My Silly Children

Wednesday, September 18: Only photos

My beautiful adorable silly children in pictures...They are my heart and soul. ~Made with love 😘

A memory to relive

Tuesday, September 17: A memory you would love to relive

Back in the day, my husband and I kept debating back and forth whether to have another child.  We only had my daughter who was 6 years old at this time.  We were married by now-in which we weren't when we got pregnant with my daughter.  I remember being so in love with being pregnant this second time around.  I was excited.  I read so many books and magazines about having a baby.  Even when he was born, I remember thinking- oh gosh! What did we do? But then that feeling went away quickly.  I enjoyed being a new mom so much.  I never minded the late night feedings or having to get up in the middle of the night to change him.  I enjoyed playing with him and learning with him.  I enjoyed everything there was to enjoy about having a child. 

I was very young when I had my daughter.  I enjoyed her and loved on her so much.  I had my family around to help me raise her.  My daughter and I had a very special bond.  She was my little partner.  When I cried for being upset about those young love things, she'd come over and hug me to make me feel better.  I've always felt like I didn't get to enjoy her the way I could have.  I miss all that.

My memory I'd love to relive is raising my children again.  I miss it so much!  I contemplate these days on having a third child, but then I start to think-oh silly me! I've past my time.  However, if I could have time back I'd definitely would not have procrastinated having one more child.  I would definitely savor each moment as they grew.  The tears, the craziness, and all that comes with raising children are the little daily blessings I miss so much. 

Love Letter

Monday, September 16: Write a public love letter to someone in your life. (It doesn't necessarily need to be romantic.)

But mine will be! 

Jenni did say we can join when we can!  So, here is my "love letter."

My dearest love,

Since the beginning, you have always fascinated me.  You have always been that one to inspire me, to challenge me, to make me take risks.  Risks I wouldn't have normally taken.  You have held my hand when I needed you to.  You have let go and stood back as well.  We have grown together since we were young adults.   Since then, you have always made life fun and adventurous.

I love the kid person you are when you want to be silly.  I love the way you take control of a situation when there is a demand for it. I love how you take care of every little thing around our home.  I love how you care for me and our kids and you how great you protect us.

I love how you stand up for us and beside us.

I thank you today for all that you do for us.

You are my heart and my soul.  I thank God every day for you.  You are truly a blessing to me.

I love the way you love me.

Where I came from...

Came across Jenni at Story of My Life and since I do struggle here and there with topics to write about I thought I'd take advantage of this simple and fun September challenge.   Go here --> to find the rules for the challenge. 

Sept. 3: Describe where or what you come from. The people, the places, and/or the factors that make up who you are.

I come from a very close knit southern traditional family.  Ever since I was little, I do not remember a holiday that I wasn't around my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc... As children we hung out, and played, ran around.  We did the same things year after year.  Until we got older and families grew bigger-the only change then came were all the more family gatherings.

We loved rodeos, trailrides, bbq cook offs, campfires-just loved the outdoors hanging out kind of things.  I'm not necessarily a rider of horses, but I enjoy the festivities that come with a rodeo.  I grew up going to the church bazaars and listening to live music.  There was always a party or so it seemed.

One thing that was consistent was the family bond I shared and how I grew up knowing how important family was in life.  No matter what the circumstances were, you stuck around and you dealt with it.  There were good times and bad times, but the good always outweighed the bad.

Both my parents were the oldest in their family, so they grew up with the toughest rules and restrictions which later carried onto us.  My dad worked 2-3 jobs to make sure we had everything we needed and every once in a while for special occasions we also got things we wanted.  My mom would take us 4 kids with her everywhere-shopping, pay bills, to work and even when her and my dad would go out-we'd be there with them.  We were 4-1 boy 3 girls and we drove my mom crazy!  My mom stayed home until I was in middle school then worked part time.  Eventually, she worked her way to having a full time job.  She would always make sure we enjoyed kid things too.  She would take us to the movies, the amusement park, and then we would end up at Pizza Inn with some of my cousins.

I had a great loving childhood.

My parents always preached about education and how important it was to have one.  Needless to say, I always knew in my mind that college was not an option, but a definite path I would take.

I am a simple traditional woman with strong family values.  Education is a priority in my life too.
These are the things I carry on into my little family of 4.  Life wasn't perfect for me.  There were many obstacles and roadblocks that would make life difficult.  However, it is my belief that my strong upbringing and prayer helped me see it through standing on my own two feet.

That is me.......in a nutshell.

School Clothes

 We took our son school clothes shopping yesterday.  First trip.  He mentioned going to Rue 21 earlier this summer so this was our first stop.  My son is quite particular with his style.  Pretty simple.  I think he is still searching for his style.  He has something about plaid shirts though? I don't know what it is? There was a nice yellow plaid shirt my husband picked out for him.  I told my son I use to put that light yellow on you all the time when you were little because you looked so good in it.  He tried it on and he liked it.  

Boys are so hard to shop for or at least my son is difficult since he is pretty particular.  He'll begin his sophomore year in high school.  He is moving over to the senior high school this year.  It's like countdown to senior year.  Yikes! Please slow down the clock! 

A few more weeks left til school starts for him.  He's got Drumline camp next week and its non stop camp until school starts.   

Here's to mid summer blues! Winding down the time until the school/work year starts up again! 

Chores

I know as a child growing up there was always a chore to be done.  And I hated it!  I was always stuck washing dishes and it was my least favorite thing to do.  Even as an adult, it still is.  I started my own children young with washing dishes.  Now, they hate it too!  I think its their worst chore to do.  I have to practically trick them into doing it!  Or make it a game where they take turns.  It's ridiculously funny!  However, no one in my family feel that laundry is a chore.  It just gets done.  Hmm...I wonder what that says about them?  Perhaps they like to look good and wear clean clothes?  LOL!  My kids both do their own laundry.  I can't really remember when that started, but I just stopped and noticed one day that I didn't have to worry about their laundry.  They just took care of it!  Something even more ridiculously funny?  I enjoy doing laundry!  I really do!  Always have!  My most favorite is doing the towels.  They are so easy to fold and who doesn't love fresh clean towels?! My least favorite are the socks.  Everyone has the sock eating dryer right?  I can never find a pair!  So, why is it that my kids take care of their own laundry when I really wouldn't mind doing it?  Go figure?


In all honesty, when I am home for the summer, I never mind any of the chores to do at home.  I love having the time to be home and take care of my home.  It's like a breath of fresh air compared to the busy hectic days of the work year.  During the work year I am so busily working then coming home and making do with dinner, cleaning, laundry, etc... It's like being on survival mode all the time.  It starts probably about mid to end of September.  It slows down around the holidays (of course because I am home!) then it starts up again and doesn't slow down again until the summer.  So while most people loath the daily grind of chores, I enjoy when I have the time to do it.  During the work year, I wished I had more time...let me take that back...I really wished I had more energy!  There is always time, but the energy lacks.
I'm trying to make a promise to keep myself as organized as I can to keep up with what I can during the work year.  I know if I put enough heart into it I can.
 

Summer Date

I promised my nieces before school was out that I would take them on a summer date.  The day finally came.  They chose the Children's Museum.  One of my sisters is a stay at home mom and went for support.  Boy was I glad she did!  I know I couldn't have went with all five of them alone!  So off my sister and I went on our summer date with all the girls!  

We had a great time!  They played on and on non stop.  I got to enjoy the day with my beautiful nieces.  I watched them play and be so fascinated with all they discovered.  I pray for more times to enjoy moments like this with them.  Love you my baby girls!  

Rigor, Relevance and Relationships

I was back again at the Rigor, Relevance and Relationships Conference.  I enjoyed it so much last year that I decided to attend again this summer.  Needless to say I was grateful I attended.  I was inspired once again with the presenters.  They really know how to make you feel good and validate what you do.


The opening session began with Dave Carroll.  Until this week, I unfortunately had not heard of him.  Apparently, he had a bad experience with United Airlines and turned his experience into a social media wave.  His message on social media and how it can affect a business or organization was a good one.  His book United Breaks Guitars was written after his You Tube video went viral.



The midday keynote speaker Adam Saenz was inspiring and powerful to say the least.  He was a young man always in trouble and he stood by us today telling his story of how he managed to get through high school, college, masters program and 2 doctoral degrees.  What would have been a statistic, he turned his life around and learned that all the bad in his life was not his fault.  His journey began with the inspiration by two encouraging notes given to him by two different teachers his last week as a senior in high school . He had the power to change and he did.  He later went on to write the book The Power of a Teacher.

Eric Cupp was another inspiring presenter.  He spoke on Capturing Moments and The Blessing.  His basic message was forming those relationships with students and emphasizing how important it is to show you care.  Capturing Moments lend itself to paying attention to the moments in your life.  They are happening everyday and throughout your day.  It's just a matter of you capturing them.  I left his presentation feeling uplifting to go out and conquer.  

I got to also sit in on a session from Kathy Seigel from Florida.  She presented on Instructional Leadership.  She was quite motivating and made the role of the instructional leader seem simple.  Well, the steps needed to take to be more successful as an instructional leader seemed simple.  However, it will take work and motivation.  She also had some quick little movement activities to use during any staff development to keep your audience involved.  Another inspiring presentation nonetheless.


One last presenter from San Antonio was Jo Mascorro.  She spoke on student behavior and gave us strategies on how to change it.  She has to be the most fun to listen to as she was hilarious and spoke lots of truth!  Very straight forward and entertaining.  Lots of good information and "a ha" moments! Loved it!

I got to visit with a few other presenters, however these are the ones that left an impression on me.  I really enjoyed my week with the RRR conference.  Can't wait to put some of what I learned into what I do.

Thanks again Cy-Fair ISD for hosting a great conference!

Summer and a Mulligan

Can I just be a summer blogger?  Is there such a thing?  ha! Seems I find little time to get to post anything during the school year. May was and usually is the fastest month for me.  The school year starts to wind down and it's almost like going 90 mph on a highway.

When I went into education I didn't get into it for the money nor the summers.  Okay, who am I kidding!  The summers are great!  But that wasn't one of the reasons I got into education.  Ever since I was a child, I played school at home.  I had my little chalkboard and my students.  I even had "school type" toys when I was little.  I totally loved reading too!  So, it was only natural that I would fall into education.  It was already in me from the beginning.  As I got close to high school graduation, the medical field sparked a big interest for me.  I started to have a desire to be a pediatrician.  Right after high school I took jobs in the medical field.  I worked as a nurse's assistant and in medical records.  I really enjoyed working in the hospitals.  Once my college courses begun, my heart started leaning back to my original dream of becoming a teacher and later work towards becoming a principal.


As a principal, no longer do you have the lengthy summer days.  Well, you still have summer days, but they are more for planning for your new year.  Just like a teacher prepares for her students for the next year, I prepare for my teachers and students.  It is a bit more calmer though.  Almost like some down time, but with a list of things to get done if that makes sense.

What I do love most about the education field (besides the obvious-working with children) is how it works in cycles.  There is a beginning and an end.  You go through the year sometimes trying new things.  Sometimes you have a strong focus on one thing and as the year progresses, something will take you off that focus and on to another.  But at the end of the year you get to look back and reflect.  What worked, what didn't work?  Summer time is the time to analyze and comb through all those reflections to find where the focus for the next year will be.  Most things in life run in cycles.  There is a beginning and an end.  We get started and we finish.  And we get to make a fresh start once again.  We take what we want, toss out what we don't and then we move on.  Life is funny that way.  It works along the same rules except your beginning can be wherever you want it to be.  If you wanted to set a new goal or a new focus, your beginning can be today.

This past school year was a tough one.  Maybe I can say it was the toughest one I've had in education?  I lived and learned quite a bit.  Good thing is I get to start all over again.  I get a mulligan.  Yeah that's it...a mulligan.  Love it!

Cheers to a wonderful summer of family fun!  Lots of down time for this lady here.  It's my goal!  Looking at doing some reading-for pleasure and for work (because that can't be put on hold...only keeping myself up with the latest), cooking-(l-o-v-e that!), blogging, and just enjoying being with my little family.  Oh and definitely making some time for the beach!

Welcome summer! I've been waiting for you! ;)