Trick or Treat

In the car on the way to school this morning Fi piped up from the back seat, "Its too bad that Halloween isn't more than once a year."

She was thrilled to be able to wear a costume outside the house (as were a number of adults at school from the grinning faces).  She was excited about fun activities instead of hard schoolwork.  Particularly she was excited about trick or treating tonight.

A short forty-five minutes and she was tuckered out and smiling big enough to crack her cheeks. And she made a point of asking for an extra for her brother when she was at his teacher's house.

When we got home, the Little Sprout (who helped Papa man the door at the house) sighed dramatically, "I wish I went with you."

Next year, little man.  Next year.

Family Dinner

LK's class has taken on the fundraising opportunity of cooking for the school board meetings this year.  It is a chance for my spouse to share his love of cooking with his students and raise money for their end-of-year field trip.  Definitely win-win.

Due to a death in the community, the meeting that was scheduled for this evening has been post phoned.  And we were left with a great big meal for eight in the fridge and only four of us.  So, a quick holler down the road and we had dinner with Nana and Pop.

Last week Nana was the one hollering when she saw the we were done after a few really long days at school.  And we gathered around her dining room table.

In the middle of dinner the Sprouts were chatting about this and that.  Pop was listening and teasing with a twinkle in his eye.  Nana was sharing news from her day and extended family (she is my news source for the whole family for me).  My spouse was playing off Pop's teasing.  And I sat back (with the most yummy flavours in my mouth) and breathed in the happiness of it all. 

There are moments in my life that seem to slow down, just like in the movies, and give me the chance to really appreciate the joy or beauty that they contain.  I wish I could store up all this joy and sprinkle it over the whole world like fairy dust.

Yo-yo

Some days are up and some days are down.  Yesterday was up and down like a yo-yo. 

Sunday night was void of sleep because the little Sprout was up coughing for hours.  Yesterday; yo-yo chaos at school, and I reacted all day rather than dealing with the day proactively.  When I got up this morning still tired (more coughing last night) and the big Sprout was just bawling about her sore throat at breakfast I was expecting another yo-yo day today.  I was ready to stay home with her myself to avoid the yo-yo.

Instead we phoned Super-Nana and she swooped in to save the day (I love having my own personal superhero next door - everyone should have one).  With the Sprout tucked back into bed and lots of OJ in the fridge we headed off to work.

Surprise, it has been a remarkably good day.  I am not less tired.  My students had more %&&*#^@ high stakes testing to deal with (a subject for another time).  So what is it that tips a day from learning-chaos into just random chaos?  Is it me?  Is it my students?  Both, I imagine.  But what can I do to help keep us in the learning end of the continuum? 

After all I am the grown up and the buck stops here for the responsibility for learning.

Spinning

My head has been absolutely spinning with ideas and issues and questions and turmoil for the past several weeks.  Sitting down to actually formulate coherent thoughts into a decently written blog post has been attempted and aborted multiple times.  I just can't sort out my thoughts enough to narrow a topic and craft ideas to share it.  It is all a big jumble in my head.

I think that the stress of that jumble is starting to leak. 

If it wasn't dark and snowing I think the best thing would be to go for a run right now.

However, it is dark and snowing.  So I think that I will go find cosy jammies and my Kindle for a bit before bed.

Tomorrow is another day, with no mistakes in it (yet).

A Research Project

Well the time has come for some thinking ahead.  Not that we are ready to pack our bags!  Far from it.  However, as we think about the future, some changes require more advance preparation than others. 

Our next change may be several years ahead... or not.  It is in God's hands, not mine.

However, it is time to start thinking about whether or not to pursue my interest in teacher training.  Since I have moved here, I have hosted teacher candidates in my classroom and mentored several teachers.  I have really enjoyed both.  In fact, they are probably my favourite projects in my teaching career (outside daily classroom activities).  So, they might just be a good direction for my next professional learning focus.

I explored options for a Masters of Education a year and a half ago, but found that there were no Canadian universities that offered on online masters.  Since commuting isn't an option now I put the idea on hold.  There are a gagillion American ones that do, but an American masters just doesn't have the academic weight that a Canadian one does.  And I want to leave the door open for a PhD down the road if teaching teachers is the final destination...

So, I was delighted to hear from a colleague that she is looking at her masters through the university of Calgary.  All courses available online (no, we won't be moving to Calgary).  Hmmm...

Let the research begin.

Bugs 1: Me 0

So the bugs won this week.  Jo got sent home with a note about bugs (lice!!) on Wednesday.  I was told two minutes after my lunch break was over that I was to take him home right away.  Growling, I complied.  Then I spent Wednesday night doing the bedding wash/head scrub that any parent who has had experience with the critters knows.  I was doubly frustrated because I couldn't find one bug on his head.  Nary one!

Now I am a bit uptight (okay, a lot), but I was doubly cranky due to feeling miserable myself.  All I wanted to do Wednesday night was crawl into bed with a litre of hot lemon and honey.  Instead I did laundry and comb invisible critters out of my son's hair. 

For the record I am not saying that there were no bugs.  It is quite possible that there were.  I just couldn't find them.  And I know that they love to share themselves among people in classrooms where student heads are often close together.  I am actually quite amazed that this is the first time that we have had to deal with them. (Amazed that after 15 years I haven't had them).

Anyhoo, the plan was that I would take a day, as I was feeling miserable with a cold, and have the little man's head cleared by the nurse at the clinic.  Unfortunately life doesn't always go according to plan.

I woke up Thursday morning feeling beyond awful.  I barely heard LK head off to school.  Fortunately the Sprouts slept until 8:30 (actually the noisy Sprout slept until 8:30, the other one was quietly downstairs reading and eating breakfast with her father before 7).  Anyway, I got a wonderful 11 hours of sleep.  Up to make sure Sprouts had some breakfast (I hadn't heard Fi before 8:30).  Back to bed.

As the only adult in the house I did my best to stay awake and in charge.  I didn't do very well at it.  Thank heavens for Nana!  She checked in on the kids, made them lunch, and was a complete guardian angel.

At 2:30 I dragged myself out of bed, planning to drive over to the clinic and do the head check with the nurse.  Unfortunately LK had the little man's health card in his wallet at school.  And as the world was very wobbly around me I wasn't sure if it was a good plan to get behind the wheel.  So back to bed.

And then after school my sweetie snuggled up with me (figuratively since he didn't want to share my germs) and shared about his day.  He handled everything and let me sleep.  And he didn't even complain when I woke up just in time to kiss Sprouts goodnight and then curl up in front the tv for an hour.  Then it was back to bed.

However, when I chose to go into work today rather than go and get the required sick-note (necessary if you miss more than one consecutive day of work) from the nurse he was less than happy.  He grumbled about how tired I look and how awful I sound - not usually words I love to hear, but he was worried.

When I am sick it is really hard to take more than a day away from school.  A big part of me says, "Cold, shmold, you are tougher than that! If you can stand up you can teach."

Another part of me says, "It is twice as much work to get organized for a sub and they already had a sub for a day.  You might as well just grit your teeth and get through the day."

Plus I have this fear that I am not as sick as I feel and that the nurse will laugh at me and tell me that I am fine.  Stop being a wimp and get your lazy butt to work!

What I am not really hearing over those voices is my husband (who loves me and wants me to be okay) who is saying, "You are not healthy.  Stay home and get healthy.  Your family needs you more than your students or pride do."

And he is right.  There is a time to just let go of everything else.

So, I should have stayed home today.  And I should have drank another gallon of orange juice.

Hindsight 20/20.