Ode to Summer 2014

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is the "official" last day of the summer....

The one downfall of summer is I haven't been in the pool since June, and we all know that is a teacher's worst nightmare!  Summer is supposed to be for laying out, swimming, and more laying out.  What happened to the summer weather this year? 

The unseasonably cool temps were a let down, although it allowed for more activities outdoors without being too hot.  This summer will go down in the books as a summer full of F's. Which are Family, Friends, and FUN!


This summer included:
-a kickoff to the summer by attending a Cardinal Game with my man

 -Slumber party with Adam and Jamie (in which I lost a toenail)

-a benefit for sweet Laury

-Bailey's wedding weekend with Courtney

 

-a weekend in Indy with my brother, sis in law, and precious Bryn visiting the Zoo

-Cheering on Dylan as he pitched and played 1st base

-The Sangamon County Fair concert where I may or may not have been overserved :)

-quality time with my favorite fur baby

-Movie and firework dates.  The fireworks in Maroa were even in 4D this year!  Soo good you could TASTE them....Literally! Brandon was nothing but thrilled!

 -a 4th of July celebration that included so many of my favorite people getting together to celebrate the 4th and two very special birthdays

-quality time with my favorite niece

-STL Zoo Trip

-First Ever Triple Date that was a huge success!

-Facetiming with my man

-Zoo trip with Katie, Peyton, Sawyer, and Paislee

-More movie dates

A few others that I didn't take any pictures of are:
-many family members gathering to celebrate my Grandma's birthday and spend the day together
-B and I heading to Amy and T's to spend a short weekend hanging out with them
-Finding out that I will be having another NEPHEW in December!! :)
-Dinner is Springfield with some of my most favorite ladies!

Definitely a picture overload!  This summer has been soo much fun and I've loved all the time spent with so many people I love!!! I am eternally grateful for all the family and friends that I am blessed to have in my life!  Life just wouldn't be the same without any of you! 

Definitely spent some time thanking God and lucky angels, my Dad and Robert, for all they continue to do to bless me and guide my life!

On top of all of this fun, I also packed, moved, and set up a new classroom at Hope! 
During:

After:

I'm looking forward to starting a new year in a new room with my K partners by my side!  Bring it on 2014-2015! 

Looking forward to meeting my new kinders, beginning the Leader in Me Process, and watching my two nephews play some football!!

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Chirp chirp....

I know this blog has been long neglected, and I do have a "summer catch up" post that I will be writing shortly, but now I would just like to focus on what I've spent the last three days doing ....

 The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and The Leader in Me

The school that I work at has been looking to re-theme for the past couple of years.  Our reality is that we are a "magnet" school but because of the bad reputation, we struggle getting students, parents, and families. I'm not exactly sure where or why the "bad" reputation started, and that is not important, but the staff has been working hard to find a theme that would best fit us, our students, and our community.

The Leader in Me seemed to be the perfect fit. It is based off of the 7 Habits by Covey, and the end goal is to find the leadership in every child and to help each child to find the leadership in themselves.  This is very powerful stuff, and I encourage you to look up more if your are interested!

"Leadership is a choice, not a position." ~Stephen R. Covey

These last three days have been spent collaborating, watching videos, reflecting, and completing exercises to help deepen the knowledge of the 7 Habits.  We, as a staff, must first own the Habits ourselves before we can expect our students to.  It's so powerful as you learn this Habits and see how they can make such a positive impact on your life.  I've spent these days reflecting on recent events and trying to determine what Habit I could use to make better choices. 

"We are the creative force of our life, and through our own decisions rather than our conditions, if we carefully learn to do certain things, we can accomplish those goals." ~Stephen R. Covey

I know to some of you this may sound boring and maybe worthless, but to me, this is stuff that can change the world both children and adults.  I look forward to bringing this change (little by little) to my school and seeing the change in the students and the staff.  It makes me feel excited and empowered!

Bring it on 2014-2015!!

"We must first make our Habits, then our Habits make us."

Love for Laury

On May 31, thanks so some very special ladies, we had a whole day of celebrating Laury! The "Love for Laury" benefit was held to help raise money for bills that accumulated when she spent just over 4 months in the hospital. This day consisted of a 5K, bags tournament, spaghetti dinner courtesy of Fazoli's, and an auction.  All of the proceeds went to benefit Laury.

Love this special lady!

It was such a fun day spending time with Laury as well as getting to see many other family and friends that day.

Here are some pictures to recap the day:

The whole group before starting the 5K

 

 

Items for the auction

Laury with two very special nieces

It was such a great time had by all!  There was one point during the dinner that I looked around the room and it almost brought me to tears to see the amount of support for Laury.

Laury has had some tough times these past 2 and 1/2 years, but things are starting to look up for her! 

I love this lady so much!!

*Sending a shoutout to those of you that I "borrowed" pictures from*