True Blue BYU! Generation Two!

When Griff was a little boy, his parents used to buy BYU season tickets almost every year. Being the football lover that he is, he has remained a true blue BYU fan all of these years. Since we have been married, we have gone to a couple games and it is fun to listen to him reminisce about games he attended, championships he watched, and all of the awesome quarterbacks that made it professionally. It is funny to go to the games with him because he is so passionate about "his" teams. It cracks me up when he starts cussing at the team (yes, he has been known to drop the f-bomb) and all of the people (who are only capable of mustering up a really loud "darn-it") all turn and look at us with bug eyes and white faces. At any rate, he loves football and he loves BYU and it is something fun that we can do together.

Well, my father in law decided that this year he would upgrade his season tickets from two passes to four, so that more of us could attend. Yesterday Griff took Tiger to his first real football game! They went up with Grandpa Griff, Uncle Chris, and Cadance and apparently had a really great day!

Tiger's Reaction:
MOM: What was your favorite thing about the football game?
TIGER: The claws dad bought me.

MOM: What else did dad buy you?
TIGER: Well, the claws are for me and Derek. He bought me a hat, a football, some nachos, some ice cream shots, Frazzle, popcorn, and Grandpa bought me a t-shirt.

MOM: Did you eat anything besides junk food?
TIGER: I had some water.

MOM: Did you watch the game?
TIGER: Ya! I actually did. It wasn't like when we go to football games here and we have to sit on the grass and I just run off and play with Ryan. The game was really cool. Only whenever they scored a touchdown I couldn't see it because everyone would stand up and cheer.

MOM: Did you and Cadence get bored during the game?
TIGER: No, not at all. Cadence was like obsessed with Cosmo, you know that cougar. And she would cheer every time he came around. She watched for him the whole game. I just played with the claws. I would like hold them up and wave them around and stuff. There was this one guy who got mad and threw his and one of the football players picked it up. I wanted to do the same thing and get an autograph.

MOM: Did they win?
TIGER: They KILLED them. The score was 41 to 17. We left early because they were winning so much. Well, it was only like five minutes early. Me and dad wanted to play catch by the car while we waited for everyone else to come. Oh guess what happened when we were walking out to the car. You know that like box thing outside of the stadium? (I actually had no idea what he was talking about here, but I nodded anyway) When we were walking past it we heard this like really loud POP and dad thought it was fireworks or something but when he looked up, there were sparks flying everywhere.

MOM? What was going on?
TIGER: Well, dad said that a car must have hit the power lines or something cause they were shaking and stuff and there were sparks flying out of them like two times. Dad grabbed my hand and said "come on" and we started running for the car. It was kind of scary.

MOM: But the game was good huh?
TIGER: Ya, the second inning was kind of boring so me and Cadance just watched Cosmo. (In football they have quarters Tige, innings are in baseball) Oh, yeah. Well in the third quarter, they didn't play very good and they kept fumbling the ball and stuff. We almost lost, but then they did better and won.

MOM: Did dad swear a lot?
TIGER: Only when they did bad stuff that made him mad. He was mostly good.

MOM: Well, did you have a good time then?
TIGER: YES! I can't wait until I can go again next week!

(Unfortunately, next week is an away game! We'll try to get him up there at least one more time before the season is over!)

First Week of School

Well, I really don't know what to say about my first week of school. It has been an education--how's that for irony?

I don't know if it was because we started so early or what, but my kids are quite the little chatterboxes. They are great though and are really growing on me even after only four days. I didn't know if I was going to like second grade, but now that I'm here I'm sure I'm going to enjoy it. The kids are not as independent as I'd like, but what they lack in that department, they make up for in personality. I do have to say though that my enthusiasm is waning from my lack of sleep and 18 hour days!!! I just can't seem to catch up. I love the kids, even as hard as they are to manage 24 at a time. Right now I really just feel like I'm in a dozen different places at once. There is just so much to remember and do and know and . . . . My brain can't take much more. Not to mention trying to balance a full time job and taking care of a household.

So, I guess what you are all interested in hearing is the juicy stuff. Where do I start? Let's see (It's really not that exciting),

Monday actually went pretty well (either that or I've already completely blocked it out.) I was really nervous and as some of you may know, one of the traits passed down through the Bates family is loose bowels from nervous tension. (At least I think it comes from the Bates') Tiger teased me all the way to school that I was going to "poop my pants all day" Thank God (I literally did) my nerves calmed pretty quickly. Nothing a little PEPTO couldn't fix.

Tuesday, was a different story. I had two kids chasing each other around the room with yardsticks (don't tell my principal!) and another that fell and skinned his knee and chin on the playground (came in from recess bleeding everywhere). Oh yeah, and I had a grandma come after school asking if I put her grandson on the right bus because he didn't get off at the right stop. Personally, I think that after they get on the bus, they're no longer my responsibility. I asked him before he left me if he knew what he was doing and he said he did. What does he know, he's only seven!

Wednesday, I really didn't have any lesson plans for the afternoon, so I just made up a bunch of busy work to fit between all the pre-assessment stuff. That is going to be funny when I correct it! I don't think any of them were paying attention to the tests. Later in the afternoon, we did this team-building activity/get-to-know-you game called two truths and a lie. Let me tell you, they aren't very good at lying. One kid put "I like toast" down to try to fool me. Oh, well, they had fun and we got to know each other. The highlight of the day was when our new cubbies came. It was like Christmas. They are way bigger than I expected. I don't have any room to put them on the floor and they are too tall for the kids to reach on the counter. Oh yeah, I had 9 out of my 24 kids "pull-a-card" for misbehavior. Here comes Viola Swamp (from Miss Neilson is Missing for those of you who have never read it.)

Today went better than any other day this week. I didn't have to holler as much. My principal came in to chick on me for the first time since Monday. That's always a little nerve racking. All in all, I think I have to say that it was a success. I know I made the right choice for a career. I couldn't be happier. It was so satisfying at the end of the first day to hear "my kids" say—"you're the best teacher ever." I've been waiting a long time to hear that! I'm excited to get doing into the year and figure out how to do this teaching thing right.

My next challenge is going to be Back to School Night and Parent teacher conference. PEPTO anyone???

Mom Tag

Well, Derek is too young too. Since he is so very two the only answers we got were "NO"

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Tiger: NO!

2. What makes mom happy?
Tiger: When I come home from school with a smile on my face. (He started at a new school this week and is having a hard time adjusting)

3. What makes mom sad?
Tiger: Me having a bad day

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Tiger: by poking me in the back (as I'm prodding him to answer the question, hehe)

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Tiger: I have no idea. An idiot, especially when you were a teenager. (He's so nice)

6. How old is your mom?
Tiger: 30

7. How tall is your mom?
Tiger: 7'3"

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Tiger: Read Twilight (too true!)

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Tiger: Teach, fart, and cry. (He's taking this very seriously)

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Tiger: For reading Twilight more than anyone else in the world.

11. What is your mom really good at?
Tiger: Making me cry

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Tiger: Cooking (he really hit that on the head)

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Tiger: Teach 2^nd grade

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Tiger: "Not hers" (he's right, I really hate cooking). "Really, I don't know. Watermelon?" (Not even close there)

15. What makes you proud of your mom?

Tiger: She helps me when I'm in trouble.


16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Tiger: "Popeye, because you try to be manly. It doesn't work out very well."

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Tiger: Ride bikes, scouts, I don't know. (He's just not cooperating. That should really say "pretty much everything.)

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Tiger: We have the same eyes.

19. How are you and your mom different?
Tiger: I don't have my ears pierced. Dang those buns are hot! (hehe! He's talking about his dinner, not his mom)

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Tiger: When she holds me in her lap.

Thanks for the tag! That was fun. I tag: Mom (Kelley), Heidi (if she ever gets her blog going), and Jessica. Everyone else on my blog list has either been tagged or doesn't have kids old enough to respond. Hope to see your answers soon.

School Is Starting Monday

So, school starting on Monday is a really big deal for me this year and I feel no where near ready (and here I am blogging instead of writing lesson plans)!!! I am really excited, and a little nervous. I have spent almost every day down at the school the last two and a half weeks, but I leave every day feeling like I did nothing. I finally got my class list today. I'll have 23 students. That's not as big of a class as I was expecting, so that was a relief.

I love being a teacher. Not to sound too cheap, but everyone is totally willing to donate whatever you think you might need in the name of education. Friday, another new teacher and I went down to one of the local carpet stores to pick up a 6x12 remnant they said they'd donate to us and write it off on their taxes. I was excited because the rugs I was looking at buying were $500 or more. Yikes! I think it may be a remnant of the carpet Grandma Bates bought for the basement. I'll have to go out and look at it again to make sure!

Anyway, this is kind of a big event in my life and I wanted to share my progress with everyone! Here is what my "work in progress" of a room looks like. It's coming, slowly but surely!

Memory Tag

Memory Tag:

Here are the rules :

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

So, I just finished reading Breaking Dawn. . .

and I'm ever so curious as to what you all thought. Post a comment when you're finished and we'll discuss it. Here are some links to online reactions:

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/031606792X/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_helpful?%5Fencoding=UTF8&coliid=&showViewpoints=1&colid=&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending



Friday, Heidi called around to every store in town we could think of that sells books to see what the deal was with the midnight release. Well, because we live here in the little podunk town of Price; the only store that was supposedly selling the book at all was Wal-mart. They were very cranky, obvioulsy we weren't the first to call by any means, and they answered sharply "No! It won't be out until we open Saturday morning at 6:00." That was good enough. We headed down bright and early leaving our kids and husbands at home sleeping soundly. We would have at a good three or four hours of reading time before they got up. I finished it this morning!

P.S. I'm going to post my reaction in the comments so if you're sensitive to spoilers, don't read past this point! I hope you enjoy(ed) the book!