Fall Break

Isn't it great how I always wait like, a month before posting my most exciting things in life? Fall Break was coming up and I was REALLY missing my twin nieces in Sacramento and wanted to see them terribly. I was telling my sister how I missed them and I was actually looking at plane tickets half seriously when my sister told me good news! She said that my other sister was driving to the Bay Area for a school reunion that same exact weekend! What a coincidence, huh? So I called up my other sister who only lives 20 minutes away and asked if I could just hitch a ride, she could drop me off in Sacramento, drive down for the reunion, then pick me up on her way back to UT. It worked out perfectly. Except for the fact that Andrew couldn't come since BYU doesn't have a Fall Break. Sad day. So here I am with my 4 year old nephew during our 10 hour drive.

He already started going crazy after the first hour was done. My other nephew was smart to bring those huge headphones. Haha.
This is how excited Courtney was to see me!We went to the mall to get their pictures taken. They were adorable and were absolutely perfect for the photographer. Seriously, I don't know if I could've been better. The stranger lady just moved them around and they just kept on smiling. The pictures turned out so good too!

Afterwards, we went out to lunch at Costa Vida and got our free longboards.
Aubry is so cute with her sunglasses on. They're such girly girls. I love it.
Here they are while their mom was looking at their pictures. I was able to play with them on these toys in the mall.

It was such a good trip. It worked out so well, except for the fact that I got home at 3:15am and had to wake up to teach the next day at 6am. *yawn* But I had the students do the math problem of "How much sleep did Mrs. Parker get last night?" and once they figured out the correct answer, they felt bad for me and were SUPER good all day. I love my life.

Wal-mart Adventures

Today at Wal-Mart, I decided to do a couple nice things for others and I definitely got a reward for it.

Number one: A little old lady was looking at these ginormous turkeys that were on sale and trying to move them, look at them, pick them up, etc. So I went over and asked if I could help and so I looked through them with her then put the turkey of her choice into her cart.

God must have been checking up on me at that moment because He rewarded me. He knows me all too well because He blessed me to get behind this:

Yes, camouflage pants, a tye-dye shirt, red shoes, and the whole ensemble was completed with a fanny pack.

Number two: I got in line to check out and this nice guy with only a couple things was behind me. So I was nice once again and said, "You know what? You go ahead of me, you only have a couple things." He was really grateful and because of that nice action, God blessed me again! Yes, this cute little 3-year-old hispanic boy was now behind me in line with his mom and he had a full on mullet. It was even spiky on the top as if they tried to do it, but then the long hair hung down at the bottom. It was quite the sight. I didn't feel right taking a picture of a 3-year-old, especially with his mom nearby. I didn't want to get caught taking a picture either. So I refrained.

God knows just how to make my day.

Fall Pictures

My wonderful sister-in-law, Tina, sacrificed her time and took pictures of us a few weeks ago. It was a quick photo shoot done up the canyon. I swear she's a professional because by the time we got up the canyon, it was dark. As in, headlights had to be turned on to see the road and everything. But don't worry, she made it look perfect because of her genius ideas. We love them and are so happy she could do them for us.

Thanks, Tina!!

Brighten My Day

So I wasn't feeling my best today at school due to a minor cold. There's this little boy in my class who I had last year and he's struggling a bit this year and comes from a very broken home. He's just so cute and everyone in class absolutely loves him and treats him like a little brother that they love dearly. They're always willing to help him out. Anyway, he was leaving today and stopped and said, "You know what, Mrs. Parker? I can tell you something that I KNOW will brighten up your day and it's the truth! You are my most favoritest teacher in the whole world." Then he gave me a hug. Seriously?! Thank you for that. It's a rare occasion to have a 5th grade boy do that.

Parent-Teacher Conference

This week were Parent-Teacher Conferences. Some were quite... interesting. Here's a few stories:

Cursing Mommy

The student was invited to come to this one with their parent. So here's this cute little girl and her mom sitting there talking to me and the mom says, "You know... this one is pretty manipulative..." and she starts telling these funny stories and we're just laughing and laughing and then the mom says, "Yeah... so as you see, sometimes she can be a little sh--!" In front of her own daughter!!! Wow.

Anxious Mommy

This mother was so upset that my conference was running a little late with another parent that she had the nerve to come into my classroom and be like, "Are you guys almost done? I scheduled this time out of my day so I could come." So I tell her that we're almost done and keep going on, apologizing to the parents I'm with. Anxious Mommy comes in again and is like, "You know what? My son's ballroom starts now so I just sent him to that. He won't be here with us. Is that okay?" (I am STILL conversing with the other family) I tell her that it's fine and she goes out the door again. So once the other family leaves and Anxious Mommy comes in, I was thinking, "Great...she'll probably be quick since she has 'so many other priorities' and then I can get back on track with the others." No, she sits down calmly and even though her son is perfect straight A student, so nice to others, no worries whatsoever, she wants to talk about her crazy life and how her son is a perfectionist sometimes, her mothering style, her other 13 kids that she adopted, how her son/my student is so much like her adopted older son and swears they're genetically bonded somehow, etc. She takes up 30 minutes when each is scheduled to be 15min. How annoying...

Lesbian Mommys

Totally twisted family situation. I have 2 boys in my class, same age, step-brothers/half brothers (?). Same father, 2 different mothers, separate families. One boy comes in for his conference with both mothers because apparently the boy stays with each other moms at one point or another. They're both tickling him and laughing with him and it's so awkward. Both are trying to show me that they're his mom somehow and that they can tickle him and hug him, etc. Wow. It looked more like a boy who had 2 lesbian mothers.

TMI Mommy

During a conference, this mother and boy tell me about how they have a hard time studying spelling because they used to do it on Thursday mornings, but now Thursday mornings are when bath time is for the boys in the family. Do you realize you are a 5th grade boy?? What are you doing having a family bath time?!?! Ew. I do not need to know this kind of information!

There's a few of the stories. Another thing I learned: Be VERY careful what comes out of your mouth to the students. I saw a new custodian in our school and a girl was like, "That's my cousin!" and without thinking I said, "I think I went on a date with him once." Don't worry, she went on to tell everyone that I dated her cousin. Friends AND family. Her mom said that that was the first thing her daughter told her when she saw her. Ugh. So now it's going around the school that I dated the custodian. Seriously?! I love my life.

Broken

The reason why I haven't posted anything is because my camera broke on my San Diego Girl's Trip. I don't know if it's really broken or not, but sand got in the lens and now it says that there's a lens error. Boo on that. I don't like to post things without pictures because I feel like it's boring without pictures. Other people can write really fun/funny things and it's very amusing without pictures, but I don't feel like I'm that great of a writer. So now you know. The end.

Update to below

Let's just say the first week of school is NOT what I thought it would be! That poor little boy's father passed away on Monday night. Surprisingly, the boy wanted to come to school the next day. We called the family that he was staying with and told them to keep him until about 10am so that we could explain to the class what happened. Of course, when I start talking about it with my class, I just start bawling my eyes out. I seriously couldn't get a hold of myself. I was just thinking how it would be to be 10 years old and lose a dad. I am so glad I had the same kids as last year because they know me and know that me crying is not normal and we all just felt comfortable together talking about what had happened. Luckily we have a school psychologist at our school and I had her come in and talk to the whole class. She did a wonderful job, we made a huge card for him, and she taught us to act when he got there. He came in soon after she left and my students were absolutely amazing to him. Not awkward, just including him but not too much so he'd think, "Oh, you're just doing this because my dad died." It was amazing. Our class has really bonded together because of this. I was able to write him a note to tell him how much I care about him as well. Thank you to those who helped me out with comments! I really appreciate the support and advice.