sweet moments

The new school year has begun and I have 16 new students.
The first few weeks are always crazy, and exhausting....

I have bus duty this year so after school I stand outside in the hot sun and wait for all the bus kids to get on their buses. The first two weeks were absolutely crazy, all 40 1st grade bus kids walking outside in one line, finding there 8 different bus lines...yeah.

The other day I was exhausted, standing outside. One of my students was in line about to get on his bus and he shouted my name and motioned for me to come over to him. I was worried he forgot something important in the classroom so I rushed over to him.

When I got to him he gave me a HUGE hug and said " I just didn't get to hug you goodbye, see you tomorrow" it was so sweet. He is one of those kids who give the best hugs every time. My job can be so tiring, and some mornings it's hard to get out of bed...
but those sweet moments make it ALL worth it!

Where I have been...

Wow! It has been quite a while since I have posted on here! Summer is almost over and I can hardly believe it! I have already started the process of getting my classroom ready for a new school year, at this point I am kind of ready for it all to begin.. but I am sure in the next couple of weeks it will get overwhelming!
I am so so thankful I have a job that allows me to have a break in the summer. It has been so nice to finish working on our house and get a lot done! Drew and I have accomplished a lot. We still want to re-do the master bath and the guest bath but won't be doing that until Christmas Break or next summer... we need a break! A few weeks ago Drew took a week off work and we just worked on things around the house. Everyone told us "once you get a house the work never ends" I do see that but we are so blessed and absolutely love our home!
Here are some pictures I took of our house today!
Entryway, Lucy likes to lay here a lot on the tile since it is cool. Because we all know that its horrible outside right now!
First guest bedroom2nd guest bedroom
guest bathroom
This is "Drew's room" it is a study but we put our office in one of the guest rooms, so this is his man cave.
Living Room, and another place that Lucy likes to lay a lot!
Formal Dining Room
Breakfast Area
Kitchen ( I love this place and all my cabinet space! ) :)
Looking from Kitchen into Living Room
View from Kitchen into Formal Dining Room
Hallway to Master bedroom and Extra bedroom
This extra bedroom is currently our study. Everyone tells me what a great nursery it will be since it is next to the master bedroom... not for quite a while though people :)
Master BedroomLooking from master hallway into living room


Well... that is our home! I have enjoyed working on our house this summer AND getting to spend time with my sweetie pie Rich who is ALMOST ONE! Crazy! :)
Drew and I also celebrated our one year anniversary in May, it has honestly been the best year of my life! He got me tickets to go see Jack Johnson, he remembered that the gift was supposed to be "paper" which I thought was cute. The concert is next week and I'm really excited! Well, that is all... soon I will have many new 1st Grade stories! :)

Clueless...

Yesterday morning when we were starting our day, doing Calender, one of my students asks " I don't know where B is, I saw him this morning at breakfast but he is not here" I was in a hurry and not really listening and said, well I dunno he will show up. Well, this was at 8:00....

9:00 comes and in walks B.
Me: Do you have a tardy slip, Where have you been?!
B: In the gym, we were watching a video, and then they told me to leave. (seems confused)
Me:...What are you talking about? Why were you in the gym?
B: I thought it was 1st Grade but it was Kinder..
Me: You spent an hour in the gym with Kinder, and never noticed that NO ONE looked familiar? You know how I ALWAYS tell you that you don't pay attention to what is going on? Well you just gave me a perfect example B!



SERIOUSLY?! Kindergarten teachers had Prof. Dev. this morning so when all the kids go to leave the gym to go to class, B somehow got mixed up with Kinder and never thought about the fact that he should not be in the gym, oh and that no one in his class was there.

Sometimes, you just have to laugh.

Spring Break is in 2 days! woo hoo!
We have a book parade on Friday at my school. My class chose the book The Mitten and they were really excited about it. That is, until today they realized they would not be riding in an actual parade float. I showed them the mitten I had made and they said " How are we all going to fit in it?!" I said.. well we aren't really you just walk behind it like your falling out.
They seriously thought I was going to make a float for them to ride on? Obviously their expectations are a little bit high when it comes to their teacher...

Love

This is a para-phrasing of 1 Corinthians 13. It was in our pre-martial training book (I have no clue who wrote it) but Drew and I both love this. I thought of it this morning in church, and thought I would share it for Valentine's Day! It is kind of long, but you should read it, hey I typed it! haha :) It really is a perfect picture of what marriage should look like:

When I am loved, I can make mistakes. I can lose my temper. I can be late, I can cry. I can grow at my own pace because love is patient. When I am loved, I know that encouragment and reproof will be given gently, and that things that are important to me will be important to the one who loves me because love is kind. When I am loved, I know that I can have talents and strengths and successes that may be even greater in some areas than the one who loves me, and that those talents and strengths and successes will be encouraged and supported, because love does not envy. And I know that I will not be in competition with the one who loves me because love isn't proud. Whatever either of us can learn to be simply makes us a stronger unit of love. When I am loved, I can know that my interests and feelings and tears and laughter count. I can trust my deepest needs and greatest fears to the one who loves and know that I will be listened to and protected and cradled because love is not rude or self-seeking. When I am loved, I know that my bad moods or hard days or selfish time won't be met iwth intolerance or standards of performance that I can't measure up to. I know that it's all right to be imperfect. I know that I have some freedom to say things that I might not really mean or to react immaturely or to release a little frustration because love is not easily angered. I have more than one chance, I have a lifetime of chances. When I am loved I can make a mistake today and not have to apologize for it for the next three years because love makes no record of wrongs. When I am loved the very nature of God becomes real to me because love rejoices with the truth. When I am loved, I come to know God. When I am loved, I have a place to run and hide from the attacks of Satan where I am safe. I have a refuge. I have a place where I know I am always welcome because love protects. When I am loved, I am allowed to know the hidden thoughts of the one who loves because love trusts. When I am loved, I have the joy of becoming everything that God intends for me to become, everything that He promises I can be, because love hopes, and hope is built on what we know is going to happen. And, finally, when I am loved I don't have to be afraid that it will go away today or tomorrow or forever, because love preservers.



Well, I hope that this encourages you today as much as it has encouraged Drew and I! I know that we in no way have a "perfect marriage", hey nothing is perfect. But reading this is such a great challenge to us and a reminder of what God intends marriage to be! Happy Valentine's Day!

Long Day...

Today was picture day at school.



I am no longer a fan of picture day!

You would of thought I had changed everything about my classroom and re-arranged our entire routine. When really everything was the same, except for the 25 minutes or so that we were taking pictures.
Oh, 6 year olds.

Then after school I called one of my students parents and pretty much wasted ten minutes of my life. Apparently its ok for a 6 year old to be very disrespectful and not follow directions if they are tired...


In other news, Drew got a new truck!
It is a Toyota Tundra and it is huge. It is 4 door and it has more room inside than my Rav4 I believe. Lucy has not gotten to go for a ride yet (no she will not be riding in the bed) so we will be taking her soon! The back window rolls down just like it did in his 4runner and I know she will love that!

My parents and grandmaw came this weekend and Drew and I were house sitting for my aunt and uncle so we all stayed there! Sara, Rich and Chad and their dogs came and stayed too! We had a lot of fun and as always the weekend went by way to quickly. Rich is really starting to change so much, he is so alert and when that sweet boy smiles at me my heart just melts. Writing about him kind of makes me want to drive over to Pearland and hold him right now! :)

..3 months?!

Wow, I am not good at blogging. I really didn't realize it had been 3 months. I still read other blogs, but by the time I finish that I never have time to write... and I know I just have so many people anxiously waiting to hear what is going on with the Pennywells... haha.

Anyways, where to begin...
Our first Christmas as a married couple was great! Minus the fact that we got stuck in a blizzard for 20 hours and Lucy was sick for about 2 weeks.. haha. She started throwing up when we were (finally) almost to Holliday. We had about an hour left (only like 20 miles..but an hour in the snow) and she kept throwing up...into Sara's shirt. I thought it was Drew's but Sara had taken off her flannel shirt earlier and just had on a short sleeve shirt.. and after about the third time I realized it was Sara's.. she was understanding though :) The blizzard was not fun, but we were so thankful to be together (with Chad & Sara, and Rich, and Lola, and Cody!)

Things with my class are going great. I currently have 15 students and no HUGE problems. I can't believe we are on our second semester. I have gotten so close to them and cannot imagine having another class. I love having the same class all day because we just know each other so well. I have some very sweet kids in my class and some VERY memorable personalities! One of my favorite things about 1st Grade is the amazing progress kids make as readers. I love the joy that lights up on their faces when they realize they can now read a book from our classroom library that used to be so hard! Some days are exhausting and I am out of patience by the end of the day.. but honestly I can't imagine not doing this everyday. I would miss it too much. It is certainly such a rewarding job!

Drew's job is not as interesting... haha! Sometimes I get a bit envious that he spends most of his day sitting at a desk... but every job has its perks, huh?

I am going to try to start writing on here more, at least to be able to look back and remember some cute moments with my students. Here are a few off the top of my head:

-One of my team members (who teachers a bilingual class) came in to ask me about a note we were sending home about an upcoming field trip. After she left one of my students seemed very worried and said "WAIT Mrs. Pennywell... what language is OUR note going to be in??? Because at my house we only speak ENGLISH."

-One of my students started crying yesterday when I was having them get their backpacks... I asked her why and she replied "But we havn't gone to lunch yet.." We had gone to lunch... we had just had a bit of a different afternoon schedule. First Graders are very stuck on their routine :)

-I had a teacher from another school observing me one day, she just wanted some idea of what to expect of First Graders since she is new to the grade.. as I am greeting my students K. says : "WOW, Mrs. Pennywell you look so beautiful today!" I think the other teacher thought that I had asked her to say this or something, it was funny and a bit awkward.

-I recieved a poem the other day that says "Mrs.Pennywell, I will always carry your smile with me in my heart." I am still thinking she heard this somewhere.. haha


Goodness, there are so many more I am thinking of but I am tired of typing,
way to go if you actually read all of this! Somebody hold me accountable to posting more..