4 1/2 hours till December - That's CRAZY!

Well, we have had a crazy couple of months and time is still flying by. It seems that we have just been running around doing a million things. I think the best way to fill everyone in is to just give a run down of each of our lives since September!

Ryan:
Ryan finished the football season with his Bryan Station Defenders a couple of weeks ago. This always keeps him busy from mid-summer until early November. It was a good football year but a tough one too. Ryan is the head freshman football coach and his team didn't end up on the winning end very many times. Though football takes up a lot of time it is something that Ryan loves and I have come to love too. He also is a dedicated teacher and this year he has gained even more responsibility at his school. Ryan is headed to Seattle in February for a national math conference. I think it is a ploy to get out of town with his buddies! Aaron T (better known around our house as Timmons) and Ryan W (better known as Winders) will also be headed to Seattle for the very enjoyable math conference so I know he'll be in good hands. Right now I believe he is totally immersed in the 3rd book in the Twilight series. He should be grading papers but hey so should I!

Bella (our precious puppy):
Bella had a rough September and October. In early September she started acting funny and doing things (ex. peeing in the house) that we had her trained not to do. She would be laying down and then all the sudden just pee without even getting up. At first we thought she was just being rebellious. Ryan and I had just started the school year and she was staying in her cage from about 7:15 - 4:00. So, we thought she was just trying to tell us she was angry about the change in her schedule, but then one night when I was playing with her in the floor she starting peeing while just laying on the floor. At that point we had a feeling something else was wrong so we began the vet visits. The vet ran several tests and came to the conclusion that Bella was diabetic. They sent test to the University of Tennessee and Texas A&M just to be sure. Diabetic dogs are fairly common however diabetes usually happens later in life. Bella, at the time of her diagnosis, was only 7 months old. She is the first juvenile diabetic dog that our vet has ever seen, and his professors/friends at UT have only encountered 4 other dogs under a year old that have developed diabetes. So, this has led to lots of vet visits and bills and the most important 2 insulin shots each day. Bella has been great through the whole thing and she seems as happy as ever. We have only had one big scare where she had a seizure and we had to rush her to the emergency vet clinic at 10:30 at night. Everything turned out fine and we are blessed to have such a sweet puppy dog. Her 1st birthday is coming up, December 24th! We can't wait to celebrate.

Maria:
Things this year seem to be going great at school. Our team is working wonderfully together and all of our kids are working hard and making us proud! This year has been a little hectic but I can only place blame on myself! I find it hard to say no to things/people especially when it comes to working with the kids at Clays Mill. Some of the things I have committed to this year are: academic team, academic challenge team, extended school services, leadership team, book theater club, and then I am also working on my master's degree at Georgetown College. So, to say I have kept myself busy is an understatement! I love it though. I would rather be busy than bored any old day. My master's class this fall went very well. I had the pleasure of meeting a wonderful third grade student and working with her weekly on reading skills. I get to continue next semester to implement some strategies that will hopefully bring her right up to grade level with reading skills. I love working one on one with her because it is something that teachers in the regular classroom rarely have the opportunity to do. So, the next three weeks should be a little more relaxed for me because grad. school is done for the semester and school is pushing ahead toward winter break.

One big thing that Ryan and I decided a while ago was to switch churches. We had been feeling that God was calling us to a new church home in Lexington. We love Porter and the ministries going on there but we felt like we were being led to find a new church home. We have been to several churches in Lexington but we are still looking for our niche.

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving with Ryan's family in Ohio. However, it isn't quite the same without Michael and Joe Joe (plus Sawyer). We miss them sooooooooooooooooo much and we can't wait till they make it back home. Ryan's family is wonderful and we had a delicious meal or I should say meals since Ryan's mom is a fantastic cook.

So, that about sums up our life to this point. I will now vow to update the blog at least once a week from now until forever... well that may be a bit of an exaggeration but I promise to do much better!

Where does the time go?

I am not sure where the month of August went. It seemed like it was here one day and gone the next. September is following suit. It is hard to believe we are in the middle of the month already. Ryan and I have been staying pretty busy. We were able to travel to Henderson before school started to celebrate this little man's 1st birthday (this is our nephew Bryce). Too cute! Then school hit full force! Ryan has high school football everyday of the week except Saturdays (which is when we spend the day at UK games or watching games on television). I started my fourth graduate school class a couple weeks ago. I got a big surprise when I walked in! One of my very best friends from high school, Carrie, was sitting at the table. We have had fun and I really enjoy the professor.

Two of our greatest friends just had a little girl, Rylee. She is absolutely precious. We were able to go see them the day they came home from the hospital. We also got to visit with them during the UK vs. Louisville football game (GO CATS!!!).

So I was trying to upload pictures but apparently the computer is not my friend so I will go now but don't worry I'll be back later!

SCHOOL DAYS

It is hard to believe but school is back in session tomorrow in Fayette County. Ryan and I have been working at our schools for the last couple weeks tyring to get ready (but is this even attainable?). We feel ready but at the same time their is always a bit of nervous tension. Today we had meet the teacher at my elementary school. This is always a fun and interesting day. All my students and parents seemed to arrive at the exact same time so I rushed around the room trying to make the introductions and make sure everyone got what they needed and put their school supplies where they were supposed to go. I then stayed at the school until 6:45 (not really realizing it was that late). I am making a real effort this year to not stay in the building past 5pm. I think it is possible but we'll see. I am somewhat of a workaholic and a semi-perfectionist so sometimes it is just impossible to leave before 5pm.

Overall, it is setting up to be another great year. My school is at a great place and we keep on moving up!!! Now though I need to finish a couple things before I go to bed (at my new bedtime 9:30). I think that in summer Olympic years school shouldn't start until the last gold has been won. I can hardly do anything except watch, but I guess that changes tomorrow.

Graduate School (Warning, I Am NOT Saying Anything Positive)

Things I know about graduate school...

1. The professors must think I'm dense because they all say the same thing over and over and over and they think I don't get it

2. I have now watched the same video (teaching kids about diversity throught finding their true skin color using Crayola paints) 4 times

3. It would be great if I didn't have to write the same paper twice (okay it was a little different because one was about the school I teach at and one was about the middle school I am placed at right now but it was the same format with the same information)

4. One teacher told us to not use graphic organizers

5. Another teacher has a stack of graphic organizers for us to use on a daily basis (irony??)

6. Have any of these professors taught elementary school in the last 5-10 years? Sometimes I'm not sure if they've ever been in a classroom full of 27 elementary kids

7. The grad. school thinks my undergraduate career was a complete waste (now I agree this is somewhat true however I realized I did learn quite a bit)

8. Paying 1000's of dollars in tuition for classes that are basically teaching the same thing is a complete waste. I could have a great LCD TV in my new house but NO I have grad. school

9. Writing a 10 page paper in one night stinks (No, I did not procrastinate. We didn't get the syllabus until Wed. afternoon, I had to get the information on Thursday from the students, The paper is due on Friday)

10. I have to get 33 credit hours to complete my masters however I have to spend approximately 5 hours each day for 3 weeks in just ONE class? That doesn't even count the 4th week in which I write a research paper.

However, I will put a smile on my face and only complain (after this post) to Gayla for the next 3 weeks!

Summer...Where have you gone????

Well, I see it has been awhile since my last post. May to be exact! However, I have good excuses.
1. It's summer
2. Graduate School
3. Moving
4. It's summer
5. Visitors nearly every week
6. Personal time
7. IT'S STILL SUMMER

Overall, I have just been a slacker. So with that said please let me fill you in on my summer life! Ryan and I closed on our house during the second week of June. We are still settling in but things have progressed. We are really enjoying our neighborhood and the Hamburg area. It is a different way of life over here but I think I can handle it for several years! Below are a couple pictures of the house before I started putting things away. Maybe I'll post some pictures of what it looks like now in the near future.

The back yard before we had a lawn mower!

Sitting in the living room looking into the kitchen area

I think I moved a couple things before this picture! It is not nearly a cluttered as the previous!

I have also had graduate courses this summer. I took one class in May while school was still going on. Then in June Gayla, Abby, and I participated in the Kentucky Reading Project. Today, I just started my third class. I'm not really sure what it is all about though. Maybe tomorrow I'll get a syllabus? These are pictures of our last day in class when we had to present our school literacy action plan in an interesting way so the other participants knew what we were doing. I don't want to brag but I think our skit was the absolute funniest! If you see Gayla please ask her what she does for differentiation constipation :) After viewing the pictures please let me know if you would like use to perform the skit for you!!!

Well, there is a small post about life in the Harrington Household. Hopefully there will be more to come in the near future. Oh... and I believe after ONE successful year of marriage we are no longer newlyweds so the subheading under the blog will be changing!

Tears

Tears, Tears, and more Tears. This is how I have spent the last two days. When the bell rang at 2:35 on Friday I said to my kids, "Wait, you can't leave. I'm not ready." They had to go though so we parted ways with hugs and promises that they would come and visit. However, that didn't stop the tears.

I started crying on Friday afternoon and the tears have yet to stop. Ryan actually just asked me what I was doing over here and as I was explaining that I was blogging and the waterworks started again. He thinks I'm crazy but he teaches high school. There is no way he can understand.

Back to my year... Though parts of the year were stressful and my kids weren't always angels I had a great year and I believe that my students did too. We learned and laughed together. Fifth grade was arranged differently this year so not only did I get to know my homeroom students but I also got to know the 80 other fifth graders. It is hard to walk away from 105 students. That is probably why I spent Friday afternoon at Southland Pool with about 30 of them and Saturday at a couple ball parks watching games and hanging out. I know I am silly but I LOVE THESE KIDS!

Everyone says that other great groups will come through but I think it is something extra special this year. I can't wait to see what they do with the opportunities placed in front of them. I hope they reach their dreams and then come back and tell me all about it. I guess this means I will have to stay at Clays Mill forever that way they know where to find me!

It is off to bed for me now. It has been not only a physically but also mentally exhausting two days. I am sure that as I drift to sleep tonight more tears will flow. I can't wait till next year but at the same time I don't quite want to let go of this year.

A funny site!

As I was pondering my sick day tomorrow (more of a mental than physical need) I decided I would google sick days. I know I should be doing something more productive but hey I am taking a sick day tomorrow. So, back to google. I typed in sick days and I found a very funny site. http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page This site will help you learn how to do anything! Funny ones that I read included...
1. How to call in a sick day when you just need a day.
2. How to get your crush to notice you
3. How to pull a vehicle with a rope

Oh and so much more. Have fun!!!