Happenings around here

Since I've made my blog private it has become clear to me just how few people read my blog regularly. I sent out almost 20 "invites" to people who I thought read my blog, but it turns out most of them really don't.

It was kind of a hard pill to swallow, but in the end I had to remind myself why I keep this blog: 

#1 - to write and express myself

#2 - to document my family's life together (I have three blog books already to show for it!)

#3 - to connect to my friends and family and let you know what is going on in our lives

I have always been of the school of thought that it is better to have a few good, close friends than a lot of friends with whom I am not so close. I've always surrounded myself with friends who I think are "true" friends, people who'd be there for me in a pinch.

And that is you, my dear readers. That is you.

So the biggest news around here is the following:
Bevin is walking. A 14-month post is long overdue, which means I probably won't get around to doing a monthly update until she's 15 months. I'll just give you a little peek at what she's up to:

She's walking (or more accurately: toddling).
She's blowing her own nose with tissues. She likes to hold onto said tissues and eat them.
She loves to help put dishes away from the dishwasher. She'll literally power crawl over to the dishwasher if she hears you opening it up.
She's all about the vacuum and the broom. If you dare vacuum without wearing her, you better have a damn good reason, because there will be hell to pay.
She's giggling up a storm at silly things like a toy on top of my head, or her brother dancing around.
She claps continuously as soon as she hears any kind of music (with the exception of my singing - that still has the power to put her to sleep).
She loves to pet the cats and will listen if you advise her to NOT scream if she's near enough to pet (what is it about toddlers who love animals but scare the bejeezus out of them with their excitement?)

The second biggest news is:
Cole started a new preschool this past week. We withdrew him from his old preschool at the beginning of February and life got in the way before we finally settled upon the place we SHOULD have sent him to originally but didn't because of the distance. In the end, we realized it was worth it if he was getting quality care and stimulation. Plus it's run by a friend, who is awesome and very professional.

The third biggest news is:
I will likely be teaching 10th grade next year in addition to a couple of sections of 9th grade. It's not set in stone and can change, but I'm pretty psyched. Ninth grade has its good points (excuse me while I rack my brain for those), but it can be very challenging. Transitioning to high school is probably as hard as transitioning to middle school, plus you've got the hormones raging and the attitudes running on high. I'm sure 10th grade is not a walk in the park, but from what I hear, the behaviors are a lot more subdued and calmer.

There's so much more going on in our lives and if I had extra time and a little more energy, I'd probably be able to write much more frequently about the goings on and the funny conversations and the milestones being met by both kids. Yet, with how long my commute is, coupled with how early I wake up in the morning, multiplied by the amount of work I have to do when I'm not actually working equals a very exhausted mama. Plus, Keith and I were sick for two weeks with a cold. Since I have next to no sick days left (my district took away four sick days for this year after my maternity leave last year forced them to), I've had to suffer through most of my illness and keep on keepin' on. Can I tell you how much that sucked?

To leave you on a lighter note (I promise I'll be back in a more reasonable timeframe  -- I do have spring break coming up in 2 weeks...yippeeeeeeeeeee!!!)

Cole turns 4 in two months and boy is he excited. He keeps asking me if I can switch birthdays with him. He thinks it's really unfair that my birthday is first (I turn 37 in April). How funny is that?

This is what happens when your kids barely nap

Just before dinner time....

i like my privacy

so you're reading this because i invited you to read my blog in its private form. the ONLY reason i've made this blog private is to keep prying students out of my business. no other reason at all. i love you, my dear devoted readers, and i thank you for continuing to come back to this blog despite the irregularity in which i post. but my students have recently started to make extremely annoying inquiries, which led me to believe they will do some searching on google and might possibly find this blog. instead of deleting content, i figured making it private would be better, and something i can easily undo.  

For a while i feel it's necessary to clamp down on my online life. i made major changes on Facebook (and that is not easy, let me tell you), but just in case that isn't enough, i made this last change. my blog has never and will never be searchable, but i felt like that privacy setting still wasn't enough. i don't plan on keeping it private long term, but for the rest of the school year, it will likely stay this way.

so if you know someone who reads my blog and you hear from them that they can't read it now because a) i didn't know they read my blog or b) because i forgot them.....please let me know in the comments.