EXHAUSTED~

OMG AM I Tired!? But in the most fantastic way!! My first week flew by and I love my little babies. This weekend was crazy busy- but I am finally home- washed clothes, myself, did my lesson plans, figured out tomorrow...

Quick Re-Cap

Friday:
long day...rough news @ school, please be in prayer that God will fight my battle and not to worry

Saturday:
drove to Katy, lunch with Colleen, Pamela & Cole, drove to Spring to get Carla (our wonderful model), drove to Jay's office where we spent the next four hours learning everything you could think of for photography and even took some photos : ) I love actually knowing how to work the camera instead of taking it on auto- I also love taking a photo and freaking out when you see it because it is awesome! : ) The difference between manual settings and auto is amazing! Carla was such a HOTT model and such a good sport...I'll have to add some photos of her up on the plane wing...oh it was so much fun. (Yeah thats right a plane wing...we shot in a plane hanger) Then we drove to Conroe to see Brad & Ragan for a little while before driving back to Spring and finally getting in bed around 1am!

Sunday:
woke up bright and early and headed back to Katy to get ready for Pamela's Bridal shower. it was wonderful. everything went smoothly and a good time was had by all. (pictures to come) i finally left Katy around 6:30, got home, picked up the house, did some laundry, showered, planned my day for tomorrow, picked out my outfit and now I am going to pass out....

Here comes another week with my 2nd graders!! Hopefully this week goes by as fast as last week!!

My Team

This is my 2nd grade team. From left to right is Nicole, Monica, Rachel & me! The year is off to a good start. I am ready to get busy teaching (we have spent the week doing fun routine things...)
Have a wonderful Friday friends!!

Survived!

The first day FLEW by! I actually am in shock that I am sitting here writing on my blog! : ) All my kids were there and the day went by so fast! The afternoon is going to get long, I can tell but overall I like our schedule. However, timing was crazy so I didn't eat any lunch and was STARVING! So when I got home J and I headed to Chilli's before going to the mall and getting me a "beginning of the year present" (really we have been talking about it for awhile but we just went and got them today) I told J that I think I should get a beginning of the year present every year- he laughed. (It was worth a shot) Anyways, I got these pretty babies....I have never had a nice pair of sunglasses so I am SUPER excited. Since I got home I have showered and sat here so I guess I'll go work on stuff for tomorrow before heading to bed...I'm exhausted!!

Carla posted pictures of my classroom. Her pictures are better than the ones I've taken. Check it out! : ) Thanks Carla!

Quick Recap

So I am SUPER behind but since school starts tomorrow I figured I would do a quick little recap of what I have been up too...

August 3-6 Science & RLA workshops

August 7-8- Colleens Maternity Photos, 3d ultrasound & her baby shower (more on this later, I promise)

August 8- Avery & Greyson's 2 year old shots along with family photos of the two families

August 16-20- WORK WEEK at school. We had stuff all day everyday! Thursday was our first day in our rooms. We worked all day getting ready for meet the teacher. 11 out of my 15 families showed up! Great turnout! I am super excited and looking forward to a great year.

Now for this weekend...

Friday:

school all day,
Kason & Carla arrived and we went and ate a Laynes. (the most amazing chicken)
we pretty much sat around after that until bedtime

Saturday:
Justin & Kason headed with Eric to look at some land (they are determined to get a hunting lease) while Carla & I headed to school. We spent from 12:30-5 in my classroom getting last minute details (name tags, etc.) all finished up. The boys came and saw my room before heading home where all four of us cooked an amazing meal! Fajitas, guacamole, queso with sausage in it....yummy!! The rest of the night was spent with Carla & I in one room on a computer with the boys in the other room playing their game.

Sunday:
We all got up and headed to church where we heard a wonderful sermon from Psalms 26. We are walking through Psalms so every week we get in depth with the next psalm. I really like it. After church we went and ate a J.Cody's BBQ which was yummy then headed home before leaving again to go look more land for hunting. (this time I went too because I wanted to be with J before he leaves again on Wednesday). We got home from land looking at 6 and I have been working on school stuff for tomorrow ever since...it is now time to take a shower and go to bed! My body is gonna be in for a shock tomorrow morning when I get up super early and have to leave the house an hour earlier than usual! : )

I am so excited about tomorrow. I'll let you all know how it goes!

Let it Go

My theme song for this upcoming year.


I am moving to a grade that I don't know. I am super excited but my nerves are already getting the best of me when it comes to school. (ya know...teachers, students, behavior problems, etc.) and so with that I just need to do this....


let it go.


I've been holding on so tight
Look at these knuckles
They've gone white
I'm fighting for who I wanna be
I'm just trying to find security

But You say let it go, You say let it go
You say life is waiting for the one to lose control
You say you will be, everything I need
You said if I lose my life it's then I'll find my soul
You say let it go.

Well it's hard enough to hear
Harder still, to move beyond this fear
We know there's nothing I can bring,
So tell me what do you want from me?

But You say let it go, You say let it go
You say life is waiting for the one to lose control
You say You will be, everything I need
You said if I lose my life it's then I'll find my soul
You say let it go, You say let it go

What do I love?
What do I hate?
What will I lose?
What will I gain?
How do I save my soul?
What if I bend?
What if I break?
What will it cost?
What will it take?
For you to save my soul.

You say let it go, You say let it go
You say life is waiting for the one to lose control
You say You will be, everything I need
You said if I lose my life it's then I'll find my soul

You say let it go, You say let it go
You say life is waiting for the one to lose control
You say you will be, everything I need
You said if I lose my life it's then I'll find my soul
You say let it go, You say let it go

Psalms 25-1-6
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. I TRUST in you, my God! Do not let me disgraces, but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others. Show me the PATH where I should walk, O Lord; point out the right road for me to FOLLOW. Lead me by your TRUTH and TEACH me, for you are the God who SAVES me. All day long I put my HOPE in you. Remember, O Lord, your UNFAILING love and COMPASSION, which you have shown from long ages past.

Our New Bedroom

Yesterday Justin and I went shopping. : ) When we first got married we purchased a new kitchen table, which I love- then when we bought a house we purchased our living room furniture & our amazing fridge- which I also love so this weekend we purchased the last of our big purchases for our house for awhile...a new bedroom suite!!I love love love it! My criteria was- I wanted drawers attached to the bed- and I got it! : ) We also got a king mattress for our new king bed. We got a comforpedic. It is made by the engineers of tempurpedic! I LOVE IT! It is a pure memory foam mattress. When I told mom, her response was, "Your back will LOVE you!" So true! (for those of you who don't know when I was 18, I broke my back on the back of a jet ski so ever since then I have to be careful with my back).

Anyways, it wont be in for a month but that will give me time to find a duvet cover and a down comforter on sale! : )

P.S. I am OFFICIALLY 2nd Grade. I will start moving into my new room tomorrow! (However, the teacher whose room I am moving into hasn't moved out! UGH! So I'm gonna start moving and hopefully she will get busy moving her stuff)

Confession

I have a problem with Walmart and the beginning of the school year.

Today I went in to get a few items (not school related) and ended up leaving with MORE school supplies! : ) This time I got this clip board that you can open (perfect for kids who need to finish work at recess or kids who owe time- just slide their work in my clipboard with pencils, crayons, etc whatever they need to take outside), 6 notebooks for a $1 and a new desktop calendar all for $5!! : )

This morning I had another training- this time to go over our new textbook adoption for Reading and it has SO many resources- its called Reading Street by Pearson. I wasn't too sure about it in the beginning but now I am SOLD! After the training, I went over to talk to my principal- guess what!? I might still be in 1st!! I will know for sure on Monday but she said numbers are growing and she might want to start the year with 4 first grades, which would mean I would stay in first. So I STILL DON'T KNOW!! Good thing I'm flexible! : )

YEAH!!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Here are a few of the pictures from the cruise...I'll update it tomorrow but right now hunny is playing his dumb game which means if I upload pictures right now it will cause his bandwith to lag! SUCH A LOSER! : ) Anyways, here is a few and be sure to check back once I update it with many many more photos!! YIPPIE!!

2nd Grade

This week I have been busy (I came home on Monday) with School! Tuesday- today was a science training for 2nd grade because yup...I got moved to 2nd grade!!! I am excited because I am going to have some of the same kids I had last year, but am super sad to leave my friends in first. Pamelia was the teacher next to me and she kept me sane all year- I don't know what I will do without her next to me!!!

Science training was GREAT! The first day we walked through all the changes in the TEKS and then the rest of the week we worked on Science Journals (new thing- all kids MUST journal) and walked through the WHOLE year. It was great! I know what I am going to do for science all year!!

Today I made a ribbon mobile for my friend who is having a little girl and I am pretty proud of myself. I'll post pictures once I figure out how to get rid of some and once I have given it too her. Also, my friend Kelly & I went and saw Charlie St. Cloud- the movie wasn't wonderful and was kinda slow in the beginning and then it was over but Zac Efron is BEAUTIFUL so it was worth the $3.50 I paid to see it! (Yup isn't that amazing? the joys of living in a college town- CHEAP movie tickets)

Tomorrow I have more training to go over the new RLA TEKS and the new textbook adoption- which I am super excited about.

Then Saturday, back to Houston, to go with Colleen to her 3-D ultra sound and get ready for her baby shower which is on Sunday and then to take my nieces 2 year old pictures!! : )

Summer is almost over so I've gotta to live it up while I still can!!!

Kingwood, Say What?

After we got home I had a few days with Justin which we spent doing laundry, unpacking, getting back into the swing of things before Justin had to leave again. When Justin left I headed to Kingwood. My cousin's couple shower was on Saturday so I figured I would just go a few days early to hang out with mom and dad. Mom and I went shopping for her some clothes for their vacation they are on right now and then we went and did some errands for my other cousins wedding. It was a very relaxing few days.

Saturday was Elissa & Sam's shower that I was helping host so I headed over there early Saturday to help get ready. We spent the day blowing up balloons, decorating, making food & drink and before we knew it was time to get ready because people were going to be arriving soon. However, I had my own special surprise of the day. As we were preparing I didn't have my phone on me but I went to check it and I had a message from my hubby (who was supposedly at the hotel when I talked to him that morning) that said, "Im watching tv with your parents!" I started crying I was so excited. I really wanted him to be able to come but knew with work he wasnt going to make it and he surprised me and did!!! : ) I was sooo excited.

Anyways, Elissa & Sam got there and I think they liked it. All their friends arrived and we played a few games which everyone actually got pretty into before opening presents and cutting the yummy cake. They got a bunch of really cute things and hopefully they felt very loved!! We all hung out together till almost 11 (which is really late for us- considering Justin had to get up and go back to the well the next morning) before coming home and CRASHING! I could hardly sleep I was so excited J was next to me! : )

"Happy Shower" Elissa & Sam (hehe) I hope you enjoyed it! Love you both!! Can't wait for another cousin! : )

Day Four

Day Four began and we got off the boat and headed towards our next destination of rock climbing, zip lining, snorkeling and being on the beach. We got there and had a tutorial on how to safely zip line and rappel. It was so much fun.

Two funny stories from the day:

1. So Justin was in front of me on the suspension bridge and the guy who was hooking me to the line looks at me, looking at Justin and says,
"Is that your papi?"
my return: "My papi?"
him: "your father?"
me: no! That's my husband!!

Haha! Justin didn't think it was funny but I thought it was hilarious.

Second funny story-
so the last zip line I flew into the guy who catches you and he says OH MY GOODNESS! and I am thinking oh no! whats wrong!? and he goes You are beautiful...just like a Mexican barbie princess!! I laughed and rappelled down away from him! haha!

That day was so much fun. After we zip lined, we headed to the beach where we got to snorkel. I had never really snorkeled before. We snorkeled on our honeymoon but it was just off the beach and there were NO fish but this time we saw all different types of fish. It was really fun.
After doing all of that we headed to the resorts beach where we lay on their neat chairs and enjoyed the beautiful view as you can see in the video. I really wish I could add photos...but it wont let me.


After we relaxed for awhile we went back to the boat and shopped around before getting on. I got a bracelet with our last name craved out of it. It is really neat! Once we got back on the boat we got ready for dinner but I wasn't feeling too good. We went to dinner, sat down and had to leave. I felt soooo sick. I took some Dramamine and passed out. (Thankfully that was the only day/night I didn't feel well)

Friday we relaxed on the boat and enjoyed our last day of vaca before returning to the real world on Saturday morning.

It was a wonderful vacation and I am so blessed that we were able to go on something like this for our anniversary!!

Cruise Day Three

Day Three we got up and got off the boat for our first excursion. We docked in Progresso and headed to the Mayan Ruins. It was so good. The tour guide told us all about the Mayan people and it was definitely something I would recommend to anyone who is in Progresso. The beach isn't that pretty in Progresso so exploring the ruins was so fun. I learned so many trivia facts about the Mayan people. It was great! After we explored the ruins a bus took us to a inclusive resort. The beach was small and it was cloudy but I was so excited to have a COKE! I needed caffeine! We sat around and enjoyed being together and being in Mexico before it was time to get back on the bus and headed back to the boat. Progresso was fun and the next day was just around the corner...

This is Justin videoing me going up the ruins and the commentary if you cant here it goes like this...

- "Watch how winded she is when she gets up here"
- "What did you say?"
- "Nothing"
(after a few made it..not yet...now?)
- "Whew...Made it"
- "Told You"



Exploring...

Cruise Day Two

Day Two was at sea...we spent the day at sea. We got up, ate breakfast and headed to the adult deck where we were the majority of the day. That night was the "Captains Dinner" where you dress up nice. Justin just looks so handsome in a suit! He works as an engineer for an oil company so I normally see him in a red jumpsuit or jeans and tshirt so I love to see him all dressed up.


UGH! I have got to figure out how to get more photos without paying for them. I don't wanna delete old post because I am making my blog into a book so I can't delete until that is done.

Cruise Video One

So since I can't upload photos- I'll upload our videos and then just add a link to my picasa album with our cruise photos on it. We had so much fun on our cruise. This was when we were getting on the boat. It was my first time on a cruise & as you can tell- I was a little excited.

Then later as we explored the boat...

Notice Justin says the candy is "for children only" - if you know us and my addiction to candy, you would understand the comedy in this statement. And don't worry Justin didn't lose money at the casino! (nor did he win any)

Then after about two hours....we did this again...


Later that evening...this is what I found...


It was a wonderful first day on the cruise!!

Anniversary

July 18th Justin and I celebrated our 1st anniversary!! J didnt get home until Sunday afternoon but then we spent the evening packing, and eating cake. Our cake tasted the same as the day we got married. It was soo good!