WES: year two.

Y'all.

I'm so grateful for those mommas who take '1st day of school pics' before school on the actual first day of school.  I get so many good ideas from them!  I'll be honest with you;  I take mine after school and usually just before bath time.  I can barely get myself up, dressed, out the door, etc. on time for school.  You can honestly forget adding photo time into that equation.  

So, here we go.

First grade with Mrs. Bragg and he's in LOVE with it.  His class is full of some of his very best buddies and some of the best kids I know.  I cannot wait to watch him grow and learn in the next 180 days.  I loved school and I love being a student.  I feel like he will be my studious child and for that, I'm grateful.

This girl started kindergarten with Mrs. Watkins.  She is thrilled with the aspect of social time every day.  She wants to wear a dress and a matching hairbow every day too!  She came home sweaty and so tired, but she loves every minute of it.  Her learning will be different and more challenging for all of us.  She tries hard and works every day at her homework with a gleeful attitude.

Daryk and I started our 11th year together as educators at the same school together this fall.  I know some people think it is crazy to work alongside your spouse, but I do enjoy working with him.  I like spending time with him and seeing his relationships with students.  He has a different crop of students than I do, and I so appreciate their interactions.  

Here's to a new year and some amazing kids, both at home and at school!

Graduation Tears

Every single year, it never fails that a piece of my heart walks out of the school building on the last day of the school year.  Some years there are more pieces than others, but there is always at least ONE.  This past spring these ladies walked through our halls for the last time as a student and they crossed a stage to receive a diploma.  The tears I cried that day were immeasurable and they pride I felt was just as grand.  I am so excited to see where the journey beyond AHS takes these young ladies.  They are genuine women of integrity and I cannot wait to see what their lives hold. 

This year was unique for me as a teacher.  I had the privilege of watching my brother in law's younger brothers graduate from AHS.  My brother in law is a Marine and I'm very proud of him for choosing to do that.  There is a point in the graduation ceremony where our administrators have all graduates who are joining the military stand to be recognized.  As a mother, sister, friend, teacher, and general human being I sobbed at that moment in time.  The pride and fear and overwhelming sense of amazement at those men and women was indescribable.  I was so grateful that these young people were capable and willing to make a decision to join a noble force in our world. 

What an honor to have known and taught SO MANY SOLIDERS!

My Britt--starting at LSU this fall.

My Bailie--starting at JSU this fall.

My Jamie--starting at school in Ga this fall.

Fab Frogs

This sweet girl sure gives me a run for my money.  This is her delightful Mother's Day Tea at ELC.  The kids make the food and lots of sweet things for us as well.  It is really an awesome deal.  We love going and I really enjoy seeing how proud she is.  Her attitude at school is spectactular.  I did tell her teachers that she should not be in charge of any surprises, ever.  She told me every single detail about the food and the arts & crafts the day before the 'tea' happened.  

Here is a picture of us last year at her tea.  She was a ladybug last year and is a frog this year.  Mind you, the pictures are always her idea, but I'm grateful she likes me well enough to take pictures.

This is her BFF Delilah.  She loves this girl with some serious intensity.  I am grateful that they were able to spend time loving each other this year.  Delilah's Aunt Steph is reading to them.  She was so patient with them and so kind.  

And these ladies are her rockstar teachers.

They help with boo-boos.

They assist with potty training and accidents.

They provide guidance, for her in the classroom, and me outside the classroom.

They love her.

They were so kind and told me that the 4s teachers would likely fight over who gets to teach my 'delightful child'.....

All I could do was LAUGH like a crazy lady because my delightful child is so hard to deal with most days.  She is sunshine and rainbows when she chooses to be.  She is challenging and stubborn when she is not sunshine and rainbows.  She loves SO hard and she is so kind....

I am forever grateful to these lovely ladies.

Prom 2k15

I will say that one of the perks of my job is 'working' prom.  And by working, I mean we show up and marvel at the dresses.... good, bad, ugly....

Also, my date cleans up nicely.

Our favorite Hannah.

She is so special to us and I cannot wait to watch her grow up!

And Hannah's sidekick Bailie.

We love her so much.  I so appreciate her honesty and her integrity.

My Breakfast Club.

I will miss seeing them daily and spending time with them each morning and at lunch.  I've seen them twice a day for most days since August.  I'll be at a complete loss when they are gone!

Jayde!

The joy of my day!

Her positive outlook and smile can make my day better when I'm in the dumps.

Gorgeous inside and out!

And our precious neighbor Car-lo-line.

Caroline.

If you are my children, you love her.

We are so blessed to have this one close by to call upon when we need her.

During the Snowpacalypse 2014 she hand delivered brownies to us on Day 2 of Entrapment.

Alphabet Parade

I am so pleased to watch the little guy and all the fun things of his last year at ELC.  We have so enjoyed all 4 years and the lovely women who have nurtured and loved him.  Lori, Robbie, Dawn, Lynn, Erin, Cindy, Jean, Lori (the other one), Kristi, and Jill.  They are soooo special to me and sooooooooo important to his development.  I am thrilled to watch him grow from preschool to elementary school and I cannot WAIT for him to start in the fall.  I don't want him to grow up any faster than he already is, but he is SO excited to be a Wildcat in the fall and I'm SO proud of him!  

Alphabet Parade 2015.

Hayes Cochran

'Jazz' the Transformer Autobot.  

Letter J

Favorites

Sooooooooooooooo, these girls happen to be our favorites.  They rescue me when I'm having a bad day.  They pick up my kids when I can't or don't want to.  They come over and help me fix dinner or fold laundry or play with the kids so I can take a nap.  Jordan and Hope are two girls that I'm going to call my friends for a long time.  I see them at family parties and vacations and eventually at the weddings of my 3 little people.  They will be welcome at my house anytime and I'll always love them as my own.  

Jordan (on the right) happens to be one of the first baby sitters that Hayes ever had.  She came to my rescue several times in that first year and she's always the first one we call when she's home.  She left us to go to college (lame) and we miss her terribly.  I am proud of her and what she's doing with her life, but I'm also selfish enough to say that I MISS her and want her home all the time.  

Hope (on the left) is still technically our student at school.  She is a cheerleader and wrestling manager and she keeps me in line.  She's my lunch buddy and a one of a kind girl who could never be replaced.  Her honesty and level headed thinking is just something you don't find in a child, who's almost a grown up.  Sorta.  She has a fantastic sense of humor and I cannot wait to see what happens with her once she leaves us in the fall.  

Hubs, Coach, Daddy

He made himself some granola.

Trying to mix it with a spoon proved to be too difficult, so he changed the plan.

And then sometimes he just gets bored and well, you see what happens.

I do think he'd make a nice blonde.

Holidays in full swing

December makes me thankful for my returning students....

The ones who are more like family and friends than the norm.

They show up when you need help and entertain the preschool crew after hours.

See above photo.

Jordan is our favorite person, ever.

We call her the other sister often.

I am beyond thankful for her help and the love she shows my babies.

Plus, she taught them to make these awesome faces.

How can I NOT love that?

Uncle Joe

Yes.

We have socks on our hands.

Yes.

That is our neighbor/uncle, Joe.

Yes, the children had a blast.

And no, Libby doesn't have pants.

Your point?!

I think he's their new favorite person.

Adventures in Babysitting, errrr teaching.

Every year since I started teaching I've been privileged to accompany my smart kids to Jekyll Island.

We attend GANHS convention in April and it pretty much rocks!

This is Driftwood Beach.

There are trees all over in pieces, still growing out of the sand, over run by the waves.

We They climbed over a lot of them.

I climbed up 3 feet to have this picture made.

While I'm soaking up convention exhaustion, sunshine, and students....

The babies are returning from the lake trip and snoozing in the car.

The POWER NAP!

It always amazes me that they sleep like this and their little necks don't hurt.

I need to invent some sort of neck saver for the little people.

I could make millions, no?

My Buzz and Woody playing with trains.

I haven't seen them since Wednesday April 10.

I think this is the longest I've ever been away from them both and I'm super sad.

I'm so ready to go HOME and see them tomorrow afternoon!

Meanwhile, tonight I'm the DJ at the GANHS dance.

I'll be on the radio next week.

Radio Disney that is...

Being the wife...

Y'all, I'm so proud to be a coach's wife.

It is HARD work and I know I complain about it a lot, but it is not the end of the world.

It takes endless hours away from my family and I get annoyed, and often jealous.

It means sometimes my husband comes home later than I would like.

Sometimes my kids don't see him for days at a time.

Sometimes when they do see him, he's so tired he isn't much fun.

Sometimes he misses dinner, and bathtime, and bedtime.

He came home last night for about 5 minutes only to rush back out again.

But one of his kids needed him.... so we ate dinner, did bathtime, and bedtime without dad.

He loves coaching.

He is more passionate about that than most people understand.

There are days when I want to tell him to quit.

Days when I want to yell about how angry I am at the things it keeps him from.

Days when I'm annoyed because I've been alone with little/no help from him for too many hours.

There are times when I want to ask him why these kids seem more important than my family.

But then I go watch him coach and I see it.

This is what drives him.

Something deep inside of him would change if he stopped.

It is part of his lifeline.

A necessity, if you will.

Saturday I was able to leave my mom duties and my own coaching duties to someone else for a while.

I got to drive south and watch my husband do what he does.

I drove to Macon to watch him coach our boys.

They are OUR boys.

I feel like they live in my house sometimes because I hear about them OR from them so often.

The ones who have graduated stop by to say hello.

Some of them even call me Momma and that makes me smile.

This is the 4th year in a row that we have taken 2nd place.

2nd place is a HARD pill to swallow when you were counting on 1st.

It is not something my husband wants a congratulations for.

Good job, or great work... but not congratulations.

2nd place is not 1st.

And I can assure you that my heart broke as I watched the matches unfold Saturday afternoon.

I cried as I realized the score wasn't going to be in their favor.

Each time the referees blew the whistle and the score changed I cried a bit more.

Slowly understanding that mathematically, we couldn't catch up.

We were going to lose, take 2nd place, not win. 

All that work....

All those hours....

And we came up short.

Devastation.

Someone asked me if he cried too.

He did, but we didn't see it.

And Sunday morning, after the sting wore off, he began prepping.

He began busily compiling notes on his iPad on how he could make his kids better.

Notes for them on things to work towards.

Things to improve, change, eliminate, etc.

He spent the majority of the day working through his disappointment and anger with notes to get better.

He helped with breakfast, and lunch, and dinner, and bathtime for the kids.

He cleaned the house and took a nap.

We talked about every match and what could have happened differently.

He started to pull himself back up and trudge forward by the end of the day.

The pity party was over and the work was just beginning.

He left the house Monday morning more determined than ever to make it work.

To win again.

His next chance, well THEIR next chance at a state title is in 5 weeks. 

I know it's all I'll hear about until it's over.

I'm prepared.

Remind me that I said that when I vent or whine about it, okay?

Side note:  I teach with the husband.

We both coach.

Somewhere between coaching and parenting I find time to manage his managers.

These are just a FEW of my girls.

They travel all over the state helping to take care of OUR boys too.

I am so thankful to know they are part of our world.

They work hard and take it hard when we lose. 

After ALL is said and done...

This is part of my family.

They love my babies.

They love me.

They love my husband, even though some days they might not LIKE him very much.

I wouldn't trade them for the world.

Allllllll the junk

This is PART of the pile of goodies my students brought me today!

I got one more tin of peanut butter yummies later in the day.

I also got a $10 Target card--holllllllla! 

Giant Hersheys Kiss replica via rice krispies treat!

I was saddened but excited that it stuck to the foil so I couldn't eat much of it.

Bummer.

Some sort of Chex mix chocolate stuff that I'll be eating in bed later while I watch a movie or read.

Just straight chocolate.

And a snowglobe.

A pasta soup that I add tomatoes and beef to.

This is a first and I'm REALLY excited to try it!

This one is a baggie of chocolatey chex mix stuff with marshmellows, and Santa hats!

So cute!

This red container has these amazing thin cookie wafer things that just melt in your mouth.

Heavenly.

And lastly, I got the peanut buttery goodness.

I don't know what this one is yet, but it smells like I would expect heaven to smell.

And I wonder why my pants won't fit come January.

I don't even make it to Christmas before I'm bombarded by all the goodies!

Hope y'all have a great weekend preparing for Christmas with your families.

I can't wait to share with y'all about that after we open all our gifts!

Compliments and the mall...

Talk about the last compliment you received.

Yesterday we were out of school.  Many of the schools in our county are used for polling places, as a matter of fact, the place I voted yesterday was an elementary school.  I can't imagine trying to conduct normal school business with that crowd.  We waited in line for almost 1.5 hours to vote, but we 'boted' as my two year old said.  And he proudly wore the sticker, until he stuck it on the wall in the living room at our home. 

Awesome.

We had grand plans to go to the zoo, but the weather killed that dream. Just as well since both kids were sickly and snotty. The cold weather and the rain didn't help that any either. So, no zoo. What's the trusty back up plan!? Chick fil A or the mall food court play place.

Chaos. That's the back up plan. Pure chaos. Everyone uses that as their back up plan. So we were there, with everyone.

We live where we teach. I've lived here for the past 23 years of my life, and my parents and grandparents both live here as well. And when we are out in public we get stopped often by current and former students, friends, and often family. Yesterday was no different.

I see them before Daryk does and they start to make their way across the mall towards us. A former wrestler and his new wife, who happens to be a former art student. Her first comment to me was, "You look amazing!"

Yeah, best compliment I had received in days, weeks even. She certainly caught me off guard as I was chugging my sweet tea. I got a little teary eyed and told her thank you.

Moving Madness

OMG.  We moved.

Chaos was sure to follow.

We had about 20 people...

various wrestlers, cheerleaders, the babysitter, and a handful of family members to help us that day. 

It took us ALL day long on Saturday... but we are moved! 

 We started EARLY Saturday and began with cinnamon roll breakfast.

Pizza for lunch...

And then the crew left us that afternoon.

We had everything ALL together and spent Saturday night at the NEW HOUSE!

I love our new house so much.

Still cannot believe we live here!

Next up... yard work...

Wedding Bells

I got to see this sweet girl get married!

I am SO proud of the amazing young lady that God has grown her into.

She was beautiful and her wedding was so much fun!

I had a blast and I was honored to go.

Courtney was one of my most favorite students ever.  She was always excited about learning and especially exited about taking home a plastic baby.  Yes, plastic baby.  Part of my class requires a weekend with a baby simulator....  Courtney took it home with a smile on her face.  Twice.  She's nuts.  A few years after that she had a sweet girl of her own, Mayson.  And voila!  Now she is married and all grown up.  I tend to forget that my students actually grow up.  In my head they are eternally 'just graduated last year' and never actually moving forward with life.  I know that they do, I just forget how often it actually happens.  I miss having her smile around the building.  I cannot WAIT to see what happens next in her life.  :)