Jug Mountain

The work week was pretty good. I'm just tired. It's really draining to teach 3 new subjects and every day you wonder how each lesson will go while you are simultaneously planning the next lesson. It's just hard. I'm sure pregnancy is probably not helping with my energy level. I just keep pacing myself and I have a pretty low bar on my goals and expectations this year. (Don't get fired). Corbin had a race in McCall this past weekend. Gabe took him up because he was going up anyway and let him stay with him for the weekend. I was planning on going and staying at least one night but I decided that I would rather spend more time resting at home this weekend. I really needed some down time and some time to get some house work done and get ready for the coming week. I ended up driving to McCall and back yesterday. It was a beautiful day and the drive was very pretty. Have I mentioned how much I love fall time? Corbin misunderstood when he needed to be at the race so we were on the mountain for 4 hours. Luckily I had a camping chair in my car! That saved me for sure. I was just mostly sitting in the chair the whole time. I was glad I was able to go and support Corbin though. It was fun to see him race (well the two seconds you actually get to watch, haha). I'm excited to see my kids tonight. I'm making some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for them as we speak. 

Not sure what dress up situation is happening here. Some photos from Scott's house from Homecoming.

Cutest little siblings. 

Corbin with his homecoming date.

Race day pic.

Getting ready to ride.

Starting line.

Crossing the finish.

After the race.

Corbin went on a bike ride with Gabe and some of his friends.

I saw this mushroom for the first time in my flower bed. It's huge. I don't know how I missed it. I think it's cute. I'm keeping it. 

First Day of Fall!

 It's my favorite time of the year. Fall time! It's the best. I love the months of September through December. It is then followed by my least favorite time of the year January-March. Haha. We put up our Halloween decorations yesterday. I couldn't stand to wait until October. Corbin and Gabby went to the Homecoming dance yesterday. This is Corbin's first time going on a date! His date has a picture and Corbin doesn't have one for me. Grrr. Gabby went to the date stag with her friends. She had a great time. I THINK Corbin had a good time too but he is not a talker or sharer! 

The school year for the kids is going pretty well. Unfortunately school continues to be a stressor for Piper but I do think she is starting to develop better habits so she is less stressed. I'm trying to help her stay on top of her homework and not get too far behind. Gabby is taking dance this year with Piper so that's a fun new development. Corbin has a race in McCall this weekend and I am going to try to get up there and watch him. School is about the same for me, manageable enough. I'm starting to feel very large and have purchased some maternity clothes. The selection out there is rough! Operation don't look like a frumpy dumpy for the next 4 months. 

The costume box was out and I turned around to this cuteness.

Halloween Things

Halloween Things

Halloween Things

Cutest Gabsters

I LOVE caramel popcorn!

I came downstairs this morning to this costume cuteness. Cutey Ryan!

20 Week Ultrasound

I don't have much to say. This past week was good. I worked a lot. This school year is a lot. I had the 20 week big ultra sound. We already knew the gender but it was still fun to see baby girl growing and progressing. I definitely look pregnant now and I probably need to start buying some maternity clothes. I'm trying to get ready for the next school week. I did some meal prep and tried out some recipes for class. I still need to lesson plan some more. I get my kids back tonight. Can't wait!

Gabby's creamy potato kale soup.

Baby foot!

Cutest baby profile.

I'm friends with the counselor at North and she sent me this text. It made my day!

I walked down stairs to this cuteness!

 

Happy Birthday Piper!

It was Piper's birthday last Monday. She is 13! Crazy. She was with Scott and his family over labor day weekend and on most her birthday so we celebrated yesterday. I did make her some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies on Monday and she opened a couple of her presents that day. Yesterday we had crepes for breakfast and ziti for dinner. I made her favorite cake. Today we are going to go to the trampoline park to celebrate as well. 

I'm very ready for fall. Boise is SO hot, I'm ready for some cooler temperatures. This has been the worst smoke season I can ever remember. I'm dreaming of fall temps and clear skies! There was a fire in South East Boise on Wednesday I think and I could smell smoke in my bed that morning. It was just awful.

I'm starting to feel less stressed about work and I'm sleeping better. I have had ambient stress about switching to Borah since last February when I made the decision. I'm still pretty day to day, I don't know what I'm teaching tomorrow yet but I'm getting into a rhythm and a groove. Last week was really easy and not stressful at all. I am really liking Borah a lot. I like the kids there and I am loving high school so much. I had 3 cooking labs on Friday and it's SO much easier having a room full of high schoolers in the kitchens verses junior high kids. 

The pregnancy is going good. I am officially halfway which is crazy. I am already feeling kind of big and uncomfortable and this is just the beginning. 

Cutest little Piper. 13!

Crepes!

Piper has a special space under the stairs.

Pipes got a robe for her birthday. 

20 weeks!

Fall Time is Coming!

We all made it through another school week. Corbin skipped a day because he crashed 3 times at practice and was super sore the next day and Piper skipped a day because he teeth hurt so badly after she got her bottom braces. I had the kids an extra week because of weird scheduling stuff, so that was an extra treat. I'm managing okay at work, bit by bit. I am liking the high school. We had our first cooking lab in Foods and they had to cook a hamburger patty on the stove. It got SO smoky in the classroom. I am SO glad we didn't set off the fire alarms. Not setting off the fire alarms and no cutting off fingers are my main goals on cooking lab days! We had a good weekend. Lance, Katie, and Caleb came down from Northern Idaho so we had a Beal gathering at Gabe's house and had pizza and some went swimming. Corbin spent half the weekend with his mountain bike club. They raced at Magic Mountain in Twin Falls. His races take about an hour and a half. I think it's kind of tiring and painful for him but really good too! The temperatures were a little cooler so we channeled our love for fall and had caramels and apples, pumpkin pancakes, and turned on the fireplace. Fall time is my favorite! 

 

Back to School

It was kind of a crazy week. Adjusting to the early mornings and busy full days is a lot. I'm REALLY tired right now. This school year is going to be tough. It just will be. Teaching 3 new subjects is a ton of work even if you are given the materials. I still have to figure them out and figure out how to teach it. I'm taking it one lesson, one day at a time. I am sort of ready for tomorrow. I will fake it until I make it all year for sure. I am really liking having my own classroom (even if it's so full of junk I get claustrophobic), and I am enjoying high school. During the passing period I thought the students weren't leaving their classes because it was so quiet. It was SO weird. I am used to absolute mayhem at North. It's so loud and overly crowded at that school it's crazy.  The classroom vibe is way more relaxed and chill as well. It's nice! One day at a time!

Corbin is in 11th grade. He's taking pretty easy classes this year, he took a lot of hard classes last year and I don't think he wanted to do that again. He is on the Centennial Mountain Bike club team. It is super expensive and I'm glad I have some baby money to help pay for it. He is really liking it though. My brother talked us into joining in the hopes that his kids would also do it but his kids bailed. I was hoping Gabe would be the one to take Corbin to the meets so that was unfortunate. LUCKILY one of his teammates has a generous and kind dad who will take Corbin and other teammates to the meets. I DO NOT have the bandwidth to try drive to a mountain on a Friday after working all week and camp to attend the meets. No way. I think he will be able to get a ride for the season. Halleluiah. I don't have any pictures because I'm not awesome enough to drive 2 1/2 hours to watch a race.  

Gabby is a Freshman! Crazy. She is taking choir and art. She is in her 3rd year of Spanish. She has decided she wants to do dance again this year so she will be joining Piper's dance class. So far she is adjusting to high school well.

Piper is in the 7th grade. Her elective this quarter is FCS (home ec). She got out of advanced math which was a smart choice because math made her cry everyday last year. I'm hoping 7th grade can be more smooth for her than 6th grade. Adjusting to middle school was really hard for her last year.

Ryan is in 5th grade. It's his last year in elementary. He cried the night before school because of it. He does not want to go to middle school next year. Growing up and change can be hard. He said his teacher is nice so that's good. 

Ice cream before the first day of school. (Corbin was with his friends).

11th Grade!

9th Grade!

7th Grade!

5th Grade

Both in High School togeher!

1st Day with students at Borah

My flowers

Cutest puppy.

Back to Workie

 I went back to work on Tuesday. The first week of work is boring meetings and teacher work time. I do appreciate that we go back before the students come in. It's nice to start getting used to the schedule and get ready in the classroom. I am not ready but my goal is to survive. I have next week's lessons sort of figured out. I think it will be day to day. I had a busy weekend with doing my house and yard work and preparations for the work week with grocery shopping and meal prepping. I also did quite bit of work this weekend. Overall I'm feeling okay and not as stressed as I thought I would going into the new school year. I do have some experience under my belt now and I've done hard things plenty of times before. I should have taken a picture of my room. It's big but it filled to the brim with STUFF. It makes my skin crawl a bit. Every drawer and cabinet is filled. I'm in the wrong profession as a minimalist. So many random games and toys for child development and tons of kitchen equipment of course and 3 wheelers and car seats and creepy fake babies. It's not my favorite. It makes me want to go organize a closet in my house or something. I have no idea what I will need or use so I'm not even worrying about trying to actually clean out the room and organize it. Luckily most things are hidden and I'll pretend it's not my nightmare waiting in the all the spaces. 

I'm so excited to get my kids back. They have been gone for 2 weeks. Luckily it's gone by fast because I've had a very busy couple of weeks and did a lot of social things as well. I will have them for the next 2 weeks straight and it will be a little chaotic as we all try to adjust to our school routines. The summer went fast!

Pregnancy is going great. I feel really good. It's hard to dress and look cute at this stage where I mostly just look like I had a big lunch. I'm 16 weeks now!

Charly was my buddy all week since the kids couldn't take her to St. George with them. I think she will be very happy when the kids come back tonight as well! 

16 weeks!