Giving Thanks!

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I really am thankful for the many blessings in my life. So here is my list of ten things I think make my life that much fuller.

1. Ella, she is at such a fun age. She loves making things, cooking, and animals. She is wonderful and kind. LOVE her.

2. Maddy, she is a wonderful "big sister" and I cannot wait for her to spend her summer with us.

3. Mike, he drives me to work, because even though I have lived in Montana my whole life I cannot drive in snow.

4. Dance. It has been so amazing to get the opportunity to dance with new faces and familiar faces again. Also, performing was amazing.

5. Moving. We are finally making a move into a home with more space. I am super excited.

6. My job. I love the fact I have a job and I "most of the time" really enjoy what I do. Especially when I get I am Thankful Cards put in my mailbox from last years students saying...Dear Mrs. Davey Thank you for being so nice to me and keeping your room clean. The bonus being these students could not write at the beginning of last year. Now they are. LOVE IT.

7.My friends are pretty cool. I look forward to reading about M's journey through motherhood everyday. I think she should write a book and A is such a great friend I don't know what I would do without her.

8. My mom is pretty cool.

9.Chocolate

10. Coffee

Happy Turkey Day! I am not shopping on Friday this year. I learned my lesson last year. Good thing Ella only wants a horse on a stick and a hamster this year. I don't think wally world has specials on those.

Blog Title

I renamed my blog. It is french for "Joy of Living" . The name reminds me that I need to focus on this more. The few close people in my life know that I can be a very "glass half empty" sort of gal. So I am going to list a few JOYFUL things in my life that I love.

1. The Bean and our new bedtime routine of spraying "monster spray" and reading I love you stinky face in silly voices. It has solved the nightmare issue. Yeah!

2. pedicures

3. the hills and all the shallowness soapy opera like drama it embodies

4. Dandelion Wine, read it every summer since junior year and I LOVE IT!

5. 18 days left of work

6. 4 weeks of work left

7. the ceramic growth thru art turtle i bought at artwalk for ella

8. new music on my ipod...love B.O.B.

9. wine on sale at world market

10. drinking said wine while sitting on my patio

I Made It!

I have been M.I.A., but Things. Are. Happening.

I was driving the other day and a song came the main chorus being I MADE IT! That is how I feel at this exact moment I made it through this year. I have been teaching for four years and hands down this year has been my most challenging. I have had my cell phone stolen, candy, peeing on the carpet, a few fits thrown, and more sad stories that I cannot share and I handled it, well I cried a lot in the privacy of my own home; sometimes with really big glasses of wine in hand. That being said, I went from teaching at a school that had a mostly middle class population to one that is 87% free and reduced lunch.

The biggest obstacle that I had to overcome this year was accepting how unbalanced things in life really are. I taught at a school before that was not a “title” school. Kids had their basic needs met. They had food. They were safe. They were clean. They had books at home and were read to. Now I see kids go home with Friday backpacks and tell me they are never read to. There are fantastic kids at this school and it makes me sad that they are not given the same opportunities that the kids I taught before are.

It has also been hard for me to realize I cannot feel sorry for some of my kiddos. (Otherwise, I will never stop crying) I cannot change the situation that they might be facing. I can provide a stable place for them to be during the day. I also have to make them accountable. At first it made me feel like a witch, but now I realize I am teaching them skills that they need to know in the real world. For example I had one kiddo ( with a sad story) who was tardy everyday and it was affecting student’s schoolwork. I also learned it was because of this student’s attitude at home that he/she was late. I made her/him pull a ticket for everyday he/she was tardy. (My students earn tickets for fun Fridays.) I tell them this is a job. Their job. They need to treat it as such.

At times I feel like a social worker, a counselor, a parent, a mediator, and I still have to teach these kiddos to read and write!?!? So yes, at the end of this year I sit and think about how much I have grown and my eyes have been opened to some harsh realities. The cool thing is my students taught me and I think I did a good job of teaching them too. I MADE IT!