January 2013

January brought us back to real life. We loved our break, but back to work and school we must go. Izabel learned all about birds at school and can now identify birds I've never even heard of. She also finished her 4th reader and started on her 5th. As soon as she gets to number 6 she gets her advanced phonics book so she is working hard to get to this goal. I love that she pushes herself! I wonder where she gets her ambition?!?! Tanner learned a ton of nursery rhymes and we enjoy singing them at bath time and in the car. His speech is coming along and he still has therapy twice a week. He is loving his gymnastics class. He goes at the same time as Izzy but they are in different classes. He just goes to have fun and is so much stronger than we realized. He can already pull himself up on the bar and flip over all by himself. Izabel is seriously working on getting her splits and cartwheels.

I had to go to Richmond for the Virginia Association of Career and Technical Educators Legislative Conference towards the end of the month. Since I have ambitions to become a CTE administrator this was an important networking and learning opportunity for me. I was a little hesitant and out of my league but I loved it. We met with state delegates and senators and discussed all kinds of issues. I met with CTE administrators from around the state and administrators from the department of education. I took my state officer as well and she did a great job representing DECA. I'm so glad I went and I am looking forward to more opportunities to become involved with this organization. 

General Assembly Voting Session

Brian, our VA DECA President, and Lexy, my State Officer, at the General Assembly

CTE State Officers from different organizations around the state

Lexy and I with State Senator Carrico

We had to leave early Friday because the forecast was calling for snow. I know a lot of you that read this blog think an inch or two of snow is a normal day, but around here we don't know how to drive in it and we don't have the equipment to deal with it so it causes havoc. Getting from Richmond to Hampton was no problem but getting from Hampton to Virginia Beach (27 miles) took over an hour because it started snowing so hard and so fast. On Saturday Noah had to work so I took the kids outside to play. Tanner has never gotten the chance to play in the snow since he was so little and sick the last time we got any accumulation. They had a great time followed up by some yummy cocoa which is quite the treat in our house!

Goodbye 2012!

2012 was a good year for us. We started the year off in a wonderful place as a family and we have so many memories of times together this year. Both kids started going to school full time and Noah graduated! We've laughed and cried and worked hard...but we've had lots of fun and spent time with family and great friends. We start this year with big goals and we will continue working hard and playing harder. Enjoy some pictures from the past year and stay tuned for updates from our crazy life through 2013. Happy New Year Everyone!!

We started the year off with our annual ski trip and spent lots of time snuggling on Baby Rowan!

Izabel continued improving in gymnastics and met her favorite Princess Belle. Tanner turned three and we started spending our days in the pool and at the beach. Aunt Theresa graduated from ODU and Noah's family came to town to celebrate. We had a wonderful visit!

More beach days and the 4th of July were a blast. The kids got really good at bowling with their summer pass. Noah took the kids to Vermont and they did lots of fun activities. When school was back in session both kids looked much older and began spending the day learning through play.

Beauty and the Beast went trick-or-treating on Halloween and we celebrated Noah's graduation! I passed my National Board Teaching certification and we enjoyed our Christmas break.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year and everyone was far too good to us! The kids got a huge new swing set thanks to Mimi, Papa, Grandpa, and Aunt Theresa. We are so thankful that everyone went on this with us! We are also very thankful for Auntie Ann, Uncle JK, Joe and Sherri for helping to build it just in time for Christmas and to Gigi for keeping the kids occupied during the process. We have been playing all week and have been enjoying the swing set along with the 47 puzzles the kids received - that was all they asked for! We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!

Visiting Santa

Between the school semester ending for both Noah and I, and sheer craziness at work....let's just say Christmas activities have been limited. We finally got out on Tuesday night to go see Santa and Amy and Ray brought Rowan along as well. We wanted to coordinate their outfits for the picture but the girls haven't gotten their dresses yet, so we got out their new Christmas jammies and ended up getting the cutest picture. I'm so happy they cooperated and they had a lot of fun together!

We've also been having a great time with Charlie the Elf this year. He's been getting into quite a bit of mischief playing with the toys and doing some extreme sports around the house. I can't wait to see what he gets into next!!

Football

Last weekend was all sports. On Friday night we went to the ODU v. VCU basketball game. Of course this has not been a great basketball season for us so we knew it would be a tough game, but we went with a good friend and had a great time. Saturday morning was the big playoff game with ODU playing Georgia Southern. We have had an amazing football season and we would have loved to see our team go all the way, but they couldn't make it past GSU once again. It was heartbreaking but an 11-2 season's not too shabby! Then on Sunday Noah and I went to the Redskins v. Ravens game in D.C. The Redskins won in overtime. We had a wonderful time with my best friend and some new friends. We suffered through the first couple days of the week but we had a lot of fun!

Tailgating at ODU

FedEx Field

DECA Power Trip

A few updates have been posted so be sure to scroll down!

This past weekend I took two students to Washington D.C. for DECA's Ultimate Power Trip. This event combines the North Atlantic Region and the Southern Region for a leadership event. The students did a scavenger hunt on the National Mall in the Smithsonian Museums along with workshops and competitive events, which they won! We had a great time and enjoyed the weekend but I was happy to come home and I am even happier for a long weekend ahead!

Scavenger hunt at the Natural History Museum

Moonlight Monument Tour

Competition Winners

Whitney S Ketchledge, NBCT

That's right folks...I have a few new letters behind my name (I also get to have M.Ed.!) Last year I started the process of becoming a National Board Certified Teacher. National Boards is an organization that works to define the standards for certifying accomplished professional educators and recognize excellent teachers and leaders. The process is very intense requiring a huge portfolio of writing, evidence, student work, and videos of you teaching along with a six hour exam! It took me from August through June to complete the entire process (although most of the work was completed in March). The test was in June and then the waiting began. It was so painful waiting for six months to find out if you accomplished something you worked so hard for. It was just this past Saturday (November 17, 2012) that I woke up and logged in to see...

 I couldn't believe it! For most people this is a 2-3 year process. You have 3 years from your start date to complete it and 70% of teachers have to resubmit during year 2 in order to score enough points to reach the certification level of 275. I expected to have to do the same but I woke up to a score of 326! I am beyond thrilled and excited for this accomplishment. It was a lot of hard work and it means a lot to me to have this. I am still kind of in shock, but super excited!

To learn more about NBPTS click here!

Stay tuned for some exciting updates as I make the rounds of faculty and school board meetings along with the other teachers in my district who passed this year, and I'll be back soon to catch up on Halloween and now Thanksgiving as well :)