SOL#27 Favorite colors...

I struggle every time someone asks me about my favorite color!  I truly love all the different colors!  Yes, I love maroon, but I also enjoy pink, blue, purple, black, green, white, turquoise, lavender, lime, fuchsia, lemon, grey....

Yes, even orange!

Some of my kids are probably, celebrating or rolling their eyes because I give them a horrible time about the burnt orange color that frequents my classroom.  However, right now, as I look through my classroom, I do know see any burnt orange!  Success!!

There is bright orange, but I actually like bright orange!  I have really been "into" the neons again!  i remember wearing them in Jr. High!  Ahhhhhhh, the 80s!!!

I do feel like colors reflect my moods.  I am sure that sometimes, they even support or encourage a feeling.  However, colors bring back precious memories!  I can see purple pansies and instantly, I miss my mom!  She loved purple and pansies!  So, she always planted these!

My grandmother loves pink and has always planted geraniums.  So, pink geraniums make her feel close to me!  I always plant these, too!

I am amazed at the variety of colors in our beautiful world!  I found these great pictures to show some emotions that are associated with colors and the names of colors in a crayon box!

 

So fun!

What's YOUR color??

SOL #26 Scheduling

My current nightmare is scheduling!

Sitting here trying to write out our schedule for the next two weeks, and my mind is spinning!  Y'all!  I am worn out just trying to explain it all to my student teacher! It isn't that she doesn't understand.......it is just CRAZY!!!  We have small groups on top of small groups, we have activities and practice that needs to be done.  There are fun pieces of history to grasp and equations to figure out, books to be devoured and analyzing to complete.    On paper, our schedule looks ominous.

Oh my goodness, I am praying that these stormy scheduled days help our roots to grow strong and our understanding to take flight!  We are trying to take advantage of every moment that we have been given!

Slicing my life on paper  into increments of time is eye opening!  Our little self-contained world is constantly flowing and changing like the waves splashing on the shore.

SOL #25 Letting Go...

As a teacher, one of the hardest things to do is to let go of EVERYTHING....

I do not worry of letting go of my kids' learning.  I trust them to be thinkers and doers.  However, I do have a very hard time letting someone else lead them.  I have a precious student teacher right now.  This is a very tough season to be a student teacher.  I feel like it is a great time because they learn so much, but for me, I have a hard time letting go!

Oh, but I love having them in my room!  The bring in life and excitement!  I have had the honor to mentor several student teachers!  It is a huge blessing.

So.....

Tomorrow we are going to sit down, and I am going to let the next two weeks...gooooooooo....

I think I can...

I think I can...

I think I can...

SOL #24 Expectations

Yes, I am really bad at expectations.  

Let me explain...I will do everything I can to follow through!  I will try to move mountains to meet any promises that I have made to friends, family, and co-workers.  I mean I will turn my world upside down...drive hours.....sit until it's done...I like for things to be done right, and I feel empowered when I am asked to help someone else in some way.  Therefore I strive to meet expectations.

However, when I have made plans and they don't work out.  I feel lost and so rejected.  It is different if there is a real reason, but sometimes others don't have the standards that I have.  Let me tell you what a hard lesson that has been in my life, career, relationships, and marriage.

That is where forgiveness and grace are being refined within me.  

Ahhhhhh.......

Yes, I just took a moment, reread what I just wrote, took a breath, and listened to hear those exact words!  I get it!  I want to be forgiving and graceful.  So, I will continue to work on my expectations.  

Sometimes, life lessons and refinement are so very difficult!

SOL #23 Monday

A new week is beginning.   One week.  Monday.  Today is filled with last minute details to ready my nine and ten year olds for two days of writing next week.  So many possibilities....

I ready for this day!  I had a great Spring Break full of family, wonderful books, road trips, and laughter!  I am ready for this week!

I pray that each one walks in with a smile and a memory of a great week!  I can't wait to hear them all!

Let's do this!

SOL #22 Saying Good-bye

Tears
          f
           a
          l
           l
          i
           n
          g

"Bye Mandyn! Please come back to my house!  I don't want you to leave!  I love you!"

My heart is mush!

The car cranks....

                       the house disappears from my rear-view....
                               
                                                                               I miss them already!



It truly doesn't matter if I am leaving my own house or any of my family members' homes.  I always feel this sense of sadness and missing out when I pull away!

Until next time.....

SOL #21 Delighted You Could Join Us

"Mandyn, would you like to have a tea party?"

That marked the beginning of one my my most favorite moments with my niece, Ellyce Margaret.

I, of course, answered, "well, sure!"

When at the kitchen table she arrived for our tea party, she dawned her Cinderella Wedding Dress,  crown, and veil.  I realized immediately, that this was going to be a night to remember.  This girl melts my heart, but when she started answering me and talking to me in her best British accent, I was hooked.

First she poured us some tea!  Then, for a toast she exclaimed, "To the kids!"  I almost choked on my perfectly brewed cup of tea!!  Soon, after our tea party began, my sister pulled out her phone because she couldn't quit laughing at us.   She captured so much of it!  The video is long, but I will put it at the bottom just so you can get an idea of how hilarious this little girl is at our tea party!  We had carrots, cookies, a ton of tea,  i

 One of the best parts was when she was getting frustrated at me from laughing, and said, "Dear Princess, please stop laughing."  Her daddy stopped by our tea party not long after that, and she told him, "We are all so delighted that you could come."

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a delight to my heart!  Sometimes while writing for thirty-one days, I have wondered what to write down. Today, it was easy!

 I do not want to forget this tea party!

SOL # 20 Any Direction You Choose

Oh, I love senior shoots!  This weekend, I get to hang out with two precious families that are about to let go of their oldest babies.

Today, I had the chance to spend today with a beautiful young lady who is about to encounter the world of higher education.  She is excited for the time she has ahead of her in the last few months of high school, but she is already plotting her future degree and career.

I distinctly remember that period of time and look back on it with fondness.  I, too, was a dreamer of huge things!  Such a precious time of joy, and I am honored to capture it for them!

SOL #19. Roadtrippin'!

Today, I went on a roadtrip.  I love getting in the car with Jason and going on an adventure.  However, I also get great joy from climbing behind the wheel, turning on the latest, downloaded book, and letting the road take me on a journey.  

Today, I spent my time in Mississippi in 1964. I fell in love with a spunky twelve year old named Sunny.  For five hours, I was lost in her story of watching the world change around her.  Tears fell as  I drove. It was a beautiful journey.  

Listening to this book on audible was such a rich experience because Deborah Wiles includes historical documents that were acted out on the audible version!  It was an awesome road trip!

Today, my adventure brought me here!

I can't wait to see how the story unfolds!!

SOL #18 Delicious

Delicious!

Sometimes life is just scrumptious!

Memories, familiar restaurants, paths that have crossed many times, walking into my grandparent's home, texts from friends, waiting with my grandmother, talking to my brother and sister on the phone, road trips, coming home...

they are all as tasty as a perfectly iced cookie!

Delicious!!

SOL #17 My Heart Broke Today

My heart broke today.  Again.

Excitedly, I scurried into Hobby Lobby to pick up some bundles of color.  I have done this countless times since I was three years old.  My mom and I would look for just the right bunch.  So, I knew the ins and outs of getting the best selection.

I made my way over to the floral department.  I passed some gladiolas that I really must get for my house, but left them in their spot today because I was on a mission.  As I rounded the corner, I saw them....

Easter Lilies.  See I grew up in a small town.  I have grown up reading our memorial in the church bulletin every Christmas and Easter.   Each name was represented by a lily or a poinsettia.  

Then, I began to sob.  

I have grown up going to the cemetary to change the flowers, check the flowers, etc.  It hasn't ever been a big deal to me because we have always talked about Angie being in Heaven.  It was a part off my growing up.  Now, it is a part of my grieving.  I wonder if it was part of her grieving, too.  Surely, her heart broke when she had to go out there, but my mother NEVER complained about going out there. 

Today, my heart broke.

Not because I didn't want to do the task and change the flowers, but I wanted my mom to be here with me.  I want to hold her hand and get her to check the flowers that I picked and tell me if they meet her approval.  I miss her terribly.  I feel I had to say good-bye too early.  

Then my heart broke again.

I bet she longed to hold her baby.  I bet she would have rather put flowers in the nursery instead of flowers on her grave.  My sweet mother had to bury her baby, my sister, way too early.  Angie was only two monts old when we had to purchase burial plots where my grandfather and mother now lay beside her.  My sweet mama had to say good-bye way too early.

So, Meme and I loaded up and went to "check on everything".

Then, as I looked over at my 93 year old grandmother, my heart broke.

 

   

    

Sol #16 I'm really good at this!!

Let me just say...I excel at summer and spring break!!!  I was up at five with my husband!  I made his breakfast and an extra for a mid morning snack.  

Then my day began...linens changed, bathrooms cleaned, floor vacuumed, and laundry started....check!  I have a schedule, and I love it!  List gets checked off!!  

Errand time..... That's when I called my sister to let her know how good I am at being home on a break!!!

                    Pretty sure she rolled her eyes!

                                                                      Rude!

But seriously, I am super productive on these days off.  I don't know what it is, but I love time alone in my house.  

Don't get me wrong....

I cherish  the times when my house is busting at the seams with family and noise.  

But....

these mornings...

these glorious mornings....

                                 all is right with the world!

SOL #15 Editing

My day has been spent in front of the computer screen.  The other side of my other love is the editing side!  I love doing it, but I don't like the time it takes to get the pictures ready for my clients to view. 

I'm so excited to have more and more people asking me to take pictures!!!   I have to get these done so I can move on to the next one. 

 Like teaching, my work is never done!  

But that's a good thing!!