Michigan

Last Tuesday night the Fourth grade team headed out for a PLC Conference in Michigan. I was excited because I've never been to Michigan before. Tuesday night we drove to Salt Lake and stayed the night there because our plane was leaving at 7:00 A.M. from Salt Lake. We spent the majority of that day either in an airport or on a plane. When we finally arrived in Detriot we rented a car and left with instructions on how to find our hotel "the big brown building we couldn't miss". Oh yeah we missed it and in the process of finding it we got honked at twice, I believe. That night we ate at a really nice Italian place that we paid out the butt for. The next day after class we decided to go for a little drive to find a place called Belle Island. This drive took us through downtown Detroit.


When we finally got to Belle Island and parked you could see Canada.
In this beautiful park there was lovely wildlife. Mary made a comment about a squirel and I said where and when I looked this is what I saw:For those of you unaware of what is strange about this picture let me ask you a question. What color are the squirels that you've seen? Me? Only tan and grey. This one is black. They all are black. CRAZY!!! Also in this park is this beautiful waterfall.
The Fourth grade team: (Me, Mary, Judy, Dorraine)
Mary insisted that Judy and I hug this tree for a picture stating that we would just love it, it was going to be our favorite picture from the trip. She was a riot!!
The highlight of my trip was that I was looking through a Detroit events magazine and I saw that Celine Dion was going to be in concert on Friday night. I asked the other ladies if they wanted to go and I called and to my delight there were still tickets on the very back row. So three of us went to Auburn Hills to the Celine Dion concert and she was AMAZING!!!

BOWLING!!!

I am bowling on a league again this year, the only difference is that this year it is a women's league not a men's. My team is made up of a few ladies from work. And we are so good. Not really. Our name is "The Pin-up Girls" because, well we leave a lot of pins up. Last night we bowled against Megan's team and we kicked their trash. Thank goodness for handicaps!!!! We so did not kick their trash. We did beat them because we suck and our handicaps are so high. It was so much fun playing with them, until Meg almost flipped out cause they were losing. :) I may be stretching the truth just a little about the fipping out part, but I did tell her I was going to blog about last night cause she hates to lose. Love ya Megan!!

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!!!