Loose Teeth

Korra has 2 loose teeth!  

Fall festival

Korra and Nate are spending the day at the Candler Park Fall Festival. 

Drowning in Mucus

I woke up several times last night gasping because I dreamt I was drowning. Turns out it was just serious post-nasal drip. I finally went to sleep in the couch to spare Nate my repeated coughing, gasping, crying fits. Needless to say, I'm not feeling me best today. 

I dropped Nate and Korra off at the fall festival and now I'm going to nap. 

4:30am

If you wake up at 4:30 am and you can't go back to sleep you make a big pot of cheese grits and read Outlander. 

Back to back Birthday parties

10am birthday party for a 7 year old at a park

12pm birthday party for another 7 year old at their home. 

I am birthday partied out. 

Not my best

Today was a hard day. No one thing in particular, I'm just tired and frustrated and worn out. This evening I ate half a large pepperoni pizza on the couch while watching Survivor and will most likely be asleep by 8:30. 2 weeks until fall break. 

Mantra

At the beginning of each class every day, my class repeats this mantra:

Why do we read and learn? To understand the world. 

Why do we speak and write? To be understood in the world. 

Why do we do it will? To be respected in the world. 

Why do we want to be respected in the world? Because I am valuable and I matter. 

What's that smell?

Today I taught dialogue. The writing prompt was "what's that smell?" One student decided to make it a more "immersive" experience and while his classmates were sharing their dialogues, he intentionally and repeatedly farted. 

Hammock

Put up our hammock on the balcony and spent a very enjoyable hour relaxing in it. Fall evenings are here!

Lucky kid

A student was acting like a butt this morning. I tried to text his mom but my phone wouldn't sent the text. In fact, it wouldn't send any texts no matter what I tried. At lunch this same student asked me to talk with him. He apologized and we had a good conversation. He said, "I know you already texted my mom..." and I told him that I actually hadn't yet as now didn't plan to. I told him that maybe I just wasn't supposed to send that text after all. Not 5 minutes my phone started working and sending texts again.

Some Mondays

Every other Monday Korra has Girl Scouts right after tumbling. It stresses me out to race across town to make it to the meeting (always late). I really want Korra to do Girl Scouts and I'd feel (irrationally) really guilty for quitting this small troop. And there isn't a Daisy troop any closer to our house.  But I don't feel like I connect with the other moms. I feel like I'm missing something.

School Work and Baking

After church and lunch out with friends, I spent a couple hours grading papers and filling out school paperwork and then a couple hours cooking and baking.  I enjoyed the second task a lot more than the other.  I made chicken pot pie with buttermilk biscuit crust, banana pecan bread, tomato sauce for lasagna, black beans for enchiladas, and a chopped salad for dinner tomorrow night.   

Paella

We had dinner with friends tonight who cooked the most magnificent chicken paella on their grill. Dinner was delicious, the kids had a great time playing, and the adults enjoyed catching up. 

Celebration French Toast

Celebrated my 36 minute 5K with pecan crusted french toast and a leisurely shopping trip at Trader Joe's. 

5K

Running a 5k for brain cancer research with Jordan on our minds (and shirts!)

Parent Meetings

Somehow ended up with 2 parent meetings after 4:00 on a Friday. Holy crap am I tired. 

Rough Morning

Korra had a rough morning so I did too. We left the house at 7:05. It took us over 20 minutes to bike to school (it should have taken 10). Korra fell over, stopped multiple times, screamed, cried, and whined. She was still throwing a fit when we walked into school, past all the parents dropping of their kids, past my principal and co-workers, only one minute before bring late. I didn't have any time to prepare for the day and had to send a sobbing 6 year old to her class. I'd like to say the ride home was better but it wasn't.  And she still asked if she can ride her bike to school tomorrow. 

Inclusive Practices Training

Found out at 10:30am yesterday that I have an all day training today. It's not been totally worthless or terrible.  I feel bad for my partner teacher who is teaching both our classes today  but I enjoyed stopping by Nate's school to bring him lunch. 

Bike to School!

Today Korra and I biked to and from school for the first time!  She was so brave and strong as proud of herself. I'm pretty proud, too. 

Mary Poppins

https://youtu.be/Kz9XzatMe2A

I got goosebumps just watching the trailer. I can't wait!

Dever for New Year's

Friends invited us to their wedding in Denver in the beginning of January so we booked our tickets!  We're going to see some snow this winter. 

Call the Midwife

I watched all 8 episodes of Call the Midwife, season 7 in 3 days. 

Bike Ride

Korra overcame 2 fears today- she rode her bike downhill and she started her bike from a stop- multiple times!  All it took was the motivation to ride the mile to Krispy Kreme :)

Game Night

Our school had a family game night this evening. We had pizza and played board games. It was a little stressful (so loud and so many wild kind!) but once I got into checkers matches with students, it was fun. I beat 3 kids in a row including Korra and a kid from my 2nd block. 

Goals

This morning we had students make a list of goals. One student wrote, "residual income."

Another Win

Today was super stressful as we launched another aspect of our pilot reading program. I fully expected it to be a flaming failure and it actually went great!  I hope this proves that all the research and planning we put into this has been worth it. 

Just Pretend

Sometimes I like to pretend that it's the weekend on a Tuesday and stay up later than I should. I am doing to pay dearly for this at 5:30am when my alarm goes off. 

Board Resignation

Today I resigned from the church board. Ever since Nate's school has become an entity of the church it's been a little bit of a conflict of interest. It felt more and more uncomfortable as this new school year began so it was time to reevaluate.  I need our church to be a healthy place for us and I think this is a good move in that direction. 

Reading Buddies

We FINALLY got our 1st and 7th grade reading buddies program started. It's only taken 6 weeks is school and numerous meetings. But we did it and it was great and everyone involved is looking forward to our next visit. 

Poldark

I've watched the first season of the PBS historical drama Poldark in the past few days. I don't know if I really like it but I can't stop watching it. 

Pool Time

Went to the pool with some friends this afternoon. Fun in the sun plus this cold has me ready for sleep. 

No Running Today

Did I mention I signed up for my first 5K?  It's in 2 weeks.  I was planning to run today (so much easier on the weekend) but I feel yucky.  So I'll either just be really slow or kill myself going fast without preparing. 

10 years (minus 1 month)

Because I'll probably forget to post about it in the middle of October, I just want to point out that I've been blogging nearly daily (and sometimes multiple times a day) for almost 10 years.

Cold #2

6 weeks into the school year and here come my second cold. 

Caffeinated

Why would you send your 7th grader who has ADHD with coffee and 2 frosted doughnuts for his breakfast?!?  

Sick Day

Korra woke up with a fever so I went to school for an hour to get everything settled and called every single sub on the list without finding one before heading back home.  Not a great way to welcome my partner teacher back after he broke his collar bone.  I got a lot of school work done while Korra watch Pokemon, slept, and played with Legos.  She's more or less fine until the Tylenol wears off and then she's miserable.  Praying more sleep and lots of OJ get her back to normal tomorrow.

Less Crowded

Today was the most fun at the water park because it was much less crowded. Most of the slides didn't have any line at all so we could ride over and over. After lunch in the patio we all parted ways- headed home to laundry and grocery shopping and all the other things you have to do to after a vacation. 

Wet Nearly Naked Strangers

We spent the morning playing on the playground and craft room and then a few hours after lunch at the water park. Korra was less enthusiastic today than yesterday but I think that's just because she was so tired. I was less enthusiastic today because I kept getting accidentally touched by wet, nearly naked strangers. Other highlights of the afternoon include the slide we were waiting to go in breaking down, the fire alarm going off, watching a family take a 5 month old baby down a giant water slide, seeing my neice puke twice, taking a snuggly nap with Korra, and mini bowling. 

GWL

Korra loved spending a few hours at the water park with her cousins this afternoon. We had pizza and cupcakes for dinner in the hotel room and now she is tucked into the top bunk in a room with 2 of her cousins. She is exhausted (and so am I) but it's way too loud/exciting to sleep between the 8 adults, 5 kids, and the college football game. 

Parade

Enjoyed the Dragon Con parade with friends (we were able to easily walk from our new place!) and now we're on the road to Great Wolf Lodge for family birthday celebration!

Last Day of Being 5

She brought cupcakes with Pokemon toppers, plates, and napkins to share with her class. She earned "dress down" so she picked this outfit (instead of her uniform). She told every single adult she saw, "tomorrow's my birthday!" 

I went to sleep early and exhausted and then had trouble sleeping last night, just like I did on Friday, August 31st six years ago. I woke up early, just like I did on September 1, 2012. Only this time I don't have to wake up Nate because my water broke. He can sleep for another few hours until it's time to go to the Dragon Con parade. I'll just lay here in bed for a little while thinking about how big my baby's getting.