Lately

      This school year has been busy- a mix of feeling a bit overscheduled and personally doing a lot of things.  I anticipate my schedule getting  a lot crazier over the next few weeks, but it should be fine if I'm conscientious about my scheduling (and if everybody allows me to be a control freak regarding time. lol Sorry in advance.). At least there are some holidays in the mix so there is some planned relaxation too.
      Here are some recent endeavors of mine.
School:
    On the negative side, I usually see all of the students for the same amount of days per rotation. This year has made 5th/6th end together, 7th ends a different day and 8th grade ends yet another time. I have found that this change is throwing me off a lot it's taking a lot of adjustment.  Hopefully, after a bunch of correcting tonight, I will be caught up and be able to keep up from there.
     On a positive note, I have started my Thanksgiving tree project. These are some  background pages that I made from watercolor paints that will eventually be cut into leaf shapes that I will write my notes on. I really like the bottom one.  My sister-in-law, Sarah, graciously offered to use her Cricut to help me with a making leaves out of some gelli-printed paper. Thanks again, Sarah!

Personally:
     This past week was full of some fun events. I got to remind my kids that we are blessed enough to help others by donating to a local toy drive. While we were there, we were given tickets to go see The Pentatonix! (For those near Boston, this was Karson, Kennedy and Salt from Mix 104.1)

We saw Abi, who was not our taste in music, but she seemed like a nice girl. Then we got to see Us the Duo, who we loved. I had never seen or heard them before. Here is a song they wrote for their wedding. They performed it live and I really enjoyed it. Both of them are extremely talented musicians and I was impressed with the different styles that they performed.

   If you don't know the Pentatonix, shame on you... here is a link to their music too! Here is a cover of an Imogen Heap song they did. Again, incredible musicians.

Oh, and while I'm spreading incredible musicianship around, did I mention Kevin, known as the beatboxer of Pentatonix? Woah..

   Then, we had Veteran's Day off. (Thanks if you are a veteran who is reading this!) I brought the kids up to Maine to visit my parents.  It was a nice time, relaxing.

   When we came home on Saturday, Tim's team won their flag football championship:

     Then we went to Boston to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday! I also got to meet my newest niece, Naomi.


Penpalling:
    I received quite a few letters over the past few weeks, including a few secret letters from the Penpalling & Letters Secret Letter Event. I am sending this one out tomorrow. Then I have a lot of writing to do!!!

Now what?
     Next week I will start working on the musical. I am also auditioning kids for a few opportunities. It is a lot of work. I'm hoping for a week free of negative parent e-mails. 
      If you celebrate Thanksgiving, do you have any special plans or traditions? The week of Thanksgiving we do a really fun volleyball tournament with the students. It's a blast!

Recent cards

I have gotten a few cute cards this week, most of them from the Penpalling& Letters Surprise Postcard Swap.
    I loved seeing this little polar bear in my mailbox. The humidity here is killing me. (Then I realized it was sent from Kat- in Brazil- so I probably shouldn't complain about it being hot and humid here!) The Sao Paulo card was inside the envelope. I love the envelope idea, I might try something similar to a penpal soon.

 From Filipa in Portugal. Vintage card. The car reminded me a bit of Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang.

 Homemade card from 15 year old Anya, in Russia. Very cute. THanks!

 This homemade one was from Estela in Spain. I loved the owls!

    In other quick news:

-Jenny, if you're reading, I'm worried your letter might be lost but I'm holding onto hope that it will arrive here soon

- One of my ChemoAngels graduated out of the program so I just got a new one yesterday. I'm now writing to 2 women- one in Tx and one in OH.

- I start school next week

- Had a speech eval for David today. He's going to need to start going for speech. He has some articulation problems, that I knew about, that should be fixed sooner rather than later. 

     Anything exciting going on for you or your family? 

Beautiful children's book and postcards

     Yesterday was a great mail day. I got to my mailbox to 3 postcards and no bills. Then, on my porch, I tripped over a package that I hadn't noticed before. It was another Goodreads win. This is a children's book but I entered  to win it because I thought the boys might like it and the art was nice.
   

Gnoman's  Land is a book by Mark Forker and Shannon Kachline. It is about a young girl named Mya who is looking for an adventure. So, she dresses up as a butterfly fairy and goes to seek her adventure in the backyard. She is sent from one character to another.  If you are a teacher, this would be a cute book to read out loud to the class. The text alternates between poetry and prose and has a few lines that are repeated enough that all of the kids would know what the sentence said. In addition to this, the illustrations were beautiful. (My boys were a little freaked out by the dragonfly but every other page was a hit.) There were many little details in the book that the boys pointed out to each other. Here are a few illustrations. (I took these from the Gnoman's Land website, with permission)

   Shannon's drawing's remind me a little of the artwork of a friend of mine. I would love to be able to draw like that (or even color like that!) Shannon, if you're reading. I love the smiley clouds. David liked the rocks the best. Thank you again for the book. (Mark and Shannon also signed the book and wrote a little note, which I thought was very sweet. So, if you know someone looking for a nice, new children's book, pass along the recommendation or buy one for your school. I might actually buy one for our school's library. 

     I mentioned postcards too. Here are the received cards:

   This one is a postcard I received for the Penpalling &Letters Surprise swap. It is from Heike in Germany. This castle was used in a Cinderella movie that she saw as a child. How beautiful is that place?

 This is a Postcrossing card from Germany. I would love to just stand on that bridge nd look out over the fountain. I would love to visit Germany again. I went a long time ago; in high school when I sang in a tour of Europe. We traveled to so many places that it became a blur, Germany made a great impression and I would love to go back someday.

   This is another card received through the Penpalling &Letters event. It is from Essex, England. Thanks! 

    In other news, I've sent a few penpal letters, a few ChemoAngels letters and a few Postcrossing cards. I'm looking forward to our upcoming vacation. I've put my mail on hold while we're away. I'm hoping to come home to a humongous pile of mail love. :) 

Postcards and GoodRead wins

   This past week I took part in the Penpalling& Letters (Penpal Group on Facebook) Surprise Postcard Event. I have a ton of cards and my mailbox was slow so I decided to send a card to almost everybody who signed up. (Rather, I sent a card to everybody who was signed up by the time I printed the address list.)  I realized as I was logging things that I have sent over 125 postcards this year! I wish I could say the same about letters.
    I got some good mail over the past few days too. Here are the books and postcards that have come in!

 This is my first received card from the P&L Postcard event. This is the Trifels (3 rocks) Castle in the Palatine Forest. It is sent by Melanie, who spent time as an au pair fairly close to where I grew up.

      I loved the title of this book when I saw it on the GoodReads giveaway page. As part of my job, I'm used to talking to 150 different personalities a day. (Sometimes all in 1 kid! Just kidding!) I don't struggle to converse with people I don't know well but sometimes I, honestly, have a hard time if conversations I have with people are shallow all of the time. I also have a hard time "loving" or being around annoying people. Ha ha... because I'm NEVER annoying, sigh. In all seriousness, sometimes I can be judgmental or have a tendency to not give people a chance if they have made mistakes. Honestly, I am glad that I recognize this in myself because it helps me to be open to people that I might not feel that I fit in with. It also makes me notice if I'm sounding a little "holier than thou."
    On the other hand, I'm friendly and I genuinely like spending time with people. So, sometimes when I see an acquaintance and speak with them for a while, I actually remember their name or say hello if I see them again. Sometimes, especially being a New Englander. people look at me like I'm really weird for being friendly. (This is why I married Matt.. he's super anti-social.. again, just kidding.) I actually had a conversation with a few moms at a birthday party yesterday. They were trying to figure out how long we've known each other and both said that I am "a person you feel like you've known for years." My insecurities yelled- "yeah, because you talk so much" or "it's only been 1 year? Gah!" but they said it was a good thing and that I was personable and they felt like they could talk to me on a "real" level. I laughed when I got home and saw this in my mailbox right after that conversation.

 This is a postcrossing card from a grade 10 student in China. "My love, you are like a flower"is printed on the back. I don't know what is written under the heart on the front.

    Another Goodreads win. I am not a huge mystery reader but this seems a little different. I look forward to trying the recipes. The author also signed it and wrote me a small note on the inside of the book. Thanks!

   In other news, I still haven't shared too much about our upcoming road trip but let me tell you right now that I have been worrying endlessly for at least a week. I have also discovered a few things about myself this week. Some of these things I already had glimpses of but many things have been put into a different perspective this week.