Congrats to the Class of 2009!

Well, it is graduation season in Texas. Casey went to one graduation this morning and we're going to another graduation tomorrow. We're already missing Reunion Arena because all of the graduations are spread around the metroplex and on different days due to it being torn down. We use to be able to go on Saturday and watch 5 graduations in a row, haha.

Anyway, this year Casey was asked to speak at North Mesquite's Baccalaureate. It was a couple of Sunday's ago and he did a great job! He graduated from North Mesquite in 2001 and got to speak there 8 years later. He had some funny things to say as an alumni of the school.

Here is a picture of us in front of North Mesquite after the ceremony

Last Sunday was another big week! It was "Graduate Day" at our church and Casey was the speaker in all 3 services! Again, he did a great job! You can listen to his talk on our church's website www.clifec.com.

Here is a picture after one of the services of Casey with all of our seniors from the youth group! I love that they wore their robes so we could see all of the different high schools represented!

Congratulations Class of 2009!

We recently got Maddie a kiddie pool for the backyard. We filled it up one hot day and she absolutely loves it!! She was splashing around and trying to drink from the water hose. We cleaned it out and filled it up again today and the same thing happen. Pure doggy joy :)

Here she is with Casey splashin' around in her very own pool of fun :)

This picture gets me laughing really hard. Great action shot!

Having fun!

How can you not love that super sweet face?

At one point Casey and I got in the pool with her and played. This was my attempt at getting a shot of all 3 of us in the pool :)

Summer is here, and we are loving every minute. I have only 4 kiddo days left at school (5 total when you include the workday on the last day), and Casey has only 1 week until youth camp. Be praying as we take around 150 students to Trinity, TX for youth camp from June 8-12. It will be tiring for us, but loads of fun as well!

Happy summer everyone!! :)

I am married to the cutest little boy!

Don't freak out, I am talking about Casey. I was just looking at some of our old pictures, and I just think he is so darn cute! Look at this little boy! When we have our own boy I really hope that he looks just like Casey! :)

Check out these super cute pictures...

I think the last picture is such a cute little gentelman type picture :)

San Fran Here We Come!

We just booked our trip to SAN FRANCISCO! We are going for 5 nights in June. June 18-23, to be exact. We got a really great deal on a really nice, 4-star hotel! We LOVE staying in nice hotels, and we don't get to do that very often. On our last vacation we started off at something very similar to a Motel 6. I'm not hating on Motel 6, but I do LOVE when I get to stay at a real HOTEL :) Here are some pictures of some of the things we'll be seeing and doing once we're there!

The Golden Gate Bridge!

Fun Trolly Cars

They call these the Painted Ladies--reminds me of Full House :)

We will be going to see Alcatraz of course!

This is the super awesome hotel we are going to be staying in. The Westin St. Francis. It was built in 1904, and is IN Union Square...I think it is neat that it is actually IN the square, not a block from it! The trolly cars come right up to the front door :)
Yay San Francisco! It's going to be fun!

WHY???

Why is that when you want to go to sleep you can't go to sleep, and when you can't go to sleep you want to go to sleep.

For example...right now I want to go to sleep, but can't seem to fall asleep, but at about 12:45, right after lunch at school, when I obviously can't go to sleep (because that would cause serious chaos in my classroom), I want to go to sleep....

Someone please give me the answer to this riddle.

???

Rockin' the TAKS

Several weeks ago we had ROCK THE TAKS day! It was the Friday before our big week of TAKS. It was super fun. Everyone--teachers and students alike--dressed up like rock stars.

Here is a picture of my 6th grade partner, Kristi. She was seriously rockin' it!

Here's a picture of our Pre-K aide, Kyla. She was hard core :)

Here's a picture of me with 3 of my 6th grade girls...notice my rocker tattoos :)

Jocelyn (5th grade reading teacher) and myself rockin out! :)

And here is one of the funniest things I did for my students. They are ALL Twilight fans...I already had on a Twilight shirt, so I thought I'd go all out for Edward ;) The kids sure got a kick out of it!

We got our TAKS scores back today.....all day we knew the principals knew, but they wouldn't tell us....they put on some pretty hardcore facades and I was getting pretty scared not knowing. Around noon, our principal came over on the intercom and told us that we were having an 'emergency staff meeting' after school. A little scary! Little did we know, they were plotting a party.

Cake,

punch,

party favors.

and....

Now for my good news.....

I got 95% passing in reading with 49% commended!!!!

And while I'm really excited about that, I'm even more excited because we got exemplary as a school!!!!!!! Now, for the lowest SES school in Forney, and also a newly named Title I school, we're pretty stoked! Our principal actually started crying when she told us. She's always worked at pretty 'rough' schools, and this is the first time a school that she has been principal at has gotten exemplary!! We were all so excited.

Now, the very best of it all, is that I realized I only had 2 students fail...then, I thought...I have 7 students that have never passed reading on their first try. That means I had 5 pass on the first try for the first time in their lives! That was perhaps the most exciting news of all! One girl in particular passed both math & reading and she's NEVER passed reading before. I cannot WAIT to tell her. I'm pretty sure I'm going to cry when I get to tell her. I will be so excited....this is going to do incredible things for her self-esteem. Yay!!

So, now that TAKS is over, I've got my scores, and there's only 12 days left of school, I'm loving my job! :) Ha ha!

Sweet May

"Sweet May hath come to love us,

Flowers, trees, their blossoms don;

And through the blue heavens above us

The very clouds move on."

- Heinrich Heine, Book of Songs

I love May.

May Flowers...

May Sun...

May Weather...

Minus the allergies of course! :)

Here is our May update! It's been quite a full calendar so far, and we're only halfway into the month!

My Mom and I bought Maddie a real Ham bone.

Casey & I gave it to her one night, and she absolutely went crazy!!

She ran around the yard with it in her mouth and just loved it!

Maddie loving on Casey :)

Lauren came in from Colorado for Crystal's wedding. Lauren, Laura, and I got to meet up at Chili's for dinner one night. It was good fun :)

Here's a picture of the old "L-crew" as we were called at Eastfield :)

Me with pretty baby Aubrey :)

Laura & Aubrey

Since my mom has put the boat in the water we've had a few fun boat days ;) Here are a few pictures of Casey & I before a day on the boat...

Casey & I tubing :)

Casey skiing :)

Casey waving to us from the tube :)

This past weekend was Crystal's wedding!

Here's Cody kissing his bride :)

First introduction as husband and wife
Mr. & Mrs. Cody Maynard

Rachel & I were in the house party :)

The Cake--the salt & pepper shakers will look familiar if you've seen Fireproof :)

Our first attempt of a picture together was ruined by Jordan...but turned out to be pretty funny :)

So, on our next attempt I made no room for him in the middle :)

Casey & I at the reception

Me with the beautiful bride :)

Laura, me, Lauren

Had to get another picture together before Lauren flies back to Colorado!

"The world's favorite season is spring. All things seam possible in May." -Edwin Way Teale

I'm Going Public!

Well, for the past year I have had our blog blocked to the outside world. I have only allowed readers that I have invited by email. Well, I've decided to go public. We'll see how it goes! The reason why I had decided to keep the blog private (I only had 25 readers) is because I didn't think I wanted my students or my student's parents to be able to google my name and find my blog. I never write anything on here that I wouldn't want them to see, but I just thought I should keep all of it private. Since then, I have changed my mind. There are only 16 school days left, and I am going public! (After all, I have the best students and parents there are, so I'm not worried). :)

Anyway, if after a while I feel like this isn't going to work out, the blog will go private again...which means the invited users will have to sign into google using their email address. Also, you can always be invited if you just ask me and tell me your email address. :) Since I am going public, and you can find the blog on google or on the blogspot.com database, I have enabled comment moderation. All this means is that I can read the comments before they are posted. I am only doing this to make sure I don't have any jokesters finding my blog (ahem, my precious students! They are so tech savvy, I am sure one of them will find me soon!) :)

I have so much to update about, but it is just going to have to wait 'til later. I am so tired (as usual) and am going to have to go to bed! Goodnight all!

To My Mommy!

This is the scrapblog card I made for my mommy for Mother's Day! I know I'd probably change my blog header at some point, so I thought I'd post it on here to save it where she can see! :)