More "Questions"

I love this little guy:

"I have two questions:

I like music and

I lost two teeth!"

One of these days I'll fill him in on the fact that those aren't questions, but as long as it keeps being cute....hey, I'm the music teacher, not the grammar teacher!

You're Really Lucky

One of my second graders walked by my desk on Friday and saw a picture of Justin and I:

Jonah: Who is that? A friend?

Me: That's my husband

Jonah: Oh. He's handsome.

Me: (chuckling) I think so too!

Jonah: You're really lucky.

Me: You're right, I AM really lucky.

How sweet is that? I tell you what, kids are pretty cool.

More Kindergarten Gems

"Mrs. Clark I have 3 questions:

I like your shoes,

I like your shirt,

My eye hurts."


I didn't hear any questions but the compliments are appreciated!

Kindergarten Quotes

On his way in from recess one of my kindergarteners saw me and said:

"Mrs. Clark, do mime's wear hats?"


On his way out the door from music class one little boy was looking at me like he wanted to say something and then finally as he was passing through the door he whispered:

"I like you!"

So cute.

Quotes of the Day:

The first one needs some explanation. Three of my kindergarten girls came in asking if they could perform a song for the class.

Me: "Is it appropriate?"

Girls: (with serious looks on their faces) No!

Me: Not INappropriate. Is it APPropriate?

Girls: (still looking serious) NO!

They obviously thought I meant INappropriate. It ended up being a song about peanut butter...


Another kindergarten class:

Kindergarten Girl: Mrs Clark, guess what?

Me: What?

Kindergarten Girl: Michael Jackson held me when I was a baby!


Okaaaayyy.......

Jose Hydrant and the Smoke Detector

Ok so it didn't take much work to find the video!
Fast forward to the two minute mark to see Jose Hydrant. Shortly after his appearance is the creepy smoke detector- voice-over by none other than Gilbert Gottfried.

Overheard in the teacher's lounge...

This was just too funny- I couldn't believe I was hearing it. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Barbara: How was the fire safety presentation assembly?

Susan: Did anyone else notice that the firefighters weren't very cute this year?

Andrea: Usually they're such foxes!

Erica: I thought the video was a little scary- if my smoke detector had a face like that and started talking I would punch it!

Susan: And racist! Seriously! A fire hydrant named Jose?! That video was obviously racist!

Erica: Oh yeah! When that fire hydrant opened his mouth I was like, that's offensive to the hispanic race!


.....All I know is, I NEED to see this video.

BUNCO!

So last night was the first night of Bunco. I got this idea from my friend Marissa who invited me to a bunco game about 6 months ago when her group needed a sub. Basically it's a group of 12 people playing a dice-rolling game. There's a buy-in so you have the chance to win $$. There's no strategy or skill involved but you split into three groups and after each round you rotate- so it's a great way to get a bunch of people together and force them to mingle and not create sub-groups! :)

About a month ago I decided to start a group and despite a few people bailing on us at the last minute, we pulled it together and had all twelve players here at my house last night. It was a riot! The plan is to do it every month- first Tuesday of the month. After last night's success, it think it's going to continue!

In other news...this week has been REALLY busy so far- it's hard to believe it's only Wednesday because I am TIRED! We have homegroup tonight and then my friend Kim hosts "Cougar Town" on Thursday nights (it's just a bunch of philosophy wives watching the show "Cougar Town" at her house). I'll be READY for the weekend- that's for sure!

Another Facebook survey...haven't done one in awhile so I figured I'd go for it.

1.What was the last thing you put in your mouth? A cookie!

2.Where was your profile picture taken? At Justin's cousin Noah's wedding reception this summer in Chicago.

3.Can you play Guitar Hero? Yes, I rock.

4.Name someone who made you laugh today? Julia and Paris- two of my small group girls. One of the girls asked "Do you think the world is going to end in 2012?" and I said "I don't think we can know when the world is going to end" and Paris says "That would be sad!" I said: "But then we'd all be in heaven, and that would be awesome." To which Julia replied: "Yeah, for you- you've already gotten to live your full life!" to which Paris added "Yeah, you got to go to prom!"....oh goodness.

5.How late did you stay up last night and why? I was up until 10:30- pretty typically when I personally feel that it is socially acceptable to go to bed. Some nights I could go much earlier but I feel like a loser so I don't.

9. Do you believe ex's can be friends? Not really.

10. How do you feel about Dr Pepper? Well, I drink DIET Dr. Pepper with my breakfast every morning, so I'd say I feel pretty co-dependent about it.

11. When was the last time you cried really hard? Oh brother...I don't know but I'm pretty sure it was hormone-related.

12. Who took your profile picture? Not sure- one of the Clark's I think!

13. Who was the last person you took a picture with? Small group girls

14. Was yesterday better than today? Not really better- just different.

15. Can you live a day without TV? Oh sure.

16. Are you upset about anything? No.

17. Do you think relationships are ever really worth it? Of course!

18. Are you a bad influence? I don't think so! Depends on what we're talking about....

19. Night out or night in? I've definitely become more of a homebody in the last few years but there are definitely nights where I want to be out.

20. What items could you not go without during the day? Chap stick, water, email, cell phone!

21. Who was the last person you visited in the hospital? I have no idea... I don't think I've visited anyone in the hospital in a long time.

22. What does the last text message in your inbox say? It's long- but basically it's a text from Tracey replying to my text from Saturday night about whether her brother-in-law is still managing Hollister Brew Co.

23. How do you feel about your life right now? Great! Love my new job and love working part-time!

24. Do you hate anyone? No!

25. If we were to look in your facebook inbox, what would we find? Lots of randomness.

26. Say you were given a drug test right now, would you pass? Of course!

27. Has anyone ever called you perfect before? I don't think so...

28. What song is stuck in your head? Well, my husband is playing guitar and singing right now so I'm really at his mercy. Right now it's "Working Class Hero"- John Lennon

29. Someone knocks on your window at 2:00 a.m., who do you want it to be? No one- that would be scary seeing as my bedroom window is on the second story. I would literally freak. It reminds me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the movie, not the tv show)

30.Wanna have grandkids before you’re 50? Probably not- even if I have kids in the next year they'd barely be 20 by the time I'm 50 and that's a bit young.

31. Name something you have to do tomorrow? BUNCO!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday!

Today I was invited to a kindergartener's birthday. The conversation went something like this:

Jack: Mrs. Clark, you're invited to my birthday.

Me: Thank you Jack, that's very nice of you!

Jack: It's at Sea World. And you're invited.

Too cute. Of course it also set off a chorus of "You're invited to MY birthday too" from all the other little ones in the class. Can you imagine?

Home Alone!

It's only until tomorrow but it feels kind of strange! Justin went on a "Philosovacation" with a couple of other guys from the department. One of them has a family cabin up in the mountains about 3 hours south of Santa Barbara and they're all going there to get some quiet, focused study time in....I know what you're thinking- yeah right, study time! Actually, with this group, it's unlikely that it will get much more exciting than a lively debate over dualism (don't ask, I just know they've been debating it). Justin did crack me up the other day though when I asked if he needed cash for his trip and he said "Yeah- can you make sure and get me a lot of 1's?" (If you don't get it, I'm not explaining it, but coming from Justin it was hilarious being that it's so far outside the realm of possibilty.)

Favorite quote of the day from yesterday: I had my advanced ensemble go around the room and introduce themselves at the first rehearsal and tell the group something they like to do besides play the violin/viola/cello. One little girl says "I like eating ice cream on sunny days". Cute.

October? Seriously?

It can't be. I can't believe it's been almost three months since I've blogged. I'm really really boring. Sorry.

In the off chance that someone reads this that doesn't know me, I guess the big news of late is that I am no longer working at Softshare.... my software days appear to be behind me (my choice, not theirs) and I am back to teaching music. It was really an amazing series of events that spanned about three weeks wherein I found out that a good friend of mine was pregnant, which made me think about how I wanted to be pregnant, which in turn reminded me that when we DO eventually have kids (not soon folks, don't expect any blog declarations here!) that I want to most certainly be back in education so that Justin and I will have similar schedules and because, lets face it, it's where I belong. This train of thought led Justin and I to pray about our future- in the midst of all MY planning, where is God's plan in all of this? Two days later, my friend Christy unknowingly sent me a posting for a part-time music job at Montecito Union Elementary School. Two weeks later I was offered the job. Prayer is powerful!! Thanks so much to everyone who was praying for me during the application and interview process.

So far it's been a whirlwind to say the least. I am teaching kindergarten general music, 2nd and 3rd grade violin and after-school strings (basically sectionals 3 days a week and orchestra 2 days a week).

So, in the interest of not losing your attention before this post ends, I leave you with some of my favorite kid quotes from the first three weeks of teaching:

First day of music for Kindergarten:

Kindergarten boy: Do you have any tubas?

Me: That's a great question! We're going to talk about that in just a minute!

Kindergarten boy: I've wanted to play the tuba my WHOLE LIFE!

Kindergarten discussion about presidents- this one started because we are looking at a book about "America the Beautiful" and there's a picture of Mount Rushmore.

Kindergartener #1: I know who the first president is- George Washington!

Kindergartener #2: I know who the LAST president is- Barack Obama!

Kindergartener #3: One time I saw a dummy in Old Town Goleta!

2nd grade class receives their violins for the first time, and upon opening their cases:

2nd grade girl: WOW!

2nd grade boy #1: This is the best day of my whole life!

2nd grade boy #2: The best day of my life was the first time I had root beer.

How can I compete with root beer? :)

Audrey Ellen!

We barely got to see Graham and Marie on this trip- bummer- but the time we did have was super! (As Steve would say)! Marie took her swimming at the hotel and she is quite a fish- she seemed very comfortable in the water- actually, I got to swim with Ryan the day before, but alas, no good pics. Both my niece and nephew seem to be very comfortable in the water.

We got Audrey a little Hawkeye bear while we were in Iowa City:

Audrey and Marie at the wedding- such a good picture!

We miss you guys!

Vacation Part 4

WEDDING!

We had 2 big reasons for going home when we did this summer-
1: The birth of our new nephew- we knew Wyatt was due at the end of June so we wanted to come in early July to make sure we were there to meet him.

2: Justin's cousin Noah was getting married on July 11th in Chicago and Justin and his brother Graham were asked to be ushers.

Soooo, Vacation Part 4 was WEDDING WEDDING WEDDING!

Graham, Marie and Audrey met up with us in Chicago and it was great to have all the Clark family together- especially seeing our niece (9months) and nephew (1 year) together! They hadn't seen each other since Christmas so they had changed a LOT.

Friday night we went to the rehearsal dinner at Philly G's and it was lovely- such a nice rehearsal dinner! Justin and his dad and Uncle Randy played guitar and sang and Justin and I sang a couple of songs together as well.

This picture is particularly funny to me b/c there were about 8 adults surrounding this table trying to get both kids to look at the camera at the same time. We drew a crowd that was wanting to see what all the flashing camera's were about! Oh, you know, just our darling niece and nephew!

Justin and I at the rehearsal

Me and two of my favorite punks

Audrey and Uncle Justin- isn't she beautiful??

Me, Ryan and Justin at the wedding reception

Justin and I at the reception (a rare good photo of the two of us!)

The fam

Vacation Part 3

After Iowa City we went to Davenport for 2 days and got to spend some quality time with Steve and Anita and Abby(Justin's sister), Kyle (her husband) and Ryan (our nephew). We celebrated Ryan's birthday early (since we won't be in town for his big shindig) at Happy Joe's, went and watched Kyle's baseball team play and basically hung out and relaxed with the fam. Here are some pics from our time in Davenport:

Ryan with Uncle Justin at the baseball game:

Ryan talking to his dad/the coach...put him in coach!!

Me, Ryan, Abby and Anita watching the game:

Ryan in his new car!

Sliding down the slide with Uncle Justin!

Playing at the Jungle Bungle at Happy Joe's!

Listening to Uncle Justin practice for the Wedding Rehearsal- Ryan LOVES it when Justin plays guitar!

I *think* he likes it...

We bought Ryan a car for his 1st birthday- see for yourself. I think he likes it...

Vacation Part 2- Iowa City and WYATT!

Pretty much the main event of the Iowa City trip was meeting my nephew- Aaron and Megan's new baby boy Wyatt! He is AWESOME. He is such a cute and sweet baby. Aaron and Megan were all out and about (he was only 3 days old when we arrived!) and doing an awesome job being new parents. It was so great to be in Iowa City- love a good midwest summer! But mostly, I love my family and I MISS them when we aren't together!

Here are some pictures of Iowa City- mostly my perfect baby nephew!

VACATION Part 1

Landed in Chicago on July 3rd, only to discover that my luggage did not make it on the flight from Houston to Midway (although strangely enough, Justin's luggage DID...) I channeled my friend Megan (who this happened to when she flew out to LA for a visit) and had a very good attitude about the whole thing....for the first 6 hours at least. Then Continental informed me that my luggage had been given to a private delivery service and would arrive at the hotel in the next hour... 2 hours later, still no luggage. ARGH. It ended up being delivered to our hotel at about 2 in the morning though, so it all ended well.

While we were in Chicago we met up with Amy and Charlie (good friends from our Michigan days) and went down to the Taste of Chicago. Super crazy, super fun. Then came back to the hotel for a swim (well, not me being that I didn't have my luggage) and some good quality hang-out time. Got up the next morning and had awesome breakfast at the Corner Bakery (soo good!) and then Justin and I drove our rental car to Moline where we met my folks.

Here are some pictures of our time with Amy and Charlie- the "Bean" was right down by the Taste so we went for a look- surprisingly I had never seen it before- it's pretty cool as you can see but I'm not sure about it's purpose...add it to Governor Blagojevich's list of mishaps I guess! Taxpayer money well spent?

I'm an aunt again!

Wyatt Francis Manuel Barnes Brummer- Born 6/30/09 1:40am- 7lbs 2.3oz. 20.25 in. Congrats Aaron and Megan! More pictures to come once I get there- 4 more days!!!

A Letter to My Unborn Nephew (who is due in 2 days)

Dear Nephew,

I love you!

You have been in your mommy's tummy now for quite some time. I know it feels warm and safe in there, but trust me- it's safe out here too! Your mommy and daddy are going to take REALLY good care of you and you don't know it yet but you are one of the luckiest little boys in the whole world- your mommy and daddy are AWESOME people and you have a whole big extended family that is going to love you like CRAZY!

Your mommy has been working very very hard to get her work done so that she can spend lots of time getting to know you. She is one of the nicest ladies EVER and she's also very smart and pretty. She will no doubt take you camping, bake you delicious treats and teach you how to be a wonderful boy. She is really excited about meeting you and she is making you a nice room and even put in new carpet in your house! You are getting the star treatment- really, you should get out here and see for yourself!

Your daddy is the coolest. He will protect you, he will make you laugh, he'll cook you delicious food and he'll take you on adventures. He will also teach you lots of useful things like how to swim, how to fix things, how to build things and how to pick up chicks. Your daddy is really excited to meet you and trust me- you should be really excited to meet him too!

I'm your Aunt Rachael and unfortunately, I live far far away. The good news is that I am coming to visit in just 8 short days. I really want to meet you while I am in town.. You should want to meet me too because I am a very fun aunt and I am very serious about spoiling you rotten. Someday when you are bigger you can come and visit me in California and maybe we can go to Disneyland - where Mickey Mouse lives. You can eat cotton candy and churros and meet princesses and ride all the rides with me. It might not sound good right now but trust me, it will. Unfortunately, you can't do any of these things unless you come out of your mommy's tummy and start to grow big and strong.

My darling nephew, I know you're going to come when your ready. I just thought you should have all the facts so that you can make an informed decision about when you want to make your grand entrance. We love you so much and you are going to be so happy when you decide to show up.

Please come soon!

Love,
Aunt Rachael

The Anticipation is KILLING Me!!!!

Ten days from now I will be in Iowa City. Eight days from now we start our journey- we leave Santa Barbara Thursday night 7/2 and head down to Orange County where we will spend the night at the Marriott and then fly out of SNA bright and early on 7/3. We fly into Chicago where we're renting a car meeting up with our friends from Michigan- Amy and Charlie- and going to see the fireworks at the Taste of Chicago and then spending the night in another Marriott that night (thanks to my AWESOME bro for the "friends and family" discount!!). Then Saturday (the Fourth of July!) we're driving our rental car to Iowa where we will return it and be picked up by my family- at which point I will personally be feeling a mixture of elation and relief!

To top it all off we're going to be pulling into IC just in time for Jazz Fest! SO awesome.

My mind is REELING with all the things I miss from home....and all the things I plan to do when I'm there! I can't wait to see our families and enjoy the REAL summer weather. And of course, eat all the yummy food from all the places I miss that we don't have out here.

I

CAN'T

WAIT!!!!

More Softball

Lost another game last night. The team is 1-2 but we weren't there for the second game. Last night Justin had two great hits way out into left field. I hit one right to the pitcher for an out and then I got on base with my second hit, just past the shortstop. Justin also caught two fly balls in the outfield. Here are some pics from the game- just in case you're wondering why I'm reaching for my hit- I already had two strikes against me so I was swinging no matter what- even though it looks like it may have been a bit of a reach. :)

Audrey!

I realized that I was on blogging hiatus when Graham and Marie and Audrey visited and although I did post my Audrey pics on Facebook, they did not make it to my blog- BAD AUNT! :) Last night at bible study I got to hold sweet baby Jane (Stacy and David's little one) and it made me think of my sweet niece who is nearly 8 months old and who I will be seeing in a little over a month!

This first picture is one that her mom sent- I love her little curious face!
The next one is of she and I when they were here in March- look at those gorgeous blue eyes!

And one of my favorites- one of the days they were here we went to Borders and were looking at books for Audrey and it was SO cute- every book we showed her she would get so excited- she'd gasp and her little hands would tremble with excitement! We probably showed her every childrens book on the shelf! I ended up getting her one of my favorites- My Personal Penguin by Sandra Boynton. We had a lot of fun reading to her and she did some studying with Uncle Justin too!

We love our niece and nephew- can you tell? And I can't wait to meet my new nephew VERY soon!

Gospel, SLEEP and BABIES!!!

That's pretty much my weekend in three words.

Friday night Justin and I had a date night and went to hear the UCSB gospel choir. It was fun- a little unusual, but fun. The unusual parts: it started 25 minutes late, hot dogs were sold at intermission (even though it was an actual concert, at night, in a recital hall), and the director took about 20 minutes of the concert to introduce all of his family and friends who were sitting in the audience...even bringing his wife onstage to give her flowers and to tell her: "Baby, flowers die, but my love for you never will".....hmmm, interesting! Not exactly what I expected but it was fun to see the students totally singing their hearts out and we decided it was still cool that we did something other than go out for dinner like usual.

I put SLEEP in the title because last week I slept like garbage-which is really unusual for me and I'm not really sure what caused it- but I was in dire need of some catchup sleep this weekend and ended up sleeping about 23 hours combined between Friday and Saturday nights. I am feeling very rested. :)

And of course BABIES: Got to do some baby shopping yesterday for a baby shower that I went to today for a friend of ours in the Philosophy department and of course I couldn't resist picking up some more items for my soon-to-be-here nephew (who, incidentally also had a baby shower tonight back in Iowa). I can't wait to spoil him but I need to remember that anything I buy will have to fit in my suitcase! Thanks to Stacy D. for the ideas- I emailed her this week to find out what she's gotten since her little girl was born (less than 2 months ago) and feels she couldn't live without. On her recommendation I got Baby-boy Brummer a four-pack of these awesome swaddling blankets that are really nice- she says they are the best ones that they have used and the best part is that they are really breathable and lightweight which will be good for a summer baby! Also they are supposed to reduce the risk of SIDS, colic and fussiness (not sure what kind of study proves that but I definitely will take the recommendation of new mommies!) Hopefully Baby-boy Brummer will like his fancy California swaddling blankets :)

Softshare Bat Pack

We had our first Softshare softball game last night. Unfortunately we lost 10-13 but the good news is that I didn't do anything embarrassing :) The bummer is that we actually only got to play 3 1/2 innings before time ran out- I really think if we had been able to play a full game we might have won.

I played out in right center and Justin played left center and third base. I was supposed to get to play 1st base later in the game but we ran out of time. I got on base twice (hit once, walked once) and Justin did too- even though he hadn't batted even for practice since we played in a church league in Michigan!

Here are some pictures that my co-worker Adam took:

Here we are pre-game (notice that my uniform is basically a mumu):

Trying to convince my nervous co-workers that we're just here to have fun:

Justin getting ready to bat:

My batting stance looks lame here, I think it's actually between pitches, so I'm not really "ready", just waiting for the pitcher to get ready:

I think it's going to be a pretty fun season!

Pictures from San Francisco

Steve and Anita (Justin's parents) came up for a visit Memorial Day weekend so we decided to take a trip up to San Francisco. We drove up the Pacific Coast Highway which was beautiful and we mainly did the touristy San Francisco stuff. San Francisco was really cool- I can't wait to get up there again!


Here is a view from the cable car:
We took a boat tour around Alcatraz and under the Golden Gate Bridge- some pictures from the boat:

Golden Gate Bridge (it was pretty foggy/rainy/COLD!)Alcatraz!

On Monday we went to Golden Gate Park and saw the Japanese Tea Garden:


After the trip to San Francisco they spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Santa Barbara- here's a picture of us on the beach the last night they were here:It was awesome having them here! We went to farmer's market on Tuesday downtown in SB and Anita liked the farmer's market so much she said- and I quote: "I wish I lived here!"...hmm, we wish that too! :)

Top 3 Favorite New Ryan Pictures

I just love this picture. I love the puffed out cheeks and the food all over his face. I think this is priceless!

This second he was apparently mimicking the look on Steve's (his grandpa- Justin's dad) face. Love it!

The last one is so freaking cute I can hardly stand it. He was getting his first haircut and they put him in this little car and he was doing great- there are tons of pictures of him smiling and being good- and then the stylist accidentally nicked his ear and he started crying- hence this photo. It just makes me go "awww!" :)

Thanks to Anita for bringing the pics out when they came to visit! More blogging will be forthcoming about their visit and our trip to San Francisco (or "Frisco" as Steve now calls it) soon!