I'm sitting here at my kidney table (a table shaped like a kidney for those who are wondering!) wondering if my next student testing appointment forgot, or is in another appointment with siblings.I have a half hour to get stuff done and I'm blogging. WHAT AM I THINKING? I have so much to do! Blogging is a nice break I suppose.

Day 2 of the new school year is over and I am, in the words of my principal, "cautiously optimistic" about this group of kids. We'll see how it goes with the other group next week. Before school started, I was bound and determined to have better-behaved students than I had last year. So far it's working. Lots of positive reinforcement and reminders to myself that they are only 6 and have only been in school for 2 days has really paid off. I've got 21 dang cute faces staring at me all day long with little trouble. Of course, there are the select few that haven't caught on to the fact that I will ignore them if they are not raising their hand and just saying "Mrs. S.? Teacher? Teacher? TEACHER?" *sigh* They can't all be perfect, I guess. It did make me feel good to have the principal come in on the first day and whisper in my ear "You are doing amazing." *GRIN* That was the most fantastic thing ever.

Now my next challenge is getting settled on a daily schedule. Things around these here parts are just wild and I am trying to get used to an extremely crazy schedule. It's so complicated that I won't bother to explain. Just know that I might be pulling my hair out because of our schedule and not because of my students. ;)

Well, I should go and plan for tomorrow. Maybe it will be somewhat normal. HA!

dreams (or nightmares)

Ever since I ended last school year and have enjoyed my summer vacation, I continuously have dreams (or nightmares?) that my new class this year is so naughty! I hate those dreams. Kory says I have them because it's something I'm worried about. 'Tis true, but really, do I have to dream about it??

I did meet with my mentor yesterday that Diane asked me to work with this year. She is so great and I love that she seemed very non-judgmental. I already had some good ideas for improvement and so Debbie (the mentor) just kind of let me take the wheel. She offered a few ideas here and there, but really she is just around to do her job: mentor, if needed. I like it.

The kids come back to school in 12 days, I have to be back for training and Professional Development in 6 days. So much to do!!

In other news(sorry, it's kind of about school again): Kory signed up to take the GRE in October. He and I both decided he can't get his new video game that he wants until after he has taken the GRE. So, October it is! It makes me excited because it means that we're heading in the Grad School direction. The next question is, where will be be in a year? That answer will most likely come in January.

That's is for now.

Some pictures from Hawaii

Here are a few images from our trip to Hawaii. During the second family reunion (week 2) we stayed at Auntie Lucille's empty rental house (literally no furniture). There were banana trees outside mine and Kory's window and I was so enthralled by them. This is the first bunch of bananas I saw and I wanted SOOOOO badly to pick them because 1) the neighbors weren't doing anything about them and 2) aren't they just yelling "PICK ME" to you? I would get up every morning and look out the window at the bananas. Kory wouldn't let me pick them. He couldn't understand my infatuation! :)


During both family reunions, we had one day as a family where we were in charge of a meal. Week 2 we were in charge of lunch. Jase wanted to help make the tuna, so we let him "mix" everything in. So cute!














We only visited this beach one day because it was near the Kona side of the island and our reunions were on the Hilo side. This was the only sandy beach we played at. The beaches at the reunions were rocky. I'm a sucker for that gorgeous turquoise water.















I think this was the coolest part of our trip. One Sunday night we drove out to the lava flow. The Big Island is the only one out of the 7 that is getting larger because the volcano is active. When we drove out, we arrived at about 8:15pm. It was almost dark and by the time we park and reached the path to start hiking out, it was pitch black, just like the pictures. We were required to have water, flashlights, and good, sturdy shoes in order to hike out to the designated lava viewing spot. Our path was old, dried up lava marked with white and yellow paint. There aren't words to describe this experience. All I can say is that God is the creator if this Earth. We got out to the flow and these are the best pictures I could get in the pitch blackness.
The lava is flowing out of a lava tube underground and into the ocean. The more blurry parts of orange in the picture is the steam rising from the ocean. When I got up close, I kept trying to get a good picture and couldn't. This nice man next to me asked if I had ever used a tripod. I said no. He told me it would get a better picture for me because it would be steady. He asked fo rmy camera and hooked it up to his tripod. He said: "take as many pictures as you want so you can get some good ones. Let me know when you're done." So sweet! He also told me that if I turned off the flash I would get a better image. I took his word for it and these are the results--much better than the ones I deleted because they were taken with a flash. Off in the distance on the other side, we could see more orange glows. It looked as if a fire had died down and just the embers were left. On our hike back, that was our scenery and we kept stopping and saying "so cool." I couldn't believe that I had experienced something so absolutely amazing. This experience goes beyond words and I highly recommend it to anyone who visits the big island. It is just incredible. For more pictures (that I tried to download but couldn't) Google "Hawaii volcano" and check out the images. They will take your breath away. More pictures to come.