Wednesday, September 25, 2013

When Daddy Is Gone

Well lets just say I seriously dread when Ray has to go out of town. No matter what lenght of time, the location, etc... I start getting anchious when the time gets closer for Ray to go on a trip for work. Why? Well it has to do with the fact that when he goes out of town something always goes wrong. I equal Ray going out of town with Friday 13th!

When he went out of town in 2011 I almost burned our house down dealing with an issue with Emma at daycare while I was pregnant.

Last summer 2013 when he was out of town someone hit my parked car outside his parents house.

Well he is currently out of town and I am dealing with the following issues:
  • Abby grace had her injury on Thursday (tongue) read earlier post for details, I am handling the healing, lack of eating, and lack of quality sleep while Ray is gone.
  • Abby also contracted a virus on top of already having a bad time with her tongue, our poor girl needs to catch a break
  • Emma has pink eye, discovered this after taking Ray to the airport on Monday, but she could not get into a doctor until Tuesday
  • Having to take more than one child to the doctor at a time is borderline crazy and any parent who does it with out going insane deserves a gold medal!!
  • Have I mentioned that I love both of my girls being "Daddy's Girl" until he goes away... they look for him, ask about him, wake up in their sleep calling out for him etc... it hurts the heart that they miss him so much, but make you realize the strong bond they share with him.
  • Night time routine has always been a Daddy routine. Well my girls really make a fuss when he is gone if I even attempt to say their prayers with them. So this requires for Ray to call no matter what times zone, meeting, etc... so he can call home just to say prayers. Again it can be a little touchy if he does not or cannot manage to call, but it shows the strong bond the girls have with him.
I am counting down to the minute that I get to go and pick him up on Friday and praying every single day that nothing else happens. 

The Day After A Sub

I really do not like the day after a sub, much less when I have been out two days in a row and that means my students may or may not have accomplished what I required of them in my absence.

In my absence I make sure to leave detailed sub notes, student expectations, and many assignments so that there is no free time for trouble to arise. I even have a "How Were We Today?" handout for my sub to fill out for each class period. This helpful tool allows me the guidance on who to reward and who to give consequences to. One of the most important portions of this handout is having the sub determine if they class as a whole earned a 10. If they earn the 10 I reward the entire class with something. I really reccommend this type of handout for any teacher at any grade level. It really makes a difference in students performance when they know what the expectations are, what the consequences will be if they do not meet expectations, and of course the rewards when they do.

I never want to have a sub. I am not that teacher that takes a "mental day" or uses the days up because we are given 10 each year. I know that no other person can make the impact I can with my students. I do not enjoy returning and having to sort work, notes, and deal with discipline due to my absence. I look forward to being in my classroom every day and making those real world connections with my students and seeing their knowledge bloom right before my eyes.

I also do not like having to return to a sticky, dirty classroom, because lets face it you know they do things and bring things in with them they could never get away with while your in the room with them. So this morning it took my have a container of Lysol wipes to clean 32 desks and OMG you know I went and scrubbed my hands after cleaning each desk!

What I Love The Day After A Sub

* Students greeting me with big smiles
* Teachers asking after my family or myself
* Students saying how happy they are that I am back
* It means my kids, family, or myself are doing well so I can return to work
* Being back in a routine
* Having control once again of what I can, while I can : )

Friday, September 20, 2013

Abby Takes a Dive

Abby at the ER

Abby showing off her wound

A better shot
A puffy eye and a marked up chin for our little fighter

Last night Abby gave us quite a scare.  We just got a recumbent exercise bike, and Emma and Abby wanted to ride it.  Abby was sitting in the seat and apparently bent over to look at something and did a face plant onto the floor.  This wasn't too alarming, as she is a daredevil and usually dusts herself off from spills, but she screamed loudly and we knew something was wrong.  When Brandie picked her up, there was bright red blood everywhere.

We didn't know what was wrong, so we put her on our bed and got a towel and started cleaning off the blood to see what the source was.  After a couple of minutes the bleeding had stopped, but she was still hurting and would not open her mouth.  Brandie eventually saw she had bitten her tongue, but I didn't think it could be that bad if it wasn't bleeding anymore.  She calmed down, but 15 minutes later she started screaming and blood was coming out of her mouth again.  Momma was right.  She opened her mouth when she screamed and I saw the full extent of it, and off we went to the ER.

As we thought, there wasn't much they could do for it, but we got some antibiotics and a numbing mouthwash to help her.  As you can see from the last picture, she is a little beaten up but one tough cookie!


Rough and Tumble

Abby Grace and the ER...

Well Ray and I are always talking about how we have little girls that take a hit and just keep going. I can safely say that I come from a family of girls who can take a kit and keep going, my sisters and nieces are all this way... so it only makes since that my girls would follow in the family footsteps. My girls can trip, fall, stub a toe, horseplay, fall off beds etc... and not bat an eye-lash.

We do have the occasion where the will play it up a bit if they have the audience of their Nana or Poppa, let be honest they know that this will lead to them being picked up, showered with hugs and kisses, then more than likely be given a sweet treat! Heck if I could get all of that I would play up a broken fingernail lol : )

Last night Emma and Abby started inspecting and getting familiar with the new stationary bike that Ray and I bought to start a new healthier routine (that is a post for another day). Well I walk in the room, Ray is already there and the girls are pressing the buttons, taking turns sitting on it etc.. I mention to Ray that its not a toy and they should not be allowed to mess with it. Not even five minutes later after addressing this issue to the girls that its not a toy and not to mess with it Abby Grace loses a major battle, Abby 0, Stationary Bike 1!!

Abby was sitting on the bike and leaned forward to touch the buttons. Needless to say the bike was set for Ray's height and the buttons were to far away for her to touch resulting in her kitting the floor after hitting one of the peddles! She bit a hole in her tongue and not a little one, it is the width of my thumb nail and open... there was so much blood it got all over Abby, Ray, myself, and bed, totally honest here it freaked me out. So happy I married a laid back guy you does not freak out seeing blood pouring out of his kids mouth. We get her cleaned up and think the bleeding stops only for it to start back up sending us to the ER for the doc to say what we already know, but it reassures us. No stitches but she needed antibiotics to help with the risk of infection. My girl looks like the a champ the day after a fight. She has a big mark on her chin, a small one on her cheek, mark by her right eye, and a swollen bottom lip.

She cried for a bit, but the majority of the time she was way more calm about the situation than I was. She was wanting to play her games on the Ipad and drink her milk.

pictures to come soon....

Reconnecting


Moving back to Baytown has allowed for me to reconnect in many ways with different parts of my life. I have been able to reconnect with family most importantly building those precious relationships back up to where I would like them to be. 

By living and working in Baytown I have reconnected with many individuals that I have gone to school with and I am making new friends and realizing they are related some how to old high school friends. This is really nice and fun at the same time.
I have been able to reconnect with my love of teaching 7th grade Texas History. By leaving my position and the wonderful people of Pasadena I have been able to get back to doing what I truly loved and that is 100% history!

Recently Ray and I have both reconnected with doing things we enjoyed while dating. We have been able to go to concerts, eat at hot spots we went to while dating and talk about those special times. We have been able to see how our childhood neighborhood had changed and I have even been able to tour our old junior high and saw the changes that it has gone through with the development and growth of our area since we went away to college.  

Due to our jobs we have been able to reconnect with our hometown in a deeper more meaningful way. We now have a better understanding of the concentrate relationship among the town and its people. We are now in positions where we can stand up and talk about the issues and clarify individual’s understandings of what is going on. In our way we are now paying it forward and giving back to the town that in many ways helped us become who we are today.
We are also started to reconnect with our love of being outside and doing things together as a family. If only it was not for all of the nasty little mosquitoes! But we will conquer and overcome the pesky little creatures.

Looking forward to many more connections and the happy memories they will make.

My Blog Approach



Staying Positive

          I read articles, blogs, websites etc…. and some mention how they are tired of other individuals “moms” posting all the perfect moments in their lives and not staying “real” with what happens in everyday life. Well I for one have posted both my struggles and success. But if you read a person’s blog, website etc… remember that they to live in an imperfect world and if you truly know them, you know that they too like you struggle with different issues every day, they just do not wish to complain to the world about it. 

     As I keep up with the various forms of social media I try to keep in mind that we are all exposed to drama, stress, and “real” events in society every single day. But I make the conscious choice of being positive and posting things that are positive. So anyone who is reading my blog and jugging if you know me and what my life entails then you know my life is not perfect, if you read and judge then please stop reading and forget how to access by blog.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Labor Day Weekend 2013










The three day weekend is such a wonderful thing I wish we had one every six weeks! Ray and I took the girls to San Antonio to spend some time with the Peeples. It had been a while since we got together with them, so it was nice to relax and catch up.  Saturday we got there in time to watch the Aggie game and have lunch, then later on we took a dip in the pool.  Sunday we went downtown to the Convention Center so the kids could go to the Doc McStuffins mobile clinic, where they got to do a check up on their own stuffed animals.  After a nap, we went swimming again and ate some dinner before heading to the hotel for a good night's sleep.  We all had a blast and appreciate all of the hospitality we were shown!

2013-2014 First Week of School

Things I have enjoyed about the first week of school:
  • On the first day of school the admin purchased donuts, juice, and coffee for everyone.
  • On the second day back district admin sent us a huge sheet cake to celebrate the back to school.
  • On the third day there were bowls filled with treats for us left in each of the work rooms. 
  • On the fourth day there was bowls of apples. 
  • On the fifth day we were given the treat to wear jeans on the Tuesday we return from our three day weekend! 


Other things that I am truly enjoying about my new job:
  • I have already recieved a 3% raise.
  • I was paid $100.00 a day for new teacher training, for those who are wondering not many districts pay their teachers to attend new teacher training.
  • My class sizes are not over 30 so far...
  • I am teaching Regular and Pre/AP, I do not have to be a part of a "special program" to teach GT students.
  • I am enjoying working for a district that takes Social Studies seriously at all grade levels. 
  • All 6th and 7th grade  social studies classrooms will get laptops to use in their classes all year.