I know, I know...

It's been a while since I have updated. To tell the truth, I simply have not had the energy to update until now. Last weekend we were really busy doing who-knows-what. Then, Sunday night I got like 4 hours of sleep. It was terrible and I had NO ENRGY on Monday. The kids were pretty crazy but they were manageable. Monday night I got 4-5 hours of sleep again. Tuesday, I will admit, I was pretty cranky because I was so tired. Not only that, but the kids were insane! I don't know why it took them until Tuesday to be crazy, but it was very difficult for me not to lose my cool with them.
Also, I found out a student of mine was in criminal court on Monday. Here is a conversation I had with his homeroom teacher:
me- "Why was he in court?"
her- "Gambling"
me- "Gambling? How can a child his age be gambling?"
her- "He and a small group of other kids set up fights between two kids and then they bet on the winner. And if the two don't fight then this little posse beats up those kids because they didn't fight."
me- Stunned looked on my face... "Are you serious?"
her- "Yep, and one of his older family members was really in charge of it, but he was doing all the dirty-work here at school. Apparently there were $100s being exchanged between these kids."
me- More stunned look...
her- "I don't know what the outcome was, but that is why he was there..."

So those are the kind of kids I am dealing with... Makes life very interesting, to say the least.

On Monday we are going to have a meeting about what our bilingual program will be next year at our school. I am stressing out about it, for no other reason than I want what is best for these kids. It will not make any difference at all for my position at the school, but I am very passionate about the benefits of dual language programs, and or principal is trying to get rid of it. I am just going to have to do what I can with my allotted 5 minutes of speaking time and hope that she is willing to listen and really do what is best for these kids.

The rest of the week was relatively uneventful. Tuesday night we went out to eat for my sister's 21st birthday. Wednesday Jason's family came over so his sister could see our finished kitchen. Thursday we went to my sister's house to have dinner (our new weekly thing). And yesterday my brothers came over for dinner and to spend the evening because my parents went out to eat and went dancing with my sister and her "friend" for her birthday. Tonight my sister is going out "all night" to celebrate her birthday and that means my parents are watching the babies.

I guess those are the major updates. Our house hasn't changed any in the last week. Jason is making some square planters for us to put a garden in. He read up about "square foot gardens" and we are going to try it. We have wanted a garden and we thought doing it in planters will make it a little easier (not as many weeds, smaller commitment, etc) and we won't have to plant a ton of plants. We'll see how it goes!

Time to go figure out how to spend my day and stay warm.