Ryan's Birthday!

It was red ribbon week this past week so every day was a different dress up day.  It was fun but I'm glad I don't have to worry about dressing up anymore. I got allergy tested like Corbin on Tuesday. I too am very allergic to several trees and grasses along with cats and dogs. Luckily, Charly is hypoallergenic and I haven't noticed any reactions having her in the house. As soon as the insurance and solution get sorted out I will start getting shot treatments like Corbin. I hope it works for both of us!

Ryan's birthday was on Saturday so I made him the usual birthday breakfast of waffles and bacon. After that we went to Jump Time. Ryan wanted to go to McDonald's for his birthday lunch and Corbin was trying to bribe him into going to Idaho Pizza Company. Finally, I just dropped off Corbin and Gabby at Idaho Pizza Company and took Piper and Ryan to get McDonald's. Ryan wanted Costco chicken and rice for his birthday dinner. I was stoked, that's easy!  Then it was cupcake and present time. I think Ryan had a good birthday. It's crazy that he's 9! He has a very quirky, funny personality. 

Krista threw her annual Halloween party. I think she's burned out and might not do it again. She goes ALL out! It's so much work. Later in the evening we watched a very late night scary movie and it was so good! I love good scary movies. I don't know why! They are stressful to watch. I'm ahead right now with teaching and that feels so good. I had time to take Gabby thrift store shopping. She bought a ton of ugly grandma knick knack style decorations for her room and ugly oversize shirts. I don't get it. Whatever. Tonight I made caramel popcorn balls, my favorite, and also my favorite pumpkin cake for an early birthday present to myself. I'm taking a bunch of it to school to share with my AVID students and some of the faculty. Now it's time to go watch another scary movie!

Ryan's personal narrative writing assignment. 

Ryan's 9th birthday McDonald's lunch.

Birthday celebration from last week in Utah.

Lemon cupcakes!

Presents!

Silly girls raking leaves in their Halloween costumes.

Piper attempting to ice skate.

I love when Charly chills in my lap!

90's Day!

Twin Day

Rice Krispies Pumpkins (my students made these on Thursday)

Cute, freshly groomed Charly.

Little Red Riding Hood, Beyoncé, witch.

Krista's super fun Halloween party as usual.

Parent Teacher Conferences

After the previous week of being extra tired it was nice to be more normal this past week. I did surprisingly well with my 2, 12 hour work days with parent teacher conferences.  I always get nervous that a parent is going to get mad at me for something but I didn't have any bad interactions. Huzzah! I had quite a few parents come and visit with me and in the down time I was able to do some grading and other projects so that was nice!  I continue to try to build up more resiliency as this is such a hard job. There's nothing like spending a lot of time on a lesson to have your students tell you it's boring or talk back to you or give you attitude or all of the things! I think with time and experience I will develop thicker skin for this stuff, I hope. 

Scott's Uncle Bob passed away recently. They had a service for him in Provo, Utah where he will be buried along with the other Allen relatives. Scott was a pall bearer and the service was in the morning on Friday morning. I wouldn't have been able to come with the family unless we left very late after parent teacher conferences Thursday night or got up SUPER early on Friday morning. Neither of us were up for that so Scott took the three littles on Thursday. Corbin had plans with his friends on Friday and didn't want to go so we let him stay home. 

I have enjoyed a very peaceful weekend. I went shopping on Friday and found some cute clothes for a good deal at Uptown Cheapskate. It's a consignment store and going there can be overwhelming but it's like a treasure hunt and I found some treasures! On Saturday I met my friend Jaynee and we got pedicures. I spent four hours deep cleaning my house and only made it half way. I don't know if I care enough to deep clean the rest today. I need to do a lot of lesson planning today and I'm feeling a bit lazy. Last night Corbin and I went to Kyotos for dinner. It's so yummy and expensive. Ha. A treat for sure. After that we went to Target and I bought him some pants. Yay, he fits in men's pants now. He is so tall that youth size pants are so short on him. We then watched Halloween, which Corbin thought was pretty dumb and Jamie Lee Curtis was oh so dumb in that movie. I'm ready for the rest of the family to come back home! Charly will be over the moon to have Gabby back! 

Uncle Bob's Service.

Girl time on Aunt Noel's bed.

Janet throws another great party. Mad Hatters.

Very Good hat. ha.

Cutest Puppy.

Corbin and I treated ourselves at Kyotos! 

I love when Charly sleeps in my lap.

That face! 

RIP Phoebe

The girls beloved Phoebe rat died. We got Phoebe and Clover about three years ago for Christmas and the girls have loved them. Clover died about a year ago and the girls were so sad I impulse purchased two more rats from the pet store and they are referred to as "the demon rats." I was really hoping the girls would let me think of an ethical way to get rid of them but they are attached to the demon rats even though they can't even touch them because they will bite them! I am very excited to be a rat free house one day again. When you don't get them as adults from the pet store they do make excellent pets (for people that want to touch them, no thank you very much) BUT they stink. I HATE it! The girls room makes me want to barf. I digress, we will have a memorial service for both Phoebe and Clover (since we didn't last year) after dinner today. My girls are big pet softies so they are sad sad sad.

We all got the Covid booster last Sunday and Scott and I both feel like it might have affected us this week. I had a raging sore throat for three days and I was EXTRA EXTRA tired and Scott has been super tired too. We are hoping to feel more energetic soon. 

I'm feeling a little ahead this week which is nice because we have parent teacher conferences and that makes for really long days. I haven't had an in person parent teacher night in 16 years. I am nervous. Haha. 

Cutest puppy.

Gabby had to do some service projects for her Health class. 

I got my hair dyed and it came out pretty red. I like it, but it's kind of weird! 

Despite his face and body language, Ryan was having fun cutting the homemade noodles. 

Piper helped me chop some veggies for creamy chicken noodle soup. Yum!

We bought a comfy chair that would "fit" in our room so Scott can have a spot to read his philosophy books. I wish it could angle toward the TV and I'd never leave! 

Going Private

I am making my blog private. I have a former student who keeps googling me and he's been reading my blog and no thank you! So, it's a little annoying but I want some separation from my personal life and my students. 

My big thing from last week was having my first FCCLA meeting. As a FCS teacher we have to run a school club (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America). Last year I did all of the requirements in my classroom but this year I am trying, TRYING being the key word, to run it more like a true club. Somehow 40 kids signed up. About 15 came to the first meeting. It will be interesting to see where it goes and what happens. If all else fails I can resort back to running it in my class if needed. The main focus of the club is community service which is cool and if it's run correctly student leadership BUT it's something extra and more work on top of a very demanding job. So we will see...

Charly is still hit and miss with the potty training. I don't know when I am going to have the time or motivation to read any puppy training books. We let her outside often, the end. Gabby has taught Charly several tricks. 

Ryan has been dry all week. Fingers crossed he's fully night trained. 

Scott and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary yesterday. We went to dinner. We figured going to Mexico would count for anniversary celebrations. Well, I have lots of lesson planning to do. Peace!  

Gabe put a pool in his backyard. SO GREAT!

Happy Anniversary!

Gabby is decorating her room with the leaves from Heartstopper. Cute!

Cutest puppy.

Fireplace Makeover

My friend Rachel upgraded her fireplace by adding a mantel and then adding tile stickers. I decided I wanted to try to fix up my fireplace. Gabby broke the glass years ago and we had the fake wood inside that got broken over the years. First I threw away the old broken fake wood and spray painted the bottom black. I went to Lowes and bought some decorative real wood. Then I painted 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of white paint over the tile. Finally, the stickers arrived and I applied them. Several of the pieces had to be cut to custom fit my fireplace but I did it and it looks so good! No regrets!

Charly is doing pretty good. She still has some accidents but is getting much better about going pee and poo first thing in the morning when I take her out. Hooray. She is cute cute cute. No regrets!

Gabby missed school all week because she was sick. I caught her cold and I could have powered through but I decided to take a sick day on Thursday. The only downside of that is that usually other teachers have to cover but it was really nice to take a sick day. I didn't take one sick day in the first two years that I taught and now I'm trying to be better about taking more care here and there. 

Scott completed his first month at his new job. That went fast! 

October is my favorite month! Halloween things are up and fall foods are happening! 

Fireplace before

 

Fireplace After

Halloween Things

More Halloween Things!

Cheesy Broccoli Soup!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Cutest puppy and boy!

Gabby made a big breakfast one of her sick days. Wha?

Piper got a new desk!

Corbin got a new monitor! Woah!

Trampoline time. We had our annual soups get together for my brother Gabe's birthday.