Bits Of Monday...

We went to the dentist today and both had good checkups. No cavities and good blood pressure numbers!

Mike took some of his students to visit an elementary school today and was suppose to have a substitute for his first period class. When the students showed up to class there was no substitute. Believe it or not the students actually got started on the work that was left for them and did everything they were suppose to do. They even went to the office to tell the secretary they didn't have a substitute...twice. What a pleasant surprise!

Mr. Rogers...

Student 1: Everybody is afraid of Mr. Rogers.

Student 2: No...Mr. Rogers is just a teddy bear that yells.

Weekend Visit...

My parents came to visit this weekend. Friday night I had a lot to do to prepare for a baby shower I was going to help host in the morning. I got to work on the cupcakes.

Since they were just standing around watching me bake, I put them to work cutting fruit for the fruit salad.

Mike grilled us a fantastic fajita dinner. We have really enjoyed the grill I got Mike for Christmas. We are also glad we get to use the fajita skillets we got as wedding gifts.

There was no doubt in my mind that my mom would eventually purchase a Snuggie for Sadie. It is a little roomy but pretty cute.

While we were out and about we went to see the animals at Gallery Furniture. The blue parrot was gorgeous!

The grey parrot was mischievously eating the plant nearby.

The monkeys were really cute but difficult to take pictures of because they kept moving.

They really liked playing with all their toys.

I always love toucans because they are so colorful!

If I owned this bird I would name it Edgar Allen Poe because he looks dark and mysterious. It was great having my parents visit us. We are definitely looking forward to visits from more family members in the next few months!

End Of The Semester...

Things were crazy last week since it was the end of the first semester. I still have to submit my grades this week because the system wasn't working correctly on friday. Amongst the stress, tests, and grading there were plenty of entertaining moments.

One of my favorite history teachers sent me a quick e-mail that made me smile. "We took a quiz today that had a word bank and I told the kids to spell correctly seeing as how the answers were there for them and I got this as a response: 'Lousezeana Territory'".

Am I a bad teacher if I give extra points when my students write something that makes me laugh? The prompt was to write as if they were a chicken trying to cross a busy highway. We had been working on using more descriptive verbs. One student wrote: "I cross the road because I needed my chiken wings. It was like a big adventure because the road was big. I dash, scrambles and zoom in a hurry not to get squished. Will I was running I droped my wallet and a truck split it in half. I just keeped going. I got my chiken wings, but I left my hot sause be hind."

One of my other favorites around the holidays that I forgot to share was a letter to Santa. My students and I discussed the Macy's campaign that involved people writing letters to Santa. This was a great opportunity for them to practice their writing and help Macy's donate money to the Make A Wish Foundation. It took a little convincing to get middle school students to write to Santa but they finally agreed that they could give it a try in order to help really sick children. Most were average Santa letters at best but one stood out from the rest. "I'm just writing this because my teacher told me that if I do Macy's will donate one dollar to help sick kids. Those kids deserve a nice Christmas so you should give them whatever they want. Maybe you could help them feel better too. I know you don't exist so I am not going to ask for anything for me. I want my parents to get me an iPod though. Thanks."

A Well-Planned Retirement...

From The London Times: A Well-Planned Retirement Outside England 's Bristol Zoo there is a parking lot for 150 cars and 8 buses. For 25 years, its parking fees were managed by a very pleasant attendant. The fees were £1 for cars ($1.40), £5 for buses (about $7). Then, one day, after 25 solid years of never missing a day of work, he just didn't show up; so the Zoo Management called the City Council and asked it to send them another parking agent. The Council did some research and replied that the parking lot was the Zoo's own responsibility. The Zoo advised the Council that the attendant was a City employee. The City Council responded that the lot attendant had never been on the City payroll. Meanwhile, sitting in his villa somewhere on the coast of Spain (or some such scenario), is a man who'd apparently had a ticket machine installed completely on his own; and then had simply begun to show up every day, commencing to collect and keep the parking fees, estimated at about $560 per day -- for 25 years. Assuming 7 days a week, this amounts to just over $7 million dollars! ..... And no one even knows his name.

Happy 90th Birthday!

Happy 90th Birthday Grandpa!!!

Some of my favorite things about my grandpa are his sense and humor and his thoughtfulness. The picture above is from our wedding reception. Christine (also pictured above) shared a funny story about grandpa while we were in Dallas for the holidays. Apparently, he told her sometime during our wedding festivities that he was glad we were not having fajitas because he wasn't found of the fajitas she and Alex had at their wedding a few months earlier. He was also probably glad the weather was warmer for his travels. Grandpa is still sharp with the one liners he contributes to every conversation.

Though we always got cards for holidays when we were growing up, we got even more cards and small gifts while we were in college. Even to this day I can look forward to a card from grandpa every few weeks. I try to return the favor as best I can but I'm not nearly as diligent.

Speaking of...I'll try to get the birthday card in the mail today so it will get there eventually. Don't think of it as me being forgetful...think of it as me helping to stretch out your birthday celebration. Besides...you don't get your mail all that often anyway. Love You Grandpa!

Bits Of Christmas...

A difficult thing about blogging for me is remembering to take pictures. I've never been much of a picture taker. Mike and I enjoyed Christmas with family and friends so much that we didn't take many pictures.

Christine and Alex definitely wanted to eat plenty of good Mexican food while they were in Texas. We ate pretty good during the past week or so.

Sadie definitely didn't enjoy the first round of Houston snow so the second and third round of snow in Dallas were met with much disdain. She slipped and skated across the icy patio, did her business in the back yard, and rush back to the warmth of the house.

It was the first white Christmas for many people! Most of it was melted by the end of the day but it was fun for everyone but Sadie while it lasted.

Sadie was very spoiled with gifts.

We had a great Christmas and hope everyone else did too!