School's Out for the Summer!

I'm shedding tears as we speak because I don't get to teach all those lovely children on Monday (yeah right). I love teaching, but this has been a VERY challenging year. All of the special area teachers who get my class for an hour a day ask me all the time, "How do you deal with these kids all day? They would drive me crazy." We'll just say some days it was a short drive.
Even though it's been tough, I really do love those kids and will miss them. They made a TON of progress this year. That's one thing I love about first grade is that you can see the kids get better at reading, for example, everyday. They grow a lot as students. They come to you as nonreaders and leave you reading chapter books. I am also very proud to say that 90% of my kids are on grade level in reading. That's even with over half of my class being so low that they received reading intervention. So the intervention must have worked. :)
The last month of school is a little crazy and hectic with testing, field trips, and all the other activities. So here are a few little funnies we had over the last month.
We went to the Salato Wildlife Center in Frankfort. While we were eating our lunch on the grass, geese were wandering around us. One of the geese pooped (birds don't really have poop, my bird professor referred to it as dejecta. But I don't know if you can say the goose dejectaed. Anywho...), and all the kids went crazy. One of my girls who just cracks me up all the time said, "It's no big deal guys. Every animal poops!" Such wisdom.
There is a little boy in my class that comes in telling me some story everyday. He is so talkative and so funny. He has bright red hair. Well one day he came in telling me how his baby sister had really curly hair, it wouldn't go straight even when it is wet. I asked him if was red like his. "No. Her hair is blond. I guess she'll have to dye it so we can match." Good plan. He also told me one day, "I know the person who is going to be the next President."
"Really? Who?"
"I'm pretty sure my nana is going to be it."
Last one. Thanks to those who actually read this. It was really for me to be able to reflect, but it's nice to share with those who might get a little laugh out of my first graders. For Mother's Day we wrote acrostic poems (the ones where you write Mother going down the page and come up with a word that starts with each of the letters in mother). For "T" one of the boys wrote, "Ticks- she checks me for ticks." I about died laughing. It was great. For "Y" in Mother's Day, a girl wrote, "Yields when she is supposed to." I loved it!

Baby Connections

This last week, Noel and I both have been a little under the weather. We had colds that would just not go away (come to find out, we both had sinus infections). I took off last Monday but went to work the other days. My students were cracking me up because they kept saying, "Mrs. Dickens are you alright? Because you sound really funny." The funniest comment was during a reading group. I was having a particularly hard time talking because my nose was so stuffy. One of my little sweetheart students said, "Mrs. Dickens, is your baby making you talk that way?" When I explained that it was just because I had a cold, he said, "Oh. I thought it was the baby." I thought it was so cute. I also thought that it was pretty good for him to be processing and trying to make those connections. Good problem solving!

New Callings

Since we have been in this ward, Noel and I have been Primary workers. Noel taught the Valiant 11 class, and I taught the Valiant 9 class. Our Primary is HUGE (about 70 kids that come regularly), and we really enjoyed it because you never knew what was going to happen in Primary. One of our favorite experiences was a little sunbeam was saying the prayer in closing exercises, and she was very grateful. But she would not let her mom help her. "Thank you for Sadie's daddy. Thank you for all of the candy that I got for Halloween. Thank you for my birthday. Thank you for my pink tutu." And it went on. Let's just say that this prayer rivaled General Conference prayers in length. It was awesome! I laughed a good while after that prayer.
Anyway...about a month or two ago, Noel got a new calling. He is now the ward clerk. He is enjoying it. He likes having keys to the different rooms in the building. It makes him feel special.:) I think he misses the fun of Primary, though. And I got a new calling on Sunday. I get to stay in Primary, just now I'm the first counselor in the primary presidency. I'm really excited about it. The other ladies in the presidency are great! It will be a challenge with that many children in the ward, but I'm really looking forward to it. It should be tons of fun!

Ultrasound

Well...the much anticipated ultrasound was on Thursday. We are pleased to announce that we are having a BOY! We both thought the baby was a boy. The ultrasound was great! It was so cool to see our baby. It was so fun to see his little feet, arms, legs, and face. We even got to see him yawn. Aaaahhh. The lady doing the ultrasound (I don't know if she was the nurse practitioner or an ultrasound tech or what) said, "I hope you all have good tennis shoes because this one is a mover!" Now we affectionately refer to him as Turbo. According to the measurements, he is 1 pound, 1 ounce.

Little feet

The yawn

My 21 week stomach

Spring Break- Wahoo!!!

Thank goodness for spring break. I was getting worried about my mental health (first graders were making me go insane), and then the blessed day of March 29th came. The first Saturday of spring break, sigh of relief. :) I had a wonderful break. Mom and Dad came out to visit, and we had a great time together.
Mom and Dad arrived on Tuesday, so on Wednesday we went to Fort Boonesboro. It was a really nice day--sunny and pretty warm. The fort was really cool. Bowling on the Wii. We even talked Mom into playing. If I was a betting woman, I would put my money on Dad getting himself a Wii around Christmas time- "for the kids and grandkids," of course.
What form! It's quite funny to watch Noel play games on the Wii. You should see him play "Guitar Hero."For the record, I beat Noel!

For the next two days we got quite a bit of rain, so we had to do indoor things. We went shopping and to the Mary Todd Lincoln house. On Saturday, it stopped raining. We went to Perryville to the Civil War Battle site there. Carrie, I thought of you every soggy step of the way! I know you would have loved it.

I had a lovely time. I really liked being able to sleep in. It has made it a little difficult to get up this week, but it was still nice. Now we can start the countdown to school getting out!

Toast!!!

At least once or twice a week in high school, I would have hot chocolate and toast for breakfast. I loved it! Well...this morning that's what I really wanted for breakfast. When I came over to the table with this plate of toast, Noel busted up. I guess he wasn't expecting me to eat that many pieces of toast. :)

(Noel): What she doesn't realize is that I still am busting up over her 90 pieces of toast. Sign me up for that type of breakfast every morning.

New Hair

I was in desperate need of a hair cut, so I went to my across the street neighbor's salon. She has cut my hair previously and did a nice job. She did a nice job this time, but she cut more off than I had intended. It's still looks pretty cute, and hair grows (this much I know). Please note that I took this picture after I got home from work...so that should explain my state of dishevelment.


I should have taken a picture right after she did my hair because she styled it a little crazy. As you all know, I am not a primper. So my hair is never puffy. Well, the way she styled it could only be called "Kentucky Big Hair." My neighbor has some pretty big hair, that's the way she likes it I guess. But it was quite funny...Noel just kept saying, "Wow. You're hair is really big. Do you want to go wash it?"

Tagged

Angela tagged me, so I guess that makes me it.

10 years ago:
I was 14 years old and in eighth grade at Burley Jr. High. I was doing Odyssey of the Mind with six other girls, and we were on our way to Florida for world competition. I played the trombone in band (yeah...I was really cool) and played basketball and volleyball. My best friend was Cassandra Jones, and I probably had a crush on some boy because that's what 14 year old girls do. Sounds about right.

5 things on my to do list:
Go get some bigger clothes
Dust and vacuum
Grade homework packets (let's be honest though...it's not likely to happen)
Go to that garage sale I saw a sign for
Get a birthday present for a friend

5 snacks I enjoy
ICE CREAM
chips and salsa
Robin egg whoppers
cheese (I've been obsessed with it recently)
Reese's peanut butter cups

What would I do I were suddenly made a billionaire?
Definitely not go back to work, donate money to dig wells in African villages, buy land for Zamani (the school I volunteered at in South Africa) and build a new school, go on all sorts of trips, invest.

5 places I have lived
Rupert, Idaho
Burley, Idaho
Provo, Utah
Orem, Utah
Lexington, Kentucky

5 jobs I have had
Lifeguard/swimming teacher at the Burley pool
TA for Physical Science 110A
4th grade teacher
1st grade teacher
Okay that's only 4, but I'm a loser and haven't done anything else.

3 things you probably don't know about me
I absolutely LOVE game shows. The game show network is my favorite TV channel (when we used to get it--bunny ears are not quite powerful enough)
I have very vivid dreams and sometimes I have a hard time determining if the episodes in my dreams were reality or not.
I was a ten pound baby, so I'm a little scared about the size of my baby.
(Sorry family, you probably know all of that stuff)

I tag:
Melea, Nichole, Marissa, and Noel

Pregnancy Update

I went to another doctors appointment on Wednesday. Noel had a midterm that ended early, so he got to come with me. Everything is going great. I gained another 4 1/2 pounds, so I'm up to 9 1/2 total. It seems like a ton to me, but the nurse reassured me that I am still in the normal range for weight gain. We heard the heart beat again, which is always comforting. The baby kept moving around while the doctor was trying to get the heart beat. She said, "Oh we have a lively one here." Noel told me later that he thought, "Oh great. I'm going to be the one chasing a little maniac up and down the aisle at church." Things really are going well. I am starting to burst out of my pants. I can't do them up anymore, but Melea let me borrow this spandex band that you can put on over your undone pants. It works quite well and just looks like you have a t-shirt layered underneath your shirt.
We also were given a crib for the baby's room. Some friends of ours were given two cribs and only needed one. So they passed one off to us. It is really cute and in good condition, and the best part is that is was free!
But as fun as all of that is...the most exciting news for us is that we get to know the gender of the baby at my next appointment. So be looking for a post on April 10 to know if this baby is going to be baby girl Dickens or baby boy Dickens.:) I have a gut feeling that it is a boy, but we will see!

PAIN IN THE NECK

I was scheduled to be observed for a whole group reading lesson today by my UK professor lady for my internship portfolio. No big deal; I was ready to go. She's really nice, so it is always low stress when she comes. Well...today turned out to be a little bit more than a low stress day. At about 9:00 our principal got on the intercom and told all of the teachers to check their email immediately. Come to find out, we were dismissing school at 11:35 (three hours earlier) because of an incoming ice storm. So I spent the rest of the morning trying to keep the kids quiet (absolutely impossible...I gave up after a while) and calling all of the parents of my students to confirm transportation. The population at our school is such that the parents are often very difficult to get a hold of (ie. disconnected phones, moving frequently, working long hours, screening calls from the school, etc.). It was crazy, but luckily I got a hold of all of the families thanks to my assistant. I was taking my kids to the cafeteria for early lunch when my observation lady showed up. :) We just rescheduled for next week. Needless to say the children were absolutely nuts because any variation in our daily routine really screws them up. But everyone got home, and I got to go to lunch with Noel and my friends from work. Although the morning was hectic, the afternoon ended up being great!