Substitute Teaching

I finally did it . . . I actually accepted a job for substitute teaching. I signed up for subbing back in January, and now that the school year is almost over, I finally had enough courage to accept a job. It was for Kindergarten and 1st grade combined, and it was an experience. I started the day by waking up at 5:30, so I would have plenty of time to get ready and could arrive at the school with time to spare (I was the first car in the parking lot except for the custodian). After signing in, I headed off for my classroom. I looked at the teacher's instructions, and they didn't make any sense to me. The room was so full of files, bins, and buckets that I couldn't figure out which ones held the assignments I needed to hand out. It wasn't long after the kids arrived that I knew I was in for a long day.
Let me make this easier and just list the three most interesting events of the day:
1. A little boy (kindergartner) started to cry uncontrollably because he tore pages out of a "Where's Waldo" book. A very energy-filled boy started tattling on him in a very loud voice, which made the other boy even more upset. I tried to calm the crying boy down while also trying to stop the other boy from his constant relating of the story. The first boy was crying so hard that he asked to go to the office to calm down. A girl volunteered to take him. (He apparently spends a good amount of time there because he's always getting in trouble, so maybe it's become a refuge for him.)
2. The above mentioned boy refused to leave the classroom when the first graders went to lunch and the kindergartners were going home for the day. He ran under a table and started yelling, "NO" at me when I asked him to come out. He then started to push all the chairs out from under the table. If they didn't fall over the first time he pushed, he tried harder the second time so that they did. He then came out from under the table, proceeded to pick up a chair, and then threw it. It took three adults (me, the T.A., and some other woman) to coax him out of the room. The T.A. then mentioned that she didn't think he'd taken his meds that day.
3. A little girl farted really loud during story time . . . I did a really good job keeping a straight face.

Weekend in Danville & Gardening

Last weekend, while Scott was working, I went down to Danville to visit my family. My main goal while there was to get a more refined idea of how I want to decorate Will's nursery. (I know it's still early to start this whole decorating process - I'm not even halfway through my pregnancy, BUT I'm really excited for this baby, and I've had plenty of time to think about nursery ideas, so why not get started early. Not only this, but my mom's going to be out of town for over a month, and if I end up making something for the nursery, I want my mom's opinion and expertise on how to do it before she leaves - this way I can actually finish whatever project I want to do before the baby comes.) So - my mom and I spent Saturday going to various baby stores and quilt stores hoping to be inspired with some brilliant idea (which we were, or at least I think so). I'm going with a transportation theme.

These are pictures that they sell at Pottery Barn Kids. However, they're ridiculously expensive, so I'm going to try to duplicate them. I also want to make one with a firetruck, since we're undoubtedly going to have lots of fire related things given to baby Will - I already have a bunch of baby fireman gifts lying on the floor of his future nursery. This theme also allows me to use a ton of color, since I love all colors and can never focus on just a few in decorating.

After hours of looking around, we went home and got ready for Stake Conference.

On the way home from shopping, my mom got rear ended by a brand new teenage driver. My mom was so nice to him and did her to best to calm him down. He looked freaked out and super stressed. I was so excited to be in town for Stake Conference because I haven't heard my dad speak in a long time. It was also great to hear Elder Larry Wilson speak at the Sunday session - he's our previous Stake President and my friend, Brig's, father. I was also really excited to see a lot of my old Danville friends from high school.

Michelle, David, Spencer, me, PJ, Matt and his wife Nicki. It was great seeing my super cool friend, Marisa, too. We couldn't find her, or her husband for the picture though. In addition to the fun Danville trip, I've also taken up gardening (with encouragement from my mom). She brought up two clay pots last week and planted tomato plants for me. She also brought me some beautiful white petunias and red geraniums for my front yard. I've been researching how to care for these plants, and hopefully I will have success - so far anything I've planted has died within a month. She taught me how to prune them, and even bought me a watering can, fertilizer, a shovel, and gardening gloves, so I'm all set. I'm actually surprised with how much I enjoy gardening. I've always wanted to learn, and this should be a great place to start.

Tomato plants:

My petunias and geraniums - Scott was so sweet and planted them for me (he's such a great husband). The flowers aren't on them right now because it's better for the plant if you pinch the flower off after first planting them. This allows all of the water and nutrients to go to the roots first, so they can settle firmly in the soil. (Hopefully they won't die before the flowers have a chance to grow back.)

What the flowers will eventually look like: