Boys....

5th period! For most people, that would not make any sense, but to me it is the hardest part of my day. This class is full of 23 boys... NO girls! These are not just regular boys either. Boy o' Boy these are not regular boys!

Let me explain. This class is full of a group of young 8th grade boys who love attention. They will do anything to be the funniest person in the classroom. When it comes to work, they can not seem to do anything on their own. When it comes to anything we do, they want me standing next to their desk, ignoring everyone around and only focusing on helping them. They strive to be the one who spends the MOST time with me by their desk. These boys also struggle in the classroom in a variety of ways. I am constantly teaching the same material in 10 diffrent ways to diffrent boys. It is a challenge, but bring on the challenge, it only makes me a better teacher.

Girls and boys in a classroom setting are definitely a good mix. They seem to balance out each other fairly well. 8th grade boys together and no girls, lets just say can become a huge stress or tons of entertainment in the middle of the day.

Here are some examples of things that can happen in a classroom full of only 8th grade boys on a daily basis:

1. Relieving of gas from their bodies.... not on accident, but to see who can be the loudest and the smelliest.
2. Your mama jokes....
3. Voice changes and then lots of laughter...
4. LOTS of butts and boxers showing as they walk around the classroom. My favorite phrase, said about 100 times a day... " Pull up your pants, I am tired of seeing your butt!!"
5. Punching, hitting, GRABBING... all I am going to say! (I just do not get it!)
6. Pick up lines! For example: "Miss, does your body hurt?" ... "No, Why?" ... "Because you look like you just feel from heaven!"
7. Blunt comments.... "Please can I have your number!" ... "How much do you weight?" .... "How did you get pregnant Miss?" ....
8. Sports talk.
9. Talk about women..... who is hot, who is not... and my favorite, discussion on whether or not they are a butt or breasts man. Neat huh?
10. The desire for attention!!!

Those are just a few things I deal with on a regular basis. Obviously I try to keep many of the topics and content matter of their conversations to a minimal. But boys will be boys! I guess the Lord is just preparing me for my little boy coming. I grew up with girls so many of these things were foreign to me.

Although I do struggle with that class, they are the most entertaining, and I bring home the most exciting stories for Andrew to hear! They do make me smile regularly. I also love the ability to show them that someone cares. They seem to connect to me because I allow them to be themselves in my classroom... as long as they are appropriate.

All I can say is that by the time Wyatt arrives, I am going to know how to handle him at the age of 13 because I already have 23, 13 year old boys of my own. Good practice! ;)

Day Off...

Today is Labor Day and all I can say is that it is my Best Friend! ;) Hope everyone has a blessed day off!!!

Attractive? .... I think NOT!

I am not so cute anymore!!!!! But my sweet husband still says I am! ;) I guess that is all that matters right?! Sick.... really, just nasty!

So after a long day of school my body has started to do some things that, lets just say are not the most attractive. My feet have been swelling to enormous sizes. It varies by the day, but for the most part they are rolling over and out of any shoes that I try to wear. I know it is all part of being pregnant, but it is definitely one of the parts of being pregnant that I am not going to miss. I have always LOVED my feet. I personally think they look great in shoes!!! ;) I like my toes to be painted bright colors and to wear flip flops. It looks like no matter what color my toes are, it does not help... just draws more attention to my sausage-like toes! But see the pictures above and you will understand my devastation when trying to wear anything that showcases my fat feet!

Anyone have any suggestions on shoes to wear when your feet look like this?

First Day of School

Today was a great day! Everything went as I wanted it to. I was not nervous at all driving to school which is totally opposite of my feelings last year. It is amazing what a year of teaching can do for your nerves, organization, and comfort in the classroom. Teaching is ALL about experience! Really... nothing else will teach you more!

I have to say that I LOVE the people I work with. Last year I loved them... don't get me wrong. But already this year I feel so close to everyone. We all support each other and are so relaxed! The new teachers fit in great and I am excited they are apart of us! Yeah for Ashley and Emily!!! All I can say is that it is one of the best things in the world to have close friends right next door and downstairs. People that you not only can talk to about school, but joke around and vent about life. I am definitely a lucky gal! Love the LAD!

My schedule is the only part of the year that is going to take some getting used to. Our conference period is 2nd... so we go ALL day without a break! It is not an easy thing, and here are some of the down sides:

1. 6th period was the BEST time to eat POPCORN!!!!!! 2nd is just not as fun!
2. Meeting with the LAD in the afternoon was great, I had SO much to tell them by the end of the day! 2nd... not much has happened!
3. I will probably eat 2 lunches.... One during 2nd and then lunch! Not good for big fatty here! ;)
4. Kids 5 periods in a row without a break!
5. MY FEET ARE HUGE at the end of the day! ;

I will get used to everything! It will be a great year! I will post pictures of my classroom this week! Ash... I think you should post pictures of your Daisy room too.... it is soo cute!

Sad Day!

My summer is officially over! Where did it go?! I start back to school on Tuesday and it is not something I am over- joyed about. Maybe once I fall into a routine I will train my brain not to be so sad that summer is gone. Am I the only one sulking that summer is gone?! ;( If I am... I need to get over it! ha....

Maybe since I am awaiting the arrival of my first baby, things will go by a lot faster! ;) Enjoy the last few days of summer people!

Belly Shot and a few other things!

So here I am in the picture above in all my pregnant glory! I look really tired in this picture because I spent 3 hours at the doctor today and a nurse drew blood from my arm 5 different times. Let me just tell you... this was not a fun thing! I am not sure if it is normal, because I am not a nurse, but for the lady to stick the needle in my arm in the exact same place she stuck it every time before!? If anyone knows the answer to this question, that would be great!

Anyways... I promised more belly shots of little Wyatt growing inside and here it is. My baby counter is actually off a week according to what my doctor said on Monday. I am actually 26 weeks and 5 days pregnant. Weird how that works... I think it changes every time I go into the doctor.

Below is a picture of Cal. He is like our baby now and is wanting lots of love lately. I think he will be great when Wyatt gets here.... after he gets over the jealousy. But we sure do love this pup. If you look real close you can see he is getting old. Grey is starting to form around his mouth! He normally does not let me take pictures of him, he is a little camera shy, but this time he gave a little smile!

In the last post I told you about going to Canton. Landon got a fun hat so I thought I would show everyone how cute my nephew is! He did not want us to take this thing off. He is one funny guy!

I will keep everyone posted on my growing belly. More shots to come in the next month as it starts to get even bigger. One more thing... you can say a little silly prayer for me.... that my belly button will not pop out! Ha... I am not looking forward to that, it is soo close! ;)

You know you are from Texas when...

This weekend was so much fun! Andrew and I went to the lake to spend time with my family! It is always fun when we all get together! But last night as I lay in bed at the lake house I realized that our family had a little redneck in us! Today all the boys; Andrew, Chad, Jere and my Dad woke up and went to get their handgun license. Crazy huh? I mean in what other state do you even have the desire to go shoot a gun... and have fun doing it! It was definitely a boy day!

On the other hand, what the girls did today was not any less Texan... or redneck! ;) We woke up early this morning and went to Canton! We absolutely love going to Canton. Shopping through other people's old junk and buying doo-dads and gadgets we do not really need! I think we all three, that is me and my sisters, always spend too much money when we go.

The redneck part came into play today because I am not sure anywhere else in our nation would two pregnant ladies have a desire to go shopping outside in 105 degree weather and still enjoy it! All of us were pretty sweaty, but the nasty sweat was worth it. I got Baby Wyatt a camo one-sie. In blue across the chest it says, "My Daddy ROCKS!" Andrew was pretty pumped about. We both can not wait to hold him and dress him up in all these sweet clothes I can not keep from buying!

I was able to find a sweet little lady named Laura Parrish to make my baby bedding for me. She is located in one of the ARBORS and she creates beautiful custom baby bedding. She will even create your whole room for you if you like. She has a large selection of fabric. Take a look at her website... www.rockinghorsebedding.com I will post pictures when the room is complete.

Jill also found some really cute signs for Ellie Jane's room. It was so fun being able to shop for our babies together. The Lord has blessed us with being pregnant together and we are loving every minute of it! Wyatt and Ellie are going to be the best of friends!

My sweet nephew Landon went with us too. He was such a big boy and loved every minute of being outside, even though he was sweating bullets all day!

All in all it was a great weekend with family. A BIG country weekend! I guess I can not complain, I sure do love being a Texan, even if it makes me a little redneck! ;)