The Luckiest No Matter What!

In my teaching career, I've attended several board meetings in my district. My students have presented their learning to the board, I've gone there to stand with my fellow teachers during contract negotiations, and I've been honored to be recognized as we partnered with a local business to construct a student-driven outdoor classroom.  I know that board room is where things can get done. We have to go to the board to get curriculum approved, for example. There are a lot of decisions made on budgets, human capital allocation, and the priorities for a community and student population. The vision of the entire district is set through a board of education. They adopt policies.  These elected members do have a lot of power, which is why learning about the candidates and voting is so important.  Even though these board meetings felt important to me, as a teacher, I hadn't given them a lot of thought as a mom of students until a couple of weeks ago... I was sitting acr...

Traveling, day tripping, sight seeing, and adventuring are huge in the Hundt house! As we prioritize how we spend our time and money, seeing the world is at the tippy tippy top. Because my family is quite like a circus, we have to be really thoughtful and intentional about how we prepare for trips so we can have bring the least amount of things that still get us what we need and also what would make our traveling life easier. I thought I'd share a few things we never leave home without... 1.) Packing Cubes: I am a recent convert to packing cubes over the last year and I don't think I will ever go back. At first, I used packing cubes to consolidate clothes into our suitcases- it really did save space to have things squished into the cubes and it also saved my sanity because things were more organized and I wasn't just throwing pieces of clothing all around trying to find what I was looking for. We have these cubes in several colors in several sizes. Find them here...

It's really, really hard for the Hundts to turn down travel- even when it's ridiculous and crazy and last minute... When I learned that I could attend the premiere party for the TV show "Crash Test World," which I've been writing educational content for, it seemed like a no-brainer that I would find some way to get to Brooklyn, NY. Both Josh and I LOVE LOVE New York City and are currently raising boys obsessed with big buildings, lights, fountains, bridges, etc so #hundtboysx4 have taking quite a liking to New York City even though they had never been. We had always planned on going to the city at some point... maybe even kinda soon, but in seven days?!?!?! Um, no. Anyway, I don't know what happened, but there I was, on a Saturday morning, five days before we were set to leave, dancing around the kitchen singing the Beastie Boys "No Sleep 'Till Brooklyn." The rest of my boys followed suit after Josh booked an Air BnB. Off we go to the Big ...

I am currently a busy mom of 4 little boys.  I am swimming in art projects, buried in papers coming home from school, busy chauffeuring, packing lunches, and cheering from the sidelines of a soccer game while I chase smaller children around. Things are often chaotic, overwhelming even. My mind spins at all hours with how to get things done, how to challenge someone about this, how to support someone about that, and how to give each child individualized love and time and energy and experiences. But not for one single second do I forget where I came from. Not too long ago I was discouraged and sad after getting bad news after bad news as Josh and I tried so hard to be parents. I have never been more hopeless, but also never been so tenacious in my life.  We struggled for years to create a family. We suffered two miscarriages before any of our four rainbow babies were born. We were parents long before we actually got to hold and snuggle and kiss a baby (or in our case babie...

It's obvious we love to travel. Experiencing the world, serving the world, learning about the world, seeing the world is better than any tangible gift. However, traveling with four young kids is VERY CHALLENGING. There's a lot of people, a lot of behaviors, a lot of varying needs and wants, and a whole lot of crap to pack. We are a wide load. We just got back from New York City. This trip was unplanned and scheduled very last minute and we prepared as best as we could. As people have been asking me how the trip was, I continue to say, "We had a lot of fun and this was the most challenging travel we've ever done." I wish there was a word for something that was amazing and extremely stressful at the same time. Maybe I will make one up... diffilmazing? wonderfulofinsanity? challengtacular? It was like crying tears of awe and absolute desperation at the same time. I think I really did that while we were there... more than once... Whenever we travel we always l...

The other day a woman at Josh's work was telling him how pleased she was with her daughter's third grade teacher and what a nice start to the school year it was. The two of them talked briefly about how Nolan and Judah were doing at the beginning of the year as well.  She then asked Josh, "With Kristin being a teacher, do you find that she is highly supportive of other teachers? Extra critical of them?" Josh smiled and answered, "Yes." #nailedit. That one word answer is not only the truth, but is a short, concise way to say a mouthful. Although he could've left it there and got a point across, he elaborated a little saying that I am HUGELY supportive of the educators themselves, and extra, super critical of the institution of education in general. Also, #nailedit. Teachers as a whole are absolutely amazing: steadfast, unwavering, determined, kind, compassionate, empathetic, intelligent, loving, hardworking, and passionate. I love my students...