Officially graduated!

Well, the last time I blogged was quite a while ago! I have been REALLY busy as of late. The last 16 weeks have kept me occupied with the final part of my degree....student teaching. While I have been teaching full time during the day, I have also been maintaining a 35 hour work week at Walgreens (have to pay the bills somehow)! But, today sadly marks the end of my college journey.

I have been placed in a sixth grade Social Studies classroom at De Forest Middle School. If you had asked me 6 months ago, I would have NEVER said that I would be in a Social Studies setting, but it has been absolutely wonderful! I have had the best time with the students, they each bring a new adventure to the classroom and make the school day fun and exciting. I love the middle school atmosphere, and now I know that I can handle just about any grade level that is offering a job!

I have worked with the students in some really fun activities. We did an immigration unit where the students were "immigrants" coming from other countries, and had to pass through inspections at Ellis Island before they were granted entrance to America. I put together a really cool lesson on the Panama Canal, that included some pictures from when I went as a sixth grader. I also had the students put together a little skit about an event that happened in WWI between the Germans and the French at Christmas.

I have had the greatest learning experience, and now I am excited, but scared to death because I am on my own next time! I hope I will be as confident with my own classroom as I have been with my student teaching classroom!

It was a bittersweet ending today. I was happy to be completely finished, but I have gotten so attached to the students over the course of the semester! It was hard to clean out my desk and say good-bye. Most of the students were crying this afternoon too, but I will definately go back to visit....maybe even sub too!!!!

It's finally here!!!!

Yes boys and girls, it is finally here! My long awaited days of student teaching have finally arrived! I started in the classroom about 2 weeks ago, and kids came last week. I officially have 1 week under my belt with only 15 weeks until I finally receive my degree!

I have been working in a sixth grade classroom teaching Social Studies, and one class of advanced reading. I love my cooperating teacher, she is completely awesome! I have my own desk and corner of the room for my stuff, and have already been thrown right into the teaching world!

Two weeks ago I was invited to attend teacher in service days for the school and district, It was such a great learning experience and wonderful time to be introduced to so many other teachers and administrators that may be beneficial when it comes time to start applying for a real job!

Last week, when the kids came, I was supposed to just be observing, but I was given many opportunities to work with the students as if I had been doing this forever! I love teaching, and I love the gratitude I have received from the students. I have always had my mind set on only teaching first grade, but I think I'm really going to like middle school. I think I will really be fine teaching in any grade level that has an opening for a job! I am so glad that I changed my major to education, I feel so passionate about learning, that having the opportunity to help others love to learn is more than enough satisfaction!

who cares if she wears shorts????

As I was sitting anxiously in the dentist chair waiting for the wonderful novocaine to set in, I was watching the Today Show on the big screen that tilts so you can look straight up at it. The big story this morning? Michelle Obama walked off of Airforce One wearing shorts and a tee shirt. The media is in a big frenzie over how she can call herself the First Lady of the United States whilst bearing her tanned and toned legs.


The problem I see in this situation is that the Obama family was on a nice family vacation visiting the Grand Canyon. Have you ever been to Arizona in the middle of August???? It was probably well over 110 degrees when the family departed the aircraft.


So why is the media so involved? I just don't understand....you see, one minute, First Lady Obama is an icon to female fashion, and the next she is being ridiculed for wearing shorts and a tee shirt.


I guess I just don't see the issue here. Michelle Obama is a beautiful woman, with a gorgeous figure that she obviously works to maintain. What is the problem with showing it off? The main concern seemed to be the fact that Mrs. Obama was not only wearing shorts, but also sporting bare legs!!! OMG! Seriously? Who even wears pantyhose anymore? None-the-less with shorts?


I guess the whole point of my little rant is that it doesn't matter what our First Lady wears, it proves that she is comfortable in her skin, and works hard to maintain a healthy looking body, as well as a healthy concept for fashion! So here's to you Michelle Obama, wear whatever you want, you dress very well, and can get away with wearing many things that I cannot!

Timber

As July came to a close yesterday, we had to endure yet more bad news. Timber (Jeremy's beloved dog) had to be put to sleep. We knew this was coming for several months now, and seemed to be ready for it to happen, but I guess it doesn't ease the pain as much as we would like.

Timber was Jeremy's dog, and his best "buddy." He was such a wonderful part of the family. Timber lived with us for a short period of time in Arizona, until we had to move to Chicago, then Timber stayed with mom & dad C. Over the years that I have known Timber, he has been a gentle, loving dog that rarely ever barked. Timber was not a vocal dog, in fact I remember the first and only time I ever heard a sound come out of him....I was driving with him in the back seat and he actually started to howl to sirens passing by, very unlike him! It did scare me a little as I was used to the quiet dog that he most often was.

Another quick comment from Emily....what an amazing child!.....

"Did Grandfather miss Timber? Is that why he went to heaven to play?"

I love you Timber, and will never forget you!

A Grandfather's Love

Grandfather, for those who have never had the pleasure to be introduced, was Jeremy's grandfather on his mother's side. Grandfather passed away on Friday morning after suffering a heart attack immediately followed by a car accident. Grandfather was 85 Years old this January.

What a wonderful man that I was fortunate to have had in my life! I can honestly say that Grandfather was more to me than just my husband's grandfther, but as close as my own. I have many fond memories of grandfather throughout the years I have known him: breakfast at the hole in one in Sun City West where grandfather would drink a little bit of tea mixed with his spoonsful of honey! The infamous yellow, red, and plaid pants that would be worn with multi-colored sweaters, the many refills of root beer given over Thursday evening dinners at Mom's house in Arizona, the remembrance of birthdays, anniversaries, and baptismal birthdays that were so important to grandfather.

Of the many memories I will carry with me, I will always remember the most important lesson that grandfather had ever taught me, the importance of love. Grandfather may have been stubborn in his ways at times, but everything he did or said were out of love and respect.

I never had the chance to meet Grandfather's wife Elsie (nana), however, I could see the unconditional love that Grandfather had for her throughout his life with and without her by his side. Everything Grandfather did in his life reflected the love and respect he had for his late wife. What an amazing man!

This weekend, Jeremy, Josh and myself drove to New York to meet the rest of the family for the funeral. We arrived Saturday afternoon just in time to change for the first viewing. Three hours on Saturday, and two separate 2 hour viewings on Sunday were held for Grandfather. As a New York state attorney and Judge Grandfather was love and respected by many. On Monday, the funeral took place at the very same Church in which Grandfather was baptized at only 9 days old. The services were beautiful, and the turnout was amazing.

I just want to close my post with a paraphrased statement that sums up the circle of life, this statement was given to me by 8 year old Emily:

"We are all born with angels inside of us. When we turn 100 years old we die. Our angels go up to Heaven to be with Jesus, leaving our body behind. Since we are a treasure to our family, our family buries our treasure on Earth in a treasure box. We will never get to see that person again until we are 100 years old and die too."

Love, Honor, and respect,

Grandfather you will be greatly missed

What have I been up to???

Wow, it seems that I have been absent from blogger for a VERY long time lately. However, a lot has been happening over the past weeks that I must fill you in on....

1. I have been spending most of my free time in various classrooms at Westside Elementary School here in Sun Prairie. My final classes have requirements of specific hours spent in different grade levels observing different subjects. I am glad that all of this practicum work is completed as school lets out for the summer this week!

2. I have only 3 weeks left of school!!! Thats right! I will be finished with my very last academic classes on June 28 - all that's left to do is student teaching - which I will be completing in the Fall at the De Forest Middle school in a 6th grade classroom. (It also happens that my nephews both attend the same middle school, and G will be in the 6th grade next school year)!

3. We are moving next week. On monday, we will be moving to a bigger apartment about a mile away, I have yet to finish (or really to even start) packing! We will also take a trip to IKEA (yay!) on Tuesday to pick up a couple of essential items for our new place.

4. When I have not been spending all of my time outside of work or in a classroom or doing homework....I have been indulging in the Twilight Saga....I have finally finished the series, and now I am truly sad that it is all over :( I feel like I have lost a good friend....I am also disapointed that Stephanie Meyer is not going to complete her new novel that was to be written from Edward's perspective. She started writing, and the manuscript leaked out to the internet, and now she has just stopped writing...so sad....

5. My dad had a minor outpatient surgery on his leg to remove a calcification last week. He is healing very well and already back on his feet. Mom and Dad have decided to come see us while we have time off next week. I am very excited to see them!

Ok, well that is it for now, I must go back to packing and writing my final papers for school so that I can finish with good grades (despite the senioritis setting in)!!!

Take your kid to work day

Today was the official take your kid to work day across America. My pharmacy manager brought her 10 year old daughter to work in the pharmacy with us. It was so much fun having her there! She is very shy, but very intelligent... M shadowed me around the pharmacy today, and I was happy to share my work with her! I was able to show her how the drive through works, which apparently is the only thing she wanted to run! Most of the day however, was spend at the filling station. Our pharmacy has a Yuyama robot, which contains the 200 most popular drugs, it automatically fills and labels those drugs for us so that we can cut back on patient wait time. I let M fill the drugs that came from the Yuyama, she seemed to like scanning the labels! There were a few that I showed her how to count by five's on the filling tray, (I counted them after she finished just to make sure)! I also showed her how to put away some of the order, and where everything in the pharmacy was located. She went on breaks with me and spent the majority of the day by my side, I was sad to see her leave before my shift ended.....I hope she wants to come back next year!

I guess I'm a bit of a slacker

Since my last post, a lot has happened. I had my week off with Jeremy as our "vacation" time from work. The first part of the week was really nice, peaceful, relaxing, just spending time together to catch up with our "us" time that we seem to not get enough of these days. The second half however, was an entirely different story......I was off from Friday the 3rd through Thursday the 9th and went back to work on Friday the 10th. Jeremy had the other half of his wisdom teeth extracted on Tuesday, so I was taking care of my poor sick husband the rest of the week. On Friday after I came home from work I thought it would be a good idea for the two of us to go for a walk around the block since Jeremy had been couped up in the house for several days straight. As we were walking, Jeremy's jaw locked into an extremely uncomfortable position that would not open or close. I freaked out! Needless to say, we went straight to the emergency room, where by the way, he was not given any kind of pain or nauseau medications but just a towel soaked in warm water! We were there from 9:30pm until about 2:30am before they gave him a prescription and sent us home. We came home and it happened again...panicking, I called the ER doc back to see what I should do to make it stop, I rushed to Walgreens to have his script filled and told them that I would not be in the next day for obvious reasons, came home and gave him another dose of the medication. The locking seemed to slow drastically, and he slept for several straight hours through the night! Phew! Thank goodness he is ok!

On Sunday, it was Easter! We had a nice morning at church with Josh, Kim, and the boys. There was a really unique service complete with strobe lights and Jesus rising from the tomb and greeting people as he left the church. Overall, the music was upbeat, and people were friendly, and the church had YUMMY coffee that you could take into the sanctuary with you! I really enjoyed going back to church as it has been quite some time since I have been. After church, Jeremy, Josh, the boys and myself went out to eat at the Mongolian grill, which was fun and actually quite tasty also! I was just a little concerned about the grilling dude that was hitting on me and asking my nephew if I was his sister! A little creepy....I just made sure to hand my food to him with my wedding ring hand, and stayed as close to Jeremy as possible!

I know it is a little late, but Happy Easter to you all! And you may now eat whatever you gave up for Lent.....mmmm.....Girl scout cookies are calling my name!

It is starting to feel so real

I am finally in my last official semester of school! It is starting to feel so real now! I am currently taking 3 courses: Methods and Curriculum of Literacy, Foundations and Methodology of Lesson Planning Implementation and Assessment, and Structured English Language Immersion. These classes will be finished by the end of April, then I start my LAST three classes, 8 weeks later....I am officially finished with ALL of my course work and ready for a semester of student teaching!

As I am nearing the end of my core education courses, I am also required to complete several hours of practicum work in the classroom. I met with the principal of Westside Elementary School here in Sun Prairie this afternoon to go over the requirements set out by GCU. He will be placing my requests tomorrow for teachers to sign up to help me out. I was told that it is very common for the schools to take on practicum observers, however, he has never had an online student before! I am a first! If everything goes according to plans, I should start my classroom training the week after spring break-2 weeks from now!!!

I am so excited to start this new chapter of my educational exerience. This is where everything that I have been studying and learning will start to become relevant, and all of my book knowledge will now become practical knowledge that I will be able to take with me into my very own classroom in the future!!!

On a whole different note, other updates - We have signed a lease for another year in Sun Prairie, but in a different apartment complex. It is much bigger and 2 stories, and, bonus....it has a real (gas) fireplace! I have a fireplace to hang stockings from at Christmas time! We will get the keys on June 15 and will start moving in on Jeremy's next days off! (Josh we will let you know the exact date when we know so you can clear your calandar)!

Please let there be sun!

I thought it was almost over....I thought I had survived my first Wisconsin winter, but alas, another winter wonderland has made its way through this small town, ironically named SUN Prairie. Wouldn't you think that would sound like a nice, warm, cozy place to live? Well, it is nice and cozy, but warm it is not!

It started snowing late last night and is STILL snowing as I gaze out of my apartment window. When will this madness end? I am not made for this cold weather, I am bred for Sunny California sunshine!

I think the worst part is that I have completely forgotten what my poor toes even look like! Yes, they wake up to me stuffing them immediately into slippers, then after I see them briefly in the shower, they are stuffed into socks, then layered with boots. I only want to wear my lovely Old Navy Flip Flops once again....

So this blog is more of a tribute to my toes....I promise poor toes, I will treat you to a wonderful pedicure and let you be free in your flip flops once this horrible snow decides to disappear!

Its Groundhog Day!!!!

Happy Groundhog day to everyone!!! As I was getting out of the shower at about 6:30 this morning, I started hearing some speaking over a PA system in the square below our apartment. Jeremy was still asleep so I opened the door to the balcony and started hearing the Mayor of Sun Prairie singing....what may he be singing at 6:30 in the morning? Oh, but the official Groundhog Carol...sung to the tune of Jingle Bells

He sleeps in the groundOn a farm outside of town

His little ears are roundAnd his coat is furry brown
The same time every yearFebruary second is the day

That we find if Spring is nearOr Winter's here to stay...

Oh!Groundhog Day...Groundhog Day...Jimmy wakes today

To tell the folksAround the worldWhat his shadow has to say!
Hey!

After the groundhog carol. We were met by the arrival of Jimmy the groundhog, who is the Official groundhog that determines whether or not winter will last another 6 weeks. While there have been some stories as to whether Jimmy is just a duplicate for the Pensylvania Groundhog. Congress has determined Jimmy to be the United States Official Spokeshog for Groundhog day!

So, for everyone out there wondering about how much longer we must endure this aweful cold winter, Jimmy has spoken! We have 6 weeks more!