More cute Kindergarten quotes...

So I just have a few more quotes from the Kindergarteners at school. They say the funniest things!

*One of my girls yesterday told me she got me a present for Christmas. Then she proceeded to tell me "you can put it on your fridgadator!" Yes, I said fridg-a-dator!! That is how she says refrigerator. Too funny!

*Today at school, Santa made surprise stop in the classroom. There were 3 classes in one room at the time watching The Polar Express. When Santa came in all the kids started talking and shouting things to Santa. One of the hilarious girls in my friend Dana's class said, "Santa I texted you yesterday. Did you get it?" A 5 year old told Santa she sent him a text with her wish list!! I guess writing letters is out..texting is in! Santa also told the kids his reindeer were in Alaska. One of my kids said..."Miss Clanahan, Santa's reindeer are at the North Pole." Ah yes, Santa..get your geography right!

*We have to test the kids on a variety of things. Like stating the days of the week, saying the flag salute, counting, etc. Well my friend Heidi was testing one of her boys on the flag salute. When he got to "one nation under God," his version was "100 dalmations under God." That is definitely one that I haven't heard!!

*This next one isn't really a quote. But it is a thing they do. So I have this one boy...I mentioned him in previous posts. He loves to play in the sand box at recess. So after lunch the other day, he is like "Miss Clanahan I have sand in my shoe." So I told him to stand by the door and dump his shoe. This is a common thing and I didn't think anything of it. But then he started to take his gloves off. His gloves were FULL of sand...with his hands in them!! Then he takes off his shoes and I kid you not, he dumps enough sand to build a small castle! Then he takes his hoodie off and dumps sand from his hood! I asked him what in the world do you do at recess? And of course his answer was plain and simple..."play in the sand box." Well there you have it. Why did I even bother to ask?! So today they got to wear pajamas to school. I told them to be careful at recess not to get their nice jammies dirty. This same boy raises his hand and says "we shouldn't play in the sandbox!!" And what happened after recess...covered in sand! So much for his great idea!

Well that is all for now. When I have some really good ones, I will post again!

Wow. I really feel productive! I managed to upload tons of pictures AND update my photos on Myspace...apparently it has been several months since I did that! So that made me happy.

Anyway, this will just mainly be a posting of pictures. That's what everyone wants anyway isn't it? Anyway, a week ago was my dog, Snoopy's 17th birthday party! Yes that is right...17 and birthday party. I got Snoopy when I was 10 years old. He is the reason I am in love with daschunds. He is a unique dog. Not only has he managed to live longer than most dogs, but he is the smallest daschund ever! Keep in mind he was born before the "mini" dog craze. Before people were breeding to be small. In fact, when he was born, my grandma didn't want him because he was the runt. His brother was three times his size. She wanted the big one because that is what they were supposed to look like! I am so happy she "had" to take the runt. Snoopy is getting old and he can barely see anymore. I think my Dad realizes he doesn't have much time left. So he proposed the idea of a birthday party complete with cake. So we went over there and celebrated my dog's birthday. You will see it is a real cake complete with candles. Scrappy (the much larger dog) actually started taking large bites of the cake before we had to take it away from them. This is my favorite.



The doctor's office I used to work at for many years and just prior to my teaching job had their annual Christmas party. Naturally I went. I worked the majority of the year there...and even if I hadn't I would have gone anyway! :) I miss my people!! Anyway, it was "Black and White" and I had a lot of fun.

Before we left...


John and I at our table!


And of course...Natalee and I. It wouldn't be a party without Natalee!!


The other day I took this picture with Baxter. He is such a sweet boy. Sometimes he drives me absolutely crazy though!!


That is about all for now. We have 2 more weeks of school left! YES!! I am counting down!! I can't wait to have 2 weeks off from work!! Until next time...

Oh the things they say...

So my kids are full of funny stuff. On a daily basis they say things that crack me up. I thought I would share a few on here.

So I have a student who I was testing. I was showing him letter flashcards and I wanted to know the sound for each letter. Each letter he replied with the same sound of "eh." So I was thinking, okay, he doesn't know his sounds. So I kept testing hoping he would know some. Well about halfway through he looked at me and said, "Miss Clanahan, this is easy." And he was dead serious. He believed he was doing an awesome job!!! It was all I could do not to laugh. He was so adorable! Good news..he has progressed and knows more sounds now.

Another student I have took an item from my classroom. She told her parents who in turn told me at Back to School Night. They said she was going to return it tomorrow and apologize. So the next morning sure thing, she popped on over and said, "Miss Clanahan, I'm sorry I took your bunny. I hear you are very disappointed in me." -I am NOT lying. Those were her EXACT words. I about died. I remained serious and told her I was very sad that she stole from me.

This same little girl also calls hand sanitizer, "hanitizer." I don't correct her because it's absolutely adorable!

The student from earlier who said "this is easy" also did another funny thing. I was giving out candy as a reward for knowing their number. Anyway, I kept calling it candy or treat. Well about 10 min later when we were outside at parent pick-up he told me, "Miss Clanahan, I gotta tell you something. This isn't a candy. It's a Starbusrt." Once again he was very matter-of-factly. I smiled and said thank you for telling me!!!

And one of my sweet little boys had the hardest time saying my name. So he was calling me Miss Hanaclan. I thought it was so cute that I didn't want to correct him. His mother later told me that she worked with him every night to get it right. He now says it right and I am a bit sad because it was so cute!

I'm sure there are a million other things but for now that is all I can think of. When more arise, I will post them.

Until then...

Happy Halloween!!

I realize that it has been awhile since my last post. However, this post will be full of pictures!! So hopefully that makes up for it just a little...

Things have been going well in our life. School is keeping me busy, but of course I am having a great time as well! John is still working at KSI and doing a great job! Halloween in Kindergarten is an interesting time...and by interesting I really mean INSANE!! The kids were soooo excited! Here are some pictures.

I dressed as Dorothy! This is me before I left the house. It was supposed to rain and I wanted one decent picture in case it DID rain.


I happened to have a couple of twins in my class. We had to take a picture!!


This is my class after the parade on Friday. Aren't we cute?


Earlier in the week my class went to the Pumpkin Patch.


And of course...it wouldn't be Halloween without pup pictures!!




The first picture I found on my camera. John had put poor little Socks in that shirt and she wasn't too happy. Needless to say, Scout stayed in hiding during that time!

That's pretty much all I have to post right now. Until next time....

The Kindergarten Update...

Life in Kindergarten...is well... SUPER FUN! I can honestly say I am having a lot of fun with my class. I have 19...however, I lose one student tomorrow and my new count will be 18..exactly 9 girls and 9 boys. Makes same sex groups of 3 quite nice. I was exhausted everyday after school, but this week I have gotten a better system and am not AS tired as I was. I think I can really get the hang of this. I'm a slacker and haven't taken pictures of my classroom. I have pictures of my students, but well, that isn't very fun to look at 18 kids that you don't know. I love Endeavour (my school). It is absolutely wonderful. Everyone has been really nice to me and is making me feel like it is home.

As for dance, I have been teaching my same two classes on Thursday nights. My new batch of girls isn't what I'm used to. I have a lot of new girls who just aren't at the level they should be. It makes my choreography a bit more difficult but I can manage. I am enjoying whipping their butts into shape! But then again, that's my forte! Company will start next week with a meeting and officially the following week. I am excited because I can do more work this year, but we lost a lot of girls this last year and so I'm bummed about that. Brittany (after baby) and Kelsie (when in the state) I am leaving this as an open invitation to come take my tap and/or jazz classes on Thursday nights. It would definitely liven things up!! I think Desiree will even come take when she is in town!!

Anyway, that is pretty much all I have to update right now. I hope to have some classroom pictures up soon!!

So Much to Post...So Little Time...

Okay, so yes I am back. I know it has been awhile, but it has also been quite eventful. Let's begin with Las Vegas. This was in July. The girls did great and I have pictures from banquet night!!

This is actually the night before banquet. Kassi and I went to N9ne Steakhouse at the Palms that night. It was a fabulous night, but I really hate being photographed next to Kassi! She is such a pretty girl!


Me, Kassi, and Aunt Jenny on banquet night.


Kassi and I on banquet night!


All the older girls!


And Brooklyn is just too cute not to include! She asked to take a picture with me. She is so little! I love it!!


Moving on...next we went to our friend Brent's wedding. We know Brent from both Original Mike's and La Cave (the restaurants we worked at in Orange County). We had a lot of fun and got to see our La Cave friends! We miss them tons!!

Our dear friend Josh. He is angry we haven't move back to Orange County yet. He keeps offering to help us move. It's really quite sweet.


John and I


Which brings us to NOW. So, I started my school year off as a sub again for Kristen Neuman's 5th grade class. However, the budget caused so many cuts that the districts had over enrollment in many places. This forced them to hire more teachers the first week of school. So, if you hadn't heard yet, THAT is exactly what happened to me!! I interviewed the Friday school came back with Fruitvale and on Monday was hired to teach Kindergarten at Endeavour Elementary!! It's a dream job and I'm so excited!! I got to set up my classroom this week and on Tuesday I start with my full class! I'm nervous and excited!! I miss my 5th graders, but Kindergarten is one of my favorite grades!! I love it!

Here is John and I celebrating the night I was hired! I chose Tahoe Joe's! YUM!!


My classroom is super cute! I will take some pictures and post them eventually. I have already been so busy and it's just going to get busier for me! I promise to post as often as I can. But hey, I got like 3 good events in this post. :) Let's give me some credit!

Until next time....

The biggest post of all time!

Wow. I didn't realize it had been the end of May since my last post. I guess I have really been slacking. It's been really busy around here. Let's see...where to start.

There is a stray cat who was taunting Scooter months back and she would run around our yard. Well back in April she decided to have kittens in the yard behind ours. That house is abandoned and so the "mom-cat" decided that is where her and her kittens would live. We actually saw them the day they were born. They were so tiny. The reason we saw them is because she gave birth to them right on the other side of the fence and Scooter was barking insanely. Anyhow, John started hopping over the fence every night to feed mom-cat. I'm not a cat fan, but I felt bad for the kittens. It wasn't their fault their mom got knocked up. So anyway, this is them a few weeks later...



Because I got tired of calling them by color etc, I gave them all names. I know...it was the beginning of the end. I started getting attached. Well we still feed them everyday...but now they come over into our side yard to eat so John doesn't have to hop the fence. Sometimes he plays with them too. One day John decided to kitty nap 2 of them. The mom cat was pretty mad at John. These are our new little kitties.

Meet Socks...she is John's favorite.




Meet Scout...he is my favorite.





So now we have 2 kitties. Have no fear though...they will be outside cats...because all though they are cute right now, they WILL become cats and I am not cool with cats running around my house. But for now, they are hanging out in the office in my house until they get bigger.

Next...we had the dance recital and sadly I didn't even have one picture on my camera. Oh well...I have danced in plenty of them. No worries. The week after recital we went to a Dodger game. Before you freak out...it was a Dodger vs. ANGELS game. Dr. Ahmed (who I work for in the summer) has season tickets and I got to use them on June 28th. We took Allison and Matt who are Dodger fans. Our seats were on field level between 1st base and right field/outfield. Here was our view and a cute picture of John and I.




We went to Orange County over the 4th of July. I don't have pictures from our fireworks show as I was sick. You see...we went on John's uncle's yacht out in Long Beach. We went out to the Queen Mary where they have a fireworks show. I, however, was sea sick. Yes...it sucked. Well I watched the fireworks...but from the couch inside the yacht. So I didn't take pictures. Anyhow, we took the dogs over to his uncle's the next day to play with Penelope. She and Penny got in the pool to play. Well Penelope decided to roll around in the dirt and so I had to take pictures. This is another reason my dogs are short hair dogs!!!





I still don't have a job for the school year. I have pretty much just accepted the fact that I will be subbing again next year. I have taken a job subbing for Kristen Neuman again in 5th grade when school starts. It will last for 10 weeks. If on the off chance I do get hired before school then they will just find another sub. In the meantime I am still working at the doctor's office. They have been really great there.

I guess I will wrap this post up. I will leave you with a cute picture of Scooter. He made the pup bed into a sleeping bag. What a cutie!!


My dance girls have DEA nationals coming up. I will be in Vegas with them. Hopefully I get some pictures!! Until next time...

Just a quickie!

So school is officially out for the summer! My last day with kids was yesterday and I had to go back today to close down the classroom. It's a little sad for me. I said goodbye to the teachers/staff I have gotten to know this school year at Patriot. I have no idea where I will be next fall and so there is a possibility it may be the last time I see many of them. Everyone was so nice and wished me well in my job hunt! I can only wait and see what positions open up after enrollment changes. On a good note, the kids in my 2nd long term (5th grade) were really sweet! I got a few presents and a lot of hugs! I hope I get to see many of those students again someday!

Anyway, no pictures as this is just a quick post. Hopefully my next post will be good news of a job. We shall see!

Until then...

The big one!

So as promised, I have downloaded my pictures onto my computer. I forget about doing it because they have to go on my laptop which I have stopped using because it is ridiculously slow now.

So as mentioned, Scooter had an incident with a bumblebee. He unfortunatly lost and was stung right on the nose area. He swelled up really fast (didn't get a picture of this unfortunately) and we rushed him to the vet. They gave him some shots and said he would be fine. Well he was not and the sting swelled into an abscess. He had to go under for a drainage since it was close to his eye. Anyway, here is Scooter with his "space dog" cone on that he actually loved wearing!




If you look closely, you can see the puncture of where his abscess was drained. This isn't where he was stung but rather where they went in to drain. Poor Scooter.


In other news, the 5th grade assignment I took is going well. We only have 3.5 weeks left of school and that makes me super happy! I can't wait to have a mini break and find out if I'm going to get a job teaching or move on to something else. I hate being in limbo. It gives me anxiety. Anyway, I got a cute hair cut too thanks to Kassi. She attempted her first "bob" and I think it came out quite nice.



As for John, things are still going well for him at his job. His company is a huge sponsor for Cancer research and all year they raise money for Relay for Life. The owner's daughter died of a rare bone cancer in 2005. KSI (John's employer) has raised a lot of money for this cause. John signed up to walk in the Relay for Life and I decided to tag along. I had never attended this event which is held every year (for all you non-Bakersfield people who aren't aware). I must say, I was blown away. It was a very emotional place. So many survivors and so many deaths. The booths were all raising money for this cause. The amount of support there was awesome. I plan to go back each year to walk. John's company was a Gold Team which meant their team raised an average of $517 per person. We saw teams who raised almost $1000 per person! If you have never gone, I encourage you to do so. It's 24 hours so you can go anytime and walk. It really made me think about the people in my life who have lost their battle with Cancer, as well as the people currently fighting this disease. I love my grandma and each day I pray her leukemia can be beat!

Whew, on a lighter note I took a few pictures of Penny and Baxter which I thought were adorable. Baxter is really getting big. He is so long. Much longer than we thought he would be. He is still pretty skinny, which I'm happy about. It's coming up for that time when he needs to get "fixed." I'm sure he won't be happy about this day when it comes....

I got Penny a new shirt. It truly fits her personality.


John and Penny. She has such a crush on him. Seriously.


Just a couple of Baxter.



Well, I think that about covers it for this post. Unfortunately because I just used a ton of pictures for this post, I may not have anything interesting to talk about for awhile. Oh well. Something will probably come up!

Until next time....

To be in 5th grade again....

So I actually have a lot to post about and pictures, however they are not off my camera yet and it's late. So I will just do a short post tonight. On Friday it was my last day in 4th grade. I was so excited. I had plans to sleep in the following Monday. It was looking great. WELL by afternoon recess that day I had been asked to take over the GATE 5th grade class at Patriot because Kristen Neuman (formally Kristen Martin for those DW people) just got word from her doctor that she had to go on early maternity leave because of some complications. SO now I am in 5th grade for the rest of the school year. The plus is, steady income and I really like the class, but it still doesn't look good for me as far as an actual job. The district is looking slim and all my eggs are in their basket, so to speak. So we will just have to see how it goes. Either way, I start full time at the office right after school gets out. Gotta keep myself busy and my options open!

Anyway, I have some great pictures of Scooter and his newest adventure with a bumblebee. I will leave you with this...he got in a fight and didn't win. More on that later! Until then....wish me luck in 5th grade!

Super Pup!

So, I'm still in 4th grade and I am still alive! I survived the infamous "Mission Field Trip" which, by the way, consumed 11 hours of my day! Wow. That's just too much time. Anyway, the teacher who went out on maternity is scheduled to come back right on schedule. So I'm happy about that. I actually really like my class and I'm enjoying 4th grade alot. It's just not as fun when you don't get to start the class off at the beginning of the year. I'm stuck trying to catch up and figure things out in short periods of time. So although I love my class and am actually having fun...I am also excited for the teacher to return.

On another note, I was looking at pictures on my camera and found some pictures I had forgotten all about. When we went to Orange County a month or so ago, we found these outfits at the pet store on HUGE clearance. So of course, I HAD to buy them!

Penny looks so cute in her baseball shirt! We love baseball in our house, so it was very fitting!


Baxter will have to grow into his shirt! But he is still cute!


All 3 of my babies together. Not the best picture but well you try getting all 3 of them to sit still for a picture!!!


I'm sorry but this HAS to be the funniest ever! Ever since we got Scooter I wanted to get him a cape. He runs around the house and flies off the couch like Super Pup! I could NOT believe I found this!


To get the full effect. It really does have the Superman emblem on his chest!
Scooter the Super Pup!!


Well that's about all for now. I hope to post with some more pictures soon, but well, let's be honest...I am a little busy. I will get to it when I can! Until then!!!!

To be in 4th grade again....

Yes, it's true. I am in 4th grade again. But it's not what you think. I'm a long term substitute for a teacher who went on maternity leave. I survived my first week and I must say I did okay. There were no major problems, and that HAS to be a good thing right? I'm already excited for spring break though. It starts the 17th of March which by the way is way too early in the year to be celebrating Easter. But I will take it because I am ready for a break! I am "lucky" enough to have the mission report and projects during my time in 4th grade, as well as the infamous Mission field trip. So, things should be very educational for me! I will tell you how it all plays out. I'm scheduled to be finished April 18th, but as we know, pregnancy can be unpredictable. As of now, I have not heard word that she has even had the baby, and well, she is only taking the minimum of 6 weeks off (excluding spring break). So if she hasn't had the baby or there are any complications, she could be out longer.

As for teaching jobs, it doesn't look good. Most likely if I do get hired, it won't be until just before school starts or right after. So I stay in limbo until that time. I'm possibly pursuing the idea of working full time at the office I work at right now part time. I would get benefits and a steady paycheck. I'm going to give it a whirl in the summer and go from there. If a teaching job presents itself, then I will make my decision. I just can't stand not having a "career" by now. It's not what I had in the plans for myself. So, I will keep you posted on how that develops.

No pictures this time. The pups and John have been pretty normal lately. Nothing really to report. I will try to take some pictures soon but I am so crazed most of the time it is unlikely!

Until then....

As promised

So here I am full of info and pictures. I just downloaded a TON of pictures from my camera. I had like 90 pictures just hanging out on there. And the sad part is, the majority of them were from Christmas time! Gosh, I guess I have been busy!

Well let's see. There has been a lot going on around here. The dogs of course are doing fabulously. Baxter is almost potty trained and I am sooo excited about that. I can't tell you happy it makes me! That puppy poops more than either of our other dogs did when they were little! And I don't even have carpet this time...thank goodness! I took some pictures the other day because my grandma requested some pictures.

I wasn't even trying for this pose and it turned out great! This is our favorite picture of all 3 dogs! It's so hard to get them to sit still. John is holding a treat above their heads which is why they are all looking in the same direction.


This picture is my new favorite of Baxter. I know it is only his face, but he has beautiful markings and this picture shows that!


John is loving his job. He was officially hired on as a full time employee. I can't remember if I mentioned that part yet. So it means he doesn't work for the temp agency anymore. He served his 90 days with them and then KSI (his employer) was able to hire him away from them. So, on May 1st he will be done with his official 90 days and get benefits and all that good stuff. He really likes his job and that makes me so happy. I asked him the other day if he wanted to move back to Orange County. When we made the decision to move here, I told him if he gave it a year, then we could do whatever he wanted; either stay or move back. He told me he wanted to stay. That made me feel really good.

As for me...things have changed. The main reason we moved here was so I could hired as a teacher. I couldn't get a job in Orange County and the growth in Bakersfield has been really large. So new schools have been opened and jobs were plentiful. So we moved. I have been subbing pretty much everyday and it looked promising. I am starting a long term sub job that will last 7 weeks for a fourth grade teacher who is having a baby. So the principal liked me there and it was looking good for me to get hired in the Rosedale district. WELL now the state of California has once again slammed education with a big hit! When I was in the OC, budget cuts were happening and teachers were getting laid off. That made it virtually impossible to get hired. Now it appears to be happening again, only in Bakersfield. I can't seem to catch a break. Rosedale, the district I have been subbing for, has announced the possibility of laying off 30 teachers at the end of the year!! Well, great. That's just great. The other districts are getting hit too. It's just unknown how hard yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and am going to apply anyway as planned. We will just have to see what happens. It's just frustrating because I worked so hard this year to make good contacts and to do a good job to get noticed. It seemed to work and now this road bump. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Enough about all that. Back to pictures! Here is our Christmas picture. Usually we send out Christmas cards but this year I just didn't get around to it. This picture is the one we printed and framed for our families...but John was able to photo shop the dogs' creepy eyes. So this isn't the final one. But rather the one on my camera!


So that is pretty much all for now. I have still been subbing and working at the office and dance studio. I choreographed a trio for company and Jennifer Skiby's solo this year. Both of those dances will compete in March and April. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I did a good job!

I hope to have some more pictures to post soon. This has already taken me forever tonight. Until next time....