the semi-amusing things they do

although the little angels can be incredibly entertaining from time to time, my 6th graders know how to reduce me to shreds by the end of the week. to keep me coming back for more, it helps to focus on the little things that make me smile throughout the day. like this:

while helping another student, i heard the crashing sound of an 11 year old body slamming to the floor beside me as the desk i was leaning on shuddered, then rattled to a stand still. i turned around to find the culprit, but saw no one at my feet. i looked up to see shawn, three feet away, splattered across the floor in almost-tears, weighed down by his twice-his-size backpack.
jamie: shawn, what happened? (alarmed)
shawn: i don't know! (completely bewildered)
jamie: ... have a seat, shawn.

after school, explaining to a student that he may not continue to do whatever he was doing that rattled my nerves over the course of the last 50 minutes (it was probably shawn), i was urgently interrupted by another student, david.
jamie: david, i'll be with you in a second.
david: ok! (excited, walks into the hallway)
......
j: (ushers david back into the classroom, expecting him to have an emergency question about his homework) alright, what can i do for you?
d: i'm going to my cousin's wedding this weekend! (smiling wide)
j: ...
d: .... (gleaming)
j: that's great! have fun!
d: thanks! bye mrs. larson!

almost 10 students a day: mrs. larson, can i borrow a pencil?
j: where is your pencil?
students: (shows me a splintered shard of plastic or yellow wooden stick in his/her hand) it broke!
j: ...
**if i could get my hands on the dirty little phantom that flies around school busting my students' pencils gruesomely in half i would be a whole lot pencil-richer.

aaaaaand, we're 34 weeks today. joey and i spent the day yesterday (aaaaaall day!) at a birthing class educating ourselves about the terrifying "malfunctions" that can happen in childbirth. did you know 40% of all births these day result in a c-section? if you can believe it, 8% of those are women who've chosen this major surgery for no reason other than convenience and/or simplicity. this girl will not be one of those 8%, because although labor is on my list of scary-enough-to-haunt-my-daily-thoughts, it's not so scary that i would voluntarily forego a relatively quick recovery to avoid it. and what a tremendous shame for us to be so well-versed in labor breathing and not be able to employ it through all the deep and painful contractions we have in store for us :)

here's to a much better week than last!

oh, and here. because i like to punish you with too much information and pictures you can't erase from your mind no matter how hard you try... babes and me at 34 weeks.

any bigger and my poor students will be swallowed whole by this glossy bod'. wish me luck, we still have 6 weeks 'til due date. and you know this lucky gal is going to get to carry into the 42nd week, so by default let's add a few more weeks to that 6 ;)