The Lumberjack's Wife

So, I was making dinner just now, and we just completely ran out of water. Like I turn on the kitchen sink faucet, and nothing. This is the second time this week, because we apparently live in olden times over here where our well runs dry quite easily.

It is because it is Africa hot over here and everything needs water. Cows, chickens, gardens, people, washing machines-everything.

So. No water left. I cannot make dinner under these conditions, so I shall catch up on this blog.

Since, I last posted . . .

HD turned 16 and bought his first car. He is working full time this summer just doing odd jobs for people in our area with LD. Both boys leave the house everyday by 6:45 am and return filthy and sweaty and rich.

Hadley turned 19. She finished up her first year of school at our local community college. For a little summer adventure, she and Lily moved in with Alex (David’s brother) and his wife and are working over there. They are on a landscaping crew and chose that career so that they could, and I quote, “get super tan.”

Here is a picture of Hadley and Lily the night before they moved.

This picture was taken by me as David and I were sitting in our camp trailer, which, at the time, was conveniently located in our driveway.

You may ask, “Taylor! Why were you living in a trailer in your driveway?!”

Well, we decided to embark on a remodel journey of our home, complete with new sheetrock texture.

So that has been fun, as well as inexpensive.

We did get the house put back together “enough” to move in, but our remodel is far from over.

The school year ended, and Friends, this year was a doozy for me. Hardest year yet. Wasn’t sure if I could come back to teaching, I kid you not. But I got through it, and had some happy moments. And, of course, I double love my students and I do love teaching, so. I will probably continue. And at this moment, I am slated to teach a k/1 combo, but I will bet you one crisp dollar bill it will change to straight first grade.

My little Urkanian girl who started the year knowing ZERO English, wowed our entire classroom and began to read, speak and write like a total champ. She loved me, and the feeling was quite mutual, and she started writing me lots of precious notes, and also told me I was “cute” every day. So. Extra credit for her.

I wear earrings everyday, and she would always draw pictures of me and put earrings on me. The last week of school, she brought me a gift-a three pack of earrings. She asked me to wear the very sparkly diamond ones at that very moment, and sparkly diamond earrings went perfectly with my shorts and t-shirt that I was wearing that day for field day.

She would point to my shorts and say “shorts!” and then pointed to my earrings and said “ears!” then she would step back and smile and point to me and say, “cute!”

She pretty much won my heart.

LD turned 15 and we did the KitKat cake per usual. He loves getting his picture taken-especially with his mom.

And now for the most exciting update of all-

Kate and Caleb are engaged! We are very happy for them both, and we really like Caleb!

Now for the tricky part-

From the time she got engaged to the wedding . . . 40 days.

That’s it.

40 days to plan a wedding.

They have asked to have the wedding at our river property-which is all fine and dandy, but we had some damage to our property from the spring flooding. We have been working very hard to try and get our bank repaired and we had to plant new grass seed. David and I have been driving to the river about every other day to keep the sprinklers going and to try and make this all happen.

Friends.

I do not know if this is going to happen.

We had to dig a trench and bury some rock to build up the bank. Do not ask me why, I simply do not know. And then we put dirt over it and planted grass seed.

Those pictures were sent to Kate and Caleb a week after their engagement. I was trying to prep them for the possibility that we might need to have a “Plan B Venue.”

Their reply?

“Nope! That looks great! Let’s have it at the river!”

So, they are basically lunatics.

I am happy to report that the grass is starting to pop up here and there. It is not a beautiful, thick, lucious lawn. It would be best described as something akin to my boys’ growing facial hair.

There is no rhyme or reason. It is growing in patches. It is noticeable, but isn’t amounting to much of anything.

Needless to say, I am a bit worried.

Will this grow into something of note in time for this wedding?

May the Lord bless me and keep me.

Another basketball season came to an end. It is hard to believe that HD only has two seasons left, and LD three. For years it felt like this season of racing around to all the different basketball games would last forever. It will be odd when it is over.

Here’s a picture of the boys together before their first game together only four years ago.

I asked them to take a redo this year and THEY SAID NO. I shall pick up the pieces of my shattered heart. Next year I will get one.

LD, aka Mr. Mullet, had a good season on JV and learned a lot. I am excited to see him play next year. Here’s a video of him during one of his best games.

He had somewhere around 27 points that game and made 5 3-pointers in a row. It was all very exciting.

Not too long after, he just came to me out of nowhere.

LD: Mom. I am going to be done with this mullet.

Me (trying to conceal my elation): Oh? Why?

LD: Because I did it. And now I am done with it.

David (laughing): Dude. That’s not even a full mullet yet! You gotta keep going!

Me: WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WE WANT THIS PHASE TO BE OVER!

Anyways. He chopped it off, and a more handsome boy he could not be.

HD had a good season-it is always fun to watch him play.

HD’s Varsity season ended well, although it was definitely a very challenging season in many ways. The last game ended with a loss and they took second place.

The coach from the opposing team called him over after the game to tell him he has been watching him play since the 8th grade and has been impressed by how he plays and his attitude on the court. He told HD he was looking forward to seeing him on the court next year.

HD: Mom. He, like, knew my name!

And thus ends Basketball 2022-2023.

***

We kind of, sort of, started an entire home remodel. I think. I don’t know.

All I know is things keep getting added to the list and I suspect that within 3-7 years, we will be finished.

First, we are putting new flooring in throughout the entire house.

Here’s Hadley and LD ripping it out.

And then HD and LD installing the new flooring, which is luxury vinyl planking.

***

We still have cows.

Sometimes they live. Sometimes they die. We like when they live.

***

We flew Kate home from Kansas and took the whole family on a cruise to the Mexican Riveriera.

It feels like the kids are not only growing in age, but in stature.

We were joined by my parents and David’s parents, and let me tell you, it is no cake walk keeping track of four senior citizens and four adult/teen children.

David and I need a vacation from our vacation.

I kid! I jest!

It was fun.

Hadley and LD.

Kate and HD.

All four kids at dinner one night. Guess how many photo attempts this took plus death threats upon the boys if they wouldn’t cooperate.

Go ahead. Guess.

Our ship had an indoor trampoline park and the boys fancied jumping for one hour together one day. So I took those two yahoos and went to sign them up.

For the purposes of this story, it is important for you to know that HD is 15 and LD is 14 and LD is the tallest of our four kids AND weighs the most AND needs to shave.

Yes. Let that all sink in for a moment.

Anyways.

Employee: I am so sorry ma’am, but they cannot jump together.

Me: Oh?

Employee: Yes, you see, you see, your youngest is not yet old enough to jump with the 15+ group, so he will need to jump with the 6-14 year old age group.

I display LD to him.

Me: You really want him jumping with a bunch of six year olds? He’s like 6 feet tall.

Employee: Yes, ma’am. I understand that he is definitely large, but he is not yet 15 and rules are rules.

So, I sent my 14 year old man child to go jump with a bunch of elementary aged children.

For reference, here is LD with his siblings. He is on the left.

Why he is standing as such? I have no idea. But I am pretty sure he needs to tuck in his pockets.

***

Life has been stressful and tricky for me as of late. It was nice to get away and get some sunshine.

I snapped this photo to make my teacher friends back home jealous.

It worked!

Happy Sunday!

You know what’s weird?

I’ll tell you.

The girls used to always fight over the front seat when they were in their pre-driving days. But the boys never, ever do. HD prefers the backseat and LD is always in the front.

And no one ever rants about the injustice of it all.

I take the boys to school most mornings. When we get into the car, I ask LD to set up my phone by charging it, connecting to Bluetooth, and starting my playlist on Amazon music.

My playlist is called Taylor’s Tunes. It is aptly named.

He does this for me each day. Nice boy. And my fun playlist starts playing, and the boys quickly put in their airpods to tune out my music.

LD: Mom. Please, PLEASE, please tell me “Taylor’s Tunes” is not public.

Me: Say what?

And then he popped his earbuds/airbuds/airpods in and tuned me out while I rocked it to Taylor’s Tunes, and is my playlist public? And if it was, would the world end?

My morning drive is loathesome. It takes like an hour and 10-15 minutes for me to leave, get boys to school, and then get to my school. And then when the roads are bad?

Oh, the humanity.

But I digress.

We are back to school, back in action. Monday was a humdinger because it started with an early meeting and my loathesome commute. However, when I saw my desk, it was filled with little gifts, Christmas cards, and notes from students who had brought me gifts while I was out the last few days due to surgery.

Please take a moment to read this precious letter from a student:

It brought joy to my heart.

“And I also hope you were snug and cozy in your bed and after you got surgery you weren’t hurting.”

The ear is doing well, but is still quite sensitive to loud noises, especially if I, myself, am the one speaking loudly. So, during the day, I usually have a cotton ball in my ear to muffle the sound.

Because, SOME times, I have to use a “teacher voice.”

And the other day, a second grader came up to me and said:

“Oh, Cool, Mrs. M! You have an airpod in your ear!”

And I think that if she reports at home that teachers at school walk around with airpods in their ears, Imma gonna have some explaining to do.

Airpod? Earbud? Airbud?

Let’s move on.

My best girl, Matilda, went and had herself a baby on Monday.

Matilda is, in fact, a cow.

The cow did not have Matilda’s beauty, but I am always willing to overlook such things and cherish the little beings for who they are.

On Monday, we went back to school and then had basketball games into the wee hours of the night. When we got home, David went to check on the cows and came back to gave the grim news:

Matilda’s calf was not well.

Reader. It was after 10pm and we were so tired. But, what can you do? David went out to retrieve the calf, all while fighting poor Matilda off, and I found old blankets and towels to lay down by the woodstove.

We brought the calf in by the fire. We did everything we could think of to help him, but about an hour later, he died right in our arms.

I might need to be done with this. The sadness is just too much. And then Matilda is walking around mooing for her baby, and it is probably just because she has an udder full of milk, but my feelers get all sad because I am certain she is missing her baby.

Was I meant to live this life?

No.

But I will probably remember this night. Because Hadley and the boys were home, and we were all a part of it, all working to try and help. And that was something.

Let’s move on and talk about the fabulous first grade.

Well. Today was fun!

As I may or may not have eluded to in the past, I have a tricky class this year. We are definitely making progress-and I love them with my whole entire being-but, somedays can be tricky.

Me: D, I need you to look at the book when we read it.

D: Oh, ok.

We read. He’s not looking. He is rubbing all around in his hair. And, Reader. You might THINK it would make total sense to firsties that in order to read, ONE MUST ACTUALLY LOOK AND TRY. But this is sadly not reality.

D: Oh! Look! I just pulled a bug out of my hair!

D is one of my special friends who literally has to sit next to me ALL day. Needless to say, my head has itched all day.

I tried to keep this whole situation as discreet as possible. I wrote a private note and sent him to the office with it and the other students were none the wiser.

But, then, Reader! But, then!

He was back in class within ten minutes. With a note that just read, “returning to class.”

And there he was.

Now, Reader. The policy on headlice has changed 4.2 billion times in my lifetime. And that seems excessive, seeing as how I am 41 years old. So, I don’t know what to do.

But here’s what I do know: I don’t know.

So. D came back to class. And I kid you not, a couple hours later, he told me about another bug he pulled out of his hair, and oh mylanta, what’s a girl to do?

Another student was acting ALL SORTS of out of sorts. And every time I asked him to do ANY SIMPLE THING, he would look at me and shout

“I NOT TAKE MY PILL TODAY.’

So, that situation? Also fun.

But what was more fun? WIld boy or bug boy?

You be the judge.

Anyways. I was feeling all discouraged today, and then a student wrote “GIRLS SUCK” on a testing folder and I just accepted that at that moment, my life was mimicking, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

But don’t feel TOO badly for me, Reader.

Nay.

I gave them a math quiz right before they went to art class. And, Reader. At the beginning of the year, ONE STUDENT was scoring at grade level for math. Needless to say, we have been hitting math pretty hard.

Well.

We have been practing and working and thinking and asking to go to the bathroom and working and asking for a drink of water and working and thinking and have been worried about why Sally is doing this and Johnny is doing that, and I am happy to report that through it all: ALL students, minus one, scored at grade level for our recent test.

So I shall have this day for rejoicing.

Because, Reader.

I taught the snot out of that lesson. Them kids knew what math.

In fact. I bet you that the lice who may or may not be living on top of D’s head ALSO could have passed that math lesson.

Happy Thursday.

The dogs dropped this partial skull off in a bush-

-so that’s fun.

Do not ask me to identify who/what the skull belonged to or tell you from whence it came.

I know not.

Handsome Dude got his driver’s license and allowed me to snap this photo provided I permit his dog pal, Norman, to be in the picture.

He is proving to be an excellent and most responsible driver and has so far aired up the tires of my car before leaving more than I ever have.

Basketball is on like Donkey Kong over here. The boys have a major fan club full of relatives and loved ones who come to each game and cheer them on.

Mother and I were noticing how shabby the Varsity boys basketball uniforms were getting, so I mentioned this to HD and he said, and I quote,

“Tell me about it. I hate them. And they make me look fat.”

So, in order for you to visualize this weight problem of HD’s, I would like to present to you this photo:

Here he is making a fancy reverse layup sort of move, and he sure looks like he could lose a few pounds, you know?

Every night at dinner before he dishes his plate, he has the audacity to start making himself a huckleberry milkshake for his dinner time beverage.

Me: Dude. What are you doing?

HD: GOSH. I am making a milkshake.

Me: It is dinner. You can have a milkshake after dinner.

HD: MOM. You can see all of my bones.

Me: Fair enough.

Speaking of the boys’ fan club, David’s parents have recently purchased stadium seats to add to their personal comfort while they watch the game.

When Grandpa got to the game last night, he loudly announced to the dad of another player, and I quote:

“THESE STADIUM SEATS ARE GREAT FOR HEMORRHOIDS.”

And THAT, Reader, is definitely a fun and useful fact.

Anyways. We are having a swell time with basketball. HD makes the paper often for his stats, but he recently had a photo in the paper-

So, let us all be impressed with him and my ability to make secret secrets blurry.

Here is LD being all super fantastic.

Have I told you that LD is growing a mullet?

LD is growing a mullet.

Both boys started in a recent Varsity game and I got this fun bro/bro photo of them.

Can you tell I am enjoying the high school basketball years?

Let’s move on.

Kate is home from Kansas and also had the audacity to turn TWENTY years old.

Reader.

My child is 20.

How am I this old? I should probably get a stadium seat. Hemorrhoids are probably just around the corner.

Hadley is missing Kason again. He is being most important and is aboard an ice cutter ship headed for Antarctica.

And look at this picture he sent me:

One evening, Hadley was being a trifle moody, which is so ODD for daughters, you know? Anyways, Kate made some sort of complaint and Hadley made this statement:

“At least YOUR boyfriend is on US soil!”

And if that isn’t just the best quote to end all quotes. I need a shirt made with that one. Imma gonna wear it as I carry my stadium seat into the gym to prevent hemorrhoids and cheer for my overweight son and my other mullet-sporting son. Getting old sure is something.

Calves.

Let’s discuss them.

One handsome boy was born bright and early on New Years Day. I went out to check on him before dark and this is what I saw.

Now, I am no cow rancher, but this certainly did not look good.

Somehow the cows had pushed this feeder all around and I couldn’t get inside to help him and mama couldn’t get him, and if you take a good look at him, he sure doesn’t look capable of helping himself.

In fairness to him, he was probably 12 hours old at the time. So, we will grant him grace.

I texted for David to come help me, because he is the one pretending we are ranchers, and I waited with the little guy and snuck in tons of pets while the mama yell-mood at me. I even turned him right side up.

So, I am basically a hero. Then David came and we got him out and he and his mother made lots of concerned moos at each other and walked off into the dusk for a nursing sesh.

Anyways we have had four calves born this season, but one has died. And here are your obligatory cow pictures, for your viewing pleasure.

Bunch of good looking gals, I tell ya.

Awhile back, I mentioned we took back one of Mama’s kittens, Bear, and he ran away, but then was found in the hay barn.

We do see him from time to time, but it has been awhile since I have had a Bear sighting. We had quite the cold snap recently, and I was worried he might not have survived.

Today I went out to the hay barn with fresh food and he came right to me.

I grabbed him and brought him to the house, but he has mistaken us all for serial killers and finds us to be loathesome.

I opened the door and he bolted right back to the hay barn.

So. We have a legit barn cat now. Named Bear.

Alright.

Have a good day.

This is how Rio chooses to get my attention while I am preparing my Christmas cards.

Because we have literally NO control over our bull, our cows have started calving. And, Reader. It is frigid out there.

Here is calf number one. She is called Poppie, short for Popsicle.

She has a good mama who bundles her up in the hay.

Calf Number 2 did not fare well. He was brought into the house by the fire. David and I gave him an antibiotic and tube fed him, and hoped for the best.

But he died in the night.

Right on the floor of my very own home.

David and I went out of town for one night, and of course, while we were away, another calf was born in the frigid temps. The kids were certain the calf was doomed and also brought him into the house by the fire.

I pleaded with them over the text messaging. I asked them to please put a few blankets under the calf.

Yes. This is the picture I received from my kids when I was miles upon miles away. And every text I sent them requesting a picture of the calf on TOP of SOMETHING, went unanswered.

It was radio silence, my friends.

Bad News: The kids did not protect the carpet.

Good News: The calf survived.

News of Hope for a Future: HD carpet cleaned the carpet area where the calf resided so it would be all clean when we got home.

David and I went to check on the little guy when we arrived home.

All is well. His name is G.W. Just because it is.

Basketball is in full swing and my boys are basically super stars. But this we knew.

They had a game a bit ago and it was NOT going well. They were down by about 14-20 points the entire game, but in the fourth quarter, they started to come back. They were down by two points with 2.3 seconds left in the game and HD was fouled on the shot.

Reader. He had to take his two shots in front of everyone in the world, plus their mothers, and he took them AND HE MADE THEM. He tied the game, they went into overtime, they won by 9. He had 19 points. *My Hero*

Today is Friday. I had ear surgery on Wednesday.

I have had hearing loss since childhood. I had surgery when I was 12 and had a prosthetic put into place at that time, but my hearing has gotten worse. On Wednesday, they removed the old prosthetic, which was detatched and “flapping around” and put in a new one. My ear is not feeling top notch and I have cotton stuffed inside of it, but I think I can already hear better.

When I came out of surgery, I asked David,

“How do I look?”

And he said,

“Well. You have looked worse.”

And so, now, I would like to announce my new life verse for the week.

It can be found in the third chapter of Lamentations.

“So I say, ‘My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped for from the Lord.”

Happy Friday.

We had a surprise snow day this week, and, Reader, may I take this moment to tell you that the surprise snow day is one of THE best perks to being a teacher.

The boys and I spent the entire day at home, driving absolutely nowhere, and hanging with the poochies. The dogs act like they have never seen the world before when there is snow, and all was just happy in our little home.

And then. Then HD decided to plow snow. And as he was on a gigantic machine, he called me, and this was the conversation.

HD: Mom. I am trying to plow and I need to LD to get this dead chicken from the driveway. I asked him and he said I needed to “be a man” and get the chicken myself.

Me: How did the chicken die?

HD: I don’t know! Dogs? Snow? Can you get him out here!?

Me: Ok.

Me to LD: Dude. Go outside and pick up the dead chicken.

LD: HD can do it.

Me: No. You need to do it. Now.

LD: Fineeeeeeeeeeeeee.

LD goes outside in shorts, a t shirt, and sandals to address the dead chicken issue.

He comes back.

LD: Mom! What do you want me to do with the dead chicken!?

Me: I don’t know! Something!

LD: Mom!

Me: Get a paper Winco bag. Stick the dead chicken in the Winco bag and set it on the porch for someone to take the dump.

LD: Fineeeeeeeeeeeeee.

HD comes in later from plowing.

HD: Mom! Why is there a dead chicken in a Winco bag on the front porch?!

Me: For someone to take the dump!

HD: Why would you do that? Why wouldn’t you throw it into the woods?

Me: Feel free to throw it into the woods.

No one threw it into the woods. And the dead chicken was forgotten about for a few days and sat on the porch in the brown Winco bag.

Because that is how normal we are.

We had company for Thanksgiving. Getting ready for company at my house is always a treat. Because I tend to look at things like baseboards and windows and panic and try to clean them, and then when the house is almost clean, I notice that David put these in the woodbox:

I mean. How can I even prepare my house for guests when my own kin are working against me.

Me: David!? Why are there cow legs in the woodbox?

David: They aren’t cow legs. They are ELK legs.

Me: Why are they in the wood box?

David: So they can thaw out. I am going to make a gun rack with them.

???

Me: No.

David: Yes.

Me:

He finally agreed to remove them, however, I neglected to make it abundantly clear that I needed them NOT in the home, and he just stuffed them in another room and Norman the dog found them and there were elk legs all about the house.

Let’s talk about having company at my house.

It is a hot mess.

As soon as company arrived, the dogs unearthed a gut pile and had a joyous holiday week bringing us bits and pieces of discarded carcasses.

So. I would be making sure the living room was dusted and vacummed without realizing that before guests would enter my clean home, they had to step over this:

I surely hope my guests admired my dustless windowsills.

I mean, these dogs were relentless. They would not stop bringing in body parts.

Me: Ugh! The dang dogs brought in another cow foot! Someone please pick it up.

Family: What should we do with it?

Me: Put it in a Winco bag! We’ll take it to the dump.

Yes. This is my life.

And maybe I should do a commercial for Winco.

Winco. Not only do I find affordable prices on groceries the whole family enjoys, I get to choose brown paper bags to take home for all my carcass disposal needs!

***

A new student joined my fabulous first grade. This little guy is very, very low academically. Sad news is, he is already leaving again. Moving to a new school. Had him for about two weeks.

But anyways. He needs some extra support. On his “Thankful” piece, I had an aide use a highlighter to write what he wanted to say so he could trace it.

After he was done, he took a black marker and wrote an “M” on it and came up to me.

He said, “I am thankful for Mrs. M.”

So. That’s why I have the best job in the world.

***

My friend asked me to take in her cat. This cat originally came from my home during the Covid quarantine of 2020 when 16 kittens were born in my own, obviously clean and sanitary, house. This cat is now 2 years old and his name is Bear. He is the son of Mama Kitty.

Mama Kitty. Best Mama Cat ever.

Yes. There is a giant skull on my wall. Is there one on yours?

Anyways.

Bear lasted about 12 hours in our house and decided he had had quite enough of my 3 dogs and 3 cats and he ran away. We looked for quite a few days, but he was gone.

About 2-3 weeks later, I spotted him living his best life in our hay barn! Glory! He was alive. And then we thought about it and talked about how we had noticed Mama Kitty going out to the hay barn a lot lately, so we are all agog with her and sure that she has remember he is her son and she went out there to teach him how to slay mice and survive in the wild.

Such a good Mama.

***

All four kids were home for Thanksgiving.

Twas lovely.

***

Something might be wrong with my email subscription feature.

But I don’t know what, nor do I understand how to fix it.

Ok.

Happy Friday!

We decided we needed to try and build up the bank of our river property to help with spring flooding.  We hired a guy and he did the building up part, and then we went to smooth it out and plant grass seed.

Side note.  This is the second tree we have lost to a beaver.

Anyways we raked smooth all these track mark things from the machines-

And got it all smooth and ready for grass.

We then spread the grass seed and walked over it to “plant” it.

Here are the boys with their cousins doing just that.

Basketball season is starting up for the boys.  HD found out he made Varsity, and LD is a swing player, meaning he will be on JV, but also join Varsity.  HD is working on getting his driver’s license, Kate is far away doing college like things, and Hadley is home/working/going to college.  Things are just trucking along with our family.

Meanwhile, in fabulous first grade . . .

We finished all six books of Mercy Watson and had our toast party.

Let us discuss life in the fabulous first grade.  For it brings me joy.

Buddy.  Remember Buddy?  Buddy is a goose.  He is just a silly goose.  He is not on planet Earth, so sometimes it is hard to teach him.  I was lucky enough to have an aide able to help out for a bit in my classroom the other day, so I asked her to sit by Buddy during his monthly computer reading test.

Did you know that THE BEST way to determing whether six year olds can read is by putting them on a computer with headphones and having them take a test all by themselves and assume they won’t get distracted and will for surely be trying their best at all times and not get bored and definitely show their best?

Well.  That’s how we do.

So.  I knew Buddy would have a hard time putting forth his best effort, so I asked the aide, Mrs. H., to sit by him.  This test has several subtests, and at the end of each subtest, the test will show a graph and the kids can see if their score went up from the last time they took the test.

So, Mrs. H. is by him, giving him back pats and gently redirecting his head back to the area of where the computer is and Buddy finishes a subtest.  I can see from where I am standing that his graph has gone up-significantly.  Meaning, he did well and did much better than last month.

Buddy’s mouth drops and he whisper shouts to Mrs. H:

I AM SO SHOCKED!

And Mrs. H smiles at him and says, “I wasn’t shocked!”

And his smile was gold.  At the end of the test, he was putting away his computer.

Me:  You did a good job on your test, Buddy!

Buddy:  I KNOW!  I only got distracted like 3 or 4 times today!

Bless his little heart.

And bless Mrs. H.

***

Awhile back, I was teaching verbs.  I start with just action verbs and I teach them something I learned during my homeschool years called “The Verb Finder.”

The verb finder tells the kids to ask, “Can I _____?” And if the answer is yes, it is a verb.

Can I walk?  Yes!  Can I smile?  Yes!  Can I cat?  No (giggle, giggle).

Me:  Let’s try run.  Can I run?

Student loudly shouting:  NO!  WE NEVER RUN IN THE CLASSROOM!

***

A student who is now in 4th grade came into my classroom yesterday morning.  He usually stops in every morning to say hello.  He was with me during the 2019-2020 school year when we had to shut down in March.

4th grader:  You know what’s not fair?

Me:  What?

4th grader:  We didn’t get to finish 1st grade.

Me:  Oh, that’s right.  That was the year we shut down early.  Yes, that was a bummer.

4th grader:  I really liked first grade.  I don’t think that is fair.

Me (teasing):  Well, you can come back now!  Just think of how advanced you will be!

4th grader:  Ha.  Well I want to.

Me:  You cannot!  You know it all.  What does the letter “e” say?

4th grader:

Me:

4th grader:

Me:  Well, have a good day in 4th grade!

***

One of my boys is a farter.  And, yes, that sounds rude, but there isn’t a polite way to put it.  It’s like it is his joy in life to do this.  And he does it.  Often.

Sure, at first it would get some giggles from his peers, but frankly, we are all just over it.

We were lining up to leave PE the other day, and I saw him get out of line and walk to the back.

Me:  Dude?  What are you doing?

Boy:  Polly told me I had to go to the back of the line.

I look at Polly, another student, trying to convey disappointment in her bossiness.

Me:  Why are you telling him to go to the end of the line, Polly?

Polly:  Because he WON’T.  STOP.  FARTING.

Me:  Oh, ok.  I understand.

***

One of my boys talks in a very deep voice.  It is a total man voice.  We went on a walking field trip the other day, and I happened to be walking right near him.

I hear a man voice loudly proclaim:  “I am taking a walk with Taylor Maliblahblah.”

Except he said my real last name.

Me:  How do you know my first name?

Boy:  Oh, I know it.

Boy had to leave early for throwing up in the classroom all over the floor.  He came back after staying home for a bit to make sure he was back to good health.

Boy (in man voice):  I sure hated being home sick.  I had to miss out on all that learning!

***

My little Ukranian girl makes my world go round.  She is the cutest thing and whenever she doesn’t know what someone is saying to her, she breaks out ALL of her dimples and does this cute little “I don’t know” shrug.  She is a hard worker and is catching on very quickly.

In all honestly, folks, I think she is a child genius.

She is one of my top math students, which make sense, because numbers are the same.  She came in not knowing any letters, and now she has all their sounds.  So, we are working on blending, and that is seriously the most precious thing you could ever see in your entire life.

Girl:  C . . . . a . . . . .t

Me:  Ok, blend.

Girl, with very exaggerated head motions, tries to sound out the word and it sounds something more like if you said “Caught” and drug out the vowel sound for an extra long time.

I do not think they have the digraph “th” in the Ukraine, and that is a delight to teach her.  Precious pumpkin does NOT know what to do with her tongue.

Spit goes everywhere, but that girl is working hard!  I suspect she might take over the world.

***

We divide our entire first grade into tiers for strategic reading instruction.  I have the lowest tier, and within that tier, I have them grouped low to high to target their specific needs.

Let’s talk about my Tier 3 Group A .  There are only a handful of them, but they need a lot of targeted practice.

This is what I sound like.

Open the book.  Point to the first word.  No, open the book.  Your book is upside down.  Point to the word.  What is this word?

Student:  t . . . . . h . . . . . e

Oh!  This is a red word!  We cannot sound it out!  Who knows what this word is?  Yes!  You try!

Student: t . . . . h . . . . . e

Remember our song?  “You can say the and you can say the (thee) but you always spell it . . . ”
Kids:  T-H-E!

Right!  T-H-E spells the!  So let’s try this word again!

Student:  t . . . h . . . . e

The word is “the!”  Let’s move on!  Point to the next word.  Everybody!  Get your fingers ready!  Let’s say the sounds!  Oh!  You need to point to the word, please!  Hands out of pants!  Ok!

Student:  b . . . . i . . . . t

Yes!  Now blend it into a word!

Student: top?

So.  That’s what happens in case anyone was wondering why I fall asleep most nights before 8pm.

And . . . I love them.  And its still early in the year, so I am all full of hope and promise and sure I will get them reading.

And they WILL READ THE WORD “the.”

Wish me luck!

Happy Weekend!

 

Every morning, one of my students walks in, pink lipstick smeared ALL over her face, and says:

“Hi-Ya, Teach!”

And that is just fantastic.

Life is tricky hard right now.  I am powering through.  I also have a “spirited”class and I am not as full of joy as I had anticipated I would be.  I would almost say I am bereft of joy.  And, yet.  I press on.

I took Hadley to see Kason graduate.

The trip was fast and fun!  We even squeezed in a Phillies’ game.

Hadley and Kason tried a cheesesteak.  As people do in Philly.

Other than that, life has been plugging along.  My class is TRICKY.  I have a lot of behavior needs, as well as academic needs.  This group will keep me on my toes.

One of my boys is literally EXHAUSTING and I have to be on him all the time.  Bless his heart.

The other day, he was leaving for the bus.  He started for the door, then quickly turned around and dropped something on my desk.

“Mrs. M!  Don’t read that until I am gone!”

And off he went.

The note?

I am not exactly sure as to what is says, but I am chosing to believe it was a nice note.

David stopped by my classroom for a minute the other day, and one of my kids, who is A LOT behavior wise, and also quite low, motioned for David to come close to him.

Kid, whispering:  Hey!  Hey, you!

David:  What?

Kid:  Can you come back every day and help me?  For like ten days?  I have no idea what’s going on.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Poor guy.

And . . . I love them.

We had our first apple harvest.

Plus one pear.

This was the only apple tree to bear apples this year.  And this apple tree was run over by Kate and a four wheeler a couple of years ago.  David was all grumpy like and said the tree was, and I quote, “a gone-er.”

I was trying to keep spirits up, so I was like, “Nonsense!” and duck-taped the trunk.

The duck tape is still there.  And we have apples.

So we made a crisp.

Our friend gave us fresh peaches, so we canned them.

We still have cows.

Matilda is still the most beautiful.

The puppy brothers turned two years old day.

Niko

Norman.

They have my heart.

Happy Sunday!