I’ve really been slacking at updating this blog lately. You’ve probably stopped checking to see if I’ve written anything new. :) I caught up on reading all of y’alls blogs this afternoon. I love all the pics and all the deep thoughts. But after reading everyone else’s, it makes me think I really don’t have anything to write about. :) But today I do…

Last night my church hosted Mission Colleyville. It’s an outreach where we invite less fortunate families, especially focusing on the Hispanics in the area, to come to our church for the evening. We have each family register when they get there (that’s where I worked for most of the night). Then they get a free meal, a concert by the Christian group Salvador, a box of groceries from Feed The Children, and a voucher to come to our “toy store” in a couple of weeks. They set up a huge white tent in the parking lot that seated 5,000 inside and it was overflowing. Unfortunately the fire marshal made them turn off the heaters because they were a fire hazard, so it was quite chilly all night. Jay Lowder from Wichita Falls preached while another man interpreted the message into Spanish. There were 75 decisions made and 3 baptisms. They announced this morning that approximately 5,300 people came and looking at the registration cards, there will be about 4,500 kids needing toys. And our goal is to give each child 3 toys. It was such a blessing to be a part of this last night. We lost our pastor a few months ago and therefore several hundred members since then, so I was curious to see what kind of response we would get. But God's plans are so much bigger and better than ours!!!

I enjoyed time with family over Thanksgiving. My niece Reanne spent the night with me. She wanted to put on Aunt Mandy’s makeup so of course I said yes. Is there another answer to such a cute face?!?! She had a blast. It reminded me of when I was little and did the same thing. I can remember my brother coming in my room and telling me, “I didn’t know we were playing circus. I want to look like a clown too.” Sad thing is that I don’t know how to put on makeup any better today than I did then. :)



I was quickly reminded that whenever you get out a mirror or a camera, Reanne loves to look at herself and pose. She acts like a pro. We even watched “What Not to Wear” together. Apparently she likes that show and Rachael Ray. Why does she like to watch a cooking show at such a young age? Because Rachael Ray likes to talk a lot, just like her!

Have a good week!

Workin' at the car wash...

Jessica and Meg and I got to go to a wedding shower for Amy Fewell this weekend. It was quite fancy. It was at the Four Seasons in Las Colinas. That’s where they have the Byron Nelson. It was fun catching up with Amy. The other girls had all worked at Pine Cove. It made me miss some of my old Cho-Yeh friends. Anyway, we played a game where Amy had to answer your question before she could open your present. We ended up learning a lot about her fiance’ Chris so that was fun.

I talked to my friend Karen today. She taught with me at my last school and lives in the neighborhood across the street from me. She’s one of my friends that is always watching out for a single guy to set me up with. One day she almost brought home a guy she saw at the car wash. She then asked if she could start carrying around a picture of me so she could show them what I look like and they wouldn’t think she was totally making it all up. (No, I did not give her a picture!) So this weekend she and her husband were walking around in their neighborhood (of Sandlin homes—this comes in later) and noticed that one of the houses that they like was open and someone was about to move in. So they go up to it and this young guy is working in it. Come to find out, he’s Mr. Sandlin’s son. And he’s moving in. So Karen’s husband Jeremiah proceeds to befriend him and finds out that he’s single and will be living in that big house all by himself. Karen said I need to come over and go walking in her neighborhood with her. :)

Speaking of marriages (jk!)…in less than 2 weeks my friend Lisa will be getting married to Glenn. You’ll never believe how they met?!?! ;) Congratulations, Lisa!

The computer tech person at my school was finally able to put a picture of my 3rd grade team on our website. This was taken the day before school started back in August. I'm having trouble adding pictures today for some reason so that's why they're so small.

Tomorrow my assistant principal is coming to observe me. Every year we have to be formally observed. It always makes me nervous to think that someone is listening to every word I say and watching every move I make. It’s one thing for a bunch of kids to do it, but it’s different for it to be one of my principals with a notepad! Anyway, it will be during my math time so that’s good. We’re starting temperature so that will be quite interesting. I’ve decided to pass out the thermometers in the morning (during reading time) and get that excitement out of the way. Then maybe they’ll act better the 2nd time they see them. :) Oh, the little tricks of teaching!

Boo!

Look how cute my nieces are.

Their Aunt Mandy mailed them these Halloween shirts.

The little one really likes to have her picture taken.

Here she's blowing me a kiss. :)

Last night I went out to eat with some friends at Anamia's.

Mike and Wendi's little boy Connor stole my heart

from the day he was born.

He's 2 now. Isn't he adorable?!

He's going to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween.

He's already started wearing his wings and won't

take them off when they go places. He's so funny!

Start spreading the news...

Last Friday, Sept. 29th, a group from my church choir went to New York for the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir Music Conference. We went last year and had so much fun that we decided to make it a tradition. We arrived in New York and went to our hotel in Brooklyn. Then we walked to lunch at a pizza place under the Brooklyn Bridge. (I still prefer Johnny's Pizza though.)

Pastor Jim Cymbala's wife Carol is the choir director and leader of the conference. Many of you might remember some of their songs we sang in college. It's so cool being there after reading their books. Friday nights are their usual choir practice time, so the whole choir came and sang with us, then sang for us. On Sunday, we got to go on stage and sing with them the songs we had practiced. Carol told us about the whole process of getting into the choir, auditioning, being interviewed, etc. It made me glad that my choir director didn't make me audition! A lot of their choir members don't read music so Carol teaches the notes like Shayla used to teach me in children's choir when I was little. Carol holds her arm in front of her and moves it up if the note goes up and then down, etc. I can sort of read music but I can't necessarily sing what I see. So this is a good method for me. Although anytime you want to hear a G in perfect pitch, just ask Todd.

Here are my roommates for the weekend...Mitzi, Natalie, and Debbie. On Saturday, we went sightseeing. We're on our way to Canal Street to do some shopping. We even went "underground" for some purse shopping. Quite an experience!

That night, Natalie and I went on a night tour on a double decker bus. It started raining a little while we were waiting to leave.

No matter where I go, I always seem to find some men in uniform. What's sad is that they look 12! That must mean I'm getting OLD!

My favorite part of New York is Times Square.

Radio City Music Hall

Mmmmmm...the Hershey's store!

The Wall Street bull

On Sunday after church, we went to Ground Zero.

This is part of a steel beam that made a cross shape.

This is the view looking down into the where the towers were. That's the subway system below.

Here's a poster showing the Freedom Tower that's going to be built there.

There were 18 of us that went. Here is part of the group waiting for the subway. That's my new fake Coach purse. :)

Good times!

Friends and babies...

Today I got to see a lot of BSU girls (and Justin) at Amy’s shower. She got so much great stuff. She was excited about it all being blue for Baby JP. And that little Sadie is adorable and not at all shy! I forgot to take my camera so you’ll have to look at pictures on everyone else’s blogs. Michelle's little Elliot had me wrapped around his finger in no time. Those big blue eyes are beautiful. And according to little Sawyer, his mommy Meredith is pretty funny because boy can he giggle! It was great seeing everyone. It was so sweet of those that traveled so far to be here. We're all blessed to have made such great friends in college.

A few nights ago I got to keep my friend Karen’s little boy DeWayne while she went to the PTA picnic at my old school. She’s one of my closest friends from there. We live about 2 blocks from each other so I get to see her pretty often. DeWayne was sooooo sweet. His mommy doesn’t really like being outside so he doesn’t get to play much out there. So Miss Mandy let him explore the great outdoors. Now I have a new BFF. :) Isn’t he so cute?!?! You should’ve seen me trying to fix his hair after bathtime. :)

Come to find out, all 3 of my old principals were in the dunking booth at the picnic. I would have paid big bucks to have been the 1st one in line for that!

Here’s my old team at a Cowboys game a few weeks ago. The one on the left is Brenda. Her husband works for the Cowboys so we get to sit in a suite when we go. It's not quite the same as sitting in the middle of the crowd though. But the free food and air conditioning sure are nice. That's Karen, DeWayne's mom, in the middle. Lisa, in the black shirt, is getting married on the same day as the JAM in November. She got moved to 4th grade this year. Kelli moved school's this year like I did. Her husband is a youth minister. Brenda is now a pull-out reading teacher. So the team is all split up. :( But no matter how hard those principals tried, they can't keep us apart!

Breakfast with Megan

Saturday morning I had the privilege of having breakfast at Simply You Café with some of my favorite girls. Megan, Jen, Linda, Meg, Jill, and I all got together and ate a yummy breakfast at Jen’s café. It was the first time I’ve seen Megan in a long time! We all had fun catching up and hanging out. We’re still trying to talk Jill into starting a blog!

By the way, Megan, the flags at Six Flags were at half staff because Gov. Ann Richards passed away last week (not because of Sept. 11th like I thought). Oops! I hope Team Extreme didn't pressure you into riding too many rides!

I’m looking forward to seeing lots of you this weekend for BSU Reunion ’06, as it’s been referred to. Michelle, I better start thinking now of something that no one else knows about me in case we play your game again like we did in Houston. :)

I just read Jessica’s blog about turning 30. And I must say, she’s taking it better than I am. I just turned 29 so I’ve got a ways to go, but when the day comes for me to turn 30, I’ll be wearing all black. But I guess it doesn’t sound as old as it used to. :) I remember when Dave Granger was old to me and he was probably 24. Those were the days...the good old days!

Sawyer

I finally met little Sawyer last weekend. It was way overdue and I'm a horrible friend for not going to Justin and Meredith's a long time ago. Please forgive me! It's past my bedtime tonight so I'm not going to write much, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Sawyer loves to laugh at this pink pig!

Ashley and Austin tried to steal Baby Sawyer.

But Meredith caught them just in time!

Michael wanted to take the pig home but Sawyer wouldn't let him. :)

Look at those cheeks! Apparently, Sawyer has a little girlfriend named Georgia at daycare. Be careful, Sawyer...you're too young to be breaking hearts already!

Thanks for the food and fellowship, guys. It was fun!

Tonight I went out to eat with some of my old team members from my old school. This is us a couple of years ago...a little fuzzy though. Our kids were presenting a Farmer Brown-type musical that night at PTA so we decided to dress up too. I'm glad overalls aren't around much anymore. They were so not flattering.

We had so much fun catching up. It was a great stress-reliever! We talked and laughed for about 3 hours at La Hacienda Ranch (again, Jessica!). I miss them, but am really enjoying my new school. Lesson plans are still kickin my butt, but surely it will get better soon. If only I could figure out a way to keep my desk cleaned off!

f-i-r-e

A year and a half ago my friend Koby was at his friend's house a couple of days after Christmas watching the news and he sees his condo building on the news...burning! The guy upstairs had started a fire and Koby's condo received major damage. He finally got to move in back in the spring after going through a huge ordeal with the insurance company and his HOA. I learned 2 good lessons...it could happen to anyone and make sure you have really good insurance, right?

So then about a year ago, I'm talking to Koby on the phone and drive up to my apartment and see 2 fire trucks by my building! My heart stopped! It ended up being a small fire in an apartment one hallway over from me. It was such a horrible feeling and hit way too close to home...literally. (I missed having Carrie as a roommate because we used to always watch interesting things from our balcony. She would have found out the scoop for me in a second!) :)

Now fast forward to this past Tuesday...I'm talking to Jessica and she proceeds to tell me that she saw my old apartment complex on the news. Guess why? Another FIRE in the building next to my old apartment! I went by to check it out and the roof is totally gone! There were several garages full of burned stuff. There must be some pretty irresponsible people in that neighborhood! Supposedly it took 50 firefighters to get the fire out. It started from a candle that fell on a mattress. So all of that to say, after 2 fires and Kristi's car being broken into there, I moved out just in time! :) I think that place is jinxed!

The 1st day of school went well yesterday. The 2nd day wasn't quite as good, but it will get better. The mean Miss Ginn is coming out tomorrow. No mercy! You can't let 'em see you smile until after Christmas. All teachers are familiar with that saying. :) And that's hard for me, but you've got to nip it in the bud or it will only get worse...mostly for me.

Tomorrow is Teacher Appreciation Night at the Rangers game. A big group of us are going from my new school. Should be fun. As soon as they post the picture of my new 3rd grade team, I'll put it on here.

My team leader Jessica went to try out for American Idol in San Antonio last week. She made it to the 2nd round which was being held today. So she went back to San Antonio, but unfortunately she didn't make the cut. They said she needed more expression when she sings. But she sang for us the other day, and she sounded pretty good. She'll be back to school tomorrow. I'm proud of her that she even tried out. I was going to, but I was just so busy getting my new classroom ready. :)

Well, this teacher better get herself to bed soon. Have a good weekend! 2 posts in one week, what will my readers think! :)

Go Cowboys!!!

Did anyone watch last night’s Cowboys game? Well, I was working in my classroom, but they beat the Saints 30-7. This Saturday night I get to watch them play the 49ers. My friend has invited my old 2nd grade team to watch it from their suite. :) Should be fun!

Well, today the kiddos come for Meet the Teacher at 3:00. My room is pretty much ready. I hate to hang up too many posters because when we take the TAKS test, we have to cover it all up or take it down, but I don't like bare walls. Yesterday I called all 21 kids to tell them about today. (kind of late notice in my opinion, but I just did what the principal said) I talked to 7 families, left messages for 4, and the rest of the numbers were disconnected or unlisted. My school has a 46% mobility rate (lots of apartments around), so they said to prepare for about half of my class to move this year and more to move in. One little girl’s mom said she’s moving away a week after school starts. Several of the 2nd grade teachers have stopped by to see my class list and see which kids of theirs from last year that I have. Then they want to tell me all about each kid. But I only let them if they promise to be positive. I don’t want to know the bad stuff. Maybe the kid has changed over the summer, right? :)

Well, I better get back to work. Say a little prayer for the 1st day of school tomorrow. They’re expecting about 75 more kids than originally planned for. Good times! :)

hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work I go...

Today was my last official day off for the summer. :( Now it's time to finish getting my classroom ready, sit through 4 days of boring trainings that only end up overwhelming me, then get ready for the kids to come. Jessica started school today and Carrie starts tomorrow. But since Irving goes to school until the middle of June (practically!), I still have a few more days to go. It's sad that I'm already looking forward to having Labor Day off, isn't it? :)

So did anyone besides Carrie and I watch the Ron Clark movie last night? I think all of us teachers should take a road trip to Atlanta to observe him in his classroom this year. He's going to be teaching 3rd grade, just like me. He said the other day that they're encouraging teachers to come to his Academy. While we're on that side of the country, we can swing through Savannah and meet Paula Deen's family...right, Jessica? ;)

Well, since I always get in trouble for never posting, I thought I would tonight before I get busy the rest of the week. And now do you see why I don't post when I have nothing to say? :) Here are the pictures I tried to put on my last post.

Michael and Meg...

The yummy cake Jessica brought...

And the girls...

I saw Ron Clark and turned 29...

Last Friday my friend Sarah and I went to HEB ISD's Welcome Back Convocation. Technically, we don't work for HEB, we teach in Irving. But I had seen on Ron Clark's website that he would be speaking to HEB, so we wanted to go. I called my good buddy Jessica up (because she actually works for HEB) and she told me it was at FBC Euless.

If anyone could motivate me to be a better teacher, it's Ron Clark. He was Disney's Teacher of the Year in 2000, was on Oprah, and has written 2 books. He's taught in Harlem and is now opening a school in Atlanta. Sunday night on TNT you can watch a movie about him starring Matthew Perry. After Ron spoke, the superintendent got up to speak so Sarah and I slipped out early and I got Ron to autograph my book. I took some pics too but I can't get any to upload right now.

Saturday night Kristi had a few people over to celebrate my birthday and hang out. Jessica got more pictures than me so hopefully she'll post those soon. :) I'll add mine if I ever get them to upload. We had a good time. It's crazy how we live in the DFW area but never see each other. But it's also not like Garland and Fort Worth and Mansfield are close, either, right? :) Thank you, Kristi and Chris, for having us over. It was fun! I appreciate each of you that went!

If anyone has any helpful tips on adding pics, I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I would appreciate the help. :)

I’m giving in to the pressure to update…

Some of you just have no patience. :) Well, July was one long, busy month! I went to Ruston a couple of weeks ago and brought my dad back with me to help me pack up my apartment. Then my mom came, then the movers came, and now I’m all moved in. My new apartment is only about a mile from my old one. But the old neighborhood was starting to change, then Kristi’s car got broken into, so I decided I better find a new ‘hood. I would love for you to come by and visit sometime. I now have 2 bedrooms so you’d have your own bedroom. :) One of my favorite new additions is these French chef curtains. Cute, huh? And I still love the Peach Festival poster. It reminds me of my Ruston roots. :) Most of my apartment is red since that’s my favorite color.

I have a technology training tomorrow. I hate it when August comes because then I know my summer is just about over. :( I know, I know, for those of you that work year-round, you couldn’t care less. But for the teachers out there, you understand!

My next adventure is packing up my classroom at my old school and moving all my stuff to my new school. What a big job it’s going to be! I am NOT looking forward to it! Teachers are big pack-rats! We have to spend our own money on almost all of our supplies so you hate to give or throw things away. But I’m very ready to be out of there and get new principals. So even though I’m nervous about teaching 3rd grade…and TAKS…I’m excited too.

I went to see Kenny Chesney, Dierks Bentley, and Pat Green a couple of weeks ago. Carrie Underwood performed first but we were hiking through the parking pasture at that time. If any of you DFW people haven’t been to the new Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, take lots of cash with you! Parking was $20! And it took forever to get out of there. But the concerts were good and it wasn’t as hot as we thought it would be because the sun went behind the stadium. I tried to post a pic of Kenny and Uncle Kracker but can't get it to work.

I’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with my friends Mike and Wendi this summer. Mike teaches PE at my old school and Wendi taught 4th grade (that’s where they met, then they got married). Now she’s moving to be a vice principal. These are their precious kids Riley and Connor.

While I was in Ruston I got to hang out with my nieces some. Here they are. Ree’s going to be a first grader this year and J. will be in the 6th grade. I’m so glad I never have to go back to that awkward time of growing up. I much preferred college! Mostly because that’s where I met most of you that are reading this. :)

I hate that I never made it to Houston and College Station this summer. I will have to put that off until a weekend this fall sometime. Well, I hope this new post makes up for the all the time I wasn’t updating. I hope to see some of you soon.

P.S. Thanks to all of the birthday wishes on here. I was without internet last week while moving and wasn't able to write back. But I appreciated them all. :)

Mamma Mia!

My original plans were to go to Ruston this weekend, but it didn’t work out. So I went shopping for furniture yesterday. I found a 2 bedroom apartment about ½ mile from where I live now that I’m going to move into at the end of this month. So I need another bedroom suite. Well, I’ve never bought bedroom furniture before…it’s expensive! And I haven’t even started looking at mattresses yet!

Last night I went to see Mamma Mia at Fair Park in Dallas. It was very good! If you’re not familiar with Mamma Mia, it’s about a girl who is getting married and doesn’t know who her father is. So she invites the 3 possible dads to her wedding. I won’t spoil the rest for you, just in case you have plans to see it someday. It was so cute! It’s all ABBA songs. My friends and I sat close to the top with no one on the row in front of us. So needless to say, we did some singing along.
Today we’re going to see Superman. I can’t wait! I always loved watching it when I was younger. Then there was the tv series with Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher too. You gotta love Superman...no matter what cute, dark-haired actor is playing him. :)

Well, have a good weekend!

A New Job!!!

Well, I have finally decided to change schools for next year. I’ll be teaching 3rd grade at Townsell Elementary in Irving. It's one of the new schools in Irving that's only been opened about 3 years. I’m a little nervous because I’ve been at the same school for 6 years since I moved here. For the first 5 years at Hanes, my principal worked so hard at making our staff feel like a family. But then last summer she was moved to another school so this year has been a huge adjustment, and it’s time to move on. I’ll still get to see some of my closest friends from there because of Bunco, but there are some that I know I won’t see very often now. Leaving my “family” is hard, but there are several of us that are leaving so that helps a little. Probably the hardest part is that my 2nd grade team was very strong and a close-knit group and I hate that we’re all splitting apart (all but one of us are leaving). I’m nervous about starting from scratch with a new team, new school, new curriculum, etc., but I know it will all work out though! :)

Before I planned on changing schools, I had also decided to start looking for a little duplex or house to move into, to get out of this crowded apartment life. So now that I know where I’ll be working, I can narrow down my search for that. But my current apartment complex is ready for me to sign my lease now, so I’m in a little bit of a time crunch. And since now I get to pack up my classroom, I’m not looking forward to packing up my apartment too! So who knows, I might sign another lease and stay here for a little while longer.

Change is good, so I know that I will learn and grow from all of this. I just wanted to keep y’all up to date. Other than that, I’m so glad I’m finally done with trainings and curriculum writing and can now enjoy my summer break for a few weeks. If you have any extra boxes, please send them my way. :)

lindaspratt.com

I think you should take a look at Linda Spratt's new website www.lindaspratt.com. You have beautiful pictures on there, Linda. I wish I had paid more attention to your photography lessons at Shandra's house. :) And I even noticed the link to Jen's cafe. When I hear of someone getting married, I'll tell them all about your photography. I'm so excited for you that you're going full-time now. I always knew back in college when you took pics of my brother and I for my parents, that you would be a professional someday. I'm glad I could be one of your first guinea pigs. :)

Shandra...

Shandra,
I know you and Matt and Andrew were sad to see Kristi leave Houston, but I must say that I am glad to have her back in DALLAS! :) I got to hang out with her tonight for the first time since February, I think, and it was a blast! I can always be myself around Kristi, no matter what. So although you might be sad, Shandra, I'm sorry...but I am glad! Welcome back, KrisTee!!!