Denver Broncos

I understand that when you are a football fan you cannot be a fair weather fan. Those of you who are Cowboys fans know what I mean...there have been some bad years. You can never give up on your team. Well, there are some seasons that I know the Broncos are just not going to make it all the way - this year is one of those years (my prediction). There are two games a year that mean a great deal to any Bronco fan - the games against the Oakland Raiders. Sometimes I care more about whether or not the Broncos beat the Raiders than if they have a winning season. Isn't that sad? I guess if you were a Cowboy fan those games would be the Eagles or the Redskins. I can't stand the Raiders - they play dirty and they are mean. We beat them today! Jason Elam pulled it off again in OT. A good day for all Bronco fans today.

A LONG WEEK!!!!

It is amazing how the week can last so long! My goal at the beginning of the school year was that my house remain clean during the week. IT HASN"T (mostly my stuff). Normally I saved those common household chores for M,W,F since I worked on T, Th at mother's day out. I got a lot of things done on MWF like washing dishes (we don't have a dishwasher at this rental house), doing laundry, vacuuming, ironing, mopping, toilets, etc. Well, I no longer have my MWF days since I am doing my student teaching. I miss my MWF's!!! After I am at the school all day during the week, I go to my "paying job" at The Learning Ladder from 3:45 - 6:00 where I work in the homework room. Then I follow this schedule:

Monday: 6:30 - 8:00 work out, 8:00 - 9:00 bathe Jacob and help get the kids ready for bed, 9:00 - ??? finish things I need to do (like get ready for school the next day, read emails, etc.) and go to bed

Tuesday: 6:00 - 7:00 eat dinner and get ready for the gym, 7:00 - 8:00 work out, 8:00 - ??? same as above

Wednesday: 6:00 - 7:00 eat dinner and get ready for church, 7:00 - 8:00 church, 8:00 - ??? same as above

Thursday: 6:00 - 6:30 eat dinner, 6:30 - 7:15ish conference call with my university about our student teaching and discuss topic for the paper we have to write next week, 7:15ish - 8:00 work out, 8:00 - ??? same as above

Friday: I DON'T HAVE TO WORK AT THE LEARNING LADDER!!! NO HOMEWORK!!! I want to enjoy Friday so much, but I am toooooo tired. Yesterday we went to get ice cream after school, we ate at Casa Torres, and then I came home and tried to catch up on five days worth of Dr. Phil and Oprah. That is hard to do! What am I going to do when American Idol starts again? There won't be time to watch it.

Saturday and Sunday : Days of rest?!?! This is when I really start to miss my MWF's! This is when I am finding time to do all of my normal household chores. This is when I find time to write my two papers for my university. This is when I find time to sleep...there is not enough time on the weekend. I think we should strike for another day to be added to the weekend. I know I need it, Mark needs it, and my kids even need it.

Let me tell you about my husband - I know most people think they have the most wonderful one, but I really do! Mark has been washing dishes (not always with a positive attitude, but he washes them), washing clothes, making dinner, making sure the kids do their homework after school, making sure the girls take a shower, and he even gave me a back rub last night because he said I looked tired. He is great! I am sure he is looking forward to my 12 weeks of student teaching being over as much as I am though! My kids are great too. They have three lists that have to follow. They are labeled "before school", "after school", "before bed". I am fortunate that two of my three kids are pretty much self sufficient right now. Morgan and Haleigh know what to do and do it every day. They get their own breakfast (no I do not make a warm breakfast for them - I know that will really concern some people), they make their own lunch everyday after school for the next day, they take their own showers, they clean their own rooms, etc. Maybe I need to make a checklist for myself so that I make my own lunch everyday, make my bed, etc. If I took care of my business the house would probablly be clean!

My friend Summer reminded me of the comment "you can do anything for a year", and she said that should also say "you can do anything for 12 weeks". I'm going to be like the little engine that could...I think I can! I am 1/4 of the way there. I am really looking forward to my mini vacation coming up in a couple of weeks. I am going to Seattle to see my little sister. My older sister is meeting us there too, so we will be having a girls weekend! I have never been to Seattle, so I am really looking forward to it. I will be taking a three day weekend, and I am really excited.

On another note...my son will be turning 4 on Wednesday. I can't believe it. We are having his birthday party on Sunday. He is so excited. We are renting a jump house/slide combination. It is spider man...he asks every day when his party is. He picked out a spider man cupcakes, spider man plates, cups, and napkins. I will post about that after the fact...he is really growing up. I miss having a baby to hold. At least Jacob still snuggles with me...no more babies for us. Have a great weekend.

Spiders and Football

I really don't have much to talk about. Everything is going well with everyone at school. Morgan missed three days of school already. She always gets sick at the beginning of school; this just came a little earlier than usual. She needs to drink more water! This week will be a little busier for me in the classroom. I will be teaching all the science lessons this week! I am excited. I will also have my first observation from my clinical supervisor on Friday. I am a little nervous about that, but at least I will get practice all week before she comes. Mark is still really enjoying his job. He will be on his own within the next couple of weeks. He is learning a lot.

We have had more spiders in Texas this summer than I ever remember. Everyone I talk to is having trouble with spiders, especially black widows. This picture below is a garden spider I saw on our fence today. It is huge! It has a locust in it's web. You can click on the picture to make it larger - you will be able to see it's legs wrapped around the locust. It is wrapping it with it's silk. It was really cool to watch it for a while.

In more exciting news, the NFL has started!! I didn't get to see the Bronco game today - they don't always air in Texas, but they had a very exciting win. Jason Elam kicked the winning field goal in the last second of the game, literally. It was sweet. I will have to watch those hightlights on Sportscenter. Go Broncos, we are 1-0!

Watermelon and Horses

Wal Mart had some of the biggest watermelons we have ever seen. Haleigh just had to have one . We didn't want to get the counter all sticky, so Mark cut it outside.
Here is Haleigh enjoying a slice!

Jacob enjoying himself a slice too!

This was a picture of him after eating his watermelon. The picture doesn't show it too well, but his face was covered in watermelon juice.

The people that we rent our house from train cutting horses. They have several horses, and the neighbors wanted the kids to come down to the barn and ride with them. The neighbors dad works for our landlord, so his kids are familiar with all of the horses. They ride a pony named Snuggles and a large horse named Ronnie. This is a picture of Pedro getting Snuggles out and ready. Jacob is a little unsure, so he is not much help!

Jacob is taking a look at a horse in a stall - the horse came up to the bars and Jacob got a tad nervous.



Here's a picture of Haleigh brushing Ronnie.


This is Morgan and Lidia helping to get Ronnie ready too.

Here is Jacob, Haleigh, and Alejandra riding Snuggles.

Morgan riding Ronnie. She just walked a little at first, but then she started to trot.

Here is Haleigh on Snuggles. This was her first time to ride alone without anyone leading her. She was really proud of herself.

Here she is riding with Imelda. She likes to go a little faster when someone is with her.

Jacob riding with Pedro. He was not ready to ride alone!

He agreed to sit on the horse alone for this picture because he wanted to show the spurs that Pedro let him borrow.

When he rides with Pedro Sr. he likes to run! He just wants to make sure that someone is holding on to him.

Haleigh and Alejandra riding together.

They had a great time riding today. They get to enjoy these fun activities now that we live in the country. They are so glad we aren't living in the duplex anymore. They couldn't even go outside there. They are much happier running around out here! It got hot, so we didn't stay out too long. I can't wait until it starts to cool down.

Two Special People

This is a very special picture to me. This was the last family picture we all had together. This was Christmas 2005, and Grandaddy died the following February. He and Big Mama are in the bottom left corner. We lost Big Mama early this morning. They were two very special and gentle people, and they will both be missed.

Big Mama

Mark's grandmother, Big Mama, is not doing well. They don't expect her to live through the day. I would like to ask prayers on the behalf of her and her family. We would like for her to be comfortable today. And, we would like prayers for the family during this time. Thanks.

First Day of School

We had a big day today - the first day of school! Everyone was up bright and early, eager to get off to school. We all had a good day and a good start to the school year! The class that I am doing my student teaching has a couple of rowdy kids! I will surely be challenged by a couple of little first graders. Things went really well for everyone today.

Here is a picture of the three most beautiful children in the whole world on their first day of school!



Here is my big 5th grader! She was quite nervous this morning about finding her home room, getting her locker, etc. When her and Mark got there they found out that her schedule had been slightly changed. She had a new home room teacher! Her rotation of teachers stayed the same, and she was happy because she has more friends in the new home room! She got her locker, and she even worked her combination! She was worn out, and she is already in bed (@7:30 p.m.)!

Haleigh was all ready for 2nd grade. She thought she was really cool because she got to go down the hallway before the rest of the kids since I had to be there early. She really likes her teacher. She knew her from last year because she was her Battle of the Books coach. She is very young - as you can see from her picture - she looks like she's still in high school!

Jacob was really excited to go to pre-school too. He wore his "basketball" outfit and had his Lighting McQueen lunch box. I don't know if you can really tell from this picture, but his Star Wars backpack is about the same size as him! He had a great day at The Learning Ladder! I get to see him when I get to my paying job in the afternoon - I work the homework room at The Learning Ladder. His teacher is the owner (Anna), and I would like to ask for you to pray for her and her husband right now. He has been fighting cancer for some time now, but they got a bad report from the doctor today. His cancer has returned, and he will be starting chemo. tomorrow. Please keep them in your prayers.

Anyway, we all had a good day today. Hopefully everyone will enjoy this school year and learn a lot - even me!