Thursday, August 30, 2012

a little bit about the day i had.


Ever read this book when you were growing up?
Yep, me too.
And today, I feel like I could write the sequel.
I think it would be called, "Lisa and the Stinky, Sucky, Stupid, Nasty Day."

I will preface my story with the fact that I woke up not feeling well today.
My students have been sick all week, my coworkers have been sick for the past two weeks, and I've been feeling it coming on for about a week.
Well, it officially arrived this morning.
So, just for the record, I was already set up for failure today before I even got out of bed.

That said, let's move on.
The kids were pretty good today, but let me just give you an idea of the kind of day we had.

During our first bathroom break:
Girl: Mrs. Miller...something really weird is happening to me right now.
Me: Like what?
Girl: Like...my panties are all stuck up inside my butt and I can't get them out.

I then had to explain to a five year old girl what a wedgie was.

About 15 minutes after that bathroom break:
(Different) Girl: My fingers smell funny. (As she shoves her hand in my face and puts her fingers ON my nose.) I think I forgot to wash my hands after I pooped.
Me: (Choking back a gag, because yes, that's exactly what it smelled like had happened). Go wash your hands. Now.
Then I put hand sanitizer all over my nose. No joke. And then I about died from the alcohol fumes. No wonder I'm sick, when kids rub their poop all over my nose.

Literally 5 minutes later:
Me: Ok, who knows any other words that start with the /p/ sound? 
Boy: Pussy.
Me: WHAT?!
Boy: You know...like Puss in Boots.
Then I picked my jaw up off the floor, and praised him for coming up with a correct answer.

Later at home, it was time to give Abby a bath because she's staying at my parents' house this weekend while we go to a family reunion.
It's no secret that Abby is not a fan of baths, so when I started the water and took off her collar, she started shaking and wouldn't come into the bathroom.
So I had to go and pick her up to carry her to the tub.
When I picked her up, she freaking PEED all over me!
So I did some yelling and screaming, some face-making, and made a frantic phone call to the Hubs to yell about what had happened.
He had originally said he'd give her a bath, but remembered last minute that he had a softball game, and got out of bath duty (how convenient.)
During my rant, I declared that "you owe me."
Well, that did not go over well for some reason, and just started an argument.
Great.

Then I finally got back to the bath-giving.
If "Dodging the Water Cup" was an Olympic sport, Abby would take the gold.
The dang bath took about 30 minutes...one of which was spent chasing a soapy dog across the bathroom floor when she jumped out of the tub.

By the time she got done and I finally got a chance to shower the dog pee off myself, I was left with an ice cold shower, a wet bathroom, and a pounding headache.

So now I'm going to go curl up on the couch, watch tv, and hope that no pianos fall on my head or anything like that.
Here's hoping your day is not as yucky as mine.

Monday, August 27, 2012

glue and scissors

Today my kinders used glue and scissors for the first time this year!
Sadly enough, some of them used glue and scissors for the first time EVER today.
I've been putting off using these things for a couple reasons (which I'm sure you can imagine, given a class of 23 five-year-olds.)
But I figured that it was about time to bust them out.
We've been reading Pete the Cat books during Literacy lately. (I definitely recommend! Best books ever!) The kiddos LOVE these books, and talk about Pete the Cat all day long!

We've also been learning about shapes during math.
So imagine my excitement when I was perusing online and I saw a project where you can make Pete the Cat out of construction paper shapes
It took us a decent amount of time, and I even had to inform a child that glue stick and chap stick are NOT the same thing!
But anyway...that's beside the point (and don't worry, his lips will totally be ok...)
Here are just a few of the results. I was actually impressed by most of them!




Then there was this one...

This just makes me giggle.
It reminds me a little of Picasso.
It reminds me nothing of Pete the Cat.
But I hung it up anyway, and this artist was VERY excited about it!

So Glue and Scissors 101 wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. 
But I probably won't be venturing into another project for another week or so haha!

Sunday, August 26, 2012

sometimes...

Even though I do not intend on having children for quite some time,
sometimes I like to picture what our kids will look like when we do have them.
Is that weird?

Well, anyway.
Who cares what you think?
I'd like to imagine that they will look like this:

Sweet babies.


children's photography

cute children's portrait

children's photography blog | Greensboro-Children's-Photographer-Melissa-Treen-Photography

♥

Sibling Photo with Baby

so Cute

so adorable

(I know. I know.
This last one's not possible, unless we would adopt.
But I'd absolutely LOVE to have a little girl that looks like this!
She's even fashionable to boot!)


Now, I doubt that we'll ever have any kids that actually are HALF as beautiful as the ones above. 
But to us they'll be even more beautiful.
This is merely what I'm picturing in my head.
But I'll gladly wait a few more years to see what they actually look like.
For now, I'll just keep imagining :)

xoxo, wife.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

things are looking up


I'm not sure if it was the change in my attitude, or that they just suddenly "got it," 
but this past week with my Kinders was great! We had an entire week where I didn't feel like pulling my hair out.
We're even beginning to get compliments in the hallway from other adults about how awesome we are and how our behavior has improved so much!

So, since I'm MUCH happier about the way things are going, I thought I'd share some of my favorite quotes from the first two weeks:

Me: Who know's what sound the letter F makes?
Little girl: Ohh Ohh! Water.
(Huh?)

(After a student had an accident and changed her clothes)
Me: You still have to wear your uniform shirt. You were just supposed to change your pants. Go put your school shirt back on.
Little girl: My shirt was wet too, cause you're always makin' me tuck it in!

(at 8:55am)
Little boy: Mrs. Miller...my tummy is telling me we need to go to lunch now.

"What time do the kids go to pick up their parents?"

(after flipping a card for cutting up little pieces of glue stick all over the place)
Little boy: Well, how come we haven't gotted to use the scissors and glue yet?
(Gee...I wonder why...)

"Guess what, guess what?! That one girl...her throwed up all over the lunchroom. It was blue and it was so cool!"

Me: Do you know your phone number?
Little girl: Yep.
Me: What is it?
Little girl: 3. 5. P.
Me: Um, ok...I'm just going to look it up on the computer to make sure you're right.

They're starting to make me smile. I'm pretty sure that means that things are looking up for us :)

Saturday, August 18, 2012

The past week certainly didn't go as fast as Usain Bolt...

I haven't written all week because I thought I was going to die.
Kindergarten started Monday, and it may have been the longest week of my life. 
I forgot how much they come in NOT KNOWING.
They can't stand in a line.
They can't sit in a chair at a table.
They don't know how to raise their hands.
They can't tie their shoes.
They can't button their pants.
They can't follow simple directions.
They can't hold a pencil correctly.
They can't color without scribbling.
They can't hold their pee, so they go to the bathroom every 45 minutes.
They can't function without napping, so they either get grouchy in the afternoon, or fall asleep on the tables.
They can't sit and look at a book quietly.
They don't know how to get quiet when the teacher is talking.
(We had a lesson on what a good listener looks like...but it didn't seem to help.)

I could go on and on.
I'm honestly surprised I still have a voice after all the yelling I've had to do just to be heard.
I've even sent someone to the office already!
(If you look closely, you'll see two orange, and 1 red card...yep, that's my first, but certainly not last, red card of the year. And it was the second day of school.)

And don't even get me STARTED on the issues I've had with parents this week.
(Yesterday, a mom pulled her son out of our school because I was constantly 'picking on him,' and there was some kind of 'conspiracy against him.' As if I have time the first week of school to plan a conspiracy...)

So anyway, this morning, I started reflecting on my first week while I sat outside on this glorious Saturday morning after getting 11 much needed hours of sleep last night.
I realized that I need to try to keep my emotions in check.
But that can be extremely hard to do when you have a kiddo who is:

-cutting their crayons into teeny, tiny pieces.
-pushing other kids down to be the first one in line.
-running in circles in the hall yelling, "haha, Mrs. Miller...haha Mrs. Miller!"
-putting scissors in their mouth
-trying to cut their neighbor's hair
-slapping someone in the face
-blowing paper towels around the boys' bathroom with the hand-dryer
-doing flips in the hallway

Again, I could go on and on.

But I recently found this quote that really applied to what I'm dealing with right now.
"Whomever you have placed in charge of your feelings, you have placed in control of you."

I'm not going to let 4 and 5 year olds control me.
No way.

I need to remember that the majority of these kids have never been to preschool or daycare, because you have to pay for it, and they can't afford it.
I have to remember that they have WAY different family backgrounds than I do.
I have to remember that some of these kids have only been WALKING for 3 years, and SPEAKING for 2 years, and now I'm expecting them to function in a classroom!
I have to remember that perhaps these kids are crying out for the attention and love that they may not be receiving at home.

God has placed each of these babies in my classroom for a reason.
Maybe its for me to teach them something.
Maybe its for them to teach me something.
But whatever that reason is, I need to bring my "A Game" for them every day, and that can't happen if I'm in a constant state of annoyance.
So next week, I will not let these kiddos control my emotions. I'M the only person who can do that.

5 days down, 185 to go.
And even though its tough now, I know I'll be a bawling mess at their graduation :)

xoxo, wife.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

25 things I'd like to accomplish in my 25th year.




1. Push my students even harder than I did last year and see even better results.
2. Save up enough money to buy a Michael Kors watch.
3. Pick up a new hobby.
4. Spend time each week researching how Kindergarteners learn best.
5. Keep up with my Bible studies/devotions.
6. Blog at least 4 or 5 times a week. 
7. Take more videos. I want to be able to look back and remember the fun, little details in life.
8. Find a new food that I like...preferably something healthy.
9. Get better at cooking actual meals more often.
10. Keep the house clean(er).
11. Go on at least 3 bike rides a week.
12. Exercise more often.
13. Get a nice camera.
14. Do ALL the laundry each weekend.
15. Keep my classroom organized.
16. Be more patient when I get stressed or annoyed.
17. Make a couple cool crafts.
18. Stay ahead of the game with lesson planning and grading. Don't let myself get behind.
19. Get together more often with my girlfriends.
20. Be more supportive of Ty's hobbies that I have very little interest in.
21. Make time to read each day.
22. Clean out my car really good and then KEEP IT CLEAN!
23. Go 2 months without buying anything for myself.
24. Bathe the dog more often.
25. Have the most fun each day that I could possibly have.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Quarter of a century...

That was the term I hear thrown around all day yesterday when I celebrated my 25th birthday.
When I was younger, birthdays were SUCH a big deal.
The older I've gotten, I've realized that your birthday is just another day...with a few presents thrown in for good measure.
But it was still a fantastic day!

It started off with donuts. When I was younger, my dad would get me two donuts with chocolate frosting and sprinkles for my birthday. Every year. So when we got married, Ty took over the tradition. And this year he did not disappoint.



I only worked until noon.
We pretty much had the whole day to work in our classrooms and get any last final preparations done before school starts Monday. We were allowed to leave whenever, and I felt comfortable enough with what I had finished leaving around noon. A half day of work on your birthday is a definite bonus!

Right from work, I went to meet my mom for frozen yogurt.
I'd never had frozen yogurt until a couple weeks ago, and I may never go back to ice cream.
(Oh, who am I kidding?!)
I totally understand that all the crap I put ON TOP of that yogurt defeats the "healthier" aspect of it, but whatever...calories don't count on your birthday, right?



After that I went to get last minute school supplies.

Then I got "birthday styled." Several years ago, I always thought it was important to get really done up for my birthday...you know, dresses, curled hair, special makeup, fancy accessories. Now I realize that being comfortably stylish is the thing to do.


Then when Ty got home, we went to dinner.



What? You don't typically choose Pizza Hut as the place to celebrate your birthday?
Well so what?
I do.
And it was delish.


We had planned on driving up to the beach for sunset, but it was chilly and rainy.
It didn't rain all freaking summer, but decided to rain on my birthday.
So I chose the drive-in movies instead.




What? You don't wear your sock monkey slippers to the movies eiether?
Well I do.
And I was very cozy.
I can also say that I wore those slippers to walk to the bathroom before the movie started.
Yep...I'm now 25 years old and wore my monkey slippers to the bathroom in front of other people.
No shame.
(Well maybe a little shame.)

Anyway, it was a fun, but low-key birthday...and I loved it!

xoxo, wife.


Friday, August 10, 2012

Parent Quotes from Open House 2012


"They still take naps in Kindergarten, right?"

"What happens if he pees hisself?"
"You'll come and get her out of my car in the mornings, won't you? I'll just pull up and you'll come get her out of the back seat?"

"What day does school start again?

"Here's his IEP (special education plan.) This is your new Bible."

"Now, when he acts up, don't call his mother...she don't do no discipline. You call Nana, and I'll come straighten his behind out."

"She has to share a cubby with another student? Seriously?"

"Make sure he always has papers with 'the fourth' written on it after his name. I love his father...and his grandfather...and his great grandfather...but the boy needs his own identity."

"If you can get her say one word all year, I'll be surprised."

"She has accidents kinda a lot...I just thought you should know."

"They told me my kid's in your class, but he's not on the list...now what? Why isn't he on the list?"

"You spelled my son's name wrong on everything. You'll have to fix that."

"What are...um...ABC flashcards?"

And so it begins...

Happy New School Year!


Wednesday, August 8, 2012

jammies or jeans: the great dilemma

Now that I'm back to work full time, I'm wearing dress clothes on a daily basis.
I've had a certain dilemma about this ever since I've been at this school.
I typically get home somewhere between 4:30 and 5:30.
Obviously, I want to change my clothes...
but what do I put on now?
For instance, I got home around 4:50 this afternoon.
Is it too early to put on my pajamas?
Is it too late to put on a normal outfit?
That is the great debate that is playing out in my head each day when get home from work.
This is what won out today:


The t-shirt and yoga pants that I'll end up wearing to bed.
Ok, I'll be honest...this is what wins out most days.
I figure, I've worked hard all day. I might as well reward myself by being comfy the rest of the night.
So basically, as soon as I get home from work, I make myself look as socially unacceptable as possible.
The sweats come out and the hair goes up in a nasty, messy bun.
Unless I have plans that evening...
then I'll put on some jeans.
Maybe.
So I guess you'll know how high you rank on my list by what I'm wearing after 4:30.

Ok, that's all.
I'm off to get some work done in my comfy clothes.

xoxo, wife.

Monday, August 6, 2012

The time I bruised my husband.

The other night, Ty and I were wrestling.
During this battle, when I had reached a state of helplessness, I pinched his arm.
He immediately let me go and started whining about it, but at the same time, praising me.
"If this didn't hurt so bad, I'd give you a high five...that was an awesome pinch!"
So that ended the wrestling session.
But did NOT end the whining.
I listened to it for the next few hours, rolling my eyes about what a baby he was being.

But then the next day, there was a small bruise.
Oops.
And then the next day, it looked even worse.



Does this count as spousal abuse?
Am I a bad wife?
Could I get arrested for this?

Those are now the questions that haunt my dreams at night. (Kidding.)
So Ty, I'm sorry I gave you a bruise.
But at least I won the fight.
And now you know not to mess with the best!

xoxo, wife.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

{insert stress here}


Well, summer vacation is officially over.
I go back to work full-time starting tomorrow.
And as excited as I am to get back to work, I have to admit that it brings a load of stress along with it.
I'll also admit that while I love my job, there are times I wish I had a more simple, office job instead.
But then I know I would terribly miss what I love to do.
So instead of dump the career I've worked my whole life for, I've decided to voice some of the things that stress me out about going back to work.

***This is NOT meant to be a complaint. I'm beyond blessed to have the job that I have, but writing this out helps me get things into perspective.***

1. If my students are not "up to snuff" on their test scores, I can lose my job.
That's the biggest stress-inducer right there.
My school operates on merit-based pay/contracts.
So if my kiddos aren't making progress, I'm out.
It happens quite often at my school.
That's scary stuff, right there.

2. My contract says that my day ends at 4. My day doesn't end at 4. Like I said in a previous post last week, I'm going to try very hard to find a balance between work and life. 
Even though I have TONS of stuff to do after 4, I need to find that magical time each night where I shut off "work-mode Lisa."

3. Who knows what kind of kiddos I'll be dealt this year.
I started out with some...rough kids last year.
And while I ended up the year with a fantastic group, it took a lot of work to get there.
Going back to #1, I need to focus on academics...not just for them, but for my own job security.
If I have to spend a ton of time stopping students from stabbing each other in the ears with scissors (true story from last year) I have less time to spend on preparing them for assessments that can determine whether or not I remain a teacher.

4. The added workload:
lesson plans, newsletters, homework calendars, progress reports, making assessments, report cards, parent/teacher meetings, unit plans, grading papers, etc.


Rereading this, it doesn't seem like as big of a deal as I'm assuming it will be. That's why I needed to write it all out. I can {hopefully} handle everything that I've listed above. And since I plan on finding more "me time" this school year, I am hoping that will give me more time at night to "de-stress" and prepare mentally for the next day.

Anyway, if you've stuck around for this seemingly endless rant, I applaud you.
Again, this is NOT in any way a pity-party.
I'm actually looking forward to getting back to work.
I know for a fact that I will not be bored for the next 10 months, because there will always be something to work on, and I look forward to sharing some of the funny stories that make every stressful moment of my job totally worth it!

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Afternoon Delight.

No...not THAT kind of afternoon delight.
What kind of girl do you think I am?
In my life, "afternoon delight" merely means that I met my husband for lunch the other day.
Ok, ok...maybe there were a couple smooches.
But then I went home. Alone. That's it.





That right there is the BEST ranch that has ever been made. One time, I actually ate a spoonful of it. (It's not something I'm proud of...I'm just saying it happened.)




And that's the last "afternoon delight" that will happen until probably sometime around Christmas Break.
Bummer.

xoxo, wife. 

Friday, August 3, 2012

Flashback Friday: The High School Years

The other night I went out to dinner with my best friends from high school.
When I got home, I realized that I STARTED HIGH SCHOOL 10 YEARS AGO.
Seriously.
Ten years ago, I was getting ready to enter my freshman year.
(Which means 11 years ago for Husband!)
In the spirit of reminiscing, I decided to go through our old yearbooks last night.
And even though they're kind of embarrassing, I thought I'd share some of what I found.

Husband

What, you can't find my Hubs? Well he's Moses of course! Or Noah? Um...I don't really know because I've never seen "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." But Ty is the bearded man with the staff. At least now I know what he'll look like when he gets old. Or we decide to adopt Biblical fashion for our everyday life.

What a hottie! No, not the girl at the top...I'm talking about the good-looking guy at the bottom. Ty's senior yearbook photo.

Ty was the pitcher on his high school's baseball team. Now he plays on umpteen softball teams, so I've gotten to see this focused, competetive side of him during the past 5 years.

Hey! Get your lips off my future husband!  Ty was voted Most Romantic during his senior year (along with his girlfriend at the time...). I'm happy to say that he has upheld this title as he's gotten older. Lucky for me!

Here's Ty in another show. That's probably the only thing we would have had in common in high school.

Sorry...I couldn't find him in this picture at first because I was distracted by that ugly black patch of hair on his chin! He told me he did it for a play he was in. I think he did it because he thought it was fashionable. But it wasn't. And I'm hoping this little fashion mishap never makes a comeback on his face.

Wife

I'm the blond in the background, clearly not paying attention in class. 

If you were ever looking for me or my friends on a Friday night, you never had to look much farther than the student section at the football game.

My senior yearbook photo. On the side, my ambition was "To graduate from college and live a long, happy, successful life with no regrets." So far, I'm living up to that ambition.

I'd never want Ty to steal the limelight from me! Here is me in a school play.

The ONLY photo you will get to see from my freshman year. It was not the best year for my looks.

This was my LAST day of high school! Check out that smile...that's a smile of relief, right there!

Senior prom with my friends.



Certainly not my best photo, but this is my advice to incoming sophomores.

Another musical. I was a school girl back in the "prairie days."

Student council Sophomore year with my best friends.

Getting ready to hit the road before a football game senior year. I believe this might be the night my car was broken in to in the parking lot while we were gone. Along with about 10 other cars. Stupid kids from our rival school.

And there you have it. This was us, back in the day before we even knew each other existed. But I have to say, life is WAY more fun now that I have him in my life!

xoxo, wife.