Hurricane Irene

Last week was an interesting week. School was supposed to start on Monday, but due to Hurricane Irene, we didn't start until Wednesday. We were without power for about 50 hours, but it didn't feel like it because we had a generator. We just had to be careful to not use too many appliances at once. We were really lucky. A lot of people had to weather it without a generator. We did have to cut a tree down because it was leaning towards the house, about to be blown over. I happened to look out the front door and noticed it looked crooked, so Dan and Dad went out and cut off some limbs, then pulled the whole tree over with Dad's truck and a chain. It was a weird tree anyway, and always drew lots of bugs, so I can't say we'll miss it much. I would like to plant another one, of a different kind, there.

School was pretty easy this week because the special ed. staff is working on schedules for our students. We won't be taking kids out of the classrooms until next week. I'm pretty excited about this school year. I know most of my kids from last year, and I only have 5th and 6th graders on my caseload. This means I have less teachers to coordinate with.

Nathan started second grade, but he wasn't really excited about it. He was nervous and anxious. He tends to be like that with new things. He does like his teacher, Mrs. Stevens. I'm sure he'll get used to it and be fine, just like he's done the past two years.

Last night we had the Cooper family get together here. It was Mom Cooper's first one since she got back. It was a lot of fun to visit with everybody and play games. We played Apples to Apples and then Hand and Foot. Lil's birthday is today, so Megan made her a cake and decorated it. It was really cute. Lil loved it. We had lots of little ones running around. We had Gabby, Maddi, Sydney, Paige (she wasn't running around, though), Joshie and Nathan. Megan did a great job of keeping them entertained and busy.

I started my two classes last week. One of them is called Literacy Processing (through UMO), and the other is Diagnostic Reading (through NEC). I think I'll enjoy both of them, but it will be nice when they are both done. I like learning new things and taking classes, but I've been taking classes for quite a while now. Which reminds me, I finally got my Masters of Education diploma. It was great to actually hold it in my hands.