So many times during my day, I think of things I want to write and then I get home and too tired.

The past 4 months have been a whirlwind.  I started at my school as an assistant.  My hours kept changing, but I just went with the flow.  I thought of it as paying my dues.  New career path meant new dues to pay.  I became really close to some of the staff and I think they will be friends of mine and Ben's for a long time.  Occasionally you come across people IRL that it just clicks with.  They have kids the same age as ours and the kids are the best of friends too.  They are the first people we trust enough to watch the kids overnight.  They have watched them a few times and Ben and I had a few nights alone EVER since Samantha was born.

This time has been paramount for me and Ben.  Don't get me wrong, we have always been very close and connected.  But recently and with the alone time, we have connected even deeper and shared even more hidden depths with each other.  After 13 years, it is like falling in love all over again.  We joke that it is like having an affair with each other, lol.  I don't know if that makes sense to anyone else except for us.  This has been some good time for us.  It is too easy to fall in the non-stop movement of wife/husband in responsible roles, parents , workers... ect, that the human being, the passionate, the romantic connection - gets put to the side or ignored.  "The sleeper has awakened."

Right before the holidays, I was promoted to Lead Teacher.  It should have been joyous, but the promotion came when a very close friend was pretty much left no choice but to resign.  This is not my story to tell.  I felt really like crap for taking it.  I wanted it and I wanted to provide consistency for the children.  This friend and I were in the same classroom.  But I felt guilty.  I knew if I didn't take it, somebody else would.  And this is what I want to do with my life professionally.  So I took it.  My friend was truly happy for me.  I still felt awful.  Another friend helped me put it in perspective.  I in no way had anything to do with why my other friend left.  I couldn't have prevented it.  I have maintained being true friend.  Although I am empathetic, it is also okay to be excited and happy for myself.  I sat with for awhile and my brain made peace. 

I became really excited.  Over the break I went in three times to re-set the classroom, spruce it up a little.  I also put together an awesome unit on Dinosaurs for the first two weeks back.  I created 10 new works and brought tons of my own teaching materials.  Once I changed the classroom a bit, it felt like my classroom.  The children had a great week.  Several parents have come to me and told me how much their kids are enjoying school this week.  My assistant told me she is really happy and we are getting along great.  This week had a really great flow to it.

I have several curriculum ideas and summer camp programming that my boss really seems to be on board with.  She, another teacher from the elementary site and I are going to meet to start working on them.  I am really excited to being in a position to add to the dynamic of my school.  I have never loved a job so much.

The children are growing too fast.  Samantha will be 7 soon and already does these pre-tweeny things that drives me crazy.  She has that "i am so annoyed to be speaking to you now" tone and the "you are so dumb" tone...  She is very independent and "don't treat me like a baby..."  Altho she won't admit it, she still needs her cuddling time.  We talk with her about the tones.  As much as it may drive me crazy some times, Samantha is a good girl.  She is very smart and has her own mind.  She thirsts for knowledge.  She reads on the same level as our neighbor's daughter who is 11.  Samantha is also a whiz at math and has been doing lots of multiplication.  Samantha's hardest challenge is that she is very hard on herself and underneath this outgoing girl, she is very, very sensitive.  People don't expect it cause she is so vocal.

Christopher just turned five.  At home, he comes in to sleep with us every night and still needs lots of love and attention from Mama.  At school, he is all boy!  He plays hard and is silly.  He loves all the Batman, Star Wars, Transformers...  Academically, he is more interested this year.  He loves numbers... counting and adding.  Language has always been a challenge.  He didn't want anything to do with it.  Being that Ben is dyslexic, we were watching to see if we saw signs with Kit.  This year, Kit has mastered all his phonetic sounds and is word building!  This is way cool and he is so proud of himself.  I am not sure if we are out of the woods with Dyslexia, but at least if we face it, it shouldn't be severe.  (Any of our kids could get it, but boys have a much larger chance...)

Susanna is almost three and thinks she is queen of the world!  She crawled at 5.5 months, walked at 8 months, completely potty trained by 18 months.... she lets nothing hold her back.  She is an independent, vocal, intelligent and funny little thing.  Her first words were "that's funny."  At her two year old well visit, she told the doctor a knock, knock joke.  She is social and has no favorites in the family.  She really just loves being with everyone.  She is very eager to go to "Mama's school" with Kit and Sam.  A perfect example of Susanna... late on night, Samantha and Kit were asleep.  Ben and I heard something upstairs.  When we went up we found Susanna sitting in the middle of our bed, watching TV. 

"Susanna, what are you doing?" I said. 

"I'm not tired, so I am channel flicking.  There is nothing good on."  Susanna explained.

"Susanna, you need to go to bed," I stated. 

"No, I am fine," she replied,  "You go to bed."

And that is Miss Susanna!

Other than that, it is the same old, same old.... not enough time to do half the things I am meaning to do, lol.  The family is well, Ben and I are great and I feel very lucky and blessed.  Spiritually, my path continues down the same path I have been on for a long time now.  I feel empowered and strong.  I have lots of love in my life.