Summer is officially here!! My last day was of teaching was Friday and I have to go in tomorrow and Wednesday to clean up, do some year-end reviewing, and then look over ITBS results. But I can handle that since it's spending the whole day with my co-workers, yay!! I know I have said this probably a billion times, but I cannot believe how fast this first year went. Looking back, it was just ridiculous. I don't know when the time slows down, but I'm already looking forward to next year (that's a good sign, right?) I love first semster, maybe it's all the holidays and things to look forward to and incorporate in my classroom, but I'm already excited. Plus I'll already have everything ready for them to go, which means I can spend more time tweaking old things, looking for new things, and working on classroom management. So I'm looking forward to it!
This weekend we went out boating with a bunch of friends, the weather was great for it and it was a pretty good time. Josh got sunburnt on his head and back, but other than that we did a good job with the sunscreen. We also kicked off the summer by buying a new refrigerator! It's a Samsung, and it probably ahs more features than we'll ever use (like a wine rack??) but I'm so excited about having the water/ice maker in the door. That means fresh, cold water and crushed ice! And it even has a water purifier so no more icky Baxter water! We did get it in stainless steel and here's a picture of it:
I'm pretty excited about it! It won't be in until Wednesday, but that gives us time to get the old one out, clean out the fridge and get it all ready for the new one! So excited! We decided we just needed to round off the kitchen with a new stainless steel microwave and stove and we're set!!
We also got our wood blinds in for the kitchen, and it seriously puts the finishing touches on the kitchen. We had to order them and it took them a couple of weeks to come in, but we are SO happy we went with the wood blinds (well...technically they are faux wood - real wood costs an arm and a leg!) Don't mind the picture, it came out a little weird because of the lighting and all that:
But we've just been walking into the kitchen and saying how happy we are with them. We went out to eat tonight and we walked in we commented on how nice look! I can't get over how much they really make the kitchen. Plus it will be nice to be able to close them when it gets dark out these summer nights :)
So we've been updating the house for the start of the summer, and aside from the stove and microwave, we knocked out both of our summer projects! Now we've talked about finishing out the downstaires with new windows before winter and we'll be set! Hope everyone had a good memorial weekend, and just to kick off the nice weather, a good picture of Taytum:
Time has just been flying. I've been trying to tell myself I need to update at least twice a week, but with the end of school coming so soon, I'm not sure that will happen as much as I'd like. I can't believe the weeks are passing by! This time next week I'll be having an ice cream party with the kids and we'll be goofing around, waiting for Thursday - when we get to go to Adventureland :) I just seriously cannot believe it. I knew people would say my first year would fly by, but who knew? I feel like the years are going to go by even faster.
This past week hasn't been filled with much. I was busy covering for a co-worker who had gullbladder surgery last week so I haven't had my prep time, which is usuallly when I sit down and update. We've been spending a lot of time outside, as well as getting the bikes out and making a few laps around town at night (Josh and I call it "night riding"). The dogs and I have been taking several walks around town, but until they get tick medicine on them we'll be keeping it short - Josh found a tick on his arm yesterday! It's that time of year.
The weekend calls for 80's, and Josh is helping my parents shingle so hopefully that goes by fast! I'm hoping if it is really nice Sunday and the roof gets finished we can get the boat out! We've had several grad parties to go to so our weekend was pretty filled, but other than that I'm just winding down the year. The kids made a little packet and some of them filled out cards to say thanks to the teachers. I'll read you a few of mine:
-"You were a great teacher. I'm glad to have you next year. I hope you had a good first year."
-"It is nice to get a new teacher! Thank you for putting up with me and my classmates. We all like you very much. You think of cool, funky ideas!"
-"Thank you for coming to our school for teaching. I think you are a great teacher, I can't wait until next year!"
- "Thank you for all of the lovely work you have given me (sarcasm). You are a really cool teacher. (Not sarcasm). " haha
-"You've taught me so much in the past year than I had learned in the past three :)"
-"Thank you for the knowledge to move on in the world!!"
-"Thanks for being the coolest teacher ever. Thanks for putting up with all of us and keeping your cool. I'm very thankful"
And my personal favorite. This one is from a student that is so, so, SO smart, but he just has no motivation. He loves reading, he's great at comprehending, he's really above his classmates with his learning process, but he just won't ever DO anything. It's like pulling teeth to get the kid to write anything!! But, I refuse to let him just slide by, so after several detentions and early mornings, he'll finally get things in. But he wrote on to me that said:
"Thank you for being patient with me and not giving up hope. Thanks for coming to our school."
I was beyond words. I think it's things like that where they really do notice that you care and aren't just coming down hard on them is what really got me. This seriously made my whole day!
So I'm going to be writing them "Thank you" cards with an individual message in each one. Haven't decided if I'll do one for the 7th grade yet (maybe I'll just make it an 8th grade tradition?) And just tell the 7th graders thank you as a whole and then next year I'll write them their own individual cards, too. We'll see. But nevertheless, it made my Wednesday amazing - it made all the frustrations and worries of the year pass. :) I'm ready to end the year on a good note!
It seems like the days just keep going fast and the weeks fly by. Only TWO Mondays left of school! :) I can't believe that. It's almost surreal, I was so nervous at the beginning of the year, and now I feel so much more confident. Really we only have 2 weeks left - the last week will be full of field trips and what not, so we're wrapping up our year-end books as well as writing our last few papers - it has definitely been a busy year! I'm anxious to get the new 7th graders next year, and looking forward to seeing my 7th graders come back as 8th graders. But mostly - I'm ready for summer!!
Let me back track this past week: a lot has happened! On Thursday night I went to the Taylor Swift concert with my friend Rachel and it was awesome! I love Taylor and it was just fantastic - she basically sings about my life. My camera died though right when she got on stage so I only got like two photos. :(
Friday then I took the day off (go me!) It was a big task for me to take the day off - I'm pretty particular about what my students do and how it's done. So I threw caution to the wind and took the day off. It was nice to sleep in, and Josh took Friday off too so we both got to sleep in. He re-did the brick on the side of the house that was taken out when we got our new heater and A/C unit. I bought season 1 of the show "Glee" and basically once I sat down and started watching Friday I couldn't stop! Watched it all weekend and I basically have only 2 episodes left from the entire DVD set. It is by far one of my favorite shows on T.V. right now (Tuesday nights - 9P.M. after American Idol on FOX) - along with Modern Family. Love it.
Then my best friend graduated from Iowa State this weekend so I went up to see her this weekend and had too much fun! It was so nice to be with her and see everyone and just get out and not have to worry about anything else - it was almost relaxing.
This week isn't too busy - but we have birthdays and graduations to go to this weekend so it will be packed, again. I'm ready for the weekends to be filled with nothing but hot sun, good friends, and boating!
This week seemed like a busy one, but with the end of school fast approaching I suppose each week is going to just fly by. I was pretty excited on Friday when I got to write "May 3" on the board - it is already May! This month is jam packed with field trips, pizza parties, and a middle school dance, so I'm looking for the next month to just fly by - summer will finally be here before we know it! It is pretty bittersweet ending the year; I'm ready for my second year to start so I'll know what I'm doing, how I'm going to do it, what needs tweaked, and all that fun stuff. However, the 8th graders this year were actually a really good bunch, I'm certainly going to miss them next year. Trying to think of something little to get them at the end of the year, might write them each a personal note and include a "life saver" in it - since they've been my life savers this year! I know it sounds so cliche, but seriously, my first year flew by!
Aside from that, I planted my flowers this week and set out the ISU rock in front of it. I picked yellow, red, and white flowers for the flower bed this year so that they will bloom up nicely behind the rock so I can't wait to see that. Here's what they look like:
This one is of the house with the flowers blooming - I think it makes the house look crooked though, haha:
I planted these out front in the little blue pots we have on the deck. I tried to find blue flowers, but the closest I could find were these white and purple ones, but I like them anyway:
And one of pretty Taytum <3
This week is Taylor week!! My friend Rachel and I are going to see Taylor Swift in concert on Thursday and I COULD NOT be more excited! I absolutely love her and her music. Tickets were crazy to get and the concert sold out in minutes so thankfully I'm part of the Taylor fan club and got tickets early. We have seats in the 200's, which actually isn't too bad! Hopefully we can get moved up like at the Black Eyed Peas concert, but really just seeing Taylor live is good enough for me!
Aside from the concert it will be another busy week. Tomorrow we are taking the 8th graders to Camp Dodge to go through some of the obstacle courses they have to build leadership and teamwork. And I have the day off Friday to bask in my Taylor glory. Hopefully it's a nice day! Taytum gets a hair cut and I will enjoy sleeping in and having the day to myself! Alex has a graduation party on Saturday so it will be jam packed - but that's alright, that just makes it go by faster :)
