"One Day Without Incident"

Well...we are no longer drowning, but our little family does seem to still be a bit on the struggle bus. Lots of little quirks have popped up this week which have made the transition away from crazy a little bumpy. We still haven't clean cleaned, and the laundry is still mounding. We have discovered the bottom of the kitchen, though, so there's that!

Last night, Brad decided we needed to go out to dinner to celebrate all that is going right. It was a brilliant move. No dishes. No cooking. Just talking and laughing.

Over dinner, I wanted everyone to be proud of me because I passed on another volunteer opportunity, and Brad declared, "Huzzah! We need to get you one of those signs: 'One Day Without Incident." Instead of injuries, we will celebrate days without you volunteering for something!"

He was kidding, and we all were rolling with laughter, but it's true. And I'm trying. What I'm grateful for, though, is a family that supports my crazy schemes--especially a husband that is a real partner in this crazy life of ours. I can't imagine doing it without him.

It's Fall!!!

I so love fall! It's absolutely my favorite time of the year. The leaves have been changing, and I find myself getting giddy everytime I drive down the highway and see a little more yellow.

And then this arrived in the mail last night:

And now I will be hauling out all the pumpkins. Life is good.

We made it!

We made it to the last week in September! The past two weeks were a whirlwind of chaos, but we made it!

Both conference presentations went well last week, and I left both conferences with a couple of new ideas, which is always my goal.

Read-a-Thon is in full swing and going well! We are a little ahead of last year, so I'll take it!

The house is still standing, and today I will start a deep clean. Brad did a Herculean job keeping our heads above water, and I'm looking forward to settling back in to my housekeeping routines.

This weekend, we have nothing but fun planned and I can't wait!

Wacky Tacky

This kid:

She is fearless. This is her first middle school spirit week. Yesterday she and Ellie twinned in their TTP t-shirts and matching headbands. Today is wacky tacky, and she went all out. I'm so proud...and I'm also really hoping at least one friend went all out, too. Let's just keep it real.

I Have the Coolest Family

We had a fabulous weekend. I'm exhausted, but everything went so well!

Hog Day was a tremendous success! Our first dessert competition had a goal of ten entries and $100 raised. Those were Mom and I's goals. The Board just wanted it to happen and didn't care if they needed to spend up to $200 to make it so. We had 11 entries and made $206! What was even better was that it was a true family affair. Both kids pitched in and worked hard. Mom ran the bake sale prep while I ran the judging. Brad sliced and plated every dessert for the bake sale. We had a few learning curve moments, but we problem-solved and the larger group had no idea. It was beautiful!

Yesterday, Issa and I went to the ballet. She djed there and back, and I just love hanging out with her these days. She has a wicked sense of humor, and I am so grateful she still wants to hang out with me. Last night, I was working on Read-a-Thon rosters at the table, and she sat down with her laptop to do some school work. She put on her music, and we sat and worked and occassionally chatted. It was lovely.

I think I will keep these people...

This Week Brought to You by Coffee and Jesus...

...not neccessarily in that order.

Over the summer, I volunteered for many things not quite realizing how the stars were aligning. So...the run down.

1. Read-a-Thon started yesterday. This weekend and Monday, this happened:

 630 folders stuffed and ready to go. They were distributed Tuesday morning.

2. Tuesday we celebrated this very shy 11 year-old:

 Bless her heart. She had planned a grilled meal, but Irma. So...we went to Weaver Street and made a quick cake.

3. Yesterday was the official Read-a-Thon kick-off:

I got the bulletin board up and spent the entire lunch reading and talking about Read-a-Thon with all the children. It was so fun! But exhausting.

4. Tomorrow is the Hog Day Dessert Competition! So. Many. Last. Minute. Details.

5. I'm running a state-wide conference next Wednesday.

6. I'm presenting at a conference Thursday.

7. I'm presenting at a conference Saturday.

8. Bless. I'm tired.

Happy Birthday, Issa!

Somebody turns 11 today!!! She begged us to start the celebrations this morning, and we were too happy to oblige she woke up to gifts on the table:

 And balloons in her door:

 Evan might win this round of gift giving:

 We were so impressed by his thoughtfulness. He wanted to get her a headband from Headbands for Hope for her, and he chose it completely on his own. I think her face says it all.

From us, Issa desperately wanted a microscope:

 I don't know who was most excited:

 Brad has been plotting with her science teacher to get something similar to what they use as school. He also chose a slide mounting kit and a couple sets of prepared slides so she could look at things right away:

 I think we will be looking at all manner of crazy things in the coming days.

This girl:

Well...I think she is just about the coolest 11 year old ever! I love the person she is becoming. She's kind, thoughtful, and genuinely funny. I sure do love her!

These Girls

Issa isn't really into the whole big birthday party thing anymore. Instead, she prefers to celebrate big with a friend. This weekend, we celebrated big with one of her favorite people on the planet:

This sweet friend is quickly becoming part of our family, and we loved having her with us.

Evan had a friend's birthday party Friday night, so it was just the girls. There was much crafting and giggling and eating. They chose barbecue meatballs and tater tots--like you do--and then finished the evening with a trip to Matthew's. They made their own chocolate bark, and I want major points for staying upstairs and only listening while they played in my kitchen. Saturday, we went for mani-pedis and then out to lunch before I took them for an afternoon of rehearsals at the studio.

They are such cool people. I loved talking through the nuances of Hamilton characters with them, and I laughed until I cried at the two of them analyzing middle school life. We played trivia, and they packaged up their baked goods for their teachers.

It was legitimately fun to have two such low-maitenance, fun girls in the house. Issa felt very celebrated, and I have a feeling this is just the first of many weekends with these two.

The Little Things

I might have freaked out last night. This Irma, she's tricky. I was all calm until someone said they were thinking about evacuating. We by no means need to evacuate, but it just tipped me over the edge. Thankfully, I have a husband who stays calm when I don't. He did the weekly grocery shopping late last night and added a camp stove and some long-burning flashlights out of an abundance of caution. Of course, now that we did all of that Irma seems to be slowing down and will likely just get us a lot of rain early next week.

While he was doing very practical things, I resorted to scouring my kitchen and arranging snack baskets for our day of dance carpool:

We may be wet, but we have nicely arranged healthy snack options. Thank goodness I married well.

Bracing and Balancing

Hurricane season in North Carolina is never dull, but this one is shaping up to be a doozy!

Yesterday, the kids and I went to the store and picked up the requisite water, candles (unscented after last year's assault on the senses), non-perishables, and batteries. We are well-provisioned just in case.

It's a tough balancing act. Preparing but not panicking. It's especially tricky now that the kids are more aware. Issa is reading the news for her social studies class now, so we have had a lot of conversations about being aware versus freaking out.

Thankfully, Evan is around to keep us laughing. He looked at the spaghetti track map last night, and his first response was, "Wow. Someone should be fired for that one. That's about the least helpful thing I've ever seen."

Yep. Life is unpredictable, so we prepare for the worst and pray for the best.

Our Nation's Capital

We celebrated Labor Day weekend in DC with Tim and Amy this year! They just purchased their first home in Arlington and invited us up. The original plan was to leave Friday right after school, but with the first week of school exhaustion, we opted to leave Saturday morning, instead. The short four hour drive made that a much better option since we would still have most of Saturday in DC.

When we arrived on Saturday, it was rainy and gloomy, so we spent the afternoon catching up and playing board games. We also had the very surreal experience of Issa sitting at the table on her laptop working on school work. She got a bit ahead and loved feeling very grown-up and important doing her work. 

It stopped raining for dinner, and we ventured out to their favorite neighborhood pizza place and salad bar. The salad bar was Issa's idea of heaven. We spent the evening just catching up with friends that are family. It's just easy to be with them.

Saturday morning, we awoke to a beautiful day! We walked down the street to a barbecue brunch, which sounds odd but was amazing, and then caught the metro to the National Mall.

The first stop was Air and Space, per Evan's request. He spent half the morning scaring me half to death:

 This boy and his need to be on the edge:

 We walked across the mall to the Natural History Museum, and Amy kindly offered to get a family pic:

 Evan can't fake it when the sun is in his eyes. The Natural History museum was the big hit! Both kids loved the gem exhibits this trip. It definitely helped that Tim and Amy both have worked or currently work with the State Department on conflict minerals, so they could add all kinds of insights.

From there, we wandered through the monuments. So much for a selfie with my husband:

 The kids are finally old enough to appreciate the memorials. They are also small enough to walk the curbs and need rescuing when they get to the end:

We went to an early dinner at an amazing Ethiopian place. It was our first experience with the cuisine, and we are all big fans. Evan loves anything he doesn't need silverware for, and Issa loved all the vegetables. I have no idea what all we ate, but I would do it again in a second!

Yesterday morning, we headed home after a late breakfast, which means we arrived home in time to relax and settle in before another busy week. I have a feeling we will be headed North again soon, though!

I Blinked

I saw a t-shirt the other day that read, "I call my students my kids because in the year we are together they take a piece of my heart."

My "kids" may be a bit taller and older than the elementary school kiddos that the shirt was referring to (at least from judging by the buses and crayons around the words), but they are still my kids. Always will be. And we have four years together. Which made last night a bit of a sucker punch.

All last year, I was braced for the seniors. I knew from the day I started the Class of 2017 would be the first class to graduate where I had been the only director. I was ready for all those milestones.

But last night. Last night, at our opening event, I looked at the stack of plan books ready for our seniors and caught my breath. Then I looked at the row of faces in the front row, some a little misty eyed, waiting for their turn be handed their first plan book. In that instant, my heart both exploded and broke.

You see, this class snuck right up on me. I couldn't be more proud of how they have grown in the past three years, and I can't wait to see what they will do in their last year here. But how I will miss seeing their sweet faces on campus and hearing their stories. I wasn't adequately braced for them to be my seniors.

That's what teachers do, though. We know our own hearts will spinter into pieces every year, and some of those pieces will launch into whole new adventures at the end, taking a piece of our hearts with them. And I can't wait to see where they go...