October where did you go?

Whew! It has been quite a month. It has been exactly 1 month since I blogged - partly just from lack of motivation, partly from busyness (if you write this word by the rules, changing the i to y, it comes out looking like business, what's correct?) Well, because I don't want you to A, skip all the text and go to the pictures, or B, have a lot to read, I will just recap in mostly pictures. Here is the month of October...

Mom, Dad, and brother Keith came to visit the weekend before my birthday. Friday, I took off work and my mom and I went to the Houston Art museum! Then on Saturday, the guys played golf and I went shopping with my mom. Such a special birthday treat. They took me to the Taste of Texas for dinner and it was absolutely delicious!

On my actual birthday, Ben took me to the Melting Pot and gave me some pink sapphire earrings. He is the sweetest husband!

Is that Bacon? And Eggs??? YES! My school has book character dress up day every Halloween. The students are encouraged to dress up as a book character. Usually, each grade level team of teachers picks a book, and we chose Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I am the bacon that falls from the sky, Erica is eggs, and Amanda is the old man who tells the story. We had a blast! The others on our team were a pancake, the little boy, and one of the towns-people.

This past week, 3 other 3rd grade teachers and I got the opportunity to go to a 3rd grade teachers conference in Austin. We learned a lot and enjoyed our time together. After our first day, we went to the capitol building, to the Hula Hut, and then to the Yogurt Spot. A night to remember! Below is Amanda, me, and Erica.

And these are my sweet kitties. Carlos is getting huge. He is just so long but he still has a little baby meow. Maybe he will mature later and have a deeper voice. On the other hand, Polly has seemed to stop growing and is a petite little kitty. Oh how I love them :).

A different week

So, its been an off week for us. Odd, different, totally out of routine. Ben had the swine Flu this week. It all started on Friday afternoon. He went to the men's retreat feeling ok but got worse throughout the weekend. (If your husband went to the men's retreat and is now sick, we apologize). But he's feeling much better now and will for sure return to work on Monday.

I have been sleeping in the guest bed so that I have as good a chance as possible to not get it. It's actually a really comfortable bed. Well a little too comfortable and too quiet I guess because this morning I woke up 2 HOURS late! Ahhh! I set my alarm but then forgot to touch the little button that turns it ON. I woke up unknowingly at 7:12 and remember thinking it was abnormally light. Not good.

On a side note, one of my sweet girls gave a speech in class and she used the word ya'll! My bilingual kids are growing up to be wonderful Texans. Pray that I don't wake up sick in the morning!

Santa Fe and more...

So I think its time to get back to blogging. I've been in school about 6 weeks now and I feel like I'm in a routine. I love my kids and the teachers I work with. I think its going to be a good year. Last weekend, we enjoyed a weekend away from home in Santa Fe. We saw the historical sights around the town Plaza and then drove up into the mountains. We rode up on a gondola to the top of Ski Santa Fe (where there is no snow right now), and then hiked down.

This weekend, I had the wonderful treat of my friend Jamie coming to visit. She lives in Dallas. We have been friends since 2nd grade and have gone through so many things together. She was the maid of honor in my wedding and its always a delight to spend time together. We did all the normal girly things, but we got to do them together. Such as...delicious desserts, shopping, yummy lunch, several girl movies at home and in the theatre, hair coloring, and lots of talking in between. So fun. Now its back to real life. I've got 2 loads of laundry in the works and one yet to be done.

I leave you with one picture to make you smile. Or at least the real life version made me smile. Somehow, this is his favorite way to sleep. I hope that today you get a nap or some chill time that makes you as relaxed as Carlos looks.

Feliz Cumpleanos mi amor

Happy Birthday Ben! Today is my sweet husband's birthday. Last night we celebrated in style at Fogo de Chao. If you have never been there, I highly recommend it for your next special event. Ladies, it might not be exactly your cup of tea (or skewer of meat) but it will win big points with the menfolk. Just picture it...waiters walking around with skewers of meat asking you if you want a slice of Fillet Minot, Top Sirloin (my favorite), leg of lamb, and more. We both thoroughly enjoyed it along with the free birthday dessert. Needless to say, I had zero desire to eat breakfast this morning. My stomach was still recovering.

I gave Ben his gifts this morning (Guitar Hero 5 and a wireless controller) and tonight I grilled fish and asparagus and made cupcakes to take to Bible study. I hope he feels well celebrated.

On another note, the first two weeks of school have gone well. Finally my feet don't ache every night when I come home and I am gaining my energy back. I think its going to be a good year.

Sunday Joys

Wonderful encouraging Church Service, smooth transition
Pastor returned
Lunch after church with friends, laughter
Errands with my sweet Ben
New pencils and erasers
Reading, kitties in my lap
Spaghetti, dinner together, leftovers for lunch
Making no bake cookies
Country Music
In bed early
Kids come tomorrow!

Could it get any better?

Why I'm ready for school

Its that time of year again. Brand new school supplies, no more summer, and a new start. One reason I love being a teacher is getting to start over every year with new goals and plans. Now, as I am trying to be positive about seeing all my free time, sleeping in, and playing go away, I would like to make a list of the things I'm looking forward to as the year beings. They are in no particular order except the order I am thinking of them in.

1. Time with teacher friends. I love my 3rd grade team, and its fun to spend time with people who know your field. You can make jokes like "There's no child left untested" and everyone gets it. (Someone said that at a workshop I went to).

2. My sweet kiddos. Some of my favorite conversations are the ones I have walking the track at recess with my kids. They are so easy to talk to and you can count on them to be completely honest.

3. Speaking Spanish. This year, my school is going to a 50/50 model of Spanish/English. I will be learning so many new words this year and getting to speak a lot of Spanish. Can't wait!

4. Routine. I'm one of those people who loves it. I am so much more productive and get more done when I have a routine to follow.

5. Working Hard. A month into school, I'll be wishing for a lot less of this, but during summer, its in short supply. Everyone needs a break, yes, but I'm about done with mine. I've relaxed enough and I'm ready to join the rest of the productive world.

6. Forced healthiness. I walk around my classroom and the school all day constantly and sometimes very fast - thus forced exercise. Also, I have a forced eating schedule. Breakfast, morning snack during specials, lunch, snack after school and dinner. During summer, eating is a possibility at any moment and sometimes its hard to say no.

I went back to school last Wednesday and the kids come back on the 24th. This week, we've got meetings, time to work in our classrooms, meet the teacher and time for planning. Should be a nice week!

Lots of food and a good friend

Officially, I have no more full weeks of summer. Last week I savored my free time with naps, TV, reading, shopping, and time with friends. I did go into my classroom a little and had a two-day training for school so don't get too jealous.

Wednesday and Thursday I went to a required bilingual training. We were blessed with Taco C breakfast tacos (YUM) and Panera bagels (my faves) for breakfast from the presenters. I learned a lot of really good stuff. For those teachers out there (the rest of you really may not know or care about this) the 3rd grade students no longer have to pass the reading TAKS test to go on to 4th grade. I haven't really decided if this is a good or bad thing for me or in general, but it's something different. We also learned about all the new standards that govern what we teach and how in depth we go into subjects (new TEKS) and learned some new perspectives on bilingual education. It got us motivated and thinking about the new school year. The second day of training, the presenters decided that if we worked through lunch, we could leave a few hours early and we enthusiastically agreed. We brought way way more than enough snacks to tide us over the hour we would have to wait to eat lunch. I think we maybe went a little overboard. It ended up being my lunch.

So lets see...grapes, chocolate, wheat thins, cookies, candy, granola bars, bagels, and sandwiches. No one can say we weren't prepared. And actually we were the only table to bring this much food...we were a bit embarrassed...but definitely not hungry!

Amanda, me, Jennifer, and Ana (3rd and 2nd bilingual at my school)

I also go the treat of seeing Lindsey, my sweet friend and roommate from college. She came to visit her boyfriend and so she stayed at my house Thursday night. Ben played golf Friday morning so we got to wake up, drink coffee, and make breakfast just like old times. Such a gift from the Lord.