4th of July and Baby H's Shower

My family is absolutely the best. I have never missed a 4th of July with them...and since I couldn't make it to Cody this year (being so pregnant and all), they came to me! And I love them for it. :)  Not only did they come to visit, my mom and sisters threw Baby H and me a baby shower! It was so much fun. Mom and Sheena spent so much time putting it together, and it was perfect. 

There wasn't a poodle lady...no turtle go-kart guys...and no mostly naked men in chaps...but it was still fun. We have some wonderful people in our ward who let us sit in their lawn to watch, so we didn't even have to stake out spots too early! Scott and Dad bbq'd, and Mom made us some delicious salads. So fun.

 

Sheena and Mom made the cutest decorations ever. They were perfect. I'll be using some in Baby's bedroom and I think I'll put some of the pom poms in my classroom. :D

 

We had an ice cream bar for refreshments...YUM.

 Look at how Mom did the silverware! The spoons are behind the bow ties. ADORABLE.

 The first game/activity was to make babies out of play dough. The clay babies were pretty cute!

Then I picked a winner and they got a diaper full of candies. :)

The next activity was decorating bibs, onsies, and socks! I thought that was so fun. They turned out so cute!

Beth's bib

Yay for a nerdy baby! I've said it before and I'll say it again...this poor kid has no chance of growing up "normal."  ; )

Jessica's bib

Camilla's bib

Shannon's bib

Grandma Haderlie's bib

Grandma Haderlie's onsie

Tasha free handed this beauty. Of course there's a 'stache on the butt. :)

 Grammy's onsie. Purple kisses...of course. :)

 

Dad and Scott scooped ice cream for us. It was pretty delicious.

It was so nice and I'm so grateful for everything everyone did!

(in)Formally Introducing Baby Haderlie

We got a 3D ultra sound today. BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER. Yeah, I kinda wanted to cry the whole time. I just kept thinking, "How is this perfect little guy INSIDE OF ME?!?!" Only 10 weeks lefts and it still feels so surreal. But he is beautiful. So sweet. So beautiful. We debated about getting a 3D ultra sound, because I feel like the babies either look adorable or mushy. But then I remembered that THIS ultra sound would be of MY baby and of course MY baby would NEVER look like mush! Right? :)  Right. And though his nose is pretty mushed in the first picture, I think the rest are seriously adorable. I have so much love for my little man.

He smiled for us almost right away. See? So sweet! And look at those full lips! 

He kept tucking his chin into his chest.

This smile appeared after Scottie laughed. At least SOMEONE will think his dad's jokes are funny. ;)

Sweet profile

He started with a couple of fingers...

And then decided that he must eat ALL THE FINGERS!!

:)

Either I have a deep thinker, or this baby is peacing out with swag.

Scott was like, "Look at his huge cheeks!" I was like, "Have you SEEN my baby pictures??"

Looks like he's napping. Aaaaaaawwwwwwwwwww.

Don't you think he's beautiful too? Of course you do. I'm going to be one of THOSE moms, apparently...which is my right as a first time mom, right? Anyways. Love him. So much. Already.

Things That I Love that are British

I really love Great Britain.

Sure, they were a bit tyrannical back in the day and might have messed up some borders in other countries in which they did not belong...but I do love it.

These are six of my favorite British things, in no particular order, but I love it all.



1. Harry Potter

 

Of course I love Harry Potter. I mean, really.

2. Eddie Izzard

 

Absolutely hilarious. He swears like a drunken sailor, and that breaks my heart. But he really makes me laugh. I love how much history and truth he uses in his act. "Dress to Kill" is my favorite.

 

 

 
3. Queen Elizabeth I  

 

I spent time learning about her this past summer--what a woman. Her death was pretty unfortunate, though. 

 
  4. The IT Crowd

 

SO FUNNY!! A television show about two nerds that work IT in the basement of a building. Their manager is a woman who knows nothing about computers. Scott laughed so loud. So long. So did I. I don't usually laugh out loud to shows--but I do to Eddie Izzard and the IT Crowd. So great. Please, do yourself a favor and watch this show. 

 5. Doctor Who

 

This was a show recommended to me by several students, so I watched it this summer. I'm a recent Whovian. I'm sure to a real Whovian I'm just a wannabe, but I don't care. I love Doctor Who. I love the story line and the Doctors. I also love the Daleks and the Weeping Angels and the Cybermen even though they're a bit scary. I miss David Tennant (I got a Doctor Who shirt yesterday with him on it that says "Allons-y!"), but I like Matt Smith, and I'm excited to see the next Doctor. Someday I really want to watch the old ones. This is another show that I want everyone to watch, because I think that everyone will love it just as much as I do.

 6. Muse

 

Another "duh, of course" British thing. They've only been my favorite since I was like, 13. And now I've seen them twice. TWICE! In a year! And, dare I say it, they were even better the second time. Matthew Bellamy spoke to us!! And it was incredible (apparently that's my new word).  I recorded nearly the whole show. Fabulous. The lights, the music...even my mom enjoyed it! It was one of the best nights of my life.

And there it is. I hope that others are partake of this goodness and enjoy it as much as I do. I promise it will make your life better.

"Nice to Meet You, Number Two"

My second year teaching--HUZZAH! So much more excited for this year than last year. Notes to self:

• be more organized
• do not be afraid of parents (I don't care how old they are)
• don't let Common Core ruin your (or the kids') life
• use more fun lesson plan ideas from Pinterest
• teach art
• don't take (too much) work home
• celebrate the small successes
• RELAX

Yes. There was much to reflect on at the end of last year, so hopefully I can do better this year. I'm trying to shift out of survival mode so I can enjoy my job more. Though I can say I love it more than anything in the world. I feel like every time I talk to people about it I just whine and complain (because I'm a terrible, negative person), but I really can't imagine a better job. I get paid for teaching kids that I love and that love me back. I really do enjoy being in charge (just ask Scottie) and these kids listen to me and love me when I'm bossy structured. :) 

Anyways, I updated my room a little. Not a ton. ...it's still a work in progress, and probably will be forever. But I like it.

I was such a loser teacher last year doing birthdays. I'm going to try to be better this year.

I bought these superhero bulletin board guys last year but never used them. How silly of me.

I know you can't read the signs, but they're for mean, median, mode, and range. Read this poem I found on pinterest:

 

Hey diddle diddle,

median's the middle!

You add and divide for the mean.

Mode is the one you see the most,

and the range is the difference between.

 

There! Now you'll never forget.

I stole this idea from bestie Rochelle. All of the prepositions we're supposed to memorize in fourth grade. I'll have the kids put them to whatever tunes they want, then we'll vote on which one we like best and memorize that as a class. I used those little Velcro dots, so I an remove one or two at a time while we memorize until they're all gone. :)

My Idaho History wall! I missed my bestie Sara while putting this up since she helped me last year.

Also, I got those bins from DI and Walmart. Art supplies are irresistible...and it was a constant battle keeping kids focused instead of pouring glue all over their pencil boxes. So they'll keep all art supplies in those bins until we need them. Problem solved!

I didn't get my chart in there very well, but Scottie built the stand for me!! It's wonderful. Someday I'll take the time to spray paint it so it's nice and pretty.

My Back to School Night table. I had most of my parents come--yay! They ate all my cookies, but I had very few offer to bring extra supplies for the class and only one volunteer to help me out in the classroom once a week. This is very different from last year. I understand that they're all buying supplies for all of their kids...but I bet none of them have 23 they're buying for. When they run out of anything, I usually end up supplying it...and it gets expensive!

So I can keep track of who is where when we're writing...

The Batcave. I had one student's mom say her child was a little afraid of Batman...so I tried to explain to her that he's my protector, especially when I'm at the school alone at night and there are funny noises. She asked me to be in a picture with her and Batman, so I think she'll warm up to him.

More math stuff. Positive and negative (because we don't use those enough) number line, angles, lines, rows, columns, diameter, and radius.

I spray painted the brick here black. When they took down the chalkboard last year and put in a new white board there was empty space where this nasty brick was visible. I'm trying to use the space now that it looks nicer. These are my classroom jobs, and I used the Velcro dots again so I can switch out the stars more easily. Plus, Velcro is just fun.

What they kids saw on their desk at Back to School night

 

A note from moi with a glow stick bracelet

Everybody was doing all this cute stuff in their hall for BtSN, and I had nothing. So I ran to the Dollar Store, bought some crepe paper, and did this. My sweet father-in-law bought me the School House Rock dvd, so I used their theme: Knowledge is Power!

I promised Scottie I wouldn't post these to facebook, but I didn't say anything about the blog...

Here's Scottie on his first day of school!! We're too poor to be able to afford a parking permit at the ISU satellite campus, so he's riding the bike his grandpa gave him a few years ago. I'll probably give him rides during the winter, but it's nice for him to ride his bike while it's nice outside.

 

Out of the driveway...

And away he goes!

Thoughts

1. I'm more excited about this school year than I was about last school year. ...waaaaaaaaaaay more excited.  Mayhaps it's because I *sort of* know what I'm doing.
2. I hate warm milk almost as much as I hate melted ice cream.

1. I have had one nightmare a week about the first day of school since mid-July. This happened to me last year. I think the most memorable one from this year was when I only had about ten girls in my class, but they were all 6-7 feet tall and wouldn't quit chewing bubble gum or listen or follow any of the rules/procedures.
2. The reason the previous was an absolute nightmare is because I have absolutely loathed the smell of bubble gum since I was little. It seriously makes me gag. It comes in the bags of candy that I buy for my students, but I refuse to hand that out until the end of the day, when they're on their way out the door.

1. I still love eating boxed macaroni and cheese. I don't care if I'm an adult. It's yummy and quick.

1. I am so ridiculously excited to see Muse for a second time!!! Even with the risk of sounding like 7th grader Emily, they are my favorite band ever! :D

1. I love how much my parents share with me. For instance, I'm typing on this wonderfully fast/high tech laptop from my parents. Scott once mentioned that I must feel like I'm living in my parents' house...they gave us their old couch set, TV, and their piano. Little by little, I'm collecting what I grew up with as my parents update. I love it.
2. I am also ridiculously excited for Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker to come out on the Wii U! It's one of my top Zelda games and it will be amazing to play in HD. I can't wait for Christmas to get here. :)

1. We are probably the shame of our neighborhood right now. We have spent three summers trying to bring our lawn back to life...to no avail. We watered, planted more grass seed, watered some more...nothing. I think this goes back to our plant/pet/parent blog, eh? Anyways, so we decided to kill the lawn and start over. So, for most of this summer, we haven't had a lawn--just a few giant dirt patches. Scott and his brothers chopped down four of our trees (I will post pictures someday), so we're working on killing the stumps. Anyways, I totally feel like trailer trash and get embarrassed whenever we have company. However, we have big dreams for our "lawn"! After we rip out the stumps, we'll plant lilac bushes along our fence. Then, because our lawn is so small, we can afford to buy sod. Insta-lawn! We're planning on removing the rocks from around the sides of our house, put in some new dirt, and planting some flowers and other pretty things to liven it up a bit. Hah, neighborhood! Then we'll be living the dream!
2. I love my husband. So much. He starts his masters program on Monday, and I think I'm more nervous about it than he is. He'll do great, though. Of course. I'm afraid we won't be seeing much of each other for the next three years, and that's kind of a bummer. He's taking night classes, which is super because he can still work, but it sucks because we both have day jobs until 4...then he has class from 6-9, and that's my bedtime. I'm thinking I'll be awfully lonely during the week. But I'm so proud of him! By 2015, he'll have his MAcc (Masters of Accounting), CPA (certified public accountant...like The Producers! haha), and his MBA (Masters of Business Administration). wOOt!

That's all for now, folks. I've been so slack in blogging...I haven't blogged about Muse (which was in February), my whole summer (Billings, Disneyland, and Seattle), and I've changed a bit in my classroom and want to show that off (I know it's not that cool or special, but I pretty much live there). So...I'm sure I'll be having more free time in the evenings the next few years. I'll blog then. ;)

p.s. Koji Kondo is still alive and kickin'! We got him on Scottie's birthday, so he's almost 5 months old. And he's such a good fish. He never cries or whines, doesn't make that much of a mess, and always eats his food. That's my kind of pet!