Just a little real life...

So really, this post has nothing to do with education, literature, the classroom, or CCSS...but I couldn't help sharing with you all the fun that I had over the weekend cheering on Baby Girl in her first High School volleyball game.  First of all, can I just say that she made the JV team as a Freshie - you go girl!  And on Saturday they played 16 sets of volleyball - 16 SETS!!  We were there from 8am until 6:30 pm...but it was so much fun, and a proud mama moment for me.  In the end they made it to the championship round and took 2nd place!

She's the one in the white, if you haven't figured that out yet :).  Apparently she is the libero? All these volleyball terms are fairly new to me, but I'm enjoying figuring it all out!  Well, thanks for letting me share a little "real life" with you! Enjoy your Sunday!

July Currently

So I haven't exactly learned how to "link up" to another blog, but I think (?) I'm on the right track with this July Currently from Farley.  Even though it's already the 7th (gulp...where does time go??)
Here's what I'm working on for July...



 1. Listening to Little Buddy's cereal spoon clank against his bowl as he watches Disney Channel in the other room.  My kids could live on cereal - and since my mom only bought us Mueslix and Grape Nuts growing up, I have now become one of those moms who buys Captain Crunch and Lucky Charms on a regular basis.


2. Loving my assistant cheer coaches.  Team camp starts tomorrow, and they were both over here in the middle of their busy Sunday afternoons to go over some last minute details.  They are both simply amazing!


3. Thinking about how much I'll miss Baby Girl this week - she heads out to Ignite camp - which is a week-long overnight camp down in Indiana.  She'll be gone for the week, but every year she comes back so fired up for the Lord that I am just so excited for her.

4. Wanting to head down to Worship on the Waterfront tonight, but it looks like it might rain.  Every Sunday night in the summer our community has different Christian artists come in to lead worship on the waterfront (hence the name). Tonight is Phil someone or other - but he was on American Idol a few years back, and I'm really hoping the rain stays away!

5. Needing black ink for my printer. Ugh.  I hate it when it runs low!

6. Tips, Tricks, or Hints: The more you write, the better writer you become.


Happy July!!

5 for Friday

So, I've seen a few other bloggers write a "5 for Friday" post, and I thought I'd try it out...5 things that I've been working on this week...

1. Blogging!  It's been awhile since I've written anything, and I love to write, I just feel like I never really make the time.  I'm excited to be back at it, and if you want a good laugh, head over to Confessions of a Florida Chick, a blog I wrote while living in South Florida - some of the posts still crack me up!

2. Fourth of July!!  I truly love celebrating our country's independence.  I love the camaraderie felt by all as we sit around looking into the sky at fireworks.  I'm not at all crafty, but check out the last-minute tshirt that Little Buddy and I made - I'm feeling quite Pinteresty if I do say so myself (a plain tshirt and fabric markers - go me!).  And we can't forget Leo the Cat - such a festive little feline!

3.  Enjoying our hometown!  If you've never been to the west coast of Michigan, well come on down!  We boast a great waterfront with one of the best boardwalks ever.  My hubby (who my students affectionately call Chris Hottie, because that's the title for him on my cell phone) and I have been walking the boardwalk and the pier almost every single day.  Today we started the day with a great walk, and my legs have been feeling it since!

The view from the Grand Haven Boardwalk

4. Strawberry Picking!  This is the first year that we have been strawberry picking, but it was a blast...I mean, sort of, we had to squat a lot, and it was really hot out, but in the end I have so many strawberries for my morning smoothie - and we were with friends, so that makes all the difference! We went to Cook's Berry Farm in Coopersville, Michigan.  They don't have a website, but they are a great place to go for u-pick berries!

Baby Girl with her flat of hand picked berries

Baby Girl and Friend Sam getting down in the patch

Friend Sam, Little Buddy, and Baby Girl with their yummy berries.

5.  Making lists! Every morning I send the kids a text (yes, Little Buddy has an iPod...don't judge) with their list for the day, it's 4-5 things that they must complete before they head out for their respective days of fun (Baby Girl is usually hanging out with friends at the beach, and Little Buddy is usually riding around the block on his scooter or bike with the neighbors.)  They both have 15 minutes of reading and their daily devotions to complete, which doesn't change day-to-day, but then they each have 2-3 chores that they need to complete depending on the state of the house.  Here's an example of one of Little Buddy's lists:

Well, that's been my week, I'd love to hear about yours!  What do you love to do in your hometown?

Why now?

Like all good teachers, I always (most of the time) write the homework for each of my classes up on the board every morning; in fact, I have a whole white board dedicated solely to the daily schedule and the daily homework...and if you teach at a small, private school like me, you know why I need an entire board...I have 5 preps (yes, 5).  English 9, English 9H, English 10H, AP Lit, and Creative Writing.  About once per trimester I have a breakdown that sounds something like this, *high pitched and whiny* "I can't do this anymore! I am in the middle of reading 4 different novels, and sometimes I can't remember whether or not Raskolnikov found a pig's head on an island, was one half of Dr. Jekyll, or is a psychopathic murderer...wait, every character is a psychopathic murderer right now! Ugh!"  To which my curriculum director pats me on the back, whispers, "There, there," and plies me with dark chocolate. Sigh.

But I digress...the homework board - 5 different classes, with 5 days of homework, each in a different expo color (love the rainbow brites package) each neatly labeled, So imagine my surprise when one day, about 2 years ago, I walked into my classroom to find my AP Lit heading erased and scrawled (unneatly, may I add) with the title "Hangin' with Hekken."  Rather than being upset, I was forever endeared to the goofy and amazingly lit-savvy Andrew P., who let me know that AP Lit was more than just a class, it was a time to "hang out and discuss major works of literature with *ahem* the best teacher around." Now, I'm not naive to the fact that he was in the midst of a major moment of B.S.  In fact, it's more than probable that he had forgotten to turn in a literary analysis paper that was due, and he was hoping for a little grace; however, grace is rarely shown in an AP level class, but his point was made, and my seniors have taken "Hangin' with Hekken" instead of AP Lit ever since.

I'm not a perfect teacher.  In fact, I read blog posts and scour Pinterest and teacher message boards all the time which clearly remind me how imperfect I am (I mean, have you seen some of these amazing binders? Who has time for that!!)  But I love to teach, I love my students, I love my school, and I am blessed to have a family that lets me commit most of my waking hours to my job. (Actually, they get Taco Bell at least once a week because, really, who has time to cook? They feel that it's the perk of having a working mom). So anyway, I thought I'd take the chance and see if there are others out there who I can inspire, encourage, partner with, and learn from as we navigate this ever-changing, common-core, hands-on, technology-laden, read-and-write-across-the-curriculum world of Education.

The aforementioned Andrew P. on the right (and let's not forget his buddy Devin K.)

An AP Lit debate table

My Taco Bell-loving kiddos