And I have come to savor my weekends.

Except that as a full time teacher, mom, and part-time of those other things I can’t even remember, I realize my weekends are often jammed packed.

Often these things are good things.  Things I like.  Things that help me as a mom, teacher, reader, dinner maker, and friend.

But they often suck up precious hours.

This weekend was one of those busy weekends.

Evelyn's thoughts about a busy weekend

It started with Evelyn’s first swim meet Friday night.  It was a new experience for all of us.  We felt like rookie parents, and I know she wasn’t quite sure what to expect.  It was a lot of fun for all of us.  I’m not sure she loves competing – but she did have fun.

still smiling - even after one of her 3 races

Saturday was filled with jobs around the house and errands.  We did end up at the Saint Paul Winter Carnival for a few moments after dinner.  We saw the ice sculptures and enjoyed some warm coffee/hot chocolate treats.

are they happy? maybe those smiles are frozen?

Sunday afternoon we headed to the Orpheum Theater to see The Lion King.  Wow!  I actually felt so moved by the opening song I felt myself tearing up.  For those few short hours I felt completely transported.  It was an amazing way to spend a Sunday afternoon!  Thanks to Grandma Laurie and Papa Jerry for the perfect Christmas gift for our family!

a happy family - just before the show

It was a lovely weekend.  I spent time with people I love.  I did things I had to do.  I did things I like to do.  And it was busy.

Which I’ve learned isn’t always so bad…

It was kind of a mad flurry to teach up until December 23, and then have Christmas hit us the very next day.  As Evelyn will explain, week one was filled with family and Christmas and activities.

Here it is in Evelyn’s words:

Evelyn had a lot to say about Winter Break

jumping at Zero Gravity

can you feel the sibling love? (he lost his tooth after Evelyn punched him)

Week two of break did seem like a different pace for us.  I had knee surgery on Tuesday which basically kept me home and laying around for the rest of the week.  It was fun to watch movies as a family.  We especially loved sharing our love of Harry Potter to our children.  Now Evelyn and Lars are fans too!

But there wasn’t much action.  There wasn’t a lot of activity.

And that was O.K.

Week two of break really was a break.  A break from our normal rush.  A forced time of quiet and relaxing.  We had to creatively find things to do with each other and things I could do with one leg elevated.

And we did it.

So now it’s back to school.  Ready or not, here we come!

Does it feel different?  Not really.  Not yet anyway.

Yesterday we read our New Year’s letters we wrote last year.  And we wrote to ourselves. We set some goals for ourselves, and recorded who we are in the present.

Writing our new New Year's letter

Writing and Reading - about our past and our future

Here are Evelyn’s highlights of 2011 in no particular order: (we thought it sounded cool to say top 7 of 2011 because it rhymes)

top 7 of 2011

And here are mine:  (i’ll stop at 5 – even though 5 and 11 don’t rhyme)

1.  Traveling – our trips to New York City, Boston, Maine, and my 40th birthday trip to NYC with my cousin, are the top of my list.   It was a wonderful year of going places.  It was a stretch for me, the homebody, and I loved it!  (2012 is the year of saving money so we can travel again.)

2.  Health – As much as it’s not exactly a highlight, Steve’s health issues have been at the forefront of my life these past 5 months.  It took us months to come up with a diagnosis – an inner ear deficit – and we are hopefully moving in a positive direction.  But having a spouse be unhealthy has changed the way I see things.   Life was not exactly easy for a few months, but I realized how grateful I am for doctors, and diagnostic testing, and specialists, and despite how bad our coverage may be – health insurance.  And it made me realize how much I depend on Steve – he is truly my partner in life.

3.  Colleagues – As a teacher, I have come to realize that I can not do this job alone.  There are definitely teachers who do that.  The students come in, and they shut their door and teach.  But I can’t do that.  I need people around me holding me up, supporting me, encouraging, me, and helping me.  My teaching colleagues are amazing men and women who are not only Minneapolis’s finest teachers, they are the BEST friends I could ask for as a teacher.  There are countless moments in 2011 that I have relied on these people day in and day out.  They make me a better teacher, and they make me a better me.

4.  Life coordinator – I like that title most of the time.  I am the Ramgren family life coordinator.  Sometimes I think of myself as the glue that holds our family together.  Sometimes the glue doesn’t always stick.  But between piano lessons, swim team, soccer, school, school work, making lunches, choir, church, and the daily things that keep our lives running – I realize our lives are a balancing act – and I try daily (hourly) to maintain the balance.  And that is a full time job.   And that is a job that I treasure.

5.  Writing – I have always enjoyed writing, and I decided to do more of it in 2011.  I tried writing more with Evelyn on our blog (which has been sorely neglected lately).  I started a blog for my poetry (http://bramgren.wordpress.com/2011/04/27/im-a-poet/).  I gave myself a writing challenge in the month of November – my month of gratitude (http://gratefulramgren.wordpress.com/2011/10/).  I have found a new voice for myself.  It’s not perfect – sometimes it’s not even good – but it’s mine.  And it has been a pleasure to write more.

So what about 2012?  Here we are – in a new year.  What are our goals?

Here is what Evelyn came up with…

Evelyn has some good goals for the new year

As for me?

1.  Continue to write – and continue to refine (redefine, refind) my voice.

2.  Show love – share love – be loving.

3.  Be healthy – however that may look – in what I eat and what I do physically and mentally – I want to live in a healthy place.

Who will we be in a year?  I’m not sure.  But my hope is that we will be people who love deeply and fiercely, and share who we are and what we have with others.  I want my family to be people who will seek justice and love mercy and truly walk humbly with our God.  Here’s to 2012!

Happy New Year.

But once we started going to, and participating in this tradition, we’ve been hooked!

my star boy and the lucia girls

tomtes and star boys and gingerbreads - oh my!

Who doesn’t love men in knickers singing songs in Swedish?  The little tomte’s with their crooked red hats are adorable.  The fruit soup is delicious.  The candles are beautiful.

And all the festivities remind us that we are in the darkness.  But Christmas is coming.  The light will soon be here.

This year Evelyn was a dancer.  It seemed like we waited years and years for her to finally become a tomte – and now she’s a dancer?  Before we know it she’ll be lucia, with the candle crown on her head.

my favorite dancer and star boy -

Read what Evelyn had to say about her day.

Evelyn enjoyed being a dancer at Lucia

It is a special tradition.  It is fun and festive.  It really does remind us of the importance of light in a dark time of year – and in a dark world.

And there is something special about holding fast to tradition.  To doing the same things year after year.  To the familiarity of something.  To remembering our past.

Do I want Lars and Evelyn to speak Swedish?  Not necessarily.  But do I want them to hear those songs each year?  Absolutely!

And to each of you I say – hold fast to your tradition – cling to something from your heritage – and share it with your children – and of coure – God Jul!

Since I don’t have a lot to say about it, I’ll let you read Evelyn’s thoughts.  She had a great trip.

Evelyn's thoughts on Camp St. Croix

Now if only I could get her to spell first correctly.  Perhaps we need more editing before publishing?

Next time…

(ps – they met not me their teachers and ann = and)

And it was.

I felt compelled to take a number of apple shots.  Somehow the colors in the trees were true works of art to me.

apples in tree

color contrast

the red bursts out!

For Evelyn it was about doing something fun with her cousins.  Here is what she had to say about it:

Evelyn had a lot to say

For her it was all about cousins,

Evelyn, Lars, Kirstin, and Joel

the corn maze,

entering the corn maze...

and family fun!

cousins resting with pumpkins

For me, it was all about a beautiful fall day, a lovely drive to a lovely location, good people, and apples of course.

family fun!

So here it is – the weekend after our first week of school.  We are tired, but hanging in there.  I forget how much energy it takes to start the school year.  Don’t get me wrong, it takes a lot of energy all year long, but somehow the first week is unique.  There is routine making and expectation setting and lots and lots of me talking and modeling.

And as a mom, there is an extra energy I pour into making lunches, cleaning backpacks, doing homework, filling out papers, filling out more papers, managing bedtime, and all the things we do as parents to help our kids be successful in school.

But we made it.

Here’s how we looked on the first day of school.

Here are the highs and lows from Evelyn:

Evelyn had good things and challenges

that is a big binder!

As for me and my highs and lows?  I’ll try to summarize:

Top 3 Things from this week:

1.  Lower class size – my school purposefully bought down class size in 3rd grade and it is nice.  I have 20 on my list, and so far 17 have shown up.

2.  Supportive team and colleagues – I know I say this a lot, but I am grateful everyday for the people I work with.  They are amazing men and women who work hard alongside me and with me.  This job can be difficult, and I couldn’t do it without their support.

3.  Genuine excitement about learning.  I have a great group of enthusiastic learners.  They have areas for growth, but I think they are ready for it.  When we passed around an envelope and tried to guess what was inside, they waited with anticipation.  It was a pencil (on day 1) and they shouted and clapped and were truly excited to learn how we use pencils in third grade.  This kind of enthusiasm for learning will make this year fantastic!

And now for the more difficult moments this week:

1.  I win the prize for first student (k-5) suspended.  He got in a fight at the end of the day, and let’s just say it ended poorly.  I guess I also win the prize for first readmit conference first thing Tuesday morning.

2.  Juliana left behind.  On the first day of school, Juliana, who is new to our school, did not know which bus to take home.  I sent her to the place where kids who did not know how they were getting home were supposed to go.  Foolish me.  I thought someone would tell her.  Instead she just sat there until the buses pulled away and I found her still waiting there.  After a few phone calls and help from someone who speaks Spanish (thanks Jose), we got it figured out and her uncle came to get her.  It was so upsetting for her, which made it hard for me.   And just for the record – she rides bus 10 with her cousin Estaban.

3.  Balance!  It was hard this week to come home and maintain the high level of energy needed to be the mom of Lars and Evelyn.  I’m sure I was quite the grouch some nights.  We’re just not in a school year groove yet.  We will be.  But I’m afraid it will take time.  Until then, I’ll keep drinking my coffee, and asking for forgiveness from the people that live with me.

And now – bring on week 2!  There are a couple of Ramgren gals ready!

I thought it would be a good idea to blog about both of these feelings.  It was a good exercise for both of us.

Evelyn admitted it was easier for her to think of things she is worried about, which led to a great discussion on how we can choose what we spend time focusing on.  I’m hoping we can both spend more time thinking about the positives on our lists, than on the things that make us nervous.  Easier said than done.

Here are 3 things we are looking forward to this school year:

Trying to look on the bright side of things

Here are mine:

1.  My students – Workshop week feels strange to be working in my classroom without the students

2.  My colleagues – I work with amazing and wonderful people

3.  Continuing to improve my literacy block with my students

But of course there are things we are both a little worried about.  Here are some of the things that trouble us:

We've all got our worries

My list looks like this:

1.  changes in my schedule

2.  staff changes – additions, subtractions, and movement

3.  finding balance

Evelyn said it well when she told me she has mixed emotions.  So do I.  But as we are frantically getting organized for tomorrow we are feeling both anticipation and anxiety.

Good luck to all of the rest of you starting school this week!  It’s going to be a great year!

And she is ready.

We had visited the school and had a chance to see the 2 fourth grade classrooms a few weeks ago.  I was trying to lower any anxiety that might have been felt about the new school.

So now we’ve visited twice.

Here is what Evelyn had to say about her visit:

Evelyn already likes her teacher!

I love Keewaydin.  It is one of those old school buildings – built in the 1928.  It has beautiful wood floors and lovely huge windows.  There are amazing wooden shelves and closets.  Evelyn’s classroom even has a coat room.  Classic!

built in 1928 - Keewaydin is a classic

And yet it feels a lot like my classroom and my school.  There was the buzz of getting ready the Friday before school starts.  There were teachers in the hallways making plans.  There were supplies being delivered.  There were bulletin boards being made.

And there was Ms. Hall, greeting her families and students.  She is already an important person in our lives and we are thankful for her.  She was smiling and positive and made us feel good about leaving our 4th grader in her care this school year.

Evelyn and Ms. Hall - in Room 103

As a mom, it was wonderful to see Evelyn excited about this new adventure.  She was thrilled to find some names she knew on the desks.  She was chatting with classmates she hadn’t seen for awhile.  She is ready for 4th grade.

Am I?

a 4th grader

And we can no longer be Tales from Third Grade.

I knew this was coming, but it is upon us now.  Evelyn is no longer a 3rd grader.  She really hasn’t been all summer, but I just hadn’t figured out what to do about that.

We have been tossing around a number of possible titles.  I came up with 3rd/4th split.  My cousin Sarah thought of Tales of a 4th grade something.  We thought about Tales from Fourth Grade.

But then Evelyn thought of one of her favorite books by E.L. Konigsburg called From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.  What if our blog was titled something about being “mixed up”?

Our new header shows our mixed-upness.  A special thanks goes to our good friend and fellow blogger Steve Date for helping us with the picture.  We wouldn’t be nearly as mixed up without that great shot.

That’s how we came to this:  The Mixed Up Files of 3rd and 4th grade.

Maybe I have been avoiding this reality for a number of reasons.  Last school year was something special for me – having Evelyn in my grade.  Maybe I thought our blog would be done.   Maybe I was worried that Evelyn wouldn’t want to continue writing with me. Maybe I am afraid for what it means – Evelyn moving on to 4th, while I stay in 3rd.  It is kind of a reality for me as a mom.  Evelyn will continue to move forward in her life – I guess that’s what we do as parents…

But maybe I thought if we just stayed Tales from Third Grade, I could slow down the growing up…

But then again, I don’t really want that.  I want Evelyn to become the amazing young woman she is.  I am so proud of who she is and who she will be.

And hopefully our blog will continue to share our adventures this year – even if we are mixed up.