jingle bells

tuesday.  general mayhem.  it's been an odd day.  not bad, just odd.  I wasn't in the classroom today - I had a day to plan with my divisional team.  okay, well two thirds of us were there.  literally two out of three!

I started this post last night and totally had a block.  complete exhaustion from a week [as in the last 5-6 days] of sheer busy/crazy schedule.  so I closed the computer and just watched glee.  mindless and more mindless.  just enough to stop the flow of traffic in my head and get to sleep.  some days, finding joy is more difficult than others.  but now that my head is clear and I've had two-thirds of my americano, I feel like I can take a stab at my tuesday.  the tuesday of general mayhem!

so, maybe not joy, but thankfulness for a day to plan with my colleagues.  and it was good planning.  work got done, we collaborated and we made a plan for january with language arts that I am really excited about.  and I really hope my students like it too!! {#29}

and after school, I drove over to my kid's school for parent-teacher interviews.  it's always interesting being the parent and a teacher.  I know too much!  but for all the trauma my kids give me at home, my heart was so joy-filled when I heard what their teachers had to say about them.  ty is sweet and kind {#30}.  he is helpful, respectful and loves to explore his creative side in his classroom{#31}.  these are things that I know to be true about my little boy, but it's hard to see them when I don't usually get kind and respectful at home.  it was really nice to hear that he gives no attitude at school and that he is friends with everyone.

perhaps I heard the nicest complement from nate's teacher.  she told me that we must be doing something right with our kids.  that they are a reflection of good parenting and that nate has such a sweet, gentle, helpful spirit {#32}.  it is sometimes so difficult for me to take a complement like that because I know that although john and I have the biggest impact on our kids, that really there is a community that is helping us raise them.  my parents, john's mom, aunts and uncles, our church family, friends, neighbours, connie.  it's not just us.  and for that I am so incredibly thankful/joy-filled {#33}.  so I told the kids what their teachers had said and it was an opportunity to tell them how proud I am of them.  I need to do that more.

I wonder what joy this lovely wednesday will bring...