Raise your hand if...

you're ready for the weekend!!! (I'm raising both my hands.)

Ya know how I know summer's over?

It's official. Summer is over. Always a hard fact to face for teachers. And you think kids don't want to go back?? Summer is way cooler when you're a grown up and have a paycheck. Anyways--here's my top ten list of how I know summer's really over.

10. I have forgotten the daytime line up. Does the Dr.'s come on at 3 or 4? Like it really matters anymore.
9. My house looks like crap, there are dishes piling up in the sink and who knows the last time I got the mail.
8. Conversations inevitably go back to the "t" word.
7. Every time I want to scream or pull my hair out, I magically get calmer. It has taken 5 years to perfect this.
6. Yellow school buses. Talk about sloooow.
5. My blogs are teacher centered (not learner centered-ha!)
4. Five words. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
3. TGIF isn't just a tv line up on Friday nights.
2. I feel like a new parent. All. I. Want. To. Do. Is. Sleep.
1. Someone is literally sticking their tongue out at me daily.

At least they spelled all the words right

So today I got my second, count them--second!, "I hate you" note. But today all the words were spelled correctly. That's progress.

Here's the story on the original note. Quite comical.

So I have a kid with some behavior issues. Pretty severe behavior issues. Enough said about that. Well, it was suggested that instead of redirecting verbally, I try to give this student choices on a post-it. Ok, I'm game. First post-it read:
1. Do your work now.
2. Do your work at recess.

Pretty reasonable I think--but what do I know!! So this child proceeds to crumble it up and throw it in the trash can. So, of course I ignore the behavior. Pick your battles, and all that. Not a few moments later, he has found his Math problem from earlier (also written on a post-it) and written his own little message. This is how I'm imagining it going down in his head, "Oh really? We're using post-its now? This is how we're rolling? Ok. Watch this." So as I'm sitting in my desk, talking with my co-teacher that helps me stay sane, he comes up and shows me his post-it. You guessed it! Except it reads, "I hite you."

The second note I got today was written on a tiny piece of paper and "hate" was spelled correctly. At least this kid is learning from his mistakes AND saving the rain forest.

Don't worry about me folks, I'm not letting this kid in my bubble. It's like a super bubble that's made out of duct tape, but the kind you can see through. Maybe like packing tape? Yup! Not letting you in my bubble. Can't bother me. Now if I could only do the same thing with all the other crap that is piling up on me I'd be good to go.

Good karma

Saving that turtle on the way to our softball game must have set some good things in motion. Boys and girls--we won our second game in a row. I believe that's what they call a winning streak. Only one more game next week, then the end-of-the-season-tournament-but-not-sure-how-you-play-a-tournament-on-Tuesday-night-but-whatever games.

Yes, I made Desiree pull a driver switch in the middle of the road so we could save a little turtle that was trying to cross the street. As I picked him up, I think he hissed at me! I set him way back away from the street and pointed him in the direction of the open field, not the concrete suicide mission. Let's hope he stayed the course and didn't decide to go for it again.

PS-Turtles are heavier than they look

Sometimes you wanna go...

where everybody does NOT know your name. Desperately in need of a vacation. Again.

Wouldn't it be nice?

The Beach Boys still got it. No, they didn't come out in wheelchairs. Here are some pics from the concert. Totally worth being exhausted on Friday for work. Hearing, and of course singing along with, Kokomo will go down as one of my favorite memories of all time. Waiting patiently for the boys to come out Rockin' out Beach Boy


Can't take pictures

Wordless Wednesday

Two words...

Fucken awesome. Yes, I know I misspelled the f-bomb. But it was for dramatic effect. Our softball game tonight was fucken awesome. First of all, it was in the 90's instead of 100's. Great--that's like fall weather around here. Second, almost all of our team showed up. Third, we really brought the energy again. We are all yelling for each other, being positive and such. You really would have thought we were playing for the championship-that's how we roll. We were like that last week and it rocked--even though we didn't win. Anyway, we ended the game with some lightning round type stuff. Since we were tied and time was up, it went to one pitch softball. You get one pitch, it's either: a ball-you walk, a strike-you're out, a hit-you hope you get on base, or a foul-you're out. Talk about your crazy pressure! We were home so we were in the field first. We held them. So, all we had to do was score one run. So we bat and it's going ok. And it all ends, are you ready for this?, with a classic case of monkey in the middle-fielders trying to tag out a runner from third to home. A teammate had decided to run from third to home on an overthrow. But, as they threw home, the damn catcher caught it. So as he's almost home, he decided to go back to third, causing them to throw the ball back to third, and at one point we thought he would fall, but he recovered and somehow manages to make it home before they throw it back to home! Oh my god. Are you totally stoked yet? Because I haven't even told you how our whole team ran out screaming to greet him on the field. It was insane. No other teams are quite excited like us. Guess what? We don't care either. We have so much fun and play with our hearts that this victory might as well have been an olympic gold. And it is our 2nd win of 9 games. Do you feel me now?

Boo-yah boot camp

And so it begins. Boot camp, that is. Today was our first day. I figured that a trainer that's coming to my school, for 3 days a week, with my friends also working out wasn't a bad deal. I need a jump start to get me motivated. It wasn't too bad, but tomorrow will be "real" boot camp. Apparently today was more like a warm up. We did baseline assessments (that's teacher talk) to see just how out of shape we are. Ha! We had 3 minutes to complete each task and see how we roll. Here's how I stack up: sit ups (the real ones!)-30, squats-80, push-ups (the girl ones!)-16. Not bad for a day's work. Or whatever. It's obvious all my strength is in my legs. I plan to use that to my advantage, not sure how yet. I'll keep you posted.

Anyways, should be very interesting!! It was fun, good to get away from work (even if it is only to the gym at our school) and be with some good peeps. Looking forward to tomorrow, even though we have a 6:30 game. By the way, this is not our best time slot. That-game-we-shall-never-speak-of-again happened at that time slot. Maybe boot camp will be our answer--loosen us up, ya know? We shall see. I'll keep you posted on that too. Unless it's bad, in which case I'll skim over the score part and look away if you ask too many details.

Fly on the wall

Things overheard on our Friday of the first week of school:


1. I only listen to kids who raise their hands.
2. Can you play "Beat it"? That's the only song I know how to dance to. (A kid after my own heart.)
3. What are you doing? What SHOULD you be doing? (I say this ALL. DAY. LONG.)
4. He's playing with your balls!



Have a great weekend y'all!!

Wordless Wednesday

Softball. Ouchy.

Precious moments

You know how 3rd graders are really 2nd graders (meaning they're still so small!)...well I forget sometimes that they can only handle so much. At some point today we were putting labels on our "Take Home Folders". It took about 5 minutes to pass out the labels and have them put them ON TOP and IN THE CENTER of their folder and write their name in permanent marker, BUT ONLY WRITE ON YOUR FOLDER, IT'S PERMANENT MARKER! We're almost done with the whole scene when one of my students holds up his spirals (or composition books, or journals, or notebooks as I've already explained the fifteen times, each kid insisting on calling them a different name) and asks "What do we do with the spirals??" Oh my. I can't even tell you the conversations we had about spirals earlier. We barely made it out alive. I'm all..."Are we talking about spirals now?" And of course his response, "Oh. no." To which I answer in a slightly higher pitched voice, "Then put the spirals away. Now. And nobody gets hurt." Organizing supplies when you overestimate how many directions 8 year olds can take at a time can be a real mess.

Another funny thing was little Johnny. He's a literal type of guy. Takes everything at face value. Gotta love him. He comes up to the lunch line out of breath. So, of course I ask him if he was running. He looks at me for a while, and I can tell that he's really thinking, "Man! Do I lie or tell the truth. Lie or tell the truth, man!?" While this battle is going on inside his head, I'm waiting patiently. He finally responds and tells me he was actually jogging. As if he was getting a quick workout in before lunch. I smiled, told him this was his warning, there is no jogging in the cafeteria, hugged him and told him I appreciated his honesty.

Back to School Bonanza

Tomorrow is the first day of school. I think I am ready. It's my 5th year of teaching, and I'm not nervous yet. Trying to adopt a new attitude. Let things come and go as they may. Don't sweat the small stuff. Que sera, sera. This too shall pass. You know. All those cliche sayings.

And now a little story about my 2nd grade teacher. Her name was Miss A-hole. I have changed her name to protect her identity. But it rhymes with hole and starts with a "c". I digress. I remember that year because she was a very scary teacher. She was a large lady. If we got in trouble she would say, "You're in my doghouse!" This explains my aversion to doghouses-but that's neither here nor there. I can remember like it was yesterday talking to one of my friends on the first day asking her if we had to know our times tables in 2nd grade. I didn't know them and I guess I was afraid we would have some sort of test on them the first day. Ridiculous, I know. But I was nervous about that nonetheless.

That year I misplaced my spelling book (actually it was stolen by somebody at daycare--you know who you are!). I was terrified to tell Miss A-Hole. My parents thought I was ridiculous. So, my dad took me to school to explain that we misplaced it (code for it was stolen at daycare). To my surprise she didn't put me in a doghouse and the book actually turned up at daycare in the next few days. Whew. That was a close one. On another occasion we were learning our spelling words. I could not remember if the "u" or "i" came first in the word "building". She got so frustrated with me and was very short. As if having a "u" really makes any sense. If you ask me, it should be spelled "bilding". Well out of fear I learned the word and can still spell it today. Despite her, I actually turned out to be a good speller. All my friends would study their spelling words and I wouldn't. I could still ace the tests. Think they were jealous. Ha!

On yet another sad occasion in 2nd grade, my friend Katie and I were arguing one day over who got to go first in line. In a very dramatic way, Miss A-Hole came over and snatched my Honor Badge (which you had to earn by being respectful and responsible and in turn could go play outside after you finished your lunch) off of my shirt. It all happened in slow motion. To me it was like she had run over my dog. With a doghouse. Even at 7 years old I thought that was a little over the top. Didn't I at least deserve a warning? I was in no way a problem child. I barely even spoke! And, AND if she had given her class a number order in line, this could have all been avoided.

Here's a little story about my 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Staton. I didn't change her name. :) She was so loving, patient, quiet and calm. She taught us cursive. Her and my mom have the most amazing cursive handwriting ever. She would write sweet notes to us. One day when I was sick she insisted that I go to the nurse. You see, I was shy and didn't like any attention, so I tried to tough it out. I know--hard to believe I was shy. Nothing like I am now! We also had a 3rd grade play "Goin' Buggy". I was a firefly. I don't remember the particulars of that year like I remember in 2nd grade. But I do remember how she made me feel. I was special, smart, and loved. She made me feel good about myself.

I tell these stories not to evoke sympathy from you, my readers. But to point out that I learned a valuable lesson in all of this. Love the kids. Even if you don't really love them, find something to love in all of them. Every word, every action should be analyzed. You never know how the little ones will take it. Now, I'm not saying that I'm perfect. I mess up sometimes. And if I do, I acknowledge it, apologize and move on. We are only human. But I want to be a human that my kids know loves them and that they feel it.

Here is my teaching philosophy: love 'em. I kind of stole that one from my mom. But I believe teaching is about relationships. That's when you get real learning. I want to have fun with my kids and laugh. I tell them all kinds of things about me and share my true self. I know all kinds of things about them--maybe stuff their parents don't even know. I have to remember all of this when it gets hard. And it is a hard job. We put in countless hours and more importantly we put in our hearts. At night when I'm trying to sleep, sometimes little faces pop into my head. That never happened when I worked at the law firm. I forgot about it as soon as I left. Teachers worry that we're not doing a good job or that this or that didn't get done. t's easy to get wrapped up in the day to day that we forget just how important a job it is. We have the power to make or break children. Like the Shamu Show at Seaworld says, "Believe!".

Have a great year teachers (and kids)!!!!

Aruba, Jamaica oooh I want to take you...

As I'm watching an awesome episode of "Full House", texting Lori about how Jesse and the Rippers are in Japan singing "Forever", I'm reminded that we are going to see the Beach Boys in September. I can't even tell you how excited we are! After we bought our tickets we had to YouTube the episode when Uncle Jesse plays with the Boys. It was awesome to relive it. The Beach Boys rock! Cody is a little worried they may come out...and be in wheelchairs. Let's hope not! But I'm sure they'll bring it, even in the wheelchairs.

I can remember being in elementary school, in the top bunk of our bunk bed, with my grey jambox, listening to hours of tapes of the Beach Boys. Such simpler times!

To show my love of the Beach Boys, I thought I'd post a picture of our cat, Kokomo. Yes, I named her Kokomo. The song was veeeery popular when she was born.

Wordless Wednesday

night night

Bruisers pull off moral victory

Well folks. After game 1 of our double header tonight, it looked like we may be getting worse! It was like the Bad News Bears. The ones from the 70's, not that remake b.s. Seriously. 6:30 games are just not cutting it for us. The 100 plus degree heat literally sucks the life out of you. I mean, I don't even want to walk to my car in the heat, much less move my body around chasing a ball or run to the bases (if I should happen to get a hit!). It was bruuuutaaaaal. The mistakes were infinite and it seemed that the game would never end. But it did. And I have to be honest here...I wanted to go home! I was in no hurry to have a repeat of the first game. That would just be too much to handle. Too much heartbreak. Especially when next we were playing the undefeated team. Quite possibly one of the best teams in our league.

But, in true baseball fashion showing that it is anybody's game, we managed to play well in our 2nd game! We looked like a real team. And I don't just mean because we all have matching shirts. We were actually making plays and getting outs. Then we were hitting better. We were really giving them a run for their money. The other team was rattled. They didn't expect to get hustled (ok--not hustled, but I think they thought they would cream us!) Well, they didn't cream us. They did win, but damnit we didn't give up and came back from an embarrassing loss to keep up with them and even led at some point.

Way to go Bruisers!

I choose to...

go to work tomorrow. I choose to go to work tomorrow. I choose to go to work tomorrow.

It's not working!!

Happy B-day Dad!! (it's a big one!)

Today is my dad's birthday. I'm lucky enough not to be in school, along with my mom, so us 3 could celebrate his special day. First we went out to eat. Then we went to get my parents their passports--I was so proud of them. Then we went to Shepler's so he could get some new ostrich cowboy boots.

My dad is an absolute original. I think most dads are. He is a little crazy, very traditional, a true Texan, country, vocal, loves to make corny jokes and says things like "hotter than the hinges of hell" and "speed on brother, hell ain't half full". He is the most calm, patient person I know (most of the time). One of my favorite stories about him, that my mom still tells, is how when I was three I was home alone with my dad. Well, he needed to go to the hardware store. So, he got me dressed and let me wear my cowgirl boots with shorts. He saw nothing wrong with that. Of course when we were at the store, we saw someone we knew. Later on when my mom discovered I had been out in public like that and someone we knew actually witnessed it, she was mortified. It's awesome that dads don't think of stuff like that. It makes me smile that he didn't care what it looked like. Why not wear your boots with shorts?

Well, as dad was getting his boots today, I decided to get something at the store too. I haven't had cowgirl boots in years. I can't wait to wear them! And no, I won't be wearing them with shorts. Well, probably not.


Tonight we'll conclude the festivities by watching "An Inconvenient Truth" with Cody when he gets off work. Tomorrow we are off to celebrate by eating some big, juicy steaks at the Hoffbrau. And Sunday we are going to see my aunt so she can take her little brother out to eat.

That's just wrong

Yesterday while it was raining, (yes--it rained on TWO separate occasions yesterday!!) I couldn't help but think of a Jack Handy quote:

“If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did."”


Here's another one that made me laugh out loud.

"If you think a weakness can be turned into a strength, I hate to tell you this, but that's another weakness."

That guy is profound! His voice really drives the point home.

Deep Thoughts--can you handle it?

Wordless Wednesday

Oh yes I did.