A Wonderful Blessing

I have been teaching the sunbeams in our ward for the past 6 months. I had a partner teacher the first month or two so it was totally manageable, but then she moved and I've been on my own ever since. Some weeks weren't too bad, but others basically killed me. It's CRAZY trying to control 8 three-year-olds at church on my own. The presidency must have noticed how hard it's been on me, because I got great news today: I'm going to move up to be a CTR-5 teacher, which means I'll still have about half my same kids. I was super stressed about trying to start the year with newbies from the nursery. Also, I'm getting a partner. They'll sustain her next week. YAY!! I'm soooo happy! I've really grown to love these kids, and I'm glad I get to have some of them for another year. Plus, 4 turning 5 seems so much better than 3 turning 4. I'm really happy and I think this was a huge blessing for me.

Somewhat Random

When I was growing up, my big brother Scott was in a band called "Somewhat Random". Since then that has become one of my favorite phrases.

I decided I don't blog enough. Why? Because my life isn't that exciting. I keep waiting for some big important exciting event to blog about. But seriously, how long am I going to keep stalling in a blogless existence waiting for something massive and amazing to happen? I could be waiting for a long time!

So here's what I'm thinking: in an attempt to blog more often, I am going to start making my blogs short, sweet, and always "somewhat random".

You have been warned.

My haircut is like, WOAH!

Sooo short!! The shortest I think I've ever cut it!
It's only been a few hours, and the jury is still out on whether or not I love it. It might take some getting used to. It's a pretty drastic A-line, really short in the back then longer in front. I'll post a pic soon. Not tonight, I'm exhausted. Time for bed!

Surgery

Since we're trying to keep things semi-private for awhile, here is the extremely un-detailed version:

Jay had surgery Tuesday.
I took Tuesday, Wednesday, and today off work to take care of him.
Recovery has been slow and painful, but going good now.

What I have learned the past few days is how thankful I am to have a loving husband around the house to help with everything. Jay isn't allowed to carry anything over 8 pounds for a week, which means I have to lug Topher around everywhere. I can't just hand him over to Jay when I need a break. Geez, I would DIE if I were a single mom! I am really lucky to have a guy who is such a great husband and father.

Yep, I'm going private, too.

I decided it would be a good idea to only let my friends read my blog. I worry that since I often blog about teaching, that someday I'm going to write something that will offend others/get me fired/etc. etc.
I just spent half an hour writing an awesome, detailed blog about something bad that happened to me this week at school. But then I erased it because I realized that if a parent came searching and found my blog and read it, I could really get in trouble.
AND I HATE THAT I HAVE TO CENSOR MY OWN BLOG!!!
I should feel free to write whatever I want to!!! Without worrying about "getting in trouble" or whatnot!!!

So, friends, if you want to still be able to read this, please let me know ASAP.
As of next Friday, Nov. 13, my blog will become locked down.
You can comment on this, hit me up on facebook, or email me at ashley_dixon@hotmail.com.

My Poor Sick Baby

As if this week couldn't get any worse...

#1.) Report Cards all weekend.
#2.) Comments/SEP forms to fill out Monday/Tuesday.
#3.) Parent - Teacher Conferences today and tomorrow (Wed. & Thur.)
******Meaning I leave for school at 6:30am and get home at 8:30pm.

As if that isn't enough, here's how today went:

I didn't realize I had forgotten my phone at home until I got to school. This is the first time I've ever forgotten my phone.
Today is a normal teaching day and I'm gearing up for conferences from 4 - 8pm, when I get a phone call at the school around 3. Jay tells me that our babysitter called him at noon and said that Topher was really sick. Jay leaves work to go pick him up and takes him to our doctor. Turns out he has ear infections in both ears and conjunctivitis (a.k.a. a gooey gross eye infection). He didn't eat all day, had a fever of 102, cried and screamed all day... and I couldn't even get home to be with him until 8:30 tonight. Grrrr. My poor poor little Topher.
Luckily Jay is such a great daddy and was able to take good care of him. Our dr. gave us antibiotics for the ear infections and medicine for his eye and we're also giving him baby Motrin to keep him fever down. The dr. said he should feel much better by tomorrow. I hope so.

I guess we're lucky that Topher is 9 months and this is the first big illness he's had. We've made it 9 months without any huge health issues, so I guess it was just time. I hear it's pretty common for babies to get ear infections, but it still doesn't make it any easier. I told Jay tonight how even though I hate being sick more than anything in the world, I'd rather be sick myself than have my sweet baby be sick.
Welcome to parenthood, right?

Edward Cullen, Jr.

Today was our Halloween parade and carnival at school. All the kids were so excited to wear their costumes to school and play all day. I was pretty excited about my costume, too.

My team decided to be contestants in the "Sixth Grade Science Pageant". We all had fancy dresses, tiaras, jewelry, pretty hair and makeup, and sashes that said our different titles: I was "Miss Solar System" (I covered my dress in pictures of planets), Melissa was "Miss Moon" (her dress had the moon phases) and Trudy was "Miss Seasons" (her dress had leaves, flowers, suns, snowflakes, etc). We looked sooo super cute together! I have really cute pics but I left my camera at school. I'll post them asap.

Back to the kids. In my class I had a princess, a fairy, a ballerina, batgirl, two zombies, Little Red Riding Hood, a ladybug, a surgeon, two Michael Jacksons, and the other typical Halloween costumes that 12-year-olds like. But one boy took me by complete surprise when he walked through the door to my classroom...

...he was Edward Cullen.

I about died! He looked A LOT like him! I have a New Moon poster hanging in my classroom so we took a picture of him standing in front of it. He was SOO CUTE!!! It totally made my day. He said his mom made him dress up like that, but I'm pretty sure he was happy with his choice. Especially after all the little girls started chasing him around all day chanting "OMG it's Edward! Aaaaahhh!!!" Hahaha! Makes me laugh!

So it was a really fun and successful Halloween celebration. These are the moments I'm glad I'm a teacher. What an exciting, exhausting, fantastic day!