I cannot seem to remember to get on here on a weekly basis any more. Between family stuff, work duties, my church calling, and just life in general, I find myself not taking that many pictures and our life is kind of in a repetitive cycle of work/school, sleep, repeat. We did get to get out of the house a couple of weekends ago, though. We went to Buc-ee’s (which we kind of regretted after seeing how many school groups were there on their way to games, band competitions, etc…but we got our Halloween shirts!) and Black’s BBQ (which we decided was good, but B. Daddy’s right here close to home is just as good. Other than that, it’s been a pretty standard month. The kids are busy with school, I’m busy with school (report cards are finished and parent-teacher conferences are ALMOST done), and Paul is busy with work and LP stuff (thank goodness we’re approaching the end of election season). So here’s our month in pictures!
We have a resident squirrel. He has figured out that we keep the bird feeders stocked, and while he can’t get at the bird seed in them, he is more than happy to collect what is dropped on the ground. He also likes the acorns in our trees, I suppose. The top of the swing set makes for a nice bridge for him between trees.One of my sweet students knows I love Nightmare Before Christmas, so she made me these bracelets. Aaalll the heart eyes with this one!Here’s our cutie foraging for some seeds. I just hope he doesn’t try to get into our house when it gets colder! General Conference was at the beginning of the month. I love listening to our church leaders and I love getting the chance to bake (I don’t have a ton of time to do that any more). General Conference tradition is cinnamon rolls. I didn’t want to make a full batch, so I made half regular dinner rolls and half cinnamon rolls.Joseph saw me pouring on the icing and said it was torture having to wait for it to set and for the rolls to cool down more. Abigail doesn’t care for cinnamon rolls, but she was excited for the dinner rolls. It makes me excited for the holidays.I almost forgot that we also made a trip across town to IKEA (which we don’t do often since it’s 30 minutes without traffic…and there’s hardly ever a time when there isn’t traffic) and we got this cube unit for my classroom. Paul put it together and then we got permission to go to the school on a weekend (one perk about being in the portables is that since I don’t have to access the main building, all I need to do is clear it with admin) so that he could bring it in for me. It’s sooooooooo much better than what was there before (which was just two student desks with stuff piled on top of them and other stuff shoved underneath).The elementary school fundraiser was an obstacle course. Abigail was totally ready to go. She was literally bouncing with excitement. I was lucky in that 4th grade and 2nd grade happened to be running at the same time, so I got to see her and get a couple of pictures (2nd grade was cheering on 4th and vice versa). Don’t mind the hearts…I was covering up faces of the other kiddos. I try to do that whenever I post any pictures online that have kiddos I don’t personally know in them.In her element running (she’s at the front of all the blue hearts). She loved figuring out the different obstacles.They even glow in the dark!I realized after the fact that we didn’t get a picture with the statue out front. Abigail was super excited to get to see Buc-ee, though.Black’s BBQ. The consensus was: Abigail liked the turkey better than B Daddy’s because it was less spicy (B Daddy’s is a bit peppery all the way through while Blacks is just peppery on the outside, so with the outside cut off, it was just right for her), those that had brisket said that B Daddy’s was a bit better, we liked the mac and cheese at Black’s a little better because we could tell they use real cheese (I love you, B Daddy’s, but I don’t really care for Velveeta, even if it DOES melt better), and the potato salad was a solid tie.I love this little firecracker!
Wow. At first, I thought that I lost some posts. Then I realized that nope, I just haven’t posted in over a month. Whoops! So…here goes the longest catch-up post, ever. We’ve got all the September birthdays, a trip to Six Flags, and more.
We love our back yard toads! This one apparently really wanted inside the house.I took this picture to document that she actually was, in fact, tired. This was about five minutes after she was trying to tell me that she wasn’t sleepy enough to go to bed.Celebrating my birthday. Dinner out and a chocolate cake. 🙂Celebrating Joseph’s birthday. Dinner out and…chocolate cake. If it ain’t broke…but we did also take him and a friend to Six Flags a few days after his birthday.The new clock for my classroom. I had an analog clock by my desk, but wanted one out where the kids could see it. I love the steampunk vibe of this one The gear in the middle rotates with the seconds.It wouldn’t be a trip to Six Flags without a picture here.We were surprised to see Six Flags already decorated for Halloween (and in this case, Dia de los Muertos). I was loving it, though. It’s my favorite holiday!I love all the vibrant colors!Abigail is also a huge fan of Dia de los Muertos. She kept saying everything looked like the movie Coco.There was also some other Halloween stuff. I liked the steampunk aspect even though it was really creepy.Abigail on the Green Lantern ride.The characters were dressed up for Halloween. These happen to be two of her favorite Looney Tunes characters, she she was excited that she could take her picture with them.This was a cool arch to walk through with all of the jack-o’-lanterns.Leaving the park. This is the only picture I have of Joseph from that day because he and his friend went off on their own and would check in with us every couple of hours.Joseph’s friend gave him a used VR set (one that he had before his family upgraded) and I had to document the seemingly mindless wandering. 🙂I love how cozy the house looks when we put the Halloween lights out. Paul also got some solar torches to add to the effect. I think we might need to get some regular ones when we need to take these Halloween/ flickering flame ones down. I really like the effect.She was pretending to be the WWI Flying Ace and Paul was her “engine”.This is a picture of Abigail that my brother shared with me. I think it’s when she had just turned two and we were all at my mom’s house over the holidays.Did you know that preying mantises can fly? I thought they might be able to (and my students definitely DIDN’T know), but right after I snapped this picture, this one spread its wings and took off…which made all the kiddos who were crowded around it shriek. It was pretty funny.Paul’s birthday cheesecake. We had this with friends the weekend before his birthday. When it was his actual birthday, we ate out…and had chocolate cake. 🙂I got a new rolling cart for my room. I was going to take a picture of it to show my friend, but Abigail wanted to be in the picture. 🙂 It was a dress-up day (camouflage day), which is why she’s got Paul’s old desert camo hat on.Paul and I went to see the new Beetlejuice movie. I thought this was a cool picture backdrop; especially since I have a purse that’s inspired by the original movie.It’s hard getting up in the mornings, but at least the sunrises are pretty.I was going to take a picture of my outfit, but Abigail wanted to be a part of it.Another pretty sunrise.I went to wake her up Friday morning and couldn’t help but snap a picture of her. It’s times like these that I can see snippets of the babies they once were.Saturday means teen hang outs……imagination overloads……and dress up fun, of course.This morning, I knew I wanted a dessert for tonight, but also knew that we had some bananas that needed…consumption. So I made brownies and banana bread. 😀
Yes, I’m alive. The first week of school always kicks my hiney. We made it, though! Truth be told, all of these pictures (except the last few) are from before school started…and the last few are from the first day. I haven’t had much time to pull out my phone (or I decide that it’s best to live in the moment instead of try to record it…I’ve been getting more and more like that). We’re getting into our routine and I think this year is going to be great! So here’s a snapshot into the last couple of weeks:
Life is better with neon pink shoes. The picture makes them look more bubblegum-esque, but in natural light…let’s just say I get a lot of comments. It’s mostly “I love your shoes!” but I did get one from the head custodian that made me laugh: “I saw you coming from 100 yards away.” 😀New year means new haircut!A coworker/friend of mine and I were talking about how I like to put positive signs in my classroom. She mentioned that she had one that she had been holding onto for years but never found the right place for it, so she offered it to me. It fits into my decor perfectly and I love the sentiment.Here’s your daily dose of awesome. Paul managed to get this shot of a dragonfly that was just chillin’ in our garden. I wish I could make heart eyes right now. Dragonflies are my favorite insect.I was trying out the 0.5 setting on my phone because someone mentioned that they used it to take “selfies” with their entire class. I wanted to see how much of the background would be visible. I’m impressed!Paul was able to get a picture of Abigail at the Meet the Teacher night that we had before school started. I’m so grateful he’s able to be present when I can’t (I was in my classroom greeting my students).New year and some fun new earrings. This is a small business I stumbled across while browsing Amazon and I thought the earrings were so cute! I loved that she offered a personalized option. So this is a shameless plug to go visit her site. 😉I was able to squeeze in a quick visit with this lady…this is Kari (Cole) Starzyk and we’ve known each other for as long as I can remember. She moved away right before sixth grade and we’ve spent more time apart than together. She was on the east coast for a long time but moved to North Texas a couple years after we moved to San Antonio. The distance between is still awfully far, though, so when she mentioned she was going to be in town for the weekend, I cleared my schedule and met up with her for breakfast. It was such a great experience!First day of school! I only have a picture of Abigail because she and I had to be out of the house before Joseph was even awake. ‘Tis the stage of life we’re in, I suppose.Google photos did this cool background for the picture I took and Abigail said I had to add it to the blog, too.Abigail and I got to school when it was still a little dark, but the moon was so big and bright! It’s times like these that I wish I had a real camera (and knew how to use it). My cell phone doesn’t do it justice.
