Last week of school

For those of you who don't know and who don't have any teacher friends, its the last week of some Texas schools - mine included. Its bittersweet I think. It's exciting to have a fresh start with kids who have never been in my classroom. They don't know any mistakes I made last year. They don't know if I'm strict or nice or tough or loose, I get to be whatever I want to be with them. So, I kinda get to reinvent my teaching every year - keep the good and replace the bad that I have spent the whole year recovering from and trying to backtrack on.

I have put so much love and energy into my kids this year that it will be sad to watch them go. I admit there might be some tears shed by me and by them. If they cry then I won't be able to help it. I love their sweet attitudes. Some of them are genuniely sad that school is over because their summer's aren't as thrilling as ours might have been. Such simple joys of life. I will miss them but I will get to see them grow up in the next two years. Unlike this year (because I moved schools), I'll get to see them in the hallways, talk to them, and watch them mature and grow. I'm excited and I'm so proud of where they've come from!

Austin Rocks!

This weekend, in honor of Memorial Day and having a lovely 3-day weekend, Ben and I took a trip to Austin. I have never offically been to Austin (only driven through it) and so it was quite the adventure for me. We left Saturday morning early in time for a quick lunch and a 1:00 tee-time. Tee as in a golf tee. Yes, I Lynn played golf on my vacation, by choice. I shot a 65...in 9 holes. Then, I just rode around in the cart for most of the back nine. If you know anything about golf, that's really not a desireable score, but its a start. But there is a double bogie and a bogie thrown in there somewhere that I am proud of. A good score for 18 holes would be somewhere between 30 and 45 or so. Anyways, if you just can't picture me golfing...I'll help you out.

After golfing, we chilled at our hotel and then went out on the town. We went to where Austin rocks - 6th street. We ate dinner at the Iron Cactus, walked around, and got to hear some cool music and see a live band along with some very interesting people. Overall, a good experience.

Sunday, we went to the famous Mozarts Coffee Shop. It was on Lake Austin with a huge deck right on the water. It was a very relaxing Sunday morning with Ben, my Harry Potter book (book 5), and the lake. After that, we went to see the Capitol building. Amazing building! We finished our trip off with some split shopping (Lynn) and golf (Ben) in the Round Rock area. Quite the relaxing weekend. And then we still had all of Monday to chill! I absolutely love 3-day weekends!

A lovely wedding

What a wonderful weekend. It was refreshing, relaxing, fun, and full of friends. We went to the Bonner - Blaschke wedding in Fairfield which is south of Dallas. Those of you who frequent I-45 (as I used to so much) know Fairfield as the little town you pass through that has a sonic and that maybe you can stop to get gas in. Well, this weekend, we actually drove into it and went to a beautiful outside wedding. It was a small little town without even a Wal-Mart (gasp!) or a Starbucks (HUGE gasp!). At one point we tried to find a coffee shop to just chill in and they told us McDonalds was our best bet. Wow are they missing out!

Anyways....Ben was a groomsman and even wore the same (I think) tux with green as was at our wedding. He was so handsome! What a superb job he did standing up in front. I couldn't be more proud :).




We got to see lots of Grace friends and talk to everyone about what they're doing. Its crazy how much happens in people's lives in just two years out of college. Let's see, some are getting married, some having babies, some moving to another country, some finding new jobs or just continuing in thier current ones. But its always nice to see everyone and its full of laughs.

A trip back in time

We went on a trip to Mississippi about a week ago. Sadly, I was not apart of the blogging world so I wasn't able to document it forever so I will now :). We went for Ben's grandparent's birthday. I have never been to Mississippi let alone the famous Mimi's house! I got to meet his cousin Amanda and her husband Daniel and their two sweet kids Miller and Marin. I got to know everyone better in Ben's extended family. I took a day off school and we flew to Mississippi. We got there before everyone else and so I got to help Mimi cook. I made deviled eggs successfully for the first time! I also helped with the potato salad fixings, and some other things I think. We had an absolute feast at every meal. Here are some pictures from the event:

We took a shopping trip to downtown Vicksburg. Here is our sweet mother-in-law Pat with her two daughters-in-law. We love her!

Amanda's little girl Marin and I trying on hats at the store and blowing kisses.

All the Stroud grandchildren and their spouses and kids :).

I can't wait to go back. It was so different their our fast paced world of Houston. We loved it. What a blessing it was!!

Butterflies!

Two posts in one day! I just couldn't help myself. So we went to the butterfly exhibit today at the Museum of Natural Science and History. So exciting. Ben was so sweet to go with me. Next time, we're going back to look at the dinosaurs! So, first, to get to the lovely butterflies, we had to go through the entemology part where we saw numerous bugs including cockroaches, tarantulas, beetles, and the coolest camoflouged insects. By the time we left, I felt like something was crawling all over me. The Butterfly part was amazing though. Butterflies all around and one even landed on me!

Here, I am waiting for one to land on me. Come on little butterfly! You can't see it but one was flying all around me. It was quite exciting!






One has landed! Its on my shoulder and its black and white. Woo-hoo!!

We also go to see Katy and Joe this weekend. They were in town for a wedding and we got to eat with them at Niko Niko's, one of our faves in Houston. Yum greek food!
















On another note, there are 3 weeks left of school. Its down to cleaning up, having fun, and keeping everyone sane. This summer, I've got things planned throughout including some staff developments, vacation, and spanish lessons! I'm going to be working on my spoken spanish with a girl from school and hopefully I'll be able to speak a lot more fluently in August! Adios muchachos! I'm excited to be a part of the blogging world. Let me know if you blog so I can add you to my friends and read your blogs!

A new blog!

Hello bloggers! So, I started a blog last July right before I got married and then I got married, moved cities, got a new job and completely changed everything in my life so I think I've written about 3 posts on it. It had my old last name and so I just decided it was time to start a new one. I'm going to try to be a part of this blogging world one more time. I can definitely not guarentee a daily or even weekly post, but I will write more regularly (I'll try at least!). Sounds like a fun endeavor for the summer.

Well, I can't believe it but there are 3 more weeks until the summer. Before you get all jealous, I won't be just chilling the entire summer. I have workshops and spanish tutoring lessons and I'm going to make some things for next year to make my life a lot more organized and less crazy during school. I drive myself crazy everyday looking for a marker in my classroom. I walk around the room searching and it gets everyone off track because then the kids start getting up and searching with me. You can imagine the chaos. I tried to fix this problem by tying the markers and erasers to the board but then they just got all tangled and in knots so that didn't work either. But I've got to do SOMETHING or I will go crazy.

That is one of my goals for the summer - find ways to be more organized at school. Soooo if you are teacher, or you just are an organized person naturally (as I am not - its a learned trait for me), I'd love the tips!

Well, I'll leave you on this note...hopefully I'll be writing soon :).