Food + Friends = Fun!

Last weekend I had a nice surprise when Lauren called me and told me she was in town! We ate at one of my favorite breakfast places – La Madeleine. It was so yummy! Didn’t you think so Lauren? Here are a couple of pictures of our delicious breakfast :) Can anyone guess which breakfast was mine and which was Lauren’s? Let’s see if you know my personality, blogger friends! :)

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After we filled our bellies at breakfast, we did a little shopping and then went back to my house to meet Laura and Aubrey K. We had some fun chattin’ it up and watching Aubrey play with Lucy. One of her 4 words is “dog,” and she said it a million times while looking at Lucy.

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Here are a few pictures of the 4 of us – for those of you who don’t know, back when we went to Eastfield, we called ourselves the L-Crew since our names are so similar. So, here is a picture of the L-Crew + Aubrey :)

Here are a few pictures of us with one another….of course, we had Casey be the photographer for the photo shoot we had going on….he didn’t mind, I’m sure :)

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Well, that’s all for now! Stay tuned for pictures of “book character day” at school – I’m sure you saw on Facebook that I was Harry Potter. You need to see the other teachers and students – it was a fun day for all!

(Ps. Don’t forget to “vote” on which breakfast food was mine –Oh, and like I tell my students, I don’t just want a guess, I want a reason for your guess!:)

Don’t Judge Me

I took the day off.

Yes, that's right. Don't judge me for it (Beverly, I'm talking to you :) haha)!

I was sick Wednesday night...I felt bad at school that day, left around 5, got Sonic, came home, ate, and then threw up. Yeah, not pretty. Went to bed at like 8:30 that night and went ahead to school the next morning because I didn't have "substitute friendly" plans ready. I decided on Thursday while I was at school (still not feeling well) that I would take off on Friday to catch up on rest, house work, laundry, and errands. You know when you're on your last pair of undies that its time to do some laundry! Well, that’s me! Too much information?

I have done well today! I woke up around 9, giving me 2 1/2 hours of extra sleep, but still an early enough day for all that I had planned!

Here's a run down of my day!

1. First off, I did the dishes and cleaned out the washer & dryer--Casey washed Lucy's bed in there and there was dog hair ALL over it. So trying to clean that out was a lot of fun.
2. After that I started on my laundry while picking up around the house. I will probably do around 8 loads when it is all said and done. I can’t even see my closet floor due to all the dirty clothes that are overflowing from my super-packed laundry basket.
3. Next I took Lucy to PetsMart to get a "puppy bath and brush" for only $11! They bathe her, blow dry her, brush her, trim her nails, and clean out her ears for $11. That's a pretty good deal considering all the time it would take ME to do it. I wouldn’t even know how to go about cleaning out her ears, and I’m sure there would be lots of blood if I tried to cut her nails.
4. After I dropped her off I made my way to the bank where I spent 30 minutes trying to get my silly ATM card fixed. It's been blocked many times and keeps saying "check financial institution." Turns out the problem was on the bank’s end and they fixed it, but it took a long time to figure out the whole mess. I'd already gone in there to take care of it a couple of weeks ago, and thought it had been fixed until I tried to use it again.
5. After the bank I got myself a mocha frappucino at Starbucks.
6. Then I went to Pier 1 to look at all the cutesie Christmas decor, but I kept myself from getting anything this time.
7. Next I went to Old Navy and got my gift for Pokeno night tonight! It's super cute! I can’t tell you what it is because it’s a surprise for tonight! While I was at Old Navy I got an awesome deal on 2 swim suits on clearance! I got a blue and white tankini for $10 and a cute black one piece for $5! I'd been looking for a tankini and a one piece this year, but never found one I liked. Finally! And on sale! Whoo! I also got some cute, pink house shoes. I know most people call them slippers, but I call them house shoes. My current pair have seen much better days. Time to retire them.
8. Now I'm back home doing more laundry and cleaning some more while I watch last night's episode of Grey's Anatomy! I LOVE Grey's. It's by far my favorite show these days.
9. After a little while I'm going to go pick up Lucy at PetsMart and take her to get her last set of booster shots and also her rabies shot at 4:30. I kind of like going to the vet - his office is cool and they have a big, live-in cat. He's pretty cool. :)
10. After that I'll come home and get ready for Pokeno Night! This month it is at Natalie's at 7! I'll be riding with Ginni there. It's been a fun day and, I have fun night ahead of me! Yay for the weekend!

I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of my cute-and-cuddly companions on this gorgeous Friday afternoon!

 

Happy Halloween!

Tonight was c|Life’s trunk-or-treat at Chickfila in Forney! There were some pretty cool trunks, games, and costumes! Casey’s family showed up and Caleb (our nephew) attended his 3rd trunk-or-treat this week! Lucky boy! Sadly I didn’t get any pictures of him dressed as Larry Boy! Afterward we all went to Martinez. Yum!

Today was also:

Laura K. Bond’s 24th birthday!

Old woman! :) Here’s a picture of us with Princess Peach from Mario Brothers :)

Princess Peach, also known as Aubrey Kay! :)  I think it’s funny that Lucy’s head is in the bottom right of this picture. And here is Lucy’s Halloween shirt – just some pumpkins and “Happy Halloween!” It’s funny because she has learned to take this shirt off on her own. I have found it in the bed, in the yard, and in the couch this week! :)

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Happy Halloween everybody!!

Don’t forget to set your clocks back!

One hour of extra sleep! That works great for all of the kiddos on sugar rushes from trick-or-treating. They’ll need that extra hour in the morning! :)

My Name is Lauren and I'm an Addict

Lately my need for Starbucks in the morning has gone too far.

I have been calling my husband once I have gotten to school begging him to stop by Starbucks and bring it to me on his way into work. He has been generous enough to do this several times this school year, but a couple of weeks ago he informed me that it was the last time.

I would promise a Starbucks builder/owner that I would stop at his/her Starbucks store EVERY SINGLE DAY if they would build one on my route to school. Both the Starbucks by my house and the one by my school is not on my route. They either require me to go the wrong way when leaving my house, or going way past my school and then turning around.

Ps. If you're interested, my favorite cold drink is a Green Tea Frappucino (w/ no whip) and my favorite hot drink is a Mocha White Mocha Cappucino (w/ no whip), also known as a Zebra or a Michael Jackson, lol.

Lovin’ My Job Right Now

There were soooooooo many times last year where I did NOT like my job. For whatever reason there were bad days. Either the kids were bad, I hated morning duty, I felt like my principal and AP did not like me, I hated all of the paperwork, I didn’t feel supported by my team or at home, or I felt that I just wasn’t good at it.

This year is not last year.

I looooove my job. I love my kids, I love my principal and AP, I love my team, I love my husband, and I am GOOD at my job. (I still don’t like morning duty or the paperwork, but the rest of my job makes those things so small:).

I know I am teaching my kids something.

I can feel it in my veins.

They are learning things about reading, culture, respect, common sense, and even Jesus.

Yes, I said Jesus. (They have learned that I will answer any question they have. It started with them asking me what the moment of silence was for, then it turned into what I do during it, and then that ball just kept rolling. But really that story is for another day).

Tomorrow is my PDAS (my evaluation). I am not scared like last year. I am ready (I think:). I am not even doing anything differently than I would any other day. Obviously, more thought goes into making sure all of the main objectives they want to see are covered in the tiny time they will be in your room (45 minutes, when I have each class for 90). Heck, I left work earlier today (the night before my PDAS) than I have any other day in the last couple of weeks!

Last year I would not have thought I would care enough to stay at work late to make things BETTER. I was just concerned with staying afloat.

Anyway, here are a few cutie pictures of my super awesome students. (Don’t worry guys, we have waivers from all of their parents saying that they are allowed to have their picture posted on the internet – Forney’s website – and this blog has thousands of less readers – 41 total to be exact. :)

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The first picture is of my current 6th graders hanging signs at the new high school for their homecoming game (their school is right across the street from us). The one next to it at the top is ME in a firefighter’s suit. That is from last year. That thing was crazy heavy. I look funny. Ha-ha. Next to it are some kiddos from this year carrying the posters to the high school. We did that the beginning of October. The 2nd row on the left is when the pumpkin patch came to our school. Each kid got to pick out a pumpkin for $2. The bottom right is a picture of all of the 6th graders from last year posing with the firemen. :)

Have a great week everyone!

Ps. Can you all believe that the holidays are almost here? I am so excited! I realize it is more than a month away, but I can’t wait to put up our Christmas tree! Yay!

The State Fair of Texas

A couple of weeks ago Casey & I went to the fair!   It was a lot of fun!    Fact: Did you know Texas has the biggest state fair in the United States?    Fact: Did you know the Texas Star is the biggest the ferris wheel in the Western Hemisphere?    Everything’s bigger in Texas!

Here I am with Elsie at the Borden exhibit! :)

 

Casey & I at the petting zoo! Feeding the lama and ostrich…also loved the baby camel! :)

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Casey tried to shoot a faraway shot to win basketball tickets – it was SO close, but didn’t go in.

  

Fried Snickers: so yummy it received a thumbs up!

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Casey in front of the Texas Star – the 25th tallest in the history of ferris wheels!

Overbooked

Is anyone else feeling overbooked these days?

I am.

I have had this type of week. Or month rather. This school year has just felt this way altogether.

First off, I have all these after school meetings. Today I had 3 obligations... I had to leave one early to get to the next one, and I had to skip the third one altogether. Makes me feel bad when I have to do stuff like that.

The same thing is going to happen next Monday when we have a somewhat important faculty meeting at school, but I will also have an ESL meeting at admin from 4-7 (which is wayyy too long to be working if you ask me - that's 12 solid hours - not to mention all the other after school stuff I need to do). I have my PDAS evaluation next week (most likely Wednesday) and that's something else that stresses me out. All of my teacher friends out there are understanding that one. (Shout out!)

Thanks for letting me vent to you all, my blogger friends.

Leave me any vents that you may also have. I'll listen. :)