The First Weeks of School

Well, I've been back at work for 3 weeks. One week of "workdays" (technically one workday and one day of meetings and two days of sitting at a table at open house, wishing I could get some actual work done), and two weeks with children. The first week with the kids is always pretty boring. I talked about my rules and procedures 25 times and read The Music Teacher From The Black Lagoon 25 times. I like to read that book to scare them. :) Mwah hahahahaha! I was absolutely exhausted all week. And I had migraines. Fail. It didn't help that York Tech started last week too. We had a nearly 3 hour meeting there on Tuesday night and then my class started on Wednesday. I was SOOOOO tired.

Week Two at school was a lot different. I actually got to teach some music. :) Well, I got to teach music every day after I taught language arts on the second grade hall for two hours. Sigh. At least the second grade teachers have been helpful. :) My kids are a lot different than what I'm used to. They are polite and they listen and follow directions. YAY! :) :) :) I haven't raised my voice in two weeks. I'm excited about that. I've used my teacher voice a couple of times on a couple of kids, but nothing too serious. I really used it just to show them that I have it. I don't want them to get too comfortable. So far, I'm actually enjoying being in my classroom doing my thing this year. I hope that continues!!

Here are a few pictures of my new classroom. I like it in there. Except the goofy lack of air conditioning.

My front board area. Rules are above the board, my stereo is there, a calendar, and there's Mr. Monkey in the chair. :) The kids LOVE Mr. Monkey!!!

My schedule. Geezerie. I'm BUSY!!

My monkey behavior chart.

The back instrument/book corner.

Back To School

Summer vacation 2009 is officially kaput. Today was back to school day. Sadie was none too pleased to be awakened before the sun was all the way up. The morning officially started at 8am with the goofy district convocation meeting. Well, technically, the meeting started at 8:30, but for some reason we were required to sit there for half an hour. I hope this is not a sign of things to come...
At any rate, we had our "welcome back, school is cool" pep talk. It was weird to see all of my Park people but not be with them. Then it was off to LES to start my new life there. Or at least to sit in meetings. I am not a fan of the first days of school. I wish they would leave us alone and let us accomplish the things that actually need to be accomplished. But, alas, that is not the way of things. So in the meetings I shall continue to sit. :)
I got to spend a few minutes in my room and managed to get some instruments and books unpacked. Tomorrow will be a MAJOR workday. (When I'm not in meetings, of course...)
I am interested to see how this year will be. I already miss my friends from the Park, but I have friends at LES too. I am looking forward to meeting the children, but not looking forward to having to learn over 600 new names.
I am sure I will have plenty of new stories to share! Here we go again!

Buffalo Steve Was Here

Buffalo Steve made a visit to the sunny (and HOT!) South to see me this week. Here's a recap (I was kinda slack with the camera):

Tuesday: I picked Steve up at the airport. His flight was supposed to be in at 10:11 am, but his pilot was super awesome and got him here about 20 minutes early. Hooray, pilot! We headed to the Thrill to hang out for a bit before Chris's birthday events. We ended up watching Doc Hollywood. :) Then we went on a quest for the Rock Band Country Track Pack for Krystle. We finally found it at Game Stop. Yay! Then we headed to the Mizwas' to wait for Chris. We celebrated Chris's birthday at Chili's with the Mizwas and the Gombars. Fun times! :)

Wednesday: We met Jill, Chris, and Scott (well, Scott was a surprise..he just showed up where we were) for lunch at Hooper's. Then we went over to the Palmetto store at the fireworks store to get a sticker for Steve's sister. Wednesday evening, we met Mom and Colin for dinner at Zaxby's in York, then we went to children's choir, to Sonic for milkshakes, and then to Meredith and Corey's house for Wipeout.

Thursday: Lazy day. We hung around the house watching movies and playing with Sadie. Steve had seen a car on Wednesday night that he wanted to buy so he went to check it out. Thursday night we went out for dinner at Longhorn. Our poor waiter was clearly quite bored. He brought Steve mushrooms and onions for his steak. Steve does not eat mushrooms or onions. (Because they're gross.) Steve had gotten me a very sweet card that was sitting on the table beside me and, since it was 450 degrees out, I was wearing a sundress. Poor Mr. Waiter came over carrying ice cream, being all smooth, and said "I see a card and a nice dress, so I'm thinking birthday!" So smart aleck me said, "Nope, it's just Thursday!" Heehee. So, Happy Thursday, I had ice cream for dessert. :)

Friday: CAROWINDS! We went to ride roller coasters!! I love roller coasters!!!! Woot! It was HOT HOT HOT!!!!! Oy! We started at the Hurler. We tore up all the rides. It was superfun! Best part....Thunder Road. Steve underestimated the power of the coaster just a bit. Hilarious. :)

Saturday: I had to make cakes. Of course. But one of them was for Chris and Steve's party. Heehee to the Red House Furniture cake. After all the cake-ing was finished and the kitchen was clean, we headed to Krystle's Uncle Chris and Aunt LeeAnn's for the birthday party by the pool. Burgers, dogs, cake, swimming, corn hole, and friends. Great party!!

Krystle's parents gave Steve a Carolina hat for his birthday. I swiped it. (I gave it back, though.)

Very serious corn hole playing...

Sunday: I had to stay in the nursery at church. Always an adventure. Sunday evening we went to dinner at the City Tavern with Jill, Chris, Special Mike and Karen and Special Mike's daughter, and Kaddie. Then we went to Iesha and Tadd's for an impromptu party. Definitely not in the plans for the evening, but entertaining just the same. And there was "Ice cream and cake ice cream and cake!" Heehee. Funny.

Monday: Steve's last day in SC. I had to go to my cousin's funeral. Terribly sad day. :( And oy vey, it was hot at the cemetery!!! Clad in black! EEP! When I got back, it was time for saying goodbye and heading for the airport. FAIL. And then I went to buy school supplies because I start work at my new school in the morning. SUPERFAIL. Where did summer go?????

At any rate, I had tons of fun with Buffalo Steve and all of our friends this week. I hope we can visit again soon. Until then, the internet is a wonderful thing. :)

All Aboard the Boomerang Express!!! VBS 2009

Ok, so I'm a little slow, but I was tired last week!! Last week was VBS! We all got on board the Boomerang Express! I was in the music room with my buddy, Erin. :) I think we had a pretty good time. I hope the kids did too.

Sunday night, all of the kids learned the Boomerang Express theme. The first through fifth graders also learned Gonna Follow. The little kids sang a few songs like This Little Light of Mine, Father Abraham, and the B-I-B-L-E. At the end of the night, the whole group sang the Boomerang Express theme.

Monday night, we reviewed the songs from Sunday night and learned Workin' On My Serve. It was easier, so the little kids learned it too. At the end of the night, we all sang Gonna Follow together.

Traveling over the Amazing Land Down Under

Tuesday night, we reviewed the other songs and learned All Things. It was a little bit too hard for the little kids, so we went back to our easy songs for them. At the end of the night, we all sang Workin' On My Serve together.

Wednesday night, we opened with the Boomerang Express theme in the big group rally. Erin wasn't there yet, so Colin, Mikenna, and Elleigh helped me out.

We reviewed the other songs and then we learned Yes To VBS! I'm a big fan of that song. :) Brenna came in and danced for us. :)

Thursday night was family night. We did the Boomerang Express, Gonna Follow, and Yes to VBS for the parents. After that, it was dinner time.

Sunday morning, we did the same three songs for the whole church. I think Erin and I were a super fun team. VBS 2009 was a success! :)

NieceandNephewpalooza!! Part Two.

On Friday, we loaded up the gang and went to Discovery Place for some more learning stuff. Pete was pretty excited about the buildings in Charlotte. I guess he's not used to that because of the building restrictions in Charleston. I was pretty excited because we were close to my happy place--the Belk Theater--and I could see all the show posters. :) While we were waiting for Brenna to get in her stoller, I snapped a few pictures of us. :)

Helena said she looked squished, so I took one of just us. :)

We went into Discovery Place and fount out that there were only 5 seats for the IMAX and we needed six. Fail. So we just did the museum part. The big exhibit right now is about shipwrecks and pirates. It was pretty neat. They had a bunch of artifacts from shipwrecks, a movie about how they recover stuff from the ocean floor, and some neat interactive things for the kids to do. Mere and I were bored waiting for the movie.

Then we went upstairs to the third floor. That's where all the "discovery" things are. Science-y things. The kids wandered around doing different activities. I think they were having fun.

Helena took my camera again. "Make a funny face, Aunt Stephanie."

"Make a funny face with me, Helena."

After Discovery Place, we had lunch at McAlister's and then headed for home. When we got to my house, Helena stayed with me because we had some very important work to do. Her birthday cake! :) She wanted me to make a Candy Land cake for her birthday party. She helped me in the kitchen. She watched me make the icing and I talked to her about all the things I was doing. I really enjoyed spending that time with her! Here she is with the finished product.

When the cake was finished, we went back to Mom and Dad's. Mom, Dad, Pete, Colin, Helena, and I went to Courtney's Barbecue in Clover for dinner. Yum. After dinner, Meredith and Brenna met us back at the house so that we could all say goodbye to Pete and Helena.

It was so nice to have them here for a few days! I LOVE my nieces and nephews!!! :)

NieceandNephewpalooza!!!! Part One.

Pete and Helena have been in town for the past few days! YAY! They came to spend a few days with Mom and Dad and the rest of us. Mom (and Mere, Colin, and Brenna) went to get them on Wednesday afternoon. They went to Kings Mountain to do some learning stuff. I met them back at Mom and Dad's for dinner. I was so glad to see them! After dinner, I took Pete, Colin, and Helena to choir practice with me, where we learned some songs for VBS and played Red Rover. After choir every Wednesday, I take Colin to Sonic for ice cream and we go back to his house and watch people do stupid things on Wipeout. This week, I got to take the three big kids! We got our ice cream/milkshakes and headed to Meredith and Corey's. Brenna always loves to see me coming with a red straw in my cup. :) Little moocher.

Thursday morning, I had Annabelle, so Mom, Mere, and all the kids went to Lancaster to visit Grandmother and Granddaddy. They stopped at Andrew Jackson State Park to do some more learning stuff. I met them at Mom and Dad's for dinner. I took the Wii with me so we could all play together. Mom made a really good dinner (chicken rolled in lime tortilla chips and baked). While Mom was working on dinner, Brenna and Helena serenaded us.

After dinner, we herded the kids outside to play. They ran around for a bit and we played Cosmic Catch. Bless little Brenna's heart. She wanted to play with us. She tried so hard to be as big as the big kids. I love her. :)

Helena was exceptionally fond of my camera. She spent a lot of time Thursday night and Friday taking pictures. I was so happy to have all of my kids together at once!! :) I love them all. :)

Hangin' with Annabelle

Seriously. Look at that face. PRECIOUS.
I got to hang out with Annabelle for three days this week. Poor Kim had to go to some goofy training at school, so Annabelle couldn't stay home alone! On Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, Kim brought Annabelle to me at around 8:15 or so. Kim's class started at 9, so she got her settled and took off. She was an angel for me. I think she maybe cried a total of 5 minutes on Monday. Same thing on Tuesday. She cried a little more on Thursday..maybe about 10 minutes total. I really enjoyed having her here. We watched Beauty and the Beast on Monday. I thought we should give her unrealistic expectations from an early age. :) Tuesday and Thursday, we watched a lot of the Golden Girls. Heehee. I think we watched a whole season and half of another. :) She is already growing up so quickly. I'm glad Kim and Dat let me be a part of her life. I love her. :)

Ok, I think this would have been one of the cutest pictures ever if the stupid camera hadn't zoomed itself and cut off half of my face. So I cropped it so you just see her cute face!

Look at this big girl sitting up in my chair!!