All Manner of Pressing Issues

I thought of something interesting about birthdays in our family:

My mom and mother-in-law were born in the same month.

My dad, father-in-law and sister-in-law were born in the same month.

My brother and brother-in-law were born in the same month.

Richard and I were born in the same month.

What are the chances of this happening??? I will probably be pondering this all day!

That is all the knitting I have accomplished over the past two weeks! It’s pathetic! Now that school has started, every day is very busy. The school year has gotten off to a wonderful start, but the first few weeks are always the most draining.  I am really enjoying my class. Every day they seem to be getting more into the swing of things. Today we read a really hysterical book–Epossumondas. I was laughing so hard I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to read. When I was little, one of my aunts read Epaminondas on tape for my brother and me and mailed it to us.  The story I read to my students today was a retelling of that original. I must have listened to that tape a lot because I found myself using the same inflection in the story that my aunt did on the tape. Intestingly enough, Epossumondas was in a box of books that same aunt gave me when she retired from teaching!

I think this must be the longest I have ever gone without posting consistently. I have a list of things I need to blog about! Hopefully this week I’ll get back to normal with my blogging. Slowly but surely I am settling into a routine!  It takes me a little while to get into my groove when school starts. I’ll be there soon though and my blogging will be more regular!

Stay tuned for updates!

P.S. I just couldn’t end the post without including a picture of our sweet girl! She has really been a trooper with all of the schedule changes around our house!

Highlights from School

1. the wonderful 15-minute assembly my principal held to remember Sept.11

2. shared reading on Thursday when 3 of my students volunteered to sing “Rain, Rain Go Away” in their native languages (Italian, Hindi and Spanish)

3. our new class pet–a baby fish–the students named HIM Julia.

4. student: “Mrs. Hughes? Do you know that I have something special at home from baseball? It starts with a ch. Can you guess what it is?” me: “I have no idea…  what is it??” student: “A TROPHY!!!”

5. lots of hugs and smiles from my TERRIFIC class of first graders ( I wish I could post pictures; they are absolutely ADORABLE!)

6. the positive atmosphere throughout our school

Highlights from Home

1. a husband who has willingly eaten carry out for dinner a few nights this week and voluntarily taken me out for dinner when he knows I am too tired to grocery shop let alone cook a meal (I shopped today, so we’re good to go for this coming week!)

2. date day yesterday–Festival of the Arts in Old Town Alexandria–complete with lunch at Bread and Chocolate Cafe and ice cream at Pops. Then we topped the night off with a late supper at Mexican restaurant (Cantina Mexicana) we can easily walk to from our apartment.

3. Netflix Night: I am lucky enough to be married to someone who loves the Mary Tyler Moore show as much as I do! (If that doesn’t prove that God is into the details, I don’t know what does!)

4. Starbucks date–I even got to sit in front of the fireplace and knit! I’m knitting a sweater for Olivia which is exactly what I told myself I wasn’t going to do.

5. Olivia has been sharing the snuggles she normally reserves for her daddy with me this week!

6. our weather! It has been cool here–highs in the mid/low 70’s. I bought two bottles of Pumpkin hand soap at T.J. Maxx today to celebrate! As far as I am concerned, T.J. Maxx and Target are now in direct competition with one another for “Laura’s Favorite Store”.

7. I got to talk to my mother-in-law on her birthday this week and we also received a letter from Richard’s brother who recently joined the Navy.

8.  The newest issue of Real Simple came in the mail.