Five Thoughts:

1. At ten, the daycare is having their Fall Festivals, which includes a bounce house and little games and pumpkin painting. Isaac has been pumped up about this all week. The moment he woke up this morning, he put on his Bumblebee costume (Transformer, not insect). Baby is wearing a cute little Halloween themed outfit from Target but I was not able to complete her costume before today. I was feeling so awake and alive there for about a week but then I have gone back to feeling like I’m drowning under all this work.
2. Elliot’s school’s “Croctoberfest” (they’re the Crocodiles) is right after work so we’ll also be going to that. The kids will bounce themselves silly; they also have games and a velcro wall, etc. Should be pretty fun! But I will also be exhausted when it’s over, I’m sure.
3. I have four student conferences this morning and they are each a problem child in their own ways: slow, absent a lot, late to class, and confused, respectively. I’m not necessarily looking forward to speaking with them.
4. I just purchased my first bit of Christmas goodies. I was on thinkgeek.com and saw some neat little things so I went ahead and got them. Three of the four items I got are really stocking stuffers but hey, I’m getting ahead. I like to buy things little at a time; this way I’m not freaking out in the second week of December. I’ll probably feel stressed as it is, with my parents coming up.
5. OK, it’s about 30 minutes later and I have spoken to two of the four problem children. Oh, they had problems but the talks didn’t go as horribly as I expected. Not to toot my own horn (which, btw, is a phrase Elliot just learned and now overuses) but I think I am just becoming a veteran teacher now. I know this stuff like the back of my hand (to use another cliche.)

Five photos:

This morning’s sunrise (x2)

From the younger kids’ Fall Festival (x3)