Spring Break

During Spring Break I went to Rexburg to see Brooke and her new baby. Except I totally forgot to take a picture... smart, I know. But he can do the best frown I have EVER seen haha. I should have taken a picture, it was amazing how far he could curve his mouth downward. I also saw my old roommates, Lindsey and Catherine, along with my friends Megan and Kristen. This was on Thursday.

I got an email on Monday from my friend Jayanne, from Hawaii. She was my best friend from Kindergarten to 5th grade. We were in the same class 5 of those 6 years. She goes to a university in California and is a member of their choir. They go on tour every year, last year to New York, this year to Idaho?! Haha, it's true; they also hit Oregon and Reno, NV. They went to Meridian, Nampa, Idaho Falls, and Hazelton. Hazelton, Idaho is about 30 minutes from my house with a population of 700 people. Their choir sang at a little church Wednesday night and I got to go! It was fun to see her, I haven't seen her in 11 years! Her younger sister Jayna was there too. They have great voices and were part of a duet and a quartet. It was funny though because there were more people on the stage than there were in the audience :) I guess that's what happens when you go to tiny towns and tiny churches. I'm still not sure how they ended up there. It was quite the change, not having to stand on my tiptoes for a picture though-

Coming back to school was hard. I have decided I HATE getting up with an alarm clock in the morning. Jack was crazy on the days Paul didn't take him to work. He needs someone to play with him and wear him out or he's psycho by the time I get home.
Parent teacher conferences are today and tomorrow. However, the students are in charge. It's called student-led. They have a checklist of things they're supposed to show their parents, including their grades. My job is just to be there, really. If they want to talk to me in detail, they have to set up another time. It'll be nice that way.

St. Patty's Day

Today Jack and I went to Main Street with Amanda and her girls to watch the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Jack was very content to lie on the blanket; such a good puppy. Anyway, these are some pictures. I was shocked to see the stripper pole float..
Just what my dad always wanted.

Yes. She's upside down on a pole. The funniest part was as Alexa watched this she was amazed. She said that not even her mom could do that! And the only person in her family who could do that was Chloe, who's 2. HAHA

On the back of the float was a sign for "Muscle by Miss Fit pole dance classes."

Alexa loves puppy Jack.

Chloe likes him until he bites her skirt.

I caught him "playing" with Shadow. Notice at the end he just plops over.

Spring has Sprung

It was such a nice day yesterday. Puppy Jack and I went to the park with Amanda and Melissa and their kids. Dalton (Melissa's son) loves Puppy Jack. It's cute :) He'll be rowdy and crazy but as soon as someone picks him up, he stops. He's a good little puppy. After that we went to PetSmart to get him a leash and a brush. His fur is so thick, things get stuck in it- dirt, leaves, etc. He was so tired from the park that he fell asleep in the cart.
Later last night, when Paul got home, we went into our backyard and started picking rocks. The first of several times, apparently, before he can put in a sprinkler system and grass. Puppy Jack tried to play with my cat but she wasn't having that. He'd run up to her then drop down to pounce on her and she'd just walk away. He'd follow. Repeat. It was pretty funny! I make Paul put him in the shed he sleeps in cuz it's sad how much he whines haha. Poor neighbors! We can't really hear him over our fan, plus we're on the opposite side of the house. I should probably make them cookies and apologize..
Paul took Puppy Jack to work today. He said he whines because he doesn't pet him. He doesn't do that with me! But Paul told me it's since I'm always petting him... My guess is Paul put him on the floor in his car and he's still too tiny to get up and he didn't like that.
Today's a beautiful day too. It feels like spring! It might feel this way more often but I'm usually inside so I wouldn't know. Weather like this makes me want to go shopping and swimming and be outside. I know shopping isn't an outside activity but I prefer to do it when it's warm for some reason.

Agent Jack Bauer

We got a puppy Saturday! He's darling. Half-lab, half- husky. Well that's what the owner said but we saw the dad and I think he's a malamute. Either way he'll grow up to be a large ball of fur :) I asked Paul what we should name him and this first thing he said was Jack Bauer (from the show 24) and it stuck. I like to give pets, pet names, not human names. But it was too late! He's now Jack.
He sleeps in one of the sheds outside. Somehow, though, this morning he was on the front steps scratching at the door! Paul forgot to latch the shed when we went to bed last night. Wonder how long he was out...?
We took him to Paul's parents house yesterday and the nieces and nephews loved him and he loved them. They wore him out! He plops down anywhere and passes out. If you try to wake him, he'll get up and plop right back down. He's eight weeks old, so I guess he's quite a baby still.
He's cute :) It's nice to have a pet that Paul likes, unlike my cats..

Really?

My students say crazy things. Everyday there's something where I want to look at them and ask, "Really?!" Like today, I'm grading a math test and the question is: What unit would you use to measure a football field? We had literally JUST talked about it before the test. The little girl's answer: length. REALLY?! haha sometimes I just don't know what to do with them.
5th grade is the lovely grade where we learn about the human body and reproduction. I almost don't plan lessons in science because they have so many questions, pertaining to this particular subject. Today we were discussing birth and the umbilical cord, placenta, etc. They kept asking me questions about dogs! I don't know why the dog eats the placenta. I don't know how many umbilical cords a dog has for a litter of 12 puppies. I don't know why your dog is white if its parents are black. REALLY?!
We were using the dictionary, looking up vocab. words and we were in the V's when one little boy says, "Whats Vagg-uh-sil?" (hard g, not j). I honestly didn't know. Then I realized what he meant. REALLY?!
Our word of the week is Pacifist. They have to use it in a sentence. One little boy said, "Hitler was a pacifist." REALLY?! Haha where did he get that one?!
Oh dear... :-) I think this will turn into a log book of my crazies. Well not my crazies, but my crazy's crazies.
Anyway, we're trying to sell our car so if you know anyone who's interested let me know! Paul told me he went to Costco yesterday and bought food storage. So I asked what he bought and he said apples, and grapes, and apricots, etc. I looked at him like he's crazy because the 2 of us can't eat Costco sized packages of fruit! He had a smirk on his face so I knew he was "kidding." Really he bought more trees. We're the proud owners of 10 fruit trees that will one day, in 3 years, produce edible fruit!