Harvest Carnival

Jonathan had a lot of fun at the harvest carnival. He got to fish, bowl with a pumpkin, pick ducks, throw darts, footballs, bean bags and balls. But the biggest thrill of all for him was the bouncy castle. He has always wanted to do the bouncy castles but there are always lots of kids in them that are so much bigger than him that he gets intimidated and doesn't want to go in even though he really wants to try it out. Plus those bigger kids are often a little to aggressive with the little ones for my comfort. Well our daycare rented one for the carnival and he got to go in it. He went twice and had a great time. The first time he went it was just him and one of his best little girl friends. The second time there were four kids but they were all so polite and even though he was a lot littler than the others he still got to have a good time. I have pictures but I haven't uploaded them yet. I'll upload them later and post the good ones.

Obviously there wasn't much there for Jason and it was his normal evening nap time so he slept in Grandma's arms while Dan and I ran around following Jonathan. Dan won the coloring contest and got a loaf of nut free banana bread. He actually got second but the first place winner wasn't there and didn't leave contact info so they gave the prize to him. Either way we came home with a loaf of bread.

Better Day

Today was a much better day. Normally I would have my practicum on Thursday but they have conferences today and tomorrow so I had the day off. I was able to get a lot of work done including a big project. Having that project done is a huge weight off my back. I'm definitely feeling better about school now. I also had lunch with a friend which was very fun.

November and the first three days of December are going to be stressful. My in-laws are here now. My dad is here next weekend. The next weekend I have both my Praxis tests and the Boise State Game. Then its Thanksgiving break. Then the first Tuesday and Wednesday of December I have my ICLA (Idaho Comprehensive Literacy Assessment) Tests. Those four tests will knock out four of the five tests I need for certification. After that I feel like it will be smoothe sailing until the end of spring semester. I'll still have classes and one certification test but I feel like it will be more manageable than this semseter with four certification tests.

Ok I'm off to bed. Tomorrow is our daycare's Harvest Carnival so I'll take a lot of pictures.

Tired

It seems to be the theme in my life right now. School is wearing me out. I have huge projects due in almost every class, most every day of the week. No kidding. I do homework from the time I get out of class until the boys come home and then I pick it up again at 8 when the boys go to bed and I'm usually up until at least 11 sometimes later. My only class today was canceled and instead of resting I have spent the entire day parked at the computer doing homework. I feel like I'm about to reach my end. I want a break! Don't get me wrong, I love what I'm doing and I'm very excited to be a teacher and I know being a teacher is hard work too but at least teachers get sick days. I've been sick for two weeks now but all my classes have a miss once and drop a letter grade policy unless you are on your death bed. I've heard the classes next semester aren't quite as stressful.

I also know that teaching in my own classroom will be a lot different than doing work for my professors. Teachers have to lesson plan but I know for a fact they don't have to write a 5 page, in depth lesson plan for everything they teach. I know this is over preparing me so I will be really ready when I have my own classroom but it really does get tiring.

I'm even working through Thanksgiving break. Monday and Tuesday I'll be in Spokane at a friends house studying for one of our big certification tests and the rest of the week I'll be at my in-laws. Unfortunately for me a trip to my in-laws won't be any sort of relaxing vacation. They have more cats than I can count and I'm allergic to them. So I'll spend the rest of my break with a sinus headache and stuffy nose.

Gosh I'm really grumpy tonight. Sorry!

I'm really enjoying my practicum. I'm in a 6th grade class at a local elementary school. The kids are fantastic and my cooperating teacher and I have a very similar background and really hit it off well. She has actually put in a request for me to student teach with her in the fall which I am really excited about. I love the atmosphere of the school. Dan student taught a semester in GT at the same school and the principal remembered him when she met me. It was really nice to have a connection and I think it might help me get my student teaching placement.

Wordless Wednesday

Ann needs...

I grabbed this from Pam over at Rhett's Journey and since my class tomorrow is canceled and I have no homework to do I need something to occupy my time while Dan grades papers.

Ann needs...

1) repair. (I'm actually feeling pretty good right now)

2) numbers. (ummm I think I have all the numbers I need right now but perhaps I do need more)

3) a ride to the Baltimore Airport. (Well that would be pretty cool but how the heck did I end up in Baltimore???)

4) to retire. (But I don't have a career to retire from yet! and I'm far too young!)

5) to be convinced. (What is this that I need to be convinced of?)

6) help. (With what? I'm pretty much caught up in school but I could use help cleaning house.)

7) a home in Wisconsin. (Do they know something I don't? I'm not planning on moving to Wisconsin anytime soon so I'm not sure why I need a house there)

8) a milkshake. (ohhhhh that sounds good!)

9) to apologize. (ok ok I'm sorry but what did I do?)

10) a new mom. (No I don't I have a fantastic mom!)

11) a new radiator for her Ford. (I don't even own a Ford so this would do me no good)

12) a robot. (Does it clean house if so he's hired!)

That was fun.

Pumpkin Carvin

Tonight was the night to carve our pumpkin. We did it last year and Jonathan thought it was the coolest thing ever. This year he had fun but when he wasn't allowed to use the sharp knife (duh!) he lost interest. Jonathan got to help pick out what shapes we used to carve the face. It was fun to see his creativity. He wanted triangle eyes like last year, a circle nose, and then he came up with the moon ears all on his own. I was impressed with his knowledge of shapes. Preschool is paying off! :)



Jonathan cleaning out the pumpkin with a big spoon. I tried to convince him to grab it with his hands but he would have nothing to do with that.



That face says it all! He did not like how that felt.



He really wanted to help cut but obviously he wasn't getting his hands on a real knife. This is from a Gerber dinner set and is perhaps the dullest knife in the drawer. :)



Jonathan with our creation.



Jason and the pumpkin. I promise Dan is just out of the picture ready to catch him if he starts to loose his balance.

Not Me Monday!

I most certainly am not watching "What Not To Wear" and blogging to avoid writing definitions for 65 literacy terms.

And that definitely was not me who went in to a 6th grade classroom to teach a math lesson that I hadn't looked at since I turned it in to my professor in September. And I definitely did not make a simple math error that sent the whole activity into a tailspin.

I absolutely am not at a complete and total loss as to what to make for dinner tonight.

That is not me that you see freaking out about how absolutely trashed her house is and dreading the clean up necessary before we have company this weekend.

I am not considering a nap when I am done with this post.

Nope not me!

For the original not me Monday's see MckMama over at My Charming Kids.

Pumpkin Pickin'

Today, at the suggestion of a friend, we loaded up and headed to Greenbluff. Our goal for the day was apples for Dan and Jonathan and a pumpkin for carving. I don't really like Halloween but last year we carved a pumpkin just so Jonathan could play with the pumpkin guts. He had so much fun that he asked to do it again this year so I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to check out Greenbluff. And that's just what we did.

Our first stop was the Harvest House. We took the boys on a hay ride and then ate some lunch. Overall I thought this place was just a little too commercial. Everything cost money, and a lot of it at that. There was a hay maze but Jonathan wasn't tall enought to go alone so we would have had to pay for him and a parent. Lame. They had pumpkins that they had cut from the vine and you could pick out which one you wanted. It was ok but what I really wanted to do was go get a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch. We decided to head down the road a little and see what else there was. If we didn't find anything then we could always come back.

A little further down the road we found Knapp's Farm. I knew as we pulled up we had found a winner. The first thing we saw as we pulled in was the pumpkin patch.
I got super excited. This was the experience I was wanting to have. I wanted to go out in the field and pick out my own pumpkin.

Before heading out to the pumpkin patch we decided to see what else there was. We found a hay maze and a corn maze that were free, donation suggested. We decided against the corn maze but jumped right into the hay maze. The sides of the maze were low enough that Jonathan could venture out on his own but always be able to find us. We had a ball. And then we found the pumpkin chucker. Oh my gosh this was cool. It's pretty much a potato cannon but for pumpkins. We watched them shoot it off and it was amazing. If you are in the area I recommend checking it out!
After the pumpkin cannon we grabbed a wheelbarrow and headed out to find out pumpkin. It was fun. It took a while but we finally found one. We are carving it tomorrow and I'll post pictures then.

After a long and stressful few weeks of school it was nice to get out and enjoy time as a family!

Me and Jonathan on the Hay ride.

Dan and Jason on the Hay ride.



Jonathan in the maze.



The boys in the wheelbarrow.



Our find!

Ok I'm new at blogger. Everytime I upload a picture it puts it at the top of the page. Is there a way it will insert it where I want it???

It's time to make a change

I think I'm going to move over here for my blogging... It might take me a while but eventually I will get this thing customized and ready to go.