fun day at work

Last Friday, we had a Professional Development day at work.
No kids.
Just staff.

We have a couple of these a year and this one was focused on "team building." We spent the day doing different activities to build relationships and morale.

My favorite activity of the day by FAR was when we got to go to Gym class. We spent 45 minutes learning how to shoot a bow and arrow, and then shot arrows at ISTEP booklets...because standardized testing is for the birds!

This was my first attempt. I was so proud...but then I got even better as I kept shooting.

Apparently I'm left-eye dominant, so I was the only one who had to use the left-handed bow. It was a little awkward because my left arm is basically useless...I do pretty much nothing with it. But I got the hang of it and was eventually shooting from 20 yards. And STILL hitting the target each time haha!

I was all pumped to tell Ty (Mr. Bow & Arrow Man) how awesome I did and tell him that I now want a bow to just do target practice in the back yard.

The only downfall was when I held the bow wrong and hit myself in the arm with the string. It bruised up pretty nice though, so I was able to say I got a sports injury.

I also learned how to play the bongos...so that's cool too.

All in all, it was a super fun day. Fun to spend time with my coworkers and "taking back the school." This time of year is tough as a teacher. You're so close to the end...but still so far. Spring Break is in sight, but it's at the end of a LONG tunnel that's filled with parent teacher conferences, testing, report cards, standards, etc. So it was a much appreciated day. 

And we got to wear jeans...which is always a plus in my book!

xoxo, wife

dear husband,

Thank you.

Thank you for taking care of me while I was sick.
Thanks for calling every day on your way home to ask if I needed anything.
For buying me ice cream for my sore throat.
For offering to take me to the doctor, because you know doctors freak me out.
Thank you for asking if I needed extra blankets.
For allowing me to sleep in our bed while you took the guest bed.
For telling me countless times that you hoped I felt better soon.
For kissing me on my knee because you wanted to kiss me...but didn't want to get germs.
Thank you for not making fun of me for watching 12 hours of the Kardashians in 2 days.
Thanks for doing the grocery shopping while I was sick on the couch.
For not complaining that I didn't do laundry over the weekend.
For letting me get germs all over your computer while I wrote sub plans.
For bringing me ibuprofen when I needed it.
Thanks for buying me countless bottles of Powerade.
For buying me weird health drinks that I refused to try.
Thanks for encouraging me to rest and not overdo it.
For listening to me whine and complain for 4 days.
For getting me a cold cloth for my head when I had a fever.
For coming to check on me after I'd gone to bed.
Thank you for not totally complaining when I took 4 hot showers on Sunday because my fever made me freeze to death.
Thanks for loving me even when I looked like....well...really bad.
Thanks for asking if I was okay while having a coughing fit.
Thanks for encouraging me to stay home again today. Even though I wanted to get back to work, you knew I still didn't feel well, and it meant a lot that you weren't pressuring me to get back to work, and that you knew I could use another day of rest. (Around 8:30 this morning, I was really wishing I'd taken you up on that offer!)

You're a good husband. And I want you to know that I appreciate all these little things you did while strep throat kicked my butt. I love you.

xoxo, wife.

sick.

Today is Monday. I came home a few hours early from work on Friday and haven't left the house since.
It started with some kind of stomach bug.
Then it morphed into a sore throat and fever.
Then morphed into a cold.
And then morphed back into the stomach bug combined with the sore throat.

I thought at one point last night that I was going to die. In fact, I even told Ty, "I think I'm dying."
But he's done a great job of taking care of me. Calling to see if I need anything. Asking if he can make me some food...answer: NO. Putting a cold cloth on my head to help with my fever. Offering to take me to the doctor. He even went to the store before work to get some more ice cream for me.

I've watched embarrassing amounts of tv.
The only thing I've really been able to keep down is ice cream.
I've consumed about 10 bottles of Powerade.
There is a disgusting amount of used tissues on the coffee table next to me.

BUT...

My fever has been gone for about 10 hours.
I'm slowly starting to feel better.
I'm planning to try to eat some solid food here in a bit.
I'd like to try to vacuum the house...because I literally can't take the cat hair anymore.
I've been trying to sit up more than lay down today.
I got a sweet message from my sub telling me how much my students miss me.
And I've had this sweet guy to keep me company.

It's so rare for him to lay ON one of us. But he's been laying on or near me almost constantly the past few days. They say animals have a sixth sense about their humans and how they're feeling. I'd say that must be true for Bubba.

Here's hoping I can keep some food down, keep the fever away, and return to work tomorrow.

xoxo, wife

newsflash

Things are changing around this old bloggy blog of mine. From now on, all my school-related posts will be on a separate blog. I've been debating this change for awhile, and I've come up with several reasons to add another blog.

1. If you're not an educator, you may not have any interest in what's going on in my classroom. Here, you can read solely about what's going on in my "real life" and in my brain. (Why you're interested in that is beyond me though...)

2. I strive to keep my "real life" and my work life separate. It's taken 3 and a half years to get this balance, but I want to maintain it. I spend so much time at work, that I feel like this blog often ends up being all about school, and not about me and my marriage, which is what this blog was created for.

3. I have some big goals when it comes to teaching. I've been really motivated lately to be a highly qualified teacher. I want to be a teacher that others try to be like, or get ideas from. I strive to become Teacher of the Year some year, and I want to be a mentor for other teachers. I want to continue to grow my Teachers Pay Teachers business and create resources that other teachers want to purchase and use in their own classroom. For all those reasons, I want to create a separate blog where I can eventually attract other teachers. (I realize this will take a LONG while to do, but I'm up for the challenge.)

If you're interested in following along on my teaching journey, you can check out my new blog, Our Day in K. You can follow it just like you do with this one. From now on, this blog will just be about my regular old life and thoughts I have floating around in my head. As always, if we're Facebook friends, you'll find silly quotes and stories from the school day on there.

I'm looking forward to this new journey, and to sharing it with you, if you care to follow along.

xoxo, wife.

my take on Lent this year.

I normally think long and hard about what I'm going to give up for Lent each year. This year I felt different about it. Normally I'll give up sweets or pasta...whine and complain about it for 40 days, and then stuff myself silly with those things once Easter comes. Yes, I made a sacrifice...but for not even 2 months. And then I went back to what I'd been doing all along.

Not that there's anything wrong with that...in fact, I'm sure I'll do it again in the future.

But this year, I didn't necessarily want to give something up. I wanted to ADD something to my day. I've been seriously lacking with my devotionals lately. So I decided that during Lent this year, I'd spend less time focusing on my social media feeds, and more time studying God's word. (So perhaps in a way, I am sacrificing some of my Facebook time.)

I love to participate in She Reads Truth bible studies and devotionals, and I've decided to study with them during the Lenten season this year. I was just reading the devotion for today, and this quote stuck out to me:

"Lent is a pause button. It's a quiet unlike any other time of year. Lent is a season to close our eyes as the busy world buzzes around us, to consider those things we'd much rather forget: our sins and our humanity. We came from dust, and to dust we will return."

That pretty much put my feelings into words. Instead of making a big deal about not being able to eat a cookie, I'm going to spend time in quiet each day...pausing to remember my sins...and to be grateful that Jesus forgives them.

I used to do my devotions daily. I'm disappointed that I'd sloughed off lately. They say it takes 21 days to make something a habit. I have 40. So I'm hopeful that this quiet journey of mine through this Lenten season will help renew my eagerness to sit down each night after work with my bible, instead of my cell phone. There's nothing wrong with checking my social media. But not until after I've spent some quality time with Jesus.

xoxo, wife. 

my love/hate relationship with snow days.

I've lost track of how many snow days we've had at this point. Probably somewhere around 7 or 8. I have some seriously mixed feelings about them.

On the one hand, the feeling you get at 5:39am when you get that text that tells you to go back to sleep is just out of this world! Sitting on the couch in sweats when you would normally be teaching writing isn't too bad either. Staring out the window and hardly being able to see the house across the street is much warmer than actually being out in that nastiness. I get ridiculously happy when I find out we have a snow day.

On the other hand, we already don't get out of school until June 5. If we find out we have to tack on all these snow days, we'll be going to school until mid to late June. That's unacceptable for me. Today I will also miss out on about 48 hugs, 12 times of accidentally being called "Momma," and countless funny comments. 

So while I'll GLADLY take this day to clean up the house, get some work done, and binge-watch Netflix...I'll be grumbling on June 15th when I'm stuck inside my classroom with no windows on a gorgeous summer day.

xoxo, mrs. miller

valentine's day 2015

Instead of celebrating ON Valentine's Day this year, we decided to celebrate the day before. Our church held a marriage and we decided to attend. The night before, Ty gave me my gift, which he wanted me to wear when we went.

I absolutely couldn't believe it when I opened the box. They're beautiful! I told him it was way too much, and so generous of him! I couldn't wait to wear them.

The next day (Valentine's Eve) I felt the love from my kiddos at work.

We spent the day showing our "classroom family" how much we care for each other, and it was so much fun watching how excited they got to give each other their Valentine's. It was a fun, but incredibly exhausting day!

After work it was time to get dressed up and head to the marriage event. It's been a long time since we got dressed up for a date!

When we got there, each couple had their own table for two set up. It was so sweet! There were photographers there who were taking photos, a bar, and a polish buffet dinner. This was our table.

 We started out the evening mingling and talking with some other couples. We were trying to take a selfie when we had some photobombers!

We played a game where we had to work together to make something out of Legos in 60 seconds. This is what we came up with...

 We were asked to choose three words to describe our spouse and then spend some time talking about why we chose those three words.

There were a couple more activities (including a study on kissing, where we learned all the health benefits of kissing your spouse. All 60 couples at the event were asked to basically make out with each other for 5 seconds...which I'm pretty sure was more like 15. When we were finished, a middle aged woman in front of us shouted, "Let's do it again!)

Then there was dancing and our own personal cake. Which we ate half of. With little no shame.

We had such a good time. We go on dates all the time, but this one kind of forced us to connect and have discussions that we don't normally have. We spent the evening talking about why we love each other, reminiscing about our favorite dates and our past, and wondering about our future. It was a perfect night. Love is a truly magnificent thing, everyone. Cherish it!

xoxo, wife.