Christmas Break!

Wow, I know it has been a while, but there is pretty much nothing that can be squeezed into my life during the Christmas rush! Between teaching, Grace Camp, music practices, and our music performance, I was jammed packed! This year during the musical I was needed to run the music and lighting. I have run music before for my old school, but not lighting, and it seems that every place has a different system, so I had to learn how to do everything! It was a little nerve wracking, but I did it :). The cool part about running the music and lighting is that I got to be in a little box where I could not hear anything unless someone spoke into the microphone. It was pretty entertaining to hear each grade go up and sing! The second graders were fun because they had some high notes to reach and two of the boys nailed them! They sounded great, and they were boys you would not think could do that! My first graders were AWESOME! They were my favorite (I am a little bias). They did everything they were told to do, and had so much fun! They sang great, and did an awesome job with the hand motions. Then there was the Kindergartners.......these guys were so funny! They had sticks that they would hit while singing their counting song, and I cannot figure out which one it was but every time they hit their sticks they were suppose to say the number they are on. Some one instead of counting would spit! I was laughing so hard in my little box! It was awesome.

After the musical the teachers got up and acted out the 12 Days of Christmas! It was so much fun and I got to wear a cow costume!! What could be more fun then that?

These are the second graders! I had some of them last year!

Second Graders again.

My First Graders :)

Some of the play

Me in the box

Me as 8 maid milking :)

I was also the 12 Drummers Drumming :) Too much fun!

Luke and I are now done, and so looking forward to going home tomorrow!! See you guys soon :)

20 Years

So this week my class time has been consumed with making all the Thanksgiving crafts you can think of! One of our activities was to color a leaf and tell what you are thankful for. When we do these activities, I also do them! They are so much fun, and I love to color. I sit with the students and we all color, talk, laugh, and make a mess!

When it came for us to write down what we were thankful for; my students looked at me and asked me how I learned to write so fast! I was laughing and told them that I have had a lot of years of practice. They then asked me how much practice....I had to think......and then came up with the number 20. I told them I have been writing for about 20 years...they all said "wow! Mrs. Perkins, you are old"! They kept talking about it for a few more minutes and I went back to my desk trying to process how old I really am :( . Sad day for Mrs. Perkins!

My Morning

Well today is Tuesday! What a great day it started out to be until I got to school...... Once I got here and got myself organized I thought I would run to the bathroom before my Before School Care duty started. I went in and noticed a small cockroach in the corner of the last stall, but thought he was dead, so I proceeded on to the stall on the other side of the bathroom. Once I was done and heading for the door there it was! On the door was a gigantic cockroach just waiting for me to go over to it so it could eat me! I was stuck in the bathroom with two cockroaches, one could have been dead, but then I started thinking that the dead one looked a little funny; probably because the bigger one ate some of him to prove to me what damage he could do! I felt like I was in one of those movie dungeons where there are skulls and rats all over the place! The only thing I had to defend myself was paper towels. So I took one, crumpled it into a ball and threw it at the gigantic cockroach, but then I remembered that I cannot aim to save my life, and this was definitely one of those situation where I needed it to save my life! After several failed attempts to hit the cockroach he finally got off the door and walked over to the wall, where I had 2.5 seconds to make my escape! I went for it and was FREE!!!!

About ten minutes later I was in Before School Care sitting with a three year old on my lap reading a story and having a great time, when all of a sudden he started throwing up on his lap that was on top of my lap! I quickly closed his legs to try to save my skirt, and ran him over to the trash can where he continued to throw up! Poor little guy...he went home and I started my school day....yup, it has been crazy!

Booggers part 2

Well after my crazy experience yesterday I decided that I wanted to stay away from boogers for awhile! Let me tell you that lasted for about an hour this morning! We were in chapel and I noticed one of my students holding his nose. He gets bloody noses a lot, so I wanted to make sure that he was ok. He said that he holds his nose so it stops running, but he thought there was something up his nose. I told him that we could get a tissue when we got back to class....well the next thing I know I feel a tap on my side! I look over and there is my little first grade boy holding the biggest booger I have ever seen! He had an accomplished smile on his face for getting the obstruction out of his nose, while I was trying to hold back from gagging! I got up and got a tissue for him, gave it to him, and then he gave it back to me when he was done cleaning it up...giggling and all! When I asked him why he gave me the tissue back he said that he did not want to hold that....(well I did not want to either, but oh the joys of being a teacher) at least he did not eat it....blah :P

Boogers

Today at Grace Camp (my after school program), I was completely grossed out! Now I can pretty much take anything little children do from throw up, blood, spit up, poop, accidents in their pants....anything, but today I discovered something that makes me gag! One of the three year old boys stood near the door with his hand over his mouth. This was rather odd for him, since we are usually telling him to stop running and sit down :), but not this time. I went over to him and asked him if he was ok, and he just looked at me. I took his hand down from his mouth and noticed that he was chewing on something. I asked him what he was eating and he laughed....hhhmmm....definetly suspicious! I asked him again and started to tickle him when he bursted out while laughing "BOOGERS"!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT?!?!?!?!? I asked him again and he picked his nose and ate a booger!!! I could not believe it, I did not know what to do! I told him that was gross and full of germs and that is why we do not eat our boogers. Obviously he could care less about my germ lecture and began to walk around the room with his fingers up his nose. Ok, just another day at Grace Camp :) I love my job!

Pumpkins

I wanted to do some decorating for fall, but honestly my mind and decorating excitment in all on Christmas! I am so excited to decorate for Christmas!!!! But it is only fall, and so Luke and I decided to get some pumpkins and carve them. I have never carved a pumpkin before. Luke showed me all that I needed to do; carving the top out, gutting it (gross at first), baking the seeds, and then carving your picture. We had fun! Luke carved the symbol from his school, and I carved Luke & Becca. They came out cute, and the seeds are so delicious!

This was my first look inside the pumpkin....yeah, it was FULL of guts :P

Luke working hard.

The final product!

Riley and her pumpkin :)

So now my apartment is somewhat decorated for fall, and I am so ready for Christmas :)

Girls

At the end of each school day if we have time and have done all our responsibilities first, then my students get "free time". This has been really fun, and allows the students to enjoy their classroom without all the usual classroom rules. They have fun, and I love playing with them. Today however, was a little different. One of my girls brought in a coloring book, and was so super sweet to share it with the other girls. So they all got out their crayons, grabbed pillows and made a coloring club. They laid out their crayons and organized them into colors and everything. It was cute to watch.

On the other side of the classroom were my seven boys.........and they are all boys! I love them all to pieces, but they are active and competitive. One of the boys threw something across the room and before I knew it all the other boys trampled over girls to find what was thrown. The girls were fine, and no injuries............. so I thought! The girls stood up gave the boys an evil look and began to cry! Yup, cry! The girls were looking at me waiting for me to punish the boys and the boys were looking at the crayons that are now scattered all over the place. I asked the girls if they were hurt, and why they were crying and the reply I got was that they were ok, but there is a blue crayon broken and it was their favorite color! The boys then looked at the girls with a "are you kidding me face" and quickly put the crayons back in order so they could resume playing. This made me laugh, because that is such a boy/girl thing. Luke often looks at me when I am saying how sad something is, or why I am upset over "little" things. Girls are so different (and better) then boys.

Poor girls, they survived free time, and did get a new blue crayon to replace the broken one :)

"I love you"

This year is full of balancing! I am very busy at school and also the after school care director. With all that and being a wife, I have a lot on my plate. I am loving every minute of it! My students this year are so much fun! I forget how little they are when they first start out, and I love watching the process of them growing into first graders. Today we started the day talking about what we were going to focus on as far as our behavior goes....and that is as far as it went...just talking about it :) my wonderful students are still working on the putting it into action part! As we had another talk about everything we just talked about, it was time to go to Chapel. I took a deep breathe and asked them to line up quietly, (although I think they did not hear the quietly part), when I felt this tap on my arm. I turned around and bent down eye level to one of my little boys. He looked at me in the eyes and said "ummmmm.....I love you". It was so precious, and definitely made my day :) Praise the Lord for precious children that I have the privilege to teach and be with each day!

Update

Well hello there :) I know things have been crazy, but they are starting to iron out a little. School is great! I have a completely different class then I did last year as far as the type of students. They are so much fun, and I am already seeing them grow! It is amazing how fast they grow! The after school program is going well. We have tons of students, and this year we opened it up to the three year old! I know that does not sound like a big deal, but there is a HUGE difference between a four year old and a three year old who has never been to school before.

I do not know if you guys have seen "Daddy Day Care" before but it is great and you should see it! Also, there is a seen in the movie where the Dad's have this one little boy who wears a red flash costume, and no matter what he will not take it off. About half way through the movie the Dad's find the costume laying on the floor and think they have lost the little boy! They run frantically around the house trying to find this little boy when one of the Dad's spot some strange child in the kitchen eating cookies. They realize it is the little boy who use to wear the costume! It is funny. All this to say that we have a little boy in Grace Camp (the after school program) that comes in keeps his bright red back pack on and sits by the door. He tells me over and over again that he is ready to go, and I reply over and over again that I am happy he is all ready, but him mommy is not ready to pick him up. He is sneaky; one time he walked right out of the room towards the door, because he was going to go home! One afternoon someone asked where he was and my friend and I looked at each other then at the door expecting him to be sitting there, but all that was there was his back pack!!!!! You can imagine our feeling as our hearts jumped to our throats with the thought of losing a child! We looked around for maybe a minute, and noticed he was in the middle of the floor playing with the power rangers! He did not have his bright red back pack on and NEVER goes beyond the door, so we were freaking out. Now he is getting better and better at playing with the other children and no longer needs to sit by the door :)

On a fun note, Luke bought me a new car!! I LOVE it! It is a 2001 Toyota Forrunner! I will post pictures later, for now I am going to bed! Good night :)

Frustrated

We are currently in Hurricane season, as many of you know. We have all heard the news and radio talk about all the destruction and mass chaos where the hurricanes have hit the worse. Haiti is one of those places were the hurricanes came and left nothing but mass destruction in some areas. Our friends who we have heard from are ok, they all have been affected by the hurricane. We also know missionaries there that have friends and people they work with who to say have been devastated by the hurricane is putting it lightly.

As I sit here and think about Haiti and all that goes on in that country when there isn't hurricanes to worry about; to think about adding the hurricane devastation to that just gives me such a reality check, but also gives me a bad attitude. I sit here day after day teaching and playing with children here who are fine, and will be fine and there are tons of Haitian children without homes, family, food to eat, and clean water to drink. I have never wanted to be poor and with them more in my life! I know that there is only so much that people can do for them, but just to come along side them, and to hold that child and let them know that someone in the world that seems to be against them cares, and loves them!

New Apartment

Luke and I are 100% into our new apartment! We are SUPER excited about it. We are having a blast, and as of this morning we are completely unpacked. The coolest part is that we own our own washer and dryer! I know I am a geek, but there is just something about having a wicked cool apartment that you can call "home" and being able to do everything in it as you would a home. I am not sure if that makes sense, bur nonetheless I am excited. I will have pictures soon.

Shortly after we returned to Dallas we picked up our cute little puppy dog; Riley, although she is not a puppy any more! She is HUGE! 27 pounds, and a few inches later we now have a rambunctious 6 month old puppy! We brought her in this past Tuesday to get spayed. She was so sad looking when we went that afternoon to pick her up. She had to wear a cone to protect her from licking and getting at her stitches. We do have pictures of this, that I will post later.

School starts this Thursday! I cannot believe it is here already. My classroom is about done, and I am so excited to see all my wonderful students. I will write more on Thursday :)

Summer Song

A few days before Luke and I ventured our way down to Haiti, I was driving around in mom's car listening to her Selah CD when this song came on. I do not know why (obviously the Holy Spirit), but this song really impacted me. At first it reminded me of the cost of my freedom, and slavery to sin, but also brought to light that His love and freedom are universal!

The last two verses:
(verse 3)
I will sing of my Redeemer
He who bore my cross, my curse
Came a servant, chose to suffer
Lifted up and cast from earth

(verse 4)
I will sing of my Redeemer
Tell about the grace I’ve known
Here on earth with those forgiven
And one day around His throne

Really sums the whole song up. Luke and I are here in Haiti to proclaim God's love, and to help the Haitians with the tools God has instilled in us. We are also open and searching for what God wants us to learn from our trip here and from these amazing people! One day we will all be around God's throne and it won't matter how rich or poor we are, nor the color of our skin........It's all about Him, and how we fulfill our mission here on earth...that is what it is all about!


I Will Sing of My Redeemer

(verse 1)
I will sing of my Redeemer
He who took the nails for me
I’ve been purchased, I’ve been pardoned
Bound to Him I’m truly free

(verse 2)
I will sing of my Redeemer
How He sought me while a slave
Loosed me from the curse of sin and
From the power of the grave

(chorus)
I will sing of my Redeemer
Lift my voice to praise my Lord
Ransomed by His blood and mercy
I am His forevermore

(verse 3)
I will sing of my Redeemer
He who bore my cross, my curse
Came a servant, chose to suffer
Lifted up and cast from earth

(verse 4)
I will sing of my Redeemer
Tell about the grace I’ve known
Here on earth with those forgiven
And one day around His throne

Home

We are home!!!!!!!!!!!!! We love home :) There is nothing like it, well maybe when we get to heaven, but for now....nothing. As we were flying into Machester Luke and I were talking about how we have been to many places and how none of those places have the same feeling as when we come to NH. I love our church family and friends! Yup, home...nothing like it :)

Two more of Riley trying to escape :)

Riley

Fashion Emergency

On Wednesday I decided that I would dress it up a bit and wear black pants (which you never wear as a first grade teacher, 1. because everything shows on them 2. the students have to hug you after they have eaten their (either) chocolate fudge bar, or powdered donuts, so you can see how everything gets on you), a fun shirt, and heel's! I was feeling pretty good about my outfit, and received some compliments about it :) Well school had just begun and my students were filing in to the classroom; when one of them stopped, looked at me and said "ummm...Mrs. Perkins, didn't you wear that top a few days ago?" I replied, well I actually wore it last week, but that is ok. Two other students jumped in and continued picking on me about my clothes :(. Well another teacher heard this and later came up to me and told me not to feel bad becuase her students also comment on things with her. I felt like I was going to cry! I thought I looked pretty good that day. I went home and cried to Luke, then I had to go shopping because Dad is coming to visit, so he said I could get a new shirt so my first graders would not pick on me any more.

Although I could list a bagillion reasons why I do not like Dallas, their fashion, and "I have to pay a million dollars for every piece of clothing I have" is definitely one of my reasons! Seriously, Luke and I were walking around the mall when I needed to go to the bathroom, so we went into this one store that had one. I cannot remember the name of the store, but while I was in the bathroom Luke was looking around. When I came out I saw him talking with with a sales guy. After their discussion I asked him what they were talking about. He said the guy was trying to sell him a $300.00 sweater!!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!! Now I am not a fashionable person, nor try to be, but I do like to shop :) However, I cannot bring myself to buy a shirt more then $20.00 never mind $300.00! Crazy, crazy, crazy!

On a much happier note, dad is coming today, and I am so excited! He should be here in half an hour!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!

Human Body

Ok, so this week we are starting our last science unit!!! We are talking about the human body. This morning we started with playing a game, and then diving into our science books. We got talking about Psalm 139 when we are told that we are "Fearfully and Wonderfully made", and how God knows everything about us. While talking about how there is no one in the world like is, one of my students mentioned a boy in our class who is a twin, and how there are even differences in twins. Well that sparked a question in another student; my response to her question was on the lines of how God starts to form us in when we were in our mom's belly. She replied with the question of why babies have umbilical chords, and so on. We went back and forth and I was getting rather excited over how well I explained everything and made sure to tie it into what we were learning about when one of my boys out of no where raised his hand and said, "mom's have breasts so that babies can drink and get milk". Now this was totally 100% accurate, however, 90% of my students did not know what the word "breasts" meant, and of course that was the only time that they were all paying attention so they all wanted to know what it meant! I was shocked, but kept my composure....I went on to explain how God created men for their jobs and women for theirs. One job for women was to feed and take care of babies because in the old days there were no bottles. Then QUICKLY went on to the next lesson! WHEW! That was close :) So from now on...no discussions in science :) Just kidding!

One page at a time..

As I have mentioned several times, I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by! With my first year of marriage, moving to Texas, teaching first grade, and Luke in Seminary, we have had plenty of things to keep us busy! Luke and I just purchased tickets to go to Haiti for the summer, and are wrapping things up here in Texas. Luke at the moment is at the DTS Library working on finishing up his last assignments, and studying for his finals this week! Yesterday he camped out there too after classes, while Riley and I did house work, grocery shopping, and made a GREAT dinner. Today however, we are being lazy and chilling out. I was reflecting how great this year has been, although we did have a rough start, and some bumps in the road, all in all God is good ALL THE TIME!

As I said we are wrapping this up here, and going home for a bit, then spending the summer (45 days) in Haiti! That seems like a long time when you count the days :) We are both excited and in awe. We are by far not the richest people, and still we are blessed to be able to have done and do the things that we are doing! I cannot believe that in a matter of weeks we will be home in NH, then in Haiti! It seems like it is happening all so fast. We are adjusting to being grown ups and having those responsibilities, and even though sometimes I do not want to play that game, it is exciting to see things work out and know that Luke and I are doing well at the game :) And we are making our own adventures! Crazy, I know. This reality at some times seems surreal, but it's cool to know and realize that all of this is just one page out of the book that God has already written for us! I cannot wait to see and experience the next page!

Thanks for listening to me blab :) Have a GREAT weekend

Mrs.Perkins can be............................

I cannot believe how fast the school year is going by! This past week we had no school on Friday so on Thursday I let my students have their center/free time. While my students were playing and enjoying their games, a few of my students decided that they were going to pretend they were animals. They started playing, crawling around on the floor and making their animal noises, when they realized that they needed an owner. They asked a couple of classmates if they would be the mom or dad. Everyone they asked said no. One of my students got an idea and said "I know we can ask Mrs. Perkins." I did hear his so I was anticipating them to ask me and trying really hard to think of an excuse on why I could not play :) When they came over they were all on the floor looking up at me, when one of them said "Mrs. Perkins, can you be our grandmother?" That's right....GRANDMOTHER!!!!!!!!!!! I was shocked! I asked them why I could not be the mom, and they said because I was too old! That is it, I am never growing old :)

Riley at the Park

We went to a park this afternoon with our SF group. We took Riley with us, and had LOTS of fun. She is growing so fast! Luke and I cannot believe how fast she is growing! Her legs are so tall, and her body is so long. Here are some pictures!

Allergy's

Well the weather here in Dallas has been in the 70's-80's. It has been wonderful! The only down side to the weather is that the beautiful flowers and trees are trying to kill me and some of my students! Some of my students are starting to experience allergy's. They come into school with red itchy eyes, and sneezing all over the place. Now that I can handle with lots of tissues, purell, and disinfecting spray. The funniest thing(and the thing that grosses me out the most)is that their noses are both stuffy and runny. I have a student who decided that she was going to clear out her nose, so she sniffed in as hard as she could (and made noises that I cannot even explain; it was disgusting). As she did this the mucus and boogers that were in her nose went into her mouth (I know, way too much information), but apparently that had never happened to her before because as she noticed the junk was in her mouth, her face changed.....she was just as disgusted as I was. She did not know what to do! She ran up to me and tapped me. I knew what had happened, and when she came up I looked over at her only to find her standing with her tongue sticking out showing me the contents that was just in her nose!!!!!!! EEEEWWWWWWWWWWW!!!! I almost gagged, but I told her to spit it out in a tissue. She ran to the tissues arms flapping and all. She was ok shortly after, but I however took a little more time to get the image out of my head. First graders......gatta love them :)

On a cleaner note, the school asked me to be the director of their after school program!!! Super fun :) I basically do what I was doing at REC, but only for a few hours in the afternoon. I am excited! God is so good!

Boring...

This week we are doing Stanford Testing at school :P This is by far the most boring thing ever! In first grade just about everything is oral, except for a few things here and there. My students love getting things right and receiving lots of praise for it, so for them to do questions and not know if they are right,and not being able to ask questions is killing them. They raise their hands and look at me, and I have to shake my head and mouth that I am sorry. They are not very happy. They just don't understand the test. They are so cute, and so far doing a great job!

And that leaves me board out of my mind when they have a part that they need to do on their own. So I am blogging and finding some other things to occupy myself...........yup........still board :)

Last night Luke and I went to the Dallas Arboretum for a church picnic, and to check out the sights. It was LOTS of fun! I will have to post pictures later. Well almost time for the next part of the test. Talk to you soon :)

Riley

Riley is growing so much! She has doubled in weight, and is so tall! She is so much fun :) Here are some pictures so you can see for yourself.......

Nap Time

Luke and Riley had a busy morning and decided to take an afternoon nap :) They are so cute!!

The "B" word

Today during Reading, we were reviewing groups of long words and endings before we dove into our reading books. I picked on a student to read two words as fast as she could. Now this student some times gets her vowel sounds mixed up, and did on one of the words today. One of the words she was suppose to say was "batch", well she substituted the "a" for an "i", and said THAT word. I admit that I was not paying complete attention to the words so when she said the "b" word I was shocked! She knew that it did not sound right so she looked at the word again, and tried to sound it out. It was an awkward moment because I knew she knew she said the wrong vowel, and she was working on getting it right, but as she looked at the word she was saying the "b" word over and over (which is common, and a form of verbal processing), but not so great when it is an awkward word. So anyway after saying the "b" word five time she got the word correct! Whew.....what a reading class :)

Grandparent's Day

This is sort of like a complaining blog :) (warning) Well yesterday was grandparent's day at my school, and my students (long with the other grades) have been practicing since Christmas, and this week especially! We have had practices upon practices, and not only that, but those practices take up class time, which causes me to be behind on lessons. Not too big of a deal because we will catch up, and I have an awesome class. Well as you can see there has been a lot of work put into this program. We had some grandparent's flying in from other states, and traveling from other towns to come and see their grandchildren perform and see their classroom.
Here is when I am going to start complaining. I have one students who's parents did not even know that it was a half day of school, never mind grandparent's day! Crazy!! His grandfather came to pick him up and told me that he did not know that it was grandparent's day until half and hour before he came to pick him up! I cannot even count the papers and reminders that went home about this event!! Crazy!!! This is not the first problem with this student either, it is never ending!!!!
On the positive side, he is in my class for now, and in a school where all the teachers ask about him, who are praying for him, and show lots of love!!!

On a lighter subject Riley is going well! She is keeping us up at night, but she is definitely adjusting. She is starting to realize that she goes potty outside :)

Well time to go and clean! THE SNOWS ARE COMING TO VISIT TODAY :) I cannot wait!!!

Riley

Luke and I got a dog!!!! I was at school and a student came in during dismissal holding a puppy and asked if there was anyone wanted a puppy. This family saved a mom and 4 puppies from an abandond home. They were looking for people to take a puppy and so Luke and I did!! Her name is Riley, and she is about 6/7 weeks old. She is wonderful and so loving!

Spring Break part 2 and 3

Well we went to East Texas for a retreat with our SF group....Soooo much fun!! Then went to Louisanna for Easter :) Here are the pictures!!!

Spring Break

Luke and I have been blessed with the opportunity to go to three different places for Spring Break!! We first went to Panama City to see Ben! It was awesome. We stayed in a little apartment, that had everything we needed including a good size kitchen! We were minutes away from a private beach on base, and just a few miles to the strip! While we were cruising around on day on these really cool scooters we rented I realized how blessed we really are, and also how cool it was to think that Luke and I were on a real adult vacation! That sounds really corny I know, but the reality is that we are so blessed! We loved seeing Ben and obviously hanging out on the beach :)
Here are some pictures from Spring Break part 1 (we are heading to our SF retreat today, and then to Louisanna Saturday)

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was wonderful :) Luke made me breakfast in bed!! Then it was off to school.....oh yes school...with 13 wild, crazy, and excited children getting ready to party; how could I not be excited to get my day started?
I have the most thoughtful students! I recieved flowers, balloons, cards, and tons of candy. Also, lots of hugs!!! It was wonderful! After school Luke took me to Olive Garden :) We had a great dinner. I got to open my presents before dinner.....I got a hermit crab!!!!! and a gift certificate to payless :) I was so excited!! When we got home Luke opened his presents, and we also got some from mom and dad! We had a wonderful night, just us, (Luke did not open one book). It was great!
Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day and weekend. We have no school on Monday, so I have a three day weekend! Miss you all!!

Laughter

Ok so this past week has been a week of parties! We celebrated the 100th day of school, and the students also had a party in Library because they have read so many book this year. Both parties were so much fun, and I realized something that I had been missing.....laughter.......!!!! Some times it is hard to do something to make the students laugh because it causes them too lose focus and become stuck on laughing for a good period of the day. First graders are wonderful, but get side tracked all the time :). Well anyway during the 100th day of school we made glasses out of construction paper. The students thought that these were the coolest thing and so they wanted to wear them all day. I said they could, and I myself even wore a pair. We wore them during reading and also while we did our worksheets. The students thought they were awesome, and occasionaly a teacher would pop in and say how great they looked! They were awesome :) We had so much fun. Then they had their library party and even thought it was not the 100th day of school anymore they still insisted on wearing their glasses. So they did :) On Friday they have their test day and then in the afternoon we usually do show and tell, then some free time. They were sooooooo good this week, that I decided to let them have a little bit more free time then usual. While they were having fun, I would notice some of them getting out of line and doing thins they are not aloud to do.....I think it is so funny when they are doing something wrong because they look oer at me so many times too see of I am watching (which I am even though I am not looking directly at them), so when I tell them to stop they ask me how I knew they were doing that...hhmm.... :) Anyway with those few they were doing something they should not be, I would look at them and give them my mean eyes!!!! Now my mean eyes are pretty scary! Of course when the students see them, they fix their behavior and then laugh :) It was great....all Friday afternoon I was shooting these looks and the students would straighten right up, laugh, and continue on with what they were playing :) I think everyone needs to laugh more!!

Old Married Couple

On Saturday Luke and I decided to go to the movies. There is a cheap ($1.50 per person) movie theater that we sometimes go to and Saturday was one of those times. We were pretty excited just to get out of the house, and also to stay up past 9:30 :) When we got to the theater there were your usual teenage kids running about, trying to impress everyone, and the usual security cars and officers talking and not even looking like they are doing anything. When we bought our tickets we headed toward our theater (and so did some other people who probably did not buy a ticket since the person who was suppose to collect the tickets was MIA). I love walking into a theater either early so you can get a good seat, or when there are not that many people there, so not only do you get a good seat, but you also don't have a bagillion people crowding you. So there we were sitting in our great seats, with not a whole lot of people around us. I realized at that moment that something was missing.....usually there are some anoying people who are laughing obnoxiously loud and just being disruptive, but there was none of that! Luke then brought it to my attention.....he told me to look around. There were three other couples in direct sight of us, and observing them, they were old.....not old in a negative way, but these couples were (probably) married forever, and it made Luke and I realize that we are just an old married couple.
I remember shortly after we had returned from our honeymoon, we went to the movies with Ian and Clark. Before the movie began Luke looked at me and said "you do realize that this is not a date any more"!! Wow....it wasn't...I was married :) Hahahahahah I thought that was too funny.
Well back to work, my wonderful students will be here shortly, and I am super excited becuase they had planted plants about 1 1/2 ago, and have been asking all kinds of questions about why they have not grown yet! They have just started this weekend, so it will be fun to see the expression on their faces :)

6 Months

Luke and I went to Ft Worth for the weekend to celebrate our six month anniversary, and also just to get away. It was awesome :) Luke got a great deal at the Hyatt, and of course the room was wonderful! We went to the stockyards and to a wildlife center called Fossil Rim. It was so much fun!! Here are some pics.......

"Mom"..........I mean....

Over the Christmas break I read the book "Too Small to Ignore" by Wess Stafford. This book like many of it's readers has changed my view towards children, and because I am a teacher, and really like children, I believe I can say that it has changed my life! Coming back to school with the knowledge of this book has changed my interaction with my students, and their response towards my interaction with them has been nothing but God opening my eyes. I feel like I have been given a key that has unlocked my students! It has been wonderful these past four days! I love my students so much, and too have the opportunity to be involved in their lives and too take a part in shaping them is a blessing that only God Himself can give. I believe that each child has been put into my class for a reason, and only God knows that reason until He chooses to give you the key so you may unlock that treasure! I believe that this book was a key, and I am enjoying every minute of it!
On that note; I cannot believe how much my students have grown and matured!! I mean I know that they grow, and they have been learning so much, but I think they just multiplied their growth and knowledge over break! It is so wonderful to see, but sad in a way. They do not need me as much as they did when they came into my classroom just 5 months ago :( It really is a blessing to watch them take flight and see the Holy Spirit working in their lives, and in our classroom! These past four days I have been called "mom" more times then I can count :) While enjoying our constructive fun times and talks, there has been times where a students will just get so excited that they know the answer, or they have discovered something and NEED to tell me, so they shout out "mom", or "mommy". When they slip they stop for a moment as if trying to remember where they are, remember they are in school, and then smile because they realized I am not their mom :) It is too funny. I think every student has done that! I love it. Well I believe that is all for now....off to prepare for those wonderful children now!