Selflessness

I know I already posted tonight, but I feel so eager to write about what I witnessed on Secret Millionaire tonight. There was a man in a homeless community that is working so hard to provide items and experiences for the homeless. He saw a homeless man walking with a cane and worn out shoes. He didn't even think TWICE.... he literally took off his own shoes and helped the man put them on. Forget about the money they cost him... someone else was in need more than him. WOW. It really puts life in perspective. Imagine this... I'm running on the treadmill with tears streaming down my face because I was so overwhelmed with his generosity. To be so selfless... what a true quality in a person. Absolutely life changing. Really. I am so moved!



1 Thessalonians 5:15
Always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

Long lost friends...

Endless tailgating memories... the other girl is Jessica... her twin!


Lauren and I today... love her!

What a fabulous weekend. On Friday, Lindsey, her two friends, and I went to eat at this place by our place. Every time we pass by it on our long walks we each find ourselves a bit on the hungry side. It always smells amazing. Well, it was in fact fabulous! I had a salad and I am pretty sure it was the best salad I've ever had in my life. It was spinach leaves, 6 oz. grilled chicken, goat cheese (weird I know), tomatoes, crushed up pieces of bacon, and balsamic dressing. Can I go back?

Saturday was a bit out of the ordinary. I went to school. On a Saturday. When I didn't have to be there. Let's just say... some things are better done by yourself than others. Well, all is well now in the classroom. I just never want to see another flash card in my life. That's all :) Enjoyed a Chick-Fil-A biscuit with one of my favorites AND I did my annual eval. SOOOO.... all in all, great experience. Oh yeah, pretty funny... I have quite a few kids that go to a program on a few Saturdays. When they saw me, they just couldn't believe it. You would have thought we were on a different continent in a different country. It was hilarious :) "Did you finish the flash cards??" I told them yes... It was clear that they can't wait to have them. What they don't know is that I can't wait for them to have them more :) I need to part from them immediately! I babysat little Lea for about 5 hours. She is such a sweet girl. She completely dominated me in Wii Bowling and Wii Tennis. So fun... I plan on brushing up on my skills. Driving home was not super fun... severe thunderstorms/crazy drivers are not a great combo.

Sunday was such a glorious day... one of my good friends from college was in town this weekend. I haven't seen her in about 4 years!! I picked her up around 9:30 and we went to one of my FAVORITES for brunch. West Egg is where it's at. Absolutely delish. Nothing like a fried egg sandwich, grits, and a cappuccino to start off your morning. We continued our party to IKEA where I blew some money. Not on myself. Not on my family. On my classroom of course. I have a problem. I need to join the OCCBA (Obsessive Compulsive Classroom Buyers Association). For real. It's sick. I am pretty sure normal people don't walk out of IKEA with finger puppets, treasure chests, and numbered/colored baskets. I have a problem and I know it. After that, we went to Atlantic Station. We only limited ourselves to two stores... Z Gallerie and H&M. No comment on damage, BUT I will say I bought some fabulously smelling decor for my room... it's an arrangement of items that will look adorable in a glass vase or bowl. AND it's the same colors as my bedroom... blues, browns, and whites. Loves it! I dropped off Lauren and mingled with her older sister that I LOVE. Ahh, reminded me so much of college good times. Stopped at Ritas on the way home... can't say no to some Italian Ice... decided I wanted cotton candy flavored in the kids cup. I'm truly 25 (and not 7) I swear.

I had intentions to go to church and step tonight, but clearly that didn't happen... I fell asleep. Here I am... procrastinating putting grades in. Once I get my life together I think a nice treadmill run sounds fab.

Hope everyone has a BLESSED week. California in only a few days!! EEEEEKKKKKKKK :)

Counting My Many Blessings...

Today is just one of those days where I'm counting my millions of blessings. It's just amazing to me that the Lord loves each one of us SO much. Wow. Just wow. Try it.... sit back and reflect on ALL of your blessings. Sometimes we get caught up in it all and forget how much we take for granted.

:)

I love it when friends have little ones!

Laura and I in high school. Such little ones ourselves :)


Laura and I a few years back.


Sweet baby Grayson


Such a cute boy!

Little Grayson is one of my bff's (Laura) little ones. This is the first time I have had the chance to meet him due to their family living in Nashville. I absolutely LOVED meeting him! Might I add that he did not once squirm with me or whimper... whereas with others (not to name any names... cough cough) he was a bit upset. I like to think I have that "touch" :).

Celebrate!

Friday night: Alabama to stay with my sweet grandmommy.

Saturday night: Engagement party for some of my friends Jenny and Luke. I got a picture of some of the guys, but for some reason I didn't get the one of all of the girls? Oh well. Check out the view!! It was at this SUPER nice high rise in Midtown on the 28th floor. GORGEOUS!!

Sunday night: Cheerleading end of the season party. Sobbed my eyes out watching Secret Millionaire. I haven't watched one yet where I haven't gone through multiple tissues.

Hope everyone has a great week!

One of the hardest things about teaching?

... receiving a notification that one of your students has been withdrawn from your class due to moving without any warning or even getting to say a simple goodbye... especially with only a few weeks left to go :( This specific student made leaps and bounds in my room from the beginning of the year. My hope is that she continues to grow into the student I know she has potential to become.

<3

A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.

Tonight I had day 1 of cheerleading tryouts for Milton. Normally, my old coach Jamie from high school comes to Milton to teach the routines for tryouts. However, this week he is in Hawaii so he sent Frank. Frank is a coach that I never had, but I always knew who he was because my Lassiter squad used to always practice there. I haven't seen Frank since I was cheering for Lassiter in high school. Well, I honestly didn't know if he'd remember me. He is literally in the middle of teaching the girls (100+) a cheer and looked over at me. He stops and says, "Do I know you?" I said, "Yes, you do." He said, "Let me guess... you cheered. You cheered for Lassiter?" Literally all of the coaches and I were totally in shock. Never had him as a coach. Barely spoke to him. This just shows how much one can notice you with very little interaction. Actions DO speak louder! This made me smile... it feels good to be noticed after all of these years :)

** Mimosa peeps... if you look closely, you'll see me in the middle in the black uniform and Lauren May in the white/maroon one on the bottom right. Lauren, I'm going to find all those pictures I have of us!



Another picture from my squad... man, I love to travel down memory lane. We were SOOOOO amazing back in the day. I'll never forget our "Back in Black" opening! 5th in the state :)



Since I encountered a smile myself tonight, I decided I would pay it forward almost. I paid for the toll after me tonight on the way home from step. I'm no "Secret Millionaire", but since I can spare 50 cents I decided it was the least I could do. Hopefully the day of someone else was made :)

It is beginning to look a lot like Spring :)

A weekend full of...

lake time with work friends
endless supplies of yummy food (we may or may not have gone to 3 places for lunch)
graded papers
entered grades
SST paperwork
worked out twice in one day (trust me... after a few Girl Scout cookies... it was needed)
Secret Millionaire
Pool with roomie

Cheerleading tryouts this week. My last duty as a coach. Bittersweet.

Hope you have a good week! :)

Approx. 3 years in the works...

Just had to share :)

Actions DO speak louder than words!

I had a meeting during specials today. We were required to get our laptops because we had to check data online. If you know me even a little , I like to check my email every other second. Don't put a laptop in front of me and expect me to not check my email :). So, I checked my email and noticed a "Bereavement" subject for the title. I always glance through these emails, but honestly, rarely do I read them. For some reason today, I felt compelled to read this one.

It was a beautiful picture of this lady and it discussed how she was a teacher in the county. After reading all of the wonderful things she has done in the teaching world, the email had a quote from her daughter, Abby. That is when it hit me. This is Abby's mom!! Abby is a girl that I went to college with at UGA. She was in my sorority and was my little teacher friend. She is a WONDERFUL special education teacher with a HUGE heart. I was fortunate enough to student teach at the same school in Athens as Abby. I got to know Abby very well through our countless hours spent at school. She told me about how her little sister was a miracle child. She also told me about how her sweet, sweet mom had breast cancer. I felt like I knew her mom because of all of the wonderful stories that Abby would tell me. She was a true gem from what I was told. Abby's mom lost her battle to cancer on Friday.

My heart weighed heavy all day just thinking about how Abby probably felt. I decided that I would show my respect to Abby and her family by going to the memorial service in honor of her mother, Jean. I went with my sorority sister Karen and her family. When we got there, I was completely filled with joy when I saw how many people were there to remember Abby's mom. Within the huge crowds, I noticed that Jean and I had many friends in common from working in the same county. It seems to be that she really was the gem I had always heard about... or as she called herself, The Queen.

I have to share something that occurred tonight during the service. Abby was one of the speakers that spoke in memory of her mom. She opened with how it was her goal to have this time be a time of comedic relief because her mom wouldn't have wanted people to grieve over her. She was very funny... I found myself laughing at her stories. She told us the top 14 things that her mom had taught her from over her 23 years of existence on this Earth. She told all about how she learned things from her... to name just a few... light candles at dinner even when it's not a special occasion, fill up your gas tank when it has lost a quarter because you never know when you'll need it (halfway is risking it), never go ANYWHERE in the dark, eat dinner between 6:00 and 6:30, etc. But the one that truly sticks out to me is #14....

She explained that you can show "I love you" in many ways without saying those three words. Their way of showing this was by blowing kisses to each other. She said that even in her weakest state last week, she was able to pucker her lips. In memory of her mother, everyone in the church looked up and blew kisses. Talk about emotional! This REALLY spoke to me. It really is true. Actions DO speak louder than words. This is such an inspirational story that I know I will carry with me forever.

I hope my post inspires you to know that there is more to life than that crummy day you had at work or that rude comment someone said to you that you just can't get out of your head. It is my prayer that you tell those around you how much you love them :)

I encourage you to read Abby's blog about her mother's journey battling cancer. I haven't read all of her posts, but I've read a lot of them. It is SO amazing to me the courage that Abby and her family have had through all of this... especially her Queen.

God Bless all of you!! I love all of you SO much!!
http://thequeenjean.blogspot.com/

Happy WRAD!

Happy WRAD... Writing and Reading All Day! It was a fabulous day! Here were some of the highlights...

*Mrs. Bodeep came to read to my class. She was my first AND third grade teacher. I heart her with all of my heart. She brought me Girl Scout cookies. Anyone hungry? She told my class about how shy I used to be and of course the kids couldn't believe it. "Ms. Wexler is such a silly goose and she's loud. You're lying!" It was cute! She exposed them to the importance of newspapers, magazines, and we made up a story together... she had all of the boys and I had all of the girls. We would add on and on till it was time for her to leave. We also did a cute reading from the Free To Be You and Me book.

*We did book buddies with a 4th grade class AND a 5th grade class. It's so cute to see them interact.

*The kids got to go pick 4 books each that were donated to the school. It was so sweet to watch them pick them out!

*I visited my friend in Pre-K. She has a bunch with lots of personalities. It was fun to hang out with them during my break. I am so glad she had a great first WRAD! She's like my little sister at school due to the fact I've known her for forever! <3

*We wrote a class book and illustrated the pages. I'm excited to bind it together! I'll post pictures when I'm done.

*A policeman came by to read a story. Of course, they were curious about all of his weapons. Not gonna lie, I was too! :) "Ms. Wexler, policemans can read too?"

*Previous principal came by to say hi in her Cat in the Hat costume... we performed our house cheer for her. They were so proud to show it to her. They all told her how much they missed her! I did too!!!!

*New principal came by to say hi as well. She came in as we were playing with a puppy. The owner let all of the kids hold the puppy. Fun for the kids, but I'm pretty sure the puppy was over it by that point.

And that folks was WRAD. A day full of endless fun!

I came home to realize that my brother was dropping off more Girl Scout cookies from my mom. So... as I said before, anyone hungry?

I'm Snuper Soup!

Didn't go to school today because of a class, but I received this email about one of my students that made me smile :)

**They called ______________ during my class to the office… as she was just walking out the door she said, “I need to tell you something…” She came over and whispered, “I’m Snuper Soup” with this giant grin on her face.**

FYI: We call them "Super Snoops" aka children caught doing something good. It's announced in front of the whole school every Friday. BIG DEAL!

RIP Duckie.

He was so funny... he knew he was a bad boy for two reasons....

1) The duck's life was over.
2) The stuffing was all over the floor.

:)