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!

Garrett's Kindergarten picture

Thank you Ethan!

Last weekend when Jimmy was gone to Houston to see the Miami Dolphins, a good friend of mine came over. (Well, several good friends came over - more about that later.) She brought her two kids. Her daughter is friends with Meagan and her son is friends with Garrett.

We are always looking for things to keep the kids busy so we can scrapbook. The girls have started scrapbooking so they were busy with that. I suggested she bring Ethan's train set. It is the type of toy that is more fun with two kids to get out all of the pieces and then run the train around the track.

After the boys had played for a while, Ethan told his mom he wanted Garrett to have his train set.

Ethan, you are such a thoughtful little boy! Thank you so much for the train set. Garrett loves it and is playing with it all of the time.