Thanksgiving

In the week before Thanksgiving, I decided to be a worksheet teacher. I made up word searches, crossword puzzles, all kinds of little paper activities that I put on colored paper to amuse the kids and limit the amount of interaction/discipline that I had to actually do. One reason was that we needed to take a test at this point in the unit but I thought attendance would be low...but mainly it was just that I was a little tired of my kids, it was the week of my birthday, and I wanted a break. So Monday went off swimmingly, but by 2nd period Tuesday, I was bored stiff. Turns out it's not THAT much fun to sit in front of a computer and ignore teenagers for days on end. So on Wednesday I jumped at the chance to go downstairs and judge the debate tournament. I was actually pleasantly surprised by my kids talents. I can't wait to see them once they've had more than two days to prepare! If you want to see my kids in action, go to google, click on video (that link, by the way, is the work of one brilliant Paul Wilkins!), and search for "BUDL Visual Arts." All of the kids on our debate team are either mine this year or were mine last year. They are smart little cookies!

About my birthday, it was super fun. I opened the present from my mother that has been gracing our living room for the last week before I went to school...she got me a cedar chest, which I have since put together and filled with all our board games. Then I went to school, and was showered with love and affection by my children all day. And I'm actually serious about that, enough of them knew in advance that it was my Birthday that I didn't go 5 minutes all day without hearing "Happy Birthday." Jeremy surprised me with cupcakes at school which all my teacher friends came down to enjoy with me during lunch. Jeremy also brought his 9th period class down to sing to me in Spanish. It was super cute. Any other teachers out there, I highly recommend telling your kids when it's your birthday. I smiled all day! The weirdest thing that happened was when Tiffany, one of mine from last year, came in at the end of the day and said, "do you want a dollar for your Birthday?" I said no, but thank you, but she went on to write "Happy Birthday Ms. McCants, 11/21/06, from Tiffany" on this dollar, and hand it to me and say, "now you can't spend it." It was very strange. Anyway, when I got home I just relaxed a little bit until Matt got home. He gave me his gift - a pink Nintendo DS and the game Brain Age! I was so excited - it's been attached to me ever since. I love it. Then we went to dinner at Thai Restaurant, my fave, where we were met Carla, Aya, Megan, Tim, Sarah, Brian, and even Taylor and eventually Jeremy, totally a surprise! It's the only surprise party I've ever had, and it was so wonderful. I loved every minute of it. Definitely one of the best birthdays I've ever had!

Hmm...then there was Thanksgiving break. Matt's parents got here on Thursday evening, so we spent loads of time Wednesday and Thursday cleaning the house from top to bottom. I cooked the whole meal - I really went overboard. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, cornbread stuffing, cranberry sauce, and two pies, all homemade. It was delicious, but a little excessive. I'd say my first Thanksgiving attempt was a success.

On Friday we went touring around Baltimore with the 'rents, then to the Aquarium. Here is a very cute picture of a turtle from that trip:


Saturday took us to DC for a trip to some monuments and to the natural history museum. The pictures below show Matt and his folks in front of the Washington Monument, then me by the reflecting pool and the Lincoln Memorial, then me and Matt inside the Lincoln Memorial, and finally me acting like a monkey-human at the natural history museum. The major bummer of that trip was that the bug zoo is closed until next summer for renovations.






On Saturday night Tim and Justine came over to play games with us, and I sent them home with a whole bunch of a super delicious gorgonzola pasta dish I'd made for dinner. That was after a huge recipe/pasta disaster that led to me and Matt getting in an argument because he didn't understand that I was trying to impress his parents and that's why it was such a big deal that I have the right kind of pasta and the recipe, which I accidentally left at Carla and Megan's when we went to feed the cats. Anyway, it was fun, and Tim won every game as usual.

Sunday just had me at home writing evil classroom expectations quizzes and a Unit 3 review and exam for the kiddies while Matt and his parents went to Amish country. By the time the evening rolled around, I was NOT excited to go back to school. Oh well, we can't be on break all the time, I suppose...I just wish I wasn't having to go back to a place that is so negative. I guess that's what I signed up for.