Another week

I think this week was longer than last week! We had open house on Tuesday which meant a late night. Today was early release, but it didn't make the week feel shorter. We stayed after the kids left for a meeting, then we had a chance to work on our Halloween costumes. When I got home, I found Muñeca in the bathroom surrounded by toilet paper. She seemed very proud of herself for tearing up a whole roll of toilet paper. 

I guess it's time to switch to the cheap toilet paper!! 

At least toilet paper is cleaner than the diarrhea she had yesterday. Poor baby!! It smelled gnarly. I told Manny that I should've left it so he could smell it. He said he'd been to Afghanistan where you don't know what's poop and what's dirt. He also said that men fertilize their own fields. Haha ok done with the gross part... I had to wash Muñeca's froggy blanket. She came outside with me when I moved it into the dryer. She was looking into the dryer at her blanket like "Hey Froggy, what are you doing in here?" Haha it was cute! She was excited when it was done drying. She kept sniffing it and sniffing it. I guess because it didn't smell like pee or poop anymore. She'll probably christen it soon enough. Haha

While this week has been long and stressful, it's been a good week for samples. 

This cute little cookbook :-)

Muñeca peed on our bedspread so I put it into a laundry basket so I can wash it. She tried to convince Manny that she was going to sleep in the laundry basket and not in her box. One morning, I caught her sleeping in it. Manny gets up at 5, let's Muñeca out, and then let's her roam the house. So she does what she wants which usually means she gets into trouble. 

Nothing too crazy happened this week at work. Some teachers from another school came to visit our school. I got to see an old friend from Girl Scouts :-) that was fun! Mostly, my week was just tiring. As usual. Haha How many more weeks until Thanksgiving?? I am ready for a break. At least I'll get some rest this weekend. 

Now to get over this cold and just watch some tv... Have a wonderful weekend!

Exhaustion

I don't even know where to begin. This week has been very eventful and I know next week will be even crazier. I'm not sure I'm ready for what's about to come my way. I'm going to try not to let the stress overcome me. I just have to breathe!!! 

Work this week has been super busy and this coming week is going to be even busier... Is it thanksgiving yet??

Yesterday we practiced our lock down drill. One of my kids told me today that when she went home she asked her mom if they could practice hiding just in case a burglar comes. My student and her mom hid in their bathroom. My student told her mom "You might hear the door knob jiggle but it's ok. It's just the police making sure the door is locked." When she told me this I laughed inside because that's what I told them, but I also thought it was cool how supportive this mom was. She made the lock down important, but also not something to be afraid of. 

I never posted about my birthday... On Saturday morning, Manny made me chorizo and eggs. After he cooked, he had me open my presents. There were about a dozen gifts on the table. The first one I opened was an actual gift for me. The next one was something we already had around the house. So this is what I heard "Yay you got a butterfly knife." "Yay you got some toilet paper! I'll wipe my butt on that." "Yay you got some mouthwash." Hahaha what a cheater head! I think only four gifts were actually new things. Haha we went out to dinner with my sister, brother-in-law, nephew, and mother-in-law. Plus! My other sister had my niece on my birthday. So boo that my parents weren't able to be here with me, but yay for her! I had a wonderful birthday :-) 

I just ate that whole cake!! 

One of my kids apparently kept talking to his mom about my birthday. His mom emailed me on Monday to ask when my birthday was. When he came back to school on Tuesday, he brought me a cake. He wanted to bake me one, but his mom said their kitchen was just remodeled and they couldn't find cake pans. Oh well... It was still a cute cake with bonus spongebob stickers on top!!

When Manny got home from work, I showed him the cake. I guess he was super jealous because he dropped my cake!!!

Just kidding! The kid just wasn't on all the way, so when he went to get it out of the fridge, it fell. I had to hold the dog back while he cleaned up chocolate frosting. I'm not going to have another chocolate fiasco. 

And most importantly, I will now post pictures of the awesome samples I got this week :-)

Muñeca liked this dog food!!!

Manny took this almost as soon as I got it. He had bad everything so he's always in pain :-/

And another sample for Manny. I like my sugar with a hint of coffee!

I hope everyone had a blessed week. I'm trying to work blogging into my schedule so I can post funny things my kids say. I'll work on it. One step at a time! Have a relaxing weekend. I have to go finish baking bread. 

Change

I have been slacking on this whole blogging thing, but work has been keeping me busy! Everyday after work, all I want to do is sleep. I was talking to one our wonderful fifth grade teachers. One year she taught Kindergarten. She said that every night she would go home and take a bubble bath. It is definitely exhausting! I have been told that upper elementary is easier. I feel like all grades have their pros and cons. I plan on sticking with Kinder for as long as possible.

Once a month, our counselor takes one class at a time to do a thirty minute lesson with them. After she took my class she said "You have a great class! You must've been praying for your class all summer." I told her that absolutely I was! After the beginning of last year being such a wreck, I definitely didn't want a repeat. This year has been SO much better than last year. I have an amazingly helpful set of parents! The parents are responsible for bringing class snack for two days every two months or so. My counter looks like this...

These parents have gone above and beyond what they were asked to do. I am excited to see how the rest of this year goes. It's been an amazing beginning! 

The other day I woke up to find that Muñeca had got her bed out of her cage. She's been working on that for a while. She seemed pretty proud of herself.

Tonight Manny and I were watching this strange movie called "Redemption." I was quite confused most of the movie. In one scene the main character was beating up this guy and stuff marshmallows in his mouth. Well apparently they were marshmallows... It was a bunch of little bags of crack. Never would've known. I relate the things I see, to the things I know. I know marshmallows, not crack. Haha

When we watch movies, I bring Muñeca's frog blanket out, otherwise she will try and get on the couch. She was watching the movie with us and I realized how long she is getting :-( 

I told her she can't get bigger. She can get rid of her baby teeth though, for sure!

Now for the exciting stuff!!! Yesterday I got a sample...

My sister got the same sample too. I think that's the first time we have both gotten the same sample. Usually we get totally different things somehow.

Today I got some more freebies from Highlight's magazines. I got two containers that have chalkboards on the front...

I also got some tabs and sticky notes.

It's been a pretty exciting day!! I am ready for bed now. Haha I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. I know I will :-)

8 days...

8 days without Internet... Manny went to the AT&T store today. The other day I jokingly said that he should ask for a discount because we haven't had Internet for over a week. So today when he went, he asked for a discount. They gave us 25% off. Sweet!!! I still dislike AT&T, but at least they tried to make things somewhat right. Now we just need them to come and fix our Internet. 

On Sunday Manny wanted to take a 30 minute nap. He said he woke me up after 30 minutes, but I didn't wake up. I ended up sleeping an hour and a half. Oops! Two days off of work is not enough time to recover from five days of work. Every weekend needs to be a three day weekend. 

I got a new student yesterday. I'm waiting for him to start talking. I guess that's good that he is quiet, but I sometimes need him to talk. Haha

I got a free sample in the mail. Yay! It is two pastels:

 

Yesterday I had a freebie website open on my phone. I left my phone on the bed. Manny saw the site and he laughed at me for always getting free stuff. I reminded him of the coffee samples I got for him. He seems to forget that he uses my samples too. Haha 

Tomorrow at work some teachers from another school are coming to observe. We shall see how that goes... Also, there will be a principal meeting at our school, so the principals will probably be wandering into our rooms. Fun fun!

I hope everyone has a wonderful evening!

Busy busy!!!

Last night Manny worked a 24 hour shift at a fire station. They had 12 calls. He was telling me all about them while he drove me to work. He went to my parent's house after dropping me off. He said he wanted to just stay there and sleep. Poor guy only got 45ish minutes of sleep. At least he has a few days to recover before his next 24 hour shift. 

Manny didn't get much sleep today either because he has to take Muñeca for her 8 week shots. The Vet noted that she is skinny! She recommended a whole bunch of fancy dog foods to fatten her up. I told Manny that in a year or so she will be noting on Muñeca's chart that she is too fat. Hahaha!! She eats when she wants so I am not worried about her. I really rather not have a fat wiener dog. The vet also cleaned Muñeca's ears and Manny said they were really dirty. He was embarrassed. I told him there was no way all the earwax was from her time with us. We have only had her for three weeks. The vet gave us some ear cleaner. This vet is fancy. Man!! Haha

Yesterday one of my kids went home crying. He doesn't know much English. Poor baby. Apparently he was upset because he bought a lunch but his mom had packed him one. Today when his mom picked him up, he was jumping up and down. It was cute! He really enjoyed math time :-) and he ate the lunch his mom packed him. Seeing his excitement is what makes me want to teach.

Tomorrow I am getting a new student. At least it's not like last year where I got a new student 10 days before summer. In Kindergarten, you are constantly teaching and reteaching, so it shouldn't be hard to bring her up to speed. Should be fun! Hoping our numbers stay low though. I like having 18. 

On a side note, I am not the only one to set off the smoke detectors in this building. Manny and I were sitting in the livingroom and we heard this loud beeping sound. We were just continuing doing what we were doing, then we looked at each other. Right when I said "I think it's a smoke detector. I wonder where it's coming from," the smoke alarm stopped. I am not embarrassed anymore for setting off the smoke detector. I have been pretty proactive when I am cooking. No new smoke detector stories. I hope it stays that way for a while *knock on wood*. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful evening and a blessed Wednesday :-) I am going to try to go to bed again early. I went to bed at 8:30 last night. It was so nice except that Muñeca knew it wasn't bed time because Manny wasn't home. She stayed up playing and barking. She better sleep tonight!! Haha 

Firsts

Whew!! I am alive! Today was the first day of school. I don't think this year will be too bad. I have a few chatty ones, but I can deal with that. I pray it's only talking, no misbehaviors.

It was fun getting to see my old students. I definitely miss them though. I had them trained well. Now I have to break in a whole new group... 176 more school days! Haha

What's crazy is that by the time I got home from work at 5:30, I had been awake for over 12 hours. I am definitely feeling that.

There's nothing like coming home to a puppy happy to see you :-) I missed her while I was at school. I wish I could bring her with me. I know the kids wouldn't mind. Haha

Yesterday I decided to make soft pretzels. They were sooooo good!!

 The top two are cinnamon sugar and the other two are plain.

The two on the right are parmesan and the two on the left are salted.

Manny had a shift yesterday at a hospital. It was his first clinical as an EMT. He was in the ER. He had a lot of fun. He has two 24 hour shifts this week. Boo!! At least he is having fun.

Ok well this grandma needs to go to bed! I can't keep my eyes open any longer.

Stop and rest

Sorry I disappeared for a while, but as many of you know, it's back to school time *insert tears here.*

Thursday we had meetings at school. Our principal allowed us a few hours in the morning to work in our rooms. I started writing the kids' names on everything. So many things to write their names on!!! Class lists we posted Thursday afternoon. I left school not too long after 4pm because I had a massive headache. The dust and mold in the building bothers me a lot. Hopefully it gets better and not everyday ends with a headache.

We had "Meet the Teacher" and "Parent Orientation" Friday evening. I got the chance to meet all of my kids. Manny took their pictures so I could put their pictures on their book boxes. I will be doing that sometime this week. *Fingers crossed*

Here is my room all ready for Meet the Teacher! I will have to take a close up of their tables. Each student has a cup with their crayons, pencil, scissors, and glue stick in it.

For "Meet the Teacher," I put an "All about me" paper on their tables so they could read about me :-) I also put a paper of how to sign up for remind 101 which is a way to text your parents without them getting your phone number. It's pretty cool. I hope to get a good response about it from the parents. Lastly, I put a poem on their tables. Our awesome Kinder Team Lead found this cute poem to read the night before school starts. We put a little bag of confetti in with the poem because in the poem it says to sprinkle some under their pillow for a great year :-)

Friday night, Manny and I watched the movie "Olympus has Fallen." I fell asleep at the end so I didn't know what happened. I told Manny I wanted to finish it before he took it back to Redbox. He told me I should've stayed awake. Haha how rude! He let me finish it though. Movies like that are so funny! One guy saving everyone. Macgyver! It was a pretty good movie though.

Today has been emotionally draining! I have done so much crying it's not even funny. First Manny had to tell me that something was wrong with Muñeca while I was at a wedding shower. My sister offered to take me home, but I stuck it out and stayed. Later today some more drama happened. I am just worn out. Manny and I went grocery shopping around 4 and my eyes were just killing me. I just wanted to sleep. I am not sure what all of this means or why this is happening to me, but I am still moving on. I saw this on Facebook and it just got me thinking...

"Don't worry about people TALKING about you. If no one is TALKING about you, then you're not doing ANYTHING. And the only REASON they're not talking about you then, is because they don't know you EXIST. Let the dogs BARK, but the caravan keeps MOVING."

Well this caravan is still moving! Haha!

To end on a lighter note, I changed the sheets the other day. Manny decided that he wants to sleep under the mattress pad because it is cooler. Bahahahaha!!

The bed is a little lumpy :-)

I hope everyone had a restful Saturday. Enjoy your Sunday and go to church! Haha :-)

Warning!!

Today all teachers had to go to a Professional Development (fancy word for training) at various schools throughout the district. I went to one about using a prompting guide when I am with my reading groups. Well the presenter did not talk about the book. Ugh. So I still have no idea how this book is supposed to be used. Lame! Oh well...

I got home at 4:30 and let the dog out. We lock her in the bathroom while we are at work. She had peed in two spots and pooped on her pee pad. When I was trying to flush her poop, she decided to walk through it. I had to give the dog a bath, then I was able to clean up the bathroom. Fun fun! Today we bought 101 training pads for her. It has 101 because of the 101 Dalmatians. I wonder how many pee pads they needed!?!

Not long after I finished cleaning up, Manny called saying he was headed home from work. Usually he doesn't call until 5 and he gets home by 6. So poop! I was going to make bread for dinner, but his coming home early didn't leave me enough time. When he got home, I told him the bread would be late. He said it would be dessert. Haha I made french bread!! I was testing out my yeast because I thought maybe it was dead, but nope, it is good. Yay!!!

When I was packing Manny's lunch, I put some chips in a bag. I had tried a whole chip the other day and my mouth was on fire. This time one little tiny crumb fell on the counter so I ate it. I thought a crumb wouldn't be very spicy. I was wrong. Believe the bag!!!

Like the bag says... It was "freakin' hot" and that caution tape is for real! 

I got up at 5 again today to go run. Woohoo! Only 180 more days of that. I think I can... I know my oldest sister has already placed her bets on when I will stop getting up at 5 to run. We shall see :-P Go ahead and make your bets. You won't hurt my feelings.

I hope everyone has a blessed hump day :-)

Back to business

Yesterday I had my first experience with getting ink out of clothes. Yay! Manny accidentally left two pens in his uniform shirts. Luckily the pens didn't explode, but his shirts were covered in little pen marks. I ran to Kroger to get some pen remover while Manny washed his shirts the old fashion way by stepping on them in the bathtub. Haha! I got home and he pulled the shirts out of the tub. A lot of the pen mark was gone, but I put some stain remover on the stops that were still there. He chose the best shirt and I ironed it so he could wear it today. He took his other three shirts to show the Chief and he will be able to get new shirts Friday. I had warned Manny that I don't check pockets. Now he knows that I really don't. Maybe I should. Especially since sometimes I end up with toys in my pockets at work. 

Today was my first day back at work. Man, if only the kids knew how much work we do. People probably think teaching is such a skate job. Work 7:45-3:45 and get off all summer. Psh! If people only knew... If the people who create the laws for schools only knew. Ha! I usually work 50-60 hours a week. Trust me, I have worked my summer! 

So far this year is going well. I don't feel as overwhelmed as I did this time last year. I hope this continues. I would love to have a nice calm year! Every teacher's dream :-) Last year wasn't too bad after the first nine weeks. The very first week is so critical! It sets the tone for the rest of the year. Last year, the first nine weeks were spent trying to get my kids to listen. This year, I hope I can accomplish that in half the time. That's my goal! My room is ready and I think I'm ready. Bring on the kids! 

I hope I don't seem like I don't like my job. I love teaching kids!!! It is definitely a passion of mine. The only thing I dislike is getting up early. I am not a morning person at all. This year I decided I am going to work out before school so I got up at 5am this morning. When I got to the gym, Nick@Nite was on TV. Seriously!?! Even the TV knows that 5am is not morning! We shall see how long this getting up at 5 thing lasts. The only thing that helps is that Manny gets up at 5 to go to work too. As I leave for the gym, he leaves for work. He runs on very little sleep. Man I need my 10 hours or I get grumpy. Haha

As everyone gets back into their routines and gets ready to send little ones off to school, I pray that your nights are full of rest and your mornings are full of peace :-) Have a blessed evening. Enjoy your family time!

Trips

This morning I was leaving my apartment and the handicap parking spot lady was getting in her car. I was afraid she was going to come over and talk to me about taking her spot. Haha

I drove my parents to the airport. Lucky them! They are going on an Alaskan Cruise to celebrate their 30th anniversary. Our wedding got in the way of them celebrating on their actual anniversary. I wish I was going with them. How fun!!

Driving home from the airport, I knew that I would eventually get home because 610 is a loop, but I may just go in a longer circle. I made it home without going in a huge circle. Yay! I have always stunk at driving on freeways. I am directionally challenged I guess.

When I got home, I gave Muñeca a yogurt container. She was having a blast!!

This is Muñeca carrying the yogurt cup around :-)

After she was done with the yogurt container, I gave her a rawhide bone. It's almost as long as she is! Haha 

Well tomorrow I am going up to my classroom. I am hoping to be able to finish my room. I am so close to being done. Oh man! I hope this is a good school year. I pray that everyone has a wonderful school year :-)

Work

This morning after I went to the gym, I saw THE cutest thing. I saw a little orange kitten...

I guess I was a creeper for taking this picture but it was too cute to pass up. 

I took a trip to school today. I started getting quesy on the drive there. I am so not ready to go back. 

Here are the before pictures of my classroom...

There was no AC so I only lasted about an hour today. I had trouble locating my stapler so I had to borrow one from the office. I was able to put the fabric and boarder on my bulletin boards. One less thing to do even though it wasn't much.

 I have two of these little bulletin boards...

On the way home I stopped at Kroger. I had a massive headache from having no AC at school, so I needed food. I bought a pint of blueberries!! They were 99 cents. I started eating them on the drive home. I guess when I made a turn I squeezed my legs together because they shot up and made a mess! I had blueberries surrounding my feet!

Poor blueberries! I even sat on one. So sad :-/ I rescued the ones I could and washed them off. Can't waste food! Haha

Alright well time to get dinner ready...

Change

Today I went shopping to buy a birthday present for my mom and oldest sister. My oldest sister told me not to buy her anything because then she'd feel bad about not paying me to babysit. I told her that one day she will babysit my kids for free so she shouldn't feel bad. She said "True, but still..." I couldn't not get her something for her birthday!!!

I went shopping at Walmart and they are having some pretty amazing back to school sales:
Crayola Crayons 24 ct for 50 cents
Spiral Notebooks for 17 cents
Filler Paper 150 sheets for 88 cents
Plastic Prong Folders for 50 cents
Paper folders for 25 cents
Glue sticks for 25 cents
The list goes on...

I bought a few notebooks, but I will probably need to go buy a few of everything on the Kinder school supply list since there are always a few kids who don't bring school supplies.

After dinner, we watched G.I. Joe Retaliation. Manny got it all ready and I walked over to the couch to find this...

A tupperware full of ice cream with two spoons and a box of cookies. I laughed!! 

The ice cream is in a tupperware because the tub it was in broke. We didn't realize it was broken which is probably why it was on sale for 99 cents. Psh! A half gallon of butterfinger ice cream for 99 cents!?! Who can say no to that??

G.I. Joe Retaliation was a pretty good movie. *Spoiler Alert* Channing Tatum gets killed off right near the beginning. What I find humorous is that his character's name is Duke which is his character's name in the movie She's the Man. 

After the movie, we went to Lowe's because Manny needed a bolt to fix the strut on his truck. I was also looking for something for my next project :-) (Lowe's didn't have what I needed, but Home Depot did. Luckily both places give military discount. I take Manny with me places just to use his discount. HAHA! Totally kidding.) 

Ok so I saw this picture and I asked Manny what was wrong with it. He couldn't figure it out...

Which side of the gate is the mom on?? Manny said that is the norm nowadays. Parents don't watch their kids. How sad! This company that makes the gates is encouraging locking your child in a room so the parent can do whatever. Manny said "Those used to be for dogs, now they're for children." Hahahaha!

Alright well insight for the night from Exodus 17... The Israelites were fighting the Amalekites and as long as Moses held his hands up in the air, the Israelites would start winning, but when his arms and staff went down, the Israelites would start losing. This shows that as long as we keep praying, God's power will keep working and flowing through us. But when we stop praying, that's when things get bad because God's power has stopped flowing through us. We've stopped letting Him work through us. People, that is when it gets dangerous and scary. Don't stop praying!!! Let God use you! He wants to :-)