Posting again before the year is over!

Well, it's been a REALLY long time since I have posted so I suppose I should do that before the year comes to an end. I never showed you pictures from classroom. I did on facebook, so I guess you could have already seen them if you are my facebook friend. I am having a great "real" first year teaching 3rd grade. My kids are so sweet and really work hard. They amaze me everyday. I do miss teaching the kinder babies sometimes though, I don't know if it is because I miss how well I worked with my team, if it is the age, or the love those babies have for school. My kids really have started to show a love for learning, but it just seems to be in a different way. I absolutely love how independent my kiddos have become. That is something you rarely see in kinder! I got an amazing Christmas card from one of my students that just put everything into perspective. He told me that I was his favorite teacher of all his teachers he has had so far! I can't wait to see how he will grow as a learner and a young man in the years to come. I strive to always be that "favorite" teacher!!! :)

Here are some pictures of my room before school actually started, it never stays this clean. The furniture will be different after Christmas as well. We had new carpet put in over the break and I am going to rearrange and try to fit my old futon couch in there some where. I think my kids would enjoy it.

 Jeff and I worked hard on this super cool baseball table!

W had a great Christmas this year, as you can tell from this picture of Jo. I didn't take a lot of pictures because I'm a loser I guess. I do have some from the in-law's house but they are on my real camera and I have yet to get them on my NEW LAPTOP!!

Here is a picture of the totally cool lego table Santa and Mrs. Claus spent loads of time and effort building for Jo while he stayed the night with his Granny before Christmas. I found it in a magazine and had to do it. It can later be flipped over and turned into a desk for Jo when he out grows his legos...if that happens! And now we will finally have somewhere to keep all the legos in one spot!

One of Jo's presents from his Granny and Grandaddy was a season pass to Six Flags/Hurrican Harbor. They bought one for all 3 grandkids as well as one for them. Grandaddy called yesterday to say he wasn't doing anything at work and he was leaving to take the kids to Six Flags. I just couldn't bare to let him take Jo to Six Flags for the very first time without me there to see how he reacted...so Jeff and I bought season passes too! We all loaded up and went out to Holiday in the park for the day. The kids had SO much fun! It was a blast to see Jo's face on each ride. Some were laughing faces, while others were scared out of my mind faces. He was hilarious. He must of been very worn out too becuase he slept in later than ever this morning and has been really lazy today. Maybe we should go more often!

Jo has also started playing basketball this season... That is a new experience for all of us. I like that he is trying something new, but boy do I miss baseball. Which is good since Jo will now be playing on a select tournament team. A student of mine plays on the team and his dad is the coach, he had jo come play in a tournament before Thanksgiving. The team is a 9 year old team so it was also a big change, but it was fun. Jeff is going to be helping coach and Jo will continue to learn and grow with the older boys. We will continue to play in the regular Wylie league in his age level though during the season. We really enjoy that and I know Jeff loves to coach those kids. We aren't the best team...actually that is an understatement, we won 2 games last season; but it is fun none the less.

Well, I know there is more to tell but I need to get off here and finish up some laundry. I will TRY to post more often, but I can't promise anything!

We are loving our summer!!

Let's start with some fun pool pictures of my boys!

We have had a couple of firsts and a FINALLY this summer!

Firsts:

Jo got chiggers! Yikes, no fun! We went camping for the 4th of July with Jeff's parents and he got a ton of chigger bites.

Jo learned to blow a bubble with bubble gum! They were just tiny little bubbles, but bubbles none the less!

Finally!!!:

Jo can now ride a bike without training wheels!! We were starting to think he would never do it. Part of that would be our fault becasue we didn't let him practice very often. All the house in our neighborhood are front entry and we had a scare when he was smaller of a truck almost backing over him on his bike so we just didn't go that often. I'm a big loser and still haven't taken a picture of him riding but boy is that kid proud of himself! I will take some pictures soon and get them on here.

Other big news:

Luke Riley Thomason is finally here!!! He is so handsome! I just love my little "nephew"!

My crazy boy...

Yesterday Jo comes in from jumping on the trampoline and says "Hey mom, watch this..." He then cracks his knuckles and DOES A FLIP like he does on the trampoline. My heart jumped out of my throat! I knew once his feet left the ground what he was doing and and how it would end. I tried to stop him... The words couldn't come out fast enough! He did it and it ended as I expected. Him flat on his back on the floor. Jeff and I were both worried he was hurt and started talking to him and then laughing that he ACTUALLY thought this was a GOOD idea! He started crying, he said he was crying because we were mad at him, even though we told him many times we were not mad at him, we were worried about him. He was in fact crying because his back hurt. The whole time Jeff was talking to him we were cracking up. I was so glad he wasn't hurt bad, lord knows that could have turned out really bad. There really isn't a whole lot of padding under our carpet. I felt so bad for him, he really thought he was going to bounce right back up to his feet like he does when he flips on the trampoline. Needless to say, he rested in pain for a little while and we know it is not okay to flip anywhere but the trampoline. I really never thought I had to tell him that... but I guess I did!

Summa' Time!

So it's summer time and here we are...not doing much!

I got my classroom books all organized, FINALLY! It took a good week and a half and a huge mess. I got my motivation to finish when we were told we were having an open house in a few days. (That didn't go well, nobody came-but my books got cleaned up!).

Check out the mess!

I have been feeling crafty and wanted to make some things for my classroom. I made a sign to hang outside my classroom door, it will have the name in the pink part soon. I showed it to Whitney and she gave me the idea to paint a cork board too! So I made a bigger version to hang on my wall by my desk. I will probably use it to hang family and class pictures up.

Last Friday we got together with a bunch of friends and their kiddos and took over the splash park in Royse City! We had 14 kids all together!

We got to babysit sweet NJ while Whitney went to a workshop. We really enjoyed having her...maybe in the next year we can think about having a sweet little baby... just maybe...

Jordan is enjoying summer too. He really would love to have someone to play with but he manages.

Playing some basketball in the driveway...too bad the HOA won't let us keep it out. Look at his tan little body!

This is his new spot! He even hid from me yesterday. I walked in and didn't see him, just a bunch of toy baskets under there. He hid behind the toys and stayed there for a long time. I started to panic a little because I couldn't find him and didn't think he was under the bed with all the toys! Goof!

Wow! It's been almost a WHOLE year since I've posted!!

So sorry I let this slip away! My friends Charise and Jamie have both started a blog to keep up with their new adventures in motherhood and it made me remember I had a blog once in a blue moon! To catch up on some things we will do a quick play by play...

October: Jeff quit Rockwall Ford!! He is now an independent insurance agent and we love it. Still working on building up the client base, but he is so happy and has more time to be a happy husband and daddy! He was actually able to coach Jo's baseball team this spring! YOU NEED TO LET HIM GIVE YOU A QUOTE!! jeff@farmnhome.com check him out on facebook

December: Christmas! Fun times!

January: I was blessed to be able to teach kinder for a friend of mine while she stayed home with her beautiful new daughter! It really made me feel great that she requested for me to teach in her classroom while she was home. I really felt like her class was my "first" class. I had a blast despite a few tough kids.

March: Jeff's Birtday!
Baseball Season Started! Jeff got to coach, finally! we only won 2 games of 11, but our last game really showed some improvement in our team! Most of the kids want to return to our team next year so we hope to have more time to practice, learn and grow as a team.

We put our house on the market!! We really need/want to be back in Wylie. We spend so much time there; I work there, Jo goes to school there, our families are there, friends are there, baseball is there... tell your friends about our house here is our listinghttp://www.2817spencercir.cbapex.com/

April: Jo's Birthday! We had another successful party at the park in Rockwall! Love cheap, fun days for the kids!
When Whitney came back to her classroom, I moved over to another kinder class for a teacher on bedrest. I finished the year with them and learned a lot this semester!

May: Birthday for me!! The day before my birthday my principal texted Jeff to see if we were in wylie and we were so confused. After he told her no, she called me and told me she forgot to tell me happy birthday. (I wasn't going to be at school the next day on my birthday) I still was confused becasue she had in fact told me happy birthday. She then told me she knew I would have a tough day the next day and wanted to give me something good to hold on to... her exact words... "Heather Buckley, I am officially offering you a third grade position at Birmingham next year!!!" I cried and screamed, then looked across the table and Jeff and he too was crying! What great news! We were getting really worried I wouldn't get a job with the crazy budget crisis in education right now! Yay! I'm really going to be a teacher!! For Real!
Staci and I also had our annual birthday getaway in May! It was fantastic. I really enjoy having this time with Staci Bo! Best massage of my life!


June: Summer Time!!!!!!! I love it! A lot of my summer will consist of working at school but hey-I have a classroom!! I'm teaching in August!!
Jo was retested for GT (gifted and talented program) this year and got in! He was super excited and so were we. Of course we knew he was a smartie pants, but now the school does too! haha!
Also, our sweet 'nephew' (Luke Riley Thomason) should be here soon! I can't wait to meet him and spoil him rotten!!

Phew! That was a lot!