We STILL love July!

Reannouncing - now that we have told nearly everyone, I think we can officially say it here. (We had to rush delete the last entry after we realized the family in CA reads the blog and we didn't want them to find this way!) Yup, still pregnant...to share in my joys....

Top Ten reasons you might know I’m pregnant …

10. I always have Cheerios with me
9. I am only wearing one pair of jeans – the rest don’t fit – ALREADY! (perhaps a preexisting condition)
8. I’ve been on the same chapter of Sacajawea for 6 weeks now, I TRY to read in bed!!
7. If you come in my room before school you may find me asleep under my desk.
6. My hair isn’t done – ever.
5. If I’m not in my classroom, I’m in the bathroom
4. I haven't had a Chocolate Chip Cookie in weeks, but I'd die for a Peanut Butter Ball right now.

3. I can't open the refrigerator, at all.

2. Just the word EGGS makes me run for the bathroom (even typing it! Ick!)
1. I don’t know, I can’t think of anything creative. I can’t think of anything at all. What are my student’s names again? What did I stand up for? How many times have I walked across the room for the tape and forgotten? This isn’t going to get worse is it?

Ready to Move

So I am here in Ogden ready to begin the big conference tomorrow. We have over 500 people registered to attend a two day conference to focus on Dance, Visual Arts, Drama and Music. We hope to inspire some amazing arts happenings in the schools. This year the research has been released showing the power of teaching the fine arts in classrooms and their direct effect on growth - in students AND their test scores. Kids who were dancing once a week and connecting movement to curriculum had the most significant increases in test scores. So my point - CREATIVITY is KEY!

Another week...

I've decided that everyone must be busy, it seems the blogging has slowed down as we all rush to keep up. But after nagging, Kassie updated, so I shall also.

1. Lulu is doing great she loves to chew on toys and she is very excited about having a real dog bed to sleep on.
2. Rudy gets to take his cone off tomorrow and he's very excited! He is still clunking alot!
3. Max is.....ok, really i'm not going to update on my dogs.

Life is ... Busy.

Grades are due Monday.

The bathroom is almost done - still.

The play continues, though I do need to start thinking about scenery... one step at a time.

I am presenting at the State Arts Networking Conference this week so I am busily preparing for that. I have about a millon things to do before I head to Ogden for three days of dancing (some of you may not know that I have become a dancer - true!)

Other than that, life just continues on. There is that minor thing of teaching every day. Just this week I took away my students rights, kicked them out of Europe, sailed to the New World, established colonies, read an entire book, and taught kids that division doesn't have to be hard!

And so, that is life. No pictures, the camera is full of dancers, and I have not impressively cleaned any bathtubs. (see Kassies blog for clarification on my wit)

Moving a Million Miles

Alas, another week is gone. I'm not sure what happened - I was in meetings. It seems that's how the weeks go these days.

On Friday Rudy got neutered. OW!! But worse than that, he has to be a cone head for 10 days. So having a puppy in the house is one thing, but a puppy that is now twice as wide and has no peripheral vision - watch your legs, and clear the tables! Not only does he have to be a cone head but he's supposed to be 'taking it easy', no walks or long outside play time. He's miserable! (And so is the rest of the house, there is a great deal of "clunking" going on.)

The tiling continues...we are so close to finished now...We have to do the closet and the bottom row of the shower and then the tile is set. It looks really good, we're very proud of ourselves. Once the tile is done it should go much more quickly because the rest is done, it just needs to be put together!

The most exciting part of my weekend? I learned a new way to multiply, it's a cross between lattice and partial product and it's so cool!! Yes, I am a math nerd. I blame it on Emily.

And so that's the Reina household. Tomorrow begins another insane week, but at least I have my tests corrected and I got to spend the day in my jammies!

We survived Halloween! My class proved themselves nutty - as expected, but we managed to have a great day. We have a 5th grade tradition where we dress up as witches and do all these fun matter experiments (the science you wish you had time for on a normal day). It's a lot of work, but it shuts them up for 2 1/2 hours and they actually learn on a holiday!!

Art and I spent the evening hiding in the basement - not that our doorbell rang!

Saturday we got up and got right to work (after watching This Old House for inspiration). We started laying the tile in the bathroom shower. We did the hardest wall first, but were really happy about how it turned out. We would have finished but we had to go to St. George to see our nephew Connor get blessed today (long drive - short trip; but Art did get Bratho de Gitano and In & Out).

So alas, it is Sunday night and we are quickly winding down. The puppies are exhausted from their sleepover at Grandpas, and frankly we're all quite ready for bed.

I'm Tired...

I just got home from work, like 20 minutes ago. I just had a 16 hour day. And tomorrow is Halloween - which should be called "Torture the Teacher" day. If I never update again, you'll know I didn't make it.

Oh the woes....

I'm not sure the antics of turning 175 elementary kids into the 100 person cast of a musical production is the kind of thing you all want to read about, but it's what plagues my thoughts these days. Today we finished our dance auditions with 5th and 6th grades. Friday are the soloist auditions where all kids sing their 30 seconds as they compete for the top seat. After watching each of them dance, smile, sing, and shine - I'm stuck. My school seems to be overflowing with talent and somehow I have to eliminate. The other terrible thing is that I now know so many of the kids, either having taught them or a sibling, or having had them in a play before; and so the prospect of cutting every child is heart breaking. Despite all of that I am beginning to see my leads take shape. I think I could pick the big ones right now, if I had to, except the ever-important role of Annie - I just haven't found her yet. I'm hoping that Friday my thoughts will become actualities and I will find my shining star.

And now a note to the parents that read this...

One of my major woes over the last month has been teaching the election. Not because I don't love politics or I dread the discussion; in fact, I love teaching 5th grade because it is all about the evolution of our countries government. In my class we do an extensive unit where the kids parallel the real election with our class elections. We hold primaries, have debates, make posters, campaign, and the whole nine yards. It's a blast and we have so much fun! Until...we have to talk actual politics. You see one of the rules of my class is that you can have any opinion you want, as long as you support it with evidence. When it comes to our discussions of the the candidates that is where the evidence is consistently "Because my Mom and Dad are voting for him". I have so many kids who are staunch Republicans, and Democrats, solely and entirely because their parents are. When I ask them why? I get answers like "Because we're Mormon", or "Because we're conservative." And when I ask for more justification, I get blank stares. I am so happy that there are parents who talk politics with kids, and I think you should, but please - don't impose your views on your child. Teach your child how to come up with their own opinions. Let them know it's ok to think something different - because - guess what? - It is!! I'm never going to tell you who to vote for(ok, I will if you really want me to), but I am going to tell you to be an educated voter. But also be the educator of a future voter. They might be 10 now, but one day they'll be the President and when you ask them "Why are you a Republican?" I sure hope they don't say, "Because my mom said so."