It's November ALREADY?!

Yes, it has been awhile. Life has had me very busy and I have since neglected our family blog page. I am happy to report though that I have made it through the most challenging piece of my student teaching. This piece; a 65 page commentary on my teaching experience which even included two10 minute video clips. Basically, the state of CA will award me a credential based on two small video clips, a 65 page write up, five university observations and two formal observations per master teacher. Sounds easy....but let me tell you that I have worked pretty hard for many things in my life but NEVER this hard for any one thing. In fact the morning I hit "submit" (it was all done electronically) I cried like a baby. Not a sad cry of course but a cry of accomplishment, a cry of relief, a cry that finally, I had felt so empowered. It was at this point that I realized...against all odds I put my mind to something and I did it!!! With that being so said it is all down hill from here. Although I still have approximately 7 weeks left in the classroom the hardest piece is now behind me. THANK GOD!!!


 I do feel very lucky though because I think I have two of the best master teachers (supervising teachers) at Millikan High School. Both offer different styles in teaching, and both are admired strongly not only by their students but by the staff at Millikan as well. They both have been so welcoming and have given me such encouragement and praise that I truly feel blessed to be where I am at. These woman are mom's themselves and they realize that with 2 small children at times I am working twice as hard.Their daily reminders about how proud they are of me as well as how much they admire my perseverance push me to only want to do better each day. I do have some challenging days but at the end of those days there faces are the last faces I see; telling me to "never give up", and reminding me that the greatest thing about teaching is "tomorrow is a new day".

I cannot say all of this however without mentioning my family, especially my parents who have stood behind me since the beginning. They have constantly reminded me that my mistakes should not cripple me, only push me that much harder toward my goals. I have always been that girl who has done things the hardest way (taken the road less traveled) but I believe that each wrong choice I have made has made me the better person I am today. I love you mom and dad and I hope I make you proud.

Enough about me, I'm getting all teary just typing this.......

The kiddos are doing great! Alexa is 9.5 months old now, crawling everywhere and getting into everything. We actually just went and bought two, yes TWO baby gates to keep her out of trouble i.e. the toilet and the kitchen LOL. Nathan calls it "baby jail" and he loves that he knows how to get through the gates and she doesn't. He feels so "grown". She has 8 teeth now and unfortunately has figured out how to use them...I'm not talking about to chew steak, I'm talking about biting her brother when he takes a toy from her. Oh Lord I understand that I have put my parents through sooo much but can you please take it easy on me. LOL Totally kidding I know how incredibly blessed I am, I have two amazingly beautiful children, I just have to control their bad ass attitudes Independence. I can't believe we are already starting to plan her 1st Birthday Party. Time sure flies when your having fun.

As for Nathan, I had his first parent/teacher conference on Friday and as nervous as I was, I left one proud mommy. He is already scoring advanced proficient in Math and he is right where he needs to be in reading & writing. We do though need to work on the reading part (he hates to read) so that his writing gets even better. Go figure his momma is an English teacher and the boy hates to read/write. Oh well luckily he got the Math gene from Daddy. The teacher said he just amazes her with his problem solving and how quickly he grasps new concepts. Maybe we have a future engineer in the making...that would be nice! Either way she said his behavior has gotten much better and eventually "we will tame him".She did ask though if something was going on at home the past two weeks because he mentioned that "mommy is so busy". This broke my heart I knew exactly what she meant...(refer to 1st paragraph when I talked about that horrific 65 page paper). I did assure her though that everything is said and done with that and I will have more 1:1 time with him at home. It's crazy how much kids absorb things especially stress. As strong as I think he is or as independent he claims to be, he has such a soft little heart and he is so sad when he doesn't get his "mommy time" awww that's why he is my momma's boy!!

So glad to be back...We are getting geared up for the holiday's and I am determined to finish all of my Christmas shopping early this year. I will let you know how that goes :-). That's all for now. 

Hugs,

Nichole