Creativity March 21, 2015

I don’t claim to be creative. In fact, I often think that the creative gene from my mother skipped me although she disagrees. A little while back, our school held a technology scavenger hunt in which I was a 3rd place winner. My prize: a week of wearing jeans! Woohoo! The only problem…I don’t wear jeans…just jean skirts. No biggie…a week of jean skirts is awesome.  Problem #2: I have recently been on a journey of weightloss and my clothes are not fitting anymore. Good thing, right? I had to go out and find some jean skirts.  Being that I am still on my journey and not wanting to spend a lot of money, I hit my local Goodwill for some skirts. I found 3 skirts! Woohoo! Problem #3: Two of the skirts had a slit in the front that I didn’t like particularly. Here’s where my creativity gene kicks in….I over to the men’s tie rack and picked up 2 ties. I left the store and returned home. Amid 3 children, I pulled out my sewing machine and sewed the tie behind the slit so it would not show too much skin. Voila!

                                             

Then, the next bit of creativity took place: extending the sleeves of my t-shirts with fat quarters. I simply made a cuff and sewed it onto the bottom of the sleeve. Voila!

I hope you have enjoyed a bit of creativity. If you have any other really cool ideas, I would love to hear them. Happy Creating!

I’m still alive! February 28, 2015

Yes I am still alive! It has been a crazy year so I will catch you up piece by piece. A coworker friend of mine just started blogging and told me I need to get back to it so here it goes.

I have been on a long journey and have come to realize that God has a plan. I have been able to relate to many people because God brought me through a dark time and continues to help me each day. I am on the upside of the mountain and God is doing some great things.

One of those great things is my success in my professional career. A teacher is more than someone who stands in front of the class and lectures all day. A teacher is a minister. A teacher is a mother, father, counselor, sister, brother, confidant, and support for their students each day. Our hats change very often during the course of the class period. My life as a teacher has grown tremendously and my reach continues to expand beyond my imagination. I work extremely hard and often feel I have no time to complete my tasks as a mother and wife in my own house. If not for the support of my husband and family, I would collapse each day. In fact, I often collapse in my recliner no matter the support or not! Ha! Teaching is an emotionally and mentally draining career. Even though I often say that it is the hardest job I have ever had, I do recognize the magnificent diamonds that I encounter along the way. These last two years I have had students call me mom and loved me as if I were their mom. These two young ladies moved away earlier this school year and my heart aches because I will not see them again unless they find their way back to me. They left a special mark upon my heart and I wouldn’t change it for the world. 🙂 Earlier this year, one of my difficult young men said “You know Mrs. C, you are like a second mom to me!” I loved it! We have a special handshake each time we meet. It’s so special that others are jealous and want a special handshake too. 🙂

My students are my children while in the classroom. I work hard to help them learn. I act crazy and they often think I am! They are learning no matter how crazy I make myself look and I make them look. I have recently been using different types of technology in the classroom and my principal happened to be in my classroom one day while I used Plickers. It is a great way to assess students using your iPad and you know right away who does not understand. He loved it so much that he asked the Librarian to come in and video me from start to finish using Plickers. Later, I heard that he sent my video to the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and in turn she sent it out to all of the curriculum coordinators. I was shocked! He came to me and asked me to present at the next faculty meeting on Plickers. I put together a presentation and had several people look at it to make sure if I needed to change anything. I tweaked it and was ready for the meeting. During the meeting, I was quiet and nervous. As the Assistant Principal was going through the preliminaries and announcing the Teacher of the Month, I was sitting there with my stomach turning. My head popped up as she called my name! I was/am Teacher of the Month. This was a bit of a surprise to me because I wasn’t expecting it. Most of the time, I sit there wondering if they will call my name for it, but not this time. I had too many other things on my mind. A few moments later, I presented my Plickers presentation and received awesome feedback from the principal and many teachers eager to use it.

I sit in awe at what God is doing in this part of my life. He is using me each day to touch the lives of students and teachers alike. One of my students wrote me a poem and I will leave you with it as I retire for the evening.

                                                                                             You’re the Best

                                                                            I’m happy that you’re my teacher;

I enjoy each lesson you teach.

As my role model you inspire me

To dream and to work and to reach.

With your kindness you get my attention;

Every day you are planting a seed

Of curiosity and motivation

To know and to grow and succeed.

You help me fulfill my potential;

I’m thankful for all that you’ve done.

I admire you each day, and I just want to say,

As a teacher, you’re number one!

–Fredy Rubio

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Strong Enough November 16, 2013

I apologize for not blogging since August, but I have been extremely busy and trying to hold my life together. School started back and the pressure was on. New principal, new students, new expectations. I began to feel the pressure and tried to hold it all together. I am reminded of the Matthew West song “Strong Enough”. This song echoes throughout my daily life and it is only through Jesus Christ that I can stand through it all. I have been through a deep valley and continue to trudge my way through it. God has often carried me when I felt I was not strong enough. I have continued this journey often with only God knowing my dark trials. I have had smiled when I have felt like crying. I have continued to walk with my head held high when all I wanted to do was lay down and cry. I am reminded of a quote that I found….

When I saw this I thought…”Man, this is me!”  This summer I came to a breaking point and God was there to pick the pieces up and glue me back together. I continued to be strong for my husband and my children. They are my everything. I do not understand why I have gone through this valley, but I know one thing I am not strong enough by myself. HE is strong enough for both of us.

As I walk through this valley, my soul calls out for help and I wonder if anyone hears me.  I do know that God hears me and I know that HE will help me even when I don’t get the help from others that I think I should.  While I sit in the congregation each week I am reminded that no one knows what others are going through. I feel the desperation that David felt when he cried out to God. You long for someone to come and minister to your needs, but often we are so caught up in our own lives that we don’t see the needs of others. I pray that God opens our eyes and allows us to be HIS hands and HIS feet. Hug someone, say hello to the unapproachable, make meaningful and heartfelt conversation to the hurting, support the weak with prayer, connect to those around you and not just the ones outside.  Say “I love you” and truly mean it. Help those instead of shun them that seem that they are not strong enough. Often what we see as a “red flag” is a cry for help. Reach out to them. Be Jesus to them. They may look as though they are strong, but inside they are crying out for help. This has been my life this past year. I have had support from those that I love and they might not have known how much they really helped even though they do not know what I have been going through. When I send a text message and tell them I miss them or I love them, they respond with love and support that I needed at that moment. They are clueless about my situation, but love me and show it even if it is by text or skype. 🙂 I know that I am going to come out of this stronger than I have ever been before.

I have needed to write this for a long time, but felt to share it today. God is my refuge and strength. He holds us in the palm of his hand. He has something special in His plans for my husband and my family. Only God knows. I am trusting HIM through it all.

9 months August 5, 2013

It seems as if the 9 month mark for Spencer has become a turning point in his life and in ours. He is doing all kinds of things these days and is growing so fast! We went for his 9 month check up and  he weighs almost 21 pounds now and is 29 1/4 inches long! No wonder he is getting heavy to tote in his carrier. The last few times I have left his carrier in the car and carried him. The only thing with that is……he CRAWLS now!! So for the longest time he would do this inch worm crawl all across the living room floor. He would rock back and forth and belly flop and then get back up and rock and belly flop. He would do this and get around quite nicely. Then he progressed to rocking and moving his hands a couple of times and then belly flop. He was getting there. Finally while we were on vacation at my mom’s house in Florida, he crawled to me to get his toy. So now that we are back home, he is crawling all over the house. He follows me wherever I go and pulls on my skirt tail. So now we must keep an eye on him constantly. He likes cords….electrical cords. We have already had to say “NO!” to him and he is learning….not quickly I might add…he likes to keep trying to test the boundaries. So our fun begins! 🙂 Well as soon as he has learned to crawl, he is now pulling himself up in his crib and standing up! What?? Oh my goodness boy, slow down! We had to lower the crib and so now his eyes are even with the top bar and he cruises around his bed and falls and hits his head against the railing. Poor baby. 😦

We have moved on to Stage 3 foods. He’s not too fond of some of these exotic flavors or the textures that they have. He likes to clap his hands at just the right moment when I am moving the spoon closer to him so that the food goes all over me and him. Silly boy! He is now a super messy eater! I must invest in the bigger plastic covered bibs. There is a shopping trip in my future for all of the new items I must get for him. He is also feeding himself the little puffy baby food snacks. He loves to grab them all up with both of his hands and then try to get it all in his mouth. He will have some in his mouth and some in each hand.

I have tried a sippy cup with him before and all he does is gnaw on the nipple. I decided to wait until he was good and hungry for his formula and then try it. So yesterday he drank his milk all day using the sippy cup! No bottle at all yesterday! Woohoo! I am not sure if he is crazy about any other drink in the sippy, but he wants his milk that is for sure. It could be that he only likes this one particular sippy cup. I don’t know. I will keep trying.

So as you can see this month is full of milestones for us. He is so much fun and a joy to our lives. 🙂 School will be starting soon and then I will have to say good bye to him each morning. 😦 But I will look forward to the fun we will have when we see each other at the end of the day. 🙂 I will leave you with a few pictures of his new discoveries. I’ll blog about our vacation trip to Florida next time. 🙂

  Time to lower the crib!

Feeding himself yogurt puffs.

See both hands are full!

Drinking his milk all by himself!

 

Projects July 6, 2013

Happy 4th of July Ya’ll!

First I would like to say Happy Birthday America!! I know I am a few days late ,but it will have to do! This was the best picture I could get of the boys that day. It was a nice lazy day around our house. Well I guess lazy for me and not daddy. Daddy mowed the lawn and did some work outside. He also went and bought fireworks for the boys. They were dying to have some and you always want to make your kids happy. 🙂 I forgot that in Texas they allow you to shoot off the large fireworks that go into the air several feet. In Florida, we have the various fountains of sparkle and color–they either snap and crackle in the beginning or the end! Ha! These in Texas go BOOM!! The boys were excited! I didn’t bother to ask how much my husband spent–he had a ton of fireworks. He originally told me that he didn’t want to take the boys because he would be tempted to buy whatever they wanted, but we now know that he is just a little boy at heart! You know boys and their toys. 😉

I have been busy with a few projects. Last Saturday, I made two skirts with the material I bought when I was in Florida a few weeks ago! I enjoyed sewing and I can’t wait to wear them both. I want to make some more so I can have some new outfits for school in August. I need some new shoes, too. I guess it is time to go shopping. 😉 Since the shirts I have to go with the skirts are plain I needed a pin to put on the shirt to tie in the colors of the skirt. So I ask my seamstress friend Donna and we had a text tutorial back and forth so the next day I headed to Walmart for some buttons. 😉 Here is a picture of what I made.

Pins with matching skirts.

The next project I completed yesterday. We have a garden that has been producing little by little. The other day my husband brought in a giant zucchini squash. It was huge! I said “I am going to make some zucchini bread! I found a recipe and commenced to making it. It is a Paula Deen recipe and it turned out delicious! The first batch I made had walnuts in it. I started on the second batch and ran out of oil. 😦 I called my friend, but she wasn’t home. So I waited and took a nap. I had texted her and asked for some oil when she got home. She called me and I sent Philip down to go get it from her. He came back with FOIL! LOL We had a good laugh about that on the phone. I sent him back down and he returned with OIL. 🙂 At least we had a good laugh about it. Thank God she had some oil because I was making the next batch without nuts for her and her husband. 🙂 When it was all done I wrapped it up and took the large loaf to her house and then dropped off a few small loaves at another neighbor’s house. 🙂 I hope they enjoyed it as much as we are. Someone needs to take it away from me because I am going to eat the whole loaf. I saved a small loaf and placed it in the freezer so I can take to my mom’s house next week. 🙂 I know she is going to enjoy it, too. So here is a picture of my last project for day. I hope you enjoy it. 🙂 Go click on the recipe and make it! You won’t regret it!

Yummy! Zucchini Bread

 

8 months old June 29, 2013

Time flies.  I cannot believe our baby is 8 months old. He is changing constantly and growing like a weed each day. He is eating baby food and loving every bit of it. You put him on the floor and he is rolling and scooting all over! He sits up and then falls down and moves half-way across the living room–no where near his blanket. Yesterday I had to make sure Philip knew that he needed to get his legos up because he was about to get them. The fun is about to start. He gets up on his knees and arms and rocks back and forth. It is so funny to watch because he rocks and rocks and then lunges himself forward, but has not yet mastered the moving the arm technique so he belly flops on the carpet! Haha! What a cutie pie when he does! He just gets back up and tries again. He is saying “da-da” and just started the “b’s” this past week. So it is “da-da” and “ba-ba” right now. Of course there are the many sounds of a motorcycle and the occasional squeal that keep me on my toes.

He is such a good baby. He sleeps through the night and loves to play.

Ready for church

While at Nana and Grandad’s house he hung out with Grandad many times in his recliner just a chillin. 🙂 Often I found him asleep in his arms.

Summer time is here and we have already been to Florida once, but we will be going again in a couple of weeks. We can’t wait to see Aunt Stephanie and the cousins. 🙂 We are doing the Library’s Summer Reading program and the boys are reading up a storm. The baby is even participating. 🙂 We go to the library several times a week. Last week, we were unable to go because the boys were attending VBS at a local chuch and weren’t able to be there for the presentations during the day.

I am going to leave you with a few pictures…ok I did say a few, but we will see how many I do leave you with. LOL

Spencer Louis

Sitting up all by myself

Reading at the library

He loves his little lamb security blanket. 🙂

 

Stalker June 14, 2013

School has come to an end! Praise God! It has been a long couple of months. Students feel like school is over once they take their state tests and don’t want to do anything. The behavior issues escalate and ISS fills up. I try my best to be nice, but it wasn’t happening. I was just as stressed and in need of a break as they were.

My 7th period class was crazy most of the time. The dynamics of that classroom were out of this world. I had one boy in there who was a nice boy. I started noticing that he would come to my class at times when he should have been across the hall. When he would see me, he would always says “Hola”. He did this to a few other teachers too. His behavior started to change the last week of school. He sent me a couple of emails to my school email address and then wanted to know why I didn’t respond to him. Ummm….I’m busy and I don’t email students. One of the kids found my picture on the internet and placed it on the desktop of several of the student computers. I changed them back and he went and changed it back to my picture.  I said “I don’t want my ugly face on the computers!” He said “Mrs. Canada Your are beautiful!” Ok not the comment I want from students.  He said that a couple of times….not cool. So on the last day I was telling them all goodbye and have a great summer. He was the last one to leave and wanted a hug. UH…..NO WAY JOSE!!!!  I quickly ushered him out and then I turned back and walked towards my desk and he was right behind me again! Talk about freaky! I told him to get out and have a great summer. He finally left and then I walked out to the hallway with the other teachers and then he was coming back down the hallway to try to see me again. I told him to go. Again and again. Finally one of the other teachers told him that he was acting a bit like a stalker. He finally left, but I was still feeling a bit uneasy. Is that not weird or what? A few other teachers were like “oh he’s just a kid” “Isn’t that sweet?”  I’m like….uh no….it’s creepy. I get to my room and there’s an email that says “I miss you”. I can’t get away from him!!

I just thought I would share my stalker story with you. A little more drama than I need this last week of school.

Drama Anyone? June 13, 2013

Save the Drama for your Mama…..well I am going to share some of it with you. Here’s what has been going on around our house lately. Our oldest son was bitten by the neighbor’s dog. The dog was being walked on a leash by her 11 yr. old son. This dog has been bitten our youngest son and my husband already. This time the dog was not on her property and therefore my husband informed the neighbor that he was reporting her to animal control. She has another dog that bit Andrew in the face when we first moved here. So I think we have been patient, kind, and merciful enough. Well, she was furious with us and did not speak to us anytime we passed her. Oh well. So my husband had a court date set up and Philip had been doing fine with the bite–he was on antibiotics and had to change the dressing 3 times a day. So while this is going on, another neighbor kid was playing with the boys outside and he trips and busts  his chin wide open! Oh no! I hear him  screaming and he was freaking out so I try to calm him down and stop the bleeding. I send Philip to go get his mom. She comes walking down as I am walking him to her and then proceeds to tell him “Oh My! You are going to have to go to the ER and have stitches!!!” Really, lady???  I just got him quiet and now he’s freaking out again! I just said “Ok I hope he feels better.” and returned to my house. If that was me, just like I had to do this past Sunday night with Philip’s elbow, I would slap some antibiotic ointment on it and a bandaid. Oh well…she wanted to pay $575 for the ER visit. I prayed for him and hope he was ok. He called me the next day to tell me that he had stitches and then proceeded to blame Philip for tripping him. This child tends to stretch the truth a lot. Then he wanted to tell me all that his parents had said and then brought up the dog issue–which was NOT any of his business. I quickly got off the phone with this 3rd grader. Then his mother proceeded to call me that night and tell me it was an accident and then started talking about the dog issue too. She said the dog owner told her to sue us because the boy fell on our property. Oh my goodness! Really? I can’t take anymore of this petty drama. I get enough of it teaching middle school. Well I simply explained to her that she would do the same thing to protect her child. The court date was set. My husband went and tried to negotiate with her, but there would be no way of insuring that this would never happen again except if it was declared a dangerous dog. After much consideration, the judge declared her dog a dangerous dog. This means that she has to hold $100,000 insurance and hold to strict laws. She and her son were devastated. We know how emotional it is for you to have to put a dog down, but her dogs are 14 yrs old and they are mean in their old age. We have to think of our children and protect them.

So anyone for some drama? Next post will be about school, I promise. 🙂

Keep calm..summer is coming May 21, 2013

My mantra these days is repeated over and over in my head: Keep calm….Summer is coming. As you can see I have been absentee when it comes to my blog. I apologize, but if you know me personally then you know my life has been slightly chaotic lately. I have been busy with children, husband, and other people’s children (my job as a teacher).  It’s the end of the school year and the kids are wild! When I say wild, I am talking about zoo wild! They are at the point where they don’t think they need to learn anything right now. So I am trying to corral them and make sure they all pass–which is a difficult task when they don’t turn their work in. Sad face.

On to better and brighter things….my Baby Spencer. Spencer is now 7 months old.  Can you believe that? I started cereal with him at 6 months and then he had his first veggies this past week. He took one bite of the peas and didn’t like them too much. Yuck! Daddy fed him the next day and he ate all of his peas! How is that possible? He also likes his green beans too. My little monkey is going to be a chunky monkey soon. He is rolling over front and back and back and front. 🙂 He tries to walk like a crab on his back as he scoots across the blanket. He has started scooting a bit on his blanket as he reaches for his toys. He is growing up too fast.

I have decided to take him out of the daycare he was in. Mainly because I felt like they were not following the rules. I feel much better now that he will be with our neighbor who just loves him to pieces. 🙂 .

We took a side trip one weekend to San Antonio to visit Sea World. We loved it. It was so relaxing and not crowded at all. I have season passes so we will be going again and again until the season is over. 🙂 I will post pictures soon.

The boys crossed over in Cub Scouts to their new rank. I have a Webelo 2 and a Wolf cub now. I can’t believe how fast these two boys are growing up.  They are so sweet with Spencer and fight like cats and dogs with each other. The love to spar in karate and hopefully will get their orange belt next week. I took them to a karate tournament by myself and that was a trip! Another blog post in itself…just remind me to write that one. 🙂

As you can see we are quite busy and I want so much to have some freedom come June 7th. I am wanting to send Philip to his first church youth camp in Florida so that means that I will be going to Florida for a week in June and then I have 2 weeks in July that I will be there. Time off with my boys and husband is going to be much needed.

Don’t kill me because I have attached too many pictures…..but I can’t get enough of my little guy and big boys. 🙂

Philip and Andrew soaked from their favorite ride at Sea World

Spencer at Sea World just a chillin. (6 months)

Spencer sleeping (7 months)

Easter Sunday

7 months and full of smiles