Look Out, World!

Wow, I feel SO accomplished today! This last week has been what I will affectionately call the Week from Hell, with back-to-back HUGE field trips with tons of variables that could have gone horribly wrong. Luckily, they both went just fine, but I was frantically busy in the days leading up to them, and both mentally and physically exhausted afterwards. It's a lot of work making these things happen-- one thing I most definitely did not realize as a kid!

So my main focus this week was on those two trips, and making sure everything was in order. In the evenings, after I had gotten my other work done, I spent time editing my most recent photo session so I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore (Gus mailed out the CD for me yesterday-- yes!). Still, coming into the weekend, I was getting more and more stressed about everything that needed to get done. I needed to finish grading the big reports my students wrote. I needed to do all of their report cards, which is hugely time-consuming! I had to get some things ready for our Promotion ceremony on Tuesday. I needed to print a number of pictures from our field trip to give to various people. Oh, and on top of all that work-related stuff, I needed to pack for our cruise and figure out what, if anything, I needed to buy in preparation for the trip. And get all our transportation figured out. And print out various reservation confirmations. Oh, and also be a mommy and take care of the kids. Yup. Kind of overwhelming.

I am, however, pleased to report that I had accomplished 99% of this stuff by 3pm today!!! I was like a machine! Throw in several loads of laundry and a load of dishes, and it was just insane how much I got done. I even took Maya to the store to get a few more things for our trip. The only thing that is not 100% complete is the packing, and that's because the rest of the things I need to pack will be in use until the last minute. YAY!!! I really buckled down and vowed not to stop until it was all done, and I did it! Granted, the kids watched way too much television in the process, but we'll make up for it tomorrow when I have lots of free time and am way less stressed out. Besides, Maya was really into the packing, as you can see:

Silly kid! She kept calling the suitcase her sleeping bag, and pulling things on top of her while pretending to sleep. I ended up moving the suitcase to the bed so that I could actually put things in it!

At any rate, this is it! The home stretch! The hardest part is behind us, and this next week promises to be pretty fun now that I've gotten the hard stuff taken care of. Hallelujah!