Mail order BB gun?

You know it's bad when Erik Stonestrom has posted-me-up....aka, he's posted twice since my last, what is the world coming to?

Okay...here goes nothing...

I woke up on Saturday morning READY to write a blog, I was SOOO annoyed. Then I refrained because I know I shouldn't only write when I'm angry because then I sound like a raging drama queen, as I sometimes am. But...I woke up AT LEAST 5 times during the night due to cat(s) outside of my bedroom shrieking. Not just like a little cat cry like "feeed me" but a wail. All I could thinking about in my delusional state each time I awoke was, I wish I had a BB gun, I would shoot every last one of them. Then I woke up again wondering if it was legal to send a BB gun through the mail. Mail order BB gun, that was my solution. Come on, it was like 3 a.m....I was not thinking straight (because obviously if I was, I would have realized I could just go buy one). Anyway, thanks to the stupid animals I was up by 8 a.m. and OVERLY productive for me on a Saturday morning. Later in the day I saw the culprit outside of my window still bellowing away. I tried to chase it but it would run a few feet and keep screaming. Grandma's "scat cat" method worked to no avail. However, I have to add that after seeing the cat, I could not shoot it even if I wanted to....which is a good thing because if you know me, I love cats!

Oh...how is school?...blah. It's fine. My kids have been really stinking naughty lately, which is another reason I don't care to write. They are SO.MEAN. They hit, pinch, kick, push, EVERYTHING ALL OF THE TIME. I watched a really great professional development video about how you have to "win them over, not win over them." It's so true. The idea of not smiling until Christmas is disproved in this video as well, good thing, I hated that idea. I'm slowly trying to win my students over because once that happens, I will have MUCH FEWER behavioral issues. I hope it happens with most students before May. We have been doing a good job during our morning read aloud, we are learning about dinosaurs (which has been SO much fun, in a nerdy-kindergarten way!) and I even bought the Land Before Time (partially because I love it so much) to watch on Mondays. They really like it; as Petry would say, "yep, yep, yep!"

My repeater is not.my.favorite.any.longer. I'm at witts end with him most days, especially as of late. He's back to being sent home frequently. He threw a pencil at another student the other day but ended up hitting my assistant in the face. It wasn't hard, but it was enough to get you a one-way ticket home. He creates such a stir amongst the rest of my room that life seems impossible some days. They get so wild when he is there doing whatever his heart desires. He was suspended one day last week and absent another day and it made my life so.much.easier. I enjoyed my classroom so much more and I didn't feel so angry when the kids left. Obviously I let one student get to me, but I've exhausted every possible solution to curing this problem. If behavior continues, he will be sent back to the facility for a longer period of time, his momma was told that this morning when we met. Now she calls my cell phone multiple times a day to check on him. Today he brought a working cell phone to school...then threw a fit when I took it...

Apparently we don't have any valentine's day parties because 'we don't have time.' Wondering how that works? Well...we have a Sweetheart Pageant on Friday afternoon which encompasses our "free time." Last week we had to pick a boy and a girl from our class to be our king/queen. My assistant had briefed me in this. Basically, you pick the kids whose parents will raise the most money. No joke. The king/queen are responsible for bringing in "healthy" snacks for kids in our class to purchase. This is not unusual as the kids can buy "healthy" snacks each day from the school. And by healthy I mean hot cheetos, doritos, fruit snacks and juice. It's a gong show. So, the kids can buy these snacks in our room. All kids in the class are responsible for selling tickets for a Wal-Mart gift card. They can sell as many/few as they want. That money is also going into our class totals. On Friday, all money needs to be turned in (because it is obviously being kept in the classroom for the duration of the week--another wise choice) and is counted prior to the pageant. That afternoon the kings and queens come walking in dressed to the nines. Girls wear white dresses, white shoes, white tights. Boys are dressed for prom as well. The class that raises the most money, their king and queen is crowned. Vanna, what do they win? Well Bob, let me tell you. They win not only bragging rights for an entire year, but a 12'' trophy. I'll let you know how we do....I hope you're on pins and needles awaiting the results....

I'm going to NOLA (New Orleans, LA) this weekend!! Saint Mary's is on February break and I'm going to meet up with the group headed there for their mission trip. I'm super excited, especially because we have Monday (President's Day) off of school.

I'd better get some work done...progress reports have to go out on Tuesday and I have lesson plans to write for next week. I don't want to feel guilty for leaving for the weekend and not getting things done! Shout outs: Happy 30th birthday to my cousin Rachel!!! Keep cutie-pie Kylie in your prayers again....she has more restrictions to her already restrictive diet. Kayla, my friend Sara has LOADS of wheat-free recipes and cookbooks...she could hook you up! Thank you Grandpa Davis for doing my taxes (pray that I don't have to pay in!!) and thank you Grandma Black for finally going to the doctor!! Safe travels to Cassie as she leads her mission trip to...da, da, da-da...Southhhh Dakotaaaaa.