Ellie patiently watched as I punched things our for my classroom. She didn’t even move when I dropped the trash on her. She’s a good sidekick.

8-11-09

I went to Jenn’s school to get ideas for my room because the schools are built the exact same way. As we were leaving we noticed the second pair of keys for her car on the roof. Jonathan had left them there, and she had driven with them up there all day long.

8-12-09

Charlie was fixed last weekend in an attempt to end his obsession of peeing on everything (it worked btw). Here he is before the surgery. All happy to be out of the house and on an adventure.

And this is the after. We even went to Sonic, and he didn’t even care.

8-13-09

What’s this? Christmas in July. Hobby Lobby: this is a little much. It’s still over 100 degrees.

8-14-09

My first convocation (a motivational time for the whole district to jump start the year). It was so cool to see Jenn there even if we were not wearing the same school shirts.

8-15-09

We had lunch with Becky, Robert, and Oliver. Oliver decided that he wanted my sour cream. He also learned how to drink out of a straw that night using mine.

8-16-09

Grilled pineapple from Master Grill is the best. I won’t even bring shame to my family by telling you how much Ryan and I ate.

Garrett and I took a trip to see Ryan at work downtown. We even road the Dart train. Of all the places to eat downtown, Garrett wanted Dickey’s.

8-4-09

My classroom – the before image

8-5-09

This is the last day I will work here for Bossman.

8-6-09

Today is Jenn’s birthday. We actually celebrated last night at Pappasito’s with watermelon margaritas. Yummy!

8-7-09

Ryan came up to work to help me work on my room. He got so tired that he feel asleep. He’s a TON of help. LOL!

8-8-09

I threw Gracie’s baby shower today. It was lots of fun. I’m sure I should post a cute pic of her, but this photo makes me so happy.

8-9-09

We decided to pull up the floor in the office and stain the concrete. We let Jonathan help. I turned my back for one minute and all the floor was torn apart.

buybuybaby opened by my house. It’s amazing. Forget Babies R Us.

7-28-09

Windmill in front of my school. It makes an eerie, creaky noise.

7-29-09

Preparing to load it all up and take it to my new classroom.

7-30-09

Red velvet cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. Yes please! Even better when it is half price.

7-31-09

This is Ryan’s new favorite shirt. We got it at microcenter. He received lots of complements.

8-1-09

We had a BBQ to celebrate the July and August birthdays in our family. G really enjoyed swimming in Aunt Debbie’s pool. Ryan caught this awesome action shot.

8-2-09

We bought a shark steam mop to sanitize our floors. It works awesome. Ryan did a review that would have made Billy Mays proud.

We love having this door of magnets. People often spell out messages on it. “Git R Done” was up there for a long time.

7-21-09

I bought this cutie pie dress for Gracie. I have to be honest when I say that I hope this one gets passed back down to me. I would wear it if it came in my size.

7-22-09

This is the view from the back of my school. It has such a calming effect (or affect, which one Josh) when you’re having a hectic day.

7-23-09

Garrett just loves Charlie. Charlie loves all the attention and hugs too. The funniest part was that after I took the picture he said, “Make sure you send this picture to Aunt Judy.” Too precious.

7-24-09

Rather than a trip to the beach this summer, we opted for a staycation that included a trip to Six Flags. All of the kiddos acted so good.

7-25-09

Girls’ night out! Woohoo! Tons of fun dancing the night away at Carson’s. Man we’re some sexy bitches.

7-26-09

Look at out gangsta mafia selves. We had an amazing time at lunch with out good friend Josh. I didn’t realize how much I miss him until we had lunch together.  I wonder why he always manages to look like a serial killer in pictures. Funny thing is that our favorite waiter at Pappasitos is now working at Maggiano’s. It was good to see him too.

This plant used to live in the corner of the window sill. I moved it into the center, and it is so much happier. It makes me happy too because it reminds me of the opening scene of The Lion King. When will that ever come out on DVD?

7-14-09

For Ryan’s birthday we went to the midnight screening of the newest Harry Potter movie. This was taken around 11pm when we were waiting. Jonathan and Jennifer went with us. As we looked around the theatre, I had a sombering thought. We were some of the oldest people in the theatre. It made me realize that there most likely would not be many more midnight screenings in our future, but we are holding out as long as we can! That’s me and Jonathan in the pic.

7-15-09

After the movie. Happy 27th Birthday Ryan! I didn’t realize he had messed with my camera settings, so the next few are in black and white.

7-16-09

Oh, my sweet Gracie girl. I could just eat her up.

7-17-09

After my teeth were removed. The sad part is that this was taken 24 hours before it got REALLY bad. I should have had Ryan take a pic, but I was too uncomfortable to care.

7-18-09

Jenn made the cutest thing for Ryan. Cakeballs that looked like sushi. They were too cute to eat (not really)!

7-19-09

My Zoe. Her fur under her chin is turning gray. She’s cranky and likes to fight, but she still plays like a puppy. She runs through the house like she’s 3 months old. I hate realizing that my sweet Zoe is not a spring chick anymore.

I had a day to myself. This is a glimpse of what I did.

7-7-09

Jonathan hacked Ryan’s Wii. The result….old school Kirby. Ryan was obsessed for a few days.

7-8-09

I love how they look like they are talking in this photo. That toy lasted less than one day before they had torn it up.

7-9-09

I thought it was just so funny to see a huge rv towing an itty, bitty smart car. Had to take a pic!

7-10-09

I’m a dork fish chillin’ at Chuck E Cheese with Garrett and the girlies.

7-11-09

I have always tried to not kill African violets. For the most part they would stay alive, but never really bloom…until now. It makes me really happy!

7-12-09

I ordered these socks for Miss Gracie Kate. I had seen the mary janes before, but these pixies are way too cute! They were Ryan’s pick.

Ryan and I bought this fly swatter at Walmart. The best part is that it only costs $1.08. This is what the back of the packaging says:

A MILITARY SPEC SWATTER FOR THE TOUGHEST PESTS!

• Recoil-less design allows for swat-attacks on even the largest of flying prey.
• Precision manufactured flapper and super strong steel handle creates the most lethal flying pest killing apparatus the world has ever seen.
• Superior balanced action allows for smooth, powerful swats-even while seated.
• Will not bend not break, even in the most severe of conditions.

888 CIVILIAN USES – HERE ARE 8:

1. Keep it in the truck for the winter and use it as a windshield scraper.
2. For those that don’t mind spreading a little bug shrapnel, try it as a back scratcher.
3. Emergency toothpick (works well but don’t let your wife catch you)
4. Canoe paddle, never know when you’ll be up that creek without a real one.
5. Makes a good fish club.
6. Beer can crusher
7. Redneck badminton
8. Manual mouse-trap

CAUTION:

• While sergeant swat is effective on most campsite pests; it has been shown to only aggravate bears.
• Meant for backyard warfare between you and the flys – not your neighbors’ dogs.
• Keep away from unruly kids (unless you like getting thwacked)

6-30-09

Here’s my classroom. Check out the kidney table Jenn. Eat your heart out!

7-1-09

Gracie Kate was born this morning. She is such a sweet baby!

7-2-09

I got a new hair cut and color today. I love my hair stylist. We chatted about Twilight, Harry Potter, and other books the whole time. The greatest part is that I totally trust her with my hair. I’m loving this color.

7-3-09

Gracie was able to come home yesterday, so we rushed to to see her and take her a new bouncer seat. Note: I rarely chew gum, but it never fails that I get caught with it my mouth.

7-5-09

Ryan’s Aunt Jill got married today. Here’s a pic of us with his family. We’re a crazy bunch.

7-5-09

This pic was from the day before, but it’s too cute to not include.

Ryan and I found this cute piggy bank at Target. It looks great in the spare bedroom.

6-23-09

Speaking of the spare bedroom. This is what the inside of the nightstand looks like. I can’t wait to get into my classroom and move all my stuff up there.

6-24-09

I drove to Austin for a kindergarten teacher’s conference. Our hotel looked out onto this, and since it was Wednesday….Hey baby Que Paso?

6-25-09

Me, Jenn, and Amy had a great time at the conference. Oh my goodness I learned so much. It will take my brain awhile to process all that info. We must have another girls’ night soon!

6-26-09

I came home to Ryan (who had lasik at 1pm) and all these dishes. This is what happens when the boys have a slumber party! To Ryan’s credit, he did clean them all up.

6-27-09

This is Ryan’s favorite isle at Walmart!

6-28-09

We went to a splash park, and everyone had a great time. Garrett ran for 2 hours straight.

Ryan downloaded Dr. Mario for me on the Wii. This version is even better because I can challenge people over the wifi connection. This is awesome since Ryan won’t play with me anymore because he never wins.

6-16-09

I finally finished Nick’s book! (almost a year to the date later) I particularly loved this page.

6-17-09

Jonathan helped us attempt to get a few branches down that were almost broken during the big storm. As of today, the branches are still in the tree. LOL

6-18-09

Sports Camp buddies enjoying lunch together.

6-19-09

Ryan worked on the yard some this evening. He laid on the floor under our super fan to cool down. Then he actually fell asleep!

6-20-09

I made these cake balls for my dad. We enjoyed an awesome dinner at Japan House and had a good visit.

6-21-09

Our Father’s Day plans got cancelled, so we stayed at home in our pjs all day. We watched some episodes of our new favorite show, How I Met Your Mother. This show is so funny! Neil Patrick Harris is “legendary”

Back at work with Bossman today. It’s so much easier than teaching!

6-9-09

I had a second interview today with the kindergarten team at this school, and I GOT THE POSITION! Go God!

6-10-09

Jenn and I celebrated my new position with a trip to the teacher store. I have decided that these will be my new calendar headers, and I think I am going to go with a puppy theme. I’m so excited about this fall!

6-11-09

The storm blew down two really large branches in our front yard and lifted up our shed in the back. Luckily there was no property damage.

6-12-09

Jonathan cut down all the branches today while Jenn and I visited more teacher stores. We all went to dinner together at Spring Creek BBQ. It isn’t as good as Dickey’s, but it was nice to try a new place. I’m not sure whether Ryan love them more or if they love him more!

6-13-09

Since our atrium roof leaks and we use this space for the dogs, we pulled up the carpet. That was the easy part. Getting all the glue off the floor is another story. We hope to finish this weekend and then get the concrete stained for easy cleanup.

6-14-09

Paying bills is  a little more fun with these cool stamps. Eat my shorts!