First Haircut

I finally gave Carson his first haircut. I had been wanting to give him a haircut but we didn't have a camera yet. We did order a camera on black friday for a good deal, but it won't come until Wednesday or Thursday so I used my sister's camera. Carson was pretty good, but it's hard to have a curious and active boy sit still. Kaylie took the pictures and tried to distract while Steven held him and I cut. Carson cried only once and it was for about 5 seconds.

Halloween, Moving and Internet Oh My

I know it's been a LONG time, but I do have a few good excuses. First we have no camera and so I have to use other peoples cameras for any sort of pictures. Second we moved the middle of October. Third we just barely got internet today and I've been wanting to blog for song long! For Halloween I had the entire 4th grade make pinatas. It took about 4 weeks and by the end I had about 75 balloons all over my classroom and in my alcove. I'm not quite sure if I would ever do it again, but I'm sure most of the 4th graders will remember their crazy teacher that did the pinatas:)

I also made a class pinata and we broke it at our Halloween party. I was a flat screen t.v. that showed a BYU vs. Nebraska football game. I had Nebraska winning of course. I have some boys and girls in my class that are die hard BYU fans and would ask me every hour or so who was winning. I got quite a few comments about my costume.

Carson and Steven came to the Halloween party and Carson just loved it. Speaking of Carson, he is talking like CRAZY! He says dog, max (my parent's dog), momma, dada, ball, bottle, Jesus, more, roo roo (what a dog says), and a few others I can't think of at the moment. He copies and mimicks what he sees other kids do, even if it's annoying;)

So this picture is actually from the halloween party. Steven and I were cleaning up after all my students had left and heard Carson kind of whining. We went over to him and he had a fireball in his hand with red around the mouth. I guess he thought it was too hot;)

1 Year OLD!!!

I know it's been a while, but I have a really good reason to post now. CARSON JUST HAD HIS FIRST BIRTHDAY on Thursday OCTOBER 1st!!! What a week it has been. I had SEP conferences (also known as parent/teacher/student conferences) on Tuesday and Thursday. So it was a really late night working on Tuesday and I tried to be home by 6:30 on Thursday but it was a little later.
So here's what happened on Carson's birthday from my point of view.
Saw him in the morning and sang happy birthday to him.
Went to work and tried to call him at lunch but he was sleeping.
Tried to call again later on but he was sleeping. Conferenced with parents.
Came home, made the cupcakes (I got the idea from this littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com. They are supposed to be cookie monster and elmo),
Carson ate the cupcakes, we washed him off and gave him a bath.
Wrapped up the presents, actually put them in nice bags with tissue paper, Carson opened the presents and got a little distracted when he wanted to play with each toy and book.
Played with Carson.
Watched The Office.
Gave Carson hugs and put him to bed.
Snuggled with Steven and went to bed.
Overall it was a pretty busy, but good first birthday. Luckily he won't remember that I was gone all day:) This boy is trouble! He is always into everything and he is only 1! Carson is very curious and loves to look at new things. He's sweet and such a cuddler and loves to play peek-a-boo, but he is such a teaser and I don't know where he got that from:)

Carson loves sharing!

Finally!

So I have been wanting to donate my hair to Locks of Love since my junior year of highschool. 5 years later I finally did it. I've been debating back and forth for 6 months when I was going to do it. Last month I was walking on campus and noticed they were doing free haircuts for those with 10 inches or longer. I would have donated then, but I was having interviews for teaching and didn't want to look completely different from when they first met me. I decided that since I have school pictures this coming Friday I want my students to remember me as having short hair, instead of getting it cut the week after and in the school pictures I have long hair. This is the shortest I have had it in about 13 years, but I'm pretty happy with the haircut.

Before:

After:

First Full Week of School and Some

This first full week of school was quite the rollercoaster. We started school Aug. 20th and I began teaching from 9:15-11:30. It was really nice to finish by lunch. Friday, my principal talked to me about how they might be able to hire us teachers working from 9:15-11:30 on a .67 contract. This means that I would teach from 9:15-2:15 and need to be there 30 minutes before and after. I would also receive salary and benefits. Later on he called, did a very informal interview and I was hired on .67 contract. I would get a 7 1/2 hour work day to catch up and plan lessons. The next day was my grandparents 50th anniversary celebration and the following Monday was my Dad's 50th and sister, Kaylie's birthday.

Monday Aug. 24th I started working from 9:15-2:15. After lunch we do rotations where I teach Art and music to all the 4th graders. Luckily it's not too much work in the afternoon and I really like my class.
So you may all be thinking...WHAT!? How do you feel about being gone so much? Will Steven continue working? Who will watch Carson? Where are you going to live? Etc.

Surprisingly I don't feel overwhelmed or stressed because I know I'm supposed to teach this year. I love music and art. At the beginning of the year I noticed a piano in my classroom and decided to keep it instead of send it back to the district. I am so happy I kept it because now I can actually use it! We are doing rotations now where I will teach the same art lesson for 3 days in a row and the same music lesson. I also have a 45 minute prep time to plan lessons. I am thrilled and I have a great team. I think my first year of teaching will definitely be unlike most.

I wish I wasn't gone so much from Carson because I love playing with him and seeing him. I feel like he will be developing so much and I don't want to miss anything special. I am concerned about his feelings because he does seem to have more of an attachment to me, but at the same time this is a learning opportunity for both of us and hopefully this will help him later on in the year when he goes to nursery! My mom is also watching Carson and he loves her. Steven will continue to work and as for where we will live, if you know of a good place let us know:)

On a side note I was going to go to the school to put in some of my hours yesterday (saturday), but Carson has been sick with the stomach bug and then Friday night we fed him formula which he promptly threw up saturday morning at 1:30. I then felt sick and threw up around 4:30. Steven was feeling sick, but it wasn't as bad. I have had gatorade and cheerios in the past 40 hours and Carson has had pedialite and cheerios. We have been sick the whole weekend and I have quite a bit of work I still need to do before school starts on monday. I love being a teacher!

3rd Anniversary & Wisdom Teeth

To conclude my long posts I will end with Steven and our 3rd Anniversary. It was wonderful! Actually Steven was going to surprise me and had gotten the day off of work. We were going to spend the night at a hotel on Tuesday and eat at a nice restaurant, but since I got my job I have been doing orientation and professional development the last 3 days. I also decided to schedule my wisdom teeth appointment for the 12th (our anniversary because it was either that day or a day when I had to teach). Steven watched Carson all day and I went to professional development. He then came to get me and took me to my wisdom teeth appointment. Since I planned for our anniversary to have my wisdom teeth taken out you would already think I lost my wisdom;) Anyway... yesterday I slept a lot and couldn't have really anything but liquids and today my face is swollen and I'm still sleeping a lot. Yeah,wisdom teeth, glad to have you finally out! As for our anniversary, we still have yet to celebrate it, so we might go to the Dominican Republic:)! Steven I love you so much. Sorry it wasn't the anniversary you had planned on.

Oh, no

Carson is starting to WALK! He still prefers crawling, but I'm not quite sure how long that will last.
Pros: I don't have to carry him all the time, he can reach and get into things himself, he looks so cute
Cons: he can reach and get into things himself, will be able to walk away from me, more likely to fall and get hurt