Monday, November 29, 2010

Autumn Update

It's been awhile again. I have been avoiding posting because I didn't want it to turn into a giant whining session. I'm going to try to stick to the basics...

School:
--This week marks the middle of 2nd quarter. And we still do NOT have all of the textbooks needed for the reading classes in my department. Ridiculous.
--The person responsible for overseeing the reading program for the entire county resigned at the end of Sept. (Perhaps this is why we don't have textbooks?)
--The 8th grade administrator is in hospital due to an intestinal rupture.
--There have been 10 fights thus far this school year, including one when a teacher was punched in the face and one where a girl had a huge gash on her forehead.
--Many teachers are feeling the administration doesn't seem to have a handle on discipline this year. (To put things in perspective we had less than 10 fights the entire school year last year.)
--The reading teachers do not have inclusion teachers assigned to our classes this year. In the past we had inclusion teachers to co-teach with us in classes with a large special ed population. This year we're on our own.
--It's making for a super difficult year!

Home:
--No TTC updates to report at this time...will update when I have new news. (Crossing fingers for re appointment during winter break, but I will probably have to wait until March.)
--We were able to drive to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving with my parents. It was wonderful to see them! I am grateful for a wonderful family and for an amazing husband who did WAY more driving than I did to/from Ohio.
--Emma continues to be my shining light. I appreciate her antics and learning discoveries.

Books/Movies:

--I read all of Suzanne Collins' "Hunger Games" books over the long weekend. LOVED them! Great read with interesting premise.
--I saw "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I" and "Tangled" and completely enjoyed both films.

I'll let my fall photos sum up the rest...

Emma's 6th Birthday












We went to the Magic Kingdom to celebrate Halloween at their "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween" party.


















Jacksonville had a "Boat Day"
Em enjoyed touring and photographing some boats on the downtown Riverfront.







Emma at the "Spooktacular" event at the Jacksonville Zoo


For Halloween night trick-or-treating, Emma dressed as a witch.




DH, Em and I spent the day at the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum in St. Augustine 2 weeks ago...we had a great time!

House made of match sticks.


Em and I pose next to a statue/replica of the World's Tallest Man


DH looking disgruntled in a pirate torture device.


Em and her elephant pose outside.

Updates:
--As I mentioned, I just haven't felt like writing much as of late, due to not having a lot of "positive" things to blog about.
--I seem to be on Face.boo.k more often now that I have a Black.berry...if there are any readers who'd like to be FB friends, drop me a line at velmadinkley@aol.com and I'll search for you to friend you on FB.

8 comments:

Carrie27 said...

Addy is getting that same pet shop from Santa this year.

I'm so totally jealous of how close you are to Disney.

Marie W said...

Welcome back! You were definitely missed including the "emmaisms". :-)

Laurel said...

Glad to hear you guys made it home safely-- it was good to see you, if only for an hour! Thanks for coming to the airport for me! :) Sorry school's a bummer this year, but glad to see you've been having fun at Disney and such. Love the pic of Emma & elephant. Aaron should have really gotten in and hung by the pirate contraption. ;) Hugs to you all! :)

Danifred said...

Love seeing you and Emma! You've been missed!

Anonymous said...

Missed you girl, love this update and love the pictures. Yeah for 6!!! Praying for an re appt for you soon!!!

Kristin said...

I'm glad you are back and you posted. The school situation sounds miserable.Love, love all the pics of your beautiful girl and the cool Halloween activities. Keeping my fingers crossed that you get in to see the RE over Christmas break.

Shelli said...

Well, looks like Emma has been having a ball lately!

Been waiting for an update from you. Even if it's not all great news... lord knows, I'd have nothing to post if I could only post about good stuff. lol

MrsSpock said...

That cake looks scrumptious!