Wild Rumpus at the Feeding Frenzy

Christmas morning is usually a ton of fun. This year Jen wasn't there because she is now a nurse and had to work :( In my family we all do our individual family things at our own houses and then everyone comes to my mom's house around 10:00am for brunch and exchanging gifts. Now in order to feed everyone (usually 25 or more people ) my mom and I start cooking strada on Christmas Eve. It is a 4 hour process to make it. Since I has started helping my mom, I have learned that I really don't like strada. Maybe it is because I have to crack, beat and scramble 15 or more dozen eggs. But everyone else loves it so we do it. Once everyone shows up, we visit, relax and then the feeding frenzy begins....
Bayou's first Christmas...she is hoping some of these are for her!
Jayden enjoying some hot chocolate... I love this kid!
Nana and her 3 great grand sons!
Olivia, Jayden and Sofia claim a spot on a sofa.
Hanging out in my mom's art studio
Cousins chatting in the kitchen
Silly boys
It is a race to get in line for food....I just stand back and watch
Now that Bryce is a teenager, we almost have to make his a pan of his own! Seriously the kid eats three plates heaping full and he is still a twig.
Who needs a chair when you are eating strada???
We should invest in more seats...nah
Street spilled hot chocolate all down his cute white santa shirt...but being shirtless did not keep him from enjoying the festivities!
Everyone enjoying their gifts

Even big kids like to play with legos

Cousin love - Anna, Sofia (who are 15 and 13 and both taller than me, not that that isn't a hard thing to do), me, Bryce and Smage (Adrienne)
Shortie, Smage and me
Little cousin love

a little voodoo in the big easy

Over Christmas break, my bestie Lynley came home from Logan, where she is getting her masters. We hung out a bunch. One day we went to one of our favorite cities... New Orleans! We shopped, ate beignets, had lunch at Port of Call, went on a voodoo/grave yard tour (she is taking a folk tale class this semester so it was research for that class). It was not worth the money. Our tour guide took us to the oldest or second oldest grave yard in the Quarter. We saw Marie Laveau's grave, some guy that gambled away his millions from the 1800's, and Plessy's grave (from Plessy vs Ferguson).Oh she also showed us this grave that the front came off and we could see a rotting corpse - gross. I felt it a bit disrespectful and probably should have called the grave yard keeper or whoever, but I didn't. After that she took us by Armstrong park, which was across the street from this Voodoo Priestest's temple we were supposed to go to. Our tour guide told us about people being murdered in the park and then pointed to the building we needed to go to, then she left us standing there in not the best part of the city...great. Our little group crossed the street to the voodoo temple and it was locked. We could see someone in there but nothing. We all stood around for about 20 minutes and Lynley and I decided to leave and go get a burger at Port of Call. Which by the way was 100 times more enjoyable than that tour. We were both disappointed. I suggested next time we go to the voodoo temple and tell them we are with the tour group, just so we can complete the tour. We'll see. After lunch we wandered the Quarter some more. It was close to Christmas and random people were belting Christmas carols through the streets. Oh I love that city! We left when it started getting dark and went Uptown to the Creole Creamery for icecream. Then we went to Lakeside Mall for some shopping/more beignets/people watching. It was a great day.
River boat on the mighty Mississippi River
Breakfast at Cafe Du Monde
Jackson Square
Shopping at the French Market
Street art
Makeshift jazz band singin the tunes of Christmas
famed water meter cover
St Louis Cemetery Number One

Marie Laveau's grave (well at least they are pretty sure it is...there are two in this cemetery-they think the other is her daughter)

Best burger and potato at Port of Call
Creole Creamery - I had the sampler of lavander honey, cookie dough, creole cream cheese and mint dark chocolate - I really really liked the lavander honey
Lynley having an Ice cream fudge sundae

The heading on a paper at the Creamery...now they are saying Drew Brees for Mayor...Who Dat!

Proud Member of the Who Dat Nation!!

Ok yall... 4 days and counting to the Super Bowl and praying hard that the New Orleans Saints bring home their first ever Super Bowl win - it would be great to get a ring with your first trip to the Super Bowl. This is a great Saints Super Bowl trailer made by a Saints fan. I hope yall aren't too sick of my extreme happiness of this moment in history!!! I promise to blog some real stuff soon!

Black and Gold Superbowl Baby!!! WHO DAT!!!!

Oh my goodness... I don't think my stomach has ever been so nervous as it was last night as I was watching the New Orleans Saints play the Minnesota Vikings for the NFC Championship and a slot in the Superbowl. Seriously, one heck of an amazing game played by both teams. Oh and no, I am not a fan of Brett Favre, even though he is from Kiln, Mississippi (just 15 minutes north of where I am from). However, the old man ate some turf last night as the Saints defensive line sacked him time after time. I sorta felt sorry for him when it took him a few minutes to get up off the field and hobble to the sideline to have his ankle taped. Ok, you are 40, it is time to really retire, these young bucks are going to take you down for good here soon. I will give him props for saying in an interview that last night would have been a win win situation for him, being raised a Saints fan, as all children from the MS Gulf Coast are. Now, the Saints started in 1967 and it has taken them 43 years to make it to the Superbowl. I am proud to say that I witnessed football history last night! Here is link to a video taken by some friends that were with some people I know that were sitting in the end zone as the winning field goal was kicked during overtime! (Please note that some of the people in this video are slightly or really drunk as were most of the people in the Super Dome and they are kinda retarted when on camera-no nudity or anything but you've been warned-oh and make sure your volume is up so you can hear how the Dome sounded last night)

Winning Kick

So in two weeks it is Superbowl party time and this year is a reason to actually watch the game and not just the commercials. It should be pretty exciting as they face the Colts and Peyton Manning (a southern boy). GEAUX SAINTS!!!! Who Dat? Who Dat? Who day say they gonna beat them Saints? WHO DAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Little White Flakes of Happiness

Yes folks, snow....snow is falling from the sky tonight in Jackson. Sweet! It makes me happy. I like walking in the falling snow and standing in it. I was shopping this evening as the first (and probably only) snow fall happened, and every time I walked out to my car I would start humming Christmas carols. I don't know what it is about snow that makes the Christmas season all the more better, but it does. Here are a few pictures I snapped on my phone...enjoy!

COMPLETE SLACKER.... I know..But here, I will catch you up!

Ok yall, I have been a slacker on my blog... please accept my apologizes! Right now life is pretty much the same ol same ol... work work work. I get to school at 6:30am and leave somewhere between 4 and 6 (usually closer to 6). I bring a bag of stuff home with all the intention to do something...and nope, it sits on the floor by the door where I put it when I come in. I am so exhausted all the time! I just want to sit on my couch and watch a movie, and that is what I do. I have made a few friends at church and a couple of girls at work (that are also first year teachers and have pretty much the same schedule I do). Sometimes on the weekends, I go to the farmers market and the public library on Saturdays. I know, I have an exciting life right?

Well, most weekends I travel down to Hattiesburg and hang out with Leanne and Branson and their kids. On Saturday mornings we go to the kids sporting events and in the afternoons, Leanne and I have girl time and go to Dirt Cheap and get cheese dip, while Branson being the fantastic husband he is, stays home with the kids. Thanks Branson!! Also, this guy I have been sorta seeing comes up from the coast every now and then and we spend some time together :) The other day Leanne and I were talking about how we have been friends for 16 years now (since 9th grade)...it doesn't seem that long. I am truly blessed that she is one of my best friends! I am heading down there again this weekend. We might go to the progressive dinner her Relief Society is doing or we will go to a movie. We will probably end up driving to the coast Saturday afternoon to help another friend of ours from high school move. Not exactly what we had planned, but Jenny needs our help so we are going to help the best we can.

I did get to go home for Thanksgiving. I had the whole week off, which was FANTASTIC! My mom and I went Dirt Cheap shopping and I got some amazing deals: a Weight Watchers scale (that does body fat, water weight, bone density, etc) for $2.00, a big square Brita that stays in the fridge with a spout on it with 3 filters for $1.50, a clothes drying rack for $1.oo and a ton of other little things for a nickle and a dime each - this is not a typical Dirt Cheap experience, my mom and I happened to hit it on a day when they had a few rows of 95% off merchandise (all Target stuff!). My mom and I had a blast while I was at home. Oh she also loves me so much that she is keeping my cat for me right now and taking her to the vet to get fixed next week! Thanksgiving dinner with the fam... no big deal. It was the first time I have been home for Turkey Day in 3 years and I have decided to go out of town for Thanksgiving from now on. Next year - Logan, Utah to spend it with my other best friend, Lynley. That is where I should have gone this year. But if I did I wouldn't have gotten the great Dirt Cheap deals I did. :)

Oh, I also haven't seen anyone in my family, besides my mom, since the end of July/beginning of August and NO ONE mentioned that I was looking skinner... hello! I have lost 20 pounds and 2 more over the break! Not one, you are looking good, have you lost weight? Nothing. Crud, people I work with and see me everyday ask me if I am losing weight because they can tell... did I mention they see me everyday too?? Ok, sorry for my rant. I needed to vent. Sorry yall were the ones to have to hear it!

Now I am focusing on the next 2 weeks and 2 days (no, I am not counting down or anything) until Christmas break. This week has flown by and this weekend will be busy. Next week is full of exciting learning and next weekend, Lynley flies home for the winter break from Utah!!! I am picking her up from the airport here in Jackson and driving her down to Hattiesburg. Then one last week and two weeks off! Score! My kids are getting wilder by the day and I have to get more strict/mean however you want to look at it. I have pulled the Santa card and told them I get a call from Santa every night to see how they were in class. It is working on some and others nothing. Sigh. These kids are so hard core that Santa doesn't even work on them!

Speaking of hard core kids, I am now having to deal with a certain little girl and boy that keep sticking their hands down each others pants! I have called parents and the boys dad told me that the boy said he didn't do it... hello I saw him do it!!! So the dad doesn't think it is his son and I need to get my students straight. Ugh. Well, today the librarian caught them doing it and she was going to call the parents. Maybe he will believe me and her... probably not. The girls mom says she is a tomboy and would never do anything like that. Hello, you are a hoochie momma and your 5 year old is just like you... a tomboy? right. Yesterday, I told another little darling angel to go sit down and finish his work and he told me 'whatever'. I about blew my top. I grabbed him by the back of his shirt as he was walking off and had a few words with him. Seriously, these kids have no respect for ANYONE!! It is scary to think this is the future of America and the world. Is it bad that I can look at some of them and say: future jailbird, drug dealer, pregnant at 14 (or younger)? Most have such potential and talk about being doctors, nurses, teachers, lawyers, etc and I can see them doing it. They are the ones with parents that care and are active parents. Others say they want to be this or that and I pray that they can get out of the environment they are in and achieve those dreams and not repeat the cycle of life they are being brought up in. I know I am complaining a bit, but really I have grown to love each of them for who they are. I want them to be able to achieve their dreams and to succeed in all they do. I don't want them to fall victim of their environment, peers, family, or society. Some (most)days some of them make me nuts but everyday they make me smile. I love that I can yell, fuss, discipline them and they overlook that and still ask for hugs and tell me they love me and I am the best teacher ever. I have taken a line from the book Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse and tell it to those that are having bad days (and to myself): Today was a rough day, tomorrow will be a better day. Teaching is tough, but I am trying my best to do what is best for them. I want school to be a fun and safe time for them. I want them to be able to be kids while they are in my care, they are only 5 and 6, but many have to deal with things that I wouldn't want to deal with once they leave school. I am glad I am able to have this experience, because it is nothing I have ever been around. I was raised in a completely different world from what many of my students are being brought up in. I don't just mean the times we live in either. I am thankful for the parents I have and for the the environment I was able to be brought up in. I am thankful for the love, support and understanding I received from my parents. I am thankful they were active parents that cared about my education and my well being.

I am sorry this has been so long and a bit of a rant at times. I promise to be a better blogger and not store it all up for once:) Thanks for listening or should I say reading! I love you all!

1 week and counting!

I am so super stoked for next Friday to be here! Why you ask? Well, I get an ENTIRE week off for Thanksgiving! Now for some this may not be a big deal, however, I HAVE NOT had a break from my darling little students in 10 weeks! Yes, no fall break, no early dismissal, no teacher workday, I didn't even call in sick (I know, I am dedicated), nothing. I love all 26 of their darling little personalities and all, but I am READY for a break!!!! I hope next week flies by!

Rock A Doodle Ranch

Last Friday, the kindergarten classes went on our first field trip. We went to Rock-A-Doodle Ranch. It is this (sorta) ranch like place and they have set up an educational/fun fieldtrip for the local schools. When you arrive, each class received a schedule. Our schedule consisted of 10 centers that you rotated through every 15 minutes. Pretty cool. Our first stop was the animals. Now I was expecting a little more,but ok this was not too bad. It was the first time some of my kids had seen a real live pig, goat, chicken and sheep. We learned about what the boy/girl/baby of each animal is called. We were able to look at the animals and pet the goats (through the fence). Only 4 or 5 of my kids would pet the goat, the rest were scared. And being kindergarteners, the only thing they wanted to talk about the animals was the way they smelled. Which led to many interesting questions. Seriously, I wonder what I have gotten myself into teaching kindergarten.

A face ONLY a mother (pig) could love.

Learning about the animals

Petting the goat

Checking out the pigs
From there we made bracelets with wool and beads...pretty cool. Then we learned about corn and received corn necklaces. What is a corn necklace? Well, it's an indian corn seed kernel in a tiny plastic bag with a wet cotton ball hanging from a piece a yarn. I was like oh, cool (yeah right) when I first saw it. However, I kept most of them and taped them to the window in my classroom and we now have indian corn stalks starting to bud. Now that is pretty cool. I have to buy some soil this weekend so we can plant them and watch them grow. Learning about corn.
From there we took a break on the playground

Yes, we are playing with corn kernels

Our next center was pretty cool. We made butter and got to eat it with crackers. All the shaking wore them out...hmmmm, maybe I should start doing this in class.

Shake, shake, shake the butter...."Ms Mason I am tired. Here you shake it for me"...

We have butter!!!!

Next, was the best center(in my opinion)! Hayride, corn maze and pumpkin patch!!!

A first for many (and maybe the only) hayride

Lost in the corn

I really don't think they were too impressed walking around in corn stalks

Proud of his pumpkin
We stopped for lunch and a little more time at the playground. Then we went to the corn gun center. We got to shot ears of corn out of this air powered gun contraption...it was by far the kids favorite part of the day!

The object was to shoot the ear of corn into the pig's mouth ... one got close the rest of us need some practice!
We must have spent too much time eating and playing on the playground at lunch because we missed out on the last two centers. But we did get to take home the rye grass seeds to grow in class. Here are my little ones...it's only 23 this day, 4 couldn't make it :(

Silly Kids!

Goblins, Ghost and Chickens??

Well, this is Bayou's first Halloween, and since I don't have kids, I am enjoying dressing my cat up in a costume. Really, I am not a fan of dressing up animals in costumes, at times it seems a little inhumane. However, when one finds a cat halloween costume at Dirt Cheap for only 25cents, it is really hard to pass up such a good bargain. Since I have spent a quarter of my hard earned money, I am not going to let it go to waste...I will subject my cat to wearing this costume!

Needless to say, she is NOT a fan of things on her head. I have attempted several times in the last week to get a picture of her wearing her costume, and most are of her running away and trying to get it off. However, today was my lucky day. She put up with me for about 5 mintues before throwing a fit to get it off.
So here she is ladies and gentlemen...
Bayou the Halloween Chicken!

She was done at this point and just wanted it off her head!

hmmm...

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

My Classroom

Well yall, I am finally posting pictures of my classroom... it has more to it since I took these, but this will give yall a little of hint of my home away from home...

Outside the room....September is apple month

A Thought I am Sharing With you....

Sadness is easier because it is surrender. I say make time to dance alone with one hand waving free. --Elizabethtown

Rockin Awesome Africa

My bestie sent me an email with the link for this video...

It's an a cappella jazz choir from Slovenia... they sound AMAZING! I hope you ENJOY!!!

A tilt-shifted day in the life of Disney's "The Magic Kingdom"

This video is pretty amazing. I love Disney World!