So I kinda disappeared... I didn't do it intentionally. It's just that since Thanksgiving I have felt a bit like this.
Overwhelmed. Stressed. Trying to Catch up. You see the week after Thanksgiving was report cards and parent teacher conferences... yep. I had 41 kindergarten parents and report cards and eeek. Am I the only one that completely stresses over parent teacher conferences? I stress. It drives the hubsters crazy. I have been teaching for 9 years now and it still stresses me out. At least I am old enough now that I could actually be a parent to their child (somehow that makes me feel more qualified to give them advice and help) and now that I have a kindergartner of my own I have more of an understanding of what they are going through when I send home INSANE amounts of homework (yeah... I really cut back on homework this year when I actually had to try and help my child get it completed each night... uh, reality check). Being a parent to a now six year old also has helped me realize that yes, kids do do
THAT?! (Every single thing I have had a kiddo do and thought "what kid does that" my own dear children have now done, well except for the peeing on the cinder block fence, during recess, and telling me that 'it is not pee... it is just a really big SPIT' -- that is one that my own dear ones have not attempted... yet.) Long story short I was super busy filling out report cards (cuz that is EXACTLY how I wanted to spend my Black Friday) and meeting with moms and dads and grandmas. Then it was December... DE.CEM.BER!!!
What!? My kinder kids went straight to Crazy Christmas Mode! I have to say having Conference Week (where my kinder kids do not come on Monday and Tuesday and have early release Wednesday-Friday) immediately following Thanksgiving break was poor planning... too many days without school or with short schedule. I usually get two good weeks of instruction after Thanksgiving before the Christmas bug bites... not so much this year. They came back on December 3rd Christmas Crazy! I feel like I am putting out fires and constantly managing their behavior... whew. So I haven't blogged. I haven't even read your blogs... I know! It as if for the past three weeks the blogging world ceased to exist... time warp back to 2003!
But between the whole parent teacher conference early release schedule and the 3 dance performances my daughter has already had this Christmas season, my husband singing with orchestra at their annual Christmas concert, the 4 Christmas parties we have already attended, and well daily life with 3 small kids it was also finals week for the hubsters. So I had to fill in, give him time to study, write his essays and article reviews, finish his last presentation, update his online portfolio. Can I just say how incredibly GRATEFUL I am to have this semester behind us! We (well
HE but really
WE because it has taken its toll on both of us) only have student teaching left and my cute hubby will be ready to TEACH! He is a secondary music education major and after attending 3 universities, over 10 years (although there are quite a few large breaks in that time frame), with 3 different majors,
serving an LDS mission,
getting married (to me),
3 beautiful kids, a small fortune in student loans, and almost 200 credit hours he (
we) will be graduating in the spring! During that week of
post Thanksgiving-parent teacher stress-report card finishing my cute hubby also happened to have his BIG Senior Recital. He was amazing, he is amazing! He passed (of course). Our friends were there, some family (they all live far away so it was hard to make it) and of course all his professors and fellow classmates attended. He sang and sang and sang in English, German, French, Italian. (Over the past 10 years he has really helped me gain an appreciation for opera and the symphony.) He worked so hard and now not only is the recital behind us but Hubsters last final is done. DONE. When I got home from an IEP tonight at 5:30 we wanted to celebrate. We couldn't. Instead we made pancakes with the kids. Put them in the tub. Did homework with our six year old. Tead bedtime stories. Put the kids to bed. Looked at each other and decided that we could celebrate with John Stewart. We watched The Daily Show and ate ice cream. Then for the first time since November 21st I opened my Blogger Dashboard... friends you have been busy. I could hardly believe all of the cute-ness that I was seeing. You are amazing. I missed you. I missed your inspiring ideas. I missed reading about your adventures. I missed it all. So hopefully I am back... and ready to blog again (I have a lot of catching up to do)! Life is calmer and that is a good thing because my Scholastic order just arrived and I have 41 Christmas books to wrap up for my kinder kiddos (because I give them a book every year for a Christmas present) and Polar Express day to plan, I am using
Sign Up Genius (If you haven't used this incredible site yet, DO IT! It has saved my busy stressed out self so many times this year!). I haven't even started Christmas shopping (remember I spent Black Friday doing report cards) and if I don't start soon Santa may not make it this year! I still have time to order from Amazon, right?!? Okay I may still be a bit sparse in my posting until after the holidays but I promise to be a better blogger in the new year! Thanks for all your support... sorry for the ranting. Merry Christmas!
Oh and P.S. I got an e-mail from Donor's Choose yesterday.... Chrome Books for $99! Yep you read that right! But you have to get your project submitted BEFORE December 21st! So go to Donor's Choose RIGHT NOW and create a project! You cannot beat that price. I am HOPING to get funded for 6 of them. Can you even imagine enough Chrome Books for an entire center! EEEK!
