memories

so i was feeling a little nostalgic and looked up the first slideshow i ever made. it's from roddick's puppy dog days! isn't he the cutest thing ever? the pictures are from december 2006.

i have designated today...

a day of complete and utter laziness. i've done nothing productive.

well, i did get my eyebrows waxed. and i went to ady's 1st birthday party. that should count for something, right?!

i'm awake after 10:30!

that must mean that it's friday.

i bet i'm asleep in the next few minutes.

mark your calendars, people

the day that i have been waiting for now has an official date.

october 14th.

that is the day that these braces come off!!!!! my orthodontist cracks me up. when he told me that they were almost ready to take the braces off, he said that they could go ahead and make the appointment today, "to start planning your party." those were his words.

he knows me so well. and you'd better believe that i'm throwing a party.

guess who washed her car?

guess what happened today?

it rained.

sheesh.

where has the time gone?

joey (excuse me, josiah) starts college today.

this is not right. he should still be in kindergarten, complaining about his allewgies. he should still be rocking out to barney (don't you think, kelli?!). he should be learning his abc's, not taking a freshman english course.

ah, little joe...i love you. i hope you have a wonderful first day of college. and try not to go into any closets! =)

love,
your big (yet still suprisingly little) sister

mmmmmm

i just bit into a deliciously warm brownie, just minutes removed from the oven....

bet you wish you were right now, huh?

oh wait....

i do have something:

one of my first graders came in late on friday. i didn't mind because he brought me flowers! he put them on my desk along with a card and just smiled at me. how can your heart not melt? i was even more surprised when i opened the card and found that it wasn't just a card; it was a gift certificate to the teacher store!

i had such a great friday.

there's just so much to say

but my brain refuses to work.

i keep wanting to take pictures of my car, but a couple of things stand in the way:

a) i keep forgetting to put new batteries in my camera
b) it keeps raining! i know it's a good thing, but my car is dirty and i can't wash it because it won't stop raining. oh well, there are worse things in life.

as for everything else, i'm drawing a huge blank.

my humble apologies to those of you wasting your time reading this blog.

just too stinkin' cute

this afternoon my aide walked into the room with a little clear bag in her hand. i couldn't clearly see what was in the bag because i was too far away. she told me that all of the teachers had gotten one, so she was bringing me mine so i wouldn't have to go back to the office (LOVE her!).

anyway, attached to the package was a paper describing all of our goodies. when i opened it, i saw that i came from our ptf (parent teacher fellowship). i thought it was so cute so i decided to share. =) i know some of you have seen this or something similar, but humor me please!

back to school survival kit

crayon - to color every day bright and cheery
toothpick - to pick out the good qualities in every student
marbles - to replace those you might lose from time to time
eraser - to remind you that everyone makes mistakes and they can be erased
tissue - to wipe away the tears, yours and theirs
ruler - to remind you that success is measured in inches, not feet
band-aid - to heal all hurts
gemstone - to remind you that everyone is a precious jewel
puzzle piece - to remind you that you are a very big piece of every student's life
shiny penny - to remind you that every student will shine in his or her own way
paper clip- for when you need help holding it all together
rubber band - to remind you to be flexible
gum - to help the students stick together
mint - to remind you that we appreciate your commit-"mint"
snickers - to remind you to be a little nutty sometimes
almond joy - to remind you what joy your students bring to your life
mounds - for the mounds of confidence you give your students
payday - to remind you that everyone deserves a reward at the end of the week
hugs & kisses - to remind you that everyone needs a little more love

wash dishes or blog?

i think you have your answer.

a little slow on the uptake

i remember reading christal's blog a few months ago about brooke fraser, a singer from australia who has an amazing voice.

then, just two weeks ago, i was driving in my car (pictures later) when brooke's song "shadow feet" came on the radio.

i am so into this song. i was going to post all about her and the song, and then i realized that i had already heard of her, thanks to christal. instead, just click here to watch the video.

like i said, a little slow...

much better

today was so much better than last week. not that last week was bad, but today was just...smoother.

it helped that my little darlings got to go to music (they have a pretty awesome music teacher, i hear). when i went to pick them up, they said that they wanted to stay in music. they are so excited about spanish tomorrow too. between the music teacher and spanish teacher, i won't ever have to teach again!

"you still smell like chocolate"

last year i had a sweet girl who would come up to me randomly and say "miss hernandez, i need a hug!" of course i would give her one, and then she would say "you smell good, miss hernandez.

talk about a mood picker-upper.

last week that same girl came up to me and gave me a hug. with a huge smile on her face, she said, "miss hernandez, you still smell like chocolate!"

given my huge addiction to chocolate, it seems rather fitting, don't you think?

fyi

i did not go to bed at 5:40. i started writing the post at that time and then finished it later.

however, going to bed at 5:40 doesn't sound so bad.

first day in the first grade

i really like 1st grade. ryan asked me if i liked it better than 3rd grade, but the jury's still out on that one.

i had a really great day today. it was kind of a weird day because we didn't have all of our extra classes that they usually go to, so i had to entertain them. that was fun. our real schedule starts on monday, but until then i found some stuff that i can teach during those times. i am LOVING my aide. while i taught this afternoon, she got everything ready for them to go home, so all i had at the end of the day was give them their folder to put in their backpack. i could so get used to this. and my class is so good. sure i have a couple of talkers, but when i give them something to do, they do it. those poor babies were so tired, though. one of them even fell asleep at his desk this afternoon! i felt bad, but if i can't sleep, he can't either!

right before school was over i let them play with math manipulatives. they didn't know what they were, so they had a grand time playing with linking cubes and base-10 blocks. ha! those poor little ones didn't know they weren't real toys. they just knew they were having fun.

the only thing that i did not count on was how much my feet were going to hurt. i wore flats on purpose, but at the end of the day i was wishing for a pedicure. ooh, that's a good idea. maybe i'll go get one anyway.

wanna hear something weird? i'm teaching a little boy (well they're all little) who's dad i went to high school with. that's just weird to me.

i sure do miss my 3rd-excuse me-4th graders, now. i saw them this morning and they all looked so grown up. i know this is nothing like the real thing, but when i saw them i thought, "why can't they just stay in 3rd grade?" i'm such a weirdie.

i do hope that this group of 1st graders is as funny as my kindergarten kids and 3rd graders were. those kids cracked me up, especially kindergarten.

i'm tired now and ready to sleep. good night.

tomorrow

tomorrow marks my first day of school...as a teacher. since i started in the middle of the year last year, i haven't a real first day of school yet.

now i do.

i am so incredibly nervous. tomorrow i will have a room full of 1st graders who are expecting me to teach them. the problem is that i don't really know anything. i feel so completely inadequate for this job. starting on a wednesday is completely throwing me off, too. it doesn't bode well with my type-a personality. oh well, i'll deal with it.

even as i sit here with butterflies in my stomach, i realize what an incredible responsibility i've been given, and it gives me even more reason to depend on God's strength rather than my own. i know my own weaknesses, and i also know that God can work through me all throughout this year.

the really good news is that i have an aide! she is absolutely wonderful, and has the same personality as i do. that came in super handy when we were putting the room together and she could tell just how i liked things. love it!

ah yes...time to go to bed. have a great week, everybody!

sigh

i have so many things to blog about, but no time. =(

let's see....new car, new school year, sleep deprivation, first graders, wish lists, the list goes on and on....

hopefully i'll get to blog more before school starts, because after that i'll really have no time.

did i mention that school starts tomorrow?!

Contact Me!

okay, so here's the deal:

i had to get a new phone on tuesday because mine died. that's it-just died. because it refused to turn on, there was no way to transfer numbers or pictures or anything like that.

let's all have a moment of silence for my old phone.

----------

i did, however, get a brand new phone...with no numbers. some of the numbers i was able to get from my dad or kelli; some others, however, are still lost. if you want me to have your number (and i'm pretty sure i want it, because the more numbers i have in my phone the cooler i think i am), just click on the contact me link and send me your info.

muchas gracias.

i am way too old for this!

we've been having mega sports camp at our church this week. this is the 4th or 5th year that we do this instead of vbs, and it's always a great thing. the sports that we have offered this year are basketball, soccer, and cheerleading. i found out today that i am NOT a cheerleader.

the girls heading up the cheerleading section are so wonderful. today they had the cheerleaders play a game where they had to find a partner. when the leader yelled "go!" all of the girls ran around screaming and yelling, and then the leader would call out a certain action they had to do with their partner. because the leaders needed some extra girls, kelli and i helped out a little.

oh my word.

first of all, these girls are cute, but holy cow! they have incredibly high-pitched screams when they're running around. then, my partner was an adorable little girl who was a bit on the solid side. one of th actions was that the smaller girl ride piggy back on her partner. um...i couldn't stand up with her! i basically just stayed on my knees when she got on my back. i felt so bad. but it was still kind of funny-in a slightly painful way.

so tomorrow if they ask for volunteers, i won't be around. i'm sure there's work to do somewhere else!

i'm awake at 8:36 a.m.

this could only mean one thing:

i go back to school today.

where did the summer go??? and when is it coming back?

an amazing weekend

so i had a great weekend the past few days. i went shopping, got to see kylah, and generally had fun. i even got something i wasn't expecting! my dad, ryan and i drove back into town around 5:15 this afternoon and came to the church for the mega sports camp. it should be a fun week.

i realized something last night as i was getting ready for bed. it's been over a week since i've slept in my own bed! the last time i did was last friday night. that just means that i am looking forward to tonight so much more.

yay for sleeping in your own bed!!!

oh the difference a year makes

last year in june

this year in july

the funny thing is, i look at last year's picture and i can remember exactly what was going on in my life at that time. the night that picture was taken, i felt like i was forced to smile and pretend that everything was ok. of course it wasn't even close. i look at this year's picture, and it was taken right before we went to the visitation for jordan holden. the circumstances were much worse. the difference is that i did a lot of spiritual growing in one year. the circumstances weren't any better, but instead of trying to fix everything on my own, i turned to God. last year's picture will always remind me that while i don't always have a choice regarding situations i find myself in, i will always have a choice whether or not to trust in God.

while we were waiting

while we waited for them to get our room ready, we walked to the starbucks next door to our hotel (this trip just keeps getting better and better). kelli got hungry and decided she needed a monstrous rice krispy treat.

silly girl!

change of plans

apparently we love san antonio so much that we decided to stay longer. the plan was that after lunch kelli, joey, ryan and i would head back to san angelo while my parents went to visit one of my aunts. while we were eating, some random lady came up to my dad and asked if we liked baseball. after my dad answered "sure!" she gave him 7 tickets to the san antonio missions baseball game tonight and then walked away. we were shocked. we immediately started planning ways to stay another night. the thing is that kelli has class tomorrow and she HAS to go because she has a test to take. finally we decided to give the tickets away and stick to the original plan.

when the four of us got to leon springs, my parents called with an alternative plan. basically, we're staying another night. tonight my dad and brothers will go to the missions game and mom, kelli, and i get to hang out with kylah! tomorrow half of the family will go back super early in the morning, and the other half will stay here and do some more shopping.

i'm excited!!!!

oh, and something weird that always happens in san antonio...my parents end up running into someone they know. this trip was no exception. earlier this week they ran into a couple whom they know from the school where i teach. then last night we went to look at cars late at night, and dad ran into one of his minister friends. turns out they had just closed on a deal and were driving away while we were looking at cars. THEN as we were eating at pappasitos today for lunch (double yummy), we saw a family with two boys walking in. one of the boys was wearing a central t-shirt. weird, huh?

shopping!!!

i love san antonio! we did some major shopping today, and it was wonderful! i got some shoes that courtney would be very proud of, an outfit from ann taylor (pink and super cute), jeans from express, a skirt and jacket from forever 21, and sunglasses from mervyn's (how random was that?). maybe i'll take pictures and put them on here. i wanted to post other pictures, but joey beat me to it. if you want to read all about our day, click here and here.

but what i am most excited about is tomorrow's lunch...

.

i can't wait!

random

while i wish i could put some interesting pictures up from last night's boat ride, it was too dark to get anything. so instead, here are pictures of us!

waiting for the boat. kelli said she was too hot to take a picture
(she was in a bad mood)

first night in san antonio, check

so our first night in san antonio was pretty eventful. the six of us set out to eat at the hard rock cafe. we opted to sit outside rather than wait for a table inside. it's was hot but not unbearably so. our server was a trip. he kept telling us to keep "rocking and rolling" and how cute he was. i'm not even kidding. we took to calling him pretty boy throughout the meal.

afterward, we decided to take a boat ride on the river. unfortunately, the maps were wrong as to where to get on them, so we walked for a good 30 minutes before we figured it out. it was worth the wait, though. our guide was funny and so informative. it's been such a long time since we've done something "touristy" in san antonio as a family, so it was nice. i tried to take pictures, but it was already dark that the pictures are not that great. i'll see if i can steal them from joey.

now i need to go to bed and sleep. we're having breakfast tomorrow at mi tierra...yum, yum! i need to get my strength up for shopping too, of course. happy weekend!

happy august!

ok, here's the update on florida:

i went with my principal and three other new teachers at the school. we went to a conference that was held at a college in pensacola. it was absolutely beautiful. i think we did a great job of making the most of our time there!

we got there on sunday, and since the conference didn't start until monday afternoon, we checked into our dorm room, changed and went to the beach. unfortunately, there were jellyfish in abundance, so we just sat and talked for a while. monday morning we went to the peaceful beach in perdido key. because we went early in the morning, it was nice and quiet. i got in the water, which was nice and warm, and we even saw dolphins! we went back to the beach wednesday afternoon, and that time i opted to lay out and read a book. so peaceful. the best part is that i didn't burn at all, but i do have a pretty great tan =)

during our down time, we also ate at macaroni grill, moe's southwest grill, and went to the mall. they had great stores and great sales. BUT i was good and didn't buy too much because i knew i was coming to san antonio to shop some more. (and because it wouldn't fit in my suitcase. it weighed exactly 50 lbs. on the way back!)

with all that playing time, it's surprising that we had time for the conference. i went to some pretty sessions and learned lots of new things. and even though i'm not real big on math, i learned great stuff for teaching 1st grade math.

i think the best thing about this trip was getting to know the other teachers and my principal. it was such a sweet time of fellowship, and of course, with 5 ladies the conversation never stopped! i'm so glad that i was able to go and that everything went well. the only bad thing was that i kept forgetting to take my camera with me to the beach, so there are no pictures. sorry =( i did record the relaxing sound of the beach on my phone, so next time you see me i'll let you listen to it....haha!

so anyway, kelli and i drove to san antonio this morning to meet my parents and brothers who are here for the weekend. this is going to be our mini-vacation for the summer and i am so excited to go shopping. this time i'll have enough room to bring it all back!

ya'll have a great weekend!