Tractor Party

Last weekend, I went with some friends to a tractor party!! We've been talking about this party for several weeks now! Elizabeth has been so excited!! I had a good picture in my mind of what this little festival would like... I'm from Iowa. These things happen all over the place in the summer! I couldn't wait to go because I wanted to compare it to the good ol' midwest!

Well... as soon as we pulled in, I couldn't help but miss home! It was exactly as I had pictured. The cars parked in the field, the equipment was all parked in rows, old tractors that have been fixed up. It was so great!!

The big difference between an American and German tractor party... a live brass band! I love that type of music and enjoyed listening to it. Unfortunately the HUGE hall the band was in was completely packed, so we didn't sit down anywhere. I would have loved to sit and listen. It was still neat to see!

Audrey's Birthday!

A friend of mine had a birthday party last week. We went to one of the only American restaurants in town to celebrate! My mom's first question was what is American food! We all ate hamburgers, ribs, onion rings, french fries, and milkshakes!! If you think of your old diner, that's what we like! My favorite part is the root beer in frosted mugs!!! Yum!!!

Unfortunately, I left early because I wanted to catch Jay on the phone!! So I missed the opening of gifts! But.... Jay fell asleep before calling, so we didn't get to talk anyway! Ohs wells!!

Thanks, Audrey, for having a birthday and giving us a reason to go to Pauls!

3 Months and Counting

Ladies and Gentlemen.... exactly three months from today, this lady will be one happy camper!! Not as happy as I will be in August (when Jay comes for R&R), but this is the first step. I will have my days free, my evenings free, a few hours on the weekend free, and I will be STRESS FREE!!! Have you figured it out yet? Exactly three months from today leads us to Saturday, June 19th. What is so special about that day? That is my first day as an unemployed teacher at Schweinfurt Elementary School! This will be a very exciting day for me. This school year has given me a run for my money. I have had to deal with discipline problem after discipline problem. Examples... let's see.... a suicide ideation, being assaulted by a child, having one of my students accepted into the psych ward, chasing a student through the school and wrestling him to the ground, and a suicide attempt in my class room. That should give you the picture. I could keep going, but I don't want to scare any potential teachers. I'm thankful this isn't my first year of teaching. Otherwise I think I would have been scared out of the profession by now. I have been told by most teachers in the school that this isn't normal. I would surely hope not!!! I just happened to get the right compilation of students that are oil and water! Even though it's been a challenge, I feel very prepared for any future incidents! I feel that I can work through them without stressing out (too much) and calmly find a solution. So on Saturday, June 18th, I will be sleeping in until the sun wakes me up, I will go outside for a jog, enjoy a big breakfast, go on a bike ride, and enjoy an evening with friends!! Nothing stressful, nothing timely, just a simple day on my own schedule!!! Yes... I'm dreaming about this day! I can't wait!

On a similar note, this week in my classroom has been quite wonderful. My troublesome student has been kicked out of my room. He is now coming to school only two hours a day and will not be around any other student. He is just too dangerous!! The principal said she will definitely not put him back into my classroom. We have had quite a peaceful week because no one is scared of what may happen, including myself!!! And to add to my joy, I am loosing another child in three weeks! I like to call this child my monkey. He CANNOT sit down! He isn't too much of a vocal disturbance, but he has become quite an acrobat with his chair. At any given time throughout the day, you will find him balancing himself across his desk and chair, laying on the floor with his chair above his head, or entangled throughout the legs of his chair. I find it quite amusing! The rest of the kids have learned to ignore it, which is a really good thing. The crazy part about all of this, the kid is COMPLETELY focused. As he is laying on the ground and using his chair as an airplane, he can still answer any question I ask him. He never fails to amaze me. Nonetheless, he is still rather difficult. But, he's moving back to the states for the rest of the school year, so I'll be losing him! Tears... of joy!!

(Don't I sound so mean!!! You would think I hated my class. They aren't all that bad. Just a few... but those few are REALLY bad!)

This week, the kids had to take the Terra Nova tests. It is a big standardized test that the students must take every year. We tested two hours each day this week. To help them out, I didn't give any homework for them to do at night. After testing each day, we did some fun things instead of the usual curriculum. I taught the students tinikling, a folk dance from the Philippines. They learned to love it real quick. They were a bit apprehensive at first, but once they got the hang of it, I couldn't get them to stop. I enjoyed it as much as they did. I remember learning it back in elementary school with Mr. Raub. I loved it then and I still love it now! It was a great way to relieve stress the kids had and to get them to relax!

Time for me to enjoy my weekend now!! I get to spend it with five boys, at least until Saturday night. On Sunday, I am going to a tractor party!! I am really excited about this because it will remind me so much of Iowa! I'll be sure and post pictures on Sunday!

2 Years Together

Two years ago at this time I was standing in the back of the church, looking at my soon to be husband standing up front with a huge smile on his face, wondering how I could be so lucky to be marrying such a special man. I couldn't wait to get down that isle, say "I do" and know that I was going to be protected and cared for for the rest of my life.

I truly have the most amazing husband any girl could ask for. Jay meets all my needs and gives me contentment, even from half way around the world. Every day I think about him and can’t help but smile because of the joy he fills me with.

I love that he is so silly and can cheer me up no matter what.
I love that he is so resourceful and can take care of anything for me.
I love that he is so responsible and handles so many things that I don’t understand.
I love that he is so brave and puts his life at risk to give me freedom.
I love that he is so loving and fills my heart just by being who he is.
I love that he is my husband for the rest of my life and that I get to enjoy him forever!

I sure miss you Jay, but know that you are in my heart always and forever! I love you!

Girls Afternoon

Today was a lazy day, an afternoon of only girls! My friends Elizabeth and Angie decided that we all needed some time off. So, they planned an afternoon when no work could be done, but only time to enjoy each other's company. And that is exactly what we did.

Starting with drinks and TONS of food led to REALLY full tummies. After that, we were all so full that we jusy layed around and chatted.

It was called a sunrise, orange juice and cherry syrup... very tasty!

I made the monkey bread in the middle of the table and the cake balls in the bottom left hand corner. First time I tried making them and I would say it was successful.

The rest of the afternoon... more laying around and chatting. We did muster up enough energy to paint nails and Heidi gave us all hand massages. But, that was the extent of the fun! I haven't painted my nails since.... I don't even remember when. I was reluctant to do it, but I did. I started with red, but it was way too bright for me. I took that off and tried a dark plum. It was pretty and lasted about 3 hours on my nails. Then I had had enough. That came off and clear went on. I attempted to be girl, but it just didn't work!

Crystal, Angie, and Elizabeth

We didn't need to do anything else as I was enjoying doing nothing. That RARELY happens these days. I couldn't help but think about the lesson plans I needed to write yet for school this week, but I kept pushing those thoughts aside. As I left Elizabeth's house at 8:00 in the evening, going to school did not sound like fun. So I decided I would wake up early and head in to prepare myself. I sure hope I have enough time!!

Thanks ladies for making me relax. I really appreciate you throwing this little get together! It was a perfect Sunday afternoon!! You are all such terrific friends!

CAV Fun Run

Most people would say that the words "fun" and "run" don't go together and normally I would agree to that. But this morning, the CAV hosted a 3K and a 5K run. I thought I would go out and show my support. When I woke up this morning and looked out the window, I saw nothing but white. Over night, a lovely two inches of snow fell. I bundled myself up and headed out! It actually wasn't all that cold outside.

Most of the ladies were going to walk through the race, instead of run. At the start of the race, I walked with the ladies for the first 100 meters, but then decided that this was going to be too slow for me. So, I took off and ran the rest of the race by myself. I ended up doing only the 3K, so it wasn't all that long. I didn't want to push my lungs too far in the cold weather. I was the first one to the finish line, but that wasn't too big of an accomplishment. Our commander came in 100 meters behind me and he ran the 5K. After I finished, I wished I would have kept going. I think I could have handled it. Ohs wells! I can do that on my own!

Here are a few of us after the race.

Read Across America Week

At school this week, we celebrated Read Across America. Dr. Seuss's birthday was on Tuesday, so we celebrated that too. For each day of the week, we used a book as our theme. We also had a dress up idea. Monday was crazy hat day...

Tuesday was stripes, Wednesday was "be seen in green", Thursday was wacky socks, and Friday we were to dress as any character from a book. I dressed as Heidi. Here I am with some of my kids that also dressed up.

On Tuesday night, we had Dr. Seuss night at school. Each grade level had an activity for the kids to do. I helped the kids do readers theater. We had several scripts prepared, along with neck signs so the kids knew who they were. The kids were able to go around to the different classrooms and participate in the events. At the end, we had birthday cake and one of the teachers did a skit up on the stage.

Here we are doing one of our readers theatre.

For the teacher that did the skit, my class created his back drop. It took us several days because it was HUGE! If you look closely, you'll notice it is six sheets of paper. Each sheet is one yard tall and three yards long.... making the entire thing 12x18 feet!! Thankfully I had some soldiers around that helped me hang it on the wall. I could have never done it by myself. They had to use some pretty call ladders!

It was a fun week, but it kept the kids very hyper! I enjoyed dressing up and being silly with them though!! That's part of the fun of teaching.... being able to act like a fourth grader!