Winding Down

So . . . the school year is winding down, and it has been flying by since we finished spring break in March. The boys have had lots of school activities, and Owen was in the performance of 101 Dalmations with the 4th graders at his school. My birthday in April was a fun celebration, and Stuart bought me an iPhone 4 to replace my vintage flip phone that didn't have working voicemail. I have really enjoyed having a phone that allows me to check the internet and my email when away from a computer. It also comes in handy if we have a long wait at restaurants or doctor appointments, so I can show Hudson or Arden a children's video from Netflix right on my phone.

It's been a good month with my students, and this time of year is always reflective as I prepare to say goodbye to my students and don't see them in the same way next year. I have gotten some nice letters, a poem written about me, and a bouquet of flowers from some dear students over the past few weeks. I really love teaching, and I do feel that what I do matters.

I went to Little Rock over my birthday weekend to see Beth Moore live at Verizon Arena with my mom. It was a whirlwind trip, but it was very encouraging and uplifting. It was just the getaway I needed! I think it was the first time in several years that I had gone away overnight without kids.

We took the kids to Silver Dollar City with our new season passes and visited or the first time last weekend. It turned out to be a very hot day at almost 90 degrees, but it was a lot of fun!We didn't attempt the rides with long lines and just casually enjoyed the time. The kids rode a few rides like the teacups, Dumbo, and the jumping frogs. We all rode the boat ride, and then we went to two shows (a comedy circus and the step dancers). Arden's favorite part is getting taffy at the old-fashioned candy store!

We have about three more weeks of school, then I will be going to a few days of professional development training on the new Common Core Standards which our state is adopting. I am also beginning work on my National Board Certification, and I have plans to work a few hours each week during the summer on some of the entries that I can start now. I have lined up a teenager in our neighborhood to play with the kids at my house or one half-day every week this summer, so I can go and write my materials in an undisturbed session at the my school or the public library.

We hope to visit the Tulsa Zoo next weekend, if the weather cooperates. Then, the boys have church camp from June 20-24, which is a full-day outdoor camp at Beaver Lake. We are hoping to be able to take a family vacation to Washington D.C. in July, if our free housing works out; Stuart has a friend who works there and has a two bedroom apartment near the Capitol that he is offering us, if the dates work out. It will be a long drive with the kids, but it will be a relatively affordable trip since the housing would be free, and most of the museums we want to see are also free admission.

I am trying to get all the last minute things done to wrap up the year while also enjoying my final days with my great classes. I can't believe that Owen changes schools next year and begins middle school! He loved the tour of the middle school when we attended the orientation a few weeks ago; he is really ready to move up and have a team of four teachers. It is still a little sad to think that he and Hudson won't be riding the bus together next year anymore, and they won't be on the same campus again until high school. Arden will also be changing buildings next year, as she will be promoted to the pre-K facility in the school district that begins at age 3 1/2 until kindergarten. Thankfully, all of her friends in her current class will be moving up with her which will ease the transition.

I love this time of year; it's getting warm but not too hot, the anticipation of summer is upon us, the expanse of our vacation is still ahead, and I feel grateful for all we accomplished in the past year of school!

Our Amputated Spring Break

Since we had to hold school in our district on Monday and Tuesday to make up some snow days, our spring break became an amputated five-day weekend. I didn't think it would be that bad, but now that it is almost over, and I am not rested and don't feel like I had a vacation, it is so depressing!

Unfortunately, our plans for a few fun things to do during our break were canceled when Arden got sick. We did manage to have fun at The Jones Center on Wednesday where we went to a free concert of Trout Fishing in America which is a wonderful kids' band. I bought a CD and got it autographed, and we've been singing along in the car ever since. They are playing again locally in Bentonville at the Square on Saturday, May 7, at 11 a.m., if you want to hear them. They are now my favorite kids' music!

Then, it sort of went downhill after that. By Thursday, Arden was coughing, had a runny nose, and was acting cranky. We did a quick trip to an inflatable place, but Arden was dragging, and Owen said his stomach hurt.

On Friday, we had planned to go to Silver Dollar City or the Tulsa Zoo. We checked the weather in both places on Friday, packed the car, and made our decision to head to Oklahoma for the day. We only made it ten miles down the road when Arden began to cough so much that she started vomiting in the car. So, we went home.

She coughed so much all day long on Friday that we got concerned, so I made an appointment to take her to the pediatrician in the afternoon. She had a mild case of whooping cough and the beginning of an ear infection in her right ear. So, we left with a prescription for antibiotics.

Then, I woke up this morning at 5:45 a.m. to a horrible thunderstorm, and it is still cold, gray, and wet outside. It doesn't feel much like spring right now. Boo!

Spring

Time has been flying since we resumed school in February after ten snow days! It felt like there was a lot of catching up to do with curriculum. March is always a furious month, filled with parent-teacher conference nights where I work two days for over twelve hours at a time. We hold our conferences from 4:30 - 8 p.m, after teaching all day. We have dinner provided for us to eat in the small window of time from the last student bell at 3:35 until parents are lined up and waiting at 4:30. While I always enjoy the contact with my students' families, I am always relieved when it is over since it is so exhausting. I've also had pre-AP training this month which took me out of the classroom, and I sold 120 items of used clothing and toy items at the local Rhea Lana consignment sale. I love shopping the pre-sale when I can find Arden a lot of good deals of used clothing and shoes for the upcoming season! Usually, that is the only place I shop for her. I tagged all the clothing during our snow days in February, so that helped with the March Madness.

Teaching is going well, and I'm loving my stroll through House on Mango Street right now which is one of my favorite novels to teach. I actually mourn it when I finish and shelf it for next year. I love seeing the connections and analysis that my students can make by this point in the year, and this novel really forces them to dig into subtext and find connections. It's often the first novel that these gifted junior high students really struggle to understand, as reading has always been so easy for them. I enjoy seeing them stretch and then rejoice as they finally "get it."

I have also been wrestling with the decision of whether to pursue National Board Certification next year. This national teacher certification program offers a variety of benefits including significantly higher pay in the state of Arkansas, recognition, and portability of my teaching license to all fifty states if we were to ever move. It is probably the equivalent of taking three graduate classes during the school year with the amount of time it will entail. It involves assembling a series of four portfolios with written papers for each one that document student work, writing instruction, professional contributions, and videotaped samples of small and large group instruction. Then, there are six standardized tests that are taken in a timed session in a testing center to test content knowledge.

Right now, I am praying about the decision, but I am leaning towards pursing this next year. I have a good support system and am very comfortable with the pre-AP curriculum that I've taught the past two years, so I feel that I'm in a good place professionally to do this. It will be a crazy year from November through March next year as I complete the work before the March 31 deadline, and I know it will be hard on my family. However, the financial rewards will be very beneficial once I receive my certification. I plan to take the family to Disneyworld with my first bonus once I pass (I get three years if I don't pass on the first attempt).

We are beginning our shortened spring break tomorrow, as we had regular school on Monday and Tuesday to make up two of our snow days. I am taking the kids to see the kids' band Trout Fishing in America tomorrow, we will go to a Jump Zone-type place on Thursday, and we will probably drive up to Branson on Friday.

Happy spring break!

Snow, snow go away. Come back another day!

We have had record breaking snowfall in Bentonville! In the past two weeks, we have had three snow storms and been in school for only three out of ten school days! The last storm that arrived Tuesday night dumped around 20-22 inches in our town and set a record for the most snowfall here! Then, the temperature was below zero in the morning for the next two days, so it didn't melt quickly. The boys have enjoyed snow days, but we are all about ready to have a normal routine again. We have had TEN snow days since January 4, so we will now have to deal with how to make up the days in order to meet the state requirement of 178 days of school to count for a full year credit. It looks like five days will be added on to the end of the school year, and five days might be made up with a combination of spring break days we lose and Saturday school (no fun!).

I got a lot done last week when I thought that might be my only time off school for awhile. We were out of school for snow and ice from Tuesday through Friday, and I was able to plan ahead to take home things that I needed to get some projects done. I filed our taxes electronically from home, I planned curriculum, I tagged all my items to sell in an upcoming children's consignment sale, and I cleaned my house well. This week, I haven't been quite as productive, but I have enjoyed the down time. I just have to remember this when it is the second week of June, and it feels so miserable to be in school when the pool is calling my name!

All the kids are excited to go back to school on Monday for their Valentine's Day parties, and it was CRAZY at Walmart today, as everyone appeared to be there at the same time to restock up on food after the storm PLUS purchase items for the Valentine's Day holiday. I still have to make a trip to Target tomorrow to get a few things for my own little Valentines, so they will have cute goodie bags from mommy and daddy on Monday.

I've been spending too much time bidding on things on Ebay while I've been home and browsing the internet for project ideas for the house. I'm beginning to embrace the whole idea that my house is a work in progress and enjoy thinking of ways to upgrade items I don't really like or make the house more "me." It was really different to have custom built our last house where I picked out everything and then buy a builder's grade house this time that didn't have much of what I would have selected. Since I shopped so much for everything in the last house (from doorknobs to faucets to tile selections), I had developed pretty specific tastes of what I liked in decor. However, now I am enjoying the process of "building" again, but it is in small bits and pieces as I can afford to change things in the house. Luckily, I love the floorplan, so I'm not really renovating as in knocking down walls; it's more of the cosmetic things. There is flooring I didn't like, a bathroom window that bugs me, a dishwasher that is not the best quality, sink faucet fixtures I want to change out, sconces that are ugly (who likes seashell shaped lights??). It will probably take me years to afford to get my projects done, but I've begun to enjoy the process! That says a lot since I am usually all about the end result! This is progress . . .

Grandad

My grandfather, Verle Allyn Smith, went to be with the Lord on Saturday, January 8, 2011, at 2:30 p.m. in Oklahoma City, OK. He was 99 years old. He was such a kind and patient grandfather, and I have many good memories of being in my grandparent's house during the summer months when I was growing up. He was a quiet man who didn't talk much, but I remember how he would sit back and take in all the grandchildren's activity and just smile at us as we played. He would often pat us on the back, sometimes so hard we would jump, and say something very simple like, "You kids are really growing up." He would be smiling a tender smile, and I knew that his words meant that he loved us very much. He was known for his hard work ethic and intelligence as he graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree in engineering and worked for Kerr McGee oil company. He provided well for his family and three children, all of whom graduated from college or graduate school. He took care of my grandmother for seven years throughout her recovery from two strokes until she died in 1990. She was the love of his life, and I remember seeing him dye her hair in their bathroom when she could no longer do it herself and then learning to roll her hair on old-fashioned rollers to give her a home permanent after her strokes. He even applied her makeup, though sometimes she came out with a bit too much blush or face powder!

Grandad was a man of few words, but he had a big heart. I knew he was so proud of me and my children. I knew he loved us. I will always remember his jumpsuits that he wore, his big recliner where you could find him reading the paper and doing crossword puzzles in the living room, and his smile.

Rest in peace, Grandad. You will be greatly missed.

*the picture above is the only photo I have from the last time I got to see him in 2007. Owen was showing him the tooth he had just lost!

Happy New Year!

We have had a wonderful, but busy, holiday season! I think it's just going to be this way with three kids from now on! My mother visited us for three days right after we got out of school on Dec. 18, then we went down to Camden, AR, for two days to visit Stuart's family. The kids enjoyed seeing their cousins who were in from Ohio, even though it was a whirlwind trip. Arden is finally starting to travel better and is enjoying sitting in her new booster seat instead of the toddler convertable car seat. I think she's a lot more comfortable now.

We enjoyed a low-key Christmas in Bentonville where the kids woke up in our house to open stockings and gifts on Christmas morning. Hudson's best gift was a Wii Poke Park video game while Owen's was an XBox360 Madden '11 game. Arden has enjoyed her new dollhouse and Melissa and Doug wooden doll bed and highchair for her baby dolls. Santa brought Stuart a Kindle electronic reader, so he has been enjoying figuring it all out!

My Christmas dinner didn't turn out very well, as Stuart informed me that my turkey breast tasted "funny," so we weren't sure if maybe the meat had started going bad after thawing several days in the fridge while we were traveling. So, we packed up the kids (still in their Christmas pjs) and headed towards the only restaurant open on Christmas Day -- IHOP! It was a long wait and totally packed, but it made for a fun event to eat breakfast food with a full restaurant of people on Christmas Day! We might make IHOP an annual Christmas Day tradition while the kids are still young. They enjoyed Make-a-Face pancakes a lot more than mom's turkey meal!

This week of our Christmas break has been full of appointments with four dental appointments, Arden's birthday, and some playdates with the kids' friends. Arden did so well at her first dental appointment, and she is in the 85th percentile in height and weight at her 3 year old check up.

Arden got her twin bed assembled right before Christmas, too. I had purchased the sleigh bed frame from Craiglist almost a year ago for $50 and kept it in the garage until Arden was ready. She was a little fearful for the first few nights since it is such a tall bed, but she is now completely adjusted to it and enjoying it. I was a bit sad to pack up her final remnants of her infancy, but her twin sleigh bed is so adorable that it has been fun to see her progress to this stage. I gave away her crib and sold the baby mattress, and I'm still trying to sell her crib bedding on Craigslist.

We have enjoyed spending a lot of time together over the break, and we have been staying up too late and sleeping in, so now we have to get back to the reality of our regular school schedule over the next couple of days. I'm sure we will have a few days of adjustment next week! I don't think the boys are looking forward to doing homework again, but they are excited to return to school to see friends. If this January is anything like the previous two years in northwest Arkansas, I'm sure we will have some snow days to enjoy at home in the next month!

Happy New Year!

Top Ten

It's been so long since my last post, and if you know me well, then you are probably my friend on Facebook where I do a lot better at posting since it can just be one random sentence! As the holidays approached, things got so busy, and posting just couldn't get to the top of my long list!

So, here are the TOP TEN things I can think of that have been highlights of the past six weeks:

10. Hudson won the handwriting of the week award (believe me, it's a BIG deal!)
9. We went to Branson the weekend before Thanksgiving to see the Christmas shows and lights. I soon realized that I'm not one for 90 minute waits for shows when it is freezing,plus Arden was getting sick (see #5 below)
8. Owen participated in a school book club for 4th graders over The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
7. Stuart shopped like a crazy person on Black Friday and went to both the midnight and 4 a.m. sales! I slept in!
6. Hudson went ice skating for the first time at a birthday party which was held at the new outdoor skating rink
5. Arden got a double ear infection 1 1/2 weeks ago, and she was such a trooper that I didn't take her to the doctor until it was apparently pretty bad, so I felt terrible.
4. My students at school collected gifts for 3 siblings for Christmas and purchased coats, jeans, shirts, shoes, and toys for each child. It was amazing to see their generosity!
3. I attended the fabulous "I Get 2 Give" event at our church where you win gifts that you then give to someone else. It was a lot of fun.
2. I have Arden's crib mattress and crib bedding for sale on Craigslist and (finally) plan to move her to a twin bed over Christmas break.
1. Both boys were in the Bentonville Christmas parade (Hudson with Cub Scouts and Owen played in the Swamp Band for his school and marched). I got to ride the float with Hudson and wave at the people! It was sort of like my dreams of fame from my childhood, even though I was sitting on a haybale and wasn't wearing a crown!

Have a wonderful week! I'll post more and add pics once school is out -- only four more days!!! Whooo hooo!