5th Grade

Good golly, lots has happened over the past few weeks, and I didn't realize quite how much until I downloaded my pictures... almost 200 new pictures were on my camera!!  Where has the time gone?!

Life has been super busy with the move, tee-ball games, birthdays, our anniversary, AND answered prayers... While there are many pictures and lots of stories to share, today I am going to share only one picture, and an answered prayer.

You may remember last August, I posted here about my love for teaching and the overwhelming feeling of sadness that came about me when I discovered the back-to-school section while shopping in Target... well, my friends, after much prayer, I will be teaching 5th grade in August!!!  I am SO EXCITED, and feel so good about this new journey...

Here's how it goes...

- I will get to teach in my hometown and home county where Russ and I also went to school, except it's a new building.
- I will be teaching in the same school with Mrs. Jane, my mother-in-law; she teaches 3rd grade. 
- I will be teaching with a great girl with whom we went to school, grades K-12.
- BOTH of our boys will get to go to UTM's Children's Center every day, receiving some of the best care in Weakley County... and although it's going to "rock" the boat here at our house, as we are used to the stay-home-mom schedule, {or lack thereof}, we are very excited about what's to come.  Emmitt doesn't want to go to school, and is quite adamant about it, but it will be so good for him.  He is finally saying, "my turn", when attempting to share with his brother, but a daily structured routine, among other boys and girls, will be great.  And we're pretty sure he will love it once he gets there.

So, that's all for now.  I just wanted to share our good news, and praise God for answered prayers.

Here's the one picture I mentioned above...

Russ was out of town when I received the call from the principal, and sent me these beautiful flowers... it was such a sweet surprise.  He's the best, I tell ya.

The next few weeks are going to be be very busy with the continual unpack here at the house, welcoming Baby Weston just any day, preparing for my new 5th graders, and enjoying the last few weeks of my stay-home-mom career.

Thank you, so much, Lord, for this opportunity... the best is yet to come here in Martin!  

Have a great week, everyone!

Tuggin' at my heart strings

August marks month number eleven of my stay-home-mom career.  I can't believe it.  Once again, I ask myself, "where has the time gone?" 

Rarely do I think about the stress that my teacher friends, and other teachers for that matter, are enduring.  (Teaching school is not for the faint at heart.)  I am currently living the "in your sport shorts/t-shirt with socks and tennis shoes wardrobe, no make-up, hair in pony-tail, sleeping til 7:30ish because there is no schedule" stay-home-mom life style.  It isn't easy, I must say.  And as a matter of fact, there are days when I think that being at school, and the boys at daycare would be so much easier.  However, it has become the norm and the stresses of my day involve the never ending mess of the kitchen, as well as the living room floor, and the mountains of laundry (both clean and dirty), the fussy children in the afternoons who fight over every toy in the toy box, and the inability to completely clean my house in one day, amongst others.  Those things stress me.  My OCD tendencies are so far in the past that I can't even see them, but there are days when I really do miss them.  Sounds trivial to some I'm sure, but some days the continuous mess is annoyingly stressful. 

The rest of that is for another post; back to my heart strings...

A week or two ago, I was at Target browsing around, (which is why my buggy always ends up fuller than planned), when I turned the corner, and BAM! the school supply section slapped me square in the chest.  It took my breath away.  It made my stomach knot up.  I felt weak in my knees.  Tears were going to well up in my eyes if I didn't leave the area.  Where had I been?  Why hadn't I realized that the school supplies were on the shelves?  Was time passing so quickly that I had missed this exciting time of the year when I am usually working so hard preparing to meet my new students?  I L.O.V.E. this time of the year.  I couldn't bring myself to browse the aisles of supplies.  The smell of the crayons was enough.  I knew I needed to head to the shoes or jewelry or even the toys.  My heart was sad.  The school supply section tugged at my heart strings.  It tugged really hard as a matter of fact.

How thankful I am, however, for the opportunity to stay at home with our boys and for Russ' hard work that allows me to do so.  Our children are our most prized possessions in the whole wide world, and oh, my goodness, what others would do to stay home with their children.  I am so very thankful for the past 11 months.  I wouldn't change it for the world.  Our boys "know" each other, they "know" us, our expectations for them in certain areas is clearer than ever, we've been able to travel whenever we want, and when I doubt any of this or whether or not I'm doing a good job, I remember Mandy telling me that daycare is great, but there really is no better place for children than with their mama... (she lines up second best behind our family, however) and I trust her with my kids' lives.  So when things seem upsy-daisy with the chaos in our house, I always remember what she told me. 

And with all of that said, I do miss the classroom.  I miss the routine life style that goes with working outside the home.  This is the first August in eight years that I haven't prepared a classroom. Although it is a tiring and often a stressful way of life, it's what I believe I was "made" to do.  What God designed me to do.  I love the presence of school children and watching them learn and grow is extremely rewarding and satisfying.  Helping shape them into positive contributors in our society is exciting and heart-warming, too.  I believe I belong there, and believe that is why the school supplies at Target were tuggin' on my heart strings.  Loving what you do in life certainly holds a piece of your heart.  I hope to go back some day.  I hope for our boys to go back to school some day, too.  They need the interaction and educational pieces, as well. 

BUT... until then, when I see the school supplies, I will smile and remember the wonderful things about being at home with my calm boys and will look forward to those lovely school supplies when the time returns.  And I must say that I can't seem to get away from them... circulars in the mail, Michael's, Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble, Hobby Lobby, T.V., the grocery... they are everywhere.  Some days I'm like, really?  Does everyone have to carry them?  Oh, well... it's really not about me.  It's about God and trusting that I am exactly where I need to be at this point in our life.  We will continue to pray that the daily chaos that goes on under our roof will not scar our boys for life. :)  And that God will guide us on a narrow path with His lamp beneath our feet as we move through each day.

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My friend, Elizabeth, never posts an entry without a picture, I decided I kind of like that idea so here you go...



Did you notice how much they love Miss Jones?

They are throwing her a surprise party... that's how much they love her!

And what does this indicate?

She must love them because love is reciprocated, and when children know that their teacher loves them they will move mountains.

Hats off to the great teachers in this world... from daycare and preschool all the way through college. 
They really do shape our future!

Back to school...

Today was the big day... the first day of school!

This is year number eight for me and I was feeling just as anxious as I did year one. This seems to be common amongst all teachers, no matter their tenure. There is something about the first day of school; I believe students would agree.

I didn't sleep well at all last night - Emmitt woke up at 3:30 to eat, which is rare, and I was planning to get up at 4:45 to get things ready to go so that getting out the door would go smoothly, which is also rare. I remember my alarm going off at 4:45 and thinking I will get up when it goes off in five minutes. Five minutes turned into me waking up at 5:30 in a PANIC!!! We usually leave at 6:30... and it was the first day of school; not a day to oversleep. Tears were in my eyes, but thanks to my precious husband, we made it. Out the door by 6:30. Russ dropped the boys off and I made it to school by 7:05, stopping by the Donut Bank for two long johns. :) Isn't the first day of school special enough for donuts? I think so! They were scrumptious!

Here we are before scooting out the door... Lawson is less than chipper in the mornings.

The day at school was ok. The day was fast and long all at the same time and I have some challenging students... from the word go. Literally.

You can pick them out the very minute they arrive at your door with their parent/guardian. I survived and will return in the morning for Day 2 of boot camp. They will get it, eventually.

I arrived to get the boys around 5:00 to find Emmitt happily swinging and to find Lawson accompanied with an incident report. These are not all that uncommon, however they are usually not anything much, just used for precautionary measures. Today, he fell into a riding toy and bumped his head causing a knot. It looks bad, but they said he cried only for a short time. I signed the report and corralled him and Emmit to the van.

As I headed home I was thinking about how my "first days of school" have changed since I began teaching... new schools, new cities/states, new people, new students, and now with kids. And then it occurred to me that my first day of school last year, Lawson also had an incident report. It was worse than today's incident, however.

The longer I thought about the coincidence of the two incidents, the more I remembered from last year... Lawson was wearing cute little plaid overalls that day. They were from Gymboree and I purchased them from the awesome Evansville Consignment Sale.

And then... I realized that TODAY he has on the same Gymboree plaid only in shorts!!! Yes, I bought these from my friend, Jennifer, and he was wearing them today... the first day of school!

Crazy wild, but true.

So to recap, last year's first day of school, Lawson fell right before I got there and busted the area above his eye. Notice the overalls.

This year's first day of school, he falls into the car and pops his head leaving a large knot. Notice the shorts... they are the same as the overalls above; one is 12 months and one is 3T.

I realize the knot is not all that obvious, but it still looks bad. I hope it doesn't look worse in the morning.

And lastly, a few shots from the school day.

I have 19 students enrolled, and only 15 showed up. Time will tell on my accurate attendance count.

- Table 1 -

-Table 2-

And views of my room...

That's all for the 1st day of school.

I am hopeful that tomorrow will be easier...

Off to bed to rest my weary eyes and mind.

Mother's Day with two boys...

It was a very nice Mother's Day from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed...

This year was my 2nd Mother's Day and it sounds so strange to me when I say that I celebrated it with two little boys... it seems like it should be the 3rd. However, it is only my 2nd Mother's Day because Lawson was born after Mother's Day in 2008, therefore 2010 is the second year I have been a mother and now I'm the mother of two precious little boys!

My Mother's Day started at 7:26 am... Russ SO LOVINGLY let me sleep in. When I opened my eyes and the clock read 7:26, I remember thinking, "oh, no!" It was definitely the most needed Mother's Day gift (and it was such a big deal that I will never forget the visual image of the clock with that time on it).

He also treated me with breakfast... as I walked into the kitchen, I found him at the stove cooking pancakes, and his are the BEST! : ) How special he was making me feel. He had it all under control. Emmitt was sleeping, Lawson was busy playing and making lots of noise, and he was cooking breakfast.

With Emmitt only being 10 days old, we decided not to go to church. We ate breakfast, hung out and enjoyed one another. As the morning went on, we kicked around the idea of going out for lunch... just somewhere quick... just to enjoy a little fresh air and not having to clean up lunch dishes on Mother's Day also sounded really nice! : ) However, with it being Mother's Day we were certain that restaurants would be very busy. So, finally around 1:00 we decided to give it a go as neither of us were making any move towards the kitchen. We all loaded up and we went out to eat. Mother's Day lunch was enjoyed at Q'Doba and boy, did it taste good! And right behind the tasting good was the experience also being good... Lawson and Emmitt were both angelic. We survived our first dining out experience.

Following lunch, we returned home for outside play and naps. Lawson was full of joy and we played and played, and sweet little Emmitt did what he does best and that is sleep.

Children are the true gifts on Mother's Day and they are given to all mothers from God. And I thank Him for them many times each day. (even when they are more than difficult)

However, it is our culture to show our love with gifts on Mother's Day and Lawson made me a few Mother's Day gifts at school. He came home on Friday with two wrapped packages and a beautifully decorated card. The first gift I opened was a potted flower. An impatient to be exact. It was planted in a plastic flower pot that had been decorated with crayon by Lawson. I found it humorous that the mothers of the toddlers received an "impatient" for Mother's Day... how perfectly fitting. : )

In the other package, was a t-shirt made for me by Lawson. You can see below how cute it is. It reads "Happy Mother's Day 2010" and has hand print flowers painted on it, using Lawson's hands. It was such a cute idea and if only you could have seen the look of pride on his face. He was so proud and happy to be giving me the gifts. Such a sweet boy.

Lawson and Mama with my new t-shirt

Sleeping Emmitt and Sleepy Mama

And the following two pictures include a little Mother's Day irony. As I was changing Emmitt, I realized that he was dressed festively for the Sunday holiday, and he didn't even know it.





Russ also surprised me with a very nice Mother's Day gift. I received a new watch from Russ, Lawson, and Emmitt, and it is beautiful. I love it! In addition to the beautiful watch came an Elmo card and lots of hugs and kisses!



And I must add that Russ also cooked Mother's Day dinner. We had New York strips, which is my favorite cut of meat, baked potatoes, and grilled asparagus with rolls and tea. Delicious.

It was a great day... from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed. I have the most wonderful husband and two beautiful little boys. God has blessed me as a mother and for that I will forever be thankful.

Russ, thank you for making my 2nd Mother's Day a special one.

And lastly, I would like to thank God for our mothers. Russ and I are who we are today because of our mothers. God gave us to them and they gave us the world. Their love is unwavering and their support is unending. Our memories are full of "mom" experiences and it is my hope to create the same priceless memories with Lawson and Emmitt as you both have for us... and also like you, I will love them unconditionally and give them my unending support. Thank you mom and Mrs. Jane for your motherly love and example. We love you both.

And thank you God for my two healthy and beautiful boys... I am proud to be their Mama. : )

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. -Psalms 139:13-14 NIV

Ever so close...

As we sat here tonight, we discussed the upcoming life change.

One week from tonight, we are pretty certain we will be sitting and discussing "the life change", Emmitt.

How excited we are to meet him, and how excited we are to see how our life will change with another little boy to love!

We are counting down the days. I am feeling great and all is well... visited the doctor today and we are on schedule for next Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at 5:30 in the morning.

We can hardly believe we are ever so close to holding our new baby boy... one more week to go!

Happy Birthday to me!

Well, today is my 29th birthday! It was a great day! Lawson and I spent the night in Martin last night as Russ was out of town. He had a training with his team in Champaign, Illinois. Mom and Dad took me out to eat last night at The Opera House in Martin and it was great! Russ returned home around 8:00 tonight and we went to Acapulco for dinner. It was very good and was also Lawson's first try at Mexican. We were in shock - he LOVED rice and beans... like cleaned the plate kind of love it!!! It was cute.

And Russ was so sweet to pick up a carrot cake with cream cheese icing for me for my birthday - one of my favorites - especially coming from A-Piece-of-Cake bakery! And he and Lawson also got me a new Vera Bradley school bag and tote.

Lawson so wanted to grab the cake!

My birthday gift


Thanks for a very Happy Birthday!

So Long, Farewell

Today was the last day of school and my last day at Glenwood Middle School. I am excited to be moving from the middle school world back to the land of elementary children. Next fall, I will be teaching 3rd grade at Delaware Elementary and I am truly looking forward to it! As excited as I am to be returning to my "element", I am also thankful for my time at Glenwood. It has been a life-changing experience and I know that God placed me there for a reason... I wouldn't change it for anything. Number one, being at school all day with adolescents is truly a job in itself. Teaching them is even more of a challenge. Secondly, dealing with a minority population who is extremely oppressed is one of the toughest things I have ever dealt with and was often heartbreaking. My students at Glenwood Middle School are very special to me and were living in a "world" that I could never imagine. Most of them living in generational poverty and typically, there is not an easy way out. I am hopeful that I had a positive impact of some sort that will be beneficial to them as they continue to grow into young adults. I know, without a doubt, that they sincerely knew that I cared for them and loved them.

Thank you, God, for blessing me with the talents to be a teacher, for providing for our family through my job, and for each and every child at Glenwood. I am a better educator and person for teaching at Glenwood Middle School and I pray for the success of the school as a whole and for each child and their families.

So long and farewell, Glenwood Middle School!