Christmas Party and Volleyball

And....the holidays have officially begun.  My mom had her big Christmas party this weekend, with all the food, people, and decorations that I remember from every year she has had this party.  It was so much fun, and I loved having the chance to catch up with so many people!  I haven't seen some of my friends in Houston in a long time, so it was great to get to see them again!

I had the Christmas party on my calendar for months, so it was a definite part of my plans for this weekend.  The only problem was, after I was assigned my volleyball team, I learned that I had a volleyball tournament scheduled for this weekend too!  So, Travis and I left Austin on Saturday morning, drove to Houston, helped set up for the party, ate lots of food, and then drove back to Austin again on Saturday night.  I had to show up for the tournament at 7:15am in Austin.  Needless to say, it was a long night!  Travis drove me back from Houston, and I stayed awake as long as I could, but ended up sleeping in the car for about an hour.  Neither of us remember much about the drive, but we made it safely home at about 1:45am.

Then, at 6am, my alarm went off, and I got ready to coach in my first volleyball tournament of the season.  I showed up to the gym at 7:15am for the scheduled coach's meeting, which ended up not happening until 7:45am.  Boo.  My team showed up, stretched, and got ready to play our first game at nine.  We played two games in a row, had a quick break, kept the score for the next game, and then played again.  For our first tournament, we did pretty well.  I figured out the positions I want the girls to play and the rotations I will probably use for the rest of the season.  We only won one game, but I saw some great playing going on!  The rest of the season should be pretty good.  Luckily, our next tournament isn't until the middle of January, so we will have several practices before then to work on our skills as a team.

Travis came to watch our last game of the morning and then we went out for lunch before he headed back to San Antonio.  I went home and crashed on the couch.  I ended up sleeping for about five hours!  So, I haven't finished grading my tests from Friday (two out of three classes are finished), I don't know what I am teaching tomorrow, I don't have a gift for my secret Santa, and I didn't get anything done that I wanted to get done this afternoon, but I did have a really nice nap. :o)  Luckily, this is the last week before Christmas break, so I don't have TOO much going on, but it will be busy.  Progress reports are due Tuesday and several kids are in trouble because of the test they just took.  Grades aren't what I thought they would be, which just means I will get to talk to parents all week about those grades.  *sigh*

BUT....good news!  In five days, I will be on vacation for two weeks!  And this vacation includes a trip to Houston, my grandparent's house, Travis' brother's house, and NEW YORK!  So, I will make it through these next five days so I can enjoy the holidays!

Only five days to go...

Back to work...

After a wonderful and fabulous Thanksgiving break, it was SO hard to go back to work!!  I spent a whole week doing nothing but shopping, eating, and relaxing, and for the first time, I was finished with almost all of my Christmas shopping before Christmas!!  I ate lots of turkey, spent lots of time with the family and Travis, and refused to do any school work.  (Well, I did have to finish grading quizzes, but I did that before I left town and it didn't take me more than 45 minutes, so I don't count that as working over vacation!)  So, needless to say, going back to work on Monday was no fun!  I had all my lesson plans made, and the topic we are doing for the next few weeks is really easy, so I don't really have much work to do right now.  The kids are still a little woozy from break and seem to have forgotten how to behave in a classroom, so today I laid out the rules again and had to be mean (no talking (period, at all, zip, zero, nada), raise hands for everything, etc).  It wasn't fun, but it sure has made things easier for me!  It's amazing what we can get done when they are quiet and are forced to listen to my lovely voice.  I am trying to remember that they are only 13 and really don't think about things from a grown-up point of view.  Hopefully we can all make it through the next two and a half weeks without going crazy!

Overall, though, I don't have much to do right now.  I have everything planned and copied for the next three weeks; all the tests and quizzes are written (thanks to my department).  All I really have to do is show up every day, make sure my kids learn something, and keep a smile on my face.  One of my free periods has been taken away due to the computation blitz we are doing for the kids who can't do things like add, subtract, multiply and divide.  So basically, for 12 days, they are going to sit with me and do problem after problem...after problem...over and over and over again.  (Yes, it is as boring as it sounds.)  And, I am working the basketball games after school on Mondays, which involves flipping two switches (one for the time, one for the possession clock) and adding points on the scoreboard.  Oh, yes, and also a LOT of laughing at the attempts of 7th graders to play basketball.  (This makes me remember my own, young sports experiences and I want to give a shout out here to everyone who was ever forced to watch me play sports...I hope you had a good laugh and I love you even more for having the patience to show up time and time again...)  Here are some pictures to spark those hilarious memories...

Softball memories from 6th grade (I think)...

Volleyball...check out the "cool" uniforms...hand-me downs from the high school!

Showing off our beautiful, giant, purple mouthguards the basketball players were forced to wear!  And again, check out the "awesome" uniforms...

So, since I don't have to focus on anything for school, I have had time to do other fun things like decorating my house for Christmas!!!  I spent a couple of hours on Monday night moving the furniture around and putting up my decorations.  It was so fun to pull out my three huge boxes of decorations and open up all the stuff I packed away last year!  I didn't even remember all the new stuff I bought at the end of the season last year, so it felt like Christmas opening it all up again!  It's not a lot of stuff, but it sure is cute!  Here are a couple of pictures...

And, my club volleyball practices have started, and yesterday I was assigned to my team.  I am coaching the 14 Pink (pink??  PINK?? really?!?) this year, so it will be a lot different than the 12s team I am used to coaching.  The kids are older and more experienced so the games should be a lot more fun, and I am looking forward to that!  I was not excited about the color pink, but it is what the girls wanted, so here I am.  My club director even bought me pink tennis shoes and threatened to buy me a pink backpack too.  Yikes.  Anyways, our first tournament is coming up on December 14th in Austin.  Not a lot of time to practice before then, but we should be okay.  The girls are pretty good players already, so it will just be a matter of getting them to play as a team.  I am looking forward to a fun season!

So, now the countdown to Christmas break has begun...12 more school days until we are off for two weeks!