catch up

Excuse the silence. I have been more busy since school has ended. No really.

I went to girl's camp and froze it all off. I mean literally. I think under the sunburn my nose has a little of frostbite it is working through. It was under 32 degrees at night and we were in tents. No, it did not rain and I am thankful. The theme of the week was Live in Thanksgiving Daily. Therefore I know all the reasons I am thankful for the cold. We did not see a bug until our last day because it was too cold for them. I am grateful for that. I am thankful for hand/foot warmers that we slept with every night. And were still cold.

My New BFF

And I am thankful for the memories.  I couldn't believe how fast it brought me back to my days at Girl's Camp.  I found myself in awe of the time and sacrifice that my leaders gave for us.  I felt so indebted for the love they shared with me.  I was very prompted to send them thank you letters.  And writing this revisits that desire.  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  They were such a big part of the village that raised me.  And now has given me such a responsibility to give back as well.  A responsibility that I willingly take on because I am aware of how much it shaped me.  How much I needed that.  And I even had supportive and stable parents at home. Imagine the need of those without a positive home life.   

Insight into my children's minds

Mom, I got you this flower because it has a buttcheek imprint on it. I thought you would like it.

"Chase, as your mother I will take away your clothes if you do not hang up your church clothes. These are clothes that you only wear for 3 hours a week and can quite possibly wear one more week without me having to iron them if you hang them up."
"Okay mom. Come see. I did hang them up."



Do you think the congregation will notice the little pucker from the hanger in the nipple area on his shirt next week?

I am ready for a beauty pageant

It has been a hard couple of days.

Parenting. Painful. So very painful.

Last day of school. A little less painful but there was some tugging on the old heartstrings. There was an extra notch of anxiety as one more step toward 6th grade occurred. There was a little chaos in trying to get everything done for the last week of school. And retrospect. That can always be painful. Could I have done more for Gerardo?

I think the extreme emotion rollercoaster has taken a toll on my looks. Do I look any different?

Wednesday's question

Today I had a little epiphany. I was again thinking about my past teachers. I decided that I can put the positive teachers into two groups. Two groups that may have an overlapping subset.

Group 1: Teachers I liked. I liked them. The person. I liked some facet of their personality. Maybe they liked me. Maybe they were funny. Maybe they were pretty and nice. Maybe they played fun games in the classroom. I liked seeing them everyday. Example: Miss Hoffman, 5th grade. Loved her, honestly do not have one single memory of learning anything in her class. Do not remember her reading to us, playing a game in her class, doing any homework for her. Nothing academic at all.

Group 2: Teachers who taught me something. There are teachers that I might or might not really remember their personality but I remember what I learned in their classroom. I can remember specific projects, specific games, specific homework or even specific lectures in their classroom. Example: Mrs. Houghton, 5th grade state history. I still remember learning that tobacco was the main export of Maryland.

Subset: Mr. Davids who I loved because he loved us and was funny and interesting and treated us like adults and who taught me about archeology and the voyage of the Kon Tiki by Thor. However, I don't really know how I got grades in his class. After thinking about this teacher I think he really belongs in Group 1.

So, here I am, wondering what kind of teacher I want to be. Or maybe what kind of teacher I am. I guess I will just be glad if I get put in the positive group of teachers. There is another group that I didn't even bother bringing up.

Glenwood Utah by the numbers

1863: Year Glenwood was established

84730: Current zip code

437: Population of town


1: Irrigation pond that we like to call the swimming hole. Friday likes to call it that as well. He was in the water before I even threw a stick out for him to fetch. I have written about this swimming hole before. It is home to a beach and a diving board. Ryan has ripped open her foot on a old raft with rusty nails on it. We have spent many afternoons there enjoying ourselves by ourselves. This weekend we weren't quite so lucky. There were many people out and about. Ryan drove her fourwheeler half way around the pond and abandoned it at the impossibly steep part. Then when we were ready to leave she asked me to get it over the driving sideways part of the mountain. Of course I didn't want her to tip over and fall in the lake so I let her take the kids and the dog down to my fourwheeler. I then, proceeded to walk over to her fourwheeler not having a clue what I would do. I knew that the fourwheeler could drive sideways on the 90 degree angle hill. I had even done it before. But I had an audience and I let the job grow to gigantic proportions in my mind. I couldn't do it. I sat there contemplating until one of my audience members started screaming from across the pond. "Hey! That lady can't drive her fourwheeler on the steep part. Somebody needs to go over and help her! Hey! Hey! Hey! Go help that lady." My audience consisted of mostly males, a wide demographical range of ages from 16 to 40 all who had their one hand wrapped around a Bud Lite can the other driving their fourwheeler or wielding a fishing pole. And yes, I deeply appreciated that somebody did come and drive my fourwheeler over the treacherous bit of land. I appreciated it even more when he did not drive my fourwheeler into the pond while he was backing it up. I gave a little curtsy to my audience before I got back on my fourwheeler and fled the scene.



1: Tree swing. My oh my. The tree swing is something that my kids and I love. It is such simple entertainment. We had to fight off 200 head of sheep for a little swing action this weekend but it was worth it. This is actually a little piece of land that is connected to where the old dance hall used to stand. I would seriously love to own this land. I love the view. The trees. The stream. The history. The old artifacts that still lay on the hill telling the story of loud and raucous Friday nights. I hope there is even some old prostitute ghost lady that would take up haunting my house if I do ever build a house there.

Sixth grade

So 6th grade.

I remember a lot about my own sixth grade experience.

I had 4 teacher team but was only taught by 3 of them. Mr. Bucci was my homeroom teacher. He also taught me about Galileo and Copernicus. I remember that my Dad and I made a large universe project consisting of a piece of plywood and Christmas lights. Mr. Bucci read us "My Side of the Mountain." He also played the guitar and taught me my first Beatles song. He played a mean game of dodgeball. I loved dodgeball.

Mr. Smith was my language arts teacher. Rich Matheny poked a pencil into my hand and broke the lead off under my skin. Mr. Smith was so worried about lead poisoning that he actually picked me up and carried me all the way downstairs to the nurses office. It was one of the more embarrassing moments of the year. Apparently it was a graphite pencil because there was no sickeningly red line coursing up toward my heart from the wound. I still have a bit of graphite under my skin to this day to mark the incident.

Mr. Turner was my science teacher. He taught me all about batteries and circuits with wires and light bulbs. Good times. He also could not get me to stop talking to Marc Zolar so I ended up sitting with my face to the wall behind his desk away from every single other person. Another rather embarrassing predicament of the year.

Mostly I remember 6th grade camp. For a whole week we left our homes and went to a camp to learn orienteering, ecosystems, herbology and other outdoorsy fun things. There was definitely a zip line and after dinner every night there was Capture the Flag. Just ecstasy for this sixth grader. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. It was the year and more specifically the week at camp when I solidified a relationship that was to be intrinsic to my life until the end of college. Becky Hawes and I became good friends at camp. Wow! 16 girls in the cabin and I only remember her.

I broke Chris Graf's finger at recess one day. He was the cutest blonde boy I had ever met. I think the relationship went downhill from there. I can't honestly remember.

I liked Chris but I loved Rich Matheny. You know that boy that jammed the lead in my finger? He was a smart skinny little thing who kept hold of my heart for a long time after sixth grade. I talked to him on the phone for hours. And sometime in that summer my 4th grade sister and I snuck out of the house and met him in the neighborhood during the middle of the night. Then we just sat and talked more in the hot humid air that was always part of a Maryland summer night. I think he was always interested but he just wasn't a committer. Well, neither was I. There was always more than one love interest.

I feathered my hair and spent so much time in front of a mirror trying to curl both sides identically. Impossible.

With all that said, how do I facilitate this year to make it as memorable for my students as it was for me?

The bond between humans and chick is truly amazing

Ryan has gotten ridden all of her human boyfriends and is simply french kissing with her Pipsqueak.


Honestly, I think Cooper and his chick are starting to look a little bit alike. Don't you think?


In this picture Chase is showing his nurturing side allowing all the chicks to hide out in his shorts in the hot sun. What a demonstration of love.

P. S. All six of the above while not being gung ho ape crazy for David Cook are definately not for David Archuleta. Ugh.
We got in the carpool today and one of the 7th graders girls got in the car and informed us that she had stayed up until midnight calling in votes for David A. 784 times.

A haughty hottie

Ah yes. We have hit the nail right on the head with our nickname of Suicide Watch for my little chickie. She has been jumping up on the waterer and flying to the top of the box and perching on the edge. Bart has seen the little acrobat twice but I finally caught the act today.




As you can see, their accommodations are not 5 star at the moment. They have a barn/hen coop awaiting them outside in the back yard but it is still too cold for them at night. Hence, the box in the dining room. It is fun to have them inside with us as well because we are always watching them. But Suicide Watch may have just ended all this good fun. They may be out in the barn tonight. And maybe then she won't be such a haughty hottie.

What I think about while the chickens are pecking

I find myself really feeling uncomfortable posting without the visual aid of a picture. It might be the kindergarten influence that I live under. Everything must have a visual aid. In fact, I have been to inservice meetings that have explicitly told me I have to have engaging fun visual aids in order to be a successful teacher.

I believe all that.

However, when American children/teens are asked what they need to be successful in school they pick the answer "intelligence." Meaning that they believe you either are endowed with the ability to be successful or you are simply not. When Japanese children/teens are asked the same question, they pick the answer "hard work." Apparently Japanese children are still taught that they are responsible for their own success and their own path in life.

Although I have every desire to be a good teacher and I even harbor a deep secret need to be a beloved teacher I recognize that a lot of our children need to pull their heads out and actually invest in their own education. Whether or not I am engaging. Or fun.

We are doing end of year testing in kindergarten and I have been surprised at the progress that many of my students have made. I am pleased as punch that I had more students at grade level and above than the other two kindergarten teachers. Not because that made me a better teacher but because it made me think I held my own during my first year. Whew!

I did ok. Or did I? Why then would my principal come and ask me to teach 6th grade next year?

Meet the girls

This is Bart's chicken who we have named Big Red. It is a little hard to tell but she is really red and she is one of the larger girls.


Meet my chick named Matilda. She is the one who we have had to put on suicide watch so Owen Wilson may be an appropriate nickname for her. She is always trying to get out of the box and if you are holding her she is trying her darnedest to get away and fall to her death. She has really pretty detail in her wings.

This is Pipsqueak. She is the smallest of the bunch. Of course, Ryan picked the most different chicken. Pipsqueak is bred to be small in stature as well as have the smallest eggs ever. Pipsqueak is also from a straight run which means that we don't know whether she is a girl or boy yet. Please, please, please let her be a girl!


Next we have Chase's chicken Checker. What awesome alliteration! He is named for a move in Lacrosse, the sport that Chase is immersed in day and night at the moment. When we put Checker out in the back yard she went straight to the Lacrosse net. Kidding. The girls have not made it out of the their self imposed 4 x 4 area out there yet. And they sleep like the dead when they get put back in their box.


This ugly chick is Sarah's who is Ryan's friend and goes most everywhere with our family. She named it Llama because it will end up having a mohawk and you can already see that the hair is different everywhere than the other chicks. Llama has hair down her feet. We might end up getting her lazer treatments because poop really sticks to it and she looks a mess. Always.



Finally let me introduce Cooper's Supersize. Cooper came up with this name all by himself and it is very fitting. Supersize is a good size bird. She likes to walk around the box and if there is a chick in her way she simply walks right over it.

I know that Disney has really humanized these birds and they really have a pea sized brain. I think about that while I wile away time watching them peck and scratch but I like a girl who is focused on just a few things and does a really good job at them. And believe me these chicks have eating and pooping down.

Besides their peeping and cheeping and beeping is very pleasant to be around.

Watching Hitch right now.

Dancing with Kevin James is one of my life's goals. And it could be in the top five.

Just had one of the best mother's day ever.

And yet Mondays can just turn things to crap so fast. Amazing.

On Saturday we all got into the car and drove straight to IFA. Intermountain Farmers Association. We had been talking about this for a littlish longish while now. And Bart decided that it would be a good mother's day present. I had read the books and I thought that we could try it.

So we all looked into the cages and picked out our little chicken soulmate. We have 6 little guests at our house. They have a barn waiting for them when they get old enough but right now they are occupying the cardboard box in the kitchen.



And the barely audible peeps are so so cute.

We had a good barbeque dinner with my mother and father on Saturday night. We have had such awful weather that it is just marvelous to be outside for a time. It was a little cold but worth it. I do love my parents. They were goodly parents. They are goodly grandparents. I appreciate them so much.

Sunday morning went to church. Feeling a little nervous about leaving Friday home as the chick babysitter but he did well. Came home and had to go back to pick up Ryan. When I came back from that Bart said "Change your clothes. We got a Jazz game to go to!"

OH YES BABY!! WE WON!

Zac Effron and Vanessa Hutchins were there with us. Hey! The kindergarteners were impressed with that part.

The mundane details

So much drama.

The aforementioned conference was very uneventful. It has gone like every other meeting with this parent. She is very diplomatic and even friendly to our faces. It is the aftershocks that are ugly. However at this conference there were so many other witnesses to her acquiescence. Life will go on as normal. Right now Joseph is going to a Mental Health day program for 6 weeks so most likely I will not see him again this year.

I have so much more sympathy for her at the moment with all the Cooper going ons. He is just having a hard first grade experience. And it seems that it will continue for the full year. Not only are we on the third teacher of the year for him, evidently his school is going to be cleaning up asbestos and remodeling their kitchen which will entail the whole school moving to another school for the latter part of the year. To be honest, this will be a little more stressful for the teachers rather than the kids but it will still be another change in the routine. They will have to be bussed to the new school after they arrive at their current location every day. It will be a nightmare. Looking back it seems that I should have decided to bring Cooper along with me to this school when I started but I wasn't aware of this final craziness at the time. And I didn't anticipate we would have to fire his second teacher of the year either. I made an uninformed decision.

Or maybe I still made the right decision. Maybe my principal wouldn't have liked me so much if I had come with baggage that has already visited his principal at least 5 times already. Holy Cow! I never had to deal with the principal with my first two children. Never, ever. This week he was given a soft chair in the principal's office for a playground incident. I have received a document stating that Cooper committed a severe physical aggression infraction. According to the document, he held a girl's coat so that she could not go down the slide. The document also states that the girl turned her head and bit him. I am still waiting to get a call from the principal telling me that my child was involved in an incident where his skin was broken by a human bite. Can somebody please send Destany this book?



Of course, I am also still waiting for a call from Ryan's principal as well. According to Ryan, she was told that her parents would have to be called when she was involved in a pantsing incident. She gave another student both hands high five while yet another student pulled the kid's pants down during gym. That kid was actually suspended. Ryan was just getting a phone call home but it is yet to come. Thank goodness! I don't mind the whole pantsing thing. It was done in good fun amongst friends but I am a little bit concerned of how cool Ryan would have thought she was actually getting suspended. For something that wasn't that bad. She still is a good kid.

Sigh. Even though I yelled at Chase this morning I love my kids to death.

Corporate finger pointing

I just went into Cooper's room and kissed the sleeping child. He is so beautiful when he is motionless. Sadly I think that all mothers must be thinking that about their child and that would include Joseph's mother. Then even more sadly I realize that there are mothers that don't go kiss their kids good night.

I don't know if Joseph's mother is kissing him tonight.

I wish I knew. It would help to know what to expect tomorrow. I am going to a district screening for this child who shouldn't be in regular kindergarten. He has been. He has been in my class.

It has been a one of a kind first year experience. And just now I am learning there is more politics to this that I first understood. I am very interested to see if I have a job after tomorrow. After a very enlightening conversation tonight at soccer with another teacher I know my principal is working very hard to make sure there are fingers pointed at a lot of other people.

I think my mouth may stay firmly shut and my fingers intertwined firmly together in my pocket. Lest my middle finger gets away from me and I do some of my own lobbying with the parents.

April's Goals

For reasons that will be revealed later this month I am going to blog every day this month. I may regret this move. Simply because I do not need the guilt of failing but this may also be something that I can fall back on.

I have many things to blog about. Certainly I do. I haven't posted in almost a month.
I will definitely be talking about vampires. Hot vampires.

There is no doubt I will have something to say about my writer's workshop I am conducting in my kindergarten class.

How could I not write about my next year's assignment? Well, I should be figuring out what it will be during this month so I am sure there will be room for it.

I would like to share a few observations on working for USA TODAY.

And as stated before, I could use this forum to discuss, whine and cry about the reason that I need to blog every day instead of something else that I have been doing every day.

If there is anything else you would like spoken of, feel free to leave a comment.

Spring break

I don't know. Can you tell the Vegas pictures from the Glenwood pictures? We went down to Vegas for a couple of days. Stopped into St. George for the most wonderful, mood lifting, skin scorching 80 degree lay out at the pool and ended up in Glenwood for the annual easter egg hunt. Motorcycling was included for free. It was a whirlwind 5 day trip but I enjoyed it immensely. There were a few moments, of course but all in all, I actually wish that Spring Break could have lasted longer. Maybe I won't kill them this summer.

Not much happening except the usual drama

Today my one special ed student came with a note pinned to his shirt telling the teachers off. Never mind what the note said. The fact that an adult pinned it to an innocent little 5 year olds shirt and was unable to come and talk about the matter face to face says more about the conflict than the note. I started the year with a little uncertainty. Certainly I was aware that experience is priceless and I came to the table with almost none. I wanted to do the best job I could do. But this little situation that I am in is so irrational and so ridiculous it has no bearing on my self confidence as a teacher. It also helps that this little boy has also had issues with his special ed teacher and the principal, however, my brain is smart enough to know that this is not an issue with me as a teacher experienced or not. It is simply an issue with anybody that is speaking the truth of the matter. And it is an issue as old as time of denial and not wanting to have to address an obstacle. In no way is the obstacle insurmountable but it will always be if not addressed.

Can you tell I have been reading Atlas Shrugged ......again? I do love that book. It was a rebound book. I read The Other Boelyn Girl by Phillippa Gregory. After so much non production from the courtiers I had to go for a book with some direction. I still love how Ayn Rand's words fire me up. I still know there is so much good in trying to be your best. I was put off quite a bit though by the fact that Ayn Rand only writes about the one woman who manages to gain the love of all the men in the book. Francisco, Hank, and John. Even little Eddie loves her silently. I was aware of her childish little desire for that book to be autobiographical rather than make it a little more true to life. Oh well, it really is fiction.

Soccer has started and we have a soccer game tomorrow morning. Chase and Bart are off on a scout camping trip tonight. Neither one is excited about it. After all the rain we have had it will be nothing but a muddy mess. Hopefully at least one of them will come back pleasantly surprised with the experience. I am planning on going to the gym this weekend. Eating a few Reese's Peanut Butter Easter Eggs and maybe finding it within me to organize my office.

Another Day Another Dollar

I am sitting here waiting for for another parent teacher conference at 3:30. And I don't know what else to write. It just seems that I put myself in a holding pattern until there is no stress. I am definitely still trying to make it about the journey instead of the destination. Being a teacher makes it even worse because there is always a goal to achieve. It is not enough to just be.

One of my team kindergarten teacher members is going out for 6 weeks to have a hysterectomy. Apparently it is very hard to find substitutes here in Utah. Could it be the pay? Could it be the low unemployment rate? Could it be the class size filled with monster students? Who knows? However it has gotten down to the wire so I pulled my little darling sister Krissy out of my back pocket. She has been thinking about going into teacher as well. However she got a really good government job so put it on the back burner for a while. Now fresh out of that career path she feels a need to follow her heart through to teaching. It is likely that come Wednesday Krissy and I will be teaching kindergarten together. Well, technically not together because we will have two different classes. Really three different classes. She will be substituting full time while I will still be working away in my afternoon only class.

I find it very odd. My mother already comes in and volunteers in my class on Friday. I have already decided that Dad will come in and teach about gardening soon as spring is coming. I envision Dan, Krissy's husband coming in to help out in her class whether it be as a firefighter or as a "class helper." Should we be thinking of renaming the school?

Still Looking for an Answer

Last week Raymond had a problem in the bathroom. He peed on another child.

I share bathrooms with the other afternoon kindergarten teacher and one of her students was lucky enough to get peed on. Raymond has been having some problems lately but even so I sincerely doubted that he had peed on another child on purpose.
There are two open stalls in the boys bathrooms. I maintained to the other teacher that if someone was in my stall and playing around I would have peed on them as well. (Would've been a little harder for me.) We also wondered if they weren't sharing the toilet. Anyways, I did share the story with Raymond's father, laughed about it with Bonnie and decided we needed a "first book" for this year. Bonnie has been teaching school for 10 years and she says she has never had so many "firsts." Mind you, most are not the firsts you want to be associated with. I was the first to have a kindergartner suspended.....in the school's history. (He hit the principal.) The good times just keep rolling!

This week one of my students came out of the bathroom and reported that Raymond peed on the floor. I waited for a personal moment with him and asked why he did that. Raymond's disturbing response was "I do that every time." Teaching is certainly not limited to curriculum here in kindergarten. We are the lucky ones that get to expound on most every subject. Including toilet etiquette. Again I shared the story with his father. I was not prepared for the response.

"Yea, when Raymond pooped in the cat litter box last week I asked him why he did it and he said "I thought it would be fun.""

What is there to say to that?

It's Been an Emotional Day and This is Just the Half of It

Today I feel a bit like Scarlett O'Hara. I wish it was for one of the better scenes of the book. Remember the scene when she tells Rhett that she is afraid that she is going to hell? I can't even remember why she thinks that. Had one of her husbands just died? Yes, I think it must have been Frank Kennedy. She came down to the parlor to talk to Rhett and actually looked a little peaked. But it had nothing to do with grief for the bereaved. She was frightened for herself that she was going to hell.

Well, I am frightened for myself that I cannot be nice. And that may in actuality send me to hell. I am frightened of being nice. And I am frightened that this is bothering me because literally I am getting sick to my stomach about thinking of trying to be nice. It scares me that bad. Scarlett started crying hysterically about the whole thing and that is exactly what I want to do.

I have always thought that being interesting was where it was at but I honestly get all "brain dead" when it comes to having ........manners. That small talk that supposedly comes to easily to women is completely lost on me. I recognize it when I see it. I even appreciate it when it is done sincerely. But when the moment occurs that I should pop out with a compliment, a thank you, a hug or a "what can I do to help?" I freeze up. I am the queen of coming up with the ediquette soaked conversation lines after I am home. Sometimes I blame this phenomenon on anxiety. I am scared to show love. Sometimes at even more pitiful moments I question whether I have any love to give. It is not one and the same. I probably need to decide which it is. I might not be going to hell if it really is fear.

I am a social disgrace with other women and I am sick of it. However, my children are not very nice to each other and I am wondering if I am not showing them a good example of being nice. And that concerns me more. I do try with my children. I must admit that I feel very good about my work as a mother. I know I am trying. I know that I am working at it. I am proud of my efforts. I am proud that I am able to see my children as individuals and know they have to make their own decisions. Of course, I could do better. I don't say "I love you" every day. Not even to Bart. I do find myself acting like a military colonel sometimes and that leads me right back to the not being nice.

I was at a meeting tonight. A meeting about teaching. I do love teaching. I feel passion about teaching. My friend was there as well. She is just so open and loving. At the end of the meeting she was talking to everyone just schmoozing all comfortable. I just left. I apparently am so private that I had to bottle up all the good good feeling and not share it with anyone. I feel like that. I hold onto the love so tightly that I can't share it for fear of letting it out along with tears, uncontrollable laughter or throw up.

You know, the first boyfriend that I really liked was Dan. He came to take me on a walk around the lake holding hands. I looked into his eyes and promptly threw up. True story.

You know, sometimes in the throes of marital bliss I will just start laughing hysterically, uncontrollablly, completely not in a turn on sort of a way. True story.

You know, today I went to Cooper's parent teacher principal conference and I started crying because I just love that boy so much. And he has had such a rough year. Third teacher. True story. And truly embarrassing.

Enough of those true stories happen and you start to make sure all the emotions are tucked away as far as they can be. Including love and niceness. Because being the social leper that I am here on earth is worse than the prospect of sitting in hell with an interesting girl like Scarlett O'Hara.

Catch 22

This life is way too short to live in this winter setting for this long. I am seriously considering moving. However, the boys had fun ice fishing the other weekend. Bart took these pictures.





They went to the lake with Grandpa Nolan and Billy and caught about 70 fish or so. Apparently perch is a trash fish so you can't throw these fish back. You must bring them home and clean them. Yes, this winter like setting that I lived in afforded me the opportunity to gut and clean 70 fish last weekend. I cut off fish heads. I deboned fillets. I saw way too many fish eggs last weekend. It seriously took 3 hours to clean all the fish. I think I have done my quota for......my life. We were going to have a good steak dinner that night but after three hours in the kitchen I had had enough of kitchen duty. We had Apollo Burger for dinner that night. It took us 3 days to let the memories fade and then we had a delicious fish fry. I do love fish.

I still hate winter and cold and dark. But the gym is definitely helping. It is not helping with the eating all the chocolate in sight but it is helping the winter blues.

Teacher Hazing

Cooper started first grade this year. He didn't have a teacher and got along with substitutes and the reading specialist filling in for about 6 weeks. Finally we got a permanent teacher in the classroom. He has 21 kids in his class which is pretty normal to on the low side for Utah. I have spent a bit of time in his classroom. I have talked to his teacher quite a bit. I have no illusions about Cooper. He is a cute kid, he is a smart kid but he is a handful. He is a stereotypical youngest child. He has no respect for authority because he has had so many figures of authority try and assert themselves on his young self. He has not only his mother and father but all the older brother and sisters. Unfortunately they are not good authority figures and do not use the power correctly and that lets the youngest child learn to just ignore the power. That bleeds into other authority figures such as teachers and grandparents as well. It is a problem. It has become a bigger problem to me as I look at him through the eyes of a teacher. I have several students exactly like him and they create havoc in my class. I cringe to think it is my kid doing that to another teacher.
When you are a teacher the principal comes by, sits in and evaluates a lesson 4 times a semester. We call it JPAS. I was talking to Cooper's teacher the other day and she was expressing worry about her evaluation. She has a difficult class and has been graded low in the area of classroom management. (children behaving) I asked her if she wanted me to keep Cooper home for that day of the evaluation. It was sortof a joke and sortof serious.
I told my colleague about the conversation and she thought it was so funny that she shared it with my principal who then shared it with the whole staff at staff meeting. I feel really part of the whole teacher community now that I have had my perspective broadened, my sympathy increased and my personal experiences used as fodder for a staff meeting.

Slow and Steady wins the Race

When Bart and I were newly married, we had the opportunity to redecorate our room. It was mandated that it must be masculine. I don't really remember if I was still in the the honeymoon stage or what but I went along with a duck hunter theme. Our colors were green, blue and maroon.
In our second house I remember deciding it was time for a new theme in the master bedroom. I wanted something a little more feminine. Bart came completely undo. He would call me in the middle of the day several time a day making sure I was not out shopping for flowery bedding. I couldn't believe the sudden interest in interior design. Finally I found a bedding set that I really liked. Of course, it was flowery. I stood in the store and debated with myself. I decided that I did know my husband well enough. He was too lazy to act if the bedding was already bought AND the bed was already made up. Sure I would take the grumbling but the battle would be won. I bought the bedding. And I made up the bed.
And that night I slept alone in my flowery wonderland. Bart slept on the couch because he would not sleep in flowers. And he slept on the couch the next night as well. I learned just how stubborn my husband could be. And it was not a pretty sight. I settled for stripes and solids in that house.
We are now living in our fourth house. Bart is very aware that I have a bedding fetish. All beds in my house have at least 3 sets of sheets and then another 2 sets of flannels. I don't insist on real expensive bedding but I do insist on routine change for cleanliness and beauty. Bart and I are well into our second decade of marriage. And right now Bart is upstairs sleeping in flowery sheets and on top of those flowery sheets is a flowery piece quilt. This week is the first week that I have ever dared put both flowery inside bedding and flowery outer bedding covers on our bed. And for past two nights it has been something akin to glee that I feel when I look over and see a flower above his eyebrow and know there is a flower under his bum and a flower hovering over his foot.

What a great combination!!

American Idol and IMAC photo booth.



Can you tell that I have my eye on Simon Cowell?

They kicked my butt

So, for the past 4 months I have been teaching kindergarten. It has been an interesting change of pace in my life. I think that it is probably what I should have invested my college career in but feeling so rebellious at Brigham Young University I could not have entered into the Elementary Education program. It is a shame that I really didn't know myself that well back then. And that is one of my regrets that I really don't feel like I got anything substantial out of college as far as education goes. But we were talking about kindergarten.
I was hired because the two other kindergarten teachers felt that they needed to split their classes of 26 each to be able to have better control. I was able to help them with that. I would like to say that I got all the bad ones and while I certainly have my own share and likely another share as well, the other teachers still have their hands full.
My other two colleagues both just finished their master degrees in elementary education. Both are mothers and just as busy as I or more so. I really like both of them even though their styles could not be more different. They were a big part of the reason that I chose this school and kindergarten rather than another position in a more prestigious school teaching 6th grade part time. The other reason was the school's proximity to my house and the principal of the school I am currently working at.
However, all these wonderful people do not abide with me in the classroom. It is just me, myself and I along with my 19 little compadres. And sometimes the ratio is not a good one. Just last Thursday I was evaluated by my principal. He is intimately aware of my students and our problems. He was the one who suspended one. He is the one that took the phone call about another one trying to burn down his house. He knows. However, I had put together a very good lesson that included "engaging learning activities." (That means fun.) I know what a regular day looks like in my classroom but this day was beyond even my expectations.
Their are several survival techniques that I employ on a daily basis. I love small group. I am a believer that most intellectual learning happens during small group. Whole group is just simply a social skills lesson at all times which is what is needed in kindergarten. The principal must witness a whole group activity,(usually lesson) a team activity (game played at tables of 5. Sharing and taking turns is so hard for kindergarteners) and an individual assessment. (worksheet) He ended up not just taking but carrying Mr. Suspension out of the classroom during the whole group activity and then Mr. Pyro was physically placed in time out during the team activity.

They kicked my butt.

I love school because every day is new. For me. For them. I showed up on Friday and after going over listening procedures and spending a few minutes having the class observe the top of their tables close up we had a pretty good day.

I am interested to see what Monday will bring.

How this picture came about

Ryan and I went to a church function tonight and we had to have a picture taken of the two of us.

And I looked so fat in the picture. So fat. And it made me so sad. Over the beginning of the school year and the beginning of my new job I was able to lose 20 pounds. I was so nervous about teaching each and every day that I just could not eat. I hate the fact that going to the gym really does not do anything for the weight. I go to the gym at least 4 times a week. Limiting food intake is the key to weight loss. Since I have been feeling more comfortable in my class and over the holidays I have regained my appetite. The gym I am sure has helped me maintain my weight loss but I have not been able to lose anymore. I still have 20 more to go. But as I am the one looking in the mirror I know the additional 20 pounds is not all in my face and the picture taken at the church made it look like the weight was all surrounding my nose.

Pictures make me realize that I am old. This is one of the pictures we took. It is proof that my skin is old, my lips are old and my teeth need some braces.


So the evening turned into a quest of just one picture of me that was acceptable. Digital cameras come in very handy when you are searching for such an elusive treasure.

I may need to hire a professional.

The Words of the Day

Sad teeth

They really have nothing to do with each other, 

these two words.

The first is simply how I feel about Heath Ledger. 

Dying.

His smile in 10 Things I Hate About You is 

A legend.

His character in A Knight's Tale made me laugh.

He was 28. 

He had most everything and yet it still didn't make him happy.

That makes me sad.

Ryan got her braces off her teeth today.

She is officially braceless as of 12:10 this afternoon.

I don't know what is more luminescent

Her blinding whiteness or

her unconcealed headiness at being braceless.

I know that youth is beautiful 

but Ryan is also encircled with my heart's love

and that makes her breath taking.

6 months later

Hello? Hello?? Hello???

Exactly. Exactly 6 months later. Can that be a sign?

I definately need a new font for 2008.

Test

test

test

test

test

Blogger does not really give you a whole bunch of variety on the font scene. It makes me rather peevish about finishing the post. But I promised myself that I would. It is still January and vague and random ideas are still mulling in my brain for resolutions.

• I will be running in some races this year.


• I will be taking classes this year.


• I will be blogging this year.


• I will be gettting my photos and my family's photos in some organizational design this year.


• I will be going on a envy breeding vacation this year.

I am actually taking a class already this year so things are in motion. I have also started a whole new career as of 4 months ago. I have been thinking of changing my blog banner.  Tune in again for a couple of options.  

For now I will leave you with another pictorial image of this past 2007 Christmas.