Snow Day #2

Two weeks ago it snowed and the school districts closed (or had early dismissals) but my university did not. That same week I did end up getting a snow day on Thursday, which was really due to the cold temperatures. Last week we didn't get any snow. Today my university was closed due to the snow and ice we received. I had planned to visit a student teacher and then be on campus from 11:00am to 7:30pm, but I actually stayed home sweet home all day. On my first snow day, Paul went to work, but today he stayed home because it didn't seem safe for him to drive to work and back given the road conditions and the fact his commute is one hour each way in good weather. I loved snow days when I was a student although that joy was somewhat lessened when I knew we had to make the days up at a later point. At the university we don't make up snow days, so that makes them even better! The first four weeks this semester have been much better than the previous three semesters for a variety of reasons including the fact that it's the first time my course load is exactly the same

as last semester (no new course preparations), I only have 6 student teachers (compared to 15 last spring and 10 last fall), I'm only 5% over FT compared to 25% over FT the past two semesters, my student teachers are VERY close to home, and two of my first 7 days of
 class were cancelled due to the weather. I rescheduled today's observation for Thursday. Thankfully I observed four of them teaching last week, which means I only need to get caught up with one student teacher. Since I thought I was going to be at work today, I cooked two meals last night (chicken quesadillas for last night and split pea and ham soup for today). This meant I didn't need to cook today. I could just focus on things like homeschooling, emailing students, adjusting things on the course websites due to the snow day, and grading.

Since it's been 9 days since my last gratitude list, here's today's Thankful Tuesday list:

1. I love the pictures I took of the kids in their penguin sweaters on February 4. The five

sweaters were definitely worth the $5 I spent on them almost 2 years ago!

2. Nadia has greatly been enjoying the membership in the Adventures in Odyssey club. Sometimes her brothers also listen, but Nadia has loved having access to all 700+ episodes.

3. Nadia and I enjoyed the Cinderella show at the Community Arts Center last Wednesday night, and we had fun together on Sunday afternoon while the boys enjoyed seeing the new Lego movie with Paul. I'm thankful that due to coupons their tickets were free, and Paul only paid $1 total for two popcorns and two drinks.

4. The kids and I enjoyed our community group on Sunday night.

5. I had a snow day today! Woohoo! After this Thursday I will have made it through the first 1/4 of this semester.

6. The kids did well in their living history presentations last Friday night. Hopefully next year we won't wait until the last minute to finish them! The four of us enjoyed having dinner at Wendy's that night. Gift cards to restaurants are a blessing!

7. I've stuck with my diet for sixteen days now! Hoping to see the number on the scale go down some more the next time I weigh myself. I am purposefully not weighing myself too frequently so I don't get discouraged by a plateau.