Thanks a million for the sweet sweet comments and well wishes. Thankfully, Shay had a great first day of middle school! I wish I could say the second went as well, but....things happen as we all know. This picture is of the start of her 2nd day of middle school. All too soon I was picking her up from school and taking her for a visit to the doctor. She now has some medications for "Swimmer's Ear" (guess a wee bit too much summer fun) and hopefully she will feel better soon. She's really hurting. Other than not being able to master her locker combination, she had a super day of school yesterday and was so very happy about it all. What a relief to this mom! Praise be to God!

I also had yet another fantastic day on campus yesterday - again another day full of meetings, but I still love it all and am learning so much. I am feeling much less stressed about my second year than I was last year. Yesterday, I was also invited to be part of a research project so I am thrilled to have this opportunity handed to me by some colleagues I really admire. It will deal with literacy at an urban Toledo middle school school and be a nice little extra income bonus. I truly can't believe I won't have to jump through all of the hoops and to collect any data. I will "just" get to analyze and write what was previous collected for me - yippee! I can't wait to get started reading!

Finally, I've LOVED hearing from my students who are now starting their first year as teachers. THANK YOU for emailing me your schools and positions!! It's been awesome to find out where you ended up. (Remember how stressed you were in May thinking you'd never find a job?!) I'm soooooooo proud of you and soooooooo happy for you too. Now those of you who are teaching in southern states, don't be surprised if I show up in your door step! Remember, I want you to put me to work and to let me teach with you so invite me in. (It'll be "payback" time: You can give me all of those "sweetiepies" who challenge you and you can sit back and enjoy yourself watching me struggle!!) Best wishes! Go Falcons!