National Cat Day

In honor of National Cat Day you'll find three of my favorite pictures of my cat, Mister Biebs. He has an Instagram (@Mister_Biebs)  and I think you should follow him too!

QOTD

QOTD means question of the day. Melissa Joan Hart has been posting these everyday on her Instagram and I look forward to answering them with thousands of other individuals around the world. Today's questions was:

In 5 years, I'll be 30 and I am hoping I will be married by that point. What would I like to be doing at 3:00pm on a Friday five years from now? Easy, I'd like to be sitting in a rocking chair nursing my baby.

Meet Maci

Back in November, we bought a Morkie and named her Maci.

You can follow her on Instagram: @Maci_the_Morkie

Year End Review

Pretty much took FB statuses and put them on here:

- Sat on the big cherry on a spoon. A guy kept saying to get off the spoon over the loud speaker but others were waiting and sitting/standing on it for a photo op so I decided to join in too!

- Woke up to a tweet from Yogurt Lab asking if they could share my photo on FB. #ofcourse

 

 - I walked across the middle of the Lake of the Isles. That was scary but once I was in the middle of the lake it was fun!

- My dreams of being an Early Childhood Pastor are coming together! I am going to be a Kid-O-Deo Coach on the 2nd and 4th weekends of each month!!!

- Jason aka Strand Diesel rapped during church in January and it was hilarious, "I'm like a bus driver, I'm taking everyone to school."

- Tonight was my first night in my new role at church. It was incredibly busy and we were so not prepared, but I am grateful for awesome parent volunteers who were willing to skip "big church" to help us out in Kid- O- Deo!

- I made a snow angel for the first time in years. 

- Oreo created a limited edition of Mega Stuff Oreo's. They don't make them anymore but man those were good dipped in Peanut Butter. 

- Early Childhood Pastor greeted me at the door and handed me a post- it with numbers on it. I looked at her and she said, "Call this number when you get puked on." Thankfully, tonight was nothing like Thursday and although my volunteers were dropping like flies, I didn't have any sick kiddos and I didn't get puked on!

- Went to my first leadership meeting at church tonight and it was fun! First, the other coach on my weekend told me she loves Shemar Moore so we had a 15 minute conversation about his abs among other things, but mostly his abs. Then, we played an ice breaker game and someone wrote, "It took me 7 years to get my B.A." Everyone thought it was me, but it wasn't. However, it will take me 7- 8 years to get my B.A.

- I participated in Wear a Dress Wednesday. I now own more dresses than I know what to do with. 

- Gloria and I went to see the play, Cinder Edna at the Children's Theater. 

- Once again, it snowed on my birthday. Another blizzard so I did not go anywhere. 

- Saw The Croods, Despicable Me 2 and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days of Summer with Gloria and her brothers. 

- I made my family play an ice breaker game on Easter. We were supposed to write three things about ourselves. My dad wrote tall, old, and unhappy.

- My friend, Donna and I met Catelynn and Tyler from Teen Mom. We even got a picture with these two lifechangers.

- My sister and I started a trend on Instagram called cat mugging. It's cats in a cup. Google #catmugging and see for yourself! 

- It snowed on May 1st. It was the longest winter ever!!

 - "Lost" my check card for the 2nd time this year... My new one came today and guess where I found my "lost" card? In my wallet!!

 - Baby Grace took multiple unassisted steps today!! It was the first time I have ever seen her walk and it was amazing!!

- Gay Marriage passed in MN. The 35W Minnesota River Bridge was lit in rainbow colors and I drove down to check it out at 11:30pm. 

- Completed a 60 hour summer internship at Primrose. It was a leadership internship and discovered I would rather teach and work directly with the kids than manage a childcare center. 

- Happy 1st Birthday, Grace! I have loved watching you, grow, learn and achieve milestone after milestone. I love you so much baby girl! You have been such a blessing in my life and I can't wait for all the adventures next year will bring!

- My neighbors moved to SD. It was so sad watching them go because I have known them and babysat for them for 12 years. Lots of tears were shed as memories were reminisced. They will be missed but hopefully it is only temporary.

- Went on the WORST date of my life. "Oh, so you must be the kind of girl every guy on Christian Mingle is looking for." What kind of line is that?!

- I did it! I ran 3 miles!! Best part was the second I hit 3 miles the song, "All My Fountains" was ending and there was clapping, whistling and cheering. It put a huge smile on my face!

- LONG start to the day, but then it got better when Dekontee walked in. We bonded over Yogurt Lab, Netflix and Amazon Prime. We quoted scenes from Friends and Everybody Loves Raymond. We sang and danced to NSYNC and Backstreet Boys after debating which boy band was better… I’d say that was a pretty successful first day at my internship!

- I was at the vet this afternoon with my dog. I overheard the vet telling a girl my age that her dog may have heart failure. They took out a liter of fluid around the dogs lungs and will call her with the other test results. I felt prompted to go over and comfort her so I stood up and immediately started bawling. I couldn't get my words out at first, but gave her a hug. As we sat there petting her dog, we talked a bit and I told her I was praying for her. Putting an animal down is never easy, but I hope I was able to comfort and brighten her day just a little bit!

-  So today, I was getting ready to go on a bikeride for the first time with Grace. I got on the bike and fell over into a box with the lawnmower. Grace started laughing. I got up and went to get Grace to put her on the bike and she started crying. I don't blame her, I wouldn't have trusted me either after witnessing that!

- Went Kayaking with my friend, Christy. That was quite the adventure! You can read about it here.

- Made Zucchini Boats for dinner and they were amazing! They were so delicious that I had two and I don't even like vegetables!! You can check out that blog post here.

- Attended the Global Leadership Summit in August and heard from Andy Stanly, Henry Cloud, Bob Goff and Patrick Lencioni among numerous others.

- Saturday nights during the summer went like this: Church, My Burger, walk around the lake and Yogurt Lab... Every single week.

- Built the most awesome fort using every blanket in the house. The whole fort was too big to fit in one photo.

  - When Grace's vocabulary started to soar a month ago two of her favorite words were crumbs and "cean" aka clean. I'm definitely a product of my mother and I'm passing on my need for tidiness unto Miss Grace! #makingmymotherproud
 
- Saw a snake at French Park today. I started screaming and ran the opposite direction we were walking. Without Donna I don't think I would have ever made it out if the park or at least not for a few more hours. I'm so lucky to have her as my friend! 

- On September 14, I bought a brand new car! I've had five cars in the past eight years, but today, I bought a Checy Cruze and it's all under warranty for the next five years!!

- Hilarious hashtag video by Justin Timberlake. Seriously, watch it.

- Some people think I am crazy for driving 45+ minutes to church but I think I would be crazy if I did not. #ilovemychurch

- Made a card for the sales manager at LB Chevrolet because, "If you think something good about someone tell them."

- You guys my nanny family is having a girl!! Come this winter I'll be a proud nanny for two adorable little girls under the age of two!

- Thanks to Criminal Minds, I have a new favorite quote: "They mess you up your mom and dad. They may not mean to but they do. They fill you with the faults they had and add some extra just for you." #philiplarkin

-  Grace and I went to a fire station open house tonight and she loved it! She made herself right at home inside the police car, loved all the gadgets in the construction trucks, and enjoyed trying on all the equipment fire fighters wear. The stickers were a huge hit too, everything we got she tried to stick to her shirt! The coolest part though was the helicopter, we got to see it take off and the pilot waved at us! Oh, and don't forget the fireworks, we saw those too! Grace seemed to enjoy them and kept saying "Boom!" and "Sparkly!"

- Had my 10 year 8th grade reunion. I went unwillingly because parents and teachers were invited but it ended up being fun. The "little" girl I babysit for came to my reunion and seeing her was most definitely the highlight of my night!

-  One of my teachers sent out an e-mail reading, "Don't panic if your lesson plans are covered in red when returned. You are almost to pre-student teaching and student teaching, so I want to give as much feedback as possible." I just looked at my lesson plan feedback and all she said was, "WOW! I am blown away... Outstanding work!" Writing lesson plans is apparently my strong suit because my teachers at Rasmussen said the same thing!

- I went into my field experience thinking I would hate it but I can honestly say that I LOVE it! It is a lot of work but I am enjoying every single second of it! Maybe I am meant to be a classroom teacher after all.

-  I taught in a 1st grade classroom this year. On November 4th, I taught my first lesson on digraphs and it went great! I also taught a math lesson on counting on and a social studies lesson about school long ago.

- Yesterday I wore a dress to school and one of my students stopped the second she saw me and exclaimed, "Wow! You are beautiful!" A few minutes later another student came up to me and said, "I want to be you when I grow up. Too bad Halloween passed... I could've dressed up like you."

- Sophie was running down the steps to play Frisbee and she miss stepped or something which resulted in another fractured leg. Because of her age, eye issues, the fact that there was no guarantee she would heal completely and not to mention the several thousand dollar cost for surgery we had to put Sophie down today. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do and I do not ever want to have to do that again. Sophie was the best dog and I miss her so much. 

- I taught a social studies lesson today about school long ago. The kids were so excited about it and the lesson went great! My mentor teacher asked if she could keep my activities and PowerPoint to use next year. This is a lesson she always skips but she loved it and cannot wait to teach it! P.S. I just looked at our class blog and my mentor teacher posted a picture of me teaching and a great review of my lesson! 

- Today I wore my hair in a bun. I knew I'd get questions and comments but I didn't know how many. As I was explaining why my hair was in a bun a boy yelled across the room, "Hey! Do you need a hotdog to go with that bun?" It was pretty funny. Another boy drew me this cute picture and a little girl gave me a hug and said, "I love you Miss. S."

- Picked up Sophie's ashes tonight. The vet had a certificate, pieces of hair and her footprint for us. The footprint is really shallow but it is something I'll cherish forever.

- Grace greeted me at the door yesterday and said, "Missed you!" In the afternoon, I gave Grace this "G" with drops of glue on it and told her to take a pom pom. She did, put it right on the glue and said, "push." She's so smart! :-) At night, we practiced saying, "Happy Thanksgiving!" and when I was getting ready to leave, Grace hugged me and said, "Happy Thanks!" I'm very grateful I get to spend my days with her!

- Happy Thanksgiving, friends!! This year I am grateful for the 13 years I had with our dog, Sophie and I am thankful for our new puppy, Maci!

- Apparently this morning, the first thing Grace said when she woke up was my name over and over and over. Her mom said, "Yes, Liz will come play with you this afternoon." Grace stood up and said, "Liz, Thursday." Tonight as we were playing, Grace said, "Drop it... hot" aka drop it like it's hot and then she hit the floor and did a push up. I love this kid and I enjoy everyday I get to spend with her!

- She's here, she's here, she's finally here! Eloise or Baby Lulu as Grace calls her is here and she's cute as a button! After working for years with all boys I am so excited to nanny for two beautiful little girls!!

- Grace usually refers to her baby sister as Eloise or Baby Lulu. Yesterday, I asked her, "What's your babies name?" I was expecting one of the answers above but instead she turns to me and says, "Baby Jesus!" It's pretty obvious what we've been talking about this month. #Christmas

- I was at church. I got home and no one was there. I call and no one answers. My sister returns my call and said my dad was in the hospital. She did not know why. My mom's phone was dead and I started freaking out. My dad was skiing and hit a steel bridge. He broke his nose and had two black and blue eyes. God was watching out for him, it could have been so much worse. #grateful

- Nothing at the store caught my eye this year so I made a slideshow for my dad instead this Christmas. You know you have given a good gift when it has everyone in the house in tears. 

- Thank you North Point Church for creating the best Christmas carol ever: Christmas in Bevelton. You can watch the video here. If you have kids or love kids then this video is for you!
 
- I've spent the past two days tearing the whole house apart looking for my spare car key. The house is trashed but I just saved $500!

Owning Cats

Found this great article called, "Owning Cats Can Inflict Permanent Damage To Mental Health But Nobody Bothered To Warn Us. You can read the article here. I am clearly a cat lady because I related to this article 100%. I also have an Instagram for my cat. Yeah, I am that girl. In all seriousness though if you have an Instagram look him up. His username is @mister_biebs.

This was one of my favorite pictures from the article with the caption, "We're more annoyed than scared when there's a loud noise at 3am in the morning." Biebs does this all the time!!

A Case of the Mondays

Last night at 10pm I was scrambling to get all my stuff ready to go for today. I was printing off and reading all my methods class lab expectations because lets face it, I am a procrastinator so I hadn't even opened these documents yet. I showered and got everything ready to go because I am most definitely not a morning person. I thought I was set up for a smooth successful morning but I was wrong. I woke up at 6:40 but my alarm wasn't set to go off until 7:10 so I tried to go back to sleep. At 7:10, I rolled over to check Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, e-mail and of course my text messages. At 7:12 my mom came in, "Aren't you supposed to be there at 8?" Oh crap!! I don't know what I was thinking but I needed to be at the school by 8am. I quick got up and ready to go in 20 minutes (this is why I showered last night) and I was out the door. Thankfully, I didn't hit any traffic on the way but I got to my exit and went left. My GPS told me to go right but I was convinced I knew where the school was. My GPS kept telling me to make a u- turn, but I did not do it. I got to the school that I was sure was it and guess what? That was the wrong school!! Keep in mind now it is 7:52 at this point. I quick pull in to the parking lot to turn around and of course, I can't get out of the parking lot... Cars just kept coming. So at 7:55 I pull out and I now have 5 minutes to get to the school. My GPS is saying I'm only four minutes away so I stay hopeful but know I will hit every light along the way. Amazingly, I hit all green lights so I pulled into the right school at 7:59. I practically darted out of my car and into the building. I got there and the doors were all locked. I pulled on one and this lady came over and directed me to the office door. I was in such a hurry I didn't even notice that there was a door to my left with a giant sign that read, "OFFICE." The lady in the office needed to make my nametag and said she would show me around the school so it did not appear that I was late even though I pretty much was.

Thankfully, from this point on my day went up. My classroom teacher is very nice and I think her and I will get along. People in the office said she was VERY excited to have a student teacher in her room so that is a good sign. She gave me a tour of the school and introduced me to other teachers and specialists. Her and I got to talking and realized we went to the same grade school. She was in middle school when I was in elementary school (same building though). I didn't recognize her maiden name but for all I know, she was my spirit buddy. I also taught her daughter when I did childcare. She was like, "I knew you looked familiar I just couldn't place you!"

Pretty much all I did today was observe her teaching and their routine. During morning meeting we played a ball toss greeting game. I thought I should probably sit down but then I thought I really should play so it looks like I have enthusiasm (we get graded on that you know). I played and at the end it was me and two boys. The teacher said, "J, you can greet Miss. S or K." He had a huge smile on his face and greeted me. I was to toss the ball to the other kid who of course had a name I could not pronounce. I had no idea how to say it so I took a guess and it was wrong. Oh well, I tried. I am determined to get his name right next time and I will. After all, isn't everyone's favorite word their own name? I had a win in the classroom today though. The kids had the opportunity to listen to books, read with a partner, read silently or do word work. My classroom teacher had a reading group so I was just walking around talking to students, making sure they were on task and observing. One girl who was working on word work came up to me with a card that showed a picture of a trick or treat bag. She asked me what the words said. I told her to try sounding it out. I wasn't sure if that was the right approach because everything I am reading for school pushes away from sounding out words. Anyway, she tried sounding it out and she got it! I celebrated quietly with her because the room was quiet but I feel as though I should've been more enthusiastic or asked for a high five. Next time that situation comes across, I will be more prepared- I'll get that high five!