Happy Halloween!!!

And you absolutely must check out my favorite part of this costume...look at the stinger!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Happy Birthday, Darryl!

Happy Birthday to Darryl!

I'm not really a mushy person (and it would probably embarrass Darryl anyway if I laid on some thick sentiment in a blog post), but he is undoubtedly my best friend and a fabulous husband and father. We love you!

Random things

I'm so happy it's the weekend. Today Amelia and I are going to shop for some party supplies for her 1st birthday party in a couple of weeks. I've decided to just make this a family-only party rather than a huge extravaganza. I'm excited about it, though.

Amelia was too funny last night. She held her toy phone up to her ear and said, "O? O??" Seriously. It seems like she has a new trick every day now.

As far as non-Amelia-related stuff goes...this week felt crazy long. It was actually our first full week of school after several weeks of having a Friday off or a fall holiday or an early release. I cannot wait until the week we have off for Thanksgiving.

Have you heard Beyonce's new song, "If I Were a Boy?" LOVE it..the melody, the lyrics, good song.

Well, off to get some things done...

Wonderful weekend

This weekend was wonderful. I'm going to make a big ol' confession here: my school bag never left the backseat of my car. I was already prepared to teach tomorrow, but I didn't grade any papers or plan anything beyond tomorrow. I needed a break.

Yesterday, I went to a scrapbooking crop for 12 HOURS. First of all, I have to give a big thank you to Darryl for not only being willing to keep Amelia by himself all day, but also for saying, "I want you to have a good time. I think you need this." (I did promise him that I would take a month off--at least from "crops"--until the weekend before Thanksgiving.)

Y'all, this may sound cheesy and crazy, but I think I love this scrapbooking thing so much because it makes me truly grateful for who we are and what we have. As I'm trying to present memories on a page, I realize that what I'm compiling is a story of us. Our family. A story that I hope Amelia enjoys reading about one day. It also does my heart good to see ladies sitting all around me basically doing the same thing, telling their stories and their lives. As my scrapbook for 2008 is coming together, I realize that even though we may not vacation all over the globe or go to lots of parties or do anything really out of the ordinary, our lives are really full. Anyway...

Today was just a good day together as a family. We went to church, had Sunday dinner on the lawn at church (how Walnut Grove is that?), shopped a little, visited my cousin, hung around the house...it was truly relaxing.

And now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to try to top off this fabulous weekend by going to bed before 9:00.

I dedicate this moment to "No Child Left Behind"

So yesterday, I made a couple of (required by administration) phone calls to parents of students who are failing.

Here is how one conversation went:

ME: I'm calling because ___________ has a 32 in my class. He doesn't turn in assignments. He tunes out. I've tried everything I can think of to motivate him, but nothing seems to be working.

MOTHER: He don't care. And if he don't care, I don't care. I can't make him care.


Thank you, NCLB, for holding me responsible when this child fails and/or drops out of school. Obviously I am the problem here.

11 Months (Well, last Sunday)

I can't believe Amelia is 11 months old. I took this quick pic on Sunday at a cookout on the lawn of our church. (It was SUPER windy.) All Amelia wanted to do was walk around...oh, and play in the ice bucket by splashing water everywhere. That girl loves water.

Anyway, I'm finding myself getting very nostalgic in this month leading up to her birthday. (Seriously, I actually mentioned to Darryl--in a very sad tone--that we probably just need to make one more "formula run" to Costco.) I can't believe that a year ago, we hadn't even officially met her yet (although we were already in love with the idea of her), and now it is hard to imagine our family without her. She makes us belly laugh at least a couple of times a day. She's such a joy!

Greetings from the Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we took Amelia to Burt's Pumpkin Patch in North Georgia. It was insane, y'all. People everywhere. My main objective, though, was to get a picture of Amelia with a pumpkin, so I guess that was achieved.

I love the picture below. I love the angle, the smallness of Amelia in a field of pumpkins. Good photography skills, Darryl!

Afterwards, we went to a nearby apple orchard to pick up some apples (and some apple cider doughnuts). Amelia did her part to help:

Pollyanna I'm not

My efforts to be positive are losing steam. Quickly.

I Kid You Not

I'm making a concerted effort to be positive this week, and here is a teacher story from today that I just have to share.

You know the PERFECT 5th period class I have? Well, this conversation actually took place in my classroom as we finished our discussion of Night:

K in the front row: I loved this book. Loved it. In fact, I've enjoyed every book we've read so far.

E in the back row: Me, too. I've loved them all. These books have been so good.

(Everyone chimes in with similar remarks. It's a freakin' lovefest.)

Me: Well, while I'm thrilled you've loved all the books so far, keep in mind that you may not love everything we read. Maybe you will, but don't be too disappointed if you don't. (I say this only because I know Julius Caesar--ugh--is on the horizon.)

K: Mrs. ___________, it doesn't matter. We trust your judgment. If you assign us a book to read, even if I don't like it, I'll read it anyway because obviously you think there is something I can gain from it.


Is this class for real? I'm not trying to toot my own horn here; I'd say the idyllic nature of this class is 100% because of the students. They read. They discuss. They care.

I love them.

Eyes on the Prize

This week is going to be a tough one, probably. We have midterms, and I have tons of grading to do in an effort to make midterm grades as accurate as possible. I also have lots of other teaching tasks to tend to as well. (How's that for alliteration?)

I'm not too dismayed, however, because I know what lies ahead next weekend:

1. It's a long weekend. We have Monday off for Fall Holiday, and the students are off this Friday as well. (It's a "work day" for teachers, but we all know that "work day" is a day spent in meetings, workshops, and such instead.)

2. Darryl and I are going to take Amelia to a pumpkin patch at some point in the weekend.

3. I should have the opportunity to scrapbook next weekend.

4. I have plans to meet up with my friend Casi Sunday...and we'll probably eat a sinful dessert.

5. I get to spend all day Monday with Amelia, just the two of us.

I can't wait!

This weekend has been good. While I've had to work on lots of school stuff, the three of us have enjoyed just hanging out at home. I made taco soup for dinner last night and baked cupcakes just because I was in a cupcake mood. I think this weekend has been just what I needed.

Here's Amelia in the middle of a good nap yesterday: