Finally feeling like spring!

Wow, today finally felt like spring. The sun was out and shining bright. The sky was blue and the clouds were white. Not a gray sign of rain in sight. The village (what we call the university shopping center) was sprawling with color. The water fountains glistened in the sun, reflecting rays and filling the air with freshness. A gentle breeze carried the cool refreshing scent of spring from shop to shop. I spent my lunch break soaking up all the rays. It was so nice and such a wonderful break from the dreary gloom of rain filled cloudy days that makes Seattle so famous. It was the perfect day for a great activity to do with my toddler classroom. We made ICE CREAM!!! I was worried the ice would melt in the sun but our ice cream thickened and froze within 15 minutes. It was so fun eating ice cream out on our playground under the sun. It really made me miss my sunshine state! It was a great day. I was so happy as I left work. The sun does that to me :) With a spring in my walk and smiling ear to ear, I made my way to my car, a man passed by and said, "now that's a nice smile!" :D I honestly did not realize how wide a smile I had until he said that. But he had an equally big smile as well. I guess he was happy it was finally feeling like spring too! :D

Great Motto to Live by.....

"Difficult moments, seek Allah (SWT)

Quiet moments, worship Allah(SWT)

Painful moments, trust Allah (SWT)

Every moment, thank Allah (SWT)

Cherish yesterday, Dream tomorrow. Live today."

5 Things....

Five Things I Learned This Week......

It is funny how some work weeks are great. Nothing goes wrong and I seem like everything I set out to do is accomplished with great results. But then there are those weeks that are horrible, everything that possibly can go wrong does. The week seems to drag on and on. Then when it finally arrives, the weekend, it is spent in seclusion, away from noise, colds and viruses, stress, demands, expectations, and yes, even rules and policies. Well, usually if I have a really tough work week, I spend Saturday in complete rest! I am usually too tired to even write!

This was one of those weeks, long and exhausting. But, it was also been fun, filled with sweet moments and loads of learning. While a few of our children were out on vacation this week, it seemed like the rest of the class felt it necessary to kick it up a notch to keep the crazy teacher/energetic toddler equilibrium in the classroom. It felt like everyone was sick, kids and teachers alike. Everyday more than five teachers were out stretching the staff really then, some days we lost planning time or had to combine our classrooms so that one of us could be sent to another classroom. Thursday was staff meeting, which means a very long day! The end of the week brought on transitions for two of my little ones who will be moving up. It is going to be a rough transition for at least one of them who happens to be really attached. She had a complete meltdown when I had to leave her in her new classroom. :( Talk about heart-wrenching, I had to leave quickly before showing my own sadness. But I was very grateful when her teacher came back to my room to tell me she was doing okay and had settled down after a while. She was so nice to put my heart at ease. When they came back to my class after spending a couple of hours, my poor little one was so confused. She looked like she was on the verge of tears again as she looked at me, so betrayed for leaving her there. I smiled and welcomed her back with a big hug and soon her she was smiling and happy again as well. It is so fun to take walks around the shopping center with 8 toddlers in tow. This week due to low numbers and GREAT weather, we got two days of fun nature walks. We got so many pleasant smiles and hellos from people passing by. They got a kick out of seeing our four child strollers. One little boy mention how our stroller was bigger than his (two-seater stroller :D) While it is always nice to see a new face at work, it is not so nice to see a bunch of seasoned teachers leave after years of working together. A total of four teachers (that I know of) are leaving the center. Now comes the long process of trying to find replacements and the constant influx of strangers in the classroom, at a time when I will also have to deal with new children in my classroom.

So this post is dedicated to five things that I took away from this week' life lessons.

I learned how to let go: change is one of life's many lessons and almost always good. Without change, there can be no growth and development. Life will go on, even if I am not directly involved.

I learned to not let stress take over me: I like to be self-reliant, I like for everyone to know I can do my job @ 115% even when I am not feeling my best. It is okay to say, "I need help." It is okay not to be perfect in a demanding profession.

I learned that my body needs a break every now and then: I can not be an efficient teacher/caregiver if I do not take care of your body. Leave all work at work, use my breaks and lunch breaks to rest, relax, and recuperate!

I learned a smile can go a long way: the best smile is one that is given to brighten someone else's day. A generous smile almost always returns to brighten my day.

I also learned to appreciate everything, especially those around me, from friends to family, co-workers to the stranger on the street: Fresh air is so important to the body and mind. I need to spend more time outside exercising my body and mind. This weekend I relaxed in the company of family and good friends. It is also amazing how healthy (albeit yummy) food, movies and lots of laughs while resting comfy on a couch does a body good. :)

Flowers

A few flowers that my parents gave me over teacher appreciation week :) They are so sweet. The others are at my job. I will try to get a picture of them on Monday. I hope they last until then! I also got tons of chocolate! :D

Working out the kinks! :)

My new piece :)

Stitches up close :)

And the cast off :) I watched the video before trying and while I was casting off. Practice makes perfect! I will keep at it and hopefully I will have enough squares to make a patch quilt :D

What is failure?

~In order to succeed you must first be willing to fail~

As you know from my previous blog post, I have started knitting using the knifty knitter. Well, it took me a while to get the hang of it but I did. :) I was on a roll until I realized that I was getting to the end of my very first knitting project. I did not know how to "cast off" as it is put in knitting terminology. So, I watched a couple of youtube videos to learn how to cast off. Well, I watched them about four days ago and thought I still remembered how to cast off. Silly me, I should have watched the videos again before attempting to cast off but for some reason I was confident I knew what I was doing. :/ Needless to say, the casting off stage of my knitting project was a big FAIL! :( But that's okay, I wont let myself get discouraged, because the only real failure in life is to never try again. As Mr. Ford put it, "Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently."

Cast off FAIL!

top view of the last stitch, the cast off.

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. ~Thomas Edison

LOL! so true Mr. Edison, so true! :D