amos moses.

He only lived with us for a few days, but Amos Moses was a very loved turtle...

Go free, Amos Moses. 

Find your soul mate. 

stairs.

Someone learned how to go up stairs at Grandma and Grandpa's house... 

And she thinks it's hilarious when you try to stop her... 

I think we're in for some trouble. 

rodeo.

The kids look forward to this every year... 

the radio, according to Lawson. 

I'm not sure what this event is called, but teams try to catch a steer... put a saddle on it... and ride it into the circle. 

And apparently it still counts if you drag the steer into the circle...

This little miss charmed the socks off of everyone around us. My favorite comment was the lady who said she was "the best baby... the only sound we heard from her was a giggle!"

Always love the rodeo clown... 

But this was a pretty impressive clown... 

Late night for this little one. We got her all jammied up before our drive home. I'm pretty sure she was asleep within minutes. 

big girl.

How cute is this little miss in her big girl car seat?! 

She came close to 20 pounds at the end of July and was just getting too big for her infant seat. (And I saw and fell in love with this pretty pink flower seat!) 

Poor Sophie was always stuck in navy, black or gray carseats and strollers. She was in kindergarten before she got her pink booster seat. Since we don't plan on Miss Gretchen having any younger siblings... she gets pink from the beginning.  :)

friday.

So Friday was a little exciting.
One of our staff members at school had a seizure.
In front of my class.
As in... they were alone with the teacher... no other adults around.
They thought the teacher was being silly at first, but then they were trying to tell the teacher that they were bleeding and telling them to wake up... but the teacher wouldn't.
Two of my girls went to the office and told the secretaries.
I just happened to be walking down the hall in time to hear Miss Edna say, "Angie! Call 911!" and start shooing my kids out in the hall.
So I hustled them back to class and played counselor for about 45 minutes.
They were pretty freaked out.
I cannot imagine how scary it must have been for them.
I would have been scared to witness that.
I was pretty shook up without even seeing anything.
Several of them thought the teacher was dead.
A few were crying... there were lots of questions... lots of reassuring on my part... promising them again and again that the teacher was not dead... that the teacher would come back to school.
It happened at 9:00 and pretty much consumed the rest of our day.
I would think that they had kind of moved past it, but then someone would start talking about it again and the questions, answers, reassuring would start all over.

The teacher is okay... ended up leaving school with their spouse and spent the day at home resting... planning to be back at school on Tuesday. I've already told the teacher to plan on lots of hugs from my class. And lots of questions.

I was so proud of these kids, though.
They did exactly what they should have... stayed calm... went for help.
I'm sure it's something they aren't going to forget for a long time.
I know I won't forget for awhile.
I love that they knew what to do and I love that they care so much about their teacher.
They are sweet little people.
(I will try to remember that on the days that they are driving me crazy.)

shoes.

So apparently Fernando and Misael each have two pairs of tennis shoes.
Today they are both wearing blue.
Darn it.

school.

A sweet friend sent me this card today. (Funny... as I was scanning it into my computer, I realized that she never signed her name on it anywhere. I hadn't even noticed. I saw the handwriting and just instantly knew who it was from.) 

I kind of feel like this lately. 

I would love to just curl up under my desk and stay there for awhile. 

But I have a feeling those darn kids wouldn't let me stay there for long. 

School is... 

overwhelming. 

It always is this time of year, I think. But I always forget just how overwhelming it is. 

I spent about 3 hours up at school last weekend and could have easily spent 3 hours more. People outside of education really have no idea. 

My schedule stinks. 

I am really not loving having plan time first thing in the morning. Tuesdays are my least favorite day. We have to go with our kids to the computer lab both times this year (for reasons that have yet to have been explained to any of us teachers), so on Tuesdays and Fridays, I only get 35 minutes of plan time. On Tuesdays my kids go to library at 8:10, so my break for the entire day is done at 8:45. Awesome. 

The one positive thing I've found... I'm snacking a lot less during the day. Since I eat breakfast in the van on our way to school, I'm not really hungry 30 minutes later. I used to always eat lunch and then have a snack (or two) during my plan time an hour later. This year I'm eating during my 20 minute lunch only. 

My class is rather exhausting. 

Not all of them, but a few of them. One of my kiddos has spent nearly half of his day, every day, laying on the floor beside his desk. He's tired... or cold... or his teeth hurt... or his arms. One day he couldn't do his work because his crayon box was just too heavy to pick up. Yesterday a para came in my room and found him laying underneath his chair and saying, "This chairs just too heavy. I can't get it off me." I've been struggling to find a consequence that he actually cares about. So far nothing has worked. (But we may have found an answer today! I'm hopeful!!) 

My very identical twins have been a challenge. Mom dresses them exactly alike every day. I can tell them apart if I am looking at their face and they are close to me. (One has a tiny scar on his nose. The other a tiny birthmark under his eye.) But that didn't do me much good if they weren't looking at me or if they were on the playground or across the classroom. Yesterday one of my girls pointed out to me that their shoes are different colors. Fernando's shoes are black. Misael's are white. I'm not sure why I've never looked at their feet before, but that would have been really helpful to know for the past 11 days. 

My little one who didn't speak to her kindergarten teacher until the 43rd day of school spoke to me on the 1st day of school.   :) 

One of my kiddos is sporting a very stylish mohawk/mullet. It's really something. 

Our new math curriculum is stressful. Not the curriculum necessarily, but just the fact that it's all new and there's just so much to it. Lots of technology components, which is good, but so far I've only been able to get it to work 50% of the time. And of course, it's the time when I'm testing it without kids that it works perfectly. So far using it in front of the kids I'm 0 for 2. I'm sure it will get better. It's just new and uncomfortable. 

Lawson loves kindergarten. 

He loves his teacher. I think she is fabulous. She's one of those people who is just little and cute and full of so much energy and spunk. Just being around her makes you smile. One of his best friends is in his class. They are apparently having some fun conversations during their afternoons together. 

Sophie loves 2nd grade. 

Our family has loved her teacher for a long time. 

She didn't want to do ballet this year, but she is loving gymnastics. (And I'm kind of loving the fact that it's here in town! No driving 20 minutes to get her there!) 

Gretchen is still adorable. 

She makes me smile all the time. 

I'm so lucky I have her to love on after these long days at school. 

One more day... and then it's a long weekend at home with my favorite people. 

Maybe then I can get caught up on all the posts on my Google reader and on Facebook.