March 23, 2013: Tiny plane

Other than the time I went skydiving and the time I flew in my friend's 4 person plane, this was the smallest plane I had flown on.  And I was lucky enough to get the seat in the last row.  SO comfortable :)

March 22: HP Clue

Cary's first time playing Clue: Harry Potter style.  He remained thoroughly confused the entire first game, got the hang of it, and came back for the win game 2.

March 21, 2013: GREAT GIFT!

I opened my mailbox to find a surprise package from Tisa.  Inside was my very own cache to hide, complete with official log paper inside.  I can't wait to figure out where to stash this thing!!  Thanks, Tisa!!

March 20, 2013: trendy yard

This was a weird sight to see outside Jenny's house tonight.  The best thing is that it is called a "Honey Bucket"  Mmmm, sweet.  

March 19, 2013: Literacy Week

In honor of Literacy Week, there was a school wide competition to decorate our classroom doors like a book we had read.  Can you tell which story we chose?  If you haven't read this one, it is one of my favorites.  I find it amusing as an adult and the kids love it.  The kids in my class designed and decorated the door on their own.  I was very proud!

(in case you didn't guess correctly, it is Sideways Stories from Wayside School")

March 18, 2013: My own realm of reality

We are learning the difference between realistic fiction and fantasy.  After reading "The Elves and the Shoemaker" students were asked to classify the story and give evidence for their reasoning.  There were about 10 of my 29 kids who said it was a realistic story because they believe that Santa (and therefore elves) exist.  My favorite though, was the student above.  I cracked up!

March 17, 2013: Something doesn't belong...

A duck in the Chicago Target parking lot seemed a bit weird...

March 16, 2013: Happy birthday...err St. Pattys Day... Kathy!

We celebrated Kathy's birthday tonight.  It just happened to be on the same night that everyone else celebrates St. Patrick's Day.  Leave it to me to not realize this and to be the ONLY person in the bar not wearing green.

It brought me back to my first year of Kindergarten when I was the only person on the bus not wearing green.  The big kids told me that everyone in the school lines up on either side of the hallway and I would have to walk down the middle, getting pinched by everyone who was wearing green.  I was so distraught that my teacher let me spend the morning in the office creating green shamrock pins to hand out to anyone who forgot to wear green...

March 15, 2013: Snuggle time with Daphne

Daphne sitting will always involve snuggle time.  I was completely unproductive all night because I didn't have the heart to tell her to get off me so I could work.  :)  She is the SWEETEST dog!

March 14, 2013: Solo geocache

Tisa and Adam have created a monster.  I am completely obsessed now :)  I went to dinner with a friend and on my way back to my car checked my phone to see there was a hidden geocache only 345 feet away!  I made my first solo geocache discovery.  This is so fun!

March 13, 2013: Traffic Jam

Getting out of the parking garage at Panera today was like trying to leave a Sox game.  It took me 25 minutes when the average time is 3 minutes.  And I swear I was going to get knifed by impatient drivers.  Yikes, Panera.

March 12, 2013: Over here!

On our way to our field trip, my students tried to flag down this helicopter.  They are so cute.

March 11, 2013: Jesus is the best superhero

I have been working on my inductive study for a while now.  It requires 5 different colored pens and an entire pack of colored pencils.  Being cheap, I didn't want to buy a pencil case to keep all of this in, so I stole one from my classroom treasure chest.  I think it is fitting.

Isn't there a Reliant K song out there somewhere about Jesus being our superhero?

March 10, 2013: welcome to the world of geocaching

I think I have found a new hobby!!

Thanks to Tisa and her fun friend :)  I have now been introduced to geocaching.  It's like a world-wide treasure hunt mixed with a secret society run by nerds.

*This picture was actually taken on the 10th.  Tisa wrote the wrong date on the paper.  She said that if anyone doubted it, she would vouch for me.  You can contact her via her Facebook page if you would like verification ;)

March 9, 2013: Broomball Badasses

That's right.

Ok really though, we were ridiculous.  Falling all over the place, smacking one another on accident, and don't even get me started on the number of times someone swung at the ball and made absolutely no contact.  I died laughing the entire time.  It was obvious we were all amateurs.  It was the most fun workout I have had in a while!

March 8, 2013: Another one bites the dust

The orange blob at the bottom of the aquarium is our second dead shrimp.  We have now killed off half of our class pets.  The funny thing is that the shrimp's body was tangled in a mass of algae, so you can't tell me he starved to death.  

March 7, 2013: Slightly terrified.

We went out to dinner at The Bad Apple.  The food was incredible.  I loved the place, including these freakishly weird lights hanging over each table.  A mixture of creepy and intriguing.  

March 6, 2013: Workout Failure

Kate and I have been using this app called "My Fitness Pal" to keep us motivated and accountable to working out and eating healthy while we train for the Tough Mudder.  I'm not sure if you can see it or not, but I logged on the other day and the screen said, "Mandy Kistler hasn't logged in for month.  She might need some encouragement."  

Ha!

March 5, 2013: Community Jobs

In social studies class today we learned about community jobs.  Each student had to choose a family member and illustrate him/her doing his/her job.  We then categorized the jobs by type/purpose.  As an example, I chose my dad.  Isn't he cute?  I even drew him wearing that one pair of jeans with the huge hole in the thigh. 

March 4, 2013: FIRED UP!

ISAT PEP RALLY!!

Includes remixes like "Teach me how to Study," and "Testing ISAT style," complete with dance-offs. 

March 3, 2013: Sad goodbyes are for sissies.

I love my Artie.  Meg and Kyle (are awesome!!) and swung by Chicago on their drive to Michigan so I could see my little man for a couple of hours.  We had a great time together.  As they packed him in the carseat I said good-bye.  He was sooo smiley!  I think it was his way of making me crack up before he left so I wouldn't feel so sad. :)  What a funny guy!

March 2, 2013: Slide-kick-shake it-grapevine

We don't go country line dancing enough!  Though I was still terrible, I was significantly better this time than when we went 2 years ago (thanks to all the Just Dance for Kids videos Katie and I watch).  You can't tell in this picture, but this is some fast paced, crazy kicking line dancing that they do.  I was able to make it through most of the dances and get most of the moves down, but there was one dance that was so fast and people were turning and sliding so aggressively that I panicked and RAN off the dance floor.  On my way off, I crashed hard core into this man and just kept going.  Katie and Gretchen owned the dance floor though!  Yippe Kay-ai-yay!

March 1, 2013: 10 minutes of crazy

After taking the majority of February off, we needed to get back into the workout routine.  Kate found a workout on pinterest that is supposed to only last 10 minutes.  Here's the link if you want to try it:

http://www.today.com/video/today/47353825#47353825

It was exhausting.  And took us longer than 10 minutes with all the breaks we had to take.  Someone needs to be getting into better shape!

February 28, 2013: Partners in crime...or train building.

She had some great ideas.  We still lost.

February 27, 2013: hashtag#lovethesegirls

What I love about my small group gals:

-We are really open and honest

-The know I am weird and still love me for it

-We echo the echo of our echos

-I have gone deeper in my studies with them than I have ever before

-Their hysterical stories are endless

-We never run out of Christian slogans and one-liners

-God has used them to teach me so much about Him and about myself

Thanks for everything you do, ladies.  I love you!!

February 26, 2013: SNOW DAY!!

My night class was cancelled tonight due to the snowstorm!!  YAY for a snow-evening! I thought I would use the extra time tonight to get caught up on my grading, but instead I downloaded this new app on my phone and played around with weird pictures.