First Day of School

Tomorrow is the first day of school. I'm not sure I'm ready to start a third year of teaching. Correction: I know I'm not ready to start a third year of teaching. I'm getting pretty discouraged by the outlook for music in public schools. I will honestly be surprised if it isn't completely pushed out by other "curriculum" within 10 years. Maybe it's just the school where I work. It's exhausting to fight really hard for something that no one else seems to value. (Students included.) Anywho.

The first day of school. When you're a kid, it's exciting! You get a new teacher! You have new clothes to put on. Pristine white sneakers to set out the night before. You have new school supplies - new pencils, notebooks, binders, just waiting to be filled with notes. You get to see kids you haven't seen all summer. You get to go to class and hope the cute boy is there! You get to tackle new subjects and sometimes go to new places. If you went to CHS, you actually look forward to school lunch. School is pretty dang exciting. In fact, you can't sleep the night before because it's that exciting.

Even in college, I would get excited about the new teachers I would meet, and the new subjects I would learn. I would scope out little study corners in the buildings where I had class. I would strategically map out the fastest routes to and from my classes, and hide out in the Snow Building for hours on end practicing, and avoiding practicing. I admit that I can't immediately recall a lot of the information that I learned, but I know that (most of it) I loved learning! I even liked my night classes. I got to take photography, and horseback riding, and astronomy. And while there were countless nights where sleep became more of a nap, I loved going to class. (Except Math in the Real World. Which was the only class I ever skipped. Multiple times. But all of my other classes...) I was good at it! I wish I could make a career out of being a student. Well, I guess I could, but it wouldn't pay very well.

You would think that being a teacher would provide some of that excitement. And it does to a very small extent. Every once in a while, a pep assembly, or a performance, or a conversation will make me really happy to be a teacher. But most of the time, I just wish I could teach kids that want to be taught. It is emotionally and physically draining to stand in front of a class and try to get them to care. And I'm a music teacher! I can't imagine what it would be like for a math teacher. But kids will be required to take math from now until forever. If they don't care about learning music, it simply won't be offered.

I have a stack of syllabi (that's a stupid plural) on my desk, waiting for new students. I have uniforms cleaned, relabeled and packed away in garment bags, waiting to be worn for that first field show. (AHHHH!) I have a brand new ukulele waiting to be played for two brand new ukulele classes! (AHHHH!)

I don't have new clothes or new shoes to wear. I don't really have any new school supplies.   I get my class lists and kind of hope certain kids aren't on them. I won't be able to sleep tonight, but that will be from stress, not excitement. And instead of laying out my clothes and flipping through an unmarked calendar, packing my cute little backpack, and dreaming of the possibilities like a night-before-the-first-day-of-school student, I'm blogging like a cowardly night-before-the-first-day-of-school teacher. Wish me luck!

Tomorrow, Charlie watches me go to school for another year. And if I ever get to stay home with Charlie, it will be just in time for me to watch him go to school.

School is starting

Next week I am back at work, and then the week after that, the students start up again. And this is how I feel:

 I am trying to soak up every last second of being a stay-at-home-mom.

Week in Provo

This last week, Chad was in Salt Lake for training for his new job. Erin invited me to spend the week with her, which sounded like a better idea than sitting up in Idaho by myself. And Chad's new job was paying for gas, so, why not? We called a neighbor to watch the dog and someone else to keep the lawn watered, and off we went!

Brush fire started by a pickup truck fire. Just north of Blackfoot. Apparently it had just happened because the road was still open and there was this guy with his hose. 

Chad's fancy hotel room at the Crystal Inn & Suites (complete with "social hour" and light dinner in the evenings.) 

It was late when Chad checked in. Charlie thought he was staying.  He climbed up on the bed and made himself comfortable. Aww... 

Sunset Monday night. 

Entertaining himself in the car. Love this boy. 

I spent the week doing fun things with Erin while Chad spent the week learning about his new job. We went to a kid movie on Tuesday morning. It was an Oceans documentary. This was Charlie's first movie experience. If it was Despicable Me, he might've been interested longer than the 30 minutes we made it before the babies were done and we went and played at the mall "playground".

One of the funnest parts of getting together with Erin is watching Charlie and Addie "play". Addie did a lot of following Charlie around trying to take away whatever he was playing with. After which, Charlie would throw himself on the floor and scream. She also frequently tried to tuck him in with a blanket and stuffed animal. When she started heading for him, he'd come screaming and running to hide behind me or get me to pick him up. I snapped this picture because it was one of the few times they were actually getting along. They parked themselves on the floor with their little bowls of cereal. They certainly were busy getting into everything but it was still fun to have two of them for a little while.

Sad this picture is blurry. 

On Thursday, we decided to go to the candy store. We got 500 candy sticks for $5! (It was supposed to be $10, but they had apparently had a sale the weekend before, and (accidentally or not) charged Erin the sale price, so I had her get me some too!)

Watching the lady make eyeballs.

We also went to the park and chased babies around for a while.

By the time I got the camera, Charlie was done being in the swing.

Story time! 

This is pretty typical. Addie would "pat" Charlie when he started crying that she was coming after him. 

Typical morning on the couch playing video games. 

Charlie got anxious about whatever was happening. 

 We also spent one morning at the new Provo Rec Center. We got there relatively early (noonish?) so we could get in and out before it got too busy and before nap-time. The boys were really excited about the slides which snake in and out of the building. We were disappointed to learn that the slides (and the kiddie splash playground) didn't "turn on" until 1:00pm. So that was annoying. Also that Charlie was really excited about the water slides until I was told the slides were made for little kids and I couldn't go on them with him. The start of the slide is up the stairs, and then the exit of the slide is on the opposite side down in the water, so trying to run and catch them really fast is pretty impossible. Charlie got brave and went once without me, and came down on his back, head first. Yeah, he pretty much loved that. NOT. And then he wouldn't go on the slides again. He was wearing a life jacket, but that doesn't really help them keep their faces out of the water when they fall over on their tummies. The one little slide they had that was open (not a tube slide) where you might be able to hold your baby's hand as they came down was "closed because it wobbles." Oh. Cool. And just before 1:00, the daycare kids showed up. So... it was fun... but I guess our expectations were too high.

And on Friday, Will and Sawyer found a garter snake out in the yard, which they were very proud of. They ran inside to find a box to set up a habitat for their new friend. They carried the poor thing around all day. Sawyer discovered it could swim by putting it in the pool. We figured it would get out overnight, but it was still in it's box in the morning.

They're all looking at Chad making crazy faces to get their attention. 

We made a quick trip to Home Depot to get something to fix Erin's birthday swing. This is pretty much how it went - Charlie and Addie "drove" the cart happily for about 10 seconds before Addie started hitting Charlie to get his hands off of the steering wheel. Here Will is playing referee as Addie has obviously already bossed Charlie around. It is slightly amusing because Charlie is much more "solid" than Addie, but she doesn't care, and he doesn't act like it. We were afraid he was turning into a bully, but he wouldn't mess with her.

Eating like a big boy. 

This is what happens when Addie apparently wants to get dressed. She found some little bloomers, and one of the boys' dirty socks, which she put on inside out. 

Cousin picture on Erin's swing.

We stayed with Erin's kids (minus Hazel) on Friday night and Saturday, and then it was time to head back to Idaho. 

On the way back, we stopped at the Burger King in Malad for a treat and a break from the car. We are becoming well-acquainted with this Burger King as 2 hours seems to be about as long as Charlie can stand in the car. 

Took this picture on the way back up. Because (hopefully) we won't always live in Idaho.  It came out pretty good! 

Chad's eating a car! 

Charlie's teeth have been bothering him so this is a pretty common pose these days.