Honeymoon Day 1

Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it online before Christmas to wish everyone a wonderful holiday, so here is a late Merry Christmas. I hope you all had a beautiful day.

In other news, my husband and I began our honeymoon today! We flew out of North Dakota down to Denver in the tiniest plane I have ever been on. My legs were quite grateful that the trip was only an hour long. Our "normal-sized" plane from Denver to Los Angeles was late getting in and quite late taking off (which adds up to lots of lateness). By the time we arrived in LA, we had 15 minutes to connect to our plane to Honolulu. The LAX is not conducive to 15 minute flight changes, so our plane to Oahu flew off without us and we are currently waiting for pizza here in LA at the lovely Courtyard Marriott. I'm a little disappointed (there was a tiny bit of crying at the airport), but we have a flight out of here to Honolulu tomorrow morning so I can't complain too much. I will be one happy girl tomorrow afternoon when we finally get there!

Christmas Classroom

Last week, the National Honor Society students decided to organize a Christmas decorating contest. Each grade was assigned a classroom and the group with the best decorations won a pizza party and cake.

The 7th-graders were given my room to decorate. While the contest and rules were explained last week, the 7th-graders thought it best to wait until this week Wednesday (the last day to decorate) to get to work. They only had 50 minutes to decorate, but look at everything they accomplished. (Slap a thick helping of sarcasm on that last sentence.)




Can you tell that their original theme was Scrooge? Are you surprised that they didn't win the contest? I hope you answered no to both questions.

Longest Week Ever

Is anyone else ready for this week to be over? I swear it has been the longest five days on record!

Napkin

I got ketchup on my finger at dinner and this is what my napkin looked like after I wiped it off. I thought it looked like a butterfly so I had to share. I know you're all so very glad that I did.

Christmas in the Park

Have I mentioned how much I love Christmas? If I haven't, here it is: I LOVE Christmas. It is by far my favorite holiday. Nothing quite compares to the magic of the season and the joyous, light-hearted mood that everyone seems to be in.

Last night my husband and I went to "Christmas in the Park." I love riding in the car, heat blowing on my face and festive tunes filling my ears, looking at the Christmas lights and displays local business have set up. Even though it only lasts for about ten minutes, it's a ten minutes I enjoy experiencing year after year.

I hope everyone had a festive weekend!

13 Days

3: Inches of snow I brushed off my car this morning.

14: Degrees below zero (-24 with windchill) in the forecast for tonight.

2: Degrees (-12 with windchill) for the high tomorrow.

13: Days until my husband and I fly to Hawaii for our honeymoon.

MATH

Every time I do a note-check with my 7th-graders, I have one boy who writes this on the bottom of his paper:

Multiplication, division, adding and subtracting; They
All come together
To make
Happy lives easier

As a math teacher, you can't help but smile when you see that.

Carefree Days of Adulthood

Today during Algebra, a student of mine was telling me which boys couldn't play at tonight's basketball game and why they couldn't play. He said "look at everyone we have to think about" and then proceeded to say "and you think you have a lot to worry about."

He's right, I don't have nearly as much to worry about. I'm so lucky to be past those stress-filled days of 8th-grade. I've made it to the carefree days of adulthood!

My Treat

I have had a very productive weekend. Yesterday I worked on my sister's Christmas present and then decorated the apartment for Christmas. Today I wrote lesson plans, lesson plans, and more lesson plans. Because I worked so hard these past two days, I'm going to treat myself tonight to ABC Family's "Holiday in Handcuffs" (I'm a sucker for cheesy movies) and then "A Charlie Brown Christmas" with my husband.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Chocolate Moose

Yesterday my husband and I bought our Hallmark Christmas ornament for the year. While it isn't an "Our First Christmas" ornament like we were hoping to get, we thought this little guy was quite cute. You can't go wrong with a moose made out of chocolate treats!

Vista

I have officially joined the club of those who hate Windows Vista.

Picture Perfect

Today was a "picture perfect" day. It was a day that reminds me how wonderful it is to spend the holiday season with my family.

As snow fell gently outside, Christmas music played inside and the aroma of cookies filled the air. My mom, sister, and I spent the afternoon baking sugar cookies (and maybe goofing around a little), while my dad started working on his backyard ice-skating rink. I couldn't imagine a better way to kick off the start of December and the Christmas season.