Sunday Morning

My roommates and I had a slightly different morning than we expected. Jen offered to drive us all to church in her car, so we moved some boxes that Megan was bringing for Merilee to the trunk and we were on our way, icy windshield and all. Everything was going fine until we passed Sylmar. We heard the familiar thump thump thump and knew something was wrong. Jen started to get a little worked up but Melissa successfully calmed her down as we pulled over to the shoulder of the freeway.



Thankfully Jen has Triple A, but she was sure that she didn't have a spare tire. The guy she called said that they couldn't bring one so the car would have to be towed somewhere. When the Triple A arrived on the scene he couldn't believe that Jen had never had a spare. He said that he wouldn't have room for more than two of us in his truck, so I called my dad out of church to come and help us. Meanwhile, the Triple A guy lowered the ramp on his truck and said that he had to check something in the trunk.





(At this point I realized that the man looked just like the tow man in "Adventures in Babysitting", gray beard and all...minus the hook.) A few minutes later we hear, "uh...you have a spare back here." Jen hadn't realized that the floor of her trunk lifts up. So I called my dad and told him that he didn't have to come pick two of us up after all and the Triple A guy proceeded to change the tire. This whole time Megan, Melissa and I were cracking jokes. It was pretty fun. We were actually pretty glad that we didn't all have to be separated. It was fun to have a little adventure together.
Seeing as how we had already missed about a half hour of first service, Jen decided that we should just to get the tire changed since you're not supposed to drive to far on the spare. By the time we got to Pep Boys Jen was finally laughing with us and she cracked a joke herself.





We felt a little out of place inside the tire store in our Sunday outfits, but it added to the humor of the morning.



Thankfully, they changed the tire pretty fast and we made it on time to second service. :0)

2nd Grader Quotes

Student: "This is the worst day of my life."
Me: "Why?"
S: "I got a zero on my spelling test."

Different Student: "This is the worst January of my life."

"My one goal is to get my Webkinz a girlfriend by the end of this month."
(A webkinz is an online pet, for those of you who didn't know.)

S: "I LOVE this game!"
Me: "What game are you playing?"
S: "The boys chase us with sticks...and we run."
(They are no longer allowed to run with sticks.)

Two separate notes Becky found on a table:
"I get to take home the turtles today."
"Note to self: take home turtles."

Me: "What are you playing?"
S: "American girl dolls and monsters."
Me: "So the girls are American girl dolls and the boys are the monsters?"
S: "Yeah well it's like on T.V. and movies and stuff...they aren't really dolls!"

S: "Where's the man?"
Me: "What man?"
S: "The man that was on Miss Nenandov's desk...he had innards."
(Becky used to have a see-through little plastic man on her desk with colorful...innards....sometimes the vocabulary of second graders amazes me.)

Second Graders

God was very gracious to me this semester and saved me from a life of boredom. Not that there weren't nice things about not working every day. I am just not very good at being very disciplined without a normal schedule. Anyway, all that to say I am now working as a teacher aid to my good friend, Becky Nenandov. She teaches second grade at a small Christian school that happens to be right next door to my house. I mean that literally. It's pretty nice because on Thursday of last week, my alarm didn't go off and one of my roommates yelled into my room 10 minutes before I had to be at school. It's also pretty nice to walk home for lunch. :0)
I absolutely love the second grade. I liked it during observations in school, and now it's just as fun. They seriously say the funniest things ever. I feel like I laugh through half the day, which is nice because I love to laugh. I was just about to say, "who doesn't", but then I remembered that there are actually people who don't. Including one kid in particular that I tutor. But that's another story.
My job consists of various little responsibilities. Everything from grading papers, getting the trash can out of the boys bathroom and putting it near the lunch tables, teaching a reading group, cutting out things, tying kids shoes, watching the kids on the playground at recess and lunch, those kinds of things. Going into it I thought that watching the kids on the playground would be my least favorite part of the day, but it has actually turned out to be my favorite part! It's the time of day where I have the most interaction with the kids and I don't wind up "managing" them nearly as much as I thought I would have to. It's the one time where they are allowed to be a little crazy and get away with it. They are so creative too! I get to play tetherball and frisbee with them sometimes and swing and push them on the swing, and just stand back and watch them play "American Girl dolls and Monsters." Don't ask. :0)
Oh boy...I'll have to post some quotes up here next time. They might only make me laugh, but oh well.

Maggie vs. Santa

Okay, so I know I have posted a lot about Maggie lately....but she is so cute and funny I just can't help it. The following is a little video I took of Maggie this morning as we were taking down the Christmas decorations. Emily and I absolutely detest my mom's dancing Santa Claus. It's kinda scary and annoying and thankfully, Maggie agreed. I think she really was scared of him because she had no problem chewing on my mom's singing reindeer, but it was like she was scared to actually attack Santa. :0)

Okay, so I'm having trouble uploading the video...but if you go to www.youtube.com/manderstee you can see it.