being thankful...

It has been a ridiculous long time since I posted!  I have been so busy lately and I have missed the time I usually take to slow down and appreciate my life in writing.  The picture above is the inside of my classroom door.  The students told me something that "lifts them up" or makes them happy....Kirk said "Making cards to make my Gramma feel better."  He is talking about my Gramma Sullivan who is currently healing up from a fall and awaiting another bypass surgery.  My heart stops when I think about something happening to her.  She is my only grandparent and my absolute favorite family member.  I have always felt so special to her, and I hope Kirk's cards really did help "lift her up."  Another kiddo said that "my friend Kirk" made him smile.  That makes me smile, too.

How funny is this little boy?  I love that he is so carefree and happy. 

 I see my kiddos at school deal with stress and family problems, and it makes my heart and mind hurt.  A few weeks ago, one of my little kiddos told me that his tv didn't work because he "didn't have no electric."  I did a little investigating, and questioned him a little, and true enough, he has no electricity.  He said they wear their coats when it's cold inside and they use flashlights when it gets dark.  I had to turn my face away from him to keep from crying.  I quickly called our Family Resource Center and they made a home visit and offered some help.  His mother quickly called me the next day to ask if I "turned them in."  I explained that I did, only out of concern, and that I wanted the best for their son and their family.  It all ended up ok, and hopefully I opened a door with this family that will help me help them.  I would gladly put that little guy in my car and bring him home.  He is a such a sweet boy.  It shreds me to think that he is in a cold, dark place right now.  I have taught long enough to know I can't solve the world's problems, and that lots of these families suck the life out of me....but there is something about this little guy.  He has a place in my heart.  Maybe he has had this effect on me because he plays with my little boy everyday.  I pray every night that I can help make a difference.

Kirk picked the biggest bunch of "flowers" for me.  He drives me crazy, and he melts my heart.  The older he gets, the harder I want to hold on to him.  This time next year he will be making his way in kindergarten, probably reading on his own and doing homework.  He tells me he is never going to leave my house.  I tell him that he will want to leave when he goes to college, although a small part of me knows I will want him to stay with me forever.  I took the "flowers" home and put then in a vase with water.  And I might have shed a small tear.  Or two. 

 I'm thankful for my son, my husband, our family, my students, and my life. I hope to remember that every day.  I know I always want things I don't have, and problems that I think I have to be solved, but I need to slow down and appreciate what I have.  I think I will just stop and smell my "flowers."  Haha.

Why I teach (my son)....

     I had a moment today.  Not just any old "mama" moment, but a really proud, heart swelling moment.  I was standing in the middle of my classroom, as my little preschoolers moved all around me, busy with their "work" in our classroom centers, and I was talking to the case worker of one of my little kiddos who is in foster care.  I actually knew her (former co worker from Ashland), and we were talking casually about our little guy and his situation in his current foster care home and his performance at school.  She bent down to talk to him, and she asked him a few questions, like "Who is your teacher?" and "What do you like to play with?" and he answered, smiling and happy.  Then she asked him, "Who is your best friend in your class?" and he smiled up at her, pointed across the room (at my son) and said, "KIRK!"  My eyes started to burn and my heart was too big for my chest....my little boy....best friends with a kiddo who has been in 4 different foster homes in the last year, wears glasses, has some major speech issues, and doesn't know farm animals or Disney characters.  I knew right then that I made the right choice for Kirk.  

     Public school allows situations like this to happen.  Kids who have more than what they need, and kids who have nothing can be best friends.  Kirk spent his playground time this morning playing with a little guy whose trailer doesn't have a doorknob, and my teaching assistant and I were afraid we would fall through the porch trying to get inside for our home visit (he's getting my Christmas donations this year!).  It doesn't matter to them if it doesn't matter to us.  I have kids who have a lot more than us, too.  I think public school is such an amazing place for all kinds of kids to come together and build a "school family" (as I call it).  

     We share our days for 9 months.  We sing together, eat together, play together, laugh together, and cry together (more than I'd like!).  Even though he drives me crazy sometimes, I am glad I can watch Kirk build friendships with all kinds of kids....and proud that I created the environment that make these friendships happen. I have been teaching public school for 11 years, and I (very) strongly believe that it teaches children (and teachers) far more than academic skills.  We all learn about life.  We all learn acceptance, tolerance, and love.  I'm glad to be a part of it, and I'm glad Kirk is too.

It's almost my birthday....

I could NOT love Kirk's super hero pictures any more.....Betsy did an amazing job!  She asked Kirk to model for her after our last family session, and he was actually great at it.  He is so animated and listens pretty well.  I'm proud to be this little super guy's mama!

We celebrated Miss Riley's 5th birthday a few weeks ago.  She had an ART party (I was in LOVE with it!).  I helped manage the painting table, and other than a tiny paint spill, we did great.  The kids had a blast, and Kirk made me a bracelet at the bead table because "necklaces and bracelets are for GIRLS!"  

Kirk is 3 weeks into his fall soccer season.  7 goals scored last week, and 4 this week.  I love to watch him play!

We celebrated cousin Bella this week with a tumbling party at AMP.  Kirk loved Bella's Princess Sophia theme (he loves the show and knows the entire theme song word for word)!  Her cupcakes were so cute!  We had a great time, and Kirk reminded her several times that he was ALREADY FOUR YEARS OLD. Ha!

We headed to Athens Saturday afternoon for the MU V. OU game. We had fun at the Big Green tailgate, and Kirk actually made his peace with Marco.  I can't believe the earth shattering fear is over!  I can finally take some pictures of him with our favorite mascot!!

PROOF

Kirk liked the giant blow up Marco, too.

Kirk signed up for the Vision Campaign at the tailgate....haha!  I was seriously about to give a donation because I was so proud of that NAME WRITING!!  So the stick is on the wrong side of the "a" in Walker, but the rest of it is really good.  He can almost write Walker without us telling him the letters, and he is a pro at writing his own name these days.  He got tired on the address line, and just left a "3," and he added some pictures (Marco standing on an "M" on the bottom, Kirk himself in the upper right corner, and Mike Wazowski (from Monsters Inc.) in the upper left corner).  It all added up to a pretty great job, and a proud mama/teacher!

I'm getting ready to turn 35 this weekend!!  Bring it on.  I don't mind one bit getting older, because my life keeps getting better.  I need to get myself to the DMV this week before my driver's license expires, and I'll be happy to have a slower weekend (no plans other than soccer!).  I'll have a busy week with my preschoolers, and I'll be grateful for another year spent with my family.  I have a feeling 35 will be a great year for me!!

(the last of our) summer time fun

We went to the new water slides at Pump Up The Fun on Wednesday, July 17. We met Angel & Riley and Rachael, Leo, Suzana, and "baby Nora" there.  The kids had a blast, and we were the only ones there for quite a while.  A lady from the newspaper came while we were there and took pictures of the kids and their names and pictures were in the paper on July 18th! The kids had a great time! 

Kirk and I went to Olivia's birthday party at the Highlands Museum, and Kirk played on the light table forever!  He really likes building with just about anything, and his attention to detail amazes me.  He definitely got the building gene from his Daddy (NOT his Mama!)!

I finally let Kirk have his "own" buggy in Kroger.  He LOVED pushing it around all over the store, and he was actually very helpful.  He picked out the exact coffee that I drink, and he even put some broccoli in his buggy (although he does NOT LIKE IT!).  He only ran over my feet 3 times.  It was funny to watch him and the people in the store all talked to him (which he loved!).  He didn't ask for junky food (we have talked and talked about it) and he only took what we needed from the shelves.  I was very proud of him, even if my feet are a little sore.....haha!

Kirk is now a firefly catching machine!  Sunday night he caught 25!  He even caught 2 at once.  He loves watching them glow in the jar.  I let him take them in his room and watch him in the dark (to Jeremy's dismay).  He's learned a lot from catching those little things.  We were even talking about the differences between insects and arachnids tonight.  He's a smart boy!

Kirk is spending this week with Angel, Riley, and Brady while I go back to work...BOO HOO!!!  Angel has been taking the kids to Super Why library camp this week.  They love it, and Kirk thinks he has the "power to read!" Although he can't read very many words, he is getting really close.  He is sounding things out, asking how things are spelled so he can write them, and his handwriting is coming along nicely.  He can write his name pretty well, and I'm excited to see how quickly it straightens up when he begins preschool.  He's really interested in reading and writing now, and I think he will really excel this year. 

We're counting down days until his birthday party and the first day of preschool.  We had "Meet the Teacher" night at our school last week, and although he's met the teacher before (ME) he had fun meeting the other kids in his class and playing in our classroom.  He loves building with all of my wooden blocks, and of course working on the computers.  I can't wait to see him in circle time, during meals, and singing and dancing in our classroom.  11 days till his party, 14 days until he turns 4, and 15 days until his first day of preschool.  That's a lot for a mama to take!  I'm thankful to get to spend every day with him this school year.  It's going to be memorable, I'm sure!!

It's almost time to party, DUDE!

I love Kirk's party invitations! 
They turned out great.  Look for one of these coming to you soon.  It's time to "shell-ebrate!" 

For those of you who are wondering what this little ninja would like for his birthday, here are some of his current favorites:

Ninja Turtles 

*new* Planes toys (new movie coming out Aug. 9th)

any kind of "tools"

any kind of gun/weapon

Jake and the Neverland Pirates

any and all super heroes

Legos
board games (we've worn out Candy Land and 3 versions of Memory!)

he also needs a "big boy" car seat

size 4/5T clothes (fall/winter), and size 10 shoes

We hope to see you at his party on August 10th!   Cowabunga, Dude!

"It takes a long time to grow an old friend." -John Leonard

I had a great week.  One of my very best friends FINALLY moved back to Huntington.  After 6 years of residency and fellowship, her husband is now working for Radiology Inc., and their family has landed back in Huntington.  It feels good to have my friend so close again.  I went to dinner with another friend tonight, and we had a lot of fun talking and laughing.  I have been friends with both of these women for 17 years.  That is a long time.  I was thinking tonight on my way back from dinner how amazing it is that Jeremy and I have so many good friends in our lives....people we have held relationships with for almost 20 years.  I also heard this song on the radio on my way home, which reminded me of our college days....hanging out in the sorority house, laughing, talking for hours.....it was so fun... amazing memories I will cherish forever.  I remember hearing this song playing when we were listening to the radio on a Thursday night getting ready to go out, or while we were sitting on a bar stool at the Union.  Good times.  I was surrounded by people that I would still be friends with in 17 years....who knew?   I'm so glad.  I look forward to having my good friends close, and sharing our lives and our kiddos.   

The magic of Disney....

Our Disney cruise vacation was by far the BEST vacation we've ever had.  It was amazing of course because I love Disney, because Jeremy knows I do, and because we got to share it all with our little boy.  Celebrating our 10 years of marriage aboard the Disney Dream was fantastic.  The food was delicious, everyone was so nice, and we felt like royalty.  The staff members knew our names, remembered what we liked, and we never had to ask for anything.  We are already talking about going back!

I tried to pick some of my other pictures (out of the 237 that I took) that I hadn't already uploaded to Facebook to post here.  This was my favorite "towel character" that our stateroom attendant Danny made for us.  How cute is that little guy? He's wearing my sunglasses! Ha!

This picture was taken outside of the Enchanted Garden.  It was my pick for the best food.  This was also our last night on the ship, and neither Kirk or I wanted to ever get off! 

I think Captain Mickey might be my very favorite Mickey!

Kirk was a great eater on the cruise, and he really enjoyed all the desserts.  I think in four days he had three Mickey head ice creams!  He really liked that our waiter always put his ketchup on his plate in the shape of a Mickey head!

The Walkers had an amazing time, and we WILL be back!

The evening of our anniversary we ate at the Animator's Palate.  It was a great dinner with entertainment for the kiddos.  Crush the sea turtle (from Finding Nemo) swam around to all the different tv screens in the restaurant talking to kids and adults....REALLY talking to them...like "hey there little dude in the blue shirt!"  It was amazing!  Other characters from Nemo swam around as well, and the food was delicious.  The waiters sang "Happy Anniversary" to us and gave us Disney pins (I saved them, of course) and Jeremy gave me these two Pandora charms (blue Mickey head and the cruise ship).  I loved the charms, but the cruise was the best gift ever!

Before we left for our cruise, we visited my sweet Gramma Sullivan in Ocala, FL.  She is my only living grandparent, and she makes no bones about me being her very favorite granddaughter (she's told me that for years!).  She loves Kirk so much, and she enjoys seeing him.  She kept telling me that she thinks Jeremy and I are wonderful parents, and that we are doing such a good job raising Kirk. My Aunt Terry said we treat Kirk like a "prince!"  HA! I don't know about all that, but I know I am so thankful that Jeremy has always  made it possible for us to visit my Gramma, even though she is so far away.  I love her dearly and the time I spend with her is precious.  I'm so glad she adores Kirk as much as we do!

Since we've been back in WV (suffering from our Disney hangovers!) we have been spending some time at the pool, and I must say, Kirk is a pretty good little swimmer.  He definitely has my love for pool water (I'm not a big ocean, lake, etc. girl....but I'll spend my life at the pool!).  I thought I'd post a quick little video of his mad swimming skills.  He was pretty proud when I was videoing him!

On a super sad note....I only have about 2 weeks of summer left...BOO HOO!  I cannot believe it is almost over and time to start another school year!  I do get to start this one with Kirk Walker in my class, so I am a little excited to see our school year start to see how this is going to go.  Kirk is excited about his new school, new backpack and lunchbox, and new friends.  I think he is an amazing kid, and I can't wait to see what this school year brings.  His brain is a little sponge, so I hope he will take off this year academically.  I worry so much about his late birthday, and how much younger he is than other kids in his class.  I know I push too hard sometimes, and I expect him to do too much.  I hope he straightens up his handwriting and starts to read.  I hope he starts drawing better pictures, and learns to count past 29.  I have lots of hopes for him, but most of all I want him to be happy and love school.  If I can get him to school everyday excited to learn, I've done my job....as a mama and a teacher!