Guess what we did tonight . . .

Okay, I lied . . . More about Thanksgiving

Here is a picture of Meagan and Garrett by the Thanksgiving display that my mom put up. I think it turned out really cute Mom!

As for Thanksgiving Day, it was really nice. Nana Mary, Crystal, and Mady came and we all had a really good time. Of course my kids fussed and acted like I was trying to feed them battery acid when given white meat turkey and green beans but oh well.

I was exhausted from crash cleaning the house (thanks Jimmy!) but now the house still looks pretty good, so it was all worth it. (Of course, if I had stuck with my plan to clean/organize one room a day I wouldn't have had to crash clean, but this is me we are talking about!)

It was a lot of fun to see my friend Crystal. She recently moved back to Texas and was able to come down for Thanksgiving. She came over for Thanksgiving dinner and then came back on Friday night just to hang out.

I also got to see my friend Elaine on Thanksgiving evening. I always go to her house to eat pie on Thanksgiving evening. Her mom makes the best Buttermilk pie. Yum!

To finish up Thanksgiving . . .

Here is Grandma Blair (Jimmy's mom - green shirt) and Grandma Silly (my mom - yellow shirt) and Garrett at the Thanksgiving Dinner done by our school. Parents are invited to each lunch with their children when the cafeteria makes Thanksgiving dinner. Thank goodness for grandmas because I do not like turkey, dressing, gravy all mixed up and the day is so crazy there is no way someone could cover my class for me while I ate lunch with Garrett. Grandma Blair and Grandma Silly have been coming to my rescue for many years now, first by eating with Meagan and now with Garrett.
Here's Garrett with his McDonalds - he takes after his mom and doesn't eat turkey/gravy/dressing either. Plain white meat for him, thank you very much.
I wish he would realize that this *IS NOT* a real smile.

Even the Tooth Fairy was strapped for cash . . .

The Tooth Fairy left Meagan an I.O.U. the other night after explaining that it was a record breaking night for lost teeth in our town.

Here is an up close picture of her mouth. This picture was taken at her request. "Mom, you can write about it on your blog!" was her exact comment actually. It reminds me of when she was little I would tell her "You can write about that (whatever she was currently talking about) in Writer's Workshop tomorrow."

Don't worry about the I.O.U. Dad came through with a gold dollar coin that day after school.

Now she only needs to lose 2 more molars on the bottom and 6 on top and she will have lost all of her baby teeth. Where did my baby go??

A Real Cut Up

Quick! Hide your stacks of paper. My son is on a cutting and gluing (is that a word?) kick and no piece of paper is safe. He is also obsessed with having me draw him Christmas trees so he can color them in and add ornaments. (And then cut them out and glue them to another sheet of paper. Layers are obviously in for him.)

He refuses to color in coloring books most of the time. He would rather use of stacks of paper for the printer. I told Jimmy that I think he would probably be thrilled if we bought him a ream of white paper, a pad of construction paper, a new pair of scissors, and some glue sticks for Christmas!

On a Christmas note, I am DONE! shopping for my kids. Family and friends are up next.

Well, I do have to shop for my kids for my parents. My mom has NEVER been a fan of shopping so most years my parents give Jimmy and I money and we shop for them for Meagan and Garrett. I also wrap the gifts - another holiday chore my mom is not big on. But, she makes AWESOME cookies and pecan tassies - things I DO NOT like to do - so it all works out. Plus, I get to pick what my kids get. No complaining here!

Garrett has also learned how to whistle. I think it's cute but also annoying. I hate stray noises that I can't find the cause of.

He is also singing this really cute Thanksgiving song.

"Gobble, Gobble, Gobble, Mr. Turkey says. Please eat pizza not me."

There's more to the song but I can't remember it all right now.

Meagan is using up boxes of Kleenex with her latest cold/allergy attack/whatever. So, of course the nasal congestion has brought on the cough that will not end. It is a dry, annoying cough (and if it is annoying to me I can only imagine how she feels about it) that probably will not quit until I give in and call the doctor for a round of oral steroids. I treat it with albuterol/Xopenex for a couple of days and it that doesn't work, then I call the nurse line and she talks to me and then to the doctor and then they call in the prescription for me. Thank goodness I don't have to drag them to Corpus every time.

Garrett is also congested and blowing his nose frequently but he is not coughing as much. They both have a check up with the pulmonologist on December 2nd, so hopefully we can take of things here at home until then.

My Thanksgiving cleaning plan (also known as Oh crap! People are coming over and I'd better do something to make the house presentable!) is not going as well as I would like it. Who woulda thunk? I guess for the plan to work a person actually has to detach themselves from the computer and do the cleaning tasks on the list. Even if the list is just in the person's head.

Yesterday I cleaned out most of the shelves in the frig - just the bottom drawer and bottom of the fridge to go - and cleaned out a kitchen cabinet. I sanitized all the shelves and walls and organized my millions of throw away containers that I use for taking my lunch/storing leftovers. If something did not have a mate, it got thrown away. Which guarantees I will find the mate tomorrow. Ah, such is life.

On tap for today: finish the fridge, clean out the oven, do laundry, grade papers, and finish the dining room. The kids did a great job in the dining room yesterday. Garrett cleaned up the aftermath of his latest cutting spree and Meagan took all of the junk that didn't belong in the room to the appropriate room. She also did a great job on her room.

I do have laundry going already this morning but that is about it. I'd better get moving!

I'm also going to take the kids and my niece and nephew to see Madagascar 2.

I've been given an award!

Unfortunately I don't know how to get it on my blog! Cindi gave me the award. She is a friend that I met on teachers.net She is also a teacher. You can check out Cindi's post (and my award!) here.

Thank you so much Cindi! I have really enjoyed reading about your two boys and your life!

Thanksgiving Break is here!

We had a crazy week at school. Wait a minute . . . they are all crazy. Let me say that we had a crazier week than usual at school this week.

Here's some of what went on this week:

• Working from 8:00 - 10:00 P.M. on Monday night (and then grading at home until midnight) on grades that were due on Tuesday morning at 8:00 A.M.
• getting to school on Tuesday morning at 7:00 A.M. to finish grades (Mrs. T. is NOT happy when you submit late! :)
• Third grade held a parent meeting about the Reading TAKS test on Tuesday (only 10 parents showed up BOO!)
• I attended a science fair planning meeting on Tuesday
• one of my co-workers was out a couple of days (her poor baby has RSV and TWO types of flu)
• we had almost 300 parents join their children for Thanksgiving lunch on Thursday (thank goodness I didn't have anything to do with it except turn in the money my students brought it)
• Holiday picture day on Friday
• wearing regular clothes on Friday (not me, the students . . . they usually wear uniforms),
• early dismissal on Friday (a first for us for Thanksgiving. We've only gotten out early once before on the day of Thanksgiving break because the high school needed the buses for the the football team)
• a student brought cupcakes on Friday for her birthday, etc.. etc., etc.
• finished up benchmarking (we test at the end of each six weeks on science, social studies, math and reading usual bubble sheets that the teachers have to check by hand before turning in - but I'm NOT complaining - bubble sheets are much better than our own grade/analyze by hand method)
• be depressed about benchmark scores
• take care of field trip details for my DI team
• Staff luncheon on Friday (thank goodness we drew paper goods this time)
• turning in all of the end of the six weeks paperwork that was due
• handing out Book-It pizza coupons to students for November
• trying to download new curriculum for the third six weeks (our internet has been on strike at school lately and these documents have tons of pages so I am NOT going to print them at home!)

I am grateful for the whole week off for Thanksgiving. I plan on working in my room some to get ready for the three weeks that we have in December. Time is flying by and the TAKS test will be here before we know it. There is NO time to waste (not that there ever is).

I also need to clean my entire house because I am hosting Thanksgiving dinner for my parents and some good friends of ours.

Saturday was Garrett's last soccer game. His skills have improved tremendously and I am so proud of him.

Here he is kicking the ball to start off the game. It was WINDY and actually quite chilly for our neck of the woods!

Here he's watching to see if the ball is going to go through the goal. (His teammate W kicked it.)Obviously the ball went in!

Thanksgiving is on it's way!

My mom put this scene together in her front yard. Isn't it cute? Garrett was thrilled to help her with the hay.

He was so proud of himself for moving the bales all by himself.

(Once again Meagan is not in these pictures because she is off at another activity. She is leading a very busy life right now and something tells me it isn't going to get any better any time soon! We - Jimmy, Meagan, and I - were at her kickball game the night Garrett and my mom set all of this up.)

I am excited about Thanksgiving because I am having it at my house. My mom, dad, Nana Mary, Crystal, Mady, and Carlos (maybe) are all coming. It's been a coulple of years since we've had this big of a crowd and I am looking forward to it!

Crystal is my best friend from when I was a kid. Mady is her daugher and Nana Mary is her mom. Carlos is Nana's significant other. (Significant other sounds weird but boyfriend sounds even weirder!)

Salazar Fall Fest

The school that I work at has a Fall Fest every year. It is the major fundraiser of the year for our P.T.A. All of the teachers and staff come out and work various booths. We have great parents who donate all sorts of things and volunteer with us on the day of the event. It is like a carnival. We are known far and wide for our Prize Bingo. Some of those ladies come year after year, and let me tell you, they are fierce competitors! We sell all types of food. The grilled pork chops are the best! They have such a good smokey flavor. Yum! My grade level was in charge of nachos and Frito Pie. We also sold pickles, popcorn, candied apples, sweets, sausage wrap, and corn cups. We also had a cake walk, face painting, duck pond, ring toss, basketball throw, and a moonwalk.

This year we even had a clown. She made balloon animals. Here's Garrett with his balloon. Do you recognize what animal he asked for? Don't worry. I don't either. He told her, "I just want a plain balloon." Only my kid.
Grandma Blair trys to come each year. She tried several times to win a cake but it wasn't her lucky day this year. Meagan missed Fall Fest this year because she was at a practice session for Bible Drill.

Where do I start?

We, as a family, have been SO busy the last few weeks!


Here is an update on each one of us:

Elizabeth - work is keeping me busy. We have begun after school tutorials, which are good, but make put me even further behind in getting home. At school we have begun switching classes. One person teaches Science and Social Studies and two of us teach math (one person teaches new concept and the other person reviews/reteaches previously taught material and problem solving.) This method has been very successful for us in the past. It is actually a relief to me because I don't leave every day thinking, "I didn't get to that lesson" or "I forgot to do that"

Right now the students are grouped by homeroom but last we will move kids around depending on their needs.
I am also coaching DI (Destination Imagination) so I meet with that group of kids on Mondays after school. They are a great group of kids, very self motivated and creative so it is a lot of fun working with them.

Garrett's soccer skills are really taking off! In the last three games he has scored at least once. He score three times in one game! Right now he is home sick. He had a fever last night and now has a rash all over his body. I took him to the doctor this morning and he said it was viral and could take 2 - 3 weeks for the rash to disappear. He also seems congested and is coughing some so we will have to see how it goes.

Meagan is also doing great. Yesterday she came home and told me that she made a 100 on her 2nd Six Weeks Math test, a 100 on her 2nd Six Weeks Social Studies test, and a 93 on her practice TAKS test in reading. She is juggling DI, Bible Drill, Kickball and Lone Star Challenge on top of all of the regular homework and reading that is required.

Jimmy is busy coaching kickball, picking up the kids, helping with homework, working with his dad, putting up with me . . . you know . . . all the usual stuff.

Who needs a knife when you have a drill handy?

Grandpa assisted Garrett in decorating his pumpkin. Grandma Silly didn't want to scoop out pumpkin guts this year so she bought the kids decorations that stick into the pumpkins. Think of it as a Mr. Pumpkin Head. Each kit contained enough pieces to decorate two pumpkins so Garrett made a two face pumpkin. (He has been obsessed with two face things since watching The Dark Knight.) After his pumpkin was complete he reminded Grandma to turn his pumpkin daily. Hey, he's all for equality! Here is Meagan's pumpkin. She also chose to make a two faced pumpkin.

One afternoon after decorating their pumpkins, I drove the kids by Grandma Silly's so they could see the wooden pumpkins with their names on them. (My mom wanted to surprise them so she didn't tell the kids about them.)

I told the kids to check out Grandma's porch as I drove by. Garrett completely missed his wooden pumpkin with his name on it because he was checking to see if Grandma had changed his pumpkin around! Every time he talked to her on the phone he would check with her to see if she was changing his pumpkin each day!

Well, at least we will be safe at night . . .

because nothing could happen to us with Super Girl and Batman watching on!

Thank you Grandma Blair! She made Meagan's costume for us at the last minute.

In early October Meagan had decided she didn't want to go Trick-or-Treating. She was going to stay home (with one of the grandmas) and give out candy. The church then sent out flyers about the Halloween Party that they would be having. Meagan then decided she wanted to dress up. Grandma saved the day and made her a costume. I give it two days before Garrett steals the cape for himself!

Halloween night was perfect! The weather (for once!) was beautiful. It was cool and a nice breeze was blowing. We took the kids to visit both grandmas and then dropped Meagan off at her church party. Jimmy and I then took Garrett to the fire station and trick-or-treating. We like to go to the new neighborhood that they built by Salazar (the school where I teach) I like it because the street makes a big loop. Most of the neighbors sit outside and give out treats and I get to see kids that I have taught in previous years. We ran into several of Garrett's classmates while we were out.

We then went to Nana Mary's house. She made us homemade sugar cookies. They are THE BEST! They are thin and crispy and best of all, have NO icing. I LOVE them! She also let us pick through her candy bowl. She had Milk Duds, Heath Bars and Reece's Pieces. Yum!

Garrett, Jimmy, and I then went to Chili's for dinner. Garrett ate well and the french fries were actually hot.

We got home and got Garrett in bed and it all went downhill from there. Garrett was up by midnight coughing non-stop. Jimmy got up with him and propped him up on the couch. Sometimes this will help the coughing slow down. Garrett went back to sleep around 1:00 A.M. and Jimmy got back into bed. Garrett woke me up around 5:00 A.M. complaining of facial and ear pain.

I missed a DI workshop I was supposed to go to and took Garrett to the pediatrician this morning. (He was already on a steroid burst for coughing.) He was diagnosed with a raging ear infection and the beginnings of a sinus infection. He did better today and is now sleeping. Let's hope he is able to sleep all night!

Aren't these just the cutest things?

Grandma Silly (my mom) bought these for the kids. She displayed them at her house along with the pumpkins that the kids decorated. Ever since the kids were little she has taken charge of pumpkin carving/decorating. Thanks Grandma Silly!