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:

I'm Still Here

I honestly haven't had time to blog, but I hope to update soon. Don't give up on me. :)

Here's the rundown in very random order:

--I just finished my shift of supervising the building of the sophomore Homecoming float.
--Darryl, Amelia, and I went to Florida this weekend for an event in honor of Darryl's mom and dad; I definitely will tell more and will update with pics.
--I'm tired all the time.
--I'm tired of grading papers.
--I liked the first episode of The Office (go Jim!), but thought the first episode of Grey's was really drawn out...could have easily been an hour-long episode instead of a two-hour one. Oh, and even though I haven't really watched ER since Romano lost his battle with the helicopter, I boohooed over Pratt's death. (I watched that one while I was packing my suitcase for Florida.)
--This gas shortage is getting old.

And here's a sweet Amelia story for the day...I came home from float building, tired, a bit irritable (it's been a long day), and so forth. I picked up Amelia, and she smiled really big, took my face in her hands, and put her forehead up next to mine and laughed. Be still my heart. Just what I needed.

Rough Week

This past week seemed endless. Seriously.

The Bad:
--For reasons I won't elaborate on here, I have found work very difficult this year. My kids are not bad (with the exception of a few boys and an honors class who--I think--hates me), but I simply cannot catch up with all the things I'm supposed to be doing. I guess if I went home, had no down time with Amelia and Darryl, and didn't do non-related school things that bring me happiness, I could possibly catch up, but I'm not going to do that. School is not my life 24-7. Do I care about my job? Yes. Do I try to do a good job? Yes. But I'm not going to do it 80 hours a week.

The Good:
--Speaking of school, one upside is that I have one of the best classes I've ever had. I think I've mentioned it briefly before, but it is a class of mostly girls with a few really likeable guys (who probably enjoy being in a sea of girls). Maybe this class is in my life right now to keep me going on the school front. Not only do these kids care about school, but they like to discuss. They do their reading and homework without complaint. They leave class saying things like, "I really enjoyed class today!" Ah, perfection. Sometimes I have to pinch myself.
--Amelia is too stinkin' cute these days. One of my favorite things is watching her learn and process things. She's becoming a pro with the walking, too, and is crawling less and less. She has even gotten to the point where she can crouch down to pick things up without falling over. We love her so much and are completely enjoying her!
--Even with all the demands on my time, I have taken up a new hobby: scrapbooking. I've become a bit obsessed with it, actually. I don't have time to do it all the time, but I try to take a few hours every few weekends to scrapbook at some local "crops." (See? I don't even have to mess up my house to do it...I go make my mess at other places.) I just feel this need to preserve memories about Amelia--and Darryl and me--while they are fresh on my mind. So far, I'm loving it.

Birthday Parties: A New Era

Today Amelia and I embarked on a new adventure: the children's birthday party. From what I hear, this is the first of millions to come.

Amelia received her first invite from her friend Denton:


(Tim, I deliberately didn't crop this photo because I wanted to see if you could tell who the person is on the left...although the view is somewhat obstructed.)

Here's Amelia checking out the gifts:

And here is a shot of Amelia and two other little girls, Sophia (top) and Jayden, mere seconds before a collision that resulted in a heap of little girls on the floor. The culprit? Some discovered Cheerios that had fallen on the floor. No one was injured, thank goodness!

And because Amelia's outfit was too cute, I thought I'd give you a full-on shot so you can appreciate it in all its fashion-forwardness. Shiloh and Suri have nothing on this gal!

And here's another one for your viewing pleasure. I'm being an obnoxious mother now, aren't I?

Sometimes I have good ideas...

...and sometimes I don't.

I learned last weekend that my love for hand-dipped corn dogs does have its limits, and that limit is the Yellow Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain.

I had been wanting to go to the Yellow Daisy Festival because several of my friends told me it was really cool, and last year someone gave me a really cute T-shirt for Amelia that came from a YDF vendor.

So last weekend, when I realized that the YDF was happening right then, I decided I wanted to go. I asked Darryl if he wanted to go, but he declined so that he could spend some time with his mistress, College Football. But let's be honest. He wouldn't have wanted to go even if it weren't football season.

Amelia and I started off on our adventure. I was excited. I was going to have some good food, find some cute kids' clothes, and have some mother-daughter time as well. The trip there was uneventful. Amelia napped the whole way, and I listened to the Rick Dees countdown on XM 80's radio. Good times.

Until we went got close to Stone Mountain. Apparently everyone else in the metro-Atlanta area had the same idea to come to the Yellow Daisy Festival.

There were a couple of moments I considered turning the car around and going home, but I always shot down those thoughts with, "Nope. I've made it this far. I'm not turning back now."

It took me longer to find a parking spot than it did for me to drive to Stone Mountain. I'm not kidding.

I ended up parking probably a little over a mile from the Festival. It didn't occur to me, as I was walking downhill to the festival site, that I would have to walk uphill later that afternoon to get back to my car.

Here's Amelia at the entrance to the Festival:


I stood in line for about 20 minutes for a corn dog. I had some lemonade. I attempted to look at the crafts and other goods in a crowd that was making me more claustrophobic by the second.

After about an hour, I started the long trek uphill back to the car. People who were on their way to the festival would chuckle at Amelia as they passed us. Not sure what was going on, I managed to get a side view of her, and she was doing this:

Here's me, Amelia's foot, and most of Amelia's face. Awesome photography skills, yes? My excuse for my appearance is that I just walked a mile uphill pushing a 25-pound child in a stroller.
So basically, I went to the Yellow Daisy Festival for a corn dog.

And y'all, that was way too far.

Quick

I haven't posted this week because it has been extremely hectic, and when I do have a moment, I'm too tired.

I'm glad it is Thursday and the weekend is approaching.

I have too many papers to grade, too little time.

I'm sick of the Presidential election and am ready for it to end. I did find it exciting; now I wish politicians and their cronies and the media would stop acting like my 10th graders.

Random

--Amelia LOVES Cheerios. That is why I'm able to blog right now. :)

--The honor roll party went well, for the most part. Here's some irony for you: you know how teachers complain about how students can't follow directions, well, let me tell you how many teachers can't follow directions. After an email explaining how we were doing the party, when to send kids to the commons area, when to pass out tickets, etc. (our new principal doesn't allow announcements over the intercom during the day), several teachers didn't do what they were supposed to do. Oh, well. (Tim and Kim followed the directions, though!)

--Darryl is excited about the Florida State game tonight.

--I'm ready for some fall weather, y'all.

A Milestone and More

Amelia took her first steps Monday evening!

This photo is horrible quality, but you get the idea:


And technically, this pic was taken last night and not Monday, but still...

I was absolutely thrilled that Darryl and I were the first ones to see this big milestone. To me, one of the hardest things about being a working mom is missing these events. She rolled over for the first time at daycare, and then Amelia had to be a showoff for her Nana and stood up for the first time when Darryl and I had our "one-night vacation" in July. But this one was for us. And even better, she did it all over again for the video camera. :)

That's the good news.

The down side to all this is that Sunday and Monday nights were HORRIBLE. Monday night, Amelia woke up every hour, almost on the hour, from 12:30 on, and I have to get up at 5. Most of my baby books talk about how this happens when babies are approaching or are reaching a milestone. I remember she did this when she started crawling and then when she started standing, but those things happened during the summer when I could catch a catnap during the day.

Tuesday, I was a bear. I was so sleepy I had a headache. I have to give big props to Darryl, who, seeing my need for sleep, took care of getting Amelia to bed, emptied the dishwasher, fixed bottles, loaded the dishwasher back up again, cleaned the kitchen...all so I could go to bed at the glorious time of 8:30. Pure bliss! (And Amelia slept through the night last night, too. Even better!)

This week is a busy one. My pile of grading doesn't seem to be getting any smaller, and I also have an Honor Roll party to throw Friday. I'm ready for the weekend again.

I'm just sayin'...

I'm getting really tired of seeing celebrity moms' bikini-ready bods mere weeks after they've given birth.

Long week, long weekend

Forgive me, my 6 or 7 readers, for not blogging this week. I was doing well just to get to bed by 11:00 each night, so it left little time for blogging.

Besides, Monday and Tuesday I was in a FUNK, so you probably wouldn't have wanted to hear from me anyway. These days were just rough, not for any big reason, but for lots of little ones. On top of that, Amelia did this thing for a couple of days where she cried (yes, cried) when I picked her up from daycare as though I was the last person she wanted to see. While the logical side of me said it was just a phase, the mother part of me was a bit hurt that my daughter wasn't thrilled to see me. Wednesday, however, I was apparently back in her good graces and all has been well with her since (except she is teething with her top teeth and is cranky off and on).

Wednesday was much better overall, and I had a couple of experiences with my students that made me remember how much I really can love what I do. These are experiences that probably would lose their value if I retold them here--you know, those "had to be there" experiences--and I desperately needed them. (However, Jen, you'll appreciate this...my students were reading The Crucible the other day, the student playing Abigail was absent, so this goofy guy with a deep voice said he would read it...and it was the "sweating like a stallion" part. Hilarious!! The students were rolling, and I was, too.)

Amelia also had her 9-month appointment at the doctor Wednesday; she's already 25 pounds and is off the charts in height. She did very well at the appointment, though...I think she cried over her shot (just one this time!) for about 10 seconds. Brave girl!

Yesterday was a half day at school, and teachers had a potluck lunch. Yum!

And now we're to the long weekend, thank goodness. While I do have papers to grade, I fully intend to enjoy some peaceful down time with Darryl and Amelia.

TGIS

Thank goodness it's Saturday.

I'm not going to sugarcoat--this school year has been kicking my rear so far. I told Tim (fellow teacher) yesterday that in many ways it feels like my first year of teaching.

For starters, I have more students than I've ever had. I've been a little, oh, whiny about this, but I guess I need to put on my big-girl pants and accept the fact that my classes aren't going to get any smaller. Unless I can convince a few to drop out of school...but I don't think I'm supposed to do that. :)

Our new principal is also big on consistency between classes, meaning that if two teachers teach the same class, our tests should be the same and they should be given on the same day. Now, I don't think that is a bad thing, but the person who also teaches American Lit (not Tim, someone else) has a tendency to "lolligag," and I'm more of a "let's cover it and move on" kind of teacher, especially for some of the lesser-known works. I spent an hour and a half meeting with him yesterday discussing our Crucible unit and trying to talk him out of some projects that would have eaten up days and days of class time. My goal is to get this guy to the Postmodern period by the end of the year, come hail or high water. (It is hail, isn't it? Not hell? In this case, maybe both.)

I won't even get into the grading. I made a plan at the beginning of the week that I was going to stay after school TWO hours and spend the first hour planning and the last hour grading. That was a great plan until I had a collaboration team meeting one day and a parent meeting the next and then my Crucible meeting yesterday. But after putting in 50 hours at work during the week, I really don't want to take time away from Darryl and Amelia this weekend, but alas, I have a bag full of tests to grade. In short, I'm struggling for that balance of personal life and professional life.

But I like teaching. I can't imagine doing anything else. I'm trying desperately to find a system that works and that doesn't take away from sleep or family time. Any suggestions, fellow English teachers???

I'll end on a happier note. Here are a couple of recent Amelia pics. She is now 9 months old. I can't believe it.

A bit of this n' that

I'm taking a quick break from typing up a test on Native-American and Puritan Literature.

Thrilling stuff, I know.

I love American Lit, but I cannot wait to get out of the pre-Romantic period phase. Students hate to read as it is. Anne Bradstreet is really a tough sell, people. So is Jonathan Edwards. And that's after we've read Native American poems about the voice of the grasshopper.

Here are a few random bits of info:

--I was digging through our big "outdoor" trash can this morning at 5:15 in an effort to rescue an Anne Taylor Loft coupon I realized I accidentally threw away. Fortunately, it was in last night's trash, so I didn't have to plunge head first into the can or anything. It was also fortunate that it was still safe in its plastic shopping bag and didn't fall prey to the gross coffee grounds that surrounded it. My rescue mission was successful, thank goodness. I'd hate to know I picked through those coffee grounds in vain.

Those $25 off purchases of $50 or more coupons are gold, people. Gold. And now, after all that effort, I'm obligated to spend it.

--I was watching the Olympic trampoline jumping competition last night right before I fell asleep. (Seriously, trampoline jumping???? An Olympics-worthy sport??) Y'all, those people were getting some serious air. It was a bit freaky.

--Amelia is apparently Miss Charm at daycare and Miss Crankypants when she gets home. This evening she cheered up, however, when I gave her a graham cracker...her first one. Does that mean she's an emotional eater?

Well, back to typing up the test. Yawn.

I'm still here!

Before I get into my week...did anyone see Michael Phelps win that race last night be 1/100th of a second??? I practically had to pry my eyes open to stay up to watch it, but it was worth it.

You can tell this was the first full week of school for us. I've had no time to blog.

So far, things are going pretty well except for the overwhelming exhaustion that comes with the first full week.

For the most part, I really like my 10th grade honors classes. I have one class of almost all girls, and they are wonderful--focused, smart, sweet. At first, I was concerned they would be all chatty and dramatic, but they're not...at least so far.

My juniors are pretty good. There are three boys I could do without, but I'll just have to make the best of it.

Here are some non-school-related things that went on this week:

--Monday evening, I met my friend Jessica for coffee. She was in town for work, and I haven't seen her in probably almost two years. Since we've seen each other last, she's gotten married, and I've had a baby. It was great to catch up!

--Darryl and I also got to see the proofs of the pics I had made of Amelia a couple of weeks ago. They're too cute. If there's a way to scan a couple of them to put them up here, I'll do that. We won't get our "real" pics probably for a month or so.

--My parents are here this weekend getting their Amelia fix. Darryl is in Florida with his family, and I didn't feel like making a quick trip to Florida this close to the beginning of school, so I invited my parents to come up here. They're going to watch Amelia today while I grade lots of stuff. Isn't it sad that I'm already behind on grading?

Well, I better go. Have a good weekend everyone!!

School, the Olympics, and More

I started this post on Saturday and finished it Sunday night. Oh, well.

This has been an exhausting week, to say the least.

We have a new principal at our school, and he has required a lot from us (the teachers) over the past couple of weeks. I'm not really voicing that as a complaint because, in reality, these are things that we probably should have been made to do years ago, but no one actually made us do them. Regardless, the process has been exhausting, but I'm optimistic that it will pay off.

Thursday, the students returned to school. I have three Pre-AP English 2 classes (10th graders) and three "regular" English 3 classes (juniors). I think I'm going to like my 10th graders--I can tell I have some great personalities in those classes--but I'm not too sure about two of my three junior classes. I definitely have some potential troublemakers. Anyway, two days are behind us now, but those two first days wore me out. The teachers in my lunch group were all joking that we have the scratchy throat that comes with adjusting to talking all day again after a summer break from it.

Friday night, I met my friend Lisa for Mexican food. It was a nice way to end a busy week. I needed a little girl time. Lisa and I used to work together when I took a break from the academic world and worked at a law firm; she's one of those friends I wish I could see more often than I do. My jaws literally ached after dinner from laughing so hard. Definitely a good way to spend the evening.

And on to the Olympics...anybody watching? Why can't the Olympics come on during summer vacation when I have time to watch it? I can get seriously sucked in to it. I Fake Tivoed the Opening Ceremony, but I made it home in time from my dinner with Lisa to see the awesome-cool-freakin'-fantastic lighting of the torch. I hope to watch the rest in bits and pieces this week.

Well, I think there was more to tell, but my mind is drawing a blank. I'm sleepy, but I need to fix bottles, straighten the kitchen, prepare my lunch...the list goes on.

Exhaustion

I haven't blogged lately because there has been too much going on. Too much. This is going to be a fairly short post because bed is looking a bit better than Blogger right now.

On the Amelia front...she has her first tooth. I noticed it Sunday afternoon. (This info is partly in here for when I finally get around to writing the date in her baby book. Baby book updating is so not happening this week.)

School pre-planning has consisted mostly of one meeting after another with little time to work in our rooms. Today was an exception--we pretty much spent all day in our rooms--but the downside was that it was also Open House day, so I was at the school from around eight until six this evening.

Oh, and here's another kicker: three people asked me if I was pregnant this evening. I'm HOPING it was the dress that I was wearing, which had an empire waist. Another teacher who was also wearing an empire-waisted dress was also asked by a parent if she was expecting, too. Still, this was a blow to the ego that I didn't really need this week. (And what happened to that etiquette rule that you NEVER ask a woman if she is pregnant unless you are 100% sure she is???? Hello?)

I'm going to bed now. I've had enough of this day.