Holiday Happenings

So here are a few of the things that happened in December...

Girl Scout Ornament Workshop

Violet's Girl Scout troop took part in an ornament making workshop. The whole event was run by older Girl Scouts. I'm always so impressed when we attend these events. The idea that Violet is a part of an organization that encouraged girls to take on challenges and be leaders... it's cool! The troop is great this year - cookie season is ramping up and the girls are saving up for an overnight cabin camp-out at an official Girl Scout camp. 

One of my family goals this December was to do a faithful job following the advent calendar. I'd say we completed at least 75 percent of the activities! One night the activity was to make hot chocolate and go look at Christmas lights!

Taking our hot chocolate on the road!

Another great part of this winter break has been watching the girls play together. Violet can be so creative and inspire Annie to all sorts of imaginative games. They rigged a Halloween candy bucket on a rope and dropped it over the side of the stairs as a makeshift basket. They use that to play some game called "invention" that I haven't quite figured out the point of yet... Other favorite toys and games include legos (Violet is quite the master builder) and their Hatchimals. When I can tear them away from technology, that is.

Sweet girls!

Elf Violet!

I was blessed to be able to go to Violet's Christmas party at school this year. One of the great ironies of being a teacher is that while my own child is just a few steps away, that doesn't make it any easier to actually do classroom things with her. But pulling the strings to find a substitute for a few minutes was worth the effort.

Merry Christmas from First Grade!

Back to School

And then the summer was over, and we all headed back to school. Somehow I ended up with a second grader! How did that happen?! The days are long, but my how the years are short! Violet once again wants to be a teacher when she grows up. (I'll keep my opinions about that intended profession to myself.) She was totally ready to go - no tears, no whining, no "please walk me to my classroom while I hang onto your leg". I was so excited to learn Ms. Post was her teacher this year - I have a thing for second-year teachers. They're still full of enthusiasm and innovation; they haven't been beaten down by the system yet, haha!

Off she goes!

Violet and Ms. Post!

Matt took a "first day" picture with Annie too, even though she officially started a week early due to my pre-planning schedule. She's in Early Pre-K this year, thanks to that September birthday. She just missed the cut-off! This is hopefully our last year of daycare - my school opened up two special needs pre-k classes, and each classroom has two "typical peer" slots for staff kids. We toyed with the idea of trying to get her in this year, but it was too last minute for me to think through properly. Plus there would be no guarantee of a slot next year, which is when she is supposed to go. So, we're with Carrington for one more year. It's not a bad thing, either. Her teacher from last year looped up, so it made for a smooth transition, and we LOVE Ms. Breanna!

The first-ish day of Pre-ish K!

Annie's class... see her self-portrait in the top right corner?

And as for me... well, the best part of starting this year was not being the new teacher anymore! It's a relief to have a year under my belt at this beautiful school. I know how things work, I know what to expect, I know what's coming up. It makes a huge difference, let me tell you. And although I was sad to see the summer end, it reaches a point where you just want the school year to start and get the waiting over with!

A beautiful day to go back to school!

First grade team!

Winding Down, Gearing Up

Summer is winding down. Insert sad face here. I can always tell when I feel the imminent end drawing near when I have a sudden compulsion to wear flip-flops and no make-up and all those other things that that will reach their end with the start of another work year. It's like my head is like I could wear a cute sundress and sandals but why waste it? So sports bras and ponytails it is, for another 12 days at least.

We couldn't let summer slip us by without a roller skating adventure! Violet randomly started begging for roller skates and I was stalling big time, knowing she'd probably never wear them, or at least never wear them without clutching my hand. So my neighbor had the brilliant idea to go rent a pair as a trial run. For her first time, Violet did great! She wiped out plenty but got right back up again. It was a nice, cool activity and Annie actually napped on my lap for the first half of adventure. Of course, once she woke up she insisted on getting her own pair of skates... I'll say this - we had fun and I think the girls would go back, but Violet hasn't asked for roller skates again! Haha!

First time on roller skates!

Annie's attempt!

Then the day I have been waiting for arrived - the day BOTH my girls could go to camp! Together! For this past week they have been loving the "Rockin' Beach Camp" at our gymnastics place. There were water slides, water balloon fights, crafts, cute "beachy" snacks; it was very well done. Annie was over the moon excited to get to go like her big sister, with a backpack and lunchbox and everything. The first day she barely stuck around long enough to give me a hug goodbye. She is so different than Violet, who I remember having to pry off of me the first time she attended this camp. They both had a blast.

Ready for gymnastics camp!

And what did mommy get to do with five kid-free hours each day this week? Well, on Monday I got a massage and stumbled upon the best kid's clothing sale at Gymboree (everything on sale and then an additional 50 percent off! I destroyed that place!) Tuesday I took myself to the outlet mall and shopped for myself - some new t-shirt dresses, a new backpack and lunchbox for V, a bunch of stuff from the Disney store (more on why that is important later), a new purse and sandals... Score! Wednesday I had a coffee date, and then I took myself back to Gymboree (seriously, it was the third trip in three days - the deals were that good and Violet loved every single thing I picked out).

Thursday I actually went up to the school. I know. I know. I've never gone in this early to set up. But I couldn't pass up kid-free distraction-free time. I got a ton of stuff done and I think I'll be good to go once pre-planning starts. I needed to get a head start since we'll be at Matt's family reunion the weekend before I go back to work, so I won't have time then. Don't feel bad, it was good to go up there. Friday I actually went back in so I could put together a new bookshelf, plus I ran a bunch of other random errands, and even wrapped things up fast enough that I bought myself an hour on the couch watching tv before I had to pick up the girls. I am so thrilled that Annie was old enough to tag along with Violet at this camp... it was great to have some time to feel productive/alone before the work craziness starts again.

School's Out for Summer!

Last Day of First Grade! 

We did it! One more year is in the books! I officially have a second grader! Violet has turned into an awesome reader, and her speech has improved to the point that she might get to graduate out next year. Most importantly, she enjoys school. She likes learning. I never get any "I don't want to go to school" complaints from this girl.

Look how much she's grown!

It's been a privilege to have her at the same school where I teach. I saw so much of this girl during the day, passing through the halls, on the playground at recess each afternoon. Next year will be a little different because our paths won't intersect as much. But that's probably a good thing, too.

First Day/Last Day with the fabulous Mrs. Lockett!

It's been such a busy week, what with our end of the year carnival, our first swim meet, the general last week of school busyness of packing up the classroom and setting up our first grade "camp" that I don't think it truly hit me that the year was done until I saw the buses pulling out of the parking lot for the last time. There are always so many mixed emotions to watching the kids load up for the last time - a little bit of sadness, a whole lot of relief, some giddiness thrown in... I'm relieved to have my first year at this new school under my belt and I won't be the new kid on the block anymore. It's been a good ride, but man am I looking forward to summer!

That's a wrap!

Field Day!

Can you believe the school year is almost over?! There are only five days to go! That's right, it's the final countdown, the homestretch... we are so deep into survival mode at this point, I actually tried to make Violet drink coffee one morning just to get us to school on time!

While I contemplate survival strategies, enjoy pictures from last week's field day!

It was a beautiful day - overcast enough to keep it cool without the complication of rain.

The force is strong with this one.

Violet was very proud of the fact that the girls won tug-of-war. "Best day of my life!" she reported.

This guy even showed up to help out!

Egg Drop!

Forsyth County's Finest

A fun (if slightly scary) tradition our first grade has is the annual Egg Drop Contest. Kids design a contraption that they hope will keep their raw egg safe, then we teachers get to drop them from the top of the fire truck ladder. Violet got super into building her egg container... she even made Matt drop it out our second-story window to see if it would survive. But I'll admit, I was a little shocked to see how high up 60 feet really is! First the basket lifted, then extended out with a bit of a jerk and sway... I'm not scared of heights, but nevertheless... The firemen were all wonderful and reassuring. They do this every day! Well, not this exactly... But it did make up for the fact that they wouldn't come rescue Gus out of the tree that one time.

Heading up with Fireman Jeff.

My tiny class down below!

Quite a beautiful view...

Getting ready to make the first drop!

I would yell each student's name before I dropped their egg and all the kids were chanting "drop that egg! Drop that egg!" It was so fun. There were some obvious splats, some promising bounces, and a couple parachutes that gently drifted down. Out of 22 drops, eight of the eggs survived the fall! We had talked a lot beforehand about how to react if your egg broke, or what you could say to someone who's egg didn't make it, and the kids did such a great job being sweet and supportive towards each other. We banned the words "winner" and "loser" from the event and just focused on having fun and being positive. Fortunately there were no tears shed, not even from Violet, whose parachute idea never quite materialized. What a memory we made!

My sweet girl... we ended up with scrambled eggs but still had a great time.

Marching On

My Little Leprechauns! 

We survived St. Patrick's Day around these parts. It's always a weird day... not really our holiday (not being Irish or anything), not really an official "holiday" (what, exactly, are we celebrating?) but always a day full of craziness. I made a big deal at school of telling my kids the leprechaun doesn't get in. We made sure to lock the door every time we left the room, and I tried to keep it as low-key as possible. No pinching here! I did incorporate a little scientific method experiment using static electricity and "leaping leprechauns" but that was about it, until the very end of the day. Finally that sneaky leprechaun got in (under the door? through the vents?) and left a trail of glitter all the way to a gift of magic green pudding. Thank goodness he waited until the last 30 minutes of the day, because things rapidly went downhill after that! Haha! 

Spring... is just around the corner?

After days and weeks and months of what seems like unseasonably warm weather, Old Man Winter made one last attempt, leading to several days of indoor recess (if those aren't words that strike fear and dread into your heart!) we manned up, grabbed our blankets, and headed back to the playground. Oh March, you've flipfloped on us more than any politician in power, but perhaps Spring really is just around the corner? March also brings us the official start of Quarter 4, so hold on to your hats, people, the finish line is in sight!

In a lovely spur of the moment surprise, I scored tickets to The Head and the Heart along with one of my favorite friends. Such a fun show! We watched the sunset from the rooftop of the Tabernacle (didn't even know they had rooftop access) and then enjoyed our perfect balcony seats (as Emily pointed out, we are too old to stand through concerts). It was such a good show. The sound! The energy! It's a little hard to recreate the experience here, but rest assured, it was well worth the mere four hours of sleep I ran off of the next day.

The Head and the Heart

Grey-Out for the Gretos

Finally, our school nurse had the unbelievable tragedy of having her teenage son diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor (this news coming just weeks after she had a new baby. I can't even imagine). We had a fundraiser at the school to support the family, and there is more info here if you are so inclined to help #justisforall.

Oops, January is over

Snow day!

So when I said my word of the year was going to be "intentional" that clearly didn't apply to keeping this place updated regularly, since I've posted all of one time in January and we're already into February. Oh well. Fail. Thing is, I don't actually feel that guilty about it. I guess I'm just not feeling the writing juice these days. But since I had to hope on the laptop to finish something for school before the work week kicks off again, I figured I'd mosey on over to this little space and show you what happened earlier this month.

We had a snow day.

Hahahahaha! The picture above looks fairly legit, but if I zoom out, you quickly see the "snow" is rather paltry. All the promise of the Blizzard of 2017 quickly turned into a rain-freeze scenario that left a crunchy layer of ice over the grass, rather than the fluffy whiteout the entire state was hoping for. Oh well. It was a day to stay home and snuggle in our pajamas.

Just kidding. It's not really snow.

Of course, we don't actually get snow days anymore. Anytime our county closes due to weather, we have an online learning day. We teachers post lessons, the kids have assignments, I even have to hold "office hours" where parents can get in touch with me. We've had an online learning day or two every year since we adopted this new policy, and it gets smoother every time. I had a grand total of one parent email me.

Gus helps out with online learning day.

Other January highlights include... Our country getting a new president and the general sense of unease that has pervaded ever since, me getting to the point of probably needing to get off social media for a while and deciding I should probably only get my news from the BBC from now on, and the sense of disbelief and just about every headline I read these days.

Oh, and I turned 36. And Violet had her first grade school concert, featuring songs about the ocean. That little noodle (top row, third from left) was so cute during rehearsals, but then completely clammed up in front of a cafeteria's worth of parents watching. Sweet thing.

First Grade Concert!

Now we're just waiting for the Superbowl to start, ready to cheer on our Atlanta Falcons! 

Gimme a Break!

First Grade ready to board the Polar Express!

We did it! We made it to Christmas Break! The school calendar is a weird one this year, forcing us to teach the Monday and Tuesday of Christmas week. Fortunately, all we had planned was our holiday party (snowman style!) and Polar Express, so we survived.

I love my snowman party. This is the third year I've done it, and it is always a hit. The kids wrapped each other (and their parents) up in toilet paper to "dress like a snowman", we had melted snowman ice cream sundaes, complete with pretzel "sticks" for arms and candy corn "carrot" noses. They also used my indoor snowball fight set to go snowman bowling in the hallway and made a snowman ornament using their handprint.

On the last day, I had everyone clean out their desks (no weird surprises this year!) and passed out brand new supplies... there's nothing like a fresh box of crayons to start the new year! Then we settled in to watch the Polar Express in our pajamas, drank hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream, and generally just tried to survive until dismissal. I busted my butt to get report cards done, papers filed, things ready for January, and I was ready to blow outta there 10 minutes after the bell rang! It's time to get this holiday started!

Nope, not a hair cut.

And let me tell you, I need a break. These last two weeks have done me in. Our kitchen sink started leaking. Matt thought he fixed it, but it started leaking again. We ordered a new mattress but then needed a different box spring, leaving us with a bedroom full of mattresses stacked around but nothing to sleep on. Then there was the Lice Incident. Which, after an immediate do-not-pass-go-do-not-collect-200-dollars visit to the Lice Ladies and eight straight hours of vacuuming and laundry, has resulted in me just feeling paranoid. But things are turning around. We got a new disposal courtesy of a very nice plumber. The old mattress was hauled away by a creepy hope-he's-not-a-serial-killer guy and the new box spring arrived, leaving me with a lovely new bed. Ninety percent of the presents are purchased, fifty percent are wrapped. Book club party, small group party, neighbor dinner have all been crossed off the to-do list. I got my pedicure for the wedding. It's going to be a whirlwind holiday, but we're going to make it. And it's going to be awesome!

Book club has become a family affair!

Breakfast with Santa

Breakfast with Santa... and the principal! 

A couple weekends ago, we engaged in the age-old tradition of having breakfast with Santa. I don't know who came up with such an idea, but it's always a favorite event at our school. Last year Annie refused to sit on Santa's lap, so I have a beautiful picture of just Violet. But this year things went perfectly and both girls hopped up there. Violet panicked a bit afterwards and informed me she only had time to tell Santa one thing she wanted (a watch) and Annie apparently told Santa she wants a "cupcake maker" (translation: Easy Bake Oven... I think). Here's hoping the Big Guy remembers!

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