WOW! Where has the time gone?!?

I cannot believe that it has been almost two months since I last wrote a post. This year seems to be flying by...I mean it is almost December! It seems like just yesterday we were ringing in the new year with the CATS win over East Carolina. The school year is also going by way to fast. I feel very unprepared to leave my students for almost two months, but the time is getting near.
Speaking of school if you have heard already I received my scores for National Boards Certification. I PASSED!!! I knew I had put in a lot of work on the portfolio, but I also did well on the six essay tests which is a feat because I am not a good test taker. I am very proud and excited that I have accomplished such a hard task. It has been worthwhile.
The baby is growing well. I have to have blood work done on Wednesday morning (standard) to check my glucose levels. We have not completely decided on a name, but have a couple options narrowed down. I am getting to the point where I am tired again. I find myself out of breath at times and tying my shoes is becoming a chore. Stad will love having to get up at 6AM to tie them for me in the next couple of weeks. ;0) Over fall break we got the baby room painted and the crib put together. There is still a lot to do between now and the end of January, but I am anxious to meet my baby. The new questions are: "Wonder what he will look like?" "Will he be healthy?" "Will I be strong enough to make it through delivery?" (or better yet..."Will Stad stay upright or pass out?")
I hope all of you are doing well. I can't wait for the holidays to see everyone. I will try to post more often in the next few weeks. Until next time...I wish you well!

It's a boy!

Stad and I went to the doctor last week for my ultrasound. The doctor said everything looks great and my growing baby is 14 ozs. I can't believe that in four short months I will have a baby boy in my house. Boy is Copper in for a rude awakening. I have great friends at school who have offered to paint our guest room so we can use it as the nursery. We are now on the hunt for a small computer desk so we can move the other bed into our office. Suddenly my house feels very small. I will keep you updated on the progression of Baby Smith. No we don't have a name picked out. We thought we did, but now that we know for sure, we are not positive we are set on the name.

As far as school goes it has been a great year. How can it not be with a class who actually listens and likes to learn. :o) I am actually sad that I am going to miss out on 7 weeks with them this winter because they are a lot of fun. This may be my favorite year yet! I also have a principal now who knows that school should be fun for all involved (including the hard working teachers)! He does everything he can to keep things light even though we have Central Office breathing down our necks. Anyway here are some ultrasound pictures of the baby's profile and fist. Until next time....I wish you well!

New Beginnings

I know it has been a long time since I posted a blog. It seems like just yesterday I was getting out of school for the summer and now all of the sudden I have two weeks of it behind me. I can't tell you how many days, but our new principal has the count (I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.)! :0) Things are going really well this year. The staff seems much less stressed and we actually are back to having fun conversations after school and not the gripe-fests we were having last year. I have heard that we have been volunteered to work with an assist team because our numbers are so low, but I can deal with a volunteer basis.
On a positive note my new class is great. There are a couple in there that make me ready to pull my hair out at times, but nothing like the aggressiveness that I had last year. It almost makes me sad that I will be out six weeks....almost.
If you haven't heard our big news...where have you been? Stad and I are expecting a new baby to join our family in February. It is all still very surreal at the moment. Yes we are going to find out boy or girl at our next doctor's visit (Sept. 20). I am an avid planner and not knowing would not help my planning of rooms, clothes, etc. We are both very excited and nervous all at the same time which I am sure is totally normal for new parents.
I took Stad to Babies 'r' Us the other day. I thought Mr. I don't like to spend money was going to have a stroke. He told me to buy and not tell him the prices when I go back with mom. :0) I think I overwhelmed him more than anything. Now that I have written a lot more than I intended I will sign off. I hope everyone is doing well and until next time....I wish you well!

Where has the summer gone?!?

So I am looking at the calendar wondering where my summer has gone. A lot of my time in June was spent on the search committee for a new principal for my school. I am glad to say after more than 9 nights of long meetings and teamwork we did find someone who seems right for our school. I hope we are right on this one because there is a lot of disorganization that this "J" girl does not approve of when it comes to the administration at our school.
It has been nice to spend most weekends up at camp with Mom, Dad, and the rest of the campers and staff. I have enjoyed seeing some of my old campers from girls camp coming back to older camps. Yikes! How do the get older and I don't? :)
I am busy planning Girls Camp at the moment. I have had four counselors as well as the Priest back out over the last couple of weeks. I don't understand how people commit to something and then don't follow through. This worries me about the youth today. If you say you are going to do something...do it. Not that hard I don't think. Anyway, I hope to get through next week safely and without too much stress since my partner in crime (Summer) is not going to be there as much. Stad is talking about going to the beach at the end of July so I hope it works out. :) I need a vacation! Hope everyone else is having a safe and restful summer.
Until next time...I wish you well!

Crazy world of teaching leaves no time for updates!

I have 3 more days of school! YAY! Things have been busy as we are hiring new staff and a new principal. I thought I would post some pictures of Baby Jack and Memorial Day weekend. Enjoy! :)

Welcome to the world Baby Jack!

Stad is officially an uncle! We got the pleasure of driving Spencer to the hospital from the Louisville Airport on May 11th. I am pretty sure the Element was doing 100 a couple of times. All I know is we made it to UK hospital from Shelbyville in about 40 minutes. Spencer made it in time for Therese to start pushing (actually I think Jack was waiting on him because according to the nurses she should have had that baby much earlier than she did. He stopped coming once she got to 8 cm and waited for his daddy to get there.). Two hours later the cutie was here. Congratulations to Spencer and Therese! I can't wait to spoil the little guy (don't tell Stad that involves money...)!

Spring breaks and Lightouses!

Stad had a buisiness trip in Savannah, GA over spring break so I rode along for time away from the cold, nasty Kentucky weather. I asked around for some neat attractions that we had not seen last year and everyone told me to go to Tybee Island and visit the lighthouse. Ever since I was a little girl and was watching Pete's Dragon, I have always thought it would be neat to go up into a lighthouse. I decided this would be a perfect opportunitiy. Here are a few pictures from our mini-vacation.

The Tybee Island Lightouse is one of the oldes running lighthouses around GA and can be seen from miles away on the ocean and waterways of the river areas.

This was posed, but I was really nervous standing on the catwalk at the top. I wish I was as brave as the boy who kept running the circle. Yikes!

It was really far down to the ground!!! 150 feet to be exact!

The view was very pretty once I found my nerves. :)

I was much happier with my feet back on solid ground.

The last day there we decided to visit Hilton Head Island to see what the fuss was really all about. Stad managed to buy a t-shirt and get a bumper sticker so he can fit into the club, but I don't think I will be staying there unless it is in the off season. There were sooo many people there that it was almost miserable. Between the traffic and people I was a nervous wreck and ready to hit the mainland. I did enjoy our time at Harbour Town. The boats were massive and very beautiful.
Stad found a huge tree and just like any little boy he wanted to climb it. This thing was very beautiful.

I decided to keep my feet on the ground this time.

The time away was nice, but it was good to be home. I finally got to read a book for pleasure and just relax. It was a much needed break from reality and I was thankful for it.

Goodbye Box...Hello Life!

Since June my personal life has been slowly squeezed away like the breath of life in a boa constrictors prey. This constricting box has been consuming my life. I have been sitting endless hours in front of my computer reading and rereading entries that I didn't think would ever get cut enough to reach the page limit. I finally broke down and took some of the days given to me so that I could finish this process. When I finished the last piece on Thursday afternoon, I got up and did a happy dance around my house and scaring the dog in the process. I am a dork, I know. After one final read with my mentor (who I know I have bugged to death) and tiny corrections Thursday night, I was finally ready to ship it out.
The feeling of putting each article safely in the envelopes was both scary and exhilarating. There are so many places to check and write your id number it is scary. I hope that I crossed all the t's and dotted all the i's properly.
At the post office I used more tape than was probably allotted, but I wanted to make sure there was no way the hard work and dedication to bettering myself as an educator was coming out of Fort Knox, I mean my box. I said a little prayer over the box and shipped it away. Now for the worry of "will it make it all in one piece?" or "Will I pass?" Please say a little prayer that I don't have to do the portfolio pieces again.
Long story short, I am finished. I reached my personal goal of finishing before the March 31st deadline (which was extended due to the ice storm). That was enough for me. Was it a hard process? Not as hard as I thought. Was it worth it? I think I have learned more about myself as a teacher than I did in any of the college classes that I took, but it was very time consuming. I am glad to be finished so that I can enjoy the rest of this year with my class and I am excited to finally have my life back! Goodbye constrictor....hello world! :)
Until next time, I wish you well!

Long awaited update

I can't believe that it has been so long since I updated! Ahh...where does the time go? There are only 5 weeks left until my National Boards portfolio is due. I am stressing only because I am trying to get the last video taped before we have another cluster of days with so much going on at school. I am supposed to teach my students, but it seems like we have an interruption at least once a day. I have to return mom's video camera next week, so I am going to have to really push through the content this week. Hopefully it will go well and I won't need to do any extra lessons.
We have had an extremely busy weekend. We had Megan and Joey over Friday night. It was great to see and hang out with them. Saturday we went to Lexington to celebrate the birthdays of Lacy and Amy. I loved seeing my family because I hadn't seen them since Christmas. We got home late last night, but then we turned around and headed to Winchester this morning. Spencer got baptised at church today. It was great seeing everyone and Therese's belly is so darn cute. I am dog tired and wishing for one more day to my weekend (isn't that always the case), but overall we had an excellent weekend. Until next time, I wish you well!

Winter Yuck! The Adventures of the Ice/Snow Storm in KY.

I detest winter!! This week has only solidified my thoughts of loathing the cold. I never dreamed that I would one day wake up hoping to not see my school on the bottom of the screen saying that school was cancelled for the day. Well the day has come. I am attempting to do my National Boards which is a complicated enough process without snow days involved. I have nothing to write about when I can't teach. I worry about my students...many of them are on free lunch so they don't get many warm meals at home. Are they staying warm? Do they have power? I pray that their families are taking care of them by at least going to the shelters. I understand now why people have seasonal depression. The world seems so gray on snowy days and dull. I have tried to continue being a good neighbor through it all. We lost power early Wednesday morning. Since we didn't have anything better to do Stad and I scraped the snow and ice off the driveway and our neighbors across the street came and helped us out. We haven't been very neighborly since we moved in (mainly because I am an introverted homebody), so I finally got to talk to many of our neighbors. Later we braved the roads (man they were scary) and went to the store. I always laugh when I see the people on TV with a loaf of bread and milk, but now I understand why. Sandwiches are the only thing to eat (besides junk) when there is not power to heat even soup. Later that day we were feeling like we needed to pay the good deed of driveway scraping forward so we went and shoveled the driveway of a coworker of Stad's who was home alone with a 7 year old and no power as well. My shoulders still hurt two days later, but I really feel like we did a good thing that day. The power did come back on late Wednesday night after a game of rummy, another cold sandwhich, and a great night of conversation with my husband. It amazes me how a few months from now it will be 55 degrees outside and I will be wearing pants and a light jacket, but in the 55 degree house we were in three layers of clothes, four layers of blankets, and hats yet we were still cold. Once again it was snowing this morning and the crazy weatherman is now saying more snow on Monday. I stuck inside while Stad is at work. I guess I could have gone with him, but there is not much to do around his office either so I chose to sit in my sweats and stay warm on the couch. I hope everyone is staying warm, especially those still without power. For now I will continue to type on my National Boards and hope for the best in the next few days.

A little bit of perspective...

So I was having a hard time with my faith in good last week in dealing with the amount of stress that gets piled onto my parents every year around this time. My parents have poured their blood, sweat, and tears into the Domain since 1992. It is not just a job, but a mission that they have. They get their inner strength from the many people who visit and show their love for the place that my parents care so much about. There are some major changes coming down from the Diocesan level and it is all very frustrating.
Now all of this frustration was eating me up inside until I got an email from my dear friend Summer who put my stress into perspective. You see Summer's Mam maw (a feisty lady with a big heart) has battled breast cancer and lymphoma for the last few years. They thought all was well until they got a not so good report this past weekend. I hate seeing such a wonderful family going through such a rough and trying time. I hope nothing but the best for them and will continue praying for good health. Suddenly the heartburn of budgets and lost faith in the church do not hold a candle to the tears and pain I know that Summer and her family have and will continue to go through. I know all to well what Lymphoma does to the family as that is how I lost my Nana and still to this day I have memories of the pain she went through with treatments. God knows what he is doing and I pray that Summer and her family will find peace in the love they have for one another. Keep fighting Mam maw!

So on an ending note, just when things seem like they are at their worst God always seems to put life in perspective. I thank God that my parents have jobs (stress and all), for the roof over my head, and the health of my family. I may not be in the pews on Sunday, but I continue to hold tight to my faith to what is good and right in the world and remember his blessings.
Proverbs 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with your heart and lean not on your own understandings. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He set your paths straight."

WICKED

One of Stad's favorite movies is the Wizard of Oz so when I heard "Wicked" was coming to town I decided to surprise him with tickets. After hearing about the tickets, Stad bought the book on one of his trips and began reading it so that we would know a little about the story. I finished reading it over the break and I was super excited. The book was OK, but not one of my favorites. However, I loved the thought behind it so I was interested to see how they play would turn out. I was not let down when we went to the show last night. The music was awesome, the play was even better than the book, and the acting was amazing. I really enjoyed it all. If anyone has the opportunity to go see the play, you should.

Breaks are never long enough...

So life for me started again on Monday. Why is it that a 2 week break always seem to be about 2 days? I spent the majority of my break spending some time with family and working on my National Boards. (In fact I am ashamed to say that I spent 3 full days at school over the holidays!) Now don't get me wrong, I was excited to see my kids on Monday because I know that I am one of the positive role models in their lives, but that dreadful buzz of the alarm clock was excrutiatingly painful all week. I am just glad this first week is almost over and tomorrow is Friday...that means there are only 6 more days until the next long weekend. :)

National Boards Countdown: 81 Days! (May the force be with me!)