Yes, yes indeed

That was Garrett's reply when I asked him if he would like to go walking with me. I go to a nearby elementary school to walk and he enjoys playing on the playground while I walk.

Last night I walked 6 laps (1 1/2 miles) and he played in the rocks and ran around. I walk with my mother-in-law, Juanita. Thank goodness for mother-in-laws who call to see if you want to go walking even when you turned them down everytime they called last week. Thanks Juanita!

So, tonight I decided I would call her. She said yes and I went to put on my shoes. Unfortunately, before I even got a single shoe on she called back to let me know that it was raining. She lives near the elementary school. Darn. And I really mean it. I would really like to get started on a consistent trend of walking in the evenings.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am grateful for the rain. The weatherman said we were in a severe drought. I watered the yard all weekend long and it could still have used more (I guess that's what happens when you neglect it for a while. Hmmm . . . ) but couldn't it have rained after we walked? Actually, my landlord does a really good job watering our yard for us. Thanks Mr. P!

Tomorrow I will be doing plenty of walking. But, not the kind of walking I enjoy. I will be walking in slow, slow circles trying not to make any noise. I am administering the TAKS test tomorrow and this slow, noiseless walking is called "Active monitoring." This is what I must do to make sure that my kids are not doing any thing that they are not supposed to.

For those of you out of the educational loop (or TEXAS educational loop I should say) the TAKS test is the high stakes test that third grade students take in Texas. They take it in two areas, math and reading. It is referred to as "high stakes" because if a child does not pass the reading portion of the test they may be held back in third grade.

Anyway, I have been teaching summer school since the day after regular school let out and tomorrow my kids will test. Our last day of summer school is on Thursday. At 1:00 I will be free to stay up late, sleep late (yeah right - with two kids who consistently get up by 8:00 EVERYDAY!) and generally have the freedom to do what I want, when I want.

Meg's Party at home

Here is a picture of Meg's cake. She requested chocolate cake with strawberry icing. I bought candles that were like sparklers and relit themselves when she blew them out. I made a Key Lime Cake as well. Yum!

Hot dogs and chips rounded out the menu - except for the birthday girl. She ate a chicken patty. (Big surprise!) : )

Happy Birthday to you, dear Meagan, Happy Birthday to You!

Meagan and four of her friends celebrated her 10th (yes, I said tenth) birthday at Justice in Corpus Christi, Texas. The girls received a make over (hair and make-up) and decorated t-shirts that said Best Party Ever on them.

After Justice, we went to Cici's and ate pizza and brownies.

We had a family party on Sunday (which was Meg's actual birthday) and also celebrated Father's Day. Meagan was spoiled by her family and friends. She received almost $200 which she spent on a shopping spree. With her birthday money she purchased new clothes (at Justice, of course) arts and crafts materials, books, cd, etc. Thanks Nana Mary for going with us to Corpus!

For Father's Day Jimmy received ER season 9 and a bag of Boston Baked Beans (which are peanuts really). Jimmy, thank you for being the best father ever. The kids and I love you very much!

I also want to give a shout out to my father, Kenny, and Jimmy's father, Jim. Thank you for being great dads as well!

Awards Days

Both kids had awards ceremonies at the end of the school year. It was sad for me at BOTH ceremonies. Garrett finished Pre-K and will be in kindergarten next year. That's okay really because that means he will now be at Salazar with me. However, Meagan finished the fourth grade and will be attending . . . sniff . . . sniff . . . middle school. Where does the time go????



As I mentioned in my previous post, Meagan did really well in school this year. Her TAKS scores were fantastic. She got a perfect score on the math, a perfect score on the grammar test, a 3 (out of 4) on her compostition, and only missed two on the reading test. This means she was Commended in all three testing areas! We are very proud of her and know she will do well in middle school.



Garrett also did well on all of his end of the year tests. His teacher said he was the best helper in the class this year and is a model student. (I asked her to check her files to make sure she was telling me about the right student! LOL) We are also very proud of Garrett. He continues to amaze us with his vocabulary. The other day he told Jimmy to be careful with his medicine because his pill would dissolve if the liquid touched it!

High School Musical on Ice

As a reward for how well she has done this year, I took Meagan to see High School Musical on Ice in Corpus. Meagan has been on the All A Honor Roll all year, has been a member of the 5A Club all year, and earned a total of 367.5 points in A.R. this year. Jimmy and I are so proud of her and thought she deserved a night of fun as a reward.

We ate dinner at the Olive Garden and then went to the American Bank Center for the show. It was a really good show. The skaters were good and the show kept your attention.

A good time was had by all!

Alice I.S.D. Awards Night

This is Jimmy and I at the district awards night. I received a plaque for being "Teacher of the Year Nominee" It says nominee because they (and I have NO IDEA who they is) select a Teacher of the Year for the district. I was not selected but I think the teacher they selected is a FANTASTIC teacher so I am happy about that.

I did get a nice surprise - a local car dealership has donated the use of a car for one year to AISD teacher of the year nomineess. There were 12 of us in all so each one of us will have the use of a vehicle for one month!

I'll post a picture when I get my new wheels!

The Alice Echo also published my picture in the paper along with an essay I wrote about teaching. (Thanks Elice for the helping with editing and revising!)

Where do I start???

Boy May was crazy! Everytime I turned around it seemed like I had something else to do! To start May off, Jimmy and I were chaperons with Garrett's class. We went to the Texas State Aquarium. The kids had a good time but boy four and five year olds are cranky when you don't feed them at their regular lunch time! (Ours was the crankiest!)

All in all the trip went really well and I think the kids learned a lot. It was neat to see them participate in the hands on portions of the aquarium. Garrett had been before but it was three years ago so he didn't remember it.