Recent Reads {4th Edition}

Towards the end of the summer, I majorly backed off of my reading.  My eyes couldn't handle much more, and I was in a funk with books.  All of the books (with the exception of one) were on my wait list on the library, so I just read them as they came available instead of hunting other ones down to read in between time.  I really liked all of them but one.  Happy reading!

Two by Two

It's no surprise that Nicholas Sparks is my favorite author, so you'll never hear a bad review from me on any of his books.  I've read ALL of his novels, and I've loved every one of them.  Yes, they are typically sad and rip me apart, but they've gotten better on that front over the years.  I waited over 3 months for this book to become available from the library, and that's been my longest wait yet.  I definitely cried in this one, but I really liked it, nonetheless.  I think it was sad to me because I'm now a bonafide grownup with a marriage, children, and career, and this story was very much planted in a young parent's life that was falling apart around him.  He went through losing a job, major problems in his marriage, sickness within his family, and it just struck me as a very "real" book.  Of course, it's Nicholas Sparks, so it had a wonderful love story woven through it.  I couldn't put it down!

Into the Water

 As soon as I heard Paula Hawkins had a new novel coming out, I put it on my waitlist.  I loved The Girl on the Train, so I was excited when this one come open my first day of vacation.  It's about a small town in England and the river that runs through it.  It's infamous for women that commit suicide in it.  Two women "jump" into the river in the course of a few months, so an investigation is launched.  I'll be honest and say that if you don't pay very close attention to what character is narrating the chapter, then it's hard to follow and confusing.  There's probably 10 different characters that carry the book, so you have to diligently pay attention to the change in each chapter.  It was really good, and I thought I had the ending figured out, up until the last page.  I wasn't expecting what happened, just like I wasn't expecting the ending to her first novel!  I read it extremely fast, so I would definitely recommend it!

The Silent Wife

I read this on vacation, and it very much underwhelmed me.  The whole time I read it, I kept wondering what the point was.  Some parts of it had a good storyline, then it was just stop.  It's a story about a man and a woman who have a common law marriage and an affair he has.  I thought it was going to be suspenseful, but I just kind of felt very "eh" about it.  

The Key to Extraordinary

Let me tell you, I could literally go on and on about this book.  The author, Natalie Lloyd, is a Chattanooga native, and I don't think I've ever read anything that I felt so "at home" with.  It isn't set in Chattanooga (it's a fictional town), but the language, homespun feelings, nostalgia, folksy characters, and oddities of this book just warmed my heart so much... maybe more than anything I've ever read (and that's saying a lot).  It's definitely going to stick with me for a very long time.  It's a children's book, but I literally could not put it down.  I read it in class with my 5th graders during our independent reading time, and I looked forward to reading every day much more than they did!  It's got some of the best characters I've ever seen in a book, and the language she uses just makes you feel like you know her and know these characters on a personal level.  It pulled at my heartstrings the entire time, and I cried like a baby when I finished it.  It was just so sweet.  The Natalie Lloyd came to our school the year before I started working here to talk to the kids, and we're planning on having her again this year because we're reading this before Christmas.  I can't wait!  My team teacher is good friends with her, so I've been begging her to take me to coffee with them!  The school bought me an autographed copy, so I guard it with my life.  I realize I haven't told you anything about the plot, but I don't need to... just go read it!    

Behind Closed Doors

Every review I read of this book talked about how terrifying it was.  I went into it expecting to be scared to death, but it wasn't that bad.  Don't get me wrong, it was suspenseful, but it didn't stress me out at night or anything.  It's an intense story about an abusive marriage and a mentally handicapped sister, so trying to figure out what was going to happen at the end kept me at the edge of my seat.  One of the best things about it was that there wasn't a single bad word.  I've found that's an extremely odd thing to come by in adult books, so that was great.  It's a great thriller, so I'd definitely suggest it!

Summer Bucket List Update

Happy Eclipse Day!  Andy and Clark enjoyed the eclipse from home (while Abel napped), and Coop and I watched it together at school.  I wasn't too hyped up about it before hand, but it was extremely neat to see and experience.  Anyways, here's a final look at our Summer 2017 Bucket List.  I don't usually wrap these up until around Labor Day, which is just right around the corner, but it hasn't felt much like summer since school started back.  Don't get me wrong, the temperature has been sweltering all August, but we're just limited on what we can do once school starts back.  We managed to knock everything off of our list, so I'd call that a success!  I'll be putting together our fall one soon.  I'm 100% in autumn mode after Labor Day, even if it's 90°+.

• Go see a movie 
• Play in sprinkler 
• Watch fireworks
• Play putt-putt
• Build a sandcastle 
• Find seashells
• Family vacation  
• Try a new restaurant 
• Buy ice cream 
• Buy food from a food truck
• Family slumber party
• Night swimming 
• Vacation bible school
• Go to the zoo
• Go to the aquarium
• Go to Rock City
•  Go canoeing  (we paddle boarded, so I'm counting it)

Life Lately

We are all still adjusting to being back in school.  Every August is overwhelming, busy, and exhausting, so I knew this one would be no different.  Having two kids in school has thrown me for a loop a little bit, but we're starting to fall into a routine.  Alright, here's a little look at what's been going on with our family!

• Cooper is still loving school!  It's wearing him out, but he thrives on routine and consistency.  He has a great teacher, and we couldn't be happier with the way 1st grade is going.  He's typically pretty wild or pretty ill when we get home from school, but that's to be expected after reining everything in all day.  In other news, he smashed his finger when we were on vacation, and we just knew his nail was going to fall off.  Well, it's still hanging on by a thread, but it desperately needs to come off.  He's come to my classroom twice this week during school crying with it, and I just keep putting bandaids on it.  Any suggestions on how to painlessly remove a fingernail?  It's literally just hanging there.
• Clark is adjusting to school much better this week.  He hasn't cried any when I've dropped him off, so that's been a huge improvement from last week!  He's starting to talk about all his friends and teachers a lot, and he's telling us everything he's learned.  Don't get me wrong, I have to drag him out of bed each morning and he tells me daily that he doesn't want to go, but he's definitely more excited now when we walk down there each morning.  It's really wearing him out, and he tends to get extremely whiny when he's tired.  It's just kind of meltdown city after school until bedtime.  
• Abel is still adjusting to everyone being back in school, too!  He really seems to miss everyone.  He started running a fever over the weekend and had a really runny nose, so I took him to Dr. Meredith on Monday.  Unfortunately, both of his tubes had fallen out, so he was working on some ear infections and had a sinus infection.  I feel certain he'll have another set of tubes put in in the next few months since we haven't even made it to cold season yet.  The ENT told us when he got that set last November that we'd probably need a second set since he was so little. Maybe he'll prove me wrong... I'm hoping he will, anyways!  He's really starting to talk a lot, and it's so cute!  Everything I ask him he tells me, "No!"  He really does say a ton, so there's never a dull moment with him.
• I have a really sweet group of kids at school this year, and 5th grade has an awesome schedule, so I think it's going to be a great year.  Last year I just taught writing, and this year I'm doing reading and writing, so I'm still trying to keep my head above water with that.  Thankfully, my teammate is doing the reading planning right now, so she's keeping me afloat.  We're both teaching reading and writing and have split the kids up, so it's worked out well so far.  
• We finally booked our Disney vacation!  We're going over our winter break in February, and I'm so excited!  My parents are going with us and I absolutely can't wait!  Mom and I have been planning where we're going to eat and we start making reservations for restaurants this week!  Disney isn't cheap by any means, so we won't be doing a big trip next summer.  We may try to do something low-key, but Disney will definitely be worth it!
• I bought tickets this week to see NeedtoBreathe in Chattanooga in December, so this will be my 8th show!  It's an acoustic show, and I've never seen one of those, so I'm really excited.  They're playing at the Tivoli downtown, so I think it'll be a great show.  The day they're coming is notoriously FedEx's busiest day for Christmas (it's December 11th), so I'm hoping Andy will be able to make it.
• My birthday is in a few weeks, and I'm desperately ready to update my Apple Watch.  Mine has a crack in it and the battery isn't lasting as long as it used to either.  I swam a few weeks ago and I hated that my exercise wasn't counted, too.  I have a 38mm now, but I think I'm going to upgrade to a 42mm when I get my new one.  Mine is black now, and I'm going to get a different color this go around too.
• Everything is still going really well with Bear.  He's such a sweet dog, and he's great with the kids.  He's adjusted well to us being back in school... that means more outside time for him, but he's taking it in stride.  I think his favorite part of the day though is when we put the boys to bed and he can sprawl out on the floor and sleep under our feet.  He's getting really big- he's about 50 pounds now, and he's getting really tall and leggy.  
• Tomorrow after school we're going "out of town" for the weekend.  I say it like that because we're only going up to the Chickamuga Lake up in Soddy Daisy, but we're staying at a lake house, so it's like a little getaway.  We're going with my family, and the boys are SO excited.  Anything involving kids and swimming isn't very relaxing, but I know the boys will have a good time.  This will be our one last hoorah before the summer comes to an end! 

Alright, I hope everyone has a great weekend!  I'm sure I'll be back soon with pictures from our weekend fun.

Back to School

Happy Wednesday!  I'm not going to lie, it's taken a minute to get adjusted to being back at work.  Even though our summer was really short, it hit me like a ton of bricks last week and kicked my tail.  I went for inservice last Monday and the kiddos came back on Thursday.  Cooper started 1st grade, Clark started pre-k, and I started my 5th year of teaching.  Here's a little recap of our first day and how everyone is doing now that we're getting back into the real world.

Cooper
Cooper has got this school thing whipped.  I can't believe how big and mature he's getting!  Last year he was such and introvert, and this year he's come out of his shell.  He did pre-k when he was 4 and kindergarten last year, so this obviously wasn't anything new for him.  He loves school, so he was very excited to go back and see his friends. He also wasn't near as nervous this year because he knew the school and staff so well from hanging out with me before and after school last year.  He has had a great start so far and has been on great colors for the behavior chart every day.  Don't get me wrong, he tends to lose his mind a bit when we get home from exhaustion, but he's great at school.

Clark

This is Clark's first go around with school, so we were a bit nervous about him.  I cried like a baby when we took him... it killed me!  He had a great first day, but it's gone down hill a bit from there.  His behavior has been great, but he's crying every day when I drop him off.  Most mornings I leave him crying myself because it just breaks my heart.  I walk him down from my school each morning and walk down to pick him up in the afternoons.  He gets pretty hysterical every morning when I have to leave.  This morning he started crying before we left my classroom.   The first few days he cried throughout the day, but now he's cut it down to just when I leave.  He's really happy the rest of the day and talks about school all night, so I know he likes it.  I guess it's just the initial shock of being separated each morning.  He gets stressed out about nap time too because he doesn't want to sleep, but I think he's getting over that.  He has a fabulous teacher (she had Cooper in pre-k), so I know he's in good hands.  Say a little prayer for us because it's killing this momma.  He told me today he wasn't going to cry tomorrow, but he's told me that every day this week.  Here's to hoping!