January

My oh my, what a month.

I sit in the comfort of my quiet morning work spot,

Reflecting on all that has been accomplished so far this year.  Understandably, I'm exhausted and very thankful for the weekend.

I made major progress on planning a baby shower (March 4), a bridal shower (March 18), and hosted a work baby shower (Jan 13).  I've done some crafting and worked on printed materials (games, scrapbooks, invitations, etc).

I found gifts for a bridal shower (early February), a work bridal shower (end of March), a wedding (April), baby showers (TBD in early April, summer, and Jan 21), wedding work showers, and more.  We've just decided (okay, I decided) our guest bedroom will be the land of presents.

I'm so happy so many of our friends have exciting events coming up! We're thrilled to celebrate with you all.

We attended a friend's baby shower in Arizona and picked up our last piece of furniture.  Our bedroom is coming along nicely:

The next step is a new mattress, but we're waiting for those to be on sale over President's Day weekend.

I did my part to create equality-minded students, even if the current political mindset is full of hate:

I also have an active {donorschoose} project where I'm requesting books that celebrate Latino and African American culture, as well as portray strong women and scientists.  I'm also asking for books on climate and the environment.  #gorogue

I completed semester 1 report cards and comments.  That itself deserves a medal.  Or you know, pretty flowers from a supportive husband:

We also had our first APTT (Academic Parent Teacher Teams) meeting.  For all 36 of my students (because of course I got a new one mid-January), I created these:

Inside are their data graphs for the year and other data.  We created a power point, held an hour long meeting, and spent roughly 18 hours getting ready for the day (most of which happened outside of contract (paid) time.)  There are math games, vocabulary games, and fluency activities for families to work on at home.

Six families came.

To be fair, it was in the middle of the day. On a Thursday. Right after awards ceremonies.  Teachers would resist having to stay after for these meetings (because we wouldn't be paid), but having it during the school day meant very few families could actually attend.  

Instead of being upset with a low turn out, I'm going to think about the situation with the mindset that if it were at another time, more families would have attended.  Low turn out has nothing to do with their lack of interest in supporting their children, but rather the real world demands of having a job (or several jobs) and being unable to get the time off. 

I also decorated for Valentine's Day.  We're being super low key this year (our four year anniversary) with one gift (a new mattress) and ordering in Chinese food. 

We had another reading competition and our team won.  I prepared for substitute teachers (always hours of work), and managed to keep thirty six hormonal eleven year-olds focused on their learning for a good majority of the school day.

Battle of the books and the book fair have both started.  I think there's a mandatory Battle of the Books meeting next week, but chances are it's the same night as our school's BINGO night, chili cook off, and evening book fair.

On those days when I feel overwhelmed, a view from our playground usually does the trick at calming my anxiety:

(No filter. Picture from my phone.)

We've also started a new yoga routine, cooking more at home, and working on portion size.

We tried these {Hawaiian BBQ Tacos} and they were delicious!

When I say we've started yoga, I truly mean it's a family affair:

Luckily, all that's on this weekend's agenda is some errands (grocery and fun shopping), family lunch, and reading (for fun).  Plus we've got a cozy date night planned with a TV marathon.