Norman "Jiggs" Sanderson

My grandpa Sanderson passed away this last Sunday.

I miss him.

Even though I miss him and will continue to miss him, it's so comforting to know that he is finally reunited with his sweetheart, grandma Sanderson. Chris and I were talking last night about how grandma and grandpa were just a pair. One couldn't (or shouldn't) be without the other--it just wasn't right! But now they are back together, and all is right again.

I'm grateful for the time I got to spend with my grandpa. I will always cherish the memories of sleeping over at my grandma and grandpa's house--kneeling down for prayer on the blue couches, watching old movies, and waking up to grandpa's ham and cheese omelettes (the only omelettes I have ever really liked) and Mickey Mouse pancakes. Now I get to cherish the most recent memories of my grandpa, which involved longer hugs and lots more kisses + always saying "Love you" multiple times before leaving.

I can't wait until the next time I see him. I think it will be very familiar to me. I picture him and my grandma just waiting together and smiling and saying "howdy!" as I approach them, and then just having that warm, calming feeling take over (something I already miss).

But until then, I can look forward to telling my future children about the amazing man that was grandpa Sanderson + keep seeing him in my dad.

I love you, grandpa! Give grandma the biggest hug for me.

I've said penis a lot this week (#healthteacherprobs)

They say you become like the 5 people you spend the most time with, so I guess that makes me an 8th grade adolescent. Yeah, I guess that makes sense seeing as how I have had to suppress so many giggles throughout this Human Sexuality unit. There's only so many times you can say "testes" and "scrotum" + see the horror on student's faces before it starts to get to you...

Luckily my student's really have been SO mature throughout this unit and not given me any problems. There were only a couple of kids that I saw on the brink of laughing, but they were able to bite their lip and pretend to cough in their sleeve so that I wouldn't have to send them to the library and make a phone call home. Besides that, my student's have been on the best behavior that I've seen all semester. Pretty sure Sex Ed is the true secret to classroom management.

It's crazy to me that there's only two weeks left this semester--I'm not ready to say goodbye to my students! I've found myself getting sad at the thought of not seeing them (most of them anyway...) anymore after this term. Then I start having the teacher thoughts like, Am I really making an impact in their lives? Are they going to remember anything from health class?! Those are the most discouraging thoughts for teachers, at least for me they are. I hope that they have learned a thing or two, and will remember Mrs. Gourley's health class!

Even though I'm not ready to say goodbye to my first group of student's, I am ready for the weekend.... and to not have to say the va-jay-jay word and other reproductive parts 100 times a day. Because I'm an 8th grade adolescent at heart, remember?

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Back to Reality

I still can't believe it's 2016! It just doesn't feel real yet! I'm thinking it's not going to feel real until I go back to work tomorrow and I have student's telling me I wrote 2015 on the board instead of 2016...

Speaking of work--I'm not ready to go back!!! I have said all break that I'm ready to go back, but now that it's finally here I'm finding myself feeling all anxious and having mini heart attacks and millions of thoughts running through my mind of things I should have done during the break need to do now. Is that normal, teacher friends?! 

I will say that I am ready to be back in a normal routine and not feel like the most worthless person on the planet, though. Pretty sure the majority of my Christmas break was spent on my (now larger) bum + eating Hi-Chews, but I can't complain too much--I got a lot of Chris time! We made it out of the house a couple of times to go adventuring. And by adventuring, I mean go out to eat. Ha! But really, we did go see a few movies + we went on a hike up Battle Creek Falls and it was beautiful and made me feel like Elsa for a minute and actually consider being a "Winter person," but only for a minute, though.

Now reality is setting back in as me and Chris prepare for what I like to call the "Monday of the year" aka January aka the month we eat lots of salads and write down ways we want to be better. Anybody else? What is the secret to surviving the Monday of the year? Please let me know when you've figured it out. 

Wish us luck as we head back to reality tomorrow. 

Ready or not, here we go 2016!