Be Afraid!!!

I even fed this one! We think the classroom and therefore his water, got too cold over the weekend, so now it's official. 3 for 3. I'm a murderer... and a liar. Exhibits A, B and C:

Murderer and liar. Yup, that's me. These kids are going to look back one day and think, "We had class pets when I was in second grade, but my teacher set them fr.... wait a second!"

These guys believe every word of these poems. I had a boy come up to me today fighting tears. He asked why I had to let them all go. Why all three were gone. Just about broke my heart!
Then another kid came up to me and very seriously looked at me and said, "Did you really talk to those animals?" I said yes, of course. "Well, then, will you teach me how to do it? I really want to talk to my dog." I told him it was something you're just born with and I didn't know how to teach it.
LIAR!
Maybe one day, when they realize I'm a liar, they'll be old enough to understand why and forgive me.
Max and Geoff should be frightened...run while you still can! ;)

Moving up and going to Hell

Time to step up to a slightly larger living space. Whoo woo! We're officially moved out of the studio apartment and into the one bedroom apartment next door. And oh how I'm thankful for the little extra space! A living room! A kitchen slightly bigger than a closet! An oven door I don't have to fight closed... ah, it's the little things.:)
The couches and chair were left by the guy who got evicted from here and the landlords just let us have them. They're pretty crappy, I'll admit, and they stink of smoke... but a little pet deodorizer and some cheap slip covers and you'd (almost) never know! By the way, think we have enough books?? Too many for the tons of shelves we have! What nerds!


There are ups and downs to this inexpensive but slightly larger apartment... the kitchen, for example, has no doors on our cupboards, there is only a small counter space, which is where the microwave needed to go, but the only outlet in there is on the opposite side of the room. So we had to improvise:
(ignore the giraffe please :))

And then we also have our tiny, try-not-to-hit-your-elbows shower to work with. At least the hot water doesn't take long or run out.

And finally, before I discovered how to hang up the small mirrors and gave up on not putting holes in the wall for boxes, we made our own artwork. I figure I'll just hang mine in the bedroom and his is in the small hallway. I think it's obvious who painted what. Haha.


Also, an update on school. I'm an un-nurturing murderer and a liar! Marci, our little mouse, keeled over. Probably because of the tiny living space and lack of drinking water (she filled her dish with the shavings instead of drinking from it). I also forgot to feed Cooper and so he followed Marci about a week later. Do I tell the kids they DIED? Because their teacher is an awful person??? Uh, no! So what do I do? I lied to them in poem form. Here's Marci's poem, and I'll add Cooper's later.... it's pretty similar: he was sad and jealous of Marci so took him to live with his brother, Steve, and he's happy now too. Oh dear.

So as you can see, I'm going to Hell.

Things are great!

Sorry that there have been no updates for quite some time. Life has become overwhelmingly busy and tiring.
I'm student teaching now. I'm in a 2nd grade classroom with 26, no wait, it's 24 again, kids. One is a kid with Asperger's and he's the one who challenges me and my cooperating teacher (Kim Julian) the most. I'm trying my best to take him as a learning experience, but some days I feel he wears me out so much I can't even think!

I like the boy, but he's certainly a lot of effort. We've also got a few extended resource kids and some kids that are just flat behind schedule in their learning. It makes the class a challenge, but I think the experience will be well worth my (unpaid) time. This past week I began teaching science to them. Now, science can either bore you to tears or be extremely fun. I choose the fun route. The current unit of study is habitats. What better way to learn about them than to observe some first-hand? Especially in second grade, it is so much easier for the students to comprehend a lesson when it uses their senses and isn't just talking and maybe a few pictures. So... I brought my fish (named Sayid, whom I had to rename Freddy for easy pronunciation) and I bought and created small habitats for a red claw crab and a mouse. I was freaked out to buy both of those- a crunchy spider and a mouse! Ew! But I've got to admit, the crab is no trouble and sort of cool to watch, and the mouse (while somewhat stinky) isn't so bad.

The kids loved the lesson and adore the animals. We decided to keep them as class pets for the remainder of the unit. So, while teaching is already very tiring (but I'm adjusting to the schedule better everyday,) I'm enjoying the heck out of it! This coming week I'll be teaching more on habitats and adding math and a read-aloud to my charge.

Also, as of two Friday's ago now, Geoff is a full-time Best Buy employee. This includes more hours, a (slight but meaningful) pay raise, and benefits! We are so blessed and watched over. He still enjoys working there and generally speaking, likes his coworkers. Our only struggle is how often he works on Sunday's. I guess around here, with just about everyone being LDS it just doesn't make a difference to your employer. Oh well, eventually we'll be out of here and he can regain Sunday's as the Sabbath.
More good news- it looks like the 1 bedroom apartment next door will be ours this week. While I feel bad the guy is getting evicted, he's choosing that over the many options placed before him, so it's officially his fault and problem. As for me and Geoff, we're thrilled to move! I'll probably do the bulk of the moving after school (and REALLY be worn out!) and my hope is by the end of the week be officially and completely in a slightly larger (with a bigger kitchen!!!!) place. So, if you could pray for me to have the strength necessary to do all this, it would be much appreciated! :)
Um... I think that covers the bulk of the news for now. Things are going very well for us and the Lord is most certainly watching over us and helping us to make it through. We're very grateful for all that we're blessed with. And with that, we have a serious need to improve our temple attendance. With it being just around the corner, I'm ashamed that I haven't been more often. We're going to change that.