What They Don't Teach You in Education Classes

I'm realizing that although we do learn an insane amount in all of these education classes, they definitely do not prepare you for some of the things that kids will say or do!

Like peeing all over their backpack so that they don't have to do their homework because it is covered in pee.

Yes, that happened today. And yes, I was the one who had to handle it. And no, I was never taught about what to do if a kid dropped his shorts in the middle of a hallway to pee on his homework.

Then this conversation with one of my sweet boys:

Boy: "Miss Suddendorf?"
Me: "Yes?"
Boy: "Were you once a human that SUDDENly became a dwarf? Or were you always a dwarf that suddenly became a human?"
Me: "I was one of Snow White's Seven Dwarfs!"
Boy: "Wait, I was just kidding! What do you mean?!"

Oh the things they forget to mention in education classes. Kids will do things that you won't believe and will say things that will make you think quickly for a comeback!

SURPRISE!

We had a water polo tournament this weekend. Although we ended up with a tough loss to Texas, we went 3-1 this weekend which I can't complain about. For the most part we played well, and we definitely have a list of things to be working on before regionals!

Winning is fun. Beating one of your old friends is REALLY fun! And as exhausted as I am, I kinda enjoyed getting to be in charge and run the entire tournament this weekend. But none of that could compare to the best part of my weekend.

Saturday morning after getting the pool set up, I had run into the locker room to get changed. I had butterflies like I always do before the first game of the tournament, and I was sheer exhausted from the roller coaster of a week I had just stepped off. I ran out of the locker room to find Laura walking in the Rec. She surprised me and came to College Station for the morning to see me play water polo! Although she knows nothing about polo, it made my day that she would give up her weekend with her husband to come support me. I generally hate surprises, but seeing her brought me to near tears. Y'all, Laura is an incredible friend and I am so thankful to have her in my life!!

Eggplant

Why yes, I did eat EGGPLANT tonight. Rach made some and convinced me to try it. It actually wasn't that bad! I even went back for seconds and dipped the eggplant in marinera sauce which made it even better.

If you don't know me that well you may not realize how big of a deal this is. It's a HUGE DEAL!

And since it was such an accomplishment, my roommates awarded me with a 2 inch sticker that says "Super Star" and forced me to wear it the rest of the night.

So moral of the story: I'm just a 5 year old trapped in a college student's body.

Why I Wanted KJ

This year has been rough. To be realistic, college in general hasn't been a cake walk. This semester has been a good one, but I have been constantly stressed out for a variety of reasons. Polo has been rough, there are some family situations that are hard to deal with, I'm constantly exhausted. It's almost gotten to the point where it's too much stress. Last week I completely broke down and I scared myself how upset I got over something that should have been a happy surprise. When I drove to Houston on a whim this weekend I instantly felt better. A combination of relaxation, leaving my laptop in CS so I wasn't even tempted to do school stuff or work, and getting to cuddle with my puppy was the ultimate recipe for my stress level to drastically decrease.

I thought that by bringing KJ with me, she would be able to have that calming effect on me here too. And as much as I loved having her to sleep with last night and being able to walk her around this morning, unfortunately she is adding more stress. Technically we can't have pets in our apartment, and our building has been scheduled for maintenance this week. I didn't sleep at all last night because I had made myself sick over what would happen if we were caught. And KJ is scared of trains, so when you live 25 yards from a train track, that tends to cause a lot of crying and whimpering from KJ.

That's why this afternoon I will be taking KJ back to Cypress. As much as I have loved having my baby girl here, I can't be adding more stress. I'm too often at a breaking point.....

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Well, as I was typing this earlier this morning, the maintenane guys decided to come, KJ started barking really loudly, and I lost it. I loaded the car up then and drove to Houston to drop her off. I feel like a failure, and as stressed out as I had been earlier, this was the last thing I needed. I cried nearly the entire way home, ended up sleeping for like 3 hours, and when Laura called, I ended up bawling my eyes out to her again. It's now 5:15 and I'm already in bed. Yep. I'm hoping some sleep will hopefully give me a new perspective.

The Adventures of KJ and Kylie!

KJ has moved in with me for the week! Let the adventures begin!

Pictures from the Snow Day

It's not a typical day when you get snow in College Station, so when we woke up to a dusting Thursday morning, Rachel and I had to go out and play!

Let's add the hiccups too!

So, I have "non-contagious bronchitis". I didn't believe the doctor at first, but as the week has gone on and this cough has just progressively gotten worse, I'm starting to think they were right!

Here's the problem.

• One prescription that I'm on makes you extremely nauseous, even if you take it with food.
• Then they gave me cough syrup at night that is supposed to knock you out... NOPE. Doesn't work. 

So, anytime that I try to speak more than 2 sentences or raise my voice, I cough up a lung. Literally. Like if lungs were able to be coughed out of your body, I think I would be without lungs!

So tonight, Rachel and I were studying out in our living room and she was being so patient with me and dealing with my extreme coughing. It wouldn't stop! Then I got the hiccups, so the night went something like this: "cough cough cough *breathe* cough hiccup cough cough cough" (30 seconds of silence) REPEAT for multiple hours!

It sucks. I don't feel sick, but my stomach hurts from repeatedly coughing and my throat is sore. Plus every time I cough it feels like my body is being jerked all over the place.

So yeah! It's just GREAT! Moral of the story -- just when you think you can't make any more noise from your body, you get the hiccups added on top!

1st Day of 4th Grade!

I don't think "nervous" is a strong enough word to describe my feelings as I got ready for school this morning. Try "so nervous that my stomach was doing backflops and I was on the verge of throwing up" as I drove across Bryan. It probably didn't help that I've had a pretty nasty cough for the last 24 hours and so I would have coughing fits so much my stomach hurt, combined with the butterflies, it wasn't pretty...

I got to school about 20 minutes early (I didn't know how much traffic I would hit... turns out NOBODY is on the road at 7 AM), and so I had some time to just sit in my car and listen to music.

But, despite the anxiety of this morning, I had an INCREDIBLE first day! My mentor teacher is awesome and I know that I'm going to learn a lot about handling behavioral issues as well as working with gifted students and figuring out how to keep them engaged in learning.

It's a long day, but it's definitely fun!

Getting Back into Relay for Life

I had a huge passion for Relay for Life when I was in high school. I led teams of 200+ high schoolers when I was a junior and senior. When I got to A&M I had every intention of keeping up with RFL but it just didn't happen.

Well, that is changing! Because of some recent events and a bit of encouragement, I have decided to lead a RFL team this year! My water polo team has decided to join in on this with me in an effort to support our family and friends who are fighting cancer and to raise awareness and money for the American Cancer Society.

I will definitely be posting more information later, but if you are interested in supporting me on this journey, here is a link to my profile on RFL where you can donate!

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/KylieSuddendorf 

More than that, I would also appreciate your prayers that I will be a good leader in this area. This semester is already super busy and I'm kinda nervous about picking something else up, but I'm super excited for what this will hold for me!

Thanks for all your support!