Meet My Cousin Kim and Check Out Her Blog

I don’t often write about other bloggers, but today is a special case. I want you to meet my cousin Kim.

In my mind, I still think of her as “Kimmy,” because that’s what she was when we were kids. I’m not sure she would appreciate me calling her that anymore! Kim and I were close in age but lived in different states. Thus, we didn’t get to see each other much but had a lot in common.

One of my most vivid memories as a child was visiting Pittsburgh from Indiana around Spring Break. We went to stay with Kim, her parents, and her younger brother. It was confusing because our parents weren’t there with us. A few days into the trip, we learned that our grandfather on the other side of the family had passed away and that is why we were in Pittsburgh. I didn’t have any clothes to wear to the funeral, so my aunt gave me some of Kim’s dress clothes. It was one of the most emotional weeks of my young life and Kim was there to help me through it.

Over the years a lot of family drama resulted in us completely losing touch for almost two decades.

Then…bam! Thank you, Facebook! We were able to reconnect. It turns out that we actually still have a lot in common, including blogging. She recently started a site about her adventures in parenting, teaching, and eating her way around Pittsburgh (which is going to take a long time). Today I asked her to write an article about being a “teacher mom,” because I think it is a great perspective for many of my readers with school coming up.

Below is an excerpt from that post. I hope that you will visit her site to read all of it and maybe bookmark it to check back in with her every now and again. She is entertaining beyond belief!

Back to School Thoughts from a Teacher Mom (from Nailed It! Always Entertaining…)

This is the time where we are preparing for a fresh, new start with a new group of eager learners.  However, it’s a sad time of year, because we are spending less time with our own children.  The upside for me is that my daughter is going to kindergarten, so she’s beginning her own new adventure and my boys are continuing at a daycare that they and I love.

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I’m not complaining, because I wouldn’t trade this career for any other…except maybe being a talk show host, but since that is unlikely, I’ll stick to what is realistic.  Being a teacher and a mom are the two most rewarding things I’ve ever done.  What else can you do to see growth, development, and enjoy the fantastic gifts that each child has?

Let me share a first grade story and a fifth grade story:

As a first year teacher and  first grade teacher, I was always nervous about “losing” a student.  First graders are wily breed.  They are unpredictable and you have no idea what thoughts are going to carry them.  One afternoon while I was teaching math, I lost a kiddo!  I know!  How do you lose a kid when they’re in the classroom, sitting in their seats, engaged in a lesson?  I cannot answer that question.  I turned around to write something on the chalkboard and when I turned back around to face the class, Joe was GONE!  His desk was in the center of the room and somehow in a nano second, he had disappeared into thin air!  I asked if he had left the room.  I thought he might have had a restroom emergency.  The other kids all looked at each other shrugging.  They didn’t see Joe leave.  I asked the girl who was sitting next to Joe where he had gone.  She dipped her head very close to the carpet and looked in the direction of his desk.  I went to join her.  I found Joe under his desk.  He had no idea how he had arrived in this place.  He thought he might have fallen off of his chair.  Oh the mysteries of first graders!

Read the rest of this post and more from Kim at Nailed It! Always Entertaining…