FYI, faithful readers!

So it seems my illustrious 8th graders have started googling me. And sadly, it's very easy to find me thanks to a certain Mr. Shall-remain-nameless-because-saying-the-name-will-just-give-another-google-hit-to-my-blog. Let's just say his name is long and Italian and I'm married to him, putting me at the forefront of all Google searches. Oh, the good old days of being Jordan Peck and nothing at all ever coming up about me in a Google search, mostly thanks to some midwestern basketball player with my name who hogged enough Google search pages that people (well, me) just got tired of looking.

Anyway, just an FYI, that I will probably either password protect this blog soon or move the blog entirely to a new address. Those pesky 8th graders are just getting too smart. If you want to stay in the loop, please email me or leave me a comment with your email so I can make sure to get you the password/new link, whichever may happen. :)

And if you're an 8th grader in Mrs. T.'s room, go do your homework!

I wish I had time for...

... making my bed in the morning
... organizing my house
... creating awesome, technologically amazing lesson plans
... just lounging around with my husband
... taking longer naps (because I have to fit a nap into my schedule now. There's no option when I get home after dealing with kids all day. Sometimes I'm afraid I'll fall asleep in my car on my ten minute drive home.)
... scrapbooking
... making dinner
... more than five minutes to eat my lunch Monday through Friday
... creating
... photo editing regularly
... watching movies
... playing
... etc.

As my new principal put it, it takes awhile to find your "teacher legs." Week three has come and gone, and we're on the brink of week four. There's so much to learn and do and be. Credential programs are pretty much a waste; you don't learn how to be a teacher until you teach.

Here we go!

Sooooo... I haven't really announced this on the blog yet, but I suppose I should get around to it before school actually starts. I got a job teaching 8th grade math at a local charter school, hurray! It has been an exciting, nerve-wracking, sad, learning-filled, freak out of a few weeks. I had my last few weeks at the Woodman classroom. I had to say good-bye to amazing co-workers who I've grown to love so much. I carried a heavy heart knowing that the job I wanted so badly, and had worked so hard for, was not meant to be, and that maybe, just maybe, I was fighting too hard for it. I spent a week with brand new co-workers. I've read packets and handouts and PDFs and about procedures and curriculum and expectations. My head is full. I finally let my classroom today around 6:30, knowing I was missing some things for the first day, but realizing that I needed to get out of there and just review my notes and lists someplace else if I wanted to keep going. Chris is asleep now (we have a really early morning shoot), and I'm still going full speed. Making new lists of things forgotten, entering in all my modules, sorting my 130 8th graders into teams, reading the student handbook so I know what the rules are. 

Life's a bit crazy right now. I keep thinking once school starts and we get into a routine, things will get much saner, but then I remember that I'll be dealing with even more stuff: lesson planning and tutoring in my spare time and keeping track of grades and all that teacher stuff. A list of 130 kids makes me wish I'd gotten my credential to teach the little kids- you get maybe 30 there, and that's it. 30 kids to focus on sounds so much more manageable than 130. Big sigh. 

Here's some fun pictures I've taken throughout this process. Can you tell I like things to be pretty? :)

Things I've learned about bulletin boards:

1. Draw sketches first.

2. Measure the board before you go to Joann's (on two different occasions) and purchase material just a little too short. 

3. Borders are invincible. You just tug a little and the staples go flying and the border is still in pristine condition.

4. Most borders suck. Go for solid colors. 

5. Fabric is much easier to cover boards with than I would have thought. Burlap was a great suggestion I found online, and it looks awesome. It also makes a giant dusty mess all over the floor, desk, and laptop case. 

All righty, I'm going to try to lesson plan myself to sleep now. Fingers crossed!

It's my birthday!

In case you don't know me personally, this is how I feel about August 8:






Yep, that's how it goes. Midnight to midnight.

Today's festivities included going to work and getting balloons, a lovely plant that Michelle swears is impossible to kill (going in my new classroom!), and getting a homemade farewell cake from several of my students.

Then I came home and refused to do any work. No photo editing. No lesson planning. I surfed the internet. I read some blogs on google reader. I looked up cool ideas I haven't had time for lately.

Then Sonia came and picked me up for a little teacher shopping (she was shopping for Paul). After a trip to Staples, Target, Joann's, and Target again, I came out ahead with a full supply of green binders for each of my units, an awesome stapler, and dry erase markers and crayons (thanks to my roomie Sonia who grabbed them for me as a birthday gift). We went out for frozen yogurt and sat out in the car talking for awhile, and I just freaking love that girl. : ) It's so great having good girl friendships.

When I came back home, I found a lovely card from my husband! It was full of loving loveliness just for me. Thank you, Chris, I love you too!

And now here we are, nine minutes till August 9th. I'm officially 28. It's already proving to be an intense, nerve-wracking, exciting and scary, crazy fun and crazy stressful year. Am I ready for it? Sometimes I think I am, and sometimes I think I'm going nuts with the pressure. Luckily I have a wonderful husband who thinks I'm going to have an awesome year, and delightful friends who encourage and support me daily.

So here's to the 29th year of my existence. (This is me clinking my peach champagne at the screen.) Cheers!

Today

This happened today:

Babies + Green Smoothies

This happened in our little condo today. Jesse and Lily stopped by for a bit, and we happened to have some really green smoothie leftover from dinner. Hannah and Abi just ate that thing up, straight out of the only plastic cup we had in the house.

Babies + green smoothies = awesome

#catlove

Chris coming home from work is always the highlight of Jack's day.