Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to everyone from the Kelly house!!

I got home the Friday night before Christmas. Since then, we have done a variety of traditional and not so traditional things here during the holiday season. Here are a few snapshots of some of our fun-filled holiday activities.

Me, Molly, Bonnie, Aubs, and Cayd have taken a night each year to go and look at the coolest Christmas light displays around San Diego county. One house that even appeared on a tv show from around the country as one of the neatest houses actually sits right here in our very own Escondido! We are famous! We got lost a few times and didn't find everything we were looking for but it turned out to be a smashing evening and we still got a semi nice kodak moment out of it.



Mom bought a kit to make a gingerbread house but it turns out that she had the same great idea last year because we found a year old kit in the cupboard already! We didn't want to make the new one and leave the old one for another year, and we didn't want to use the old and save the new for the next year and keep that going, so we decided to do them both!



Our Christmas Eve traditions consist of Bonnie and her kids (and now her dog) sleeping over, going in the spa that night, and having pizza for dinner. I think the pizza "tradition" started this year because that's what Bonnie felt like for dinner that night and she claims that's what we always have! Oh well. . . it works for me too. :)

Christmas was a great day as well. The kids are not early birds like we were as children so finally at 7:30 we could stand it no longer and me and Molly went in and woke up the kids that morning. Present opening is always entertaining when there are two kiddies busting through gifts like wild banchies and a mom who won't let you open that next gift until your other wrapping paper is already in the garbage sack. But it was a good and happy day and I think everyone had a fantastic Christmas. Below are a few pictures of some randomness of the day. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas as well!

SNOW DAY!!!

Yesterday (Wednesday) kids didn't come to school because of parent teacher conferences- bleh. During the day, it began to snow again. I finished up around 3 oclock and left rather than staying to get stuff done. The roads were not terrible but they were starting to get snowy and It was kind of a scary drive home. (Brought back scary memories of commuting to work in Utah). I got home and figured I would be there for the night even though I had so much shopping and things I needed to get done before this Friday.

Anywho. . .around 10pm that night I got a text from a girl that said schools had been closed for the following day! I looked it up on the district website just to check, and sure enough- school had been canceled! I was so way excited. Up in Utah we NEVER got snow days even though sometimes we got terrible amounts of snow! So I woke up this morning to see a beautiful blue sky and all our snow melting away. At 8:50 in the morning I had a bit of a scare when I received a phone call from my school. I feared that they had changed their mind because there wasn't any snow left and now I was late for work! But it was just a friendly reminder that school had been canceled for the day-- phew!! I spent the day shopping, and taking care of my first speeding ticket. I got the ticket last month and because i had recently switched my insurance, I didn't have that proof with me. So instead of just paying online for the dang thing, I had to go to the courthouse. What a pain in the butt it was and so many scary yucky people were there, definitely makes me want to be a more responsible driver. . . besides the hefty $200 fine!

So- I had a most productive day and got all my errands done. Now we go back to school tomorrow and then off for Christmas break! Hard week I tell ya. . . Haha- my first snow day in Las Vegas-- who would've guessed!?

Today was just one of those days. . .

the kids were driving me crazy. They weren't listening, weren't paying attention, and were being unusually loud. This is the last week before Christmas, we still had snow outside, and we have no school tomorrow, so as a teacher this kind of day is expected, yet still really gets to me.
One little girl drove me crazy all day long. She is a bright little thing, but when she doesn't want to do something, she doesn't. I say stop, she keeps going, I say sit, she stands, I tell her to use markers, she uses crayons. . . she was finding anyway and everyway to disobey me. In the meantime, she got absolutely no work done. By the end of the day. . I was fed up. I had tried talking to her, moving her, bribing her, yet nothing worked. We were working on a math assignment that was too easy for her to begin with yet she just sat there without doing a thing. I kept prodding her a long, warning her, and finally in frustration, I snatched the paper from her desk and said, "You know what this is?? A big fat F!" And I kind of stormed off. (I know it was mean, but I was so done with that child). She laid her head on her desk and began to weep. I ignored her, and we went on to our "fun" activity that she was not allowed to participate in. When that was finished the kids were doing an independent writing assignment so I sat at my desk. This little girl's desk had been moved away from all the other kids during the day (obviously)so she was practically right next to me with her head down. "Cassie," I called to her. Nothing. "Psss... Cassie," I whispered again. . . she turned her head away, showing me that she had heard me, yet chose to ignore me. I had a pile of little papers on my desk that were scratch papers, so I wrote "Hi Cassie" on one, crumpled it up, and chucked it at her head. She looked up, glared at me, picked it up, and tossed it in the trash. So I wrote another. "I love having you in class Cassie," (which at the time, I really was not feeling). Again, I chucked it at her head, again I got the glare, and again, she threw it away. The other kids were noticing at this point, and kind of giggling. Cassie looked up at me as I wrote my third note, "Cassie, why you throwing my notes away?" Crumpled it up and tossed it in her direction. She grabbed it, opened and read it, then preceded to the garbage can to find her thrown out notes. "Hiya Cassie!" landed right on her desk. A smile slowly formed on her little face, yet not for me to see because she wiped it right off when she saw me looking at her. "No smiling Cassie!" "No smiling in mean Miss Kelly's class!" She picked up her pencil, jotted something on the paper, and threw it back at me. I opened it up to find she had crossed the word "mean" off of my note. Haha. . . our notes continured. She eventually told me that she was crying because she had never gotten an F before. I asked if I should give her an A on an assignment she didn't complete. She said "no, that wouldn't be fair." I told her I would give her the grade she deserved as long as she finished the assignment. It was her choice, and i hoped she would make the right one. Then I folded her unfinished assignment that was on my desk into a little airplane and flew it at her. "I'll try!" was her final note and she immediately picked up her pencil and paper and finished the assignment. Throughout the whole thing, not a word was spoken out loud and the rest of the class just kind of looked on with curiosity, amusement, and I think a little jealousy.

The incident with Cassie today was just a little reminder to me that these kids are still just that... kids. 7 year old kids. They have feelings, they get hurt, they can drive ya nuts, but in the end you still gotta love them.

An unexpected Surprise

I woke up to just another typical day. Got dressed, went to work, and as I got out of my car a few snow flurries began to fall. Fun, I thought. .

Yeah- well those snow flurries changed from little flurries, to actual snow falling, and it didn't stop all day long! At first it was kind of exciting, it was fun to see how happy it made the kids. Snow isn't typical for the Las Vegas area you know. About an hour into school the snow was really starting to fall, so I took the kids out to play in it a little, as if we were getting anything done as it was! There was quite an actual bit on the ground already and I wanted to get a few pictures before it melted away. As the day progressed however, it just kept falling and falling.
My "good" idea of taking the kids out to play stuck with me all day long, in my non water proof shoes. My feet were wet, and because our classroom is situated outside the actual school, we go outside a lot. We take bathroom and drink breaks. Go inside for our special classes, and during my planning time I am in and out of the building doing who knows what. The grounds aren't really set up to take much moisture either because they just flood- major. By 1:30 in the afternoon my poor feet were literally sopping wet and frozen solid. The only thing I wanted to do after school- was leave. I unfortunately had a couple of parent conferences to get through. . . then I was out the door! My car was covered in snow enough that the window wipers wouldn't take it off. Did I even bring my snow scraper when I moved? Absolutely not! And any sort of warm winter clothing is stuffed in a box in CA or has been given to my sister Molly who lives in Indiana and actually needs it. So I was using my little sweater I happened to wear today to free my car of it's blanket of snow.
The 25 minute drive home was not great. I was trying to peel my socks and shoes off as I drove and I was seriously frightened that my feet would be black from frostbite (you know like on Mr. Deeds?) I mean. . . I had walked in sopping wet shoes for over 5 hours! Luckily though, not a black speck on em. . . and they did eventually thaw!

It was a miserable, cold, wet day, but the drive home was pretty from the snow and made it feel like it really is almost Christmas, which is something I didn't really expect when I moved here. So part of it may actually have been kind of a fun surprise. . .

It's Finally Done!

After miles and miles and hours and hours of dedicated running, the half marathon is finally behind me! Ok. . . we will be honest here. I did not exactly put hours upon hours of dedication into this thing and certainly did not run for miles and miles, but I definitely put in my fair share of stress for the LACK of preparation I was doing. Bonnie was at home being so good and keeping up with our schedule and I was a major slack off. In my defense, it was just hard to find the time to do as much running as I should have. It gets dark SO early these days, I would have had to leave straight after work to get home and changed and in a decent run before it got dark, and frankly, I rarely, if ever am capable of leaving work right after school ends. I feel like I live in a safe part of town but there can be some wackos on the streets and its scary at times!
Anywho, the half-marathon was last Sunday. Mom and Bonnie drove up here on Saturday with the kids. They got here in the early afternoon but right away I could see it was going to be a long weekend. Cayden was bouncing off the walls as soon as he got here. . . and have I mentioned my lack of internet and cable at this here home of mine?? It is something I have learned to deal with but it was another story keeping a houseful of guests entertained who are not used to lacking in such luxuries.
So we went and signed ourselves in that afternoon and wandered around the little running convention they had going on there. Got some cool free stuff and bought my new memorabilia sweatshirt. . . they had booths and fliers all over the place for other marathons around the country and there were several I thought would be awesome to do. But realistically, I know I don’t have the time to put into training for something cool like the Nashville country music marathon. . . though it would be so much fun.
That night we went and ate our spaghetti dinner, had a “fun” bowling adventure, took a trip to Baskin Robbins, then hit the bed somewhat early.

We woke up on Sunday at 4:40 am! After loading sleeping kids into the car, mom dropped us off on a street corner and wished us luck. It was very nerve racking, but exciting as well. The race began on Las Vegas Blvd (The strip), and since it was still dark out, all the casino lights were still on and lighting our way. Fireworks began the race which was neat as well. Bonnie was a good running companion to have. Right away she was weaving left and right through people telling me that we had to immediately get into our 9 minute mile groove. . . something I was hoping she wasn’t going to actually hold us to! But I followed along and got into a pretty good pace. There were lots of silly people running, Elvises, Santas, a man carrying a huge American flag (on the stick and all!), girls in tutus, and other bizzaro costumes. Bon and I went shopping over Thanksgiving to get cute matching outfits and Bonnie expressed concern that it may cause us to look foolish. . . haha obviously that is something that needn’t any worry!

The people and scenery and running companion made for a quick first half of the run. We were busy watching for mom and the kids, our only spectators so we didn’t want to miss them! Every once in a while Bonnie would just start shouting “Mom? Mom?” through the crowds as if she would happen to be there. . . it was quite entertaining. We did eventually find them and it was fun to stop and catch a few Kodak moments with them.

Then somehow, we had made it and it was almost over. My legs hurt SO badly by the last few miles but I made it! 2 hours, 1 minute and some odd seconds later. . . yahoo! I got 1641st place. . . not bad for a race of over 11,000 people though! The family was right there on the finish line along with our smashing new medals! The snacks at the end were kind of a disappointment but all in all it was an excellent experience that I wouldn’t mind repeating in the future.

While we were running, Molly was flying into Las Vegas so we immediately left at the end to go pick her up from the airport. Then we went back to my house and kind of passed out for a while. Neither Bon or I could move our legs at this point, but luckily Molly and Mom were there to entertain the kids sort of. We had all had really early mornings so most of us were not in the mood for anything. That night we did go out and eat and FINALLY hit the movie Twilight because long ago Molly, Mom, and I agreed we wouldn’t see it without each other and this was finally our first time to all be in the same city together after it’s debut of course.

Then the next morning the family headed out while I headed out to the beginning of a long week at work! Luckily, I was able to somewhat walk by then!
Overall, it was a fantastic weekend. It was fun to see my family and show them where I live and the race was not as horrid as I thought it would be. So. . . trip to Nashville anyone??

DUH SHAWNA

I moved into my new house exactly one month ago to the day. Needless to say, there have been issues getting "settled in." Because the house has been recently bought after it was foreclosed on, many utility type places have been dragging their heals in getting us what we need because they were not paid for on this house in the past. . . namely the internet, which I still dont have. Another thing however, was my bathroom light. My bedroom has it's own bathroom and when I moved in, I discovered the light in the bathroom didnt work. I changed a few lightbulbs, but still nothing. Mom said that the circuit might have just been tripped but I couldnt get the dumb box open to even check. The week after I moved in, I went to CA for the weekend and while I was gone, my roommate's friend looked at the circuit box and got it back on so when I got home at the end of my weekend, I flipped the switch to discover there was a fan in the bathroom, yet still no lights! The girl that owns the house keeps saying she will have someone take a look, but since then I have just stuck a small lamp into my bathroom and have been dealing with that way, for a MONTH. Showering and doing most stuff in the semi dark has been fine. . . I will admit that I probably walk out of the house pretty regularly looking like crap though because I put my make up on in the semi dark as well... anyway, last night, I was laying on my bed, just thinking about how I have been living here a month and I am still having issues like this. I turned and looked at the bathroom (the small lamp shining not so brightly) and I focused my eyes on a light switch OUTSIDE of the bathroom door. I lay there a second, wondering what in the world that switch would be for. . . and it dawned on me. I swear if that is the bathroom light I am going to hurt myself! Well. . . sure enough. . . click went the switch, and click went on the bathroom lights! I dont know why I never noticed the switch before. . . I dont know why they would put the fan on a switch inside the bathroom while the lights are on a switch outside of the bathroom. . . but either way I feel like an absolute moron. The good news however... I finally now have lights in my bathroom!

I'm Back!

Whoa. . . I know, I know, it's been a while! I probably don't even have to give my usual explanation, but yeah- still no internet! I have gone almost a month without it and frankly, it has not gotten easier. I have my sister checking email for me, and have used other people's while chillin at their homes, but basically I have just gone without. If you wouldn't mind crossing your fingers for me. . . I am hoping that when I get back home this Sunday, the internet issue will be cleared up. We will see!
So now it is time to udate everyone on my life because I KNOW you have missed hearing all about it! Ok- in all honesty, it's going to be a short update because things have currently not been super exciting in the life of Shawna. Basically I work by day and play by night. That's all the info we really need for now. . . :)

I came home to California on Wednesday after school. I have always had the day off of work or school the day before Thanksgiving so it was different having to be at work that day. I had a whoppin 9 kids in class. . . basically made for a pointless day to get anything of value done. Oh well. . the kids that were there seemed to enjoy the randomness the day brought. We did a lot of art and had a lot of "do whatever we want" time. It was also a super rainy day so the kids were basically bouncing off the walls. Haha. . . it has been getting dark so early as it is but when I actually let them out at 3:10 in the afternoon several of them accused me of letting them out later than normal because it was extremely dark for the afternoon. Like I was going to hold them in longer than normal on a day like that!
Anywhoo- I left for California pretty much immediately. I have driven that drive so much these days that it is actually starting to ware on me a bit. It was rainy and dark and wet from the beginning of the trip and the roads were insanely busy for the holiday so it was defintely a slower trip. . . but I made it!

We had Thånksgiving at home home with just the little family.




Afterwards, we did our "whipped cream" picture. There are only few of us left remaining strong in this tradition but we will keep it alive. Molly and Bryan couldn't make it here this year so that was sad but it was still a good day.


Bonnie has kept me up on the running thing. I actually just realized today that our half marathon is exactly one week from tomorrow! For some reason I had it in my mind that it was TWO weeks away, but I was definitely off the mark there. Oh well. . . the last few days I have felt great when running, still have to do five miles today. . . bleh. . .but no worries. . . I think I will make it!

We planned on doing our black friday shopping adventures starting at 2 am, but due to circumstances, we actually didnt get out the door til after 8:30am! We took a picture with no lights on in hopes of making it look like we left really early. . . either way it's the one day of the year that you can really go shopping without actually cutifying ourselves for going out. Even if we didn't get up at 2 am, there is no reason that others shouldnt believe that we did!


Bon, Aubs, and I went together and were out for a good portion of the day with no crankiness arising whatsoever (Me and Aubs are not the biggest shoppers)! So all in all it was a good day. We spent WAY too much money only to discover that no Christmas presents were even bought. . .me and Bon just had a shopping day for ourselves. We tried on and bought lots of the same clothes, haha it's a good thing we live in different cities!

Dad and I did our traditional breakfast together on Saturday morning and then spent much of the day putting up Christmas lights. Tis the season. . . holy smokes I cannot believe it is already that time of year! Time is just flying by so stinkin fast!
Then I spent the evening with the kids while everyone else went out. We did a LOT of wii playing. . . and just hung out!

Anywhoo. . . that is my Thanksgiving in a nutshell!! Hopefully I wont have to do anymore of these long drawn out posts anymore and will be able to keep up. I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving too! :)

No Internet. . . No Blogging

So I have made the official move into my new house. When I got there, some of the electricity was not working, we had no internet, no cable, no gas (meaning no hot water), and a few other issues here and there. I was busy at work, and I used more of my time for "playtime" rather than working or moving. Honestly I don't take stress very well. therefore it was an extremely cranky time in my life. I hung up on probably everyone in my family at one time or another over the course of two days. But we are definitely not going to dwell on those times, so we are just moving on. . .

Last Sunday, yeah, we did this on Sunday, a few friends of mine got together to do a little TP-ing. I havent done this in years but frankly it made me very happy. It was very very windy that night, we had lots and lots of toilet paper for just one house, so basically they definitely got it. Luckily I had my camera in my purse at the time so I was able to catch a quick photo before we rang the doorbell and scampered out of there! Yay!



This weekend I got to come home to California once again! Because life in my new house is definitely not up to par yet, a few random days off of work definitely made good timing. So I drove home Friday night and hung out with Bonnie and the kids that night. On Saturday, I did some shopping, spent more money than I should have (don't tell Molly!) and conked out pretty early at the end of the day. Me and Mom had stayed up late chatting the night before and Bon woke me up early to go running (6 miles again) so by the end of Saturday I was basically exhausted. I have been pulling some late nights lately and I think they finally caught up to me.
Sunday (today) was the kids primary program. I got to Bonnie's house a little early to get Aubrey's hair cutified, and we snapped a few pictures while we were there. The first picture is funny because Bonnie claims to hate her puppy Little Wolf, but she does the silliest things for that pup. Like before locking him in the kitchen before we left, she dragged his favorite chair in their so he wouldnt be too sad. Isnt she so sweet to the little thing?






The kids did SO well in the program today! Aubrey is quite the little speaker. She talked slowly and clearly and just did a great job. She had kind of a solo, speaking part of a song, but I didnt have my camera ready because I didnt know when it was at and by the time I got it on, it just didnt turn out to be the best video. She was so adorable though and soon I will get a video of her on this here blog as well.
Cayden had a solo singing part. I know Molly posted a video of him a few days ago but I just couldnt pass up posting my video of him as well. He was so cute and he did a fabulous job. I know we are not technically supposed to probably film this, but how can you pass up filming a kid's first solo??



I have been bowling kind of frequently lately. The first few times I have been dominating EVERYONE, but just this past week I was finally beaten by a friend three games in a row! He said it was about time I learn some humility because I had been awfully boastful. So today I came home and did a little wii bowling to try to improve my skills for the next big competition I face. What do ya know. . . I got like a record score of 224! Holy smokes! Definitely had to get that score on film just in case you didnt believe me!



Anywhoo. . . that is about half of my California trip so far. I have tomorrow and Tuesday off of work for Veterans Day so I am leaving sometime on Tuesday. Lots of work to do here first though-- eek! Because I dont know when I will get internet (hopefully soon) I am not sure when my next post will be. . . so till then. . .

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! I figured I needed to get this post up pretty quickly because I have already changed my layout to Thanksgiving! Too many holidays in a row to slow down in the blog world!
Yesterday was a super fun but super busy(good) day. First of all, I had the day off. . . Happy Nevada Day! So I woke up early because my body just refuses to sleep in these days. :( I finished my next week's lesson plans and moved a load of stuff to my new house! Then I met up with Randi who is in town with her family. We first went and got pedicures. I am super ticklish in the foot area so pedicures are sometimes quite uncomfortable for me, but I do it knowing the end results in mind. . . super soft pretty feet! Here are mine and Randi's feet!! (Mine are the purple- cute!)



Then I took Randi to show her my new house, and now that she has seen it, you all can too! More pictures will be posted when I am "officially" moved in!



We then headed to a mall to wander around and eat dinner at. We were meeting back up with her family a bit later so we wandered for a while then sat down and took a few minutes. I chatted to Randi practically non stop. . . I was trying to see if I could annoy her but she said that she has missed my voice so long that I just possibly couldnt annoy her. How sweet! But then by the end of the night I got her stopping in random stores because I was bugging her. . . haha mission accomplished!! Just kidding. . .we had lots of fun though and the food was super yummy and her family was lots of fun so it was some good times. :)



After dinner, I dragged Randi from her family to go to a corn maze with a bunch of friends. This is a picture of just a small part of us that went. Scary group huh?



The corn maze was fun. It was supposed to be haunted, but I think by the time Halloween actually rolls around, the haunting people are ready for it to be over because several times we found them just chilling in groups on the floor chatting with each other rather than scaring! We had to practically hunt the scarey people out! We did eventually find the chainsaw guy! They are always the scariest of the group! After he chased me down for a while, he finally gave up on me. Then I kindly asked for a picture with him. He agreed!! After some prodding, he even agreed to hold up his chainsaw for the picture! The poor fellow, he is probably just a little misunderstood. . . I dont think he would have hurt a fly!


Here are a few more random pictures from the evening. Yep- the clown was with us. . . :-p







I hope that everyone had a very "spook-tacular" Halloween!!

Home Again!

I cannot wait for the day when I can start my new post by saying how unbelievably unbusy life has been. Unfortunately for myself, tonight is not the night for that. But right now I am taking a little down time so I thought I would update a little bit before life gets even more chaotic and there is too much stuff to back tell. Last weekend I got to go home for a day or so. I left Friday after work and got home at about 8ish. No one was there to greet me which was a little sad. Mom and Dad were at the high school football game with Cayd and Mol and Bon were at the Movie High School Musical 3 with Aubs. . . it was just a high school night I guess! But they eventually all came home and it was all good. The weekend was just a typical one. . very short, but good. We hung out, did some shopping, went in the spa, ate. . . all the stuff I love to do when going home.

Of course it was October, that means "Pie Month" in the Kelly household. Marie Calendar's pies are on sale for way cheap so we see a LOT of pies throughout the month. Yum Yum!



We also had sunday breakfast! One of the good things about 2 oclock church- bleh. Mom and Dad discovered pancake batter in a can (like whipping cream!) They were kind of fun to make, and way easier than batter, but they were not the best tasting and therefore we ended up having to make real pancake batter instead :(


Then. . . our final activity for the weekend. . . a trip to the pumpkin patch! Dad planted baby pumpkins in the backyard this year so we got to go and pick out all the pumpkins in the WHOLE patch= any kids dream right?! Somehow we got a stowaway humongous one out there too! WHOA! It was the whole pumpkin patch experience shortened into a wee ten minute family excursion. . . which honestly. . . is long enough time for the pumpkin patch!

A Fun Surprise!

So this morning, sitting on my counter, there awaited a great surprise. My friend Randi sent me a GYNORMOUS card in the mail! It was so adorable and completely says something her and I would say to each other and it was so perfect. I LOVE it! Thanks Randi! you are the BEST!!!!

My. . . classroom?

So- it is hard to believe I have only been teaching this class for a little over a week because it feels like they have been my little ol' class for the whole entire school year! For the most part. . . the kids seem to have completely adjusted. They seem happy with school, they like our class, it's all good. Kids bounce back from stuff like this pretty easily it seems. The parents however, are the ones that seem to be making this process a bigger ordeal than it really needed to be. yeah- it might have been a rough spot for their child for a day or two, but they are fine. . . the parents should be too! But I still have some parents (ok- ONE parent) that is pulling her child (who by the way, seems to be a very happy child) out of class and questioning her child every other second how the class is because she claims that "she is afraid she is not adapting well to the situation." Which. . . by the way. . . is a bunch of crap. Anywhoo. . . once we get all parents on board with everything... the year should be great!

Ok. . . about the classroom though. When I first got this job, I was told the classroom would be in a portable, because the school is pretty overcrowded. There are mmmm maybe like 7 or 8 classes out in portables and I really didnt think much of it because I grew up going to school in portable classrooms. In fact, my 2nd grade class was taught in one! At the time, it seemed like no big deal. It was just another classroom. But here, there is like a bad name with the whole portable classroom idea and I have come to believe that that is one reason parents were very opposed to their children switching classrooms This is so silly to me. I mean, maybe its just because I grew up going to school in em, but I feel that it makes no difference in the classroom environment.






Anyway. . . as you can see. . . its a cute classroom and all. . . looks very typical of any other classroom you might enter. So the other day me and my class went outside and a little girl asked "Miss Kelly, can I go back to the portable to get my jacket?" "No honey- you may go back to our CLASSROOM and get your jacket." Geesh- what are these parents teaching their children??

All By Myself

So tonight (Friday) my school was putting on a little halloween carnival, technically referred to as "Grizzlies After Dark," cute huh? Anywho,this afternoon I finally got rid of parents about 3:30 pm (parents love to stay after school and chat) and I had to be at my booth at 5:15 pm, so that gave me less than two hours of down time. It takes me a good 25 minutes to get home, so obviously going home would have been just plain silly. I had actually brought a little microwaveable meal to school that day for my dinner, but after school, especially on a Friday, the last thing I really wanted to be doing was stuff in my classroom. Afterall, I will be going back tomorrow. So I decided to go to target and then to grab something to eat or something instead. As I was driving along and talking to my sister Molly on the phone, it came to my knowledge that I have never gone out to eat by myself before. I mean, I have gone and picked up food and taken it home, but I have never actually like sat in some little fast food restaurant and eaten all by myself. But I had no where to go take my meal, I had some time, and I was starving, so I did tonight. I thought it would be weird, but it really wasn't. I just sat, and ate. Who knows. . . maybe I will do it more often now! I was pretty disappointed with the food however. Baja Fresh, I have never been there, but I LOVE a place called Rubios and I was hoping it was something like it. Sadly, it just wasnt the same. I left leaving SO full, but just not satisfied. Its kind of a pain being so incredibly full off something you didnt enjoy much to begin with. . . oh well. I have discovered one Rubios here in Las Vegas area, it was once when I was visiting Chris, probably the first time I came here to visit him. So I dont even know where we were at. . . but there it was! I know it is in Henderson, but that is like a good distance away from me, definitely worth the trip, but I was just lacking in time tonight. I will have to look up Rubios and see if there are any a wee bit closer. Who knows. . . maybe I will go there for my next by myself food experience!
So I would like to have gotten a candid moment of me, and my new dining experience. Unfortunately, no one was with me to take a photo. Haha. . . go figure!

Happy Chaotic

Things are so busy right now that I don't even feel I have time to sit down and write this post, but I just barely got home from work and I have so much stuff to do that I brought home, I figured a break from that kind of stuff was well deserved.
So shall I just jump right in from where we left off?

Last Tuesday was my official first day on contract for my new job. I spent the day moving all of my stuff into my classroom, and from past posts we all should know by now, that it is A LOT of stuff! Not to mention the school is a good 25 minute drive from my house so it was kind of a long process. Near the end of the day I got my pal Randi's brother BJ to move the last of the stuff over with me because he has a big humongo truck. . . something that I am thinking I should invest in with all this moving going on, but for now, it is just nice to have friends that can do it for me instead. :)

On Wednesday I spent the day there just trying to set everything up and put things where they belonged. This was kind of a hard task because a lot of the furniture for the room hadn't arrived yet so I didn't really have places to put things anyway. But I hung up some bulletin boards and just tried to clear out some of the clutter.

On Thursday I went to the school for half of the day to do the same thing, but then had to go down to the district office to sign my contract. YAY! But this we know from past posts as well, that going to the district office can be a heinous experience as well because it is in such a horrid location.

But I got it all taken care of, yahoo and showed up on Friday morning at school to try to get some planning done so I could be ready for Monday, the first day! But the good ole principal had different plans for that day which included starting my class. . . and he decided to share it with me just that morning. In fact, he didnt really personally tell me either, he just kind of announced it at the morning faculty meeting, as if it was just common knowledge or something! Luckily, he wanted me to take the kids after lunch, so I had til 1230 to finish organizing a bit and to come up with some kind of fun activity to start our school year off with. The day went surprisingly well. It is a way cute little second grade class. 17 kids in all. Some of them definitely have some spunk in them, but I really think it will be a fun year. That night I went home feeling pretty beat, however, I ended up going bowling with a friend and smoked his bum in all 3 games that we played. . . with my last score being. . . wait for it. . . 178 points! I was on fire I tell ya! Guess I wasn't so beat afterall. . . I really think that might be my personal record!

So yeah. . . Saturday I went to work for most the day, then went to a bonfire thing in the pm- late into the pm!

On Sunday after church I went and signed the lease for the new house I am going to be living in! Yay! I am very excited. . .I already got the key and everything but I am not too sure when I am going to find time to do the actual moving. . . but its a cute house, fun girls, I am excited. More on this topic (with pics hopefully) is sure to come. After that I went to game night at my friend Becky's house. Becky moved here right after I did, but cuz of a couple reasons, is sadly moving back to Provo. :( This was kind of a last hurrah with her I guess. Most of the night was way fun. I enjoyed myself quite immensely. A group of us played one of my favorite games "It came to Pass," yes- the terminology is religious, but the game itself is not. :) And some of the people I played with were just not my favorite people and this one STUPID boy even made fun of me. . .agh! But then he was doing so freakin crummy after like three rounds, he quit and left- YAY and then it was a joyous occasion once again. It made me miss my Utah friends way much though. . . so sad. We used to get together and play this game through all hours of the night and Brienne and Ryan would create "team unstoppable" haha. . . or when me and Molly would cheat by jabbing each other under the table til people figured it out and wouldnt let us sit together anymore. . . awww good times that I miss. :( Anywhoo. . . I ended up getting home too late (for the 3rd night in a row) and still had to stay up late to finish some stuff up.

Monday I started work and it went just smashing. Good little buggers, they will be fun and I am excited to be where I am at. The school is so unbelievably cute. it is two stories high and the work room has seriously like every color butcher paper you can imagine! (ok. . . that might not seem great- but pretty much. . . a teachers dream :) The other teachers are way nice and helpful and it has just been a really good first week. Yeah. . . crazy to think that just this time last week I had barely moved everything in! The actual teaching part has been pretty good. It has been quite the challenge to get things going in the classroom. They are all so used to doing things differently because they came from 8 different teachers classes! But we are working things out and it should be smooth sailing pretty soon.

Anywho. . . I really must scamper off. No worries. . . I will hopefully be back shortly. :)

Finally caught a break. . .

Wow, so much has happened this past week, I am excited to catch everyone up. :)
We will begin with the job hunt. . .
I came back from Indiana and tried to do the whole substituting thing. Just getting myself used to the system was a pain in the butt. My first job was on a Friday, Kindergarten class, and basically, it was a heinous experience. The kids were out of control, they hadnt had a teacher since like the second week of school so they had no routines down and no expectations, basically it was a nightmare. On monday, due to my disorganized life, I didnt go in to sub. That night I went to family night and sat by a girl that I had never spoken to before in my life. She knew I was a teacher however so she tried to make small talk about what grade I teach. I had to hold my head in shame and tell her that I didnt exactly have a job at the moment. She then told me that her school (did I mention she is a teacher as well?) had an opening for a 4th grade teacher because their numbers went up this year- yay for them. So she told me to come in the next morning. I did that, had an interview with the school that afternoon, and left feeling very confident that I got the job. They told me they would contact me the next day after finishing the few interviews they were "required" to do, but toured me around the school and made sure I would be available on Friday to come in.
The next day however, I did not receive a call from that school, but I got a different surprise call. Yay for surprise calls!
It was a principal at a different school who needed a second grade teacher! He had talked to the principal of the school I started at this year and said that she had only wonderful things to say about me and told him that I just had to have a job this year. So he wanted to interview the next day! So of course by now I am hoping that the first school does NOT call me, I mean, it was a great school and all, but second grade was where I wanted to be. So the next morning while I was driving to my interview at the second school, the first school called me. I did not answer though because I am indeed a wimp. I immediately listened to the voice mail though and it was the vice principal telling me that they had put my name into the district as their new 4th grade teacher! AGH!! So I got to the interview at the second school and oh my gosh it was the cutest school EVER in like a way nice area in town. The principal was SO nice and after a long, friendly interview, I was offered the job there. Of course I wanted to accept that job immediately! He knew about the situation from the first school (he had tried to hire me before I even got to the interview but the district told him I had already been hired!) and told me that I could easily get out of that job because I didnt even accept it to begin with and the district thinks its important that teachers go where they think they are the best fit. So I called the district and I went to the other school, and to make a very long story short. . . got my new second grade job at the cutest school EVER! I start tomorrow. . . I will definitely let you know how it goes!
After getting my job, I drove down to California. Molly and Bryan were originally supposed to come this weekend, but due to
other circumstances, they decided not to. It was a way fun weekend. I hung out at home and with my family. I watched Cayden in his football game and I might add, he did amazing! Dad got an awesome video of one of the plays and I highly recommend you viewing it. :) Cayden is on the blue team, number 21 :)


We went in the spa a few times, watched tv, just did the hang out at home thing. It was way fun. Today (Monday) I drove back but randomly decided to stop in Murietta to visit my friend Jenae who I have not seen in a long time. We had a wonderful and lengthy visit and then I got on the road and made it back here this evening. Two Thursdays ago, I had a visit with another friend of mine Brittney. Her sister plays soccer for BYU Hawaii and were playing in St George so Britt and her fam drove down to see her so I drove up to see them. It was way fun and little kami even scored the only goal for their team. It was way exciting! I am kind of bummed I have no cute photos from either of my excellent friend visits but I had to mention it anyway. I have lots of friends that I dont get to see very often which is so very sad so it was way fun to get to see those two again!

Indiana!!

Caution: If your eyes are tired at all and not prepared to read a somewhat long post, then I recommend you getting a little rest, and coming back at a later time. As you have read from the title, this is my Indiana post and when one spends almost a week long vacation with her sister and mom with a camera in tow, then we have much to blog about. So I hope you enjoy the trip at you relive it with me. :)

Molly and Bryan have recently moved to the small city of Plainfield, Indiana. It is just a ways away from Indianapolis where they were residing previously. It is a cute little city with more than one water tower with the city name printed on it. Who can pass up a kodak moment of a watertower with the city name on it? not us! So here we are!


Bryan picked us up from the airport when we arrived while Molly was at work. Molly later confided in us that Bryan was nervous about being home with us when she wasn't there. He had asked her what he should do with us, if he was supposed to take us anywhere, feed us, pull out the snack bucket for us etc? What a silly boy he is! :) He did just fine without Molly there to help him out!

But after day one, Bryan left for a couple day trip so it was just mom and the girls! We did the typical girl stuff, chatted, watched a nice Lifetime movie, and went clothes shopping. We also went on a hike on the paths that surround Molly and Bryan's house which by the way, they are very proud of. So below are a few pictures of the three of us on the cute path. Oh yes, and I am sporting my new shirt mom purchased for me to help me feel like I fit in a little better. Go Colts!





After Bryan came back we got to do more of the "city tour" stuff. We began with the world famous (I think it's world famous) Indy 500 racetrack. Not only did we get go on the inside of the track and run around on the grassy knolls, but we got to ride around the actual race track! No- it wasnt in a cool little speedy car, it was a big slow bus driven by an old man, but it was still a most excellent 2.5 miles! The picture below is of the four of us on our amazing tour bus.




This picture is of us "driving" past the score board off of the race track.



Us in front of a nice fountain :)



Before looking at this pic please just think about this. The four of us went around to so many sporadic places and we went through the whole ordeal of setting up the self timer on the camera, running to join the picture, just to discover that someone blinked or the camera was aimed funny. By this time, I was getting pretty tired of taking pictures, so I started making silly pictures just to ruin them. After this one was taken Molly said that it was our keeper because I was being a tird on purpose. I guess I can deal with that. :)



Ever since me and mom decided to go on this little trip, Molly has been planning and planning and planning our trip to the little canal to ride the paddle boats! So we get there, and paddle around for ten minutes or so, then everyone totally starts complaining about how exhausting it was! I mean, I was stuck on this dang paddle boat with a bunch of WIMPS for a whole entire HOUR! Im just teasing, it was tough work, and they did complain, but it was still a very fun time and we got lots of great pictures out of it! Nothing to complain about that!



"Do not climb the elephants." Well, we did climb the elephants, and we got some fantastic pictures out of it! Yeah, for random elephant statues chillin on the sides of canals! :)



Anybody see House Bunny yet? When I watched the movie I remember wondering, "When in the world does steam come out of manholes?" In Indiana! That's where! I mean, we have man holes in California, and Utah, and Las Vegas, but I have never seen steam coming out of them like they did here! And who wouldnt kodak moment THAT?



Us in front of a big monument of some sort. I really have nothing to say about this photo. . . sorry. . .



For the rest of the time, we spent a lot of our time at Molly and Bryan's house just hanging out. A few highlights:
1) Mom teaching us the new game Thump Thump (much fun! See pic below. . .)
2) The food: It is quite ironic I have decided that we eat so much on vacations, I mean, our schedules typically revolved around what we were eating that day (Im not kidding- sad huh?) yet we got no real kodak moments of our most excellent snacking this trip. We actually made some yummy meals together, hit a few yummy places, and snacked on Ice cream -lovingly referred to as "gonash" these days, and tots and mini chimis almost nightly. I had to often take breaks from whatever we were doing to lay on the couch til my tummy ache went away. Oh the joys of good eats! :)

Ok- so those are the only two I can think of. But they were two things we did A LOT of while out there, so definitely had to be mentioned.



On our last day there, just hours before our plane was to depart, we were sitting around to a roudy game of Thump Thump, listening to some tunes on the tv, when we discovered that you can text message a message to the tv station and they will put your text on the tv! Awesome! So we did it of course- twice actually, and ta da. . . kodak moment! Can a trip end any better than that?



Oh yes- and one last thing to note. I shared a tram at the airport with Billy Bob Thornton! And that is my new claim to fame! :)