having a great summer so far

June was quite the busy month! I had been thinking for the last couple of months that I was ready to get out of the apartment life. I had to give my apt. complex a 60 day notice. Hello?!?! Who knows where they're moving to 60 days in advance! No one wanted to rent me a duplex and hold it for me for 2 months, which makes sense. Then I thought I had found the perfect duplex! It had been remodeled and looked great, had a super landlord lady, was in a good neighborhood, etc. But then there was a situation with the neighbors that were running a home healthcare business which was against codes and it was downhill from there. It didn't work out and the clock was ticking. I had less than 2 weeks until I left for Denver and had to be moved out before I left.

I went to Ruston to see my niece in the VBS musical and brought my dad back to Euless with me to help me pack. He's a super organized packer and was a HUGE help.

my brother Chad, his wife Brandi, and my nieces

While I was in Ruston, I found a duplex online, we went to see it, and now I'm all moved in! Of course there are still many boxes to unpack, but most of the major stuff is done. My mom came for about 24 hours to help hang stuff and decorate and then took my dad back home. I couldn't have done it without them! I came up with a ton of stuff for a garage sale in the fall. Thanks to Kristi's extra garage space, I can store it there until cooler weather. No way I'm having one in this 100 degree weather, although it would be nice to get it done while I have time off. But oh well.

A couple of weeks ago some friends and I helped Sarah celebrate her birthday/getting her masters. Yep, I still like setting my camera timer for group pics. :)

I just got back from Denver with my friend Brenda. I went to help her babysit her 2 grandkids while their parents went to Hawaii. We had a lot of fun. I got to have the whole basement to myself. There was a pool table, pacman, a kitchen, a huge tv, my own bedroom, and a workout room down there. We watched the sunset on the balcony a couple of different times. I think I could definitely move there for the summers, but the winters...not so much. I don't like cold weather enough. But it might be worth it for the great summers!

my buddies Joshua and Lindsey

a girl could get used to this! :)

George and Brenda

We went to this pizza place called Beau Jo's where there's a balloon guy on Monday nights. Well, the balloon guy wasn't there but his sub, the balloon girl, was incredible. Check out Ariel and Aurora and Spiderman. Come to find out, her dad is a professional clown so that's how she learned to make balloons. I was impressed! Also, has anyone ever heard of putting honey on your pizza? Well they do there, but I didn't try it. They bring a bottle of it to each table for you to add yourself.

Also in June, I got a new job. My friend Wendi became the principal at a school in my district and she had a few openings. I'm going to still be teaching reading small groups, but no longer doing the "Read Right" program like before. Now I'll have more flexibility with my lessons. I also get to get rid of teaching special ed. I didn't mind teaching the kids, it was the planning and paperwork that I didn't like! I'm sad to leave my school and the friends I've made there, but excited to see what the future holds. My friend Krista is going too and we'll be sharing a room. She's going to pull small groups for math. I know a couple of the teachers already and am excited to see how it goes. Coming in as a friend of the principal might not win me big points at the beginning, but hopefully I can win them over quickly. ;) ha ha!

Wendi's on the left and Krista's on the right

and one last pic for the road...Wade Bowen in Ft Worth about a month ago :)

Summer fun

Summer is here!!! It started with the George Strait and Reba McEntire concert at the new Cowboys Stadium. That was quite an experience! We had a blast! Blake Shelton and Lee Ann Womack were good too. I had never seen any of them in concert before. Most of my Texas friends couldn't believe I'd never seen George before. And now I wonder why I hadn't either!

Greg, me, and Koby waiting to sing along and annoy the people behind us

Fancy is her name :)

"You look so good in love" is one of my favorite george songs!

Sunday afternoon Sarah went with me to Fort Worth to listen to one of my favorite singers, Brandon Rhyder. It was his birthday celebration. He always puts on a great show! I had a hard time getting any good pictures because there was a girl in front of me that kept moving around and they had a video camera set up to the right of her in the aisle. All my pics have her hair and the camera's black handle in them.

Some friends and I tried to celebrate Mike's birthday at a Rangers game Wednesday night. That would be the night that the HUGE storm blew in.

Mike kept saying it would blow right over...yeah, not so much. We got into the stadium just as it started raining. We waited, along with thousands of other fans, to see if the rain would stop so they could start the game, but no such luck. The game was called around 9:00. Here are Mike and Wendi's kids Connor and Riley entertaining themselves with cotton candy while we waited.

It was looking better by the time we left. Mike thought they should play anyway.

I've been sick the past couple of days. I'm waiting on Care Now to call and tell me they're ready for me to come in. I like their web check in! If all goes well, tomorrow I'll be heading to Ruston to see my niece Reanne in her VBS musical. She has a speaking part and has loved practicing all week. Then I'm going to bring my dad back with me to help me start packing up my apartment. The scary thing is that I don't know where I'm moving to! I had a great duplex picked out but then there were some problems with the neighbors that the landlady is working out. So I don't think it's the best situation to move into.

My apartment lease is up at the end of June. I leave for Denver on June 26th. So pretty much I have less than 2 weeks to get packed and out of here. I've been wanting to find a duplex with a yard that feels more like a house, rather than an apartment. I'm tired of apartment life! We'll see if I can find one this fast. If not, I guess I'll stick it out a little longer. Anybody know of a great place to rent in my area? :)

**Update: I'm home from Care Now. Good thing I checked in online or I would still be there waiting. After waiting an hour and 45 minutes for them to call and say they were ready for me to come up there, they put me in a room and I waited for the doctor for another hour. She basically agreed with what I thought was wrong--sinus junk and fluid behind my ears. So then I had to wait another 30 minutes for the nurse to come back and give me a shot and then finally I got dismissed. I was texting my friend Sarah while I was waiting and was telling her about the screaming kid in the room next door that sounded like he was getting a shot. It was if they were asking for his permission and waiting for him to stop crying, as if that was going to happen! So Sarah said she hoped I didn't have to get a shot. But sure enough I did. My nurse had absolutely no personality. I told her I would try not to cry like the kid next door and she looked at me funny. At least I made myself laugh, right Mom? :) I always do!

Well, come to find out, pharmacies don't like to stay open past 6:oo around here...except for Kroger's. So I killed 2 birds with 1 stone and grocery shopped while I waited. So since I'm going to survive :) (I wasn't so sure on Thursday) and I'm not contagious, I'll be heading to Ruston tomorrow. Yay!

This little piggy

This is how it all started...

One more day of TAKS testing left. Woo hoo!

March

It seems like a lot of us aren't posting on our blogs much lately. I guess we spend more time on facebook instead. :)

One day during Spring Break a couple of my friends and I went to the Dallas World Aquarium. We figured it would be busy with lots of kids because of everybody being out of school. But we had heard that it was half price day at the Ft. Worth Zoo so we were hoping they would all go there instead. Um, NO! Half the city was at the aquarium.

After spending 15 minutes looking for a parking spot, we stood in the line outside that was wrapped around the building for about 10 minutes. It wasn't moving very quickly and we knew once we got inside, it was going to be just as crowded. So we decided to find something else to do and save the aquarium for a hot day in July when we're looking for an indoor activity.

It was a beautiful day outside so we decided to head to Southfork Ranch in Allen. A couple of us had never been. We figured surely there wouldn't be a bunch of people there, right? Nope! They said they had had a steady stream of people all day but it was obviously nothing like the crowd at the aquarium. :)

Southfork is the ranch where the show "Dallas" took place. But come to find out, they didn't actually film there, except for a couple of times. I never got into the show myself, mostly because I was too young, and I wasn't allowed to watch soap opera type shows back then. Anyway, we had fun walking around and taking the tour.

Each bedroom was designed after a character on the show

Today a couple of my teacher friends from my first school and I went to a baby shower for our friend Kelli. Kelli taught 2nd grade with us before we all changed schools. She now lives in Oklahoma where her husband is an associate pastor. We miss having her around! It was good to see an old friend. She and I have a similar sense of humor so she almost always knew what sarcastic comment I was thinking, even if I didn't say it outloud.

Kelli and her cute little belly

the diaper cake for Kerrington Faith

Open House

This Thursday night we have Open House at school. I thought it was as good of a time as any to put up a new bulletin board. With the reading program I do, I don't really have any student work to display, so I just think of a reading theme. My friend down the hall suggested "fishin' for books" and from there, this is what I came up with. I found this really cool background paper at the teacher supply store that looks like you're underwater. Last week when I put it up, kids (and teachers) were touching it. It was pretty funny. Once I added the tissue paper seaweed, I realized that it's going to tear pretty easily. There are 6 classes that pass by it every afternoon with their backpacks on, on their way outside to leave. So I'm not sure just how long it will all last. My favorite part is the bookworm on the hook. You can't really see it in these pics though.

a bubble font I found online

the books are the treasures :)

I went home last month and helped my parents give my nieces a little Valentines party. You think I could get any more pink or red in this kitchen? :) I had fun decorating it for them. I miss throwing parties at school now that I don't have my own class of kids.

yummy cupcakes my mom made using thepioneerwoman.com's recipe


my nieces...growing up so fast!





By the end of the night, it was cold out there, but I was making them pose with the Valentines window clings on the door.

birthday wishes

Happy Birthday, Kristi!!!

Jill and I had fun eating Sprinkles cupcakes just for you. I hope you have a fantastic birthday!

FREE Chick-Fil-A stuff this week!!!

I got an email today saying that (participating) DFW Chick-Fil-A's are giving out free food this week (Feb. 9-13) from 2:00-5:00 p.m. You know teachers like freebies! :) Here's the schedule:

Today was 8 nuggets

Tuesday - small waffle fries

Wednesday - ice cream cone

Thursday - small fruit cup

Friday - brownie (my personal favorite!)

My friend Koby got a new puppy. His name is Burke and he's a silky terrier. I went to see him this weekend. He was a sweet little ball of fur! Oh my gosh, I have to get one...someday! The lady he bought him from was at Canton this past month. It was her first time there. She usually goes to Bonnie and Clyde Trade Days in Arcadia. She said she prefers it there instead and probably won't go back to Canton. I thought that was interesting.

This weekend a few of us helped Gina celebrate her b-day at Patrizio's...

I recently got to hang out with my little buddy Hannah Marie. Isn't she adorable!!! We had lots of fun. She's going to be a big sister in about 10 weeks. She has no idea how much her little world is about to change when she's no longer the center of attention. :)

I love pajamas with footsies!

A couple of weeks ago I volunteered at a fundraiser for Clubhouse Concerts. It's one of my favorite places in Fort Worth to see live music. I got to hear several of my favorites and meet some new ones.

Max Stalling, Blacktop Gypsy, and Susan Gibson

Bobby Duncan, Walt Wilkins, Autumn, and some others

a cute new favorite Jeremy Martin

the guitars being auctioned off made them some BIG bucks!

3 Rivers Alice.....that guy's long hair kept bothering me. It looked like he needed to wash it and shave. :)

me selling CDs in an ugly tie-dyed volunteer shirt -- we looked like zebras!

my faves - Walt and Tina Wilkins

trip to Houston

This past weekend Jill and I headed to Houston to visit Shandra and her family and see Jenn before she has her twins next month. Blake and Andrew were so excited about us coming that they couldn't fall asleep on Friday night. They stayed up way past their bedtime and got to see us. Really we planned that ahead of time but don't tell their mommy. ;)

Saturday we headed to Jenn's house for a girls day. We showered her with gifts and had a great time. We got to see her cute nursery for Jenna and Ellie. She had received tons of presents so we helped her open all the packaging and get organized. Shandra's a pro at getting baby rooms organized! I unwrapped diapers from her diaper cakes. Jill brought yummy Sprinkles cupcakes for us to snack on. After all that hard work, we figured we deserved a treat. Jenn, Shandra, and Jill got a pedicure and I got a manicure. Then we went to dinner and got to see Don before we left. We tried talking Jenn into starting a blog or getting on facebook but she just couldn't be convinced.

Saturday night Matt was just dying for us to get home so he could visit with us some more. :) We talked about all sorts of good Tech times. It's funny the way we each remember stories a little differently. I didn't get to hang out much with Matt in college so we made up for it this weekend. We also tried talking him into getting onto facebook but he doesn't have time for that because he's going to be looking for me a railroad man to date. Plus, if he wants to talk to you, he'll call you...his words, not mine. :)


Shandra and Matt's boys are the sweetest things ever! And so smart too! They liked me and Jill so of course they're smart. :) Thanks for hosting us, Shan! I had a blast and can't wait to do it again sometime. Now it's your turn to come to Dallas......