Flowers Make Me Smile

This afternoon we walked over to the United States Botanic Garden. I was feeling a little grumpy and thought seeing some pretty flowers might help to cheer me up. Guess what....it worked! We spent some time in the Conservatory, the National Garden, and Bartholdi Park. Most of the flowers are in full bloom and looked gorgeous on this perfect spring day. Here are a few of my favorite shots!

Happy Spring! Hopefully the flowers bring a smile to your face as well!

Countdown

As anyone who works in a school can tell you, the weeks following spring break usually involve a countdown to the end of the school year. Everyone is excited that the school year is almost over and we can't wait for summer break. I am definitely excited for the school year to be over because so many great things will happen this summer and fall, but there is one thing I am dreading that has me wishing time would stand still....

AJ starts his summer job on May 3rd.

In New York.

And I will be working here until the end of June.

I'm trying not to be a wuss, but I cry thinking about being away from him and being on my own. Then a small part of me also gets upset that I am so sad because I feel like I should be more independent and self-sufficient. Ugh. Clearly I am overly emotional about this whole situation!

Luckily we will only be apart for two months. We will see each other Memorial Day weekend for a wedding and my friends and family will be visiting throughout May and June. Kona will stay here with me and she will help keep me company. I have great neighbors and friends in DC and I know I will get to spend a lot of time with them as well.

At this point I'm just trying to stay calm and keep it all in perspective. It really isn't that awful, especially when I think of the women who are away from their husbands during a deployment. He is just going to New York, not a war zone. We will only be apart two months, not a year. We'll be together again before I know it.

It looks like I will have multiple countdowns this school year. First, a countdown to the day AJ leaves. (sad face) Then a countdown until we see each other in May. (happy face) And finally a countdown until the school year is over, which means I can head up to New York and spend the rest of the summer with my husband!! (super happy face)

Day Trip to VA

It's my last day of vacation. I'm sad to have to go back to work (which probably says something, right?), but I thoroughly enjoyed my time off, so I am feeling pretty happy.

We had a wonderful time on our day trip to Virginia on Friday. We stopped at two wineries, one tasting shop, an inn for lunch, and an ice cream parlor. The wineries were both picturesque and the town of Middleburg was so charming. The weather was perfect and the only low point of the day was driving back into the city. It took us over two hours and I actually hopped out of the car once we got into the city so that I could metro home. Yes, I left my husband to survive the gridlock on his own. I could tell we were headed for a fight and this helped save the day. I got home approximately 30 seconds before him, but I was relaxed again and he was happy that he did not have to deal with a side seat driver. But enough about the drive home. Let's look at some pictures!

The view at Crysalis Vineyards

Enjoying the sun! (Excuse my natural hair...didn't have time for a blow out)

Piedmont Vineyards

The oldest original inn, Red Fox Inn

Lunch on the back patio of the Inn

We didn't make it down to the cherry blossoms, but we got to see them from a far and we might try to venture down to the tidal basin later this week once the tourists have packed up and gone home. No offense, tourists. Speaking of tourists, for a funny comparison of us vs. them read this post.

ETA: Blogger is messing with the color of my pictures. So weird!

Hello Spring Break!

It is finally spring break for me! We have a lot of things planned for the next few days so I am hoping to have a lot of stories and many pretty pictures to post here next week.

Today I hit up Target, TJ Maxx, and the grocery store for a little retail therapy and to stock up on food for the many cookouts we plan on having this weekeend. Tomorrow we are heading out to Virginia to visit a few wineries. We have not been to any in the DC area since we moved here, so I am really looking forward to our little day trip. Saturday we are having our old neighbors over for a cookout and Sunday I have a big Easter dinner planned. We also need to fit in a trip to see the cherry blossoms! I saw them while I was driving out to Target this morning, but I don't think that counts.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoys the nice weather!

P.S. Make sure you check out MRM's Vineyard Vines giveaway here.

Smiling

I had a rough couple of days last week. It was most notably awful because I received notice that our department might need to make cuts (dun dun dun) and I am one of the people that could be layed off since I have only worked in the district for one year (my internship year doesn't count because I wasn't part of the union last year). It makes me so angry that the cuts are NOT based on performance and instead are based on date of hire. Alas, that is the case and they aren't going to be changing the procedure anytime soon. I am trying to stay positive and not let future lay offs rule my thoughts, so what better way to avoid those thoughts than by listing out a few things that have me smiling lately!

Last weekend the weather was beautiful and spending time outside with my little family and our neighbors really helped lift my spirits. We spent a ton of time gardening, weeding, walking, and barbecuing and look forward to doing these things a lot more in the coming weeks. This weekend will be a little cooler, but it is supposed to stay dry so that is good enough for me. We might venture down to the Tidal Basin to see the Cherry Blossoms or we might just enjoy the weather in our own backyard. We'll see.

Spring break begins tomorrow. The kids were itching for a vacation so I am hoping they enjoy the time off and come back refreshed and ready to finish out the school year strong! I am still working through Wednesday, but no kids means I can catch up on reports and paperwork. I hate doing desk work during the school day when there are other things that I can be doing with the kids. Needless to say, the paperwork piles up quick! With this break, I'll be all caught up in no time.

Today I won this super cute lunch bag from the Preppy Princess! I'm taking this as a sign that I will still have a job to which I will need to bring my lunch.

And of course my loving husband, snuggly puppy, supportive parents, and amazing friends keep me smiling. Without them I wouldn't have made it through this week! Thank you all so much.

What is making you smile lately? Anything you share will be greatly appreciated!

More School Stuff

It was very interesting to read your reactions to my last post. A few people mentioned that the activity would have been correct if the greatest number was on the far right, but unfortunately that wasn't how she was writing the numbers. Since almost everyone said they would want to know if they made a mistake, I talked to the teacher and she confirmed that it was just a careless error. She didn't seem too upset so I am glad I said something. I love that there are so many teachers that read my blog. The insight you provide is priceless!

And now for a happier anecdote....

While observing a Kindergarten class, I watched two kids working together to make a construction paper card for their teacher. One student was helping another student to spell their teacher's name. It was so cute how the little girl kept running back and forth between the word wall and their table to deliver each letter. What was absolutely precious though, was that the card said:

"Four Ms. Cotman"

That's Not Right

I rarely talk about my job, but there was something that I observed today that I want to share. I would like to preface this post by saying that I am not trying to single out this teacher....everyone makes mistakes and it certainly does not mean she is a bad teacher. It just got me thinking and I would like to know what you all think too.

Now onto my observation....

I was in a 1st grade classroom observing a student that was referred for testing because he has temper tantrums and exhibits bizarre behavior in the classroom. I didn't see any of this behavior, but that isn't that uncommon. Even if I don't see the behaviors, I can usually get a feel for a kid, and this one definitely has some issues. Anyway, I wasn't paying that much attention to the lesson because I was focusing on the student I was there to observe, but I noticed something was weird with what she was writing on the board.

I think I witnessed the teacher teaching the students something that was wrong. The lesson was on greater than and less than and she was writing numbers on the board and then having students put the numbers from greatest to least in blanks she had drawn. So for example, she might have written 65, 72, 43 and then ____ <____ < ____.

But that is wrong, right? She should have used > (greater than) signs if she wanted them ordered from greatest to least. Once I realized the mistake I kind of panicked. I became confused because I wasn't sure if I was wrong, but after thinking about it for a few minutes I realized it definitely was wrong and then I felt uncomfortable, and then I thought about bringing it to her attention, but then thought that would be embarrassing for her and that she would hate me, and then I was thinking about how the kids were learning something incorrect and how that is bad, yada, yada, yada. Basically, a million things were running through my head as soon as I realized what was happening. The activity was over before myself or any of the kids mentioned anything, but I am still stewing over the whole situation. I am sure it was just a mistake (at least I hope so), but it got me thinking....

How often do you think something like this happens? I would guess we all operate under the presumption that students are taught everything correctly, but what happens when that is not the case? Am I making a mountain out of a mole hill?

Work Attire and Self-Esteem

Well hello there!

Somehow two weeks have flown by since the last time I posted. I guess that is what happens when work gets busy, I get sick, and I don't open up my laptop at night. I've also been reading a lot of books lately, so blogs and blogging have fallen to the wayside. Yesterday I had to mark all as read in my google reader because it was out of control and stressing me out. Blogging shouldn't stress me out, it is supposed to be a fun outlet!

I am feeling better, but work is still crazy. We are in the middle of state testing and the annual rush to get students referred and tested before the school year is over. Today was the first day in a while that I was planning to spend the day working solely with kids. Imagine my surprise when I got to school this morning and found an agenda for NINE pre-referral meetings regarding kids with academic and/or behavior problems in my mailbox. On "kid days" I tend to dress more casually and don't wear make-up, which is definitely what I did today. Since going off the pill I have had trouble with acne on my chin, and although my face has finally cleared up, I still try to give it some breathing room every once in a while. On meeting days I dress more professionally and always have on a full face of make-up.

Luckily I had my make-up bag in my purse and I was able to apply some foundation and bronzer so that I don't look like an 18 year old when I am trying to convince people that I have the answers to these kids' problems. They will just have to deal with my sweater/khakis combo because I don't have any extra clothing. Honestly though, most of my team will be in casual clothing and no one from outside the building (e.g. attorneys, advocates, etc.) will be in these meetings, but for some reason I still feel less professional when I am not "dressed to impress". It's not like I work for a Fortune 500 company where business attire is required, so what is my deal? Why is that clothing makes such a big difference in our self-esteem and our perception of our ability to do our jobs well? Am I being elitist in thinking that I should be dressed better than everyone else?

What are your thoughts on this??

PB&J

This morning I had to test a kindergartener, the first one I have tested all year. I thought his lunch started at 10:30, but it actually started at 10, so he missed it. I had him get his lunch and brought him back to my room so he could eat in there. For lunch he had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich I have never had peanut butter and jelly sandwich in my life, but today I wanted one.

Weird, right?

Or is it more weird that I have never had a PB&J sandwich?

When I was in school I was the kid that never brought a sandwich for lunch. And I mean any kind of sandwich, not just PB&J. My mom would pack me soup, Chef Boyardee, cheese and crackers, tuna fish and crackers, salads, cut up vegetables, fruit salad, etc. Pretty much anything other than a sandwich. I still am picky about my sandwiches, but will now at least eat them. Still though, I don't like plain old bread, unless it is a salami and provolone cheese sandwich. That can be eaten on sliced, white bread. All the other sandwiches I eat, however, need to be on some kind of textured bread. I don't like sandwiches that just melt in my mouth. Ugh, just thinking about it grosses me out.

Obviously my issue is with texture. But still, the smell of the PB&J today made me want to try it. Maybe my tastes are changing. My palete has changed a lot in the last 5 years and I eat many more foods than I did when I was younger. I used to equate never having with not liking, but I have finally realized that this is not the case. A part of me is thinking that I have made it this far in life without it, why should I try it now. It makes me unique. But is not having a PB&J sandwich really note worthy? No.

So if I try it, do I go traditional? White bread, creamy peanut butter, and grape jelly? How do you like it?

A Little Sunshine

Sometimes all we need is a little sunshine to brighten our day. Today my sunshine came in the form of flowers.


After a weekend with the in-laws, a doctor's appointment that did not go well, red wine spilled on an off-white shirt, ripped stockings, and a day full of meetings, these were JUST what I needed to make me smile!