An M-Team Reunion

Back in the beginning of my teaching career, I had the privilege of teaching a group of students for two years in a row. They weren't just any students, but quickly became like family. They would come very early in the morning and wait for me by my door and then stay with me all afternoon until dinner time and walk me to my car in the evening. They didn't want to go home. :( Since they were one of the lowest performing classes in the lowest performing school in the entire district of 23 elementary schools...we had some work to do. They needed a family, a safe place to land ... and we became just that. The M-Team. I'll never forget these kids and how much my heart hurt for their struggles and their pain. They were such a good group of kids put right smack in the middle of some of life's greatest challenges. Together, as a team, we rose to be one of the highest performing classes and what's even more important...they came to truly believe in themselves and had the confidence to face the never-ending obstacles that kept coming their way. For every one of their victories, my heart swells with pride. They are my heroes, for sure.

Since then, I've kept in contact as much as I could. I took them ice-skating, out to restaurants, talked on the phone, wrote letters, etc. I went to everything they invited me to and recently watched them graduate from high school. I had promised them I'd be there and I had begged them to finish high school and be there, too. I recently just invited as many as I could find over for dinner and we enjoyed a repeat of what we had done so many years ago when I had invited them over when they were 10.

I rummaged for some pictures from way back and found these...

Though they look really bored, we were enjoying a movie of the book we had read in class. :)

And now, 8 years later ...

My precious chamacos are all grown up. I was so blessed to have them over and hear about where they are at and what they are doing. It was extremely special to hear their memories of our class and what they appreciated about their teacher. They went around the table, each sharing their appreciation and love. It was something else to see my boys at 18 years old, being mushy and sentimental. They proved one of the sayings I have posted on my wall at school... that people might not remember what you say or do, but they'll remember how you made them feel. I don't think there's any doubt in their minds how I feel about them. :) Their class has shaped me significantly and continues to be my inspiration.

For all the critics out there of the book/movie, Freedom Writers... the M-Team is proof that it surely can be done. :) If you haven't read the book, I'd recommend it. (I had taken my class to go see the movie years ago and just last week while the kids were over, one student said, "We are the Freedom Writers, Mrs. Martin." In spite of alllll the hurdles, it's so very inspiring!

Kyle's Ride

We all got to pick Kyle up from school today! Gavin was so ecstatic to see his brother ride in on the big, yellow bus! He waved, smiled, and squealed so much it was adorable! On my staff meeting days Rudy comes to get him after the bus brings him to my school. On this particular day, a colleague happened to be standing by and snapped this shot of all of us exploring the inside of the bus. Gavin didn't want to get off! :)

Love my family and getting to be all together in the middle of a work day!

Our Little Put Put Cruise

Rudy was given the gift of a 90-minute harbor boat rental, so today we went out to our old stomping ground for a little boat ride. We used to take the kayak out a lot when we just had Kyle, but Gavin is a bit of a different story, so we haven't gone out as a family much. We roped Michelle into joining us so we'd have a few more hands available to keep Gavin inside the boat. :) 

Speaking of the guy, this fella likes his glasses upside down. Silly Gavie.

 A precious moment where Kyle was being so sweet to help his brother down the ramp and off the big last step. They held hands all the way to our boat.

 Our Captain

 The Brothers

 Thankfully, the whole front section had a plexi-glass covering so Gav was safe while up front.

 While Rudy trolled for some fish, Kyle was more than willing to take his place as Captain.

Fun times. 

Family Pictures

For those of you who are fb friends, I suppose this is quite redundant...but for the sake of our blog journal, I'd like to post a collection of some recent family photos my sister took of us. 

The Martin Family, 2014

 

 Thank you, sister, for all the hassle and work you graciously went through for us! ;)

A GG Visit!

Yay for Thanksgiving break and the chance to be home for 5 whole days !! After a walk to the donut/coffee shop, fort building, and endless rounds of hide-n-go-seek, I'm attacking my laundry list of things to do .... and this here blog is one of them. :)

Gina came out to visit us over a month ago... we didn't know for sure when she would arrive, so we waited to tell Kyle. Rudy drove the boys for a little adventure to "watch airplanes land." Then, he drove through the arrival terminal and played pretend by asking the boys who they should pick up. Kyle went through the list and I wish I could have seen his face when his GG actually appeared!! ;)

GG got to visit our "new" place for the first time and we enjoyed having more space to play in. During the week, I especially appreciated her visit since Gavin could stay with her and I had one less person to drop off early in the morning. I was surprised by what a break that gave me, not to mention how special for Gavie to get quality time with his GG. Here are some pictures she sent from the trip.

GG took them for a wagon ride all over town!! What a story...yet what a highlight.

While playing outside, Gavie got stung by a wasp. He still talks about it, trying to milk it for all it's worth. "I got a bee-sting!" he says while pointing to the wrong hand. :)

 

Watching trains at the train station. This is a Kyle favorite we do quite often and it was special to take GG to see "our" station!

Also on the list, was a newly found treasure of a small town hidden in the hills. While at this cafe, you'd think you were somewhere other than CA. It's got such a nice change of pace and scenery.

We got to celebrate GG's birthday just a few days early.

Happy Birthday, GG!

Thanks for a nice visit!! 

Hello Fall!

November 1st gave us some long-awaited rain!! Really, has it been a year? I don't remember the last rain and we are in a serious drought, so this was amazing for us and for the ground. It took us a while to gather our rain gear from out of the tubs in the garage. We only had one raincoat and one umbrella but we all 3 had boots! We pulled ourselves together and were out the door in time to enjoy about 5 minutes of it before it all went away. Yep, that's rain for us. Still, it was coming down harder than a sprinkle and the boys loved every second of it. :)

Kyle was so cute to make sure Gavie was covered.

The gutters and storm drains were where all the action was.

We went through quite a few changes of clothes as you can see from Gavie's idea of fun. A break in the clouds couldn't damper this boy's spirit!

The entire day was in the 60's!!! Woo hoo for fall! We even got to light a fire in our fireplace both at night and early the next morning.

Amazing. Unfortunately, we were quickly back up into the upper 80's. Still, even just a day or so of cooler weather was so nice.

Then, today we woke up to some real wind, as in once or twice a year kind of wind! The boys went out in their airplane boxes and zoomed around...

...and then Rudy made "balloon kites" for the boys.

The boys squealed and squealed. Both Rudy and I recognize how weather deprived our kids are, so we loved getting this opportunity to watch them enjoy something so rare. 

Happy Halloween!

We had a great time trick-or-treating on our street this year. The evening started out with a block party, potluck style with our amazing neighbors. Then, all the kids went around the cul-de-sac collecting their loot. Kyle really wanted to be Batman again this year, so Gavin just had to be his side-kick again, too. :) 

My precious boys. Growing up way too fast.

Once Gavin saw that he got a sucker, he was all about the trick-or-treating thing. It's really quite magical...you knock on a door and it opens to give you a sucker! Amazing!

Happy Halloween!