One Day Closer to You

Every night as I fall asleep I think we are one day closer to meeting Baby Boaz, and that makes me happy (even if my day sucked). We are now in the 30th week, which means (unofficially) that we have 10 weeks left. In my world ten weeks flies by! Of course baby makes me aware of his or her presence on a regular basis, mostly in the evening and through the night. He/she is getting stronger because he is now able to wake me up (I have to think of it as training for the future). Every evening as I watch TV I enjoy watching my alien stomach as it rumbles and rolls. Of course I miss sleeping a solid 9 hours every night, but I think that might be a thing of the past for the next year or so. Sometimes I marvel at how in love I can be with someone I have never met, how he/she dictates my life and how I wonderfully excited I am to meet this little one!

My birthday was last week, and it was made very special by people in my life. My husband (who listens well and knows that I cheap-out on myself) bought me a pretty pink I pod nano. It even has my name engraved on it. I really wanted an mp3 player (but probably would have bought myself a cheap one) so that when I am at home I can listen to music when the baby is sleeping, or when we go for a walk. Of course shopping for music is fun too!! My students planned a surprise party (of course the balloons and streamers that they put up the day before gave me a clue something was up). They made yummy cupcakes (with whip cream icing in white and pink, yup they know me well), and together created a lovely gift basket full of stuff I really like. It was a very nice day. I kept thinking to myself “this year will be the most life changing one yet”.

My second quarter report cards are done, after a long weekend of work and a very early Monday morning to finish them up. I might have one more set to do before the baby is here... but that worry is for another day. This month is full of events at school. My class (sans me) is going curling twice, I am hanging out with the grade 7 and 8’s while their teacher takes my class. Jay will do the instruction at the rink. It is I love to read month and I have challenged my students to read at least 30000 pages as a group. The reward gets bigger at 45000 and 60000. This morning as they each came into class they grabbed their books, it was the quietest morning ever! Hopefully the goal will keep them all focused!

My parents have flown off on their February trip. They spend most of the month at the condo down south (my brother, sister and neice will join them for a week as well**), and I am a little jealous! Today at lunch I tried to put my snow pants on before going outside with my kids... yeah I think that I am done with that, I am just a little too round these days. So instead my legs froze in the -30 wind chill! Luckily my jacket still fits me!

**Joel, Ash, and Meeks, if I don't get a call that I need to be in Mesa ASAP for something that would be wonderful, I am not sure I can even fly! No Weddings, births, etc. please!

Mourning to Celebrating!!

Last week began with mourning as we said goodbye to my maternal Grandfather. He passed away on December 3rd, peacefully at the nursing home. In some ways it brought relief as he was unhappy about how his life was ending, but of course with his passing came a sense of loss to those left behind. We celebrated his life last Tuesday, with much of the family able to make it from out of province. I was glad I made the effort to visit Grandpa on Remembrance Day last month, my last memories of him are good ones.

I felt like I lived out of my car for a week as I was back and forth from the city to home,and back again. By the time I made it home for good last Wednesday I was exhausted, and happy to sleep in my own bed.

By the end of the week I was in celebration mode as my friend Sheri married Tim on Saturday! It was a beautiful winter wedding! She was gorgeous and looked so happy and in love.

So now that that week is over it is on to Christmas concert preparation. Although my students are a big part of the play I am at school while some of my students are practicing, others are at school working on their list of things to do. In some ways it makes life easy, but those with big parts are well behind of those who have smaller roles... by the end of this week chaos will ensue! I look forward to Friday, when it all comes together! Friday is our last day of classes, and I am in the mood for two weeks off, in fact I am feeling like I desperately need two weeks off!

As for Walnut he (I really think it is a boy, in fact I will be completely shocked if it is a girl) is happy and moving about like crazy. I am finally feeling him with my hand, Dayna did too yesterday, but Jay has yet to get to feel him. Every time I call Jay over Walnut stops kicking, it kinda makes me laugh! I had a Dr. appt. last week (I went all by myself for the first time :)), it was all great! I love good dr. appts. We also got my ultrasound results last week, again everything looks good, normal and healthy. I know we are blessed to have a fairly uneventful pregnancy thus far, I pray that it continues to be that way!

I am growing and getting bigger by the day, I love looking pregnant! In fact I much prefer looking over feeling pregnant! I had a scary realization last night as I thought about how far along we are. I only have three months and one week of work left, I am one month away from my third trimester... the nursery isn't started yet! We haven't bought the baby many clothes (do I buy pink or blue), and I feel like we are just not ready to be parents... It scares me to think we will be responsible for all this baby wants and needs... and yet in the same moment I am longing for this baby to be here, to know if we should buy pink or blue, to see ten fingers and ten toes, to see this little person that I am already completely in love with.

Time Flies When The To-Do List is Long!

For some reason you can count on me updating my blog around report card time. I seem to write as a distraction from the pile of work that I really should be doing. Although, at this point I have a couple more comments to write, and a few things to do tomorrow at school, so I am pretty much done. Of course I should also plan for tomorrow and maybe take a nap, I guess all in good time!

I spent a great couple of days in the city this week. I hadn't seen mom and dad in a while so it was nice to spend time with them. We went to visit my Grandpa, who recently was moved into a nursing home. It being Remembrance Day it was nice to visit with him, he was in the Navy in WW II and has some pretty remarkable stories. We moved around his room so he could watch TV and laughed at his sarcastic and witty comments.

After the visit I hit my shopping list. I needed new shirts as I am slowly outgrowing all of my pre-pregnancy shirts. I also needed a ton of stuff for the house, gifts for bridal showers, and some books for school. It was a long day in stores and at the mall but it was nice to scratch so much off the list.



As for Walnut he/she (my feeling is boy) has begun to kick, or punch, or elbow me on occasion. Pretty much every day I feel him move. What a weird and wonderful feeling. It happens the most when I am sitting or lying down, and less when I am up and about. I am very much enjoying pregnancy now. Up until week 16 it was characterized by puking and nausea, now I am enjoying not feeling sick, a popping stomach, and baby movements. If the whole thing was like this you could convince me to have eight kids! I feel great, and have a lot of energy, am sleeping pretty well, and am loving it! Time is flying by and by next week I will be half-way through this pregnancy, time flies! We are looking forward to seeing baby a week from this coming Thursday on the ultra sound.

I guess I should get back to those report cards!

I Am an Olympic Junkie!

Yup, for me the Winter Olympic Games are a pretty big deal. I love the Games for many reasons, most importantly the patriotic sprit that envelopes the entire country. These games, being on home soil, make them even more special!

I clearly remember the Lillehammer Olympics, in 1994, I was 12. We were living on Vancouver Island that year, and most of our lambs that spring were named after Canadian Athletes. It was the first Games that I was really interested in. Thus began my love-affair with the Olympics.

We actually got a satellite so that I could watch the Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008. Really the winter Olympics are much superior in my mind, but I still didn’t want to miss them.

Being a teacher allows me to bring some of my excitement about world events into my job. You can bet that there will be Olympic talk daily in my classroom. In fact we have an Olympic wall already created. We made torches, with tissue paper flames, banners, Olympic rings, and have talked about some of the athletes participating in these Games. Every morning we will be graphing the medal counts. I am very much looking forward to the day we can graph Canada’s first GOLD medal on home soil. Yesterday, instead of wearing red and pink, I wore my Olympic sweater and toque, and yes my red mittens.

Over the next two weeks I will be watching as Canadian athletes take center stage, and celebrating the victories as they come!

GO CANADA GO!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

Teaching takes up so much of my time that by the time I get home my computer stays in its' case and I refuse to even look at it. Today I am still at work, and am procrastinating. It is almost report card time and that is taking some mental energy, next week it will actually take some physical time and energy too, but for now I will just think about them!

Last weekend we spent time in the city. On a busy Saturday I went shopping with Sheri, to my Grandma and Grandpa's for a quick visit, to the fabric store with mom, and out for dinner with the family to celebrate my mom's birthday. Sunday was a quiet day for me but on both Saturday and Sunday Jay went to the comic convention.

As we sat around the table reminiscing we realized that it had been two years since Ashley's first official family gathering as the girlfriend. Wow, time flies! Their baby continues to grow and the excitement continues to grow right along with it. Today we all saw him/her for the first time on the ultrasound pictures. Of course I am already buying baby gifts for him/her! I can't wait to be an auntie!

I am almost longing for snow now, dreaming of getting on my skis and enjoying the cold and snow. For now I dread the in-between weather and the cold recesses. Of course the count down to Christmas and our trip is on, can't wait to be warm and in the sun!!

Into the Groove, and Loving It!

Routine is getting set, and life is getting into a normal rhythm. In fact with two whole weekends at home it feels like Jay and I actually live in Mennville!
I am loving my job for the most part. I am really enjoying getting to know my kids and they really are great! I have 19 eager beavers! Don't get me wrong, I had great kids these last four years, I am just enjoying the getting to know you part of school. Setting up routine and expectations, learning the students' strengths and likes and dislikes, it really is the good stuff of teaching. Being able to focus strictly on teaching and my students has made this first month at Morweena even more enjoyable, no government paperwork makes teaching much more focused. Of course I am also enjoying dusting off some of my old favourites and re-teaching them. Electricity has reemerged and it looks like my students are enjoying building circuits, lighting up light bulbs and playing with batteries, of course they are learning something too! Poetry has grabbed many of them. Shel Silverstien never gets old, and we have enjoyed many a chuckle as we read his poems. Kids are writing poems like crazy, the boys get to be funny, the girls re-write songs and express their thoughts on everything from hairbrushes to friends. With the lack of planning these old units take it leaves more time for marking and the such. There are still many late nights at work, and work to do in the evenings and on weekends but that is just the life of a teacher. I feel like we have had a really good start to the school year, and I love it!!
In other news Jay has been busy with work, he is coaching highschool soccer, has evening meetings, and such. We joke, but it is true, if we end up having dinner together twice a week we are doing good. Thankfully we have carved out some weekend time together the last couple of weeks. Although the October calendar is filling up so we will see if that continues.

Content and Loving It!

Yup, I am feeling content this week, and I love it. It seems that all fog has passed and I am felling normal. Some may know that this winter was unpleasant for me, apparently a hormonal imbalance isn't good for you. Since going off the dreaded pill I am happier, cry less, and have the energy and motivation to actually get things done. Amazing!

This weekend Jay booked our plane tickets for our trip. After visiting Arizona for 44 hours last February we have decided to make another trip. The original plan was for us to go to Mexico for Joel and Ashley's wedding so the money is saved and they are already married, thus the decision to go somewhere else.We are going for 9 days over my Christmas break. The condo is in a 55+ complex so my dad is joining us for at least some of the trip, mom will stay home and celebrate Christmas with Joel and Ash. Mom and Dad will go again in February but that just doesn't work for Jay and I. I am grateful that my parents are willing to accommodate us! We are so looking forward to this trip as a chance to spend some time together without thoughts about work or demands on our time. Being warm will be wonderful, and shopping is a must!

I am back to thinking and getting excited about work! The planning has begun. There are some definite pluses to the whole situation. I am teaching at a new school and therefore don't have to plan everything from scratch. My favourite read aloud novel study (The Tale of Despereaux) has been dusted off, unit plans from past years are reviewed, but not planned from scratch. I also look forward to meeting new kids and setting up new routines with them. Of course the fact that I could have up to 30 kids is a little intimidating! I can't wait to get into my classroom and organize it (plus that means getting some of this stuff out of my office and basement!!).

Ashley and I hit the mall this weekend. Bonus number 101 of having a sister I have someone to shop with! My cousin is getting married in a couple of weeks and the invitation says "black tie optional" so we shopped for outfits and accessories for that occasion. Ashley is defiantly showing and didn't have anything to wear. We found some dressy tops she could wear with her black maternity pants. I found earrings, a necklace, and a purse to complete the dress I bought when I was in Mesa.

Dad is doing pretty good. He is feeling restless at home and has made a couple of trip on the bus to keep himself occupied. His pneumonia has cleared up and his antibiotics have ended. Another week and he should be able to go back to work, and drive, and do more; a doctors appointment hopefully will confirm this.

Life is good!

No Place Like Home!

I finally arrived home yesterday. I love spending time with my family and I am happy to help out when needed but I understand why dad is going crazy being at home! After some outings, trips to his job site, shopping errands, and doctors appointments there wasn't much else to do. As he continues to feel better and less tired he will get more and more restless, I am sure he will be doing things he shouldn't be doing next week!
Mom and dad's new condo is great and it will really suit them and their lifestyle. Thanks to many helpers it was set up and organized before dad got home from the hospital. seeing as he can't lift things over 5 or 10 pounds he wouldn't have been much help in moving furniture etc.
I am now home and happy to get settled after two weeks of craziness. I am excited to go into work on Monday. The rainy weather we have been having makes me feel like I should be heading back to work and I am excited to go and get inspired! i want to find out what curriculums I am teaching, etc. So I can start planning and dreaming about the next ten months.

Back in the Saddle

Yup, a blog after all this time! More importantly I am motivated enough to write a blog. After months of not feeling like doing anything (work, dishes, house cleaning, talking, facebook, walking... you get the picture), except of course sleeping, I am feeling like myself again and so happy about it! A little change can make a big difference!

This past weekend we had my whole family come to spend the weekend with us. My family are the most important people in my life, we see them often because we go into the city, it was nice to have them out here! I was a little apprehensive about it because my brother and sister-in-law have two big dogs. The dogs were amazing, they enjoyed our yard and were tuckered out after a couple of tosses of the ball, the slept in the shade. Joel and Ashley tented it on our front lawn because the dogs can't come in the house (Jay has wicked bad allergies). Mom and dad brought up their patio set (one of the many great items we get because of the move), so we enjoyed the sunshine out in the yard for most of the weekend. Bocce ball and games of "dice" were our main forms of entertainment. A great way to spend Father's Day weekend!

School/work is almost over and it is coming with a bitter-sweet ending. Of course students are happy summer is here (okay, so are teachers), but the knowledge that there won't be a next year makes this ending not so sweet. Sweet or not there is lots to be done in the next week (our last day is June 30). Report cards, finish up work, final tests, and, of course, picnic are all on my to-do list. It goes without saying that this blog is one way to procrastinate!

July will be here before I know it! With it comes our EMC Confrence, where Jay and I are helping to organize Childcare. After that it will be back to work for me. As teachers we have a lot of packing and such to do before the end of July. Jay and I plan to go camping, Jay hopes to take some Friday's off so we can spend more time relaxing. Joel and Ashley may join us for a trip as well. Jay has asked me to help with Space camp later in July, and I have committed to helping with DVBS out in Grindstone the first week of August. After that it will be time to prep for next year. I am excited to be teaching grade 4-6 at Morweena. I love those grades!

It will be a full summer! I look forward for being home for most of it as last summer was so unsettled (in winnipeg, at camp, on honeymoon, etc.). this summer holds much promise for relaxation and fun!

With that it is back to those pesky report cards!

My Life Has Been Overtaken By Aliens!

Okay not really, but close! My students and I have started a new unit on Space. I figured I could teach it the old boring, read this, answer these questions, way, or I could do something neat! I chose to have some fun and we are now embarking on a trip to Mars. Okay, not really, but close!

We are part of the Marsville project. A project sponsored and put on (for free, teachers like that word) by the National Research Council. Throughout the next three months we will be learning about Space, Mars specifically, doing crazy, but interesting experiments, learning about Space Travel, talking about nutrition and fitness (astronauts need to be physically fit), and building life-support systems. Students even blog and make their own mission patches. In the end we will spend a day “on Mars” with the rest of the Manitoba participants. We build massive bubbles (I built one on Friday and it was big, trust me!) and present our projects inside of them (“on Mars”). Already it has been lots of fun, and we have only just begun.

Of course a project like this means a little more prep for me to do, but the smiles and excitement of students is worth the late evenings! In fact I am becoming very interested in Space too. It was really never my thing until now, but wow are there some interesting finds out there in our big, wide universe. God created Earth, which was awe-inspiring. But WOW!, He also created so much else, all of which are also awe-inspiring! So while Aliens have not really overtaken my life the study of Space (which does not include aliens) has me hooked!

New Hobby and COLD Days!

Over Christmas I invested my Christmas gift money in a pair of Cross Country Skis. Mom had gotten some for her birthday in November, and after a ski with her (I rented skis) I was hooked! I went out and bought a nice set and have used them a couple of times already. I have made a loop around the school yard; it was tough to plow it out the first time (and then it snowed a ton the next day), I have since made my track again. I have also been to Windsor Park a couple of times with mom. It has been fun, and a great way to get active! I do have a rule though; I won’t go out if the wind chill is below -30!

I guess that brings me to the cold day topic! I am currently on day 2 of no students. The wind chill has just been too much to have kids driving to school. When it hits -45 they get to stay home. From the phone calls I made today I gather they don’t really mind. Yesterday was extremely productive. I am participating in a very cool space program (Marsville) with my students starting this month, and I managed to get it all planned yesterday! What a great gift to have a whole day to work on it. If only I could start already (I am a tad excited about it!)!! Today I set my sights on the pile o’marking! I managed to get some of it done, plus a few random things that have been on my to-do list. These days are really blessings (except of course for the walk to and from school, which is a little cold!). Tomorrow I want students in desks here at school though. In order to start Marsville we need to finish our current unit in Science, plus three days at work without students will be very boring!! We have work to do!

When the cold comes I think about next February! I am already dreaming about warm beaches!!

Those of you going to Mesa, don’t rub it in! You will be warm, the rest of us won’t be, I already know that!

Life As a Teacher!

How many times have I heard that as a teacher I have it so easy, I only work 9-3:30, I have Christmas, Spring, and Summer break off, and never have to work weekends?? I have heard it lots, and then I laugh! For example, it is now 5pm and I am sitting at the computer (still at work) and working on planning a novel study unit. Behind me is a pile of science planning I need to do, I have a file of marking thicker then the novel I am reading sitting on my desk in my classroom, I will take that home and work on it tonight. I am not complaining, I enjoy planning (and sometimes even marking), I am just pointing out that I am not at home and it is well after 3:30.

Sure I get those wonderful vacations, I do like having some time off (as most people do). However, last Spring break I spent days writing report cards, over Christmas Break I spend time planning, and marking, even some of Summer break is spent thinking about and planning for the upcoming year. Yes, I do take time to relax on those breaks too, but most people have at least some vacation time in their jobs. Oh, and for the record those Fridays off for kids are not Fridays off for teachers. We are at school working, or at a confrence learning how to be better teachers. On the flip side of the argument that teachers get so much time off is the fact that we can't take time off during any other part of the year. My family (parents, brother, Ashely, and Ashely's parents) are going to Arizona in Feb. Clearly we will not be joing them, I will be working.

As for weekends, yeah right I don't work! Last weekend I was sick with the flu and still marked most of my students biographies. Work has a way of following me home, and that just comes with the territory. Marking, planning, and thinking are weekend projects. Plus I am always thinking about my students, "how can I help so and so with this problem?", "What could I do to help this concept make more sense?", So and so is having trouble with his/her peers, what can I do?"... Work will never end when the students go home, or even when we go home.

In many ways I love my job, I love seeing kids succeed, I love watching their faces light up as they learn something new, I love watching students mature, and become role-modles (that is a bonus of a multi-age class), I love interacting with students... The list of what I enjoy is longer than the list of struggles and trials! What drives me CRAZY is the opinion that teachers have slack jobs, and how our holidays tend to be the envy of all other professions.

I am not complaing about my job, it is great! I knew what I was signing off on when I chose this job, but before you make a comment about how great we have it think about what it might take to have 17 (or more) kids infront of you all day. It takes some thought, planning and preparing... that all takes time.

Okay, rant done! Procrastination over! Back to work :)