Gopher Faces

My third grade students have recently discovered the "gopher face" - they wipe their front teeth dry, and stick their upper lip onto their teeth. They think this is hysterical, and continually crack each other up. Well, yesterday, after repeated gophers kept popping up during my music lesson, I asked the kiddos in the back row to separate from each other and quit the facial gophering. Yeah, that worked. I had only spread the gopheritis throughout my room, and the two kiddos ended up in my not-so-happy graces.

Today, I received this note of apology from one of the gophers himself. Who gets an apology note from a kid making gopher faces!? Too funny! No other adult knew about this, so I love the fact that he took responsibility for exactly what he was doing. What a great kid!

Money Man and Blocks of Wood

I'm currently collecting $2 from each choir student to help defray the cost of supplies for our pre-concert party. I would have to say that this Money Man wins the prize for the most creative submission!

Note to self: when instructing students on how NOT
to break the classroom woodblock, it's important
to not actually break the woodblock yourself. Dang.

2 mg of Perspective

I have been writing parts of this blog entry all day. Today marks four years since my total hysterectomy. That's saying a lot, considering I just turned 30. I try so hard not to dislike today, yet my emotions always seem to sneak in and get the best of me. I can't believe it's still this raw after four years. While there is certainly growth and acceptance, there will always be mourning.

I guess it's hard not to repeatedly feel the loss of not being able to bear my own children, especially with constant reminders all around me. Every other person I know is pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or recently pregnant. Who am I not to be completely happy for them? The sheer number of babies all around me is astounding - they really are little miracles, each and every one of them.

I have to remember that I am PAIN FREE. Just writing that makes me smile. Endometriosis is an evil disease, and I made a medical choice that has improved my life a hundredfold. Who knew 2 mg of estrogen would become so important to my daily existence!? I'm able to teach. I'm able to travel. I'm able to sing without pain. I'm able to LIVE my life. I literally thank God every day for my second chance!

I really do try to remember that, although I may not be able to carry children, I can still be a mother. That's an important distinction, and ultimately, what gets me through May 27th each and every year.

Thanks, Mum!

Hearing my never-ending low funds plight, my mum (ha!) sent me some seed money (ha!) to start my summer garden.  My third story deck never looked so beautiful!

Love the colors of the pots!

Before...

After!

Totally Whacky!

You can tell the end of the school year is near. We're nearing the completion of all our scheduled lessons, and there is more time for spontaneous activities...such as whacking the BoomWhackers in mid-air while wearing hard-hats. I have the best job!

Baby Esmerelda

Ok, so that's NOT the name of  my colleague Nicole's soon-to-be-born baby girl.  That would be unusually cruel.  Although, we could call her Elda...  Elda it is.  Here are a few pics of the happy baby shower this past week!

Here's Nicola (pregnant with Baby Bob) and the INCREDIBLE spread of food.  If only we could always eat this well at school.  Mmmm, meatballs....

Yes, an entire basket of hand sanitizer.  

Nicole and Nicola swear by it.

Quite the loot.  Baby showers ROCK!

Nic and the darling hand-made hair bows 

that Ashley crafted:  check out her blog here!

How crazy is it when the babies of

 past showers start showing up as toddlers!

Erin, Blair, and Erin (Liam and Ava, too)

A bajillion other people from Flagstone

Field Day Feeding Frenzy

Food for everyone!  Ann and I worked another windy, Watermelon shift under the shelter for our annual Field Day at Flagstone.  I love slicing and dicing with the big knives!  This year, Asher stopped by.  He's the 3 month old sibling of one of my 2nd grade students.  Sweet pea!  His dad wanted to catch a few action shots of his big brother, and I was MORE than happy to hold/feed the little guy for a while!  

145 Miles - Group Pic

Here's the group picture of the four of us before we headed to the Denver Brass Concert on April 19th.  Click here to jump to that post, 145 Miles.  

Butter-Fried Chameleon

I love love LOVE 4 year olds! While off track, I visited the Roe Family (Kelly and Marcia, Cori, Joey, and Baby PK) over in Westminster, and we visited the Butterfly Pavilion, aka the "Butter-Fried Chameleon" - HA! The twins absolutely loved the bugs. Me? Not so much! Catching up with Marcia and the little people was worth it, though, creepy crawly bugs and all!

Just holding up Cori to see the bugs. Marcia might be
right, however, when she said I was using Cori as a shield...

Eew. Eew. Eew. Cori holding Rosie the Tarantula. Eew.

How sad is it when a 4 year old is
braver than a 30 year old! Such a brave Joey!

I love Joey's amazement and Cori's wonder!

Can you see the little turtle, poking out it's head?

Marcia, Joey, and Brenda - Cori took the pic!

Quick Quips

"I know I'm a little hard on you,
but it's because I care."
Second grader to her classmate, after telling
him he's playing the xylophone all wrong

"Where's the duck?
I need to know where to put the duck!"
First grader, trying to figure out where to place the conductor in his orchestra picture

"Do you like my haircut? We cut off my hair very carefully, as I have a tender head."
Fourth grader sporting a new do

"Mommy's got her list. That way, she won't forget to bring back Daddy's liquor to Colorado."
First grader telling of his Mom's recent vacation

"Can't talk now, I'm in the zone."
Typing third grader

"Are we allowed to take flash photography during the program?"
Inquiring second grader

4th grader: "Ms. G, this is the first time we've seen you without your bottoms."

Me: "Excuse me?!"

4th grader: "Your earrings - you're not wearing your bottom earrings today!"