Finals Week Survival Skills

For anyone attending college or about to attend college, here is some advice that will help you out with your finals. I know I know, you are very welcome. :)

I wouldn’t have been able to get through my finals week if it hadn’t been for the pre, mid, and post finals fun. With all the studying, testing, deadlines, and more studying involved in finals week, it is extremely important that you do things to take your mind COMPLETELY off school in order to maintain sanity. I think I definitely did that this semester…maybe a little TOO much. Hehe

PRE FINALS HELPER
I did a few things to prepare myself for finals before the hardcore studying came in. The first was ice skating.

With me almost falling on my face numerous times, it was hard to think about anything BUT my balance and coordination, which made it absolutely impossible to stress over the six finals I would be taking the following week. Genius, I know.
We also had an ambassador Christmas party which was a lot of fun. The white elephant gifts this year were AWESOME. We had slippers made out of…well….you can see, some of life's essentials,

(black panties and hand cuffs) and even a pet tarantula named Punjab!

My MID FINALS HELPER was a service project!

A bunch of my friends and I got the names of a couple families who needed a little help with Christmas, and we provided that help. These kids had an awesome Christmas complete with new clothes and TONS of new toys.

POST FINALS HELPER
I wouldn’t have been able to get through my last final if I hadn’t known I would be making gingerbread houses that night. It was the thought of those little gingerbread men and their desperate need for a home that got me through that torturous two hour final.

Now I bet you are all wondering, “Did Ali’s de-stressing final mechanisms work?” The answer is:
Four A’s and two B’s…you decide!

Aaah, to be Five Again

For those of you who don’t know, I am a reading tutor in the Kindergarten at East Elementary school. My job is AWESOME. I just love love LOVE the kids. They say and do some of the cutest things. Here are my two favorite conversations this semester in Kindergarten:

Every single day after recess, Vivian goes to the bathroom. The bathroom is in the back of the classroom so every day around 1:30 we all get a personal concert by Vivian starring the Disney Channel. She sings at the top of her lungs for a good five minutes or so, until someone goes to get her. It was my turn, so I went to the bathroom and knocked.

“Vivian?” I ask.
“Yeah?” she says in return.
“It’s time to come sit on the rug, are you almost done?”
“Yeah,” but within the next ten seconds, the singing begins once again.
“Vivian?” I say as I knock on the door again.
“WHAT?!”
“You need to come out and get your projects done, bathroom time is over.”
“Okaaaaaaay, I’ll COME in a MINUTE. I’m POOPING!”
Hahahaha It took all I had for me to contain my laughter.

I love when I get the chance to sit and listen to the kids’ conversations. I get to hear things like “Booya Sista!” and “My dad is stronger than your dad because…” but this was one of my favorites:
“Guess what?” said James,
“What?” said Sammy.
“I went out in the woods and got my own Christmas tree.”
(Sammy didn’t look impressed, so James went on.)
“All by myself…” said James.
(Sammy STILL wasn’t impressed.)
“And I chopped it down with a real SWORD!”
“AWESOME!” Sammy said.
I’m guessing he finally got Sammy’s approval, although I wonder what James would have said next if Sammy hadn’t been impressed!

Thanksgiving Break

I spent the majority of my Thanksgiving break in one of my favorite places on earth…Pine Valley! It was my Pratt Family reunion so there were around 56 of us who stayed at the Dixie College cabin, my Grandpa’s cabin, and my Aunt Mace’s cabin. I hadn’t seen some of my family members for almost ten years so it was great to catch up and become reacquainted. Due to the stresses of finals, I don’t have a whole lot of time to explain in detail about how much fun we had, but just know that my family is hands down, the best family anyone could ever ask for!

Beware, here come A LOT of pictures! Here is Matt cutting one of the FIVE Turkeys we made.

Cousins Laura and Collin, SO CUTE!

The fam. Poor little Gavin, welcome to a world of mostly women! hehe



My sister Nicole entertaining the kiddoes.

Sarah, Jessica and I cutting the potatoes...don't mess. ;)

The Potato Peelers

Gavin and I! (The newest addition the family)


Just a FEW on the many kids there

This is my all time FAVORITE picture. My dad and I after the feast. We ate entirely TOO MUCH.

Now it's back to school for me. Finals are next week and I'm just really excited for them to be over. I have SIX finals which sounds like a lot, but I feel confident about most of them. I can't believe the semester is almost over! Where does all the time go?!