Month 12: March

March...another very eventful month. The first of March marked three weeks left of my college schooling. Being in student teaching made these last three weeks a lot more fun but still quite a bit of work.

Dr. Suess's birthday is a pretty big holiday in elementary schools. We pulled out all the costuming stops for this day. I was Cindy Lou Who from the Grinch. I had a little bit too much hair to keep it up straight but it turned out pretty cute...let's just not mention the headache I had by the end of the day!

Once you get to sixth grade it isn't that cool to dress up anymore, but some of my kids still didn't let me down! Cute kids!

Not to mention my adorable cooperating teacher! Loved her outfit!

The next holiday we celebrated this month was St. Patrick's Day. We don't really have many traditions for this holiday which is sad because we are both Irish and my dear Grandpa Butler would we disappointed if we didn't support our heritage. 

So we ate one of Jeremy's special homemade chilis accompanied by green milk.

Then I put together a night of coloring and crafting!

Lepricon Masks

Aside from all the celebrating this month, we also had our first pluming problem. I won't post the really gross pictures, but I will say I was very proud of Jeremy for getting in there and doing the dirty work to fix it. I won't mention that he was the one to clog it in the first place by pouring grease down the drain which then congealed but only focus on how happy I was that he fixed it! :)

I'm not much of a cook, but I have been trying to cook a little more often. I've heard that if you just start with mastering a few things that you can make regularly, then you can slowly incorporate other meals. I'm just starting my few things but Pinterest gets me exciting about making new things. These are a couple of things that we are loving right now.

Homemade pizza: We actually make it with wheat crust so it's a little healthier than Little Ceasars. 

Baked Oatmeal: I thought it was a little bit of a weird consistency, but it's a quick breakfast and Jer likes it so at least it gives him some sustenance before he leaves the house in a rush.

I'm all about easy! I straight up microwaved those frozen chicken nuggets that we got in bulk at Broulims and  heated some Panda orange sauce. Tastes just like Panda Express...No Joke!

One of my favs courtesy of my fabulous sister-in-law Josue. Rhodes rolls stuffed with cheese and pepperoni (Jo also does cut up sandwich meat with is also tasty) cooked and then we dip the in red sauce. So easy. So good! One of our many versions of pizza. :)

This semester has been so busy that we really haven't gotten to spend too much time together. So I decided to do a little surprise date for Jeremy. I typed up this anonymous note and put it in the mail box.

The funniest part is when Jeremy started reading it, he didn't know who it was from and got super nervous! Bahaha!

I turned the house into a restaurant with menu and everything! I was the server too. It was a good game of pretend. I did always love playing pretend!

Chocolate and Vanilla pudding for dessert with a massive strawberry. Delicious and perfect for us since I ate all the chocolate and he ate all the vanilla. 

Jeremy doing his Courtney impression from "The Bachelor". He is way too good at that. 

We are still poor newlyweds but we make due with what we have and we are pretty happy with that.

With student teaching coming to an end, so did my unit. The kids worked really hard, as did I grading 160 essays, and the end result was priceless. They were able to read one of their pieces to a buddy in a fourth grade class and share with their classmates as well. So proud!

Last day of school ever. I look like death in this picture so I must have been really sad. Actually I honestly was. Mixed emotions I guess. Obviously was happy that I had made it through student teaching alive and well and it was such a relief to be done. However, I will miss these kids so much. 

I chose the field of teaching because I felt a classroom was a place where I could truly make a difference in a child's life. I love being around children and feeling their excitement for life. They have so many hopes and dreams and for the most part are still protected from much of the hardness of the world. This group of kids have been through a lot in their short lives and yet they still have so much zest for life. There is nothing like looking around a classroom of students and seeing lights go off in their head as they have an "aha" moment. I loved the day I asked the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Hearing their answers gave me so much motivation to help them get there. I can't fully explain the happiness I feel in a classroom full of students and especially not this classroom of students. I will miss it all. 

I thought I would go out with a bang by bringing in my mom's homemade utopia cookies. This was my first time making these so I was really nervous but they turned out pretty good. The kids loved them!

These were my student teaching buddies. 

Emily, Arli, Christine, and Briana

Mrs. Grace: What an amazing woman!

One of the students in my class has autism and this was his aid. I ate lunch with her everyday and I will miss our talks so much!

My Sixth Grade Classes!

After freaking out at the beginning of the year about the reputation this kids had for being very naughty I knew I had to crack down on my management. More than anything, that was the best thing for me to learn. I feel like I can handle any class now! Not to mention how much my patience grew. I was amazed sometimes that I was able to keep my cool. It's hard to do when you have a kid yelling in your face. But I learned how to handle these kinds of situations and by the end that kid that was yelling in my face was a complete softy and so sweet to me. They all came a long way and honestly I have never met a group of kids with so much potential. They are going to go so far in their lives and I am so happy that I got to be a smart part of their lives. There was some drama along the way but it was all worth it in the end. 

Mrs Nyborg (my cooperating teaching) and Mrs. Burke 

We switched two classes back and forth for the different subjects. These are two wonderful women that I learned so much from. I couldn't have asked for better mentors!

Some of my kids. I has tons of pictures, but these were just a few.

Ammon Elementary

After student teaching ended, I had two weeks until graduation. Amazing! Our final was our presentation of our unit to a committee which took place a week before I ended school. Guess who was on my committee? Sister Kay! I was sweating bullets, but she passed me!

I took this time to go through all my old school stuff. Guarantee I will go through it several more times and get rid of more things but for the first go through I did pretty well. This is all recycling. (It was bigger in real life!) I ended up with about 8-10 empty binders! It felt good!

Jeremy surprised me with an early graduation celebration before all our company arrived. Samoas and a mystery gift!

Hiking Boots!

There was a metaphor in the card about these representing the new trails ahead or something sweet and cheesy. I loved them and we have several hikes planned already!

I was looking at other people's blogs with all their cute pictures of their kids and was sad that I rarely post picture of Alfred. He is one amazing fish and should not be left out, so here are a few from a photo shoot we had this month. 

Can I just say that this fish is a trooper?! He has survived jumping into the drain, swimming in Febreeze, lying on the counter over night, and several other close calls. We sure do love him! (Feel free to make fun but it's not changing!)

And of course a winter in Rexburg wouldn't be complete without your car freezing to the ground. Awesome.