will you be my meow-entine?

you know you're with the perfect person when you find yourselves sitting on the couch, watching tv, and eating leftovers with your kitties at your feet on valentines day.

no sarcasm whatsoever.

i love my husband.

whirlwind.

this week has been quite the whirlwind.

so, most of you know that i teach a group of elementary kids (all boys!) with emotional and behavioral problems. i started the year off with eight kids and got a couple new ones as the year progressed. we are a super tight-knit group and i just love my students! these kids are extra awesome because they are so accepting of everyone and are extremely friendly and kind. no matter how hard it is for me to get out of bed sometimes and face another day, once i see my kids, my attitude completely turns around because they all make me so happy. i just can't say enough good things about them! 

last week, wednesday to be exact, i received an email saying that i would be getting a new addition to my class who would begin to come to my class on tuesday. two hours later, i received another email telling me that another student (a little girl) would also be added to my class, also beginning on tuesday!

i think it's safe to say that i am scared out of my mind.

friday, i met with the new little girl's parents and she got to come visit the class and see what her new school would be like. the first time i saw her, she ran up to me, threw her arms around me and said, "mrs. lake, mrs. lake!!!!! i love you!" my anxiety eased a bit, but i was still a little concerned about how the boys would treat her. 

after we walked into the classroom, my sweet boys lit up and were so excited to meet their new friend. in fact, one of my kids showed her where her desk was and even pulled out her chair for her! she was even able to come out to recess with us and the boys just treated her like she was one of them. as i watched them all play together, i felt so much love for my students. i felt so grateful for their sweet personalities and how much they care for each other. the little girl's parents kept saying how special these students were and how they had never seen a group of kids (let alone a group of older boys!) accept their daughter as quickly as my kids did. it was the most heartwarming sight to see, and i would be lying if i said i didn't shed a few tears watching them.

a lot of these kids have experienced some pretty severe abuse and trauma in their lives. they are used to being known as "the problem kids" or "the bad kids" and the majority of them have had to change schools because their teachers just couldn't handle their behaviors. i wish that all those people who had given up on them or hurt them could have seen them this afternoon as they reached out to this little girl and made her feel like she belonged. 

for as difficult and frustrating as this job has been thus far, i couldn't be more happy or grateful to have had this opportunity to get to know these sweet boys. they have taught me more about compassion and love than i ever thought possible. 

this post brought to you by binford tools

i don't know if it's the cold weather or their budding love, but these kitties just love to cuddle each other!

one of my new years resolutions for 2014 was to blog every sunday.

so far i've totally nailed it.


in all seriousness, i simply forgot what my resolutions were (which i think is the number one way to not achieve those resolutions) and just never thought to sit down and write about stuff.

i think my other excuse for not writing is the fact that nothing that exciting has happened lately. just the regular school and work stuff.

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yesterday t and i helped his sister and her husband move into their new place, which is this super-nice basement apartment with all-new everything and a walk-in closet in the master bedroom and a huge kitchen with lots of counter space and i'm drooling now.

i just walked around their place and thought about our tiny basement apartment with all-old everything and a small closet in the master bedroom, and our tiny kitchen with like three feet of counter space and i felt myself growing more and more jealous.

i hate feeling jealous.

as we drove home, i told t about how i turned into a big, green jealousmonster while we were there and you know what he said (other than, "isn't it great that we only have to pay half as much in rent as they do?")?

he said, "well, let's use that feeling and make our home nice."

the man is a genius.

i'm grateful that we get to live in such a great place with our little family and kitty-children. now we can show our gratitude by taking pride in our apartment and making it nice and homey.

so, let's consider 2014 the year of (home)improvements.
*insert tim allen noise here*

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have i mentioned lately how much i love being a teacher?

i really love going to work everyday.

it's definitely not an easy job (by any means) and sometimes those kids really drive me nuts, but there are days that are just pure magic.

for instance:
on friday, i told my class that if they worked really hard in the morning, we could have a dance party before lunch.

they LOVED that idea and got so excited and all of them worked without complaining.

that dance party turned into a dance contest and, i have to say, those boys have some killer moves! it was a definite eight-way tie.

it was so magical and cute to see these kids do their signature moves to their favorite songs with 100% confidence, but it was even more incredible to see them cheering each other on and encouraging each other.

i just loved it!

my little band of misfits never cease to amaze me.

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it has been so cold.

teeth-chattering,
bone-chilling,
goose-bumpy,
nose-runny
cold.

i would really like to be here right now.

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and, finally, to all those who are feeling like me and need some encouragement to get through the dreary month of february, look no further than this song by the great wilson-phillips.

i am not embarrassed at all to say that i belted this song in my car four times in a row after class last week.

until next week!

The Very Best Year

Today is the very last day of 2013 and I have to say, I'm a little sad to see it go. 

I think it's safe to say that 2013 was the best year of my life thus far. It wasn't without its struggles, of course, but it was filled with dreams coming true and joy and love and success and overcoming obstacles and I just don't think any other year will match the greatness of 2013. 

In 2013, I...

1. Got engaged

2. Saw Bon Jovi in concert (thanks to my old job)

3. Quit my job and started looking into certification programs for special ed

4. Got married

5. Welcomed another member to the family (Ringo the kitty)

6. Traveled to Cleveland, OH for a work conference/honeymoon

7. Got into USU's ATP program

8. Got a teaching job (!!!!!)

9. Spent lots of time with family

10. Saw Deep Love again with the one I deeply love

11. Spent thanksgiving in Arizona with T's family

12. Spent 2nd Christmas in San Diego with the Nations of Jorgensen

See what I mean?! I don't think any year can top 2013, but I am very excited to see what's in store for us in 2014! 

Happy new year! 

you belong to me, i belong to you.

i feel like i've learned a lot about myself in the past year. 

i've learned that...

i have a really hard time not laughing when my kids curse, 

i can fall asleep at the drop of a hat (and often fall asleep with the bedroom light, tv, and T's laptop on), 

i am still the master procrastinator,

and i bake a heck of a brownie.

now, here's something i learned about myself a long time ago, but may not be something the interwebs know.

i have a deep, abiding love for 90s R&B slowjams.

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a little while ago, T and i were talking about music and how certain songs are tied to certain memories. i mentioned a couple songs from my childhood that reminded me of different experiences. about a week later, i heard this song and immediately remembered sitting in one of my friend's rooms in hawaii and borrowing her sister's walkman and mariah carey tape. i completely ditched her (at her own house, mind you) just so i could listen to it over and over and over again.

now, a good 17 years later, i find myself driving home from work/class and listening to these songs on repeat and singing them at the top of my lungs. i really think that my fellow drivers would laugh if they only knew what that crazy girl was singing along to.

this song is my new favorite and, thanks to a boyz ii men cd i got at savers a few months ago, i can now listen to it WHENEVER I WANT. i'm pretty close to having the mid-song monologue memorized. 

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listen to this song.

if you don't get goosebumps at the end when they really strip it down to the vocals and clap track, you are a robot.

the day before we got married, i was trying to find a first dance song for t and i to dance to at our reception. kari and i were sitting at the kitchen table, looking at different possibilities when she suggested this song.

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i laughed in disbelief when she suggested it, because it brings up memories of awkward middle school dances, but as we listened to it, i couldn't help but sing along. with emotion, even! 

we didn't end up dancing to it at our reception (we chose this song instead), but whenever i hear it, it makes me happy. 

so, dear reader(s)... what is your favorite 90s slowjam?

i really would like to know because i'm in the process of making a spotify playlist. 

Our First Apple Pie

My beautiful mother makes the most beautiful and delicious apple pies. Last Thanksgiving, I decided that I was going to help my mom bake all of the pies so I could learn from the master. I did an okay job, but didn't feel that baking a pie was too difficult.

Until, that is, I tried to bake one without her.

Man, that was a challenge!


The story begins with an apple orchard. T's parents have an orchard in their backyard and when we visited them over Labor Day weekend, we were given a box of apples. We borrowed our sister-in-law's dehydrator and dehydrated a ton of apples, but then decided to bake an apple pie with the rest of them.

I was feeling pretty confident until it came time to roll out the dough and place it in the pie pan.

I've never been so misled by such easy-sounding directions!


T and I both tried multiple times to roll the dough out to the perfect thinness and place it carefully in the pan, but we failed every time.

After an exasperated phone call to my ever-patient mom, we made a decision to just press the dough into the pan, fill it with the apples, and throw the top crust on it.

It sure looked ugly! But it tasted pretty good!

It looks like we need a few more lessons from the master pie-baker!

Somebody pinch me!

Sometimes I wake up in the morning, get ready for the day, head to work, and walk into my classroom and feel completely awestruck.

I just can't believe that I'm a teacher! A real teacher! My dream has finally come true!

I have to say, I love every minute of it. My kids are amazing and hilarious and adorable and I love seeing their faces every morning.

Most of my students have pretty tragic histories and it's heartbreaking to look at their files and read about all the terrible things that have happened to them in their short lives, but, as my aide told me my first week, "You love them while you have them. Make this classroom a safe place where they know they are being cared for."

And that's my goal with this class. I think I'm doing a pretty good job! I get a lot of hugs and compliments each day and it warms my heart to know that they like having me as their teacher.

I think my favorite part of the day is journal time. Each morning we write a journal entry from a prompt that one of the students has come up with. Today's journal prompt was "If I could be a dinosaur, I would be a..."

Needless to say, we got some pretty amazing answers.

"If I could be a dinosaur I would be T-Rex because I can paly videogames with my tiny arms."

(If you look closely, you can see that the T-Rex is playing a T-Rex themed video game. Awesome.)

"If I could be a dinosaur I would be a T-REX. I would go to the market but I'll try to hide and fit in the meat selection because people will FREAKOUT! And they are GIGANTIC! The market would be WALMART."

It's official! I have the best job in the world.