Birthday Parties

I was invited to a birthday party for one of my kids. It was at Chuck-e-Cheese, and was the first time I have been to a party there. Brad went with me and we played a few games and gave our tokens to the birthday kid! My kids family is so nice! I feel lucky to have great parents for my class.

I had a major ego boost while I was there. The birthday kid's parents as well as another student's mom told me that they were so grateful their child was in my class, and the children tell them all the time that they love being in my class.

One of my students that was there, rarely talks in class, and it is hard to read how he/she feels. This student does not show much emotion at all. So I was super excited when he/she asked his/her dad to take a picture of me with him/her at the party! It made me feel great!

I had a great time at my first student birthday party!

Kids say the darndest things

kid: "My mom has scratch marks on her back!"

So far, so good

I have been crazy busy this year. I have been staying late at work everyday and have been bringing more work home everyday (including the weekends). I finally feel like I am getting caught up. Let's hope that is true. I know that the first year is supposed to be the most difficult because I am having to get everything together for the first time, and am not able to just pull things out of my files/closet.

My class is amazing! I love all of my kids. They are so sweet and such a great group!

I had my first evaluation from our assistant principal and from my coach through Texas Teachers. Both of them went really well. I was a little nervous about the one with Texas Teachers, because the kids were very excited about the activity we were doing and were a bit noisy. But she said I did great!

I am enjoying my year so far!

WOW!!!!!!

On Friday, we had a work day. I was dressed pretty sloppy and working like crazy trying to make sure I had all of my work done in my room and was ready for Monday! I had my cricut with me and was making some pretty cute name cards for the tables, as well as adding the posters that needed to be added to the room. Around 11:30, my wonderful husband showed up with lunch (Pei-Wei), and I was called to the front office to meet him. As I was walking out the door, Ms. Friedell stopped me and told me that Mrs. Bruce (the principal) needed to see me. Yes, I was being called to the principal's office!

Mrs. Bruce called for me to come in, she was eating lunch with Ms. Hageman (her secretary) and Ms. Hageman's daughter. When I made my way in, she asked me if I would like to be a Kindergarten teacher!!!!!!!! I was so overjoyed! I of course said yes, gave her a hug, and yelled at Brad to come in the office! I could not have asked for a better moment!

My Second Grade Team, that I have been working with (since the end of last year), came in and gave me hugs, congratulated me, and then said "NOOOOOOOO!!!!" It is nice to know that you will be missed! Also, I will greatly miss working closely with these ladies and gentleman. But they are just around the corner!

My new Kinder Team welcomed me with open arms. I stayed late to go by their rooms and get a peak at what I had to look forward to. They are amazing!!! The two teachers that were still their working on their room gave me some of their supplies to use to get started! They also helped me to get an idea of things that I would need to buy immediately (which I did on Saturday) and things that I would eventually need to get.

I am so excited to be able to say that I am now officially a KINDERGARTEN TEACHER!!! I will have my own room, with my own kids, and be able to make a bigger difference! I have enjoyed my last 2 years subbing, but am greatly looking forward to starting my career as a teacher!

Monday is a short way around the corner, but I do not start with my class until about Thursday. So I will be able to get my room set up after school the first few days. I still get to work with my Second Grade Team for the first few days, until we can get the new sub in there and get her acquainted. I am so happy to be starting this new school year with a new adventure!

P.S.  A big thank you to all of those who have supported me the last few years. I could not have done this without you.

P.S.S.  A special big thanks to Sheila for always booking me to work, to Mrs. McMullen for her continued support and efforts to get me a job, and Mrs. Bruce for her support, faith in me, and belief that I will be a great teacher! (and for the job!)

Long-term sub

I was asked to take four long-term sub positions this year! They all run consecutively. In fact, there is some overlapping. So I started back to work on the 15th with all the other teachers. My room was already set up (thank you so much Mrs. Wollam) and I only had a few small details to add to the room.

We had meet the teacher on Wednesday night. I was very nervous, because I wasn't sure what to expect. It turned out great! the majority of my kids came by the room with their parents. They were all very pleasant and I was overjoyed to recognize several of my kids! All of the parents seemed very accepting that I would be a long-term sub in their child's room. Overall, I would say it was a wonderful first for me!

Now...just to make to my own classroom and be able to introduce myself as the teacher!

One Year!

On July 31st, we celebrated our First Anniversary! We kept it pretty simple. We went and watched a movie (at the dollar theater, because we didn't want to watch what was out at the time), checked in to a hotel that is around the corner (this allows us to be able to come back and check on Willoughby), and went to eat at the Melting Pot. It was a fabulous day. Simple and sweet.

I am so happy to have found an amazing man to spend my life with. He is my best friend and treats me like a princess. Our first year together has been wonderful and I know it will continue to be fabulous.

While we were at Melting Pot, a lady walked by and handed us a $50 gift card! It expired that day, so she wasn't able to use it, and just stopped at our table and handed it over. We were so grateful! It made our meal 3X more enjoyable!

Happy Anniversary (a little late on the blog) to my love! I hope we have many more.

New way of eating?

Brad has high blood pressure, so we are using less sodium...no big deal (I can add salt to my food!).  He has also decided as an added measure to try to lose weight, he wants to completely change his diet.

Now he is not eating gluten (his grandmother is allergic and his mom thinks she might be allergic, so brad has decided to cut it from his diet also). He also has decided to cut out sugar, so I bought a bag of stevia (it is so light wieght that it just doesn't seem natural).

If you know me, you know that I grew up on yummy, greasy, country cooking and lots of yummy baked goods (thank you Mammaw and Mom!). I am having a hard time adjusting to this. I love to have baked goods after dinner. I always want a cookie or a slice of cake or something baked! I also enjoy baking and am pretty darn good at it if I do say so myself. So this is really hard for me. I have caught myself giving Brad a hard time occasionally, which makes me feel bad later.

This is a lifestyle change that he is trying to make to be more healthy (which is fabulous!). I know I need to be supportive and do what I can to help him, but it is hard! I just attempted to bake some cookies with Stevia and rice flour.....they are disgusting! I'm not sure if it is the Stevia or the flour, but I'm not liking it at all! While I was at Kroger today, however, I did find some gluten free all purpose flour. It is about 4X the amount of my regular flour but still cheaper than the rice flour we bought. Definitely need to get some of it next time. I also need to find some good recipes that I can use to bake some stuff for him. I don't get the Stevia thing. It says to use just like sugar, but the bag also says that it has the same amount of sweetness as 5 lbs of sugar. How does that work....you use the same amount, yet it is 5x sweeter? I don't know.

Now I have a batch of regular cookies in the oven...yummy!!!! Can't wait!

Taco Tuesdays!!!

    

Home made tortillas + home made quacamole + home made taco meat =

Yummy Taco Tuesday!!!

Family

I was asking the Assistant Principal if it would be okay for me to attend a meeting. Her response was:

"Of course! You don't ever have to ask. Just come. This may sound cheesy, but we consider you part of the family. you are one of us."

Made my day! I consider them to be my work family and was super excited to know that they feel the same!

Kids!

Kid: I may not see you again.

Me: Sure you will. I'll be next door for the rest of the year.

Another Kid: Where is she going?

Me: She is having her baby next week.

Yet Another Kid: Oh! Is that why her belly is so big?

___________________________________________________________________

Kid: You really are a strict substitute, but you aren't mean. We really like you.

___________________________________________________________________

Kid (super excited voice) : Washington, D.C.  ...   That is where the capital is!   ....   That is where the president lives!   ...   George Washington was our first president!

Spring time!

I love that it is finally Spring!!!!! Bluebonnets are popping up everywhere. The weather is wonderful (most days). And it is time for flowers to go out!

I haven't planted flowers since the days of living at home. We would always plant flowers at Mom's and Mammaw's. This year, I decided to buy a planter box and plant my own little "garden" on the patio! So I went and bought the supplies and now have a beautiful "garden!" I really excited!

It's about time!

So today, I decided to get out the hammer and hang all of the pictures (which were already in their frames) that I had piled against my bookcase in the bedroom. They have only been there for 6 months!

In doing so, I also rearranged some of the frames that I already had out. I must say that my table tops look a lot better!

I also have my corner of photos. Mammaw always had a wall for family portraits in the living room and Mom always had a wall in the living room or the entire hallway covered in family photos (depending on what house we were in). So, true to family tradition, I have a corner in the living room that is covered in family photos! I happen to be one of those people that thinks a house looks a little weird without photos. Don't get me wrong, I have art on my walls also. I just happen to think that a home is not a home without photos! Especially when most of your loved ones live about 10 hours away.



Cold Weather calls for Comfort Food

So the past few days have been seriously cold when it comes to Texas weather. I know 30 doesn't sound very cold for most of America, but here in the Houston area, it is the end of the world!

We made a yummy chicken and salsa soup that lasted two nights! Then I went to Brad's office for lunch on Thursday for a crock pot lunch. While we were there, we discussed chili. So we decided to go buy some stuff and attempt to make a homemade chili. A first for both of us. It turned out pretty yummy. We put too many tomatos in it, but it wasn't to bad. Next time we will cut out a tomato and hopefully it will be perfect!

Such an amazing husband!

Brad normally goes to bed before I do. The past couple of nights, I have found him on my side of the bed when I walk into the room. He knows how cold natured I am and has been getting my side of the bed warm before I get there! How sweet!

As a repayment...he gets chocolate chip cookies.

What happened?

Wednesday after school, I went to eat with a few of my coworkers. We were searching for one of their phones in the trunk of her car, when I looked over at my car and noticed that my taillight was busted! I freaked out! Did I back into something?...No, I would have noticed that. Did someone back into me?...There aren't any other scratches or dings....Could someone really have been rude enough to bust in my taillight? What have I done to deserve that?

It is a mystery! My wonderful husband and I spent yesterday morning trying to find a replacement. A new one would cost $150! That's my gas money for the month! So we went to the junk yards. The local junk yard did not have one, but the guy there was nice enough to call around to several other junk yards for us and we found one in Pasadena for $50. That I could handle. So now I have a new/used taillight! Unfortunately, I do not have an extra OES sticker to place on it. So for now, only one light has it.

Locked Out

When I got home today, I was locked out of my apartment! I put my key in the lock and turned it and....the key just kept turning and turning and turning!!!! I was like...what the heck! So I ran to the office and they called the maintenence guy (who had already gone home). Then I waited upstairs in the cold for him to get here. He said he would have to drill it out (it was the deadbolt). So I waited in the office and called Brad, who was almost home) and told him to join me in the office. After aboutt 1 1/2 hours. We are finally in the apartment! Unfortunately, we now have a hole in our door! No worries though, it will be fixed in the morning and the only thing we will be left with weill be the super ugly dent in the door.

Heart Meltin

Today I was giving a test to a small group of 4th graders. One of those kids melted my heart completely. Everytime I looked at him, I could tell that he was trying really hard to get the answers correct. He was working so hard and I know that he did his best! It was so wonderful to see a kid trying so hard!

Back at School

Most of my kids that I have seen have told me how much they miss me! It makes my heart melt! I am getting a lot of hugs from 5th graders now. I'm not used to that. The older kids don't normally hug. I get to see my kids again Friday and Monday! I can't wait!

A couple of funnies from my kids during the long term:

Kid: "Hurry and open my gift!"
Me: "Okay, let me finish this first."
Kid: (as I'm unwrapping) "Be careful. It is very valuable!"
Me: "Okay."
Kid: "The store I got it from closed." (as in went out of business!)

One kid comes up and gives me a hug which I never would have expected.
Me: "____, you gave me hug!"
Kid: "Yeah, it is the last one you'll get."

Willoughby!

Tonight was laundry night. Willoughby loves getting in the clothes as soon as they come out of the dryer. Tonight, I put the towels on the bed and went back to put the other clothes in the washer. When I came back, the B was burried in the towels!

Later, as I was hanging our clothes, I popped a shirt and startled Willoughby. He was in the middle of eating, so when he went into defensive mode and started barking. He ended up spitting food all over the floor! Brad was disgusted and we both cracked up!

It's been a while...

My long-term position ended with the holidays. I was really quite sad! I miss my kids and had a blast getting to be their teacher! I was amazed at our holiday party because several of the kids brought me gifts as well as the actual teacher! I was beyond touched that they thought of me! I expected cards at the most and ended up being blessed with amazing gifts...many of them being quite tasty!

This is a pic of me and my team at the Christmas Party.

I miss working with them daily!

As soon as I got off work, I headed home and packed. Then, I left to go to Mom's! I had Christmas with Mom  and the family, Christmas at Dad's family, and got to go see Kimmy! On my way back home, I stopped through Waco and visited with Angie!

I had one day home, then we headed to Dallas for Christmas with Brad's Dad and family. While there, we celebrated Brad's 30th!!!!! I made Brad a cheesecake for his B-day and decorated the dining room with over the hill stuff! I also made homemade cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning from Mammaw's recipe. They were yummy! It is our tradition that we will do no matter whose house we are at for Christmas!

Brad and me after his B-day dinner and The B sporting his Buckees Shirt!

We have since celebrated a new year and 9 years of being together!

Now we are back to work!