Where has the time gone?

Good grief.  What…a…month.  Who knew that I would let so much time pass since my very first post?  I have a good excuse though :) This month has flown by!  Agreed?

Since I last posted, so much has been going on.  I've turned in all of my "official paperwork" to the county and "officially" submitted my resignation from the other.  Honestly, it was a bit sad.  I didn't think it would be, but it was.  I don't typically do well with change, so that could be the reason.  It was the closing of a chapter, but the beginning of a new one.

I've also been doing a bunch of visiting.  I'm so blessed that I have a group of old parents who still share their babies with me.  I got the chance to head down 95 and cheer on two of my boys while they played baseball, and talk and laugh with their families.  I've had a girls day with one of my favorites that included lunch, a movie, putt-putt, and lots of loud singing…or as we like to call it, carpool concerts ;)  I've visited my best friends and their little ones, and made a few weekend and day trips down 401 to visit my family.

My guy and I also made the traditional summer lake trip up to the mountains to visit his family.  Grrr…the weatherman was not our friend during our week there.  The afternoon that we got there and the next day were absolutely beautiful!  But, not much can be said for the rest of our stay.  Mid-July and it was cold.  I'm talking like 58 degrees at night.  And it rained…ugh…oh, how it rained.  It legit rained for multiple days straight.  Not even like scattered thunderstorms…just rain.  I think by the last few days we were going a little stir crazy from cabin fever.  It was also really weird without Maws.  She was there last summer, keeping everyone straight, and giving William a hard time.  The house just wasn't as lively this go 'round.  It was great spending time with his mom and grandfather, though.

During this hectic month I have also turned another year older.  Blah.  They're never fun anymore after your turn like 24 or 25.  Am I right?  This year brought on the big 2-8.  Yikes!  I just keep thinking how close I am to 30 and it makes me nauseous.  I guess I can't stop or slow down the time, so I might as well embrace it and keep moving forward.  I am excited to see what this next year holds!

Today I was able to meet with 4 out of 5 of my new grade level coworkers.  We decided to meet for lunch at one of the Mexican restaurants in town to get to know everyone (or better yet so that I could meet all of them and they could put a name with a face) and so that we could plan for, at least, the beginning of the year.  I wasn't nervous about it at all, however I did realize on the way there that I had no clue who to look for or even what to look for when I arrived.  I probably looked a bit flustered in the parking lot and when I first entered the restaurant asking people if they were affiliated with my new school.  I finally found my group sitting in one of the corner booths.  Introductions were made and it took off from there.  I was relieved when I learned that 4 out of the 6 of us would be new to teaching first grade.  I will not be alone in this journey!  One of the ladies is coming from 13 years in 5th grade…whoa.  Bless her.  I am the only new one to the school though.  We ate, socialized, and then got down to business.  It was SO nice being able to get a feel for how things work there and within the grade level before just being thrown into it all.  All of the ladies seem to be passionate, helpful, supportive, dedicated, and organized.  I feel like I will fit right in…except maybe the organized part?  But hey, I'm working on it! :)  They were also very open to hearing any ideas that I had.  I was able to share The Daily 5 routine that we had been using this past school year at my old school.  They acted pretty interested, and a few of them seemed to jump right on board.  I was happy about that for sure!  I wasn't sure how they'd take to the idea, because I know how skeptical I was at first.  I'd already talked to the Instructional Coach and principal and they were down for me using it, so maybe the rest of the team will jump on board and grow to love it like I have!

Welp--I know this is abrupt but that's all I can think of for now.  I've been procrastinating this online safety training for quite a while so I should probably move on to working on that.  Happy Thursday!

Starting a new journey...

Well, here it is.  This post is about a few firsts…ha, oh, how true that statement is.

First things first (see what I did there?)…this is my very first post on my very first blog ever!  It's a little out of my comfort zone, but I'm realizing very quickly how much I've allowed myself to be put outside of my comfort zone here lately.  My hesitations about starting a blog range anywhere from worries about not having enough to say to keep a blog running, to making some embarrassing grammatical errors, all the way to not having anyone read it.  If I'm being completely honest with myself then the second of those two worries is probably the most realistic.

I am also experiencing a change within my career.  I am leaving the first school I joined after graduating college, and the only school system I've known for the past five years, to join a new one.  I have SO loved teaching my babies (as you'll soon realize I call all of my students) at MES, but realized through a years worth of prayers, thinking, and talking with others, that my time there was coming to an end.  Not only will I be changing systems, I will also be changing grade levels.  Yikes!  I will be moving down a grade level to FIRST!  Ahhh!  I've only known second grade for five years, so that will be yet another first.  I told you, lots and lots of firsts are heading my way…literally and figuratively.

I've decided that with all of this change it may be helpful to write (blog) about it and hopefully connect with others who may be helpful in my new and upcoming situations.  But then again, if no one ends up reading, then I've just created a super, technological online journal for myself.  Glass half full, right?? :)

So…I guess I'll end it with this…feel free to share experiences, ideas, encouragement, etc!

Happy Sunday, people!