My Kitchen! Aren't those cabinets awesome!

Front door and living room :)

Back porch and yard

Mostly, I have just been doing my thing--everyday! I am really loving teaching school this year! It has been a great experience for me and I know this is where I am supposed to be, and what I am supposed to be doing!

As for some of the other things that seem to take up my time...I, well, :) I am buying a house! Yes, that's right! I am going to buy a house here in town and I am really excited! I will post pictures when everything is all finalized, but I have to say, I really can't believe that I am doing this!

Other than that excitement, nothing too much to report! ;)

I have really enjoyed the chance to hang out with my family the last few weeks. They have been really good to me and I am so grateful for all of them! I am excited for all the new things they are going through--being parents, new houses, and being my family! :) I sure love them all!

I had the chance to go to California/Disneyland with one of my cousins and his family this September! We had such a great time! I loved every MINUTE that we were there! We went to fun places to eat--places I'd heard of but never had the chance to try--and some favorites of mine too!

Checking out our take on seashells! We found some really cool ones!

Grizzly River Rapids--I think we did that ride 4 times that day!

It was HOT!

Taking a walk down the beach.

Isn't it good luck if you write your name in the sand or something?

Playing at the Beach.

I love this flowering shrub/vine/whatever it is!

I thought this Millennium Tree Timeline was a pretty cool idea!

That four-leafed clover is HUGE!

What Cuties!

One of my heroes! Mickey Mouse!

One of the favorites: Jedi Training!

In the rental car: Toa.

On the plane with my class pet--Growler.

At the entrance to the place where Dreams Come True!

In the Tiki, Tiki Room! One of my ALL-TIME FAVORITES!

Don't bash the hat! It was a hot day!

How cool is this! Tow'Mater and Lightning McQueen!

Hanging out at the airport!

One of the beautiful beaches we went to.

My class got to go to the Bluebell Corn Maze this past week and we had such a fun time! I can't post pictures of them here, but I have a picture of some cute "corn art" that we did when we got back to school! Hope you enjoy!

P.S. California pics to come soon!

This is Miss Foley--signing off!

P.S. Is it okay for a teacher to play hooky?  Oh wait!  I've already done that, hmm...well, I get to do it again and I CAN HARDLY WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  DISNEYLAND, HERE I COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  :)  WHOOHOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To help get ready for this year, I've been bouncing ideas off of anyone who would listen and one of the most faithful helpers, besides my Mom, was my cousin-in-law Ashlyn!  She always has the cutest ideas!  She inspired me and these pictures and this post are dedicated to her and my Mom!

Thanks so much Mom and Ashlyn!

This is the mess that is my front room--hopefully it can all get moved to school soon!

This is the Birthday Bag I send home for their birthday show-and-tell--Thanks for sharing Em!

Some other fun signs I've made with a little help!  ;)

I am really excited for this coming year--3rd year's the charm, right?  I will be in a portable classroom this year and that is going to be DIFFERENT--but a good kind of different, I think.  I will have control over the ac and heat in my own room--no shelves and cupboards and no water, but I think I'll be able to make do--I think it will be a fun adventure.  As I get more stuff finished, I'll post it on here too...maybe a picture of my new classroom too--hmm....

Here are pictures of the class pet book covers I made on Monday--they really were fun to make and yes--it did take me all afternoon, but it was fun!

Well, I decided that I would do it--I borrowed a shiny red Dodge Charger from a local car dealership and I took her out to lunch today!  We had such a fun time!  She is near 90--and such a cute older woman--she's always been like another grandma to me.  We had such a good time, we just might do it again--though not with the Dodge Charger--but maybe that'll be okay.

Here's a picture of us with our "Hot Ride"!

I was a genius and left my camera at home, but my friends had theirs, so I'm sharing their pictures!  

P.S. At one point, Taylor had left the stage for a costume change and ended up on the balcony right by us--only 10 seats away!  That's pretty amazing!  We all bought t-shirts and sang along with every song!  What a great trip!  (Even if we didn't get home till about 2 am and still had to wake up to teach school the next day!)

As we were leaving the concert, I ran into one of my cousins, Alisha Snow!  There were so many people, it was great that she found me!  Thanks Alisha!  What a great Concert!!!!!!!!!

Now as a teacher, one of my favorite months is still May.  I like August too--meeting the new students, getting things ready for a new year--but its pretty stressful and seems to slip through my fingers...  May on the other hand...well, its when I get to have fun.  We can finally go outside and play and I love to go outside and play with my students, our new favorite game, besides tag on the playground, is kickball.  If there were enough swings though, that would be what we'd do instead!  ;)  

We are now officially done with our State CRT Tests and that is THE BEST FEELING IN THE WORLD!  They get a little stressful, especially since we take them on the computer.  But my class has been such good sports.  We are now just reviewing a little bit more and taking some more time on things that we didn't get to do earlier in the year.  Hopefully next year I will have a better schedule for us, but we've been having a great time.

We are also doing something fun called Money Town.  Those who know what it is--its great.  Its a lot of work for a teacher, but the students love it!  I did it when I was in 5th grade and it was a blast--I think I'll always remember how much fun it was to be the banker and give out checks and be the librarian and makes sure books were organized and returned in good condition!  It was a great experience.  We do a more simplified form of it and it only lasts for a few weeks, where I did it in school for the entire year, but it is still fun.  My favorite day is Free Enterprise Day where students can bring stuff from home to sell.  I always try to buy something from everyone and it is a really fun time.  I have such a cute class--I'm sure tomorrow's Free Enterprise Day will be awesome!  I have the cutest bankers too--they are the best salespeople--they just might give my dad a run for his money someday!  ;)

Other than that, life is good lately!  I moved to a new apartment and I like how moving forces you to organize and make things more livable--rather than just coming home to the mess I didn't have the energy to clean up.  Some of my family and cousins and an Aunt and a friend came over and they cleaned, organized, and made the move a great success!  I really do have the best family of all!  It is great!  I just need to get my phone and internet working!

Life has been good.  I'm so grateful for my very many blessings!  Until next time...

What is an Artist in Residence?  It is a guest that comes into our school and teaches them various things: writing, music, dancing, singing, and many other things.  This year our artist is from Tonga.  She has been doing a Polynesian theme with the students and we have learned 8 or 9 different dance, several of which have words that we need to sing as we dance.  My class has loved it!  Their teacher has been a little more stressed than normal trying to make everything work and have enough time to study for our upcoming CRTs.  

Two of the other teachers have videotaped our artist doing some of the dances and have pictures on their blog that I wanted to share with you.

Have fun seeing a little bit into my life lately.

Check it out:

http://hydergoodrich.blogspot.com

Sometimes I think  I was born in the wrong decade!  I love Elvis and the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, and the artists from Motown.  I would rather listen to them most days than anything on the radio--I like my country, don't get me wrong, but there are just some times when you need a song to say how you feel and those 70's songs sure do.  My parents ordered the collection and I've had a lot of fun listening to them.  How can you pass up Wildfire?  Knock 3 Times? You Don't Have to Say You Love Me? At Seventeen? Annie's Song?  Raindrops Keep Falling? When Will I See You Again?

Ah--the songs that can say it all--that's what I've been groovin' too lately.

Happy Reading!

One of my professors asked us to watch a movie--not for an assignment, but to help give us perspective and open our eyes a little.  He asked us to watch the movie, "Freedom Writers."  I hadn't seen it when it first came out--kind of wanted to, but never had the motivation to pick it up off the shelf at the local movie rental store.  Well, today, I was out running errands and decided I'd go and pick it up and watch it tonight (I even had a free movie rental--how cool is that?).  

The movie, for those of you who don't know, is based on the real-life experiences of the original Freedom Writers, from some of the hardest backgrounds out there.  I don't know that I'll ever have the opportunity to teach students like those portrayed in the movie, but I have a friend who does work with those kind of students in Baltimore, Maryland, and her stories can match those of the students in this movie.

When I was a little girl, I wanted to do three things:

1. Be a mom

2. Write a children's book or a book in general

3. Become an elementary teacher

For those who know me well, there are a few more I could add to the list:

4. Be an aunt

5. Be an astronaut

6. Be a cosmetologist

Some of these dreams I've had are out of my control--I doubt that NASA is ever going to let me be an astronaut, but someday I will visit the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and maybe someday, they will have invented a way to take people to the Moon--I'll have to start saving my pennies so I can go.

I am the proud aunt of the cutest nephew and niece and a new someone that I'll get to meet this summer and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE spoiling them and playing with them, and being their aunt!

I don't know that I'll make it to cosmetology school, but I will learn how to cut hair, and that will work for me.

I don't know about being an author--but I tell stories to my students and my niece and nephew, so that can count too--I won't shove the idea away, but I might keep it safe in my pocket for awhile.

I cannot become a mom by myself, but for right now, the time isn't right and I have other things I need to be doing, and that's going to have to work too--being a mom can go to my "safe pocket" too.

There is something from my list though, that I have done.  I AM an elementary school teacher.  I absolutely love what I do.  There are times I've wanted to give up and forget about everything to do with school, but then there are those times, when I know I've done something good and I'll never leave!

Watching this movie, "Freedom Writers" makes me wish all kinds of things, but I have to say, I went into teaching with the same hope that I could change my students as the Ms. Gruwell in the movie.  I don't know her story.  I know she is a real person, who made a HUGE difference in the lives of her students, and I know she travels and speaks about her experiences, but I haven't had the chance to hear her myself, but, I can only imagine, how I would feel, sitting in the same room as her.

I went into teaching with so many great ideas!  I was going to change the world!  Make a difference to my students!  Be that person that cared about them so much, they'd want to change and learn, and love to be in school!  I didn't realize how lofty my dreams were, until I started actually teaching school.  I'm not trying to complain about the school systems and say that what they do isn't great and wonderful, and have a purpose, but for me, when they dumped all of the things that I had to do, on top of all the things I wanted to do, my dreams were buried with them.

I still want to make a difference and be that teacher that cares about her students and makes them want to change, to be better "little" people, but I can see now, I've lost my focus.  I'm not doing what I'm doing for the "right" reasons--for me any more.  And it feels so depressing.

I'm not really shooting this out into the world to get advice or sympathy or anything like that, I just needed to say that I'm not where I wanted to be, but I'm going to do something about it starting now.  I don't know how I'm going to do it, but I'm not going to just watch the time pass me by any more.

I'm going to change me and then, maybe I can help change my students.

Also--I just got a new calling in my little Singles Branch.  I am now the Family Home Evening Coordinator.  YIPPEE!!!!!!  I am one of those people who go for the food and the lesson then leave before the activity...now I get to plan the lesson AND THE ACTIVITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  YIKES!!!!  But, I know I have this calling for a reason, so I will take it and see what happens, but if you, yes you--reading this blog, have any ideas, please feel free to share!  I'm going to need them...52 weeks in a year--12 that I don't have to plan, and a couple Monday Holidays we don't have FHE for...makes it about 37 maybe?  Oh wow!

Things are going to be fun!