My Life as a Zoo Keeper...

Yes, you read that correctly... my school is a zoo and the animals that attend our zoo, RUN the zoo. I attempt to tame these wild animals, but as any zoo keeper knows, some days are better than others...
An event that took place yesterday clearly proves that the zoo animals (students) RUN our school/ do whatever the hell they want....

A 4th grader from the elementary school behind our middle school made it through an entire school day and on to the right bus and no one batted an eye! You are likely asking how does a 4th grader manage to attend a 6th grade school day and no one question her presence....

Well, she's smart and our school, again, is a zoo.

She used one of our current student's schedules. She scratched out their name and hand wrote in her own.... now you ask, why were you okay with that Paige? Well, I get a new student every other week, and often times they just SHOW up and I really never get any notice of whether they are new or not.... so... when a kid comes in and produces a schedule, I add them as my 25th name and go on with my math class... And honestly, I thought the scratched out name was a name she didn't want to go by... I mean my brother grew up being called Grant, his middle name, but his report card always said Stanford, so I didn't think a thing of it!

Another reason my school is a zoo and the kids seriously do whatever the hell they want....
I had a student on my roster the ENTIRE first nine weeks, and he never showed up.... mind you my class roster would change DAILY the first nine weeks and I only got an updated copy if I requested one!!! I never knew who the heck I was suppose to have in my class.... so... the end of the nine weeks comes and he is still on my roster... well NG (no grade) b/c he never showed up.... I get an email from the principal about said student.... he has been going to PE the entire time, but he should show up to my class for the 2nd nine weeks!!! Oh and I should go back and teach what I can of the first nine weeks to him, at some point in time... Oh ya right... like WHEN?!

More proof that my school is the saddest place on Earth. The principal does these surveys to find out how the teachers/staff are feeling about the school (it's a part of the school improvement plan - LOL) A sample question is as follows:
Would you bring your child to ABC School?
Woud you be comfortable with your child having any teacher assignment at ABC School?

You rate these on a 1 to 5 scale I think... I always mark 1 or 2, bc my answers are Hell No and No to those two questions....

So I digress, my point is that these surveys have only decreased since the beginning of the school year.... SO now there is a suggestion box in the teacher's work room!!

I truly feel obligated to put a realistic suggestion, as I am the most vocal person about how messed up the school is.... Honestly though, what to suggest?
We began the school year all sorts of messed up and things have only gone down hill...
I'll have to think of something....

I will have to share more later, because my zoo, as I now refer to it, has me constantly saying, "Are you freakin' kidding me?"

Oh and my doctor is now concerned about my blood pressure always being too high... I tell you, it's this zoo keeper job... very stressful!

Merry Christmas!

Time Flies!

Sandi is almost 3 months old in this picture....

Now she is almost 8 months!
She is HUGE! (55 lbs now, to be exact!)

Wing"woman" Sandi! haha
This picture is from our move from Pensacola to Milton a few weeks ago!

Thanksgiving in Milton...

This year we had the Butlers over for an early dinner... they had us over for last year, when we all lived in Virginia... It was a small gathering, but we had lots of great food!

While the guys watched a movie, Angela and I went through the ads to see where we would be heading for the after-Thanksgiving shopping adventure!
Wow! I doubt I will ever do that again!

I was up at 3am... to leave by 3:30am to meet Angela at Kohl's by 4am! AT 3:50 the parking lot was FULL and the line wrapped around half of the building! Holy COW! I wanted to take a picture, but I figured I would seem silly! Around 4:10 or so we were like the 600th and 601st customers in the door... We roamed around looking for the things that (mostly Angela) had picked out... I was too busy people watching - they had 3 and 4 of one thing and had a bag/basket full! Once we got in line... we stood there for over an hour and half! WHO KNEW! Oh geez - not fun!

Finally we got out of Kohl's, headed over to Sears for stuff for Jason, Angela's husband, and that went quite quickly (we made up for lost time) Then we headed to Old Navy (at 6:30am!) and Best Buy (who opened at 5am - still had a line!) Old Navy was a good stop - I found some $15 jeans and a $30 cashmere sweater! At 7am, we were one fo the first 100 customers at Cost Plus World Market, so we got a free chocolate bar... :-) Then to Best Buy.... WOW! Thankfully, one of the special ed aides saw me and said hi, so we just gave her the movies Angela wanted and seriously probably saved ourselves another hour or two of waiting!) I gave my chocolate bar to my hallway neighbor teacher to say thanks for buying the stuff Angela needed! :) Then to McDonald's for a bite to eat; into Home Depot! The sad part of Home Depot is that the train that was going to go around the bottom of our tree (and play Christmas music), was all gone! :( I'm still looking b.c I/we really want one... Then to Michael's and Target and we were done! What a whirl-wind of a morning! Thank God I was able to come home (around 10am) and sleep until 2pm! I was exhausted!

That evening we got a tree, from a youth group's fundraiser; a noble fir! :)

(Does the tree skirt look great?!) Thanks Mom!)

YAY for a real tree for US to enjoy for over a month!

See the green ring on the right... who knew that the trunk of our tree would be waaaaay to big around to fit into the tree stand's ring! Thanks for letting us use your hand saw Jason!

A few lights on the house!

WinterFest in downtown Pensacola!

Some may be wondering who the cute little 2 year old was in our top picture!?!?
No... she's not ours, Madi is Jason and Angela's daughter, whom we enjoy spending time with... and with her parents. She is hilarious; she constantly says "Hi Nona, (pause) Hey Bage or Hi Nona and Bage" This is even after we spend a few hours with her/the Butlers, it's pretty funny!

On the Road Again...

It's been 8 months since we moved from VA to FL... so it's about time we move again! :)

This time we are only moving about an hour northeast of Pensacola to Milton.

This is our new house! (that we will be renting)
Cottage Woods Drive

Milton, Florida

I will be taking my first day off of the school year this Friday, Nov 2nd, to help Nolan pack up the house into a U-Hual and drive it to the new house... It has 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a GARAGE (which we've never had!) and a backyard for Sandi! It has a somewhat of a wierd layout, but simply put the master bedroom is above the garage, and the front door is that tiny space to the left. We will take pictures later. :)

Nolan finished API a week or so ago, so he now has/wears a flight suit! :)
Congrats!

This was the first day that he could wear it...
He starts Primary at Whiting Field on November 5th

This is going back to August, but Sandi graduated from PetSmart Beginner Training class!
She doesn't look too happy.... she's not a fan of sitting still! haha

And for Sandi's lastest acts of mischief...


Gutting Her Toys...
I think they lasted the afternoon...
You can see the green one by her paw and the brown bear in the background on the left...



Digging Holes!
Since she was spayed, two weeks ago Monday, she hasn't gotten out much and she really is going stir crazy! Good thing she stuck to digging down or she might have gotten out!

Helping Nolan take a part the guest bed...

Now for the real scoop! haha ;-)

Nolan's 24th birthday was last Wednesday and I totally forgot the camera! (sorry no pictures :( )We went to TGIFridays for dinner with our good friends, the Butler's. We also went to Best Buy to get a new XBox game... I did get Nolan a card, but for all of the other drama, hadn't found time to get him a gift... what a crappy wife! :( I have to do better!

What drama, you might ask...
Well, as of late, I have come home and cried or just been livid thanks to my oh so crappy teaching assignment. Thank God for an understanding husband, who has done nothing but listen and be supportive! :-)
The school district and school that I teach at are just plain screwed up, and now that we are 10 weeks into the school year, the kids have gone off the scale in the behavior department... They totally run the school (we average one lock-down a week if that tells you anything)
It is all just so ridiculous. So far the school nurse and one of the self-contained teachers have quit. I was going to add my name to that list. I thought about it, thought about how I could try to fix the problem, sought wise counsel, from many different places and finally planned to give my 2 week notice as of last Wednesday and what do you know... last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were GREAT! I felt like a normal person again!
Now tomorrow, Monday, may be back to hell, but I can't help but wonder if God is proving to me that He really will only give you as much as you can handle. I had reached my breaking point and things got better... I have no idea at this point. I will give it another week, and pray that things continue to stay somewhat normal, so that I can stick it out for the remainder of the school year, but there are no guarantees. If I do stay, I will now be making the 45 min commute to and from work... 3 weeks til Thanksgiving break (we get a whole week!) and then 4 weeks til Christmas; survival mode for this, my 2nd year of teaching, is in full gear! Say a prayer! (for Nolan too - that I will stay more like myself!)