School, MSU Homecoming, & Football!

Wow, it's time for me to play catch up again! I left off last Tuesday telling you all about our fun hayride on campus and you haven't heard from me since. It was a busy week and before I knew it the weekend came and went! I mentioned I had gone into Evan's class last week so that's up first on my agenda to tell you about. Tuesday was my first time in Evan's kindergarten classroom. I've anxiously been waiting to get into his classroom to see what his day is like. I've signed up to volunteer every second Tuesday of the month. Kindergarten is different than preschool and I can't take Emmaline in with me. Last year she would go with me whenever I was at Ev's school. Since I can't take her with me I had to find a day that I would have someone to watch her. So Greg's mom has offered to watch her when I go volunteer. I'm going to try to go in more when I can, but at least I know I'll be in every second Tuesday of the month.

It was a great morning in kindergarten! I got to see what a typical day is like for Evan, as well as meet his classmates. I got to work with all the kids and Evan's teacher put me to work doing assessments. I had to do reading assessments and number identification. It wasn't what I was expecting to be doing while in his classroom, but it went well nonetheless. His teacher was super excited to find out that I had a teaching degree. She said it was a bonus day for her. I also got to see the Smart Board that Evan talks about. It's been awhile since I've been in a classroom teaching, and when I was there weren't Smart Boards in the classes I was in. It's really neat and a great interactive teaching tool. If you're not familiar with it, the Smart Board is an interactive white board. A projector displays the computer's video output on the interactive whiteboard which then becomes a large touch screen. In Evan's class they used it that morning to do calendar activities. The student of the day gets to go up to the screen and touch the day of the week, etc. and drag it on the screen to the correct spot on the calendar. Really neat interactive learning tool for the students! I can't wait to get back in Evan's class! I'm actually going back in at the end of the month for their Halloween party.

In other news. Thursday Greg had to go to Ann Arbor for work and Friday to Detroit. For some reason MSU wanted to pay for him and another guy to stay in Ann Arbor for the night because they were going to Detroit on Friday. I don't really get it. Seems like it would be more cost effective for them to come home and drive back on Friday, but that wasn't the case. Anyhow, since he was gone all day and night I decided to make a Trader Joe's run with my mom. She wanted to head there and get a few things so she picked the kids and I up on her way and we went too. I ended up getting three bag fulls of stuff! I went for some spinach artichoke dip and came home with that, four bottles of wine, pumpkin pancake mix, tamales, and a lot of other stuff! The kids had a blast pushing around the kiddie carts.

Friday was the MSU homecoming parade. Greg wasn't sure if he'd be back from Detroit by parade time so I planned on taking the kids. Turns out he got back in time so we met him on campus and all went to the parade together. Evan's friend Ethan and his dad Nick and sister Aivree met us too so we all had a great time at the parade! The parade seemed a little longer this year. It may have been that there were some big gaps in between some of the floats or maybe there was just more floats this year. Here's a few pictures from the parade. I didn't get many as my old crappy camera I have to use is so slow and doesn't take good pictures at night. I'm so bummed I don't have my good camera. I really need to find a new one!

My Spartans ready for parade time!

A Spartan smile before the parade!

The start of the parade with the Spartan Marching Band!

Saturday was a wonderful football day once again for my beloved Spartans! I was a little worried in the first half when the Spartans weren't playing to their full potential. They looked horrible and seemed like a whole different team. Thank goodness they pulled it together in the second half and ended up being the only one to put points on the board. Illinois was scoreless in the second half and MSU walked away with another "W" in the books. They are now 7-0 and are ranked in the top 10 at #8! How exciting! There's still some tough games ahead, but I'm really proud of the way the team has pulled together this season and are working really great together! Keep up the good work guys!

After a fabulous football win, we ended the day by hanging out at our new neighbors. They invited us to their cocktail/housewarming party. Kids were invited too so Evan and Em went. Evan was in his glory getting to go over to his new buddy Jim's house! Of course he was quite the social bug too, introducing himself to everyone and talking about some Spartan football! What a kid! We couldn't stay too late though because it coincided with Em's bedtime, but it was nice to get out for a little bit. Thanks to Jim & Kate for the invite. We had a nice time! Now it's off to bed for me. A new week is right around the corner which means early wake-up for school tomorrow! Have a great week everyone!