Thursday Thoughts

1.  I need sleep!  I realized at 7:50 that I could be in bed by 8:00.  The boys are sleeping, Ryley is reading in bed, and JD is at the shop replacing something in his truck (I'm not sure what, but it causes a puddle of something on the garage floor every morning.)  But then I decided to check facebook one last time, then to see if it was my turn on any of the online Scrabble games I'm playing with distant relatives, and finally my email.  The email slowed me down from shutting my eyes by 8:00 as I had some funny ones from my colleagues.  Speaking of which...

2.  I love my job.  I love that I am friends with my fellow teachers and with most of the parents of my students.  I love that we're a small school and everyone knows everyone else.  I love that I don't dread going to work every morning.  I love that I get to see two, and someday three, of my kids throughout the day even though they are at school and I am at work.  (I am already nervous about how it will go when they are both in my class though...)

3.  I'm excited for the weekend.  Tomorrow afternoon we have in-service and get to learn about how to align the new Common Core standards with our student objectives.  I'm not jumping up and down about that.  I'm looking forward to attending Cocktails Curing Cancer in the evening though.  You can read more about that on my awesome-cancer surviving-half marathon running-friend Christa's blog.  I'll be supporting her in a walk (American Cancer Society- Making Strides) next month.  I haven't done a lot of fundraising because I H-A-T-E asking people for money, but I do believe it's for a necessary cause as we all know someone who has been affected by breast cancer, so if you feel led to help raise money to find a cure, let me know, and I will let you know how you can donate.  Also, if anyone is in the area, and would like to walk, we'd love to have more people on our team!

8:30- Eyelids are drooping.  Goodnight!

Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time, I felt like I had time to blog every once in awhile.  Along with the summer, that time is gone.  School happened.  When the end of August rolled around, it was not only time to get the smallest members of my crew onto a new schedule, it also meant a very different day for me as well.  During the summer, we generally slept until 8:30. Well, most of us did.  JD was the exception. Sleeping until 8:30 meant that I could stay up pretty late and be in decent shape the next day.  Now my alarm goes off at 5:30, and I'm up at 5:45 at the latest.  My early mornings are not because I'm a high maintenance girl, although a shower every morning is a must.  The early rising is because I have to get myself and three kids, including a 13 month old out the door by 6:45 in order to get the littlest guy to his babysitter (who we love, but lives out of the way) and then to school by my teacher start time of 7:30.  It's going okay.  We've made it to school on time every day.  I'm going to bed earlier and trying to be super organized.  I make lunches the night before, set out clothes for everyone, make sure soccer gear is packed, etc.  The kids have been going to bed earlier which gives me time to work on school stuff.  I'm trying to be more school-organized this year also.  I'm currently up-to-date on all of my grading and planning.  I hope I can say the same every week!  JD has been working like a madman.  It means less family time, but also less stress about getting bills paid.  He was laid off from the job he has now 3 years ago, and as I remember how tough that time was, I'm thankful he has work that he enjoys even though we don't see him as much as we'd like to.

One Week Later... The weather in VT has been beautiful.  By nature, I'm usually cold and winter is not my friend.  It's been in the 70's all week, and I love that I can still wear short-sleeved tops without getting goosebumps.  We had a great weekend which started off with becoming an aunt for the first time on my side of the family.  My new nephew was born 6 weeks early; he is doing well considering his size.  He lives out of state, so it may be awhile before I get to meet him in person, but we get lots of pictures via texting and facebook.  Saturday was spent shopping in Burlington with my mom, cleaning house, and ending with a low key evening with friends.  After church on Sunday, we went down to Rutland for a VT wedding reception of the Florida wedding we attended in April.  Ian and Nikki rented a bounce house and the kids had a blast.  I wish I had taken pictures of the decorations; Nikki is very talented and her ideas are the kinds of things I find (and love) on pinterest (one of my latest addictions).  All in all, we had a fantastic fall weekend!

It's time to post before another week goes by.