Parents

After a frustrating day/year, I was tempted to post some negative stuff to get things off my mind. Instead, I decided to turn my negative into a positive and focus on that.

I am SO thankful for my parents. The more I teach, the more I realize how much they have done for me. None of us can control who we are born to and their situation, but we can make the best of what we are given. My family and Blake's family are full of stories of people doing this exact thing. I personally have had a pretty stable childhood and that has helped me get to where I am today.

Even though my parents both worked full time, they will didn't leave my ENTIRE education up to my teachers. They realized that my education begins at the very beginning, a very good place to start (sorry, I had to). They read to me. They talked to me. They answered my questions. They took me places and allowed me to have experiences. THEY TALKED TO ME! I am realizing how important this is to a child's development, especially their VOCABULARY! When I did start school. I was expected to get good grades. When I struggled and brought home failing grades (mainly in spelling), they made sure they practiced with me and I was required to study. Oh, and they knew that I had failing grades because they ALWAYS checked my daily folder. They were involved in my education. They realized that my teacher, no matter how good she/he was, also had 20 something other students in my class and they were in the best position to help me.

They made sure I knew the value of a dollar. I will be the first to admit that I was/am very blessed and rarely did without, but I can clearly remember not being allowed to buy certain things unless they were on sale or we had a coupon. I also had many cavities as a child and I still remember having to pay for one of them. I was in the 4th grade! My parents were tired of paying for my fillings which were my fault so I had to use my birthday money to pay for it. I did not have any more cavities for a long time. :) They taught me about saving, interest, and budgeting. This has helped me tremendously as an adult.

My parents enforced consequences and responsibilities. They did not do everything for me. They let me struggle and learn for myself. They didn't always jump in to save me from my consequences and much as I'm sure they wanted to. They love me no matter what and have always supported me. They never forced me into activities that I didn't want to do. Anytime I came to them wanting to start a new activity, they fully supported me.

I could probably go on further but I have to get to Zumba and dance my frustrations and calories away. Bottom line, I am so thankful for my parents. I hope that one day when God decided to bless us with babies, we will be just as good as our parents were.

Spring Break 2012

2 years ago, Blake and I spent Spring Break on a beach in Mexico with our friends and their family. Last year, we went to Disney World. This year we decided to stay home and be productive. It wasn't as much fun but I feel more rested. I had all these plans for what I was going to get done. I only ended up getting about half of my list done (as usual).

My first goal was to work on losing weight/being healthier. I didn't accomplish as much as I wanted but I did work out 4 times in 9 days. I have started going to Zumba classes which is a dance-fitness program that uses Latin and hip hop. Anyone who knows my dance background knows this is right up my alley. :) You can supposedly burn anywhere from 500-1,000 calories an hour! I have also been trying to eat healthier and eat non healthy food in moderation. It is pretty easy when I wasn't working this week so hopefully I can try and continue it next week.

Another goal was working in the yard. Again. Blake and I have been working on putting these white retaining wall blocks around our flower beds. It looks nice and it makes it easier to edge. The problem is that each block weighs over 20 pounds! I can only put 25 in my car at a time because of the weight. The other problem is that you have to level out the soil including a groove for the edge at the back. Wednesday, Blake and I weeded, put down weed fabric, trimmed the bushes in the front, put down 25 blocks around the edges (we put down 100 or so over the Christmas break), edged, and mowed. That took about 5 hours. :) Then Friday morning we worked for another 2 hours in the back yard. We didn't make as much progress because it is a JUNGLE back there but 2 hours is better than no hours.

I was planning on working a lot on my grad work and trying to get ahead. This one did NOT happen. I am just now sitting down to look at my assignment due Tuesday. I have to watch a movie and write 5 paragraphs. I'm watching the movie as I type this (yes, I am AWESOME at multitasking). When I finish this post, I will start on my assignment. I would have liked to do more but oh well.

I ALMOST have all my papers graded. We have one more week in these 9 weeks so there was a lot to grade but I'm glad to have most of it done now instead of waiting until the last minute because I know that I will have more grades next week. There are several things that are making grading more tedious and time consuming this year. First, I have 2 large classes which means more papers to grade. Also, we are required to reteach/retest. The way we have chosen to do this in third grade is reteach and allow students to make corrections and earn partial credit. I do think that this is beneficial for the students, but it means grading many assignments twice. :(

I also planned on catching up on my sleep. VERY successful at that.

Blake took off Wed, Thurs, and Fri to give himself a break and we went to the Houston Zoo on Thursday. I hadn't been there since I was a kid and it was a beautiful morning to go. It was a little crowded but it was much easier for Blake and I to navigate since we didn't have any kids with us. :) I had vague memories of being there before but that was all. We had a good time together and of course most of the time I was there I was wishing my students could be there. Not with me though. We saw several daycares with a bunch of kids and only a few adults. Ugh, that would be torture.

So that was my exciting Spring Break. At least it was better than work. I am NOT looking forward to going back tomorrow. 10 more weeks!

Beaver Family Cruise!

So Blake's family lives 6 hours away from us. :( Unfortunately, this makes it difficult to see them as often as we would like because to go for a weekend, we drive for 12 hours and still don't get to spend very much time with them (and most of the time I have to take at least Friday afternoon off work). We try to make it up for Christmas and we switch off going to our niece Kynleigh's birthday one year and Austin's the next year. We also have a Thanksgiving rotation which means we are in Wichita Falls 2 out of every 3 years. Last summer and a couple summers ago, my father-in-law planned a summer trip where we would all meet and spend 4sh days together. It has worked REALLY well and been fun! This summer, he suggested a cruise out of Galveston and it was perfect! It isn't a far drive for us (bonus!) and the ship had many activities we could do together. Four days was also nice since we had never been on a cruise before and wasn't sure how it would be.

Blake's sister and her family came in the night before and stayed at our house. We hadn't seen them since February and we were able to give the kids their souvenirs from Disney World. Kynleigh is collecting snow globes so we got her one with Disney princesses and we got Austin a Viking helmet from Norway in Epcot. Luckily they loved them!

Blake wearing the hat while playing with the kids on the drive to the boat. He is an awesome uncle!

Seriously, how perfect!!!

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So I am taking online grad classes this summer. Summer classes are always intense but I figured since I would only be without internet from mid-day Thursday until Monday morning, I thought it would be fine. In the past I could work on and turn in assignments early if needed. Unfortunately, this class wasn't so easy to work with. There were daily discussions and if you were facilitating, you had to grade the members of your learning group on their work. I had to switch dates but the discussions were supposed to be finished by 7 a.m. Thursday morning and you had to send in your evaluations by Saturday night. No problem. I have internet until mid-day Thursday so I can send in the evaluations before we get on the boat and get a chance to post on that day's discussion. A couple days before, the professor decides to extend the time for discussions. This meant I couldn't send in the evaluations before we got on the boat because not everyone had posted yet. So I am in the car and in Chick-fil-a (where we ate lunch on the way to the boat) on my brother-in-law's iPad trying to email back and forth and make sure I'm not going to get points taken off for something that was out of my control and that I TRIED to take care of ahead of time. It was stressful and I was emailing and calling even when I was on the boat until they called us for safety training. Luckily, Blake helped me word some of my emails and I decided once the boat left the dock that I wasn't going to worry about it.  (P.S. I emailed my evaluations Monday afternoon and didn't receive any points off)

The boat!!

So this might have been naive of me, but I didn't anticipate all the security and checkpoints we had to go through to get on the boat. Once I saw it all, it made sense because we were going to Mexico and on a big vessel carrying more people than an airplane. At the first checkpoint, we had to get out our passports and prove who we were. Then x-rays and such and then we checked in. They asked to see our passports again and Blake had given them to be after the last checkpoint. I looked through  my beachbag and couldn't find them. I can see Blake trying to stay calm as he emptied the contents of the bag onto the counter trying to find them. Then I remember, "Oh yeah! They are in my purse!" Blake was very happy to find them but not happy with the minor heart attack I gave him. :) After that they made us take pictures in front of a backdrop. Once on the boat, we made our way to our room.

Blake got a room with a window. It was so nice to see the ocean both in the daytime and at night.

So here is another naive Connie moment. I knew intellectually before going on the boat that there would be no internet and cell phone service. Not a problem, I can do without. I did not however realize how much I rely on cell phones to coordinate people! We were on this trip with my father-in-law, his wife, her 3 kids, Blake's sister, her husband, and their 2 kids. Total of 11 people. Yeah. Coordinating that many people with no cell phones required advanced planning which I wasn't used to! If we do another cruise, we are TOTALLY taking walkie-talkies.

We all met up for dinner and then watched the welcoming show that gave a preview of activities and shows that are available on the boat while we were there. We walked around and explored a little that night. We found our embarkation photos for $11 each! Yuck! I might have been tempted to get it but it wasn't the best picture of us.

Friday was a full day at sea. We woke up pretty early and met up with everyone for breakfast. Blake and I got some chairs around 10 and stayed there until 1sh. Sigh, so nice. I listened to a book and Blake read a book he has really gotten into, Game of Thrones. (If you want to know what books I am reading and how I rate them, become my friend on goodreads.com! I should probably dedicate another post to that website. Going on my blog to do list!) The rest of the afternoon involved a nap, shower, and getting ready for dinner.

At the back of the boat. (Nail polish is OPI Swimsuit...Nailed It!)

Blake reading in our room before dinner.

Friday night was "Formal Night" where everyone had to dress up. We met at Brooke's room where we found out that they had an eventful afternoon! Austin had been running around the room (which isn't very big) and fell and tore off part of his gum. They took him to the ship's doctor who said he could use a stitch or 2 but he would be ok without it. I explain this story because Austin continued to show off his gum randomly in photos. :)

Austin and I on the Duran's balcony

The boys.

It was windy. Notice my hair :)

Putting ointment on Austin's gum.

Austin's gum :(

So sweet when he smiles :)

With momma making a nice face :)

That's better.

Duran family

Blake and I at dinner.

Kynleigh and Aunt Connie! I love this girl so much!

Uncle Blake and Kynleigh

Austin made this face before I could stop him.

Better :)

After dinner we were going to try and catch the family friendly comedy show but we were too late. :( Luckily we found karaoke which Kynleigh LOVED! and was so good at!

After the singing, they did the Cupid Shuffle which is also fun. I tried to help Austin (Kynleigh was a pro already). Try to find me in the pictures!

Once the karaoke became over 18 only, we left. There was a band playing in the hallway so we danced for a bit.

Austin's serious face.

When we got back to our room for the night, we found the first of several towel creatures. :)

Monkey!

Saturday was our day in Cozumel. The excursion we decided on was swimming the dolphins. We choose it because it was what Kynleigh and Austin were doing and because some friends of ours highly recommended it.

It was so much fun! Dolphins are such beautiful and friendly creatures. It was so fun being in the water with them. They took many pictures and a DVD of the experience.  The first few pictures are promo pictures.

Sweet Kisses!

 

After we swam with the dolphins, we had lunch and then went walking and shopping around downtown Cozumel.

Wearing his Daddy's glasses

Austin just had to show his gums!

Only one letter away from my mom's name :)

Yes, there was a pit-bull on top of the marquee. So random

Austin got this spiderman wresting mask. Too cute.

Kynleigh got her hair braided

My Abuelito's name!

Seriously?!

Blake and I were lame and got tired so we decided to go ahead and head back to the boat while Brooke and Steve continued shopping. Kynleigh and Austin decided to come with us.

2 of my favorite boys!

We were on the smaller boat

The walkway to the boats

It was my turn to carry Austin

That night, we did more karaoke and this time I joined in on the fun. I sang "Clumsy" which was Blake's ringer for my phone for awhile. That song always makes me think of him. Unfortunately, it isn't the easiest song to sing and I butchered it (but isn't that what you are supposed to do when you karaoke?!) which is why you won't be seeing the video. Speaking of, I should probably go delete that.... They were filming for the ship's DVD and my song made it on there. The next day a clip was showing on the cruise channel on the TV . 

I'm on TV!

I also did a duet with Kynleigh singing "Single Ladies". We had so much fun and Kynleigh was SO good! She knew the song better than I did and I became her backup dancer on the parts I didn't know.

Blake and Austin playing the "try and pull my hands apart" game

Sleepy Austin

 That night we had an elephant. :)

The next day was our last full day and we were at sea on our way back to Galveston. There was a towel folding class that Blake took with Kynleigh and Austin.

I love the look on Austin's face :)

There were a newlywed game that I really wanted to participate in but we had been married too long/not long enough. They wanted newlynewly weds (1 week or 2), 15sh years, and the couple that had been married the longest in the room. It was still fun to watch and Blake and I answered the questions at our seat. While we were playing, Blake decided to teach Austin a fun game called "prevent Aunt Connie from talking". 

For the rest of the day, we sat around the pool and just enjoyed ourselves.

Austin all wrapped after a deep in the pool

Front of the boat

:)

I love my niece and nephew SO much!

Blake's creation

We docked early Monday morning and we were lucky enough to get off the boat at a decent time because I had a professional development at 12:30. We get to car, and sure enough, it has a flat tire. We (aka Blake, Steve, and Randy) put on the spare tire and we were still making decent time. Then on the road, either the spare was flat or another tire was flat, I forget. So we stopped by a dealership and that took an hour, so I missed my class. Oh well.

In the car while they were changing the tire

Seriously, how perfect this hat is!

Waiting in the dealership

We had a BLAST! and we can't wait for our trip next summer :)