BiTtErSwEeT

I am 12.5 school days away from having a year of teaching comPLETED! It is so surreal, and quite bitter sweet. On one hand, I am so ready to have a break from monitoring occupying and spending 6 hours a day with 22 five and six year olds, but the other side of me wonders what I will do without them!! They have become my little world and I love them to pieces. They are SO ready for first grade though, and we are all ready for a little break :)

As for after 11:00 on June 16th, who knows. Analisa doesn't finish school until June 24th, and our lease isn't up until June 30th, so she and I will stay here until then, doing last minute running around spokane things, packing up, and saying farewell to R apartment. Everything these days seems to be bittersweet. No quesion, the past 11 months in the Prar have been the most amazing, full of adventures with my bestie, but I am also so excited to be in Portland for a bit.

As for teaching? I'll most likely either be in Seattle or Portland, wherever wants me :)

Weekend highlights so far?
- Went to Stix for dinner with Analisa, followed by icecream and wine and 12 episodes of the hills.
-This morning breakfast of eggs(Analisa) cantelope (me) and corn bread (Keith).
- Starbucks date with Anal.

Take heart my friends. enjoy each day.

i say tri, you say cities

Wow. As of tomorrow, there are....28 days of school left, 1.5 of which (so far) i'm taking off. I can't believe how soon the year will be over, and while at times the weeks went by so slowly, I am sad to see this year coming to an end. I have had such an amazingly adventurous, anything but dull first year teaching, and wouldn't trade it for anything. I have been living with my best friend, having far too many adventures, and though this window of time is closing, I know a new one will open.

Friday after school, Analisa and I said bye to Spokane and after stopping at not only starbucks for half price fraps, but mcdonalds for happy meals as well, we arrived in the tricities to see our lovely Lindsay. Saturday we witnessed Linds in her element, as she led the Habitat's "Walk Home" 5k run that she has been planning forever! She did a great job, Analisa got 3rd place, and I helped sell some hot dogs :)

It was a wonderful weekend, I am constantly reminded how blessed I am.

Next weekend? Analisa's graduation from GRAD SCHOOL! With a visit from CLAIRE!

Weekend after that? Carls wedding!! So excited to see everyone visiting and watch the guy get married.

June 10-12? Corner house reunion!

June 16? Last day of School.

A lot to look forward to, and plan to enjoy every second of it.

Here are some pictures from the weekend :)

Happy Easter to you.

Five things you may not know about me right now.

1) I am currently addicted to cereal. At this moment, I have 4 boxes, and have anywhere from 2 to 5 bowls a day. I can't get enough.

2) I use cinnamon floss, toothpaste and mouthwash. Love the cinnamon.

3) I'm writing a book about my experiences as a first year teacher in a high poverty school.

4) I finally enjoy running again (perfect with the sun starting to arrive). I was in a rut for a while, but am getting ready for a run in May called "Joggin for the Noggin" through the American Brain Tumor Association. A man that was very important in my life and helped me know Jesus died of a brain tumor.

5) I have started rekindling a few friendships from high school and have realized I have changed. A lot.

Well, spring break was a hit as expected!

Here is a brief glimpse into our itenerary

Friday afternoon: Leave Spokane, headed to Portland, where we had dinner with my family and watched the blazers game.

Saturday morning: Left good old PDX for VEGGASSSS! We stepped off the plane and were surprised to see Analisa's mom and sister waiting for us in the Vegas airport!!!



Saturday night: Met up with Chelsea, had a few drinkys in the new hotel, the cosmpolitan. Then headed up the the Marquee, where we found my friend from highschool, Michael!





Sunday morning: laid out by the IP pool, got over that pretty quick, and headed to the Venitian where we went to the "TAO beach pool party" There we met a wild lady named "Isabbbellle" and her boy Ivan. Our trip was full of meeting new friends.




Sunday night, after back to back Saturday night out on the town (til about...4:30 am) followed by a pool party (aka the day version of going out to a club in vegas) we found ourselves in bed at...8 Sunday night. What turned into a "quick rest" so we could go back out, quickly found us watching the CMAS (which were being filmed just down the road) and us both passing out by 10.

The rest of the days seem to blur together, with mostly a mix of laying by the pool during the day, and going out at night. Vegas was a lovely treat of sunshine and time with my best friend (and her mom and sister :), as well as 2 great friends that I haven't seen in a while.

Wednesday afternoon we hopped back on a plane to Portland, enjoyed dinner with my family, and the next morning celebrated Analisa's birthday with some chocolate chip pancakes, courtesy of my mom! It was so great to see my family, even for a quick time, and my brother was precious enough to not only take, but pick us up from the airport. Love the guy.

After pancakes and a starbucks, we headed to TumH20 to celebrate Analisa's birthday with her family! Fun times with the McCanns for sure.

Friday morning, we headed to Kirkland, where we met Ande and Lindsay at Claires ADORABLE apartment! We enjoyed some papa murphys and watched she's the man :) So lucky to have wonderful friends, and Joanna, Em and Danika were in our thoughts!

Saturday morning we headed out for some pikes place adventures, followed by a sounders game!!






Saturday night we went out with a bang (although Analisa and I were still recovering from Vegas) by going out in downtown Seattle. I love the whole Seattle area and am very interested in the prospect of moving/teaching there next year. Well friends, it is 9:00 which has recently become my bed time. I also have been really into reading lately. I'll share my books with you next time :)

Much love.

My top ten loves right now
By Emily Baylis.



1. The team.



2. The hood.



3. Charley Baylis.



4. My girls.







5. My kindys





6. The Blazers





7. Portland



8. Sleeping in





9. The sunshine



10. Fiber One bars

Portlandddd!

What a wonderful weekend. I was able to be home for my parents birthdays for the first time since highschool. Here are the weekend highlights:

Saturday: (Dad's Bday)
-Flew out of Spokane on the Oregon State plane.
-Got to PDX where mom met me, and we headed to our favorite bakery in Lake Oswego for a treat, followed by a nursery to buy daddy a new plant.
-QFC (my favorite market) to buy ingredients for daddys birthday dinner.
-Steak, twice baked potatoes, appetizers and drinks with most of the fam (AJ had to work...)
-Blazers game.

Sunday: (Mom's Bday)
-Bagels at Sunrise bagel
-Church with mom
-Shopping with mom and AJ
-Lounging around with the family
-Chinese food from our favorite restraunt in the pearl, at home while watching the Blazers game.
-Undercover boss with the family and neighbors :)

Monday:
-Nordstroms
-Costco
-Columbia Sportswear Outlet (I have a jacket obsession)
-Lunch with mom at our favorite french restraunt in Lake Oswego
-Visited mom's office.
-IKEA
-Airport :(

I realized this weekend how much I LOVE PORTLAND. I could no question live there for the rest of my life. Anyways, it was a busily fun and awesome weekend. Love my family.

Another weekend has come and gone.

Not too much to update around here but here are the weekend highlights:

-Saturday morning starbucks/winco trip with Analisa
-Watching about 900 episodes of Desperate Housewives
-Spending some time at the boys house on Friday.
-Visiting the farm and meeting the new calf "princess mia"

Oh and I get to go home to visit my family on Saturday until Monday, which I am taking off as a vacation day. It will be wonderful to be home and be able to spend mom and dads birthdays with them.

Analisa and I celebrated our 47th princess day this past Wednesday. The boys have quickly learned to acknowledge this day as well. I am so lucky to have the friends I have to celebrate everyday with.

The big event of the week was getting my wisdom teeth out Friday morning. For the past week or so I have been in a lot of pain, combined with limited ability to open my jaw, which put a damper on one of my favorite pastimes, eating. So regardless of my extreme fear of anything medical, I took drugs which did messed up things to my body, got shots, and survived a surgery. I owe a big thanks to Keith for driving me, getting me all settled, and taking care of everything I need. And of course my wonderful roommate for bringing apple sauce and home made mashed potatoes to me at my beckon call.

My kindergartners continue to amaze me with their comments and actions. A few good ones from the week:

"I'm going to make this picture for my mom, cuz I think she gonna ground me"
Reading a book about a mean character.... "Wow... he is even meaner than us!!!"

One thing I love about 5/6 year olds is their eagerness to please, and that you can convince them anything is cool. After battling all year with a always perfect always quiet line, I made up a new game. If no one talks/hops/plays/pulls things off walls, the whole way to our destination (usually about 100ft) they get a point. If they mess up, I get a point. At the end of the day if they have more points they get more center time. If I have more points, I take away centers time. Little do they know, we do centers from 2:10-2:35 everyday, regardless of how they did in the hall. I love them.

I can't believe it is already March. This month is a huge assessment month in the school world, so that is a bit stressful, but on the 19th-21st I get to go home, followed by SPRING BREAK the first week of April!

We can make it people!!

Dear world, I have the best kindergarteners.

Here we are again, a starbucks morning as is tradition on Saturdays. However, this morning I slept in until 9:45!!! Much needed.

I'm looking outside the starbucks window, and it looks like death outside. The umbrella tables are blowin in the wind. The sky is gray, and so is everything else. Going to be a BEAUTIFUL DAY! not. With that said, I completed my application for Hawaii Public Schools. I am in need of adventure stat!

Tonight I get to go to the farm which is really exciting. Can't wait to see my girls and my cows. It is a tradition that me, Syd and Addy make cookies before every holiday, so today while the parents are at dinner, I will be making Valentines cookies with my 2 favorite bakers. And spending some much needed time with Licorice, Chantel, Baby and the others.

I cried many times at work this week. In front of my kids. It freaks them out. They think its hilarious. Not crying because I was overwhelmed or upset, but because I was so proud. A few occurrences?

1) One of my little boys who was once a HUGE struggle, behavior wise specifically, and just trying academically, has made such a huge 180. Well, we were in reading group, and this boy sat and read me his whole book from our guided reading group. He was proud, I was proud, his friends were proud and wanted to give him a "yahoo" and well, thats when I started to tear up :) He then asked me "Ms. Baylis, did I make you proud?"

That's our words. Everyday when I drop them off at lunch I say "make me proud."

2) Everyday after writers workshop, I have 3 kids choose a friend who they saw doing their best, and those 3 kids get to come share their writing to the whole class. Well, the 3 chosen were AMAZING. I know my kids are great, but what I saw right then blew me away. I told them "umm..am i in the wrong room? This is 1st or 2nd grade work.. not kindergarten work...WHERE did you learn how to do this?" And while some of them just laughed, one girl raised her hand and said "Ms Baylis... you taught us how to do this!"

3) My last moment of proud i'll share with you happend when decorating valentines bags. It had not crossed my mind to make my own, but when one of my kiddos brought me a bag that said "MS. Baylis" spelled perfectly, I was told I would be getting lots of valentines. One after another, kids started bringing me their foamy heart shapes, their stickers, and all their other decorations that they were given, and to my surprise, were even sharing with eachother. At one point I told them, Ok, i think i'm good! I don't want to take all your decorations! And they all came to the consensus that I always gave them things, and they wanted my bag to be beautiful, and they had no problem sharing with me.


This was the first week when it really hit me how big of a change my kids have made. I guess this blog has turned in more of a reflection for myself, but thats ok. At the beginning of the year, about 1/3 of my kids were labeled "behavior" problems, and i'd say we maybe have one or two occurrences a WEEK, which is the biggest progress I can imagine.

Anyways, while a lot of the time my job is stressful, depresssing and just draining, I love my kids and Rm 101 is growing strong.

Have a good week

rejuvinate

It's Saturday morning, 9:53. Where do you think Analisa and I are? Starbucks. Of course. I however, am a bit sick of lesson planning, forgot one of my planning sheets at R apartment, and so decided to blog instead. Last night after working out, we decided we both needed to fulfill our whole day craving of icecream, and so to celebrate princess day a few days late, we headed to coldstone. I'm foreseeing a pampering weekend ahead, as we have already had our iced grande no whip mochas, and are soon off to get some pedicures. Sometimes we just deserve this right? Last weekend was a blast with a reunion (missing Danika and Em :( but round two will happen in 2 weekends!

Other thoughts I have?
- We have gotten a bit more brave at OZ, and Analisa even asked red shirt his name.
- I get to visit the farm next weekend.
- I'm planning a 4 day trip home in March to be with mom and dad for their birthdays.
- Work was emotionally exhausting this week, what else is new... More CPS removals, found a 4 week absent kid... I love my babes. And we got a new student. He is a champ. Tiniest kid in the world, but very very sweet.
- Valentines day is next week. Analisa and I are having auditions for dates. Tell your friends.
- Our starbucks is way busier than usual.
- I have had a crazy throat-ear-ache this week, but only on the right side. Weird?
- That's all i've got!
Enjoy your weekend.

So, like most of us, I have been not wonderful about keeping up on my blog.

In my last post, I mentioned Analisa had left for Tanzania, well she is back in the states and will be back to R apartment tomorrow! I have learned a lot about myself the past month, livin solo in Spokane. And while I CAN do it, and COULD do it, I have no desire to ever live in this city through another winter, especially if it were by myself, ever again. I had great company though. Bill and Keith came over for weekly, some times more frequent, for dinner, which now requires corn bread at all meals.








School has been going well, my kids are FINALLY back in the swing of things. The first couple weeks after returning from winter break were ROUGH. Felt defeated many times, have lost 3 more students, and possibly another one on Monday. But this week for the first time I felt like they started to remember our routines and put them back into practice. They just make me so proud. It's such a weird concept having to teach them compassion, helpfulness, things that most kids learn from home, that these kids just aren't getting. My favorite quote of the week? "Ms. Baylis... is it okay to use the word nipple in kindergarten??" Now, I couldn't figure out why that would ever be in context, but I calmly told them: Nope, that's not a kindergarten word, thanks for asking! We are a little family and I love them so much.

My curiosity for where next year might take me, continues to be on my mind, but I trust God has a plan, and while I can think about and start to take action on some thoughts, I don't have to make any decisions today, tomorrow, or in the next few months for that matter. It's still looking like Seattle or Kona btw.

That's enough reading for one day!!

my favorite shows are on Netflix on demand.

You guys i'm just not into blogging right now!!!
I'm going with the bullet format:

-Analisa left for Tanzania, I miss her but I know she is where she should be :) The apartment is a little messier, and a little quieter, but i'm holdin down the fort quite well! Bill and Keith are coming for Tuesday dinner and Didiers this week which will be fun.

-Being back with my kids was good this week. They were totally out of routine (weren't we all????) so it took some time getting back into it, but those kids completely have my heart. My biggest challenge has been protecting myself, my mind and my heart, by not getting too involved in the horrible things happening to these kids. Did a number and letter ID check and my kids are SOARING in their learning. I am so proud of them.

- Had lunch with some old housemates today (Kaylee and Dana) which was fun. Just like the good old days. So fun hearing about Dana's engagement. Kory is a stud. So happy for them!

-I start Russian class next week! Really excited for that.

-Made a new friend at West Central tonight (A volunteer, not a resident :)) She is from Portland, when to George Fox and we have some mutual friends, and she doesnt know a soul in Spokane. Just moved up this weekend, so i'm excited to show her around the city and have a new friend! Don't worry Analisa, no one will EVER replace you!

That's about it! Red shirt is still loyal at the gym, haven't seen Bill2 in a while.

At Life Center we are talking about PAUSING. I challenge all of you to attempt to PAUSE this week with me. Pause because God paused. He tells us to, and because we can.

Much love. PEace out.