It’s 2015. Holy moly. Where did 2014 go? I’m finding that
every year goes faster and faster. Oy. In some instances, this is fabulous
(i.e. school/work), in others it feels like “oh my gosh where did the time go!?” While I’m glad it’s 2015, and I look forward to the adventures this
year is going to bring for the Gehrlein family, I'll take a quick moment to look back at the second half of 2014.
1. The 2014-2015 school year began. The fall semester was a busy one. I don't know that we've ever been this busy. Let's just say we are thankful to be heading into a new semester. To summarize: not much sleep was had - much caffeine was consumed.
My after school drama club exploded. I went from about 20 kids involved to over 40. Wowza. What I hope to accomplish through my after school program are a few things:
1. Spark a love for theatre.
2. Give kids a reason to come to school because they enjoy something about it.
3. Provide an environment for students to show off their creativity and excel while doing it, leaving them with something to be proud of.
4. Let kids have fun and play!
I had Parent Teacher Conferences during the World Series. Seriously!?
2. JT. Oh how could I ever forget seeing Justin Timberlake in concert!?! Loved it. It was a surprise birthday present from my love. Husband points earned! (if that’s even a thing?)
3. The Gehrlein family grew by 4 paws in September. We welcomed darling Harry into the family. Right now, my furbabies are the only babies I need! Harry is a
firecracker and a cutie pie. He has pretty much consumed my free time and all of the space on my phone with pictures of himself. What a selfish pup (ok, fine, I'm obsessed).
Harry is Toby's literal brother. They have the same parents, but Toby is just over 2 years older than Harry. If you are wondering how we came up with the name Harry, here's how: When Harry was born he had 12 brothers and sisters; however, something happened and 8 of the pups died. The vet couldn't find any explanation for their deaths, but somehow 5 of the pups were still alive. Harry has a faint white stripe down the middle of his forehead. If you haven't figured it out yet, his name is a reference to Harry Potter. We are officially nerds.
Let’s just admire how adorable he is.
Brothers.
4. And to end the year, my husband decided to give me a
home office space as my Christmas gift. Some of you might think this is utterly
boring and lame, but let me tell you, no. I absolutely love having an office
space. So, we moved the dogs out of one of our spare rooms and transformed it
into an office for me. Can you tell I have an amazing husband? Sheesh, he’s the
best.
Before
After
Paint Color: Gravity by Valspar
We both put in several hours on my new office space. I'm totally in love with it! It isn't quite finished, as you don't see anything on the walls. We'll get to that eventually.
I think that pretty much wraps up the second half of 2014 in as much brevity as
I can manage at the moment. We are looking
forward to 2015 as a big year full of some new adventures for us. Here’s to 2015!
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
5th-10th 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!
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 3rd 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.
