New Cousin!

And I almost forgot!  Congratulations to Holly, Brian, Brook, and Clara on the new edition to the Olson family girls club.  Megan Ann was born yesterday and is beautiful and healthy! 

OCTOBER?!

How did it get to be October already?!?

I am sitting at parent-teacher conferences and in order to avoid the humongous pile of notebooks that need to be graded [staring me in the face] I thought I would update my neglected blog.

Let’s catch-up J  The last two months have been a whirlwind of school, cross country, dance, football, family visits, Minnesota, and a whole lot of Mexican food. 

School

I could go on and on and on and on about school.  It’s been SO great.  I am having the opportunity to develop professionally as a Social Studies teacher as well as a cross-cultural educator.

I instantly fell in love with all of my kids and feel so blessed to get to be a part of their lives each day…well every other day (I hate block scheduling!).  I love teaching Current Events and I love teaching!  I love my school.  Now only if I could build a big city in the gigantic field next to my house…

Dance

Shortly after my quick-trip home after Labor Day, I took on another coaching position—dance.  Now this is nothing like dance is in the Twin Cities (we only have practice one or two days a week and a much smaller team with no competition), so I figured it wouldn’t be too bad to coach two sports for a few weeks.  It ended up being a little crazier than I originally though, but I have loved every minute of it.  We have an awesome team dynamic and I have really enjoyed spending time with the girls at practice, clinics, games, and competitions.

 This past Tuesday, I traveled with my team to the conference band competition in Dodge City, KS where we performed with “That” Liberal Band.  They received a superior rating.  Bonnie (the head dance coach who teaches math in my building) and I are so proud of how our girls contributed to the show! 

Cross Country

Cross country was amazing and I loved getting to share my passion for running with so many small people.  Although we were a bit lacking in competitive nature, our runners all showed huge improvement in endurance, speed, and/or attitude over the course of the season.  It was an intense schedule with four of our 7 meets happening within 10 days, but we were proud of the performance and effort our kids put in consistently at each competition.  Our season ended with a bang at the ARMS meet (our conference meet), where we had 2 individual runners place!  After our trial year, Jack and I are excited to make some changes to the program next fall and to grow xc program at the middle school level.

Visits

I was really happy to have the opportunity to go home over Labor Day weekend and see familiar faces for the first time in a long time.  I was able to go to the state fair and enjoy candy bar on a stick and my gigantic pail of cookies.  AND don’t forget the 5 trips to Target and Starbucks J J

At the end of the September Mom, Dad and Tessa came down to L-town for homecoming weekend and were able to see school in action.  They arrived on a Thursday (Middle School game day) and were rushed into a whirlwind weekend of events including football games, a pep rally, a parade, and a visit to the infamous Billy’s.

Mexican Food

I don’t know how you can live in Liberal and hate Mexican food.  Literally some of the best food ever.  Come visit me and you will never want to go to Chipotle again.  Come visit me!

Alright, that’s enough for one round.  Tessa and Tristyn—it’s your turn for an update!

FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY

TOMORROW IS FRIDAY!

Cannot wait!  Did someone ever want to warn me of the SWSS (second week of school syndrome)?  The frist week is all fun and games because the students are new and the classes are new and everyone is lovin' it, but as soon as the real work sets in...holy cow!  This was quite possibly the longest week of my life.

I would like to say, that I have my lessons mapped out for next week.  I am so thankful that I am able to bust through work when I come into school.  There is something about sitting down at my desk...I just get inspired and am able to think of great ideas.  All I have to say is that if I ever leave this place, I'm taking this desk chair with me...it's magical.

Missing all my Minnesotans :(  And sushi night...and the STATE FAIR!  Everyone eat delcious walleye cakes and mashed potatoes on a stick for me!  And 5 deep-fried snickers...  HAPPY STATE FAIR WEEKEND!  Lots of love from the Land of Oz <3

[If you can't tell, I'm sleep-deprived]

WEEK 2 of school!  Annnnd go!

And we are off on the second week of school...there is still SO much to do!  Last Wednesday we started cross country practice, which added another heaping portion to my already full "first-year" plate.

I have a few minutes before I am headed back to school to work and wanted to give everyone a quick update :)

School is fabulous.  I love all of my kids.  They are super sweet and respectful, and while they do have their moments, I could not have asked for better classes.  Another surprise when I arrived in Liberal was that I would be teaching mostly current events.  Although I was originally told U.S. History, those of you who know me well know that current events is my first love--especially during election season!  Because I only see my kiddos every other day (we are on a rotating block schedule), I still have not jumped into the content.  The end of this week will be my first few lessons on actual Social Studies material...that's why I am headed back to school here in a few.

I am getting settled in at home too (pictures of the apartment to come soon!).  I spend more time at school, but I am committed to taking back my life after I get a jump start over Labor Day....

Alright, I am headed out!  I miss all of you Minnesotans and really do want to catch up soon.  Skype me or facebook me or leave comments here.  LOVE LOVE from Kansas!

Week One: COMPLETE!

[Disclaimer: getting the blog designed is in the works...bear with me for now]

This past month has been a whirlwind of work, travel and preparing for this new season of life in the Land of OZ!  The past week has been even more chaotic--unpacking and acclimating to life in a new part of the country.

As many of you know, on July 1, I was offered a Social Studies teaching position at South Middle School.  [Obviously] I accepted and it was off to Liberal!  Liberal is definitely an interesting place.  I think Paul Larkin, our HR director, expresses it best when he says, “There’s not a whole lot going on in Liberal, but it’s a great community to be part of.”  This has proven to be more than true on both counts.  As much as I hate being away from the city, I absolutely LOVE the people and school district.

Per usual, it took me two-seconds to make new friends.  I was also lucky to have connected with a handful of teachers from my new school when I was down visiting mid-July.  Most of the new teachers are from the north-midwest: Michigan and Ohio.  There are a few from Kansas and some from California and the Southeast coast too.  It’s fun to experience being new in town with so many other people.

Alright, I don’t want to bore you with details and I have to be to work soon, but I wanted to get this started.  More updates to come soon

Because I was supposed to start this blog last week, I’ll try to give a brief synopsis of the past week:

July 30-August1

Load car and trailer.

Drive to Liberal.

Unload car and trailer.

Setup house.

August 2

South Middle School teacher luncheon: Our principal organized a lunch in at Vargas (most amazing Mexican place ever!), so all of the new teachers could meet before we started new teacher orientation.  The South Middle School staff has really stood out in the district making extra effort in welcoming the new teachers to Liberal!

August 3

New Teacher Orientation: Just the usual “Welcome to the District.”

This weekend we took some time to relax before the whole district was back to work today