Holiday

I have obviously been on a holiday from Blogger...but now I am on a holiday in real life! So, my holiday from Blogger is o-v-e-r.

We have had a wonderful break! I came to Arlington Tuesday morning and hung out with my best friend and cousin, Kristin Stapleton. I love her, I love my time with her! Thursday evening, we had Christmas at my parents house. Tim drove in after work and Jeff, Sarah, and the kids came over. I love our family time! Then we ventured out to Big Lake, TX for Christmas with the Darsts.

What is in Big Lake, TX you may ask? Ummm....Dairy Queen?





....and some awesome family! Tim's sister Mary and her husband and kids live there. If you aren't familiar with them, here is the story. First of all, Daniel (Mary's husband) and Mary were my youth ministers starting my sophomore year of high school. They were wonderful...like they came to Target when I worked there at age 16 and bought a bag of candy just to give to me! HA!

Anyway, from that youth ministry developed a friendship. Mary became one of my best and wisest friends! She's my friend that I can not see for years and we hug and start talking as if we have seen each other everyday of our lives. I LOVE HER and had such a great time talking like old times! One thing I will be FOREVER grateful for is her having her first son, Chaz. ( I love Hannah...but this particular story involves Chaz!) As Mary is in labor with Chaz, I decide to come up to the hospital to support my best friend...Who is in the waiting room? None other than the super handsome Mr. Tim Darst. He is sleeping in a waiting room chair. I sit caddy corner to him. Tim wakes up and says, "Whoa! When'd you get here?" I go on to explain I just got there and he explains why he is tired...well, of course he's tired he and our friend Greg had spent most of the night counting mullets in Walmart (duh, right?). Because he is tired, I decide to help him fight fatigue. It just so happened that there was a magazine on the end table with 25 ways to fight fatigue. So, we read through them and laughed. We then proceeded to play paper football where I definitely won...legitimately...(he will never EVER admit that). He let me win right? NOT. Ok...digression...anyways, we end up exchanging *GasP* screen names! BIG STEP, right? HA. Then we start chatting nightly...he gets my number, asks me on a few dates and...TADA! Married almost two and a half years...all thanks to my friends Mary and Daniel!

We had a very sweet time with both sides of our family! Tomorrow, Molly and I will pack up and head home to relax before our TAKS semester begins! Here's to a new adventure!

on to day 4 and 5...

Day 4: Something you've had to forgive someone for...

I have to forgive Tim for drinking all of our drinks we share :) He doesn't mean to...he just does it. Who said this had to be a deep truth?

Day 5: Something you hope to do in your life.

As most wives and women do, I hope to have kids! Here is my furry child, Molly! She has been a blessing and a joy! But, I still want some human kids :)

Also, I want to be a radio personality...seeing in that I don't have my degree in communications or anything other than education...it's defnitely a long shot...but I would LOVE to get paid to talk and people may actually WANT to listen to me! How fun!

Day 3

Day 3: Something you have to forgive yourself for.

I must admit that this post was difficult to write. Because of the love and grace that is Jesus Christ, forgiveness is something that I learn more and more about. I feel I have not held guilt over myself for many things in my life because I am aware of the freedom that is Christ.

That said, I had a hard time coming up with something to write. I don't feel like I have struggled to forgive myself...but these are two things that I struggle with.
1) Spending time in the word. From sophomore year in high school to sophomore year in college, there were very few days I would miss reading my bible and spending time with God. Busy-ness has taken hold of my priorities and I am ashamed to say I have been very inconsistent the past few years. Recently, it has been my desire to get back into that intimate place with God.
2) As stated previously, I have built up a bunch of resentment towards myself when it comes to image. I need to forgive myself for being so judgemental of myself and learn to embrace the beauty God has placed inside of me.

Alright....something more fun.

Today we had a meeting in school and discussed stuff coming up in the next six weeks. These include,
1) 7 1/2 days until Thanksgiving break.
2) Early dismissal Nov. 19
3) Our third graders get to see the Nutcracker Ballet in December!
4) Our Christmas PARTY in my class!
5) 24 1/2 Days until Christmas break!

I went home this weekend and I was so homesick leaving!! I miss being close to family and I miss the Dallas area! Come on holiday breaks!!

Day 2

30 Days of Truth

Day 2: What I love about myself.

I love that I am a wife. I love this whole marriage thing. It has been so awesome and wonderful to be married to Mr. Tim and test out my wifey skills. I love to cook (not that cooking constitutes a good wife)! I love having a companion to share life with everyday and every night. I love waking up beside my best friend. I love having someone to make decisions with. I love to share stories at the end of the day. I love that I can just lean over on the couch and my hubs is there. I love having someone to talk about the future with! I just love being a wife!

I also love that I am ambitious. I love to push myself and achieve my goals. When I set my mind to something, I will do my very best to succeed. I love a challenge!

Here's to being a wifey!

30 Days of Truth

Taylor and Sarah have dived into the thirty days of truth, so here I come, too! Maybe this will motivate me to blog? I read everyone else's blogs everyday...but I just haven't been motivated to soul search or anything...so here goes 30 days of truth!

Day 1: Something you hate about yourself.

The number one thing I have hated about myself since I was elementary school is my weight. However, over the years I have realized that it's not my weight I hate...it's my mindset! I hate that I don't see myself the way that God sees me....or anyone else sees me for that matter. My husband tells me everyday how beautiful he thinks I am...how badly I'd love to believe him! I can remember back to before third grade struggling with seeing myself as beautiful. I hate it. I hate that it effects the way that I carry myself...I hate that it effects my relationship with my Creator and my husband.

I'm hoping day two is a happier truth!

Now that's out of the way...Halloween was exciting in our neck of the woods! Tim and I trecked out to our fall festival as bars of soap!

And I was also able to spend time with my ridiculously sweet nephew, Colin man who made a handsome Mario!

And how could we forget our sweet Molly Lou?? She, too, had a costume! We couldn't pass up the 50% off cow costume we found on Halloween at Petsmart. Sadly, no trick or treaters came by for her to show it off! But, I will give her some fame in the blog world! Meet Molly Moo!

Hopefully the next post will be sooner than later...

Fail

I get an "F" in blogging.





I guess the mess that some would call my first year of teaching has been a bit overwhelming...a lot bit, actually (not that a lot bit is a phrase). It bas definitely been an experience so far. I have 21 kids in my class. I teach every subject. I am learning tons about discipline and classroom management. A whirlwind...that's what it has been. A whirlwind that leaves me gasping for breath every weekend! But, here the weekend is...and I am now sitting on the couch trying to stop my head from spinning.





My most exciting news to share with the blogging world is about our new addition!!


You guessed it! We have a baby! A baby puppy :) Her name is Molly and she is wonderful. She is a spaz, but I guess fits the life of Tim and myself. She is half Shar-Pei and half Rat Terrier...how that happened, your guess is as good as mine. BUT, I love her and enjoy our walks together after hard days!

Tonight marks the beginning of hockey season and the first Friday night to relax in a while! And, how 'bout them Rangers?? What an exciting time!!

Small Blessings!

My main purpose for this post is to share about two blessings that I recieve five times a week! As many of you know, I am not a morning person. God knows this...He MADE me! So, because He is good and knows me so perfectly, He has used two of my favorite things to bless each morning:people and animals!

As I drive into Kilgore, I take a loop that sends me close to my school. Off of the loop lives a sweet old man. This man looks around his late 60s-70s and is tan. Why does it matter that he is tan, you may be asking? Well, this sweet old man drives his motorized wheelchair to the edge of his driveway and waves at all of the people in the cars passing by in the morning. Ever y morning I have gone to work this week, I have a recieved a wave and a nod! I am sure the intention of this funny man is to make people's days...and he sure does make mine! If he only knew how much of an encouragement he is to me in the mornings, I think he'd quit from being overly appreciated! I'm really contemplating stopping to thank him one of these days; maybe I should bring him coffee when it gets colder! What a sweet blessing! I hope I use anything I can still do when I am old for others!

My second blessing every morning comes in the form of two dogs. If you know me, you know that I am helplessly in love with canines! If I had a lot of money, I'd give it to save dogs like the lady on Last Chance Highway (she is my hero!) Anyways, as I turn onto the street my school is on, there is a house with a chain link fence. Inside this fence there are two dogs: a golden retriever and a small white and red dog. Every morning I have gone to work, these dogs are playing together. They chase each other, roll around...I even saw the little one running underneath the golden retriever! They are best friends! Even when I leave and they are sleeping, they lay together. How does this touch my life? For one, I just think it's uber cute! But also, it reminds me of the value of friends...it makes me appreciate those in my life who have been by my side! I especially am reminded recently of my two friends who are teaching at this school with me! They have been life savers! I love them! I feel like such a nerd (because I am) because I literally laugh out loud when I pass these furry little friends! Just like the old man, if they only knew how much they made my morning! I just want to hug them! (My principal may not like the dog hair on my clothes and I bet the pet owners wouldn't appreciate the weirdo who stops by their fence)!

Thank you, God for these sweet things!

In other news, I have been super busy with school preparation! School starts in T minus 2 days! WOW. My mom is coming out to spend the day with me tomorrow and help me get a few last minute things in order! I am a bit nervous...but not too bad right now. I have been pushing it to the back of my mind and acting like it's not actually happening! HA! That'll be a rude awakening Monday morning!

I met 18/20 of my kids last night! I am really excited about building relationships with these lovelies! Pray for me and my kids this year!

I will post pictures of my classroom soon! I have only had it organized for about 20 minutes, then the kids came in for meet the teacher and it got torn apart! BUT, I will post pictures soon! I also plan on taking pictures of our new place, but we are going to paint in the next few months, SO I will wait!

Different Things

First of all, I would like to ask my readers for prayers tomorrow as 1. we move, and 2. Tim has his interview for ETBU admissions! We have a full day of travel, interview times, and unpacking! The stress has been running high, so prayers would be GREATLY appreciated!





About our new home- We have found a towne home that is perfect for us! It is about 1150 sq. ft. and has a dishwasher AND washer/dryer connections. We are very excited! I will be posting more pictures as we get moved in; this is our living room!

In other news, I found a blog that makes me giddy to read. Call me a huge nerd ( I don't care! ), but it's a blog about grammar and editing! Insert angels singing here! For my teacher friends out there, I found this hilarious way to explain how to use semicolons from a link from this new blog! You can find the semicolon explanation here. The blog is bluepencilediting.blogspot.com! I love it!

Tomorrow is move in day, Wednesday is PDAS traning, new teacher orientation Thursday and Friday, and then more trainings and meet the teacher next week! Again, I ask for your prayers for my sanity. I feel like everything is happening all at once and it has been incredibly overwhelming! BUT, thank God for my new job! He provides...yes He does!

EMPLOYED

Finally I can say that I am employed! I will be working for Kilgore ISD at Chandler Elementary as a third grade teacher. While I am thrilled to finally have a job, there has been SO much going on trying to get things sorted out this last minute that I have been stressed out like mad. We have to find a place to live and the means to come by it in the next week. We are also waiting for Tim to get a job. He applied for the ETBU admissions job and we are keeping our fingers crossed for it! He would do such a great job. If that doesn't work out, we will be living in Longview (sadly not as close to Jeff, Sarah, Colin, and Carley as we'd like) so he will have options.

Obviously, God has a sense of humor. If you have talked to me the past year, you will know that I said I would work anywhere BUT drumroll please...East Texas. God thought it'd be HILARIOUS to open a door ONLY there. So, I'm confident that God isn't through with us out East and I am having to eat my words as we will again move back and continue life on our odd journey.

Here are a few of my positive thoughts:
- Although we will be East we will live in a CITY! Longview has much more to offer than Marshall.
- I went on a small shopping spree for my classroom with the giftcard I had recieved from my lovelies at Spring Hill and I got some super cute stuff!
- I found all the wonderful things people gave me at SH to add to my shopping spree stuff.
- I will finally have benefits!
- I have the keys to my very own classroom!

Here are my concerns:
- Jeff and Sarah will be more than 5 minutes away.
- The guy that had the room before me left a lot of stuff...I have so much cleaning and organizing to do!
- I do not feel I have enough time for training, putting my room together, finding a place to live ,and moving.
- Needing money for all the fees and a truck for moving.

Here is what I am confident in:
- God's plan is the ultimate plan...beautiful and strategic in every way.

Though I am very sad to depart the metroplex once again, I know God is going to use us as He always does.

Worry

I've never had to be this patient and faithful. I have points in my mind where I just feel like breaking down and crying because I feel as if I've done everything in my power to find a teaching job...well...I guess that's the problem...I've done everything in MY power. I have been tested greatly these past two months about waiting for HIS timing. I've never had to wait for anything big, really. Now, Tim and I are both looking towards the end of Camp Thurman and attempting to remain confident of God's provision. Funny how God likes to strengthen us. I fight anxiety everyday by reminding myself that God is faithful and His timing is perfect. Although I fight doubt, God continues to provide...why wouldn't He now? His Word truly has been a lamp unto my feet and light unto my path...His words have reminded me of His faithfulness to His people. So, we wait...and ask for prayers!

26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Matthew 6:26-27

And the beat goes on

Life is still moving despite my absence from blogging. Life is busy, but not too eventful...if that makes any sense. Tim and I are working at Camp Thurman and we work Mon-Fri 7:30-4:30. It's been so fun and I definitely love my job. I had forgotten how much of a joy it is to work at CT...so many relationships, laughs, blessings, and fun! There really is no better job...I wish I could do it year round.

Speaking of jobs, I still do not have one. I have put out numerous applications and have only had one interview. God has not opened any doors and He closed the one...so here I wait (un)patiently trying to continue to be confident in His plan and His timing. Tim also does not have a job yet...we have had one lead there and we are just waiting...so pray for our career situation.

Tim and I will be married for two years on Monday! WOW....time has really passed quickly. What a wonderful, Godly man. He loves me almost perfectly (everyone has flaws) and I still feel like the luckiest girl alive for being married to a man like Tim. What a hunk! Life has been so wonderful with him in it!

My last bit of news is that my niece, Carley Erin Stapleton was born June 30, 2010! I got to hold her and see her and she is perfect!! So exciting!!

The End

There are so many "the ends" going on right now and I'm beginning to have trouble processing it. First and foremost, as many of you know, I am graduating Saturday along with my brother! I do enjoy being able to say that I am graduating the same as my 4 years older brother...but that's besides the point :0). It is actually really special to me that we get to share this day together! We'll get to that later. Firstly, Saturday marks the end of my college career as an undergraduate. I haven't decided yet if I want to get my masters, but if I do it will not be right away ( I know many are saying, "don't do it! start right away!" but, I've made up my mind about that part. I have worked very hard in my studies and I would like to get a few years of teaching under my belt. I achieved my goal I set for myself four years ago by graduating with a 4.0 Summa Cum Laude! Exciting! I feel very accomplished and thankful that God gave me the patience and endurance to reach that goal. God gave me a brain and helped me use it!

Back to my brother. This marks the end of living in the same city as Jeff, Sarah, Coling, and soon to be here Carley. I am so sad about this! I have only spend one year away from them and that was when I went to Texas Tech my freshman year and Jeff and I unknowingly decided to transfer to ETBU the same semester. It has been so much fun and such a blessing to have friends (family as well) like them here with us every step of the way! I am going to miss them so much! No longer will I just walk in their house like it's my own...we'll have to drive 2.5 hours then walk in. Hopefully, they will realize that God really ACTUALLY wants them to go back to the Metroplex :0)!

This also marks the end of our service with the youth group at Crossroads. We have been a part of the student ministry for so long now and we have seen our students grow in maturity, spiritual maturity, and had so much fun along the way with them. This Sunday will be our last Sunday at Crossroads. I will not longer play bass for the church or teach small groups in the youth group. This makes me so sad. I love those kids so much! I love Crossroads so much and I pray that God leads us to a church as thriving and encouraging as this one. Our official last day with the youth is two weeks from yesterday and I can't say I 'm looking forward to it. Too many goodbyes and sadness.

Another end is the end of our first apartment together. Tim and I will be parting with married housing 707 E on May 15. It has been a great little apartment for us as our first place and our neighbors have been wonderful! It will be sad to leave behind our first apartment...but it will also be exciting to move on...even though I get in moods that I feel like I'm not ready to move on. Let's just say I'm a sappy wreck lately going from extreme excitement to extreme sadness, good grief!

Tim and I are still on the job hunt. We will both be working at Camp Thurman as counselors for June and July and will be praying for doors to open up for us for our actual careers. I am praying that God will open doors before June and July so I don't have to worry about work and interviews clashing...so pray for us please! AND, if you have any tips for teaching jobs in the metroplex let me know!

Onward Ho to real life!

Ready to slow down!

Being a senior education major who graduates in 23 days has its pros and cons! Obviously, the biggest pro is that I am ALMOST done! Who knew the light at the end of the tunnel would actually fully emerge! I am definitely ready. I am not, however, ready to leave our friends here at ETBU. Life will be different without them!

A con of being a senior education major about to graduate is the frenzy that accompanies it. Tonight was our rest night on p90x...I was so excited! Yet, I am reminded that it was in fact not restful as we just got home at 9:05 pm. We firstly went to my Education banquet. There, I won the Delores Neally Spruell Award...they explained it as was I was nominated unanimously by the education faculty as the elementary teacher most likely to succeed. The reason there is a name on the certificate is because there is a $100 reward for my efforts! Our dean said some very nice and flattering things about my GPA, my teaching, and my attitude and I am so encouraged! After the banquet, we took Sarah a cake for her birthday! Then we headed to the Alpha Chi honors fraternity induction. We had our yearbook picture for the year and then we headed to a forum on spiritual warefare. It was very interesting...but only so much can be discussed in a 60 minute block.

So, here I sit updating my blog instead of getting to bed on time. This weekend is our macho man/girls rule weekend! It's a weekend aimed at purity and modesty for our students! We are so excited about this event! It is going to be a great weekend for our students and us, too! Also, Saturday morning I am going to have a dog for the morning and parade him around for someone to adopt him! SO EXCITED!

I have job fairs and applications out of my ears! Please pray that God would reveal his plan for us so we can know where to have a home!

Hiatus

I am so sorry for this unintentional hiatus! I have had so many things going on that I kept pushing updating aside! I am now sitting on the couch watching the Stars (who will miss the playoffs for the second year in a row, first time to miss twice in a row since 88-89 when they were in Minnesota) and I finally have some time to update.

Much has happened in the past month. First off, I am at my new location for student teaching. I am at Crockett Elementary in Marshall, TX and it has been quite an experience. Absolutely different than Spring Hill but I am learning a lot and my mentor teacher is so sweet! I have really been forced to learn intense organization and classroom management strategies but it will be great for my own class.

That brings me to my next topic...finding a job. I have applications out for Arlington, Mansfield, Kennedale, Spring Hill, HEB, and some other schools in the DFW area. I find myself getting discouraged at the issue of trying to find a job in the DFW area when I am stuck over here. But, I am reminded that it is early and people are just now signing contracts so it will be just fine! Also, God is good and always provides, he has his timing and it's perfect...I just need to chill.

I graduate 34 days from today! I am very glad...and I succeeded with my 4.0! Woohoo! I will be graduating Summa Cum Laude. Also, I was asked to read a scripture verse at our graduation because I have been an "academically outstanding student." I am honored I was chosen for this occasion. I was also notified last week that I will be recieving an award at our education banquet next week! I will update and share what I am recieving because as of now, I have no clue! But, I was very happy to recieve the email that told me of this good news! I feel like my hard work has paid off for sure!

Another big happening in the Darst household is that we have started the P90X workout program! We are on day 9 and I will just tell y'all that I am already seeing results! It's so encouraging because I have been at a plateau for a long time! (I actually gained a little weight this semester, haha). But, we have a different work out every day and one rest day (every Thursday). I am LOVING it and I can't wait to see how well it worked 81 days from now!

We went on a mission trip to Galveston, TX this past spring break and it was awesome! We were actually in a little community called Bayou Vista and we fixed up a church that had taken some big damage from Hurrican Ike. It was a great experience!

I will update more often...sometimes I just need one post after a long time to get me started!

Fun Stuff

I wanted to share a few things with my readers! In our classroom, we have been doing some fun things in social studies!

This is called the eight fold person, it was made out of 1 sheet of white paper and a circle from the head from another piece of paper. On the inside of the character's shirt, you can write facts or stories about the character! What's neat is that you can use these for historical figures, your students biographies, story characters, athletes, etc. It is so cute so I thought I would show my student's work. This is our People of the Alamo display!

Here is one of the Suzanna Dickensons upclose!

This is a folder game that I made for a review for our social studies test! They are incredibly simple to make since you design it yourself! I made the rules to be generic so the game can be played for any kind of review of any subject, you just have to make new questions each time!

The last thing that I wish I could post a picture or video but I can't seeing in that I don't have permission to use my students' faces is our news cast! We had a lesson guided by one of the lessons in our social studies book. We read the lesson the day before with a picture slideshow for engagement. Then, the next day, we reinacted the events from the lesson as if they were unfolding in real life! We reinacted the Mexican War including the boundary disputes, the skirmish at the Rio Grande, the Battle at Palo Alto, General Winfield Scott taking over Mexico City, and the Treaty of Hidalgo being singed. They all had one of those specific events and had to write a newscast as a group. They then acted out the news cast with interviews, news anchors, and field reporters. It was the cutest thing I have EVER seen! I wish so badly I could show everyone! I also want to post our class picture, but I'm pretty sure I can't do that either!

I miss my Spring Hill students very much! I am now embarking on a new journey in Marshall at Crockett Elementary in third grade. It was been interesting thus far. We will pray for a great second half!

Such a nerd!

In high school, I really began to appreciate history. I had great teachers and I finally paid attention to how interesting the stories and events from history were. From my classes, I have learned that stereotypically, many elementary teachers do not enjoy social studies and history (which can be seen when it is saved for the last of the day when there is no time left). BUT, I am not the norm. I LOVE social studies. If it wasn't for the ridiculously hard Texes test and the history department I'm not the fondest of here, I SO would have done a history specialization. Anyways, I will only be able to teach history up until 4th grade because of my specialization. This makes me sad because there aren't "history" teachers in the younger grades...I would LOVE to just do social studies! I am enjoying it even more than language arts! Anyways, my kids are having fun with me and getting excited with me and I LOVE it! Friday they are turning into news reporters and will be reporting events LIVE from the Mexican War! I cannot wait!

Last week I lied to my students. I am not normally a liar and I want my students to trust me, but they definitely will remember our lesson. I typed up an official letter from the SHISD saying that the students would be required to pay ten cents for sharpening their pencil, then cents for getting out of their seats, etc. I gave this letter to our math teacher across the hall and told her to come interrupt our "lesson" to give me this letter. She did some wonderful acting and came in telling me that I needed to read this. So, my teacher and I reacted to the terrible news in front of the students. I read the letter to my students and they were boiling angry! They were raising their hands, questioning, telling me it wasn't fair. So, we decided that we would write letters to tell the administration why it wasn't fair. I felt bad because two of my students were crying (but Mrs. Jordan pulled them aside). They wrote these incredibly angry letters and signed a petition. After they had written their letters, I told them it wasn't real. They were so relieved/laughing/mad that I had done it. BUT, I explained to them that this is how the Texans felt when Santa Anna was taxing things he was not able to tax. It was awesome! They all forgave me and told me they would always remember that lesson. It was so awesome!

My students are asking me everyday not to leave and it breaks my heart! I absolutely don't want to leave them, I love them! But, I must do it to graduate. I am so sad about that :-(. I am going to miss them SO much.

Breaking the Habit

I am already trying to break my coffee habit. I thoroughly enjoy the caffeine boost I get from the stuff, but it makes my stomach want to revolt...not badly...just enough to make me know that I don't feel completely right. Obviously my body is saying, "your selfish idea of waking up is not fun I will make you miserable." So, I am trying to just get enough sleep at night. Every morning, I would love to drink a nice iced diet dr. pepper, but it just messes with my breathing too much when I run. Speaking of running, I went yesterday but skipped out today. I am trying not to feel guilty because I know that I need rest...I felt awful today...but I still do feel guilty because I can't seem to get back into a consistent work out regimen...bah.

I had my first lesson that my university supervisor came to watch. She had so many good things to say (encouragement and critique)! She told me I was a natural and I was very flattered by that. She also was so excited and impressed that I use my new iPhone in class for a lot of different things. If I need to look up a picture online, I can do it and zoom in on it with the elmo. I was able to play the song that the Mexican army played as they marched in towards the Alamo for my class off of my iPhone, too! What a great tool! She thought that was genius! I felt clever :).

Everytime I make games for my class that is for two teams (the class divided in half), I give them ridiculous names that I hope will make them say, what?? or gross! We have played Jeopardy twice and a cloud game and the names have been given as followed: Llamas vs Wombats, Armpits vs Feet, and Aplacas vs Squid. At first, the students reacted like, "how could you do this to us??" But they quickly embraced the names and begin yelling for their oddly named teams! I had students saying "Armpits are smellier, so they're better!" and another student rebutted with, "but feet sweat more!" It was entertaining to me that they enjoy their names. I love being able to share some of my oddity with them. They really look forward to what their team names will be when we play. I love it!

Happy Birthday to my Granny! She had a birthday yesterday and she is one of the most wonderful ladies on the face of this planet!! She is beautiful, graceful, and so kind. I can only pray to be as wonderful as she as I mature! I love you Granny!

Week 4

I am almost devastated to type week 4 in my title. I cannot believe this will be the halfway point of my first half of student teaching! Gosh, I am so sad! I am loving every second of it. I never dread going to school everyday and when I'm gone, I miss my kids! I may be ridiculous, but I praise God everyday that this experience was dropped in my lap when I thought it was a huge mistake in the first place. Wow, God...you're such a silly guy!

Anyways, I teach in the afternoons. I teach spelling and social studies or science (right now is our three week social studies interval). Next week I will start teaching ALL day. Can I just say I love social studies? Today was the Alamo lesson...SO much fun. I get so excited and I think it gets the kids excited, too! I am almost positive that I have the assertive presence I have been lacking. My students are no longer testing my boundaries and I am thankful for that!

I dealt with my first throw-up student last week. She came up to Mrs. Jordan's desk to make corrections on her paper and she just started getting sick. I told the students to turn around and do their work and gave the girl the trashcan and she walked up to the nurse. It was really sad because I, being the Madame Barfs-a-lot of elementary school, know how it feels to puke in front of a class. She went home sick, obviously...but the situation was handled...and I didn't throw up myself, so SUCCESS!

I finished the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series and I loved every page of it! Almost every student in my class who is able to read that level has begun the series and I am excited that I was able to help them get excited! I have started the Harry Potter series again....don't judge me, haha!

Anyways, life is so wonderful and I am loving every minute of this whole teaching business!

Perks of Student Teaching!

Because today was a holiday in the public school system, I had a day off!! It was absolutely wonderful. I slept until 11 this morning, worked out, had lunch with Tim, and cleaned our apartment! We are about to go grocery shopping followed by pizza and watching the Stars game! We haven't had an evening together, alone, in over a week! I am very excited!

Friday I got to be the teacher in my class because my teacher was at a workshop. It went well overall. I had to do some documentation because, of course, the day the teacher is gone there is a scuffle on the playground. But, the boys were all happy and friends again by the end of the day...one just had a black eye. So, I documented the incident just to be safe in case there was a mad parent (which I doubt there will be) and I checked with a teacher that I had taken necessary steps.

My boundaries were tested on Friday. The students, being the little stinkers they are, decided they would see what exactly they could get away with. So, I was pretty stern with them, but they were kept in line! Hopefully next time they will just know how I work and forget the testing the boundaries part.

We had our DNOW this weekend at Crossroads. Our youth had a great time, we had a great time, and I think they learned some good stuff. I am really going to miss our youth group when we move. It was so nice to see Daniel, Mary, Chaz, and Hannah, too! I miss them so much and it was great to hang out and catch up.

So starts week three tomorrow!

Mmmmm

Today I found myself in a new routine. Every morning when I get to Spring Hill, I put my things down in my classroom at my little desk and head to the teachers lounge. In the teacher's lounge, there are teachers, food, and coffee. I get my daily morning cup of coffee with Carmel Vanilla creamer and splenda sugar. Often, there are donuts, cake, or goodies someone has made...but I typically avoid them for my well being. Today as I walked in, I found myself automatically in the teachers lounge getting my cup of coffee...it is now routine and I love it! Free coffee on cold mornings to get us up and revving for the day! My new necessity- teacher's lounge coffee...it MUST be special since it's from the teacher's lounge!

I once again succeeded in riling up my class today. My poor teacher...She says the things I do are great but sometimes I wonder if the energy freaks her out. We played a science game today and a spelling game today that the students have never played. They LOVED it! However, the classroom was slightly noisier. She says she loves what I am doing and I sure hope so! I think a little noise sometimes is okay...but it's not my classroom...sooo, hopefully I am not completely wrong!

On a side note- Today marks one year and six months that the Hubs and I have been happily married! Such a hunk...and he's all mine ;-)

Day 5

As I cried myself out of bed because of my serious morning condition I have suffered from all of my life, I reminded myself of why I woke up at 5:40. I go to Spring Hill to do the thing I love most right now! Once I was out of the shower, I was feeling less pathetic and was able to start my day. I got ready, packed my disgustingly adorable teacher bag, and picked up my fellow Spring Hill companions. It was a wonderful day!

Today was a writing day. Meaning, our fourth graders practiced a writing passage for the TAKS test. Therefore, my teacher and I had a lot of time to get things done around the classroom. For me, I used this time to make the fun games that I will be playing with my kiddos! My kids will be Cloud EXPERTS this time tomorrow. I had to find 45 pictures of specific clouds and it took a very long time to put together, but I think they will LOVE it! We are also playing Science Jeopardy to get ready for their science test next week! I think they will find these games extra fun!

Today I thought before I acted in the classroom! I heard this awesome corny joke that I know they would have LOVED and it came to me as Mrs. Jordan had left the room. PERFECT! I could be the cool student teacher who jokes around when Mrs. Jordan is gone! As I opened my mouth, I quickly closed it upon thinking about how every student would then have a joke to tell and my teacher would walk into a class of chaos after leaving it peacefully pleasant. So, I thought before I acted and saved myself and the teacher some trouble. I just like to entertain...but I can't ALWAYS do that.

5 days in and life is fantastic!

I lost a tooth.

Day 4 of student teaching:

Lessons of the day

1) Have project measurements pre-marked when marking with anything other than whole inches. 4th graders in my class do not understand what a quarter of an inch is. An activity that was supposed to take 10 minutes to explain and put together took 45 minutes because the thought than one inch can be divided into four parts was over their heads. So, drop teachable moment so activity can be completed in one day.

2) Have a procedure for when students tell you, "I lost a tooth." A student raised his hand to tell me he had lost his tooth. I laughed and said, "cool."...then realized he should probably rinse out his mouth. I referred him to our teacher and she had little boxes to put them in.

3) I am going to need to be more authoritative. I got to do a book talk for my students for the book The Sea of Monsters from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. If you have been around me for more than five minutes, you know I am dramatic. Well, give me a script or a story and I am on my way. I had the kids on the edge of their seats with excitement and then they couldn't calm down. Although I love getting students excited...I need to be stern enough to get them back on track. Pretty sure my teacher had me to thank for the hyper kids at the end of the day.

4) Always act like you know what you're doing. My teacher had to take a student to the office and did not get back in time to take the students from the computer lab to the buses and cars. My teacher never got back...So, I pretended I knew what was going on and got them from the lab and to their respectable places and then prayed that I did the right thing and they all got home...my teacher returned to the room like 5 minutes later and apologized...but I guess pretending to know what's going on is good for the students.


It's been a great week...I am definitely glad for a weekend to unwind with but I am excited about next week!!

It MUST be a dream!

So, because three flawlessly wonderful days is just unheard of...I must tell my tale of day 3. It's funny how when big events come up you dream about them. I remember the month before my wedding. I kept having these ridiculous re-occuring dreams that I would be up at the alter and some guy (not Tim) would come down and I HAD to marry him...I had no choice. I also remember dreaming about sleeping through my finals the night before finals. Well, in my dream last night, I was awaken by a doorbell ringing. I had no idea why someone would be ringing the doorbell before 6 am. Then, Tim jumps out of bed and says, "Jenni, it's 7:05!" I jumped out of bed to see my phone ringing because my ride is waiting for me outside.

Then, I realized...this was not a dream at all. It was the reality of my morning. So, I washed my face and put on some makeup, grabbed the first pair of clothes I could find and left...10 minutes flat. (My ride had left at 7:05 because I would not make them late because of my stupidity.) In the midst of my getting ready frenzy, my hunk of a husband was being the saintly wonderful man that I love so dearly. He went out to start the car, put in the address in the GPS, made my lunch for me, and was waiting at the door to kiss me goodbye. With the help of him and my GPS, I arrived at the school at 7:59 and the students were not in the room yet. My teacher had been notified thanks to my friend, Andrea, whose mom works at the school. My teacher was absolutely understanding and wonderful about the situation. It was a bad morning. (I never turned the sound on my phone back on last night after church, so while my alarm was going off, there was no sound.)

Because of the kink of the morning, I felt out of it during the day and tired. So, because there cannot be three perfect days in a row...this one came about.

I have decided to be a better blogger and try to humor you readers with my fun student teaching stories. Hopefully you enjoyed my drama of the morning. What a nightmare!

Student Teaching

The past two days have been the most wonderful days of my education career! I began my student teaching at Spring Hill Intermediate School Tuesday. I was nervous because it was a new district so far away and I had no idea what my teacher would be like....not to mention I had no desire to teach fourth grade! Well, my teacher is absolutely AMAZING! She is so sweet and loving and SUCH a great teacher! Spring Hill is a wonderful district from what I can tell. I walked in and felt welcomed automatically. The kids are angels and my teacher picks what she gets to teach. I love it! I could so be a fourth grade teacher! It reminds me a lot of my elementary school. These two days are the first time in the past four years that I have felt completely confident in wanting to teach! Hallelujah! Spring Hill is much different than Marshall...but a good different! I have a feeling these first 8 weeks are going to fly by much faster than I would like them to. I emailed my professor begging him to let me stay for the second half, too since fourth grade is considered a lower and an upper grade. Anyways...just a quick update before I hit the hay! I am loving student teaching!

Just some thoughts

Tomorrow is the official first day of getting back into my workout routine. This break has been glorious not thinking or worrying about working out seeing that it is not a favorite of mine. My little belly can vouch for that! But, it must be done. My goal is to lose at least six pounds in the next four months. I think it is doable, but it will be a challenge. I have been the same weight since high school...but maybe I can break that! I can see myself now moaning in anguish and hating myself for not running for two weeks....humorous for others I can imagine. Luckily for me, most people don't get back for another week so I will have the gym basically to myself....so maybe I won't make a fool of myself after all...at least not in front of many people.

The last step of my education begins Tuesday. I will be student teaching in Spring Hill in a 4th grade reading class. I think I'm ready...well, maybe I will be ready if I can remember the teacher I am supposed to be with. Ha! I don't know that I ever got official documentation of my mentor teacher's name. Hm..I should look for that. But, it should be a great semester! It just doesn't feel real...I will definitely keep updating how that goes.

Have you seen the movie Julie and Julia?? It made me want to be a blogger for one and two I am hoping to be like Julia when I am old...without the annoying voice. Just saying.

To my family- Thank you for a wonderful holiday season of joy, relaxation, and full bellies!