A very late Ode to my Mother

I have a wonderful mother. She is an amazing cook, dancer, singer, teacher, comfort, driver, wedding planner, comedian, adviser, chocolate lover, and blogger. As well as so much more! I could talk about her FOREVER! So...instead Im going to just write a few of my favorite things about her.

Favorite musical thing: She loves ALL kind of music. Her taste in music ranges from VERY old and classical to Florida 'Low' and Carrie Underwood 'Before he cheats'. She sings ALL the time ANYWHERE...much to Lyric's chagrin. She is in a wonderful ethics show with Dancing Moose Productions and is fantastic! They are hilarious!! Here is a picture of her cuddling up to her unethical counselor! My Mother is also a very idiosyncratic.
Story time!! My mom's hair is very short most of the time, but she likes to grow a little 'tail' at the very bottom that will be quite long. She loved it! My dad hated it. So...for one Christmas she cut it off! A month went by and my dad STILL did not notice. My mom really wanted him to notice, so she plotted a devious plan. My Dad was bishop at that time and had to leave every morning early to go to his meetings. My mom was always up on the stand because she would direct music or play the organ. This week was the organ. After my dad left for his meetings one morning, my mom pulled me to the backyard and handed me a can of hair spray coloring. "Spray!" she said! And like the perfect little child I was, I did! I sprayed her hair right before church. We went to church, early like all Ensigns are, and she proudly went up to the organ to play. My dad walked in after his meetings and all he could say to my mom was that he liked it! (Otherwise, she would continue spraying her hair that particular shade in rebellion!) My dad did notice then about the tail..but only after my mom had sprayed her hair a hot pink color for church.
My mother has dyed her hair colors like: Cotton candy pink (her favorite), Denim blue, Purple, Hot pink (my favorite), and many other shades, just to be different. She doesn't do it so much now, because of her show, but I love that shes not afraid.


On the more serious side, my mother is very practical and wise. She is always the voice of reason whenever anyone needs to make a decision. Her sisters, daughters, and many others call her for advice because of her knowledge and ideas. She is very fun and loves to be wild and eccentric, but she is also very smart about what she does. Her viewpoint is "The glass is not half full or half empty...its just twice as big as it needs to be!" I will always strive to be like my mom, because of her love for us. She aches when we are hurting, but knows when to let us solve it ourselves. She knows when is good to tease and when she should admonish us for our childish decisions. She enjoys playing the devil's advocate with us, so that we see the other side of things. Especially when you're married! She will almost always take my husband's side, because she knows of my faults and knows when I am in the wrong. My mother loves us unconditionally, even when we weren't the best to her and would just give her peace and quiet on her birthday and Mothers Day. She is just the bestest!

Just a few other random favorites of mine that are hers too:
~She loves big words. The big words in my post today and just for you, mommy!
~She loves games. Scrabble, Wii Sports, Scum, Pit, Rook...she loves playing them! But don't play Battleship with her! According to her, boats are suppose to move in that game!
~She loves the color purple, hence the color of the font in this post.
~She loves random sayings like "Your mom!", "Glances!", and "Oh snap!"
~She loves me and I love her!
"And I---e I------e I will always looooooooooooove yoooooo---oo---oo--ooooo!"


While we are on the topic of mothers, let me just mention my other mother. This is Iva Lou Hall. She has a Doctorate in Nursing and is the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Nursing at Lamar University. She has raised 3 wonderful children...well....they are wonderful in their own way atleast! ;) One of those children is my amazing husband, whom you should meet my next post. She has struggled as a convert, a working mother, and the mother of really sick and struggling children. I admire her greatly! Now, if she would just get a pool.... ;)

I am amazing.

WARNING: This is going to be a very arrogant and...proud sounding post, but Im not really like that, Im just really proud of myself!

I MADE DEANS LIST AGAIN!!!!!! Every single semester at college (this is my 4th) I have made it on the Dean's List!!

I got 4 A's and one REALLY HIGH B!!!! My GPA went higher and now I have a 3.63 accumulative and a 3.8 for this semester!

Considering that I slept through half of my classes, rarely did homework, and studied the night before each test, THATS PRETTY DARN GOOD! And mom...dont even start asking about that B and saying that its really close to a C which might as well be failing, because its not!!!!!!!!! Its a 3.8!!!

This is the part where Im really going to sound arrogant and tooting my own horn, but youll just have to get over that, now wont you? Im really smart. I seem to catch on to topics and concepts really fast. I cant create my own ideas, mind you. But once I am taught something, I can use it. Especially in math. I attribute this all to my AMAZING teachers that I had when I was learning how to learn and to my mom who is a genious. I must have inherited it from her. Thats the reason I want to be a teacher. Because I want to help kids learn things as easily as I do.

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!

And now that I have stated that, Im going to go start the Twilight series, thank you!

Teacher Appreciation Week!

Happy Teachers Appreciation Week!!!

I really should be finishing my studying right now as my last 2 finals are tomorrow, but both my mother and husband have posted and Im in a good mood, so why not take a break?

Let me tell you, I CANNOT WAIT TO GRADUATE AND BE WITH KIDS INSTEAD OF ADULTS!!! No offence...Im adult...I love adults...but kids are infinitely cuter.

I have so many ideas and plans and tools that I want to use for my own classroom and I HATE that I have to wait 2 more years atleast until I get to use them! Not to mention that between then and now, I have to be in many different classrooms with students that arent my own, using techniques that I dont agree with, and trying to impress the teacher that is mentoring me. Grrr....I have no patience.

It made my day today when one of my nursery children came to my filthy apartment and gave me 2 cupcakes and a card (albeit grudgingly) for Teacher Appreciation Week. Side Note: Library Week is the same week as my birthday and Librarian Appreciation Day is the same day as my birthday!!!!!

Anyway...I work in the nursery in my ward. We have, on average, about 20-25 kids a week. We have, in total, about 30 children (18 months - 3 years old) in our nursery. They are all active and we are anticipating getting another 6-7 this year still! TONS of children. If we are lucky, we have 5 adults in the nursery each week, mostly its just 4. The children are split into Jr. and Sr. Nursery and I stay on the snack/lesson side. First hour we get the younger children and the second and longer hour, we get the older children. The younger children are as cute as can be and have fewer in number, so far, but they dont understand the rules yet and dont understand how to sit. The older children are still cute as can be and they understand the rules and how to sit, but...at the same time....they are devious little beings who know EXACTLY how to break the rules if you arent careful. But I love them all! Especially when the younger ones hold my skirt or wont let me go when its time to switch rooms because I am their security blanket for the moment. It makes my heart smile! :D

Funny story!!!! An example of how one of the cutest little devils you have ever seen can create almost instantaneous pandemonium in a congregation of almost 200 people. As we were switching rooms one week, the older children, as usual, form a line against the wall outside the classroom so that the younger ones can slip past the divider in between the rooms. One of the older children was being held by a fellow, experienced nursery worker. He just happened to see a bright red, shiny box on the wall that had a lever. He thought it would be funny to pull the lever! Im in the classroom when the older group walks in and sits down. All of them look scared and unsure. I, being the mother hen that I am, go around comforting and distracting them, thinking they just missed their parents, but then Ethan walks in. Poor Ethan had tears streaming down his red little face and he was so frightened. It was then that I heard the fire alarm. Very loudly. For the next five minutes, we sat with the children calming them down and getting them ready to leave. You may ask, why 5 minutes?! They could have been dead by then!!!! Well...at first we were told to just sit and wait it out, then we were told to leave, then stay, and so on and so forth. Finally after numerous parents had come to get their children, we decided to risk the pandemonium and each grabbed 3 children and went out into the chaos. Families were leaving everywhere. Every step I took, a child was taken by their frantic siblings, grandparents, lost long cousins, or parents. (By the way, nearly everyone in my ward is related to someone else in the ward. Its really confusing.) The next week we were given a fire escape plan and 2 weeks later, we had a fire drill. Moral of the story: Have a fire escape plan and dont let the children next to the fire alarm lever. Its shiny and red. Enough said.

Anyway...Dabid is now snoring horizontally on the bed, waiting for me to finish, but alas, I still have one more class to study for. Off I go! Heres a picture of some of the kids first, though!

KAWAII!!!!!

Next episode: Dabid appreciation...inspired by mommy's post about daddy! Its funny! Read it!!

Happily Crazy

So...a little bird named Meredith told me to post again, because people thought I was getting depressed. So I guess Ill post and assure everyone that I am NOT depressed! I was just a little emotional when I wrote that last one. ANYWAY! Finals are here!!!!!! School is almost over!! In 3 class days, I have 4 very important finals!! I took today and yesterday off of work to study and did alright yesterday...but I left the books that I needed for today in Davids car which is now in the next town over at a smelly, dirty refinery that pays David ridiculously well. So I will do what I can, and then clean our apartment that is filthy, but sanitary. Thats always important...our messes dont bother me quite as much as long as they are sanitary!
Ready? This is the new report! Do you want good news or bad news first?....well I cant hear you so I will decide for you! ;)

GOOD NEWS:
~Dave got another co-op at Entergy for this summer and it will be a $4 pay raise than he was originally expecting this summer!! It is also about 5 blocks closer to home than last summers job...which was only 7.5 minutes away...we counted.
BAD NEWS:
~The job at Entergy will be a $10 pay cut than his current Valero co-op, but thats to be expected because no one pays as good as Valero. He`ll still be making over $10 more than my measly, BUT IMPORTANT $6.15 an hour student assistant job.

GOOD NEWS:
~I was just accepted into the Educator Preparation Program at Lamar University!!!
BAD NEWS:
~Nearly everyone is accepted, but its still good!! One step closer to graduation!!

GOOD NEWS:
The end is near!!! School is almost done!!! Then I get into the incredibly business of summer and the 1 month break I have from classes!!
BAD NEWS:
FINALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
'nuff said.

GOOD NEWS:
I have a GREAT plan for mine and Davids anniversary!! It will be awesome!
BAD NEWS:
I cant tell him or anyone else about it until after it occurs!!!!! AND hes trying to influence my plans and RUIN them!!! Not that he knows that he doing it though...

GOOD NEWS:
My mom gave me the new Twilight series for my birthday and I CANT WAIT TO READ THEM!!!!!!!
BAD NEWS:
David wont let me. He wont let me read them until after finals. He says that if I start them, then I wont study until I finish them. Well its not true! I have plenty of time to study...sort of...and I can put the books down to study! Ill study right after I finish that chapter...but then the next chapter looks sooo good. One more page...it wont take me that long...Ill just read the first paragraph of the next book I promise!!!....what was I suppose to be doing again? Okay...so maybe Ill obey and not read them until after finals...book Nazi.

P.S. New favorite group to listen to: Within Temptation. However...all of their songs pretty much sound the same and they have boring music videos, but I like the sound and dont watch their videos, so Im good! They are VERY similar to Evanescence and I think the lead singer REALLY tries to be like Evanescence's Amy Lee. But I like them too, so its good!!