One less tooth

She lost another tooth today!  

Soccer Game

Korra's first sleepover

I dropped Korra off at her first sleepover. 

While she was at a birthday party, Nate and I were able to enjoy dinner out with my parents who are in town for the night. 

Not long after we got our food, I got the text that Korra wanted to go home. She was overwhelmed by how many kids were there and that she didn't know most of them.  The text wasn't totally unexpected (most first sleepovers end this way). There's always next time. 

Good scores!

For the first time this year, my kids did really well on the weekly quiz!  Called all the parents of the kids who made As right there in class. 

Reading buddies

This morning, nearly the whole school participated in reading buddies- the literacy initiative I initiated. It was beautiful. It was amazing. Kids were reading together. Teachers were beaming. So many people told me how much they enjoyed it. I am immeasurably happy to have such a great start to this weekly reading program!

Day 52 and 53

Day 52

Today I learned how to do the Milly Rock!  When I first watched the video, I almost said, "that's too hard for me" and didn't even try. But then I thought of my students and I felt inspired to try. It was actually easy!  I think dancing might have gotten easier for me! I know it seems obvious that is you practice something out gets easier but somehow I must have started to believe that wasn't true of me and dancing.

Day 53

Finally!  Some blessed souls have uploaded fully choreographed Panini Zumba videos to YouTube!  This project would have been sooooooo much easier if those had existed 53 days ago!

Tired but good

Yesterday I was feeling exhausted and frustrated. Today I had 3 hours of planning so I feel tired but refocused. It probably also helps I didn't cook dinner (thanks, Publix subs!) and watched a few episodes of The Good Place. 

Universal Christ

I'm currently reading The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr with a small group of people from church. Tonight there was only one other woman there but we had such a good conversation. So thankful to be able to read this book in community. 

Girl Scouts

Officially a Brownie! (Girl Scouts years go from October to September)

Day 48 and 49

Day 48

Today I learned "the floss." The video I watched was called "A Parent's Guide to Flossing." The girl who did the video was more than a little condescending but overall helpful.

Day 49

Today I learned how to Bop, Whip, and Duff (thanks, Silento!) I also practiced flossing. I've been practicing from about 9-9:30pm most days but I think I need to move it earlier in the day. I'm worried I'm going to drive my downstairs neighbors nuts by dancing and jumping around so late.

A little more grateful

After kitty-sitting, I'm more thankful for ornery Mrs Renyolds. She never jumps on the counters or scratches the furniture or tries to eat your food off the table or knocks over potted plants. Sure, she might take a swipe at you if you try to touch her when she's not in the mood (and she's rarely in the mood), but overall, she's a pretty good cat, all things considered. 

Kitty Sitting

Korra has both loved and hated having this kitten over for the weekend. Korra loves playing with the laser pointer and petting her. She hates that the kitten doesn't listen, bites, scratches, and wakes her up early. 

Chuck E Cheese

Korra had her first Chuck E Cheese experience today- the full birthday party experience with pizza and unlimited games and cake and the giant mouse coming out to dance. She loved it all. 

Bicycling Champ

Soccer game, pancake brunch, 2 hour nap. Perfection. 

This afternoon, we biked to the library, Richard's Variety Store (for a birthday present), Bruster's (for ice cream)and then Trader Joe's (for groceries). It was about 4 miles of biking in total and most of the last mile was uphill. Korra did it all without complaint!  I'm sure the ice cream helped. 

Korra's teacher

Korra's teacher came to her 8:30am soccer game. Korra was thrilled. 

I can't find it

At home and at school, I am forever hearing, "I can't find it!"  Less than 30 seconds after looking, I always find whatever it is.  What is it about kids that make them so terrible at looking for "lost" things?

Mentor

Went to a training this morning to help me be a better supervising mentor for my student teacher. Feeling really empowered and ready to do a better job so tomorrow I'm taking her out to lunch. If we stay in the building, I'll have 50 other things pulling at my time and mind. 

Between missing planning today for the training and missing it tomorrow for my lunch with my student teacher, I've got a long To Do list that I'm trying to knock out tonight. During soccer practice and after Korra's in bed it's going to be a Good Place marathon while I grade papers, fill out spreadsheets, and email parents. 

Dinner in Douglasville

Korra and I left school right at 3:30 in order to avoid traffic on the way to my brother's house in Douglasville. We stopped at Aldi for dinner ingredients and then made a simple dinner to share with him. It's a really tough season for him right now with his fiance in NC waiting for a double lung and liver transplant. Once again, I'm so thankful we live close though to pop over on a week night to catch up. I see many more Wednesday night dinners together in the future. 

Pizza Night, every night

Since we can't currently eat as a family 3 nights a week (Nate doesn't get home until 7:30 on Tuesday/Wednesday and Korra had soccer practice on Thursday), I've been going with my default it's-still-good-cold dinner: pizza. But we can't eat pizza for dinner 3 nights a week. I'm going to either have to get ok with cooking when we aren't all there (and reheating) or I need to find some new cold dinner recipe ideas. Now taking suggestions. 

Lockers

Today we assigned lockers to the 6th graders. It's fun to watch how excited they get when they finally open them on their own and when they plan out their decorations. It's also a little disheartening to see the kids who give up so quickly on something that's hard/new. 

Day 41 and Day 42

Day 41

I need to buy a full length mirror.  I realized I have no idea what I look like while I'm doing these dances.  And I'm definitely not going to practice in the neighborhood gym where anyone can see me.

Day 42

This morning I practiced "The Carlton" for half an hour.  I think this will be a really good addition to my "Panini" dance because it's recognizable and silly.  I have 8 more days to add to my list of moves and then I need to start choreographing and practicing the whole thing together.  

Scavenger Hunt

I bought a ClueTown scavenger hunt a few months ago and got to try out out with my friend Lindsay and her kids today!  Korra and Luke (born only one day apart, btw) are at the perfect age for this. They enjoyed working together and figuring out the clues/puzzles. It was a super fun way to spend time with them. After solving the puzzle, went for dinner at Superica. Yum!

Adult Brag

I'm up by 6:30. I've baked lemon blueberry scones.  I'm redoing our monthly budget.  AND, I just checked our credit score- it's 836.  Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good about adulting this morning.

Relaxing Night

Our first night of the week when all 3 of us are home. It was so nice just to eat dinner together and know that we don't have anywhere to go tonight. Nate's late nights plus soccer practice, Girl Scouts, small group, and faculty meetings are wearing us down. 

PD

Today I had the opportunity to lead professional development sessions for my coworkers. It went really well!  They even clapped in one session!  I really enjoyed talking about something I'm passionate about and sharing resources with my fellow educators. 

Unfortunately, there was a big incident with my grade (really several incidents in a row) around lunchtime and I wasn't able to do the afternoon session. 

More good news and bad news

Good news: this is just a cold

Bad news: I can't do anything but wait this out and I just wasted 2 hours of my time to find this out. 

After Hours Clinic

Finally called to make a doctor's appointment for my sinus headache that won't quit. Good news: they only had after hours appointments available. The bad news: they only had after hours appointments available. I really can't miss work because things are so busy but I really want to miss a day of work because things are so busy.

Korra's drawings

Her drawings have changed so much in the last few months. 

Overwhelmed

I'm feeling so so overwhelmed. 

My student teacher and her needs. 

Data analysis spreadsheets. 

Grades and unhappy parents. 

Emails. So many emails. 

New reading program to start without training. 

Old reading program to reboot school-wide. 

Sex Ed lessons to teach. 

Lessons to plan. 

Copies to make. 

Resources to find. 

Bathrooms and hallways to monitor. 

Phone calls and documentation of phone calls. 

Kids to love. 

I'm so so tired. 

I don't know what needs to give but it's something.

The UTI that wouldn't quit

2 weeks ago, I took Korra to urgent care for a UTI. She finished her antibiotics on Wednesday. She felt fine. Her teacher brought her to me on Friday afternoon because she was complaining of UTI symptoms. We took her back to the same urgent care for an antibiotic shot. She felt fine all day yesterday. Today she cried all through lunch because of UTI symptoms. I called the same urgent care to ask for more information (to share with her pediatrician, who I would call tomorrow) and they offered to call on another kind of antibiotics. So now at least I have a few more days to see if this clears it up and get sub plans on order in case I need to take her to the pediatrician. 

New obsession

I've become a little obsessed with the idea of buying a pop up camper. Maybe it's from watching a session of Tiny House Nation. Maybe it's the approach of fall. Maybe I'm just distracting myself from school. 

The problems are 1) they are expensive, 2) we don't technically have a place to park it, and 3) we don't own a car with a trailer hitch. My solutions are 1) buy used, 2) maybe ask my brother if we can park it at his house? and 3) get a trailer hitch installed on the Prius and find a camper that weighs less than 1000 lbs. 

It's this last one that's been consuming several hours of internet searches: findin a used, inexpensive, light weight pop up camper. I sure do love researching big purchases. It's almost as fun as planning trips. Which is why I want to buy a camper- so I can plan and go on more trips! 

1st soccer game

This morning we went out to breakfast at Sun in my Belly. It was the best breakfast I've had in Atlanta. 

Then we went to Korra's first soccer game!

She had a great time!

Rough day

Today was pretty rough. I had 2 meetings during my planning. We had an assembly (I loathe assemblies) An hour of setting up student usernames and passwords on a website somehow deleted itself. Korra's teacher brought her to me because it seems her UTI is back (or never fully left). 

This evening has been better. My in-laws are here for the night. We went out for sushi. The doctor at the urgent care was super nice and we've hopefully got Korra sorted out. 

Tomorrow is looking even better. Breakfast out. Korra's first soccer game. Maybe even a nap. 

sustainability day

Instead of a half day of professional development (as is our usual Thursday), we had our first "Sustainability Day," meaning that we had half the day to do whatever we needed to do. 

Here's how I spent mine: 

I slept in an extra half an hour. I made myself a better than usual breakfast. I took Korra to school. I graded papers, worked on lesson plans, answered emails, called parents, and filled out documentation forms for approximately 3 and a half hours. I quickly ran to the post office (had to mail off Korra's hand-me-down American Girl doll to the "doll hospital" because one of her legs came off) and the library (Korra is suddenly very interested in Native Americans so I had a dozen books on the subject on hold for her). I was at school and teaching by noon. 

Somehow I felt like I didn't really get anything done and so I also spent 4:30-6:30 (while Nate and Korra were at soccer practice) doing MORE school work. There's still more to do but at least I'm mostly caught up now. 

Sinus headache

Yucky sinus headache this afternoon/evening. Doing all the things I know to do to keep this from becoming a sinus infection. 

I did it!

Here's my speech for our charter renewal:

    I learned about Kindezi at a challenging moment in my educational career.  Here is the verbatim message I sent to Kindezi's Facebook page below:

"A former coworker of mine recently referred me to your website.  After watching the video on your careers page, I was nearly moved to tears.  It was so powerful to see a school that is actually living out all the things that I know in my heart are best for students.  Every few seconds I found myself saying, "Yes!" and "This!" I've been a public school educator for 12 years and I had started to lose hope that there schools out there for teachers like me.  You have given me hope. This comment is really just a big THANK YOU. Thank you for creating a school where I know students (and teachers!) will thrive. Thank you for living out your convictions about what kids really need to succeed on more than just a state test.  Thank you for daring to be different. I submitted an application and would love to join your team, but even if that doesn't happen I wanted you at the school to know how happy it makes me just to know a school like yours exists. Thank you for bringing me hope."

    A few days later I received an invitation to interview at Kindezi.  It felt like a ray of hope for a profession that I was willing to abandon because of the systemic issues that plague our public classrooms.  I got the job and was elated. Each day, I am living the reality of that Facebook video. I've grown more passionate about my career as an educator because of Kindezi. I am able to be the teacher I want to be- the teacher my students need me to be.  I can build relationships, be creative, teach social-emotional skills, and focus on the things that make us fully human. I am able to change the lives of my students in a way that I wasn't able to in previous school settings. 

    I come to you not just as an employee but also as a Kindezi parent  My daughter has attended Kindezi since kindergarten and has blossomed.  Even if I didn't teach here, this is where I would want my child to be. She's thriving academically, socially and emotionally.  She gets instruction that meets her individual needs.  Her emotional and social growth are cultivated and valued equally to her academic achievements.  Her teachers love her and care about her future. Kindezi is the best possible place for her as a scholar and for me as an educator.  I can't imagine my life without Kindezi and I hope I never have to live in a world where it doesn't exist.

APS Board Meeting

I'm waiting my turn to speak at the Atlanta Public Schools board meeting. And Congressman John Lewis is here. 

Nap, Swim, Eat

My afternoon was spent exactly how I like an extra day off to be spent: I took a nap, some friends came over and we went swimming, and then we grilled out. Feeling ready for the new week. 

HP2 Movie snack

For this morning's viewing of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets... Cinnamon Heir of Slytherin Rolls!

Old blog entries

Having a hard time falling asleep so I read through old blog entries from when I was pregnant and Korra was a newborn.  That was a hard time but I'm so so thankful for Korra. Totally worth it. 

HP2

We finished reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets today!  Going to watch the movie in the morning. 

Birthday dinner

This is what Korra requested for dinner on her birthday:

Church Party

The church had planned a swap meet/pot luck today that Korra decided was also a birthday party. We gave some stuff away that we didn't need, found some stuff we can use (books and a stool for my classroom, some doll clothes for Korra) and shared a meal and birthday cake with our church friends. I especially loved that Korra got to serve communion and they everyone sang Happy Birthday. 

PS- I'm pretty proud of how the kitty cake turned out. 

7

Happy 7th birthday, Korra!