Happy Ending

So, some wonderful news. You know the kid who was so disrespectfully rude to me in the previous post? I got an e-mail from him on Sunday morning that went something like this:

“Sorry about calling you out on the reading thing on Friday. That was totally uncalled for and I apologize for that.”

And this is how I responded:

Kyle, Thanks for your apology. I really appreciate it. I marked you down in my book as my “feisty student” (JK). I look forward to seeing you Monday! Mrs. Meng

I was very surprised that he apologized. Very pleasantly surprised. It showed a lot of maturity. (I am posting this after the fact. It is actually Tues 26) When he came to class on Monday he made sure that I knew that he had read. And he got a perfect score on the reading quiz. I definitely had a proud teacher moment right there. Way to go, Kyle! And go me for sticking to my guns!

My first week of teaching...

Wednesday was my first day teaching—kind of. We just did a get to know you time and had an assessment. My first class was pretty quiet at first and I had to employ my amazing abilities of charm, sarcasm, and wit to get them talking and laughing. It worked. I had fun. My second class was pretty chatty. One student told me that the awesome thing about him was that he liked “ghosting.” It was…weird. He is unique. I had lots of theater buffs, which was pretty fun.

Friday = lots of nerves. Third official day of teaching = first real day of teaching. I went to observe Jill that morning. She is super sweet and she had some great ideas for her class, and I stole one of them for my opening.

I think I will name my first class the Squirrels. They seem a little rowdy, rambunctious, slightly annoying, chatty: Squirrelly. And they were ready for a fight on Friday. First, they didn’t read. Well, about 5 of them read. The other ones “skimmed,” “read the first sentence of each paragraph,” “what? We were supposed to read THAT essay?” Yes…..! I gave the quiz and they fussed a lot! Apparently, when I say “effeminate” it sounds like “feminine” and that completely messed them up. Go figure. So they pitched at fit about the quiz and I started second guessing how “easy” I thought it was. I have yet to grade the quiz but I am not expecting great results. Sadly. I really thought that the quiz was easy. I think it was a little harder than I thought. My second class did better but they definitely had to think.

Back to the Squirrels—I was trying to encourage them with a quote (Bloom where you’re planted) by saying that “I know that there are no English majors in this class but—“ Before I could finished, one of my students blurted out, “Who would want to be an English major?” I got a little murmur from my other students (as they knew that I, obviously, was an English major). I pretended my feelings were hurt. Eh. I get that not everyone is an English person. This student apparently really had a bad day and decided to take it out on me. I was starting to lecture all of them about how they didn’t read for class (or read carefully) and I-hate-English-Guy (obviously feeling guilty about his homework ethic) says, “Well, do YOU read every page of every book that you are assigned?” That really caught me off guard. At the moment I said, “No, I don’t. But we aren’t talking about that. We are talking about this class!” But I wish I had said, “If it is in my power to do so, YES!” But like I said, I was caught off guard. I know that there havebeen times where I haven’t read but it is usually because I don’t have time or have too much else on my plate. I really didn’t expect a student to verbally attack me on my first day of real teaching. BUT I didn’t stay down! I put on my “mom” face and gave those kids a piece of my mind—about the importance of reading for this class and for every other class they will take at LU, and the importance of reading carefully for the rest of their professional life. They were all big eyed and quiet while I marched my little 5’ 2’’ frame around the room. I hope I got my point across. Mrs. Meng can be mean. Well, not mean, FIRM. I mean business like to have fun. But I want to be respected too.

My second class went really well. Much less un-eventful as far as disrespectful students go. Most of my kids read, the quiz went well (I think) and our discussion was good. I think I will call my second class the Rabbits. They seem easily excitable but they are pretty tame…I hope. It would be horrible if they turned into the opossums later. And the squirrels turned into the skunks.

Mrs. Meng

Tomorrow I take on a new title. Yes, I know I have been Mrs. Meng for over three years but no one ever calls me that. If they do, I always giggle. It sounds so formal and...just weird. Me? A Mrs? Yes. Apparently so. But tomorrow I will be Mrs. Meng to my students. I start teaching two sections of English 101 at Liberty University tomorrow as a Graduate Assistant. EEK! I am super nervous/anxious/stressed. But I am excited too! Tomorrow is HUGE day! One of those "this is the first day of the rest of your life" days. I've been saying since I was, oh 12 or so, that I wanted to be an English teacher. Well, tomorrow, I am fulfilling that dream. Tomorrow I will answer to Mrs. Meng.

I hope I don't giggle.

Tree Hugger

We got our Christmas tree yesterday. The boys were pretty excited about it and sort of in awe. Micah, especially, had some strong feelings about the tree. When we got the tree wrapped in netting before we left, Micah started crying, saying "hurt! hurt!" We tried to explain that the tree was not hurt inside the netting.

However, the tree's "pain" was not done for the night. Micah wailed the whole time that that Aaron was sawing off the bottom of the trunk and trimming the branches. He said, "Daddy, stop! Hurt! Hurt!" Poor little guy! He was so serious! Apparently, we have a "tree-hugger" on our hands.

He has much less anxiety about the tree now that it is up and decorated. Now the fun is pushing the button that turns the lights on and off. :)

Sweet Nothings

Here are some actual adorable "conversations" we had with Benji tonight:

Aaron: Benji, are you ADD?

Benji: (immediately) Yes.

(Scene: Benji is sticking pumpkin stickers on Brittany's forehead)

Brittany: Benji, is Mommy pretty?

Benji: So pretty!!!!

I tried to get it to repeat the "so pretty" (for my own vanities' sake) but it was a one-time compliment. Hey, I'll take what I can get! It was downright adorable!!! 

Happy 2nd Birthday Micah and Benji

I cannot believe my babies are TWO! TWO???? SERIOUSLY?? I cannot believe it...wait. I just said that. But it is true. They turned TWO on October 9th. We had a great day! I hosted a "friends" party for them in the back yard. It was really a glorified play group but we had a LOT of kiddos there: 12 toddlers and 3 babies, plus all the moms! WOW!

Happy Birthday Breakfast

It was an absolutely beautiful fall day. The kids ran around, played on our slide, "mowed" the leaf pile, and played in our baby pool that was filled with plastic balls. Plus there were snacks and mini birthday cupcakes! YUM! Micah at four cupcakes himself (they were MINI, don't worry!) The boys got lots of presents too which we opened later, after the party. The thought of opening up new, exciting toys with over 10 two year olds was simply overwhelming to me, so we didn't. I hope none of my friends are too offended. I truly was sorry. 

My BIG two year olds (enjoying their cupcakes!)

Micah MAN!

My little Benji

Party bags for our friends

Borrowing some "reading" glasses from Mr. Potato Head

Birthday Snuggles with Daddy (Benji)

Micah: I love Daddy

We had sloppy joes for dinner that night, which is Aaron's favorite (and requested) birthday meal. The boys LOVE sloppy joes too! It must be a Meng-man thing. :) 

We opened presents after dinner and the boys had lots of fun playing with new cars, trucks, Mr. Potato Heads, books, etc from all their friends. I had been buying them toys all week (and the week before that!) and was too impatient to make them wait until their birthday to open them, so there were no presents from Mommy and Daddy for the boys to open on their birthday, but I don't think they were missed. We now have TONS of new toys! AK! I feel like I need to "purge" some of their old toys to make room for the new....

That night, we put the boys to bed at 8pm, a little later than their normal 7:30 bedtime. Micah had taken a super long nap that afternoon (12:30-5pm!!!) and was still awake at 9:30. He was crying a bit so we went in to check on him. He said HI!!!! We got him up and he played, just as sweet as could be, until 11:30pm!! He was so happy and good though, we just let him stay up. Hey, it was his birthday after all! Around 10:30 (a little irritated, I must admit) I said, "Micah! Why are you still awake??" He looked at me, held up one his four wheeled birthday presents and said, "Cars!" Of course, Mommy! I am awake because of cars! We laughed. We should have known. 

I love my babies so much! Yes, they are still my babies, even though they are two. Seriously, how can it have been two years already. At the risk of sounding cliche, time flies way too fast, especially when you are having fun. Happy Birthday Precious Micah! Happy Birthday Sweet Benjamin! You are SO loved! 

PS. When we ask the boys, "How old are you?" They say, TWO!!! So cute!! I love it!

Buttercup Bags

So, I have been complaining about having NO FREE TIME! WOE IS ME! I am actually a lier. I have carved out a little free time to do some sewing. I call it my Sanity Sewing Break. I found this adorable little bag pattern on Arin Rollins sewing blog. Her blog led me Made by Rae. Here I am, giving you the links, dear reader. But most of you who read this blog are related to me. Here is my warning: DO NOT GO TO THESE LINKS, PRINT THE PATTERN AND MAKE YOUR OWN BUTTERCUP BAG (at least not until after Christmas, wink wink!)

Anyways, I LOVE sewing these bags! They are super fun and quick! I had the great idea (if I do say so myself!) of trying to sew the bags out of recycled material, aka old clothes from Goodwill! So far, I have sewed several bags out of curtains, pants, and two ladies blazers! They have turned out amazing! I have even sold two purses! YEA! If YOU, dear reader, are NOT related to me, and would like to buy a bag, I have some for sale. Here is the break down of prices:

Small: (date night bag or purse for a little girl) $15

Medium: $17.50

Large: (this is a great purse size. I am toting one around myself these days!) $20

If you provide your own material, I can make any size bag for $12

Here are some pics. Enjoy! 

This purse is made out of curtains! I made one for myself and for a friend of mine. I still have tons of material left if you like this look!

I love this combo! My sis in law as already claimed this purse...sorry...

My "upcycling" process: Before...

AFTER! This purse went to my BFF Candace for her birthday

My very first Buttercup bag! This is a Small. 

Not only have I been a blog slacker...

I have been a Shred Slacker too. Yes, I am bad. My exercising has dwindled down to....none or maybe once a week. I lost some momentum when my knees starting hurting around Shred day 22 or so. So I cut back. Then I starting doing my Biggest Loser Yoga video (which I really like, except for the fact that it takes and hour to do the whole thing!) instead of The Shred. Then I got lazy and started sleeping in. If I don't get up the morning before the boys get up, I have no time to exercise during the day. The boys have no patience for Mommy's work out dvd--not when Thomas the Train could be on the screen. (Aaron HATES Thomas the Train, btw). And after the boys are napping, all of my free time has to be devoted to homework. I try not to even do housework during nap time--homework consumes every free minute. So...needless to say, I am a slacker. And I can already tell a difference. My stomach muscles were feeling nice and tight and now they are feeling squishy again. Sad, sad day. :( I really, really want to get back into it. I just have to tell myself that in the morning at 7am--before I hit my snooze button 4 times.

Blog SLACKER

I haven't blogged in over a month! AK! Not that I have readers pounding at my door, dying to know about my life...but still! I feel bad. I have been so busy with school and just LIFE! My time is consumed with homework. This is actually a "lighter" week--meaning I don't have 600 pages to read for the week, more like 400-500, plus a few short papers to write. Ug. Grad school is no joke. I really do like school (I keep telling myself that....) but the homework load is overwhelming most of the time. I just wish I had more time to do things that I WANT to do....like blog...:) I will post a few short posts to update my life for the past month, just so I can remind myself, and you, dear readers (all 2 of you...maybe less) of my life in past few weeks.

Menu Planning

I was inspired by my friend Tara's blog to post a copy of my weekly menu plan. I have been planning weekly menus since Aaron and I got married. It helps me know what I am going to make every night and, more importantly, keeps me from wandering aimlessly in the grocery store, buying lots of stuff I don't need and forgetting half the stuff I do need. If you are curious about any recipes, let me know!  I love to cook. I know my mom hates thinking of things to make so, if you are like my mom, steal one of these recipes or meal ideas for your own family!

Monday (while I am in class): Chili dogs, baked french fries, jello w/manderian oranges and fresh strawberries

Tuesday: Chicken Fajitas w/green and red peppers and sliced onion (I make my own seasoning for this because the packaged kind messes with Aaron's stomach) 

Wednesday: Eggrolls (Sams), peas and carrots (super busy night for us....class, rush home, leave for church) 

Thursday: Marinated Shrimp w/ peppers, cheesy grits (using up the extra pepper from the fajitas, just saute it a bit before adding the shrimp and sauce to the skillet)

Friday: Chicken Parmesan bundles (new recipe for me!), pasta and spaghetti sauce, salad

Saturday: (Aaron's b-day! 26! Woot!) Sloppy joes, french fries, green bean casserole, Oreo ice cream cake from Dairy Queen :) (This is his requested birthday dinner EVERY year! Go figure...he is easy to please)

Sunday: Frozen Pizza 

Enjoy! Maybe I'll do this again in the future....