Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Summer is here :)

I can't believe another school year has come and gone! I remember starting the year thinking to myself "I just can't wait to have a year of 3rd grade under my belt". That came sooner than I imagined! Now that the year is complete my principal came to me and asked me if I was happy with the change......the answer is YES!!!

Although I did miss my babies this year, and I am so happy with my decision to move! My biggest concern was the TAKS test and in the end my kids ended up doing an EXCEPTIONAL JOB! I hate to say it but I was planning on 5-6 out of my 35 kids not passing, I hoped they would, but wasn't confident that they could! They sure proved me wrong!!! Out of 35 students only 1 did not pass the Math TAKS! I had 32% get a commended score (90% or higher)

I love the independence that 3rd graders have and all the fun activities that you can WATCH them do! In Kinder we would have tons of fun things but couldn't do them because we couldn't be 5 places at once helping to explain it to them!

It is going to be interesting to see what happens next year, with all of the budget cuts happening. There were lots of unanswered questions at the end of the year. Are any teachers going to be cut? How many kids will we have in each class? Will I still get to teach Math and Science, or will they make me teach reading(scary!!!) Will I be moved to a different grade, or worse....a different school? For now I am just going to enjoy my summer and worry about all of that in August!!


So here are my summer plans (my list is pretty short this summer :)

Clean out closets, bathroom drawers, pantry, spare bedroom that has become our junk room...if we don't have a place for it , that's where it goes!!

Pick out fabric and have curtains made for our bedroom, living room, and breakfast area!

Organize the office, have the carpets cleaned, maybe go up to school and organize my classroom, and last but not least.............

RELAX!!!!!


I am sure there will be more added to the list as the summer goes on........

Stay tuned for more updates on what has gone on since Spring Break!!

Viva Las Vegas!!! I'm only 2 months late!!!



Rod's parents planned a weekend in Vegas for Rodney's Grandma to celebrate her 70th birthday. Rod, Kristen and I actually kinda invited ourselves to tag along on their trip. We decided to keep it a secret from Beth and just show up in Vegas and surprise her. We kept the secret for 3 months if you can believe it. Rod even called the night before we left to tell them to have a great time, I sat next to him the whole time ready to kick him in case he said something that gave it away. Here is their reaction when we knocked on their hotel room door.....



Cherise and Beth went to see "Donny and Marie" on Friday night so the rest of us went and gambled. Kristen and I needed a little bit of help learning blackjack so we all played that for a little bit, and then we headed to eat at the Hibachi place at the Golden Nugget. I stayed true to form and went to bed at 10:00, while everyone else gambled some more. My motto is " they can't take my money while I am sleeping, so it is a win win situation for me"

Saturday we had breakfast and then Carroll had gotten us a limo to go check out some of the new hotels we hadn't seen before. We saw the Cosmopolitan, the Aria, and the Bellagio. Kristen, Rod, and I hit up some blackjack and Let it Ride that afternoon. We headed to the Mirage that night and gambled while Beth and Ken saw Terry Fator. We hit the Roulette tables and Cherise and I came out winners, but not everyone else was as lucky. After their show was over we headed back to the Nugget and had dinner at Chart House. And again I went to bed at 11:00, I am such a big party animal! Rod decided to go lose some more of our money, poor guy was very unlucky all weekend!
















Sunday we had brunch at the buffet and then gambled for a little while before we headed over to The Palazzo to see "Jersey Boys" It was a great show, with great music! 











We had dinner at Vic and Anthony's that night, which was delicious! My favorite steakhouse by far is Capital Grille, and of all the steakhouses we have tried none of them even come close, but Vic and Anthony's came pretty darn close! 



After dinner Kristen and I decided to brave the blackjack tables on our own(without Carroll and Rodney reassuring us of what to do). We figured between the two of us we could figure it out. And boy did we figure it out :) We both walked away with about $300 in an hour or two. 

We left early Monday morning, and I am happy to say that I won about $500. This was my sixth time to go to Vegas and I have never come home a winner, or even broken even. It is definitely more fun to leave as a winner! We had a great trip with lots of great memories. Many thanks to my wonderful in-laws for including us in the trip!!! We love y'all!