No T13

For the first time in a while I didn't do a Thursday Thirteen. Guess I needed a week off. And what a week it has been. Every day at school has been packed with non-direct teaching activities. Usually, those kinds of things are saved for the last week of school, which unfortunetly, isn't until NEXT week. So I guess we're starting to wind down early this year. Because I have two grades in my class, things are very different this year as it comes to a close. I am seeing the second graders get a form of senioritis. Not kidding. They are starting to treat the first graders (the babies!!) different, almost mean. They are snapping at them, and tattling more too. I think it's because they know the end is near, they won't have me again as their teacher next year, they are moving on to the next multi-age classroom, and this is their way of distancing themselves from the first graders and even from me. Never in a million years would I have predicted this would happen. This is my first real year of teaching multi-age...I say real because my intership was multi-age, but that was only 4 months of teaching someone else's class. Anyway, it's interesting to see the changes. The second graders are going to be in the classroom next to me next year, so I will see them every day. That's making this transition a little easier on me. For most of the year, I have been prepping the second graders for this move to the big kids' multi-age class, and also prepping them on how the teacher is. He's older, stern, strict, and old school. Familiar with the phrase "he don't take no shit?" That's him. Way different from me. WAY DIFFERENT. So all year they have been nervous to talk to him, and I've encouraged them to be social with him so they would be more comfortable in his class this fall. They wanted nothing to do with him all year. Until yesterday. He came in to see them and to jokingly tease them, which is his style of teaching. My second graders ran up to him and hugged him and just couldn't get enough. I was floored! What a drastic change from the last time I mentioned his name! It kind of made me sad that they are ready to leave me, but also it made me feel good that they will be okay. I have to stop talking about the kids now....the tears are forming.

Every day this week I've come home and been busy until midnight. Monday it helping a friend with a project. Tuesday was our softball game (we won again!!) and then finishing up my grades which we due on Wednesday. Wednesday I mowed the lawn and watered everything, then potted a few plants and went though some more school paperwork. Tonight I came home and cleaned the entire house in about 2 hours. That's good for me...usually it takes half a day. I still have to water the potted plants and finish folding laundry. I'm taking Tasha's advice from a long time ago of doing one load of laundy a day and then on the weekends it's not overwhelming. Kenny has been so busy lately that I've been doing all the housework so he doesn't have to worry about it when he rolls in late every night. We are bad though. We have forgotten trash day two weeks in a row. Ooops. We are going to be swamped this weekend both days, so I thought it would be nice to get all the cleaning and stuff done today. He is so lucky to have me:)

I was going to save this for another time, but what the heck? Ever since September 11th happened, it seems that when I look at a clock, ANY clock, it says 9:11. I swear it happens on a daily basis. It can be the DVD player or cable box clock, my cell phone, in my car, the alarm clock....anywhere I look it seems to say that at that time of day, either morning or night. Every time it happens, I think to myself, "See, it's happening again! I'm not imaging it!" Kenny thinks it's because before Sept. 11 happened, no one really thought about those numbers like that. And now, because those numbers are so talked and thought about, I just notice it more when I see them. I still think glancing at a clock every single day unconsciously and seeing those numbers is wierd. Just wierd.

I should have titled this post as Dear Diary!