10 reasons why being a teacher is fantastic.

1. You get to wear your hair like this for crazy hair day.

2. Jack Sparrow might show up at your 5th grade play performance.

3. You get to take your children outside for science and watch them get tangled in hula hoops.

4. You get paid to explore the Museum of Natural History.

5. Your students give you owl-themed gifts.

6. You can grade papers with these babies.

7. The faculty room is legitimately labeled like this:

8. Your students set leprechaun traps, and you get to set them off, steal all the gold coins, and eat them yourself.

9. You get to read hilarious things like this:

10. And last but not least, things like this will happen to you:

The other day, one of my students brought a bowling ball to school in his backpack. Yes, you read that right. A bowling ball. When I asked him what on Earth would possess him to do something like that, he claimed that it was his "good luck charm."    .......... Umm, what?!?

After confiscating the bowling ball, another student complained that his hand was hurting. It turns out that before school started that day, he had been joking around with the bowling ball student and had punched his backpack. By lunchtime, the second student's hand was so swollen that I made him call his mother. Turns out, he probably broke his hand.

Better than reality TV, I tell you. Much better.

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that time i let my sister talk me into going to a concert.

Somehow, I let my sister Allison talk me into taking her and three of her friends to the Ed Sheeran concert a few weeks ago. Since I didn't want to go alone (you KNOW those girls were going to ditch their poor chaperone), I dragged Lizzie along with me. I owe Sarah and Lauren Bradley (who were also at the concert!) big time for getting me a copy of his album a few days before the concert so I wasn't stuck knowing only "The A Team."

And, since it is customary, here are a handful of blurry concert photos.

And this last one features the silhouette of the drunk lady who was getting in all our pictures and spilling her drinks everywhere and generally and ruining our lives. #notreally #iloveconcerts

Long story short, it ended up being a ton of fun! We stayed up way too late for a school night, but everyone survived. And, it turns out, I really like this Ed Sheeran guy! His music is pretty fantastic. Go get yourself a copy of his album and love your life. You can thank me later.

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winter blues / jackson hole

Lately, I've had a pretty bad case of the winter blues. Like pretty much everyone else in this city (except maybe Kimi and some avid skiers and snowboarders), I'm ready for January to leave. And to take all of its bitter cold temperatures, dangerous-looking icicles, and indoor recesses with it!

Luckily, I have yet to share some summery photos from the road trip my family took up to Jackson Hole this past summer! (P.S. If you go on a vacation but never post photos of it...did it really happen? Food for thought.) 

cooking up some tootsie rolls on the dash (gotta have them nice and soft...)

quick stop in Lava Hot Springs for some platform diving and waterpark adventures.

Hiking the Tetons

downtown Jackson

where we ate elk and buffalo and it was fantastic.

and some rock climbing for good measure.

And if that doesn't help bring a little bit of summer back into your life, I don't know what will. Oh wait, yes I do! How about seeing these numbers on your classroom thermostat when you walked in the door last Friday?

Yep, that'll do it.

FYI: My heater was broken (wouldn't shut itself off) and it is finally fixed now. But we had a few tropical island days in my classroom for a minute there. Bikram yoga, anyone?

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Makeover.

I gave the blog a little makeover today, and I'm really happy with how it turned out! It was high time to update our little corner of the Internet. And I guess I was in the makeover spirit, because I also got a little makeover of my own today! Although, instead of switching up some HTML code, mine was in the form of a haircut/color and some brand-new bangs.

What do you think? Daniel loves them - but he says that about pretty much every hair adventure I embark on. Either he's ridiculously supportive, or he has learned by now that telling a woman you don't like her hair is like throwing a match in a tank of gasoline. Either way, he's one fabulous guy. And I'm lucky to have him. Happy Saturday!

P.S. Some things in our apartment also got a little makeover recently - I will share ASAP!

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A Resolution!

Dec. 31, 2012

So, as you've probably noticed, I've gotten really behind on blogging.

Sometimes I feel a lot of pressure to blog - almost like it's a chore or an assignment that I'm putting off. And that makes posting not seem so fun sometimes. I realized I shouldn't feel that way! Blogging is a hobby. It's a way for me to document our life together so that I'll always remember our fun adventures. 

So, as 2012 comes to a close, I am making a quick New Year's Resolution to post some of the adventures of the past year that really should have made it up on the blog. But I'm not making any promises to post three times a week. Or even once a week. Because that is a chore/assignment. And let's be honest - I don't need any more of those!

So, Happy New Year everyone! 

2012 left us with some amazing memories.

We can't wait for the new adventures we are going to have in 2013!

The Tale of the Pencil Sharpener.

Our class electric pencil sharpener decided to die a few weeks ago. It was no problem, because I have a smaller electric pencil sharpener that I brought in to tide us over until I figured out what was wrong with the real one. That is, until our back up one decided to die yesterday. 

Teaching with no pencil sharpener proved to be no bueno, so I brought home the first pencil sharpener to see if by some chance Daniel could fix it. It took him about 30 minutes to take the entire thing apart, get it working, and put it back together again. 

Would you like to know what was wrong with it?

There were four (yes, four) paperclips inside it. FOUR of them. And also a wad of paper, and part of the lid of a pen for good measure. All of that somehow jammed into a poor, defenseless pencil sharpener. 

So, class began today with Mrs. Sorensen holding up a plastic bag filled with the evidence. This was followed by a little lecture about why the pencil sharpener would be making its new home right in the middle of my desk from here on out. 

I brought my other sharpener home today to see if Daniel can fix it too. I can't say I'm not  a little concerned about what we might find when we take that one apart. 

Bets, anyone?

Zoology 102 with M & D

Remember the time Daniel and I debated the difference between an aardvark and an anteater? Well, we have finally found our subjects for Zoology 102 with M&D. While eating Sunday dinner with the Jacobsens last week, we got into a discussion about seals. Brief background: my father doesn't like seals. He truly, thoroughly, doesn't like them. He claims they're "ugly" and "they eat too many fish." Yeah. We don't get it either.

Anyway, after discussing my father's serious dislike for seals, my brother asked him how he felt about sea lions. My dad decided that they were okay. This sparked some discussion about what the difference was between these two animals - if there was a difference at all. So, naturally, we turned to our trusty smartphones at the dinner table and Googled some pictures of these guys. Want to know what we discovered?

In the case of seals vs. sea lions...

This guy is a seal:

And this guy is a sea lion:

It turns out, both animals are members of the pinniped family (along with walruses and even otters). But they have some very key differences, as you can see from this diagram:

Here is a more in-depth comparison.

After reading up on these guys, we now feel like we know a little bit more about the animal kingdom. What we still don't understand is how my dad can look at this little guy square in the face and tell him he doesn't like him.

There are some things we'll never understand.