Snow Day! Snow Day! Snowy snowy snow day!!

Yay snow! Sorry for the lack of blogging... weeks full of getting report cards and ILPs ready has led up to a week of parent-teacher conferences. But now I have a whole day to do nothing but be lazy and enjoy the winter wonder land! :) YAY SNOW!!

I left school at 8:00 last night after my last conference and it was a bit of a scary drive home. Cujo doesn't have his winter tires on yet, and we only made it part of the way up the hill. I parked in a neighbor's (summer cabin) driveway and walked the rest of the way.


So far there is a little over a foot on the porch. Here's the unshoveled half :)


Sherlock LOVES being a mountain snow dog :)

Elk don't moo.

While driving home the other evening after going back to school for a couple of hours, I passed a heard of elk and said "Hi elk! Moooo!" and then I thought, "hang on... elk don't moo!"
I was a little tired :) Yes... I am silly :)
It's an awfully good thing I can laugh at myself.

Seriously Guys.... it's Sunday.

Will someone please tell these guys that you are suppose to sleep in on Sunday?!?

Squeaky-snorting and fighting can be saved for after 10am!

Snow! :)

Where did the mountain go?! :) It's under the snow clouds! I took this Thursday afternoon and, although some of it melted yesterday, it snowed a little more last night. I wasn't feeling quite ready for winter... but I do love snow!! Sherlock does too... he's a goofy snow-dog :) This morning he woke me up whining and when I got up I saw fresh bunny tracks on the porch!

So it has been a super-busy couple of weeks. The end of October is parent-teacher conferences, so that means a lot of extra meetings and such to make sure everything is on track at this point. My first official observation went really well! I designed a power-point jeopardy game for my students to review for the math test and the principal liked the engaging and inter-active style. yay me! :)

The kids are good... we are getting into the routine of things and I feel so good about the relationship I have with my class. My principal said "There is just this really good vibe in your room, and when you ask the kids to do something, they do it!" Unfortunately there is an awful bug (some say flu... I don't know if anyone has been diagnosed) going around and I have had to deal with some long absences... but so far I haven't gotten sick (*knock on wood*)

Right now I am getting ready to go hang out with my most favoritest Marci and her family who are up in Estes Park for the weekend!! It's so wonderful to see her and Nathan and little Alex!!!! I'm sure I'll have pictures to post soon :)

Just like old times...

So here I am, taking a break from writing another paper... ok not really, but it sure feels like it! Tomorrow is my first conference with the principal which will include a pre-observation meeting (before my first formal observation, thus the "pre-observation terminology - get it?) as well as establishing a goal for the school year, and other student stuff. So I am writing up all the formalized steps, lesson plans, evaluation questions, etc.

I'm not nervous because I actually feel like (and have been told) that I am doing a good job.... but so far the hardest part about being a teacher is the fact that I KNOW what I could do better, I just am not there yet. Sometimes perspective is a hard thing to have, even though I know it is good. I wouldn't want to fastforward through the next couple years because I know there will be many moments to treasure... i just wish I had a time-vacuum and could suck all the experience from then to now :)

In other news... the stupid elk are very annoying (not just because stupid tourists stop in the middle of the road to stare at them) because they are so freaking loud with their squeaky snorty buglely noises at all hours of the night. It is cool to listen to during the day and the evening, but NOT at 3am. I might have to send Sherlock out on noise ordinance patrol!!

Thanks for the break... back to work!

My dog peed on a tree.

Well we did NOT get the foot of snow that the stupid weatherman predicted. We did get a frickin' cold cloudy day with icy rain. Booo.

Also boo was my yoga teacher's substitute not showing up for class. Boo!

The best part of my day however, was making my kids laugh while we were working on subject and predicate. My example sentece: My dog peed on a tree. (Followed by lots of laughter) Who did it? "My dog!" What did he do? "Peed on a tree!" (lots more laughter). It's a good thing I get to be around kids all day :)

SNOW?!

That's right! Snow! This morning I got to school a little after 7:00 and it was very cold and rainy. About 5 minutes later it was hailing so hard I couldn't see the playground outside my room. There was HUGE lightening and thunder, and then the hail turned into snow. It was crazy!! All day it's been snowing on and off, and while there is only little piles of white here and there... the mountains are frosty!! I love it... but I need some fall before we hit winter!!