Go Tigers!!

Princeton pulled out on top once again this week, proving that they are the team to beat this season. They played Columbia this weekend and beat them 42-32. It was a great game, and Brendan was 8 passes for 140 yards. Way to go B!!!

3 Years and Counting...

Yesterday, Kyle and I celebrated our three year anniversary. Even today as I'm writing, I'm amazed at how fast time goes by. It seems like just yesterday that I was slipping into my beautiful weddding dress and attempting to each granola and yogurt as I waited anxiously for the ceremony to begin. Like everything in my life, I was ready early and spent the last hour watching my bridesmaids scury around. It was a beautiful ceremony followed by a reception filled with laughter and loved ones. As Kyle and I got ready to go to dinner last night we reminised about the day.

Kyle is the most amazing man I know, and everyday that we've been married I fall more and more in love with him and can't imagine my life without him in it. He made yesterday so special! At 11:30 I recieved an email letting me know that he was going to pick up lunch and bring it to school. Not only did Kyle pick up food but he ate and laughed amongst the teachers during our lunch break. He has such an amazing personality, they loved him! Then at the end of period 7, Kyle brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers filled with gerbera daisies and a collection of other beautiful flowers all shaded with the colors of spring. Of course my students were excited to be witnesses of this thoughtful gesture. For dinner, Kyle took me to a restaurant called Opah, where we had an amazing meal that came with the best waiter we've ever had. He even treated us to a chocolate soufle for our anniversary!

It was a wonderful evening! I can't wait to spend the rest of my life continuing to fall in love with him over and over again!

An A+ Project!

My students did a fabulous job on the first project they had to complete for me. They were all required to read a book during the summer and then recieved a book report project when they returned to school. I'm so proud of them, I had to post pictures on my blog.


7th Grade

6th Grade

8th Grade

Go Tigers!!

After a rough start last week in their game against LeHigh, Princeton pulled out all the stops and beat Lafayette this week . Averaging over 48 yards after the first half, Tiger fans knew that we were off to a strong start. The Circle family has much to be excited about as Brendan was choosen captain of the team this year. So far he hasn't put many yards on the board, but the team is working hard to give everyone shot at the action. Being his sister-in-law though, I just want the ball to be thrown to him. This is his senior year and we want him to play as much as possible.

If you click on the blog title you, it will link you to the Princeton Tiger's football page where you can tune into their games every Saturday. Not going to lie, it's not as much fun to listen to the game, but I still find myself yelling and cheering at my computer. I'm working on trying to imagine I'm there, although, I don't know a great deal about football, so I get confused when the commentators talk about calls. Speaking of the commentators, I'm mesmorized by the fact that they are able to remember all the players names so they can give the listeners the play-by-play as it's happening. Talk about needing to be on the ball! So great!!!

Stats so far....
Game 1 - Princeton v. LeHigh (L) 32-21
Game 2 - Princeton v. Lafayete (W) 20-14

Brendan Circle
Passes - 5
Yards - 134


Brendan, #6, for the Princeton Tigers!!

Here's my Princeton game experience...


When Lafayette almost scored a touchdown in the first 15 seconds of the game but recieved a penalty!

First touchdown, way to go Kenny Gunter!

2nd touch down, way to go RC!

And the Tiger's WIN the game!!

On my way!!

Tonight I had my third class for my master's research paper. It's a little overwhelming when I look over all the samples and see people who have great ideas and have written 100-150 page papers. Will I be able to do that?! Do I have that much to say, and is it really going to be interesting for this mystery educator with years of teaching experience who is reading it? I know it sounds weird but it stresses me out that they give everyting to us in small chunks and then leave the rest a mystery. Being a language arts teacher for 6, 7, and 8th grades, I need to feel like I can work ahead when I have the extra time. However, I do realize that they have a system in place for a reason and it obviously works otherwise people would probably have anxiety attacks and then never finish their papers, thus resulting in them not recieving their masters. I do not want to be one of those people. Thankfully, I have supportive husband and theres NO WAY he'd let me quit on the home stretch. The good news is that I have chosen my topic, come up with my main research question and written my introduction.

Please keep me in your prayers as I'm working on balancing planning curriculum, grading tests, projects and homework, spending time with Kyle, and writing my thesis paper. If there was ever a time in my life when I needed to remind myself to take on day at a time and keep my eyes on Jesus, I'm sure this is one of them.

Blessings,
Alissa

Is it Christmas yet?

Just kidding! I don't wish that it was Christmas break already, but I'm going to lie, as the 106 student book report projects came in today, I did wish for a day off. It's days like these that I have to remind myself that I DON'T need to get their work graded and back to them in 24 hours, especially when it's a project. I'm tempted to hold onto the projects and head to the beach this weekend to do some grading. Don't you just wish you could spend a day relaxing here....

Circle Custom Creations

As many of you know I launched a children's party planning company in Orange County this summer. I would love your prayer support as I begin to market this business through referrals. I have some mothers who are already interested and am excited about any additional opportunities that might arise. Please check out my blog I'm using as a temporary website until the official one is up and running. All you need to do is click on the title of this blog and it will link you to the site. If you know anyone who might be in need of a party planner (yes, I can do more than children's parties) then please have them contact me.

Bees Mistake!

So, today we had our first field trip of the school year. We packed 106 students and 10 parents/teachers into three beautiful yellow school busses and headed for the beach. How many schools can say that they get to go to the beach for a field trip? While I was a little nervous about having so many middle school students in an open space, I mostly hoped to have some of my voice left at the end of the day. With all the groud rules set and a short devotional time with our homeroom class we let the kids loose. After an hour of free time, a couple of the teachers, a group of students and I are chatting about life and punking 6 graders when we hear ear piercing screams. All of a sudden a swarm of bees, and not just any a few bees, many ANGRY bees begin to attack our students. One by one, students begin crying because they've been stung, and the teachers are rapidly pulling out First Aid kits to help. Trying to figure out why we were being attacked, I asked a student what had happened, and this is where our day get's a little more exciting. Four boys were throwing rocks at a bees nest and managed to hit it dead on. Of course if someone was throwing rocks at you what you would you do? Exactly, they attacked. We had 6 students and 1 teacher get stung and thankfully all those who were allergic to bees, and would've needed an Epi pen, managed to avoid this dramatic scene. I felt bad for our young boys, who knew they had made a bad choice and had to watch all their classmates get stung. I explained to them that while it wasn't their best decision that after a weekend of rest and relaxation, all those who were stung would be over it by Monday.

The rest of the day went off without a hitch, although I think the teachers were more tired than the students by the time we departed at 2:00. I'm not blogging about this story because I am angry that it happened, more that it made for an interesting field day for me. Since it was my first field trip, I hope I don't always begin the day worrying about what could possibly go wrong, but rather look forward to enjoying the learning experience with my students.

Princeton has their first football game tomorrow! GO TIGERS!! and #6!

A Weekend Getaway!

After a very hectic first three days of school, Kyle and I packed up the car and headed for the hills. My cousin Jamie, her husband Andrew, and their puppy Lucy joined us for a relaxing weekend in Big Bear. If there is any spot where you feel completely surrounded by the wonders God has created, it's in Big Bear. The air is clean, the trees are green, and the fast pace life the the city is non-existent. Sometimes it's a good idea to take a break and gain a new perspective on the world around you. Saturday night we took a dip in the spa, and with all the lights out we could actually see the Milky Way!! Words cannot even begin to express the amazingness (is that a word, if not, it is now) layed out before us. Looking at the night sky, I'm not sure how anyone could dispute God's existence and His perfect plan when he created us. No matter what anyone says, we did not evolve into the "creatures" we are today.

With a weekend of basking in the warm sun, napping, spending time with family, bowling, and eating at our favorite local spot, The Grizzly, Kyle and I were refreshed and ready for a new week. We have several meetings this week, so last weekend was the perfect time to take a short vacation.

On a side note, the first three days of school went really well and I'm looking forward to a new year of teaching. I'm excited to try out new lesson plans I've created. We have over 100 students in the middle school this year, so I'm working hard to learn all our sixth graders, and new students names as quickly as possible. Last week we had three minimum days so it was a lot of talking and establishing the classroom environment and expecations for the year. Today we began our full day schedule and to be honest, I'm not as tired! I know that sounds strange, but we were able to dive into the curriculum and I didn't feel as rushed. Friday we are taking the middle schoolers to the beach on a field trip. I'm praying for nice weather in the 70's or 80's, otherwise we all know I will burn!! Thank you for all your prayers last week, please continue to pray for me and my students this year.


Kyle and I at our favorite bowling alley in Big Bear


Here we are being goofy for the camera


I know Kyle looks so serious in this picture, but I really like how it came out so I couldn't resist putting it on here.

Take a deep breath....exhale

School started today
It was a long day
I have no voice from repeating the same information over and over again =)
Back to School Night was a success
Been up since 6a.m. and now it's 9p.m
Goodnight, I'm going to bed.....

First Day of School...

If you are reading my blog this morning, please pray for all our teachers and students as we begin our first day of school and Back to School Night tonight. It's an exciting and nerve wrecking day all at the same time. Please pray that God will calm our nerves throughout the day and our students won't feel overwhelmed by all the information we need to give them. I'll write more tonight.

Friends & Babies!!

To celebrate the Labor Day holiday Kyle and I went over to bbq with our friends, Justin and Lori. Kyle and Justin lived next store to each other growing up and managed to get into a heap of trouble together. But as they say, boys will be boys. Three years ago Justin and Lori moved to Colorado and have since had two children. Well.... Calee is 19 months and Abby is 3 months old so maybe I should say babies. They are adorable!!!!! We had so much fun spending time with both little girls and eating Cold Stone ice cream with Justin and Lori. Kyle and I are coming up on our three year anniversary...I might start dropping hints to him soon.... j/k. =)


Here's Calee and I

This is Abby

So it's true...

As I was reading my friend Kelly's blog, she added a new entry about a survey she took. Being the curious person I am, I decided to take the blogging quiz myself, and the results only confirm my suspicion.

67%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle² - Dating Site

One Final Walk Through and I'm Going Home to Bed!

After a week of teacher's inservices and disaster training, I'm not going to lie, I'm EXHAUSTED!!! I'm pretty sure that I'm going to have to buy more coffee this weekend just to help me adjust to getting up many hours earlier than I was over the summer. I did learn one important thing this week... if an earthquake hits, Kyle and I have NO preparations needed to hold us over until we are rescued. Hmmm, guess I need to add a flashlight to my Target list. At Wednesdays training I found out that I'm on the search and rescue team, not sure how I'm feeling about that, but they tell me my adrenaline will kick in and I'll be fine. I don't deny this assumption, however, I'm anticipating being the "screamer" should such an disaster occur. Would I be able to re-enter a building I couldn't wait to exit in order to save other people's lives. Yes, but not without some hesitation if I'm going to be honest, and isn't that what blogs are for.... honesty? I love all of our students and I know that if I was put to the test, I would do my best to pass with flying colors (yes, that is the over achiever in my speaking), but if I didn't believe in God and the knowledge that I'm going to end up in Heaven, I'm not so sure.

Although we did spend a great deal of the week in meetings, I was able to spend much needed planning time in my room, and put the finishing touches on my "decor." Since I moved some things around, I decided to put my final walk through pictures up on my blog. If you are reading this, and have a personal relationship with Jesus, please pray for my students and myself this year. It's going to be a wonderful, exciting year, and I feel that the pictures will help you picture me teaching my students in my classroom as you are praying for our school year. I was also put in charge of the Middle School bulletin board, and since I am SO proud of it, I had to uplaod the picture. I made the annoucement today that no one's allowed to ever take it down because it took me 2 hours to put up today. It might not look like it, but it takes forever to measure paper and make sure when you put it up it's not crooked.

Well, I'm heading to bed. I babysat last night and tonight for a wonderful family at the Ritz-Carlton, and I'm going back again tomorrow. After this past week, I'm ready to sleep in!






Middle School Bulletin Board