"That's a fate no woman should have to bear!"

Is it worth it to sign up for health insurance (keeping in mind I'll have to pay for it out of my paycheck) when I'm already covered through Jacob's work? Discuss.

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Teacher Appreciation Week is eight months away. I'm already crossing my fingers that my students (and their parents) bestow upon me a lifetime supply of Stephen's hot chocolate to show their appreciation.

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Jacob has recently started watching a show called "Deadliest Warrior" on Netflix. The premise is that each episode some computer software programmers pit two different warriors (a knight, samurai, pirate, Viking, etc.) against each other, and, after performing a bunch of tests on their weapons and armor and such, simulate a battle to determine which would win. I've started watching it as well. It makes me feel both fascinated and slightly barbaric.

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Last weekend Heather and I crafted a festive scarecrow. It's so adorable I could die.  

Brilliant photography by my cell phone. Be amazed.

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While browsing the pictures on my phone, I came across this gem I forgot about until just now. Now presenting the creepiest car seat ever: 

Dora will stare into your soul and then throttle you with her fists of doom.

Tales of a Fourth Grade Teacher

So, it looks like I've survived my first eight days of teaching, and I haven't quit yet! In those eight days, I attended my first IEP meeting (to discuss accommodations for low students), met the superintendent, talked to parents, kept the students occupied throughout the day, received my badge to let me into the building (this was momentous because the first 5 or 6 days I had to wait for somebody to let me in), and had my contact information listed on the school website. I'm pretty much a pro by now.

By which I mean I still don't have much of an idea of what I'm doing, but the current plan is to fake it 'til I make it. It's working so far.

Allow me to share a few tidbits about my class:

- Earlier last week, I had my students fill out a reading interview form that asked questions like "What kind of books do you like to read?" and "How do you feel when you read aloud?" One question asked students to list their favorite place to read. One girl wrote "in the bathroom." Bahaha. A girl after my childhood heart.

- I'm setting up a classroom economy. Students will earn money to pay rent on their desks (a hefty $1,000 a month, which -- shh! -- is almost twice as much as we pay for our apartment rent), pay fines for violations of class rules, and participate in auctions. They earn money by holding a classroom job and earning bonuses for good behavior or academic achievement.

I had my students fill out a job application for their top three job choices. If they wanted to be a police officer or banker (by far the most popular job choice), they needed to get a "letter of recommendation" from a former teacher. I was more than a little surprised -- and impressed -- when some students turned theirs in from the principal! Way to go to the top.

- These are a few of the reasons my students said they would be good at the job they were applying for:

• For a librarian: "I will make sure I go over my [book] list twice, like Santa."
• For a banker: "Not ONE person knows where I keep my money, that's what I want to be in J biz town." (Should I know what J biz town is? I'm so behind the times!)
• For a filer: "I need a job, and a good one."
• For a custodian: "Because you [Jennifer] were one." Why thank you, thank you very much!
• For a police officer: "Because I am a fast writer and good speller so I can fine [write tickets] fast."

So things are going pretty well so far. Except for the times when my students make me want to pull my hair out. Which is only about twice a day. I'll take it.

This and that.

Today, I made a student cry. Oh, the guilt! (And I'm sure it won't be the last time, either.)

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Starting next week, I'll be teaching the fourth grade how to play recorders. I better brush up on my Hot Cross Buns! And maybe invest in some ear plugs.

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Earlier today at our apartment, I'm pretty sure I overheard a man tell a kid "If you keep crying, your eyeballs are going to fall off. [Out?] I mean it. You're going to go blind."

I'm pretty sure if that was true, my eyeballs would have fallen out about 17 years ago. Just sayin'.

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I think over the past three days, Jacob and I have been together for a grand total of two hours. It's been a little busy over here. And I don't know how people can work full time and then come home and cook and clean -- I just don't have any energy when I come home! We're eating like I did when I was a single college student. One night this week I went to the effort of heating up a can of soup. The most labor-intensive meal I've made so far was quesadillas. (Also, in our household, we purposely pronounce the l's so we sound like hicks. Classy, I know.) And our apartment is a bit of a disaster. Meh. Don't judge me.

Sharing is NOT caring

Yesterday, I somehow managed to persuade Jacob into doing the laundry for me. (Score!) He dutifully washed and dried three loads of laundry, including our sheets and towels.

While he was putting some of our laundry away, he decided that he had had enough of matching towels in the bathroom. You see, over the last close-to-three-years of marriage, he has come to the conclusion that the thought of using the same towel as his wife gave him the jibblies. (Apparently, he isn't the only husband that feels this way -- I recently read about another case similar to ours.)

I have to admit I was slightly offended. I mean, it isn't like we sleep in separate beds or maintain a foot of personal space between us. What's the big deal?

His excuse was that he didn't want to get all of my hair over his body. Well, I suppose he has a point there. I do admit to having a shedding problem.

So that's why we now have one light blue and one dark blue towel hanging up on the towel bar. (In case you were wondering, I have been assigned the light blue one.)

At least they'll go with our mismatched couches.

Times are a-changin'

So, we've had some pretty big changes around here lately. Allow me to enumerate:

1. I was hired as a fourth grade teacher last Tuesday. Was I planning on working full time? No. Was I even looking for a job? No. The process went a little something like this:

The Friday before last, I was subbing for the fifth grade teacher I mentioned in an earlier post. Before school started, the principal of the school asked me if I had my teaching license. I responded in the affirmative and thought nothing of it. Then, after I finished teaching for the day, he met me at the classroom and mentioned that they had a fourth grade position open. He asked if I was interested, and I hesitantly said yes, but I'd have to talk to my husband about it. The principal told me to discuss it with Jacob and we'd talk more on Tuesday.

I emailed Jacob about the prospect, as he was at work, and I received an email filled with the most capital letters I've ever received in my life. To say Jacob was excited would be an understatement. :)

When Tuesday rolled around, I came back to the school to sub as usual, and the principal arranged an impromptu interview with the rest of the fourth grade team just a few minutes after I finished teaching. I thought the interview went fairly well, but it could have gone better, so I wasn't getting my hopes up. (Been there, done that, had all my hopes and dreams crushed into a million smithereens.) I figured it would be a few days before I heard anything, so I tried to put it out of my mind.

Well, not four hours after returning home, I received a phone call from the principal offering me the position! I wasn't sure I heard him right so I had to ask for clarification, haha.

I had a few days to prepare, and my first day of school was on Friday. If I had to sum it up in one word, it would be "overwhelming." Teaching itself was fine, but afterward I realized I have no idea what I'm doing! (And I really should be planning for next week right now, but I just had to take a little break.) I have 25 students: 11 boys and 14 girls. It seems like a pretty good class, but I can tell a few students are going to give me a run for my money.

2. I have a functional laptop again! One of the perks of being employed by a school.

3. We are now a two-car family. Jacob drove me to and from school on Friday, but we realized it just wouldn't be feasible for him to do that all the time, especially with his crazy schedule. So today we headed to a car dealership and, two hours later, left with a 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid. (The "Hybrid" part makes it sound all hoity-toity. Hmm.) I don't have to walk to work anymore! Glory be!

The Vacation to End All Vacations

This summer, Jacob and I decided to spend all our dollars to go on a Grand Adventure. And so we did.

The Adventure started with a trip to Arizona to welcome home Jacob's twin brothers from their missions. Well, Stephen returned a few days before we were able to get down there, but at least we were able to greet Robert at the airport when he arrived. 

Each family was in charge of making a poster to bring to the airport. I learned that despite my background in elementary education, poster-making, especially when it involves paint, stresses me out. So I put Jacob to work on touching up my mistakes.

This is as crafty as it gets.

Unintentionally patriotic poster.

The man of the hour.

Our time in Arizona was mostly spent avoiding the outdoors. You guys, it was hot -- like stepping into an oven whenever you set foot outside. I lost track of how many times I burned myself on the seat belt in the car. And so while I love my in-laws, after spending a week in 115+ degree heat, I'm starting to think they might be slightly insane. (But only slightly!)

So, in an attempt to avoid roasting, we watched the Olympics, played games with the siblings almost every night, and, um, may or may not have consumed three milkshakes apiece. We will not speak of how many calories we consumed during this vacation.

We also watched the new Batman movie, did a little bit of swimming, and made merry with the relatives in general. One night we had a family potluck/birthday bash to celebrate the boys' return and the August birthdays. We played several family-friendly games, including a three-legged race which paired each child with an adult. My four-year-old niece and I came in dead last. I guess we lack that competitive edge. Alas.

The Erickson clan: 1 mom, 8 siblings, 6 spouses, and 18 grandchildren.

The Monday morning after Robert and Stephen's homecoming talks in church, Jacob and I bid our adieus and set off on the Grand Adventure: Stage Two. We drove to California to spend two days at Six Flags Magic Mountain. We splurged and purchased Flash Passes so we wouldn't have to wait in line as long. And let me tell you, we couldn't get to the rides fast enough! By the time we got off one ride, it was usually time for us to board another. One of our favorite rides was X2:

X . . .

. . . 2.

While it wasn't nearly as hot as Arizona, it was still pretty hot. The first day we were fools and didn't bring a water bottle into the park with us, so we were scouting out drinking fountains like nobody's business. Unfortunately, this still didn't prevent us from getting super thirsty and slightly dehydrated. So we ended up resting a lot.

Taking a break.

Wilting.

 And then, because we were so thirsty, we ended up purchasing the World's Most Expensive Lemonade to share. (Later that day, we purchased the World's Most Expensive Milkshake and the World's Most Expensive Soft Pretzel.) Food and beverage was not cheap! But I guess that is kind of the point when you run an amusement park.

A little refreshment.

On the second day, we brought our own water bottle we could fill up, and things were much happier. (Also of note: we didn't bring our camera or phones with us, so we could go on the water rides, and that also made  the second day more enjoyable.)

After one more night in the hotel, it was back to the real world (i.e. Utah). It was a lot of fun, but we're going to need our bank account to recover from this trip and from paying tuition before we have any more adventures like this!