Fun with Gingerbread

This is my face while being 'sly' (vocab word describing the fox when he eats the gingerbread man) and hiding the gingerbread man in my classroom. You see we walk down to the lunch lady's lunchroom and she takes us on a tour and then she opens the oven when it buzzes and HES NOT THERE!!! Its so enthralling and exciting for us. We might even let out some screams with our gasps. And some may say, 'HE GOT ALIVE!' Or, 'the story is true!!!'We were all set up back in the classroom to eat him, we had our napkins out and everything. WHERE COULD HE BE!!? So we are so quiet when we walk back to the classroom just in case he is somewhere in the halls and we can sneak up on him. (Quietest my kids will ever be in their entire lives). Then we go back the the classroom. I make them do work in agony while they are thinking of ways to trap him.
'Let's put a fake gingerbread friend in this box, then when he jumps in I'll slam the lid down and we will have him!!!'
'I'll build a gingerbread house, then he will think it is his home, then we will EAT him.'
Then I find a note from him (surprisingly in my handwriting) where he gives a clue as to where he is....and then, someone finds him. Today he was in a pan hiding on top of the cupboards. They tell me to SHHH because we don't want to wake him. Then when I got close to him, they were all screaming and had their hands over their mouths, jumping up and down. And low and behold here is the sugar overload!!!!

I have to make it completely covered in candy, so that every who gets a piece gets candy, its a management thing.
I also know that his arms are way too long in proportion to his body, but the fact that he is on the pan is a miracle alone. I wanted a cookie substance, not a cake substance, because cake would be unshapable, (Not a word, but I just made it one) due to its runniness. (Not a word, but I just made it one) So I was supposed to put 1/4 cup of water, I accidentally followed the cake recipe and put it 1 and 1/4 cup of water....so I had to add 5 extra cups of flour, and 2 cups of sugar, and so the ginger was quite subdued. I didn't want to go to the store at 10:00PM night before, so they got a cakey, and long armed result, and like I said I had to make 2...
That story could have been condensed into one sentence...oh well.
Anyway, it was a fun day, full of excitement and energy. And on days like this I feel empty of energy due to me being in a room with 23 high sugared energized 5 year olds, and 1 or 2 six year olds :)

Oh that reminds me....have you seen my room? Last year I was just overwhelmed and couldn't even think straight. So I'll give you a partial tour.

It's hip right? Oh good because that was my biggest concern....Not really :) I'm just surviving in 1/2 the size of a classroom that a Kindergarten should be :) No I love it, and have come to appreciate it, and its smallness, and windowless ways. (Smallness, and windowless are BOTH words! Yay!)

See that baby on the wall.....??? That is a promethean board, and I love it!!! Its like an ipad on the wall. Best description. Well Brad and I just finished watching the most awesome BYU football game, and now because its Friday night and we are celebrating him taking a final and getting a 100........when his text to me was, "Here I go! Its kind of exciting to be unprepared:)"
Truly, I don't even worry about him anymore. Its a good thing though, I have deleted that one stresser from my life (Stresser isn't a word, but I just made it one)
And my fav thing to do with Brad when we have nothing in the morning is to watch a show in our bed on our laptop.
On the top fav things to do, its probably number 3. I'll let you decide the rest.

Recently....

As you may know. ... Brad is applying to medical school. For all I know, they check his wife's blog to see if we are normal, and as you may know...we aren't really that normal.
This is the picture of Brad I took for his medical applications.
As you can see he looks handsome and wonderful....
what you don't know is that he only has underwear on below.

I think that makes him more likable, more well rounded, and just funny. I wish I would have taken a full body for memories...but I don't think I will.
Brad and I scrambled for many months trying to fill out the applications, save money for traveling and applications, and then it was on to secondary applications. So now we are watching man vs. food columbus, ohio. We had to watch this specific one. We had to completely do everything around this 9:00 episode.
That's because he is going there on Halloween Day. To interview at Ohio State. Is he worried about the interview??? Not really, is he worried about if he can hit up all the man vs. food places???
Yes.
(Exaggeration is part of who I am so.....take these previous comments as you will)

Also, I am just teaching away again, 2nd year is 50 times lighter stress than your 1st year, but its still stress collapsing. But it works out, I still manage to cook dinner at night and then collapse and think about doing the dishes. (Brad and I made a deal to not eat out once this week, except Sat we are going to celebrate by going to awful waffle)

Okay, last week Brad's mom got married, it wasn't a big thing but I thought she should have a bouquet so I put this one together from costco flowers, and a few button mums...it was simple but purple and that was the color she needed, so we did it! In our bedroom we sleep with the FAN at ALL times. Also, we have no power in our room so we extension cord everything in from the living room. Fire hazard, I think so.

We are busy, but still living in Provo and having a blast. Yesterday Brad and I went on a run and I have this handy dandy headphone microphone thing that I can talk on my phone hands free, (I realize this isn't that cool, but I love it) and I talked to my mom on the entire run, which was great because she can tell stories, and I can listen and say exasperated, "uh huh, uh huh".
Welp, this is an update. And I am meeting my goal of posting everyday. For my journaling (not a word, but I just made it a word) sake, and for viewers like you.

Simple Things

One simple thing can make your day. Or break it. One unkind sentence can shatter your week, or even your 2 weeks. Or one simple nice sentence can make your entire week, or 2 weeks. I would rather be the person that made your week. Not shattered it. Be thinking about that. Be thinking about how someone has complimented you. Someone you didn't expect. Like when I wore my knew tights/pants yesterday, and someone told me I looked so good in them.....How did that make me feel? Instead of chubby and large, I felt in charge of myself and happy.

So today, a parent and student from last year brought me this bracelet. That they bought for me. Number 1, its adorable. Number 2, I wore it all day. Number 3, it made me feel special, like someone outside of family thought of me for a second outside of school. Thought of me, more than just oh she's my teacher, but how about let's buy or make her something oriented around the things she does.

So forever in my mind this bracelet will remind me of how something can make or break your day, or when your day is already broken, it can repair it, and make it all better again.

Food for thought.
Brittany Noodle Soup for the day.
A spoonful of sugar.
BrittanyAttitudes.
I'll stop.

Moments like these...

Sometimes I think about the small things I should appreciate. The small beauty. The small parts of life that I love. The parts of teaching that make you think that I should be a teacher. The things that are so cute and cuddly you want to squeeze their cheeks.

I want to show you this person's face. I know you know its a girl. She is in my class. There is just legalities that prevent me from showing you the entire picture. I guess I could, but I just want to keep this little one safe. But, do know that she is adorable, and this drawing exploits straight happiness from me. When I saw it I had to document it. All these drawings are from her own head. And how is she so cute. She likes all of those things. And I love her.

I hope this picture exploits only happiness from you.

Home town feel

I know you all think you have the most beautiful family, location and home...But that is where I have to show you some pictures to have you rethink your prior feelings.

You may move to Standrod.
Standrod is a place where the sky goes on forever. At night the stars are brighter than car lights, and the moon is screaming for people to just look at it. The mountains are green and majestic. No human or animal could feel uneasy in this place. And it just so happens, that some people stopped by and caught the beauty.

My parents have this very breathtaking garden. Not the small lot you see in someone's backyard, but yet....this garden that could feed a small village.

I spent a few hours picking corn, carrots, squash, zucchini, cucumbers, beans, all sorts of peppers, herbs, and cabbage the last time I was there. During this time, Brad, Aaron and my little brothers spent their time seeing who could clear the squash plants by jumping over them. (No squash were hurt during this time, I know you plant-activists were worried). If my family's yard doesn't make you happy, stop reading now, because its about to get worse.

My sister Faith thinks she owns the garden. She will roam around the whole time you are there talking about all the vegetables like she knows everything. You can pretend like you know nothing, and she will tell you the names of everything and what it is good with (butter, cheese, salt, pepper) or not good at all, "those are peppers, they are yucky, psllhhhhhh." As she blows her tongue out and spit goes everywhere.

I think what kills me is all the different shades of green. Its not just one color, its every color of green. Fall is coming so the surrounding areas are turning shades of yellow, orange and brown. I love this picture because it shows the vastness of the garden. My mom and Faith look like specks against the superior plants. How can anyone get more home grown than this??

Good thing my parents planted Pea plants, otherwise Faith would be starving. She told me, "Come get some Peas!" I said, "WHAT! I don't want to eat Pee!!" She looked at me and said calmly, "Brittany they are not pee in the toilet they are green peas that you eat!!!" I said, "Oh like the letter P!" She said, "NO! Just come and look." Then she went on to explain how to pull them off the plant, "Just like this," She kept saying. I acted fascinated and bewildered as she pulled a pea pod off and proceeded to open it and show me the mini peas hooked to the inside of the pod. "Oh so wonderful," I kept saying, pretending this was the newest and most interesting thing I had ever seen.

If you want solace, peace, and beauty, come to Standrod and make sure you stay outside, because inside is absolutely chaos and terror with all those kids running around.