Frogs, Flowers, and Fun!

Last weekend, I went to Fort Worth for TCU homecoming, which was a blast!!  I met up with some old friends and had a great time catching up with them.   I went by the Sigma Kappa house just to say hi and ended up meeting my great-gran little, who is now the president of the sorority!  I was excited to hear that my family was doing so well!  (When I started in Sigma Kappa, my family consisted of me and my big...and that was it!)  I also spent some time walking around campus and seeing all the new renovations that have been made.  The most outstanding was the fact that they changed the huge parking lot in front of the student center into a grassy area that is now surrounded by all new dorms and a brand new student center!  It is absolutely amazing.  Then, at the game, the Frogs played against Wyoming and won the game 54-7.  Overall, it was a great weekend!

This is a picture of the new grassy area in front of the fountain that used to be a parking lot.  All the buildings all around it are brand new, and all of them are dorms!!!  My old freshman dorm that used to be prominent in this area is now hidden behind all the new stuff.

My friend Sperry and I with SuperFrog in front of the frog fountain!

 

The new statue and extension to the Education building

So, this week has been long and crazy, but many good things have happened this week and last weekend!  On Tuesday, Travis sent me the most beautiful roses just to let me know he was thinking about me while he was in Washington!  He made it through his training and will be heading back on Saturday to get ready to go to San Antonio for his next training.  He'll be living in a rental house in San Antonio until the end of March and doing his instructor training.  It will be nice having him so close for so long!!!  Then, he's going back to Del Rio for the next three year to be an instructor pilot.

Tonight, my volleyball teams played against Henry, the team that my coaching friend from Eclipse coaches.  It was a huge competition, and we played some of the best games that we have played all season!  I was excited to see them play so well, but disappointed at some of the mistakes they were making (missed serves, free balls hitting the ground, etc.).  Both teams lost both the games that they played.  So my A team has a record of 5-2 and my B team has a record of 6-1.  We have one more big game next week, and then the season is over.  I'm a little excited to have a little more time in my life!

And, on a final note, I have been asked to coach one of the 14s teams this year for club volleyball, so I am pretty excited about that.  It will be the same as coaching the 12s, travel and tournament-wise, except the girls will be older and a little more coordinated!  Practice and games will start at the end of November.

3 weeks until Thanksgiving!!!

School....

School is consuming my life at the moment.  Despite the great weekend I had last weekend, last week was CRAZY.  Yes, it was a four day week for the students, but I still had to work for five days.  And, the weather turned colder AND we had a full moon...and I never really believed it would have any effect on anything, but, boy, was I proven wrong!  The kids were so squirrelly and out of control all week, and it was all I could do to keep them in their seats!  A couple of times during class we had to take a minute break to let them all (literally) run around the room and get their energy out.  It was bizarre.  I don't think we learned too much last week....  Teacher morale in the 8th grade math department is a little low due to the fact that the parents are calling all the shots and we are forced to concede.  I really wish we could just start the year over, knowing everything that was going to happen, and do things differently, but that's not going to happen, so we continue having parent conferences over...and over....and over.........

Anyways, three more volleyball games to go, and then the season is over.  After basketball tryouts in four weeks, I will officially be in off-season and maybe I will have some time to breathe at school.  Right now, I can totally understand how the kids feel - we are so busy!!!

Travis is out in Washington state right now, hanging around for the week until he starts his resistance training on Friday.  Keep him in your thoughts and prayers because it is going to be a tough week for him!  He won't be coming back to Texas until November 1, and then he officially moves to San Antonio on November 4.  He'll be living there for four months while he does his pilot instructor training, and then he will be heading back to Del Rio at the end of March to start teaching all the young, new pilots how to fly!

Some fun things to look forward to after this crazy week...  On Friday night, my volleyball team and I are going to the UT vs. BYU volleyball game.  Then on Saturday, I am going to the TCU vs. Wyoming homecoming game in Fort Worth!  It's the first time in four years that I haven't had a volleyball tournament on the same weekend as homecoming, so I am pretty excited!  They have lots of fun events going on that day, so it should be fun to catch up with some old friends and see all the great things they have been doing on campus.

Anyways, papers to grade, parents to please, answer keys to make.....back to work!

8 weeks down, 28 to go.....and only 5 more weeks until our next break!

No work and all play on the weekends makes me happy!

What a wonderful weekend!  My mental health day on Friday was totally worth the stress and anxiety on Thursday!  I cleaned the house, did laundry, and then followed through on my desire to do NO work this weekend by going to Del Rio and leaving my books and agenda at home.  It was fabulous.

Friday night, Travis and I went to another class' drop (the ceremony where the pilots who are about to graduate find out what planes they will be flying next).  It was really interesting because this was the first drop where they were handing out assignments for the UAVs, which are the unmanned planes which the pilots fly by remote control in Las Vegas.  Not the dream job for anyone who wants to fly planes, so of course everyone was there to see who would get them!  They ended up handing out two assignments.  Then we hung around afterwards to watch an old, famous Air Force pilot play the guitar and sing some fabulous songs about pilots!  I caught up with a couple of guys from Travis' class who are still on base, and then I got to meet all of his new commanders and instructors that he is going to be working with next year.

Saturday, the Red River rivalry was in full force, and the Texas/OU game proved to be very exciting and intense.  My favorite part was the 96 yard touchdown run that one of the UT guys ran...awesome.  UT ended up winning 35-25 (I believe that was the score...).  Then Travis and I went to a movie for three bucks each at the theater downtown. (We spent more on popcorn and a drink than we did on the movie tickets!!)  We saw Body of Lies with Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe.  It was pretty good.  Then we drove around the lake and had dinner at this little bait shop by the water.  It was definitely like walking into a small town restaurant; every person (about 20 people total) said hello as we walked in.  We ordered food from the chef who was standing in the kitchen and started cooking right when we ordered, and the waitress hung around and talked with us for a while.  It was great.  45 minutes away from the base, but worth the trip.

Apparently, the best food on base is to be found at the bowling alley, so that is where we went Sunday afternoon for lunch and ended up playing three games.  Travis beat me pretty badly in the first and third games.  I think he let me win the second game, just to be nice, but I only won by about ten points.   (He beat me in the other two games by at least 60 points each time.)  It's not like I was bowling in gutter the whole time; I was actually doing pretty well and about average for my bowling abilities.  He just kept bowling strikes and spares and I just couldn't catch up!  Then we took a drive around town so he could show me some of the houses he is thinking about buying when he gets back from training in San Antonio.  Then, on main street, we found this tiny little "soda shop" that served ice cream and shakes.  So we had some dessert, and then we walked around the store looking at all the trinkets they had for sale.

So, needless to say, mental health has been restored!  This week should be much better than the last couple of weeks, as my stress level is much lower now and I have had a chance to relax and enjoy some non-school related activities.  (Not to mention the fact that I had a great vacation from all my kids and still don't have to see them until Tuesday!)

7 weeks down, 29 to go!

Today was a long day...

I got to school this morning at 7:45 am and left this evening around 10:15pm.  It was quite a day, full of children asking the same questions over and over and fun classroom activities.  I enjoyed having lunch with my volleyball team today (an activity we do every Thursday before a game), and I felt like my classes went well.  (I am finally teaching fun things in Algebra!)  Then, we had our volleyball games, which went okay.   The B team won, the A team lost in a pretty sadly played game.  Guess that just means I have to pump it up next week in practice...lots of hustle and serving!  I stayed after the games (which ended at 7pm) to watch the choir concert (which started at 7:05pm), and then I went down to my room to work.  I cleaned, organized, filed, graded, cleaned some more, wrote sub plans, copied quizzes, filled out paperwork, sent emails, and planned for tomorrow all in three hours.  Now, at 10:45pm, I am finally back at home, ready to go to bed and sleep.  I am taking my first "mental health day" off tomorrow, and I am ready to enjoy it!  Time for some cleaning, some laundry, some grocery shopping, and a little time with Travis, and I should be set.  And the students have a holiday on Monday, so I am going to enjoy my four day vacation from my kids!

Ah...the thoughts of how little I had to do this summer are taunting me...  :o)

A relaxing weekend

We had a volleyball game on Thursday against Tippit MS, and although it went down in the books as a win, we certainly did not play our best.  There were some bad plays, bad calls, and general unenthusiastic playing from my kids.  I think the biggest factor, though, was the fact that it was our first home game and the BOYS were there to watch!!!  My puberty-stricken, boy-crazy, hormone-filled 8th grade girls just could not handle it.  They were giggly and distracted the whole time...  We had a conversation on Friday during practice about it, which was pretty funny.  I believe at one point someone said, (and I quote) "But Ms. Kinley, don't you have a boyfriend?"  I said yes, and reminded them that when he came to watch the tournament, I didn't stand there and giggle at him the whole time.  I coached when I needed to and paid attention to him in between games!  That made them think a little bit....   :-)

And, some sad news...I just found out that several of my players are failing their classes, which means they are out for three weeks.  This is a huge bummer.  I have been stressing all week and not sleeping because I have been so worried about them passing their tests this week and hopefully getting up to passing their classes. Luckily, the three girls that I have are passing for the six weeks, so I don't have to worry about them anymore.  But the others are in trouble, and I have already set up a plan to get them passing by the next three weeks so they can play with us again!

By the time Saturday rolled around, this sleep-deprived, stressed-to-the-max teacher just couldn't handle it anymore.  I went to Starbucks Saturday morning and stayed there all day, drinking coffee, reading, and grading tests.  It was the most relaxing day ever.  I am completely sunburned, but it was worth it.  I finished grading for the weekend, and I started (and finished) the 500 page book I needed to read for my book club.  It was a good, relaxing, peaceful day.  And now it's Sunday and I have errands to run and other things to do, but I now have the time to do it!  And, I have decided to take this coming Friday off for a "mental health day" and spend some time just focusing on me and relaxing a little more.  This first six weeks of school has been more work than I expected it to be!  But I made it, and things will be better soon.  Most of my students are passing now (all but four), and the next six weeks is starting tomorrow.  

Six weeks down, 30 more to go!

Tournament Update

My A team played some awesome games this weekend, but just couldn't pull out enough wins in the pool play to move on to the bracket play.  My B team ended up winning second place in their tournament!  It was pretty exciting, but we didn't end up leaving the school until 5:00pm.  Long day!

So the craziness of September is pretty much over now.  Life should calm down a bit, and I won't have any more tournaments.  We will just be playing games on Thursdays for the next month!  We're hoping to do well this season, so it should be a lot of fun!

Volleyball update

We played against Benold MS tonight, a school in Georgetown, an hour away by bus.  We got there just in time for all the kids to run to the bathroom and then start their warmup.  My B team game was pretty....boring.  The other team couldn't really do much, and my team looked awesome!  Lots of plays, bumps, sets, hits, and great passing.  I was really proud of them!  They won their game.  My A team game was a lot more exciting, only because the other team could play against us.   The first game was a nail bitter and finally ended with a score of 27-25!!!  Then my kids won the second game without too much trouble.  There were some amazing plays in that game as well!

I am really excited to see the progress they are making.  It's neat how the things we do in practice are transferring into the games.  More than once, I have had some of the kids say things like, "oh, we did this in practice," and "we learned how to do this!"  They are seeing how it pays off to practice the things we are practicing (like tipping on the net and hitting down the line) because we are winning points in games!

Big tournament coming up this weekend, Friday and Saturday.  We are going to be playing two of the best schools in the district, which is pretty exciting!  I can't wait to see the girls play more this weekend.  More updates on the games later....