Halloween: Take Three

So, being as antsy as I am, I went back to idea number one for the actual day of Halloween. Only this time, I had a professional hair stylist to give me the beauty pageant hair style. Check out the bump!


Also, since no one would get, "Miss Dixon," I changed my title:


We visited a couple of parties and met some fun friends along the way:

Halloween is Kool

So I get restless when it comes to costumes. By the end of the school day, I was totally done with the Miss Dixon costume. Done. D-O-N-E. There was no way I was going to put it back on for our stake Halloween dance tonight. So, since almost everything I own is red, I put together this little number. Can you tell what I am?


I entered a pie eating contest. There was some talk--rumors I like to think are true--that perhaps I came in second out of the 26 contestants, and only because the winner cheated (this coming from a loyal friend). I don't know what really went on. The only thing I know is I could hear my ward members cheering me on and that's what motivated me to go for the gold. I think someone got a video that I'll show later if it's not too incriminating.

My attitude with pie eating contests is you don't enter those kinds of things to lose. I was bummed, I must admit, that I didn't win. I really wanted it. Bad. You don't subject yourself to that kind of social embarrassment to lose. You go big or go home. I spent the rest of the evening with pie glop all over my shirt and a sticky neck. What a hottie!

Tacky Tourists

Christina and Jer needed a Halloween costume for a double date tonight. Luckily, my school shirts are bright, obnoxious Hawaiian shirts so I was just the girl to provide them with this evening's apparel. For more Halloween pictures, see the post just before this one :-).









This is my next door neighbor, Jared. I think he looks like Jer so I made them take a picture together.


This is his dog, Daisy. Look, Mom, I'm holding a dog! And I actually really love her!

Introducing...

Alice in Wonderland...


Rosie the Riverter...



and Miss Dixon!


My new favorite quote comes from my roommate, Kate. No one in our apartment is a huge Halloween fan. We all do it, but it's not something we go crazy over. One of my co-workers suggested I be a dead beauty pageant queen. I suggested the idea somewhat hesitantly to Kate and she immediately replied, "No." Then she explained, "I only do pretty Halloween." I second the motion!

Most of the Dixon Middle School staff got in to the Halloween spirit:

"Lucy, I'm home...!"

"Hi diddle-lee-dee, a pirate's life for me!"

To bee or not to bee....that is the question!

I'm throwing away those shoes, by the way. They make me like 6'2" and I can't walk in them.


This is my pre-student teacher with the girls ensemble and I thought her costume was clever...she was water :-).

I had one student dress up as a serial killer:

Get it?


Today was also talent day and "guess the Michael Jackson song and the year it was released" day.

We had lots of wonderful talent shared and some pretty amazing MJ trivia buffs! I played each song for 1 minute and the kids had to get the title exactly and the year within two. How well would you do on guessing the year? These are the songs I played:

Beat it
ABC
Black or White
I'll Be There
The Way You Make Me Feel
Ben
Heal the World
Thriller

Look up the years and see how close you come. I had some kids score 15/16 (1 point for the title, 1 point for the year). I was beyond impressed. They knew the music better than I did, and I was actually born the year "Billy Jean" came out!

Here are some of my talented kids...




This young lady does an AMAZING Alvin and the Chipmunks voice. I get the feeling she's really good at impressions in general. What I caught on video was half Alvin and the Chipmunks, half another singer. You're going to love this.

A few things I love...

These people:

The Fall:

Last year, I bought this wreath on sale at Michael's crafts when I was going through a really difficult time. It was a tiny break through for me. For a long time, I told myself, "I'm in college. I move a lot. I can get decorations when I'm established." I reached a point last year, however, where I thought, "I'm an adult now. I sure as heck can buy decorations to make my home pretty. Nothing is stopping me!" This is the wreath's second door, now, and it's still going strong. And a special thanks goes to science teacher Holly Tippetts who was my "secret friend" at Dixon this year and gave me the little plaque that says, "Give Thanks." It was the perfect finishing touch.

"Sweats" day at Dixon:

It's red ribbon week and today was, "Saying no to drugs is no sweat!" We all got to wear sweats. My kids thought mine were cool because they had a peace sign on them. That's in right now. Thanks, Mom, for the Christmas sweats and for making me hip!

Short and Abrupt

I gave my kids their term final this week. One of the questions was, "What does staccato mean?" The answer we discussed on their review sheet two days before the test was, "To sing or play shortly and abruptly." Here are some of the answers I got back:

"Not smoothly, but bouncy."

"The song is bumpy."

"Short notes."

"Sing soft and oburtly."

"Like a robot."

"Short and small and stiff."

"To sing abrut or not holding the notes."

"Short-n-abruply."

"To sing choppy."

"Fast and choppy."

I'm going to ask questions like that more often. I at least know they mostly get it in their head...it's just difficult to describe when you forget the actual definition :-).

With a Voice of Singing

Last night was my first concert of the year. It was fun! Here are some of the adventures we had:

• One of my boys was wearing white tennis shoes with his black pants, vest, nice white shirt, and bow tie. I told him he asbolutely could not go on stage wearing those. He said he forgot his shoes and his dad wasn't answering. So, I made him put duct tape all over his shoes. He was not happy about it. He kept saying, "I'm sticking out even more now than I was before!" Nothing sticks out more than white shoes on stage. The duct tape was an improvement, trust me.
• Some precious eighth grader from last year passed on the torch to my current eighth graders of making sure to announce at the end of every concert that I'm still single. For some reason, it isn't as funny to me this year as it was last year...
• We did a phantom of the opera medley and we played with some lighting for few special effects. We started with the stage black while they sang the intro. We then did a spot on the girls. When they finished singing their little part, the spot went on the boys and they turned around with masks on that one of my boys spray painted white. It was very cool/funny. We tried another cool thing where the girls are supposed to walk forward, looking hypnotized, when the boys sing, "I am your angel of music, come to me angel of music!" but I don't think my girls caught the vision that I had in my head for that. It ended up just looking awkward. But you know what? Who cares. I just love my kids!
• I played the piano for the medley and didn't conduct. I like to let them sing on their own for the more showy pieces. At one point, however, we reached a place in the song where my boys really don't know the words. Whenever that happened during rehearsal, they automatically looked to me at the piano where I went right ahead and mouthed the words as big as I can. I have no shame in doing that, by the way, even during a performance. Well, guess who messed up the words. Big time. Oops.

Here's a picture of my boys with their masks. I figured I can post this one because my kids' faces are covered :-). Call me paranoid, because that's what I am, but oh well.

What a Wonderful World

I've mentioned several times before that I have a difficult class during the day. Recently, I had an eye opening experience regarding these kids. In a faculty meeting, we were learning how to find out information on our classes. After looking at one report, I realized that nearly one third of this particular class struggle with learning disabilities. While I knew of several individuals who needed extra help, I didn't realize what percentage of the class was having difficulty learning.

No wonder I haven't been able to reach my students. I've been trying to move the kids along at the same pace as the other classes. I've blamed their attitudes for the lack of connection between us; yet, learning doesn't come easily for many of them. Once I finally realized this, I was able to enjoy the journey. I've found great satisfaction in being able to help a student finally understand how many counts he can put in each measure of a song, a concept that my other classes had mastered weeks ago. I don't worry about keeping up with the other classes. I think I'm better learning how to celebrate the successes of each of those kids individually and worrying less about myself and how frustrated I am when things aren't going well.

I also noticed that while they may not be the most enthusiastic singers of the day, they excel in other areas above and beyond my other classes. I had two students from this class take me up on the extra credit challenge to enter a creative piece in the PTA's Reflections contest. Their class also sold the most out of all the 7th grade classes in the fundraiser.

I had a moment in this particular period of the day where I thought, "This is why I love teaching." Only a few weeks ago, it was this class that made me consider quitting. What a difference broadening one's perspective can make! I never thought my attitude about these kids would change. I'm so ashamed to admit that I honestly had moments where I felt like I didn't like them. My outlook is completely different now. I love those students.

Encore!

My last blog entry was one of my most viewed posts since I started because Shelley's wedding was so dang beautiful and everyone loves her so much. So, in honor of your interest, I've decided to put more wedding pics and details up that I didn't include yesterday. It really was the perfect wedding...the things said by the families of the bride and groom comprised moments I won't soon forget. I definitely love the idea of sharing memories and stories of how the couple fell in love on the wedding day. So I'm a die-hard romantic...sue me!

In the picture above, Shelley's 14 year old brother, Taylor (who is about 6'2" or more!), is on his cousin Jeff's shoulders (and Jeff is about 5'9").

This is Shelley's sister Kimberlee, holding the bouquet before Shelley came out of the temple.

This is Nick's side of the family, getting ready for their group shot.

I got Nick's attention in this picture, but not Shelley's. They had lots of adoring fans to meet and greet!

The back of Shelley's gown...how gorgeous was this dress?!?!?!

The bridal party table at the luncheon.

Shelley's best friend from high school said some touching things about how people in high school usually create circles to block people out, but Shelley always opened circles to bring people in. That was the perfect summarization of Shelley's character.

This is Nick's best friend from law school, giving a wonderful toast about Nick.

This is Dr. Sowell, the BYU professor responsible for setting Shelley and Nick up on their first date.

At the end of the luncheon, Shelley and Nick spoke about one another. Shelley said that when she met Nick on their blind date, two things really impressed her. One was that he had just gotten back from taking his 11 year old niece to get her ears pierced. Family was obviously a priority to him. The other was that he mentioned something that his mission president's wife said that touched him: you must see the potential in people, and then love them until they reach it. She was impressed that he noticed and remembered that particular detail. She feels like that statement has characterized their relationship over the past two years they have known each other.

This is not the most attractive shot of me, but I'll take one for the team and put it up anyway.

I just love the look on both their faces in this shot :-).

They had a beautiful balcony outside and you can see a photo montage that played on two screens inside.

The balcony.

A precious little flower girl!

Introducing Shelley and Nick Thompson!

Shelley and Nick got married yesterday, October 17th, 2009. It was an incredible day, as is evident in the pictures posted below. Have you ever seen a more beautiful and happy couple? Enjoy!

Getting way lost on the way to the rehearsal dinner the night before...

Check out Shelley's sassy hair!


The bride's bouquet that we picked up on our way out of town...

The Salt Lake Temple! I think I decided I want to marry at this temple, too.

For the first time, Mr. and Mrs. (or Brother and Sister, as it were...) Thompson!




The luncheon at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building...



Kate and Natalie played an exquisite harp and violin duet. It was a favorite of Shelley's mom and it sounded incredible! Getting the harp there was kind of a task, but it was WELL worth it!

Shelley and the girls in her family loved Linda Eder, so I sang "Someone Like You" from Jeckyl and Hyde.

The next group of pictures are from the reception! It was amazing. Nick is half French and Shelley served her mission in Taiwan, so they did sort of a "marriage" (haha) of the two cultures. I wanted to capture every single detail, so be prepared for a grand tour of the Thompson/Quinn reception!





There were cucumbers in the water. That was a new one for me! Very cool.

The lettuce wrap station...
...and the rest of the food, including cheese fondue and mini creme brulee desserts!






The bridesmaids....
...and the first dance!
And the second...
And the third...

When Shelley tossed the bouquet, a girl no older than 12 caught it. Sweet.

Above are the flower girls and below are Deborah and Monica.




Happy Forever!