Introducing the Mistletoes!

Okay. Sometimes when you are working with kids, you experience delightfully hilarious moments that you just wish, more than anything, that you had your video camera out. Here was one experience yesterday. It won't be as funny to any of you, because you weren't there, but I want to remember it. :)

*Names have been changed for student privacy.*

Jake: Hey Mrs. Call. So me and Cole and Rachel and Jessica just barely formed a new singing group. We are called the Mistletoes. We are hoping, with your permission, that we can sing to the class at the end of the day. So can we?

Me: (with a little bit of snickering in my response)..... Uhm, sure... what will you be singing?

Jake: We will start out with "Over the River and Through the Woods." And since it is Dan's birthday, we will then have a special arrangement of "Happy Birthday," followed by a Louis Armstrong style solo done by Cole.

*He was completely serious.*

Me: Haha. Okay. I can't wait. How long have you been practicing together?

Jake: Well we haven't, yet. But we will practice at recess.

Me: Awesome. This will be so great.

I waited in anticipation for the rest of the day to see what they came up with. When the time came (the last 5 minutes of class) for them to sing, they had it all set up. They had 2 girls in the class be the MC's, and they were so hilarious. They used whiteboard markers as microphones, and they were complete naturals. They even provided entertainment for when the Mistletoes needed a few seconds to regroup with each other.

As for the Mistletoes, they were incredible. They even got a standing ovation from the class when they finished. The Louis Armstrong style "Happy Birthday" solo was a showstopper.

The whole experience was priceless. Why the heck did I not get out my cell phone and video it????

Third Trimester!

Maybe I am just not very smart, but I keep trying to Google when the 3rd trimester of pregnancy starts.... and I can't seem to figure it out because pretty much every where says something different.

But doesn't it make sense to say that when you have 3 months until the end of your pregnancy, that you are in your third trimester? Well today is December 8th, and since baby girl is due on March 8th, I am officially saying I am in my 3rd trimester :)

Here is an update on pregnancy stuff. Baby E is getting big and I can feel it. Apparently by now, she is 15 inches long and weighs 2 pounds. She loves to do somersaults and sit on my bladder, and she gets hiccups about 10 times a day.  She also likes to play with daddy. Bryce will poke my stomach, and she will kick back. It's so fun. :) 

As far as mom-to-be goes, everything has been great! Other than... my hormones. Everything makes me cry. Happy things. Sad things. Everything. Seeing all of Baby E's cute things she already has. Bryce doing the dishes. Watching the Santa Clause 2. You name it. I will cry. But other than that, life is grand! 

I can't wait for these next 3 months to speed by! This little girl already has our hearts. 

24 Weeks

I am 24 weeks! 

Not a ton has changed in the last few weeks as far as my pregnancy goes, other than I am bigger now. I guess that's just what happens when you are pregnant. You just keep getting bigger and bigger. Who knew? 

Baby E loves spicy food. At least I say she does because I love to eat spicy food. But then again, I have always loved to eat spicy food. Who knows if it is a pregnancy thing or not. But I could seriously live off of Flamin' Hot Cheetos and food drenched in Sriracha sauce. The other day I went to Taco Bell (I promise I haven't gone nearly as much in the second trimester as I did in the first...) But I went to Taco Bell and ordered one Beefy 5 Layer Burrito - my favorite thing on the menu for the past 5 months of my life. Along with my one beefy 5 layer, I used 7 fire sauce packets. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'll say it is because of the pregnancy, but everyone who knows me well knows that I almost love condiments more than I love food... hopefully the 7 to 1 ratio won't continue after the pregnancy, though. 

 Oh! And I had a funny doctor's appointment yesterday I want to tell you about. I have 4 doctors... 2 men and 2 women, so I don't always see the same one every time. Dr. Allred (one of the men) will be the one to deliver Baby E unless there is an emergency and/or things happen so quickly that he can't get there. But I see the other doctors a lot of the time when I go in for the routine visits. Yesterday I had one of the female doctors. This was part of our conversation we had:

Dr: "How are you doing?"

Me: "I am doing well."

Dr. "How is your baby doing? Have you felt her move?"

Me: (Thinking that is a silly question; of course I have felt her move. She is ALWAYS kicking me) "Yes. Definitely."

Dr.: "Do you feel her pretty regularly, then?"

Me: "Yes. Pretty much all the time."

Dr. "So she is pretty active, you would say?"

Me: "Um, I think so. I don't really have anything to compare to, but I think she is pretty active."

So we had that conversation. And then she took out her little ultrasound doppler tool thingy and tried to listen for her heart beat. She started the ultrasound right in the lower middle of my belly, and picked up the heart beat right away. However, she could only listen for a couple seconds, because Baby E had moved. So for the next several minutes, my doctor "chased" Baby E ALL over my belly. 

From the lower middle 

to the far right

to the upper middle

back down to the lower middle

to the far left

to the lower far left

Every time she picked up a heart beat, Baby E would decide to move somewhere else. Finally my doctor pretty much pinned her down, got the heart beat, and said, "Yes. You are right. You definitely have a very active little girl in there!" We then had a good laugh together about how crazy active Baby E was. It was fun :) 

Anyway, here is a picture from today. Not the best picture, but yah! Getting bigger! 

Please Don't Think We're Crazy

SO I have hesitated posting this in the last couple days because it is kind of embarrassing. But here it goes.

A few months ago, we moved into this BEAUTIFUL, BIG, NICE, FANCY apartment. We thought it would be fun to live here because we only had one year left in Rexburg, we had some "vacation money" to splurge a little with, and Bryce needed a room or two for his office. Well, ever since Bryce's company moved out of our apartment last week, our apartment has just felt too big and too excessive.

So we called our managers and asked if we could possibly down size (saving us money and helping us live a little simpler.. we just don't need a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment). Initially they said that if we wanted to do that, we would have had to live here for 6 months, which would mean that we wouldn't move until February. Since that will be pretty close to baby time, we decided that was out of the question. An hour or so later, we got another phone call from our managers saying that there is a family that really wants to move into a 3-bedroom apartment, but that they didn't have any 3 bedroom apartments left. So they told us that they would make an exception for us, and that we could move into a new 2 bedroom apartment in a couple weeks.

We thought about it for a bit. We realized it would save us a bunch of money to downsize. We also found out that the apartment we would move in to was on sale. And it was brand new - no one has lived in it yet. And we would only have to climb one set of stairs instead of two - (which I love, especially as I am getting bigger and bigger and I seriously hate making multiple trips up all those stairs with groceries.) But here was the main selling point for Bryce - our new apartment has a fireplace. He REALLY wanted the fireplace.

Anyway. So I am a little embarrassed that we are moving again. After only 3 months. Especially when we had so many people help us move in the first time. Luckily, we have significantly fewer things to move now that Bryce has moved his office out. We literally have 2 empty bedrooms at the moment. And luckily, we are only moving a stairwell over. And we can move over one room at a time and get everything nice and unpacked.

Anyway. Don't think we are crazy. I just hope we can get everything moved over and ready so that we can still come home for Thanksgiving!

Maura Software Update

So some BIG things have happened recently with Bryce's business. I can't really go in to all the details because some things are still in progress... but its big. Basically Maura Software is partnering with a pretty big marketing company in the Rexburg/Idaho Falls area. I won't say the name of the business right now just to keep the suspense in the air until things are finalized.  But Bryce is moving our business out of our apartment and moving into a new office space tomorrow because their partnering business has offered them a place for free until they actually start making consistent money. Basically, the business they are partnering with has a bunch of clients who need mobile apps developed for them, which is what Maura Software does. Pretty cool. I have never really seen my husband so excited, so that's pretty awesome.

Bryce's feelings: Excited and thrilled

My feelings: Excited and nervous

Bryce would love to have a company of his own. He finds it much more fulfilling than any other option. If he could get Maura Software to a point that it could support our family, he would probably do that over HP. He has really enjoyed working for HP and will continue to do so, and definitely still plans on working for them after he graduates. He just isn't 100% sure he wants to work on printers for the rest of his career. Bryce says that in 10 years, he hopes to have a super successful business of his own, or go work for Google, or maybe HP labs. We will see what happens 10 years from now. But for now, I am happy for my husband. Whether this is short term or long term, it is good to see him follow his dreams.

Disclaimer: Even though it makes me nervous, I will definitely support Bryce in his career endeavors. I have definitely put in my two cents in regards to wanting him to have a steady, stable job, whatever it is. And he knows my concerns. But ultimately, I know everything is going to work out just as it should. If nothing else, Maura software has given Bryce a TON of incredible experience as a software developer, which will be important in whatever company he ends up working for. Any company would be lucky to have Bryce as an employee... and Maura Software is obviously lucky to have Bryce as the Founder/CEO/Head Honcho Developer :)

Oh and in the meantime, I am excited to have our two extra rooms back (which were being used as office space for Bryce and all his co-workers). I am excited to have a storage room and now I can even start to get Baby E's room ready for her! Yay!

Name Game Anxiety...

Please tell me I'm not the only one out there....

Ever since I have been pregnant, I have had TONS of people ask, "What names are you thinking of?"/"What are you going to name her?"

That's all great and dandy to ask that. But as soon as someone asks me that question, I suddenly get severe anxiety. Not joking. I start sweating and stammering and not creating coherent sentences.

The truth is, I don't know if I am ready to tell everyone what we want to name our baby girl. Maybe I'll be ready soon, I don't know. But for now, I panic thinking that I will get a negative reaction when I tell someone what we are thinking. (Which has already happened once, I might add...)

SO... don't be offended if we wait a while to tell people what we think we will name baby girl. I just want to be happy and sure about the name we are deciding/have decided to give our baby girl before someone tries to ruin it...

I know that might sound silly. But for now, she can just be "Baby E." :)

Pumpkin Carving 2014

This is possibly my favorite year of pumpkins yet!

 

Sun Valley

This past weekend we went to Sun Valley with our friends (Stephen, Blythe, Cameron, Alyssa, and Maura) and had a BLAST even though pretty much everything we planned on doing was closed either temporarily or permanently. However, we still had a ton of fun hanging out, exploring Ketchum and Sun Valley, eating delicious food, watching movies, playing games, and just enjoying one another's company! The weather was perfect, and the beautiful fall scenery itself made the trip worth it.

I was really bad about taking pictures this trip. Oops. But here are a few!

Week 21

Baby E is 21 weeks now! Yay!

We love her more and more every day. Just 4.5 more months until we get to meet her!

Bryce took this photo of me in Sun Valley this past weekend... Ugh I love this girl so much!

Baby E.

Baby "E" because we are exploring names... :)

We think we can already tell that she has Bryce's lips and my nose... I guess we will know better in a few months!

It's a...

And we couldn't be happier!!!

Coaching

Well, I haven't been very good about blogging anything lately... other than a couple pregnant posts every now and again. It mostly has to do with the fact that I have been SUPER busy lately. Beyond school, I have been spending every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday morning coaching U-14 girls soccer. I LOVE to coach soccer, and it has been a fun season. My team works hard and have done remarkable this season. I will have to post a team picture after we get one taken at tomorrow's game.

The other day, I decided to do something a little different for practice. I told the girls to bring their running shoes in addition to their cleats. Immediately, I got many groans and terrified faces. They were sure I was going to kill them. I assured them that everything would be alright, and they might actually enjoy themselves. Here is what we did for practice:

1. Warmed up
2. Ran to my apartment from the soccer field (only about 3/4 of a mile away)
3. Managed to fit 17 sweaty girls into our apartment
4. Ate apples with caramel dip
5. Watch a short, inspirational soccer video
6. Wrote their end-of-the-season goals on a pumpkin
7. Ran back to the soccer field carrying the pumpkin... each taking turns and passing the pumpkin around from teammate to teammate
8. Put on our cleats
9. Had a scrimmage and played some world cup

It was a lot of fun! 

I love to coach. Growing up on the soccer field changed my life... I honestly think I would be a completely different person if I didn't play soccer. So, I LOVE giving that same opportunity to the girls I coach! 

That all being said, coaching soccer has taken up a lot of my extra free time (or time I should have spent planning lessons or grading papers... ooops.) The season ending tournament is this week, and I am sad.... yet excited to add 15 more hours to my week of extra time I didn't have before! Maybe that means I can blog a little more :)  

Oh. and just one more thing.  Today I hit my 19 week mark of pregnancy. Next week I will be half way through! AND only 9 more days until we find out the gender! 

17 Weeks and My Thoughts So Far

Well today is my 17 week mark! My little baby is about the size of my open palm...  

(ps. Taking pictures of yourself in the bathroom mirror is more difficult than you may guess. Who knew?)

So far, I LOVE being pregnant. I love feeling like I have something to look forward to in a few months. I love feeling like I might have a greater purpose than just a wife and a teacher (which I do think are important), but a mother also. I love how I look now that I'm pregnant... I can just be chubby and it doesn't really matter. I used to always care if I looked thin, and if I had a flat stomach... it is refreshing not caring and just loving my new belly! I absolutely love feeling my little baby kick around inside of me... it seriously makes me want to cry every time I feel her. (We don't know that it is a "her", but for some reason we have just been calling the baby a girl lately... I guess we just got tired of referring to her as "the baby" or "it"... who knows, we might have to change it to "him" in a couple weeks. :)

Speaking of which, we get to find out the gender at our next appointment in 23 days! I will be just a little over 20 weeks, and WE. CANNOT. WAIT. Holy moly! SO exciting! 

Bryce and I cannot wait to meet our little baby. The excitement, stress, love, and joy we feel towards our child is sometimes overwhelming. Tears are always close to the surface for me, but, rest assured, they are tears of pure happiness. Twenty-three more weeks, little baby. I love you. 

School Stories... Just for Kicks

I just had a couple of stories from school. They are a couple funny stories that I didn't want to forget.

#1: Show and Tell

I had a student come up to me one day and say "Hey Mrs. Call. I brought something I want to show the class. Can I show it after lunch?" I said, "Yah sure, as long as we have time." She was happy with that response. As I ate lunch, I got to thinking that I should probably see what she is going to show the class before shows everyone. When I brought the kids in from lunch I said, "(Name), how about you show me after school what you brought, and then we can maybe show the class tomorrow." She said, "Yep that's fine." You will never guess what she brought.

A tupperware container.
With a dead bird inside.
Partially wrapped in saran wrap.
She found it on her lawn the day before.

Barf.

Haha glad I checked what she brought! I told her it probably wasn't the best thing to show the class. She said, "Okay!" and went happily on her merry little way.


#2: Was that a Bomb, Mrs. Call? 

I have a boy in my class that is kind of a trouble maker. But one thing that happened the other day was totally priceless. He went back to the sink to fill up his water bottle. It was a store-bought plain old plastic water bottle with the small threaded opening at the top. For whatever reason, he decided to put his water bottle all the way up on the faucet. There must have been a pretty close seal between the faucet and the mouth of the water bottle, because as he began to fill it up, it began building up pressure inside the water bottle. The pressure built up and built up and built up... and suddenly....

BOOOOMWHOOSH!!!!!!

All eyes shot in the direction of the sink. Students around the room were saying things like, "Oh my gosh, Mrs. Call. Was that a bomb?

I look over at (Name) at the sink. His face was p.r.i.c.e.l.e.s.s. He was soaking wet, head to toe. The ceiling above him was also dripping water, as well as the Idaho state flag on the wall behind the sink. He was staring at me with wide eyes, a gaping mouth, and an expression that said, "I'm going to be in so much trouble."

At the time, I didn't laugh. I just told that next time he shouldn't put his water bottle all the way on the faucet, and to go ahead and take a seat. But almost every day since then, the image has replayed in my mind, and I have laughed out loud every time. I wish all of you could have seen it! It has definitely made my week.

Getting a Little More Real!

I'm 16.5 weeks. I popped out a legitimate baby bump this week AND the best thing ever... I'm definitely feeling little baby flutter kicks in there! It's so happy! Yay! 

Baby Call Coming Soon

Bryce and I have the happiest news to share! We are expecting our first child in the beginning of March. We could not be more thrilled!

For most of my first trimester, I threw up every single day. I had some good days and some miserable days. Personally, I was just happy that I had the summer off work! Now that I am finally in my second trimester, I have been feeling a LOT better. I still get nauseous for part of the day, most days, but not nearly as bad as I used to feel. Hooray! Also... I have gained a bunch of weight already... more that I am supposed to, but that's okay. I am already too chunky for most of my pants. Oh well. Everyone says, "oh you won't start showing until ________ week..." Yah yah. I might not look a whole lot bigger, but I can definitely tell you that I am showing. Even if I am the only who can tell. (Although I know some people can tell)

Anyway. We are so excited to add a new little member to our family. This is something we have wanted for a really long time, and we are happy that the timing is finally right :) We feel so blessed and so excited... Yay! Six more months! Can't wait to be a mom!

Ultrasound at 9.5 weeks:

My phone lock screen: :)

How we announced to our family:

How we announced to Facebook:

Me at 12 weeks:

Me at 14 weeks:

How I announced to Bryce:

4th Grade So Far

So far, I have loved 4th grade! It is definitely more work to be an elementary school teacher than a secondary teacher (now that I have taught in a middle school). The more work is attributed to the fact that as an elementary school teacher, you have to plan and teach every single lesson for every single subject every single day. You also have to be better at time management because you don't have a bell that cuts you off every hour.... you have to keep track yourself and be sure to not spend too much time on one subject, because then you cut into the time of another subject.

Besides the extra work, I have loved being a 4th grade teacher. It is so fun to work with the same students all day, and have a class all to yourself that you can call your own. They are so cute and so fun, and just happy kids. My students are great... and I think I got really lucky with the class I was given. They are the best 4th grade class at the school!

Here are just some pictures of my classroom... I have a rock climbing/oh the places you'll go theme. :)

Hewlett Packard

This summer Bryce had the opportunity to do an internship at HP. He really enjoyed his time there and he got the chance to help develop some really awesome software! I would attempt to describe to you what he worked on all summer.... but I know I would butcher it. So, for now, in summary, Bryce helped develop printer simulation software so that HP could run tests on thousands of printers at the same time without needing the actual, physical printer in front of them. I promise it was cool. :)

Anyway, the best news is that Bryce was offered a position as a college hire, meaning he can work for HP remotely for the remainder of his college career. This is awesome because he can work from home and set his own hours. It is just part time, but that is great while he is going to school.

The college hire position is pretty cool... but the BEST news is that Bryce was offered a FULL TIME JOB at HP for when he graduates!!!!!!!! His official start date is August 16, 2015. We are so excited to head back home and we are so grateful that we already know what we will be doing a year from now. I am so proud of him!

3 Years and Counting

Bryce and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on Labor Day this year... I can't believe it has been 3 years! It is amazing how much you can love someone. I don't think Bryce and I have ever been this close. I can't wait to spend eternity with this man!

9.1.14

Over 2 Months Later....

Well I just realized that I have not posted anything since June 9th. That was when we put all our stuff in storage and moved down to Boise for the summer.

A lot has happened since then.

A lot of fun, exciting stuff.

But I pretty much have zero pictures. From anything.

So I am going to make a quick list of all the fun, cool things Bryce and I got to do this summer! Some of these things might eventually get their own blogpost... once I find the energy....

1. The triplets were baptized. Bryce and I went over to Pendleton, Oregon to celebrate this fun time with the Walker family. We are so proud of you, Makenzie, Rachel, and Taybree!
2. Mandi and TJ and their family moved to Boise! Everyone was so excited to have the Harris family back in B-Town. Now I can say all my immediate family lives in the Treasure Valley again! (Well.... everyone except for Bryce and me.)
3. We had a Nye Family Reunion! (For one day, but it was a super awesome, great day.) Our family reunion included: swimming, bowling, zoo-going, and great food with a fun family! For now, go here for more details. Thanks Kim. :)
4. We had a Call Family Reunion! Our family reunion included: camping, boating, Lagooning, and great food with a fun family! 
5. Greg and Kelleen got married! It was a beautiful wedding up at a historic barn in Donnelly, ID. We are so happy for them! 
6. We moved in to our new, huge, beautiful apartment. We saved up some money and decided to splurge for the last year of Bryce's college career. I feel like I'm on vacation every day, really. 
7. I have started teacher meetings and have begun setting up my classroom! 

So there are a couple other cool things, but they will get their own blog posts when I get around to it. Sorry this post was lame. All of these things were super exciting and really need their own post! Let's see if I can get the time and energy to get some posts done. If not, from here on out, I am back on my regular blogging schedule. :) 

Here are some random pictures I did take over the summer.... None of these have to do with anything I posted about... 

 Rock Climbing:

Biking:

Fourth of July:

 The dresser I refinished:

And a sneak peak into my "off to great places/rock climbing" themed classroom.