It's official now!

After 5 years of working, lots of studying, and one 8-hour exam, the great state of Texas has given me my professional engineers license! I am very thankful to not have to take the exam ever again.

Abby 17 Months

Abby 16 Months

Happy Halloween Yall

We didn't do much trick-or-treating this year, we just went to a few of our neighbors , but Abby had a blast!  We also went to a few parties at friends’ houses.  Enjoy the pics!

The Family.  If you don't understand our costumes youtube "rejected"

I love this one of Abby telling Jason what to do!

Pumpkin Patch

Not too sure about the animals at the petting zoo.

Mumm....Pumpkin

Grumpy about sharing a wagon with Maddie

She had a lot of fun!

Abby 15 Months

Abby 14 Months

September 11th

As I surfed facebook today, I noticed that everyone is posting where they were on September 11, 2001.  So here is my story for that day.

It was my senior year of high school and I was 17 years old.  My dads cousin had passed away just a few day prior, and my parents and grandparents were in Arkansas for the funeral.  I was left at home to take care of my 11 year old little brother.

That morning, I dropped off my brother at school, and was driving back to my grandparents house (who were out of town) for breakfast when I heard on the radio, that one of the towers was hit.  By the time I walked into there house and turned on the TV, I watched the second plane fly into the tower.  I stayed glued to the TV all morning, I remember listening to the news reporters talking live to someone at the Pentagon, and then you hear an explosion in the background.

The rest of that day was a blur, but I made it to school by second period (I had 1st off), and we still had marching band practice that night.

10 years later I still think of all the people who lost, a child, mother, father, sister, brother or friend on that day.

Abby's first geocache!

We have enjoyed geocaching for several years.  Ben and I would cache all the time in Lubbock, and even after we moved back to Dallas. 

Today the weather was wonderful (especialy after 60+ days of 100+ temps), so we went out for a afternoon of geocaching.  We had some travelbugs that we needed to drop off, and so we hit up a few caches. 

Check out www.geocaching.com if you want to learn more!

Here are a few pics from today!

What a difference a year makes

Abby helping Daddy get his room set up last year.

Abby helping Daddy get his room set up this year.

Oh what a difference one year makes.  Last year Abby slept under a desk as I helped Ben set up his new class room.  Now one year later, and Ben has moved classrooms again. (6 classrooms in 6 years!)  And Abby is all over the place "helping".  I wish all you teachers out there best of luck with this school year.   

Abby is 13 Months!

One Year

Just one year ago today my life changed.  It was at 5:10pm on July 14th that Abigail came into this world.  I felt so blessed to have her and my facebook status even read this that next morning, "I am one blessed momma! We had a great first night!".  That status still rings true, it is has been 365 great nights, not always restful, but great nights with my baby girl. 

A year ago my FB status inspired another blogger mommy friend to write this post.  Looking back at this last year, I am glad we have stopped and watched our little baby grow into a toddler.  (who is walking all over the house now!).  I am excited to see what "just wait until..." moments we get to see this next year.

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Girl! <3 Always Momma and Daddy!

Chasing Daisy and Taking Steps

If you watch all the way to the end you can see her take a few steps.  I am expecting to be chasing a running baby soon. 

Abby 11 Months

Celebrating Memorial Day

We kicked off Memorial day the way it is meant to be celebrated, by going to the pool. The girls had a blast.  We splashed in the kiddy pool and went down the slide.  Here are some pictures of the girls after the swim, and one of the mommas too!

We took one of our friends out last night to celebrate her grad school graduation.  We started with dinner and drinks at BJ's Brewhouse, and then went bowling.  We had a great time and it was nice to hang out with a friend we have not got to see in a while.  Unfortunately I was managed to only take one picture all night.  So here it is, a great photo of Ben wearing the glasses I won him playing skiball!

10 Months

First time eating icecream

Couch to 5K

So, my wife and I and some friends of ours have decided to try the Couch to 5K program. So far, we have been working up to Week 1 by just walking around the neighbor and trying to jog a little (and I by a little I mean muy poquito). We will try to Officially start Week 1 this week. It may turn in to Week 0.5 but we will see.

Taking Daddy For a Walk

Abby 9 months

The walker

Some good friends loaned Abby a walker since their little one has out grown it.  Abby is learning to get arround with here new wheels, check it out. 



Thanks H&J! 

Trip to Lubbock

We made our first trip to Lubbock together since I graduated this past weekend.  Wow 4 years sure has brought major changes to the Hub City!  There is a real highway running next to campus, new places to eat and most importantly, Lubbock is wet!  It was strange to see people walking out of walmart with a 12 pack. 

We were in town to appraise the Texas Destination Imagination Tournament.  (Abby stayed at home with Ben's parents, and had a wonderful time.)  The tournament took up much of our time while in Lubbock, but we did make time to visit some of our old stomping grounds.

We drove past our out house, and it still looks the same, overgrown bushes, barely alive rose bushes, and weeds for a yard.  Yep that is the house I remember!  I also got to go by the CE building and see some of my old professors.  It was strange to walk the halls of the CE building, it seems like forever since I was sitting in room 205 listening to lectures. 

The bigger realization I came to while spending time on campus was, I survived college with out an iPhone!  As we took the bus around campus, it hit me, we didn't have a phone with an app to tell us when the next bus was coming, or where the closest Starbucks was, or even the ability to check my email on the bus.  How did we survive? 

I did stop by the basement of the CE building and snap a picture of my photo hanging on the wall.  They put up a class photo of each graduating class.  Gosh I wish I still looked like this! 

We also made it by to see the new giant class ring at the alumni center, this thing is huge!

We had a pretty good trip!

English 1 EOC Testing in TX

My school district has invested a lot of money in making all of the High Schools 1:1, meaning every high school student has a laptop provided to them. This is a great resource for the student and the teachers. But it also means that we get to "pilot" certain programs for the State. One of the pilot programs is online testing.

So, today is Day 1 of 2 of the English 1 EOC (End of Course) Exam. This morning started out terribly, children and administrators were running around like headless chickens. But eventually everything was sorted out and testing began. I actually prefer the online testing. I think our kids are more comfortable testing on a computer than on paper. Especially for an English test. I'm not sure the upcoming Algebra test will be as smooth for the kids. The program we are using is pretty nice also. It basically locks down the students computer, and if anything goes awry, it notifies the teacher's computer. Let's hope Day 2 goes a little smoother in the beginning.

F*ing DART Police

I am normally an advocate for Police Officers. They provide a service that is rarely appreciated, but always demanded.

However, I am rather "upset" at the Dumb B* of a Dart Police officer. So here's my story:

It was Friday morning and I am merging onto I-35 from PGBT like I do every weekday morning. I quickly make my way over three lanes and cut a gap to get into the HOV lane. I cross the double white line (DWL) every morning, because the official entrance to the HOV lane is a mile down the road and I don't want to sit in traffic for 15 minutes to to get there. So, I cross the DWL. Behind me is a car and then I notice the cop behind him. As soon as there is an open shoulder the cop cuts over and move in behind me with lights and sirens. I immediately pull over, knowing that I was in the wrong. The female officer approaches and asks for my license and insurance. She then asks me to roll down the back window. Well, we have a problem now. I drive an extended cab truck. And as most people know, the back window on extended cab trucks do NOT roll down. They flip out to the side and inch or so. I thought this would be obvious, but apparently not to this lady. I tell her it doesn't roll down, then she makes a comment about "oh, it's broken?" In my head, I say "no, it's not broken you idiot, it just doesn't roll down." It was at this point that I realized I probably got pulled over because she thinks I'm the only occupant. I guess she could not see my daughter in her car seat. She goes back to her car, runs my info, then comes back and gives me the ticket for crossing the DWL.

I understand that I have broken the law and I am ok with the ticket. I have never been given a ticket I did not deserve (however, the converse has been true on several occasions.) I also always take care of my tickets.

Which leads me to today. I am on Spring Break, so I go in to take care of the ticket. It has been over week and a half since I received the ticket. I drove 20 minutes to the indicated court house. I walked up to the counter and handed my ticket to the office lady, we'll call her Pam. Pam takes my ticket and types in the number on the computer. She then says, "Oh, they haven't entered the ticket yet." I tell her the ticket was issued over a week ago and she tells me it has been taking longer than that for them to be entered into the system. We now have a major problem, since I can't come at another time. Pam can't do anything for me, since I technically don't exist yet. She can't even make a note that I "appeared" in court. So I asked her if I can take care of this by mail. She says yes and then starts listing off all the stuff I will need to submit. I stop her and ask if there is some sort of paper or form that I could have so that I don't forget all of the info. Apparently, there is not any sort of form for this stuff. Pam is a little frazzled with the whole situation, but is trying to help me the best she can, so she grabs a sticky note and writes the info down. I realize this is not going anywhere, so I take the info and leave.

So, to recap:

-B* cop writes me a stupid ticket

-I go to pay it, but the B* cop hasn't entered it yet

-I ask for a form, but the stupid gov't doesn't have one.

I broke the law and am trying to do my part, but the gov't can't pull it's proverbial head out of it's proverbial ass. Now I have to wait on them.

The many faces of Abby

This is what happens when I try to get one good picture of Abby. 

8 Months

Jump Jump Jump

Abby's Modeling Shoot

Abby did a little modeling this weekend.  She showed off a bunch of products that are sold on Etsy.  Big thanks Tiffani for all the great pics!  http://www.tiffanisiebert.com

 

 

 

Sabbotage

I'd like to share a story about our daycare provider, Leslie. She told me this yesterday and I thought it was hilarious.

Leslie and her family are doing a weight-loss challenge. They all chipped in money and they get point for sticking to their diet and for working out. I'm not sure about the specifics, but it doesn't really matter.

Yesterday, an unexpected package showed up at Leslie's door. She opened it and inside there were TWO full packages of Oreos. But it was not just Oreos. There was also a packet explaining how to completely a study/survey. So, one her children did not just send her junk food, they had actually signed her up for a survey that would send her FOUR GIANT packages of Oreos. That's BRILLIANT and DEVIOUS at the same time.

TELPAS for Math

The Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System or, TELPAS, is, as the name suggests, a set of tests that assess a students proficiency of the english language. I am not involved in much of TELPAS, other than collecting a writing sample. You say "oh that should be easy, I remember writing a bunch of stuff in school"...but did you write that much in Math?

According to state mandate, every LEP student needs 5 grade-able writing samples. And the LEP students can not be singled out in this process. So, each school typically instructs every teacher to collect a writing sample from every student they teach. Again, this may sound easy for English or Social Studies, but is sometimes rather difficult for Math. The other kicker is that the sample should include the vocabulary used in the class. Could you write a full page using math vocabulary, like circumference and trapezoid?

My writing samples have typically been along the lines of:
"Explain the steps to solve the equation 2x-3y=42"

As you might imagine, this prompt is typically met with grumbles and groans and very shoddy work.

So this year, I tried to think out of the box and got together with some of the other math teachers and we tried to come up with more exciting prompts.

ETA: I was just informed that all of my samples were REJECTED and that I would have to redo them, because the below prompts do not show usage of math vocabulary. yippeee :-(

Here were our ideas (some of which were found on the internet and other resources)

1) "Imagine you are a reporter for the Math World News. Write the lead story for the evening news in the city of Arithmetown, where everything that happens involves math."

2) "Imagine you are a Math teacher writing a love letter to your sweetheart for Valentines day"

3) "Give specific directions from your house to school. You cannot list street names or distances in terms of mils or blocks. You can only give directions by counting objects. (Example: Go past two houses with red doors and turn right. Go past four mailboxes that are bricked and turn left). Be creative!"

The kids seemed to really like these story type prompts. This is a sample from one of my kids: (disregard the spelling errors and the slightly inappropriate content)

"Math Love Story

Selena Gomez I think we make the perfect couple. We are congruent and our feelings are proportionate.
You are my 2+2 in a world full of pathegreon theorems. In case you didn't know that equals 4.
When you and I go out red carpet covers the floor.
Me + You= Great if they see me with you I know they'll hate.
Like you I probably wont graduate.
When I'm home alone I think of you and contemplate.
I wanna solve your equation and find your square root.
I'll even write your name on the bottom of my cowboy boot.
Our love will take off faster than the speed of light
The square root of 69 is 8.30 so you know im bright
Our love can be complicated like PI or simple like 1+1=2
Today you look so bored but I know what to do
Our Love's Vertical will be so high it will reach mars
I'll show a a side of me that will make you see stars"

Abby is 7 Months old!

A short video from last night

Enjoy

Only in Texas can you go from shorts on Sunday to ice and snow on Tuesday.  We had 4 days of ice, and then 6 more inches of snow on Fiday. Here are a few pics from the "snow days". 

From Snow Feb 2011

From Snow Feb 2011

From Snow Feb 2011

From Snow Feb 2011

From Snow Feb 2011

From Snow Feb 2011

From Snow Feb 2011