Simple Joys

Last weekend I finally got to experience the joy of using my fireplace!!! It was so peaceful and relaxing to feel the warmth and hear the crackle of the burning wood. I had wonderful friends come experience the joy of making homemade pizza and roasting marshmallows for s'mores over the fire. What a great night! And I was quite impressed by all the pizza creations :)

Yumm!!!!!

All of our delicious creations!

I also had some memorable times in the classroom this week:

- Wednesday we started learning about the solar system. We were reading Magic School Bus and we were reading about the moon. One students asked me who was the first person to land on the moon to which I quickly answered, "Lance Armstrong". As soon as it left my mouth I realized something was off. My students of course had no idea what a big mistake I had just made, but they got a good kick out of me laughing so hard at myself. I quickly corrected myself, but they're probably more likely to now remember Lance instead of Neil.

- We were finishing up editing a sentence and were ready to write the corrected version. I said, "Alright, we're ready to go." To which a student replies very seriously "Where are we going?" Again, so literal!

- And finally, for some reason this week they have decided to give me a really hard time for always saying y'all. I really don't know what to do about it. I'm from Texas and we say y'all. What else are you suppose to say?!?!

Spice it up!

I just wrapped up what felt like the shortest week, which was pretty nice! We had Monday off and then I went to a conference today, so I only taught 3 days this week. In those short 3 days I had probably one of the funniest incidences so far:

We were writing paragraphs, and I often refer to their paragraphs like sandwiches or hamburgers. If they don't have the buns (topic and conclusion sentences) then the whole thing is going to fall apart. They have the meat, but no buns. So one student (we'll call him Tony) comes up to me so proud that he has finally remembered to include both buns. He excitedly announces to me that his hamburger has it's buns and it's going to stay together!!! I celebrate with him and tell him how proud I am. Then I give it a look and tell him that our next goal is to add a little more to it because he just had the big ideas and no details. I decide it will be a good idea to continue with hamburger idea, and I tell him that we need to spice it up a little bit. We need to add some lettuce and tomatoes. All along he's just looking at me very seriously and nodding along. He goes back to his seat and I'm not noticing what he's doing because I'm working with someone else, but I can tell that he's working on his writing. He comes over a few minutes later and, no joke, he has drawn lettuce and tomatoes in between the lines of his paragraph!!! I had to do everything I could to not just bust out laughing because he seriously thought that's what he was suppose to do. I forget that they don't quite get figurative language yet. He must have thought I was the craziest teacher asking him to add lettuce and tomatoes. You've gotta love kids!

I don't think I can top that story at this point. But in other exciting news outside of teaching... I got to take a wonderful weekend get away trip to Austin last weekend! It was so great to get away and spend time with family and friends. I had to continue the tradition of the Austin Marathon and Half Marathon. The weekend consists of a fun trip to the expo, a delicious pasta dinner with the Powers, and then a thrilling race with Nikki :) I loved it and already can't wait for the next one!

My biggest fans!

The real reason I run: the snacks & t-shirt ;)