Winter Report

Blogging is fast becoming a vacation-only pursuit. Frankly, I'm impressed with myself for doing the minimum requirements of all the responsibilities I've taken on this year, so I can only feel a shade of regret (but absolutely zero guilt). I'm teaching full time (something I once thought impossible to do along with having kids) and I'm leading Adele's Daisy Troop and I'm teaching children's chapel at church. I've stepped back a bit from choir- a person can only do so much. They've been working on an extra-curricular concert (Rutter's Requiem Mass with the Presbyterians) and that's where I hit my limit. No is the hardest on-syllable word for me to say, apparently, but I said it.

 

Meanwhile, Miles has taken on a new responsibility: He's an acolyte at church, pretty much every week now. 

                                                             Adele continues to accumulate reading and writing skills rapidly. She might be learning faster than Miles did at this age! She's taken on learning cursive, multiplication, and has been picking up big chapter books to read.  

                                                              Adele's also begun Daisy Girl Scouts! This pic is from the cookie rally we attended, as week before our (very successful) first Daisy Meeting. We're saying the pledge, selling cookies, singing "Make New Friends" and I'm researching ways to earn badges. I find if I do what I can on weekends and take it one week at a time, I can avoid the overwhelm I usually experience when Trying to Do Things While Teaching.

We celebrated Robert's birthday party! Miles and Robert continue to be inseparable and it's adorable and also my heart hurts every time I remember that someday, we'll probably move from Pueblo. I don't know why I borrow trouble.

There has been VERY LITTLE SNOW this winter. It's probably the most disappointing winter we've had. Probably three times we had snow, once with about four inches, every other time a couple of inches or less. Pitiful! I bought them snowpants and boot and everything this year, and apparently, to no avail. March IS coming, though, and as Jon says, Colorado is always one March snowstorm away from drought. Last time we had snow, Jon found this little nugget in the street. Miles (who is nearly finished with The Goblet of Fire) is pretty sure it had a message for him.

We continue to exercise dogs and kids at Belmont in the evenings. This place is so dear. Adele is ready for a 20" bike; she's amazingly steady.

Late in January we attended the one-year anniversary Women's March- right here in Pueblo! About 1000 people came, which is excellent for Pueblo (that's like 1% of the whole city!). I saw a bunch of people I knew, from church and work and from around town, which makes this year's event much different from last year's.

I loved all the chicana and indigenous women's groups we saw. All in all, an inspiring and hopeful day.
                                                                 I'm pretty pleased with myself for all that I'm doing, as it's all worthy stuff. I don't particularly want to be a girl scout leader, if you want to know, at this point in my life. But darnit, if my daughter wants to be a girl scout and if I have to lead in order for that to happen, I'm doing to be the best Daisy Troop Leader I can possibly be.

Teaching is better. I've had a bit of a management breakthrough. I'm also helped by the knowledge that the whole sixth grade team is struggling with this group, which is large and has a LOT of unruly members. And I'm really enjoying planning lessons to accompany The Watsons Go To Birmingham- 1963, and grammar lessons, and Civil Rights and Persuasive Writing lessons. And look at us! We're more than halfway through the school year!The days are getting longer and warmer, so I'm back in my running shoes. Well, my new running shoes. I have reached an all-time weight high! That's what you get when you replace running with grading. But I'm back on the trail, and Koopa approves.
My church surprised me by actually acknowledging the news last week! I wish this had ever happened for any of the white supremacist rallies or officer-involved shootings in the news, but it's a start. They read all the names of the teens who were killed in Parkland last week, and we spent time praying aloud for the families and survivors. My own prayer that I add to these is that the survivors' efforts to wake our country up and get some changes made to challenge our deadly gun-worship are successful beyond their imaginings.
                                 I've JUST finished teaching my ELA classes about The Children's March in 1963, and how children changed the world by walking out of their classrooms one day. If they walk out for any of the scheduled protest days in March or April this year, I will not get in their way.

I hope you enjoyed what will probably be my only winter update! But don't worry; spring break is coming in a month!