Sleepover Update

The girls wanted to "do an experiment" that involved flour and food coloring so I let them have at it. 

Later we had sushi and dumplings for dinner and they went swimming before cake and bedtime. Assuming everyone sleeps through the night, this birthday sleepover has been a big success. 

Birthday Sleepover

We gave Korra a new cat shirt and headband and then went to Publix for the holy trinity of birthday sleepover supplies: cake, ice cream, and Doritos. Korra's friend is coming over in a few hours to help her celebrate her 8th birthday and she's so excited. 

IMPACT training

This morning we are starting the first of 7 foster/adoption classes with DFCS. 

Pros: it's online so we don't have to commute or find childcare, it's usually 13 classes and we're doing it in 7. 

Cons: it's every Saturday morning for 7 weeks, we did this 12 years ago and it was mostly common sense then. 

One step closer to adding another kid to our family. 

So so tired

I can't remember the last time I was this tired during the day. I'm absolutely exhausted. I've been having a hard time falling asleep and then this morning I was wide awake at 5am. I drank 2 cups of regular coffee (when I usually have only decaf) and I still thought I wasn't going to make it through the work day. It might be a testament to just how tired I am that I didn't care at all that admin changed the schedule for next week three times- all after I've already completed my lesson plans. I am just too tired to be stressed. 

Like Going to Church

I'm in another anti-racism webinar and it feels like I used to feel in church. I'm on fire. I want to remember these truths. I want to share them with others. I want to be transformed and to transform the world. My eyes are being opened. These are God's truths and this is the work of God. I want to be a part of it. 

Killing It

I had SUCH a great online class today.  100% of my students showed up.  All but 2 made it to my small groups.  I did story time and they enjoyed it.  We played a game and laughed.  It was so good.

First Day Fun

Korra had so much fun at school today that she got teary eyed when it was time to log off. During our after school walk, we decided to dip our toes in the pool. Next thing we know...

Teacher Jokes

I'm Googling school-related jokes to write in cards to my students.  I came across these that I will NOT be sending out, but that made me laugh out loud.

Why did the run-on sentence think it was pregnant? 

Its period was late.

What's the difference between a teacher and a large pizza?

A large pizza can feed a family of 4.

So Thankful That's Not Me

My exceptional education partner teacher texted me this morning that she has COVID.  Positive test, cough, fever, the whole shebang.  I am feeling extra thankful that I am safe at home (and have been through all of preplanning).

Intense Morning

Getting Korra logged on to her first day of school meeting while running my own first day of school meeting and fielding parent phone calls and texts this morning was really intense and stressful.  It continued to feel overwhelming and stressful until 11:00 when my class ended. Now I'm only planning and answering emails and such and I still can't quite calm down, even after having lunch, taking a short walk, and doing some yoga.  

First Day of 3rd Grade

Make That Six

They just keep texting

God give me patience

On Friday morning I texted AND emailed every parent, giving specific instructions on how to log in for class on Monday, asked them to check that they could log in, and then told them to contact me before 4pm if they had any questions. 

Want to know how many parents texted today (Sunday)?  FIVE. 

18

18 years ago, when I was 18 years old, I met Nate. Here is the story:

Sitting freshman orientation week, I really hit it off with my RA, Stephanie, who was a sophomore and lived in the room next door. She told me that she only had one other friend besides me and that her two friends had to meet. Stephanie took me for a 25 minute drive into the country to a little house next to Greensville UMC. There I met Nate, 19 years old, tall, skinny, and tan, with shaggy, oddly dyed hair- fresh from a summer as a camp counselor.  He was living in this little house as part of his payment for working as the little church's youth director. It wasn't love at first sight, but it was love at first conversation. Stephanie promptly fell asleep and Nate and I talked through the night. We left as the sun rose, just in time for my first 8:30am class. Less than a month later and we were inseparable. I have been in love with Nate for half my life. 

Cabin weekend

This weekend we took a couple of walks, Korra played in the creek, Korra and Nate watched 3 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies, I baked lemon blueberry scones and finished a book, Korra lost a tooth, and we played a couple of board games. I answered no texts or emails. 

Mani/Pedi

Korra and I weren't able to get our annual pre-school Mani/pedis this year (yet another casualty of COVID) so Nate did our nails while we were at the cabin this weekend. 

Unplug

After sitting in front of this computer and being attached to my phone nonstop for the past 4 weeks, we're taking the weekend off to go to the cabin.  No wifi or cell service for 2 days to help me rest and recharge before the first day of school on Monday.  

Smart Investment

Last spring, my thumbs ached from the amount of texting I was doing- long and repeated texts to parents and students.  To help with this, I bought a small wireless keyboard that I connect to my phone.  Now I can type out texts with ease and hopefully save my thumbs from early onset arthritis.  

Setting Contact Hours

All my students and their parents have my cell phone number.  It's an absolute necessity during virtual learning. The problem is that it's a lot harder for me to ignore an after-hours text than it is an email sent at the same time. I've got to figure out how to kindly but firmly word a message to both parents and student that if it's after 4:00, please email instead of texting. 

Virtual Open House

Today I attended Korra's Open House video call and then hosted the Open House video call for 7th grade. It was even less fun than in person Open House- I really missed the energy I get from seeing my students. On the upside, it was a lot less tiring. I think that might be an appropriate summary of all of online teaching- less fun but less tiring. 

Nothing New

 The last few days have been pretty monotonous.  Zoom meetings.  Pretending to pay attention in Zoom meetings, while really working on lesson plans.  Parent conferences (phone and over Zoom).  

Korra's spent the 6+ hours each day at a friend's house.  It's been a God-send.  Korra is happy and I can focus on my work.  The friend's mom is happy because Korra keeps her kid busy (and out of her hair).

I'm getting really bored with this.  4 weeks of preplanning is WAY too much.

Scavenger Hunt

Korra's Girl Scout troop ordered a scavenger hunt you can do for a fun patch so Korra and I headed over to Oakland Cemetery to complete it. 

Super hot but we had fun!

Morning Swim

 We had some friends over today to swim and have a picnic lunch.  We had the pool to ourselves for the full two hours we were there (and we got some pool time before the rain rolled in).  Bonus- we were home in time for my afternoon nap!

I did an inclusive thing!

I convinced my school network to encourage all employees to add their preferred pronouns to their email signature!

City Wildlife: Part 5?

On this morning's walk: a possum ran in front of me with 4 babies in it's back and one fell off and mama possum just left it behind (and the baby wandered off in the opposite direction).

Just a picture of my daughter

Family Zoom Selfie

9 hours

If my day goes as planned, I will be in video meetings for 9 hours today.

2 school meetings

1 yoga class

6 parent conferences

1 Dungeons and Dragons session

1 family hangout

Good thing most of those things are enjoyable.

Elementary Teachers

One of the reasons I'm a middle school teacher is that I do not possess the talent or the enjoyment in creating adorable classroom decor. I appreciate it when other people do it, but it never seems like it's worth the effort, unless you teach small children, and then it's an essential skill. 

In the online teaching world, my killer organizational skills made my Google Classroom enviable. That is until the elementary teachers discovered that you can make Bitmoji classrooms. Adorable cartoon avatars of yourself and your classroom, complete with working links on all the decor. It's unbelievably cute. And amazingly time consuming to create (especially if you are not good at it and don't really enjoy it).  Just Google "Bitmoji classrooms" and you'll see what I mean. 

During a Zoom meeting yesterday, the presentation had Bitmojis all over it. Korra asked why I didn't have a cartoon that looked like me so I downloaded the app, handed her the phone, and asked her to make one of me while I was in a virtual parent conference. 

Here's her results:

Chickpea Salad Sandwich

I tried this recipe the internet raved about. 

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/16715/vegetarian-chickpea-sandwich-filling/

It was just meh. 

School Dream

Last night I dreamed I was a middle schooler. I had to sing in front of the whole school and afterwards, some of the girls started calling me "Stevie" and laughing at me. (Stevie Wonder?) 

So I pulled each girl aside and said, "is this really who you are?  Are you sure you want to call a girl with short hair by a man's name?  That sounds like misgendering and I'm pretty sure the consequence for that kind of bullying is pretty severe. What would your mom think?" 

So basically even when I'm a student in my dream, I still talk like a teacher/mom. 

National S'mores Day

Celebrating this "holiday" with Korra's Girl Scout troop.

Zooming

 6 Zoom Calls so far today.  One more (for Korra's Girl Scouts) tonight.  In between I need to move far away from this desk.

Little Sewing Project

I made some reusable sandwich/snack baggies today (made with water resistant fabric).  I'm pretty proud!

Eating Out

We decided to try eating out at a restaurant tonight. We chose Torched Hop because 1) we should walk there, 2) we've been really impressed with their safety when we ordered take-out, 3) it's our favorite restaurant. In fact, it's the last restaurant we ate at (on March 13) so it seems fitting it would be the first one we return to. It felt really safe (masks required; order at the bar; single use- compostable!- menus, plates, cups, forks; plenty of space up spread out) and though it was nice to go somewhere, I don't think we'll make a habit of it. 

Next level swimming

This summer Korra learned how to tread water and swim on her back. Today she swam (on her back) across the entire pool without stopping or grabbing onto the sides. 

5 hour wait

Because Nate was technically squeezing 2 appointments into one day (evaluation and surgery), we were there from 8 am to 1:30pm. Most of the time, Nate was just waiting in the waiting room. The actual surgery took less than 10 minutes. Thankfully Korra was with friends and I had a beautiful office park to walk around and read in. Even more thankful that Nate is home and resting and should have 20/20 vision in a couple of days!

My office

Nate's in the Lasik office. This is where I get to sit and work (after I took a lovely 45 min walk). 

Lasik

Took a half day so I can drive Nate to and from his Lasik surgery this morning. He's nervous but also stop excited to be done with glasses (wearing a mask that fogs up his glasses finally pushed him to schedule the appointment). Korra was worried her dad might go blind but was more ok with the idea once we told her that if he does go blind, we'll get a seeing eye dog. 

Dinner and a movie

I made Ratatouille for dinner so obviously, we're watching Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe tonight. 

Korra finished reading LWW today and just couldn't wait to watch movie. Ah well.  So much for a theme. 

Anti-Racism Work

This is not to brag.  It's just a big part of my life right now so I need to document it.

1)  I went to a webinar called "Cultivating Co-conspirators" this week.  It was amazing to see 1,400 educators from all over the country who want to be more than allies.

2) I'm reading and working through Me and White Supremacy.  

3)  I'm listening to the daily podcasts for GirlTrek's Black History Bootcamp each morning on my walk.  

Cloudland Canyon Camping!

I booked a site for 2 nights at the Cloudland Canyon campground for mid-September.  We're hoping to share the site with some friends from college and their 2 kids.  I needed something to look forward to!

3 Zoom Meetings

On my third Zoom meeting of the day.  It's cloudy outside.  I am so sleepy.

State of the School

I'm on a network-wide Zoom call and I'm 100% behind the focus for the year:

-Students and staff are safe

-Students and staff are social-emotionally well

-Students are holistically growing 

A weekend outside

This weekend I've spent a few hours in the pool, a few hours reading in the hammock, a few hours walking and biking, a few hours chatting outside with friends, family, and neighbors (on the phone and in person).  It's hot but it's been so nice.

Best Burgers

Just in case you wanted to know, the best burgers in Atlanta can be found at Torched Hop. This is an objective fact. 

Dream Big

The principal said twice this past week in faculty meetings that we should "dream big" with our lessons and that we won't be required to use the curriculum. That thought has filled me with joy, creativity, and optimism. I'm feeling really excited!