Up on the Rooftop...

Josie and Evelyn caught the Christmas fever two weeks early...The girls commandeered a shelf and all my red post-it notes to create a shrine to Cookie Dough, Josie's imposter elf. They took a tiny drawer from my desk (used to hold paper clips) and filled it with crumbled cookies and M&Ms. The notes were hilarious. I overhead Josie tell Evelyn that elves can only ready twirly handwriting. Melody brought her elf in named Twixie, I laughed when she said her other elf is named potato. I had an entire gaggle of girls plus Jett checking on the Elves everyday before and after school. They squealed if her leg moved, when the M&Ms disappeared, even wrote back one day. The magic of Christmas fills my heart! I totally believe in Santa.

I wanted to plant the monstrous zucchini in Mr Obert's office. Unfortunately, someone threw it away. Good thing I still had a garden-grown pumpkin hanging out back! Evelyn, Josie, and I giggled as I glued large googly-eyes, stabbed branches into the gourd, and wrote a note. Beware! When I pumpkin reads it may take over the world. Muahahaha. 

Justin enjoyed his few days of unemployment at home and running errands. He was able to secure a loan and an offer on Quasimoto. He brought it home Tuesday! It is a small car, disel fuel, 34 MPG in the city, has some serious pick up and go. Somehow it still fits 4 teenagers and Justin (my primary requirement). Justin took several trips, favoring the round-a-bouts, so the kids could enjoy the new car. 

Justin turned 48 on Wednesday! He rented Bridge on the River Kwai to watch in the morning. He came to school for lunch in my classroom with the girls. That was fun. We went out to dinner at El Guero to celebrate. He got to wear the special birthday sombrero, serenaded (much to his mortification), and a lovely flan for dessert. It was quite a relaxing day for him. 

The students were quite on edge all week, seems like the behavioral issues were over the top this week. One boy went on a rampage down the hall ripping up bulletin boards. The guidance counselor was right there, just let him rampage. Mrs H was so mad the student ripped off her stuff, she put a kabosh to his behavior in seconds. I think the behavior that worries me the most is how quickly student give up, they throw out the "I can't" excuse after one try, slump down or act out. Could be we've crippled our children by giving them what they want after one try. I've made "I can't" into a cuss word! You can and you will. Several boys complained on Friday when they had to do ketchup work instead of "free time." I heard over and over, your class sucks, I hate computers, the last teacher was better...yada yada yada. That means I am making progress. Ha ha. Mr Obert hosted a contest during school on Friday. He passed out two laminated turkeys, the teachers had to ask, "Do you have a turkey in your pocket?" You had to give up your turkey if you had it. I never got the turkey, boo hoo. It was cutthroat competition toward the end of the day. The 4th graders made balloon floats they paraded around the track. Evelyn, Sophia, and Hannah teamed together and made a road runner. What a cute idea. The second graders had a disguised turkey contest. Melody's Mr Obert turkey won first place. Josie wanted a gumball turkey, so we had fun getting that decorated. 

Amelia invited over the Priests and Laurels for a movie and hot chocolate night. They watched Elf and then made Cooper watch Bluey. I went to Walmart for milk and a birthday gift with the little girls. I was trashed by the time the party started, went straight to bed. 

Saturday was super busy. I tidied the garage first thing in the morning. Justin went to work with others in the ward cleaning leaves and yards of those in need. The kids and I had a grand rehearsal from 11 am-2 pm. It was thrilling to hear how all the parts come together. Joy to the World knocked my socks off! I love that Josie is loving choir, I was concerned she would not participate willingly.  Jenn Spackman said that Kami is leaving the General Manager position after Christmas. Jenn is getting promoted into that role. Darn it, she is the best youth manager. She confided that my name was first up for consideration of the youth manager role. Say what?! No, my squirrels are all over the place. I politely declined, BUT it felt very nice to be considered. I'll stay in the wings for now. I photographed the Schatz family then the Caruthers family. I cannot believe Cy and Leif are a year old already, seems like I just did their newborn session. Justin fixed the gaps in the kitchen flooring, the laminate planks slide several inches exposing the sub floor in several places. He found a tool to slide the boards back then secure them with shims. Sara and Amelia perched on the roof while Dusty hung Christmas lights. We soon had a party up on the roof watching the sun go down. It was quite a magical time. I recalled the nights I crept out onto the roof in Wellsville to star gaze. Carson asked Amelia to join him for ice cream. They went on a date with the parental units hovering in the background. We celebrated Sara and Justin's birthdays. I finally tried out a doughnut ice cream sandwich. It was delicious, overly sugary but yummy. 

I was released as Primary Chorister today, called back to the Activity Day Girls for the 5th time. Guess that is my place. Ha ha. We are thrilled to have the entire week off from school. Hooray.