly sticky situation that seemed to have no hope into something better than anyone could have expected, and He gave me a car that I actually wanted! Just thought I'd post how amazing our summer has been even though it started off a bit rocky!

2010

As the new year flings into full speed and I am caught running with my shoes untied it seems, I thought I would sit down for a minute and catch a few ideas I have for this year.
1. Grow, in God, relationships and my marriage
2. GRADUATE!! I only have 1 more semester as a Tech student and then I student teach, I feel like December can not get here fast enough!
3. COMPLETELY potty train Parker. Last year we started, had it down for a few months, and now we are back to almost square 1...depending on what day and moment it is.
4. Become more organized...mainly in the house, but in school life as well. After all being a teacher is going to require me to become more organized!
5. Become an AWESOME teacher! I am SOO excited to begin my career (not only for monetary gain all though this is a great incentive since 2009 was a bit financially stressful) but to begin what I know I have been made for. This is my dream and my passion and God is SO good to allow me the opportunity to be where I am at!
Here is where I am going to copy and paste an amazing quote that Amanda has on her blog, although oddly enough I came across this quote when I started this education adventure and it hangs on my office wall!
"I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized."

Dr. Haim Ginott
I feel that this sums up so much of what we've learned so far and my prayer for my classroom is that God helps me to remember this and not only to practice it everyday in my classroom but everyday at home as well. There is 1 thing that I have learned being Parker's mommy is that my mood affects him regardless of what is going on.
6. My final goal for this year is to be a better Mommy, more patient and understanding. Usually when Parker does something he has good reasoning (or at least at the moment it seemed good to him) and I want to learn to see that. 2009 was very stressful, at times hard and all at the same time it went by really fast!
I want to see things for how they are, learn to love the moment and even though this one will be really hard, enjoy the day and not look forward to or dread the next day!

water or rocks? Both please!

I was recently asked if I would rater be a rock or water. Of course me being the way I am I immediately yelled out "A rock!". With a look of not quite disapproval my teacher calmly looked at me and said, "Tell me why you choose that." I replied that a rock is strong, dependable and mostly unchanging." She smiled and replied "yes that is true, now tell me about water." I said well "Water flows, and is never still." She smiled again and said "Very true." Then she began to tell a story, a story about water and rocks. While the rocks sit in one place and are unmoving, they are indeed constant but they are slowly being changed by the water. A rock is hard and unwilling to move, but none the less the water calmly, patiently and quietly changes the rock, most of the time without the rock ever knowing it is being changed. After she read the story with the grand canyon of course being the main example I quietly smiled at her and when she asked me what I'd rather be I replied "the water." "Good choice" she said as she smiled at me. Then I said "and the rock as well." She looked at my with a question on her face, clearly not expecting this answer. She said "Go on." And I told her that I would rather be the rock at times and the water other times. There are some times in our lives where we need to be a rock because a rock in the river is not taken into the current with all of the debris and garbage. A rock is strong and sturdy, never faltering in what it believes in or thinks. Now the water is good to be at times because it is better to do and lead by example than to try and make someone change. Now my teacher is not a Christan and she has voiced many times that Christianity is not allowed in the classroom, but I find this idea interesting because is this not a Biblical principle? Did Christ not lead by example as the water, quietly changing people's hearts and minds. He was also the rock however, because he refused to be swept down the river with the debris the water carried along with it. I love the analogy of water and rocks, but I want to be both, not one or the other.

observations of kids

I have been in the public schools now for 2 weeks observing. First observation: kids are crazy Second observation: kids will make you crazy if you let them. Third observation: kids are like sharks, they smell fear. SO DON'T be afraid of them, encourage them, help them develop and always remember SMILE! Remember today's choices are tomorrow's consequences! Love to all, I've had the busiest craziest and downright nuttiest day I think ever! Someday I might blog more, but this is just a list of my small observations. Too bad I can't write than in my formal portfolio for class!

Project 365 idea...

Well as life is back to it's busy schedule of school and work (for Gordy) and homework I find it hard to remember the days that have gone by. So while playing around on face book tonight one of my good friends had this cool idea (that she also stole from a friend) posted. It was called project 365, and the basic idea was to take a picture (most commonly of everyday life, which is after all the best sometimes) and document it. I believe I am going to try and start this. I think it would be so cool to take 1 picture a day of something that you want to remember about that day. Anyway, I thought I would share that. I am getting ready for my first certification exams and have been taking classes for computer proficiency training in order to have a computer in my classroom when I graduate. I know I graduate a year from now but I still have so much to do! I don't want to forget anything about this last year of school. I have been so blessed to be able to finish up my degree and I have also met some amazing friends along the way! Love to all, hope your're having an amazing week!

First Day of school

So today was Parker's first day of "school". He was pretty excited, I must admit I was a little sad to see him go. I don't usually drop him off on his first day, I am usually in school too. But for some reason this year he started a day before me so I got to take him! He was sad until he saw some old friends from last year and he kissed me goodbye, waved and grabbed the little girls hand and walked right in. It was nice to see him go on so easily, but a little hard for me hah. As you can see from the pictures he has moved on up in class so he now needs a nap mat. (Which he was VERY excited about!)He also got a new lunch box to take (which he was quite proud of!) We had such a great summer together, we got to spend an entire 2 months together, Which has never happened! We had SOOO much fun and it makes me almost want to cry to think it is all over! Love to all, hope everyone has a great week!