This Day in History

My history, anyway...let me take you back.

September 24, 1993

It was a Friday and it was homecoming of my senior year in high school.  It was cold and rainy and our yearly homecoming parade was canceled due to the rain.  On top of that, I found out that my grandpa passed away.  Clearly, that put a huge damper on the day.  At the homecoming game, I was one of the cheerleaders holding up the big paper sign that the football players ran through.  The biggest kid on the team ran right through a huge mud puddle and it was literally like I was standing on the curb when a bus drives through a puddle...splat right in my face and all over me.  Ugh.  And then there was the dance after the game.  I went with this good guy friend of mine named Brandon.  He thought I was standing him up because it took me so long to get there after the game (ahem - I was mud-covered & soaking wet).  Needless to say, I didn't stand him up and he made me laugh through the whole dance, despite my really lousy day.  When my sister and I were driving home from the dance, I remember telling her how much I really thought I liked that guy.  Little did I know...20 years later.  He's still making me laugh even when I think I don't want to.  I sure wish I had a picture of us from that night.  I do have one of myself wet & splattered, but you don't want to see that, right?

History lesson over.

Back in Business

It is hard to believe that today was the first day of school!  I have been in denial about it for at least the last 2-3 weeks, but it became reality today.  Our summer felt so short, mainly because of adding a new puppy to the mix.  It wasn't quite as relaxing as normal, but it was a lot of fun.  Luke started 3rd grade today and came home happy with how his day went.  He seems to really like his teacher so far...hopefully that will continue past day one.  I am physically done tonight...after sitting around all summer my legs & feet were not ready for being used quite so much today.  They'll adjust, though.  For me, this was the least stressful to start to a school year that I think I've ever experienced.  My team looped up to 8th grade with the (mostly) same group we had last year and it really just allowed me to chill out about starting back.  I was busy and had LOTS to do, but I just didn't worry about everything nearly so much, which was nice.  And it was so good to see all my kids from last year show up in my classroom again today.  I'm really looking forward to a great year!  Here we are for the traditional first day of school pictures.  Luke has to get up extra early to get in a picture with me since I leave home at least an hour earlier than he does!

And because I don't want to do a whole new post...brain. too. tired.  Here are a couple cute Gracie pictures for you.

How adorable is she when she is sleeping???  I literally want to squeal at her cuteness.

Her new favorite toy - a plastic cup from Chili's.  She'll play with it for at least 10-15 minutes at a time.  It's hilarious to watch her with it.

That's it for now.  It is officially back to the normal routine at my house.  My prayer is that the adjustment period is short!

Saturday Ramblings

I have not been a good blogger recently, but there is just not much happening in my life during the summer.  Gracie is keeping us really busy, so that's a factor too, but truly we haven't done anything interesting or noteworthy lately.  Since I head back to work on Thursday, life will pick up and be busier again.  I'm alternately looking forward to it and dreading it.  I love my job, which is explains the looking forward to it...but I also love lazy summer days where I don't have much to do, hence the dreading it.  Luke is excited about school.  Normally by now, we've received the letter letting us know who his teacher is and all that exciting information, but not yet.  He's getting anxious to find out.  There is one particular teacher he wants, and I have a feeling it's the teacher everyone will want (the only guy teacher in the building, other than the art teacher).  I hope he's not disappointed.  We got all his school supplies earlier this week and he came to me in a panic the next morning asking, "Mom - how many composition notebooks were we supposed to get."  I told him I was pretty sure it was 4, but we could double check the list.  When we determined that yes he only needed 4, he visibly relaxed.  He was sure that we should have gotten 5.  I just have to say - I'm so thankful to have a kid who loves school!

As I scrolled through my Facebook feed this morning, I saw that Amy Grant did a guest post at the "Grace for Moms" blog.  If you know me, you should know that I love Amy Grant.  Since 4th or 5th grade when I got her The Collection cassette tape with a boom box for Christmas, I have loved her music.  I've played it on the piano, sung it in church, and listened to it incessantly.  She just released her first album of all new songs in May and it did not disappoint.  Her music is just always so real and simple and touches places of my heart with its message.  So, because I love her so much, I wanted to post a link to the blog she did, because just like her music, it struck a chord with me about motherhood and all the pressure their seems to be to keep up these days.  It's a refreshing message, and I just had to share it.  You can read it here.

Puppies!

Warning - this video is way cute if you're totally into watching 2 puppies play with one another.  Gracie met her "cousin" Romeo, who is just 2 days older than her.  She was not too sure of him at first, but once we got them outside, they warmed right up to each other.  See for yourself.

Romeo is a cocker spaniel and is such a sweetie.  He is so laid back compared to our Gracie, but he had plenty of energy for playing.  Shortly after this, he conked out for a much needed nap.  Not Gracie, though.  She kept going strong...until we got in the car to go home.  Then she was the definition of completely tired puppy.  Hopefully, it won't be long before we get to see Romeo again!  Here are some more pics of this handsome guy.

Rough Life

This is how I spend pretty much every afternoon.  No matter how many times I move her to her bed right next to me, she always comes back.  Oh the sweetness & cuteness...

Meet Gracie

Last Thursday, we expanded our family once again and welcomed Gracie into our home.  It has not been that long since we lost Ginger, so this was a bittersweet decision, but the timing was right since everyone is out of school and at home.  Having a puppy doesn't require all hands on deck, but we thought it would probably be the best situation for all of us.  We all had a few emotional breakdowns before getting Gracie (and a few after too) because we still miss Ginger terribly.  Just thinking about her right now brings tears to my eyes, because I would give anything to still have her with us.  But...that's not reality.  Gracie is a nearly 13 week old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.  She is the same breed as Ginger, but they are not cut from the same cloth, that's for sure.  Gracie is a wild woman looking for anything she can get her teeth into.  However, she is the most affectionate and loving girl I've ever known.  She will shower you with love & kisses (sometimes as a prelude to trying to eat your face off, but still...).  She is working her way into my heart a little more each day.  She has definitely started settling in.  She now knows her name & is starting to recognize the word "no" (she ought to - she hears it enough).  She is getting 2 walks each day to try to wear her out a little.  She's a pretty special girl, who is definitely keeping us on our toes.

Luke is thrilled with her.  He broke down on the night we got her.  I think it was because he was worried that he wasn't being loyal to Ginger by loving this new puppy so much.  We talked through it and he's getting a crash course in both the fun and not fun of having a puppy.  Fun = watching her pounce on and play with her toys.  Not fun = cleaning of accidents and going outside every 30 minutes to discourage accidents.

Gracie has already become a daddy's girl.  Ginger and Brandon had an incredibly special bond.  We knew she loved us all, but you could tell that if push came to shove, she was sticking with her dad.  Gracie seems to already have that too.  She lights up whenever she hears Brandon's voice or if he walks out of the room.

She's a cutie and a keeper.  We're trying to enjoy her puppyhood, but looking forward to seeing what a great dog she'll be for our family.

"Can You Believe I'm Almost not a Second Grader Anymore?"

So says Luke to me tonight.  My answer is no, I can't believe it.  I feel like I've blinked and this school year has gone by.  Here he is at his awards ceremony and with his awards (minus one that didn't make it home) after school.

First he wouldn't look at me.

Then he would look at me, but didn't smile.

Then he did smile(?) and my camera stopped working so we couldn't try again.  I know both Luke and Brandon were terribly bummed about that...ha!

We are so proud of all his accomplishments.

Luke was thrilled to receive this Citizenship Award which only 2 people in his class received (one boy & one girl).  His classmates voted for him to receive it and we were just so proud of him.

Sniff, sniff...I don't think I'm ready for 3rd grade yet.

That's My Boy!

I got this e-mail from Luke's teacher today:

"Congratulations!!!

Luke has been nominated for our “Good Citizen Award”.  This is an award the kids vote on and he is very deserving.   SHHHHHH…This is going to be a surprise for him at our assembly on Thursday. "

Talk about making a mom's day. :)  A prayer I pray often for him is that he will grow up to be his own person and do the right thing regardless of what others around him are doing.  It's nice to see God's hand at work in him, and believe me, as he gets older, I'll be praying that prayer even harder.  

It was a nice way to end a long week.  Oh - and the 3 day weekend + summer break coming up don't hurt anything either!  

New Blog

Since I've been doing some really amazing work keeping up on this blog *insert sarcasm*, when I couldn't sleep last night, I came up with the wonderful idea of starting a new blog about books for my students.  Since I lost sleep over it last night, I worked on it today.  Keep in mind, I will be recommending Young Adult books appropriate for middle schoolers here, but if you like to read, there are many, many, many great YA books out there!

Check it out here!

Since it's been since February, let me catch you up with our lives.  School is out next week.  If I really wanted to feel bad about life, I would start thinking about how if we hadn't had all those snow days that tomorrow would be our last day of school.  But I don't want to feel bad about myself, so yay, we get out of school for the summer next week!

At the end of March, we had to say goodbye to Ginger.  I have not really been able to bring myself to write about it until now.  She had been suffering from congestive heart failure for the last few months, but seemed to be doing well until the middle of March when we had to hospitalize her because she was having trouble breathing.  We didn't realize how bad she was, but we vowed after her 3-night hospital stay that we would not let her get that bad again.  She came home for 2 weeks and was never really herself again.  However, I am so thankful for those 2 weeks, because even though she wasn't herself, we all tried to cherish every moment with her.  She started getting bad again, though, and we made the decision we never wanted to have to make.  We miss her terribly and had a few pretty rough weeks, but our hearts are starting to heal and her memories bring more smiles than tears these days.

Luke turned 8 about two days after we lost Ginger.  He handled it all like the champ he is.  We worked really hard to try to make his day special regardless of how sad we all were.  I'm so proud of this kid.  I can't believe he's mine sometimes.  He has a few days left of 2nd grade and it blows my mind that he'll be a 3rd grader this fall.

Those are the biggest things that have happened with us since February.  I have been reading a lot of books - shocker!  One day soon, I'll blog about some of my favorites I've read.  I'll try to stick with mainly adult books on this blog, though!

Oh Snow!

Holy Blizzard, Batman!  It is a white out here this morning.  Brandon just fired up the snowblower for the first of probably several times today.  I got up and let Ginger out at 6:45 this morning and there wasn't a flake on the ground or in the sky...that is definitely not the case a short 3 hours later.

My plan for the day?  See below:

Oh yes, I'm ready to tackle you stack of books.  I do have to finish what I'm currently reading first, though.  Plus, there is more on my Kindle.  I'm definitely prepared to be snowed in. :)

Do you recognize this guy?

He's not sad to be still in his PJ's watching the Smurfs right now.

Here's a little piece of trivia for you - I've taken only 2 pictures so far in 2013...and you just saw both of them.  Oops.  That could explain the lack of information on this blog recently.  I'll try to do better, but you saw that stack of books...who has the time?  Stay warm & safe if you're experiencing this snow today!

Today

My students are getting ready to start "book clubs" where they'll choose what they want to read from 4 titles I offer, then will have weekly book club meetings with their fellow classmates who chose the same book.  Each of the books they're choosing from have a character with autism, so this is a great opportunity to teach about empathy.  Before we start reading next week, I wanted to do some other lessons on this idea of empathy, because it's something that isn't just lacking in middle schools...it's lacking all over.  So, in my search to find things to do that would engage my kiddos, I stumbled upon a site that had links to 3 different activities - a news article, a news story from NPR, & a video on YouTube made by a teenage girl.  I knew I'd found a winner, but today after sharing these with my kids realized just how much so.  The article is interesting, the radio story surprising, and the video is just downright inspirational...we did them in that order and at the end of the video each hour, my room was SILENT.  Not just quiet...just silence like I've never heard before in my classroom or many other places.  So...I thought I'd share.  Powerful stuff.

Here's a link to the article, the radio story, and the video is embedded below.  Amazing examples of empathy in a world that is often a dark place.  Enjoy these spots of brightness.

New Year...New Post

Happy New Year to everyone!  I'm going to spend my day thinking about how I have to go back to work tomorrow and wondering where in the world my break went, but that's okay.  It's a work day, which basically means I'll have great intentions of planning the whole semester only to barely get plans made for Thursday because I've spent all day catching up with all my friends. :)  Yep...I've no doubt that's how things will go.

We had a great Christmas this year.  It was really low-stress this year for some reason, which was so nice.  We celebrated with my family on the 22nd and with Brandon's on Christmas Day.  Of course, I forgot my camera on Christmas day, so other than a few Christmas morning pics, I've got nothing else to document the day.  My camera was in my purse, but I took it out to fit something else in there and then managed to forget to put the camera back in.  Christmas day fail.  It wasn't my first & I'm sure it won't be my last!

Enjoy a few pictures from when I did have my camera:

 Cousins

 Cutie-pies!

Actually, my sister took this one.  Thanks, Kristen...this is the one & only photo of me this season.

Kristen took this one too...Ginger was a little sleepy after all the festivities.  Can you tell?

 She was ready to open her gift on Christmas Eve, though!

Christmas Eve

Christmas morning

Luke is a lover of the TV show Gold Rush & got a Lego gold mine set.  This was hours of work & fun.  We both enjoyed it (him the work - me the quiet while he was so diligently working!)

This was a little Post-Christmas gift for Ginger.  She could not look away from the window.  I swear that squirrel sat there for an hour.

The days since Christmas have flown by.  Of course, I've used my time to get a lot of reading done.  I took my tree down on the 26th, as always, and was both sad & relieved to see it go.  Brandon left for an out-of-town work trip on the 26th, which left me in sole charge of everything.  Ginger is still healing from her torn ACL and still is not supposed to do steps.  Not that she doesn't occasionally sneak by us, but for the most part we're carrying her up & down to let her out every day, every time.  Have I mentioned that she is also no a diuretic for her heart?  That means that we can't go for really long stretches without taking her out.  Then, Brandon came home with the flu (the respiratory kind) and he has been down for the count, leaving me with the sole responsibility with Ginger's bathroom duty still.  I think he's turned a corner today, finally.  I hope he's better enough to take care of her tomorrow!

So, that's it.  We spent our New Year's Eve watching a movie and watching Parks & Recreation.  We love that show.  We started watching in the 3rd season, so we've gone back and watched the first 2 seasons and now we're re-watching the 3rd season.  So. Funny.  Once we start watching, we don't want to stop.  We made it to 11:00 last night before we called it a day.  Happy new year to us!