the big game, part 1

here are some of the pictures from the spurs game we went to. my dad took some more pictures, but i have to wait to get his memory card. (dad, give me your memory card!)

crowd waiting to get in


kelli, ryan, and dad. the triplets.


the view from our seat. we sat on the 17th row. so stinkin' amazing.


our seats even came with cup holders. high rollin'


bruce bowen. the king of defense. and yes, that's drew gooden behind him.


tony parker. i heart him.


oberto and george hill


retired jerseys. david robinson and avery johnson. classic. (and yes, bekah, george gervin too)


minnesota head coach. hall of famer. played with the boston celtics back in the day.


really the only thing that mattered (besides the cotton candy i had).
spurs win!

yes, i know that there are no pictures of manu ginobili or tim duncan. they were injured. booooo. but i did get to see them all dressed up in their fancy suits. ah well, you take what you can get.

and just so you know, one of these days i will be able to afford season tickets. i should start saving now for the 2050 season.

thank you, uncle noe, for getting us amazing seats! it was a wonderful experience!

the actual day

it took me exactly one week and three days to realize that i never blogged about my actual birthday. i know that you've been anxiously awaiting this post. don't lie.

my birthday fell on a sunday this year, and i was absolutely sure that dad would let me skip church on my birthday. no such luck. i did, however, get starbucks before i went to church, courtesy of my mom's gift card. then my mom made some biscuits for me since those are my favorite (and since i refuse to ever make biscuits again. i'm serious).

after church (which was good), we went to eat at red lobster. it was delicious, of course. a sweet family from our church happened to be there too, so they sent over an oh-so-delicious dessert of a chocolate chip cookie with fudge in the middle and topped with ice cream. we all had some. then after we ate, my mom and dad took me to get my birthday present from them: a director's chair for my classroom! i've been wanting one since i started teaching last year, and i could never find one. turns out pier one here in san angelo has had them all along. i love it! it's a dark wood with green cloth. the cool thing is that i can change out the cloth whenever i want.

isn't it beautiful? i love it.

after we got it, kelli, ryan, and i went to the school to set it up, then i went home for a nap. the evening service was wonderful because we had a guest speaker, mario escobedo. he's been at solid rock church before and we all loved him, so it was nice to have him and his wife back at src. after the service, we went to another pastor's house to eat supper and visit. it was such a great idea to do that because we ended up visiting a long time...until midnight! there's something special about being with other pastors and their families. fun times.

so there it is-my birthday in a nutshell. as i was writing thank you notes for all of my gifts, i realized just how blessed that i am. i have had a wonderful 25 years. thank you, God, for all these blessings.

b stands for...

kelli gave me a very useful and fabulous gift for my birthday: a pink and green koozie (if that's how you spell it) with my initial on it. she knows me. i've used it every day at school since. all three days.

anyway, today i was getting the kids ready for lunch, and i had my lunch bag in one hand and my koozie in the other. someone asked why it had a b on it, and before i could answer, one of the girls took care of it for me.

"it's because her name is bethany!"

then i heard a boy say under his breath, "or maybe it's because she likes beer."

if i hadn't been so shocked, i would have laughed. i'm laughing now, though.

birthday celebration #2 - the school

i know i've mentioned that i have the most wonderful aide, but i feel like it's worth mentioning again. she knows exactly how i think, so i feel completely comfortable when she has to take over for me (remember the fire episode? yeah...)

anyway, she was the one who put together my surprise birthday party for school. when i walked into my room, this was on my board.

it was a birthday banner signed by all the first graders (some of my kids wanted to write on the board too. it's kind of a big deal)

then, after lunch, one of the room moms brought cupcakes and juice for the first grade classes. that's where i got my next gift:

that's right-dublin dr. pepper!

when i walked back to my room after lunch, there was a way cute jar on my round table.

inside the jar was a plethora (i like that word) of gift cards to my favorite places. they were all from my students. the zebra box had another gift card to sunset mall from the other teacher and aides. the silver bag had the dublin dr. pepper in it, and the flowers were from my principal.

my students were besides themselves with excitment about giving me my cards. i got cards to chick-fil-a, sonic, starbucks, cinemark, subway, hastings, and red lobster. one of student's mom is a photographer, and she gave me a certificate for a free studio session. i'm so excited!

apparently the theme of my party was "gift cards to miss hernandez's favorite places." it was an amazing day and i left school that day feeling so blessed. thank you, Jesus.

birthday celebration #1

on thursday, march 12, my sister and friends managed to surprise me for my birthday. pauline called to tell me that she was "craving ichiban" so she wanted us to go. i have to admit that it crossed my mind that my friends might surprise me, but then kelli told me she had other plans, so then i figured i was wrong.

bekah has the pictures from ichiban, but i got some picture of the cake we had at her house.

my "princess" cake


modeling the cake in front of the chalkboard that has my birthdate on it


one of my gifts from pauline and diamond


25 cans of dr. pepper!!!


dr. pepper where it belongs...in my fridge

my girls from left to right (back row): erin, bekah, kelli, sarah, me, diamond, and pauline. (megan was there too but she was kind enough to take the picture)

all in all, it was a wonderful night. i have some great friends who made my birthday special. thank you, girls, for being so fantastic!

ryan's birthday

(i'm quite aware that this blog is more than 3 months late. my apologies, ryan.)

on december 16, 1994, my parents graced me with another little brother: ryan marc. i remember very vividly what that day was like. it was the day that were getting out for christmas break and we got leave school even earlier than planned. we waited about 2 hours before ryan was born, and suddenly there was my dad in the nursery window, holding a little furball. i'm serious-he was HAIRY! but he was also cute and i fell in love immediately. now he's a 14-year old eighth grader. my, how time flies.

ryan with his birthday present from my parents: an ipod touch. did i mention that he's also really spoiled?!

it's coming! it's coming!

the mega blogs about my birthday and the san antonio trip that we are currently on (go spurs go) is coming.

but right now i have to go shopping and eat lunch at pappasitos.

duty calls. sorry.

(not really)

why i love them

my students' creative spelling just cracks me up. it's one of the many things i love about them.

joey's birthday

okay, so joey didn't get quite the party that mom got. i guess that what happens when your mom turns 50 the year you turn 19. but we did celebrate his birthday at ichiban that night.

i'm so proud of my little brother. he works hard at whatever he does, and i know that God will continue to bless him. i love you, joey!

happy tummies, happy siblings

mom's birthday

mom turned 50 this year!!!

since we always go out to eat as a family on friday nights, i figured it wouldn't be too hard to throw a surprise party on a friday night. boy, was i wrong. mom and her friend decided to throw a baby shower that day, and then ryan's coach added another game that night too. after talking to some of my mom's friends, we decided to go ahead with dinner, even though it would be a little late.

my aunt and uncle from dallas came in for the celebration. my aunt even helped me get my mom's birthday present. we were actually able to pull off the surprise, and mom was definitely shocked! here she is opening presents:

pretty jewelry

coffee!


bathroom accessories to match the bathroom they're remodeling


opening the big present. since we didn't get a picture of the present after we opened it, i'll just tell you. kelli, joey, and i went in together and got her a keurig coffee brewer. it brews gourmet coffee one cup at a time. we even got the model that can make iced tea. i'm enjoying it (and i'm sure my mom is too!).

behind

i'm so ridiculously behind on blogging that it's not even funny. i've taken tons of pictures to put on here, but then i've either completely forgotten or didn't have time to put the pictures on my computer. but with the start of spring break, i now have more time on my hands! i'm hoping over the next couple of days i'll be able to post everything i've been wanting.

so grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and enjoy!

it has begun

my birthday celebrations have begun!!!!!

this morning my mom showed up with chocolate covered strawberries and blueberry muffins (two of my all-time favorites) in honor of my birhday. then tonight i was surprised by my wonderful friends. we had dinner at ichiban and chocolate cake at bekah's house. i have pictures, and bekah has pictures, but it is way past my bedtime so i'm going to bed and hopefully i'll have time to post tomorrow.

yes, i know i've said that before...but i mean it this time!

i'm so proud

my kids have been quoting nacho libre all week.

i couldn't be more proud.

patience. ha.

God's sense of humor is not lost on me. i just don't find it funny all the time.

we are in the middle of a series at church called people. we've talked about being grateful for the people in your life, praying for the people in your life, and then yesterday was being patient with the people in your life. they've been great sermons (and no, i'm not saying that because my dad's the pastor. if it gets me a free meal, so be it). i knew what yesterday's sermon would be about because 1) i twitter (and you should too!) and 2) i do the bulletin for church so i see the announcements early.

as i was formatting the text box that held the announcement about being patient with the people in your life, the two people who require the most patience in my life walked in the door: kelli and roddick. kelli walked in talking (rather loudly, but that might have been just my headache) and of course roddick bounded in with his usual energy and started sniffing around me just in case i had some food that i hadn't surrendered to him yet.

i was not amused.

and then i thought about it and started laughing. unfortunately, the irony occurred to me during church, which made for a very uncomfortable five minutes while i attempted to calm myself.

sorry, daddy. thanks for listening to your own sermon.

in exactly one week

in exactly one week, i will be doing something, anything, except getting ready for bed!!!!! i'm so excited that spring break is coming for two reasons:

• no school
• MY BIRTHDAY! (it's exactly one week from today. don't forget!)
  

now i have a couple of family members who were not aware that my birthday was coming up, which i think is just pitiful. so to make things easier for them i will be sending a daily text to remind them of the most important day of the year. if you too would like a daily reminder, i will be happy to add your name to the list.

you're welcome.

breakfast, anyone?

i'm not gonna lie-this has been a rough week. i think some evil person told my whole class that since it's so close to spring break, they don't have to work or behave. in fact, they can just be downright rude and disrespectful and fight with each other and give miss hernandez gray hairs (plural-gray hairs).

but today one of my students gave me a reason to laugh. oh, hallelujah.

we've been learning how to write creative stories, which has been...um....interesting. for today's language lesson, they had to write four things they like to eat for breakfast. then they had to write two sentences about what they like to eat for breakfast. then, on the bottom of the page, they had to draw a picture of-you guessed it-what they like to eat for breakfast. i had some really good papers. i had some average papers. i had some not-so-good-what-the-heck-is-breakfast papers. but my favorite was one boy's paper. at the top of the page, two of the four things he wrote were eggs and bacon.

his first sentence was "wakey, wakey, eggs and bacey."

i actually didn't see his paper first; my aide did and she was laughing so hard that she couldn't stop to tell me what was so funny. every time she opened her mouth she would start laughing again, and when she finally read it to me, i couldn't stop laughing. i called the boy who wrote that to my desk, and we asked him if that's what his mom told him. he got embarrassed until we said that we thought it was cute. then he grinned and said that yes, sometimes his mother told him that when she was trying to wake him up. so cute. so stinkin' cute.

the sweetest thing

yesterday i had the opportunity to see something that just melted my heart.

after school was over, we were standing outside waiting for the parents to come get their kids. there was one cute kindergarten girl who was sitting close to me, her arm wrapped around a pole as she stared off into space. i noticed a lady walking up to her, a camera aimed at her the whole time. it took me a while, but i finally figured out that the lady was this girl's mother. the whole time she had her camera on her daughter, and finally she called her name to get her attention. the little girls looked up, and behind her mother she saw her father-her father who is in the military and has been gone for a while. her face lit up and she ran to him and jumped in his arms while yelling, "DADDY! DADDY!" she put her head on his shoulder while he rocked her back and forth, obviously thrilled to be holding his daughter again.

i got teary-eyed. my aide got chills. and one cute little girl was happy to see her daddy again.

i almost forgot...

THIS IS MY BIRTHDAY MONTH!!!

like betty, march is the month when the world was graced with my presence. i'm ready to start celebrating. who's with me?!

what i am doing right this second

eating dinner. toast, to be exact. is that weird?

today when i got home, i decided to start cleaning out my closet (singular) and drawers (plural-2 of them. only 2. keep that in mind). seeing as how i don't have a whole lot of space, i obviously can't have a whole lot of clothes.

wrong.

it took me 2 hours to clean everything out and organize it. two hours!! i found clothes that i didn't even remember having, like the dress that i wore to graduation...high school graduation. yeah, there were tons of high school clothes in there. not cool. so two hours later, i had filled up a box and three bags of clothes. by the time i was finished, my right knee was hurting (still is) and i was tired-too tired to eat. now i'm hungry and sleepy.

yep, definitely time for bed. buenos nachos, i mean noches.

(i'm still hungry.)