Break

For my brother's birthday, we took a bunch of our kids and Titus to the water park in Indy.  They had a great time.  My mom looks so happy in this picture.  I'm so glad that she gets to spend time with us.  She's headed to Tampa today to visit a friend.  She needs some warm weather and sunny days!

Henry, Charlie, and Titus

I'm taking the twins to see the Willy Wonka play at the Buskirk-Chumley today.  I know two kids that are in the play, so that's pretty exciting.  I've already seen it once with my class.  Cardinal Stage Company gave Fairview enough tickets to take the third grade and up.  Our seats were way up in the balcony for the performance.  Two of my little third graders freaked out and started crying.  One of the little girls hit the ground and I thought someone had trampled her.  I found out that she was afraid of heights.  With 2 kids crying and holding on to me for dear life, I relied on other teachers to watch my class and hoped that they would all behave.  I'm hoping today will go a little better.  I got seats in the lower section, just in case.....

Henry and Hayden went to South earlier this year to see Les Miserables with their class.  Henry LOVED it.  Hayden said that it was too long!  I need to take these boys to some more plays.  

demons

Christmas

We spent the evening and afternoon with the Oliver's and the Blades family yesterday.  This is the second year that we have attended their Christmas Eve party.  It was A LOT colder this year.  I told the boys to wear warm clothes and stay out of the creek.  Boys don't like to listen.  Well, mine don't anyway...

Henry was freezing and crying.  He took his boots and wet socks off by the fire and refused to move.  I'm thankful that we never clean the van out.  I found dry, dirty socks and old tennis shoes in there.  Henry melted his pants by the fire and begged us to leave, but Hayden wanted to stay for the fireworks.  I think...  deeeeeep breath, the boys may have learned their lesson.  Do NOT GET WET when it is freezing cold out.  I think I said that like 30 times yesterday.

That's Henry in the Blackhawks blanket, refusing to watch the fireworks.

Gavin, Ryan, Hayden, and Ben

I think they have better fireworks than the city....

Today has been a great day.  My boys let me sleep in.  I actually woke up before Henry.  He was snoring away and it was so cute.  It was fun watching everyone open presents.  The kids were all so happy and smiling for hours.

Merry Christmas!  

Christmas Eve

I can't believe that it's Christmas Eve.  I'm trying to remember what happened this year.  Time is flying at a rate that I can't handle.  I'm sitting here thinking about wrapping some gifts.  I haven't wrapped one yet.  I did buy some presents and I made/asked/told the twins to wrap Harrison's stuff.  I am very excited to give Harrison one gift this year.  I got him a Breaking Bad poster.  I think he's gonna love it.  He got me addicted to the show.  I finished the final season yesterday.  It's almost as good as the Dexter series.

Twins have started playing poker.  They got invited to a poker party a couple of weeks ago and have been playing every day since.  They mostly play on their ipads, but I also bought them a texas hold 'em set.

I'm thinking about my crazy New Year's Resolution for 2014.  I need a good one.

Chicago

We ate at my favorite Giordanos's by Midway today.  We ordered our food and then watched the planes come in.  Henry wanted to order spinach pizza.   It was so delicious!

I really wanted to buy these, but I held back. I bought these instead. 

We are going to the Shedd Aquarium tomorrow.  Hayden is ready. He just put some of MY deodorant on......  

Shopping

I went grocery shopping yesterday at Kroger and ran into one of my former students.  He's a 6th grader now.  I had him briefly in third grade, for maybe a month or so.  He is one of our frequent flyers.  His parents or mom or whatever moves around A LOT.   When he saw me, he said, hey, I know you!  And he pointed at me and babbled on and on and he couldn't remember my name.  I said, hi Robert, I hope you have a good week off.  As I walked down the aisles, I ran into him about 3 more times and he kept saying, I can't believe that I'm seeing you here.  It's so funny to run into students outside of school.   

After seeing Robert, I ran into a parent of a current student and he pulled his jacket up over the side of his face and acted as if he was ducking away from me.  I laughed and thought about which interaction was more bizarre.  I really want to start shopping in a different town, or maybe a different state.  

Spirit Week, Pink, and Belly Dancing

 Last week was spirit week at my school and I took it very seriously, but I didn't take any pictures on pajama day or sports day.  WTH??

Hat Day

Crazy Socks Day

Twin Day

Harrison and I went to see Pink perform.  When we got to our seats, he sat down and looked at me and said, so... what songs does she sing?  I said, well pretty much every song on the radio.  I brought up a few of her songs on youtube to show him.  This was his first concert ever and I'm pretty sure it will be the greatest concert that he will ever see.  It was hands down the best I've ever seen.  She is just an amazing performer and Harrison loved it.

I'm addicted to Breaking Bad and Bitstrips right now.  I'm on season 3 and I can't stop watching this show.  That's me on the left cooking meth.  I'm pretty bad ass.

We went to watch Derloshon belly dance at the Player's Pub last night.  It was a benefit for Middleway House.  She is really great at this.

 I have an entire week off for Thanksgiving Break!!!  Woooo HOOOO!!   I'm taking my boys to Chicago.

Headback

At yesterday's hockey game, Hayden promised me that he would score a goal if I bought him a snickers bar before the game.  I watched him eat this candy bar through the face guard of his helmet and it just cracked me up.

And guess what?  He scored a goal!  I love this kid.  He makes so happy.  I was thinking about him all the silly things that he says and I remembered one of my faves this morning.  We were in the pool over the summer and he told Henry to get off of him because he was hurting his headback.  I said, "headback"???  Don't you mean NECK?  He said, oh yeah, and just smiled and giggled.

Harrison got his new iPhone 5s.  He said that the camera is a lot better and it takes really great pictures.  I said, let me see it!  So, I took a picture of him and he sent it to me.   I'm not so sure that this is a really great picture.  Is there a camera that makes teenage boys smile?  Maybe I should try face timing him.

Hockey has started

The twins are Peewees now and their team is pretty good.  They played their first two games yesterday and won both.  Henry is playing defense this year and he is not very happy about this.  He loves being the goalie.  Hayden is playing offense and he scored a goal in the first game of the season.  I was so proud of him and it's soooo important that he keeps this up.  Hayden is playing a lot of video games these days and I want him to love something other than minecraft, cube world, and pixel people.

So, yesterday at the hockey game, one of the little Blades players started to choke.  I heard one of the parents screaming, are you OK???  and I was sitting really close to this kid.  I had to give him the heimlich maneuver.  He was choking on a hot dog.  His mom showed up right after it happened and told me that he chokes all the time.  I said, really?  Me too!  She told me that he has had his esophagus stretched twice and the doctor said it's called Schatzki's ring.  Do you know how long I have waited to know what I have??  Even the doctor that stretched my esophagus didn't give me a name for it.  So, I told the kid's mom that I'm sorry that he choked, but I'm so glad that I know what this is now.

Harrison finished his XC season last Saturday at the state meet.  He improved his time from last year, but was not happy with how his season ended.  He wants to work harder than ever for next season.  I told him that I could get him a trainer that works with runners.  He didn't answer me, so that probably means no.   I'm hoping that his track season is better.  

Halloween

Today was super fun at work and really weird.  Halloween is a 2 day event this year, thanks to the storms.  Trick or treating is tomorrow, so the craziness will continue. 

I'm thinking about dressing up again tomorrow, just for the hell of it. Our "fall party" is tomorrow, so why not?  We ate some of our treats today, but we have plenty for tomorrow.  We are going to send the kids home with a super sugar high and then they will be off to trick or treat for the night. 

So Hayden is a hot dog and Henry is Spongebob this year. Henry really wanted to make his costume, but I'm a horrible mom and I just bought him one. Hayden really wanted to be a helicopter. He kept telling me that we needed to buy some plastic.  Ugh..  

We did make mummy hot dogs!!!!  That was really fun. 

I'm having a blast working with this pretty lady this year. She is pretty cool. 

TG nothing.

I barely made it through this crap ass stupid day.  I can't wait until it's over.  

It's a week later and healing, but here's the dog bite pic for you Heff. 

another 10

1.  Harrison did not run in XC regionals because he has bronchitis.

2.  I slept all day on Saturday.  I was so super stressed and sleeping just seemed like the right thing to do.

3.  Sunday was awful.  I got bit by a dog.  The Bears lost.  I should have slept all day Sunday, too.  

4.  I'm trying to teach my students about context clues.  One kid told me that context is like the people in your phone.  I said, that's contacts.....

5.  Henry loves the show Storage Wars.  He can't decide whether he likes Storage Wars New York or Storage Wars Texas.  It cracks me up to listen to him talk about this show.  I think I've seen part of one episode.  

6.  Hayden and I got pedicures tonight.  He loved it.  My friend couldn't believe that he wanted a pedicure.  It was pretty relaxing to sit back and get this pedicure. 

7.   I separated the twin's bunk beds.  They now have their own room.  I'm waiting to see how long this lasts.  

8.  I had to buy new pants for the twins tonight.  They have grown a ton lately and nothing fits them.  

9.  I introduced Hoagy Carmichael to my class today.  They seemed to want to learn more about this man.  

10.  My leg hurts from the dog bite.  My chest hurts from stress and it's two in the morning and I can't sleep.  

10 things that have happened

I haven't posted in awhile and a lot has happened, so I'm making a top 10 list.

1.  Harrison turned 17.  I made him biscuits and gravy for dinner and his dad bought him the new iPhone 5.  It will be here in a couple of weeks and I hope he lets me play with it.  

2.  XC Sectionals started.  Harrison came in 8th and North placed 2nd behind South.

  


3.  I had my first ear infection of the school year, but I only missed a half day of school.  I recovered over fall break and it sucked.

4.  I survived the first 9 weeks of school.  Report cards are done.  I love my little class.

We made these with our reading buddies.
We did not use glue, so the kids were able to
eat them when we finished!

5.  I've been biking a ton and my legs are so sore.  I downloaded an app called Strava onto my iPhone and keeps track of all my rides.  It shows the route, the distance, my average speed, my fastest speed, and the elevation of the ride.  It's pretty cool and it was free!

6.  Henry is playing his viola again this year.  He has practice on Tuesday and Thursday morning.  He can't watch MNF anymore because he has to get up at 6:30 to get to practice on time.  He's in 3rd place in our fantasy football league.

7.  Hayden hardly ever has any homework.  He spends a lot of time on his iPad and on the Xbox.  We all went to the IU-Purdue hockey game last weekend and Hayden won a free shirt.  All the boys were trying to take it from him, so he put it on and took off running.  When it was time to go, he took it off and gave it to one of his friends.  He's just the sweetest kid I know and he's mine.  I'm so lucky.

8.  I rejoined the Iron Pit and I need to start going every other day.  I think I've gained like 20 more pounds.

9.  Softball is almost over and hockey is about to start.  I'm excited to spend some time with my hockey family.

10.  I have another good friend that has been diagnosed with cancer.  They need to find a cure for this crap.  My heart can't take this.

Hoosiers Outrun Cancer

I walked the Cancer 5k this year with my mom and my friend Kelly. It was such a beautiful day, Blue skies and perfect weather. Henry started close to the front.  He was determined to run it under 25 minutes and he finished in 24 minutes!  That's 4 minutes faster than last year. Hayden jogged and walked with my brother.  They raised $2 million for the cause this year.  I hope they find a cure soon.  Too many beautiful people are losing their lives to cancer, like my friend Jesse. 

What the heck?

So don't ever show a video that you haven't watched in its entirety, to your class. I know this rule. I broke this rule. It ended badly.  Ugh!!!!

So, a few funny things happened today. I was asking my third graders what the word poultry meant. One kid said, I know!!  It's when you have a book and you read a little bit out of it in front of everyone. The aide in my room said, that's POETRY!!!  I died laughing and then I gave that kid an eraser because that was funny stuff. 

Hayden was looking at my ears today and he said, mom, OH MY GOD!  Your ears are so tiny!!  They are like little twinkies!!  I don't think I've ever purchased twinkies for my children, but maybe I should.  

Wild animal show was today at school. The baboon is 5 years old now and that thing needs to chill out.  She is still wild and crazy and the kids go bezerk when she starts jumping around. At least she didn't beat the crap out of her owner this year. Last year, he was bleeding thanks to that little nut. 

Went to mother bears to celebrate York's birthday tonight.  We all sang happy birthday and Goodman made some amazing cupcakes.  I guess it was a pretty good day.  

Biking

I'm trying to figure out the rules of bicycling in a group.  I am the SLOWEST biker in the group and I feel bad because everyone ends up waiting on me.  I've thought about quitting many times, but Henry loves to do this ride.  He also loves getting pizza at Big Woods after with our friends.

The ride is 20 miles through the beautiful hills of Brown County.  There are two or three hills in the first 5 miles that are just brutal.  I bike most of this alone and then the ride is amazing.  I usually catch up with a few people at this point, but I still like biking at my own pace.  I also enjoy biking out in the country away from all the traffic.  I like the safety of the group.  We've had a few incidences with dogs and a few people have wrecked their bikes, so staying together is a must.  I need to read a few articles about biking in a group and build up my strength.  It's getting dark earlier each day, so we are going to have to shorten this ride soon.  I'm hoping to be stronger in the spring.  I really want to get faster.  I can feel my legs getter stronger, but losing 20 pounds would be awesome. 

A week in pictures

I've been looking through my phone pictures for a blog topic.  I took a bunch of pics this week and they are all random and disconnected.  It kinda sums up my week, I guess.  It's a busy time in all of our little lives.  We take one day at a time and sometime one step at a time.

Upland is still my happy place. 

I love riding my bike, especially with Henry.  We got real biking shoes this week with pedal locks!

Great grown-up spelling bee was fun.  Gardner and Derloshon were awesome!

My dad has a friendly little beagle.  I can't remember her name.

                                       

Bdubs is still one of my favorite places, but sometimes the people that eat there, need lessons in parking. 

My friend has a cute little cat.  Her name is Mama.

This boy got 7th in the South Knox Invitational and his team got 1st place.

Friday was a little crazy at work, so I stopped everything for a minute, took a deep breath and then snapped a picture of this turtle.  And that's a wrap for this week in the life of crazy busy.  

Tie Wednesday Part 2

So a bunch of us wore ties today, but only a few of us got in the picture.  Goodwoman brought me a tie this morning and tied it for me.  This made me extremely happy.  She is pretty amazing.  Tie day Wednesday was super fun.  I helped a 3rd grader get dressed with her tie and her shoes around 11 am.  Normally, I would be super irritated about this, but today, I took a deep breath and enjoyed the moment.  I love my job.

There were so many others that wore ties on this day.  I'm so sad that they weren't in the picture.  Next WEEK!!!

Next week is tie and pie day.  I plan to bring 3 pies on this day, so come and see me people!!!

Haydenisms

Hayden has been full of craziness lately and I need to start writing this stuff down. I've decided that this is a good place.

1.  We went to the North/South football game last week. We were walking to the game and he asked if the game was inside or out!

2. He took the big poster of the world off the wall and he was looking at all the cool places to visit. He asked me I I knew where Mt. Everest was?? and I said, China. He said, nope, Asia!! 

3. Today he said, since shirts are made out of cotton and cotton grows, does that mean our shirts can grow? 

4.  This one is actually funny!!  So 3 guys walk into a bar, 2 guys got a concussion and the third guy ducked. Why didn't the third guy get a concussion?  Because it's a metal bar!! 

Oh Hayden,  I just love this kid to pieces. And he gives great pedicures. 

Tie Day Wednesday

Today was tie day Wednesday for half of the Fairview staff.  The other half was NOT INVITED to participate in this event.  I was super jelly of this all day long.  I'm trying to rally the other half to participate next Wednesday, now that we know about this tie day thing.  I think a couple of the ladies are even going to wear bow ties.  So HAAAAAAA.

I learned how to tie a windsor knot last year for Henry's strings concert, so I'm set.  I might have to help a few people on Wednesday morning, but that's not a big deal.  I wish I would have taken some pictures of the guys today.  They looked pretty amazing walking around today.  I'll take a bunch next week.