Thanks for the Donations!!

We had a successful Walk-a-Thon this year!  I didn't get a pic of Libby, but it was a beautiful sunny day.  And it was fun today to compile all the Venmo and Paylpal contributions from family and write pretty  big checks :)
Maybe some pictures of principal pie in face coming soon!
For sure some pizza parties and raffle tickets for other fun teacher sponsored prizes.  I think we really built some community with our Walk-A-Thon efforts!  Go Cheetahs!

UPDATE:  This year we raised over $17,000 for our Walk-a-thon.  This is more than double last year!  It's been some serious effort getting it all the prizes fulfilled, but we are doing it.

Go Huskies!

Several things were super fun about going to the Husky Game yesterday.  

1.  It didn't rain and it wasn't too cold.  Win!

2.  The Huskies dominated.  Win Win! 

3.  We got to see so many people we know and love!  Lots of BYU and UW fans.  We even go to see Marc, one of our favorite Fehlberg cousins, who came up from CA to see the game.

4.  And--just when I thought it was fun to be at the game with 3 Nortons, a 4th joined us for the 2nd half.  Love being a part of this family! (The Husky Family, the Mormon Family, and of course the Norton family) 

Trish the Videographer

So I have been working my tail off to get Student Council and the Walk-a-Thon going for this year.  I got the idea to make videos to get kids excited.

(Double click the video to see the full screen--Do you recognize some Norton voices?)


  Student Council Video

It's Football Season!

I guess it was probably inevitable that Derek would eventually add coaching football to our lives.  Thankfully he is only volunteering, which means practice on Wednesday and games on Friday.  I have been frustrated with it--just one more thing to add to our complicated lives.  But he loves it.  And, admittedly, Shorewood has won 3 games this season, more than they have in the last few seasons combined.  So, we are just surrendering to being a football family.  This means high school games on Friday night and Husky games on Saturday.  I mostly stay home and do laundry and jobs around the house.  The kids went to the Husky game on the 8th and Libby went last night too.  And we all enjoyed and amazing Shorewood victory on Friday night this week.  It's been a long time since Shorewood beat Shorecrest in football.  

Meeting Dubs on Sept. 8th  

Go T-Birds! There were some really exciting moments in this game!  Like the last play of the 1st half, Shorewood intercepted a pass and ran it back for a touchdown!  Pick 6. 

Derek was literally beaming after the game. 

Rotary cup winners! 

Football has a lot of coaches

2 Nortons wanted to stay home. Maren was having none of it.  She made them gear up and come.  We walked home and got in just before it started to pour after the game. 

Last night Sarah stayed up with me to watch most of the Husky game on TV.  (Actually, I went to bed after the 3rd quarter.  She stayed up for the whole thing.)  She asked lots of questions and I explained how football works.  Downs, yards, etc.  She picked it up quickly.  She said I was better at explaining football than Daddy.  HA

I Like Teaching!

So this week I emerged from the clouds of the craziness of this year for a few minutes and realized that I do like teaching!  I am still trying to figure out this wacky schedule, and how to manage a 4/5 split.  But a few times this week I had a few flashes of teaching joy.
Some of those were in making a video for Student Council, and in getting all of the application stuff ready.  But some was in good old lesson planning.
I spent a lot of time this week trying to get Rhinos to start on time and finally had to give up and push back the start date a week.  It is hard to be new at the Rhino scheduling/insurance navigation.
I will be so glad to be done with Rhinos.
I can make it. 
It will be so much better if I can get my neck straightened out and I don't have a headache every day.  I'm hopeful that this is the week for that...I stopped taking a new Vitamin C supplement that I think was part of the problem.
Hooray for a fresh start and a new week.

President Nelson in Seattle

Last night we got to go to Safeco to hear President Nelson speak with 49,000 of our closest Mormon friends.  It was really CROWDED.  But really awesome.  I don't like crowds.  I don't like going to places where I'm not certain about parking, logistics, etc.  I was very tense.  And it was chilly.  So I ended up with a resurgence of neck pain and headache today.  It was worth it to take my kids to hear the prophet speak.  He was so upbeat, hopeful and energetic.  I can "hold onto the raft." I hope they publish at least a summary of his talk. I wish I would have taken pictures and taken notes!
But we survived.  Even the hour wait to get out of the parking garage.  Thankfully we had a book to listen to.  We had Grammy and Grandpa with us, so that was nice!
Anyway, this post will have to be documentation that we were there!

Grandparent Love

For two weekends in a row (one on either side of my parents' cruise) my kids got to have all 4 grandparents in one place.  What a blessing!  My kids don't know how lucky they are to know all 4 of their grandparents--and to get to spend so much time with them!

Split is Here to Stay

I spent the whole summer hoping that my split would turn into a straight 5th grade class.  Sadly, not enough 4, 5 or 6th grade students moved into MP to give us enough for another teacher.  But the decision wasn't final until THIS WEEK!  So I had already spent 5 school days with  my students.  It was so hard--teaching, setting up routines, knowing that I would have to redo everything if my class changed.  And, hoping that it would change, at the same time, to simplify my life.  And then it didn't change.  So I don't have to reteach all my routines.  But I do have to figure out how to teach a split class!  

One thing I know for sure--right now I feel like my stint in elementary school is going on too long.  I got the hang of it last year, but I feel doubtful that I will end up feeling successful this year.  I will be treading water again.  All year.  I was easily able to give myself grace last year--I was new at the whole elementary school world.  This year, I am just frustrated that so many of the things I figured out last year need to be rethought in a split class environment.  And, since I got into the whole teaching thing because of my passion for history, I can't see how I am going to teach both history curriculums.  Especially because I get 2 hours with my 4th graders a week while my 5th graders are at instrumentals, and no extra time with my 5th graders.  (And they don't expect me to.  They give me something to teach where I can incorporate both WA and US histories into a storypath...not really my style to spend a year with storypath.)

I am a creative teacher--give me something and I'll figure out a great way to teach it. But I feel stumped by the set of variables in front of me.  Add to that that I am not sleeping well and I have been having migraines about 1/2 of the days.  So--give me a headache free week or so and maybe the light will have dawned.  At least the decision has been made and my master schedule sorted out.  The elementary school world is insanely complicated.  

Sigh.

Also adding to the complexity is that it is full on Rhino season startup.  I am spending multiple hours a day (so it is good that I'm not sleeping well, otherwise I wouldn't have those hours) trying to get everything ready for the season.  I literally spent 5 hours yesterday between the coaches meeting, reconciling finances, typing the minutes from the meeting (sec had to leave early), trying to get insurance and facility use forms ready for our new South club.  You might say it is the hay bale breaking my back.  

Okay--enough ranting.  Nothing to be done but get through it.  My board term ends in less than a year.  We did go to the pool on Thursday night--might be the last good weather night.  I don't have internet at the pool.  But I could make some Rhino phone calls to figure out why we were having problems with our new website. (Sigh again.)    

Yesterday was a good day.  In between Rhinos work, a much needed visit to the chiropractor, and reorganizing the pantry, I finally put up some pictures in the family room.  It's not perfect.  But anything worth doing is worth doing badly, right?  And I think this is a step up from badly.  It's good.  

I also got a lot of school work done yesterday because the kids went to the Husky game with Derek.  They had a great time, and it was a big Husky win.  Uncle Clark hooked them up at the Husky team store!  New shirt (Sarah), sweatshirt (Libby), and a foam hand for Benny.  

Touristing in Seattle

My parents and my aunt are on their way to Alaska today on a cruise.  We were so glad they could come up early and play for a day in Seattle!
The Space Needle has just reopened to visitors with a new revolving glass floor, glass walls, glass benches and incredibly stunning views!  We went down for the early bird!

 Libby and Sarah got a quick pic with Darth Vader and a Storm Trooper who happened to be hanging out at the Seattle Center.

 We stopped by the Troll in Fremont, and got Pilmeni for lunch.

 We ate lunch at home while watching the Husky game--it was a tough loss.
During the game we took a break to go to Double D Meats (my dad needed to stock up on Man Trail Mix).  And they wanted Arvae to experience Double D.  It's pretty amazing.

After the game we went to Edmonds beach so Arvae could see it.  We really live in such a beautiful place!  I'll be dropping them at the cruise ship later today--I'm sure Alaska will be even more stunning!
I am so blessed to have such a great family!

Back To School!

This has been a "Back to School" for the books.  We are all enjoying school--except for me.  I am struggling because I am teaching a split class...and because our numbers are so high likely on Tuesday afternoon, they are going to move students around and everything will change!  The master schedule is messed up, and that will have to change for me too.  So much in flux that I can't settle in!  I don't want to teach and then have to re-teach to a new group of students.  And yet, I don't really want to have to teach a split.  For this long range planning girl, this has been absolute torture.  I don't even know what to expect or hope for on Tuesday.  But it will be good to finally just know so I can move forward with the year.
I am enjoying my split so far.  But who knows!  AHHH!
Anyway, we got some good pics on the first day.  Look how calm we all look ;)

Onward and upward!!