Principal Certification

I did it!  I completed my Principal Certification program at Texas State University!

Go me!

Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day with my babies this year.  They adorned me with jewelry!  Chloe made the necklace and Chase made the bracelets:

They also decorated little flower boxes for me, and gave me some flower seeds to plant in them.  I hope I don't kill them!

Chase brought this home from school, which was super cute:

Now let me take a moment to respond to each of these:

1. I'm glad he thinks I'm good at dancing!  Or I should say I'm glad he sees me dancing at all.  Dancing is joyful!  Rock on!
2. The boy knows me well!  I do love to sleep.
3. NUMBER THREE IS A LIE!!!!  I do NOT like to shop at WalMart.  I'm sure he said that because I've been putting on a show and I have had to drag him there a lot to buy props, etc. (sorry, Chase)!  But I never said I liked it!
4. 37 years old.  Yep....  Right on the money!  Smart kid.  I'm proud that he knows it, because it means I don't feel the need to hide that number.  It's just a number, after all!
5. *sigh*  Video games.  Always with the video games.  Mom of the Year award... right here.
6. "If I could buy my mom anything, it would be a bird."  This one made me laugh.  My kid has an excellent sense of humor.  He knows I do not like birds, and that one pooped on my head once.  I fully appreciated the devilish grin he had on his face when I read that one out loud!
7. While Chase is at school I am always practicing plays.  Right on the money again!  Get used to it, kid....  You have a theatre mom!  :)

As a matter of fact, after the kids went to their dad's that afternoon I spent the rest of the day shopping at Goodwill (FOUR Goodwills, to be exact!) for props and costume pieces for my show.  Go figure!

Happy Mother's Day to me (and the amazing woman that spawned all of this awesomeness)!  ;)

Happy Halloween!

We had such a fun Halloween this year!

My Halloween adventures started when a couple students invited me to a haunted house they were performing in. I pictured a small mom-and-pop production full of kids trying to be scary, and I told them I'd be there Friday,  Then they said, "You better get tickets fast! They sell out!"

Tickets ahead of time? For a little haunted house? OK.... So I got online and there was ONE LEFT... for $35.00! "Hmmmmm...," I thought. "Maybe this is a bigger haunted house than I thought...." I grabbed the ticket before it disappeared (already a little freaked out about going by myself).  Then after purchasing I was informed of a couple little details they failed to mention when they begged me to come: #1, They can TOUCH YOU! That is usually where I draw the line. I don't like people in my personal bubble. THEN I realized I bought the "red level" ticket, which means that not only would I be pawed at, blood and guts were going to be thrown all over me. Let me just quote the website here:

"Think you're brave? SCARE for a CURE is proud to announce Red Level Tickets. Individuals who wish to more actively participate in their haunted adventure are encouraged to consider Red Level tickets. This experience will be more extreme, more physically challenging, more intense, MUCH more messy, and much more fun for adventurous individuals! Please leave your nice clothes at home and come prepared to walk, run, crawl, and get really, really dirty and bloody. Hot tip for Red Level guests: our Gore-Guard Coveralls are a great way to protect your clothes from blood and gore!"

I will be the first to admit I was terrified to go.  They sent us through in groups of 6.  The other 5 people in my group all came together (a family and another couple they knew), and I made sure to introduce myself right away as the random stranger who would definitely be pawing at them throughout the journey.  They were very sweet, called me crazy for being there by myself, and adopted me.

In the end, not only did I survive... I conquered (and it was so fun)!!!!

I didn't walk away without battle scars, though.  In the room with my students in it I totally fell somehow when the zombies attacked, and the family who adopted me had to literally drag me out!  I was bruised up pretty bad, and came home looking like this:

Like every year, I made my kids' costumes (because I feel like it's my motherly duty, and it has become a fun challenge for me... figuring out how to make their costumes without having to actually sew)!  Every year I pray they choose something that isn't impossible for me to figure out.  This year Chloe wanted to be Princess Celestia (from My Little Pony):

And Chase wanted to be a Wither (from Minecraft):

I have been super busy lately so I put these costumes off longer than I should have.  The night before Halloween I inhaled a quick dinner and then went straight to work.  The kids got their jammies on and brushed their teeth and were all ready for bed when I turned around to see our three uncarved pumpkins still sitting on the kitchen counter.

Oops.

So of course we had to carve them!  I put them in charge of gutting their own pumpkins while I worked on costumes.  Our "project table" was quite the mess....

But the kids had fun with it!

We even managed to get Chloe to put her hand in the gut-filled pumpkin (I couldn't believe it)!

I kept the kids' abreast of my progress as I made the costumes.  When I showed Chase one of his main pieces his eyes got really big and he said, "Mom, I love it when you make our costumes.  You're like an artist!"  Proud mom moment, for sure.  I know the day will come when they don't think it's cool anymore to have home-made costumes, so I'm going to enjoy this while I can!

I was so focused on my costume building that I even let them carve the pumpkins themselves (with the tiny "saws," of course... not the steak knives)!  Chase helped Chloe, which was very sweet to watch:

Of course they couldn't do it all, so I sent them to bed after they were done designing and I carved what was left.  Or at least attempted to.  This is what I found when I got to Chloe's pumpkin:

Ah, well.  I did what I could!

I finished the kids' costumes after midnight, but I was pretty proud of the way they turned out.  They were so excited to wear them the next day when we went trick-or-treating:

They loved them so much they had to wear them the next day, too.  Chase took his wither heads wherever we went the next day, and even slept with them:

Chloe informed me that next year for Halloween she wants to be Shamu, and I really hope she changes her mind in the next year because I have no idea how I'm going to pull that one off!

Happy Halloween!

Back to School

Last week we all went back to school.  Behold... my new classroom!

The kids got to come to my school several times to "help" me move my classroom to the stage.  While we were there we also got to visit with my art teacher friend Willow who was hard at work in her own classroom.  She was even there on her birthday (crazy!!) so we just had to bring her cupcakes!

My biggest challenge in the move to the stage was transforming this storage room...

...into my new office!

It's not 100% done (hence the mess above the curtains), but it is definitely a VAST improvement!!

The kids were with their dad for the first day of school, but he sent me a picture.  Chloe is now in Pre-K and Chase is in 2nd grade:

I survived my first week back but I definitely looked forward to the end of the day when I could change into my fuzzy slippers!  Time to train these feet for heels again!

1 week down, 39-ish to go!

I Grajitated!

Well I finally graduated on Saturday with my Masters in Education - Curriculum and Instruction. My parents were here for the weekend to celebrate with me and took some great pics.

Waiting to walk across the stage, hood in hand:

Being hooded by Dr. Kirk, who was a huge help in writing my research and a huge supporter when I was feeling overwhelmed and didn't think I could do it:

A surprise hug from Dr. Hooten after exiting the stage.  She played a big part in my alternative teacher certification:

With my beautiful kids after the ceremony:

And with Mom.  Apparently we are now in a race to see who can get their doctorate first (OH LORD)!

It was such a joy to see my kids there with my parents.  They were so good, and every time I looked over at them they were smiling and waving at me.  Their seats were perfect, right by the doors where we entered and exited:

You know, a lot of people don't walk for their Masters and I considered that option, but ultimately decided I should walk because I wanted my kids to see it.  After it was all said and done, though, it turns out I walked for me, too.  It felt great.  I never thought I would go this far into the world of academia, yet here I am....  I did it.  And I did it well.

Pretty cool.

 

TX A&M Student Research Symposium

I was asked to present my Masters research at the Texas A&M Student Research Symposium in Galveston this weekend.

Well, I somehow managed to win an award! Another student and I won "Top 1%" of all the Masters level research there. I was blown away!  It felt great to see that hard work pay off!

Hispanic Heritage Celebration

My school had our Hispanic Heritage Celebration tonight and I took my kids to it. They got to hang out backstage while my students waited to make their appearance. Chase thought that was really cool, and I was amazed Chloe stayed quiet! After the show there were fun activities for everyone to do. First stop: A family photo!

(I felt bad that Chloe had to be the ass, but she wasn't tall enough for anything else!)

Then we checked out the arts and crafts.  Chase made a beaded necklace of the Texas flag and Chloe made a beaded bracelet and a tissue paper flower, which we thought would be perfect in her hair!

As I was getting things cleaned up in my room afterward they had fun drawing on the board, so I had to leave it there for my classes to see the next day.  I have learned that my students LOVE seeing/hearing about my kids, and they ate this up!

Adios!
  

Go CAVS!

I took the kids to my school's football game tonight and we had a great time. We did manage to watch some of the actual game, but had to take a few breaks. At the end the kids just wanted to run in the field so I watched the game from afar:

I was having a huge chocolate craving so I sent Chase to the concession stand (since we were right next to it) to get me some M&M's.   As he walked up to order, without any hesitation, I realized... "Oh my goodness....  My baby is old enough to order stuff all by himself!"  So I took a video (he's in the orange shirt and Chloe is right on his heels):

He came back and told me they were all out of M&M's.  WHAT?!?  Appalling.  So I sent him back to see if they had any other chocolate and he came back like this, victorious with Reece's Peanut Butter cups in his hand (DIVINE):

(Click on the image to see it bigger....  His facial expression is priceless!)

I laughed so hard!  And, as you can see, one of our students was laughing at him in the background, too (or maybe she was laughing at me, since I was jumping up and down).  Anyway....  My hero!!!!

 

Back to Work!

Yesterday I went back to work, which meant it was Chloe's first day at daycare.  I took it upon myself to get us all ready to go and out the door myself so Brian could get some sleep (he was up late with Chloe the night before).  I was a little nervous about getting two kids up and around by myself, but Chase did great getting ready.  I created a little "Getting Ready" sticker chart for him and we had been practicing all week, earning stickers for tackling his morning tasks all by himself (Thanks for the idea, Barb!):

1. Get dressed
2. Eat breakfast
3. Brush teeth
4. Get reward!

He did awesome.  It was tough getting him up early (he is SO crabby when he wakes up!), but once we got to Step 2, he did great.  He ate breakfast while I finished putting my makeup on, and brushed his teeth when I got Chloe dressed.  Chase requested she wear butterflies (he loves her butterfly outfits), but they were all dirty so he settled for turtles.

In the car on the way to daycare Chloe started crying and Chase said, "It's OK, Baby.  Daycare is fun!"  Then I asked him if he thought she would like daycare and he said, "No, because she cries all the time."  Ha!

I was doing very well emotionally until we walked into the infant room and Chase gasped and said, "Mommy, LOOK!  There are butterflies on the wall!  I think Chloe will like it here!"  That's when the waterworks started.  I did a decent job keeping my composure but I definitely got teary-eyed.

Chloe did great, of course.  She had no idea what was going on.  When I left her she was happily swinging, and when I picked her up she was happily swinging.  It was like, "What's the big deal, Mom?"

I did feel good to be back in the world of the living.  I did my hair and makeup, put some fabulous heels on (oh, how I have missed them)!  Ahhhh....  Civilization!

It's a Beautiful Day

It's a beautiful day today for several reasons. #1, I am officially on Spring Break! #2, my Drama Club's show is over and we won 1st place at our theatre festival competition yesterday! #3, it actually was a beautiful day here, weather-wise. So we went outside to play!

First, Chase showed off his mad kickball skills. Brian was proud of his powerful kicks, while I admired his form. I mean, look at this beautiful extension!

Then we attempted to get him back on his bike:

He tried it for a bit but still didn't get the hang of it, so he gave up and decided to push it around again (just like last time):

Chase got curious about the ugly black tubing that is always in the back of our "playing in the driveway" photos:

(I'm just grateful there wasn't a snake living in there or something!)

After a bit we decided to go hang out on the back porch. Chase took his camera (one of his new favorite things) and had some fun taking photos outside:

Here are a few of his masterpieces:

I set up a group room for Chase's photos: Chase's World. I will update it periodically as I download the very interesting and insightful photographs from his camera. You need a code to get in. If you want it, let me know. It's the same as our family photo album's code. Enjoy!