Drop whatever it is that you are doing...

...and go buy The Kite Runner. Amazing is all I need to say.

Ouch.

I quit my job and my last day is the 25th. I start my new job on March 1st. I am excited, really excited. I am nervous, really nervous. I knew that I needed to change jobs, but I did not realize that it was going to be this hard. Especially after conversations like this:

Child 1: Why are you leaving us Miss Heather?
Me: Because I have to.
Child 2: But you are a teacher, and teachers are supposed to be with kids.
Me: I know, but I am not going to be a teacher anymore. I am going to do something different.
Child 3: But who is going to take care of us?

It was after that last question that I had to leave the table.

What a sweet guy!

I love this man!

Conversations with Jessie

Scene: Jessie has just told me a very long detailed story about how she got up really early this morning to get all dolled up for the boy who works at the coffee shop only to find out that upon her arrival, he was not in today. Action:

Jessie: My outfit was wasted!
Me: You will just have to go back tomorrow.
Jessie: Yeah. But now I need a new outfit and this one was the money outfit. I mean, anyone would have wanted to have me in this. Seriously.

My little sister ladies and gentlemen.

I'm the babe Napoleon's takin' to the dance!

Trisha


Which Napoleon Dynamite character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

AHHHHHHHH!!!

More on that later.

Heh?

What I thought I heard:

"It's a cow's weenie!"

What was actually said:

"Here's the cow, sweetie!"

Earthworms have feelings too!

As an early childhood educator I follow the belief that children have a right to their feelings and emotions...even if the emotions they are expressing are unpleasant ones. An emotions has a beginning, middle and end and it would be unfair to the child and inappropriate as a professional to try to disregard the child's emotion or distract them from it. In the case of major emotional outbursts, I do my best to deal with it in a developmentally appropriate and acknowledge their feeling by either giving them the words to use such as, "You seem to be very angry," or having the child tell me how they are feeling by asking something like, "How did that make you feel?"

Another common practice of mine is asking a lot of open-ended questions such as why? what? how? etc. This will help encourage language development and independent thinking skills.

So...

The other day, while the children were outside, they found an earthworm (or as one kid described to me "Miss Heather! We found a snake!" I freaked out slightly). Anyway, they were completely enthralled with the worm and about 10 of them were circled around the tiny little writhing thing.

During circle time, we talked about the worm. I asked the kids a few questions then I asked "How did the worm feel?" I was hoping to hear some of the following words: "wet," "slimy," "wiggly." Instead, the only little one who said anything was, "He felt mad!"

Well at least they are getting the concept....not quite the right context.

What ever did happen to predicitability?

Child: What is the name of your mom?
Me: Allison.
Child: What is the name of your dad?
Me: Roger.
Child: What is the name of your sister?
Me: Jessie.
Child: Like Uncle Jesse!
Me: Who is Uncle Jesse?
Child: That man from the funny show!

To do list

1. Church

Status: booked
Date: October 1
Time: 2:00 pm

One down, about 4 million other things left to do.

Wedding Bells

That's right peeps! I'm engaged. As of last Friday, Grant is now my fiance. It was obviously a very exciting day and despite how long we have been talking about getting engaged and should have seen it coming, I did not see it coming at all. At times, it seemed like it was never going to happen but in the end, it was well worth the wait. The ring is beautiful and I could not be happier!

I am all ready to start planning and have no idea where to begin. I am excited and overwhelmed but I am sure that is will all work itself out. And I have already decided, there will be no problems in planning this wedding, only challenges!

So get ready for an entire year of "wedding theme" website posts because I have a feeling that that is all that will be on my mind for a while!

Here is how one of my students reacted to the news:

Child: You're getting married!
Me: That's right! Isn't it exciting!?!
Child: You need a boyfriend.
Me: ????

Super Cute!

just as a cloud covers the sun a child says....

Child 1: Miss Heather, why did it get dark?
Me: I don't know! What happened?
Child 1: I don't know!
Child 2: It is just the sun playing hide-and-seek with the clouds.
Child 1: Oh yeah!

Now isn't that a much better explaination than any teacher ever would have given? I think so.

No, really, it's fine, take my $2000.00.

Yes, that's right. Someone stole my wallet and had a lot of fun spending my money. Approximatly $2000.00 dollars in fact. It looks like I am not going to be held liable for any of it, but right now, I am just waiting for the fraud departments of my bank and credit cards to review my case. So as it stands right now, I have don't really have access to money. Sure did put a damper on my weekend mood.

Luckily, I was able to forget about my misfortune on Saturday and spend a beautiful day at the beach celebrating my nephew's 2nd birthday. And to be honest, Saturday really did put this whole losing my wallet thing into perspective. Yeah, it sucks, it's a huge inconvenience, but on September 11th, I was thankful for my life and the time I spent with my family. That's all that really matters anyway.

Here's to a better week ahead.

Conversations with kids

Child: Teacher Heather, look! (pointing to the bracelet on her arm)
Me: Wow! You have a beautiful bracelet on today!
Child: No, not that. I have arm hair!

Why I need a camera phone.

I was driving to work the other day, just like any other day, and I noticed a pick-up truck in front of me. In the back of the truck there was a dog kennel. At about the same time I noticed the kennel, the strangest looking dog I had ever seen came out. I stared at the dog for about 30 seconds thinking to my self, "What in the hell kind of dog is that?" And then it hit me. This "dog" was not actually a dog at all. Nope, it was a baby cow. Of course! Why wouldn't there be a baby cow in the back of a pick-up truck headed north bound 880 during morning rush hour!

Conversations with Jessie

Scene: Driving past Cold Stone at the Fremont Hub.

Jessie: Did I ever tell you about my date fiasco at Cold Stone?
Heather: No.
Jessie: Well, the guy ordered the biggest scoop you could possibly order, in a chocolate dipped waffle bowl of course, and this was after he had eaten almost all of the pizza we ordered at dinner. And even though he kept saying "Uhhhh.....I can't eat anymore," he finished it.
Heather: Oh yeah...didn't he keep farting while he was eating his ice-cream or something.
Jessie: No, the farting happened on the second date.
Heather: Ah yes, he was a winner.

Needless to say, there was never a third date.

P.S. Happy Birthday Love!

Well this can't be good.

I am driving home from work today and the dj says "Up next, we have Ashlee Simpson's Pieces of Me." And even though it was just me, sitting alone in my car, on the drive home, out loud I said, "Oh, cool!" I then proceeded to turn the volume up and sing every word of the song from memory.

Now, it is not like I am going to run out and buy her album from Target or anything, and it is not like it is my favorite song right now, but I just can't resist the catchy lyrics. And hey, I am a self proclaimed "Newlyweds" junkie. I just can't get enough of the Nick and Jessica! However, I am really not a fan of Jessica's work. And to be honest, I will often turn the channel when a Jessica Simpson song comes on. But I feel differently about little punk rock Ash.

Don't get me wrong, I am fully aware that she only has a music career because of the huge success of her older sis. And, as my very talented musician of a boyfriend pointed out, it doesn't really say much about you as a musician when you are already a signed recording artist but you have never had a sound check because you have never performed before.

So maybe you think I am a total loser for singing along to this new radio hit and maybe I am. That's why I keep Grant around anyway; to keep my music library well rounded. But Allie, you got my back, right sista?

P.S. Check out all the "Pieces of Me" (heh heh) on my new profile!

A letter to all of my 5 readers

Dear Fans,

I know that it has been a long and agonizing wait for you because it has been so long since I have updated and for that I am truly sorry. I guess I just haven't had the time or the stories that I felt were worthy or funny enough to share with all you.

My best friends, Brittaney and Ryan, were married on June 26th. I was one of Brittaney's two maids of honor. It was, by far, the most fun I have ever had at a wedding. This could have been for one of three reasons:

1. I have never been in a wedding before.
2. It was two of my best friends.
3. I was of legal drinking age.

Most likely, it was because of reason number three. Anyway, it was beautiful and every engaged couple could have learned something from that wedding. Couldn't have been more perfect!

Other than that, nothing much new is going on. My sincerest apologies to the handful of you that check my site bi-monthly to see what's new with Heather. I will try to better meet your needs from now on. Take care and I will see you in a couple weeks (or months, whatever)

-Heather

A Guessing Game

Me: I am thinking of something that you can eat.
Child: Chicken! A Fish! Squid!

He was close; I was thinking of a pizza.

Klamath 2004

I just returned from, as Grant called it, a "special" trip down the Klamath River. The trip really had it all...laughter, tears, no privacy when using the bathroom...here is my story.

I would have to say that the drive there, the first night of camping and really the first morning before put-in was quite possibly the worst 24 hours of my life. We did not arrive at put-in in Happy Camp, CA until 2:45 a.m. on Friday night. Since it was so late (or early, depending on how you want to look at it) we did not set up tents. Instead we slept on the ground. I for one was really excited about this part of the trip seeing as it was freaking freezing outside and the rocky ground was my mattress. Brittaney and Ryan however, slept inside the warmth and protection of their Xterra. No bitterness here. Luckily, I was so tired that falling asleep was not a problem. I just had several layers of clothes on, a beanie pulled down over my face and a mummy bag wrapped 17 times around my body...but really, it was great. And just when you thought it could not get any worse...it does (yay!) I think it was 14 degrees when we woke up on Saturday morning. Yeah that sounds about right, give or take. (This is the point of the story where the tears that I mentioned earlier work their way in.)

Although this was a very low point in the trip for me, it proved to be the only one. Even thought I did freeze my ass off for several hours that morning, the fog burnt off, the sky turned blue and the trip was awesome from then until take-out. The Klamath is one of the most beautiful places I have traveled. I saw a deer, several frogs and even two bald eagles (a very cool experience).

I learned so much on this trip as well...like how to squat and pee without taking my pants completely off...or that I actully like to sleep in a mummy bag...that "back paddle" is my favorite of all the paddles...always beware of dogs jumping out of the boat...and my favorite lesson is, of course, to always breathe in the trough! (Erica!)

So many memories were made that I will never forget and I am so lucky to have friends like Brittaney and Ryan to take Grant and I on adventures like this one.

Thank you Brittaney for your wonderful organization skills and for being sensitive to Grant's fiber needs.
Thank you Ryan for changing the "left turn, left side back" command to "left turn, Heather back!"
Thank you Julie for the PBR.
Thank you Kyla for driving us and more importantly, staying awake!
Thank you Erica for being the only one who fell in the river.
Thank you Werner and Ayla for not barking at night.
And finally thank you groover...for taking away all the feelings of privacy I once held about all my bathroom habits and for sharing the bathroom habits of others with me as well.

Goodbye Klamath...see you next year!