I am the lucky mother of two amazing kids. Yesterday reminded me of how lucky I truly am.

Motherhood brings so much joy to my life, but it is also the hardest and most humbling job I have ever had. At times, the responsibility of creating tender, sweet and conscientious members of society is daunting.

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. All week, there are small and big celebrations throughout our schools to celebrate all the wonderful things our teachers are doing in the classroom.

I think the most challenging job is that of being a teacher – for any grade! I personally would never teach in the middle school grades – the developing personalities, the hygiene conversations, the heightened emotions. I don’t think I have the patience to start that challenging career.

As many of you may already know, we were funded to be the new KIDS COUNT grantee here in the District, and we don’t take this responsibility lightly! In 1990, The Annie E. Casey Foundation created the KIDS COUNT initiative to fund organizations like ours to gather and promote the use of data as a critical tool for long-term systemic change.

I have written about “blended” classrooms before and all the benefits of “blending.” Last year, DCPS secured $11 million from the federal Head Start Bureau to “blend” Pre-K classrooms with Head Start classrooms.

Last week I wrote a blog post before the #dcdatadive held this past Friday to Sunday (March 2-4). It has now been three days since staff and I last saw the amazing team of volunteers. I can hardly contain my enthusiasm about the results of the weekend.

This Friday to Sunday, DC Action staff will be at the “DC Datadive,” teaming up with Data Without Borders and Independent Sector’s 2011 American Express NGEN Fellows to spend the entire weekend digging deeper into data for social justice! We are so excited about what this means for us and our D.C. KIDS COUNT work.

The White House re-launched the “what 40 dollars mean to you” campaign. President Obama asked Americans to share personal stories of what losing $40 per paycheck would mean to average middle-class citizens, who have benefited from the payroll tax holiday.

I had a wonderful opportunity, as a member of the Voices for America’s Children network, to meet with Vice President Biden and senior administration officials to discuss proposals outlined in last week’s State of the Union address and their place in the forthcoming federal budget.

As I have blogged about in the past, I’m a huge fan of Head Start!

Season’s Greetings!

For many of us, the holiday season is about giving and the good feelings we share when we do something for others. We hope you will keep DC Action on your giving list this year.