Sorry

Sorry for the long delay between posts. Things have been busy and hectic to say the least.

There is lots going on around our neck of the woods. School is busy. We are pretty well settled in and just plugging along on the curriculum. We are have 5 school days until the holiday break. I honestly can't wait. I think that all of us need a break from each other and from the daily grind of school. The kids are getting burnt out and that means that they start to act up.

We did have one of the most interesting things happen that I have ever experienced as a teacher (and a person really). We had a musher from Alaska come to visit. My school mascot is the husky and we are very proud of that. We follow the iditarod every year and each class follows a musher. Doug brought his practice sled, a lot of gear and the best part...one of his dogs. He has a kennel of about 20 but brought the most beautiful Alaskan Husky named Nightlight. He talked about Alaska. Doug really thought it was great how we were so cold when it was 45 out. He said that it was shorts weather. He walked the kids through a race and told them some very funny stories about snot-cicles, throwing coffee in -45 degree weather and it exploded. My 3rd graders were so interested in what he had to say that they hardly moved for his whole presentation. Hearing him talk about Alaska made me want to go there. Maybe someday.

We are getting ready for Christmas. We have a big tree and it lights up the living room (and some of the backyard). We will be getting together with the family and enjoying the season.

Hope everyone has a great holiday and a wonderful new year!

What a difference a week makes!

School starts tomorrow. I have been working steady on my room since last Thursday night. It has been a chore but well worth it. The first thing that had to be done was painting. Apparently the person before me thought that bright yellow helps kids work better. I differ in that opinion and maybe that is why she no longer works there. We painted the wall cookie crumb (tan basically) and it looks so much better. I really have to thank my master painter who did a fantastic job. If you need a painter he is available for hire and you can find his picture on the top right of this blog. I also have fantastic curtains that were custom made by my neighbor. She is also available for hire but I think her rates might be a little high. She is very busy and is currently working on another job for me! It has been a process unpacking and trying to figure out where I want everything. I am sure that it will change a hundred times between now and Christmas but for now this is how it is. Just for comparison I have included the before picture:

And these are the afters:




Much better don't you think!

Just on personal notes, we have also been dealing with getting the VW fixed after we were rear-ended by a lady a week ago. It was totally her fault but it is a process to get quotes and get it fixed. It was so minor that unless you know it happened you can't tell.

Frankie is getting settled. He is still learning that Pepper is in charge and plays when she wants to. He has really started to fill out and is fitting right in.

Talk to you soon and hope you enjoy the pictures.

New Addition to the Family

We have a new addition to our family today. His name is Frankie and he is an 8 month old Boxer. He's got some learning to do, and Pepper is definitely teaching him a few things. Number one, Pepper is the boss. Number two, we play when Pepper says we play, not when Frankie says we play.

Frankie is a real smart boy and hasn't had much training, so we've got our work cut out for us. He is pretty much house broken; been here since 6:45p and no accidents or on purposes.

At first, Pepper was pretty cool to him, but now, after an hour, Frankie is no longer afraid of her and she seems to be willing to play and be close to him. He has worn her out, but he is still ready to go. Puppies, have so much energy.

So, here are some pics...

We are Mac People

I am moving into a new age!

I am now a MacBook girl. I bought a new Apple computer and am so excited! Being a PC girl for my entire life has made this a little difficult but I am getting the hang of it. If I have any questions then I ask my trusted Mac expert, Mark. If he doesn't know then I use my moving from PC to Mac book. I think that I will love it. So far everything is going well.

The summer is picking up with things to do. I am going to inservices and trying to get things orgranized for the beinging of school. I am going to go to San Diego to visit the Sherlocks in August before school starts. It will be a great time.

Other than that nothing much going on. Hope everyone is well out there!
Kim

One Whole Year!!!

Well yesterday Mark and I celebrated our first anniversary. We had a great day. We went to eat dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant in Ft. Worth. We had good food, good wine and good company. Thanks to our great friends - JD, G and Kimmie for the bottle of champagne to celebrate.

Other goings on...

Still off of school. Enjoying being a housewife for the summer. We have painted our dining room and have decided that since the popcorn on the ceiling dates the house that we are going to scrape it off and paint it bright white. We are going to do one room at a time and take it weekend by weekend. We actually tested a small area and it is not as hard as we thought that it might be. After we get the ceilings scraped we will paint the rest of the house. Make it fresh as they say!

Jason, Amanda, Avery and Addison were here for a couple weeks on their way to Virginia. It was so nice to see them and spend time with them. Pepper (our dog) got to spend some time with Tanner (their dog) for the time they were here. They get a long very well.

Mark has gone back to GameStop. HD didn't work out. It seemed like they weren't interested in training him like he should have been. The new job is actually better hours, closer to home and a job more suited to his skills.

Better go for now!
Love,
Kim