Halloween

I love Halloween!! It has always been one of my favorite days. I love the season and it is absolutely beautiful here! The trees have all changed colors and the mountains are alive with rich reds, oranges, yellows, and browns! It is amazing how beautiful autumn is. Anyway, back to Halloween. The boys decided to go as football players this year. This really didn't surprise me as they are constantly outside with the neighborhood kids playing football. Anyway, Jacob went as Vince Young, and Nathan went as Terry Bradshaw. We didn't have any problem getting them out of bed that morning, since they got to dress up for the whole day!Sorry, the picture is a little dark, but there will be more later. I have had so much fun with halloween this year--especially since I can dress up at school. Two years ago, I went as Maleficent. Last year I was Cruella De Ville, and this year was my absolute favorite! I got to be the Evil Queen from Snow White (notice the Disney villain theme--I tell my students that my true self comes out on Halloween). I was surprised that this one was my favorite, because Maleficent is my favorite Disney villain, but this costume was amazing! I got to stand at the door to my classroom and glare at students as they walked by. It was great fun--I actually told a student that I don't talk to peasants! The class loved it! So, here it is, the greatest costume I own!

I had to wear monster boots so that the dress didn't drag the ground, but it really added to the effect. I also wore huge jeweled rings on my fingers and painted my fingernails blood red. The only thing I was missing was the apple! One of the other English teachers ended up dressing up as Snow White--they made us get a picture taken for the yearbook.It's a little dorky, but it was a lot of fun. We had a Trunk or Treat on Monday night, and the boys had a great time running around the church parking log a dozen times. I didn't have time to dress up because I got home late from visiting teaching, and I actually had a couple of people disappointed! They had heard that I go all out for Halloween, and wanted to see what I did. So, of course, we took the boys around the neighborhood with me in my costume. It was a big hit!
The other tradition we have is decorating Halloween cookies. I can't remember a Halloween (or Christmas for that matter) as a child when we didn't decorate cookies. It was always pumpkin cookies that we'd decorate with M&M's and candy corn. So, the tradition continues!

I made cookies and frosting, Robert and I frosted, and the boys decorated. . .and snuck candy (notice the shape of Jacob's lips? He popped one in right before my finger hit the button). Nathan did the same thing. . . In the end, we had four dozen cookies--half of which were covered in candy, a few that had creative faces, and a couple that remained candy free (those are my favorite--even though I'm not supposed to have them--I just can't resist! It's Halloween, after all). We went to bed around ten (that's really late for us!!)--the boys on a sugar high. The next day at school was crazy!! Too many kids going nuts on sugar and wanting to share their adventures from the night before! Anyway, it was a great day this year, and a grand time was had by all!

We're Still Here

So, as I am new to this whole blog thing, I keep forgetting that things that are commonplace to me might be news to others. Therefore, I haven't been updating this thing as much as I should be. Things are pretty normal around here. We just finished our Fall Break, and first term ends next Friday. I can't believe that a quarter of the school year has already gone by. I don't really know how I missed it! I'm having great fun in the classroom this year and am loving the new opportunities that keep coming my way. My school put projectors and sound systems in all our rooms over the summer, and I absolutely love it! It is so easy to use PowerPoint presentations and music every day in class. My students hate me because I make them listen to 'elevator music.' It's just instrumental jazz, but they've complained from day one! Then, on Tuesday I didn't have a chance to get it in before class started, and then they commented on how they missed it!

Nathan has become a popular little guy in school. He is attending his second birthday party of the year tomorrow evening. He was really nervous last time because he's so used to attending things with Jacob, but he did it and had a blast! He is so excited to get to go places without Jake.

Jacob is reading a lot of late. He just asked me to come help him find a good book to read last night. That is a huge relief to me! He has loved sports and music for so long (which is great, don't get me wrong. . . I am a fanatic myself, after all), but I've had the hardest time getting him interested in books--which is another one of my favorite things! Anyway, hopefully he continues with this interest. We try really hard to help our boys be well rounded. We want them to have as many opportunities as possible.

Which reminds me, we're taking group guitar lessons! My friend, Valarie, is teaching Jacob, Nathan, and me to play the guitar. We haven't gotten very far yet, but we're trying!

Anyway, this is full of words, and my main purpose for this one was to give everyone some pictures to look at. Now, I don't have a bunch of recent photos, but these are some that are great! Here are my boys! This was taken this summer in SanFrancisco. We were going on a boat tour under The Golden Gate Bridge, and around Alcatraz.

We had a blast, although it got pretty cold. This was taken before we left the pier. And these were taken on the way to the bridge. I didn't want to sit on the edge, which ended up being great for me. Robert and Nathan wanted to sit where they could see better and ended up getting soaked. Luckily for me, I was blocked by the cabin.

It's funny, because when we left the pier the sky was a beautiful clear blue, but when we got further out, the fog thickened! Once we started heading back toward Alcatraz, though, it was quite a nice ride.

This is one of the better pictures of the bridge. It was hard to get a good one because it was so foggy! Every morning that we were there, the fog would be this thick all around, but would burn off for the most part by the afternoon. Unfortunately, Golden Gate was covered in fog the whole time.

We had a great time while we were there. We were able to see the Giants and the A's play. The Giants' game was great. It was a beautiful day and the game was really good, although the Giants lost in the end. The A's game was freezing! Who would've thought we'd need winter coats in July! We were wrapped in blankets and our jackets. I don't think I've ever been that cold in California.

The view at AT&T Stadium was amazing. I think as far as stadiums go, it is one of my favorites. I loved being able to see the Bay Bridge and the ocean right outsid of the stadium. In my opinion, baseball stadiums are one of the greatest sights, and the ocean is another.

So, to put them both together put me rather close to heaven! It also had a great quote from a wonderful movie, so that gives it another plus!

Anyway, this is getting rather long, so I'm going to quit for now. I'll try to get it updated a little more often in the future.

Here's What's Happening

Ok, so I started a blog for my classes at school and have been keeping up on it pretty well, so now I think I might be able to do this for the fam. For those of you that haven't blogged, it's really easy--you should try it.

Things are really busy here. Robert started his sales position at RC Willey in August and he seems to enjoy it better than the office job. He has to dress up really nice every day and we went and got him some suits--he doesn't like wearing them so much, but he looks really good!! From what I gather he enjoys it and is doing well for a new salesman. He also started back to school at the first of September, attending Western Governor's University which is the only accredited online school. One of these days we're going to be a two teacher family--he's studying social sciences. I am looking forward to having summers and holidays together.

Jacob and Nathan are very active little creatures! They are always wanting to play football in the field with their friends. Nathan actually sprained his foot the other day when playing with Jaxon and Jacob along with a few other friends. We are very happy that there were no broken bones--I've had enough of those for awhile. Jacob has been working on a map of the United States--we glued it to a big poster board like a puzzle. It looks really cool. He knows his capitals pretty well. I was impressed. I do have to say, they crack me up! We were driving home from the store one night during a thunderstorm. The lightning was going like crazy and Nathan said that he could see the lighten, but he couldn't hear the ning. I thought that was about the cutest thing ever!! They fight like crazy, but they still want to hang out with eachother and, now that they have their own rooms, like to have sleepovers in each other's rooms better than the separation. It's their Friday night celebration--to be able to sleep in the same room again. Who would've thought?

I'm rather busy. I started my Master's program at Grand Canyon University and have one class under my belt so far. I'm in my third week of my second class. I was really afraid that it would be a lot harder than the first but, so far, I'm holding my own. School is definitely in full swing (in fact, I am in a lull in parent/teacher conferences right now!). I'm teaching four ninth grade English classes and two creative writing classes--it's really fun. Second term I'll get a 'make-up' English class which is a second chance for students that failed first term. So, in the mean time I am helping to mentor the first year teachers. I get to go in and observe and give feedback along with helping with other questions and procedures, etc. This is really a different side for me. I enjoy being able to help and watch them teach their classes, but I was really worried at first because I'm not that far into my teaching career myself! I see major differences, though, and am so glad that I'm not a first year teacher anymore!! The first year is so hard and stressful! There is no way that I could juggle everything I'm doing now as a first year teacher. I'm also a full time mentor for one of the new 9th grade teachers, am on the Language Arts steering committe for the district, and am helping to pilot some new district program for at risk students since I'm doing the 'make up' class. Anyway--There's a lot about me here, which I didn't mean to do, but I'm the one writing it and know my own thoughts and feelings better than the rest of my family.

So anyway, that's probably enough for now. I'm sure that there is more to say, especially about the boys! But I've been doing this off and on for the last four hours or so in between conferences, and I'm not sure I can remember what else I was going to say. Have a good one!!