Resurrection

No, I'm not dead. Still surviving and the prognosis for making it to the end of this school year looks promising. I only have 3 more real days of school left, then Friday is our field day and I say adios to my little munchkins and breathe a sigh of relief. Who knows how "real" those other 3 days will be. our schedule next week is packed full of assemblies, faculty vs. staff kickball game, and yes, a party in room 106! Join us if you like!

School has been just crazy and I think I'm looking forward to the end more than anybody else in the school. I am so ready to be done. Everyone pray that this next week will FLY!

Nothing much else is happening. Kory and I have started making weekly goals. Some weeks we have been better than other weeks at fulfilling our goals, but it helps us keep things in perspective. The last few weeks have been so busy we have just kept our same goals. We write them on an index card and stick them on the bathroom mirror. I must say this time around Kory and I have both been better at completing our physical goals than our educational/school goals. Getting grad school stuff going has been like pulling teeth and I think it will still continue that way for Kory. My excuse for not studying every day for the PRAXIS is quite lame and somewhat valid. I need professional development books to study so that when I do the practice exams I'm not just pulling random ideas from my head. Finding those books has been harder than anticipated. Hmmm.....I take the test in 3 weeks. We'll see what happens.

Fun story

This new background is a lot of orange. Not sure if I like it but we'll give it a shot.

Spring once again has teased us here in Utah. The whole week it was absolutely GORGEOUS weather--like mid to high 70's and even up to 80 degrees on a couple of days. Today, it's raining a whole heck of a lot and Kory said it was snowing a little bit. UGH! I am so sick of this.

A while ago, my mom showed me how to make baby blankets from two pieces of fabric and some thread. I've been addicted ever since, though the blankets, if you look really close, are not perfect by any means. But, I thought I would show off a little of my so-called "talent" (hah!) and post picture of my two favorite projects, which both happened to be constructed in the last 2-3 weeks.
Without further ado:


This pink flowery one I made for a dear friend from my last single's ward before I got married. If you look how at the picture of it folded, you can see that it's slightly uneven. I tried my darndest to make it straight. Just didn't happen!

The one with the lions I just finished on Thursday night for a baby shower at school on Friday. One of the third grade teachers and her husband have been trying to have a baby for 10+ years. She couldn't get pregnant, and I guess the adoption process wasn't working out either. About a month ago, she sent us an email saying she was getting a baby and that the adoption was pretty much guaranteed. We were soooooo thrilled for her; in fact, I get goose bumps and chills just typing this story. I'm sure the whole school prayed and prayed that the adoption would be finalized when the birth mom had the baby. At that time, we didn't know the sex of the baby because he wouldn't cooperate during the ultrasound! Little twerp! Anyway, at the beginning of this month, Laurie was in the workroom and as I put pieces together from different conversations that were going on between her and other people, I realized that she was getting her baby about 3 weeks sooner than expected. The birth mom had called her I believe the night before and told her that the doctor was inducing her in the morning because her blood pressure was so high. So, frantic Laurie was trying to finalize last minute substitute plans and pull herself together so she and her husband could go to Idaho and meet their first son. We were all ecstatic for Laurie and couldn't wait to see the little guy. Finally, we got info and pictures. Laurie was a mommy to baby Jonathan-5lbs. even and 18 inches, I think. He is so precious and I knew I had to make him something special. So, I did! Laurie says he is so good-natured. I got to hold him yesterday, then I had to give him back so everyone else could pass him around. He is just a teeny little thing, but growing, so that's good. The lion blanket is super special.

There is a good amount of snow on the ground this morning, but it is NOT snowing. There are scattered clouds and the sun keeps trying to peek out of the clouds. I'm hoping my lunch date with Rachael is still going to work out.

I stole this quote from a very good friens/former mission companion and thought I would put it on my blog as well. It's funny, but eerily true at the same time and could therefore cause depression in some people. Proceed to read with caution.

***NOTICE***

Due to the rising costs of electricity, gas and oil, as well as current economic conditions, the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off.

I need to be rescued! It's a freaking snow storm outside and according to weather reports, its not supposed to let up until Friday. Yeah, today is Wednesday, the first day of my Spring Break. Boooooooooo!

Hmmm.....what else is there to say? Uh, nothing! Oh, but my students are getting so much better at behaving themselves and actually following directions. I am so very proud of them. Maybe the last 6 weeks of school will actually go by quickly. We can only hope, right?

Well, for some free entertainment, here is a video of Jase singing the BYU fight song. We were at a volleyball game in the ghetto Smith Fieldhouse. He just kind of started catching on and started clapping along with us so I had to get video of it. He doesn't sing, but it's still REALLY cute! Enjoy!

37 days of school left, and counting. The thing that makes me most crazy...we're still getting SNOW! For crying out loud, can it quit already? Oh wait, this is Utah. It could snow in June, because it has before! *sigh* Things at school are starting to feel like they're winding down. Talk of testing, testing, testing seems to be the main topic of conversation in meetings and casual passing. It almost makes me want to test all of my kids right now. They are SO smart and I'm anxious to see their test results.

Kory and I are officially scheduled for Hilo, Hawaii in July. As an early birthday present, Dad cashed in many of his miles for Kory and I to go to a family reunion on Lynne's side that just happens to be in Hawaii every 3 years. Each day, I am so thankful that I married into this in-law family of mine. Hawaii visits and potentially gorgeous kids--yeah, I'm pretty spoiled.

No other excitement going on around here. BYE!

We are readers!

Every January at my school we start this program called Jazz reading. We set a goal for how many minutes we want our whole school to read in one month, then we get going. K-2 has a goal of 180 minutes per week, and 3-6 I believe is 360 minutes per week. Our school goal was slight over 550,000 minutes read in one month. We reached our goal, plus some. I believe our final count was over 781,000 minutes! SWEET! We are such great readers. The top 12 schools participating in this program with the most minutes get to have a Utah Jazz basketball player come and visit. Even though we were way over our goal, we came in 10th place!!! Crazy. So, we got rookie Kosta Koufos-a Greek American. He's 7 ft. tall and told us that the next tallest person in his family is 5'10". WOW!! Anyway, here are some pictures and video from our fun day with Kosta.
Kosta making his entrance! You have to touch the Kindergartener's hands! Isn't that the rule?


One of my students, Hannah, reading with Kosta. She is a great reader and has actually done a commercial with another Jazz player, Carlos Boozer.

Another student of mine, Kayden. Also a great reader; hasn't done a commercial. :)


Kosta reading to us.



Then, all of the grade levels got their picture taken with the big guy! What a great day! After, we went back to our classrooms and each student and teacher got their own PINT of ice cream to eat. Yeah, let's just say my kids enjoyed that. Wouldn't you?

Oh, and the only married first grade teachers (Amy and I) found a cute Kyle Korver (another Jazz player whom everyone says looks like Ashton Kutcher) in the office and decided to flirt a bit!

not too exciting

Yes, I know blogging without pictures is lame and boring, but our internet at home doesn't work so I can't put the pictures on yet. Ironically, the district just cleared blogspot.com to go through the district filters so I am taking advantage, though I wish I had facebook.

Just want everyone to know I'm still alive, just suffering from temporary internet outage at home. See ya!