Wow it's been such a long time since I last posted. There has been a lot going on and many changes so I've been pretty busy. I also have a sneaking suspicion that my biological father may have found my blog and I really don't want to give him any glimpse in to my life because I am pretty much done with him. I am really tired of him acting like he is a victim in his mess of a life when he's the one who created all of his problems. Anyway, I really don't want to dwell on that too much.
My coaching job didn't leave me a lot of time because of the ridiculous schedule the middle schoolers are on. I wasn't getting home until well after 5:30 and by the time I got to cooking and getting the kids bathed and ready for bed it really didn't leave any time to take care of myself or really even to have any kind of quality time with my children. I hated the job and hated the schedule and I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to change jobs. There was a lot of bullshit involved with me actually being able to start, but starting after our winter break I will be going back to the high school I was at last year as their Media and Information Technology Specialist! (For those of you who don't speak Educator, I'm the new high school librarian.) I am super excited to be in this position as it gives me the best of both worlds. I still get to coach and teach teachers how to use new technology and also introduce strategies to help them engage their students in mastery learning but I don't have to work with the assholes who generally make a coaches job impossible to do. These people are usually the worst teachers who think that by simply talking the students will be mesmerized by the sound of their voice and they will somehow magically learn their specific content. I also get to work with students again which is something that I have missed dearly since leaving the classroom four years ago. I also get to return to a school that I consider home and know most of the faculty and staff. My sister is also a first year teacher at this school and I am SO excited to get to work with her! She's going to be my guinea pig and in return I guess I'll co-sponsor her FBLA club. We are also beginning to talk to architects so that we can FINALLY get a new school built! This rebuild has been taken away from us for so many years and we desperately need a new school. I'm excited because I get to have major input on how the new media center will look. I am that nerd who has been looking at floor plans and trends for newly built media centers and I told the Principal that we should travel around the state to check out new schools and how they look and flow. We are also in the process of getting IB authorized which will help draw some super smart students to our school and will help out with our school grade in the coming years. (We did get an A this year so that is exciting as well!) It will also help with our reputation of being a ghetto school who is always on lock down because of gang activity, which by the way there is none.
I am so excited to start this new opportunity and really see myself doing this job for a few years. I've never felt like that with education so hopefully it all works out well for me!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
VPK
My goodness I totally forgot to blog about Kaitlyn starting VPK this year. In Florida we have a voluntary Pre-Kindergarten program that basically makes "pre-school" free to all qualifying children. You do have to register them in the spring before they start in the fall and wait for "approval". (I've never heard of anyone getting turned down.) Our daycare offers VPK so of course I was just going to keep her there for convenience and not to mention we have the best VPK teacher in the county. The program runs from 9 AM to noon. We just have to pay for the extra time that she is there for daycare; it's a greatly reduced fee, YAY!
She absolutely LOVES it. I asked her before she started what she wanted to learn about in VPK and she, without hesitation, stated MATH. I am not a lover of math so thank God this child does not take after her mother in that regard. (I'm pretty sure it's because of Team Umizoomi...thanks Nickelodeon.) I warned the assistant director, who also teaches the VPK class, that there better be some math in the curriculum or they were going to have a hot, sassy girl on their hands. She laughed and reassured me there was...PHEW.
She was so excited to start VPK. They went back to daycare a week before the actual program started because as a teacher I have a week of pre-school myself that I have to go to. She made sure to tell me to not feed Tyler something that took him so long to eat because she did NOT want to be late. (He takes forever eating cereal because he does not put any milk in it and eat it one cheerio at a time.)
I took the obligatory first day of pre-school pictures along with the cute framed printable I got from I {HEART} Naptime. My plan is to hang the framed printable over the sliding glass door in the playroom for every year the kids are in school and stick a 4x7 picture of each child holding the frame for comparison purposes. I sent her off with her daddy on her first day of pre-school so I could also head off to my first day of classes. I picked her up after my school day ended and asked her how her day was. She was not happy at all that they didn't learn math. I told her it probably would be awhile before they got to the math part because they had to learn the rules and learn who the new kids were and also let the teachers get to know them. She was partly satisfied with that explanation but firmly told me "there better be some math tomorrow." (Oy vey her teachers are in for a year.) Ms. Mary, the assistant director/VPK teacher, told me that she absolutely LOVED having Kaitlyn in her class and there was no doubt that her mother is a teacher. I absolutely love hearing that compliment because we truly do work hard with our kids instilling values, respect and a love for learning in to them. I work with a lot of kids whose parents do not make any of those things a priority and it's a constant struggle to get them to see the importance of a good education.
Every morning dad gets a report from the day before on how adorable Kaitlyn is and how smart she is. So far she has given a lesson on cylinder (string) cheese, speaking Spanish, and what fun words start with whatever letter they are learning for the week. (This week they are learning the letter "B" and she geniusly came up with the word booger! *eye roll*)
I am so glad that she is having such a good time and that she's learning so much. She came home with homework last night and insisted on finishing it before she even ate. Super impressive because we were having her all time favorite, spaghetti; also the homework wasn't due for another week. Hopefully she will always enjoy school or at least appreciate the need for a good education.
She absolutely LOVES it. I asked her before she started what she wanted to learn about in VPK and she, without hesitation, stated MATH. I am not a lover of math so thank God this child does not take after her mother in that regard. (I'm pretty sure it's because of Team Umizoomi...thanks Nickelodeon.) I warned the assistant director, who also teaches the VPK class, that there better be some math in the curriculum or they were going to have a hot, sassy girl on their hands. She laughed and reassured me there was...PHEW.
She was so excited to start VPK. They went back to daycare a week before the actual program started because as a teacher I have a week of pre-school myself that I have to go to. She made sure to tell me to not feed Tyler something that took him so long to eat because she did NOT want to be late. (He takes forever eating cereal because he does not put any milk in it and eat it one cheerio at a time.)
I took the obligatory first day of pre-school pictures along with the cute framed printable I got from I {HEART} Naptime. My plan is to hang the framed printable over the sliding glass door in the playroom for every year the kids are in school and stick a 4x7 picture of each child holding the frame for comparison purposes. I sent her off with her daddy on her first day of pre-school so I could also head off to my first day of classes. I picked her up after my school day ended and asked her how her day was. She was not happy at all that they didn't learn math. I told her it probably would be awhile before they got to the math part because they had to learn the rules and learn who the new kids were and also let the teachers get to know them. She was partly satisfied with that explanation but firmly told me "there better be some math tomorrow." (Oy vey her teachers are in for a year.) Ms. Mary, the assistant director/VPK teacher, told me that she absolutely LOVED having Kaitlyn in her class and there was no doubt that her mother is a teacher. I absolutely love hearing that compliment because we truly do work hard with our kids instilling values, respect and a love for learning in to them. I work with a lot of kids whose parents do not make any of those things a priority and it's a constant struggle to get them to see the importance of a good education.
Every morning dad gets a report from the day before on how adorable Kaitlyn is and how smart she is. So far she has given a lesson on cylinder (string) cheese, speaking Spanish, and what fun words start with whatever letter they are learning for the week. (This week they are learning the letter "B" and she geniusly came up with the word booger! *eye roll*)
I am so glad that she is having such a good time and that she's learning so much. She came home with homework last night and insisted on finishing it before she even ate. Super impressive because we were having her all time favorite, spaghetti; also the homework wasn't due for another week. Hopefully she will always enjoy school or at least appreciate the need for a good education.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
So Far
Well I am three weeks in to this new school year in my new position and so far I'm still on the fence about this job. Middle school is a whole different galaxy than high school. They speak differently, have different schedules, routines, rules, etc. It took me one whole week to figure out the bell schedule at one of my schools. It's so confusing! (It doesn't help that none of my schools have the same bell schedule. Two are on block and one does a straight 7 day, however the two block schedules are totally different.)
The thing I'm struggling most with is the schedule. I'm so used to high school starting at 7:05 and being at school by 6, 6:30 at the absolute latest. We ended the school day at 1:50 and I was done with school by 2:20. First period in middle school doesn't even start until 9:30! Classes don't end until 4:15 and teachers can leave by 4:20. (I usually get to school by 8:30 and work until 4:00...as long as I get my 7.5 hours in I'm ok; benefits of a flex schedule.) It usually takes me anywhere from 15-30 minutes to get to daycare, depending on what school I'm at for the week. The middle school schedule severely cuts in to my time with Kaitlyn and Tyler. They are so used to eating a snack as soon as we get home because that's what we have been doing ever since I had to go back to work after Kaitlyn's birth. Now, it's not a good idea for them to have a snack when we get home because I need to get dinner started right away. I know that they are used to eating at 5:00 and we don't get home until a little after so I feel bad for them, but I don't want to fill them up with snacks because they won't eat their dinner. I also don't get to decompress with them and talk about their day and play little games with them before having to get dinner started so they are constantly under my feet in the kitchen and I'm frustrated a lot and have to keep sending them out. It's totally worse than having the dog underneath my feet when I cook!
I also haven't been able to exercise in the evening because I'm too busy cleaning up after dinner and getting the kids ready for bed. I'm feeling really flabby lately and really tired because I'm not getting my exercise in. I tried working out in the morning, but I just don't have the energy right when I get up to get through any type of cardio or strength training. I feel way too bloated if I try to drink a protein shake before exercising in the morning. I've been trying to get some yoga in as soon as I wake up, but I'm just so exhausted to even try to get out of bed in the mornings. I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and force my way out of bed and just deal. The yoga DVD I have is pretty good and it's only 20 minutes. It's a morning routine so it's not too intense which may just be the perfect thing for me as a beginning yogi.
I'll keep trucking on this year because I'm not going to leave my three schools hanging, but this is definitely the first AND last year I will do middle school. It may be the last year I have to work anyway :)
The thing I'm struggling most with is the schedule. I'm so used to high school starting at 7:05 and being at school by 6, 6:30 at the absolute latest. We ended the school day at 1:50 and I was done with school by 2:20. First period in middle school doesn't even start until 9:30! Classes don't end until 4:15 and teachers can leave by 4:20. (I usually get to school by 8:30 and work until 4:00...as long as I get my 7.5 hours in I'm ok; benefits of a flex schedule.) It usually takes me anywhere from 15-30 minutes to get to daycare, depending on what school I'm at for the week. The middle school schedule severely cuts in to my time with Kaitlyn and Tyler. They are so used to eating a snack as soon as we get home because that's what we have been doing ever since I had to go back to work after Kaitlyn's birth. Now, it's not a good idea for them to have a snack when we get home because I need to get dinner started right away. I know that they are used to eating at 5:00 and we don't get home until a little after so I feel bad for them, but I don't want to fill them up with snacks because they won't eat their dinner. I also don't get to decompress with them and talk about their day and play little games with them before having to get dinner started so they are constantly under my feet in the kitchen and I'm frustrated a lot and have to keep sending them out. It's totally worse than having the dog underneath my feet when I cook!
I also haven't been able to exercise in the evening because I'm too busy cleaning up after dinner and getting the kids ready for bed. I'm feeling really flabby lately and really tired because I'm not getting my exercise in. I tried working out in the morning, but I just don't have the energy right when I get up to get through any type of cardio or strength training. I feel way too bloated if I try to drink a protein shake before exercising in the morning. I've been trying to get some yoga in as soon as I wake up, but I'm just so exhausted to even try to get out of bed in the mornings. I think I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and force my way out of bed and just deal. The yoga DVD I have is pretty good and it's only 20 minutes. It's a morning routine so it's not too intense which may just be the perfect thing for me as a beginning yogi.
I'll keep trucking on this year because I'm not going to leave my three schools hanging, but this is definitely the first AND last year I will do middle school. It may be the last year I have to work anyway :)
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Welcome Back!
So I have been back at for about a two weeks now and I'm pretty much 50/50 on how I feel about it. This year is a whole new ball game for me with my job. I'm now in middle school and I have three different ones. I spend about a week at each middle school working with science teachers. I'm happy that I'm back to doing science only, but I'm really struggling with learning this new curriculum and having multiple schools. All schools are high needs so it's really hard finding a balance to help them all. My schedule might have to be flexible at certain times to accomodate state requirements so we'll see how it goes. This school year is going to be full of challenges, but hopefully I get things done.
This summer seemed to just fly right by even though we didn't really do anything exciting. We did do our annual family mini-vacation to Orlando and stayed at a Disney resort, but other than that, it was pretty uneventuful. I think the kids are bored with bubbles, the park and swimming until they pass out though and are ready to go back to school. Kaitlyn will be in VPK and I'm super excited about everything she will learn to prepare her for Kindergarten next year. (YIKES!) Tyler will be in the two year old room until January and then he moves on to the three year old room with the best teacher in the world, Ms. Stephani. Kaitlyn got to spend a lot of time with her, almost a full year, because Ms. Stephani just kept moving up with that particular group of kids. She is an amazing teacher and has the patience of a Saint. I have never seen her ever get frustrated with any kid the four years that Kaitlyn has been going there nor have I EVER heard her raise her voice or get snotty with the kids. I can't wait until Tyler gets in to her class because she taught Kaitlyn so much.
This summer seemed to just fly right by even though we didn't really do anything exciting. We did do our annual family mini-vacation to Orlando and stayed at a Disney resort, but other than that, it was pretty uneventuful. I think the kids are bored with bubbles, the park and swimming until they pass out though and are ready to go back to school. Kaitlyn will be in VPK and I'm super excited about everything she will learn to prepare her for Kindergarten next year. (YIKES!) Tyler will be in the two year old room until January and then he moves on to the three year old room with the best teacher in the world, Ms. Stephani. Kaitlyn got to spend a lot of time with her, almost a full year, because Ms. Stephani just kept moving up with that particular group of kids. She is an amazing teacher and has the patience of a Saint. I have never seen her ever get frustrated with any kid the four years that Kaitlyn has been going there nor have I EVER heard her raise her voice or get snotty with the kids. I can't wait until Tyler gets in to her class because she taught Kaitlyn so much.
Monday, July 16, 2012
It's My Potty!
I know that as soon as I write this down I'm going to jinx it all, but I am super excited! Today was Tyler's first day of potty training and he did such an excellent job. He only had one accident all day. (His aim was a little off of few times but it's ok because I put a towel under his potty.) I put the potty in the living room to get him aquainted with it and he spent most of the day naked. I had him sit on the potty about every thirty minutes and around the second time around he peed in the potty as soon as he sat. The first time he peed on the potty it took him awhile to go but when he did I got super excited and praised him up and down. I did the potty dance and sang the potty song and gave him lots of high fives. He was so happy and proud. He now knows that if he sits on the potty, he needs to pee in it and he can force some out. He also will tell you he needs to sit on the potty and he'll go pee a little. He even pooped on the potty today! He's so happy and he just sings the potty song and shakes his tush. It's so cute! I'm hopeful that today was not an anomaly and he really is catching on quickly. It will make my life a lot more easy to not have to change diapers anymore and I'm going to love the extra money to spend on super cute clothes for my kids.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Enjoying My Time Off
I'm half way through my first whole week of summer break and I'm loving it! I love the extra time I'm spending with my kids and not having to be in such a rush in the morning to get to work. We went to the mall playground on Monday and did chalk and rode bikes in the afternoon. Tuesday we went to the park and to Target. I forgot to take Kaitlyn to karate in my haste to get the kids to the park, oops! This morning we did Play-doh outside, but our afternoon plans of swimming were ruined by rain, so we drew pictures instead. Tomorrow I think we'll go to the beach, and I'm not sure what we are going to do on Friday. I'd like to get the kids to Sea World or Busch Gardens sometime next week and I think they will absolutely love that. I also need to take them to the new (ok, so it's not that new) children's museum in Tampa.
I'm also cooking a lot more fresh foods from scratch because I am not dog tired from waking up so early in the morning to get to work by 6:30. I'm pretty much following my menu planning which is saving us money. I don't have to worry about 30 minutes meals because I have all the time in the world right now to take my time. Needless to say the hubs is also loving summer break.
I'm able to work out twice a day, so hopefully that will help out with the weight loss roller coaster that I've been on for the past year. I run in the morning and do the 30 Day Shred at night. I can already see a huge increase in my stamina, so hopefully I'm on the right track.
I finally got my job assignment for next year. It wasn't my first, or second, choice, but I think it will work out ok. It's definitely going to be a huge change for me so I really don't want to put too much thought into it right now because it gives me tons of anxiety.
I love summer.
I'm also cooking a lot more fresh foods from scratch because I am not dog tired from waking up so early in the morning to get to work by 6:30. I'm pretty much following my menu planning which is saving us money. I don't have to worry about 30 minutes meals because I have all the time in the world right now to take my time. Needless to say the hubs is also loving summer break.
I'm able to work out twice a day, so hopefully that will help out with the weight loss roller coaster that I've been on for the past year. I run in the morning and do the 30 Day Shred at night. I can already see a huge increase in my stamina, so hopefully I'm on the right track.
I finally got my job assignment for next year. It wasn't my first, or second, choice, but I think it will work out ok. It's definitely going to be a huge change for me so I really don't want to put too much thought into it right now because it gives me tons of anxiety.
I love summer.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Summer Reading
I love reading but rarely have time to for it during the school year if it's not science or education related. I've always loved reading and would have at least 20 pizza certificates every school year thanks to the Book-It program. If it's a good book, I can usually finish it within a few days. If it's bad, I'll finish the book because once I start one I have to read it to the end, it just takes me longer.
I just finished 'Water for Elephants' yesterday and loved it. Sara Gruen did a great job of creating such fantastic imagery that I could literally picture the circus and all the performances as I was reading about them. I'm pretty excited to watch the movie to see how true to the book they stay, although they rarely do due to time constraints.
I finished the 'Hunger Games' trilogy a while back and am taking my sister to see the movie. I really love how Suzanne Collins descried the scenery of the arena in vivid detail and you could really picture yourself as a person living in the Capitol watching the games live.
These two books alone has reignited my passion for reading, but I am at a loss for what to read next. I'm really not interested in the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' trilogy even though it's the hottest book on the market right now. A lot of women are saying it's badly written "Mom porn" and I'd just reread the "Twilight" series if I wanted to read badly written books. I'm kind of interested in the 'Divergent' series right now but am not really willing to pay $9 for an electronic version of the books. I'll wait till those come down in price. I tried to read the 'Girl with the Dragon Tatoo' but it's so slow in the beginning I'm having a hard time getting through it. My sister is reading the 'Game of Thrones' series so I'm thinking of snatching those up from her and getting in to those. She has a few other books that I'm want to read so I'll have to raid her bookshelf.
I just finished 'Water for Elephants' yesterday and loved it. Sara Gruen did a great job of creating such fantastic imagery that I could literally picture the circus and all the performances as I was reading about them. I'm pretty excited to watch the movie to see how true to the book they stay, although they rarely do due to time constraints.
I finished the 'Hunger Games' trilogy a while back and am taking my sister to see the movie. I really love how Suzanne Collins descried the scenery of the arena in vivid detail and you could really picture yourself as a person living in the Capitol watching the games live.
These two books alone has reignited my passion for reading, but I am at a loss for what to read next. I'm really not interested in the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' trilogy even though it's the hottest book on the market right now. A lot of women are saying it's badly written "Mom porn" and I'd just reread the "Twilight" series if I wanted to read badly written books. I'm kind of interested in the 'Divergent' series right now but am not really willing to pay $9 for an electronic version of the books. I'll wait till those come down in price. I tried to read the 'Girl with the Dragon Tatoo' but it's so slow in the beginning I'm having a hard time getting through it. My sister is reading the 'Game of Thrones' series so I'm thinking of snatching those up from her and getting in to those. She has a few other books that I'm want to read so I'll have to raid her bookshelf.
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