Life After Recovery: Crazy Busy

Sorry that I have been MIA for so long. The last several weeks have been intensely busy--the school year is underway for me (after a rather dramatic start), Savannah is now in the Pre-K classroom at school (which means my baby girl will be in kindergarten next year....which she refers to as "candy garden"--she can't wait to go!), both of our cars--including J's very new, very lovely car--were in accidents over the span of two days, and then, you know, just normal day-to-day things have kept me pretty well occupied.

I'm about four weeks into teaching now, and I can honestly say that I love it. I was worried about moving from teaching college-aged students to teaching 12-15 year olds, but it hasn't been that difficult a transition. These kids are so bright and engaged that it makes teaching them a really joyful experience. Plus, because of some issues with our building (we're a new school with a new building...which wasn't ready for occupancy on the first day of school!), I had the opportunity to get to know my students in a more informal setting before moving into our classroom. As a result, there's a really great rapport in the class already...something that normally takes a little bit of time to develop. This isn't to say that it's easy or always fun--it's a lot of work and there have been some long days. But, overall, it's amazing. We had an enrichment night last Thursday, where students and parents could learn about the different sports and clubs that we would offer. I had a couple parents come up to me just to say that their child had never liked history before this year, but now it's all they want to talk about at night. That was amazingly gratifying to hear. While I feel like I was able to connect with many of the undergrads I taught, I don't think it was at this level, and certainly not this soon in a semester.

My classroom! Nothing decorated as of yet...haven't had to do that before and a little unsure of what to put up :)

Fancy projector.

And I have a view outside, which is nice. Sunshine is good.

And I have my own office...which is huge! Can't wait to get bookshelves and all of that put in!

Savannah has been doing great--the transition into Pre-K was very smooth for her. She comes home at the end of the day eager to talk about using the sewing machine, or the hand drills (yes, for real), or what she and her friends built outside on the patio. Since my last post, she also tried out a new hairstyle--purple streaks! After she saw that I got my hair dyed (ahh...gray hairs...), she wanted to do something to her hair, too. She decided upon purple streaks. I have to say, it's incredibly cute.

Jason is busy with work. He's on a new team now, which seems to have been a good change for him. Not nearly as stressed out at night as he had been. The one sad note for him of late was, of course, the car getting hit. He's fine--wasn't even in the car at the time. A contractor backed into the side of his brand new--parked--car (two days after I had a fender bender in the other car...). The car was still driveable, but the rear tail light was broken, and there was a fairly big dent in the back quarter panel. We just dropped it off at the shop last night to get repaired (took a few days to get the insurance situation worked out with the driver of the other car)...it should be back to new and lovely in about 10 days or so.

I'll leave you with a few more pictures from the last month. I hope all of you are doing well and enjoying the final days of summer. For those of you back south, Sav and I will be in SC the last week of September (primarily in the Charleston/Walterboro area)...we're even doing an overnight in Savannah, which the girl is super excited about--"Mommy, there is a city named after me!"