The Toilet-y Tennis Ball

Well, friends.  Life is getting easier.  Back in October, I didn’t think we were going to survive this new way of life.  But here we are.

Still alive.

Barely.

Our day starts around 4:30am.  David, the fine gent that he is, goes and makes us a cup of coffee or tea and we start our showers.  Then we wake the children around 5:30 and start them on their showers while David fixes the other kids breakfast.  The children love waking up this early and come bounding up the stairs full of sunshine and pleasantness. As most kids would. David leaves by 5:50am and the kids and I leave between 6:30 and 6:45.

The girls arrive at their school around 7:30.  I take the boys to their school right after that.  Luckily, the boys school and the girls school are about 2 minutes apart.

The school I teach at is about 10 minutes from them.  I get there early enough to work on all my teacher-ly duties.  I am loving teaching 2nd grade.

After school can get a bit hectic, especially since the kids started basketball season.  We are usually in town until anywhere from 6-8pm, and then we trek home.  We do dinner, homework, and packing lunches and don’t even have to argue with the kids about going to bed.  For they are so ready.  Most nights, the kids don’t even have time for T.V.  When they are not in basketball, we get home earlier and there is more time for relaxing.

We are tired.  We spend a fortune in gas.  We eat a lot of snacks in the car.  Our car is nasty-gross.  But we are happy.  The kids are all in really great schools and have made wonderful, kind friends.  The girls have started a prayer group that meets twice a week before school starts, and it has grown quite a bit.  Handsome Dude was placed in advanced math, and I am excited that A)  His school offers advanced math and B)  MY BOY IS IN ADVANCED MATH.

This was the child that hid under the table from me during homeschooling because I asked him to trace the letter “Z.”

My boy!  Advanced!  Who knew?!

I am getting used to my new grade and my new district.  The staff is kind and supportive, which is everything a teacher needs in this life.

There is a day that I cannot forget from my homeschooling years.  It was back in the spring of when Sweet Pea would have been in 4th, Daisy Mae, 3rd, Handsome Dude K (and very difficult) and Little Dude in K as well (because ain’t nobody got time to teach preK, too.)  It was in the afternoon, and it was that time of day when the sunlight is almost gone.  Snow had started to fall, which was discouraging because it was APRIL.  I had gone downstairs to put a log on the fire.  The kids were upstairs finishing up their school work.  I had just gotten done looking, once again, at the website for the charter school that I really wanted my kids to attend.  I could not figure out how on earth I would ever get them there.  The 45 minute commute was too much.  How could I afford the gas?  What would I do in town all day while they were at school?  Someone had told me that I had waited too long to teach . . . no one would ever hire me.  I assumed it would never happen.  I remember staring out that window and praying that if it could happen, God would make it happen.

I can’t help but look over the events of these past three years and see how God DID make it happen.  He led me to put my kids in the local school, even though it seemed so scary at the time.  He led me to start subbing.  Through the kindness and support of other teachers, I learned a great deal about teaching during that year.  I was hired for Kindergarten.  While I loved the staff at the school, I could see it was not the best school for my kids to be in.  It was scary, but I applied to get my girls into that Charter school, still not knowing how I would get them there.  They got in!  Then I applied for a job in that same district.  Getting a job in this district seemed impossible, and yet, I got one.  And here I am.  My girls are going to that school.  My boys are at an amazing school right down the road from them.  And I, the girl who stayed at home for 11 years after getting her teaching degree, am teaching at a great school.

I feel very thankful and blessed.  And tired.  But I am glad my kids are in wonderful schools and I really enjoy teaching.  Homeschooling was great for us for a time, and I am glad we did it.  But I am thankful we are where we are now.

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Before I go, I had to share this story about the boys:

We were at the girls’ basketball game and the boys had been gone for a suspiciously long time. (This can never be good)
I find them in an abandoned hallway with a tennis ball. Which is odd because we didn’t come with a tennis ball.
Me: Where did you get that ball?
Little Dude (proudly): In the bathroom.
Me: That doesn’t mean you can have it. Put it back.
Little Dude: Moooooom!
Handsome Dude: Mom. He got that ball from the toilet.
Me: What?!
Little Dude: It’s OK, Mom! I washed it off. With soap!
Me: NO NO NO! Don’t ever take stuff out of toilets! Ever! No! Everybody is washing their hands NOW!
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Happy Monday!