Welcome October!

Well tomorrow marks the one month of school mark. I seriously cannot believe that we have gone an entire month! It now just seems like a job, and I actually sleep at night and am not up worrying.
This last month I have learned SO much, and hopefully grown as a person, and as a teacher. I have also fallen in love... with 31 little smiling faces.
Today we were walking down the hall on our way to PE, and my principal walked past us and said "oh my word, this is the best looking second grade line I have EVER seen... Honestly! Who's kids are these?!?! Are these your kids?" And I smiled and said that yes, they were mine and at the same time I was watching every one of those 31 faces turn around and look at me with the biggest, proudest smile... I couldn't help but get a little teary. I am so proud of every accomplishment they make. I have totally turned into a mother goose. At the same time though, I am equally disappointed when they do something they know not to do, or let me down in any way (and this happens often because I have very high expectations for them). I am excited when a child I don't expect to get the answer shares it correctly, and out loud, and when I listen during "think, pair, share" time to the way they are learning from each other, I am truly amazed. They are wise beyond their years, and have no idea how many times a day I learn something from them! I tell them daily how proud they make me, and how the things they do (like today using amazing descriptive words in their writing) makes my heart feel warm and fuzzy.
Not everyday is "warm and fuzzy", by any means. And not every behavior is cute, at all. But I have only had one day in this entire crazy, busy, overwhelming, unknown, stressful month, so I consider that a step in the right direction!
I think it is truly a blessing to enjoy what you do. And I know that I have been given that blessing. I am doing what I was made to do, and that feels good. Plus I have the most amazing support system a girl could ever ask for in my hubby, who has spent hours this past month grading papers and working in my classroom.
Speaking of him... THE YARD IS FINISHED!!!!!!! Yay for Kevin Thomas!!! He spent six long months transforming our yard into an amazing place for kids, dogs, and adults to hang out in! We have a fantastic garden and flat ground with little sprouts of beautiful green grass popping up everywhere! It is so exciting for us! I cannot wait to have a big party next summer in our huge new yard. He is so far beyond words... I can't even explain the way he gets things done for his family. I am a lucky lucky girl.
So this wraps up our last month, and hopefully next month we will have more to talk about than just work and the yard, and I think we will. I see my life getting more back to normal now that I feel like I am getting a handle on stuff in my room. And I think we both need a little much needed get-away, so we are heading to the beach with the doggies on Saturday just to go somewhere for the day. It will be nice to spend some time just the four of us with no papers to grade or seeds to water!  :)
Hope fall finds everyone well and warm. Can I just say... I love October!

Summer Sun is Fading.

It is a weekend full of mixed emotions here at the O'Neil house. Tuesday marks the first day of school, and the first day that I will be working full time in quite some time. As this approaches it feels like a good time to reflect on this now, past summer, and move forward onto some exciting, uncharted territories.

This summer was a whirlwind for us. It began so quickly with us leaving on June 27th for almost three weeks in Europe. Those three weeks were unlike anything I have ever experienced, and made Kevin and I even stronger together than we were before. We have no memory of Europe that does not make us smile. We thank our lucky stars every day that we had the opportunity to experience something like that at this age, and even more importantly, together.

When we got home there was little sleep. We left our home with the backyard in ruins, and various paint colors splatted on our walls. These were all things that we needed to tend to before summer ended. I must say it has been non-stop craziness around here since the day we returned, but due to my amazing husbands work ethic, things got finished. There has been a total remodel inside our house, with turning our living room into a formal living space, moving the tv into the brand new "man cave" in the basement, moving the spare bedroom downstairs, moving the workout room and painting all of these new spaces. And once you step on our amazing deck it feels like you have been placed in an entirely different yard than what used to be here. Here are some before and current pictures...

As you can tell from these pictures we lived on a pretty horrible, steep hill before.

There was really no usable space due to the incline.

NOW it looks like this....

Now this side is flat enough to put in all kinds of fun things to do in a yard... Swing-sets, pools, etc. 

So all we still need is some topsoil and grass seed and we will have a beautiful, FLAT, yard. My husband is every bit amazing! And our girls cannot wait to actually have a yard to play in. 

But besides all the work we have done this summer we have had some of the worst weather I have ever seen during a summer vacation, which has made it not so enjoyable, and we have had to say goodbye to a loved one, and my kitty cat that I got when I was eight. 

Saying goodbye to Grandpa Jim was extremely hard for both Kevin and I. Many of you know he lived right down the hill from us and visiting him was something we did often. When we lived in our little house not a day passed when Grandpa Jim didn't drive by and honk and wave. He was at our house for every party we had, and when Rahja was an only child and needed a good babysitter to watch her while I was at work (she had an injury that had to be watched constantly) there was nowhere she loved more then sitting at Grandpas feet watching tv with him. He was funny, full of life, giving and sweet. He loved my girls and my cookies, so he instantly won a place with me :) I will miss him every time I bake (knowing that I can no longer run it down to him while it is still warm) and every time we pass by his street. He touched so many people and he will never be forgotten. He would, and probably is, so very proud of Kevin's work in the yard. He kept good tabs on how far along Kev had got by doing drive-bys, but complained that it was hard to see everything that had changed from the road... I know now he has the best view of the project.

After that heartache came another small milestone in Kevin and my life together, our three year wedding anniversary. Every year we try and do something that kind of puts us in a spot where we don't feel entirely comfortable and have to trust that the other is going to be there for us (or jump with us). Year one was sky diving, year two was letting Kevin plan a surprise trip with no help or hints from me, and this year we decided to go bungee jumping to celebrate... It must be his looks that are always able to talk me into these horribly scary adventures. It was an absolute blast and, once again, reminded us how lucky we are to have each other.

    

Now things around here have done a 180 and changed from fun and house stuff, to classroom and work stuff. I am nervous, excited, overwhelmed, anxious, inspired, hopeful and terrified about the upcoming task, but know that I have an incredible team of supporters that I will be able to lean on. It's going to be an adjustment in our lives to have me gone so much, but I know that I will enjoy every minute of doing what I love to do. There are so many things for me to be thankful for, and having a job I love, with a family who supports that is something I cherish. 

So, happy end of summer for you all... hope it has been a wonderful one for all of you, and good luck to all my friends who will be returning to work this week for another exciting school year!

A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others.  ~Author Unknown

Back to real life...

We have been home for two weeks today and it feels like much, much longer than that! It is so hard to give up vacation life, even when it is summer vacation for me, it's just the whole feeling of traveling with the man I love, seeing things we have never seen and experiencing new things together! Not that I am complaining about the life Kevin and I live, because it could be so so much harder, but vacationing is just amazingly blissful.
So our "real life" has been jam packed these last two weeks! When we got home we both had family from out of town here visiting and although we were exhausted we tried to spend some time with both of those families. Kevin has been trying to catch up on trade shifts that he owed to people due to the traveling, we painted our living room and dinning room, bought new furniture, continue to work in the yard, and are working on planning our next trip. In between all this we have been going to my moms to use her new pool, and hanging out on either ours or our neighbors' deck in the evenings. The neighbor and I also organized the first X Street Block Party and got the word out about that!
So if you have not seen a lot of us, this is why. Because we missed a whole month of summer we have just been attempting to get back to the place where we would normally be at this point in the summer. Now that we are feeling like we have caught back up it's time to start on everything else that will be coming up in life soon, like for me, preparing my classroom that will be filled with 29 six year olds on August 30th and Kevin would like to assure everyone "Do not worry. After a long detour, work on the yard will resume shortly."
Hope everyone else has been enjoying their summers, and we hope to get to see you all very soon!

Our last night...

Just when you think the hype has ended it starts again!!! Today was the welcome home event for the soccer team and it was just as wild and crazy of a day as Sunday was!! 
We could not believe the amounts of people who have returned sporting their orange gear to catch a glimpse if their favorite team. We were going to rent a canal bike to tour some of the 62 miles of canals, but due to the soccer team going to the center via boat in the canal, they were not renting today. Most of the canals were closed down and to be honest it might have been really embarrassing pedaling our boat down canals lined with thousands and thousands of people.
Instead we went to a firestation and visited then walked through the famous square where all the parties have been, and are still, going on! Next we headed to a park to sit and read in the sunshine.
It just so happened we were walking home as the boat with the players was traveling under the bridge we were crossing so I jumped on Kevs shoulders and snapped a couple of quick pictures! Nice timing seeing how most of the people had been standing there for four hours! 
Now we are in our room getting ready to pack for the final time. It's a weird feeling. Some sadness to know that our dream of spending time in Europe has come to an end, some excitement to get home, see everyone, sleep in our own bed, work in our yard and just go back to normal life, and some dread to sit in a tiny little awful airplane seat for another 13 hours :( 
This morning at breakfast we spent time reflecting on all the things this trip has brought us. We had to sit and think (and read the blog) to even remember all of the things we have done and seen these last three weeks and everyone of them brought smiles to our faces. Kevin said he has been reminded what's important in life, and that his truck, without four wheel drive really isn't as life ruining as it felt before :) He said it is so easy to get wrapped up in silly things and make big deals out of things that really don't matter when your home. Once you have the opportunity to remove yourself from the situation you can get a clearer look at what is really important. He also has regained excitement for working on our yard and house with this much needed break that he so deserved. I have been reminded just how great Kevin and I are together. When placed in a situation where its just him and I, with no distractions- no phone calls, barely any Internet or tv, no friends, no family and maybe most impact of all, no dogs, we still have so much fun and laugh and i've remembered how fun it is to just sit and talk to each other. I understand the importance of traveling together, especially once you have kids, more now than ever! There have been many of stressful situations and compromises on this trip and somehow we have made it through them all without ever putting a damper on our trip. Sure, we argue, but as the couple who had been married over 50 years that we met in Ireland told us "People who don't argue have no excitement in their lives. There is no way two people can or should agree all the time!" So among many many other things this trip has done for us, it has reminded me of what a great team Kevin and I make and how lucky I am to have found such an amazing man to spend my life with. We truly feel blessed for this opportunity and amazing experience! 
I appreciate all of you who have followed our journey and shared you excitement and enthusiasm with us! Without all o your support this trip may have been more difficult for us! We cannot wait to share our almost 1,000 pictures (no Patti, I will not be scrapping all of these!) with anyone who dares to ask! And we are so excited to see everyone again! It's been a long time!!! 
Thanks again! See some of you tomorrow!!! Bon-voyage! 

Rainy Monday in Amsterdam

Well today started out a little, actually more like a lot, wet. We went into a store and came out to a monsoon!!! We decided we could go sit in our room, or buy umbrellas and move on. Seeing as how the forecast called for rain the entire day we decided to get ourselves umbrellas and keep moving! 
We walked to the fire station up the road and tried to visit so Kevin could trade a shirt like he did in Dublin, but no one came to the door, so we walked around and looked in the bay doors where we found the all out back laying on floaties in a blow up pool... Looked like typical firefighter business to me. We might try to go buy there again tomorrow.
Next we walked to the Heineken brewery and found some great souvenirs! And right down the road from that was a street market that we walked through and got these delicious little dough ball things covered in powdered sugar and butter. We don't know what they were, but they were yummy! 
We went to dinner and walked around town some more this evening noticing the drastic change in atmosphere compared to yesterday. There is no sign if people in orange anymore, the banners have all been removed and the streets have all been cleaned of beer cans and bottles. Life has returned to normal for these people, and it was a nice welcome change for us today. One day of excitement was plenty.
We have settled down and are beginning to run pretty low on energy. Plus the weather today made us feel like we were home and it made us both think about our little girls all day long. We could not be more ready to smooch those two!! 
Tomorrow is going to be sunny again and we have a few more things on our list to do (that we couldn't do today in the rain), and then we will be packing to come home. We are feeling ready now to be at our house and have life back to normal, but we will enjoy our last day to it's fullest!! 
See you all soon! 

World Cup 2010

I wish I could find the words to describe this city today... All I can think of would be MAYHEM!!!! Holy smokes it has been crazy! I have seen more orange today than my entire life combined. The funny thing is, once you leave the couple of blocks where the big screens are set up, it settles right down. This is nice because if you don't want to be where everyone else is, you really don't have to be (besides the people driving by and honking and yelling). I really have never seen anything like this. Our hotel is right around the corner of one of the squares where the people are gathered (as well as cops, ambulances and riot squads) and while typing this we have had two helicopters fly over head.
Today was another fun one here! With all the excitement there was never a dull moment. We decided to walk around a quiet and beautiful neighborhood of Amsterdam, called Jordaan. Then we decided to move here. It was peaceful and relaxed with quiet canals separating the two sides of the street. We also met a hairless dog who we stopped and pet in this neighborhood... Totally gross!!!
Next we headed to the Anne Frank House. What a truly moving experience. I was in tears numerous times standing in the annex reading her words. There are still things like the lines on the walls where they measured the girls while living there, and the pictures Anne put on her walls to make it look more "cheerful". The feeling in there is one of fear and hope combined. Honestly an experience I will never forget. Read the book and the make the trip, it's worth it.
Next we risked our lives and went to take pictures of one of the places where the game is showing! Unreal!!! Then we decided to eat dinner on the other side of town :) At
dinner we talked to a nice man who informed us that this is not typical life here, and that it should settle down tomorrow, but we really aren't too concerned.
What an experience this has been! By the looks of it tomorrow morning should be pretty quiet, and this town is going to be completely trashed!! 
Gotta go watch the game!!! 

Welcome to Amsterdam

Well here we are in our air conditioned hotel room that has a fluffy bed and extra pillows for Kevin! He is so excited and is calling it the nicest hotel he has ever seen (it's really not, but after where we have been it feels that way). We are feeling relieved and content. Plus our day started off on a great foot when we were in first class on our three hour train ride here! It was awesome!! 
Once we got here we just started off walking. This city is much smaller than where we have been, but believe me, it's busy! We were told when we checked in that they are expecting one million people to be here tomorrow for the game, and then again on Tuesday when the players return and they have a welcome home celebration for them. This should keep us busy and entertained. Even with the ridiculous amounts of people it really doesn't feel that bad! It is however a very very alternative city, with drugs and hookers everywhere! I told Kev I feel like a sweet innocent nun here, because I am truly shocked!
As we walked we ran into the Red Light District where the entire time we walked I found myself with my jaw dropped! It was really something else, with a church in the middle, with a monument outside dedicated to all sex workers. Strange. 
We can both already tell we will really enjoy our time here. It is sunny but not too hot, we are very centrally located, and the atmosphere is just very laid back. This was a perfect city to end our trip in (maybe minus the world cup excitement)! 
So look for us tomorrow in the sea of one million! Kevin will be the one wearing a crisp new orange shirt :) But I might be easier to find as the only one not wearing an orange shirt. Go Netherlands!!!