Spring Break 2012

Ahhhh, Spring Break was a breath of fresh air---I may not even have known how badly I needed it, but it was a wonderful blessing of a break. It was simply a bonus that the fresh air happened to be Sunny Florida air. :)

Our trip started out with a hail storm. but alas we made it out of Evansville and away from the dreadful Spring storm. For those of you who know me, you know how happy that made me! We drove through the night with a short stop in Georgia to sleep, and then on we went.. Not sure that I want to know how much caffeine Josh had that night.

We arrived in Lakeland on Saturday morning bright and early. I  think Josh's Grandmother was a little surprised to see us so soon. While in Lakeland, we lounged by the pool, read, watched the Hunger Games at the IMAX theater (totally a fan!) enjoyed the best strawberry shortcake ever (a must have if you're in the area) at Parksdale Farms, went to a flea market and a mom and pop restaurant, and played Bingo with the folks in the retirement community. (Josh was totally in his element here.)  We also attempted to play tennis (without much luck) and took a couple of walks at Lake Parker.  It was a nice/relaxing time.

On Tuesday morning we said our good-byes and headed onward to the happiest place in the world--Disney World!! We spent the day at Epcot. It wasn't too crazy-busy, so we were able to do pretty much everything that we wanted to do. We ate lunch in Germany. The buffet was good, and we chatted with the families seated at our table. We also enjoyed the drinks in Mexico. Yum! It was fun, maybe even better than I remember it as a kid.

Tuesday evening we headed to our final destination----Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. My cousin Daniel is assistant principal at an elementary school there. He and Clint live there, just minutes from the beach, and with my last visit to Daniel being Spring Break my senior year of high school, I figured it was time for another trip--long over due! Highlights of our time there were: beach time, lunch at the Floridian, going on an air boat tour in the Everglades, going to West Palm Beach to the Cheesecake Factory to meet my cousin Ben and his girlfriend Amanda, visiting Miami, and walking along South Beach. Definitely a wonderful time and even better to spend it with family.

On Thursday night, Josh and I began our drive back to Indiana, and it was dreadful. I was so tired of being in the car and I know Josh was too. When we crossed over into Indiana, I don't think I had ever been so excited to be in Evansville. I probably could have done a happy dance, but I was too tired. As wonderful as our vacation was, I think I can honestly say that it felt just as good (if not better) to be home. We went grocery shopping and I was excited to get some new workout clothes and some healthy groceries. When we got home, I took a shower and we walked across the street to Rounders Too. Pizza never tasted so good! Some other highlights of the weekend were Josh finishing up the patio (It looks fantastic!), Zumba and Core on Saturday morning, pedicures with my mom, highlight with Justine Brock, grilling out and eating dinner outside, teaching at Sontown at church, Palm Sunday service, lunch with our small group friends, bike ride, walk, and swim for Riley at the Bluegrass Fish and Wildlife Area. Wow, I feel so blessed.

This week has been wonderful. I am so thankful and so happy..
I am also so not ready to go back to school . . .but I'm sure tomorrow morning at 4:30 a.m. when my alarm clock goes off, I will be bouncing out of bed....umm. . . positive thinking, right? Have a great week everyone!

Sushi and Wine Kinda Day

Awesome workout tonight. 

Followed by one of my favorite dinners. California Roll and Red Wine. Don't worry, I added it into my calorie counter, and still have some calories to spare! Surprising, since I sat at my desk during my planning period indulging in skittles and m&m's, which I really don't think I even tasted..... I was just at a loss of what to do, so munching on those treats (meant to be for my students) is sadly what I did. .  .Unfortunately the m&ms, sushi, and red wine, won't be friends of mine tomorrow when it comes time to stand on the dreaded scale. . .Oh, the price I pay for my team.. . 

I love my job. I am so blessed to have a good job! So, never take me as complaining when I say that I am stressed. It really isn't a bad stress. It's just the, I really want to be the best teacher that I can be, and I really want my students to learn to their full potential!

On that note, I have post assessments to grade, lesson plans to make, house to clean, and eventually sleep to get. :)

Awesome Work Out!!

Work out tonight was tough, but awesome!! We did lots of squats, standing lunges, and a pretty good workout on the step. We did some arms, but the focus was on the legs and glutes, and mine are burning! Came home to a wonderful dinner prepared by my amazing husband; baked fish, green beans, and corn. I contemplated a margarita but did not want to add 279 calories to my total for today! Woah! After dinner we had a walk with Riley. I told my students that one of my New Years Resolution's was to walk my dog ever day---now I can finally tell them that I am actually following through. It was a nice walk, but walking in the cold makes me long for Spring even more. . . or at least Spring Break! 

Well, it's back at it again tomorrow, and I'm excited for the kiddos to be back!
!

Time to Get Serious- 34 Days to Go!

The Husband and I have been working on the whole "healthy eating thing." I have to do better now that the Valentine's/Birthday festivities are over....No more excuses!! A girl's body can only handle so many pasta entrees from Biaggis and DiLeggis, it really can only take so many Valentine's chocolates, spoonfuls of cookie dough (I was making my class Cookie Pops...who can resist funfetti batter???) It's time to say enough when it comes to chips and salsa and sugary drinks....time to take a break from pizza and breadsticks, and the delicious treats that Mary Paul also seems to want to share on our daily lunch dates. It's time to put the four boxes of Girl Scout cookies on the top shelf of the pantry (out of sight, out of mind).It's time to  say good-bye until after Spring Break  . It's time to get serious! 34 days until Spring Break! We plan to spend some time with Josh's grandparents in Lakeland, Florida, visit Disney, then make our way down to Ft. Lauderdale to spend some time with my cousin, Daniel. I am so looking forward to sunny weather, strawberry shortcake, and spending time with family.

We cleaned out our pantry and fridge/freezer today and got rid of a box of foods that are too processed or unhealthy. We are working on eating more whole/naturals food products. Tonight Josh made Italian Parmesan Crusted Chicken, broccoli, and fruit salad. We had a piece of Healthy Life  bread with it and it really was a pretty good meal. I biked 18 miles today at the gym and then we took Riley for a walk. I'm so ready for warmer weather so that we can take longer walks each day and so that they can actually be enjoyable.

This time last year, I was using this blog as a place to share what I was reading from Lysa Terkehurst's book Made to Crave.  A year later, I truly believe that this book changed the way I look at food. Now, I year later, I plan to use this blog again as a way to keep myself accountable when it comes to the lifestyle that it is sometimes a battle to maintain. One of healthy eating and exercise, but not of obsession with the two. I feel like it is a fine line that I am often dancing around.

On a school note, most EVSC Schools are off tomorrow, but not us. We will be spending our day going over student data. I'm hoping that this will help me feel even more prepared for the upcoming testing. I saw the picture below, and thought it fit.

Have a nice week, everyone!!

Thankful :-)

Today has been a very much needed day off. Haven't done much. . . found a doctor here in Evansville, went to the bank, did some shopping, stopped by Starbucks for a Skinny Peppermint Mocha, and did some housecleaning...pretty low key day.

It's hard to believe that it has been a year since Mamaw passed away, but Huntington's had had her in chains for a long time before she physically passed away. I know that she is in a better place, but the Holidays really do make it tough sometimes.... She was a special part of them....and no one makes cheese ball like she did. :)

I have so much to be Thankful for this Thanksgiving, and I just might need to take a lesson from my third graders in remembering them. During my literacy group last week, I had six of my students read a story about Thanksgiving and a little girl who had to write an essay about one thing she was thankful for. After reading, I had them sit in a circle and go around the circle continuously taking turns saying one thing that they were thankful for. These sweet kiddos went on.....and on...and on. Finally, I had to stop them so that we could write! They named everything from shelter to buses to get to school to books to their favorite teacher. :)  They are wonderful.

I am thankful for my husband, my friends, my family, my pets, shelter and transportation, my amazing job and my students, a pay check to buy all of the things that we need, the ability to give to others, my church family and my small group.

I am also thankful for so many little things: Christmas music, coffee, the ability to exercise, the ability to read and write, our financial situation,  KLove, fruit, my husband's cooking, pajama pants, workout buddies, my coworkers, my keurig, etc., etc, etc. . .

I.
am.
blessed.

New Do

My wonderful stylist at Shannon Alexsandr Salon (Justine Brock) dyed my hair on Thursday to get me all Fallified. It ended up being darker than I had expected, but I was willing to give it a chance. My students on the other hand were not so sure. From the minute that the kiddos walked into school on Friday morning, the talk of the third grade hallway was my new-do. Mrs. Bowman dyed her hair, Mrs. Bowman has new hair. .  the kids were going crazy, all because of my hair.

Here are some of the hair quotes.

"Mrs. Bowman...is that permanent...is it permanent...is it permanent...is it permanent?" (One of my students during a Math lesson. After he asked me four times, I realized that ignoring him wasn't going to work.) Finally I said, "No it isn't." and he said, "Whew...so it'll change back in a few weeks?" So I said, "No...Don't you like it." "Eh, good enough," he said.

"Mrs. Bowman, I  thought yo hair was mixed!"

Really sweet (normally) little girl in Mrs. Zeller's room, "Mrs. Bowman, why did you dye your hair. It looked good before. Now it looks a little bit more horrible."

Uh wow. . .
Let's just say that it was quite the distraction throughout the day.

Let's also say that I may just have had Justine add a few highlights.

Oh, School!

Everything is moving so crazy and so fast and I need to blog so that I do not forget every single thing about my first year of teaching. By the way, I left school at six, and I so could have stayed 'till eight. Blugh. I guess this is what being a first year of teacher is all about . . . So here goes:

Funny Story:
-I'm pretty sure that one of my student's medicine wears off by the end of the day. He can't resist talking and is constantly calling out, bouncing around, and just acting plain silly. The special ed. teacher who teaches Math with me told him that if he wasn't good she was going to send him over to "Jalilpourland" (This is the name of another third grade teacher who for some reason the kids sort of fear, from stories I guess) The teacher also told him that Mrs. Jalilpour was his very worst nightmare. He responded by saying that she couldn't possibly be his very worst nightmare, because last night he had had a nightmare about a ghost chasing him around and trying to kill him, and that had to be worse.


Sweet Moment: 
Mrs. Bowman, I love literacy centers, especially the reading center, because I get to spend it with you.
Seeing the looks on my kids faces when they all understood a concept we were working on in Math and 



Lesson Learned: 
-If a kid says he needs to go to the bathroom, think long and hard about if you should left him go or not, before saying "no...."