3 and 1/2 days

Yes that's right just 3 1/2 more days until Christmas break! I can not believe how fast this first semester has gone by although this past week seems to have been the longest.:) In just the last few weeks, I have seen my sweeties grow up so much. It is amazing how that seems to happen this time of the year in Kindergarten and even more so after Christmas break.
Next week we will be busy with Christmas activities- a school trip to the theatre to see Santa Buddies, a special animal show at school, the 2nd grade Christmas program, our Polar  Express pajama day, and last but not least our Christmas party on Thursday morning.
We have been busy making Christmas ornaments, reading lots of Christmas books along with Reading, Math and finishing up 3rd six weeks assessments.
I have been thinking a lot lately about how we are assessing these poor kids all the time. If it's not one kind of test,it's another. I can't help but worry about those kids who are struggling and some of them are aware that they are not performing as well as other kids in their class. I worry that these children are going to get to where they don't want to come to school, have poor self esteem and will begin acting out because of the pressure we are putting on them to perform at levels that some of them are simply not ready to. When I think about these things, it reminds me that I need to spend time focusing on each child and making sure that they don't start feeling this way. If I spend more time focusing on an assessment score than I do a child's heart then I have lost all perspective as a teacher.
As far as my own three k's they are all doing well. Kirk finished his first semester of college and is back home for Christmas break. Kara continues to stay busy with school, club activities and babysitting. She was sad that the St. Jude half marathon in Memphis that she trained for months for had to be cancelled last weekend due to the ice. She is planning on doing a half marathon in the spring that will also benefit St. Jude. Kali seems to have been overloaded the last few weeks with school work at night. Another reminder that I am blessed to have children who do well in school and to be patient and understanding with those students who it doesn't come so easy to.
I hope that all of you are looking forward to a wonderful Christmas break and I hope it allows you lots of time to spend with your own families because as teachers I feel that we often spend more time devoting our time to other people's children than our own.
Just a reminder that I write this blog as a journal for me to always have of  my life as a mother, a wife, a teacher and a child of God. I am not trying to glorify my life as any of these things. What I choose to do is focus on the good in all of us-my students and my own family and friends. We all face daily struggles at work and sometimes home that I may express to others on a personal confidential basis but I would never put anything on here regarding students or family and friends for all to read. Just another reminder to myself to seek out the good in all of us as I hope you will in me. If you take the time to read my blog via Facebook,then take the time to click follow me on my blog because sometimes I don't share it on Facebook.:) You can sign up to receive an email notification when I make a new post. God Bless you and yours!!!

Cotton gin, Thanksgiving and Christmas Oh My!!!!

Woo hoo! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast last Tuesday in our class and I had a wonderful break with my family!!! It just went too dog gone fast. It does help though knowing that Christmas break is just around the corner.:) We will hit the ground running tomorrow to make sure we finish up all the standards addressed during this six weeks so that we can get those assessed. Of course, I stated pulling out all my Christmas books to take and get started reading on at school. To say I have a lot is an understatement!!!
The Monday before Thanksgiving break our kindergarten classes toured the cotton gin in McLemoresville, TN. My brother is the owner there as well as a cotton farmer. The gin has been in our family for MANY years. Thankful for my brother and all of our farmers. :) As I said, our Thanksgiving feast went off great! I had lots of compliments on how well the students were behaved and that always makes me happy to hear that.:) Once again, I have been blessed with a class of sweeties and I'm so proud of the progress they have made this year.
Kara is participating in the St. Jude half marathon this Saturday in Memphis so Kali and I are going down with her the night before. Marty has to leave Thursday morning and stay through Sunday at Nashville for guard duty. Kirk will come home and help hold the fort down.:)
In closing, I'll leave you with my thoughts that I posted on my Facebook status:

Every year I look at Christmas trees in the stores and of course I have seen lots of pics on Facebook and it seems that many of the trees seem to have a theme to them. I caught myself the other day saying "my tree is nothing fancy it's just simple with lights and ornaments that we have collected through the years." I thought about that and realized in some ways that's true because it's not fancy in the likes that you would ever see one like it in a store display but it represents our family and that makes it special. Marty and I married on December 18, 1993-that's right almost 20 years in the books. and one of my wedding showers was a Christmas decoration/ornament one so many of the ornaments date back to then and are even engraved with our wedding date. Each child has their own collection of ornaments from their first Christmas to all the ones we made at home or made at school through the years. There are ornaments from various countries and favorite vacation spots that we traveled to or Marty traveled to on his deployments/guard duties. There are ornaments commemorating the year Marty was away and spent Christmas in Kosovo. We have ornaments from Ft. Campbell representing the years he served there while we were dating and even some we got from the cruise ship on our honeymoon. Many of the ornaments have been given to me through the years by my students. There are ornaments for our dogs that we love and others we have loved and lost representing the joy they have brought us. There are ornaments from Ms. Elizabeth Radford because each year she would give the kids an ornament. Last, there is an ornament from the Christmas of 1985. We never dreamed that would be the last year that my daddy would spend Christmas here with us. So my tree does have a theme and it's called "our lives"-by no means fancy but definitely a wonderful and blessed life!!! I pray that as you decorate your tree this year that you too are reminded of the love of family, special memories from the past and the precious memories of the loved ones who are celebrating Christmas in heaven!!!!

Fun times at conference!!!

Ok so I feel a little rejuvenated-well, at least enough to get me through til Thanksgiving break.:) I had such a wonderful time at the Tennessee Kindergarten conference. I learned a lot and got some new ideas just hoping some time will magically appear in my daily schedule to be able to do some of the things I learned. The best part was visiting with old and new friends. On Sunday night, me, Deanna Jump, Kim Adsit, Elizabeth Hall and Greg Smedley went to Chuys for dinner.  If you don't know them, they are amazing teachers and have great blogs to follow. Chuys was yummy!!! We had a great visit and it was fun to visit and catch up on each other's lives since we met this summer in Vegas. Last night Kim and my new friend Wendy Gilstrap went to J. Alexander's for dinner. Always a favorite of mine to eat at and it made me think of my teacher friend Tracy who has been w me to the conference before and we always eat there.:)
I've said it once and I'll say it again SDE conferences are by far the best-their presenters are the best of the best. Every school should send their teachers to these conferences. It is where we learn those tips and tricks to pull out of our hats when all else fails. At a time when there is a lot of teacher burn out, this is a great way to rekindle the fire.
Looking forward to returning to my sweeties tomorrow. I'm sure they will meet me at the door with all the things that happened while I was gone.:)
The race is on now to get everything done that needs to be done before Thanksgiving break. Lots more thanksgiving activities to do and books to read!!!
Hope you are all having a great week!!!

I am tired.

I have no idea why I am writing this other than the fact that I blog as more of a journal for myself. I am tired. I am tired of assessments, I am tired of having to come up with new ideas all the time, I am tired of doing and doing and never feeling like its enough. I am tired of feeling like I do more testing than I do getting to know the students. I am tired of feeling that I can never get everything done at school or at home. I am tired of not having a solution to all the previous statements that make me so tired. I am tired!!! And the sad part is that I can tell my sweeties are tired too!!!! I am all about doing some new things but there comes a time when you just have to realize that We are all doing enough. It is time to let enough be enough. At least for now.
Ok well that didn't make me feel much better but at least I got it all out. On a happy note, even though there is a full moon coming and things got a little bit crazy today it warmed my heart to see the sweeties show kindness to a fellow student who was having a really rough day. They were giving this child hugs and encouraging words when they could tell things just weren't going too well for them.
Looking forward to playing with Elijah and Annalesa some this weekend. We haven't seen them in over a week so we have missed them. Marty is in Atlanta for some guard training. Kara has a 10 mile run on Saturday. Kirk is at titans game tonight and will be home late and then work some this weekend. Kali will have her BFF over so we are all looking forward to the weekend. On Sunday I will be heading to Franklin for Tn Kindergarten conference. Looking forward to dinner Sunday night with some special teacher friends.:) I am really excited to go and get any new ideas I can and I think The Lord has perfect timing as I need reviving and these conferences are pretty good at refueling me. Blessings to you and yours!!!!

Field trip and Fall Festival and Halloween activities... Oh My!!!

It has been crazy coming off this week! Lots of fun and lots of sugar!!! We started off the week with a trip to the Dixie to watch a play of The Ugly Duckling and The Tortoise and the Hare. It was PHENOMENAL and the students loved it!!!! Tuesday night was our annual Fall Festival at school. I worked the cake walk and let me tell you folks will dish out a dollar numerous times to win a cake.Lol!!! Thursday the students brought their costumes and we put them on before our fall parties. It was a lot of fun and a GREAT party! I have a precious group of sweeties and their families are the best!
I am very proud of the progress my class is making. They are doing great with their reading and math and most of all they are well behaved! Very proud of their hard work!!!
November is one of my favorite months at school. I really enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday and preparing for it! I always dress my class as Indians and we will have a traditional Thanksgiving feast in our classroom on our last day before Thanksgiving break. It is such a special time and allows all children to experience a traditional Thanksgiving meal.
I am so excited that I will be meeting up with several of the BESTEST teachers EVER 2 weeks from today for the Tennessee Kindergarten Teachers Conference in Franklin!!!! Some of us are meeting for dinner Sunday night and then I will attend classes on Monday and Tuesday. I can't wait to see them again since our last get together was in Las Vegas at the national conference in July.:) they all inspire me so very much and they are the nicest people you will ever meet!!!
All of my K's are doing well! Kirk has decided to make some changes next semester. He is transferring to the U of M campus at Lambuth after Christmas and changing his major to English. He will living on campus there in the same dorm I did as a student there! I am so excited that he is attending my alma mater. Even though it is now under University of Memphis, it still has a lot of the same feel as it did when I was there. We are very pleased with his decision.:)
Kara has been busy finishing up cross country meets and preparing for the St. Jude half marathon that she is running in December in Memphis. She is always doing something related to school activities
her babysitting jobs, and service projects. :)
Kali enjoyed trick or treating for Halloween and I imagine we are close to the end of her wanting to dress up and trick or treat. Sniff! Sniff! They sure do grow up fast.
This past weekend we kept Elijah and Annalesa since their mom as band director was busy with the band and state competition. Our band placed 3rd in the state!!! Woo hoo! Congrats!!! Our football team won as district champs Friday night. Hoping for another trip to state with them also! Go Mustangs!!!
I hope you are all enjoying a blessed beautiful fall! It has been beautiful here in good ole West Tennessee! Such beautiful colors on the leaves this year.
Let us not to forget to thank all the veterans in our life for their service to our country! Thanks to my hubby of almost 20 years for his service in the Army and his continued service in the Tennessee National Guard. :)  Blessings to you and yours!!!

Can we hit a rewind button and then the pause button? :)

What a wonderful fall break!!! Why did it have to go so fast? Marty, Kara, Kali and myself went down to Pensacola and stayed at the Naval Base there from Sat. until Thursday. Kirk only got 2 days out for fall break and he opted not to go with us. We love the beach there because it is on the base and it is always so clean and we always meet the nicest and neatest people there.We enjoyed relaxing on the beach, eating some delicious seafood, going to the Tanger Outlet mall, touring one of our favorite spots-the Pensacola Lighthouse, watching some beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and of course watching the jets fly by!!! Love the sound of them-makes me think I'm back to the movie of Top Gun! lol! While at the beach, I was able to just be in tune with God and his awesome creations. I have been blessed in many ways and among those I count you my blog readers and friends so many of you which are teachers and inspire me so much! I can never thank you enough for the inspiration you are to me. Anyway, wish in some ways we could rewind to a week ago and I could be back to the beach but the show must go on. :)
Now, we've got a busy few weeks ahead of us. We will celebrate the 50th day of school on Tuesday. This should be tons of fun!!! Can't wait to see the kids dressed up!!! We will rock around the clock all day long.
The following week will be a field trip to see a play at our local theatre, our fall festival and our Halloween parties complete with costume parade. Glad it's on a Thursday! Then comes November and Thanksgiving activities. Whew! This first semester is flying by.
We ended up our week with a sleepover last night with sweet Annalesa, Nothing like snuggling with a sweet baby to calm your soul!!!
I am attaching a few pics from our vacay. Wish I could have taken you all to the beach with us but have no worries I soaked up enough rays for all of you!
God Bless!!!

the jellyfish were all on the shoreline when we arrived Saturday 

sunset

me and my hubby of almost 20 years and I'm sporting my Katy's Krew tshirt! Praying for sweet Katy Wilson Bybee and her family as she battles cancer! 

Kali absolutely loves the Pensacola Lighthouse. It is supposedly haunted and an episode of Ghost Hunters was filmed there several years back. We met this couple who the Navy put up at the lighthouse in 1985 for the night. The house at the lighthouse was actually used as lodging at one time. This couple said they stayed no longer than an hour and then left. They could both hear people talking, doors opening and doors shutting and they were the only two people there! They were supposedly some of the last people to ever stay there or at least supposed to have stayed~! They said they come back and walk their dogs there along the beach but have NEVER been back in the house since that night in 1985. :) Kali loved meeting them!!!

                                                                     Our beautiful girls!!!

                                                                              

sunrise

2 more days!

2 more days but who's counting? :) me that's who!!! Can we say Fall Break?!!! Woo hoo!!! This is just our 2nd year to get a Fall Break but God always has perfect timing and this break is much needed by teachers and students.
It has been a busy 2 weeks since I last posted and my sweeties are moving along. We are enjoying getting ready for Halloween and reading lots of books related to fall, pumpkins and Halloween. After fall break, we will just have a little over a week before we get to celebrate our Fall Festival and our fall parties! We also get a field trip in there to so lots of exciting times are coming our way!
My 3 K's are all doing well and as busy as ever. Their schoolwork and extra curricular activities keep them pretty busy.
We enjoyed celebrating Elijah Tate's 2nd birthday with all his family this past weekend! We all missed Lesa, his Nana, being there with us but I know she was watching over us and enjoying watching everyone having a fun time and loving on Elijah and his sissy.  :)
Well this Towater girl will soon have her toes in the water relaxing with my hubby and girls on some beach somewhere! I hope you and yours enjoy all the simple pleasures that fall and each day has to offer surrounded by the love of God, your family and friends!