Zoo Day!

Only rainbows after rain. The sun will always come again.
Its a circle, circling. Around again, it comes around.

This was our backyard surprise last night.

Rumor has it that it has been unbearably hot lately. I could neither confirm or deny those rumors since I have barely made it outdoors the past few days. One thing I can definitely confirm though is that it has rained a lot this summer. A lot. Torrential downpours. There were several afternoons during Summer School when it poured so hard that you could not see out the windows. Flash Flood Warnings became a normal icon on the corner of the television screen. I told the kids that it was good that we were getting pass the rain while still in school so there would be nothing but sunny days when we were out. It still rained. It's still raining. A lot. Once upon a time you watched the weather report to see what day it was going to rain that week. Now, we watch the weather report to see which day has the best chances of not raining.

Well, today was that day this week. It was also the one, the only day, that Benjamin realized he's a kid, it's summer, and he could actually sleep in. Until 9:30 a.m.! So, it took a real effort to peel myself out of bed and carry the boys to the zoo. But I am so glad I did. It was an absolutely perfect day for a zoo trip. Per-fect! The weather was mild and breezy. Every single visit to the zoo until today has been a game of strategically making it from one temporarily cooler spot to the next because it was so blazing hot.

It all worked out well because our zoo annual passes end tomorrow and we wanted to squeeze in just one more visit. I don't plan on renewing the passes for at least a couple of years. I waiver back and forth between enjoying the zoo... and feeling guilty for finding entertainment in the animals being trapped outside of their natural habitat for human display. It does help some to realize that with deforestation, industrialization, and poaching that it is quite possible zoo exhibits will be the only remnants of some species.

I liken the whole conflict to feeling guilty for eating animals and wanting to be vegetarian, or at least Pescetarian (shrimp are lot less guilt-inducing than cows)... until I just need a big hunk of steak from The Outback.

Following  the pleasant trip to the zoo, we stopped by the playground for a short while... until it began to rain... again.

 

 

 

 

Elephant Paintings!

 

 

 

The Best of Intentions

I am able to predict a day off school far more accurately than Nostradamus and all that end-of-the-world crap. Most often it is a snow day, but given the unpredictable freakishness of Virginia weather, that day off may not just be for snow, but for heavy rains or high winds... or something even less disruptive than that.

This is my method- Create a classroom calendar for a significant amount of time, at least a couple of weeks, but maybe even a month. Craft it perfectly, with enough time to cover all your course objectives in an engaging fashion with enriching methods. Accent it with detailed lesson plans, which flow and connect to fit the perfect puzzle frame of that indicated time.

Then... something's going to happen to screw it all up!

The teen girls around here love to post pics of themselves in bikinis in the snow on Facebook. Why? I don't know. So, Cameron threw on a pair of swimming trunks to pose in the snow as a mockery of the whole teen fad.

We did have snow last weekend. Thankfully, it began and ended on Saturday. It made for a pretty day and no messy roads to drive afterwards. I had mentioned earlier that one of the silly little reasons I wanted to keep a blog was to look back over what happened with weather the year before. Well, is there such a thing as a Weather Blog- a Wog? Because it may have taken its own little corner of the Internet to keep up with all the crazy Virginia weather. True to this year's trend, it was 60 degrees the day before, then the biggest snowflakes I have ever seen fluttered from the sky the very next day. Jason said looking out the window was like watching a snow globe.

As I said though, the snow was on Saturday, and not very disruptive to the school schedule. I can't say the same for the rest of the week. I had already planned to take off Monday and just knew Karma was going to chomp me in the backside for taking a "Sick Day" when I wasn't actually "Sick." (Doctor's appointments and such all fall under "Sick Days" with our policies.)

Then...

I got "the call" before first block was even over Tuesday that I had to go pick up Benjamin from daycare. I doctored & cuddled him up, feeling comfortable enough sending him back to school on Wednesday. When I picked him up that afternoon though, I learned that he had slept away most of the day. So, I stayed home of Thursday and took him to the doc to find out that he had a nasty nose and ear infection. Very shortly after a couple of doses of antibiotics though, he was roaring through the house again looking for new adventures.

Among MY "new adventures" was trying to get that antibiotic into this kid. I found the fusses and battles to be far easier to overcome with a little bribery- of the Ant Smasher kind.

 A free app that I downloaded to my phone this week, those pesky little ants (and ornery little bees) have been quite the bribe motivator to get Benjamin to do a few things, especially take his meds... and Nope, I'm not ashamed of that in the very least!

 

Well, before being out the unexpected three days last week (I am not even sure I have been out three days in one week other than maternity leave!), I had mapped out instructional activities to span over the next two weeks. As of late, I have begun detailing my lesson plans down to the exact time from for each activity (8:15 - 8:20 Grammar Warm-Up, 8:20 - 8:40 SSR Reading & log, etc.) I know, I knowww.... another product of my thwarted sense of OCD, but the structure brings calmness to the chaos that can be my day. And, I swear I do not have a mental breakdown when the schedule doesn't follow the minute-by-minute scenario... usually.

 

I had mapped out the two weeks specifically because I have "adopted" a new class first block. Unfortunately a co-worker's husband has had a very unexpected and ill year, and we are all pitching in to help the situation because "the show must go on," and so must the school year. So I am covering another teacher's first block so she can cover another teacher's first block so he can cover the class of the teacher that's been home caring for her husband. It's an intricately planned scenario in hopes of putting the most qualified teachers in the place they are needed most during this interlude.

 

But most days? It feels like I am one body and mind trying to cover two classes. So, that hole I always feel from missing time from class feels a little deeper this week. And, ohhh, it's one of those weeks- with a newly scheduled Family Reading night & fundraiser this Thursday, Blood Drive this Friday, Get-together with Convention-goers this weekend to finish competition pieces & shopping for a new suit for Cameron, Relay Team Captains & Committee meeting Monday night & School Team meeting Wednesday morning, Club elections next week, field trip next Tuesday, Parent Conferences next Wednesday, and leaving for Key Club District Convention next Friday.

 

It's definitely one of those times in life when I have to simply... pause. Remember the job I get "paid" for. Remember my priorities- Education. Family. Not in that order, most days. Remember the reasons why I choose to give of my time, my self, in this way. Remember that it is a busy season, the time will pass, and when things quiet back down (for a very short time) I will feel the reward of what temporarily feels like stress and chaos. And too much. Way too much.

 

Oh yeah, and add new lesson plans and class calendars to that list.

A Chilly Chili Weekend

Folly was on me! After harassing Mother Nature for her puny excuse of a "snow storm" last week, she fought back with a vengeance this past weekend!

School was scheduled to end at 2 p.m. on Friday due to Final Exams schedule for the first semester. The schedule was adjusted a bit to let the kids out at 1 though due to the pending storm. Now, in Virginia we are prone to over-reacting to weather forecasts, and living in a very large and very rural county, our school system is even more conservative than the conservative norm.

Let me tell you... It was some masterful planning this time tough! I had prayed/chanted/pleaded that we just make it through the semester before any major schedule-changing freaky weather. Well, the kids departed at 1, and just about the time that the last batch would have crossed the threshold into their cozy houses, the skies opened and it looked like "The Day After Tomorrow" out there!

Teachers were allowed to leave early also, at their own discretion, to avoid bad driving conditions. Being the fool dedicated educator that I am though, I was one of the last to leave the building... and that was only after a not so subtle hinting from the custodians that I needed to GO HOME already!

I sadly must admit that I was foolish to stay at school as long as I did. The roads had grown pretty bad after just two hours of snow. Even getting from the door to my car was a bit treacherous.

 

I believe the accumulation was just about 3 inches- not that I had any time to go frolic in the winter flakes, much less measure their accumulation. Oh no, it was a Key Club weekend in maximum overdrive! We had our first Annual Chili Sale! Gratitude beyond words cannot begin to explain how indebted I am to the Cooke family who stepped up and took full charge of this event. They shopped and organized and worked and just made it the easiest fundraiser of this magnitude ever coordinated. So easy, that I spent seven hours Saturday with this over-riding guilt that I wasn't "doing enough" because I don't just "show up" for events very well. I am a very hands-on-pick-up-the-slack-jump-in-and-take-charge kinda person... and that kinda person just wasn't needed Saturday.

 

Seriously, indebted with gratitude beyond measure.

 

And seriously, a fundraiser of magnitude.

 

 

The volume of cans of beans and tomatoes and tomato sauce awaiting the work crew arriving was like a stocked food bank during the holidays! And the mega batches of chili cooking? You could have swam in it... like a rather odd hot tub.

 

Okay, that's an exaggeration... but I did warm my hands over the batches cooking out in the snowy parking lot on a regular basis.

 

In a sweetly cruel twist of fate though, the recipe for 250 quarts made 398.5 quarts of chili. So, it could be like the sequel to Bubba Gump around the McHenry household as we hawk some more sales- chili pancakes, chili dogs, chili pizza, chili spaghetti... maybe not the pancakes.

 

Civil War, Snow, Mafia ('cause I roll like that!)

This is the time of year that I must express my humility in expressing homage to those honorable men that greatly influenced American history- those such as Jackson & Lee who fought for the good ole' South during the Civil War, and Martin Luther King Jr. who for for the Civil Right for all Americans during a time when it was simply not safe to express such forward-thinking views on equality- especially before thousands on the Washington lawn and more perched before their television screens at home witnessing the phenmenon. Without these great men in history we would not have...

A FOUR DAY WEEKEND! Woot! Woot! Yes'um down South in Virginie, the yougins get off from school Friday for Lee/Jackson Day, and then of course, Monday for MLK.

I know it seems resplendent to bask in a four day weekend after having only been back in school nine teaching days since Christmas break, but it really helps to break up the accumulating stress of standardized state testing, exams, research papers, and the many more deadlines the end of a semester bring. Also, kids and teachers alike seem to drag their feet when returning from two weeks off, so the four day respite is just enough of a recharge to propel us towards the deadline that is the semester's end.

Making this an even greater respite from the everyday rush was... SNOW! I know it sounds silly but one of the reasons I have always wanted to be better about blogging was to have a record of weather extremes year-to-year. Perhaps, if you live in Virginia this makes sense to you. Last week was flip-flop weather with pressing-70 degree weather, then this weekend- snow. This is typical VA. The inconsistency of weather around here makes it all blur though and you find yourself questioning whether that big snow was last year, or did it snow at all? Or which hurricane kept us home 2 days- and why? So, for future posterity's sake, I present to you, the Great Snow of 2013!

There was just enough white stuff on the ground to excite Benjamin but not enough to excite other folks very much. I was just thankful it was over the extended weekend and unable to tamper with the school schedule. I want this semester's schedule to stay on "track." (Track? Get it? See pic above, ha!)

It was a peaceful and productive weekend. I got a lot of cleaning done- especially if cleaning out the recorded shows on the dvr count. I watched way too much "Wife Swap" and learned way too much about the Casey Anthony trial. (Thank you Lifetime for both of those.) Oh, and I was introduced and intrigued by "The Amish Mafia."

Have you met Lebanon Levi? It is no secret that I like my reality tv brain candy, but this some good stuff! There's a lot of criticism in the media that the show's premise is staged. I think it's debatable. I have not seen anything on the show that smells fake per se, but I accept the convention of production that is involved to liken the personalized justice and reward system or rural Lancaster to a "Mafia" image. I don't get caught up in the authenticity of any reality show because how "natural" is it to have a camera over your shoulder recording your every move and word in any situation?

I also got a lot or grading done over the weekend break on that never-stopping hamster wheel of teaching. The semester is winding down, exams are this week, and I am growing excited about the adventures of the semester that lays ahead.