Professionalism

Working and being a mom is hard. I'm exhausted but I have to find the strength to clean, make dinner, and then show each of my children some much needed attention.
It'll get easier, I hope. If I can get organized and on top of things at work, I can come home with a clear head and really devote myself to my family.
I do have to tell a good work story. I'm a huge worry wart and I usually think I'm failing at most things, but today I was validated. This week my principal asked if she could bring in some other principals to observe how I keep students engaged. My first thought was 'I must be that bad that she's bringing in other principals to observe me to come up with ideas to fix me' of course I'm way off, but my ridiculous brain feeds me these untruths. The day of the observation I find out that there will be 20 principals in my room. 20! You can assume that I'm freaking out. So I pair my kids up and give them a leveled reader. I had them practice a 'read, cover, share'. They would read a paragraph, cover it up, then ask their partner to tell them what they heard or remembered. The principals literally filled my room. All had clipboards and were taking copious notes. I could not make eye contact. when I did, I got all sorts of anxious. as they left I recognized several principals that I interviewed with this summer. I was sure they wouldn't remember me. So I thought it went ok. But I never heard anything back about it. Until today. According to my principal, out of the 5 classrooms they visited, mine showed exceptional student engagement. It was everything they had wanted to see. Nothing but super compliments. And the cherry on top? One of the principals that I interviewed with, remembered me, and said that she can't believe that she didn't snag me when she had the chance.
Oh yea, huge smile on my face.
And...
At the twins' check up, they are at the 50-75th percentile for everything!
I have a happy and healthy family, and a job that is going great.
Oh, and to top off our day, Adeline's birthday present from grandma came in today. A huge inflatable bounce house. Once winter really sets in, and it's dark all day, this thing will come in handy.
I'm thankful for my family, I'm thankful for my long distance friends, and I'm thankful that The Lord has really been taking care of us in the last frontier.