The Final Days

These are the final days of summer vacation. Hold on while I freak out/throw a tantrum for a moment….

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 While I officially start back to work this week, I have not been relaxing much lately. In fact, it’s been far from relaxing.  With Brian’s help, I spent two weeks at Pembroke Hill (Primary campus) directing 21 5^th-10^th graders in a staged version of The Hobbit for The Coterie.  Then, another week was spent assisting a class for The Coterie.

The two-week performance camp started with auditions on the first day and ended with two performances the next Friday and Saturday. It was a whirlwind of an experience.  Overall, the performance camp was a blast, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Working alongside Brian reminded me of what we used to do in college, as we spent most of our time together in the theater working on productions. We’ve had people mention to us that they could never work with their spouse, but for us it felt very natural and fun. I feel incredibly lucky to say that I love working alongside my spouse, and I think he would agree.

From 8am-3:30pm everyday, Brian and I worked with these crazy kiddos. While I work with this age group throughout the school year, this bunch was incredibly different. We worked through movement, vocal, and ensemble building exercises without a hitch. When you have an entire group of students hungry for theatre, ready for whatever you throw at them, everything changes. These kids took major risks, followed directions well (woah, this was somewhat new for me…), and had fun doing all of it.  I’m very excited to apply what I’ve learned from this experience back to my classroom.  

And now that the week is upon me that I actually have to head back to real work, I find myself filled with anxiety.  I’ve looked at my rosters, started planning a few units for the year, and thought about my classroom a bit. I anticipate some challenging days ahead of me; this school year is not going to be easy. Thank goodness for prayer and a good husband to lean on. 

Tomorrow I begin waking up early (got to get that internal clock ready for school too!) and filling my day with activities and planning for school. I’d like to say I’m excited, but I won’t lie: I dread this week. No more negative, self! Let’s focus on the positive. Here are some goals I have for this week to kick myself into a positive mindset for the school year:

1.     Focused time for prayer and reflection to mentally prepare my heart and mind for the upcoming weeks and year.

2.     Gym time everyday. This is a major stress reliever for me, and makes me feel good in general.

3.     Plan. Plan. Plan. Did I mention I need to plan? I will use my new planner from Erin Condren to get organized and ready for my classes.

4.     Read a new book (or two!).

5.     Spend some final, much needed, quality time with my husband before the real craziness ensues.

I see this week as a time to mentally prepare myself for the school year. Prayer would be much appreciated.  To all my teacher readers, I feel your bittersweet emotions as we have now entered the month of August.  We can do this!

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The Last Year in Review

I have a blog? Right. #fail

So it’s been a while since I’ve written anything on here. So let’s recap what has happened within the last year.

August

Began my third year of teaching. Brian began his first. And so began a whirlwind school year consisting of busy, busy schedules, theatre, teens, and less sleep than desired.

September-October

Getting into the hang of a new year. Nothing too exciting happened here. Brian and I attended a leadership conference for his Thespian troupe. Lots of ideas were gathered to make a rocking school year. 

The biggest pumpkin ever. This is what fall is about, people.

November

This can be known henceforth as musical month, or mayhem month.  During November, Brian and I collectively put up 2 musicals. It was Brian’s very first musical to ever direct. It was a smashing success. I, too, was dealing with a first. Not my first musical to direct or produce, but my school’s first musical.  I dealt with ridiculous children (and by ridiculous I mean energy-filled, “I needed a place to focus my energy” children) who created a world of Seuss and brought musical theatre to Eastgate.  Much joy and growth came from both of our musicals this year.

A shot from Legally Blonde.

December

Winding down to winter break. Ah the glorious winter break. A much needed breather to mark the halfway point of the school year.

Also, I dressed my dog up in a costume.

January

School’s back in session. And so are snow days. Ugh. Snow Days. Glorious in January, not so much when you have to make them up in May.

January also marked Brian’s second mainstage performance of the year. I was fortunate enough to get to watch some rehearsals while Brian was at meetings. The kids were extremely productive.  I mean, singing High School Musical totally counts as rehearsing, right?

I also chopped over 8 inches of my hair off in January and sent it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, who creates wigs for the American Cancer Society. 

All my lovely locks!

February

More snow days. By the end of the month I was ready to move to a remote island where I would never see snow again.

That is not beautiful. That is horrible, horrible cold.

Brian took me rock climbing at Ibex for the first time. Surely my stumpy legs would not get me far up the wall, but I proved myself wrong. It was fun, I climbed many a wall, and by the end I was incredibly sore.

March

My dear friend, Pickles came to stay with me a few times in March.  I’m not sure he was very thrilled about being my guest.

March also means Spring Break! With Spring Break came my second guest: my best friend, Jentry, from Oklahoma City. Her visit led to meeting Mildred, our friend Katherine’s chicken at the time and many laughs.

At the end of March, I accompanied Brian and his current cast of kids to Independence, Kansas. There, I showed them the ropes of southeast Kansas and watched as their eyes were opened to the life of a playwright, whose play they were rehearsing at the time. It was wonderful to watch them and see the “aha” moment happen in a real-life setting.

April

I love April. April signifies spring, Easter, and my birthday. Things I don’t like about April: MAP Testing. Enough said there.

Brian bought me a pair of running shoes (I’ve never owned real running shoes before) after I proved to him I could run a 5K. Never underestimate the power of shopping. This led to the purchase of my first, very own gym membership. I think I might be an adult now.

We celebrated Easter in Kansas City with our church.  We gathered as one large church family (4 services combined) at the KC Convention Center Ballroom.  Brian and I volunteered to help greet and direct people, so we attended an earlier service for volunteers and hung around the entrance during the actual service.

May

The end is in sight. A few weeks lie between the teacher and summer.  Everything school related comes to a close. I ran our school talent show (always entertaining). Brian closed out his year with an end of the year banquet and a lock-in. Guess who was lucky enough to chaperone with him? Oh, right, me. Longest night of my life. I have not pulled an all-nighter since probably my junior year of college. After dancing, water balloon fights, and all around craziness, I was pooped. I have never felt more old in my life.

This was about 4:30am

Oh so tired.

Oh yes, May also marked one of the craziest days of my teaching career so far. Let me sum it up for you: crazy, high man on school roof – lockdown – evacuate school to nearby high school – assist parents in getting their kids all afternoon – no lunch – tired feet – exhausted teacher. The end.

I also put on my final play of the year, 15 Reasons Not to be in a Play. Ironic, no? It was actually a great show. The group of kids worked harder than any other I’ve had at Eastgate. They showed me that when I set the bar high, they can achieve and exceed my expectations. I bought them donuts as a reward. Who doesn’t love donuts?

Don't play with other peoples' props, Mrs. G!

School ended. I rejoiced.

June

Mexico 2014!

Brian and I traveled to Cancun with friends for a week to an all-inclusive resort to celebrate our 3^rd wedding anniversary. It was heavenly. Gourmet food, sandy beaches, sunshine, and time with my love. What more could a girl ask for? Take me back!

Returning home was a whole other story. Airlines can be so frustrating. Sleeping on a cot in the middle of O’Hare is not my idea of luxury. However, we made it home safely, and I can laugh about the whole experience now.

My bed for the night. 

Toby learned to swim in June! We attended a corgi meet up for Kansas City at the Shawnee Mission Park Dog Beach. I think my heart overflowed with joy at the number of corgis surrounding me.

Afraid of the water at first, but we conquered that fear eventually.

So many corgis!

If that doesn’t make up for almost a years worth of posts, then I just can’t please you. So long for now, and maybe if you’re lucky I’ll be a bit more diligent about updating my blog.