Happy New Year! Well...Almost

First off, I have not disappeared, I have just been away from my computer and not able to blog lately. I plan on posting pictures of my many Christmas adventures later this week or early next week.

I have enjoyed the last week and a half as I have had time off of work and I've been spending that time with family. We've had a few get togethers, I've gotten to babysit a few times, we've cut down portions of trees and weeded most of the garden. I am the favorite aunt. I've also spent a couple restless nights as I realize that the end of my master degree program is coming to an end soon and I need to work on my portfolio. I also have a student teacher coming the week we get back to school so now I need to be able to schedule in who needs to teach the class and when for our many observations and assignments we both need to fulfill. It will all work out.

New Christmas Tradition!

I think we have discovered a new family tradition for Christmas! We all gathered at Kevin and Steven's apartment for a cousin cookie and cocoa party. While enjoying each others' company, we decided we should see if we could tape Pam to the ceiling.


We had a great time with the idea, found it very entertaining. Although, Pam's daughter was not amused one bit, in fact, I'm sure we could say she was terrified with the idea of her uncles taping her mother to the ceiling.


The rest of the evening was spent talking and munching and showing off Kevin and David's size. You may not believe me, but I actually am related to these two.





And then there's Lacey, every time I had my camera out and pointed it at something or someone, she would come running with her smile just waiting for me to take her picture.


(Did you like the decorations in the first picture? Kevin, Steven, and their roommate made the chimney and all of the decorations as part of a friendly competition with another apartment).

Merry Christmas!

One thing I've noticed this year is the lack of wishing people "Merry Christmas!" It's not even a "Happy Holidays!" it's nothing at all. I know people are trying to be more PC and all or maybe it's the economy bringing people down but come on people! I don't think it's too early to be saying such things, Christmas is 13 days away, in fact, I think that once Thanksgiving is over, saying, "Merry Christmas!" is completely fair game. If the stores can start Christmas in September, I think we can start saying "Merry Christmas!" right after Thanksgiving, so step up!

Merry Christmas!

Tagged again

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Both, it depends on who it's for and what the gift is. Growing up for birthdays it was usually a plastic shopping bag with the handles tied into a bow...but not for Christmas.
2. Real tree or artificial tree? Artificial
3. When do you put up your tree? growing up it was the day after Diane's birthday so Dec. 6th, but now I try to put it up the weekend after Thanksgiving. I haven't put it up this year though and probably won't as my roommate still has some of her stuff in my living room and I can't handle adding any more to it.
4. When do you take the tree down? As soon as I get around to it...usually after I get back from my parents' house and before Valentine's Day.
5. Do you like eggnog? Not really.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I don't remember, I just enjoyed being with family and all of the Christmas traditions. probably one of my ewoks though.
7. Hardest person to buy for? My brother in law
I have no idea what happened to #8
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, that's not out either, I can't get to my Christmas decorations in my storage closet because of all of my roommate's stuff.
10. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards? Mail--it's nice to be able to actually get something
11. Favorite Christmas movie? Hmmm...probably White Christmas or something I can sing along to. No, wait! The claymation Santa Claus is Coming to Town or the one with the snow miser and heat miser
12. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Always looking for good gift ideas, but I'm in full Christmas gift mode in October or November.
13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Nothing in particular stands out but probably something a student has given me, I do have over 40 candles from presents from students.
14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Homemade candy. Especially the English Toffee and fudge. Peppermint ice cream is also a favorite.
15. Lights on the tree? Depends on what ornaments I have to go with it. i like multi-colored for all of the traditional and homey ornaments but my tree here has white lights (because that's what I own from a previous excursion with prior roommates) and simple white and red ornaments.
16. Favorite Christmas song? Most people don't know my favorite one, since it is a Primary song (a youth song from my church) it's called, "Samuel Tells of Baby Jesus." My favorite MAINSTREAM song is "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers" by Harry Connick Jr.
17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I have to travel to get home for Christmas.
18. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes
19. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel, but I don't have one
20. Do you open Presents Christmas eve or Christmas day? Christmas Day unless it's from Laura, then I open it when I get it in the mail.
21. The most annoying thing about this time of year? Traveling in bad weather, traffic at the stores, the wrong kind of Christmas spirit
22. Favorite ornament theme and color? I don't like themed trees, it seems too formal. Christmas is more of a enjoy your family, loved ones, and life holiday. A formal tree makes everything too stiff and rigid, not as relaxed as it should be.
23. Favorite for Christmas dinner? Christmas Eve has always been rolls and lunch meats. Christmas dinner is usually a good spread of things brought by everyone.
24. What do you want for Christmas this year? A chocolate lab ;)
25. Favorite Christmas tradition? My all time favorite is one done with the extended family. We get together on Christmas Eve for dinner, a small show for anyone who would like to "perform" their musical talents, singing carols, playing the pipes with nails, watching old slides of Christmases of old, and the chocolate box (we have a box of See's chocolates and everyone gets a piece going from oldest to youngest, everyone knows their place in line and has a favorite piece. The first question asked when someone starts dating someone is how old they are so they all know where he/she fits in the chocolate line).

As far as tagging others is concerned... If you'd like to do it, go for it

Christmas 2006--All of the single cousins attending

School

School has been going well the last few weeks. The computers are up and running, our PowerPoint presentations are finally done (as of today), and Christmas Break is coming up fast.

One of the joys I have at school is that I am directly involved with the student council at our school. With the holiday season, we have been working on a couple of service projects. In November, we sponsored a can food drive at the school and had a mountain of items donated by the students and their families. The project we are currently working on is called "Warm the Soles." This charity is done by the local credit union to raise money to buy shoes for needy kids in the area. We choose to work through this charity as it directly helps students at our schools and surrounding neighborhoods. This is the second year we've done Warm the Soles and it ends up warming your heart as well. Each classroom is given a jar to collect spare change and monetary donations, at the end of the week, the student council will gather all of the coins, wrap and count them. Last year, we raised over $500. We have given the school the goal to beat last year's amount. This morning, we decided to give a little more and told the school that there would be a collection jar at our student store and whatever was donated this morning, the student council would match. You wouldn't think that an elementary school would donate so much money, but within a 15 minute period, $51.04 was put in our jar (we had to get a bigger jar at one point) so after our matching money, we had $102.08 added to our bucket of coins. I am so impressed at the giving hearts the students at our school have. Each year I am at a school that works with such a cause, I challenge my own class to be able to raise enough money as a class to buy at least one pair of shoes (around $20) which is about 75 cents per student (we're working on ratios this week), I think it helps put things in perspective in that every little bit helps and that everyone can make a difference. I have had students put in a few dollars and others a few cents, but the one that has been the biggest donation is the morning I mentioned that we still need to put money in our can and the only student that jumped up to do so in my class was one of the students from our school who was identified as a student who could use one of the pairs of shoes from Warm the Soles. We've been dumping the class cans every once in awhile into a 5-gallon bucket, yesterday we had 2 1/2 to 3 inches in the bucket. We're going to hold a "guess how much" for the school on Monday or Tuesday and then count it all up after school on Tuesday, it should be fun.

California

I went home last week. I took a few days off of school and just went home because I could. I had a few personal days that I needed to use or else I would lose them and plane tickets were cheap, so I flew home on a Wednesday night, hung out with my family, helped Mom with the Nativity Festival, went shopping with my sister, babysat my nieces and nephew, and then flew back the next Monday. My students were glad to have me back so Tuesday was very pleasant at work (not so much today, so I threatened to leave again and have a sub teach, they didn't like that very much).

My niece seems to think that smiling involves closing one eye (it might have something to do with her mother being a photographer and closing one eye behind the camera when she tells her to smile).

What Else Can Happen?

Let me tell you about today...

First off, I found that one of my students stole a full jar of candy from my classroom yesterday afternoon while I was on crossing guard duty, so I got to address that first thing this morning. The last few weeks, we've been working on Power Point presentations about Ancient Rome, this week, we were supposed to be in the computer lab at least an hour a day so our students could actually build the Power Point to be presented next Monday and Tuesday. The district's server went down yesterday so we can't sign on to any computers at the school so I had an hour to fill because of that. The local museum of art is at our school for the rest of the week to do some classes and presentations with each class so we couldn't have math today because all of our schedules had to be rearranged, so that is another hour to fill. I decided to start the day with reading groups, so the class works independently on their assignments while I meet with groups. During this time, one of my girls throws up all over herself. I quickly get the class to grab their books to go sit in the hall while I help the girl and get the janitor to come in and help clean up the desk. As I excuse the class to go to recess, another of my girls hands me a note that was put inside her desk that said, "You are sexy" and signed with a name of one of the boys in the class but the name is spelled wrong so I know he didn't do it and now I have to figure out who did. After recess, my co-hort student from BYU has to teach a lesson to be observed. To add to everything, my class was in charge of helping in the lunch room and hall patrol so more than half of my class left for that so I had eight students left to keep busy.

So now I ask, what else can happen?

Thankful Monday

So, I've been really impressed by my cousin and her thankful posts and figured I should do the same, but haven't really gotten around to it. I've also been a little down the last few days and figure the best way to pick myself up right now is to remind myself of all the good things I do have in my life. So, here goes, I'm thankful for (in no particular order)...

*My family. They are always around and always will be around whenever I need them whether it be for a laugh, a talk, a cry, or companionship. My best friends are my family.

*My co-workers. If ever I'm having a bad or frustrating day, I know that our conversation at lunch or after school will be a good one no matter what the topic. They have such great attitudes and are very talented teachers. We work very well together and always share ideas with each other. I've had to work with some real crabs before so it is nice to work with some friends.

*My job. Although it can be stressful, frustrating, or taxing sometimes, it really lets me be whoever I want to be. I get to share my thoughts and ideas with my students and I get to know large groups of good kids each year. Not only does it provide monetary support for me to pay the bills, it also shows me who I am and lets me do what I like to do.

*Good friends. I have had several roommates over the years and have known large amounts of people throughout all of the wards I've lived in, so it is good to know that I have a group of people I can always turn to and laugh with. I also have good friends that I can call about anything to get their feedback or to just share stories with. As much as I like to have time to myself, I also enjoy knowing that I have people I can go hang out with or talk to.

*Food. I like to eat. Food is good. My school district is pushing healthy living with a monthly goal for us to focus on, this month is making sure we get 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. I thought it would be really hard at first but really it's opened up my regular eating habits to include food that I have always liked to eat but don't always think about eating.

*My car. Even though it has its issues every once in awhile, I really like my car. It's trunk space is great. I can feel the radio play some of my favorite songs. It's just fun to drive around.

*The gospel. With all the questions and arguments going on right now, it is nice to know that I have the truth and know why I am here at this time. I am comforted to know that I can call upon the Lord at any time and He will hear me.

*Travel. I like to be able to just get away sometimes.

*Christmas. This holiday gives me a chance to give to others without any other reason than it's the holiday of giving and because I love them. Of course, it also means that I will have some time off of work and I will be traveling home to see my family.

*Quiet places. I like to be by myself at times and to do that, I really need to have a place where I can remove myself from everything and just enjoy having the time and space.

It's Been a Week

I guess it's been a week since I've posted anything. Nothing very exciting has happened lately. This week has felt all jumbled for me. I went to a student council conference with our school's council and the other advisor so I had a sub in my class. FHE was also canceled so it really didn't feel like Monday. I thought today would never come as my students were basically bouncing off the walls all week with an inside day on Tuesday because of rain and the first real snowfall on Wednesday.
I've had a pre-student teacher in my class for the last week and a half. She has done pretty well so far, but it's always difficult for me to have someone else in my class all day.
I'm super excited for dinner tonight because I get to go celebrate a friend's birthday but she also happened to pick my FAVORITE restaurant for us to eat at. California Pizza Kitchen, here I come!

Trick or Treat!

Halloween in an elementary school is always interesting, but when you work at my elementary school it's really interesting because all of the faculty and staff really get into it. My co-workers and I have been thinking for the last few weeks about what we should dress up as. We came up with an idea that had us all laughing on Wednesday and the whole staff laughing when we showed up at school this morning. We decided we should dress up as some of the other people at our school, so the two guys dressed up as the janitors and I dressed up as the head lunch lady. They really enjoyed that they were our Halloween costumes.

So True!

Well Said!

I can't say it any better than how my brother described his reasonings for voting yes on California's Proposition 8. Voting "yes" is voting for equality. So, go read what he wrote and then go visit www.whatisprop8.com.

YES on Prop 8

I am very disappointed that I had to change my voter registration to Utah last year so I could vote against vouchers because now an important issue has come up in California that I would like to vote on. Proposition 8 defines marriage as between a man and a woman. If you can vote in California's upcoming election, please vote yes on Proposition 8 for me as I plan to return to live in California some day.

For more information, you can visit the following sites:
www.protectmarriage.com
www.preservingmarriage.org

Happy Birthday, Elementary School Style

My birthday is on Sunday (there, I said it, are you happy now Laura?). I knew my co-workers would be planning something just because that's what they do. Adam's birthday was a week and a half ago so we had the lunchroom start singing to him when he walked in with his class so I knew whatever they were planning would involve the entire school.
When I got to school, I got there a few minutes early just in case, walked in carefully making sure no one was going to jump out at me or something. I was in charge of supervising the student store with some of the student council members, so I'm standing in the front of the school with my back to the office and I hear Garrett on the intercom, "Students and teachers, we have a birthday girl today so join us at the front of the school so we can sing happy birthday to Miss H!" So a large number of students and teachers came and sang to me. When I got back to my room I found this on my desk:

Adam and Garrett gave me some flowers, chocolate, and beef jerky (the post-it note says "you said you like beef" because we had a conversation at lunch one day where I mentioned that I don't like chicken but I love to eat cow). Nice things were said in the card and it started my day with a smile.
Now we just have to wait until Garrett's birthday...

The Potato Knows!

So, now that the potato is out of the bag, I can fill you all in on my super cool idea. I had been thinking about what to get my good friend, Laura, for her birthday, which was last week. I finally had an epiphany and decided to make her this!:


A sheep pinata! I had a lot of fun making it, I even made my roommate look twice and probably question my sanity.

Nuh-uh!

So, I got a new student yesterday. She transferred from another school in the district because she was having problems with some other girls at the school. She wasn't in class today. My principal told me at the end of the day that she's no longer in my class, she decided to stay at her old school. This has happened four times now this school year. I joked with my class with the last one that I wouldn't give the next new kid a name for their desk until they stuck around for a week. I should have meant it.

Correction: 5 times, I've had 5 students show up or even not show up.

One...Two...Three...FOUR!

Yet another tag:

Four jobs I’ve had:
*shelf stocker/cashier at family owned thrift shop
*babysitter for my cousins
*lifeguard/recreation leader
*teacher

Four movies I can watch over and over:
*Ever After
*Stardust
*Pride and Prejudice (newest version)
*Babes in Toyland (I'm pretty sure I drove my mom nuts with this one while I was growing up)

Four places I’ve lived:
*With my parents in CA
*The Brittany
*The BC
*Raintree

Four TV shows I love:
*What Not to Wear
*House
*Bonanza
*NCIS


Four places I’ve vacationed:
*San Antonio
*Goblin Valley
*Montana
*Lake Shasta

Four of my favorite dishes:
*Blackberry cobbler!
*Sticky Chicken
*Pineapple Beef
*Cantaloupe and ice cream (a perfect summer meal)

Four sites I visit daily:
*Facebook
*Hotmail
*Work email
*Weather.com (I like to pay attention to weather patterns)

Four places I would rather be right now:
*Home in CA
*With friends running around
*San Antonio
*Watching a movie

Tag Four People:
*Steven at Hammari Thoughts
*Diane at Carrot Sticks and Cupcakes
*Laura at Neill Family
*Michael at The Daily Potato

Cookies!

During the Priesthood session of General Conference, I got together with my aunt, my cousin, and her two daughters to decorate cookies. (David also happened to be there.) It was a very creative and fun-filled evening.





Even Lacey enjoyed decorating the cookies...or undecorating them.

I Love Kohl's!

I went shopping tonight. I saved $45! Of course, I spent more than that in the end, but it's amazing what you can do in a store with a credit card application. This is what I bought:

I would have bought more, but I figured I should limit myself... I can always go back!

You Gotta be Like Julie

Stupid ideas and mean teachers

So a couple of the 6th grade boys at my school made some stupid choices this morning. Apparently one of the boys brought some habanero peppers to school and passed them around. I know at least two of my boys ate some this morning before school and one of them promptly threw up. He was in class for about 15 to 20 minutes after school started he asked if he could call home and I told him no. I let him go to the bathroom if he felt ill and told him if he felt really bad that he could go sit in the office, but I knew why he didn't feel good and knew he would feel better after a bit. Now that I think of it, I should have gotten him a carton of milk to help kill the burn. Oh well, if it happens again, I will know what to do!

Sorry!

I know, I know! I haven't let you all in on my cool idea yet, but my schedule was a little busier than I thought it would be so it took a little longer to actually complete, but I should be able to spill the beans in less than a week now. For those of you who asked earlier, yes potatoes and corn are similar but they use different things and no, the potatoes were not muffins. Now that I have clarified a few things for a few of you, others are probably now more confused than when we started. Have a great week!

Yeah!

I have a really COOL idea!!!! I just can't tell you what it is for another week and a half because there are too many potatoes around. I'm just really excited about it!

Goblin Valley

I went camping this weekend with a small group of girls from my ward. We drove the 2 1/2 hours to Goblin Valley. We got there Friday night, after dark. I held up flashlights while Heather and Jessica set up the tent and Rachel and Krisna made the foil dinners. It was a good evening, not too cold but enough to enjoy a fire. The ground was soft so I got a pretty good night's sleep for camping.
The next morning, we had breakfast, shot a few soda cans up (I hit all of the cans and didn't miss a shot), broke camp, and then went hiking around the valley of the goblins. We saw lots of interesting rock formations and climbed a few of them as well.





We meandered for about 2 or 3 hours before deciding to leave. We stopped at the first gas station to fill up and then make lunch. We were back at home just after 3:00pm.
I had a wonderful time and enjoyed getting to know these wonderful ladies a little more.

Fred Linden

This is Fred, he's a Linden tree, hence the name.



Steven, Kevin and I planted him today.



Doesn't he look happy?


(There were a lot of rocks.)

Tagged!

Well, unlike Pam, I am not necessarily sure that I am glad of the state of my house. Just as a disclaimer, my roommate is still in the process of moving into my house so things are a bit out of place and when I say "bit," I actually mean "a lot" as evidenced by the pictures I have been asked to post.

So the rules are this- you must take pictures of the following things, as is, no straightening up etc.

My fridge:
I'm glad I took down the wedding announcement from the beginning of the year.


My toilet:
I have roommates so I have to share my storage and shelf space, it would be nice if I had more.


My kitchen sink:
Sigh.


My favorite room:
My favorite room is my bedroom because it is mine and I can be all alone if I want to be.


I'm adding a second photo to this category so you can laugh right along with me. This is my living room, this is all my roommate's stuff. I laugh because if I didn't, I would probably be crying as this room has been like this for a few weeks now. It used to be my favorite room.


My closet:
I actually have two closets in my room which I LOVE! Yet again, evidence of things being moved around and shoved in new places.


What my kids are doing right now:
Ummm...I don't have kids. Unless you count my students and I don't post pictures of them. I have nieces and a nephew but they are two states away so I don't know what they're doing right now. This is as close as I come right now...looks like they're playing hide-and-seek.

My dream vacation:
That would be my family reunions for so many reasons--1. I didn't get to go this last summer 2. It's usually by some mountains or the beach 3. My family is there 4. We go camping 5. It's not work


My self portrait:


I am in turn, tagging 5 people: Laura, Diane, Steven, Jen, and Michael.

I just realized...

I just realized, after reading Laura's blog, that I did not post a picture of the last quilt I made. I didn't post it after finishing it because it was to be a gift and I didn't want the giftee to see it before I gave it to her. Well, the gift was given last night so I can post away! Keep in mind, the colors are not quite right, the burgundy looks more of a brown in the picture I took.


Good news of the night: I found my bedroom floor again! I was looking through some old photos and came across one from right after I moved into my condo and I saw that my bedroom was really clean and could see the entire floor. I know I've acquired a few more items but I've also gotten rid of some too so I really can't use the excuse of having more stuff. My goal today was to make my room look as close to the original picture as possible. I think I have succeeded. I have a few more things to find homes for and a stack of papers to file but it shouldn't take much time.

Greece Lightning!

We are working on a social studies unit on Greece in the 6th grade right now. Last week we focused on the Greek gods and goddesses. The students were partnered up and given a god or goddess to paint and then research. Each pair delivered a brief presentation on their deity. This week, we have learned a little bit about Greek architecture, mainly the three different types of columns. Our hallway is a little bit of Ancient Greece.






Today was the 6th Grade Olympics! Our students participated in two events each from the following list: long jump, 100 m dash, discus (frisbee), shotput (softball), javelin (teacher's pointer stick thing), and synchronized movement (we don't have a pool). The students were very sportsmanlike and enjoyed the activity. My coworkers and I dressed up in togas (bedsheets) and invited the students to do so as well. We enjoyed popsicles at the end. It was a good way to end the week. I would post pictures of the winners, but I don't post pictures of my students.

I want to say something but I don't know what...

So, I've been gone for 12 1/2 hours today. I had Back to School Night at my school and I didn't want to drive home to spend 2 hours and then drive all the way back so I just stayed at school and worked in my classroom. I've actually been putting off doing some things so I would have some things to so tonight. I also had a backup plan to go visit the local fabric store in case I ran out of things to do, but I kept pretty busy.

I now have a new roommate, yeah! Meg moved in last week and is in the process of unpacking. We've already stayed up somewhat late the last few nights talking.

There is a hole in my downstairs neighbor's ceiling as of yesterday morning. Last night my brother and I did some detective work to find the source of the leak but nothing happened. My neighbor went around to the surrounding neighbors to try some other pipes, but I haven't heard back from him yet. We're keeping the ceiling open for now to see if it happens again.

I don't have much to say, but at least I said it...Happy September!




and a random picture just because...

Harumpf!

You know, I try to put good, uplifting posts on my blog but every once in awhile I just need to vent. There are two things that are really bugging me right now and I don't want to have to deal with either one especially not at the same time, but I will because I really have to. They're really not all that hard to deal with, I just have to do it.

#1--I had my downstairs neighbor come upstairs last night and tell me that something in my bathroom is leaking and causing damage to his ceiling. I am so done with having to fix bathrooms right now what with all the bathrooms I've had to fix over the last 6 months. I went and saw the ceiling and it's pretty bad, kind of annoying that they didn't mention anything sooner, but oh well. I can't see any water damage in my bathroom so I can't tell you where the problem is. I've already arranged to have someone come take their ceiling down on Tuesday morning and then we can hopefully see what the problem is and hopefully it is something that can be fixed with the ceiling gone and the entrails exposed. I really don't want to have to break into my shower wall. On the positive side, if that does happen, I'll get to learn to tile a shower. I have to admit that I wished this morning that it was my bathroom that had the problem and not the one my roommates use because I want an excuse for me to have to retile my shower...who decided to use a tan tile, it really messes with my color options in decorating my bathroom.

#2--My roommate is moving out, don't worry, it's a good thing. I've never really meshed with this roommate, not that we ever really clashed , but we just haven't bonded like I normally do with my roommates. Add that to the fact that I've had to have some really uncomfortable conversations with her about her boyfriend that shouldn't have had to have happened but did, I am happy that I will be out of this situation. A good friend of mine from my ward is actually moving in, so I will still have two roommates. With the whole bathroom situation, I had to go in there and check things out and it is DISGUSTING! I'm pretty sure they haven't cleaned anything in there since they moved in at the beginning of May. I wrote a note on their mirror that it needs to be cleaned before the new roommate moves in and before the one moves out. Based on the conversation I overheard when the roommate got home, she's not very happy about it. What did she expect, that she could live somewhere for 4 months, make a mess, and then just walk away! I am so not happy. I will probably end up cleaning the bathroom which means I will get paid to clean the bathroom from her deposit and I'm not a very cheap cleaning person and I don't feel bad about it either.

First Week

I have had 7 days of school so far this year. My class is starting to warm up and understand what I expect so things are starting to get a little easier in some aspects and will be getting more difficult in others as we start to get more academic. Along with the first full week of school, our school has a tradition of holding a Mustang Week (our school mascot is the mustang). We started this when the school opened two years ago as all of our students were coming from two different schools so we wanted them to feel like a group of Mustangs rather than the Cougar Cubs and the Explorers at a new school. Every day of the week, we have something happening to celebrate the start of a new year. This year, we started with a carnival (we usually end with the carnival but we couldn't get it on Friday and it was cheaper to get on a Monday). My co-workers and I played right along with the kids. In fact, Adam and Garrett jousted each other, I took pictures:






We had our students complete an art project on Tuesday. We made stick horses/mustangs because 6th grade Mustangs "stick" together!