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Remember our girls' mammoth getaway last weekend?? Here's how it turned out. Friend and I were packed and at the airport gleefully ready to embark on our ski trip when the flight was cancelled. No other mammoth flights going out that day. Refusing to give up and return home, we said 'where else can you send us today?? Husbands are off work, we've said goodbye to the kids. Send us somewhere fun!'
Their answer was Portland, Oregon. We went and had a blast. Husbands quickly cancelled our mammoth hotel and booked us here .
The weather was sunny and unseasonably gorgeous. We shopped, read our books, worked out, had some yummy meals, visited Powell's books, hit some irish pubs,went to some scary nightclubs (briefly), learned bollywood dancing, and indulged in lots of girl talk. The best part? No schedule!
I felt like I also had a lot of thinking time, to reflect on things and make decisions.
I returned on Sunday revived and ready to return to work and life! Getaways are the best!
Now, a week later, I am home and totally in the thick of things. At work, in addition to teaching we have 'adjunct' duties. Of course, both of mine are happening right now, one the day we move (coordinating the district's young author's fair), the other a few days later (our school's family fun night for kindergarten through second grade). It's assessment time for report cards and my student teacher's evaluation time. The ski week trip is still paying dividends as I'm feeling pretty relaxed in the midst of things (despite my post on exhaling) and happy to tackle these challenges head on. : )
OK, I've exhaled. The house is gorgeous and E and I have gotten some downtime. My wonderful friend picked up Miss P and emailed photos of her and my classroom kiddos at the Olympic parade. All is good.
By the way, please vote on the workout poll! No fancy incentives offered for doing so, just the knowledge you'll help my esteem a bit. : )
Was the question I asked E this morning. Crazy couple of days. Our kindergartners had an Olympics parade and celebration scheduled for Friday afternoon. Due to rain, it was moved up to today. Fine, except E and I are off today to do house stuff, leaving my sub (and student teacher - thank goodness) to lead the parade, and me one less day to prepare. So last night I pulled a marathon finishing up costumes for the event and sorting them neatly into bags for the students. This was after I called Triple A, because I left the lights on in my car in the morning, and while E and P were running around town faxing things, because the bank realized they were missing a few needed forms for our loan.
This a.m. after taking P to school, my lovely husband helped me prep the finishing touch - gold medals - in the school workroom. Then, we hightailed it to Kohl's to get P a yellow shirt as each class was to dress in colors of one of the Olympic rings. As another K-teacher, I had advance notice of P's color, so no good excuse not to have things ready. However, I had decided to play things fast and loose and not worry about it until an actual official flyer went home from P's teacher. Guess when the flyer went home - yesterday. When we got up today guess what E and P had picked out for her to wear (hint: not a yellow outfit). Said yellow shirt (the only one she has, was MIA). So after running another school related errand, our final stop was to Kohl's where we found a darling yellow top in P's size. Returned just in time for recess to outfit our little sweetie. :)
We are now off and running to grab something to eat and head to our house orientation. So so sad to miss P and my class in the Olympics parade! I've been waiting for this since I realized the rare Olympics parade would be her kindergarten year. Oh well, what are you gonna do??
So, I want to get fit. I'm not overweight, but I weigh more now than I ever have before (except when pregnant).
Most importantly, though, I want to be healthy. Endorphins, energy, all that good stuff. I belong to a great gym and I actually enjoy working out. My problem is sticking to a schedule.
My initial plan when I joined this new gym, was to go first thing in the morning. However, as I have to be en route to school by 7:50 (and in a few weeks when we move, it should be more like 7:40), my morning workouts have been very short.
I would need to arrive at the gym (about 7 minutes from home) at 5:30 to really make a difference. Sounds doable, but I just have not been able to heave myself out of bed. I've tried afternoons on days when E has P. When its worked out, its been great. I like the afternoon workouts, I don't feel as rushed. However, things tend to come up. Today, E remembered he had a meeting, so I ended up with P. Often on Wednesdays - my other day - I have meetings. On Fridays, we often have plans. Also? I tend to be a little work-aholic-ish, and have a hard time cutting myself off when there is so much I want to accomplish at school.
Writing all this, I can see, that one problem is that I haven't been serious enough about making the change. If I was, I would find a way to get out of bed early. And/or I wouldn't make plans on Friday evenings that interfered with working out - as that is one of my few available days.
So, dear readers, I'm asking for your input. I keep' weighing' the options, and both have valid points. Do I go for peaceful mornings at home, and learn how to make afternoon workouts a priority (force myself to leave work, bring P to the onsite childcare if necessary). Or, do I pull out the stops to make myself an early riser?
Please vote on the poll to the right!
This is where I will be come Thursday! My girlfriend's husband planned a getaway for her and a friend. I am playing the part of friend! We plan to ski, read, sip wine, sit by the fire, chat, check out the nightlife, and r-e-s-t! We'll be back on Sunday in time to return to the daily grind (read: work and school).
Not too brag : ) , but for once I have a year ahead of me lined with getaways. An upside of working. Let the fun begin!
Last night E and I saw this movie - Valentine's Day. I recommend! We both have colds and I ate a little too much junk food, so it wasn't the most romantic night, but I feel so lucky to have him and Miss P as my valentines!!
Today we will have a family celebration. We'll pick up P at church where she is with her grandparents and attend a two year old b-day with family friends. After that, I think we are all just going to hang out, relax and play. Tonight we'll have something yummy for dinner. Any suggestions?
Feb has been an uber busy month at school and home. Sadly my focus on health and cooking has suffered a bit. After our class valentine's party today, I basically came home and sacked out on the couch. The exact same position I was in after our December party!
Earlier this week E and I assisted P with completing her science fair project. Her topic - 'Where will ice melt the fastest?' She placed glasses with ice cubes in four different places, inside and outside and checked every thirty minutes. Going through the process really piqued her curiousity in asking questions and exploring the world. She did all the writing, but naturally E and I took part in helping to create the bar graph and handling the 'layout.'
Also this month was this 100th day of school celebration (see hula hooping below) and my class had a big valentines/chinese new year party today. Now I am decompressing for a beautiful week. When we come back we'll do a president's day blitz and then finish off the week with an olympic celebration ending with a parade.
I am looking forward to some major fam time and relaxation time over the next few days!
Hula hooping on the 100th day of school!
January ended with the kindergarten crew at our school performing in a winter celebration concert. Miss P l-o-v-e-s to sing, makes up songs and is always belting out a tune. Example: (in her lilting voice) "How do you spell love?? L -o-v, then comes the silent e!" Her teacher insists that she did not teach her that little ditty.
Anyway, despite P's love for everything song, she had some issues with concert.
The stage: "Everyone will be looking at me. I'll be embarrassed. I'm no match for that big stage!!!"
Her order line-up - kids were grouped by height, and P, who was in the 75th? or 90th? percentile for height as a newborn is now deemed a 'small' in her class. Kindergartners always view this as a put-down, as small equates to 'baby' in their minds. "I know I'm a medium, mommy! I was born to be a medium!"
Anyway, our girl pulled it together, wore her requisite red concert t-shirt with winter accessories and played a drum for the 'chinese new year' finale song. And so goes another tradition...
A couple of weeks ago, Miss P spontaneously wrote an information piece on 'Moms' , while hanging out in my classroom after school.
It says:
Moms help us
Moms love you
Moms play with you
Moms pick out your clothes
Gotta love that girl!
One of my goals (not quite a resolution) this year is to reflect more on what I'm accomplishing each day. Similar to the SAHM, I tend to feel really busy, and at the same time feel like I'm not making enough of a contribution in life. After some reflection, I determined that I am possibly just undervaluing what I am doing (teaching kindergarten and being a mom). I am typically really hard on myself and dwell on mistakes I've made and what needs improving, as opposed to where I am succeeding.
That said: here's a small goal I've accomplished - no Starbucks for the past two days! I know that is laughable, but seriously, I am addicted! I'm trying to get down to one a week that I really savor and enjoy.
I also realized I had got a lot of significant work-related stuff - from meeting with parents about various kid issues - mentoring my student teacher - to doing some good planning and organization with my reading program.
Join me and write down 3-5 thing you accomplished and/or did well each day. Time to celebrate success!
