California Spring

I know that Spring officially starts on March 21st (right?), but I think in California, it actually starts at least a month earlier. I can't believe that every tree already has so many beautiful blossoms on it! These pictures show some of my favorites from our front yard, and even on the most stressful of days, they can bring me some peace.

Thanks Tara!

You should really order something from Tara's etsy shop (link on the right of my blog). I got this "J" pendant from her and I love it so much, that I want to wear it every day!!!!!

My Memory is Failing Me

So, when I was in 5th grade, I ran for school secretary. Who knows why? I can't even remember why. I think some of my friends were doing it, and it sounded fun. The strange parts are a) I was new to the town and school, and b) I was really shy.

But the most memorable part for me is my speech. My dad also ran for an office in his elementary school, and my speech was derived almost word-for-word from his rhyming speech. (as a little ten year old, that made it even extra special).

Here is the beginning of my speech. I have it saved somewhere, all hand-written in my young hand writing.

My name is Jamie Blasco, as some of you may know.

I'd like to be your secretary, to help our school to grow.

If you elect me, you can be sure

that things will be even better than they were!

And here's the funny part. Somehow, my memory has failed me and as long as I can recall, I've had the memory that I lost that election. Until I saw this picture.

So, I was at a function last week where I was able to see the newspaper clipping from October 1987. And guess what? I WON, and I served as the secretary that whole year! Strange, huh? Now that I see this, I recall it very vaguely.

But I'm only 31. This is sad. And it makes me want to keep on with my blogging so I don't keep letting the details slip from my mind!

I've Identified My Problem (or one of them)

At least in the classroom. So, my master teacher and I have been teaching every other day. So, yes, that means I am doing full days of teaching. In charge of every little thing. She's there, of course, but the kids know that on Mrs. Maxfield's days, they are supposed to come to me with requests (bathroom, drink, etc) and on Mrs. Garza's days it's her. We both jump in and help eachother when needed, but they know that one teacher is in charge at a time (for the most part).

Anyway, as she's observed me now a few times and has had plenty of positive feedback. But the main area that I need to work on (according to myself and her) is the classroom management.

But here's where it gets confusing. Her style is to have them pull a card. They get a few warnings, and then it's a card pulled. And she does a lot of reprimanding. Which, is unavoidable in 1st grade, I'm sure. But, see, I really really really like to avoid too much of the "don't", "stop", "here's a punishment" sort of thing. And so it's hard for me to actually make them pull a card. But, as she's pointed out, they have to know to take me serious. Especially as they are getting to know me and my style (heck, I'm barely getting to know me and my style).

So I will admit that classroom management is REALLY hard. I mean, there are 5 kids out of the 20 who literally have .5 second memories when you ask them to not do something, and they disrupt the rest of the class constantly. Sometimes I want to stop in the middle of the lesson and scream. Often, at that point, I will send a child to the back of the classroom or back to their desk (if we are at the rug area). I have to constatly decipher between bad behavior, and lack of impulse control. So....is Brandon actually deserving a consequence? Or is he just having a hard time controlling himself next to Grant, so moving him to a different location would actually solve the problem.

I could write a book on my frustration with this. But I think two things. 1) I need to really find MY authentic style of managing the children. Setting rules, expectations and the classroom flow. 2) But the problem is, I am coming into ANOTHER teacher's classroom mid-year. So I can't really just flip flop the whole thing and change what doesn't work for me. It's a challenge!

It sure is interesting to constantly intercept the questions/comments thrown at me in the classroom! Like, Makayla came up to me really excitedly and said "Mrs. Maxfield, my Uncles got their ears pierced yesterday!". Quickly, I decided to just say "Really? Wow!". Because what else do you say to that?

Or how about on Friday, as I was reminding them that today we get to make root beer floats, and Jaedon said "My dad made a BEER float one time and I got to taste it". And I said "that sounds really gross". Then Garrin piped in "No it's not gross, my dad lets me have beer and it's GOOD". I mean, they are SIX years old! I just changed the subject on that one.

After six weeks, I already love these kids. I get a quick teary feeling when I think of saying goodbye to them in three weeks. I am on quite the ride!

100% - But What Does THAT Mean?

The other morning, Lexi and Jordyn were comparing school papers.

Lexi said "I wonder why my teacher writes one zero, zero, seven on my papers?".

And Jordyn responded, "Mine writes one, zero, zero, one".

I was confused, so I said "what are you guys talking about?". And they showed me the papers (above in the pic) with 100% on them. Ha ha ha ha, I just laughed!

So, I explained to them what 100% meant. And that their teachers just write the percent sign a little differently. But then it made me realize.....how many kids have no idea what I'm telling them when I write that on their papers? Maybe I should talk about that at school tomorrow!

Lexi's Field Trip

Last week Lexi's Kindergarten class had a "transportation" field trip. Tucker was able to go with Jordyn's class last year, and then again with Lexi this year. Here's Lexi with her class.

Mason, Elias, Ruby and Lexi

I love this picture because the boy on the left is Lexi's friend Daniel. He is such a nice boy and Lexi always tells me that she plays with him, even when no one else wants to. She has such a sensitive little heart.

I'm so glad that Lexi loves Kindergarten so much. She absolutely loves her teacher. Last week, Mrs. Donabedian had to miss two days. Lexi came home sad and said "I was grumpy today because Mrs. Donabedian wasn't there". It's incredible the important role that a teacher can play in the lives of their students!

Stake History Project

If you recall, last summer, I was asked to help with the big project of putting together the history of our church in this area of California (over the past 30+ years). It's been a huge project, and we are finally finishing with it as of tonight!!

In the past week alone, I've worked on it as follows (I have to record this for myself):
(last) Sat: 8 hours
Sun: 6 hours
Mon: 9 hours
Tues: 2 hours
Wed: 4 hours
Thurs: 7 hours
Fri: 8 hours
Sat: 5 hours
TOTAL: 49 hours in ONE WEEK

And on top of that, I spend 40 hours at school per week. So I haven't really slept this week. Or seen my family.

And that is not including the hundreds of hours since last summer. I'm sure if I had known what I was getting into, I wouldn't have accepted the challenge. My side-kick, Georgeanna Johnson, is 70 years old and she has done easily double the work I have on this....so how can I complain?

Tonight we're presenting the one-hour video presentation and I'm really nervous. I hope technology doesn't fail us. But then it will be OVER! My poor kids and husband probably don't remember what I look like. I'm going to figure out a way to post the video for those who used to live in this area and would be interested in watching it (Clarks, Asplunds, etc).

As crazy and INSANE as all this sounds, I have felt an inexplainable amount of energy to complete this project, and there have been several miracles along the way. I believe this was an inspired project and there are people on the "other side" helping us in this historical effort. There is no other explanation for the many photos, dates, and tidbits of info that have randomly come our way over the last year.

I'm sure tomorrow I'll have a big crash and it will hit me how tired I really am. Then I vow to slow down a bit after that. (don't laugh)

Cousin Overnighter

I wanted to document cousin Lyric's first overnighter with us last weekend. It was fun, smooth and the girls loved it! Here they are at breakfast the next morning!


This was an opportunity to use Lexi's trundle bed. She wanted to pose sittin' pretty on the trundle REALLY bad for me to snap this pic of her. But check out Peyton's hair mid-air! ha ha ha ha

Lexi's Special Day With Grandma

Seems like we hardly get to see my mom, even though we live in the same town. As the girls lives get busier with school and extracurricular activities....our lives become much more structured.

Anyway, she recently had a "special day" with Jordyn and Lexi (separately). They absolutely love one-on-one time with Grandma and think it is better than Disneyland or anything else. My mom took each of the girls to see "Hotel for Dogs" at the theatre. Which, they don't understand, is a miracle since I've beent to the theatre maybe once or twice with her in my 31 years!!! How fun is that to have popcorn and candy and your grandma all to yourself at the movies?

Sadly, I didn't get a pic of Jordyn on her special grandma day. On Lexi's special day, she got to do what she does best....shop! Lexi is the funniest little girl. She is a total fashionista. She knows exactly what she likes and how she likes it. She has an eye for clothing and made it hard for Grandma to say no! So she came home with some cute dresses and tons of matching headbands. Even though it's winter, she has worn these sundresses every day since then (even slept in them several times)

Lexi told me "I was shy when I first got to Grandma's, but then I got used to it". She was glowing when she got home and told me every single part of their day, conversation and how she felt.

Thanks Mom for making such special memories for my girls! Absolutely priceless!

Becky and the Twins!

My childhood friend, Becky (third from the left in this photo from 1995) had twin boys four months ago!!! She lives only 20 min from me, so I went for a visit last weekend. It was so fun (and unbelievable) to see her live in action with these boys. I can't imagine! Her oldest is 3 and now twins. What a woman!

Here we are....me and Peyton with Becky and the boys! They are identical and it is almost impossible to tell them apart. She even has to paint one's toenail! It was fun to see eachother, and catch up and just laugh that we're such moms now. With an even score of three girls to three boys!

Why is it?

....that the few days before my period, I can literally (and I mean literally) eat anything and everything in sight - especially if it's unhealthy - and have absolutely no limits?

It's bad. I think I gain 10 lbs and then spend the rest of the month trying to recover. Only to start the cycle over (and over and over).

Blasted hormones!

Print Your Blog

Thanks to those of you who share the "funk" with me (not that I want anyone else to be in one!). That's the only word I know how to describe the underlying "blah" I feel about so many areas in life. I guess another term would be mild depression. My therapist calls it "functioning depression". Meaning, I'm still attending to all my physical tasks, but not with the best frame of mind. I hope I can pull out of that soon because I have seemed to have permanently lost my "rose-colored lenses" for sure!

On another note, if you want to print your blog....one of the few companies who do it for Blogger is blog2print.com. Here is an exclusive code that can get you 15% off your first purchase:

MyBlog31MAR04692

I have had a book printed from them and like it. The only downfall is they have a 350 picture limit on their books, so the size of your book will depend on how many pics you include in your posts. Since I put a lot of pics, my book only covered 4 months of my blog. And I *think* it was around $50. So that means for ME, it would cost about $150 a year to print my blog. Not bad, and I'm probably on the extreme end. Anyway, check it out.

Saturday

The girls know that Saturdays are our chore days. They have other small jobs throughout the week that we (recently began) give them $1 per week allowance for doing. Those are jobs like checking animal's food, keeping the front door area clean of shoes, clearing the dinner table and making sure their bathroom stays picked up. But Saturdays we try to tackle their play room (sometimes I just shut the door because I can't handle it), their rooms, I mop all the tile, etc...just more of a thorough cleaning.

Today was that sort of day. I'm posting pics of our "clean" house more for posterity sake than because I think it's anything brag-worthy. This is pretty much as good as it gets, folks!






Throughout our chores, it's Peyton's job to run around the house naked (or so she thinks!). I hate to embarrass her, but since our blog is private....I had to include her streaking down the hallway!

And, of course, there's nothing better than playing with playdough....naked.

Then, when the house was clean enough, we moved on to Valentine Cards. I'm still trying to figure out why I thought it sounded easier to do home-made ones amidst everything else. But I had lots of scraps to do it with, and they thought it sounded like fun! It actually went fairly smooth (plus it helped that Pey was napping)!

By mid afternoon, the kids needed to get out of the house. Tucker had an idea to take them to a Frisbee Golf course. They have one in a nearby town, and it's free, so they had a little outing in our version of cold weather (low 50's).

Aren't these girls cute? If I do say so myself?

And now the day is done and here I sit. Feeling way more tired than I used to at 10:30 pm. Wishing I didn't have to teach a lesson at church tomorrow. And wondering when I'll get out of this funk I've been in this past month. Wish me luck.

Inquisitive

(self timer portrait by Peyton)

I have to write these down or I'll forget.

At school, we've recently learned about Martin Luther King Jr., and also Ruby Bridges (little African-American girl who went to an all white school in the 60's....had lots of persecution). So we watched a movie about her. Keep in mind that everything Jordyn does at school is the same as what I'm doing because her teacher plans with my teacher, so it's great.

Anyway, Jordyn was really impacted by this movie and story. She kept asking me lots of questions, like what was inclusion and why was Ruby so sad, etc. Anyway, this lead to some conversation about our new President Barack Obama. Lexi proudly said that she voted for Obama (in their class polls last year) and Jordyn said she voted for McCain.

After some discussion, Jordyn took me off guard by asking "so Mom.... who is more important....Obama or Jesus?".

(ha ha ha ha, too funny! I think I made up some answer about them both being important, but no one is really comparable to Jesus, etc)

OK, which leads me to a conversation with Peyton a few weeks ago. She and I were in the car waiting for Tucker to come back, and she was asking me questions. She said "where's Santa Mommy?". So I told her that Santa went home since Christmas is over. (This conversation happened at least 10 more times in a row).

But then she asked me "Where's Jesus Mommy?". (try to answer THAT one to a two year old!). I said "He's up in Heaven honey". To which she answered "What?". (she doesn't understand the concept of "heaven" yet). So after a few failed attempts at that, I said "He's up there" and gestured to the sky. That seemed to satisfy her for a minute.

Until I heard "I can't SEE him Mommy!! I can't SEE Jesus!".

Finally I think I just resorted to "I know, I'm sorry honey!".

Journal

("My View of My Mommy"....by Peyton my newest family photographer)

I feel like all I ever talk or write about it a) my busy schedule and b) being tired. But it's hard to pretend those don't exist, since they are the dominating forces at the moment.

Midway through my fourth week, I'm still surviving and enjoying it even. Last night, I started night class that will last two months. It was hard to get home at 10:00 pm, and I felt extra tired today...but it is a class of 40 other student teachers from around the valley, and I really think I'll learn a lot from them and their experiences.

The teacher encouraged us to journal our experiences. She said that will help with the highs and lows we experience as teachers. So thanks to my blog, I've sort of been doing that!

She also said that had she caught us earlier in our education...she would have told us we were CRAZY for going into this profession! What? Thanks! But she's right. Not an easy career path, but obviously rewarding and meaningful.

As I was teaching math today, I felt my own frustrations surge and I need to learn how to handle them. It's hard to not feel like you're not doing a good enough job teaching when some kids "get it" and others don't. Logically, I know that not everyone learns at the same time and in the same way or same speed. But emotionally, that's hard to swallow and accept. I hate seeing some of the kids zone out because they just don't understand "greater than" or "less than". It makes me feel flustered and frustrated. I don't let THEM know that, but I can tell when I start to feel my voice dry out and the need for the air to be on 60 degrees that I'm hot and bothered. Poor little kids. I don't feel frustrated at THEM, but at myself. I need to learn that balance.

Planning lessons sort of reminds me of planning for motherhood. You have this mental plan of how things should go, and you never factor in all the bumps in the road that throw your plan off. Planning a perfect lesson can sound great in your head, and then the kids are too wild, ask to go to the bathroom too many times, get distracted by their neighbor playing with a piece of string and snot running down their nose!

My mom always says "Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape". So true!

Really though, I just want to take all of these kids home. I love them all for such different reasons, and I really feel strongly about seeing them all as individuals. Yesterday, they were testing in their ability to write 1-100 and one little boy was sort of spacing off and looking around. Mrs. Garza though he was trying to cheat, so she sort of marched up to him and said "Nathan, keep your eyes on your paper! Don't cheat!". And then marched away back to the class (he was with me at the back table). What she didn't see when she walked away were his eyes filled with tears and how hard he was trying to hold back his sadness. I knew he wasn't trying to cheat. And I knew she wasn't trying to be mean. Keeping on top of 20 6 year olds isn't easy! So I just said "Nathan, it's okay. You are doing such a great job! Don't worry, you're not in trouble". And he took some deep breaths and calmed down.

As tired as I am, I am trying really hard to make the little time I have with my girls be good time. I don't get on the computer, I give them lots of hugs and I try to seem really interested in all they have to say. So far, I don't think anyone has been too negatively impacted by the extreme change in our lives. We're making it work. And since the girls are in school most the day, they can relate to what I'm doing at work. It's all sort of connected.

Tomorrow, my supervisor is observing me teach another Math lesson, so wish me luck (and patience).