Recess

Rebecca came home from school today. Like usual, I asked her if she was a good girl. She usually always is, but she did say that once she had to go to a five minute recess. She did not sound like this was a good thing. Turns out, in her class, a five-minute "recess" is time-out. Yes, I am aware that the literal meaning of recess is break, but still. She'll be ruined for Kindergarten. "Okay, kids. Line up for recess." I see hysterics in the future! I'm being dramatic, but come on. Let's call a time-out a time-out.

Two weeks

Well, tomorrow will be two weeks since Michael's been gone. It feels like longer than that. I hope that's no indication of how slowly time will pass. It's funny though - it feels like I just started the job and I've been at it for almost two months now. This job is very challenging for me. The kids' behavior is getting better but still not where I would prefer it. These kids deal with things that I never imagined dealing with as a sixth grader. I don't know if they grow up more quickly now or I was just naive. This year will definitely be a learning experience for me. I guess first years of teaching can be difficult. It definitely has its rewarding sides too, but sometimes I still go home feeling beat up. Less now so than the first week though.

Becca and Liam are in bed now. We had a yummy dinner at MomMom's and PopPop's. It was nice of them to remember us and really nice to not have to cook. The kids really chowed down on the noodles and chicken. And the dessert. Rebecca seems to be doing better. It took her awhile to adjust to Michael being gone. And being a Rebecca Sr. emotionally, I cannot deal with her emotions sometimes. Michael is a good mediator for the two of us.

I'm going to grade papers and watch American Idol. Good times!

Long Weekend

We've been having a great, long weekend. I got my car detailed after a horrible, milky disaster during Christmas break. I must say, it is looking (and smelling) pretty good. Hopefully it'll last awhile, but with me and my kids, who knows?

Rebecca had a birthday party to go to yesterday. What could be more fun than 10 5 year old girls and their paranoid mothers trying to decide which Kindergarten to choose for next year??? Oh, and did I mention lots of sugar? But the food was really good and the girls got along very well, so it was a success.

Today we went to Some Guys Bagels, definitely one of my top 5 places in Dover. When I grow up, I want to open up a bagel shop. I think I could get up early enough and make the dough. Dee-licious.

The kids are napping like little angels right now. Hallelujah. I'm trying to get excited (?) about going back to work on Tuesday. I certainly should grade some papers tonight. Funny, I was really excited as a student to grade writing papers...

On another note, Liam tells people they're fat right now. I don't think he does it to be rude, he just says it very matter-of-factly. I don't even think he thinks it's an insult. But it's not going away. He said it in church in Colorado when the praise and worship guy got up to sing. "Mommy, he's fat!" Terribly embarrassing. I've tried to ignore it and hope it goes away, but I think it's time for the talk.

Friday

It's Friday. Finally. Being a teacher now, I completely re-get all the hype about Friday. Having been out of the workforce for almost five years, I had forgotten how completely awesome Fridays are.

Speaking of awesome, Liam's favorite movie right now is Kung Fu Panda. And he really likes to say "There's no charge for awesomeness." It cracks me up each time he says it. Sometimes he'll mix it up though and say, "There IS a charge for awesomeness." I like that movie too. It's one of the few movies we can all watch and it doesn't drive me batty after multiple showings. Yet.

Rebecca is playing her Leap Frog. She's still learning how to maneuver it, so I have to be right there while she's on it. I should really put her to bed now.

Today was a test day at school, so it was pretty quiet. The kids, however, were pretty hyper about the whole 3-day weekend. I have figured out how helpful it is to let the kids do a lot of the work. At first, I thought I needed to do everything, but now they hand everything out and are even starting to grade some of the easier papers.

The kids and I ate at Olive Garden today. I rarely eat at real restaurants alone with them, but we actually had a great time. Michael's absence hasn't completely sunk in. I find it usually takes about two weeks and then I realize the suckiness of the whole situation. Or one major public meltdown by the kids, whichever comes first. Right now, it's somewhat enjoyable to watch tv until weird hours and eat takeout and not do dishes for awhile, but that gets old very quickly. But I must admit that it was nice to have him around this year for birthdays and Christmas and Thanksgiving. He pretty much missed it all last year. I talked to him earlier today and it was so good to hear his voice. Albeit echoey. It's hard to tell when he's gone how the signal will be.

January

OK, so I did a terrible job of keeping up with my blog. Here I am again , six months later. We'll see how it goes. A lot of stuff happened in the meantime. I graduated last month, and now I'm teaching sixth graders English. I was really lucky to find a job so quickly. I'm certainly learning a lot from my kids.

My husband is gone again for six months. Hopefully this can be a good tool for us to communicate. This is my first real attempt at blogging.