Halloween and Parties Galore!

We had an awesome time in Branson last Sunday with perfect weather that was sunny but not too hot. There still were very few crowds at Silver Dollar City, so we are thinking that Sundays are the day to go! The first few pictures we took in the morning show the kids all alone in the streets there, so it looks like we are there all by ourselves instead of at a theme park! We discovered the teacup ride this time which ended up being the kids' favorite, and I think Owen rode it ten times. Arden went on the mini-rollercoaster and survived it. She was a bit scared and didn't want to go again, but she didn't cry. We saw a hilarious saloon comedy show that we hadn't seen yet, and Hudson left with some more jokes to tell his teacher at school (he is the biggest joker and reads joke books!).

Stuart's big news is that he finally got his new professional Nikon SLR camera that he has been wanting for years and years! It was a big purchase, but he loves photography so much and has been wanting a good digital camera to do more artistic, nature stuff. Hopefully, we'll also get some good pictures of the kids, too!

The week before Halloween always seems to be CRAZY with school activities! Owen has his last football game this morning (yea!), so that will help our lives calm down a bit with no weekly practice and game anymore. All three kids had fall parties yesterday in their classrooms, and the boys' school let them dress up and wear their costumes to school for the school-wide parade. Owen didn't like the prince costume which I got him at a consignment sale. Apparently, it was too feminine and not "cool" enough! So, he opted to wear his Arkansas football jersey which he already owned and put black paint under his eyes to be football player. Hudson was a red Power Ranger, and he was happy to report that he got lots of comments about how "awesome" it was. Arden will be a happy witch, and I found this adorable tulle and velvet costume at a consignment sale for her that is mainly purple and black and really sweet. However, she asked me yesterday if she would get to have the stick that comes out of her bottom to go with it (the broomstick) since that's what it looks like to her when she's seen billboards around with Halloween pictures on them! Ha! Everyone had fun at the parties, and we are all looking forward to Trick or Treating in our neighborhood and helping at our church Trunk or Treat on Sunday!

I had parent-teacher night on Tuesday, so I was at school from 8 a.m. until 8:30 p.m. with no break! What a marathon. The parent-teacher conferences began at 4:15, so we only had a quick break to grab a bite to eat before heading to the gym for arena style conferences. I had 37 conferences, so I don't think I stopped at all until 7:00, then I got to grade a few papers while I waited. It made the whole rest of the week exhausting to begin with such a long day. I'm glad it's over, and there isn't another day like that until March! Additionally, our school had an accreditation inspection from the Department of Education on Tuesday, and two people were on campus to ask questions, observe, etc. They ended up coming in my room and watching for a bit, then I got asked questions about my lesson plans, standards, 504 plans, parent contact log, etc. Luckily, it was easy, and I knew all the answers and had all my documents in order since the principal had warned us to get everything all gathered up ahead of time.

It was Red Ribbon Week at all the schools this week, so the kids wanted to dress up each day for the various themes (hat day, red day, etc), plus I had a lot of activities and extra assemblies going on during my workdays in my building, too.

Then tonight, Stuart is taking the boys to a Razorback football game in Fayettevelle since we were given last-minute, free tickets! They will have so much fun. I am opting to stay home where it's warm with Arden.

I attempted a fall craft this week which is much more like the old me (before I went back to teaching full-time and have no free time anymore). It was fun to gather all the supplies this week, but the craft didn't work out as I had hoped. I was trying to replicate a picture in Pottery Barn that had indian corn wrapped around a large glass candle holder, but my indian corn husks wouldn't bend, wouldn't stand up straight, kept slipping on the glass and leaning, etc. So, I finally gave up and just stuck them inside the glass container and wrapped the jute around the outside of the glass. It looks really good on the dining room table, but it isn't the candle holder that I was hoping for. Oh well. It was still fun to try to make something again.

So, that is the end of our fun and crazy week. We've all had too much candy (except Stuart who doesn't even like candy), and I am officially sick of candy corn!

Fall

I love fall . . . the crisp air, the changing colors on the trees, pumpkins on porches, and candy corn! Yes, I am on my third bag of candy corn this month!

The wood floors were installed about six weeks ago in my hallway, dining room, and home office, and I love them! The installation was relatively painless and all done in one day while I was at work! So, we didn't have any half-finished flooring to stay off in the evening with the kids which was wonderful. On the second day, the men came back and finished up the transitions and trim around the baseboards, then we had the task of moving all the books and office electronics back into the office. So far, the floors are just what I was hoping and show little dust or dirt. They really warm up the space, and I can't wait to do the great room next! Maybe we will be able to do that this spring . . .

The kids are doing well, and the boys got straight A's for first quarter. I can't believe second quarter and the holidays are almost upon us. I have bought all of Arden's Christmas presents, birthday gifts, and stocking stuffers, so I'm thankful for some headway. We went to Silver Dollar City a few weekends ago, and Stuart recently went to Atlanta for four days to the Catalyst conference.

Stuart had a birthday this month (let's just say that he's getting closer to fifty than forty-five now!), and Hudson has begun reading so well! I'm so proud of him. Arden is a whirlwind of words and energy, but she is constantly funny! One of her favorite expressions now is, "I'm just joking!" She has learned her ABC's, and she is counting pretty well, too. I can hardly believe she will be three in a few months.

School is going really well, but I'm still busy all the time. I am in a much better routine than last year with some things, but the grading will be busy forever! I have gotten some family routines down, but meals are still really hard to do during the week since I don't get home until almost five on most days. Luckily, Stuart isn't picky, and the kids will eat a sandwich or cereal for dinner if necessary.

Owen has been playing flag football this season for the first time, and he is really enjoying it. Hudson also started Cub Scouts and likes it a lot. I will be glad when football ends, so that we have more free weekday night, but it has been really good for Owen.

We are headed back to Silver Dollar City this weekend for one last trip to their fall festival. It's so wonderful to have Branson only 90 minutes from our house, so it is an easy day trip. Now that Arden is older, we have no diaper bags or sippy cups and can travel light! Owen will want to ride roller coasters while Arden will ride Dumbo. Stuart will eat a funnel cake, and Hudson will want to buy a huge bag of fudge. Good times!

4 Days Left!!!!

Only 4 more days with the old, tired, and stained carpet in my hallway -- the hallway which leads in from the garage that has had lots of traffic, spills, and is currently buckling in the middle. So long to the carpet in my dining room which prevents us from wanting to eat in there, lest we spill and stain it, so that it looks like the hallway!! In 4 more days, I will get the hardwood flooring which we have purchased installed. It is currently sitting in my kitchen in 22 boxes as it "acclimates" until next Tuesday morning. The installers will be here shortly after I leave for school on Tuesday, and they will be done on Wednesday. Before then, Stuart and I have to pack up all the books, breakable items, and electronics and move them out of the dining room and office. If anyone has seen our book collection, you know that it will take awhile! Ha. I'm so excited to have wood flooring again, and I hope that it looks as great as I think it will.We went with a more casual, distressed style wood planking this time in a five inch board in order to hide any future dents and wear from kiddos. Also, I went lighter in color and low in sheen (to hide footprints, smudges, and dust). I learned from my last house that darker wood with a high sheen is a lot of maintenance for it to look clean. In any case, it will remain cleaner and wear better than the old carpet with three active kids in heavy traffic areas! I'll post before and after pics next week. I'm praying there aren't any glitches with the installation and that the process will be relatively stress-free!

Getting in the Groove

I have been back to work full-time since August 6 which seems like a life time ago! We had weeks of endless meetings (or so it seems) which always confirms to me that I would die if I had an office job that revolved around sitting and attending meetings on a permanent basis. I much prefer running my own "classroom show" and being up and moving all day long.

I have now had three days with my students, and I think it will be a good bunch. However, most seventh graders are scared enough for the first few weeks that it's hard to tell their true colors this early! ha! Right now, they all seem pretty eager and/or intimidated. I finally begin teaching literature tomorrow after three days of rules, policies, ice breaker games, library orientation, etc. Every year at this time, I feel like I am drowning in paper work. There are so many forms to collect from the signed syllabus contract to the emergency cards to the health forms. Then, it's my job to check off the items for each student, alphabetize cards, and get things turned into the office. With all our technology, there must surely be a better way than this! I think teachers in the 1950s were sorting back-to-school forms in this exact manner. Maybe if I figure out a better way, I can hit the jackpot and invent something that will revolutionize the teaching world like the Post-It!

I've decided to try to start up a mentoring program with my students and a couple of classes at an elementary school that is right across the street from my campus. I'm hoping to get enough interest for three classes to let my students "adopt" their younger kids and be "big brothers/sisters" to promote literacy by coming into their classroom once every quarter. I'm also starting a community service emphasis each quarter with my classes this year to encourage them to see giving as a normal part of their expected life. For one week during first quarter, we will begin by collecting items for Snack Packs for Kids, then each class will adopt a family during second quarter to purchase Christmas presents for them. I hope it will be a good experience for my students.

Well, I need to get to bed soon. I will try to do a better job of updating my blog! I think that after next week, I will not have any more evening meetings to attend which will help. This Thursday is our school's open house where we meet the parents, and it is always fun but tiring. Believe me, in pre-AP classes EVERY parent attends, so it's a packed house!

The kids are doing well in school, although Owen has gotten in trouble for talking already. I can't imagine where he gets that! ha. I hope they have a great year and have teachers who will pour into them lots of attention and inspiration, as that's what I strive to do each day to 75 other kiddos. Thankfully, Arden is readjusting to her return to preschool very well, and it is 100% better than this time last year! She hasn't had a single potty accident at school while in underwear! She's even stayed dry overnight a few nights recently, so we may be wearing underwear at nights soon, too! I'm thankful that potty training was so easy with her. Arden hasn't been overly clingy and crying in the evenings, and she loves her friends and school. I'm thankful for those wonderful ladies who are called to teach 3 year olds!

Back to School

The summer is basically over for me, and it went by way too quickly! Now, I am not happy that we had 1 1/2 weeks of snow days that took away our days out in June (however, I was thrilled in January when I got to be home!). Arden went back to preschool full-time this week for the first time after being out for seven weeks, so I was a bit anxious about her adjustment. She returned to the same school with the same kids and staff, so it has seemed to be an easy switch for her. She hasn't had any bad mornings getting up yet, but we will have to get up even earlier next week when I have meetings to get to and the boys to drop off too. She only cried a little this morning when I left her, but she stopped after a minute. She has also worn her "big girl" underwear to school all day this week, and she hasn't had a single accident this week! Yea! Once I switched her to regular underwear, she has pretty much been using the potty on her own without me prompting her and never has accidents at home. I'm only using Pull Ups for naps and overnight now.

The boys start Adventure Club at their elementary school this Friday through August 17 while I'm at a conference and in teacher inservice meetings prior to the students' first day. They will be at their local elementary school with teachers who plan a full-time program of activities for them. Hopefully, they will have some of the same teachers and friends attending as last year, and I hope it is still a fun time for them that feels more like vacation than school. They return to regular school on August 19 for the first student day. Both boys got the teachers that I requested for them (district employees can make teacher preferences for their own children in most buildings in our district), so I hope that it will be a good fit and strong year for each of them.

I have taken the boys up to my school for two half days this week (4 hours yesterday and 3 hours today) to work on unpacking and decorating my classroom. We had to pack up every single item before we left for the summer and box it all. Teachers had to empty bookshelves, take all posters down, empty our teacher desk, etc. since the entire school was being painted. Luckily, this shouldn't happen next year, but I returned this year with just as much to do in my room as a new teacher all over again! I am in the same classroom, and I bought some new posters, a used bookcase, and had a student paint a 5 foot canvas mural for a large wall. So, I am happy with how it is looking! I'm not an elementary teacher who has to cover every surface from ceiling to floor and do elaborate bulletin boards, but I do like a "themed" room with cuteness. My theme is "Life is a Highway" and I had the mural done with that saying and a landscape of a car driving down the highway into the sunset. Then, I found a lot of highway themed posters ("U turn in homework, U get good grades," "Learning Zone," "0 excuse limit," "Stop and Read" etc.) I also put a large bulletin board lined with maps that is titled, "Travel through plot" with the plot diagram and literary terms on it. I brought in an old area rug I had in my attic, some discarded faux greenery, and I rescued an old maple drop leaf table from another teacher who didn't want it. Overall, it feels a lot more like "my" room this year! Usually, I would decorate during the work day next week, but I am missing it due to a pre-AP teacher's conference that I have to attend for two days in Fayetteville since I am required to get 12 hours of professional development in gifted/talented in order to be the team leader for that specialty on my campus.

I am finishing up appointments and haircuts with the boys on Thursday and mainly staying home to rest. My first full day of meetings is Friday.

It's been around 102 degrees here this week, and it's sooooo hot! I'm glad the earlier part of the summer was cooler, but I hope I don't begin the school year with outside lunch or bus duty, or I might faint in the heat!

I will give you rest

I've been thinking a lot lately about how stressful our lives have seemed for the past three years. I feel like I could star in a soap opera with all the events and drama that seem to have been a part of our lives recently! I am really praying that for this school year we have peace and rest. I don't want to experience any tragedies or deaths of family members this year, and I would like to feel like we only have to deal with the "regular" stuff -- even if just for this year. We just really need life to be less painful and less hectic, so we can catch our breath.

In case you don't know us or can't remember, here is a short recap of all of the stressful events we've gone through since 2006:

Nov, 2006: my dad entered final stage of cancer and entered home hospice care.
Jan, 2007: my father died
Aug, 2007: my niece was stillborn
Dec, 2007: Arden was born (a happy time, but still involved sleep deprivation and illnesses for the first year)
June, 2008: Stuart found out his job would most likely be ending and began a job search
Oct, 2008: Stuart accepted a job in Bentonville, AR, and moved there on Dec. 1 to begin work; my mother also had hip replacement surgery
Dec, 2008: we moved to Bentonville and faced the task of unpacking a semi-truck worth of belongings
Jan, 2009: my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double masectomy
Aug, 2009: I accepted a last minute teaching job and returned to the classroom full-time for the first time in 8 years; Arden began daycare for the first time at age 20 months
Aug, 2009: Stuart's dad was diagnosed with bladder cancer and began treatment
Feb, 2010: Stuart's dad went downhill and entered final stage of terminal cancer
April, 2010: Stuart's dad died
May, 2010: I was diagnosed with a possible jaw tumor and scheduled for a biopsy
June, 2010: I underwent oral surgery on my jaw bone and had a several week recovery. Thankfully, the mass was benign.

So, we have lost two parents to cancer, gotten two new jobs, gained a new baby, moved across the state, and had several health scares all since 2007.

I'm praying that this year is uneventful! I know God is faithful, and we are still managing to find joy and happiness in every event, but I would like a bit of rest every now and again!

Road Trip

As summer is coming to a close, I felt the need to do something different and vacation-like before going back to work. The thing that I most wanted to do (and could afford) was go and see old friends back in Cabot and Little Rock. I decided to embark on a road trip last week with the three kids all by myself, as Stuart still had to stay in Bentonville for work.

We took one bag of pool gear and one bag for the hotel, and that's it! I wanted to pack light, so that I could manage to get it all into the hotel on my own, especially if a certain 2 year old decided to have a tantrum! We left Wednesday morning and returned Thursday night, and we were able to stay at a hotel in Little Rock for FREE with some hotel points we had accumulated. All of our meals were with friends, so gas was the only expense.

This was a trial run of how far I could travel alone with Arden since I've never driven with her out of town by myself. She is normally a terrible traveler who never sleeps in the car and cries/screams for much of the long drive. Amazingly enough, she did GREAT on the trip and was only mildly fussy for short periods on the three hour drive down. We arrived at noon with a picnic lunch in the van that I had brought with us and went to Splash Zone in Jacksonville to meet friends. We ate our lunch at the park next door (though the kids were too excited to eat anything!) and went swimming with the Burlesons and the Hollaways. The kids had so much fun returning to their favorite Cabot area water activity. We have so many great memories there!

Then we drove up the highway to Cabot and briefly stopped by our old house and neighborhood as well as Owen's old school. It was bittersweet to see our old life. I remembered taking Owen to his first day of kindergarten there and bringing Hudson and Arden home from the hospital. I remembered that those were my main years of being a stay-at-home mom, and how different (but good) my life is now. We spontaneously dropped by the Vances and visited with Angie and her boys for about 45 minutes before heading to the McElroys where we were spending the rest of the evening.

I had such a good time visiting with one of my best friends from Cabot, Kristy McElroy, who is pregnant with baby #4 in October!! Our children are all friends and close in age, and the boys had fun swimming for a second time that day in their backyard pool after we ate a pizza dinner. Our brief visit was over much too soon when it was time to make the drive into Little Rock to check into our hotel.

We arrived at 9 p.m. in our hotel, and Arden hadn't had a nap all day. The kids loved the hotel, although Arden was very scared to ride the glass elevator to our room on the 9th floor, and we had to force her to get in the elevator everytime we rode it. Amazingly enough, the kids obeyed so well, and we all fell asleep very quickly, with Arden sharing a bed with me and not a crib. She didn't fall out of the hotel bed (which is another first!) and slept well all night, except for the fact that she kept kicking me in the head!

We ate a big breakfast which was included with our stay at the hotel, then we loaded up our luggage to check out. The only glitch in my trip was that when we tried to get into our van on Thursday morning, the car battery was DEAD! So, I went into the hotel to see if they would let me back in my room and found out that a hotel employee could jump start it for me, so I wouldn't have to wait for roadside assistance to come. Luckily, the car started quickly, and there wasn't any other more significant problem with the van. I had initially feared that I would have to get it towed to the dealership and be stranded in the hotel for another night while my car was being repaired. We then set off to hit Mardel's since we don't have one in my area, and I got some great posters and items to decorate my classroom. The kids twisted my arm to get each of them a Webkins, which I probably gave into since I was just so happy and thankful that my vehicle was running again!

Finally, we drove to Maumelle around 10:30 and spent the next few hours with long-time friend Christine Franklin and her kids. The kids loved playing in their big backyard and playing "hide and seek." We ate lunch with Christine, and her "rainbow popsicles" were a big hit; my kids are still talking about them! We left Little Rock around 2:00, so we would be home by dinner.

The kids all crashed and slept for much of the three hour drive home, and Arden didn't wake up until we were in Springdale! It was a very fun and enjoyable trip, and it has given me more confidence to do it again now that my children are getting older. I didn't realize how much I had missed my old friends, and I know that I need to see them more often.

I love where I live now, but I love where I moved from, and I will always enjoy returning to see my old "home."