Six Years and Counting

Today Jason and I are celebrating our sixth wedding anniversary! I can't believe that six years have gone by since we got married. In some ways it seems a lot shorter than that, in others it seems like we've been married forever!

In honor of our anniversary, here is one of my very favorite poems:

How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

I love you x3 Jason!

Getting Back in the Swing of Things

Today was my first day back at work since the [wonderful] Christmas break. I'm very blessed in that this was a teacher work day, leaving me free of children to prepare for the upcoming week/month. It was good to be back and feel like I have things under control...the room is rearranged in a new, (hopefully) more efficient layout, the January newsletter and calendar are complete, along with my lesson plans for the week, and I got rid of that cardboard Pilgrim cabin we made for Thanksgiving. Whew! What a relief!

Even better, the staff seems to be getting along well so far. Everyone was friendly and cheerful, visiting about everything that happened during the holidays. I hope that that can continue. I really did not foresee having to manage other adults in my classroom; it's just not something I enjoy dealing with, especially when those adults can't seem to get it together. But this is a new year and a new beginning...I'm going to work towards making the rest of the year a much more positive environment for everyone.

We should be having a fun week...learning about winter and snow...we're even "making" frost in a science experiment. I just hope that the children cooperate. I'm expecting that we'll basically be starting from scratch like it's the beginning of the school year with the kids. Christmas will have destroyed what routine we have established. But hey, that may be a good thing now that I have more of an idea of what I want from the kids. I can be consistent from the start. Still, tomorrow is going to be a long day...

Reflecting on the Holidays

Sorry there have been no updates for a while...the holidays kept Jason and me hopping from one thing to the next!


On Christmas Eve, Jason had to work for a few hours, so we got up early to open our presents to each other. Jason bought me a lovely necklace...I think you'll see why I like it so much!

I got Jason a GPS. I got it several weeks before Christmas, and put it under the tree as soon as it was wrapped. Jason picked up the box to examine it and immediately guessed it was a phone. He waited a few seconds and then said, "No, wait, it's a GPS!" I was super disappointed that he guessed right away, and he was very cocky because he has some weird ability to correctly guess gifts. I decided to see if I could take him down a notch. Sooooo.....

I found a box almost exactly the same size as the GPS box and packed a nose hair trimmer in it, along with some rolls of pennies for weight. I then unwrapped the GPS very carefully, and rewrapped the paper around the new box. Then I wrapped the GPS inside a larger box and hid it at the back of the tree. Here's Jason when he opened it....

I wish I had got a picture of the look of total confusion on his face that came before this (when he saw the pink Precious Moments box the nose hair trimmer was in!) After I stopped laughing, I let him open the real GPS.

Oh, and yes, we did dress Edgar in a Christmas sweater for all the festivities!





After Jason got off work, we drove back to Missouri for a few days and celebrated Christmas with our families. We had a wonderful time (except for the last night we were there, when we came down with some sort of flu virus and spent the night making trips to the bathroom). Our New Year's Eve was laid back...we just stayed home and watched TV. I had a very relaxing break overall (most of my free time was spent reading....I finished the whole Twilight saga! I could not put the books down! I went right from one book to the next until I read them all. I saw Jason shaking his head a lot at my Teen Fiction Nonsense!!!) I guess it's time for me to leave the world of vampires though, since tomorrow it's back to work...

La, La, La, La...

Today was the much anticipated Christmas program! The children did beautifully (for the most part). We started out by doing a fingerplay about Santa Claus, then we did a song in Spanish that we've been working on since the beginning of the year, called "My Hands on My Head." From there we sang Jingle Bells, then did another fingerplay (The Chubby Little Snowman) and then finished up with "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." I think the parents really enjoyed the performance (though it couldn't have been more than maybe 7 minutes long!!). I couldn't be more proud!

Lately I've been feeling like I haven't really made much progress with the kids this year, but doing the parent teacher conferences has boosted my confidence a little. All of the fourteen families I met with (out of 33, not a good turn out!) said that they had no complaints about my classroom and the ones that were at Head Start last year said that I was a big improvement over the old teacher who was fired. Several mentioned seeing big changes in their children at home. Although there are a lot of things I want to change about the class, and a lot of progress still to be made this year, I feel like maybe all the work I've put in thus far hasn't been totally lost on the kids. And next year I will only be a better, more prepared teacher!

Snow Day!

Well, today was another snow day. For the kids anyway. My lovely employers have a policy that on a snow day, the teachers still have to go into work in order to get paid, even when the roads are so bad that children cannot come. So, you have the choice of staying home with no pay or driving to work in dangerous conditions. Since my upcoming Christmas break is largely unpaid, (I don't have enough vacation time to cover the days off) I don't want to miss any days that I could be getting paid, so I went in. I made it to work safely, but two employees fell in the icy parking lot, and one had a minor car accident trying to get to work. Shouldn't that say something to the administration???

Anyway, it was a relaxing day for the most part. We cleaned the room for the kids' Christmas program tomorrow, and tried to finish up last minute paperwork that needed to be submitted before the break. We even stuffed gift bags for the kids (they all get fruit, a book, and some other little things for Christmas). After the work was done, we also got to have our own Christmas Party. Gifts were exchanged with our "Secret Sisters", which was a lot of fun. I got a Willow Tree angel (which I love!), a nice cinnamon candle, a Warm Vanilla Sugar gift set from Bath and Body, some Christmas votives, some lotion, and an adorable ornament. Then we all ate at Cracker Barrel. It was so nice to be together and enjoy each other's company, instead of getting into a huge argument like we did yesterday. It's tough working with ten other women!

Anyway, I can't wait until tomorrow, when the parents come to see the kids sing. I am so proud of all of them!!! I wish I could post pictures on here of them singing, but I think that's illegal.

Memories of Christmas' Past

Yikes, it's been a while since I did this! I tell you, Thanksgiving just really got me out of my routine and upset the the balance between work and home that I had. I can't seem to get caught up on my work, which means I have to bring it home, and then I get behind on housework (not to mention my favorite TV shows!) Ok, well that's a little bit of an exaggeration...I would never miss my fav shows! But I really feel as if these past few weeks have been a struggle. Only a few more days until Christmas break though! Then it will be 17 wonderful days of freedom!!!

Despite my busyness, I did manage to decorate for Christmas. The tree is up, the presents are wrapped (well mine are; I believe Jason still has several under his side of the bed that I can't wrap for him!) and the stockings would be hung from the fireplace with care, if only I could find a stocking holder that wasn't hideous. Imagine that...I finally get a fireplace again, and I can't decide on stocking holders! And some of my Christmas decor is still lost in the black hole that is my garage... Still, I'm pleased with my artificial tree.

Jason and I have an ongoing debate about how to decorate the tree. I like a fairly uniform tree....my ornaments and beads are gold, and the lights are white. Jason, however, likes more of a hodge-podge tree with all different ornaments and colored lights. Here's what we ended up with:

Though our tree has a gold theme, the ornaments are different, and every year we add new ones. Jason's mother gives us each a new ornament each year. Mine are usually a dragonfly or an angel, while Jason's are Army ornaments telling his rank and duty station. There are also special ornaments because of big events in our lives. Here are some from last year:

My ornament

Jason's ornament

Our El Paso ornament from the Youngs

Together at Christmas (After Iraq)

I'm sure this year we'll have new ornaments to add to our tree, and with them, the memories of another year gone by.

It's a Wonderful Life.

Today, like many other days in my life, I was struck by just how lucky I am. I spent much of today doing laundry and cleaning, while I listened to Christmas music and paused numerous times to admire my Christmas tree. It occurred to me that I have many things that other people want. I have a wonderful husband who loves me (and spoils me at Christmas, judging by the Kay jewelry box already under the tree), while many people are alone during this holiday season. It breaks my heart to think of my grandpa, and how hard it must be without my grandma this year. Furthermore, I live in a beautiful, (usually) clean home, while I know that many of my students live in decidedly gloomier abodes. Will they have anything under their trees come Christmas morning? I can also appreciate that I have a beautiful head of hair, which I know my mother would love to have right about now. We get so caught up in our lives that we forget to appreciate these things that we have been given. So, next time you are complaining about your housework, or your spouse's annoying habit, or your bad hair day, take time to reflect on how blessed you are to have a house to clean, a husband to argue with, and even the hair on your head.

There is so much that I have been blessed with that others don't have the luxury of sharing. That is my thought for the day. :)