Let it go, let it go!!

Next week not only begins a new year, but a new me. Next week I'm letting go of my lady bits. Saying so long to my plumbing. It's going to be a doosey of a day and a big ole hill to climb for about 4-6 weeks, but I'm looking at this from a positive place. A place of great change. A place of, "ok, let's do this". It's sort of my own "make it work" moment.

The honest part of me has to admit I'm scared. Actually, more scared than I thought I was going to be. Had a nightmare last night. Was sick to my stomach and shaking before my pre-op appointment this morning - where we found out it's going to be a bit bigger of a surgery than we originally anticipated. I'll probably be scared for a while. I wan't quite sure what I was scared of until my husband asked. Then I had to name it. I had to narrow it down and recognize it.

Turns out, I'm not so afraid of the surgery or the pain or the recovery. I'm afraid of me. Of a new me. Of a person I don't recognize as me. Since the whole kit and caboodle are coming out, I'm headed straight for Instapause. No easy slide into "the change". I'm getting a good solid gut punch of here it is. And that is scary. We've all heard the jokes and the stories.

So... now what.

When I stated my fear out loud, I sort of found myself figuring it out. My perspective began organizing a way, a path to head towards. My guy nodded in agreement as I spoke of taking this as a milestone and using it to put me on a road to better health. Then he looked me in the eye and said, "Well you're going to change. You can either own that change or be owned by it." My senses tunneled in and took those words straight to my heart. He's right. He's absolutely right. I have the ability to own this and to make my life better. Make it what I want it to be. I can own this change.

So... that's what.

It's a bit of kismet that I recently won a 21 day health challenge package. I can use that as the kickstart to an upward trajectory of consciousness - conscious of eating habits, food choices, fitness goals, exercise, movement, outlook, thought processes, mood, general approach to life and happiness.

I can't say how much of this process I'll document or share. All I know is that I'm putting this out there right now. All I know is what I hope to do. What I do know is none of this is going to be easy, but the good stuff rarely is. I'll probably fall at some point. Maybe more than once... or a dozen times.   If you see me on the ground, you're welcome to lend me a hand, kick my ass or just shout, "get up!" I'll appreciate you for it, even if I'm grumbling as I say thank you.

Here's to a transformative 2016! Transforming for the better!

Why I love this teacher

I've been spouting off several times about how much I love the school Pax is going to, but right now I want to say how much I love the teacher he has and how sad I am that she is moving to a different school next year. Below is a small sample of who she is and what she does.

The last week of school before Winter Break, we were lucky enough to have a bit of a snow. The grounds crew shoveled or plowed or something the playground and walkways, and created a sort of hill on the grassy area. While most teachers stayed inside to avoid the cold, our teacher grabbed a plastic tub, told the kids to get their coats and turned it into a sledding adventure. The kids took turns and helped each other out and all had fun.

When another student found a huge ice block, she didn't yell, "put that down". She said, "Wow! That's cool!" and encouraged kids to look deeper into the chunk of frozen molecules. Her natural curiosity inspires curiosity, which in turn inspires learning. Education comes from getting on your hands and knees, digging into the elements and asking questions. This is what learning should look like, sound like and feel like. This is Expeditionary. She is Expeditionary. This is the type of creative, out of the box teaching that leads to life long learning. Teachers with the freedom to teach actually can change the world!!

And if you're curious about what these kids learned from this experience, besides patience, team work, kindness, a sense of adventure, conquering fears, working with nature as opposed to against it, gravity, velocity, math, science, molecular biology, coping with and overcoming challenges, friction, force, inertia... other than all that, not much. ;o)

Halloween Crew Party!!

Ok, so I've been posting lots of groovy things Pax's new school does and how awesome everything is. Well, it just keeps getting more and more awesomer!! This week we had a big class Halloween party followed by a school wide costume parade and then followed by a super fun Pumpkin Eve fundraiser!! The pics I'm posting in this one is just from the class and class party. It was a super groovy dance party complete with disco balls!!! Every one boogied after getting some good yummies in their tummies. We had tons of cute crafts for the kiddos to do too  - q-tip skeletons, paint your own pumpkins, color haunted houses, foam character frames, etc. The families and kidlets in this class continue to blow me away with just how stinking amazing they all are! Everyone pitched in how they could and we all had a blast!!! Thanks fearless leader Susan and thanks parents and grandparents for making the day spooktacular!!!

(by the way, I didn't take the time to edit these, so they are not the best pics ever. Just sharing the fun!)

Starting the day, walking to school like a Frankenstein

We always begin class with the most fantastic idea - books and breakfast!! {parents stay and read with kids for the first 30 minutes of school. There is free breakfast provided to ensure everyone starts off with some nutrition. Every school should do this every day!!!

And now the party begins!!!

He took off Frankenstein and became Steve Jobs