Friday, August 31, 2012

A new routine

This was my first full week of school.  Things are going good so far.  We have developed a new routine around the house and the kids have taken to it great. 

Mornings are very similar to how they were last year.  The kids are up at 6am (well, this morning 5:30 as someone changed their alarm clock.) They have until 6:30 to eat and then they go upstairs to get dressed and they have to be ready at 6:45.  Then we all go to the bus stop (lately the kids have been ready at 6:40 so they run down to the bus stop.)

Then, Matt and I go to the Student Rec Center.  Him and all the kids have their own student ID's.  5 days a week, Matt swims.  I join him three days a week and lift weights the other two days.  I have seen a big difference with this.  My pants that were tight now fit comfortably.  Matt has lost a good deal of weight for only being two weeks into this routine.  It is amazing how swimming every day has changed him. 

Matt is getting on me for using the kickboard all the time.  He is trying to push me to get rid of it.  So, next week, I will start every other lap without a kickboard.  It is fun to see how he is pushing me just as I am pushing him. 

The kids have handled the afternoon very well.  3 days a week, they get off the bus without me, but we meet at home about the same time as I come from the other end of the neighborhood. 

This weekend is going to be nice as we have NOTHING planned.  We are going to go hiking ( I will post about that) and actually make it to the farmer's market.  We will savor this weekend as soccer games probably start next weekend and scouts will pick up soon. 

Have a good weekend!

Friday, August 24, 2012

The first quiz

Yesterday, I gave my first quiz ever.  I thought it was really easy and my students should have been well prepared for it.

I was wrong.  I was looking forward to making them cookies Sunday night as their reward.  That is not going to happen.

The average was somewhere in the 60's.  I am shocked.  These questions were homework problems and review from Algebra II.

I am breathing.  This is not my fault and I am not going to take it personally.

I was worried as they have through Monday to drop and add classes and I did not want an empty classroom on Tuesday.  So, I talked to one of the profs around here about it and he made me feel better about the situation.

Look of this as their wake-up call.  They need to do their homework.  They need to seek out help if they need it.  They need to pay attention in class.

After that talk, I feel a whole lot better.  I am glad that this happened now and not three weeks from now after their first exam.

I am breathing.  If they drop my class, it is not about me.  They are in college now and able to make their own decisions.

They all need to take this class at some point.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

It's here......

The day I have been dreading or being excited about has come.  It's my first day as a Graduate Student at ASU.  So far, things went pretty well.  The morning went really smoothly.  The kids got up and we were out the door in time.  I got to work out for a whole 15 minutes.  I got to class 15 minutes early and a lot of my students were waiting.  I think they understood what  I was saying.

So, I am now off to lunch.  My students have an online quiz for homework, so I am waiting on the results.  Then I have class at 1pm.

Have a good day!

Friday, August 17, 2012

Flashback Friday

In celebration of my Girl Scout Troop Bridging to Brownies tomorrow, here is our first dedication ceremony:


Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Monday, August 13, 2012

Mark's birthday party

Poor Mark.  He wanted to go camping for his birthday.  We set a date, mailed his friends and ............ they were all out of town that weekend.  So, we tried again last Saturday night.

We went camping at one of our favorite site, Price Campground, which is right off the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It's great as you can drive in, find yourself a spot, see a ranger and hand them $16 and you are set to camp.  The site consists of a tent pad, a picnic table and a fire ring (what were you expecting for $16?)  There is a bathroom (no shower facilities) within walking distance.

For a group of boys, this is awesome.  They set up tents, went biking and hiking.  My 2 year old niece could not find enough acorns.  We had a fairly large group as my parents came up as well as my brother and sister-in-law and my niece.  Mark invited four of his parents, and most of the dads decided to camp with us as well.

We had hamburgers and corn for dinner.

 For his birthday dessert this time, Mark wanted brownies.  The wind let us do candles for just a few minutes.

Of course though one parent brought the fixings for s'more.

The interesting thing the boys and dads constructed was a hammock village of sorts.  Mark wanted to sleep in a hammock and so did one of his friends.  One of the dads also slept a hammock as well.
That night, there was also a meteor shower.  The kids stayed up until 10pm as they could watch it.  Some of the kids saw things, others did not.

They were all up by 6:30am, ready to go.  It was hard to keep them quiet though as the other campers around us were still asleep.  We started breakfast, cleaned up and were out by 10am.  The boys were very dirty and tired.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Patrick's First Day of Kindergarten

Today was Patrick's first day of Kindergarten.  The school rotates the Kinders in, so he will have tomorrow off and he will meet his full class on Monday.   He was so proud to get off the bus today!

So, I had to ask him how his day went.  He said that his favorite part of the day was going to the playground.  He said he did not nap during nap time, but had to stay quiet.  I asked him about his teacher and all he said was her name was Mrs. Blakely.

Patrick did get in a disagreement with his sister on the walk home from the bus.  He was very convinced that there was only 100 days of school (they must have talked about the 100th day of school party) and Ann said that he was wrong.  It went on and on and on.  Apparently, the idea of a party stuck with him.

I did okay today.  My stepson was home with me (he doesn't start school until much later in August), so I was not by myself to get upset.  We will see how Monday goes when he goes to school and I will be home by myself.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Happy Birthday, Matt!


Happy Birthday to an incredible husband and father!



(BTW - We have done a lot of traveling lately, so that is why I haven't posted much.  I will be catching up over the next few days!)