So two of my least favorite things occured in kindergarten today. THe first would be indoor recess and the second would be birthday cupcakes.

Picture just for a moment the following: You have 22 five and six year olds with coats, gloves, hats, and scarves. They need their coats zipped. They need help getting their fingers in the right hole of the gloves. They need help with their hoods. They need to be reminded to wait while on me while I zip 16 other coats and help so and so find their lost black glove (almost just like everyone elses). I'm yanking on someone's zipper because it's stuck and I can't get it to move. So and so uses their scarf as a lasso while he's waiting in line to corral the unsuspecting girl in front of him. We get to the recess door and then we're told "Sorry, it's too cold" even though I had just checked the windchill factor 10 minutes ago. Shoot. So we troop back to the room, take off the coats, hopefully hang them up, try to match the gloves, stuff the scarves and hats in the sleeves, and assure them that we will have indoor recess (yikes!). Sigh. It's only 11:30.

Second picture I want you to visualize: the dreaded birthday cupcakes. You know the ones from the grocery store or Walmart in the bakery. The ones with about 3 inches of colored icing on top. Blue icing. Red icing. Purple icing. Green icing. And the little rings stuck in the top. Did I mention the icing stains faces, hands, and clothing? Have you ever seen a five year old eat a cupcake without getting icing on his or her face? Only if they suffer from OCD at a young age:) Then I have to wash my hands after passing them out, having three unsuccessfully flip over and hear the complaints while I reply "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit." My mantra. Then comes the round of wet wipes to wash down their faces and desks and school boxes and any other surface they come into contact with. The poor things all look like clowns gone badly when they're done with the ring of icing around their mouths. But I want you to know I persevered through this trial as well. Maybe not as gracefully as the aforementioned one because this trial happened at 2:30 instead of 3 hours earlier.

I have a request. Please buy your kids coats that zip easily and teach them to zip and put on their own gloves. And please don't send cupcakes. Little Debbie snack cakes are a wonderful compromise and it makes me a happy teacher:)

So I suffer from this illness...the grass is greener on the other side, I want what other people have, I can't seem to be content with the things I have in front of me, etc... however you'd like to describe it. For example, everytime I read/hear about young families and their precious kids I say "I want that." I can't wait to have kids. After having "practice" on other people's kids for going on 6 years now, I feel like I'm somewhat prepared (although I'm sure seasoned parents would tell me that you can't really be prepared for it). And i know my husband will be a great father! But I know I'm not in that place yet. And if make an "idol" out of having a God honoring family, that's not good either. I know that sounds like an oxymoron...how could something that could be God honoring become an idol? I suppose it's the way with our flesh...we seem to have this amazing ability to turn things that are completely innocent and God honoring into things that are not and things that we prioritize over everything else in an unhealthy way. ( I guess that would be my working definition of an idol)

Anyway, don't have any funny kindergarten anecdotes tonight...just thoughts on my mind.

So I think I've been nominated by Lara to put 10 random things about myself on my blog. For your reading pleasure. She listed me as "Megan F." but I think I'm the only Megan F. she knows past or present (even though now I'm technically "Megan G."). Either that or I'm egocentric enough to think that people would want to know 10 random facts about me.

1. On my visit to Old Navy yesterday, I spotted an adorable pea coat. It was pink. and cute. And made for a 12-18 month old baby girl. And that made me want to have a baby much sooner than we should. I carried it around Old Navy for about 10 minutes trying to find my sister to show her and watch her probably roll her eyes at me.

2. I love sour candy. And it gives me gas. This might be more info than you wish to know, but it's true. And my husband would attest to this horrible fact.

3. I hardly ever call my sister by her name. Anything from "Monkey Muffin" to "Poopy Butt." And she calls me the same. But this is how I show my love for her.

4. When I was little (probably about 6), I had a pink tweety bird jacket. And one time I was at the store with my mom and passed the candy bins (you know, the ones where you scoop out what you want and put it in a bag and pay for it by the pound). And I put my hand in there while my mom was busy getting some apples or something. And i put some chocolate stars in my pocket. And took them home. And discovered them the next day at school during recess when I put my hand in my pocket. I felt horrible that I had stolen but didn't actually confess this to my mom until about 3 years ago.

5. I am double jointed. It's quite the fun conversation topic. I"m told this is a recessive trait so I think it's cool.

6. I talk in a cat voice for our cat Joey. We will have conversations when it's just the 2 of us. Bob calls me a nut (which I would agree) but it's fun. Sometimes the look on little Joeys' face just really makes me wonder what he's thinking. He has such personality.

7. I love watching the Cosby show. It's pretty much the only TV I watch right now, but I'm blissfully happy. I even dreamed I was apart of the Cosby family about a week or two ago.

8. I have an obsession with laundry dryer lint. I'm so weird .I seriously look forward to seeing how much is there after the laundry is done.

9. I sometimes daydream about being 5 again. I think I see my students and how their biggest concern is "What's for snack?" and "So and so say they're not my friend!" and I want to be them. But then I see that some of them have to deal with things such as "Will daddy hit mommy again today?" and "Will I have enough to eat this weekend?" and I realize their lives are harder than I thought.

10. I hate the little dried crusties on the ranch bottle, the milk bottle, and the mayonaise. REally, anything in that category. I seriously got up from the couch one time last spring only to open the fridge to check the ranch bottle and see if it needed cleaning. OCD you say? Possibly about some things:)

I will tag...
katie b
erin l

good grief it's november

Good grief. I can't believe it's been 6 weeks since I've posted last. I guess that's what happens when a. you get married b. you are still working over 40 hours a week (as a kindergarten teacher which is very demanding I might remind you) c. life doesn't slow down just because you got married and d. you are trying to adjust to life that doesn't just include yourself anymore.

I don't have official wedding pictures back yet (I know they'll be fabulous, so I'm telling myself it's worth the wait), but I have a few pictures from my camera. I'll let you know when I have "real ones" to check out on facebook :)

(disclaimer: i don't know what I"m doing in this picture but I promise I"m not picking my nose!) This was Thursday night when my sister, cousin Heidi, and friend Sasha threw a shower for me. I mentioned to my teacher friend Dawn I had some ribbons to tie on the pumpkins for favors and we sat around the table and tired ribbons for about an hour. The result...finished pumpkins! I didn't mean for it to happen, but I forget how task oriented Dawn can be. I love that girl!

This is my last full day as a Fuhrman. Heidi (my cousin) and I were so proud of our packing job (taking decorations to the church) that we felt it needed a picture to document and prove to our dads that we knew how to pack a car like "Charlie Fuhrman" (that's our grandpa). Everytime we go on a trip somewhere, my dad refers to a good packing job as "now that's a graduate from the Charlie Fuhrman packing school." Evidentally my grandpa was a great utilizer of space in small areas. I guess I'll know this for myself in heaven:)

Evidentally, Heidi and I appear to be discussing something super top secret. Like "should the flower girls really stand there?" or "What will I say when Billy asks 'Will you take this man to be your husband?' "

This is probably the cutest ring bearer there has ever been! (I'm a little bit biased I realize, but seriously, look at him! Don't you want to rent him? Sam is hilarious. He kept trying to wear the pillow as a hat:)

Me, sister Jen (maid of honor-she's fabulous I tell you!) and cousin Heidi as my bridesmaid. These girls took care of me and took care of everything over the weekend...them and my friends Sasha and Christy and Michelle and Christy and probably 10 people I forgot about. I truly enjoyed my wedding day because I had great people in charge keeping things together:)

Anyway, hope to have something more soon, but this is what I have now.

Peace, love, and marriage...

getting our shots

So a few weeks ago I was giving a timed assessment to each of my students in the closet (I know something about that doesn't sound quite right...but it was legit I tell you) where they had to tell me as many letter names as possible in a minute. One of my students started they nasty rumor that "Miss Fuhrman is giving shots in the closet." Good grief. I had to give them a little clarification on that.

Then yesterday we were getting a brief "dental screening" and the rumor surfaced again as we were standing outside of the room looking on... "will it hurt?" "will we get a sticker?" "I think we're getting a shot." SEriously guys. But after realizing that they probably had their fill of shots this summer to come to kindergarten...it's in their "schema." (fancy word for experience).

Today one of my kids asked me what my job was. Really? "This is my job sweetie. I'm a teacher." I thought that was funny. I better get paid if I'm spending over 50 hours a week on this.

Getting married in 18 days! I'm having my kids practicing my new name...Mrs. G. I figure that's remarkably easier than Mrs. Gelband :)

spaghetti and craziness

Here is a note I received from a parent this morning:
"Dear Miss Fuhrman,
Please heat up (let's call the kid "Jack") Jack's spaghetti at lunch and clean him up when he's done. There are wet wipes in his lunch box.
Thanks,
Jack's mom"

Yeah, that note achieves a new category. Here was my reply:
"Dear Jack's mom,
We heated it up today, but can't after today. We have 20 minutes or less to get 90 kids through the line and everyone eat and I need to eat as well. Please send something that can be eaten cold next time.
THanks for understanding.
Miss Fuhrman"

School Megan is back.
The most common thing I say these days is either: "please raise a silent hand" (school), "I love you but that's not okay" (school NOT Bob) , "I'll do that in my spare time" (school) or "I'll have to get back to you" (wedding)
I have 4 or 5 boys who feel like the equivalent of 5 kids each. Whew.
I have 8 kids with summer birthdays. Which usually means more immature behavior. Which usually means more work. Which sometimes means more reward and that good feeling in your heart.
On a good day I have 20 minutes for lunch.
No more leisurely mornings.
And my social life consists of staff meetings and phone calls to parents.
Bed time=not early enough

But I discovered something today. It's something I forget quite often. It seems I am under the impression that I have to appear "together" and always under control. Not so. My principal is wonderful and she taught me a life changing lesson that I know God has tried to get across to me countless times but I keep trying to do life on my own. (And I know I'll forget again by this time next week)
I was sitting in her office in tears (probably because a. it's the 5th day of school b. I'm expecting too much c. I have too much on my plate and I'm getting married in 38 days which brings it's own to-do list) and spilling things one at a time at her prodding. She's a funny lady. She asked me what I needed and I responded tearfully "I want a Coke but this school only has Pepsi dang it." I ran over to my teacher friend Champ's room and found a room temperature one in her cabinet. Iwent back to my room and my principal had a Route 44 Sonic coke for me. Amazing.
Her email to me this afternoon went something like "You're not in this alone Fuhrman." I need to be reminded amidst the craziness that I'm not alone.
I remember my dad saying to me on multiple occasions "meg, you're not wearing a super hero cape." True story. I'm not. And I can't fix everything. But gosh darn it if I won't try.

So anywho, I'm going back for more tomorrow. A weird part of me looks forward to it. And I hope that people see Jesus in me.

they say the "darndest" things

So I was working at school today in what i most affectionately call "the black hole" (the closet my friend Dawn and i share and somehow it just overwhelms me). We had open enrollment at school today...so there were some kids running around the building with their parents.
I heard a little scuffling noise behind me and there was this little boy (let's call him "William") who was contently playing on the work bench I have in my room. He just started talking to me - he even introduced himself! The conversation went something like this...
W: "Yeah, my cousin goes here but he gets beat up on the bus (reason #3 why my kids will not ride the bus if I can help it)."
me: "Oh dear...he should ask an adult for help."
W:"Well, I know kung fu so I'm not worried."
me: (pondering if I should just say "uh huh" or explain to him why he should talk to an adult for help before resorting to self defense)...
W: "Well, I gotta go...bye!" and he wanders down the hall to the next room to check it out:)

I overheard another kindergarten teacher talking with this same little boy...she was asking him the names of some letters and she got to "F" and he said "I don't know it's name...but it's what you get when you did bad."
I laughed outloud.

So if the above is a preview of what's to come, bring on the new kids, the new heartaches, and the new hilarities!