I love it when I get what I expected and it was good!

I came as close as I probably ever have come to doing as much as I had hoped over my holiday week. The week that started out raining has ended with lots of sunshine and warm weather.

As I look back at my list of things I planned to do, I think I did pretty well.

* Amanda and Stacey came home on Tuesday night. Haley and Abby spent the night with us. We all got up and went to Bellville to our friends’ ranch for the day. It was lots of fun, however after the rain for 3 days it was pretty muddy and quite cold. But that did not stop the kids – big or little ones. They had a blast on the 4-wheeler, the go-cart and playing on the swing and in the tree house. Haley hit it off with a new friend, Kelly, who is 2 years younger than her.

* We got home just in time to meet the McCombs who came over to host a Thanksgiving dinner for the Hope House guys. It was really nice. There were about 20 people in all.

* Thanksgiving Dinner #2 was at lunch on Thursday when we had a total of 25 of us – part of our family, our Harbor Church family, friends and guests of those who are in the above categories.

* Thanksgiving Dinner #3 was at Friday lunch in Lufkin with our Herrington/Brasher families. There were about 16 of us there. We came back to Houston in time to pick up friend #2 of Amanda’s, Kayla (aka “Montana” for the obvious reason – she’s from Montana!).

* Saturday brought lots of sunshine and a great opportunity to hit the garage. I am not believing how BIG our garage is after Jim took 2 truckloads of donations to the Salvation Army. I know I could have made some money at a garage sale, but I don’t see any time before Christmas that it could happen, so there you go! My garage sale fortunes forfeited for getting it done NOW!

* Saturday night at church we did the first candle for Advent – the candle of Promise to remind us of the promise God made through the prophet Isaiah that God’s Son would be born. In it was my first sign of “promise” that Christmas decorations would be coming out!

* Ok, my REAL motive for cleaning the garage, remember, was to be able to get my 7 plastic crates of decorations out! After church, I got David and Tom to bring up the huge box that has my pre-lighted tree in it. Sunday morning Jim and I got it put together and Amanda helped us decorate it. It was great having her help, but I sure missed having the other kids here to help with the decorating and getting to tell the stories behind each ornament. I must say Amanda did a great job listening and complaining about Nathan being the favored child because he had more ornaments with his picture on them. (I wonder if anyone will ever figure out that it was his school and church teachers and not me who did those projects. Oh, well, why change an annual argument now, when there were no siblings to argue back about it.)
So the day ends – tree is done. Gingerbread kitchen is done. Angel bathroom is done. All the nativity scenes are out. All of the Santa’s are on their shelves. Hand towels and potholders out. Stockings are hung. Pretty much all that is left is the garland on bows on the stair railing and mantle and getting the dishes out. Since we use the Christmas dishes every day for the whole month of December, I tend to want to wait until December 1st to begin using them.

It is 9:00 p.m. and I have only slightly begun my lesson plans. I think I will wait….there will be time to do that tomorrow. I think I am going to go sit by my lighted tree, listen to the Christmas CD one more time and drink some hot cocoa. I want all I can get out of this week of vacation. It has flown by, but it has been good. I can hardly wait to see my kindergartners. I am gearing up for lots of hugs and lots of chatter all day long.

(As I read back over this blog, I apologize for the mundane-ness of it. But it sure helps to see what I have done with my week and I feel good about it!)

Hoping that I get what I am expecting....

What a great day to begin a holiday.....drizzling rain continually falling, an occasional clap of thunder, music playing in the background, looking out the kitchen window at the Houston skyline, all alone with an occasional pop-in from a friend just to say 'hi', not really needing anything - just checking in, knowing Jim is in Guatemala.

You probably thought I was being my usual sarcastic self at first, didn't you? I am serious - the rain is a welcome to me......makes me not want to do anything that I ought to be doing or need to be doing.

I love that, for the second year now, I get the whole week off for Thanksgiving. It is going to be a great week! I love putting my job behind me for a few days. It's not like taking a day off because, as I have written before, I make it a much harder job leaving things ready for a substitute teacher than most do, so it is almost not worth it just for a day - unless the reason I am taking off is worth it....? But being off for a whole week....wow! Where will I begin?

And here we are back where I started this posting.....sitting at the kitchen table, on a rainy day, looking out the window, listening to music, doing e-mail and blogging - NOT lesson plans today!

Other things I am looking forward to this week -
* Amanda and her friend Stacey coming home
* Haley and Abby spending the night
* going to the Bellville ranch for the day with the 4 girls mentioned above and Jim
* cooking and preparing for Thanksgiving lunch on Thursday for friends and family
* going to Lufkin for a "Day after Thanksgiving" dinner with the Brasher/Herrington families
* getting Christmas decorations out - but NOT before Thanksgiving is over and has been respectfully celebrated
* cleaning out the garage (Yes, I am looking forward to that - there is such a great sense of accomplishment to have a wreck of a place in a more orderly way. Besides, I won't be able to get those Christmas boxes out until I clear a path)

Each one of the items listed above could easily be it's own posting with the thoughts each brings to mind, but I think I will just add one more to it, being that I am going to try to write each day about one of those things as they occur. On the surface each may seem to have said all that is needed....but if you know me, you know there are lots of thoughts that want to roll out of my mouth, unleashed. I really am trying to exercise self-control in that I don't HAVE to say everything that runs through my mind. But, hey! The good thing about you reading what I am thinking and not having to listen is that you can always just skim through it and get to the bottom line, which is what many people unlike me prefer, right Jim?

All that being said, I think I am going to get back to that rain, skyline and my diet coke and close up this computer! Maybe someone else will stop by and want to visit and have a soda with me....you never know what will happen next around here! And I love it!

Teaching kindergartners is somestimes like walking the dog...

Just a quick report on my first day back to school after having been gone 5 days (re: previous postings):

As soon as I entered the cafeteria where I meet my kindergartners to escort them to our room, I was greeted by lots of hugs and “I missed you.” They were certainly enthusiastic! Almost too much! It felt all day the way it feels when I have Lucy, our dog, on a leash. She doesn’t know that we are going on leisurely walk – she thinks its time to run – checking out everything just beyond her reach! It feels like she is dragging me everywhere and I am out of control – she is the one leading!

Those kids were going in every direction all day! It wasn’t until they laid down for rest time that some of them even slowed down! They are truly precious but full of unleashed energy. I am going to try again today to hold on to the leash – maybe today they remember who is in charge in this classroom…..wait – WHO IS in charge? Oh, maybe that’s the problem…..we each have a different idea about that!!!

.....and now for the rest of the story.

Ok, I am going to admit it right up front.....I was wrong. There...now I've said it...now I will tell you the 'rest of the story' from this past week.

Two stories ago, I whined and complained about going to a workshop that I doubted its worth all week long, having to be away from my kindergartners for 5 whole days, & having to leave preparations for a substitute teacher that I just knew would leave my room trashed and not do any of the assigned work I spent so much time preparing.

Well, first of all.....the workshop, though long and boring and tedious at times, was well worth the time. I think it may have revolutionized my whole way of teaching children how to read. According to some of the research, many things we do as teachers are counterproductive and actually add to the difficulty of reading. I won't go into that at this point, but I may give you a report later on how it actually works in my classroom. (If you happen to be a teacher and are curious, you might check out "Phono-Graphix" on the internet.) So, I must say, all in all, I am glad I went. The added joy was spending the whole week with, Jeanie, the Special Ed. resource teacher at my school. She is such a delightful and courageous person, which I have observed in many arenas of her life. I greatly admire her and she is a laugh a minute!

Back at the school, things seemed to have gone well. Mr. Holmes, the substitute teacher, seemed to have done a pretty decent job. Every day I went by to leave instructions and materials for that day. Each afternoon, Mr. Holmes left the completed work in a stack for me to see and left the room fairly tidy. My next-door neighbor/teacher reported that the children certainly pushed the limits, but Mr. Holmes didn’t let them get away with the behavior.

On Thursday morning, I ran into Joshua, one of my sweetest little boys. I asked him how the students were behaving and he reported who all were NOT on their best behavior. When I asked if the sub was nice and if he was doing a good job, his response was, “I don’t think I can speak about that!” I suppose I will know tomorrow morning how things went – they always have a LOT to tell when I return.

So, what did I learn from this week?

1 – I can’t always control things (duh!), but it helps to keep me from obsessing if a) I am re-assured pretty soon that the circumstances are not as out of control as I had feared, and b) I do all I can to plan and organize things so that if things don’t go well, it will not be because of a lack of adequate plans left.

2 – My husband is right – I am a better teacher both academically and emotionally if I take a break from time to time to be refreshed and trained with new things!

3 – I should not stereo-type (I knew that!) – not even substitute teachers! There are some excellent ones and some that try to get by with as little as possible and just survive the day! Then there are some that do an adequate job! The more positive I can be, the better the outcome!

4 – Sometimes you need to just push on through and do the extra work, even if it takes more time. Hopefully, it will pay off. If not, at least you can feel good about giving it your best shot!

I am glad I went on and did what I thought was the right thing – for me and the children. Even when it goes against what I “feel” is wrong or hard or too much trouble, to press on through and do what’s right usually pays off. I can hardly wait to see my babies tomorrow! It may take a day or two to get back into our routine, but when they learn to read, it will be worth it all!

(I hope they are glad to see me – I hope the sub wasn't TOO good!)

There's no such thing as.....

too much chocolate....unless you choose to eat it all in one sitting and you get sick from it.

too much fresh pineapple....unless you are trying to bring it back in your suitcase from Hawaii. Don't even try to bring back the knife you buy to cut and eat them while there. These days airlines frown on carrying knives during travel.

granddaughters too cute.....of course, people may tire of your bragging and showing pictures, but if the truth be known, they are just jealous!

loving your children too much.....you may end up smothering them with excessive hugs and kisses, but wouldn't you rather them be in therapy over that than some other things you did to them?

having too much common sense.....unless you are dealing with a bunch of senseless guys who really don't care how things are done! They could care less about how you have organized for them how to get out of a paper sack in a neat and orderly fashion.

loving your husband too much.....the more love you give, the more you receive and more you receive the more you want to give. It is a never-ending cycle that just keeps on and on and on .....

writing things that don't mean anything on your blog........even if no one reads it, it is cool to put down your thoughts......which is a little scary.....it will confirm with the people who read it that you are not as sane and together as they may have thought....which is probably not a bad thing.