It's the MOst Wonderful Time of the Year!

So yes I have done a horrible job at this :) Things have been a bit crazy over the past two months, but also things have turned out pretty well! Matt got a job as an assistant in the special education room at the high school. He works with the kids on homework and he travels to classes and lunches with two boys (one autistic and one emotional disturbed) he seems to really be enjoying it. He is also the assistant coach of the high school wrestling team and he really seems to be enjoying that!

We had a successful cookie day the first weekend in December here at my house with my cousins, Mom and sister. It was a lot of fun....even the dogs enjoyed there cousin (Zeus my sisters dog) stopping by to play with them for the day!

I got to go shopping with my favorite roommate in South Bend and minus some minor car problems (I'll explain in a bit) we had a blast...and I found some AMAZING deals for gifts! Yes I am the bargain shopping queen!!

So a few set backs were our ongoing toliet problem. We bought a snkae rod thing and Matt has done that several times, getting it to work for only a few days before it stops working again. We have been mainly relying on our garage bathroom to make things work...well its FREEZING out there so I kind of said hey buddy we need to get this fixed :) Well when I called the plumber he informed me that it might be the toliet, so before he came we bought a new toliet and Matt installed it....nope same problem, so the plumber, a huge mechanical snake, and $140 later we are now working again :)

My car decided it didn't want to start on back to back days in the freezing cold.....I chalked it up to the temperature and didn't worry about it (I have a newer car with only a year old battery). So I went to S.B. with Meesh and we made it all over when I was getting ready to leave it was DEAD...no starting the car...we happen to be in Walmarts parking lot so we went to their car service place and the guy informs be it is not my battery it is my alternator.....and that there is no way I can drive home on it.....Matt tells me don't listen to him....drive home you'll be fine and I will come jump you and charge it if you die. So I drove home with no heater in the FREEZING cold....the next day I called a mechanic for him to tell me the guy at Walmart is an idiot and its probably just my battery...so Matt picked me up a good one and my car has been happy since....

Christmas time means lots of travel for us in just 2 days. On Christmas Eve we drive to my parents in Marion (A little over an hour trip) for dinner, church, and exchanging gifts with them. Then we drive back (we got here about 12:30 Christmas morning) and sleep at our house...wake up Christmas morning (About 7ish) have Christmas together with our puppies, then turn around and make a 2 hour one way treck to Michigan. See his parents and grandparents and we got back around 11:30 last night. We were EXHAUSTED! I said...once we have kids this schedule may need to change because there is no way we will be able to enjoy our Christmas at our house if not....It was an enjoyable time though and we did enjoying seeing both of our families and spending time with them!

We have another week off to enjoy New Years and then back to school the start of January. I must say this break was needed and I'm much more energized to head back to school this year.

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!

FALL!!

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE FALL! It is by far my favorite season. For one, being a teacher fall is always an exciting part of the year. New kiddos, new school supplies, a cleanly decorated classroom, and excited students.

I also LOVE football! One plus to Matt is our love to lounge around on Sunday and enjoy several football games and just get lots accomplished! I even sacrifice and root for his Green Bay Packers once and a while now...UGH :). But this weekend was WONDERFUL! I got so much accomplished with lesson plans and stuff for my portfolio and also got to cuddle with my Allie dog and enjoy some good games.

I also made a GIANT batch of vegetable soup. I know some of you are thinking WHAT JESSICA IS EATING VEGETABLES :) Well I recently have discovered that I enjoy vegetable soup because if I make it in the crockpot and let if simmer all Sunday then you can't taste all the individual vegetables, and it is oh so yummy! I make enough too to freeze some and have it for lunch ALL WEEK :) Fall weather is definitely soup weather....

Oh another hand I was enjoying a nice conversation with Meesh (my roommate from college) as I walked to the Fulton librar to drop off books when a nice hailstorm decided to arrive. I'm sure I was a VERY humorous sight as I talked to her about whether I should run (which I did) or walk (which I also did) during this downpour....Meesh probably enjoyed my "Oh my goodness what should I do"....."AHHHH It feels like I'm getting pelted by nerds".....and such comments too :)

My students have been FABULOUS the past two days. We are running a mock campaign election this week among the 4th grade classes and our Independant party is AMAZING! Wendy Malchow (my partner class in this project) took the afternoon off to take her daughter to the doctor and I was left with 42 children to put them in their committees to work for the first time. I was gearing up for chaos and a headache...not to mention a miscommunication from another teacher about not starting the unbias committees until tomorrow, when I told the committees where to meet turned around and EVERYONE was busy and working. Our candidates from governor and lt. governor were mingling through each group and switching places to catch up on the doings of each of the committees....it was a joy to watch the kids SO into the project at hand. They are learning SO MUCH from this and are so excited it makes me excited to teach :)! YAY for a wonderful class this year!

Well I hear Biggest Loser taping in the bedroom and since Matt is at a Coach's meeting to learn all the new rules for the high school wrestling boys I think I may go watch :). I can't believe tomorrow is already Wednesday!

My First....

So back in college I use to blog on livejournal. I kind of gave that up when things got busy, but now that things are semi undercontrol I thought a place to record my funny stories that I have from teaching, living with Matt, and having two mischievious dumb dogs would be a great idea.

I guess a quick update on my life may be helpful and then you can join me on my adventure :). I graduated from Manchester College in May 2007. I was hired by Rochester Community Schools last year and have been teaching 4th grade ever since. Last year was a bit shaky with my group of youngins, but this year I feel so much more undercontrol! Not to mention I have a better discipline system, and 21 kids instead of 26!!!

I met Matt the first week of school my senior year in college. We got married last June. We bought a house in Fulton, Indiana (about 8 miles from Rochester) in April and LOVE being homeowners! So far we have painted, put in new tile flooring in the kitchen, and Matt put in a shower in the main bathroom! We stll have LOTS of things we would like to do but they will have to wait for the finances to allow :)

Right after I graduated Matt and I rescued a Dingo puppy from the Humane Society. We named her Allie and she became our little holy terror :)....so this spring when we moved into our new home Matt decided she needed a friend.....thus we rescued Tyson from a lady who needed to get him out of her 1 bedroom apartment.....since then Allie has been my behaving little angel while Tyson is my onery little bugger!!

Matt is still job searching....he is filling his time coaching the high school wrestling team (and doing a pretty job so far :)) and getting ready to begin substitute teaching until he finds something in business management.

Other than that we are pretty boring :) I teach, he coaches, and we enjoy our country home!!! I couldn't ask for anything better!!