A Whole New Year...

It's amazing how tired you can be at the end of one week.  I think I like starting school in the middle of the week; it's nice to have a few days and then a break.  This has been a wicked-long week, but a lot of fun.

My schedule runs Prep- Social Studies-Language Arts-Language Arts - Lunch-Language Arts-Social Studies...and we haven't started Thunderbolt time yet! I didn't appreciate having that break in the middle of the day until this year. 1st period prep may wear me down! (Judging by the exclamation points, my enthusiasm lingers despite my protestations :)

The kids are good...many have had older brothers or sisters in my class, a bonus of having stayed put for a few years. Most of us are loving the increased focus on reading; we have adopted the Book Whisperer "method" this year for 6th grade language arts. I love my 2/3 period combo for Language and Social Studies, I'm just going to have to remember - BALANCE.

With the Gifted services, the new language arts, the new grading, keeping balance in everything else in life is going to feel like a real challenge. I am determined not to backslide with the health changes or to become old and stodgy (never willing to learn something new). It just feels like there's SOOOO much! I want to spend more time doing EVERYTHING, but there's not a lot of wiggle room right now.

Andy's all ready to start back to school as well. He's got his books and schedule all printed out... The Summer of the Rattlesnake is over! He enjoyed his internship, and will continue to do volunteer work for the Parashant office throughout the fall.  By the way, he's living proof that too much candy is not great for you. He had 2 new crowns, a root canal, and a cavity the other day. He's sworn off study aids with processed sugar!

Just had the Doman clan over to visit Gus and Rebel...they were loved and petted for a good 45 minutes, and are currently curled up dreaming about it!  Abby looks good; I can't believe that just over a month ago (July 12), she got her new heart. Cross your fingers that she'll be back in school in November, their family reunited permanently (with all members, 2 and 4 legged), and life, sort of, back to normal. They have persevered during this obstacle with faith and determination...I certainly shouldn't complain about my burdens!

 Well, it will be an adventure, as always... stay tuned!

Just in time for Back to School...

I would have said, "Back to Business," but you know we don't do that here ;)  Anyway, we've had some good times with John and Amber the last 2 weeks. Just before they came, Andy went to California for Megan's 9th birthday party...

...lots of fun, lots of pool time. Andy even got a makeover from the girls (no pictures of that tho' :( )

Things went pretty smoothly, we had a GREAT long rhino tour with Buddy (Mild2Wild) the first day,

then Vegas for a couple of days for the wedding, then back home for some more local fun!

We did the Rainbow Bridge boat tour - which was fun, the water is HIGH this year.

They spent a couple of days exploring the local parks, Amber's got a real gift of the photog...she caught this desert storm from the moving car..

We did some local sightseeing last night - petroglyphs and dinner in Springdale.

Then Andy drove them back to Vegas to catch their flight this morning...that's when it got bumpy! Security took too long, and they ended up missing their flight (well, evidently you can't catch your flight with 5 minutes to spare, even if it isn't your fault). So they will fly out tomorrow, but fortunately another stranded passenger (same flight) was able to get them a room for a discount - who says people aren't nice to strangers?  Anyway, we are watching Shark specials, and I'm trying to get my summer reading crammed into the next 3 days... then back to the grind! I'll be trying LOTS of new stuff, so I may forget to blog for a while, or I may get on and vent... stay tuned.