Giving kids

So I have said many times that the school I work in, the families have well.... no other way to put it... a lot of money for the most part. They are so giving though and always want to help. But I always wondered... just because the parents are giving are the kids? Do the kids get everything they want?

Well, I can't answer the last question. They might get everything they want but I do know this -- their kids are UBER GIVING! I cannot believe my ears when my students come in to my classroom and tell me what they did over the weekend. Do your kids do this? I hope to do this with my own children whenever I have them to teach them the importance of giving.

• During the first week of school they take books. pencils, crayons, and other school items to children in need at the Salvation Army downtown.
• During Halloween they take most of their candy to the kids in the hospital who weren't able to go trick-or-treating.
• During Christmas they pass out books to kids in the hospital.
• Also during Christmas they fill up goodie bags with crayons and coloring books for kids in the hospital.
• They go to nursing homes to sing not just during the holidays... all the time.
• And my favorite one, if you get invited to a birthday party they ask you to NOT bring a gift. They ask you to donate to a charity of the CHILD'S CHOICE! This amazes me because it shows that even 5 and 6 year olds know what a charity is and have favorites! (one little boy asked for money to be donated to the ASPCA because he is an avid animal lover)

I love that the kids do this. And it's not because they have money ... they GIVE THEIR Halloween candy, THEIR books, THEIR time and THEIR birthday presents. Now, not all of them do this but I really hope that I can bring these traditions into my family when the time comes:)

Happy Holidays from 20 degree Ohio... ah!!

Mom's visit = long recovery

Shew! My mom and Darrell came to visit me the day after Thanksgiving. I was off Wednesday-Sunday so we figured since I had so many days off my mom would have her first taste of TX and Austin! Many of you know my mom but for those of you that don't here are some minor facts to describe her in a nutshell:
1. She is always first in everything she does. She taught us at an early age that we will lose at most games (Uno, Go Fish, Life) - it's part of life.
2. Goes along with number 1 ... she is ALWAYS in a hurry. For example, she runs when she mows the lawn. Seriously. My friends and old neighbors used to actually make comments about how fast she is.
3. She is a busy body beyond belief. From the moment she wakes... around 3:30 because 'she had too many things she was thinking about' she is up and off. She is EXHAUSTING!
4. She only partly listens to anything and everything you say (because she is busy thinking of other things like I stated in #3 and how to beat you to them like I stated in #1). To add to this she then will repeat back what she heard... but her version. More to come on this post as I collect my evidence.

Well.... because she is always in a hurry she made 1 minor error in booking her flight. She got here on Friday but she was supposed to get here at 10:30 AM... yea.. about that AM PM stuff. She got here at 10:30 PM! And sorry mom... the "your time, my time" stuff doesn't pertain to this one. AM time is AM time and PM time is PM time no matter what time zone you are in:) Oh well... lesson learned that even if you swear you double checked everything sometimes you just have to slow down and double check ;)

Here is the breakdown of our weekend -- hang on to your seats it's quite a busy weekend (and of course... we were always first)

So she got in on Friday night and we went to bed around 11:30. I drove them through downtown so they could see it slightly lit up at night and it was only a couple minutes out of the way (we weren't racing anyone so it was okay that we weren't "first".)

Saturday

• we woke up early (well early for me... my mom had been up all night - couldn't sleep and was thinking about too much... what IS she thinking about I always wonder?? maybe I'll interview her and get an insight into that busy brain of hers)
• drove 45 minutes to look at a possible vacation sight in the spring, then 45 minutes back
• went to a cute, very austin-y (hippie) coffee shop called Spider House Cafe - a must if you come here
• showed them around my school and area
• picked up Derrick from the airport
• went downtown to see the capital, Lady Bird Lake, late lunch, and UT campus.
• home for dinner - meatball subs and chocolate fondue with dippings:)
  
• played Euchre and The Game of Life (mom did NOT win)
  

Sunday:

• Woke up early
• went to out to breakfast
• drove an hour to San Antonio
• Saw the Alamo (guess who was first out of the building?)
• walked around the Riverwalk
• drove an hour back
• Walked around Zilker Park and Barton Springs
• Went out to dinner
• Played Euchre and The Game of Life (mom did NOT win)

Monday:

• Derrick drove me to school to take the car for the day
• Mom and Darrell layed by the pool
• Celebrated Derrick's birthday with an amazing dinner (that he cooked)

Tuesday:

• Mom and Darrell took me to school to borrow the car for the day
• Went to Botanical gardens and Mt. Bunnell then picked me up
• Derrick made our first Thanksgiving dinner
  

Wednesday:

• Derrick took me to school
• Took mom and Darrell to the airport
• Came home and went to bed at 7:30PM....

Shew! Exhausting but I think they really enjoyed it here. What is there not to like? Darrell and my mom are the most active people I know and make me feel like the laziest bum created. Here are some photos from our awesome visit!

Me at Spider House Cafe

The capital
All that Texas pride inside the capital

Ready to head downtown
Lady Bird Lake
Mom and Mia - best friends for life
Great shot of Derrick and I at the Alamo
Our first Thanksgiving dinner

Merry Christmas (early from my class!)

On Thursday we had our class party (I know a little early but I was informed that many of the students leave before the winter break starts to go to Paris, Australia, ya know... the usual) and boy was it an eye opener for me! I'm used to having the plan the entire party, have it filled with junk food, and usually it was the one day that ALL of the parents would come. Why you ask? FREE FOOD of course! Usually there would be grandparents, cousins, you name it - they were there. Sometimes I would get gifts (not to complain but they were usually dollar store presents or something random and broken like the one time I got an old nutcracker that didn't even work) Well that was then... this is now!


I have 2 room parents that planned the entire party... I didn't know even what we were eating! They showed up 45 minutes early while my kids were at music to set up and organize. We had 3 stations - wearing reindeer antlers and making reindeer food (adorable - dried oats, sugar and glitter, shaken together and put into a bag. Sprinkle it on your lawn on Christmas Even to help attract the reindeers of course -- and my 1 Jewish little girl who said the reindeer don't come to her house... oh honey, sprinkle it on your bushes and the magic fairies will come! DUH!) The next station they wore snowman headbands and made reindeer using their hand prints and a paper bag (glue handprints to the bag, add googly eyes and a sparkly red pom pom nose - hello Rudolph! sorry Jewish little girl... it was Rudolph, no changing that - but now she was cultural!) Lastly was the ultimate experience for them and me! A 4 tier chocolate fondue fountain! Bananas, strawberries, pretzel sticks, brownies, and to top it off sprinkles to roll it in afterwards. The kids just dipped away (not sanitary by any means but so awesome). Who would've thought at a 5 and 6 year old party that would be our treat. They spent 13 minutes at each station, a timer was set, and when it went off they switched. After 45 minutes to the dot I released them out my backdoor to play on the playscape and when we came back in 30 minutes later I swear little cleaning fairies went nuts in my room. The room was spotless and you would have never known there was party! AHHH what a dream:)

I also received my class gift which was amazing. At the beginning of the year the room parents send home envelopes with their name addressed on the outside to mail back to them and the parents can enclose as much as as they would like to "donate" to our parties and to... me:) The room parents can then use it as they would like. This year I was given one of my favorite perfumes -- an oldie but a goodie.... Dolce and Gabanna Light Blue -the gift set:) Also a gift card to Nordstrom and my favorite... a canister of sour patch kids.

AWESOME:) What a difference this party was from my previous and it was so relaxing for me to just enjoy it:)

So the holidays have gotten to me

I'm retarded (so not PC but it's the holidays I can say what needs to be said).... as I was re-reading and noticing all of my mess ups in my blog that need to be fixed I noticed that I keep on saying "more to come on my 5 1/2 hour house hunt". UHHH EARTH TO KATIE!?! I already wrote about it!

Can you tell I've been stressed to max? Oops:)

Derrick thinks I might be going slightly crazy since he found a measuring cup under the couch last night... obviously I didn't put it there - I don't even cook or touch those things. He said well then how did it get there Katie?

ummm....


ummmmmm...

Low and behold .... the reason I got a dog -- "Mia put it there. She likes to hide her toys she must've gotten confused... silly puppy!"

Well Derrick puts Mia up on a pedestal higher than me so he looked at her and said "no Katie... she didn't" (geez take the dog's side!).

Well I'm very sure I did not put it under there but hmmm how did it get there??

Is it Winter break yet for me? I need to unwind!!


PS --- My sister thinks I am hilarious (I am.... so I guess it's more that she knows I am hilarious) and shares my blog with a lot of her co-workers! To Beth --- thank you for the book suggestion I will definitely be looking into it! And to all of you Denstply Caulk readers --- please know that I am only slightly crazy:)

On a side note

Just a couple funny conversations between Derrick and I in the past of days I thought you might enjoy:

Tonight Derrick and I were talking about crocheting (don't know why...?) and he was explaining to me the difference between knitting and crocheting (again... don't ask why he knows more than I do - maybe I should've gotten HIM the sewing machine) and he said "you know when you put up a tent, oh wait you don't put up tents. Well like when you go camping... oh wait... you don't go camping. Geez Katie..... you live in another world". hahaha I just smiled and sipped my wine (that he poured me and refilled twice .... ahhhh my life is grand - Nikki I know you are shaking your head. Mom, you are wondering how I found someone to deal with me).

1 more funny one....

My frustration over house hunting hit the roof over the weekend (again.. more on that to come. I need to still wind down some more) and I just want to find the right neighborhood but that is really hard in Austin because the neighborhood "feel" is so different than what I am used to. So Derrick asked me "Katie, what do you want in a neighborhood?".

Well... call it the sorority in me... or just wanting to live the life of a perfect person but my response was:

"I want a neighborhood that it's okay to wear a dress, pumps, and a headband everyday and walk across the street to my neighbors house for wine on the porch. Like the Stepford Wives" IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK!?!? I really want to be Blair Waldorf from Gossip Girl - that is my ultimate dream!!! But the Manhattan life is not for me so I will settle for Stepford Wives (totally off topic but I love Blair so much I had to get her into my blog somehow).



**see that is my dream of me and my friends just hanging out, you know a normal Monday, waiting for our kids to get home from school**

Derrick's response was "Katie... that's not real life. We obviously are not buying a house anytime soon".

Looking back on it I laughed and do find it to be funny but still .... very true. I want to live in Pleasantville... where the basketball always goes in the hoop, it only rains to create a rainbow, and everyone walks places. Okay.... I get that this is a fantasy place and it doesn't really exist but is it too much to wish? I mean he did ask me what kind of neighborhood I wanted to live it. I told him the truth!! Besides... who can look at this and say they don't want to live that life and go grocery shopping like that (even if they were evil robots in the movie). I LOVE THEM!


So those are my side notes tonight ... hope they made you smile.

Winter wonderland:)

No... not a winter wonderland in TX!! Are you crazy!?! This past Saturday I went Christmas shopping (after my 5 1/2 hour house hunt... more to come on that later) in shorts and my new cowboy boots:) That's how warm it was here! I love how cowboy boots are appropriate with everything here... and they are my FAVORITE type of shoe. Someday I hope to get some "bedazzled" ones and really step out in style.

I am sure I have mentioned this before but I have wonderful parents at my school. One in particular, Katie, is my girl!!! I not only love her daughter and have a special relationship with her, but her mom and I are great friends (oh yea and my new claim to fame... her dad is also famous!) We talk about everything after school and email throughout the day different blogs that we love to follow and funny quotes. Well she is an amazingly crafty person. She helped me through gingerbread men, amazing story telling, papier mache, pumpkin carving, and next week gingerbread houses. She also noticed that next to my classroom was a storage room with 2 bookshelves, an old broken filing cabinet, old stuffed animals, and a million bajillion old teacher manuals from a previous teacher that retired and somehow all of her junk (lack of a better word) ended up in MY storage room. The room has a huge window that looks into my classroom.

She asked me about a month and a half ago if I would want to clean this out and let her (LET HER.... HAHAHA I LOVE IT) paint it, HIRE A MURALIST, and paint a jungle scene in there to go along with my monkey theme in my classroom. She then wanted to put either a desk and lamp and turn it into my office since she feels bad for me that I don't have my own area or make it a small group instruction area where my kids could be working in the classroom and I could still see and hear them but was in a quieter place.

Well.... upon cleaning it out we noticed there were HUGE cracks in the walls. I talked with our custodian (who by the way won EMPLOYEE OF THE YEAR last year!) and he wanted to have our district come and approve it for safety and see if it needed to be fixed.

Unfortunately the mural had to be put off but do not worry. She told me last week she thought she might be able to do something small to the room...

SMALL!?!

SMALL!?!??!?!?!


This room is AWESOME (da bomb-diggity as I like to say). With Christmas music playing in the morning and the lights going (the snowflakes can be set on many different settings) it feels so wintery in my room:) The kids love it and it is a great way to help us get into the holiday spirit! I call it my "Macy's Window". Jealous?? I know you are:)

Part 3 of the house hunt

How many parts will there be I wonder?? Maybe I'll this into a little contest -- how many times do you think I will go out with a realtor before finding "the house" that we both agree on and move into?? I hope this 3rd time was a charm and it all works out because I AM SICK OF IT! I know I know... be patient... don't rush this... I'M NOT RUSHING IT but I am so tired of it already:( Now onto the next 5 1/2 hour day I spent exploring 10 houses!

The first house on our list was actual up north, on the same street we live on but just down about a mile in a cute neighborhood. It's about 10-13 years old (the neighborhood) so it is still new but the trees are developed more and it is established. I also know my way around the north so I'm more comfortable with it but we aren't sure we want to stay up here. Although it is a great area and Round Rock is becoming a popular area to move to and commute from, we aren't sure it is for us. After seeing this house though my decision may have been swayed:) It is gorgeous. It has a loft on the 2nd floor looking down, a beautiful lay out, love the master bedroom, laundry room upstairs, kitchen and living room combined and the island is made out of layered stone, outside patio has a ceiling fan, and ALL appliances convey!! WHOO HOO!

We then moved onto 2 more houses, one which was sold (the sellers realtor updated the listing with a lower price but ACTUALLY showed the price it was sold for and didn't take it off of the market... moron!) and one that was so odd and confusing we spent a little bit of time in it just trying to figure out who would ever live in such an odd house.

Like I said we visited 10 houses, and of those 10 I liked 3 of them. Pretty good I guess... 30%. Eh.... patience:)

So I liked the one up north, another house that had a cute back yard and a nice layout - very open and interesting. Just the master suite was upstairs and everything else was downstairs. The last house I liked was awesome - no other way to describe it. It was an entertainers dream with a ton of upgrades already in it. The inside was nice, cute, and cozy. Smaller than the others that we had been looking at it but really ... why do we need a huge house?? The bathrooms were upgraded with stone showers and granite counter tops, but it was the backyard that was a selling point for me and a point that I know Derrick will love! It had a limestone patio with a full wood roof covering. It had 3 ceiling fans, awesome lights, huge floor heaters, a POOL TABLE, awesome wicker round chairs, a built in bar, and... BRICK OVEN!! This outside was like being on vacation! Now of course most of this stuff will not stay but boy did it win me over!

So Derrick is going to go see these 3 houses sometime this week (prob Tues or Wed) and we shall see what else we find out from the sellers and the surrounding areas. Fingers crossed!

House hunting! And so it continues...

I'll start off with updating you on our house hunting expedition (I can't think of a better word to describe this adventure). So I last left off by discussing the condo hunt I went on with the realtor and not liking ANYTHING. 2 days later we went and looked at 7 houses Derrick and I had picked out. I brought along the trusty Flip Video to video any houses that I liked to show Derrick.

The first house we went into I liked. It was in a cute neighborhood, nice brick front, nice deck on the back, but the lay out was not what we wanted. Since we ... I mean Derrick.... hang out mostly in the kitchen and living room we want them to have a nice flow to them - specifically be open to one another so we can still carry on conversations while cooking (Derrick) and drinking wine or taste testing (me -- ahh I'm so lucky). I video taped it though because this was my VERY FIRST house I ever went into and thought AWESOME - this is so fun!

We then went into another house in a cute neighborhood, huge, brick front, and nice upgrades throughout! And it had the flow that I was looking for. Flipped that one too. We then went across to the street to exact same house only this one was foreclosed -- yuck. The previous owners pulled out almost everything that was probably nice and it was replaced with junk. They also were asking the same price as the one across the street so I "xed" that one.

We then went to another one that I had gotten my hopes up for and although I liked the downstairs, the upstairs wasn't that great. The master was very small and we had a hard time figuring out which bedroom was which.

Then was the ultimate experience -- we walk up to a house and it had a junky rusted shopping cart outside of it (swear the neighborhood was nice) and when we opened the door the SMELL was overwhelming. There was dog poop on the floor, the refrigerator hadn't been cleaned out but the power was off and the refrigerator doors were WIDE open just letting out the rotten food smell. The walls were black from soot from the fire place. It was horrible! I thought someone had been murdered in there because of how bad the smell was! X!

Then we ventured over to a new neighborhood that was really nice. The house we looked at was HUGE and I could not believe it. We were just in shock! And it was so nice also!! I definitely flipped that one and said Derrick would definitely have to visit that one.

We had one more on the list, which turned out to be a dud. So 2 out of 7 wasn't bad:) I had decided that Derrick would go back and see the second house and the 6th house.

When Derrick got back to Austin he contacted the realtor and they said the 2nd house, with the same house across the street only foreclosed, had been sold. So all that was left for him to see was the HUGE house across the way. He went, saw it, and said he liked it. He had found many problems with it though that of course I didn't see. After discussing the issues with our realtor, the realtor contacted the sellers realtor to get a feel for them. Once we found out more information about the house (the builder and reputation, problems with it) and the sellers (not willing to come down at all before negotiating even started and no flooring allowance) we scratched it.

Back to stage 1 for me! 10 houses next time!!

I disappeared!

oops:) These past 2 weeks came full force and were CRAZY BUSY for me! I apologize for 2 things... number - 1 not updating as often as I should and number 2 - updating a TON over the next week!

Please note -- you might want to read these next couple of posts in baby steps -- it's a lot of info to catch you up on!

Without further ado.... my updates on house hunting, Thanksgiving, my mom's visit, and my awesome "macy's" style window in my classroom!