Procrastination 101

So last time I was telling you about Flat Stanley. Well, I thought I read the letter and it said he was due back to Ruston on the 27th. But come to find out, he's due back to school on Tuesday!!! So he and I had a very busy day on Saturday. My good friend Sarah (that I now owe big) took some pictures of Stanley while I went to Jill's wedding on Saturday. Unfortunately I have no pictures of the wedding to show you because my camera was with Sarah and Stanley. But the wedding was wonderful and Jill was a beautiful bride! I do have a pic from her shower the other day though.

Here are some of Stanley's adventures while in Dallas. Here are his "before" and "after" shots, thanks to Shandra's suggestion. :) The hat is a little out of proportion, but he had big feet to cover up! His Aunt Mandy definitely isn't an art teacher!

Our state flower, the bluebonnets...

Texas Stadium...

My school...

The letter that came with Stanley asked for me to send back some souvenirs and stuff that tells about my city. I found some Texas postcards at Wal-Mart so I bought enough for the whole class. Then I went to a hotel and got some tourist brochures about Six Flags, the Dallas and FW zoos, the wax museum, and all that kinds of stuff. I also sent the program and a pom pom from the Desperados game and a light-up necklace from the Stars game from last week. And you'll never guess how much it cost to ship little Stanley overnight to Ruston?!?!?! I don't even want to say! Someday I'm going to stop being so good at procrastinating! Someday! :)

This afternoon I went with some friends to my first Rangers game of the season. They were playing the Oakland A's. We won 4 to 3. I got to see Sammy Sosa play, although not very well.

For those of you that are familiar with the Ozarka Dot Race, they've added life sized dots this year that race on the field...
Jeff, Melissa, Me, and Scott (almost) all decked out in our Ranger gear.Now I can't wait for July when Dave Dellucci comes to Texas with the Indians!!!

April...

I've been getting my class ready for another TAKS test lately. They took the Math test yesterday. But now the hard part is being quiet the rest of the week while all of our neighbors are still testing!

Have you ever heard of Flat Stanley? It's a kids' book about a little boy named Stanley . One night while he's sleeping, the bulletin board on his wall falls on him and flattens him. It's a really cute story about how he can do neat things now that he's flat. One thing is that he wants to go visit his friend in California but can't afford to go. So his parents mail him there. In class, the kids make a small sized Stanley and send him somewhere. Then the person that receives him is supposed to take him places and take pictures of him doing things in their city, etc. I 1st read this book when I was student teaching with Mrs. Liz Hood. Now my niece Reanne is in her class and has given me her Flat Stanley to take around Dallas. So far, he's met my 3rd grade class (which I guess I better not post on here) and been to a Stars playoff game. I want to take a picture of him with our state flower (the bluebonnets) but every time I drive by the field in the airport, there are always several people taking family pics, etc. And I would feel a little funny pulling out a little paper boy to take a picture of. But I'm going to do it this weekend...I keep telling myself. :) On Saturday, Stanley's going to visit Texas Stadium and the Rangers Ballpark.

Here are some pics from the pre-game activities at the Stars game.

Those Stars fans are serious about hockey! These are some of the best-dressed fans. Our favorite was the guy with the green mohawk who painted himself green with blue stars. They got a free ticket to the game if they dressed up crazy.

You gotta love when there's a fight at a hockey game! :)

Monday night I went with a couple of friends to another Desperados game. Once again, didn't really want to take Stanley inside so he stayed in the car. :) I got to see history in the making. Dallas' quarterback Clint Dolezel made his 800th touchdown in his 12 years of playing arena football.

Here's a picture of the hail that hit my car last Friday night. There were reports of baseball-sized hail a couple of miles away, so I guess mine wasn't too bad. But watching it hit my car and listening to the sirens going off was a creepy feeling! Luckily the tornado passed me by though.

Here are a few pics from when I went home for Easter...

Spring Break

It's been a good Spring Break!!! I hate to see it end. :( I went to a Dallas Desperados arena football game last weekend with a few friends. I didn't get very good pictures though. My camera batteries died halfway into the game!



I went home for several days to visit my family. Since my nieces weren't on their Spring Break, I didn't get to see them much. But here's a pic of Reanne posing, as she loves to do!!!



I also got to go visit Megan and Jolie at their house. Unfortunately Todd was at the BCM that night. Megan and I had a good time catching up and Jolie is precious! I hate that I forgot to take pictures!

My friend Sarah and I went down to Greenville Avenue in Dallas to the St. Patrick's Day parade yesterday. It seemed more like a Mardi Gras parade because they throw beads more than candy. It was fun! Then later that night we hung out with some friends in Addison and Bedford.

I have a prayer request...tomorrow my aunt is having triple bypass surgery so please say a prayer for her. She's in the hospital in Shreveport. Thank you!

Now I'm off to do some lesson plans and probably take some tylenol pm soon. My body is not used to going to bed early so tonight is going to be fun. But waking up early in the morning is going to be even worse! Have a good week!

Pics from the last couple of weeks...kinda random...

Last Saturday we had a wedding shower for Jilly Bean at my apartment. It was good to see everybody and catch up. Here are the hostesses with Jill. And here are some other girls that came. Several people were already gone by the time we took this picture.

I've never even been to the real Mardi Gras...don't particularly want to go actually. Remember when we used to get 2 days off for it in college though? It happened to fall on the TAKS Test Day this year. My friend Sarah and I found a Cajun restaurant that was giving out beads. Now I'm craving crawfish. :)

My friends Mike and Wendi invited people over to watch the Oscars a couple of weeks ago. We all filled out a ballot sheet but I had only heard of about 4 of the movies. So needless to say, I did not win! I didn't think the Oscars were ever going to end that night! Here's a self-portrait of me and my friend Jeff. He brought a Oscar-like trophy that he had received from work and we were over in the kitchen making acceptance speeches.


My niece Reanne emailed me today. She was at home sick with my dad. It was such a sweet email. My mom told her I'm coming home for a few days over Spring Break next week. She can't wait for me to come home. She loves her Aunt Mandy...what can I say. :)


We have Open House at school tomorrow night. That's where the kids bring their parents and show them what all we've been doing this year. We've got all kinds of projects hanging up everywhere, power points will be on every computer, the whole nine yards. We make the kids be their parents' tour guides so that keeps them busy and they won't want to conference with me...hopefully! Have I mentioned that I am ready for Spring Break next week?!?! :)

I'm sad there's not going to be a new episode of Grey's tomorrow night. I got spoiled to those for a while there. Like the title of this post says...random! Have a good weekend!

The big 3-0!!!

Happy 30th Birthday, Kristi!!!! I hope you enjoy this new decade. You'll have to let me know how it is. Send her an email or a comment on her blog and wish her happy birthday. For those of you that have already hit the big 3-0, do you have any good advice for her?

Mardi Gras

Well, I forgot to take any pictures once my Mardi Gras Bunco night started. But I did get a picture of the plates and sign on my door before everyone got there. Oops! We were having too much fun to remember to take pics.

Somehow I just deleted the rest of the pictures that were on my camera. I was trying to figure out a way to make them smaller and guess I hit the wrong button. Usually it will ask before doing something major like deleting everything, but not this time. I was going to show you some pics from the Stars and Sharks game yesterday. Oh well.

I did manage to download some pics on Saturday though. I went to Hobby Lobby last weekend and bought a few things for my walls. Here is a picture of the scrolly thing I bought to go above my bed. I was afraid it was too big, but once it was on the wall, it worked perfectly.

And here's the picture I got to go above my dresser. My favorite color is red, but I decided to go with blue and khaki for my bedroom when I moved last summer. The rest of the apartment is red so I thought I would try something new. Now I should be done buying for a while! But who can resist a 1/2 off sale!!! :)

So tomorrow is the big day...TAKS test time! It's going to be such a looooong, boring day. They've changed it a little this year. We have to actively monitor ALL day long...no sitting! Probably the hardest part for me will not to have my computer on. :) I told my kids that I knew it was going to be boring for them, but to think about me...all I can do is watch them! :) Please say a prayer for a few of my little angels. The whole not talking thing is going to be reeeeeally hard for them! The only thing I can tell them is "I can't help you with that, just try the best you can." They're so used to asking for help, which is a good thing, but tomorrow will be hard for them. We've been practicing though so it won't be a shock to them.

My school has decided not to let them read a book when they're done so they won't rush through the test. They're allowed to rest as much as they want. Well, the other day we were taking a practice test and one of my boys BaQuavious (his twin BaZavious) is across the hall) decided to take a nap and drooled all over his book. So I told them if they think they need to rest and might possibly be a drooler, for goodness sakes, close the book first and move it out of the way! :)

Jilly Bean

I am so sorry that I forgot to mention my fabulous lunch with Jill last Saturday. (see her comment from my last post) Jill, I was afraid that people would be jealous that I got to spend time with you so I didn't want to brag. :) We met at Gloria's in Colleyville and had some yummy bean dip and quesadillas. And as Jill said, our waiter was muy guapo! He must have forgotten that we were supposed to go out that night. :)

I doubt any of you have time to watch General Hospital, or care to, but in case you do...check out the commercial that comes on before the show each day this week. They had a contest called FANtastic February where someone from the show would come and do your job for a day and then they would fly you out to LA and let you be on their show. Well, my friend Jamye from my old school WON! So Bob the Bachelor and Jason Thompson who plays Patrick Blake went to Hanes and hung out in the 1st grade all day. Isn't that cool? Several of my friends emailed me that day and said how cute Jason was and how sweet Bob was. I only watched a couple of seasons of The Bachelor and Bachorette, but Bob was one of the ones I watched. Of course I'm sad that I wasn't there to peek in, but such is life. You can click on the link and watch a video with Jamye in it.

Only 2 more school days until TAKS!!! Ok, Jilly Bean, are you happy now? :)

Time flies...

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in a month! But I haven't done anything exciting enough to tell you about. :) And you know how I like to put pictures on here, and since I have no new pictures, I technically have nothing to blog about. :)

All I know about lately is TAKS!!! Feb. 20th is the day we take the Reading TAKS test. This is the one that my kids have to pass in order to pass 3rd grade. They get a 2nd chance in April, and if they fail again, they have to go to summer school then take it a 3rd time. And in April is our Math test but it doesn't necessarily count as much. There's just a lot of pressure put on the teachers. When the scores come back, it's YOUR name next to the number of YOUR kids that failed. It's no fun. But anyway...that's all I've been thinking about lately.

This Friday Bunco is at my house. It should be fun fitting 12 people and 3 extra tables into my 2 bedroom apartment. I've decided to go with the Mardi Gras theme. One girl is going to bring a King Cake from Central Market. I need to go buy some beads and stuff to decorate with. Being from Louisiana, I should have some stuff already but I don't. It will be good times. If only we could have beignets and coffee from Cafe Du Monde. Yum! I know I could try to make my own, but it just wouldn't be the same.



Well, I hope you're having a good weekend. Just wanted you to know that I am still alive and kicking. :)

Happy New Year!!!

I can't believe it's already 2007. It seems like this school year just started. That's the way I seem to measure my years...by when school starts and ends. I love being out of school but it's also nice to be on somewhat of a schedule too. But is it bad that I'm already looking forward to being off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Yeah, I know...pitiful!

I had a great Christmas break. I spent about a week in Ruston with my family. It was nice and relaxing. I hate that I don't get to see my nieces more often. But it makes the time we spend together that much more special. Reanne left me a message the other day asking when I was going to move closer to her.

I also got to visit the Barr family and the Davisons while in Ruston. I didn't get any pictures of it, but I went to dinner one night with 6 girls I went to high school with. We had a great time catching up. I hadn't seem some of them since graduation. I usually have my camera in my purse but forget about it.

Anyway, here are the pics from Christmas. I promise I have friends my own age, but it's more fun to take pics of kids. :) Happy New Year!

Wedding BELLS

Saturday several of us headed to Tyler for Chris and Amy's wedding. First, we met at the Renshaws for lunch. Oh my gosh, their 3 girls have GROWN! Kennedy is almost as tall as Coreen! And sadly, they didn't remember us from when they were little. Kennedy and Stephanie are in the 6th grade and Stephanie is in 3rd.

Here are some pics from the day...

Mr. and Mrs. Drake cutting the cake

How 'bout them Dawgs?!?!

Kayla & Clay with their kids, Shannon, and Ashley

Coreenie

Todd, Megan, and Jolie--quite the entertainer she is!

Me, Jill, and Shannon

The Renshaw bunch

Me and Todd

Greg, Jeff, and Todd solving the world's problems

The girls

Unfortunately, Stacy Colvin is only in the group pic. She was a busy bee being part of the house party. Sorry, Stace! :)