Friday, November 13, 2015

This is what happens when you start teaching extra classes...

Remember when I promised to post more frequently? Well, the week after I did that I found out one of the other teachers was leaving our program and they couldn't hire a replacement before the end of the semester. So here I am teaching an extra two classes a week! Her students are awesome and it's a lot of fun, but needless to say, it hasn't left me with a lot of free time!  and now I'm trying to remember where we left things here :)



Biggest and most important thing: My half marathon! I finished! I didn't get sick! I was 15 seconds away from beating a secret time goal!  (My real goal was to just finish the race, but who doesn't have some secret amazing thing they want?) All super good things. And if my GPS watch hadn't died at mile 7, I think I could've easily beaten the aforementioned secret time goal. Side note: GPS was fully charged that morning. Lately it's been lasting about 3 miles before the battery dies. A new one is NUMBER ONE on my Christmas List - (Hear that, mom or J? ;))   I've been running less since then, but there are two spring half marathons in my future, so the break from running longer distances can't last too long!

Other happenings:

We went to a young adult church retreat a few weeks ago. The topic was nostalgia/Back to The Future (because it was October 2015 and how could you not have that as your theme??) My biggest takeaway? "Live life like you're creating moments to be nostalgic for in the future." Love it!

Also in October, I went to my first TESOL Conference (our state chapter). It was great. I really enjoyed it, learned a lot, and picked up some great materials for my classes. It was very rejuvenating in the middle of a crazy busy semester. And a good reminder of how much I love what I do. :)

Free books and a tote bag! What more could a teacher ask for??

Last week was Mr. Conway's birthday! Hard to believe our little guy is 5 years old! I'm using this as an excuse to post more pictures of him, but really - who needs an excuse for Conway pictures??



  

I'm really enjoying this time of year. It's football season. J and I went to a great Halloween Party. I did some very fun Halloween activities in my classes (including pumpkin carving with my highest level group).  We also cut out paper snowflakes (because following multi-step written directions is one of our benchmarks to meet! Who said it had to be boring?)   I'm really looking forward to our Thanksgiving parties and to visiting my family for Thanksgiving itself.  I've started making my holiday shopping list (though have only purchased one little tiny stocking stuffer!) And it doesn't hurt that we've had unseasonably beautiful weather (though there is a chance of snow tonight..)  We even did some work clearing out our garden bed and planting garlic this past week. Note: After New Year's Day, my love of this season is officially over! Then it's just cold, dark and snowy ;)


30 pumpkins = a pumpkin patch in the trunk of my car!
The finished products!

Cowboys and Indians! Get it?? 
Snowflakes in the classroom
   Speaking of holiday shopping - I've been quite busy with Thirty-One! I've had two vendor events so far and have one more vendor event and a holiday open house :) Today is also my Thirty-One anniversary! Hard to believe it's been a year since I started this adventure. It's been fun and I'm excited to see what the next year brings.

Hope all my lovely readers are doing well and I hope to update again soon! (But, realistically, we'll see what happens ;) )



And one last picture - the vase and flowers J bought me just because :) He's the best!





2 comments:

  1. What a beautiful update! Well worth the wait. You are the best teacher. I love hearing about your students and how you teach them. And J is a great husband to bring you flowers.

    I am trying to decide if I want a new Garmin but really I just want a black one. I may look on Craigslist. I don't need fancy anything. I just don't want this pickin' pink one anymore. Geez it's annoying. I can't wait to find out what you get and GREAT JOB on your half marathon again.

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    1. Thanks <3 My students are pretty incredible. And J is, too!

      Which Garmin do you have now? I just want one that lasts longer than 3 miles now!

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