Update

I am still here but just really busy. This past weekend I took the GACE for School Counseling. I felt really good about the essays but the multiple choice I waffled on some. The test actually included two exams, each with two essays and 60 multiple choice questions. I have already taken the PRAXIS and passed it and simply don't understand Georgia's need to do their own thing except for the GREEN money involved.

I had a fall break October 9th through the 12th. Brad went off and did a boy's retreat with the youth at church so my mom and aunt came to stay. We lived it up big and went shopping as well as eating at Urban Flats, and Chow Baby throughout the course of the weekend. I learned that neither my aunt or my mom can play Mario Kart. It was hilarious. And we divided up on the GA TN game because my aunt now resides in TN. She left happier than me.

Now we are looking ahead to Brad's birthday. He turns 32 a week from tomorrow. And then before you know it we will be making our way to Christmas and my birthday. Oh which brings me to my next exciting announcement.....Brad bought a new bass and as part of that exchange I was guaranteed a REAL Christmas tree for Christmas this year. Yay!! I had a real Christmas tree all my life before I met Brad. It just says Christmas to me through its wonderful smell. Additionally, our fake is really fake looking so I scored a real , genuine Christmas tree this year. YAY!

Yay!

The news from Arizona this morning:

Anna born 12:46 AM (that's Az time) 9/29/09. Nancy and Anna are fine. Weighs 8 lbs. 14 ozs. and is 21 inches long. More later.

So exciting! I am so proud of my cousin and wish I was close enough to hold that baby! Can't wait to see pictures.

Some Exciting News

My cousin Nancy, who we threw the shower for earlier this year, is experiencing early labor symptoms. She was having one contraction every so often last night and ended up being all night with contractions. This is exciting because her original due date was October 8th but this baby has been growing and making it seem like she would be here much earlier.

My aunt is in flight to be with her because they are out in Arizona. My other cousin, Mark, is there with his sister. Things are getting excited for the arrival of the newest Griswold family member. Nancy has kept her name a secret so all will be revealed when the little Hartgrove girl makes her arrival. Yay!

Unexpected Vacation

So I was all ready for work Monday morning when we found out that school was delayed an hour and a half due to the flooding. There was no flooding here at our house but it had thunder stormed all night which meant Meredith didn't sleep well so I cooled my jets and took my time getting ready. Since school would now be letting the kids in at 9:15, I figured I would leave for work about 8am. Brad did the same.

On my way to work, Mom called me and said "Go back to bed. School is cancelled." I couldn't take her word for it so I called Brad and asked if he had heard it. He hadn't so I switched to WSB and started listening. They did say it. I called him back, and he said he was still going into work. I decided to call the school directly. I got my friend Pam on the phone and told her that I just had heard school was cancelled and asked if it was true. She said she had not heard that but given she was at work and hadn't even heard about the delay...she would check. I pulled over in to a neighborhood at this point. It took so long for her to answer me ( and I bet the million of other calls that came in) that I got disconnected. I called the school back and got a different secretary. She confirmed that yes, we were out. I happily and carefully turned around and went home. Brad worked half the day and came home.

I now understand why it was all so necessary to cancel school. At the high school I attended (also in Gwinnett), the flooding was so bad that 12 school buses were turned over and damaged and the road in front of the school washed away. Supposedly, at my high school's rival there is water in the building. Many bridges in Gwinnett were washed out. So here we are at the end of two days of flood days. I am sure we will use snow make ups to fix the miss. But it was nice to have a break and I thank God that things were not worse in our lives and send out warm thoughts for those who have lost loved ones or belongings. We just need to trust that God will provide the rain when we need it and will provide the provisions we need to get through the abundance of rain.

A Loving Husband

After a bumpy and hectic week last week in terms of work and home, my weekend and current week are going really well. Why one might ask? Because of my loving husband, that is why :0) This weekend we escaped to the lake together where all we did was relax . We took walks, cooked out, canoed, played games , watched movies and just got to enjoy each other. It was very nice and a refreshing change of pace for a couple that stays busy. Thanks to my awesome inlaws for allowing us to go to their most awesome lake house.

And since I have been at work, my husband has still been as wonderful. It isn't that this is surprising or infrequent behavior but I just really appreciate it at this time because I am actively working on wrapping up the internship portion of my Masters Degree and along with it my portfolio. With all the stress of that major step and work going on, the extra attention and assistance at home sure is nice and goes completely noticed. We have walked together this week and he cooked dinner last night. Not only did he cook dinner, he set up a picnic in the backyard for us to share in as a break from article reviews for me. It was very pleasant and something I didn't expect on a Tuesday. Thank you to my husband for showering me with love and attention at this busy crossroads in my life. I love you!

Out of the Mouths of Young Geniuses

We have been working on similes in 2nd grade FOCUS and here is what some of my students feel about boys:

A boy is as tall as a skyscraper

A Boy is as smart as Einstein

A Boy is as quiet as a mouse.

A boy is as nice as a neighbor.
( I also have to share that another example for this was A boy is as nice as a senior citizen)

A boy is crazy as a monkey.

A boy is as awesome as a rockstar.

A boy is as mean as a badger.

Tomorrow we tackle girls so we will see how it goes.

Week One of School : Over!

I haven't blogged in awhile. I have been busy and the majority of my time has been spent in this place:

Yes, the first week of school. It is such an overwhelming force, even in this my seventh year of teaching. And even more silly sounding, is that I haven't taught at all this week. However, I have kept busy performing other duties. Most of Monday and Tuesday were spent escorting late registering students to their classrooms. Even with that extra push of students, our numbers are low. Much of the rest of the week was spent finding records at other schools for my TEN!! new FOCUS friends who have moved into Norton. I am really excited about this increase in students but dealing with other schools ( particularly DeKalb County) is not an easy experience. However, I am down to just one child lacking their records from their previous school ( Calling Houston County out here). I also spent the last part of this week lesson planning and getting ahead on my copy requests as well as preparing my materials for curriculum night. So I feel very prepared for the start of my classes Monday and I am so excited to see my students as the majority of them were mine last year. It is so wonderful to know they are excited too as I heard many times walking down the hall this week " Mrs Dillard when are we coming to FOCUS!??!?"

Another accomplishment I am proud of this week is that I hit the one month mark of my walking effort. In one month, I have walked every night with the exception of six. Three of those were due to weather.That is very exciting to me as schedules and lack of motivation often get in the way. Now here's hoping that this month ( Aug 13th - Sept 13th ) will see better or similar results.

Coming Monday : Pictures of my Brand New , Full Sized Classroom (Before my Nearly 60 students touch it)