The Newest Addition

It's official. We are expanding our family by one member. No it's not what you are thinking. We are getting a new puppy! She is an eight month old chocolate lab named Bella. We are not getting her until after Christmas (for several reasons) so I will post pics as soon as I can. I personally think we are crazy for getting another dog but she needs a home and we couldn't say no. Here's hoping that Woody adapts and all goes well!

Birthday Fun!

Today is my birthday. It has been a great day so far. Joel gave me an Ipod Nano so that I don't have to listen to annoying people on the train as I go to work. It was a great surprise! We also drove around to look at land (we are wanting to buy some acreage) and found a new place we liked. We also decorated the outside of the house with lights. Finally to end my big day we are going out to dinner at a local Italian place downtown on the square. I can't wait!! It will be so yummy. I'll let you all know how it turned out. I hope my 29th year is as good (or better!) than all the others. Clear your calendars now for next year though. There will be a huge party for my 30th!!!!

God is good!!!

I sometimes wonder about (but am also thankful for) God's sense of humor. He's got to have one because sometimes things happen you just have to laugh about. For example, I've been on the phone with my doctor a lot today trying to figure out the next step in a crazy series of events. We decided what to do, they called in prescriptions and I went to pick them up. Turns out that just before we went to get them, a prayer was answered. Now I don't even need one of the prescriptions that I got! It also means I'm back on the phone with the doctor tomorrow to verify we are still going to follow the plan. Funny how God works!! He certainly is good!!!

Go Bucks!!!

In case you have been living in a hole and don't know, it's Ohio State/Michigan weekend. We are going to the 10th annual Peteyfest at our friend's house (named after their cat). It is yet another tradition I married into. In honor of the big game I thought I'd share a little diddy with you all. Here goes:

Twas two nights before the Game,
And from High Street to the Shoe,
Not a cat was sleeping,
Even Stella was screaming Screw Blue.
The banners were hung by the flagpoles with care
In hopes that St. Troy would find Ginn and Gonzalez through the air.
Drunken and crazy and tossing in their beds,
While visions of touchdowns danced through their heads.
When all of the sudden there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the keg to see what was the matter.
When there in the sky, in a bright shiny sleigh,
Was Woody Hayes decked out in the scarlet and gray.
He looked to the crowd that was gathered around,
And said that he heard The Game was in town.
I came here to watch it, and wish you good luck.
Though it's not like you need it, cause Michigan Still Sucks!

Just thought I'd honor my fabulous hubby's love for the Buckeyes! Let's hope all goes well!

Update: After a thrilling victory over Michigan, we are on our way to the National Championship Game. We bought plane tickets tonight and hopefully can get some game tickets for a reasonable amount. O-H-I-O! Go bucks!

Thankful for...

strong Texas roots, a great family history and strong women. Some of you know (okay maybe most of you) that I come from a large extended family. I'm humbled to have come from a strong line of Schlenkers who decided to settle in Texas. This last summer we celebrated 100 years in Texas and had a great family reunion. It is always amazing to me how many people come together and celebrate our family. It is always several days of fun. Like most everything, you never really appreciate your heritage until you get older.

This reunion was special because I got to spend lots of great time with my cousins whom I seldom see. As kids we were always running around together and getting into things we weren't supposed to. It was nice to reconnect and reminisce about our childhoods. We spent a lot of time laughing and enjoying life.

I learned a lot about my family roots too. My great-grandmother Schlenker had 11 children. Basically she was pregnant from age 26-46. I can't even begin to fathom that. She also was a strong woman and devoted wife. She followed her husband out to Texas after he bought land (which she told him not to do) on the train with 9 children one of which was a 3 month old baby. By the time she got to the farm it was dark. When she awoke the next morning she could only see black prairie everywhere. Even then she didn't doubt her husbands' decision to come to Texas. I can only hope I'm that kind of devoted wife. Coming from a history of strong women you can't help but be inspired to live up to your full potential. Here's to being thankful for the "diva" in us all!

Inspired by Aimee....

to start a list of what I'm thankful for. It is November after all! Today there are two things on my list.

First I'm thankful for patient people at tech support for Smart Board. Yes, my wonderful new technology in my room is broken and I spent an hour and a half on the phone with tech support. The poor lady was so nice trying to walk me through troubleshooting. I know there were times she probably wondered if I was a complete idiot but she was patient none the less. After all that time they didn't fix my problem and I have to call back tomorrow. It can't be good I've stumped the tech people!

Secondly, I'm thankful for my amazing friends and family. I have received such an outpouring of love, thoughts, concern and prayers from everyone in the last few days. I want you all to know how much it means to me and how much I appreciate it. I promise to respond personally to each of you this weekend but just want to say thanks! You are all awesome and I'm honored to be a part of your lives!

Have a great weekend and thank God for your lists of thankfulness!

No Voice

I completely lost my voice overnight. No idea why or how. I still went to work (I may have the only job where no voice isn't an excuse to miss!)and continued with my day because otherwise I felt okay. My kids were funny today because they couldn't believe I really couldn't talk. After I told them I lost my voice one of the little boys came up, touched my neck and said, "Where voice go?" It definitely made for an interesting day.

I did discover that not having a voice makes you really appreciate the fact you really do have a voice (weird, I know). I realized all the things we miss or take for granted because we are talking or interrupting others. Everyone should have a day with no voice at least once a month. It may be part of what is wrong with the world today!

Adventures in Parenting....(a dog)

We have decided that a dog is the first step to test whether one is ready for children. Everyone should be required to have a pet of some kind before deciding they are worthy of parenthood. Thus our adventure this week.

Woody had been scratching a lot for a long time and like every good parent we hoped it would just go away. It didn't so we finally broke down and took him to the vet. Turns out he has allergies (go figure) and the vet started him on an experimental drug. Yes, our dog is a test subject. Part of the treatment is a week of baths every other day and then a spray every third day. Fun stuff!

Have you every tried giving a dog a bath? Much less in the guest bathroom? Quite the adventure. He has figured out that running water is not a good thing when it comes to the bathroom. It is harder and harder to catch him and drag him to the bathroom. Once in the tub he submits to the fact that he is getting a bath so it is pretty easy. Afterwards, it is interesting to try and herd him outside before he shakes all over the house. We have mildly succeeded so far! However, there is one more bath to go! Hopefully he won't put up too much of a fight!

After this (and dog vomit/diarrhea), kids should be easy!!!

Exciting News!!!!

Some exciting news to share with you from the Cramer household. Are you ready??? Mindy is engaged!!!! Her fiance proposed on top of the Empire State Building today during her break from the cruise ship she's on. After the proposal, she had to get back on the ship for another two week stint. We only talked briefly before she lost cell signal but she was giddy and very excited. I am too!! Congrats Mindy and Doug! We can't wait for the big day (maybe Playa del Carmen??)

Tough Decision

I love my job so much but one of the toughest things about it is making decisions that impact the futures of my children. One of these decisions is upcoming and I'm struggling with what to do. I feel as though I'm not meeting the educational needs of one student and would like to place him/her at another campus. This student is struggling to keep up with peers and I feel it is in his/her best interest to move. However, the campus I'm looking at serves the MR students for deaf ed. This is where my struggle comes in....should I be giving up on a "normal" paced education for the student at the tender age of 10? It is not a decision I take lightly and can only hope that I make the best choice!

Things I learned (or confirmed) about my husband....

this weekend. It was nice because we had a weekend with just the two of us and tons of time to spend together (it's been a while since this has happened). I can honestly say it was a fantastic weekend and I didn't do anything exciting. In the course of spending time with Joel I learned (or confirmed) the following things.

1. While he is a big Buckeye fan, he is not the craziest or the nuttiest one out there! We went to watch the game this weekend at the OSU alumni party. Talk about some obsessed fans! I usually don't go to these things but decided to since he would be alone and I had nothing else to do. I'm glad I went and got to spend time with him. It also helped they won the game!

2. He is really great around kids. We went to see one of our friends new baby, Taylor. She is precious! While I was holding her, Joel was entertaining Ryan. It was fun to see. I've know he is good with kids (toddlers especially) but it's always nice to reconfirm.

3. He wants to take care of me. For example, he gave me the best route to go to the courthouse for jury duty. It's a small thing but I appreciated it b/c then I could sleep in longer!

4. He loves me unconditionally more than I could put into words. We had some real conversations this weekend and I've never felt more loved or at peace than when I'm with him.

5. He is excited we are spending Christmas here in McKinney (even though we were supposed to go to Ohio). He is even excited my family is going to join us! Me too! I only wish that his mom could come too.

I'm sure there are lots more things I could list. But for now this will do. I just want everyone to know how special Joel is and how much I love him! I love you Joel!!

Babies, babies, babies

Everywhere I turn I seem to be surrounded by babies or expectant moms. Three of our friends had new baby girls this week. Welcome to the world Ava, Riley, and Taylor! We can't wait to watch you grow and become young women. It makes me so excited to some day have children of my own!

This made me wonder (among other things) why some people can have kids without even trying (and really don't want them) and others who really want kids have such a hard time having them. It just doesn't seem fair. I have come to the conclusion though that if we are blessed with children I will cherish them so much more because of the road we took to get there. Thanks to all of your for your thoughts, prayers and support!

A Panhandle Wedding

Sorry this took so long to post but it has been an exhausting beginning of the week. We survived the wedding and had a great time hanging out with the family. Some highlights of the weekend included: catching up with my cousins Lori, Nate and Marcy; meeting Mindy's new beau Doug; my dad's surprise toast to all three of us girls and mom; the great food Paul's family fixed for the reception.

The wedding turned out beautiful thanks to lots of hard work from my mom, aunt, sister and the husbands! We spent all day Friday decorating everything and finished up final touches on Saturday. It went off without a hitch (even the weather cooperated!) I've posted some pictures for you all to enjoy (if you want to see more let me know and I'll send you a link to them). Hope you had a great (but not as exhausting) weekend as well!

Texas Fair Adventures

I am exhausted but I survived the annual trip to the fair today with the kids. There is nothing like corralling deaf children and adults in large crowds at the fair. I felt like I spent all day counting to seven (the number of my kids) and yelling at them to pay attention where they were going and mind their manners.

One of my boys kept wandering off and so about the fifteenth time it happened I finally told him, "Fine! Go off again. I don't care. But when you get lost and the policemen try to call me I'm not going to answer my phone. You will just have to stay here and be lost!" He really pondered this and didn't leave the group again! I love little white lies to the kids....makes them wonder when you are serious. All in all we had fun and covered a lot of ground (highlights included Big Tex talking, the huge cow "Peter the Great" and lunch with Texas shaped nachos!). I remember now why this is a once a year occasion for me!

Now we are off to Amarillo for the big wedding. We will be back Sunday so I'll post details then. Have a great weekend!

My day off....and weekend

I had Friday off because it was our state fair day. I never knew schools took a day off for the fair until I moved to Dallas. I made the mistake of going one year on the same day the kids have their tickets for. Never again will I do that!!! Not a way to spend a relaxing day off. Needless to say, I don't enjoy the fair. I know several of you will disagree with me but I'm tainted by the fact I have to go with the kids on a field trip every year. Chasing and corralling deaf children will taint your experience greatly!

So what did I do instead on my day off you ask? I spent the better part of Friday driving around looking for the scrapbooking magazine that Aimee got published in. Oh, the things I'll do for friendship! (Just kidding Aims!) I needed to run errands anyway and decided to combine the trips. First I went to Hobby Lobby to get some scrapbooking stuff for my neice's Christmas gifts and didn't find the magazine. So I scooted across the street to Target in hopes they would have it. Of course not, because that would be too easy. By this time I needed to head towards Frisco and my hair appointment so I went to the mall. (Sidenote: I hate the mall in Frisco b/c they are doing construction all around it and traffic is a nightmare!) I went to Barnes and Noble and still did not find the mag. I stopped at J.C. Penny's to look for something for Joni's wedding but left empty handed. I then went to eat and to my hair appointment. Afterwards, I stopped at Jo-Ann's (thinking a craft store would carry the magazine) but no luck. I decided to make one final stop at the scrapbooking store down from Jo-Ann's. Eureka!!! I finally found the magazine. I bought it and came home to read it. I'm so proud of Aimee's layout and only wish I were half as creative with my scrapbooks! Maybe I need some lessons from her.....

The rest of my weekend was spent having a fabulous party at the Dinner Station with some girlfriends, watching Buckeye football (Go Bucks!!), working on the girls' Texas trip scrapbooks, church and lesson plans. It was a great 3 day weekend. Too bad it's back to the grindstone!

A Trip to Canton and other tales

I went on a road trip yesterday to Canton with Holly and Justin for first Monday. We had a lot of fun!!! Justin was such a trooper. He wins husband of the month award for hauling our things around and not complaining once! Holly and I found lots of "bargains" (or at least what we perceived as bargains). We have several crafts to complete now that we have ideas and items. I can't wait to start. I've got a window to paint, metal platters to paint and a cute message board with chicken wire to create. Fun stuff! The best part was buying "pumpkamelons" at the end of the day!

In not so fun stuff, I have a dr appointment with my ob/gyn tomorrow. (I know you are all jealous!!) I'd love your thoughts and prayers in hopes that we can resolve some issues that I'm having (I won't bore you with details but call me if you want to know them!). Hopefully things will go well and we can get some answers. Joel may not tolerate the Dr. Jeckel and Hyde routine for much longer!!! :)

It's Pumpkamelon Time!

As I've said before, deaf education is always an interesting job. Several years ago, we were discussing fall time and one of my hard-of-hearing kids said, "I remember last year when we made a pumpkamelon!" Ever since I when I think of fall I think of "pumpkamelons".

Fall is my absolute favorite season. I love everything about it...the cool weather, the activities, the holidays, just everything. I hope everyone has a great fall and takes time to enjoy the "pumpkamelons!"

What a week....and weekend

It has already been a rough week (and it's only Tuesday!!!) On a positive note, it can only get better from here.

If you read Aimee's blog you know that I was home this weekend and got to see her. I had a great visit at home. I went for two reasons. One, my great-great aunt Louisa had a 100th birthday party. How many times do you get to go to a party for a 100 year old? Not many, so I was excited to attend. She was funny because she insisted that it was NOT her birthday. Who can argue with a 100 year old person? I wasn't going to! Second reason was a bridal shower for my little sister. Hard to believe her wedding is in three weeks! She had a great shower and got lots of cool things.

While I was home I looked through some old pictures and thought I'd post some of them. Look closely for Holly and Aimee in them. Hope you enjoy!

This is from October of 1985 (I'm guessing on a Sunday). We were having a party for our Cabbage Patch Kids! Great memories.

This was in 5th grade (1989). We were celebrating a "promotion" in Girl Scouts. I'm sporting quite the hair do!!!

This is me and Casey (Aimee's twin brother) in my great-aunt Sarah's Sunday school class. It was 1985 and I have no idea what we were doing!

It's Aimee's Birthday!

Happy Birthday Aimee! I just want to take some time to tell you what a great friend and person you are. I wish I had some great childhood picture to post with this but they are all at mom and dad's house (I'm going home this weekend so I'll have to look). I'm sure I could find some great ones of Christmas pageants or some other church function.

For those who don't know (or haven't figured it out), Aimee and I grew up together. We attended the same church and I spent many Sunday afternoons playing with her and her twin brother Casey. Aims and I also took piano lessons together for several years and played many duets for church.

I just want everyone to know how much I love Aimee and have enjoyed her friendship. She is an awesome mom to two wonderful boys, an amazing Christian woman, a loving wife and best of all a fantastic friend. Everyone should be lucky enough to know her!

Happy Birthday Aims!!! You deserve the best day ever!!!

What the heck??

As you know we took a road trip to La Jolla this weekend for our friends Dave and Hilary's wedding. I'll post more about the trip later but wanted to share our "What the Heck?" moment in honor of Justin and his love for odd signs.

We flew into Orange County (Santa Ana) and had a drive to La Jolla down Hwy 5. We started with the senic route (Hwy 1) down to Laguna Beach and then proceded to Hwy 5 to save time. We are driving along when Joel spots and unusual sign along the highway. No one else saw it but we all pondered his description. Upon arriving in La Jolla we found several t-shirts depicting the same sign (thus the picture).

I will leave it to you to ponder it's meaning. We never found out the actual need for the sign but would welcome anyone who knows about it to comment. And they say nothing fun ever happens on vacation!!

We are off

to San Diego for a wedding!! I'm so excited to see everyone and have a day off from work. I'll post details when we return. Hope you all have an equally great weekend!

Remembering Sept. 11th

Alfonse Joseph Niedermeyer, III

As you know, a few weeks ago I made a commitment to honor a victim of Sept. 11th. I was given the name of Alfonse Joseph Niedermeyer, III. I've spent the last few days trying to find out more about him and in the process have come to really respect what he did that day.

Alfonse, or "Big Al", was a police officer for the port authority of NY and NJ. An article I read described him as a person you "never would have mistaken for anything but a New Yorker. At 6-foot-4, 220 pounds, and with a booming New York accent, he made an imposing law enforcement officer." He had a 16-year career with the department and had won many citations which included rescuing passengers from USAir Flight 405 after it had skidded off a runway at LaGuardia Airport. Co-workers described Al as a "born rescuer".

On Sept. 11th, Al had just returned from a two week vacation. When he heard about the attacks he rushed to Tower Two to help (he was one of the first people on the scene). It was the same building his father used to work in before his retirement. His father said, "He liked his job tremendously, and it was typical of my son to want to be where he could be the most useful. I know only it was that he was doing his duty."

Big Al died at 40 years old and left behind a wife Nancy and two kids, a daughter Angelica and a son AJ. AJ was 2 1/2 when his father died and Angelica was born after the tragedy.

Days after the attacks, Al was confirmed dead. However, it was not until last October (2005) that his family could finally bury him. His father said on a message board, "My famliy finally buried Al this weekend. It has taken us some time to decide a fitting place. It has been four years since we lost Alfonse, yet the pain has not gone away. Al we miss you so much! We are all doing our best to look after your Son AJ and Daughter Angelica."

Alfonse touched many lives in his 40 years. Here are just some of the messages friends and co-workers left for him on various message boards.

My life changed the day I met Alfonse. He was a wonderful and happy friend. I loved him like a brother. I miss him tremendously. My life was so enriched having him in it. He taught me to celebrate every minute of life and to keep laughing. ---co-worker

At his memorial, his friend Kevin Quinn commented that 'Al always made you feel like YOU were his best friend.' It is the most enduring and unique attribute I have ever know in a person. His legacy is the love his family and friends all feel for him. ---co-worker

Your daughter is the image of you! When you look down upon her and AJ be proud. ---friend

To read more messages about Alfonse click here.

I will never again think of Sept. 11th the same. For me, it has become much more personal. Our commitment to the victims and their families should be one to always remember and if we feel ourselves forgetting to reread the stories of that awful day. I can only hope that I've captured a small part of Al today and in doing so have reminded us all of the impact of that day.

To "Big Al" and his friends and family...God be with you and may you draw comfort from the arms of God.

Read more about Project 2,996 and the victims of 9/11.

My computer was held for ransom....

yesterday because it was the all important Fantasy football draft for Joel. I had to rush home, do my school work and be off the computer by 6:30 for the draft (which lasts for at least 3 hours). Needless to say I was not able to blog. Sorry!

I've never understood the appeal of fantasy football. Don't really care to. The ironic part is that one of my friends developed a league just for girls. So I decided to join. I have no clue what I'm doing but thought it would be fun. I think the rules say you are suppose to pick the cutest players (or maybe not but that makes it more fun!) We'll see how it goes. At least my league is free!

Game Day

I never understood the appeal of the college football season until I met Joel. Part of the problem is that I went to a woman's university with no football program (obviously). In high school, I attended every game because I was in the band but never really understood it. It was not until I dated a football player that the actual game really mattered or made sense.


Then I met and married Joel and was introduced to the finer points of team traditions. Let's just say that until then I knew nothing about loyalty, dotting the "i", script Ohio, Brutus, Woody Hayes (who else would our dog be named after?) or the countless other important things in Ohio State football. Having said that, it should not have surprised me when on our honeymoon Brutus appeared out of Joel's suitcase to tour Europe with us. It actually made for some great pictures and conversation starters (yes, that's us in Naples with Brutus)!



I must admit now that football season is fun. I'm constantly trying to find new OSU stuff for presents and can even (maybe) name some of the current players. I also enjoy throwing parties for the games. Last year, we had a big bash for the Texas vs Ohio State game (thus the picture of our house). It was great even though we lost. We also dressed as Woody Hayes and an OSU cheerleader for Halloween the first year we were married.

I do still ask stupid questions when the game is on but somehow Joel never laughs or gets irritated. He simply answers them (usually for a second or third time) and continues watching the game. It really must be true love!

So as the season begins, I must admit I'm looking forward to it. I will still multi-task during most of the games but will try and keep the stupid questions to a minimum. For now, "Go Bucks" (and thank goodness they won today)!

My Sister's Wedding

My little sister is getting married in October and has put me in charge of programs. I'm looking for any cute ideas for an outdoor/casual fall wedding. Any ideas are very welcome (the simpler/easier, the better!) Hope you people can help me out! :)

I Wonder What Happens

On my drive home from work today I get stuck in the middle lane of traffic on 75 which is going really slow. I wonder what's going on so when I get a chance to change lanes I do. As I drive past everyone, I discover the problem....a student driver. As I pass I wonder why the teacher thinks it a good idea to drive the speed limit in the middle lane. Why not the "slow" lane?

Upon pondering this, I discover a whole slew of questions in my head which leads me to think about what happens between the time we take drivers ed and the time we get our license. I mean what happens to make us think that everything we learned in drivers ed is not applicable to real world driving.

Let's be honest. How many of us still drive in the 10:00/2:00 position? If you do is it EVERY time you are in the car? Also what happened to your respect (or lack there of) to the speed limit? And blinkers. Why do we decide they are just a suggestion instead of a requirement? Don't even get me started on highway merging. (Since when does yeild mean stop on an entrance ramp?)

Now, I took drivers ed in a small Texas town where there was only one place (with no traffic mind you) to practice merging onto the highway. In spite of this I feel like that this is one of my strong points and major pet peeves. After all, if I learned to do it everyone should have too.

Coach Hanna would be proud (and mortified) at what I still (and don't) do from drivers ed. If only he would offer a refresher course in parallel parking!

Honor a Victim of September 11th

My friend Traci did this and I found it powerful so I decided to do it too. Go to this website to honor one of the many heros of 9/11.

I am honoring Alfonse J. Niedermeyer, age 40, who died at the World Trade Center. His hometown was Manasquan, N.J. While I never met him and know nothing about his family, friends or town I still feel connected.

I will never forget waking up to the horrible news of the day and vividly remember praying for the vicitms, thier families, the police and firemen, basically for everyone. I was relieved my sister had left New York just weeks before. While I knew she was safe, many of her friends did not. I answered several calls from them inquiring about her safety because they could not get through to her New York number. It brought home how hard it must have been for those friends and family to simply not know the whereabouts or safety of thier loved ones.

So this is for Alfonse and the thousands of other victims. May you rest safely in the arms of God and know we will never forget.

I am NOT your Momma

Working in Deaf education is always an adventure because we usually have various hearing losses in the same class. For example, this year I have eight kids. Two have fairly good speech, four have cochlear implants and two are pretty deaf. Given these factors you always get interesting interpretations of words and sounds. This is where my title comes from.

One of my little implant girls constantly calls me "momma" when she wants my attention. I respond with "I'm not your momma." She laughs and corrects herself but can't seem to remember my name. It is a constant battle that doesn't bother me....I just think it's funny.

It could be worse...one of the teachers is fondly referred to as Mrs. Cracker! (Love you Rebekah!)

My Unsuccessful Boycott

So after ending last school year with the promise of amazing new technology for my classroom from my boss, I spent all summer complaining about how I would boycott the use of it. I decided the district could waste their money on all this stuff and I would not learn how to use it. Yes, I wasn't going to give into "the man."

So at the beginning of August we all trudged into the training for these things called Smart Boards. My co-workers and I all had the same attitude.....mainly we will never use this stuff. However, it turns out these Smart Boards are really cool and we are actually excited about using them. They are basically interactive white boards. They are huge but well worth the space they take up in my sardine can sized room. To top off the new smart boards, our boss even bought us new laptop computers to run them. We haven't seen this much new technology in Deaf ed in years. It's been like Christmas around Portable 4. (We are now wondering what we will "owe" our boss in the near future.)

So much for our boycott. I'm so excited about the stuff it can do that Joel and I went and bought a scanner/ printer/copier/fax machine today to make planning my lessons easier. The printer was something we needed anyway so we just upgraded to the combo package. Very cool!

Maybe I'll be better at my next boycott....I'll let you know as soon as I decide what it is!

My Pet Peeve

So after reading Holly's blog and going though my day I decided to post one of my biggest pet peeves. I cannot tolerate bad drivers and we seem to have an abundance of them in Dallas. My husband (Joel) blames it on the fact that we are not required to take drivers ed to get a license. While this is probably partly true another reason is that people are talking on their phones.

You can spot these people a mile away because they are doing one of the following things. Either they are driving 20 miles below the speed limit (usually in the "fast" lane), cutting people off because they aren't looking in their blind spot, or they are crossing 4 lanes of traffic to get to the exit they have been warned about miles in advance. I also love the people who drive in an exit only lane until the last possible second and then decide they don't want to exit. However, all of these considered, I think the worst one is when three cars are driving beside each other (under the speed limit) and prevent anyone from passing. That takes the cake.

Maybe we ought to seriously consider banning phones while driving. Food for thought.

What I didn't learn in Kindergarten...

was how much work and how hectic the first day (really week) is. I think that is why God gave us selective memory because any teacher who could remember from year to year the craziness would never return. But seriously, who really remembers how long the first few days are. For example, a recap of my day.

We started off great this morning using some cool new technology and worked up to gym time (aka my planning time). God bless the person who invented planning time! It is a much need time to regroup and regain one's sanity. We then worked some more before lunch. Finally it was time for lunch (after the 100th time of someone telling me they are hungry). We walk to lunch and of course half the kids don't like the food (which is a bit shady) but I tell them to eat or be hungry. So some decide to eat while the others opt to play outside in 1000 degree heat. Oh well. After they play we trudge back to our room for the remaining 2 hours of the day. I thought it would never end. Finally it was time for the bus. Thank heavens because we were all exhausted and ready for home.

Too bad I didn't leave till 5. Ugg...back to the grindstone again tomorrow. How many more days till Labor Day?

To New Beginnings

So I've been sucked into the world of blogging through several friends and thought I'd give it a try. Why not start something else new with the beginning of school. I figure that our daily routine is as interesting as other people and this is an easy way to keep up with everyone. So here's to new beginnings.....hope you enjoy!