I'm surrounded by greatness!!

Is it possible that 2 of my closest friends could be Teacher of the Year at the same time in the same district??? Why, yes, it is!!

My amazing friend, Emily, was announced today as the Teacher of the Year at our great school!!! This little award has been teasing Emily for three years, and finally, it became hers!!

I must give a little history so that when I'm 87 I can look back and think this sounds vaguely familiar!!

Almost 3 years ago, Alex was finishing up his 3rd grade year. It had been a pretty rough year for him. He was of age to begin the dreaded TAKS test and he really didn't enjoy it or the preparation it took to do well on it. By the end of this year, he felt sure he would be happy flipping burgers at McDonalds and thought the money would be pretty well too! Why did he need to continue school, he asked?? This was horrifying to me, as a teacher!! What a failure I was!!

Talking with friends about who our options were for fourth grade teachers, I became a little worried. I really didn't know any of the teachers so I didn't really feel good about choosing any one of them to teach Alex. I knew it was a pivotal year for him, as his love of education was waning. It was also his last year of elementary school and I wanted it to be a good one.

Enter my friend, P, who said she would recommend a certain Miss Estes. When I inquired as to why, she said she really didn't know but she had heard she was a good teacher. What she did know about her was that she actually played with the kids at recess instead of talking to other teachers, and she actually ate with her kids at lunch...in the cafeteria, at the same tables with her kids. Those two things told me she was obviously child-centered, or she was crazy!!

With much hesitation (not knowing whether it was better to pick someone you really didn't know, or let the chips fall where they may without my intervention), I asked Alex's 3rd grade teacher to make sure Alex ended up with someone named Miss Estes....someone who I could not have even picked out of a lineup!!

Summer came, as did a little anxiety about the new school year. Talking further with P, it was revealed that Miss Estes, on whom we had now put all our hopes and dreams, had just finished her FIRST year of teaching. I said to P, "I'm sorry....WHAT???" She confirmed that this amazing teacher now had one year under her belt!!! I thought that it was just her first year at Blue Haze...that she'd taught a few years somewhere else!! But, no!!

Now, I have nothing against first year teachers . . . I was there once upon a time, but teaching is definitely a job that gets better with a little seasoning!!

True panic started to set in!! Big year for Alex...not so experienced teacher...what am I doing?? I finally decided to let it go and see where it went!!

Alex got his postcard in the mail showing him whose class he was in and he was pumped!! Evidently, Miss Estes was the teacher to have, and he felt like he had won the jackpot!! He was even more excited when he learned his good friend, Jordan, was in class with him. We went to Meet the Teacher night before school started and met the amazing Miss Estes. (Now, I could pick her out of a lineup, if needed!!)

I remember clearly that one of the first things she told Alex was that he could pick the desk that he wanted to sit at. Choosing your own seat??? It was too good to be true!! Of course, he and his good buddies all sat together. What a great year it was going to be!!

And what a great year it was! Immediately, I could tell that this young teacher had it all together. Her take home folder was organized unbelievably and very thorough. She quickly began doing little things to encourage Alex and let him know how happy she was that he was in her class. If my memory is correct, within the first 6 weeks of school, she had done at least 1 over the top thing a week to develop a relationship with Alex. These weren't simple gestures either. They were hand written notes to him, coming to his ball games, notes to Scott and I, telling us what a great kid Alex was, and on and on. I remember thinking, "Are you for real??" What teacher takes the time to do this kind of above and beyond stuff for 22 kids?? I would learn that the answer to that was Miss Estes.

As the year went on, a relationship grew and Alex's whole attitude about school changed. He had gone from grudgingly getting his work done to doing it well and making great grades. He enjoyed school, even had fun!! It was a crazy concept!! He didn't want to miss anything!

That January, Emily joined us at Upward and coached a team of girls. The kids got to hang out with her a lot and really had a great time. She began coming to our church and got totally involved. The kids were thinking it was the coolest thing ever for their super cool teacher to go to their church too!

Fast forward a little over 2 years, and Emily has become a huge part of my life. She's the friend that hasn't been around forever, but it seems like she has! She makes my life so much easier on a regular basis and has done so much to enrich my life!! She keeps my kids regularly and actually acts like she likes it!! She even lets them spend the night!!

She started out as, in my mind, a first year teacher, and has become an amazing friend!! We have had many a deep conversation (deep thinking is a gift we both possess) and many a meal at Chipotle!! We have spend many hours shopping and most of those times came home empty-handed!! She is such a fun person to be around and a great person to do life with.

She is still the amazing teacher and it has been fun this year to do it all over again with Parker. She's still eating lunch with those kids and still playing football at recess. She's still dressing up in her crazy costumes (I heard all about Tick Tock this week!) and doing cool experiments to help kids learn the most they can. She gives so much of her time and her money to the kids, but most of all, she gives herself. That's why she's such a great Teacher of the Year!!

Here are some fun pics I found to commemorate this special day!! :)

(They have nothing to do with teaching, but who cares really??)

Emily, you definitely deserve this special award!! You are truly an amazing teacher and an amazing friend, as well!!

Way to go, Mrs. Chapman!!

One of my greatest friends, Jenny Chapman, had an amazing honor bestowed on her today!! She is officially the Teacher of the Year at her elementary school!! What a great accomplishment for a great teacher!!

Jenny didn't earn her degree the easy way. She started college, got married, became a mom, put her husband through school, and then decided to go back and finish up. Going to college with a preschooler is a challenge in and of itself, but Jenny pressed on. I remember so many times when all of us girls were hanging out and Jenny had to go home to study or finish up a project. While it wasn't always fun, she knew the end result would be way worth any inconvenience she felt in the short-term.


Before she even finished school, she landed a job teaching first grade. While this was great in many respects, it made life even more challenging because now she would be teaching 3 days a week and going to school the other 2. First year teaching has its own incredible challenges, but to do it while finishing your education...wow!! Jenny got tired, sometimes discouraged (who wouldn't??) but she never gave up! By the time she graduated, she was so far ahead of her game that she kept on and just got better and better. She got the opportunity to move to Kindergarten (where she'd always hoped she'd teach) and she took it. There she remains, changing and growing the hearts of the littlest people every day.

Jenny, I am more than proud of you!! You have stuck to it when so many people would have given up. You knew your future could be so bright if you could just perservere. So, you did!! I have so enjoyed watching you become the teacher you are. Your love for your kids is evident in everything you do. God definitely designed you to change the lives of Kindergarteners!! I've known for a long time that you are an amazing friend and now everyone knows what an amazing teacher you are, as well!!!

Way to go, girl!!

The Weekend Recap

The weekend was a great one . . . no major commitments!!

We cleaned out for an upcoming garage sale and found some older toys that were new again. Here, Landry (pretending that he's Dirk) enjoys the Aguadoodle --

We tried to get some rest, even though we lost an hour on Sunday. Angel, the cat, joined in on the rest time. Either we have the laziest cat on the planet, or she's getting sick. She sleeps alot and nothing really seems to bother her. In this picture, she's asleep in the playroom where the boys are playing an exciting game of basketball. Other than trying to cover her eyes, she's perfectly content in the chaos!!

Both Alex and Parker had a friend spend the night on Saturday night and this is what we ate. It struck me as funny that there was so many pizzas and that this was only going to get worse as the boys grow into teenagers!! I know they're little pizzas, but they're cheap too!! Just for the record, there was one piece left over!!


And finally, we got this bad boy out this weekend because we're going CAMPING for Spring Break!!!! I can't even believe that I'm saying that!! I am so not a camper but we're going and I'm sure it's going to be great!!


Thankfully, we're going with some seasoned campers and I'm sure they'll keep us from starving or getting lost in the wilderness!! haha!! I'm claiming total ignorance at this point. I really have no idea what we're getting in to. Each day brings new questions about should I take this/that.


One thing I know. . . the boys are pumped!! I'm sure we will have a blast!!

Just stuff

Time for blogging seems to be hard to find lately. All is well on the homefront.

Here's what we've been doing...in no particular order --

Alex and Luke both finished up their basketball seasons. Luke had a blast playing Upward!! Emily and I had the awesome privilege of coaching his team and they were so much fun!! I was a little worried about the "young-ness" of their team, but they were all so great! I really never got that I-can't-wait-until-this-season-is-over feeling and that's a good thing!! I finally ordered a couple of action shots of Luke playing because I could never seem to get a good shot with my camera, so I need to figure out a way to get them on the blog. Here's the team during the starting line-up --

After the last game, we had a little party at the church. Here's Luke enjoying his cupcake --

Here's the team with their great new backpacks --

Alex's season ends with a tournament and his team went all the way to the championship!! His team was really dominant this year and they won the championship with no problems!!

Speaking of Alex, this is what he came home with yesterday.

This is his binder from school!! HOLY COW!! The pictures don't even do it justice. It was so overloaded, you couldn't have put one more paper in it. I don't know where he gets this messiness! I mean, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a neat freak, but this is ridiculous!! The funny thing is, someone (maybe Emily??!) just asked me if Alex ever brought any papers home so I could see his grades. I said, "No, not really!" Now I know why I never see them. Crazy!!

On a nicer Alex note, here is he reading to Luke and Landry. Aaaawwww!!

On to food...

Parker had the Writing part of the TAKS test yesterday and he felt pretty sure that he should have one of these for breakfast. Pretty clever, that boy is!!

And this is our new favorite snack...edamame!! Have you guys tried this?? It is so good, and so easy, and so healthy!! I buy it in the frozen section and you just put the whole package in the micro for 5 minutes, sprinkle with salt (or not!) and force those little soybeans out of their shell!! It is so not like me to try something new, but these are GREAT!! Everyone at my house loves them!! That alone makes them good!

And now, I'm going to end this completely random, rambling post!!

Chris ROCKed!!

To sum up the concert in one word --

AWESOME!!

We had a really, really great time. Chris Tomlin put on a really cool show and definitely led the huge mass of people in lots and lots of worship of our great God!! It was a good reminder to me that worship is something that should happen every single day of my life...not just on Sundays when I'm at church or when I'm in my car singing at the top of my voice!!!

Here he is --

Here we are --

Way to go Stacey on your awesome photo skillz!! For the two of you who may not know these great friends, they are (l-r) Stacey, me, Shellee, and Emily.

Special thanks to my great friend, Emily, for making this night happen!!

Emily...you are a very special gift to me. Your friendship means the world to me...thanks for being you!!

Guess where I'm going tonight????!?!?!?

CHRIS TOMLIN!!!!

I am SO excited .... it's going to be an awesome concert!!!!!!

Good times with the virus

This is how last night went ...

10:45 - I went to bed

11:40 - Landry comes in my room, stands beside my bed, makes a sound I mistakenly think is a cough, then I realize he's throwing up while standing beside me!! Yum!

11:41-11:50 - I get Landry cleaned up, get his bed stripped, clean up living room where he's had a little issue, lay him down in a sleeping bag in our room, put trash can beside him. All is well again!

12:45 - Landry wakes up, turns in the opposite direction of trash can, pukes on sleeping bag and my bed skirt! Awesome!!

12:46-12:55 - Take sleeping bag to pile in laundry room, make new pallet for Landry, encourage him to use trash can, if needed. All is well again!

3:30 - Parker taps my arm...Mom, I threw up! Seriously?? Where?? In my bed. Great!

3:31-3:40 - Strip Parker's bed, take to mountain in laundry room, tuck him in his top bunk with trash can, encourage him to use trash can!!

5:45-6:30 -Alarm goes off. Scott says to me, "I'll stay home with the boys." I say, "I better stay. There's a lot of laundry and a lot of cleaning to be done today."

Silence!!

So, I stayed home and did an unbelievable amount of laundry. I was reminded to be thankful that we are not a pukey family. I couldn't tell you the last time someone threw up before now, and for that I am grateful!!

The boys are better tonight. Since they are my big candy eaters, it could have been the Valentine's candy, but I guess we'll never know for sure!!

That was EASY!!

I said that to myself today after visiting a little red box!!

I have become a fan of the Redbox movie rental thingy. I've seen it for a long time, and have thought, "Who would rent a movie from a vending machine??"

And now I can say, "I do!!"

It's so simple and easy. Find a movie, slide your debit card, put in your email, and out comes your movie!!

The best part???

ONE dollar a day!! And they give you until 9:00 the next night...not noon like some other people!!

And, you can turn it in at ANY Redbox! Rent it at Walgreens on Clifford (my fave) and turn it in at Walmart in Lake Worth!!

Now, I can honestly say, we are not big movie watchers. Definitely not big enough to warrant a membership of any sort (Netflix, etc.). But we do rent a weekend movie from time to time. And that's why this is so great for us!!

1 movie for 1 night = $1
2 movies for 1 night = $2

Crazy, isn't it?? Riveting, as well!!

I could so be on a commercial!!

We're working on our spelling

I've been playing a bit of Scrabble on Facebook (Lexulous, they call it) and sadly, it can be kind of addictive. My Grandma and BigPa actually got us the board game of Scrabble for Christmas and we've played it a time or two.

But Alex has been watching me play on FB, seeing where I'm winning and losing, and tonight he wanted to play a "real game."

So, we got it out and began to play. Alex, Parker, and I, along with Luke's help played more for fun, not keeping score, and allowing for some pretty loose rules. It wasn't chaotic, but it definitely wasn't a structured game of Scrabble.

When the little boys went to bed, Alex asked if just he and I could play again and this time really play right!! So, we did, and I was really surprised at some of the words he came up with. We talked a little strategy and he did pretty well.

My favorite attempt from him, though, was when he tried to use DECA as a word.
I'm like, "DECA?? What do you mean??"
And he says, "deca is a word."
I say, "Like how??"
He says, "You know, like a deca cards!!"
I say, "That would be deck OF cards!!"
He says with a smile, "Oh."

Good times!!

Great news!!

Bernadine got some great news today!!

Go check out Melodie's blog to read all about it!!

Psalm 100:4

. . . GIVE THANKS TO HIM AND PRAISE HIS NAME!!!

He's gonna be a great dad someday

Landry comes and finds me to tell me, "Mom...Par-ter said my mawbles aren't tool!"

(Mom...Parker said my marbles aren't cool!)

Me: Oh man, that wasn't very nice.

Landry: Tan you tell Par-ter to doe to his room??

(Can you tell Parker to go to his room??)


I'm guessing Parker gets sent to his room a bit??

Yay for snow!!

We have a snow day today!!

Hip-hip-hooray!!

I think every week would go a little smoother if we could just have Wednesdays off!!

Ya think??

It was all fun and games until the go-carts came out

Alex had a birthday last month...last year, actually!!

He wanted to have some friends over and play Capture the Flag and football for the afternoon. But one of his best buddies, Braxton, had whooping cough and it just wasn't a good idea for him to be outside in the cool air. SO...Alex decided to wait until Braxton was better and we postponed the party until now.

After church (on Sunday), we loaded Alex, Parker, Luke, Landry, Reagan, Braxton, Brevin, Alec, Amren, and Wyatt into our cars and were joined a little later by Jordan and Meagan. The kids ate a lot of pizza and played a lot of Capture the Flag. Even Landry got in on the action. Here he is stealing the flag when everyone else was in a little "rules meeting." He saw the opportunity and seized the moment, even hiding the flag under his shirt so he could be sneaky!!

Here is the yellow team for Capture the Flag. They are wearing their best game faces!

l-r Parker, Meagan, Alex, Reagan, Braxton, Landry in front

I guess I didn't get a picture of the blue team! It was everyone else!!

Here are Alec and Braxton bringing the flag back for the yellow team, while Reagan cheers them on.

Wyatt and Luke waiting in jail

Here are Meagan and Jordan in the woods. What was so funny about this picture was that they were separated and they each had their own jobs in protecting the flag. But when they saw me with the camera, they immediately jumped together, hugging and acting like they were in a photo shoot. When I was done, Jordan said, "Back to our posts Meagan!!" and they went back to their jobs. Totally made me crack up!!

While the kids were playing, Emily, Landry and I snuck away for a little Rock Band...always super fun!!


Here's the cookie fun ... I love how the boys are just on the edge of their seats!! The excitement is just so evident!!


Oh well... Landry liked it!!

Later, they went back outside for a little football. And can I just say that the two girls in the group totally held their own. They did not back down from those boys AT ALL!!


After football, the go-cart came out and the party took a quick turn for the worse. Without the juicy details, a neighbors fence was damaged, Scott almost cracked his head, and Wyatt ran over Alex's foot with the go-cart!! (totally not Wyatt's fault!) Darn go-carts!!

Here's Alex icing his poor little foot down with some crinkle-cut fries!! Fries make everything better!!!

It was, all in all, a very fun party!!

Alex has a great group of buddies to enjoy his life with!!

Happy birthday, dude!!

Keepin' it real

When we got home from school, this is what I saw on Landry's feet --

I said, "Landry, why did you wear those socks like that??"

To which he replied, "I wanted to show my friend, Blake my Batman socks."

Well, of course, you did, honey! No matter if there was only one. I'm sure he got the idea!!

The best part of this story, though, is that this conversation took place yesterday, Wednesday. And when we got home from school TODAY, Thursday, he still had the same socks on!!

I've never claimed to even be in the running for Mother of the Year, but two mismatched socks for two days in a row seals the deal, I'm sure. I wonder what his teachers think??

In my defense, Scott gets him dressed :) but obviously Landry handles the bulk of getting himself ready. And in my defense again, we were at church Wednesday and the boys rarely get baths on Wednesday nights. Judge if you must. Just keepin' it real!!

It's all so confusing!!

Landry: Marther Luther Teend is da new pwesident!!

Me: What??

Landry: (laughing): Noooo, it's Martin Luther Teend's birthday!! (pronunciation corrected this time)

Me: Yup!

Landry: I's just tidding!! Rot Obama's da new pwesident!!

So many current events, it's hard to keep track!!

Playing bas-ket-ball

We are into week 2 for Mr. Luke and his Upward basketball. Have I gotten any pictures of little boy wonder, you might ask??

Well, no!!

But he is having the time of his life!! On any given day during the week, he will just randomly say, "Three more days!!" And, of course, we know that means 3 more days until his basketball game!!

Interestingly enough, Saturday morning is now the only day that he has NO trouble getting up at all!! Even more interesting is that our games are at either 8 or 9 AM, which is a little early for my taste on Saturdays!!

Anyway, he's loving playing ball and we're loving watching him!! And I'm fortunate enough to be coaching his team...five other little basketballers!!

Pictures...maybe next week??!!

Oh yeah...Alex is playing too!! He's been playing since the middle of December. He's not as cute, but he's fun to watch too!! Today, he played some great defense and put up a couple of lay-ups (maybe 3) that he stole and sunk a couple of 3's! Another big difference between he and Luke is he smells really bad when he's done!! All in fun, though!!

I really enjoy basketball season much more than baseball. The positives?? They're inside and the games last an hour!!

From the mouths of babes

In church this morning, Luke was "reading" through his Bible which really translates into looking at the pictures and trying to pick out a few words he knows.

He came to a picture that showed Jesus praying while the disciples slept.

So, he said, "Mom, this is where Jesus was praying right before he was going to die on the cross.
He died on the cross and then he went back to Heaven because He really missed his Dad!!!"

The big 6!!

Happy 6th Birthday to Mr. Luke today!!!

I was going to list all the things that make Luke unique except when I looked back at what I said on his birthday last year, it was pretty much the same thing!! He still has 1 dimple, he was still born in the middle of the night, etc etc!!

What's different this year is that he's halfway through his Kindergarten year and he's definitely ready to move on. School started out as a very exciting proposition and is now just something you do - sometimes happily, sometimes not! :(

He is playing Upward basketball this season and is TOTALLY pumped about that! His first game is this Saturday and I would be totally pumped too, except his game is at 8:00 AM!! He's so excited, he can hardly stand it!! He's been doing the countdown to game day for several days now!!

Luke is still possibly the sweetest boy on the planet. Hugs and kisses are plentiful and he is quick to laugh and be silly too! I think he finally outgrew the whole wetting the bed thing this year! (I know - he'll be thrilled to read that someday, but it's just for documentation purposes!!)

He had a special treat last night when Scott and he went to a Mavericks game. Scott is friends with "Champ," one of the Mavs' mascots, and Champ gave Scott 2 tickets to last night's game. When Champ gives us tickets, they are usually awesome seats, so we HAVE to take them!! Scott and Luke sat 8 rows from the floor and had a great time! Champ came over and gave Luke a shirt that he signed (size XL :) ) and took pictures with him. The best part for Luke was that the Mavs won!! It was a super late night on a school night, but totally worth it!!

His shirt . . .

Today, we met my parents at Spring Creek for supper and Luke got a Nintendo DS. When asked if he wanted a big party with lots o' friends and small gift, or a big gift with a small party, he chose the big gift and small party. He was way excited about the DS so it all worked out nicely!!

I didn't take pictures at the restaurant, so here he is as he's going to bed, with his DS . . .


I'm SIX!!

Go visit ...

... my sister-in-law's blog!!

Melodie and I worked on setting her up a blog when we were in North Carolina. It will be her way of keeping people in the loop regarding Mom/Grandma and Shantel.

Yay, Melodie!! Welcome to the fun-filled world of blogging!!!

I resolve . . .

. . . to eat less Hot Tamales (the candy, not the Mexican food!)

. . . to laugh more

. . . to expend more effort making much of Jesus

. . . to drink more water...ugh!


There -- they're publicly stated. Maybe I'll stick with them!!


School/work returns tomorrow and it's probably a good thing so I'll stop eating. I've seriously eaten my body weight the last two days in those darn Danish cookie things. I got a tin from someone, and my great Mom left me two more while she was at my house over the break. (Thanks, Mom!!) They're really not even that good, so why do I keep eating and eating them??

Anyway, one more North Carolina story --

On the way back (the long, long, long way back), we stopped in Longview for some gas. While I was inside, Alex and Parker came running in saying that Dad needed me...Landry had gotten gas in his eyes!! I'm like SERIOUSLY?? We're this close to home...please no freak blinding accidents!! I go out to the car and Landry is wrapped up in a blanket. What happened was Luke was trying to help Scott and when the gas was done, he pulled it out, and as he was returning it to the pump, he went ahead and squeezed the handle just to see what might happen. What happened was that it squirted gas all over Landry's face and down his shirt!! Lovely!!

Scott has poured some water over his eyes (ice cold water from the cooler!!) so I took him into the restroom and washed him off. It wasn't until then that I realized he was totally without clothes...except his socks!! His skin was really red, but I'm not sure if it was from the gas or the ice-cold water being poured on him!!

He stunk a little, but was totally fine!! His clothes, on the other hand, aren't faring too well. I've washed them once but they still smell pretty bad! Any great ideas on how to get the smell of gas out?? I would just throw them away, but they're pretty new and pretty cute too!! I guess I could always search the world wide web if this sort of fun hasn't happened to anyone else!!

Anyway, Happy New Year - enjoy the remaining 352 days!!