A Night Away

Thursday was the start to a wonderful weekend!  It was Eric's last day at St. Luke's, 2 good friend's birthdays. Cinco de Mayo and a night out with friends.  Eric had off on Friday, so I decided to take off and spend the day with Eric.  We decided to go into Houston and spend the night.  We started the day by going to the Galleria and walking around the entire mall.  We then went to lunch at Texadelphia and headed to check into the hotel.  We stayed at Hotel Indigo and it was wonderful!  As soon as I saw the bed, I knew it was nap time!  Eric and I are so used to a lack of sleep, that we usually end up sleeping for a good part of our vacations. =)  We both took a 3 hour nap and it was amazing!  After our nap, we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and walked around the mall some more.  Even though it was a short getaway, it was just what we needed as we start the final push towards the end of the school year for me and Eric's last rotation.

Happy Mother's Day!

     This weekend we celebrated Mother's Day and it was wonderful!  During the day on Saturday, I went shopping with my mom.  My big prize of the day: a Coach purse as my graduation present from Eric!  I hadn't planned to get a purse, but Eric and I had seen one on Friday that I went back to look at 4 times.  Eric wanted me to get it, but I wasn't completely sold.  Then I found one at the Coach outlet for $100 less!  Saturday night we went to Michael and Heather's house to grill with Eric's family and Heather's parents.  We had a great time watching the kids play outside, eating and playing a game.
    On Sunday, I spent the day with my parents.  We went to Panera Bread for lunch, went to see Something Borrowed and ate dinner at Lupe Tortillas.  I highly recommend Something Borrowed!  I can't wait to start reading the books now.  I think my mom had a wonderful Mother's day.  It is so nice to get to spend time with my parents.  I'm looking forward to this summer when I can see them more often since I won't have summer school.
    The next couple weeks have some fun celebrations to come: my UHCL graduation, Teacher of the Year lunch and Tegan's preschool graduation...stay tuned!

April 29th...A Day for Celebrating!

    April 29th is always a special day for me...it's Eric's birthday!  Eric has never been one to make a big deal out of his birthday.  For me, birthdays are a HUGE deal! I love celebrating the birthday's of people in my life.  Without that special day, they would not be able to be in my life.  Ever since Tegan and Cainan were born, birthdays have become even more special to me. =) 
    This year, April 29th was even more special for a few different reasons:

• The Royal Wedding! I woke up early to watch the wedding life and it was amazing.  I got chills when Prince William and Prince Harry showed up.  I know Princess Diana was smiling that day.
• My good friend and first student teacher, Georgina, got engaged!!!  I'm so excited for her and her fiance, Bano.  They have dated for a long time like Eric and I did.  To make it more special, Georgina is from England, so she was already excited about the Royal Wedding and then Bano proposed to her on that day also!
• Another big event, one of the Katy football boys who we have watched grow up over the years got drafted to the NFL...go Andy!
• Lastly, an event that ended up getting cancelled, but the space shuttle Endeavor was supposed to launch.  The closer we get to the end of space flight, the more special it is to be able to watch the shuttles launch with my students.

Eric celebrated his birthday differently than ever before...as we were driving in Michael and Heather's minivan with the kids to go play putt-putt I mentioned to Eric that times sure have changed.  He said he wouldn't want to spend his birthday any other way =)

Trying to distract Eric from the people coming to sing to him.

Tegan thought up the idea to tell the waiter it was Eric's birthday and even told the waiter herself!

Being silly with the cupcake decorations

Getting pedicures...it's hard work looking this cute all the time!

Teacher of the Year

        A few weeks ago I was given one of the best honor's a teacher can receive...Teacher of the Year for Greene Elementary!  When I was nominated, I was very honored.  The best part was that my friend Leslie was nominated also.  Leslie is an amazing teacher and has been a wonderful teacher, supporter and teammate to me for the past 3 years.
       The school staff voted from a list of 5 teachers and a couple days later, my principal called me into her office to let me know that I had been selected for the Teacher of the Year for our campus.  My kids were so excited when my name was announced.  I was shocked to learn that I had won and very honored at the same time.  It feels good to know that my hard work is noticed =) 
       To celebrate, Eric and my parents both took me to celebratory dinners.  I also received beautiful flowers from my parents and my principals.  In a few weeks, I get to go to a lunch with Susan, my mom, Leslie and the other honorees from the district.  I also get to be recognized at the district board meeting in a few weeks.  Here are a few pictures that I took.

My name on the school marquee

Flowers from my parents

Kemah Boardwalk

      Since the weather has been so beautiful lately, we have been trying to enjoy some time outside before it gets too hot.  The nice weather has led us to Kemah twice in the past 3 days!  I went to Kemah on Saturday with my parents.  We walked around, watched the boats, relaxed and ate dinner at Saltgrass, my favorite!  It was a great day getting to hang out with my parents.
     Tonight, we met my grandparents in Kemah for dinner. They just got back from a trip to Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina.  They borrowed our Garmin and wanted to take us to dinner to return it and catch up on things.  We had a wonderful dinner with them at Landry's. 
     Eric and  I headed to Kemah a little early on a mission for school...We are doing a wall of pictures called "Reading All Around".  Teachers are taking pictures of themselves reading in intersting pictures.  The goal is to show the kids that we are reader too and you can read anywhere.  For my picture, I wanted to take a picture at Kemah, but forgot my book when we went this weekend.  So, tonight I set out to take a picture reading my book on the ferris wheel! I have never been on a ferris wheel before, so I was SOOOO excited! Eric has a fear of heights, so he opted to stay on solid ground and take pictures for me.  At the last minute, the ride operator told him that they can't have single riders, so he needed to go with me.  Poor thing, he was so scared! He did good though and made it through the ride!