This weekend Shawn and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and got out for a little hike!  It was so fun going to an area we had really never explored.  There are so many trails here in St. Louis and even more spread out across Missouri.  While the weather is nice, Shawn and I are going to try to do a few more of these.  If you have never used trails.com, it’s a really neat site.  It lets you read reviews from trails people have traveled.  We were happy about the trail we picked.  Shawn and I both love camping and getting outside as much as we can.  We aren’t really a stranger to nature and Scarlett loves exploring just as much so she was so excited to tag along.

I brought my camera because I was hoping we would see some wildlife.  The camera turned out to just be something heavy to carry around because the only nature we saw were turtles, spiders, butterflies, and a small snake.  I was hoping to see some deer or something in the, well, “wild”.  On the way back home there were three deer standing on a sidewalk in the neighborhood.  If you are from St. Louis, you know deer aren’t really the rare occasion. Deer are not afraid of people around here.  Deer in the wild?  Apparently very rare or too scared to let you find them.

Right before I ran into the biggest spiderweb ever.  I might love nature, but I could do without bees and spiders!  I can’t stand them.

When we were finished we hopped in the car and went for a drive in the country.  I love doing that!  I found so many places I want to take some seniors for their session.  As we kept driving, we found this small town that had an old time gas station, ice cream store, and restaurant.  What I would give for three day weekends every week!

The other day I promised to share something fun from school.  So today I’ll be sharing!  Before I start though, I want to tell those that are new that I rarely share school stuff on my blog.  I think it was only one time last year that I shared about a fun craft or something I made for the kids.  Back to my point….this isn’t my place to share my teacher stuff.  I have a place for that, and it isn’t here.  Every once in awhile I might share something fun, but as many know… I keep that separate.  I never post any information about my kiddos and would never post a picture of them on here.  Really, they don’t have a lot of pictures taken by me anyway.  You would think they would, but really, I only get out my camera for really special occasions.  If you know how busy teachers are you understand, there just isn’t time.  My time is spent teaching, teaching, and teaching…and I like it that way.

The first week of school is a special occasion so I brought my camera with me every day.  I knew since summer I wanted to make a video for my kids with this song.  So late one night, I did it.  I took some video of the kids and my classroom, put it together with their pictures and made them a short little video.  Keep in mind, I made it for the kids, and for this blog, it’s cut short so you only see the classroom! It also is a little messed up because some pictures keep showing over and over. Anyway, take a look around at our classroom. A classroom that is also known as a second home to my 23 students, a fish, and I!

First Grade CLIP from Katie Stasiak on Vimeo.

Now that school has been added back to my routine, today starts my Fall Photo Sessions! Can you tell I’m excited?

Well I am.  I’m sooo excited to show you all the great seniors and families I will be working with this fall.

If only this fish could talk! He would tell you how great my class of 22 is in their own little ways.  He would tell you how much we have already learned and how much fun we have been having.

He would tell you we forgot to feed him once or twice last week!

It was one heck of an August!  My head has been in school 24/7.  At school I think about school.  At home I think about school.  In my dreams I think about school.

I’ve been super busy with school.

Tomorrow there will be a FUN blog post about the first week in First Grade to wrap it all up.

Then, my life will get a little bit more routine and back in the game with everything else…because today starts September!