Best time of the year

I love Christmas!  It is wonderful to be able to spend so much time with family and friends.  Andrew's sister came from California with her three little girls.  They are adorable.  And they love marshmallows.  I've seriously never seen two little girls (age 4 1/2 and 2) who love marshmallows more.  It's hilarious.  Yesterday Andrew was holding the littlest one (7 weeks) and she spit up all over him.  Poor guy.  Just preparing him I guess because in 7 week (WHAT?!) he might have spit up on him everyday.  But let's hope that she doesn't spit up. Ever.  

32 weeks

For Christmas I had the brilliant idea of making a print for Andrew using one of the lines from a song he wrote.  He is so talented and writes amazing songs.  This is my favorite line from all of his songs:

My friend Danielle designed the print (isn't she amazing?!) 

We went to Les Miserables a few days ago.  It was fantastic.  The cast was perfect.  It's long, but totally worth it.

Hope you had a great Christmas!

Week 22

Here we are at week 22.  I thought we'd never make it to this point.  It was so hard to keep this secret, especially during the summer when I wasn't too busy.  But now that school is in full swing, this baby will be here in no time it feels like.  Which also means that Karissa comes home soon--February is going to be an exciting month in the Bosco home.

We found out a few weeks ago that we are having a girl.  We are so thrilled.  I can't wait to put little bows in her hair and, of course, paint her little nails.  How do you paint baby's nails without it smearing before it dries?  I guess we'll find out.

I love the fall colors.  The mountains and trees are gorgeous!

22 weeks.  It's so weird to look down and see myself pregnant.  (I'm finally getting past the "what have you been eating?!" stage to the "baby bump" stage. Thank goodness!!!)

The news is out (and spreading fast)

Maybe you know, maybe you don't.  We will be adding to our family in February.  And if you know me, you know we won't be adding a dog or a cat.

WE ARE ADDING A BABY! 

This has been very exciting news for the past few months.  It's been fun to tell people and see their reaction.  I finally told my class on Friday that I was going to have a baby.  Wow did they react.  I knew they would be excited, but geesh. They are EXCITED.  I'm pretty sure they think I'll have the baby, come back the next day (with the baby) and have a party.  Some of them will go into shock when I tell them I will be gone for six weeks.

I talked to my class about working hard to get our routines down so when I am gone, they will be prepared to carry on with class.  A girl came up to me and said, "You know how you want us to be prepared?  Well, what should we do if you start to have the baby in class?"

I will be getting a knitted Link (Legend of Zelda) hat from a boy in my class.

The class thinks when I find out the gender, I should give them a pink or blue cookie.  I asked why they think they should get cookies and the response was, "Ice cream is ok too."

One girl in my class loves to sew baby clothes and blankets.  She told me to tell her as soon as I know if it's a boy or girl so she can get some clothes for it.

They wanted to know what I was craving, and if my pregnancy was the reason I got a little cranky when they didn't line up really fast after recess (I'm assuming they have experienced this change with their mothers or sisters... ha ha).

When they were dismissed from class, they left telling everyone they saw that I was pregnant.  I got a lot of smiles and excited congratulations from about 100 kids after school.

I am glad I opted to tell them Friday afternoon before a long weekend because the excitement level after that news would not allow for any teaching to be done for the rest of the week!!

Summer in a very small nutshell

My grandparents.

Our cutest (and only) nephew.  With another niece on the way, Henry is out-numbered four girls to one boy.

I got a gift certificate to Ruth's Chris, so we decided to make a vacation out of it. We stayed at Waldorf Astoria in Park City.  They gave us free chapstick on our way out.  Who doesn't love free chapstick!

Andrew had an internship conference in Texas.  His team ROCKED the lazer tag games they played.  They contribute part of their dominating victory to the fact they were the only six sober people there. 

Ringo Star (he was the drummer for The Beatles). This 72 year old can still get it done.  We have officially seen all the living Beatles perform live. 

Woke up to red and blue pancakes on the 4th of July.  So fun!

Riding the lift at our annual Park City family reunion.  I love the few days we all get to spend together as a family.  There were 56 of us there this year!

Wicked was awesome.  And to make it even better, we ate at Cheesecake Factory. I ordered Chicken Madeira.  You must try that meal, it is amazingly delicious. And huge.

How has your summer been?!

Love those kids.

I've been trying to write how I feel about my first year of teaching.  It's impossible.  There are too many stories to type and too many memories that made it _________ (insert any emotion you can think of).  I had no idea how much of yourself you give to your students as a teacher.  I had to be my best everyday.  I had to have hard/awkward conversations with parents and students.  I had to help students through rough situations.  My students trusted me with their challenges and secrets (for some reason, many of my students told me who they liked.  Ha, do you remember telling your TEACHER who you LIKED?! I never did!)

I could wrap this all up by saying I had a fantastic year.  Of course there were nightly cries the first few months, but at some point I started feeling more comfortable and I was really able to enjoy the ride. I had some strange cookies in my class, but I loved every single one of them--and they knew it.

Choosing to teach was one of the best decisions I have made.  I learned so much from the kids and teachers I worked with.  On the last day of school, my students begged, "Please don't cry!  It's so awkward when the teachers cry!"  So I didn't... until they all left.  I wanted them to come back on Monday and greet me with a million good mornings. There is nothing like going to work and being attacked by a group of kids wanting to tell you about their weekend.  I laughed so hard/much daily.  Crack ups. Let me give you an idea why:

I was roaming the room as my students were working on independent work.  I turn my head to find a student knitting.  What?

"Mrs. Smith, if I seem a little tired it's because I was chased by 50 girls this morning before school started."

A boy ate a grasshopper.

Here and here.

Love those kids.

Accio Disney World

If you are not familiar with Harry Potter, the title made no sense to you.  The charm Accio summons an object to you.  And now you know.

Andrew and I went to Disney World and Universal Orlando over spring break. WE HAD SO. MUCH. FUN.  The weather was a beautiful 80 degrees and the skies were blue the whole time.  Some highlights were visiting Hogwarts, drinking Butterbeer, eating at the restaurants at Epcot, and going on Splash Mountain.  The best part, though, was being with Andrew uninterrupted for 11 days straight.  Lovely.

Walking into Hogwarts

Butterbeer.  Absolutely delicious.

The REAL Hogwarts.

All of our souvenir money went to this great establishment: Honey Dukes.

We got so wet on the Jurassic Park ride. The guy that unloaded our ride said we were the wettest he'd seen.

We went on this right after JP and got completely soaked again.  My shorts never completely dried that day. 

I learned to cast some pretty great spells while at Hogwarts.  

So happy.

This just made me laugh.


Boy 1: Sometimes I think you can sing like a girl.
Boy 2: You wish.
Boy 1: You wish upon a star.


I love my job.

It is still me

I dyed my hair.  Pretty normal if you know me.   But it turned out DARK.  I didn't mean for this to happen.  I got my hair done at a hair school (they have supervisors and I was going darker, not much you can mess up with that).  My one specification was that I didn't want it to be black.  Well, when I got home, it was black.  The next day, my students had a melt down.  One student stood in front of our classroom door pointing, staring, super confused.  I told him it was me. Literally I had to tell him before he'd walk into the classroom.  Many of my students thought I was a sub.  I had no idea that dying my hair would cause so much chaos.  

I don't want to bore you with all the details (I was there for 5 hours!!!), but if you'd like to hear it, ask one of my students.  They love the story.  They've asked me to tell it again.  I heard one kid tell another kid my hair story in the lunch line. It was a very traumatic day for the kids. See what a little change does in an elementary school classroom!

By the way, these pictures don't do it justice. It is sooooo dark. And there are blond splotches on the side of my head.  Ha, what a day.

Funnies:

Male student out of breath: Mrs. Smith, if you see me slouching in my chair today it's because I am so tired.  I was chased by 50 girls this morning at recess. 

We are having a homophone competition between the 5th and 6th graders in my classroom.  The 6th graders are so competitive that they checked out all the library books about homophones before the 5th graders could get to them.

Boy wrote 'I love (a girl in our class)' on his math paper.  I saw it since I was helping him clean out his folder.  So I asked if it was true and his reply was maybe (as his cheeks burned red). Then two second later that very girl came to ask me a question.  The boy almost died. 

Watching a boy try to turn the rope for double dutch today.  I know that's not funny to anyone else, but you should have seen it.  

Crayola madness

I thought I would be creative this Valentine's Day and make some heart shaped crayons.  So I started with a box of 96 crayons and went to work.  By the way, there are a lot of creative colors in that box! (Note to self: hire someone to peel the crayons next time.) 

   

Next I broke the crayons into 5 pieces.  This might be a therapeutic way to release stress.  Unfortunately, it makes your fingers really sore.

After that I put the crayons into the silicon cupcake pan.  (Sorry mom... I thought that the heart shaped one I borrowed from you was silicon.  And I think it is, but after it melted in the oven I noticed it said for water only. The good news is that it's not red anymore. Each hole has a unique design as shown below.  This is after I popped the crayons out.)

I love how they turned out!! After I realized the heart shape (ice) tray wasn't going to last another round in the heat, I made circle ones with a mini muffin pan.  They aren't quite as Valentine-y, but the colors are awesome. 

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Whatchamacallit

OK Whatchamacallit, where have you been my whole life?

               You are DELICIOUS.

Extraordinary my old friend

My class is starting a newspaper for the 5/6 grade.  They are STOKED.  So excited, they want to continue it for the rest of the year.  I told them to choose a section they want to write for and persuade me why they'd be the best for that.
These are some of my favorite reasons:

• Well, I am really creative because well I am a kid not an adult. Aren't all kids having dreams, I mean I know I do.
• All of my ideas are good, not bad.
• Have you ever noticed how funny I am? (wanted to do the entertainment section)
• P.P.S. If I do get to be in the advice column, do I have to go by one of those phony fake names?
• Extraordinary my old friend. (yup, that was in the middle of the paragraph...   ?)

Autographs

My students are OBSESSED with BYU anything (except for the few Utah fans...).  During football season I got to eat in the blue zone during one of the games and I spotted Jimmer.  Of course I told my class about it.  Last week we went to Carrabbas (the best restaurant) and saw Carlino there.  And again, I told my class about it.  This was their response:

students: did you get his autograph?
me: no
students (distressed): you always do that.
me: ?
students: you didn't get Jimmer's autograph, and now you didn't get Carlino's either.
me: We should make it a class goal to get the autographs of BYU players
students: (reacted like it was the best idea I've ever had)

Good news.  I have this to show my students tomorrow...

Charles Abouo and Kyle Van Noy

I bet they'll be excited.

(I met them at my brothers' basketball game.  Brandon Davies was there, and brought the rest of the BYU players with him.  They were super nice, friendly, and supported the cause of taking a picture with me for my classroom.)

Oct-Nov-Dec

Love them.