Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! Paul's parents came for the week and we had a great time. The kids made cookies with Grammy, did lots of playing and Paul and his Dad put together a playset that I had bought for the kids in November. I made home made raviolis, rocky road candy, sweet potato cupcakes (sounds wierd, but they were really good - kinda like spice cake). Paul made an amazing rib roast on Christmas day, and we've been eating leftovers ever since!

Santa was awfully good to us this year! Sophia asked Santa for 'pink presents' and he brought her a doll bed, doll high chair and new doll (wrapped in pink paper, of course!) , and he brought Thomas a little garage/playset for matchbox cars and a lego firestation. The kids got lots of great gifts from other people too, including an awesome bouncy castle from cousins Bella and Gianna! Paul got an x-box, and I'm hoping that I won't regret that decision and we can play some fun games without it getting out of control :-) I really wanted to get guitar hero, but ended up not doing so. Maybe next year . . .

We certainly missed being able to be with all the rest of our family, but that's just the way it goes when you live far from everyone. Other than that our Christmas vacation has been pretty mellow. I'm officially in my 3rd trimester now, and I'm feeling pretty tired and generally uncomfortable. I found out today I'm a bit anemic, so hopefully I'll feel a little better in a few days after I get some extra iron in my system.

We'll be taking down Christmas decorations soon and begin preparing for Baby Zoe's arrival. We've only got 11 weeks until my due date, and that time will fly by! Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!!

The Holiday Season is Here!

We have been extremely busy since getting back from Omaha. We bought a Christmas tree, decorated the house and outside (a little bit), and just doing that took me almost 2 weeks! I have also been frantically Christmas shopping! I had to get packages sent out to Arizona and California, and I wanted to make sure I did that before the shipping fees got too expensive. Somehow I managed to get it all done! I have a couple things left to buy, but overall I finished all major shopping! Yay1

In the mean time I had some cramping and wasn't feeling all that great. The doc said it was probably due to dehydration, so I've been drinking lots of water and trying my best to take it easy. I think I've been fighting a cold, too, so that doesn't make it any better. I've been really tired and taking 2 hour naps in the afternoon! Paul's been out of town at a meeting for a couple of days, but he'll be back tomorrow. It's increasingly difficult to chase around Thomas and Sophia as I get bigger and slower and they seem to get faster and faster!

We only have a couple of days of school left, and I'm pretty excited for Christmas break. I'll probably have a very hard time going back afterwards, but time will fly and soon I'll be on maternity leave! Well, that's what's happening here - not much! Hopefully there will be more exciting things to share after Christmas!

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was great! We drove 1000 miles in the new Odyssey to Omaha, Nebraska for Thanksgiving, and we had alot of fun. I hadn't been to Omaha since we evacuated for Hurricane Ike, so I was really glad to be back. The kids did awesome in the car, and I must give many thanks to the DVD system in the car. We can put their movie on and they can listen with headphones so that we can listen to our own music in the front -it was completely awesome!!

My brother and his family also came, so Thomas and Sophia were able to play with their cousins Isabella (3) and Gianna (5 mos). We had family pictures taken, and I'll try to get those scanned and post one. I was able to visit with my friends and family and eat lots of good food! I saw my friend Heather and her new little baby Brookly, my friend Jaimie who got married in Jamaica today, ate at Runza and Big Fred's, got 5 chiropractic adjustments (Thanks Matt!!) and was able to squeeze in a little shopping, too!!

Baby Update: I'm getting bigger and bigger by the day, and it's getting increasingly uncomfortable to bend over and pick things up! The baby moves around alot and I'm definitely slowing down. I've got about 15 weeks to go, and I'm ready to be done already! I'm getting anxious to not be pregnant any more, and most especially to meet the new baby. We have most of the things we need, but there are a few things we are in need of, and if anyone is interested we have a baby registry at amazon.com. We gave away some things to a family in need awhile back before we knew for sure if we were going to try for #3, so that is why there are some things on there that we used to have. I certainly don't expect anything from anyone, but just in case anyone was interested we do have a small registry. Anyway, all is well so far.

The pictures above are: Thomas and Sophia in the Odyssey watching a movie with the headphones, my Brother Eric and his daughter Isabella, My sis-in-law Lindsay and my newest neice Gianna, and Thomas watching the Nebraska game with Isabella, Gianna and everyone else in Omaha.

The Odyssey

Here is the Odyssey! I kept meaning to take a picture of it, but it was dirty and it was rainy for so long I kept forgetting. Anyway, here it it. I LOVE it, and can't imagine not having it. I love that I can open the doors remotely and the kids just run in and get in to their seats. It's comfortable, convenient and has great features for a family with kids.

My students have been making fun of me for getting a mini van and actually told me I should get a Tahoe instead! Haha! I laughed and said we have one and are trying to sell it. So, here's the family truckster!

Halloween!

Halloween was so fun this year! We went to a friend's house who had a birthday party for her 3 year old daughter and also had amazing decorations including lights that blinked to halloween music!! Thomas was a bit scared, but Sophia loved it all. We then all went trick-or-treating together and the kids had a blast!! Sophia was Minnie Mouse and Thomas was a Lightning McQueen Racecar driver. They were sooo cute!

New Beds!

When we bought Thomas's crib, we bought a convertible one that went from crib to toddler bed to full sized bed, but we did not buy the conversion set to make it a full sized bed thinking we would buy it later. Well, I went back to buy it and it was discontinued!! So, when we changed him to a full sized bed we had to buy bed rails and Paul had to drill into the head/footboards to make it work. Well, it didn't really work and the mattress kept falling between the rails almost daily and it was a huge pain. So, since we are having another girl, we decided to get Thomas bunk beds (can be put into 2 twins on floor if we want, and hopefull will be useful in the future). We then gave Thomas's old full sized mattress to Sophia (her crib is convertable as well), and we will use her old crib mattress for the new baby and Thomas's old bed/crib for the baby's crib. So, here are Thomas and Sophia's new beds! So far they like them and Sophia slept great in her big girl bed!!

Then, we will have a few years to figure out bedroom arrangements for the girls! We will put the new baby's crib downstairs in the office for awhile until we figure out what we'll do for a more permanent situation, and also that will assure that I won't have to run up and down the stairs all the time for feedings, etc. with the new baby. Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch a couple weeks ago. We ended up not staying long because there were soooooo many people and the kids were a bit cranky and tired. But, we rode the tractor hay wagon out to the pumpkins and got a couple to bring home. Kids had fun and here are a few pictures.

The New Baby's Name Will Be . . .

Zoe Elizabeth!

Long before I was pregnant, Paul said he liked the name Zoe. It is Greek for 'Life', and he came across that while researching Sophia's name, which means 'Wisdom' in Greek. He thought they were good names together and suggested it as a name if we ever had another girl. So, once we found out it was a girl I searched for lots of names, but nothing really stuck out and Paul kept going back to Zoe. I asked Thomas and Sophia what they thought and they immediately started calling the baby Zoe, so the name just kind of stuck. Other bonuses of the name Zoe are that I've never had a student named Zoe and none of my friends/relatives are named Zoe or have kids named Zoe. It's kind of different, and not something I ever thought I would choose as a name for my child, but it just happened. I also was somewhat partial to a short name and so it worked out.

Elizabeth is Paul's grandmother's name, and Thomas and Sophia both have names from my side. Paul wanted a family name and of all the names he suggested, Elizabeth sounds the prettiest with Zoe, and it sounds like his grandma was a pretty neat lady (she passed away years before I met Paul).

So, for a little background - here are the other kids' name explanations: Thomas is my Dad and Brother's middle name, and Paul really likes the story of St. Thomas (doubting Thomas). His middle name is Vincent and he is named after my cousin who I grew up with and he passed away in an accident in 1999. Vince was 10 years older than me and tortured me like an older brother when I was younger, but I was growing up to be alot like him. I miss having him around and wanted to honor his memory.
As for Sophia's name, we picked it mostly because I really liked it. Then, Paul did a bunch of reading about Sophia and how it means Wisdom and its significance in the church. Her middle name is Vallerino, which flows nicely with Sophia, and is my Mom's maiden name. There are no more Vallerino desendents - my Mom only had one sister and my Grandfather had all sisters who married, so no one carried on the name.

So, that's the story of the new baby's name! I'm 20 weeks along, so I'm about half way there. Baby Zoe is moving around alot, and my nausea has pretty much gone away. My students comment nearly daily that my belly is getting bigger, and I'm starting to feel a little uncomfortable doing some things. But, so far so good! I'll keep you posted!

IT'S A GIRL!

We found out on Monday that we are having another girl! I was a bit surprised by this because I was really thinking it was going to be a boy. This pregnancy has been different in Sophia's in many ways - much more nausea, different cravings and just overall different feeling. Maybe I was just hoping it was going to be a boy, but either way it doesn't matter. We are set to have another girl. We are still thinking about names, and will share with everyone as soon as we decide on one.

I've added 2 of the ultrasound pictures - one of the profile and one of the left and right foot. They were the best ones we got. Also, she is healthy and normal as far as they can see. She should be approximately 12 oz. right now, so about the size of a pop can. I"ve gotten noticeably larger in the past couple of weeks and everyone at school is really taking notice. One of my students keeps saying that my belly gets bigger every day. I tell her this is what is supposed to happen! But, I can happily and comfortably wear my maternity clothes now, and I can really feel her moving around in there. Some days she's more active than others, but that is about the only part of pregnancy I enjoy. I've had some nausea popping up again recently, which I'm not happy about. I thought that was gone!! Oh well. At least it's temporary.

Everything else is going very well. Thomas and Sophia are starting to understand that they have a sister on the way, and are helping to pick out names. Sophia's suggestion was "ABCD" and Thomas's was "Tiger". We'll definitely keep those on the list . . .

Garden Pictures

Here are some pictures of the garden. I've planted tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, gourds, basil and squash. You can see some of the plants that I've planted and then I planted a bunch of seeds in the empty spaces. I planted them last Saturday and there are aleady a few squash and gourd sprouts! I've got a couple more things to plant and I'll post pictures later when everything is (hopefully) growing!

Landscaping!

We had to have our front yard re-landscaped recently for several reasons. First, the soil in the flower beds was too high and covering the weepholes which can cause termites and other unfriendly problems. Secondly, the yard sloped up away from the house, which caused some drainage problems. Thirdly, the 2 trees in the front yard died over the summer. And, lastly, the existing landscaping was crowded and not very well done.
So, they fixed the soil problem, added some rocks for drainage, rearranged some plants and added some new ones (there are a few left to be planted), added some trees and made me a garden in the backyard (pics yet to come). They also added some planters in the front to make it a bit more invited and friendly to look at. So, here are a few before and after pictures. We still have some annuals to be planted. We ended up getting 4 new trees for the front yard - 3 varieties of Oak, and one Crape Myrtle was replanted from next to the house to the front yard. Also, Paul transplanted a Magnolia tree that was too close to our house to the neighborhood common area in front of our house. I'll post a few more pictures as soon as I can take them - I ran out of light today.

Landscaping before

Landscaping after - pots in front

Landscaping after


Replanted Magnolia

Honda Odyssey Update!

Well, it turns out we ended up winning the black Odyssey! I think what happened was the lottery winners before us turned it down and so we ended up getting it! Paul's Dad John went to inspect it yesterday b/c it is in the LA area, and everything looks good. We just have to pay for it and then John and maybe Marian (Paul's Mom) will drive it here!!

I'm really excited - it's a 2008, but only has 6000 miles on it and it's about 10-11K less than buying a new one of the same model. It's black with tan leather interior and a DVD system (super awesome for the kids on long road trips!!!). I'll post pictures when we get it!

School Days, School Days

This school year is going so incredible, not just for me, but for the whole school. For me personally, my students are doing so well - they are working well, not complaining, learning stuff, and attending for the most part is pretty good (this is usually a big problem at our school). If you're not familiar with my school, we are a charter school in a large district and so students have to apply to come to our school. We are very small (240 or so kids), and that is the draw of our school. We also have no homework which attracts kids, but is a problem in my opinion (that's a whole separate blog!). The students who come to us are failing at the big (3000 or more kids) high schools for a variety of reasons - ADHD, falling behind, drug/alchohol problems, pregnancy/teen mothers, family problems, etc. Our students are officially at-risk, so it can be a number of things.

In the past as the school has been building it's reputation the administration has been forced to accept certain kids from other schools, and generally those kids don't want to be at our school and cause problems. Since we are so small (max class size 12), one disruptive student very seriously affects the whole class and the students in general (many kids have many classes together). But, this year we haven't been forced to take students and only took students who applied and interviewed well (each kid must interview with principal). As a result the year is going very well.

Last year, the whole school had a bad vibe, and I believe much of that had to do with Hurricane Ike. It really messed up our whole year and students seemed extra lazy, full of complaints and overall we had a hard time getting students to work and participate well.

I have at least 1 pregnant girl (she's due in April and is pregnant a 2nd time after having a miscarriage in the spring - I actually asked her if she knew how pregnancy happened) and possibly a 2nd (not 100% sure, although counselor said she was). It is wierd answering questions about pregnancy in my class, but this particular girl is living with her boyfriend and his family and I really don't know what kind of information she is getting. Other than that I have a great set of students. And, I've been working in the morning when kids are generally better behaved (they universally get crazy in the afternoons), and I have been loving it.

I did lose at least one student yesterday to drugs. We have drug dogs come to our school regularly and search classrooms and cars. I had one student sent to AEP (alternative education program - a school for the kids in trouble - they 'serve' time there and if goes well can return after some amount of time like 60 days) and another student who I don't have this year, but had for the past 2 years. That particular student had a decent amount of marijuana in his car, and the former had paraphernelia (I think, not 100% sure). Two others were sent to AEP as well, although I don't know who they are (it happened in the afternoon) and if they are mine or not. It's very disappointing when this happens because the dogs have already visited the school twice this year, and my former student has been here for 3 years and seen many students kicked out or even arrested (actually led out of school in handcuffs) for having drugs.

It's an interesting place and there's always alot of action, but I love it. One of my students actually told me this week "I don't hate you Ms. Niles. I think you're an amazing teacher, I just don't like your personality", which I find very funny. Essentially he's mad at me for not bending the rules for him and allowing him to answer his phone in class, leave class to call his veterinarian or play the guitar. It's hard for students to adjust to the rules at our school when they've come from schools where rules aren't enforced or are much more difficult to enforce because the school is so big. I truly say every day that I have the best job ever, and I am so lucky to have found it.

I've added some photoshop fun some of my students had in another class. They're pretty cute, except for the major man-hands I have in the 'Bill Nye' one!

Sophia's Interesting Day!

Sophia had quite the day on Tuesday. First, I picked her up from school and she was sitting at the table with a paper in front of her with freshly distributed paint just waiting for her little hands to dive into. She normally sees me and drops everything and runs to me, but this time she did not want to leave and was not happy to see me - she refused to get up from the table and then started crying and fighting me when I picked her up and took her paint shirt off. 'Painting, painting' she kept saying and she cried all the way to the car. She was very unhappy.

We went home, ate dinner and then played outside. She then fell face first on the driveway scratching the tip of her nose, the space between her nose and lip and had a pretty bloody lip. She cried, but recovered pretty well. I really thought her lip had to hurt because it was scratched on the outside and I think her teeth cut the underside as well. But, she is a really tough girl and after a few minutes of recovery and sucking on a frozen 'Nemo' icepack she was back to business. Then a little bit later, Thomas threw a rock that ended up hitting her in the head near the temple. She had a huge bump and that drew some blood as well, leaving a little cut! Thomas got in trouble for throwing rocks and we ended our outside playing at that point!

I didn't take a picture and I really wish I had. I took her to daycare the next day with a scabby nose, fat lip and cut on her head and she looked a little pathetic. But, she was in the most amazing mood - even her teacher commented on how happy she was! She is such a trooper! She consistently has bruised/scabby shins, and I was exactly the same was as a kid. She's very busy all the time and never seems to let a little injury get in the way. Like I say, she's my little pistol!

The Inevitable - a Honda Odyssey!

We have reached the time where the inevitable is necessary - a Honda Odyssey. Yes, a mini-van. We will be trading in our very cool Chevy Tahoe for a very stigma-attached supposedly uncool Mini-Van. Although, in the world of mini-vans, the Honda Odyssey has got to be the best. I like to refer to it as my new Mom Limo.

The problem with the Tahoe and all other large SUVs is that the 3rd row is nearly inaccessible unless you pull the middle row seat down (impossible with carseats) or climb over the 3rd row to sit inthe 3rd row. Also, there is no back storage room once the 3rd row is up and in use. The Tahoe certainly looks cool, and we love it, but it just isn't going to work with 5 of us!

So, we looked at the Odysseys, and there is so much room! This is underfloor storage (yes, like a secret compartment under the floor!!), removable middle seat for the 2nd row so the 2 other seats can be pushed together leaving a space to walk to the rear row, a spacious 3rd row with headphone hookups, still more storage space behind the 3rd rown and something like 15 cupholders! The model we will get will also have a DVD player and headphone jacks so the kids can listen to a movie and we can listen to the radio/cd/ipod. We discovered the importance of this after driving more than 5000 miles with our computer rigged up to show movies in the car - not the most awesome situation.

Other features include automatically opening side doors that I'll be able to push with a button so that the kids can just run into the car and not have to wait in a parking lot while I fumble to open doors (also good if my hands are full). There are also many other safety features that really do not become important until you have kids, but they will useful. The car will also be able to allow others to ride with us without having to maneuver and climb over seats.

Paul's brother works for Honda and is helping us get just the right car. There is a used one (available to Honda employees) available that we will be in a lottery for (if more than one person are interested they do a lottery) next week. If we do not win that one, we have placed an order for one that will be available probably in December.

I am very excited for this car (even Paul liked it when we looked at them) - it has all the little features that I wish the Tahoe had on a daily basis when I'm carting the kids around and doing Mom stuff. I very seriously never thought I would be the mini-van Mom, but it seriously makes things so much easier. I am also soliciting ideas on how to 'pimp my ride' - no stick figure families on the back windshield, please!

Pregnancy update

The pregnancy has been going OK so far. The baby is healthy - we've had 2 ultrasounds and the heartbeat is good and my risk for genetic anomalies is that of a 20 year old! Can't get any better than that! I've had pretty yucky nausea (still no actual vomiting), although it's getting a little better in the past week or 2. I pretty much have to eat high protein foods (meat, cheese, yogurt, etc.) to best ward of the nausea, and yesterday was a perfect example. I didn't have my normal breakfast or lunch foods and was pretty sparse on the protein (cereal for breakfast, salad for lunch) and I felt awful last night. Even after I ate a piece of cheese and some crackers and dinner I was nauseas. So, this is unpleasant in many respects, but mostly because I have to eat all these foods that are probably going to cause me to gain more weight than I would like. However, I cannot stand feeling so awful in the evenings and it makes it very hard for me to take care of the house and the kids. Thankfully Paul is very helpful and Sophia likes to sleep alot!!

I have my 'big' ultrasound appointment on Oct. 19, so I am looking forward to finding out if it's a boy or a girl!! Then I can start planning! We have to figure out how to arrange the kids and probably get a new bed somewhere - we will probably use Thomas's crib because we don't have the conversion set to make it bed. Paul drilled some holes and was able to make it a big boy bed, but the holes are just far enough apart that the mattress slips through and falls sometimes. So, it will be easier to just put it back to a crib.

I'll try to post an ultrasound picture if I ever get a chance to scan it in.

The Big Announcement!

It's official - we are expecting another baby on March 17!! We found out July 4, but wanted to wait until we had the first Dr. appt. before officially making an announcement. I finally had my doctor's appointment and all is well so far. The Dr. did a quick ultrasound to make sure everything is OK, and there is thankfully only ONE baby in there and it's heartbeat is healthy.

I have been feeling pretty crappy in the evenings, and I hope it goes away in another month or so. I have a generally nauseous feeling, although I haven't actually thrown up. I told Paul it kind of feels like I've been on a really turbulent flight and it just doesn't go away. Eating doesn't seem to help, not eating doesn't seem to help and so I am continually trying different things to see what might make me feel better. All the books say that morning sickness usually goes away after the 1s trimester, so I hope it does for me. I didn't really have this with Sophia.

So, that's our big news! Nothing much else is exciting around here at the moment. I'm just trying to make it through the evenings, school is about to start soon and we are starting the process of getting a mini-van!! I'll keep you posted!

A few road trip pics

A Very Long Road Trip

We just returned from our month long, 8 major stops, 5461 mile, 97.5 hrs in the car, 306 gallons of gas road trip. We are exhausted. Sophia has had a fever for 2 days, Thomas has had several meltdowns that I think are just a release of stress, I can't seem to get enough sleep, and to top it off, Paul is going out of town tomorrow. But, overall, we had a great time, and so I'll share some of the highlights.

First we stopped in Waco for a reunion on Paul's side. We stayed only for a day, but enjoyed meeting many of the Texas relatives and T and S were convinced that one of the cousins was their Grammy. They have the same hair and some similar features, and it was just hilarious. Thomas kept wondering where Grandad was. I finally had to tell him he just couldn't make it. Also, just as we were heading out the door to the reunion dinner we saw that Michael Jackson died!! I was a HUGE MJ fan as a kid, but I was pretty excited that we were headed to L.A. We decided to tell anyone we talked to that we were road tripping to L.A. in mourning of MJ.

From there we headed to Los Angeles making a stop in Phoenix to visit my brother's family where we met my new niece, Gianna, who entered the world June 14. T and S had a great time with their cousin Bella, but it was a short stay and we moved on to L.A. Paul and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary by going to a fabulous Japanese restaurant, Yamashiro, that overlooked Hollywood and had an awesome outdoor bar overlooked by a Pagoda from Japan. Lucky for us, the restaurant had a shuttle that we convinced to take us down to the Hollywood Walk of Fame so we could walk by MJ's star (this was much easier than driving and trying to find a parking spot)!! It was INSANE - full of people, police, newspeople and his star was covered in flowers, notes, posters, etc. We took some pictures, and I'm glad we went. Then we went to little bar near Paul's parents house and had a few drinks and ended up listening to the bar tender tell us all about her out of body experiences and how Jesus saved her from them. Or something like that.

The next day we went to a Dodger game where we had the most awesome seats EVER!! they were the 1st row behind the visitor dugout, and the Rockies 1st baseman threw Thomas a ball!! Very cool! After that we headed to San Francisco for Paul's cousin's wedding. The kids were the flower girl and ring bearer, and they did awesome! They were a total hit and actually walked down the aisle! Thomas carried the actual rings (!!) and Sophia refused to carry the flowers, but they held hands and everyone loved them. They did have a hard time sitting through the ceremony, but I guess you can't have everything! The next night we were able to see the San Fran fireworks display right from our window! It was awesome. We were also able to squeeze in 2 visits with several friends who live in the Bay Area. They all have kids now, so it was cool to have all the kids together.

From San Fran we headed to Stockton, CA to stay with my 94 year old Grandmother on her farm for a week. My parents were there, and Paul left to do a week of field work in the Black Rock desert, so it worked well. T and S were able to play with my cousin Michelle's daughter, Elianna, as well as my other cousin Marc's kids. It was great to see everyone and spend a little time in the country. And, we were lucky enough to catch some of the MJ memorial on a TV in Sacramento while taking Paul to get his rental car. After that we headed to L.A. again for a couple of days. It was pretty low key, but we hung out with Uncle Matt, Grammy and Grandad, as well as Paul's 95 year old Grandmother.

After that we headed to San Diego with my parents (they drove down from Stockton) for a Skaff Family reunion. There were 125 people there!! My brother and his whole family came as well as all my relatives in Omaha, so it was really great to be all together. Plus, SD is just an awesome place to have a reunion! We had a picnic on the ocean and just enjoyed time together.

And, if that wasn't enough, we stopped one last time in Phoenix for a couple of days to hang with my bro and Sis-in-law. Bella, T and S had a really great time playing together. I really wished we all lived closer, but I suppose we have to go where the jobs are. After that we spent a very long time in the car driving through AZ, NM, and Texas to get home. It's so much worse driving home than when starting vacation! Thank goodness for ipods! And, thankfully we had some MJ downloaded on the pod! We picked up my grandmother's old antique Singer sewing machine, some new toys, and our car was literally filled to the brim. There was barely enough room for the kid's feet!!!

Overall, the kids saw and met more relatives and friends on this trip that probably either one of us ever have! We literally saw almost everyone we know and/or are related to in this month long journey. So, as I said earlier, we are tired, exhausted and run down, but very happy to be home. Now I just have to unpack, do laundry, clean, organize, and grocery shop. But, I do have a month's worth ofmail to sort and magazines to read, including all the MJ gossip I can possibly handle!

I need a vacation. :-)

Aaahhhh. Summer Begins.

Summer is here! It is all to wonderful to be finished with school for the summer. We had graduation last Saturday, and it was very nice. One of my students gave a speech at graduation and said she wanted to become a science teacher. Her mother pulled me aside afterwords and told me that it was because of me that she wants to become a science teacher. I think that is probably the greatest compliment I have ever recieved! It is sometimes very hard to imagine that I have any effect on students at all, but at the end of the day I must make an impression on some of them. The student also wrote me a little note thanking me, which is the best thing to recieve from a student. She has been through alot since I've known her, and she has shared many of her struggles with me, some of which are simply unbelievable. I am proud of her, and I know she will do well.

The kids have been in day care all this week. I like to have them go an extra week so I can have some time to myself to run errands and do things that are miserable to do when you have 2 kids along for the ride. I've been shopping for flower girl dresses, boys' suits, hair bows and some clothes for me. It's taken longer than I had hoped, but I'm finished. It took me most of the week, so now I'll only have 1 day left to myself. And, since the house desperately needs to be cleaned, it looks like I'll have about 5 minutes to myself. Oh well. I've had a pretty good time shopping and doing whatever I like without anyone naggine me or complaining.

So, although pretty boring, that's what's been going on since school's been out. Hopefully some inspiration will come my way about something interesting to write in the near future. I'm clearly still coming down from all the stress from the last few weeks of school! I'll get back to you soon with something more intellectually stimulating!

The end is near, and TAKS Sucks.

It has been a very interesting year at school. We were out of school for 2 1/2 weeks for Hurricane Ike, I had 3 students become mothers and 1 become a father, I had a fairly serious situation with an irrational parent and a most unpleasant April full of TAKS review and testing. It's been long, exhausting and challenging, and I am very excited for the year to be over.

April was filled with TAKS review and ended with the TAKS tests the last week of the month. For a few seniors, this was extremely stressful because if they did not pass they could not graduate. It was somewhat less stressful for the 11th graders, but if they pass they don't have to worry about it next year. The 10th graders still have to take the 11th grade test, so it was more of a pain in the butt because they know they have to do it all over again next year. And so, the focus has been nothing but TAKS for April, and it looms over the school like a dark cloud for the rest of the year.

The test results came back this week and we were able to share scores with students and I found myself hugging and congratulating many students on the passing of the science TAKS. I was giving high fives, and in the midst of all the celebrations I realized that we are celebrating and focusing on nothing but taking a standardized test. Lawmakers and other officials like to say that teachers don't need to teach to the test and they should do just fine with regular knowledge they learn in class. This is complete crap, in my opinion.

I have seen old released science tests, and they are full of random facts that they require students to memorize. As a scientist you would not have to memorize such things as what the mitochondria does or how a virus reproduces. You might come to know those things because they are important to what you do, but science is not about memorizing facts. Science is about the process of questioning and discovering, and the joy of that has been completely removed from high school science classes because of these tests. We have to teach students how to memorize as much as possible, and how to answer tricky multiple choice questions. Again, I have seen old tests, and many of the questions are tricky and poorly written. They do not assess how well a student can do in science, but how well they can memorize and answer questions.

I felt very sad today when I realized the hold that the TAKS tests have on schools and teachers. We should be celebrating students asking interesting questions, designing experiments and wanting to learn more about something they find intriguing. Students hate science because it is very difficult to make it fun and interesting while covering everything we need to for TAKS, especially at my school. In the end the students at my school did fairly well, but we did extensive after school tutoring and review in class. And, we celebrated what a wonderful state 'report card' we will have, but it's all at the expense of learning to love learning so that politicians can have their numbers.

A weekend without the kids!!

Paul and I had the most amazing weekend! We went to a wedding in Dallas, and it turned out to be the most extraordinary party we've ever been to, and probably ever will, for that matter! There were more orchids, peonies, roses, hydrangeas and little mini hydrangeas than I've ever seen!! There was a 10 tier cake, an amazing band, caviar, and an after party with scantily clad models handing out pink boas, blinking rings, pink hats, chocolate cigars and cotton candy and a lady who read everyone's lips!!! We enjoyed connecting with many of Paul's relatives who live in Texas and hopefully can get together with them sometime.

The best part was that we were able to sleep in until we were forced to get up at 10:15 on Saturday morning to attend yet another lunch celebration. We came home and literally slept all afternoon until we had to get ready for the wedding. It was so relaxing to not have to worry about the kids for 2 1/2 whole days!!!

The wedding was at the Ritz Carlton, and so we stayed there as well. When we pulled up in the car they knew somehow that we were Mr. and Mrs. Paul Niles - they had the parking ticket all ready and when Paul walked up to the front desk they said "Welcome Mr. Niles" - it was unbelievable!! There wasn't a single soul around the lobby or outside who knew us. We are still baffled as to how they knew who we were. I guess that's why they are the Ritz Carlton! After the rehearsal dinner we hung out at the hotel bar, which is quite the hot spot, even for locals! We got a glass of wine, and it was $16 for one glass!! That's probably more than the whole bottle it came from, and clearly explains how they (at least partially) make all their money!! But, the hotel was beautiful, and they did an exquisite job on the reception and the food.

It was so awesome to be away from the kids for 2 nights to refresh! They had a wonderful time with my parents and barely cried while we were away, which made me feel very happy!! In fact, they were really sad when they left today. Thomas told me he was very sad! I think one of the most important things in being a parent is to have time to ourselves as a couple, and to teach my children that we will always be there for them - I think going away for long weekends only strengthens that idea. They learn that even though we left we will definitely come back. Plus, they get to hang out with their grandparents, and everyone knows kids always behave better for others than for their parents!!!

Well, I forgot to bring my camera to the wedding, but have a couple pics from my phone of a particularly me and Paul next to a large flower arrangement (there were at least 8 of these), the cake (the pink wall behind the cake is made up ENTIRELY of pink roses) and a really awesome fruit sculpture from one of the three buffet tables at the cocktail hour (bottom pic - there are tomatoes, raspberries, some herb and blueberries in it!!).

A few more of the outside

Here's a couple more. The one on the left is taken from our backyard looking at the empty lot next to us, and the one on the right is our backyard as seen from the back door. The sidewalk leads to the garage.