Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder...

Well, at least I hope it does!  I took an unintentional blog hiatus because I wanted to enjoy every bit of summer I had left with my little man!  He just amazes me daily, and I wanted to really take the time to slow down and make memories with my sweet baby boy (I still refuse to call him a toddler).  Then, school started again which meant I had to go back to work.  Getting back into the swing of things took some time so that prolonged the break.  However, when I saw so many others coming back from their own blog breaks I decided it was time I came back too!

Here is just a brief re-cap of the past couple months:

• Mason is now 15 months old...where did the time go?!  He just went to the Dr. and he is 24 1/2 lbs.(60%)  and 33"(90%).  My little man has gotten so tall!  He has learned so much and is doing so many things that it really blows my mind!

He put on Daddy's shoes and stomped around in them!

Hiding in a corner reading...makes his English teacher momma ecstatic! 

He was playing in the tupperware cabinet, and this is how he comes out of the kitchen.  I love it!

Helping Momma get ready for school.



How adorable are these big boy P.J.'s!?  A co-worker gave them to us, and I just love them!



• We spent a lot of time outside. This kid LOVES being outside and screams hysterically when we bring him in!

I have the greatest husband ever!  He takes care of me and Mason, and we couldn't ask for anything more.

We had a dinner and movie date at home while our little man was sleeping.  It was fantastic!

He sent my back to school flowers!


*Disclaimer:  I started this post, then our computer crapped out, so this is the half of the post I was able to finish and get the pictures for.  Hopefully, I will post the other half soon as well as be back to blogging more frequently.  

Exhausted!

Let me just preface this with the statement, my new job is completely exhausting!  It has been a crazy first two weeks at my school, and has included going from seven periods to eight, changing homerooms, adding and losing kids, and all kinds of schedule issues.  Public school is so much more work than private school!!

Anyway, there have been lots of things going on other than school/work since my last post.  So, here begins the pictures and descriptions of what we have been doing!

Nick was chosen season ticket holder of the match at the last Dynamo home game.  He got to lead the teams onto the field, we got to stand with the players before the game started, and we went onto the field during half time.  Very cool and definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

My fabulous in-laws sent me the most amazing care package to start the school year off.  It was full of wonderful teaching/office/school supplies.  Plus, who doesn't love to get a big box in the mail!

We partied with the Mexican side!  My mom's aunt and uncle celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, and as many may know Mexicans know how to throw a party!  We had a blast, and everyone was there.  My nephew did question my mom's true Mexican-ness though...he asked, "Ama, (Spanish word for grandma) you don't talk like brown people so you must not really be a brown a person!"  It was hilarious, and he has a point, my mom never really speaks Spanish in front of him or to him.  The best part of the night was when my mom's cousin Henry, who we all love, gave my dad a hat!  My dad said he liked Henry's hat, so Henry said he could have it because he had another one in his car...pure awesomeness!  So, below is my dad with cousin Henry and their hats!  Henry then walked around the party, pointing at my dad, and telling everyone he had a white cousin!

Eric and Selina showing off their moves!  We really had a great time, and it was nice to be surrounded by family.

I am so thrilled that tomorrow is Friday and that I have a three day weekend in store.  Plus, I have pretty much the best mentor teacher ever this year, and she is buying me lunch!  I will try to post more frequently, but I make no promises, seeing how exhausting teaching at the largest middle school in Houston ISD is!

Sno Cone Sunday!

Our lives are crazy, hectic pretty much all of the time.  In all honesty, I don't know what we would do with ourselves if they weren't though.  In all of the madness since the last post, Nick and I have decided to implement Sno Cone Sundays into our beautiful marriage!  It is our time to relax with each other and eat the best summer food ever invented.  Plus, it would make a kick-ass name for a Sno Cone stand, especially if we were to play on the pun with sundae.

Our sno cone stand of choice...it is the best out of like 4.  We have become sno cone aficionados!

Up until Sunday, though, we were all over.  Of course we went to the MLS All-Star game against Manchester United.  We were lucky enough to be on the field during warm-ups, which meant we got to be up close and personal with players and coaches.

I also got a picture with my two favorite Dynamo players, Geoff Cameron and Cam Weaver.  Yes, they are that tall and I am that short!

We also had my adorable nephews birthday party this weekend...they are turning 6 and 9!   Nick and I got the best present too!  We found this rocket that is 7 ft. tall and shoots 100 feet into the air, well after putting it together and much debate about whether or not it would work it turned out to be a huge success and went about 150 feet in the air!

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of it shooting up, but that would be my nephew Tripp grabbing his butt in the above picture, haha!  It was a good time, lots of family, and an Olympic themed party at my brother's, who lives on 10 acres so there is always something to do.

Also, this weekend some of the other season ticket holders at the Dynamo game gave us part of the Houston Chronicle, and low and behold...

Nick and I are in the picture!  I have no idea why we look so angry, but it is pretty awesome!  The couple in front of us couldn't believe that the time they go to get food there is a picture taken (they sit right in front of us).

We had a wonderful week since the last post, and this week is not any less hectic.  My summer is coming to a screeching halt, and this is my last day of nothing to do.  I have new hire orientations, 6th grade orientation at my school, and I start back to work.  So long summer, hello new adventure into not only a new school district but also to public school...

All-Star!

As I have mentioned before, soccer is a huge deal in our house, with our families, and even with some of our friends.  Therefore, there is a lot of excitement since the All-Star game is in Houston tonight and they are playing one of the most well known teams in the world, Manchester United.  Well, Monday night there was a party to kind of kick-off All-Star week that we went to with some friends, but it was also a charity event as well.  We had a great time seeing the majority of the players, supporting a good cause, and watching some awkward stand-up comedy.  Bobby Boswell, a Houston Dynamo player, had different professional sport players get up and do stand-up for charity.  It was hilarious, awful, painful, and thoroughly enjoyable.  Dave Anderson of the Texans was by far the funniest one though, hands down!

Some of the MLS All-Stars

One of my most favorite players, Geoff Cameron!

Needless to say, we will be at the All-Star game tonight with my dad and brother.  We will even have the opportunity to be on the field during warm-ups.  

On a side note, I finally got a peek at my classroom for next year and a chance to meet my principal.  I can't wait to really be a part of the school, be for real in my room, and start a new adventure!  I am even more pumped to be teaching in The Heights...the lunch spots, the after work dinner and hang out spots, and just getting to drive through The Heights is exciting to me (especially since I was driving through Baytown before)!

Bittersweet

Friday was my last day with my students, and today and tomorrow are in-service days.  As excited and ready as I am for summer, I will truly miss my kids!  I could never have asked for a better group of kids to be my first class, and I will always remember them and miss them.  We have all vowed to stay in touch, and I hope we do because these kids are beyond incredible and I am truly blessed to have had them in my life!

Some of my students with their paper plate awards!

Awards!

The school year is almost over...it is so very close I can barely stand it.  I have 3 1/2 days with students and 2 in-service days left until a glorious, relaxing summer!  However, I will forever miss my students.  These kids have no idea how incredibly special they are to me, and how much each and everyone of them have touched me!  I was incredibly spoiled in my first year of teaching to have such small classes with such amazing kids.  That is why I am now in the process of making awards for each and every one of them!  They are all about their personalities and inside jokes we have had as a class.  I am doing a 'paper plate award', which is something my dance team did.  It is basically just a funny, cute award on a paper plate.  Also, I am doing candy awards...for instance, Franky will get a Snickers with a certificate for always making the class laugh, or somethin' like that.  I am excited and having fun, but stressed with trying to get everything done.  With as much as I am ready for summer, I hate to leave these kids!

It is still very much a work in progress, but they are turning out so cute!

FLEAS!

When I got to work this morning I went and sat my stuff down in my classroom and then went to the restroom.  Upon leaving the restroom I found a flea on my arm.  Gross, I know!  I started to feak out thinking that some how my dogs had gotten fleas and we were going to have to handle that tonight.  Well, I go downstairs and am talking in the office when a teacher comes in with a first grader saying that her and the rest of the class are complaining about bugs biting them.  (All the kids wait in the gym in the morning.  We do a prayer circle there and then go to our rooms)  We check out the first grader, and she has fleas all over her socks (she was wearing knee highs with her uniform).  The gym is pretty much infested with fleas!  Who knows how it happened, but it is disgusting!  Turns out about half of the school has fleas, including my classroom.  I had to teach in the computer lab today, and didn't realize how difficult it can be to conduct class outside of my room.  Everything is organized in there, but I was trying to move things and figure out what I needed.  Then the kids act super crazy because something out of the ordinary happened.  Not the best way to start a week that is already going to be stressful!

I feel gross and itchy and like I need to shower!!  Thankfully, they are spraying, bombing, fumigating, or whatever tonight so we will be safe to come back tomorrow with no fleas.  What a wonderful Monday...

Young Love

I know that when you are young and have a boyfriend or girlfriend it doesn't really mean that much.  However, I did not realize how ridiculous it still is even in middle school.  Today I found a note that said "BUTTHEAD! You ignore me!!"  I had to laugh, and I know exactly who wrote it and who it was meant for.  To be in a relationship when you are 13 must be so stressful, haha!

Here is the first picture that came up when I searched middle school love...AWESOME!

Teacher Time

I have to brag on a couple of my students!  Two of my seventh graders placed in an essay contest!!  So, Friday we took a trip to the University of St. Thomas (my Alma Mata) for the awards ceremony.  They got their awards from the Cardinal and I am so proud of them.  It also feels good, because I feel like I am actually doing my job...you can't help but question yourself when you teach middle school kids everyday!

 

 Saturday I took my PPR Exam, I have no clue how I did...I should find out this week.  I am just so glad that I am done with all the testing!  I have another observation tomorrow, but I am not worried about it, the lady is super nice and usually has really positive feedback.  Can't wait to be completely done with my alternative certification!

                                

Seriously!!

Sometimes I just don't get my students! I teach at a Catholic school, and while it isn't easy these kids are extremely babied. I only had two students in my homeroom who did their religion homework, which was a super short worksheet, and they could care less. Maybe it is just because they are in 7th grade and turning 13, but they could all use a reality check that life won't always be so easy, and in high school teachers will just give a zero and not care that they are failing.