Where did this summer go?

So this summer was over in a blink.

I didn't update this at all because I was keeping a class blog, but this is how I spent my summer:

I had so much fun with those kids this summer! I need to post pictures of our new house but it seems like every time I get it clean enough to take pictures I find one more project to do that ends up making an even bigger mess! Well here is the house from the outside.

My wonderful aunt and cousins came to visit this summer. I always love seeing them, they are so special to me.

More bars in more places...AT&T commercial anyone?

Kaleb, Karsten, Keaton, and then my Jaden

These flowers just popped up all around our house, they are really pretty, but we didn't plant them. A few days after they popped up Allen's boss told him "Oh I enjoy driving by your house and looking at the naked ladies in your yard!" We are hoping thats the name of the flower, otherwise we definitely don't know what's going on while we're away from home!

Tuesday was my first day of inservice for student teaching, tomorrow is open house and the first day of kindergarten is Wednesday, how exciting! I can't wait to officially be a teacher!

Oh! Allen and I are getting a puppy! She is a miniature American Eskimo, as soon as they are fully weaned we get to go pick her up!

cute, huh?

Lessons from children

There are a million other things I should be doing, but here I am updating this!
Allen and I moved into our very first house this week. Almost everything we own is out of the apartment and into the house, Allen is at work and although I should be unpacking the boxes are just completely overwhelming right now.
Allen leaves Friday for Anaheim and I will really miss him here in this big house without him, but I think Jules is going to come stay with me and we always have fun together, plus I am really feeling a girls night in the works,Confessions of a Shopaholic anyone?
Work is going well, I love the kids in my class so much! When you spend all day with three year old kids you really learn to appreciate how fun they are. We work on out counting numbers in class each day and we usually just practice 1-10, but a few days ago I went to 11 and they looked at me funny and I said "well 11 is the number righ after 10, it always comes right after 10 and there are lots of other numbers too that we will learn about one day" one of the girls in my class threw the back of her hand against her forehead (very scarlett o'hara esque) and exclaimed "Holy macaroni! That is crazy Mrs. Jamie!" I have realized that there is so much I can learn from these kids, and as I learn from them I will share it on here.

Lesson of the day: Beauty is relative
Father's day is coming up and today in class we did a survey on daddy's. One of the questions was "My daddy is as handsome as __________." One of the little boys in my class thought about it for awhile and then proudly said "My daddy is as handsome as a back-hoe!" A back-hoe is not something I would have used to describe beauty, but to him it was high praise. I just have to remember sometimes that what we see through our eyes is so very different than the view from God's eyes. I think we forget that when we get caught up in our own shortcomings, it is easy to forget that God sees our beauty even when we can't see it for ourselves. To him, we are as handsome as a back- hoe, thank goodness!

So close I can taste it...

This year has been a blur.
My husband Allen and I will both graduate from college in December, but since I will be doing my student teaching next semester this has been the last semester of classes for me. I cannot describe how good that feels!

To help counteract some of the effects of the economy, Allen and I both picked up second jobs this semester. If you can imagine the stress of a full classload, a spouse to care for, waiting tables at night, pre student teaching in another city one day a week, and on the one day I don't have classes working at a infant daycare center... I am SO glad it is over! ( I just have one quick, two week class to take starting Monday and then I am THROUGH!!!)

I didn't have very many finals this semester, so I picked up a temporary job (yes, another one) working in the Harding testing lab. Can I just say that people drive me crazy! So many college students fly through school thinking the rules don't apply to them. Well they are rules and they apply to everyone! Simple things "you must have your Harding ID to test in the testing lab" "turn your phone off before entering the testing lab" these things seem to blow peoples minds. I guess I was just raised to know a rule is a rule and it bugs me when people refuse to accept that. And i'm finished ranting, I promise.

As of recently I have quit both of my schoolyear jobs and been hired as a pre school teacher for the summer at Curtis Kindergarten. I will be "Mrs. Jamie" to my fabulous 3 &4 year olds beginning May 26th and I am so excited. I have to decide how I am going to decorate my classroom. My top two choices right now are... (drumroll please)
1."Mrs. Jamie's Jungle" (mainly because I love alliteration) and it would be jungle themed with wild animals decorations.
2. "Ocean Explorers" and the room would be decorated like the ocean/beach with a sand and water table and a class pet hermit crab.

What do you think?