Teaching tid bits

1. One of my 6th grade students was wearing a loose pleated skirt that was much, much, much too short. When she swung her backpack on, her skirt got caught under it, and she walked all the way down the hall with her entire butt showing. All of it. The good news? She was wearing tights. The bad news? She was not wearing anything under the tights. As far as I know, she never noticed. Pobrecita.

2. One of my (female) student's .................. middle name ................ is ................ (wait for it) .................. Rocketship. Seriously.

3. I'm taking the next few days off to do an early Christmas with Paul and the family before he leaves, so we had our class holiday celebration a bit early. I told the kids that I would bring in some crackers and fruit, and anything else they wanted they had to bring. Last night I went to Safeway to hold up my end of the deal and over heard the following conversation:
 "Oh, hey Sandy! What are you doing?"
 "Mike! Hi! Just picking up some treats. You?"
 "Same. Some stupid Spanish class fiesta tomorrow."
 "Me, too! Don't you just hate it..."
...and that's when I walked away. Quickly. I don't really feel bad because it's the first time all year I've done this, and it wasn't a requirement. But I also felt it was best that I peruse another aisle for a bit. Awkward...

4. I was in the middle of teaching a lesson the other day when one of my Dear Students dropped out of his desk and low crawled allllllllll the way to the front of the classroom. In the process, he crawled under 2 desks, a table, and my smart board. Then he low crawled allllllllll the way back to his desk. I said his name repeatedly during this journey, but he never looked up. When he was back at his desk, I said "Dear Student, uhh... what was that all about?" "What?" "Why did you crawl across the class?"  "Oh, I thought I saw something on the floor up there." Oh, right. That would be my mind. I recently lost it.

Family visit

For the first time since 2007, I got to spend Thanksgiving with family this year! It may have taken widespread flooding back in Washington (fun fact: did you know that WA gets more rain in the month of November than Tucson gets in an average year?), but my folks were finally able to make the flight south to come visit.

We spent Thanksgiving at my grandparents' house in Phoenix, which I have no pictures of because my dear husband may or may not have broken my phone on Thanksgiving day. But the food was delicious, the company was good good, and our activity level was minimal. Perfect.

Black Friday found us driving down to Tucson. Our tiny little 2-bedroom town house was full to bursting with all 7 of us, but it all worked out.

There are 4 people in this picture. Can you find them?

Friday night, the girls dug out and set up the Christmas decorations, while the boys fought an epic battle for world domination and ate junk food.

Ryan won, and couldn't have been happier.

On Saturday, we decided to celebrate a true American holiday by blowing stuff up. We nearly drove to Mexico, and I think my parents were getting a little nervous, but in the end, we got where we were going and it was only a little bit shady.

I was more happy than I can tell you to destroy our old dishes! Everyone helped!

Soaking up the sunshine.

The Marine showing us how it is done

Mommy obviously doesn't know how to hold a firearm =) One day, I'm going to do a post with nothing but pictures of my mom holding bottles of diet coke.

Ryan Todd

Ten years ago today, I came home from school to find my very pregnant mom laying on the couch, insistent that she was going to make it to Jordan's wrestling match that night. Not long later, I was on the phone with my dad and on my way to my grandma's. Jordan, Cody, and Hanna and I waited there anxiously for the arrival of our new sister, Taylor.

At the hospital, waiting to see the new baby.

When we got a call just a few hours later that a little brother had been born (woops!), we were all pretty surprised...with the exception of Hanna, who was just plain devastated. If my memory serves me, I think Hanna cried more than the baby that night.

Meeting the little guy for the first time.

Ry meeting his future brother-in-law

It was a little weird having a little brother born when I was 15. We didn't exactly  have a lot in common, and by the time he was a toddler, most people in public just assumed I was a teen mom.

But it turns out, being 15 years older than your brother is pretty awesome. Obviously I love all my siblings, but I don't really remember what they were like as babies because I was so young. I really got to enjoy Ryan when he was little, though. I got to help feed him, I got to see his first steps, and help teach him his first words. Mostly I got to enjoy how cute he was!

Now he is getting all grown up! It's really fun to get to see his personality develop. He is certainly turning into a pretty fearless kid. From the time he was little, Ry was looking for thrills. I remember waiting in line with him over and over and over again to go on the "Pecker Woody" roller coaster at Universal Studios.

Ry and Wyatt with the "Pecker Woody"

And just recently, he bragged to me about his cliff jumping escapades this summer.

He's also pretty funny. I know little brothers are the ones who are supposed to sneak off and read their big sister's diaries, but I managed to get a peak of Ryan's personal journal at age 7. Page one read:

"Ryan's svivr book
Day 1: I mest up sum stuf in my sistrs room"

And then, his masterpiece: a text to Hanna written on his gameboy. It read,

"Hanu you a ideeit."

My favorite memory might be when I convinced him he could change his name and he decided on "Dynaco Mater".

And now he is ten! I can't believe it. I will always think of him like this:

But before we know it, he'll be driving cute girls around...

And shaving...

And then off to college...

And then settled down in a cozy office job

Happy Birthday, kiddo!

Conquer the world!