done!

Well, I'm finally done with the past 3 weeks of training for my new reading tutoring program. Whew! Tomorrow I finish up working on schedules and start doing some special ed inclusion. From what I've heard, that should be interesting...more so because of the teachers I'll be working with rather than the kids.

I had to move classrooms...AGAIN!!! We've had about 100 more kids enroll than expected so they've had to hire more teachers. So first I moved out of my own classroom into my new friend Leigh Ann's room with her. But then a week ago, we got booted out and had to move in with another special ed teacher. So there are 3 of us crammed into 1 room that's smaller than all my rooms from the past 7 years. Nice! It's taught me that I have way too much stuff! And most of it is already in my spare bedroom! But like I've said before, teachers hate to give stuff away, and for all I know I could be back in the classroom next year and need it all again. But let's hope not! :)

I still miss my old friends from my last 2 schools. It's hard getting to know a whole new staff. And not really being on an official grade level makes it a little harder. But I've really enjoyed being able to help out as a support teacher. Our faculty meeting lasted over 2 hours last week, but it didn't really bother me that much because half the stuff that was covered didn't have anything to do with me. I still feel a little guilty because of that, but I'm trying to get over it. :) Tuesday night I'm having dinner with 3 of my closest teammates from my 1st school. We try to get together about once a month.

Not a whole lot else has been going on lately. I got to hang out with my good buddies Jill and Demian this weekend. That was so much fun it made me dizzy! :) And a "first" happened for me today...I successfully operated a lawnmower at a friend's house. I feel bad to say that I've never done that before, but I haven't. I used to help rake sometimes when I was growing up, but I had never mowed. It made me glad I live in an apartment with no yard!

Last week I went several days without checking everyone's blogs because of some computer issues here at home and I had missed out on pregnancy announcements and births! So now I'm trying to stay in the loop more. But if you've missed checking my blog in a while, you haven't missed a thing. Have a great week!!!

1st week of school

Whew! I am glad the first week of school is over! Since my training for my reading program doesn't start until this week, I wasn't able to start my reading groups yet. So last week I got to do all sorts of odd jobs for my administrators. Then our 2 monolingual kindergarten classes each had 30 kids so they had to make a new kindergarten class. Guess who almost had to sub for a few days?! ME! But luckily they found a long-term sub that can teach until they can hire a teacher. But guess whose classroom they needed to make into a kindergarten room?! MINE! So all in one day, I had to pack everything up and move it to another room. Then with a little help, we had to get my old room ready to look like a kindergarten classroom. It was crazy! And it would have been easier if I could have worn shorts and flip flops! :) So here are some things I learned during my first week of school...

1. All of you moms out there need to teach your kids how to open their milk cartons and ketchup packets before they start kindergarten! Helping out during lunch was quite an experience. One little boy had one of those lunchables with a pizza in it. He almost cried because I wouldn't go heat up his pizza. I guess he's used to eating it hot. I told him it should be ok because it had been sitting in his lunchbox all morning. He said no, the ice pack was keeping it cold! I suggested he bring a sandwich the next day. :) Just kidding! I would have gone to heat it up in the microwave in my room but that would have left 1 other teacher managing the whole cafeteria. And I also didn't want him to think we would heat things up everyday!

2. After wearing flip flops all summer, your feet sometimes rebel to real sandals by giving you horrible blisters!

3. Sharing a classroom with another teacher is fun, but not quite the same as having your own space to yourself.

4. Working with new people and making new friends is good, but it makes you miss the old friends from previous schools too. I'm glad to have my friends Koby and Jaleen there. It's nice to have familiar faces around.

5. Directing traffic is not as easy as it looks. Parents that have been sitting in the parking lot waiting for their little baby to get out of school sometimes honk their horns at teachers who are trying to help children not get run over in the crosswalk! :)

6. Parents that wait to register their kids on the 1st day of school are impatient! How dare it not be a 5 minute process because they might be late to work! Well, all you had to do was come up to school the week before...I'm just saying...

7. Having to go to bed at a decent hour and getting up early is HARD after a summer of staying up late.

8. Even though I've been super busy all day long, I can get in my car with just my purse and lunch bag...and no teacher bag full of lessons to plan or papers to grade. I'm handling less stress quite well! :)

9. Dinner with Kristi is a great way to unwind during the week. A bowl of chips and salsa can cure anything! We sat 3 tables over from my principal and the lady I share a classroom with. What a small world!

10. The best way to end the 1st week of school is Bunco on Friday night, shopping with your mom on Saturday, and a country music festival on Sunday afternoon.

For the next 3 weeks I will be in training from 7:30-3:30 for the reading program I'm going to be doing. Luckily the training is at my school so that's nice. I've heard it's really intense though. My friend DeAnne is the trainer for this week. Tomorrow she's going to start by recording us while we read, then grading us. I'll let you know if I have to be in the "Buzzards" reading group. Just kidding! We don't call them that anymore, Todd S. :)

All moved in

I got all moved in to my new classroom last week. Whew! What a bunch of junk I've collected in the past 7 years! I won't need a lot of it this year so I brought some of it home to store for a while. My spare bedroom is a mess! Unfortunately the teacher that was in my room last year had not moved out yet. I had to put all my boxes in the corner. I'm going back today to see if she's been up there. It's a been a week so let's hope she's cleaned up the place! But then I got to thinking that it might just be junk that she didn't want, and left for me to clean up. This is my 4th classroom to move into, so I've learned that some teachers are like that.

Last Thursday night I went to a Cowboys preseason game. They were playing the Colts which means Peyton Manning was there. :) We were in a suite at the top so the pictures are kinda fuzzy. But I tried to get a picture of him for you, Buf.

We had to keep the windows closed because the air was on so there's a glare. There were fireworks and the players are running through that big helmet down through a line of cheerleaders.

Can you see Manning? Squint! :)

We were in that top section.
The final score was 23-10.

There's usually a group of players that kneel on the star after the game and pray.That's what they were doing here...

The mayor of Nairobi, Kenya was in our suite too. (how random!) He was in Dallas for the week and decided that a Cowboys game would be on his list of things to do. They call him "His Worship." I thought that was funny.

I went home last weekend for a quick trip before school starts. Reanne goes to the daycare at Emmanuel and they were performing a musical on Sunday night. She had a solo and sang her little heart out. She loves to watch Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel so my brother was calling her Reanna Montana. Then they came up with Reanna Louisiana. She couldn't wait to see herself on channel 4 the next night. She did great and wasn't nervous at all. She told me she was going to be singing in front of thousands! :)

I guess if I'm going to get anything done at school today, I better stop blogging now. Have a good weekend!

A new job!!!

I forgot to mention earlier that I passed my special ed. test!!! And it's good thing because this week I was offered a new position that requires that certification. I will be teaching a small-group tutoring program called Read Right half of the day and going into classrooms and helping special ed. kids in small groups the other half of the day. I will be moving schools...again! It is such a chore packing and moving because teachers are such pack rats! We hate to get rid of anything, in case we need it someday. Last year my parents were a huge help with moving my classroom and apartment. Just the other day my dad told my mom that he sure was glad I wasn't moving this summer! :)

My Bunco friend Jaleen will be moving to my new school to teach 1st grade, my buddy Koby is the new assistant principal, and the new principal Tina used to be Jen Ken's principal. So it's a small world! I am excited about the change but am also sad to leave my 3rd grade team and school. They welcomed me with open arms and I learned so much in such a short time there.

Last night they had a birthday get-together for me at Frances' new house. I was nervous about telling them my news because I didn't want them to feel like I was deserting them. But they were so sweet and understanding. Not that I can't be replaced :) but I know it's not always easy finding teachers with experience at this time of the summer that still need a job.

Jessica, Kasey, Karla, me, and Frances
(Carmen and Susan were out of town)

mmmmmm, red velvet cake!

Yesterday my friend Joy and I went to visit Krista and baby Hannah. She's trying to get her on more of a schedule but it's not working as well as she planned. But all she does is sleep and eat...what a life! Hannah had so fun with Miss Mandy that she needed a nap! :)

Touchdown!

Still celebrating

Last night I went to eat at Texas Love & War with Kristi, Jill & Demian, and Murry in Grapevine. We highly suggest the fried pickles and fried green beans! Then we went to Kristi's house and had birthday cake! It was sooooo yummy! It was the Sacher torte from la Madeleine's.

yep, I still like to use the automatic timer on my camera,
just like in college :)

Kristi cutting the cake

Sacher torte

Jill & Demian re-enacting their wedding reception...

I really appreciate all your birthday wishes, e-cards, gifts, and even a post about me for my birthday! This past week I have really been reminded of what great friends and family I have! Maybe I'll turn 30 every year from now on. :)

30 is the new 20, right? :)

Since 30 is the new 20, I shouldn't feel any older, right? But I do!!! Some friends took me out to dinner last night. We had loads of fun! My friend Greg (in the white shirt below) works for Nokia and got me a new phone that's out in Europe. It's sooo cute! And it's red, my favorite color! It's a slide phone with an MP3 player, radio, camera, etc. I love it!

The group after dinner at Monica's...

Me and Koby

The black and white girls...Wendi, me, and Melinda

So far 30 hasn't been that bad. I already had gray hair, wrinkles, and bad eyesight so what else is new!?!? :)

Monday I went with some friends to a small waterpark called Bedford Splash that's here in HEB. My friend Karen has 2 sons. This one is DeWayne. Isn't he so cute in his floaty suit? The faces he can make with those eyebrows crack me up!

My friend Krista had her baby last Thursday. Her name is Hannah Marie. How sweet!!! I started tearing up when I first held her b/c they've been wanting a baby for a long time! There were some difficulties with the pregnancy so I was glad to finally have her here and healthy.


A couple of weeks ago my friend Margaret from Ruston came to town with her 3 kiddos. I entertained them some while she had some meetings and things to do. It's a rough life swimming with the kids at the 4 Seasons Hotel. :) Will chose for us to go to the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field. It was really neat. They knew the names of all the planes because their dad is a pilot. Me? I knew Jay Jay the Jet Plane in the kiddie area. :) James chose the Bass Pro Shop. And Sarah Margaret wanted to swim!!! I don't get to see them much since I moved to Dallas so it was good to hang out with them. Sarah looks like she's about to cry but that's her "say cheese" face.

And one more picture...my soon-to-be 2nd grade niece Reanne--chewing her food has got to be difficult!

New Braunfels

The river...

Last week, even though most of Texas was flooding, some friends and I headed down to New Braunfels to float the river. We usually float the Comal River but it looked like chocolate milk and was closed. So we drove to the San Marcos River and it was just fine. It was flowing a little faster than usual, but other than that, it was perfect.

On Friday while the guys went on a little road trip, the girls got to visit a previous Bunco member Karen who lives close to Gruene now. Karen was my librarian my 1st year in Irving. She's a hoot! She now lives on the river and loves it. We ate lunch at the Gristmill. Yum!!! Right next door is the oldest country dance hall in Texas called Gruene Hall. George Strait started his career there.

Chris, Sarah, Karen, Wendi, and me

We floated once on Friday and twice on Saturday. On our last trip down the river, it started raining. It had been sunny the whole time. We even got sunburns. The San Marcos River doesn't have any waterfalls or chutes so there was going to be no losing hats or sunglasses this year. And then what do I do?!?! Lose my sunglasses! We had pulled over to the side to hang out in the water for a little while. I had my glasses on my head and leaned back laughing and off they fell into the river. Luckily they were a cheap pair I had bought especially for times like this.

We bought some new tubes this year. Sarah and Jeff live in New Braunfels so they're going to store them for us until next time. Usually we rent the big black tubes that get so hot in the sun. So the new blue and white ones were nice!

Jeff getting the new tubes ready

Don't forget Mike's feet!

hot mamas!

Wendi and I after the rain (see--no sunglasses)

Special Ed...

Ok, so I have a question for you smart people. I'm interested in trying to get a "Read Right" teaching position in my district. I won't bore you with the details of what it is. Anyway...most schools have to use special ed money to help pay for these teachers so you have to be special ed certified. So I signed up to take the special ed test and printed off a study guide that gives you samples of the types of questions you'll have. So here is a math one that I don't get. Remember that I haven't done anything above 3rd grade math in the last 7 years! :)

Using a protractor, a student measures the sum of the interior angles in a triangle and obtains 176 degress. What is the percent error of this measurement?
A. 0.04%
B. 2.22%
C. 2.27%
D. 4.00%

It told me the correct answer, but I don't have a clue how to find it. Can anyone tell me? It doesn't really matter because it was just a sample, and I already took the real test today, but I was just curious.

4th of July

Here are 2 of my favorite little friends on our way to see fireworks for the 4th. Connor loves to see the pictures and my camera is kinda slow so he usually moves before I have the shot. But I finally got him to stay still on one.

Riley and Connor

My new house :)

My friends Brenda and George are gone to London for a couple of weeks and I get the wonderful job of housesitting for them. I even have a pool guy. I was hoping he would be as cute as the one on Desperate Housewives, but no such luck. :) They have a pool in the back but it's rained every stinkin day since I've been there! And the weather channel says it's going to continue raining almost until they get back next week! Ugh! This isn't a very good picture but I knew I was coming over to my apartment tonight to download some other pictures so I thought I would take a quick pic in the rain.

This past weekend my mom came in town for a visit. She brought me a book she had heard about called On My Own Two Feet...a modern girl's guide to personal finance. I'm already about halfway done and learning a lot. If only I had thrown away my credit card a few years ago! :(
Friday night we went to the Dancing with the Stars show at the American Airlines Center. It was SOOO much fun. Here are a couple of pics I have so far. My camera batteries died halfway through the show so I will have to wait on more pics from my mom. Then I'll make a slideshow. The 4 stars were Joey Lawrence, Joey Fatone, Joey McIntyre, and Drew Lachey. The dancers were Cheryl, Julianne, Kym, and Edyta. The guys did a lot of singing. They all performed really well...both singing and dancing! We moved closer during the intermission and I was so ticked that my camera wasn't working! But here are a few...

The 4 guys

Joey Fatone and Kym

Joey McIntyre and Julianne
Joey Lawrence and Edyta
Edyta signing autographs

Saturday night I went to Jen Ken and Brad's wedding in Fort Worth with Jill and Demian. My camera was acting up so my few pictures turned out blurry. :( But Jill has posted some good ones and Ashley will have some soon. It was fun seeing lots of Tech folks. I can't remember the last time I saw Brandi Howard!!! She hasn't changed a bit! :)

Sunday morning we got up and went to Denton Bible Church. I went about 5 or 6 years ago with Coreen but haven't been since they've moved into their huge new building. I was hoping to run into Coreen's parents but no such luck.

That afternoon we went to Sam's and Mom bought me another early birthday present. You might recall that I love the Deen boys, right? Well, they have a new cookbook that just came out. My goal is to get it signed by them soon. :) A girl can dream, can't she?!?!

summer fun...

I went to Ruston last weekend for a few days. While I was there, I got to see Reanne's new smile...minus a few teeth. And I got my haircut and highlights done (it's so much cheaper than in Dallas!). Reanne said we had matching hair except hers is not blond like Aunt Mandy's.


Last summer I went with some friends to Addison for the 4th of July fireworks show. Well, several of my friends pulled out their college chairs and it made me want one. I put it on my Christmas list. But when my mom checked at the Tech Bookstore in December, they said it was a seasonal item. But now they have them, so she got me one. Isn't it cute?!?! (Mine is in my trunk, this pic is from their website) Now I'm ready for the 4th, BBQ's, picnics, etc.


Wednesday my friend Mike was watching Emeril on the Food Network and got inspired to cook an Italian dinner for several of our friends. So we went to Sprout's and got all the ingredients and BAM! here is the final product...pasta con pesto siciliano and eggplant, asparagus (made my yours truly), and chicken in a lemon and white wine sauce with capers on top. It was sooo yummy! And it really wasn't that hard. I should try to cook more often. Anybody want to be my guinea pig that will eat what I cook?


And here is Mike and Wendi's little boy Connor that you've seen before. He loves the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles right now. He went to watch his sister's gymnastics class the other day and saw a "ninja class" going on (tae kwon do) and decided he needed to join. So here he is in his "ninja" outfit.


I'm enjoying my summer so far. I had a technology training yesterday and learned lots of great things for my classroom. We'll see if I remember any of them in August. :) Today my plan was to lay by the pool (I know, what a hard life, huh?) but it's supposed to rain...again! Tonight we're having a baby shower for my friend Krista at Bunco. Should be fun. Have a good weekend!