Smith Family Tree: Fall Fun

Well starting back to school full-time took me out of the blogging world for quite a while! It was extremely emotional to have my BABY boy start Kindergarten and my TINY girl begin preschool and to start teaching at a new school, full time, with new child care set-up and begin a new semester of Community College teaching and.....Whew! It was just a lot. However, it has been great! We all love school and have adjusted. Now I want to try to catch up and start the New Year fresh!

So...we had a wonderful fall and I will quickly share highlights.

So I started teaching at Franklin Academy, a year-round charter school in Wake Forest. The school year begins in July, however, we did not start until the end of August. This was a challenge to go into a new school into an already established classroom. The school uses direct instruction, which is also a big change. Tyson began on Thursday August 25. This was great because I could just be "mommy" for those first 2 days. I started the following Monday. The first week I observed and the next week I began teaching classes. Then we had TRACK OUT! (It is an amazing invention! I had always wished to teach the year-round calendar, but did not wish to move in and out of classrooms and did not want to give up the first summer of switching from traditional to y.r. This was perfect! ) During the break I was able to go into the classroom and set it up as my own and prepare for a new quarter. And I was able to have lots more summer-like fun!

I love being home for "mommy days" with this sweet girl!

My cousin Samantha's bridal shower "Falling in Love" at my house:

For months mom had planned a special trip to Colorado to see my cousin Kevin with Aunt Karen and David. She was gone for 10 days. My kids could hardly stand it! I was so excited for her to take this special opportunity!