Fourth Grade and McDonald's

It is the third day of school and I'm already much happier. I see the kindergarten teachers just doing the pre-test and not really "working" yet and I would never, never trade back!!! I did remember that there are somethings about fourth graders that bug me, but I'll have to get over that when I remember that Kindergarteners need help blowing their noses, tying there shoes, and not making it to the bathroom. I am a little exhausted. Teaching all day takes it's toll right at first. Hello 10 o'clock bedtime. Overall though Fourth Grade is like McDonald's "I'm Lovin' It".

My Alter Ego

As the summer is coming to an end my alter ego starts to appear. That would be Miss Arnold. I am sitting in my very cluttered new classroom. I am both excited and not excited to return to school. I love teaching and I am very excited to get back to "normal" in the fourth grade, however I have really enjoyed my freedom this summer and I'm not sure I'm ready to give that up just yet. I love being able to get up at 10:00 if I feel like it or taking a nap during the middle of the day or working on a project all day long. Here are a few things that I have done this summer:




1. I finished hand quilting and binding a quilt. This takes a lot longer than expected.

2. I made myself a shirt out of the cutest $2 a yard fabric from the Wal-Mart.

3. I visited Matt and Cody and their families in Wyoming.

4. Went to Cheyenne Fronteir Days and watched Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts.

5. Saw High School Musical on stage at the Capital Theater.

6. Went to Hogle Zoo for the first time.

7. Camped with friends.

8. Canned some of Mom's green beans.

9. Cleaned under the fridge and stove. GROSS!!!

10. Spent many hours hanging out with Claire and Isabel.

11. Read books that have been on my shelf for months.

12. Learned how to machine quilt.

Now that I have regular access to a computer you'll probably hear from me more though so that's a good thing about school.

SUMMER

It's been a long time since I've actually sat down at a computer. Here is a quick update on what's been happening in my life.





I have been making a quilt. This is taking up a ton of my time since I am hand quilting it. It's hard to tell but I'm putting a cute little flower in each plain white square and then I'm quilting around the color blocks.





I visited my brothers in Wyoming here are a few picts:

Feeding time at Matt's.

Swimming at Cody's.

I brought Cody's girls back with me so I've been spending lots of time with them. I've got to go and help the girls scrapbook now.

End of the Year

End of the year madness has commenced. I have been at the school the last couple of weeks until the wee hours of the night trying to get everything ready for the kids to complete there Kindergarten year. This includes cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, working on porfolios, sorting through some stuff, and hauling stuff down to my new room. You would be very impressed with how much stuff a kindergartener can carry. Free labor! My afternoon class hauled my huge green carpet "the grass" down and my big book shelf. You should see these kids, muscles galore.

Today we had our A is for America program and I started crying while the kids were singing The Star Spangled Banner. I HATE the end of the year. Even this year when I'm so excited to be moving to Fourth Grade. These kids are mine now and I don't know if I trust their parents to take care of them. ;)

I am so fortunate to be able to be a part of these children's lives. I am truly grateful.

Land

Monday night Jade, Shannon and Jesse, and I met with Dusty to put earnest money down on 3 lots. We will be living next door to each other Jade and Claire, Me, and Shannon and Jesse. I get to be in the middle so the little kiddos don't have to go far to be grounded to Aunt Emmy's house when the moms are frustrated. I'm excited I just wish we were already started. I also have a builder biding my house plans right now so I can turn it into the mortgage company. YEAH!!!

House

I have been living in Vernal for eight years. Of these years I have spent 5 of them renting from someone else because I haven't felt like I could afford a house. That seems more true now than ever. If you live here you know that you can purchase a lovely 2 bedroom 1970's house that is in desperate need of all kinds of repairs for $190,000. The dream of owning one of these lovely homes can never be part of my reality because I wouldn't have a nickel left to fix the house after purchasing it. Well, in the Nickel Ads a few weeks ago was an ad for lots that are only $25K. This is so cheap. We went and checked them out. They are up in Painted Hills, dun dun dun, however the seller said that the big problem up there is that people didn't put in engineered foundations. If they would have their houses wouldn't have moved. So I started looking up house plans and found this really cute, little house plan:

My brother, Cody, said that I could easily build it for under my budget. Yippee!!! So, Erika, my sister, is drawing up official house plans. With a few "minor" changes and we are working on some bids and hopefully I will get to stop throwing my money away. Someday I may even have a house that looks kind of like this:

I am so excited at the possibility.

Colorguard

During high school I was on the colorguard. I loved twirling flags. At times I get a little nostalgic and think about how much fun it was learning the routines and practicing for hours in front of the window so I could see how I was doing. I miss it a ton. A couple of years ago I purchased myself 2 flags. One is sparkly and the other is a practice flag that makes an awesome noise when you whip it around. Anyway, people notice these flags at my house and my mom's house and they love to play with one. One person in particular really got into this: Ashley, my niece. She would tell to pretend that I was watching a parade and would all of a sudden see her. She cracks me up. Here are some pictures of Ashley in the colorguard.
I wish the high school would start a colorgaurd. I would love to help with it.