Turkey!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays! As I write today, I am watching the Macy's parade...one of the best parts of this day! I also enjoy seeing family and catching up. Ever since I was little, we go to my grandfather's house for a huge meal in the middle of the afternoon. Thanksgiving for us usually lasts all weekend....on Friday we have a family bowling competition and Saturday we do some shopping. I love spending the time with everyone! (And of course eating all of that delicious food!)
Since we got married, I don't just go to my grandfather's house. I get to go to Brent's mom's house and his dad's house. So....I get to eat THREE Thanksgiving meals! How awesome is that?! For someone (like me) who loves food, it is the best day of the year!
I was watching the news this morning and they said that they average Thanksgiving meal is 5,000 calories. So, does that mean that I will be consuming 15,000 calories since I am going to eat 3 meals? I don't know and I don't care! I don't know why people worry about calories on Thanksgiving. It is just dumb. Come on people, just eat and be happy! Don't worry about how many calories or grams of fat are in your meal. You only eat like this once a year, so just forget aobut that stuff and EAT! I have never once thought about how many calories I am consuming during my Thanksgiving meals (b/c I have 3 remember). If I gain 5 pounds today, I know that it was totally worth it!
So....I am going to go put on some comfy clothes and get ready to eat! Yum!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE! Remember...it is not about the calories! It is about time with family! :)

Kids say the silliest things!

So as we begin a new school year, I am still taking time to get to know my new kiddos. I love first grade for lots of reasons, but one of the best is that this age group says the silliest stuff! Here are some of the quotes from the first two weeks of school:

"I can't use "hanitizer" because I have a cut on my hand."

(when using dry erase markers) "These things smell good. They should make a perfume of this smell."

As a child sees me put on my jean jacket... "great style...that jacket is cute."

During a thunderstorm I was telling the children not to worry because were safe inside a brick building. One child adds (so calmly and matter of factly) "And God is always watching over us to keep us safe."

"How are markers made? I think they are great."

(When asked to read what she wrote) "The "wabbit" jumped up."


These are the things that they have said SO FAR......I can't wait to see what comes with the rest of the year! :)

Things I learned about myself as a teacher

So, for the past few weeks I have slowly been going back to school to get some work done. I moved my furniture back in place, got all my computers hooked back up, organized my desk and cleaned a bit. I have even gotten some plans done for the first few weeks! Yesterday, I went to Walmart, with my Purchase Order in hand, and bought all my supplies that I will need for the beginning of the year.
I discovered somethings about myself (and probably about all teachers) during and soon after this trip to Walmart:

1. I get this excited nervous feeling in my stomach when I buy school supplies. I guess this is because I am excited to meet my new students but I am nervous just like they are to start a new year.

2. I love the feel of brand new crayons, markers, and colored pencils in my hand. They smell so good too!

3. I get so excited when I find a bargain....of any kind! Even if I am spending school money!

4. I know I am not back on contract yet, but I feel that I have to get work done in my room in order to enjoy the last weeks of summer....weird I know. But, if I don't go to school and work, I could quite possibly go crazy.....really!

5. I love to walk around the school and see who is back and how their summer was. It is nice to see everyone again and see where my kids from last year got placed.

6. I think about school stuff when I am at school, when I am home doing nothing and even when I am sleeping! Yes... I dream about school! Some dreams are kind of scary!

7. I love the smell of a newly sharpened pencil....and the way it works so perfectly the first time you use it.

8. I love to organize....anything and everything! It makes me feel so good about life.

9. My OCD-ness (yes it is a word...I made it up!) starts to come out in full blast as soon as I get back in that classroom!

10. I love my job and I am so thankful that I am where I am supposed to be, doing what I love!

So, like I said, I have gotten a lot of things done in my room and I am actually going to start a year AHEAD OF SCHEDULE! Whew! That feels so good! Maybe when I officially have to go back to work, I can keep ahead......doubt it but I sure can try!

Only one more week of summer for me....maybe I can actually NOT go to school and try to enjoy my last free days....maybe......

1 Year!

Yesterday, Brent and I had our one year wedding anniversary! I can't believe how fast time has gone and all of the things we have done this year. I am still so in love with him and I still feel like a newlywed...even though we are officially not anymore. We just got back from our beach trip with Courtney and Josh (our anniversary gift to each other)....so nice! We had great weather and we both improved our summer tans too! :) When we got back, we had a surprise birthday party for Brent's dad. His birthday is June 27th and we got married on the 28th. So...last year we celebrated with him at the rehearsal dinner. Well....the surprise party this year was held at the same place we had our rehearsal dinner! AND we had the same food! So it was sort of like re-doing the whole weekend! Sunday, our anniversary we went out to lunch to our favorite spot...Stir Fry! Yum! It was so good. After lunch we went to the Redbox (we should buy stock in that company! We are always there!) and then went home and watched some movies. Later on we had our cake and our M&M's (our wedding favors...printed with our names and date). They were both just as good as they were last year. A great way to round out a perfect year! I can't wait to see what comes in the next year! :)

Summer

So...my summer is going great, but a little too fast. I can't believe it is almost half over! (I go back to work the first week in August).

My week consits of getting up around 8 or 9, going for a walk with friends for about an hour, eating lunch and sitting by the pool. What a life! I love it! I wish summer would last forever. When I am old (as I have told Brent many times) I would be so happy living in a tropical place in a house by the beach....ahh.... I wonder if there is a job that would pay me to sit by the pool.....that would be AWESOME!

A few "teacher friends" and I have started a walking group. It is nice to work out with friends because I don't realize how long we are out there becasue we just talk and walk and before I know it we are done. I have lost 3 and 1/2 pounds so far...I am happy about that. I just hope this weight loss continues. That would just be perfect.

I have sat by the pool almost every day so far. And....I am teaching swim lessons to a few of the kids that were in my class this year and some of their friends. I started this just to earn a little bit of some extra money. I thought..."what a great way to earn some money while still being at the pool." I have taught swim lessons for almost 10 years now, and it is a great way to earn some tax free money, BUT..... I get tired of it when the kids don't listen! I have a group session going right now that consists of 4 boys. (two from my class this year and 2 friends.) Of course, the boys from my class are angels...as they were all year (if you didn't know already...I had the BEST group of kids this past year). The other two....well....are just ridiculous! They don't listen, they go under when I am talking, they are loud and crazy and talk over me. I am not ever going to do a group of all boys again. They are not bad swimmers, but the not listening just annoys me as a teacher. Whew! I am mentally exhausted when I get home..... I have scheduled some more lessons...with girls. We will see how those go. I could predict that they will be more fun and the children will listen better....I hope.

Brent and I are also continuing our search for a house. This is exciting and frustrating at the same time for me. This is something I feel that we are so ready for. I am so proud of us for working hard this year to save as much as we have. We look online all the time for houses, we drive by them and we look at the surrounding houses. But...here is where my frustration comes in. Brent does not want to go IN them to look at them. He says that he "doesn't want to waste the relator's time by calling and going to look at it if we are not going to buy it." To which I respond "that is their job. they want you to do that." We go back and forth for awhile about this and then we give up. It is a never ending battle. I think he just doesn't want to commit to actually buying a house. Sometimes I think he would be happy living in an apartment for the rest of his life. I, however, want to have a place that we can call our own. Maybe.....just maybe it will happen this year. We will see.

We are on our way to the beach next week with Courtney and Josh. (Brent's sister and her husband). I am so excited about spending some time by the beach. I was meant to be a beach bum. I just have to make it through 4 more group swim lessons and then we will be out of here! Yea! I can't wait!

So....as you can see, my summer has been pretty good so far. I hope that the rest doesn't go by too fast because I am loving the time off!

The "Nuptial Nine"

I have been married for almost a year now and I have learned that many things come with the first year of marriage. We have had so much fun decorating our apartment, spending time with each other and our families. We have been able to take several short vacations and just take time to enjoy being married. But the one bad thing that I have found comes with the first year of marriage is weight gain. I have gained weight (not much, but..) since we got married and I have several friends who got married last year or the year before who agree. My friend Ashley was the one who coined the phrase "The Nuptial Nine." I laughed at her when she told me this, b/c at the time I was not married and she had been for a year. I totally understand now. Ashley was right. As a newly married couple we don't cook as much as we should and we definately don't work out as much as we should. We eat out a lot and we don't eat as much healthy food as we should. This is our problem!
Before the wedding, I worked 0ut a lot and ate healthy (and at home)...but Mom was cooking so that made it very easy! I lost weight before the wedding....but I had a dress to motivate me. After the wedding, I didn't have mom's cooking and no dress for motivation. So, the weight gain began. I have been lucky to not have made it to "nine" pounds, but about 5 or so. And what makes it even more frustrating is that my husband has lost tons of weight since we got married! Ugh! Not fair! I am so proud of him....but it is not fair that guys can loose weight so easily. I wish that it was that easy for girls.
But, again, my friend Ashley was right and I wish I would have listened to her then! Let's just hope that the second year of marriage includes some weight LOSS! I will keep you posted on that. :)

Smokey is walking!

Oh my gosh! The steroids are working...and working so well! Smokey is now WALKING! He is very wobbly, but he is doing so awesome. Brent and I have been laughing because it looks like he is drunk when he walks. So cute. We went to the vet yesterday and she was so proud of him. He is (according to her) doing better than he should be at this point. I was such a proud mama when she said that! He has been so determined to walk, and it has paid off. We have been using one of Brent's old belts to help him walk around outside. He does so well with that...it goes under his hips to give some support. For the next few weeks, we will be doing swimming therapy. I think this is so cool. We put him in a FULL bathtub and let him swim to build the muscles in his back legs. We tried it for the first time last night and it was so cute and Smokey loved it! (He is the only dog I have ever met that LIKES the bathtub. He gets excited about a bath...or even hearing the word "bath").
So...we are hoping that in a week or 2 that he will be back to normal. Or close to it. He has improved so fast already, I can only imagine what is to come. My prayers have been answered!

Smokey's Intervertebral Disk Disease

Last Wednesday night my little baby Smokey was acting very funny after a walk outside. He would not walk or let me pick him up and he was all tensed up. I was scared that he might have pulled a muscle (that afternoon he had tripped on a stepping stone while walking.) We debated on taking him to the emergency clinic that night....I wish we had. We decided not to because we didn't want to spend a bunch of money to have someone tell us that he had a pulled muscle or strained his him or something simple like that. So, we went to bed with him on Wednesday night and just decided to wait until morning to make a decision.

Thursday morning, he wouldn't walk far and when he did it was painful. Brent was scheduled to go in at 11:00, so he called the vet around 8:30. He told them that Smokey was having trouble using his back legs. They said we couldn't come until 4:30. (later on we found out that they should have told Brent to bring him in right away. The vet was mad that this didn't happen...we were too.) By the time I got home on Thursday Smokey wasn't using his back legs at all. I was very scared at this point.

The vet told us that this condition (intervertebral disk disease) is common in Pekingese and other small, short legged dogs. I have never heard of it before...and I researched this bread long before I got Smokey. She told us that there were two options: neurological surgery (which is $4,000 1/2 of which has to be paid upfront!) or steroid treatment. We asked lots of questions and found out that neither of these options were 100% going to work. This is when I broke down...at the thought of my baby being paralyzed for the rest of his life. And then the thought of what would happen if he didn't get better....we would have to put him down. I wouldn't want him to live without control of his legs. I cried in front of the vet and felt like an idiot...but this is my little boy....my Smokey. ( I am even getting teary now..)

We decided to try the steroid treatment. Smokey stayed the night at the vet on Thursday. I cried all the way home and most of the night. Friday was a tough day....I worried about him all day. I went after school and picked him up. He has since been home and it is so sad to watch him....so helpless. He has peed and pooped on himself several times and has to stay in a crate. He won't eat much either. It breaks my heart. I slept beside him on the couch (while he was on the floor) all weekend. We get up every couple hours to go out. I have seen a tiny bit of improvement...he has some muscle movement in his upper hips and thighs. When I stretch his leg out, he pulls it back in. It doesn't sound like much, but it is progress to me.

I really hope that this treatment works. It will be at least 2 to 3 weeks before we can see real improvement. In about 10 days, we will start swimming therapy...supposed to be great for this condition.

Keep praying for my little Smokey. He appreciates it, and so do Brent and I.

Moments that make you laugh

As a first grade teacher, you have many moments that just make you laugh! (and some where you want to laugh but you shouldn't!) Today, I had one of those moments and it came at such a good time.

I must begin by giving you a visual of the situation...... This particular student is one of those kids who just can't sit still no matter what he does! He is constantly moving and/or tapping a pencil. So, he was standing at my desk (well....really he was bouncing at my desk beside me while I sat) and we were doing some speech practice. He has trouble with a few sounds so we work each day on those. I was showing him some pictures and he was saying the words. He was doing such a good job and I had praised him for that good work. As he said garage, he burped. It came mid- word..... "gar BURP age." I laughed so hard and so did he. We had a good time laughing about the funny moment! I think the laughing lasted about 2 minutes! So funny!

At the this time of the year when I am tired and ready to be done, little funny moments like this help me to remember why I love my job! Funny stuff like this (as small as it may seem) always comes at the perfect time....when I need to relax and enjoy teaching. It is like God knows that I need to laugh....

" A day with out laughter is wasted."

Babies

I have determined one fact this year: We are NOT ready for babies, despite the pressure from family (mother in law!) , friends and coworkers! I don't know why people assume that once you get married that you should start having kids. Where does that thought come from? I am 24 years old and haven't even been married for a year yet! I want some time alone with my husband for a few years before I think about popping out any kids. People are going to have to get used to this idea!

I LOVE kids, especially babies. BUT...after all that have heard from friends who have recently had babies I just further confirm my first statement :WE ARE NOT READY FOR BABIES! I am so not ready to go through childbirth, change diapers, and I am also not ready to wake up every 3 hours to attach a child to my boob. No, that does not sound fun, thank you very much.

I have also determined that my dog is my baby. And I am totally content with that. I have had Smokey (a cute gray and black pekingese) for almost 4 years now. Anyone that knows me well, knows that he is spoiled rotten. He needs me just as much as a kid, in some ways.....He sleeps all the time and doesn't wake up every three hours cyring. He needs me to feed him once a day in a bowl on the floor, to take him to the bathroom 3 or 4 times a day with NO diapers, and give him a bath every few weeks.....and I don't loose any sleep! He is the best kind of baby! He is a great cuddle buddy and he is so fun to play with. See, I don't need a baby...I have Smokey!

Another reason I am not ready for kids is.....Duh! I have 20 children that I teach and care for 5 days a week for about 7 hours a day! Shew! I think that is enough for one person. They are great birth control! :)

Of course I want to have babies.....in about 5 years! (at least) :)

15 days....

There are only 15 days of school left in the year! I have been blessed to have the BEST group of kids this year, BUT..... I am ready for summer! This class is full of the best behaved, sweetest kids in the world. Also they have the most wonderful, supportive parents. I have been lucky this year! So, the end of school will be bittersweet. I will be sad to see this group move on, but I am ready for a new group. When you spend enough time with the same group of people everyday, they start to get on your nerves. This happens with adults and kids.... When I was in college, I frequetly got annoyed by roommates, co-workers, classmates etc. And now that I am a teacher I get so frustrated by the smallest things with these kids. I think it is just the time of year. (Ask any teacher and they will agree!) We have all ( the kids and me) spent so much time together we are now getting on each other's nerves! Even the kids are feeling it....I frequently hear comments at this time of the year like " he said he didn't want to be my friend" or "she looked at me funny" or "why do we have to learn this?" or "She took MY marker and won't give it back" Most of the time my response is..."have you tried to work it out with your friend on your own?" Most of the time they haven't and with a few minutes with each other, they work it out.....or they forget about it! Ha! Do you understand now why I am counting down the days? :)

Don't get me wrong....I love first grade kids! They are so fun and keep me entertained. But, this time of year we all want to be at the pool instead of in the classroom! It happens every year.....and then about mid-July I am so ready to start back! At that time in the summer, I can't wait to get back to school and set up my room, meet new kids and start fresh!

So, I say again....there are only 15 more days of school. I am ready to sit by the pool and relax!