These Days

These days I feel like I'm constantly running behind. I just cannot dig myself out of this hole. It's partly the beginning of the year rush, plus the whole new school factor, with some random stuff thrown in (it's curriculum night week, both girls just started tumbling classes, we're joining a new small group with a significantly longer commute, my alarm goes off at 5:30 every morning...)

And it's partly that I refuse to press pause on this crazy little thing called life just because I'm a bit over-extended. There are things I want to get out and enjoy, gosh darn it!

Toad the Wet Sprocket at Suwanee Towne Center!

With my handsome date.

I mean, when your brother pops the question to a beautiful woman who is about to become your amazing sister-in-law, you gotta drop everything to celebrate, right? A recent Saturday had two huge life events occurring for two very important people in my life - one of my oldest friends was giving birth to her first child and my brother was proposing to Virginia, and neither one of these people was giving me regular updates! Lukas was hiding somewhere in a lighthouse with a diamond ring, my friend was pushing to become a mama for the first time, and I was sitting at tumbling practice refreshing my phone every two seconds! Ah, but how sweet it was to finally hear about both beautiful new beginnings.

I'm so lucky! I mean, he's lucky too. But seriously, we're all hitting the jackpot with this one.

Back on the home front, Violet started tumbling with her pal Taylor. Since they are at different schools this year, I was so glad we could get them signed up for the same class. I spent a lot of time explaining to Annie why she could not go as well. Then lo and behold, I found out there was a 3-4 year old class happening at the exact same time! Annie's not quite three yet, but hey, she's always been big for her age... I signed her up for a trial class the next week and apparently it went well enough that she can come back! Watching her, I was actually impressed by her ability to follow directions. I was markedly less impressed by her ability to perform a somersault, so I guess I know what our homework is. Thanks Olympics, you're as inspiring as always!

The newest gymnast.

And I must admit, getting up at such an ungodly hour every morning does lend itself to quite a Godly view...

How Great Thou Art

O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made

Back to School!

We did it! We started school again. This will be my seventh year in first grade. It will be Violet's first (and hopefully only!) year in first grade.

She still wants to be a teacher. 

First Grade with Mrs. Lockett!

It has been strange starting the year at a new school. I've only taught in one place, so many things we did I just assumed were county policy. Apparently not, because things are definitely different here. Many things are just small differences, but it is enough to make me do a double-take, or wonder why. Fortunately, even though she doesn't know anyone in her class, Violet knows her teacher already, which helped to make the first day go smoothly. I remember having to pry her off of me in kindergarten. Now she marched down the hall (we are as far apart as you can get on the first grade hallway - probably a good thing). We do get recess together, though, which is a sweet little treat at the end of the day.

I've had to break up with my last school. That's how it feels, anyway. Almost like going through an actual break up, I've been mentally boxing up all our shared mementoes, avoiding places I associated with my ex-school, burning old photographs while listening to sad love songs... okay, perhaps it hasn't been quite that dramatic. We met up with the old team after Open House to catch up and it was great to see everyone. And it's hard to completely escape, considering my former teammate lives next door. But I have needed to make a mental separation in order to embrace my new school fully. I'm still getting whiplash on a daily basis as I continue to learn how things are done, but I'm happy to be there. I think greater things are yet to come, greater things are still to be done... and I'm thrilled to get to be a part of that.

Truth be told, after the past three weeks of getting the room ready, attending trainings, five days of pre-planning, it was a relief when the kids finally came through the door on Thursday. As much anxiety as you have before it starts, once that bell rings (or rather, doesn't ring at this school, weird) and the kids flood the halls, your teacher training kicks in, the show starts and you're rolling with it. Your muscle memory takes over and we're doing what we do.

My kids! This was the picture I sent to all the parents halfway through our first day.

By the way, shameless plug below to try and get a classroom iPad for this crew:

I want to make sure my students have the materials they need to succeed. So I've created a classroom project request at DonorsChoose.org, an award-winning charity. 

I'm asking for donations of any size to help my kids. For the next 4 days, any donation you make to my project will be doubled (up to $100). If you know anyone who is passionate about education, please pass this along. Your donation will brighten my students' school year, and you'll get photos and thank yous from our class. 

Here's my classroom request: 

Explorers: Columbus had a Compass, We Need an iPad! 

One last picture, because I can't help it.