Insta Update Sept/Oct.

I'm back with some insta-updates! My feed has been lacking as I have mostly been at school working and not home doing fun things with my cute children but I've tried to capture what we've been up to anyway. 

After church- has been getting so big! He loves going to "Hope Kids" (sunday school) and I love seeing how friendly he is. We also had a new milestone with the girls going to the nursery for the past two weeks- wahoo! 

Fall is my favorite time of year for my yard- everything in full bloom and still growing. It is a shame it only lasts for a few weeks! 

Friday sillies! 

I'll try and lump all my school posts in one section here so you can skip if not interested! I always do a marching band unit in the fall that culminates with a parade at the end of September. The kids had done so well learning their (harder) music and marching but they are still middle schoolers and I know it is hard for them to be out of their element doing something new. I also get so many people (from outside sources) that say "I hated marching band" "I quit band because of marching band" "marching band is too hard" etc, etc so I always worry if I am doing the right thing or not. I LOVE marching band and I know lots of kids do too so I'm not sure why I focus on the negative but I guess that is human nature. But anyway, the day of the parade came and I was nervous because I had to drive our equipment van (and trailer!), manage all the students, chaperones, parents who were watch the parade, music, equipment, timing, etc...ugh!! I was up the night before with worries and every possible scenario of things going wrong. 

We finally go en route on the parade route and the kids were so hot and tired from playing and marching that I really began to question myself. What had I done to these poor kids? Do we even look and sound good? Would we even make it to the end of the parade route? Would I be able to keep walking without passing out? In reality, we all made it to the end of the parade route in one piece and the parents who came to meet their kids for pick ups all had awesome things to say about how good we sounded and how sharp we looked. I did think we looked good and sounded pretty good but you never know. We ended up getting FIRST place!!! I was so proud of the students for their hard work and I was on cloud nine the whole weekend....it was so good to have our hard work pay off. In reality, it is not a big deal at all if we got first or even last but sometimes being a band director can be isolating and it is hard to know if you are really doing the right things or if you are crazy. 

Anyway, all that marching gave me some kick-butt step counts! 

The ISU band played my favorite half time show in recent memory- a tribute to ToTo! I loved "Africa" and literally got chills. I am that dorky. :o) 

I got a hand me down microwave from my sister and I have been loving it for making coffee in my office during school. It is a lifesaver! 

We attended a training how how to build trust with your students during a recent professional development meeting. I thought it was really interesting as I am constantly trying to build positive connections with my students- I know I am asking them to do a ton of things that not every middle schooler has to do like practice at home, haul their instrument back and forth to school, perform at concerts, come to extra rehearsals, play for pep assemblies- really the list could continue forever. Anyway, after the meeting a coworker came up to me and showed me a post on her facebook feed that her neighbor had posted of one of my band students outside marching around with his instrument, playing and marching band and worth (a la Steve Carell in the 40 year old virgin). I was like- ding! I think I win the award for having my students' trust! winning! It was really funny and I'm glad she shared that with me. Sometimes it is easy for me to get bogged down by the (small) minority of students who are struggling or hanging on by a thread than to focus on the majority of my students who are awesome, trust me and are ready to have a great experience. 

Last band post: I started a band club at school and we took a field trip to ISU to visit the department of music. I wasn't sure if kids would think it was neat or not but it turned out to be an awesome day. They loved watching a rehearsal, seeing our practicum student friend, and eating lunch on central campus while listening to the carillon. The carillon played "shut up and dance with me", "shake it off" and one other popular one and the students thought it was neat to listen and guess which song it was. It was a great day and hopefully opened the students' eyes to a bigger world around them! 

Now on to cute babies: 

And finally: our babysitter has been on vacation this past week so I took a day off to care for the girls and it was a welcome change of pace. We got their year blood draw done (which requires going to a different clinic- a bit of a pain in the butt without having time off from school) and some errands run. It was nice to just be home with the girls and not at school worrying about everything. Hopefully I can do again in the future!

Before we know it, October will be over!