Well....I've all but stopped being a blogger! :) If there is anyone left out there, then here's a review of what has been going on in our lives the past school year.
First off, I cannot truly put into words how much I have grown as a person through teaching this year. I have been more passionate about impacting my students and showing them who God is than ever before. This is my first group to have had since 6th grade, so I have become extremely attached to a lot of them. And, a handful that I have grown close to over the past 3 years happen to be a group that do not have the best "life" circumstances and have made another part of the world such a reality to me. This year has been full of joy, tears, laughter, and pain. Someday I will be a better parent because of these kiddos! I am so excited to see what this group becomes.
I can remember being so freaked out when all my job stuff went crazy after my first year here. God has been sooooo good and I have been so blessed to have 2 very awesome groups of kids the past 2 years! They are both such fun groups to get to keep up with in HS! And I'm already becoming attached to my group of 6th graders this year!
Ok...here we go!
Found my first gray hair!! (prob had to do with the tears & pain mentioned earlier..) and ran my first ever half marathon! And a 2nd with Jodee! Got to see our good friends, the Beals', too!
Had our 2nd Freedom Weekend with the youth! Where some students got paint in their braces...and some awesome derby cars were built!
This group put the BEST childhood pic of Kyle & their shirts...ane he used to want to be a bus driver so... hahaha :)
Mike & Valinda visited over Easter, so we took them to a Cards game on fireworks night! We had to wait like 3 hours through a rain/tornado delay (the one that hit the airport just a few miles away)...and we were there til after midnight...but it was AWESOME! 
(this was at like 6:30...SUPER DARK...right before storm hit!)
My dear PawPaw passed away the weekend after Easter. He was so dear to us and will be greatly missed. 
I received Happy Mother's Day from three very special kiddos! It makes my heart warm to have these students in my life!
(she's one of my 8th graders from last year...all grown up and at the HS now!)
(he's also a kiddo from last year...he made this pic after Kyle & I went and watched one of his playoff basketball games...he goes to the private school in Alton)
(one of my 8th graders this year)
Kyle got to umpire at Busch Stadium! We went for the Cardinals game and afterwards Alton played a fundraiser game against another team. Because I'm such an awesome wife and got Kyle hooked up with umping in Alton, they asked him to do this game. (bc they think he's like the best ump ever...)
And last, but certainly not least, some of my faves from this school year!
Carlos' first ever dunk in a game! So glad I happened to catch it! The PE teachers made him a huge banner of this with everything black & white except him!
Such a special group of athletes!
Seriously...look how much taller than me these 8th graders are! 3 of my faves!
Our two children this year...gotta keep em in line!
2 of my all time favorite girls! 
The Poindexter Cousins! They always made me laugh! 
He's gonna be a famous rapper one day! And I already have a CD with some of his first tracks and signature on it! 
Two of my girls from last year...they wanted to wear Kyle's clothes one night at youth!
Our twin boys that are moving to Vegas!! :( Middle School State Championship Wrestler on the left! (and 6th place in state on right!)
This is what I walked around the corner to in class one day....I don't even know what you do with that?!??! "tanning..."
Posts
why we said "yes" to special needs
7 years ago