Erin Condren Planners

Many of you are already familiar with my OBSESSION with Erin Condren Planners. Which you can order on her website; www.erincondren.com

I have a few different items...

A life planner, shown above.

A desk pad...

And the teacher planned shown with my life planner in this pic. 

Personally, my biggest frustration is that the teacher planner comes with unnumbered calendar pages and too many pre-written pages that I can't opt out of. 

Both planners are beautiful, colorful and super helpful for those who need lots of space for writing things down. 

If you would like to get $10 off your first purchase of anything on the site; here's my link! Www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/rachelkannady

Follow the link, create your account and wait for the email with your $10 off code. It takes about 10-15minutes for your code to arrive!!!

Happy Organzing :)

Rachel

Want to run?

Many of you know and some of you may not, but my dad is a prostate cancer survivor. Many of you also know, I do NOT call myself a runner.

Several years ago, my dad underwent surgery to remove the cancer and has remained cancer free since then.

Here in Memphis, there is a run coming up to support the research and work being done to cure this disease affecting millions of men each year.

If you are interested in participating, this year's run will start at the Botanic Gardens at 7:30am on April 27. You can register here. If you'd rather just give to the cause, the website found here, has lots of great information! The event is sponsored by the Conrad Pearson Clinic and is part of a national event.

Obviously, I think this is an important cause, if you do too, or you just want another half marathon in before summer, please join us!

In my running shoes!

Why I do what I do

If you have a job that you love, cool. But if you have a job that mostly doesn't feel like a job, THEN you have something worth hanging on to.

I am not sure who said those words to me. But, I firmly believe in them.

This afternoon was another great example of this. I met with another parent and talked to one on the phone. Both of them were met with my usual happy upbeat personality, but I think they both were surprised by how very clear I am. So many teachers are so tired of what they do, that I don't think they really understand how vital they are. Some truly do not understand the impact they can have on their student population and the lasting effects of those relationships.

Each year I say that I have 204 kids; 4 I gave birth to and 200 that the school gave me. This year I feel that even more than normal. These kids are really incredible. I hear people say, "they have such a bright light" about different people and I've never really known what that meant. This year I do. These kids are AMAZING. They soak up the material while we're in class. They tell me jokes. They tell me problems. They ask me questions. They are incredible. I force them to work really, really, really, hard and they do it.

For the most part, I don't have any behavior issues. Ever. It is so strange to me. I've never been this lucky before. I give all the credit to the kids. Don't get me wrong, I am working my tushie off! I study every night to make sure I can teach them correctly, do my best to write quizzes and tests that are aligned with the primary learning objectives, write lesson plans that I think are really fun and they they will engage in and then write study guides that I believe will guide them in the right direction. It's the best hard work I've done in a long time.

I think this is the, "I am so blessed" post. Most of the time those sound so trite to me. I hope this doesn't sound that way. But, truly, I have never had a roster full of kids for whom I feel nearly the same way as I feel about my own kids. They're incredible. They make me want to work harder at my classes for my Doctorate to be sure that I am working at setting a good example.

Now, this is where I get pretty out of character for me....If you are of the praying kind, whatever your method, prayer beads, incense, spiritual gods, good vibes, positive energy, what have you; say a prayer for us. We have a big mountain to climb to try and get these kids to reach the proficient goal on the end of course test in May. I want to see these sweet kids reach the top. Help us reach the top.

Life has been very busy

I need to start with an apology  for having abandoned the blog for the last few weeks!

So much has happened, I am excited to share with you all of the new goings on at our house...In no particular order, here goes nothing!

First, Dilly has TEETH! She has gotten her first two teeth peeking through, both are on the bottom and both are RAZOR sharp! We've begun introducing her to solid foods and so far a few favorites include; avacado, scrambled eggs, cheese, strawberries and rice chex. She really loves playing with Lissy Jane and working so hard at being able to do what Lissy does!

Second, well, I hate to admit it, but we are taking a break from potty training. It's just been so stressful! UGH! Lissy is definitely moving in a good direction and is interested in the goings on in the bathroom, but she is just not communicative enough for this to stick right now.

Third, for those of you who are not Memphians, this is going to sound crazy....but we just got done with our 5 days camp out to get Annie into White Station Middle School's Optional Program. The camp out started on Thursday at 830am when one of the moms started the line! Earliest one yet! Geez... We ended up having fun as a family at the camp out. Food trucks from Fuel, Mark's Grill, Square Meal on Wheels, Central BBQ and the Tamale Trolley all showed up at different points. The kids played on the lawn of the Board of Education and we made a ton of great new friends. Overall, not a bad weekend.

Fourth, not sure who knows, but I am now teaching at White Station High School! I am very ecited to have returned to the school where I went to high school and taught last year. It is a great excitement to be back and I have been blessed with an amazing roster. Literally, every class has an amazing community feel and is quite dynamic. Here's a couple pictures of my classroom.

So, all in all, there has been a lot going on! Hopefully, I can get back on track with all the things that you all like to see. Keep cheering us on, it's great to hear from you all about all the goings on in our little cozy house!

Potty Training

The experts say that your child will show you they are ready to be potty trained and that's how you will know that it is time to start potty training. Some parents call this the struggle or battle of wills. It is most definitely a challenge for all involved. For the parents, this is letting go of your baby in some regard and giving them a new independence. For your tot, this is the first time they truly get to call the shots. This can be a trying time for all involved.

Other experts say that once these signs show up, you can potty train your child in just 3 days. This may be true for some children, but certainly not all of them.

This weekend we started to try to potty train MelissaJane. She has shown interest in the bathroom and the habits of others. She says pee pee about 85% of the time that her diaper is wet or soiled, so we know she can communicate her needs.

Since we had such good background evidence, she spent all of Saturday naked from the waist down. On Sunday morning she got up and used the potty for all of about 3 droplets. While Geoff was out running errands he bought some underwear in her size. She was VERY excited to see the underwear and put them on, but the concept was not sticking.

This is not a successful attempt #1. And oddly enough, my memories of potty training Annie and Jonas were that it went much more smoothly. Annie simply said ok when we suggested it to her. Jonas, quite honestly, was potty trained mostly at school. I was told by his teacher that the next week I was to bring him to school with several changes of clothes and several pairs of underwear and by the end of the week we were done. It was great! I was hoping that MelissaJane would be like her sister and it would just click. I guess we'll have to try again.

Tonite when you say your prayers, say one for us that this all goes smoothly and quickly.

Love!

Mice

I have been trying to deny it for a while, but I am sad to admit it, we have mice. Not just one or two, I'm pretty darn sure there's a small family living at my house. I've got my food pretty well packed up in the kitchen and now I'm on a mission! I'm going room by room scrubbing out, cleaning out and emptying every darn cabinet, nook and cranny I can get my hands on. This was what Lissy did when I got the whole cabinet emptied!

Right now I have a HUGE volume of little people clothes that I am prepared to get rid of. I wish there was a consignment sale right now. I will probably post a few things on ebay and I'll be sure to post links to the listings here, just in case anyone is interested.

Geoff is all concerned about the fact that the mice are mammals. I call BS. I threw a mom and her babies in the trash about a week ago and I know there are more in my home. I want them all gone! He won't let me use traps or bait to kill these things. I'm not worried about using them in controlled places; cabinets, behind cabinets, etc. But such it is.

 My winter break plans include creating countertops and nailing or screwing those darn suckers down onto the cabinets so that mice can't get in or out (and my counters look cool), finishing the trim for the half-wall in the kitchen, getting vent covers put on all the air vents in the dining room and kitchen and getting rid of as much extra stuff that is in our house as is humanly possible.

I'm hoping if I do all of these things that maybe the mice will get the idea that they are not welcome and will leave on their own. Either way, there is too much stuff in my house and I want to get it gone!

Happy purging!

Lillian is 4 months old!!

 Happy 4 month Birthday, Lillian!!!

Time flies when  you're having fun! Or at least, that's what people say.

My sweet little Dilly baby is now a whopping 4 months old! I can't believe how quickly we have gone from having a teeny tiny baby to now having a little baby with a personality.

She had her 4 month appointment the other day. She got her shots, we attempted to give her the Rotovirus vaccine. The new vaccine delivery method is to have the kids drink it. Well, for my drooly baby that is easier said than done. But we did our best!

She weighed in at 14 pounds and 8 ounces and is now 26 inches long! My little baby is growing into a BIG baby! In a more stressful world, we have decided to do a chromosome test. There are some things going on that our Doctor wants to check out and we need to make sure we are doing everything we can to keep her safe and happy.

Times like this I miss my mom even more. Some to tell her about how quickly my baby is growing up and how sad I am that she isn't here and some to tell her how scared, worried and concerned I am about my baby and the world of the unknown. No matter what I know that she is watching over my sweet little family and loving us.