My 18th first day as a teacher

Yesterday was the first day of school for the 2015-2016 school year. It was my 18th first day as a teacher. Wow. I can't believe I've been doing this, this long!

Here we are before school.

Aren't they adorable!

Kylie is going into 1st grade.

Lexi is going into 5th and is off to the Intermediate school!

 And Maddie is a 10th grader!

And here is my classroom.  I LOVE getting things organized and ready each year. 

The view from my desk.

A couple of panoramic pictures. Yes, my classroom is HUGE! 

And here is my intro into my world that I showed my students. (there is supposed to be a video below..?)

Dwindling Summer

It's almost that time again.. another school year.

This year, Maddie is in 10th, Lexi is in 5th and Kylie is in 1st.

Oh my.

We went school supplies shopping last week. OUCH!

And even though it is summer, Lexi has to have her books. Thank goodness for the public library. I think she is closing in on 50 books read this summer!

I have very much enjoyed lazy mornings and fun running dates with Kylie.

She can run a mile and I figure for a 5 year old, that is pretty good!

I've been painting. I delivered these two paintings this week. They are hanging in my school's office next to the secretary. I love having "gallery" space!

And of course I've been working on my grad classes. I completed another 6 hours at the end of July and will start my final 12 of this degree in another week! I have learned so much and have so much yet to learn.

And I have painted some more. 

Have I said that I love summer? :) !! 

It's always sad for summer to fly by so quickly, but I've been back in my room working already and have a great year planned. I'm hoping to focus this year on doing fewer things. But doing the fewer things really well. 

And now..it's back to work full-time. 

I take more "selfies" that my teenage daughter!

Yesterday at lunch, I took a selfie. I was wearing a new shirt.

Maddie rolled her eyes and said "Mom, you take more selfies that I do!" I laughed as Lexi said that I didn't. That Maddie just sent her pictures via snapchat. I told her my friends didn't have snapchat, so I had to take pictures to text them or instagram them or facebook them!

Anyway, that got me thinking about my picture taking.

And here is what I have to say.

YES!! I do take a lot of pictures of myself these days. And I am PROUD of it! For years I hated the way I looked and avoided pictures. I didn't want a record of what I looked like or proof of what I wasn't doing!

But now, I am proud of who I am and my journey.

So here is a week in my life.. through pictures.

Today (Wednesday): This was taken after I ran an 8:15 mile. Woohoo! I'm making progress.

Yesterday (Tuesday): My lunch selfie! I am wearing a size small shirt here! I haven't been this small since 10th grade.

okay, one more selfie for yesterday.. :) Cause playing at the park deserves a photo spread!

Monday: Post run. Feeling the burn after four days of scrapbooking and binge eating! (Don't you love Kylie's photobomb!)

Sunday: At the pool. In a swimsuit.

Saturday: My 41st birthday!

Friday: Not technically a selfie..

How about this one?

Thursday: At retreat!

(Taking the panoramic photo was fun! After a bunch of tries, we got it. I started the photo with Mindy on the left sitting and after I passed her and got around, she took the camera and got me in the photo!)

And back to Wednesday. At the Japanese Gardens.

So yeah. I take a lot of pictures. And I am proud of it! :)

Being a whole person

There are days when I feel frustrated with myself, my eating habits and my overall self. But those days are becoming fewer and fewer. When I get down and start focusing on the love handles that don't budge or the size of my hips, I remind myself of where I have come and that I am STRONG, I am HAPPY and that I am a good role model for my children!

And being strong and happy are the absolute best things I can be for my children. Sure I'd love to have smaller hips, but my girls are not going to learn to be strong and happy if I focus on the size of my hips. These days when I catch myself voicing negative thoughts about my body, I try to quickly shut down those thoughts. My girls don't need to start worrying about the size of their hips! And that's what they will do if that's what I model.

So how am I squashing the negative body thoughts? Running of course, but also riding the bike, swimming and lifting weights. I feel like I am becoming a complete athlete! And I have to say feeling like a "real" athlete is the best way to rid yourself of a negative body image.  Through this process I feel like I am finally being a whole person.  Not that I wasn't trying to be a whole person before, but I was too scared. I was too scared to try to be healthy. I had tried and failed. And tried and failed.  That trying and failing repeatedly with my weight transferred to being to scared to try to do new things in every other area of my life. What if the failing with my weight translated to failing with my job? And on and on. Sure I could talk a good game, but deep down, I was scared. 

But I'm not scared anymore. Conquering my weight opened the door for me to try new things. I found that I love competing in triathlons. I found that I can run a marathon. I found that I love painting, and am good at it! I found that I can be me without having to feel like I have to apologize for it or try to hide my shortcomings. I found that I can be me.

And that's what I am trying to teach my girls... I want my girls to know that they are strong and whole people, just as they are. I want my girls to try new things and to not be afraid to fail. I want them to know that they don't have to hide their weaknesses or measure their success in life against the size of their hips. I want my girls to understand that they are complete people. I pray that my girls will KNOW that they are WHOLE people.

The Japanese Gardens

Today I took the little girls to the Japanese Gardens. It was awesome! The price is very reasonable and it wasn't too hot. We very much enjoyed exploring the park and we even saw a "real princess"! (otherwise known as a young girl having her quinceanera pictures taken... but Kylie was sure she was a REAL princess since she had a tiara...)

Here are some pictures from today.

They loved feeding the koi! I loved the fact that it cost a quarter to get more than a handful of feed! And even better, the lady at the entrance reminded me to purchase my quarters as part of my ticket so that we wouldn't have to come back for change! Big help!! We spent $1.50 and the girls had a blast!

 And look! Lexi got me in a picture too! Yippee! Proof that I am part of my kid's lives beyond just taking pictures!

I got some great ones of Lexi taking pictures with her camera. Sadly, her camera is a piece o'crap and her pictures almost always turn out blurry and bad on her camera. She does great with mine. I've got to just make the investment in Lex!

The girls let me take lots of pictures of them and I have tons more that I'm not posting. you are welcome.

But let me end with my favorite picture from today...LOVE!

Just makes my heart smile.

And in case you were wondering... June was awesome.

I'll do some catch up posting soon!

Maddie turns 14.

Maddie turned 14 last Sunday.  I can't believe another year has flown by!

I tried to get some pictures... let's go with tried. They aren't great but at least we have a record of the event.

Yes, Maddie is taller than I am. Given that she isn't finished growing, my bet is that she will be 5'8 or more.

We had Lexi and Kylie take pictures to see if we could get a decent group picture...

I ordered a special birthday cake. YUMMY! and cute! What was so special is that the lady who made the cake wanted to use Maddie's favorite colors on it, so she decorated an additional layer of fondant and then placed it on the white icing.

And for presents.. Kylie chose to give Maddie a purse.

 And Lexi chose, 

...a pretty dress!

We gave her a new-to-her laptop. 

And lastly, I wanted pictures of the girls. Love them!!