cute kids

First graders totally crack me up!

Today little girl A comes in and says to me "Ms. McCormack, I'm going home with M today because my mom has a doctor appointment. She's having an oh so sound ... you know, when they look at the baby in her tummy!" hehehe "oh so sound" too darn cute!

Later we were reading the book "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly". We had read through about half of it and then when I read "I know an old lady who swallowed a cow" little boy C pipes up loudly, "OMG that's disgusting!" he actually said the letters O.M.G. I laughed so hard I had to put the book down which of course made everyone else start to giggle too. Maybe you had to be there, but goodness was it funny! :)

Fishing!

In the past month I have become quite the fisherman (or woman rather)! Over the summer I went out on the boat with Tony a few times but while everyone else fished I just got tan. A week after I got back in town we went out again, and that day everyone was catching these HUGE fish! It was so exciting I decided I wanted to give it a try.

So, that week Tony took me to academy and helped me pick out a fishing pole (it's black and pink and super cute btw). We've pretty much gone fishing every weekend since, either out on the boat, or to the pier.

The first time we went to the pier I caught this MASSIVE fish! It was WAY too bit for my little rod and had it fought at all it would have totally snapped my line right away. As it stood I got it reeled all the way in and there was this huge crowd of people watching. All these men were trying to help get nets down there to bring it up (it was too big to get up otherwise) but unfortunately at the last second it broke the line and got away. I'm so sad we didn't even take a picture of it in the water :( Let me see if I can explain how big it was ... put your arms out strait in front of you then link your hands so it makes a circle. It was about that big!!

Catching a fish just never gets old for me. It doesn't matter what it is or what size I get excited every time as you can see from my pictures haha

This past weekend we went on the boat on Saturday and then to the pier on Sunday. On the pier there was a 4 year old boy fishing next to us who was just too darn cute. He wanted to help us throw all our fish back and got so excited when he saw us catch something. At one point he was helping me hold the fish while I got the hook out and in all seriousness he said to me "I'm going to sing twinkle twinkle to it and it will calm down" and then this sweet little boy sang to my fish. How precious! He totally loved Tony too! After Tony caught a good sized sand trout our fishing buddy Nick requested to be in the pictures too. He was too darn cute giggling up a storm as the fish flopped around and Tony helped him hold it.

I love my new hobby!! :) Can't wait to go again this weekend!

First Grade

I feel so lucky to have a job! I just cannot get over that! :)

So far everything is going really well. I really love how the school is brand new (only opened last year) so everything is SO nice! Nice furniture, technology, etc. I have a projector in my room that is hooked up to the computer which we can use to watch United Streaming, and I have an elmo instead of an overhead. I LOVE it! Oh, and the whiteboards ... SO much better than chalk. I hate the feeling of chalk on my hands haha. It's the little things. Plus, my classroom is HUGE. I mean it is at least twice the size of my rooms the past 3 years. AND one wall is painted green. It's so pretty (I have a thing for accent walls)!

My team is awesome! My team leader is so on top of things and such a good teacher, and there are two girls just about my age on the team which is so nice as well. I enjoy being around all of them and they seem to have similar teaching styles to me. We plan everything together every week (no more winging it because I don't have a clue what I'm doing) and as an added plus I have found they do a lot of the same things I did at Highlands in first grade, so I'm really comfortable with it.

I have 22 kids in my class, 13 girls and 9 boys. I have some REALLY sweet ones! I do love first graders! I had forgotten how little they know though, so the first few days were really a shock. I'm getting back into the swing of things though and the days are going much smoother.

I couldn't be happier with how things have turned out :)

rewind button

You know that rewind button for life people are always wishing for? I think I may have found it!

From my point of view, I messed up my life pretty badly this summer. I quit my awesome job, I spent a ridiculous amount of money moving across the country, and yet I ended up right back where I started in the first place (sans job, money, and apartment). Oddly enough, I wasn't too panicked coming back without having a job. I just kept telling myself that it was going to be a good year for me, no matter what happened and that there was a reason for everything. I'm learning to go with the flow here. haha

Before I came back, I emailed my principal, my assistant principal, and the original principal who hired me into Fort Bend (who I never got to work for since I was moved schools). I assumed they wouldn't have any openings, but wanted to see if they would just keep their ears open for me in case they heard of something at another school. All three immediately responded that they would be on the lookout for me, and that if something came up I would be their number one choice. This was encouraging, but I still wasn't counting on anything opening up. I know how little hiring is happening this year in general.

As I was driving back on Tuesday I got an email from the principal that hired me 3 years ago. She had just been given permission to hire for first and third grade and wanted to know when I was moving back. I responded quickly with "TODAY! I'm driving through Dallas right now!" She asked me to come in and interview the next morning. Basically, she had already decided to hire me, but was going to let each of the two teams meet/interview me (along with one other girl she was hiring) and then let them duke it out to see which team got which girl. Both teams were great, but I felt like I really clicked with the first grade team. The team leader is awesome, AND there are 2 girls about my age on the team (um, that's amazing! haha). I was really keeping my fingers crossed that I was placed there. First grade would always be my first choice if given the option!

When I left the school, the principal gave me a huge hug and told me "it's just such a God thing that you showed up right now, I'm so excited about this". I just keep thinking how right she is ... it IS such a God thing! Had I not interviewed with her 3 years ago, and had I not made it a point to stay in contact with her every once in awhile after moving schools, this never would have happened. At the time I had no idea how much that connection would help me years later. It's just amazing the way it worked out!

Later that same afternoon I got a call saying they were putting in the paperwork with HR to recommend me for the first grade position!! I somehow managed to move back and find a perfect job for me in less than 24 hours! How amazing is that?!? Seriously, NO ONE is hiring, and yet somehow I managed this. I'm still a little bit in shock, but I'm SO excited! Everyone knows how much I LOVE first grade, and the team just seems fantastic. I think I am really going to love working with them.

So, I did something crazy, realized it was a mistake, and managed to get my entire life back in a 2 week time span. Things are better than ever now. I get to teach first grade again, I get to work with a new great team, and I get to live with some of my favorite people (I realized recently that having roommates (one's you like at least) is SO much better than living alone). Life is so good! :) And, on top of all that, I now realize how much more I need to appreciate my life. I appreciate every single part of how blessed I am today (and that may not have been the case before).

What have I learned from all this? I've learned that life is not quite as cookie cutter perfect as I had made it out to be. Sometimes it's messy and confusing, and that's okay. I don't have to color in the lines all the time. I can make mistakes. My life does not have to be perfect all the time. I don't have to make all the right decisions the first chance I get. And guess what? Life will still be okay.

I'm SO happy! :)

Confession

Call it a quarter life crisis, I don't know. All I know is that I royally messed this year up, and all I want to do is fix it.

When I decided to move to Colorado last October, things were kind of a mess. I was mad at my job, had recently lost some good friends, and in all honestly, didn't have much reason to stay in Houston. It seemed, given that I had nothing to lose, it was as good a time as any to pick up and move and try something new. Had I moved last October, this would have been true.

However, over the last 9 months, my life changed drastically. I made new friends, got old friends back, came to LOVE second grade and my job again, and got really connected at my church (to name a few). In my head I just told myself I had already made the decision to leave, so I never gave it a second thought. When I did think about it, I was sad, so I just told myself I was overreacting and pushed it to the back of my brain.

Then I got there and I realized very quickly how much I had actually left behind. I had a life, a great life, and I gave it up to come to some strange place. I sent hundreds (read: 164) emails to principals looking for a job, with little or no response. I started to get frustrated. I started to think that while living with my dad for a few months would be great (I think we all know how much I love my dad!), living with him, in a loft with minimal privacy, for a whole year, might be another story. I found myself waking up in the morning and telling myself I was on vacation so that I could even get out of bed. I did my best to fill my days and keep myself busy so that I wouldn't cry. I spent hours upon hours on the phone so that I could feel like I never really left. I wasn't happy. I felt stuck in my life, and that is not a good feeling. Then I got a job interview, and I FREAKED! It scared me to death to think that I might be offered a job (a less than stellar part time job that I really didn't want, mind you), and that if I took that job I was stuck here for a year whether I wanted to be or not. Those who know me know I am prone to freakouts, but this was on a whole new level.

So, laugh all you want; talk about me behind my back, because I'm sure you will, but I'm fixing my life. I'm only 25; I'm allowed to make mistakes. In a few years I will look back on this and laugh about the year I went crazy .... quit a great job, moved across the country, then moved back a few weeks later. Yeah it's funny, and it's pretty embarrassing, but you know what? I'm going to be happy. Not everyone has the chance to fix their mistakes; I'm lucky I do.

Is this all a little bit crazy? Absolutely. Will I be happier having a support system of all my friends and people who love me around no matter what I'm doing? Without a doubt. Will I, however, miss seeing my dad every day? More than you can imagine. Have I already learned a lot from this experience? Without a doubt.

So there you have it.

Stay tuned for part two to find out how I completely fixed my life in one day!

Lots of important posts coming up. stay tuned ...

Baby Ashton

Last night my cousin Molly came over with her husband Adam and their 7 month old son Ashton. I hadn't seen them since she was pregnant last year so I was super excited they were in town for the weekend and I would have a chance to meet the baby (we all know how much I LOVE babies! hehe). Ashton is so sweet, and one of the calmest babies I have ever seen. He hardly made a sound in the 3 hours they were over here. He hasn't quite got crawling down yet, but he is pretty good at that army crawl where he basically slides his body across the floor. He was so fun to watch and play with! :)