STRESSED out!

Well, it's been a crazy couple of weeks in our house! Most of the stress has been with my job, however. Unfortunately, it spills over into the homefront, so then it seems to be everywhere! Last week was the end of our first six weeks of the school year. With that, comes all of the "busyness" that comes with teaching- which does NOT include actual "teaching." That's the part I don't enjoy about my job. If I could just "teach" all day, I'd be a happy camper. I didn't choose to be a secretary, technology specialist, analyst, nurse, accountant, etc. etc. It's like being a mom 24-7.

This past week was the mad dash to get grades entered into a really crappy software that our school district uses, export those grades to be put onto report cards and HOPE that there were no errors. I still use the old fashioned grade book, as I'm not fully trusting of technology. :O) (I guess that would explain my just now jumping on the bandwagon for "blogs." ) With the grades, came wrapping up our units of study and getting my kids at school to actually turn in their work for me to grade, Day of Discovery Science, which was a lot of fun, but a lot of prep work to rotate 150+ kids in third grade through the classes to do science experiments. Then, I had to prepare for a substitute for Tuesday of the next week, because I was going to my Technology Specialists Training after Fall Break. Needless to say, I was at the school until 7:00 p.m. last week! Pile on top of that, and add lesson plans with details and TEK Obj. for every lesson to turn in to my principal, and there you have it- BUSY, BUSY, BUSY- STRESS, STRESS, and more STRESS!

On to other things- my oldest daughter, Lauren, is in the ninth grade this year. It makes me so sad to see how time has flown by and she has become a young woman so quickly. She has been going to early morning Seminary at our church since the beginning of school. It begins at 6:00 a.m. Monday through Friday before school. I usually hop out of bed at 5:45 and take her. She never complains, and always seems to enjoy learning about the scriptures. They are studying the Old Testament this year. She started a new school this year, after attending the same district that we live in since Kindergarten. I started working in a new district last year, and my younger daughter, Kaitlin came with me then. My husband works from our home, and we only have a 3 bedroom home with 4 kids, so it's quite cramped! We decided to relocate to the town where my job is to make life "easier" and to find a larger home. With that, I transferred the kids this year to my new district. Lauren really handled it well. She has made many new friends and really enjoys the new school and her teachers. We are hoping to sell our home in the next few months and make the move, but it will be easier since the kids are already in school there.

Chris, on the other hand, didn't start off as excited about going to a new school. He sort of "dug in his heels" and had a bit of an attitude with his new teachers. However, I think that we finally got through that part, and he has made some new friends. He seems happier, and talks about his new buddies and their silliness. I asked him if he was enjoying his new school and he said, "Yes." He really enjoys being in the Honor Band, which is made up of mostly 8th graders. So, as a 7th grader, he is feeling pretty "big" right now. :O) He has been able to play with the entire high school band and other middle schools at a Tailgate party last month. There were over 1,000 kids on the football field with instruments! Wow! It was pretty cool to see and hear!

Kaitlin is fitting in great at our elementary, too. She loves 4th grade, and her teachers. She made it into the Gifted and Talented program, as did Lauren and Chris. She is really enjoying that on Wednesdays, as she is out of the regular classroom all day. She has tons of friends, and has made all A's this first six weeks. She also made the Puppet Team, which gets to video tape a puppet show for the entire school. They teach Life Skills to the student body, relating to a Life Principle that we are studying for the week. It airs on the Morning Annoucements, via television into the classrooms.

Kylie also is loving her new preschool. She has several "buddies" that she calls her "best friends". She loves snacks and nap time, go figure! She also is taking ballet and tap at the school weekly. She really likes that. She has always loved dancing and singing. She was so cute last night. She was singing "Tricky Triangle" to the tune of "Frere Jacques". It went "Tricky triangle, tricky triangle, has three sides, has three sides. Here is the roof top and the bottom, tricky triangle, tricky triangle." She loves to teach me songs that she has learned. :O) Of course, we still read fifty million books a night before bedtime, too. We also enjoy "playing dolls" with her stuffed princesses, Barbies or Polly's.

Well, it's Saturday and I have a million things to get finished. I'll try to post later. I'm actually feeling less stressed as I type, so I could actually just keep typing, however, I really need to get things finished, or I'll be REALLY stressed out! :O)

Kristin