Never Again

So it turns out there is a very good reason we always camp in coastal Georgia in the spring. By the end of May it is obscenely hot. Way too hot for tent camping. I drove 25 minutes to the nearest Walmart at 9:30 last night to buy 2 battery operated fans. All future summer camping will take place north of the Mason Dixon line. 

Camping!!!

As I paced the car this morning for our 4 days of camping on Tybee Island, I realized that we haven't gone camping in 2 years!  Not since our epic 28 day cross-country camping roadtrip. I'm really looking forward to it, though I'm a little nervous about it being too hot (we've only camped this far south in the spring) and we haven't been to this campground before. Fingers crossed we have a fun and relaxing time!

Math Genius

This is a girl who is too excited to sleep because she had lightbulb moment about division.

And before you think I'm forcing my kid to do workbooks over summer break, she ASKED for work. She said she was bored only one day into summer break and she has repeatedly told me she wants to impress her teachers when she goes back to school. I wish I could take credit for this weird, wonderful, motivated, hardworking, brilliant, and beautiful child but she is her own person. 

Recess Debate

Today was the last teacher work day. I had a meeting with the principal and assistant principal about their plan to take away daily recess from the middle school schedule. I don't know if I convinced them (I had lots of research and tied it to our school's vision). I appreciate that they took the time to hear me out but I'd appreciate it a lot more of they did what want. 

Purging

Today was a busy, dirty day full of physical labor cleaning the school and throwing out old, unwanted, or unusable supplies, books, curriculum, and general classroom debris. I'm tired. 

Pool

Today we had some friends over to play in the pool and grill out. 

Every time I've been to the pool this season, I've been struck by what a fun, diverse community this is. I really, really hope they renew our lease and don't raise our rent. 

Aldi

Today at Aldi I almost bought a pair of capri jeggings, a collapsible camp sink, and a pair of espadrilles shoes. 

In case you didn't know, Aldi is a grocery store, and a pretty small one at that. 

Afternoon at the Lake

We spent the afternoon on a friends' house boat on Lake Lanier. Korra was so brave- she tried out the waterslide and did some solo paddle boarding!

Church in the Park

This morning we had church in the park followed by a picnic potluck. It was hot but beautiful and fun. 

Jordan's birthday

Today is Jordan's birthday. She would be 35. We used to have these huge end-of-the-school-year/Jordan's birthday parties. She was the life of the party. I miss her. 

Tomatoes!

Check out Korra's container garden and the first harvest (2 cherry tomatoes)

Last day of school

Last day of 1st grade for this kid. 

We organized activities in each room on our grade level and the kids were able to pick where they wanted to be. For one rotation, I ran a couple games of werewolf. For the other 2, we did drawing tutorials and coloring. The amazing thing about this plan was that very few kids chose this room which made for a very chill day. 

After school we had a block party and I volunteered for the dunk tank. Some kids got their revenge. 

Cleaning and Purging

Today I cleaned out the grade level closet. Then I packed up all my stuff. And then I helped sort and purge in the media center. That's what I'll be doing all of Tuesday and Wednesday, too. I love it but it's exhausting and overwhelming. 

Pool Party

We went to the pool at 4:45 and stayed until 7:45. We met some new neighbors, caught up with other neighbors, and had friends from church join us (and they even ordered pizza!) It was such a good evening. It makes me really excited to spend much of the summer there. And it also makes me really anxious as we still haven't heard if our lease will be renewed. We love living here. I really hope they won't raise our rent or tell us to leave. 

Today is field day

I loathe field day. 

Rental car

The Prius is going to be in the shop for longer than we expected (a full week!) and we already promised our Yaris to a college student friend for the summer (he came to get it today) so... the chick who is at fault for the car accident is paying for us to have a rental car (or her insurance will reimburse us). Driving around a 2019 Nissan Altima for the next week. We'll try not to get used to how fancy it is. 

Poolside

Korra and I spent about an hour at the pool this afternoon. She made a new friend (who she played mermaid with) and I chatted with the mom and read a book. It was lovely. 

Superlatives

A few weeks ago I had the students write superlatives about each other. Today I gave them out. They included the usual like "best smile" and "most likely to succeed" but also included "most likely to leave trash everywhere," "most likely to win the lottery but lose the ticket," and "most likely to walk into a wall while texting."

Awards

Today was Korra's awards ceremony. We're proud, as always. 

(This giant field day t-shirt is a youth small). 

Typical Sunday

Church. Lunch with friends. Nap. Leftovers for dinner. In bed by 9pm. Living my best life. 

Playdate

Feeling like the best mom ever. Korra's friend came over at 9 am. After snacks and playing at home we walked to the playground for a picnic (with the wagon), stopped at the library, and spent 2 hours swimming at the pool. Then I took a we'll deserved nap. 

Lock-In

This morning I went to school at 6:30. I volunteered to help out at the girls' lock-in this morning so those night owls who spent the night at the school could go home. I woke all the girls up with a loud song, served breakfast, and helped them clean up. This whole lock-in was their idea. They worked out all the logistics and they had such a great time. They were already planning lock-ins for next year. 

Graduation

Left school a few minutes early to drive to Columbus (about 2 hours) to see my friend Stephanie graduate with her education degree. I'm so proud of her and love her enough to sit with her family I don't know for a few hours. 

Car and Ambulance

To round out my amazing day: Nate got in a car accident (not his fault, car is still drivable) and one of my student's had a panic attack in my class and had to leave school in an ambulance.

No recess

They're talking about getting rid of recess for our middle schoolers next year. I got so passionate during the discussion that I cried. Then one of my students told me I'm mean and "do too much." Then these little turds got in a fight at recess, proving the point of the admin. 

I have thought every day this week is has been Friday. I still have to do this tomorrow. 

Twin bed

Nate's had a fever and upset stomach most of the day so I'm sleeping in the extra twin bed in Korra's room tonight. With only 8 more school days, I can't get sick. 

New Playground

We tried out a new playground after school today. We biked there, Korra declared it the best playground we've ever been to, and then we biked home before dinner. 

They have a splash pad, too, which we plan on trying out next time. 

Upside

When you are a middle school teacher who maybe ate bean enchiladas for lunch, you can always blame your stanky farts on any of the boys in the room. 

Nine

Nine more school days and then I can drink my coffee on the porch and go swimming after lunch and take daily naps and most importantly not argue with 13 year olds all day. 

Dinner cake

Korra and I made a cake (devil's food with fluffy peppermint chocolate frosting) and planned to eat it for dinner. We got invited to dinner with friends and were able to bring the cake for dessert instead. Korra was a little disappointed but seemed to get over it a bit when there were friends to play with. 

Bed buddy

Nate's out of town for the weekend so Korra's sleeping in bed with me. This is how I found her when I came to bed. Right in the middle. 

Burpies

My co-teacher keeps giving the boys burpies as consequences. Just one more thing I could never get away with doing. Male privilege. 

But I still laugh while the kids do them. 

Life After Life

I finished a book yesterday that I highly recommend. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. 

The Dentist

My coworkers have started calling me "The Dentist" because I spend all day pulling teeth.  

I have quite a few students redoing incomplete work during recess in my room today. 

Not my finest

Today I twice said to students, "don't be a coward and say that to my face."

Sweet Jesus, help me to make it 13 more days. 

Patches

Last night was Korra's final Girl Scout meeting of the school year. She received a bunch of patches she had earned (16!). I spent an hour ironing them on and then sewing the ones that seemed loose. On the one hand, it feels stupid that she got all these patches (she only had 9 before tonight) at the end, when she won't

wear her Daisy vest anymore. On the other hand, she has this wonderful piece to help her remember her first year of Girl Scouts and all she did. 

Brrrr

It's 62 degrees in my classroom.  

Bridging Ceremony

Today was Korra's bridging ceremony for Girl Scouts. She bridged from Daisy to Brownie. 

RHE

Rachel Held Evans died. She is a writer. She is about my age. She has 2 small kids. She impacted my faith in such a huge way. Her writings made me feel understood and validated. I feel like she's walked with me on my journey. Her last blog post, before she even got sick with the flu (complications from which killed her), was about Lent and how death is part of life. Her last tweet was about missing Game of Thrones. I like the juxtaposition of those two.

 I am so sad. I want to talk about this with my friend Jordan, in part because she and I both loved Rachel's writing. The other part is I feel like Jordan would understand best, since she died young and suddenly, too.  I would like to talk to my dead friend about this other person who died. Because now they have so much more in common. Maybe it's morbid. Maybe it's stupid. I miss Jordan.  I wish she and Rachel were not dead. 

Visiting Friends

We had friends come up to visit today!  We were expecting rain in the afternoon/evening, so we decided to go for a walk on the beltline right after lunch. Just as we got our King of Pops popsicles, it started to pour and we had about a mile walk back home. We ate our popsicles as we got soaked. We were all soaking wet, but the kids were wet AND sticky from their melted popsicles. It stopped raining right before we got home (and we discovered that it hadn't rained at our house at all!)

The girls played (and put in a dance performance and colored their hair with temporary comb-in dye). The adults ate (pizza and broccoli salad!) and drank and talked and listened to music and sat out on the balcony. 

Korra had more chocolate popsicle on her dress, face, hands, arms, and neck, I started to suspect she didn't actually eat any of it. 

Uno and Spoons

Thanks to early dismissal and make up tests, I spent most of my day playing Uno and Spoons with my students. Social Emotional Learning at its finest :)

Shaky Knees

The huge music festival that takes up the entire park that surrounds our school has been setting up all week (making parking pretty sucky). It takes place this weekend and next. It also sucks that it's during testing week (so we can't use the park for recess). 

Silver lining- we can't test on Friday (and we allow students to be checked out early!) because the music starts at  noon and it literally shakes the building. 

Superlatives

Today I had my students all write silly superlatives for each other. I'm looking forward to giving them out in a few weeks. Only 16 more school days!

Testing

2 days of standardized testing down. 2 more to go next week. 

I get so hungry on testing days. I think it's because I'm so bored. 

Allergies or cold?

I've felt awful for 2 days. Runny nose, sore throat. Is it allergies or a cold?  Either way, I need it to be gone now.