Today I am thankful for some seemingly mundane things: MucinexD, Advil, and iced Dunkin Donuts coffee. Without these things I would have spent the second half of my day curled up in the fetal position under my desk with a fan blowing on me. I should probably explain.
Alisha has the flu. The real one. Monday through Wednesday was spent trying to keep her temp down (it got as high as 104 at one point.) I ended up taking her to the doctor yesterday and she tested positive for the flu. I was the only member of the family to get a flu shot in the fall, but with me, that is no guarantee. I’ve been feeling pretty crummy myself this week, and have been worried I was getting the flu. Not sleeping well, feeling drained, just icky. Today it was the worst. I couldn’t breathe and I felt terrible. I managed to get through the morning teaching (the poor kids), but had to face an afternoon of parent/teacher conferences. After the first 2 conferences (one of whom didn’t show) I had a break of a couple hours. A trip to the drugstore (for the MucinexD), drive-thru at DD, and a stop home for a change of clothes and some Advil got me through the rest of the day. I forgot to mention my classroom has no air conditioning yet, and it’s summer- 87 degrees today!- here. I was literally so sweaty from being in my classroom all morning I had to completely change. Tomorrow I may be teaching and doing conferences in a tube top! Joking! Totally joking. I have some fans in there, but they just move the hot air around.
For real though, MucinexD is the bomb! It’s the only thing I’ve found that will open up my sinuses when I’m fighting this allergy-cold junk. Tomorrow I’ll have it ahead of time, so I’m sure my morning will go much better. Alisha is doing better also. Her fever is gone, and other than a few aches and a scratchy voice she is back to normal.
I have one little girl in my class who is pretty funny. The other day she asked me for a “mooch and a hug.”The thing is she talks at warp speed so it kind of sounds like, “amoochanahug.” I had to ask her 3 times what she meant! She was getting frustrated with me, so she finally just gave me a kiss on the cheek (a “mooch”) and a hug. She’s a real cutie too. I wish you could hear the way she says, “heart.” It sounds more like, “hout.” She’s always good for saying funny things, so this week I’m featuring tiny talk by Susie (her name is not really Susie, but you know…I have to call her something and protect her privacy.) So Susie it is!
In my classroom we have a behavior board. It’s a rainbow and each day all the children start on green. If they make good choices all day they might be moved up to blue, or if they are an absolute angel, they move to purple. However, if they don’t listen and make some not-so-good choices, they might have to move to yellow, orange, or red. Chances are if you get to red, I’m also sending you to the office and you’re in major trouble. One day little Susie comes up to me and says, “I didn’t punch anyone in the head. Can I move to blue?”
Susie is quite particular about her writing utensils and can often be found at my desk asking, “Can you sharp this?” while holding up her favorite colored pencil (purple.)
During one of our snowfalls here in Chicagoland we were discussing the slippery walk across the parking lot and shoveling snow. Susie offered this statement to the class, “Papa has a snow blower that eats snow off the road.”
Little Susie, like most preschool children, loves attention and wants whichever adult is nearest to comment on her accomplishments. One day she was walking across the balance beam and called out to me, “Look how I do balance!”
Susie’s cousin Bobby (totally not his name either) is in my class as well. One day when his older sister (a former student of mine) came in to the school to drop Bobby off, one of the other students said to Susie, “Your sister is in the hall.” Susie yelled back at them, ”That’s not my sister! That’s my twin!” Ok, this one needs some description (I really am LOL.) The ”twin” (really her cousin) is about 3 years older, dark complected with long, black hair. Susie is about 2.5 feet tall, very pale, with long blonde hair.
So it’s Monday again. The Tired was trying to take me down today, but I had a smallish victory over it and managed a 2.6 mile run after school today. Last week I said that Mondays were going to be about music around here, and I intend to keep to that, but it ismy blog and I’ll do what I want to, so I’d like to ramble for a paragraph or so. Mostly about “The Tired.” As soon as I sit down it tries to take me out. Busy has been the definition of my life these past few weeks and I can feel the burn out coming. I need to be better about purposefully scheduling down time for myself. Today I had a whole hour where I did nothing but read my blogs and look at fb. It was exactly what I needed mid-day to give my brain and body a rest. Constantly thinking about my lists and responsibilities is stressful to me and some zone-out time is about the only thing that helps my brain relax.
Now, on to the music. If you know me at all, you know my taste in music is pretty eclectic. In one playlist I’ll have Bing Crosby singing right after Lecrae who is singing after Jack Johnson, and then maybe some Skillet thrown in for good measure. If I had to choose an all-time favorite band though, it would have to be Mercy Me. Mostly because the guys in the band are the real deal, and also because their lyrics speak to me. They have a new cd coming out in May, called The Hurt and the Healer. If the title track is any indication, it’s going to be of the same quality all their other music. Since I own all their other cds, I’ve already pre-ordered this one and I’m anxiously awaiting the release. The lyrics are pretty powerful and encouraging to anyone who’s ever been hurt (hello…ALL of us!) I really, really love the cover art on the new cd also, and if I can figure out how to get it on a canvas, I want it for my foyer. So if you get a chance, go to iTunes and listen to ”The Hurt and The Healer”, then buy it. Then listen to it again, and again, and again. You’ll be better for it, I promise
For fun, at the end of every Rock & Worship Roadshow, the Mercy Me guys and the other bands that are on the tour do a cover tune. I think last year’s was better than this year’s, but they’re both funny! Happy Monday, folks!
I’m not sure what’s special about today other than the weather. It’s a perfect 80 degrees and sunny, with a lovely breeze! It’s so weird that a week and a half ago I was wearing shoes and socks, a scarf, and my coat. Now for a week I’ve been in summer clothes. Flip flops even! I’ll take it thank you very much. Skipping the rain and coolness of Spring is fine with me. Skip straight to summer I say! Today’s weather is so special in fact that I cleaned off the deck so I could sit outside and do some writing and some work.
In trying to think of something special to write about I came up with nothing, and we’ve already covered the weather. Wait! I just thought of something! Bekah is in her high school’s spring musical. They’re doing “The Secret Garden” (which I know nothing about really) and just yesterday they upgraded her from simply a chorus singer to an actual speaking part. She’s really excited. Last night her friend, who is also in the musical, stayed overnight. I had to laugh everytime I heard them practicing their lines with their fake British accents. If all the rehearsals are any indication, it will be a great show!
Alisha’s orchestra tooks gold in a competition this morning as well. That’s pretty special. She had to be at the school at 7am, so I was the one to get her up and get her there. She’s now crashed on the couch sound asleep where as I’ve been going non-stop since I got up. It’s amazing how much one can accomplish when you get up before noon on a Saturday! I even fit in a 2 mile run.
That’s something else that’s been special. I’m back to running again, and even after months of not doing anything, I can go run 2 miles without too much to pay for the next day. In fact, I feel great when I’m done with a run. I have a loop I like to run through our neighborhood and I was hoping when I finally ran it with my Nike+ it would be close to 3 miles. Nope. Only 2.2 miles. It just feels like 3. Oh well, 2 is better than none! I’m hoping I can stick with it and be consistent. Being consistent with anything is my biggest failing. I do good for awhile, but I’ve got no longevity when it comes to anything requiring discipline. I’m working on it.
Which reminds me, I need to get to work! I’m staring to plan the end-of-the-year awards ceremony and program. If you were around the Sunny Side at Christmas, you know the programs can get me a wee bit stressed out. I’m going to work on staying peaceful through this one
Yes, I have not yet abandoned the alliterations. I’ve nearly abandoned all hope that I’ll write on a regular basis, however. I’m in between cooking and cleaning up dinner and dropping one kid at youth group, going to another’s orchestra concert, and somewhere in the mix picking the third up from rehearsal for the spring musical. I’m also about 3 weeks behind on all my shows. Sigh. I’m tired just thinking about my life.
Yet, I have much to be thankful for, and today I’d like to share my top 3 with you. As a Christian, it’s pretty much a rule that the top 2 things you’re thankful for is salvation, and then your family. After that, the list is different for everyone. So I guess my #3 is what I’m going to write about today, and it’s not what most of you would think. It’s my job. I love what I do, and after talking to people, I realize that it’s a pretty rare thing to find someone who loves their job. Don’t get me wrong, I have my days…lots of them…when I want to pull my hair out and scream if one more person says, “Mrs. Mongold, I need…” or “Mrs. Mongold, can you…?” Today was such a day. The chorus of “Mrs. Mongold” (and one “Mom” thrown in for good measure) was seriously crazy today. I blame it on our glorious weather. It’s great to be able to go outside for recess, but the coming back in is hard on everyone. I’ve changed my daily schedule up just a bit, and it seems to help some, but the fact is it’s still one of me to 14 of them! But again, I do love what I do.
This week (for the first time ever in my teaching career) I’ve done some teaching and activities about St. Patrick’s Day. What’s hilarious is how they are so into the whole leprechaun thing. I’ve told them that leprechauns are boy fairies who aren’t mean or bad, but they do like to play tricks and mess up our classroom. While we were at recess yesterday, a naughty leprechaun dumped out our St. Patricks’s Day sorting game. The kids decided to make a trap so we could catch him if he came in our classroom again while we were gone. Their trap looked like this: When I asked them about the junk stuff they were putting in the trap, they had some good answers, so I just let them go. Me: “How is a coloring book going to help catch a leprechaun?” Boy: “It’s slippery, and when he steps on it he’ll slip into the trap.” Ok then.
Sadly their trap didn’t stop the naughty fairy and he took all of the gold coins out of the trap and distributed them into their pencil boxes. Boy, were they surprised when they opened them! Since tomorrow is our last chance to celebrate this day of Irish fun, I helped them make a trap for the leprechaun. Here’s what we came up with together. We will see if it works tomorrow We’re also going to watch the very short Veggie Tale’s story about St. Patrick. It’s a good one! And for a special dance party Friday, we’re going to do an Irish jig.
Now really, is this not the BEST job in the world? It is for me, and I am so thankful for it!
*pics were taken with my fancy schmancy new Canon Rebel :):)
Today we took both Pre-K classes to Bellaboo’s for a field trip. Here’s the stats: 23 kids, 15 parent chaperones, and 3 teachers. It was a GREAT field trip and if you live anywhere near Northwest Indiana, you need to take your kids to Bellaboo’s. Such a fun place!
There were a bunch of funny things the kids said today. Unfortunately I was too busy counting heads and keeping track of people to remember all of them. By far the funniest was in the art room. The Bellaboo’s teacher was doing a shape patterning activity with the kids. She would draw a pattern on the board and they would make the pattern with foam shapes at their tables. After they did an A-B pattern, she said she was going to do something harder (an A-B-C pattern) and see if she could trick them. One little guy from my class shouted out, “You can’t trick us! We’re awesome!”
And awesome they were! So awesome in fact, the Bellaboo’s teacher who did the nursery rhyme story time investigation with them commented on their good behavior and how well they did the activity because they knew sight words and how to read some of the other words. It feels good to know they’re getting it, and I’ll admit it was fun to have them show off. The program we did was called “NCIS: Nursery Children Investigate and Solve”. The kids had to figure out who stole the cookies from the cookie jar (one of the three little pigs) and who dumped Jack and Jill’s pail of water (Mary’s little lamb.) They do such a great job at Bellaboo’s! It was fun and educational.
Outside at Bellaboo’s they have giant play rocks to climb on and jump off of. The boys were in heaven! They also had a sand pit with dinosaur bones to dig up. One of my little guys told me as he was brushing off a dino tooth, “I’m an alientologin.” I asked him what that was, and he told me, “That’s someone who finds dinosaur bones.”
After the field trip was over and we were all back at school I stopped in the Kindergarten room to say hi, and one of the little girls had wiped out at recess pretty badly and her bandages needed changed. I took her to the office and while we were walking I asked her what happened. She has this hilarious deep voice for such a little girl and she told me, “I slid on the concrete.” It wasn’t funny, but the way she said it was. Then when I was trying to re-bandage her knee (it was pretty bad!) I kept getting a bandage stuck on the gloves I was wearing, and the little girl said, “Well, this is a sticky situation.” I bust out laughing, and so did she! She was in my class last year, and gave me daily fodder for Tiny Talk Tuesday. Man, I miss having funny kids! My students this year are fun, just not funny.
The other big thing that happened today was that one of my Vietnamese speaking students was busting out all kinds of English! As we were driving there she said, “Horse” when we drove past a farm that had horses. Then, in the play area (slides and ball pits) she called out,“Mrs. Mongold! Look at me.” I was so excited! This is the first week she’s really been expressing herself in English. Ususally we just pretend to understand each other. The best was when I pulled the van up to a stop sign, and I guess I wasn’t going fast enough for her liking and she said, “Ok, now go!”
Today was a very, very good day. I even got a 2 mile run in after school since this is the first day (FIRST DAY) in months that my husband’s work schedule allowed him to pick up the girls from school. Oh, this Tuesday is blessed indeed.
Thursday and Friday of this week was spent somewhere I very much look forward to going every year! The ILASCD conference in Schaumburg, IL. The school used to send us to the ACSI conference which in all honesty, was pretty lame. Not very many hands-on ideas for classrooms. Then a few years ago when my good friend was running the school, she requested that we be allowed to attend this conference instead, and the rest is happy history! This conference is awesome! It’s got the “big names”, as far as PreK and K teachers are concerned, and ideas galore. The big names this time were Kim Adsit, Donna Whyte, Kim Jordano, and Jack Hartmann (my favorite presenter.) I took tons of notes and pictures of examples they brought from their classrooms. And there lies the difference between this conference and a lot of others. A lot of the presenters are still currently teaching in a classroom. They’re in the thick of it with us every day! They know what it’s like to have that “one kid” that all your best ideas can’t get through to, and they encourage you to keep trying. This is the time of the year when you can get weary of doing well in your classroom. The kids have cabin-fever from being stuck inside all winter and everyone is ready to throw in the towel! Having this conference at this time of year gives us the shot of adrenaline we need to finish the year strong, and not give up. I only had a couple of classes that I really felt weren’t that helpful to me, and out of those, I even took one or two things away. If you’re looking for something (be it truth, ideas, whatever) you will find it if you’re looking, no matter where you look.
The other bonus is the shopping. And oh, how I love to shop! The ballroom at the beautiful (it really is) Renaissance Hotel (Bam! I spelled that right the 1st time!) is full of exhibits and booths with teaching materials. I bought lots of fun props for songs and games I regularly play in my classroom. I got a woodpecker hand puppet, some finger puppets, 3 cds, 2 resource books (this one I can’t WAIT to read!), and some kids books. And that’s just the shopping at the conference. Schaumburg has the largest IKEA I’ve ever been to, and you know we headed there as soon as the conference was over! I even kept my purchases under $100. Dave Ramsey would maybe not be proud, but at least not yell at me…although my husband might. I did have the cash though, and didn’t put anything on credit, so there is that.
Last year as I was lamenting to a vendor at the conference that my husband would not be happy with all the money I was spending, she told me this, “Your husband buys tools for the work he does, right? Well, these are the tools you need to do your job well.” So true! And that’s how I looked at it this year. I bought lots of fun things, but also some things that would help me to teach better. Teacher tools I call them. I’m gonna need a bigger tool box
I’d like to publicly thank the administration at our school for sending us to the conference. There were a lot of teachers there who had to pay their own way, and that’s sad. Our country needs great teachers, and I wish all school saw the need to invest in their staff like ours does. So, thanks! I really appreciate it, and I know the parents and kids do too. And for the record we party people were asleep in our hotel by 10pm on Thursday night! Sad. So sad. In our defense we had to leave the school at 5:15am on Thursday and our first class started at 7am on Friday. Whoever is under the assumption that all teachers are morning people needs to get a clue! We did just fine though, and even had a fun evening swimming in the hotel pool, relaxing in the hot tub, and laughing. There was a LOT of laughing…and more than anything, that’s what made this trip amazing. Good friends make doing anything more fun.
If you’re one of my teacher friends, or a mom who would like some great ideas for teaching your little ones, just shoot me an email or let me know what you’re looking for (working on shapes, colors, numbers, etc.) in the comments and I’d be happy to share the knowledge!
The alliteration rolls on. At first I though it was just too negative to call all Mondays “mad”…as in insane. However, if today is any indication, Mondays are in fact insane, and the reason there is only one Monday a week is because God love me and wants me to remain sane. My second thought was to write something about music, which I enjoy immensely. I do need to revisit the madness of this Monday as I’m sitting in a Panera a half hour from my warm home and pjs whilst my children participate in an event appropriately called “Monday Madness.” The difference is theit event is actually a good thing! It’s through a great organization called PATH and I’m glad my girls like to go, just not so glad to be so sleepy and cold sitting here in Panera. The madness of this day is totally not worth getting into, just suffice it to say it was indeed a Monday!
On to the music. I love music! It speaks to me in a way nothing else can, which is one reason I’m so careful about the type of music we listen to in our family. I truly believe that the stuff you surround yourself with greatly affects you, and as messed up as I can be, vigilence is a good thing. By that I mean, primarily we only listen to Christian music. Occassionaly you can hear Sam Cooke or Michael Buble crooning from our vehicle, but other than that, we keep our music to the God-honoring variety. I need all the positive thoughts I can get flowing my way! It doesn’t get any more positive than the message of the gospel.
So let me introduce you to my latest “fling”. In our family whenever we find a new band or a favorite band puts out a new cd, we kind of go crazy on it. Meaning it’s ALL we listen to. I read the cd insert, check out their website, read all the lyrics and do my best to learn them. My girls take it a step further and try to learn the harmonies. Me, I just sing along, happily off key. The latest band to catch our attention is the Rend Collective Experiment. We first saw them when we went to the Rock & Worship Roadshow a few weeks ago. They were one of the many bands playing, and they were pretty amazing. Hailing from Ireland, their accents can be heard in many of their songs (my favorite is when they sing of God’s overwhelming “griss” or grace…which I actually do LOVE them singing about.) Their latest cd is called “Homemade Worship by Handmade People” and the “organic” nature of this cd shines through. I think it’s so cool that their cds are recorded not in a studio, but in homes around Ireland. At the concert I got the chance to meet them for a second and tell them how much I enjoyed their set. I also bought both of their cds which, no lie, are pretty much on constant play for me.
Why? Because they speak of great hope, great grace (lol…or griss), and are a constant postitive noise in my ears. When my life gets crazy busy like it’s been lately, it’s especially important that I watch that I’m listening to stuff that points me in the right direction. I would say it’s equally important to guard what I watch, but frankly, what with my practically living in my mini-van as a full-time chauffer, I don’t get to watch much of anything except bad drivers! Ooops, that madness of Monday is creeping back in. Here are some of the videos from my new favorite band. I won’t make you read through the lyrics, but if you can, just close your eyes (I know it’s a video, but it’s the only way I know how to link to the songs) and listen to the lyrics. I pray they bring you the peace, joy, and hope I get when I hear them.
Although it’s hard to pick just two favorites, I would say “You Bled” and “Exalt” are in my top five for sure.
And when you hear this song, I DARE you not to clap along! Or at the very least tap your toes. It’s just not possible.
The bottom line is this band makes music that my soul wants to sing! I hope it made your “mad” Monday a bit more managable
Update: About an hour after I wrote this I was waiting for my kids (yet again) and watching Rend Collective Videos on my iphone in the care and found this gem! If you love the accents, you’ll love this one
For almost 2 years now, we’ve been attending Bethel Church. Prior to that we had been at the same church for 20 years. Bethel has taken some getting used to, and most of the time I still feel like the “new kid”. I’ve made an effort to get involved in the body life. I serve in the infant nursery once a month. It helps them, and bonus…I get my baby fix! I love serving in nursery. I’m also involved with a ladies’ small group that meets twice a month. We’re currently reading and working through this book. The thing is that Bethel is huge compared to our last church home, and we still aren’t used to that. The classes they offer and the small groups help, but I just think it’s really hard to transition anywhere when you had been somewhere else for so long!
Earlier this week I went to a special meeting at Bethel. We, as a church, are entering new territory with “Mission Them” which is to multiply disciples through multiple sites and multiple partnerships. It was a very informative meeting, and I really like the leadership’s approach to this new era in the church. Through it all, I still had that new kid “I don’t really belong with this group” feeling. Not because of others, because of me. I’m at somewhat of a crossroads as far as my heart is concerned. It’s time to be “all in”, or continue to keep myself on the periphery of things. On the outside it looks like I’m involved, serving, taking Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, involved in a small group. But at the heart of things, I’m afraid to go all in. If I go all in with my heart, there’s a chance I could be hurt again. In two years, a lot of hurts have healed, but the risk of going all in at Bethel means those scars could be reopened.
This is where I struggle. My trust has to be in God, and I have to do and go where HE wants me to. In this case, I can feel His gently guiding hand leading me towards going all in. And I’m not gonna lie: it’s scary. The thing about it is I know that while I’m scared, He is holding my hand telling me that He’s right there…in the scariness. The heart is a tricky thing. It wants what it wants. To be loved and accepted and treasured and valued. God does all those things, and that really should be enough. I think that’s what I find most scary. That sometimes I don’t let that be enough.
So, to sum up what I learned this week: with Christ by my side, I can do scary things because no matter the outcome, He will stay right there with me.
Has there ever been a time you were afraid to go “all in”? What happened?
Last night I tried to borrow an idea from Boomama’s site and was going to write a “Friday Favorites” post, but I was falling asleep while typing and never got it finished. The OCD in me will not allow me to post a “Friday Favorites” on a Saturday, and I can’t think of a clever alliteration without checking my thesaurus which is in my phone and my phone is in the kitchen and I’m on the couch. So, you’ll just have to wait until next Friday to find out about a few of my favorite things.
I’m all about alliteration. I’ve often thought of daily writing here with titles such as “Sharing Sundays” (posts about what spiritual truths I learned that week), ”Monday Madness” (because Mondays are always insane), “Tiny Talk Tuesday” (unfortunately this year’s class doesn’t supply enough funnies for a weekly edition…maybe monthly), “Wordless Wednesdays” (once I learn to use my new toy!!!! I will definitely do this one), “Thankful Thursdays” (keepin’ it positive on the Sunny Side), “Fun Fridays” (the fun I hope to have over the weekend), and…I’ve got nothing for Saturdays yet. “Saturday Special” maybe. I could talk about special things. Like how much my husband loves me!
Let me tell you how much. My friend jokes that my husband is wrapped, and all I have to do is think of something and he gets it for me. Now, if that were the case, I’d have a plane ticket to Hawaii for spring break. But I see her point. In my classroom is a large pull-down screen for using an overhead projector. I’ve used it once this year. I need to be better about planning lesson that use the overhead, but I always forget about it. I did however want a projector so I could show my class the occasional VeggieTales dvd that goes with the Bible lesson we are studying that week. 14 Pre-k-ers watching something on my laptop is like shooting oneself in the foot. The chorus of “I can’t see!” is amazing! I watched the ads and never found a projector worth the money. My husband did however, and it came in the mail last week. It was a very nice surprise! I had hoped to show my class “Green Eggs and Ham” for Dr. Seuss’ birthday yesterday, but misplaced the dvd. Technology is amazing and awesome, but still derailed by human error! I still can’t find the stinkin’ dvd. And it’s from the library! I have no idea where I put it.
The projector is really fun and my girls have enjoyed watching “Despicable Me” (love that movie) on the ceiling while laying on the couch (a super fun way to watch something.) But the projector is not the new toy I referred to earlier. No, my sweet, dear, loving husband got me something I have been dropping hints about for 2 years now. I am now the happy owner of a Canon Rebel! What with all the busyness this week I’ve only gotten to play with it once, and because I’m a good mom, I share it with Alisha. She’s taking a photography class at the YDC School of the Arts. That’s fancy for saying the church where I teach. It’s an hour-long class, once a week, given by our friend who is a great photographer. So we share the camera. She’s messed with it enough this week that she’s gotten some really cool shots! Of course she also filled the memory card (it didn’t come with a very large one) with pics so that when I thought I was taking pics of my class eating green eggs and ham, I actually WASN’T. The sadness. They looked so fun in their “Cat in the Hat” hats eating dyed green scrambled eggs and ham. I did have my old point and shoot and got some decent pics with that, so it’s not a total loss. I’ll be hoping to find a summer class on how to use a DSLR camera.
I guess that is special enough for me to dub today’s post “Saturday Special”
Have a great weekend!
Weigh in on this…does the alliteration annoy you?? I really think I like them. (that’s the ocd talking
Today I am thankful for some seemingly mundane things: MucinexD, Advil, and iced Dunkin Donuts coffee. Without these things I would have spent the second half of my day curled up in the fetal position under my desk with a fan blowing on me. I should probably explain.
