'Twas the Night Before School Started

'Twas the night before school started and all through the house 

sat a fourth grade teacher struggling to come up with something witty to rhyme with house.  

She's sharpened pencils with care 

and prayed that lice does not get in her hair.  

The copies are made and name tags in place 

for tomorrow the kids will be in her face.  

She knows she will not sleep well so Starbucks is a must, for tomorrow begins the learning and trust.

Tomorrow starts another school year!  I currently have 20 fourth grade students enrolled in my class and I am excited to be their teacher.  Last year was my first year teaching 9 and 10 year olds and I love them!  I went from liking teaching to loving it!  Getting ready for the first day of school has had its challenges and some of them are still ongoing!  However, summer is gone and a new school year is here and I am ready to welcome it (I think).

A Picture Tour of My Classroom:

 From the back 

Do you see the smartboard?  That's one of those ongoing challenges.

 View from the front

 The daily clip system.  Will it stay on green?

 The paper stack, read aloud book and lesson plans ready to go!

My desk

Introducing...

Harper Grace

8lbs 2oz and adorable!

Harper has made her family wait for her arrival and has toyed with her mama for the past four days.  Kayla had been having labor pains all weekend and finally today was the day.  Kayla and Sean headed over to the hospital around 4am this morning and by 12:03pm we had this precious little girl.

Kayla invited me to be in the delivery room months ago and I felt a little wary about the whole thing.  After watching a video, I was even more wary!  However, after getting to be there and watch this precious gift make her entrance, I wouldn't have missed it for anything!  Now, that's not saying I wasn't a little grossed out at the same time.

 

Holding Harper for the first time

Grandma Watson stayed with Sawyer through the early morning hours and then brought him to the hospital.  Sawyer was not quite sure what to think of his new sister or of his mom sitting in the hospital bed.  He says hi to Harper but doesn't want to touch her.  Although, he was excited about showing her stuff from a cell phone!

Thank you Lord for this amazing, precious girl!

A Little House Dream

 
Last month when I was visiting California, Jennifer and I were in the Simi Valley area.  When Jennifer said Simi Valley, I immediately got excited.  For those of you who don't know and are obviously living under a rock, I LOVE Little House on the Prairie (LHOTP for short) and LHOTP was filmed in Simi Valley!  A few years ago, Simi Valley had a huge fire and destroyed the remaining set from the show.  However, I was content to stroll around what would have been the dirt streets of Walnut Grove and run down a hillside.

 This is exactly what I had in mind

We were able to find a map of the Big Sky Ranch area where it was filmed and started off to find it.  While driving I was becoming more excited by the minute and also more anxious.  It was getting dark and I was worried that my moment of fame and running down a hillside would be unable to be photographed.  We followed a twisting road only to meet a dead end with a locked gate.  I was so disappointed!  I was grateful that Jennifer was so willing to try and make this nerdy, little dream come true.

I have watched Little House for as long as I can remember and somewhere in junior high and high school the obsession took full force.  I recorded and collected episodes on VCR tapes until they started coming out with the seasons on DVDs!  I would buy the set the minute they were released!  I can name every episode and season it is in.  I only need to watch about 5-20 seconds of it.  You are probably wondering how I can put that skill to good use?  I'm thinking a Trivial Pursuit game of Little House and I would beat the pants off of all of you!  If anyone would play with me...

I have been excited to do a post on LHOTP for awhile and this was the perfect opportunity.  I would also like one of these some day:  A 1976 lunchbox with Thermos included!

California Dreamin' - Part 3

When I think of my trip to California, I would have to say that the first 3 or 4 days were super, crazy busy with lots of driving and lots sightseeing.  The second half of the trip was a much slower pace.  Tuesday was our last day with Amber and Andrew so we spent it walking around Venice Beach, enjoying the sun at a beach near their apartment and eating lunch at the amazing Mexican place LBJ's.  While staying with Amber and Andrew, Jennifer also had the alternator on her car replaced.  It was making an awful rattling sound.  I am glad we figured it out then rather than breaking down in the Middle of Nowhere, Nevada.

While driving around all of Southern California, I kept noticing these pretty purple flowers.

For the last 2 nights of our trip we stayed with Jennifer's dad.  While there, we visited Lake Arrowhead and Thousand Pines Camp.

 Nothing like seeing good Idaho friends in the middle of Cali!

Emily and Kerstyn are working and playing hard at Thousand Pines Camp.

 Beautiful Lake Arrowhead

Our last day was Thursday, and that was spent driving home to Idaho.  Have you ever noticed that the first day of driving is fun and exciting, and the last day is sooo long and you just want to get home?  Maybe it's because the McDonalds in Winnemucca is the best thing to look forward to.  Visiting California was a fun trip and I am glad Jennifer and I were able to do it together.

California Dreamin' - Part 2

I am back with Part 2 of my California road trip!  I should warn you that this post will have a lot of pictures, so feel free to skim and scan.  In my previous post I talked about how we spent the night in Fresno.  That was an experience.  We thought we would save money and go with a Motel 6.  I have learned a lesson that it is always worth the extra money for a nicer hotel.  From killing a bug when first walking in, to stained sheets, to yelling in the parking lot, I would have to say it was a magical experience staying in a Fresno Motel 6.

Jennifer removing the top layer of bedding

Let's move on to nicer things.  After leaving Fresno, we drove to Santa Clarita to do some outlet shopping and to go to Jennifer's church from college the next day.  Before arriving, we stopped in Ventura to check out the ocean and marina.

Pretty!  Too bad it smelled like seaweed.

Sunday was filled with church, Amber and Andrew, Rodeo Drive and Sprinkles cupcakes.  Sprinkles cupcakes are amazing!  They aren't cheap but oh so delicious.  I get a stomachache just thinking about them!  I purchased 3 to be eaten throughout the course of my trip.  I ordered a lemon-blueberry, dark chocolate, and a peanut butter chocolate.  They were all yummy and of course my favorite was peanut butter chocolate.

 It was so good!

Is it bad to have 3 pictures dedicated to cupcakes?

Monday was filled with a trip to Ikea, the search for a Hollywood sign picture, a Dodgers game complete with a Dodger Dog and fireworks!

 Found it!

 It was fun even though they lost (I hold no allegiance to any MLB team)

 Not ready for the picture

Now we are!

When the Dodgers game was over, they said we could go on the field to watch the fireworks.  Cool, right?  Not really.  After waiting in a crowd, it started moving towards the field.  As the speed picked up, I kept thinking, "This is how people get trampled to death."  It was crazy for a bit.  I was separated from everyone and just worked hard to keep my eyes on Jennifer who was ahead of me (good thing she is so tall).  The crowd stopped moving and told us the field was full and to turn around.  All that for nothing.  I was completely surrounded by Hispanics and all were a lot shorter than me.  The term "double-stuffed oreo" came to mind.  It still turned out to be a fun night that ended at the Chinese Theater.

Isn't that cool?  Harry Potter hand prints!

I have a picture of the three of us (Amber, Jenn and me) but you can see down our shirts (this is a G rated blog).  Maybe that's why the guy was so okay with taking the picture!

Need something to look forward to?  The third and final part will be posted soon!

California Dreamin' - Part 1

On July 1, my friend Jennifer and I set off at 5am for an 8 day road trip to California.  Our first day included the most driving and some had even called us crazy for doing it.  Why were we crazy?  Because we decided to drive to Yosemite, explore Yosemite and then drive to Fresno for the night.  It was about a 17 hour day but totally worth it.  We originally wanted to camp in Yosemite but apparently you have to make reservations a year in advance.  Who knew it was like planning a wedding?  Unless you are Oprah and Gayle, you have to plan early.

Yosemite is absolutely gorgeous!  From the granite, to the waterfalls, to being with other people who want to enjoy its beauty, it's just amazing.  My inner nerd was thinking about the recent Ken Burns documentary on the development of our nation's parks and imagining cars from the early 1900's lining the roads just like we had done.

Crossing the state line

There was still 6 feet of snow packed off the side of the road!

Ellery Lake

Isn't Yosemite beautiful?

The big lesson I learned was:

Remember that folks!

I could have put so many more pictures on this post but I didn't feel like going through them or making you scroll through them.  Jennifer and I worked hard to become Junior Rangers but it sort of fizzled out after driving the entire width of Yosemite.  We saw El Capitan and the Half Dome which are the "famous" mountains of Yosemite.  Want to see a map?  Click here.  I would love to go back and actually camp there.  Stay tuned for Part 2!

A Berry Cute Baby Shower

Over a month ago (yes, that is how far behind I am) I had the opportunity to help host a baby shower for my dear friend Jessica.  Jessica is having a precious girl this month and she will be named Everlee.  How adorable is that?!  When it comes to the shower, I would like to stress that I helped.  The creative genius behind the event was my friend Andrea.  Little did she know that not only was she putting together a beautiful shower but teaching this girl some crafty techniques.  Time for pictures!

The beautiful mama!

 Even the food was color coordinated!

Some of the decor:

The shower was filled with people from church who love Jessica and her new little one dearly.  That's what I call a success!  I even managed to be stay coherent since the previous day was the infamous trip to Lagoon!

I am so glad to have Jessica in my life and I can't wait to play auntie with Everlee!