Week 1 - Done and Done!

I made it! I am officially done with week 1 of my 2nd year of teaching!  Though my class is not yet complete, it was a pretty darn good week!  I have room for 30 students, but so far, 23 is the magic number.  Let me tell you something.  Whoever those 7 kids are, they are going to be the luckiest kiddos! :) But for now, they're missing out on all the fun of 5th grade with this rockin' teacher.

Being a teacher, you plan and you plan and you plan.  And sometimes you overplan.  But sometimes you can't plan for everything.

I found out 6 days before the first day of school that my grandpap passed away.

So, this past Wednesday was a tough day for two reasons: 1) my kids were left with a sub on just their second day of school and 2) it was the day of Grandpap's funeral.  They say "God doesn't give us anything we can't handle."  Well, apparently I can handle saying goodbye to my favorite man on earth and running a classroom of 5th graders. 

On a lighter note,

Meet the Friedrichs...

We seem normal, right??

We're actually a crazy group of people who actually get along!  We hang out on a regular basis.  We play soccer together.  We host family talent shows.  We tell bad jokes.  Even better, we all laugh at those bad jokes. 

And the man who started this amazing family is my Grandpap Friedrich.

He will definitely be missed, but I thank him more than anything for teaching me a few things:

-The Sunday Crossword in the Sacramento Bee.  I can still hear him now, "Did you do the puzzle yet?  Timed myself this morning.  Took me an hour and eight minutes."

-Heart means more than talent.  He came to almost every soccer game that he could fit into his schedule, and each time reminded me that I play "just like my dad!" In other words, SCRAPPY!  Other than my dad, he was my number one fan.  Every Saturday night he'd call and leave a message, "What time's the game tomorrow?"  He'll still be at every game.  In my heart.

-At the end of the day, your family is still your family.  There aren't really re-dos in that department. So appreciate your family for who they are and love 'em anyway.