Thanksgiving 2008

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving twice! Round one took place at my parents' house the Sunday before Thanksgiving. My grandparents drove up from Tucson so we could all be together.
Grandmama and Papa

Mom and dad, now Nana and Papa

My big cheeser.

Playing outside with cars after dinner.

Then, with a belly full of food, it was obviously time to jump on the trampoline!?!

There wasn't too much jumping and we ended up just laying out there for a while.

Adrian found Grandpapa's hat, and my mom has a pair of boots that are still a little bit too big for him. Yeehaw!

Howdy partner!

Thanksgiving round 2 took place on Thanksgiving at our house. I was in charge of cooking since it was Jon-Paul's mom's birthday. I really didn't mind and it was actually very stress-free. I tried to brine the turkey which I have always wanted to. I really did make the turkey very juicy and I would recommend it to anyone.

Sitting and reading books just waiting for the turkey to cook and the guests to arrive.

After a full day of fun and no nap he was so tired he fell asleep in my arms. It was sweet!

Zoo Birthday

My mom's birthday was on November 12th. I had the day off of work on November 11th for Veterans, so we all headed to the zoo. I love the zoo. I think I could go at least once a month and not get tired of it. Now, I can share in Adrian's joy when he looks at the animals. We all had a great day and have the pictures to prove it.

Dude, where's my car?

Here. I think you dropped this

I think she's trying to kiss it. Yuck.

This bird flew on my arm right when I walked in and it wouldn't leave.

My dad's attempt at a smile while trying to get Adrian to smile is hilarious.

This is by far the funniest picture of the day. What, was the monkey going to call on his go go gadget arm and touch his?

Once again, these pictures are so hard with 3 people.

Feeding the very stinky giraffes. I never knew they smelled so bad.
He was so cute. He would run from animal pen to animal pen and then try to climb the barrier in order to see. He's such a big boy.
Yes, I was volunteered to ride the merry-go-round with him. Yes, we had to do it twice. It was a nice end to a fun day!

Happy Halloween (a little late)

So, yes it has been a while since my last post. I can't believe I didn't get our Halloween pictures up before now. Halloween was so much fun. Adrian went dressed as a puppy. I was a rather warm costume but he was a trooper the whole time we went trick-or-treating. Once in a while we had to take his ears off to let his head cool down a little bit.

Our cute little puppy is all ready to go!

Daddy "tried" to dress up a little bit when we went out. Note, his ears are off at this point because he was getting a little bit hot from all of the walking. He did such a great job saying "trick-or-treat" at each house.

Here he is driving in Nana and Papa's neighborhood. They watched him for the night so we could go out with some adults for once.
This was my costume, but I only wore it to go out. It's a little too risky for neighborhood trick-or-treating.

Pumpkin carving fun!

This year Adrian is actually aware that Halloween is coming up. He has his puppy costume, he's been practicing his tail wagging skills, and even knows how to say "trick-or-treat". Next on our Halloween to-do list was pumpkin carving. Adrian was more than happy to help us pick out the pumpkins, but when it came time to reach his hand in and pull out the gunk inside he was less than thrilled.


This feels slimy, mom.


Yuck! What's on my hand?


I'll give it one more try.


I'm not the biggest fan of cleaning out the gunk either, but I do love the carving stage. I did use some of those patterns and I think they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

If you can't tell what they are....The one on the left is a friendly ghost for my parents. Ours is the one on the right with the scarier face.

To the fair we will go....

One thing I wanted to do during Fall break was go to the State Fair. So last Wednesday everyone had work off and away we went. Even Monique got to join us, which made it that much more fun. She and I were there for the food. We decided before we even went that we would share everything so we could enjoy more of a variety throughout the day. It was a wonderful plan and we left very full and happy. I took lots of pictures, and here they are...

The start of a wonderful day together.

Riding the elephant with daddy




The big boy had to pay himself



He loved riding the ponies



Taking one of many breaks to eat. Yum!



Riding the Ferris wheel



Why is he smiling more in their picture?



He was getting a little too brave way up there.



Playing in the little kid area


He couldn't get enough of these mats. We had to leave when he started bothering a little girl though. He hasn't learned how to play nice yet.



That's mine!



Of course we had to check out all of the animals.

Yep, our 22 month old giant was tall enough to ride the little rides all by himself. He didn't even cry.


He even thought he was brave enough to go on the roller coaster with Nana. He ALMOST cried on this one.


He was a lot happier when his feet were back on the ground.

It was a great day and Adrian had a blast. There wasn't anything he wasn't willing to try. I just love the fair!!

Fall Break

One quarter down and 3 more to go!! Teachers, and students, see their lives in terms of quarters. Nine weeks. It's only been nine weeks. It feels like at least 4 months. Yuck! As you can tell, I'm still not enjoying being in the classroom. It is definitely a struggle to make myself go everyday. I feel like most of the kids could care less about learning English, and some of them outright refuse to speak English. It's very frustrating. There are those few that seem genuinely interested and motivated to learn English, so basically they keep me going. I only see 25 kids throughout the entire day and I've concluded that if I can help 2 of them this year then I have done my job.

We did get our school label last week based on our Spring 2008 AIMS scores. We are considered a Performing Plus school. This is HUGE news for us. We haven't been making our Adequate Yearly Progress the past few years so our school has been in School Improvement. The thing is that 2 groups in our entire school populations drag down our scores. Our special ed kids and our ELL kids. Well, I'm responsible for teaching one of those groups so I can't help but feel a tremendous responsibility and weight on my shoulders for the kids I teach this year. They will be taking the AIMS test in April and at this point I have no confidence that what I'm doing is helping them learn English.

Starting on Monday I will be using a new reading program. That's right. The past 9 weeks I've been piecing things together everyday. I've been trying to make sure everyday I cover writing, reading, speaking, and phonics. It has been stressful. I'm looking forward to having all four of those components in one reading program. My problem is my laziness this week.

It's fall break. I don't feel like doing anything. I have a huge stack of papers to grade and now I have lessons to plan with the new text book. Instead I'm sitting here typing this and catching up on my shows that have been recorded with the DVR. Oh well, relazing never hurt anyone and as long as it gets done before Monday I'll be fine. Plus, I'm getting things done like doctor and dentist appointments that I can't do when I'm working. Oh, and let's not forget a visit to the State Fair that will take place some time this week!!!

Visiting Family

A few Sundays ago my parents, Jon-Paul, Adrian, and I took a day trip down to Marana to celebrate my great aunt Mary's birthday. Another reason we made sure that we all made the trip was because my great grandmother was going to be there. We haven't seen her in a while, and she's been having some health issues lately. She recently broke a hip and is recovering from that. Did I mention she's 96 1/2? So, that means if we have an opportunity to see her we should take it because sadly we won't have the chance much longer.

My great aunt lives on a farm type property with cows, horses, and lots of land. Oh yeah, and a swing set. Adrian had a blast swinging on the big boy type swings. When we go to the park I still sit him in the baby swings. Maybe he's ready for an upgrade.

Hang on tight!

Look mom I'm Superman!!

The carrot cake was very yummy. That's my great grandma in the red.

The next pictures are just a few examples of what we see everyday when Adrian and my dad are together. They are absolutely inseparable and it's adorable. Until, of course, we want Adrian to do something that requires him to be separated from my dad for a minute.