Tyler and Homecoming

My high school, Walker Valley, celebrated Homecoming last Friday night. Tyler was asked to serve as the junior attendant for the event. He got to wear a suit and he looked so handsome. He was so excited until he realized he had to hold the arm of a girl. (The daughter of one of the other faculty members at Walker Valley.) I had to bribe him with $5. As soon as he finished crossing the field, he walked up to me and said, "Where is my five dollars?"

The school started a new tradition this year. We decided to crown a King and a Queen. Mr. Coggin, my principal, and Tyler concocted a scheme. When they announced the winner for King, Mr. Coggin lifted Ty in the air and Tyler placed the crown on the King. It was so sweet.

Fall Ball

Ethan decided to sit out of football this year and I was relieved. He would have had to move up to the 9 - 10 year old league and some of those 10 year olds are bigger than me. I was scared for him. He decided to play Fall Baseball so he could get some practice pitching. He is turning into quite the pitcher. So far this season he has struck out over 20 batters and allowed 4 hits. He is not a very fast pitcher (yet) but the key is he pitches strikes.



I have to say that watching kid pitch baseball is slow and long. Hopefully it gets more exciting in the future. I'm ready for spring baseball.

Labor Day Weekend

For Labor Day we went to Dayton, TN to visit Chris' sister, Valen. The Rhea County Fair was going on and Valen and her husband, Jamie, were participating in a rodeo. Valen did some break-away roping and barrel racing. Jamie is a bull fighter and all around cowboy. The boys had a great time. Tyler told his teacher the other day that he is part cowboy because his grandpa is whole cowboy.

My Amazing Sister

My sister, Jessica, is the National Marketing Coordinator for the Healthy Woman program sponsored by CHS hosptials. (Impressive title, not like math teacher.) Healthy Woman recently hosted a large even in Cleveland so my sister came to lend her support. Her good friend, Dale Thomas Smith, spoke and it was inspiring. It was so nice to get a change to visit with my sister. I have to say that Jessica has endured more than any person I've known and she has always come through. Her testimony is powerful and encouraging. I'm anxious to see what God has in store for her next. I love you, Jessie.

Back to School

School has been back in session for 5 weeks now. Tyler started Kindergarten this year. It is nice to not have the daycare cost anymore. He has a great teacher. Mrs. Withrow is a young teacher who attended my high school several years ago. Tyler seems very pleased with her. Ethan has Mr. Brown this year. He is excellent. Mr. Brown and I share a similar educational philosophy. It looks like it is going to be a great school year.

I have three new classes this year (Algebra I remediation, Algebra II Honors, and Pre Calculus Honors) and department chair responsibilities. I feel swamped but I'm loving it.

Happy 9th Birthday, Ethan!

My sweet boy, Ethan, turned 9 today. He is growing up so fast. He is so independent. For his birthday we rented the church gym and had some kids play basketball and football. My poor niece, Joy, was the lone girl. It was a great time.

For his birthday, Ethan asked for a dirt bike. Chris and I decided to get him an electric one instead. He got this Razor MX500. It is crazy fast. I rode it around the yard. It is so much fun. It goes up to 15 mph which seems pretty fast. Ethan is quite the dare devil on it. Poor Tyler can't ride it by himself.

Summer Break

Now that summer is coming to a close, I feel like it's time to catch everyone up on what happened. We had a chance to see Kenny Loggins for the 4th of July. (Thanks Aaron!) He was awesome! We had a nice picnic and listened to some great music. I was amazed with how many songs I knew.


We celebrated Chris' 36th birthday with a quiet celebration at home. I purchased a Kahlua cake from the local bakery.
I also spent my summer getting my professional blog up and running. Here is a link if you are interested, but I warn you, it covers things like math, standards-based-grading, and classroom reflections. http://ambercaldwell.wordpress.com/

A Night at the Lookouts

The 8 year old Stingers went to the Chattanooga Lookouts game. The Lookouts are the local minor league baseball team. The boys got to run out on the field with the players at the beginning of the game. Ethan was in awe. The best part of the night included Chris and Ethan competing in several competitions on the field in between innings.

First, Chris competed in the musical chairs against the other Stingers coaches. Chris did not win the game and ended up on his behind on the field. He then competed in the frozen t-shirt contest. He won a t-shirt and a Krystal gift card. (Krystal's is the southern version of White Castle.)

Ethan won the tire roll and was awarded a combo from Hardee's. The boys ended the evening on the dug out dancing the Chicken Dance. It was such a fun night!

Disney...On My Own

My amazing husband agreed to let me go on a business trip to Disney World. About two months ago my principal invited me to attend the Model Schools Conference in Orlando and allowed me to invite one female teacher of my choice. I invited my friend and fellow math teacher Lauren. We flew down on Monday morning and flew back on Thursday. Our room was at the Wilderness Lodge at Disney.
(Sorry the picture is fuzzy. I need a new camera.)

The conference was amazing! I learned so much and heard so many great schools speak. My principal and I are hoping to present at the conference next year when the conference is in Nashville.

On Tuesday night Lauren and I went with my Principal's daughter, Katie, to Epcot. Epcot was the one park that I wanted to go to with no kids. It was so much fun. We rode Soaring and the Test Track. We ate fish and chips in the UK while we watched the evening light and fireworks show. We stayed at the park til midnight.

On Wednesday night we went to Downtown Disney and ate at Wolfgang Puck's Restaurant. I had a delicious pumpkin stuffed ravioli. It was so good. We ended the evening at Ghirardelli's where I had a monster ice cream sundae. I really missed my family, but it was so nice to have an opportunity to be a professional.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Ethan's team won their second tournament. It is turning out to be a good season. It was crazy hot that weekend. This is the last year of coach pitch and in the fall we are starting kid pitch. Ethan is looking forward to pitching.

A Quick, Working Trip to Ohio

After Ethan's tournament in Knoxville, we hopped in the car and drove to Cincinnati to meet my parents. Chris had to be in Columbus for training. We met my parents at the Great Wolf Lodge near King's Island. We had a great time. The boys loved the water park.

We crammed so much into a short visit. We visited the zoo with Papa and spent several days at my brother and sister-in-laws house so the cousins could pay. Ethan and Tyler love playing with their cousins!


We ended our brief visit with a Columbus Clipper's baseball game at the new stadium. The left fielder gave Tyler a ball at the end of one inning. We left Columbus and headed back to Knoxville to play in another tournament. I thought summer was supposed to be relaxing...

More Baseball (Champions...Finally)

The boys attended Walker Valley's baseball camp a few weeks ago. Other than getting up at 7:00 am, it was fantastic. The boys love it. They learn so much from Coach Joe and Coach Mike. Ethan looked forward to the daily scrimmages. He is so competitive. The highlight of the week for Tyler was the sliding practice on the last day. Joe lays out a tarp and they put water on it (a slip and slide) for the boys to practice sliding.

We left the day after camp and drove to Knoxville for another tournament for Ethan's team. It seems so long since the last tournament. Ethan hit three home runs (in the park) and played great defense. He is playing third base this year and his reflexes are great. His team won the tournament and were the champions. It has been a long road to get to this point with this team, but it was worth it. They boys were so excited. We have two more weekends of baseball....

Memorial Day

My amazing husband took the boys to South Carolina to visit grandparents and I went to Nashville for a girls' weekend with my sister. I had an amazing time with her. She is beautiful! We went shopping and ate out at some great restaurants. We waited out some of the rain watching movies in her condo.





The highlight of the trip was the Daughtry concert on Sunday night. Lifehouse opened for them and they were amazing. Daughtry was great. He had Kelly Clarkson and the lead singer from 3 Doors Down sing with him. My sister, Jessica, was suprised at how heavy Daughtry was. I felt like I was at a real rock concert. It was a great evening.

Graduation

Being a high school teacher, I attend every graduation ceremony in full uniform. I love it! It is so great to see the students walk across the stage to receive a diploma. It is amazing to watch them mature from young freshman to seniors ready to conquer the world. I honestly love my students and feel so blessed to have the chance to play a role in their lives.






Walker Valley is such a great school and I have made several dear friends during my time here. These are two ladies that are so dear to me. These are two powerful women who are successful at all they do. Donna is my mentor and partner in crime. We have so much fun together. She has been my biggest supporter this year in taking over as department chair. She is my dear friend.



Cheryl is my go to person if I'm happy and when I'm in tears. (Teaching will do that to you.) She is always willing to listen and give advice. She is such a beautiful person who lives out joy. I feel like I can accomplish anything at WV with Cheryl in my corner. Thank you for everything.

Family Weekend

Last weekend Chris' parents came to visit us. Ethan had a baseball tournament in Oak Ridge. He played one game and then the tournament was rained out. It was disappointing, but I was glad his grandparents had the chance to see him play at least one game.


His team won in the final inning, in the rain. Ethan had an in the park home run and a triple to tie the game. He played a great third base. It was a good weekend even though it rained. We saw the Caldwell's off on Sunday after some quick rides on the motorcycle driven by Papa.

They Get Me Every Time

I showed up today to get Tyler from preschool and waiting on me was the packet full of spring pictures. I totally forgot about spring pictures and sent Tyler to school that day in a t-shirt and converse tennis shoes. There goes my "Mom of the Year" award.

I promised myself that I would not purchase the package. The photographer puts all these pictures in an envelope and charges you $40 for the package. If you only buy one sheet, it is $15. Come on, who's going to buy just one sheet. It is such a better deal to get the package. I walked out of the school reciting "I will not buy the package!" (What hurts the most is that you know they will just be thrown away or recycled if you don't buy them.)

I arrived home and looked at the pictures with Chris and I am shamed to admit that we are buying the entire package. When I saw the pictures of Tyler, I couldn't help it. The pictures are so Ty. Tyler always wears converse tennis shoes. He calls them Chucks. He is begging for the red ones now, but I am firmly saying no. He is always in a t-shirt and begs to wear athletic shorts to school. Notice the silly bands on his arm. In other words, with everything that should be wrong with this picture, it so fits Ty. He is his own quirky self. There is no one else like him. He will never be an average kid. If you know Ty, you know this is true. I love him for it!

Easter

Ethan and Tyler begged to wear ties for Easter. I am not a huge fan of the little ties or the clip on ties, but I gave in to their pleas. Ethan's tie was real and I had to spend most of the morning showing him how to tie it. Tyler's was a cute clip on and I cringed when I bought it. Tyler was so excited to go to Belk's and pick it out. So, sorry Jessie, I know you are going to hate their outfits, but it has to be better than the sweater vests of years past. (My sister hates my Easter outfits for the boys.)

We had a busy morning getting ready. We had to be at church at 7:30 so the boys could get ready for choir. They sang in both morning services and were exhausted by the end of the morning. We finally left church around 1:20. We spent the afternoon relaxing and getting ready for the busy week to come.

Tyler's Turn

We tend to focus so much on Ethan and his baseball career (yes, he is only 8) that Tyler gets overlooked. But now, it is Tyler's turn. Tyler is playing t-ball again this year. He seems more into it and is not playing in the dirt. He told me before the game that he needed to wear a belt with his pants because that is what the real baseball players did.

He played really well. He played the pitcher's mound and left field. He loved every minute!