and we're back on in 3-2-1

Okay, so we didn't arrive back to Minnesota last night in exactly a simple 3-2-1, but we did make it back which is the important part. 12 hours and we were walking back in the door. However, when we walked into our house I suggested that we might want to turn around. We walked into the house with a fire alarm going off and then when we went to put Lady's electric fence collar back on it was flashing red.  When Dad got a hold of that fire alarm, I thought it was going to end up like the scene from friends with Phoebe.  If you need a reminder of the scene, you can entertain yourself by clicking here.  He finally got it to be quiet though and it's still sitting on the kitchen table today.  After fixing the fire alarm, he fixed the dog collar.  Then, it was finally time to sit and eat dinner that we picked up from Chipotle on the way home.  If that wasn't enough, mom started to feel sick after dinner.  I guess this all shows that life never really slows down.  


After all this madness, the sun rose again today and with it comes the last day of this year. 

•  The last day before the year I will get married and become a wife.  
• The last day before the year I will graduate
• The last day before the year I will hopefully get my first real grown-up job
• The last day before the year I will officially move out of the house I have grown up in

Clearly I am excited for tomorrow.  It will mark the start of another exciting year.  Another year in which I have no idea what God has planned in store for me.  So, if you ask me on this day "What am I thinking?"  I am thinking that tomorrow is a very big day! Oh and will mark 202 days until the big day :)


Just a few pics inside the Shupert car ride home...

Clearly we now know who the real princess in the house is.

Watching a movie and playing on the ipod at the same time...clearly too much technology one person should be allowed at one time.

Lady would go stand at the door when she wanted out....I don't think she understood that the van was moving.

She had two blankets, mom's coat, and a pillow she was hording.  I don't think she had it too rough on the drive home considering she took the whole back seat to herself.

Hope you enjoyed the pics :)  Have a wonderful last day of 2011 and I hope the start of your new year is fabulous!!  

The blessing of family

The presents have been opened, the food has been cooked and enjoyed, the snow has fallen (in Michigan), and the family love has been shared by all....Christmas time is coming to a close once again.  I think this year has been the perfect ending to my last Christmas as a single lady.  Christmas day our family and Grandma (Spence) opened gifts and then had a very relaxing day spent playing with everyone's new electronics and simply enjoying being together.  I'm pretty sure we spent all day in the living room together.  It was perfect.  Instead of doing a huge Christmas dinner, we did a simple brunch and then little finger foods for dinner.  We had our big Christmas dinner today with our family, Grandma, Denny and Sue (mom's cousin and who is doing our photography for the wedding), and Great Aunt Arlene (Grandma's sister).  Lots of laughs were shared and bellies were filled to the brim.  I am so thankful for family.  When we come to Michigan and are busy trying to see as much family as possible, it reminds me just how much family I have!! I can't wait to add Patrick to my family and begin adding little people of our own :)


Now for what everyone is waiting for...the pictures.  One thing I was BLESSED to receive this year was an amazing camera...you will definitely notice the difference in pictures half way through.  I hope this camera may also bless this blog and share wonderful shots with each of you!

The tree was hidden with so many presents it was almost sick.  Good thing there was 5 of us to open them.

Dad and Matt.  Dad is opening a warm green shirt from Amanda

Amanda opening her present from mom and dad...a CRICUT!!! 

Mom opening her present from Matt and Amanda...a Keurig machine

Amanda's gift to herself.  Did anyone guess right?  It's coffee to use in the Keurig she got mom

Matt opening his present from mom and dad.  An ipod touch...he hasn't let it leave his side yet.  Oh and the Redwings hat on his head that was in his stocking...yeah he sleeps in it.  

The mess!!!

The mess on the new camera!!!  Just a little clearer! This was my first shot with the new one though and I can already tell I'm improving...there is a whole lot of stuff to figure out!!!

And this is where he stayed the rest of the day...at least he showed how thankful he was for the present!

Game time!  I guess we did leave the living room to play this game for a little while.  It's like dominoes only with a wild spinner on the end of some of the dominoes for a twist.

Naptime for mom...

and dad...

and lady!!!

This was Matt yesterday on the way back from Grandma Barb and Jack's house. So much for reading.  You can see the book fell on him when he fell asleep. 

 It's a good thing someone stayed awake to take pictures of all these sleepy people!!!

Macro picture on the new camera...can you guess what it is of?  Answer at the end.

So as you can see from the pictures we are having a pretty good time. I hope you are having a great holiday season with family and friends as well!!  Enjoy it, because we'll all be back to a regular work week before you know it. :(


Happy Christmas season everyone!!!


Answer: fudge

Well sorry to those of you who have been checking my blog saying "when is that girl going to post again?!" (if there are any of you).  I think the busy holiday rush has pushed aside my blog, but I'm okay with that.


Wednesday this last week Patrick and I celebrated not only our last Christmas not being a married couple, but 7 months till the wedding.  Least I say, it was a big day for us.  I got Patrick eggies and a new watch.  He got me...drum roll please...tickets to go see The Lion King at the Orpheum theatre in Minneapolis.  I have to admit that he has got better at giving gifts each time he does it.  I think this is some good news for me ;)  He surprised me by having me open this first...

Then, he goes oh and we're going to go see it at the Orpheum theatre.  At least I can watch the dvd in preparation to see the musical on February 4th!


Thursday I celebrated Christmas with Patrick's family at his house.  We went out to eat at the Green Mill.  I hope our Christmas dinner goes smoother than that dinner.  If you want to go eat there, I don't suggest bringing me along. Almost 100% of the time disaster takes place.  Usually I'm pretty understanding, but we had to buss our own table to say the least.  We made the most of it though and had many laughs throughout the whole night.


Friday = an entire day in the car.  I think this was one of the best trips we have had as far as fighting in the car.  I'll let you guess the worst passenger. Guess here....Lady!!!!  For being the smallest passenger, she sure did take up the most room in the van.  Apparently the only spot for her to get comfortable for all 12 hours was where one would except I should put my feet.  I guess Lady felt otherwise about the location of my feet.


Today was our first full day in Michigan and it was mostly spent at papa and Donna's (Shupert) house celebrating Christmas there.  We played a game for a long time called Left Right Center. You can find the game on Target HERE! It was a great group game.  I think instead of playing the game with chips you could use all sorts of things.  Some people play it as a gambling game, but obviously we didn't play that way.  We ate so much good food, but I know I have to some how find room for all the food we'll eat tomorrow too!!


I hope this got you caught up.  Matthew is just about coming unglued to open all the presents underneath that tree in the morning.  What is that present labeled To: Amanda From: Amanda? It's making everyone so crazy that I think I just might save it for last.  Feel free to take some guesses until it's revealed!!
Have a great Christmas morning with all your family and/or friends!  I'm thankful for each and every one of you! :)

Reality

Reality is..


When a child is given a popsicle stick and a tub of frosting they will scoop out a bunch of frosting, lick the stick, then put the stick back into the frosting they are sharing with many other children.  Gingerbread house making day one was today. Besides this little joke, which really did happen, the kids did great and their houses are off to a wonderful start.  We'll finish them tomorrow, but we had to let our foundation harden overnight.  Nothing like a  little lot of sugar at 8:30am to help the winter break fig-its. 


Reality is...


When the room is silent, something is wrong, someone is in major trouble, or students are making glittery snowmen from Ms. Shupert.  I found these adorable foam snowmen for my students to make from Target.  Students got to build a snowman using all the little pieces and letters in their bag.  They were all so focused on creating that they were completely silent!!  Ahh music to a teacher's ears.


Reality is...


St Cloud student teachers are experiencing something very different than us Urban Blockers.  While I've heard of many St Cloud area student teachers receiving Christmas gifts from their students as our semester is ending, I have students coming up to me in the morning apologizing that his or her mom had no more money so she couldn't get anything to help with the gingerbread houses. I can't help but worry about how much these students are getting to eat this month.  I know for a fact I'm experiencing things here in this school that have changed me forever.  As teachers in the building tell me that if I can teach here I can teach anywhere, I'm slowly understanding why more and more each day.


Reality is...


As I drive back home after school tomorrow, I will have a slightly broken heart (until Jan 9).  Although I want need this winter break, I will miss my students tremendously.  My prayer is that each of them may have a special holiday season filled with laughter and love.  I wish they could each understand how special they are to God and how much He loves them. 


Hope you're having a great warm week...I AM!!

Caution: Cute pictures inside

As I had posted before, Thursday was Matthew's birthday. So, Friday we got the whole bunch together, plus our friends Jon and Shelley, and celebrated.  We also had the most adorable girl Lakin at our house because her parents had some special plans.  So what did all this celebration call for? A camera in hand...and a little cake.  I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Lakin finding the greatest fun from a small bucket that she put things in and then took them back out.

Not sure what exactly Patrick said, but she looked at him and gave him this funny look I just barely caught on camera.  BTW!! Notice the ADORABLE pink converse!!!! Yeah, her mom pretty much rocks!!!

Matthew opening the present from Patrick and I.  It was the Smurfs movie.  Guess he liked it from his expression.

Lakin playing with Matthew's tissue paper and wrapping paper.  She was so focused on tearing it into little pieces.

Matthew seeing his cake for the first time. It had been in secret hiding.

The cake...of course it would have the Redwings hockey logo on it.

Lakin in her pj's sharing a special moment with Patrick.  Playing with the fridge magnets.

So I know it's kinda sad when there are more pictures of the cute 1 year old than of the birthday boy...but come on she's so stinkin cute!!  Needless to say, we had quite a fun night and were all sad when everyone went home.  There is nothing better than family and friends though.

Saturday was spent trying to finish up the Christmas shopping with mom, baking a few more cookies, and then helping Patrick Christmas shop.  A nice relaxing day, but a cold one!!  I will never get used to winter in MN and I will really never get used to the cold!

Today it's back up to the Urban life for 4 more days!!!  I can't wait till winter break!  I think us teachers need it as much as the kids if not more!!  I'll for sure be sharing later this week all the fun things I'm doing with my kids.  Sadly though I cannot take pictures to share.

Have a great week and attempt to stay warm!!

Are you sure it wasn't a full moon?

Wow...these past two days I have used every calming down strategy in the book.  I don't know what has happened to my sweet little 6 and 7 year olds (some say winter break coming up) but they have completely forgotten how to act like a human being.  On Tuesday my CT was testing kids in the hall all day, so I thought it may have been me, but since he was in the room all day today, and it was just as bad, I know it wasn't just me!!! Examples may include a circumstance where I'm explaining why it is important to work without talking at this current time and a boy is talking to his friend whilst I'm explaining...UGH!!!  


List of things we relearned in first grade the past two days:
1. Saying Ms. Shupert over and over and over will not get you help any sooner....raising your hand will
2. We walk safely all the time
3. We don't hit
4. We don't punch
5. What good body position is
6. There are consequences for poor behavior
7. How to get to class on time...by not staying at breakfast until it is lunch time
8. We raise our hand instead of blurting shouting screaming out the answer


I really could go on, but I'll spare you.  I keep telling myself that one must have bad days to make the good days that much sweeter, but when you have two bad days in a row you can't help but doubt there is an end in sight.  Despite all this bad though, my CT told me I'm the best student teacher he has had (I'm #5) so that was pretty exciting.  Tomorrow I will have my final observation (by my CT) of the semester.  It will feel so wonderful to have all of them done until I start observations back up in March.  I just have to get through this week and through Thursday next week.  We have a lot of fun things planned for the kids next week...I just hope they survive till then.  


Shout out to Matthew...It's his birthday tomorrow.  The BIG 14!! I can hardly believe it.


Just 2 1/2 weeks till Christmas...hope you've been good :)

A little of this and a little of that

Equals a house full of wonderful smelling Christmas cookies!!  


Mom, Matthew, and I headed out the door earlier this morning with our plan of attack.  First stop...flu shots.  Second stop...Kohls to get some dress pants for Matthew.  Third stop...GROCERY STORE!!  We picked up all the things we would need to make our list of Christmas cookies.  Before we knew it, we were on our way home ready for an afternoon filled with baking as the snow began to fall outside. Too perfect?  Well just maybe.


Obviously this is not Mom and I's first time baking Christmas cookies; however, this year was definitely different than any other year.  See we have this new monster in our house.  He eats everything, yes EVERYTHING, and goes by the name of Matthew.  The entire time mom and I were baking, he was breathing down our necks and into the cookies.  He kept asking how much longer till each new cookie would be ready to eat and then tried to convince us he wouldn't eat ALL the cookies...just most of them.  So, although I would love to share some of our cookies made with lots of love....there will be none for me to share with you.  I guess there will be none to share with Santa either...hmm we'll see just how many presents he gets from Santa this year!


Below are a few pictures I snapped to share our fun.

Here you see tea balls, pretzels with peppermint kisses and rolos topped with m&m's, and this popcorn mix recipe my mom got from someone at work.  There is also sugar cookie dough hidden in the fridge when I took this.

What does one need when making Christmas cookies?  Butter by the bucket loads!!!!

All this fun helped keep my mind off my cold.  Being a teacher = a whole bunch of germs.  "Good morning Miss Shupert." SNEEZE  snot flies everywhere.  "Good morning to you too sweetheart!" Oh well it is what it is.  I just really hope it's better by Monday, because I have my last observation by my supervisor!! 


Hope you're having a great, snowy weekend!!!
Amanda 

Let it rain....tears

I know, I know, the title doesn't sound good.  Well it's not good.  It was just one of those days.  If you walked into our room any time during the morning, you would have thought Miss Shupert is the meanest teacher in the entire world! 


Incident 1: Miss Shupert is helping a girl with her math worksheet.  This girl happens to have a long history of hitting.  Girl gets mad and frustrated at Miss Shupert during the process of helping her.  Girl hits Miss Shupert.  So naturally I had to speak with this girl about why we don't hit, about how some day someone will hit her back when she hits them, and what we can do instead of hit.  As if on a cue, she begins to cry because she feels bad.  She promised me she wouldn't hit anymore (remember this promise).


Incident 2: Only about 5 minutes later.  All of math work time Miss Shupert explained to a girl over and over that  she already knew how to do the math worksheet and therefore would not do it for the girl, but would be more than happy to help.  Girl chose to be angry and stubborn and not complete the sheet because it was too hard (this girl is smart enough to do this sheet without any help btw). So naturally once again I had to have a talk.  I asked the girl what she would like me to tell her parents when they see that her work is not completed.  She answered, "I have an attitude."  I gave her credit for a perfect answer.  We talked about how she would fix the rest of her day and I thought it was fine.  Not more than two seconds after I stood up the tears began.  She felt very bad for wasting all of math with a bad attitude, but I reassured her that she now had a clean slate and could change her day.  Sure enough she turned her day around.  We did a wonderful calendar time and went to specialist.


Incident 3: I'm enjoying my wonderful prep hour correcting homework and filling folders with the new homework when my CT and I hear very loud cries coming down the hall.  I got that woman's intuition that this cry was headed for our room.  I couldn't have been more right.  Sure enough in walks hitting girl from incident 1 with the teacher who deals with many behavior problems.  She hit a boy in the eye at specialist.  UGH!!!  I said, "Girl's name you promised me you wouldn't hit anymore!!"  Less than an hour after her promise, she broke it.  She's crying hysterically and my CT and I are once again explaining how bad this behavior is and next time she will be suspended for a day, which they almost never do with 1st graders.  A call was made home and mom ended up coming in at the end of the day and talking with my CT.  The problem is until she is hit back by a student, no one thinks this behavior will change.


All of this happened between 9:30 and 10:30.  Seriously, enough tears for our whole class within an hour time period.  Yes indeed, you never know what will happen next.  So even though these tears were because of bad behavior, I still am too soft to not feel horrible.  After school I was reminded that maybe I'm not so horrible after all.


Incident 4:  Sure I get all the pictures and letters that students give their teachers just like everyone else.  During the after school program I especially get a lot since they have a lot of free time.  But, none of this is what made my heart melt.  A little boy in my after school class always gets picked up early.  I was playing chess with him when his adult walked in the door to pick him up.  After moaning, he gets up to get his coat and backpack.  He then runs over to me and asks, "Miss Shupert, can I give you a hug?"  I answered him with an, "ALWAYS." He then proceeds to give me the world's biggest hug from the world's smallest 2nd grader and thank me for playing chess with him.  


I hope quite often that God will bless me with children some day.  I have heard that their is no greater love (other than God's love for us) than what a parent feels for their child.  I can't even imagine how this will feel if I already feel so much love towards my students.  My students mean the world to me.  I love walking down the hall just so I can hear students calling my name. If they see me, they insist on stopping whatever they are doing to give me a hug and say hi even though they will see me in a matter of hours, sometimes minutes.  To them, it is worth any reprimanding they will receive for getting out of line in the hall.  I hope you understand now why my heart melts.


I know this one was kind of long, but I hope you got a few laughs and a few smiles.  May your holiday season heart feel the same joy as mine!!! Now off to lesson plan so I can enjoy my weekend of baking!

Game face on?...Check!

I realize I haven't posted anything in awhile, but this is definitely worth telling about.  For the past 3 years I have worked at Bath and Body Works for black Friday.  Now, don't get me wrong.  I had a lot of fun working black Friday each of those 3 times and talking with some pretty crazy people.  But this year it was MY turn to be the crazy one!!! I was jumping around the house all Thanksgiving day because I was so excited.  After looking through all 4 pounds of sale fliers in the newspaper, mom and I made our list, checked it twice, and decided our starting location would be Best Buy at 11:30pm.  I decided I would attempt to catch a small cat nap before heading out.  Before I went to bed, I wrote on my facebook how excited I was and my friend Missy saw.  She asked if she could join us so she had someone to go with.  We said OF COURSE!!!  

So 11:20 (10 minutes ahead of schedule) the three of us camped out in the North Best Buy line.  We were wrapped about half way around the building in line.  So we waited and shared a few laughs.  12:00...the line started moving at a quick little pace.  When we got to the front of the building there were these boys, probably about college guys, who thought they could simply walk in front of me in line.  Everyone was yelling at them.  BUT it was LITTLE ME who actually put my hand out and pushed them aside.  I had my game face on and no one was getting in my way!!! We got in, got all the items on our list, and then I raced for the check out line.  I cut through aisles, dodged some boxes, and we got our spot in line.  The line went very quickly.  We were out by 12:30am!!!!  

Next we headed for Kohls.  This was the only store that tried to crash our party.  We kept our heads up though...even after standing in line for almost 2 hours!!!  People that is what I call dedication!!!  Then we headed for the mall.  We went to a few stores there including Bath & Body Works and Herbergers.  

At 4:30  we headed our for our next stake out destination....Sams Club.  We stood in the line outside for a half hour till they opened at 5.  Unfortunately we didn't get everything we had hoped for.  The people here were the most vicious.  We weren't very upset though because our bodies were starting to exclaim how tired they were.  After getting checked out, we took Missy home and said our good byes.  

The minute mom and I walked in the door  (at 6am) we headed straight for bed.  Was that enough shopping though? NO WAY.  After a few hours of sleep, mom and I got a refreshing shower and headed back out with my grandma and her sister.  We shopped from 10-2.  After that, I really was dead!!!  I had so much fun though.  I told mom though that next year we need to add a couple more friends to the crew and make matching shirts.  I have added a few pics of our time below :)

The line.

Our black friday crew!

Where it all began!

They had a food truck for before or after your shopping at Best Buy.

This picture turned out pretty dark, but it was the massive crowd at the front door.  All people thinking they could budge in line....I proved them wrong!

Third stop...mall bathroom.

Missy turned into a kid at a candy shop with the hand drier.

This morning wasn't a too bad ending to this big long break either.  Patrick and I went cake tasting this morning at Daube's.  12 SLICES OF CAKES PEOPLE!!!  I have never seen so many different cakes in my life!  It was a whole lot of fun.  We found a few favorites even though we're not positive we will go with them yet.  Definitely one of the high points in wedding planning.


As I leave, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving that you got to enjoy with close family and/or friends! Have a great, much longer week :)

Getting older

Every minute of every day we grow older.  Today I think I passed this usual time elapse by a lot!!  You never know what a student is going to say...Example A: "Ms. Shupert, are you 40 years old?" HAHA!!  Finally!! Someone who thinks I'm older than 16.  I had to tell this student he was my favorite at that moment.  Another student than said, "No, she's 29 years old."  See told you I have the best class ever! Older than 16 and I decrease age in a matter of seconds.  During this time my supervisor had come in because I had my second observation today.  A student goes up to her and goes, "I bet you're 32."  My supervisor just had to look at him and say I wish I was.  I don't think the little boy understood why she wished that by the look on his puzzled face as he walked away.  I decided to end this crazy conversation by saying I would never tell and it would be a secret forever.  I think they were a little bummed.


Speaking of my second observation, I never shared how my first one went let alone my one today.  Short and sweet, they both went excellent to say the least.  She raved about my management because it is simply woven into my teaching.  She also expressed how things she is sure will be complete chaos before we do them, are always controlled and go smoothly.  She said many wonderful things about me, but really she should have been complimenting God on His job creating me.  I am so thankful God made my calling clear, that I am able to go to college and follow this dream, and for making me a wonderful teacher.  Yes, I do work hard on creating what I can only hope will be the perfect lesson,  but since I don't even realize I do some of the things I get complimented on, one can only point the finger to the One who made me. 


Satan makes it pretty hard sometimes though.  He filled my head with a lot of doubt before my lesson today, no matter how many times my CT told me I have nothing to worry about.  He also has had his hands at work on over half the other student teachers who say I go around bragging about my good observations. (I have only talked to one of these people) These student teachers are the ones getting not so good observations by the way. I'm truly sorry that not everyone can get great observations, but this cannot be taken out on me!  I ask that you pray that I can rise above the drama these teachers are trying to create and that these teachers may not feel hurt by me.  I am willing to do whatever I can to help them if they need it as a friend and fellow ST (I ask for help ALL the time), but by the lasers shooting into my eyes as I walk down the hall they don't tell me I have friends.  My CT backs me up though whenever someone says something, so I am thankful for him. I just ask for your prayers tonight as you count sheep.  


It's Friday soon!!! We can make it people :)  

It's tough being the good luck charm

This weekend was full of hockey! First, Saturday afternoon I went to my brother's hockey game against Albert Lea. They were excepted to come out on top and they did.  Final score was 5 to 3.  Matt did great and almost had a goal.  Second, Saturday night Patrick and I surprised Matt after the game and informed him we were taking him to the St Cloud State vs. Mankato hockey game.  After fixing a few problems, the game was AWESOME!  I have pictures to prove it. The start of the game says it all though.  At the start of the whistle, St Cloud took the first two shots and made both of them. 2 to 0 isn't a bad way to start.

All set for the start in our St Cloud gear! Aww too cute!

Ticket 

BOOO!!! The opponents

Matt got a puck during warm ups!

The KVSC boys...doing what they do best!

Celebrating a goal (I think this was the second one)

Let's Go Huskies!!!

Final score and shots on goal.  Notice we have a little over half but still won the game!

So after all that fun, Matt had another hockey game tonight (Sunday night) against New Ulm.  They have been known to be very physical, and they were!! There were lots of scary hits, but I was so proud of our boys.  They were either tied or in the lead throughout the whole game! I guess when it was tied at the end of the second period the coach said to skate harder or he would have them do it later.  Hmm if that isn't motivation I don't know what it.  The boys ended up winning 4 to 3.  Now, if that isn't exciting enough, Matt got the play of the game!! I was so proud of him.  He skated his butt off to keep a guy from scoring.  So, like I said it's tough being the good luck charm, because now I have to be at every game!


Although this weekend was great and a lot of fun, I can't help but have a heavy heart.  We found out at church today about a 12 year old boy from our church that got in ATV accident yesterday and went on life support.  The family found out that Hunter wasn't going to be able to pull through. There is another family that I had been following from some friends who's baby boy, Jude, just recently died after 67 days. As I have all this fun with my family, celebrate my brother's dreams coming true, and plan for the wedding of my dreams, there are children going to be with their Father in Heaven what we believe is far too soon (even though we trust it is God's plan) and families whose hearts must ache more than I could ever imagine.  Please keep these families in your prayers.  I don't know what God's plan for me is, but these stories remind me to take every day as a sweet treasure.


Have a treasure filled week!! <3 Me

257

It's November now, so I figured it was only fair for me to give you a new number...257! I know I can hardly believe it myself.  May I remind you I started at 499. We are really close to half of that number.  It sure doesn't feel like that could be the case!  All will be ready in time though thanks to my wonderful fiancee that gave us the long engagement I was hoping for (and KVSC for planning trivia when they did ;)


So this weekend was the start of hockey once again for Matthew! I love watching him play.  I can still remember was he was just a tiny little guy learning how to skate and watching games where it would take half the period for the kids to get to the other end of the rink.  It's so much fun to watch the boys check the other team and skate across the ice now in a matter of seconds.  The game on Saturday was a tough loss simply because of our own team's goalie.  Sunday I couldn't go to the game, but they only lost by a tiny bit.  From the first two games of an entire season to come, I can already tell it will be a great season for the boys.  Can't wait for the next two games this coming weekend!!!


They only thing I can't stand more than the sound of children trying to erase something with no eraser left....eye rolling.  You know how your parents tell you, "Some day you're going to have a kid just like you!"  Well unfortunately I have one before I have even had a kid!!! I must have been really bad to have one before I even have kids!  The girl is in after school....and boy is she talented!!  Every thing I say I get an eye roll.  I tell her to stop with the eye rolls and she does it again.  Teachers set goals all the time.  My newest one.  To get the eye rolling to stop, while still letting her know what a treasure she is.


While I'm trying to have patience with students such as that one, my heart is aching with new discoveries all the time.  Newest heartache follows.  We were talking during reading about bedtime routines (we're reading a book about bedtime). We asked the students what their bedtime routines were.  When students were talking about getting their bed ready with all their specials treasures or blankets, one students answered with this, "I get my palette ready."  While I think about finishing this post, talking to my man, and then climb into my warm covers and soft bed, I have a sweet boy from my class preparing his hard wood palette to sleep on and simply being thankful he has a bed to call his own.  Part of me has to push this to the back of my mind so I don't try to take him home with me, because sadly I know he's not the only one.  I can't say his name, for obvious reasons, but I ask that tonight or whenever you read this you pray for this little boy and all the others just like him.  And, I ask you thank God for the nice cozy bed you will get to crawl into.  Teachers are told not to become too attached...how do we not?  I can't go to school without my heart, it's impossible.


Sorry to end on a such a sad note, but this is life and I think it's good for us to get hit with reality every now and again.  As for my friends who read this that aren't in the inner city, this heartache is what I experience every day! But, one has to find joy and thankfulness for these sweet children ever entering the world!!


First observation tomorrow!!! I'm sure you'll hear about it soon!

Success!

This week I started student teaching full time throughout the week, instead of the Monday Thursday gig.  It was only a four day week for the kids because it is the end of the quarter, so the week with the kiddos ended today. I ended up thinking the week went pretty good. There are always some fun stories though...Today was "Thursday fun" because we didn't have Friday. We had a few students that had to sit out because of many poor choices throughout the week.  One of these boys in particular has a very large problem of keeping his body under control.  As he was sitting out watching his peers play, he began to cry sob and get very very angry.  My CT and I were talking to him, trying to help him understand that he feels angry now but that is how we feel when he doesn't listen to us teach.  In the midst of this heated discussion, he tells me, "I don't want to be in this class anymore.  I want to get a new teacher and new class."  My CT went on to dare him to find a new class where he would be given time to play after acting the way he did all week.  All of this was quite the scene let me tell you.  But, he did finish out the rest of the day well.  Was there a breakthrough? Well I guess I'll have to tell you Monday. I kinda doubt it, but I'm keeping an open mind and holding out hope.


The more time I spend with each of these children, the more I learn about them.  Is this a good thing? Not always! But sometimes it makes the job a whole bunch of fun.  We have everything in our class from the EXTREME pouter/crier to the EXTREMELY remorseful child.   Each personality is BIG and UNIQUE. The thing I love though, is that not matter what happened the day before, no matter how much trouble the child got in, each day is a new day.  Each day they walk in the door and tell me they missed me, even though is was only half a day, and express their happiness to be back. They are always excited to inform me of everything that happened in those few moments I wasn't with them. Only my CT and I know what those anxious little victims are in for that day.  The start of each day is for sure my favorite. (Wouldn't you think it would be the end?)


Tomorrow is my payment for every time I bragged to my teachers that I got the day off and they didn't.   Now, I am that teacher (granted my CT informed me we will be leaving at noon at the latest!).  I will go into school at 8am and prepare everything to teach my little bunch of personalities while they sleep in.  I will use all the  ideas that God smashed into my brain to make me a better teacher...and then get a few more ideas God put in my CT's brain.  


Why I love teaching....you NEVER EVER EVER know what will happen in the next 2 minutes (good or bad).  Thank you God for blessing me with this INCREDIBLE gift that I get to do for the rest of my life!

Weekend full of fun

Wow...what a full weekend it was!!! 
Friday I spent the morning working with mom. Then, I ran around like a crazy woman picking up a bunch of wedding stuff.  It was all little purchases but I still somehow found myself traveling all across Rochester.  In the evening, Patrick and I were on Matthew duty so mom and dad could have a date night.  Since the last time Matthew was alone he cut his hair, we figured he probably should be alone.  So, Patrick and I took over the kitchen and made the crazies, most sugar filled cookies I have ever made or heard of.  Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Below are some pics of our fun.

Before the cooking began

Amanda hard at work

Covering the oreos with the cookie dough

First bites!!!!

This is what the inside looks like

 On Saturday, Patrick and I went to a few flower places.  After a horrible experience at Hy-Vee, we ended up going with Flower by Jerry.  I am really excited about what we have picked out and I think everything will turn out great!! We also made what will be used for our card box...shhh don't tell how awesome it is if you already know!!!!


The other crazy thing that happened Saturday was a stray kitten showed up at our house.  Matthew gave it enough love for 10 kittens and so now it doesn't want to leave.  I think mom may end up taking it to a shelter tomorrow.  Something needs to be done soon though or else I think my dad will take care of the kitten not showing up anymore.  He doesn't so much like cats.


I hope you all have a great week!!!!