Getting Ready

I attended in-service Tuesday and Wednesday and it was so nice to see everyone. We had two good days and got a lot accomplished but it is hard to get back in the swing of things. Isn't that awful?! I have been used to sleeping "late." (Late means past 5:30 but never past 7:30!) I do love staying in my pajamas and hanging out with Michael. I wonder if he will be ready for school to start. We never know until the day it starts. I hope he has a good year like last year. His new teacher seems really nice and his resource teacher is such a sweet lady. Positive thoughts help, right? :)
So, let's see what we have accomplished:
-Michael's school supplies bought
-posters put up in my room
-new grammar books unpacked and put on shelves
-table tops cleared and desk cleared
-lesson plans made
I feel a little better. I have not been totally worthless!
I think it will be a good year. We still have a few days of vacation left to enjoy. Yea!

Heavy Heart

As a teacher, you are able to get to know your students pretty well. It is up to the student, however, because some just won't let you in. I was able to get to know three young men in the last several years when I taught them in class. Two of the boys I had twice for different classes. My heart is heavy because all three boys have passed away in recent months. I know none of us are promised tomorrow but it hurts my heart that young men under 25 years of age are gone. Their life was just beginning. So, this is in honor of Robby C. and Colby T. who passed away in automobile accidents and Jeremy B. who died while fighting for our county. Boys, you made me laugh and you made me frustrated at times! All of you were very macho yet always had a twinkle in your eyes. You were loyal to your friends and they love and miss you. It was my honor and privilege to be your teacher.

Catching Up

Let's try this again and see where it goes! Thank you Paige, Ge-Anne and Jane T. for the encouragement.

Let's see. Where were we?! The last time I posted was in April 2010. Since it is July, I guess I need to tell you what's been happening. Not too much really. We finished school and Michael had the best year ever! He had two fabulous teachers and just loved going to school. He will be in 5th grade this year. I just can't believe it! Where does the time go?! I had a great group of seniors and I will miss them. I have seniors again this year so there will never be a dull moment, I'm sure.
We went on vacation in June to St. George Island, Florida again and had a great time. We were worried about the oil but we saw none. We did see a Coast Guard helicopter, men on ATV's from the DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) and a few National Guard members looking for oil but they remained pretty low key. We also saw boom being place in Apalachicola Bay. It is so sad about the coast! I am glad the oil stayed away from us, though.
Here are a few pictures from the trip:

We had pretty weather for two days then Hurricane Alex whipped up clouds, rain and stormy surf for several days. Oh well! It was still a great trip. This is the view from our beach house.


See, it rained and rained! The birds didn't seem to mind!


On St. George Island, it is mandatory lights out at 9 pm so the turtles are not disturbed while they are laying eggs. We saw this turtle nest on the second morning. Volunteers and scientists block off the area so they are not bothered. (It is a HUGE deal if you bother the turtles!) I read last week that the turtle eggs are being moved by Fedex to another area to get ahead of any oil. Cool!

This is the lighthouse you see right when you cross that ridiculously long five-mile bridge to get to the island. The original one was destroyed in a hurricane, I believe, so this one was build in its place. I love this picture!

Michael in his favorite place: underwater! We had a private pool with the beach house and it was wonderful.

Other than vacation, Michael and I have been staying in our pajamas way too late in the morning, making yellow cake with chocolate icing, surfing the Internet and just being worthless! I love summer! I have been working on lesson plans and will have to put up some posters in my room soon but I do love being a teacher for so many reasons and one of them is being able to spend time with my child.

Anyway, this is my update! I will try to keep it updated. Thanks again for the encouragement, ladies!

Back...Sort Of

I quit posting to this blog in January but my husband encouraged me not to delete it. I think he was right since the name of the blog could guide other parents of autistic kids my way. I am posting because I wanted to share something. My blog entries were a calendar year: January 2009-January 2010. I wanted to save the entries somehow but wasn't sure how. I searched the internet and came up with this-a book!

This is the front...

...and the back
It is 88 pages long. I didn't realize how much I had posted! I was really pleased with how it turned out. You can go to Blog2Print if you are interested. I am still reading blogs and I am pretty sure my few readers haven't checked here in quite some time but it will be here if they find me again.

I may start posting again. I am thinking about it. Obviously, if I do you will see it here!

Until next time...