Reasons I LOVE Teaching

If you've been following me, you know I left my job teaching in April. It was very difficult and both my students and myself shed a few tears. When I returned after school was out to get the things out of my classroom that I had bought, I returned to a stack full of letters and pictures my kids had made for me. There were atleast 50 pages from my kids, as well as 25 cards that they had made with their book buddies. I just now got around to reading them all, partly because I knew it would make me a little sad. They were so cute so I thought I would share a few of them. (I'm going to type them the way they wrote them. Keep in mind they are 2nd grade students, most of who are not native English speakers.)

Dear Mrs. J,
I miss you are you haveing fun in ablen can you come back you were the best techa we yost to have fun and I miss you very mach Pless come back
PS I miss you

Dear Mrs. J,
How are you? is good to be in Avend? are you a tegr? are der sand? I wish you wir her. I am on greein evre day.
Sicer,
A (one of my favorites who knew no English 2 years ago)

Dear Mrs. J,
I miss you but I will see you next time I love you.

Dira Mrs. J,
We mes you we wat you to come bake in or class.
By S (another one who knew no English 2 years ago)

I thought these were all super sweet, and cute. I sure love teaching and the kids I meet. I can't wait to find a job here and meet my new kids!

Happy Father's Day!

Today is a day to celebrate dads and the things they do for us and the love they give us.

This is my daddy giving me away at our wedding. He joked that there were no returns, but I know he was sad to see me go. I was always a daddy's girl. But, that's not to say that our relationship always went smoothly. As I've grown older, my relationship with my dad has changed and matured. He's taught me a lot and has helped me to make some smart decisions throughout life. He's even taken in Anthony and loves Anthony as if he's his own son. He's a wonderful father and my life just wouldn't be the same if he wasn't my father. Although we've had our ups and dads, I will always love my daddy.

Dancing with my dad at our wedding was a ton of fun. We danced to Tim McGraw's my little girl. Neither of us could listen to the song without tearing up. We instead focused on our attempt at dancing and the attempts and not stepping on each others feet. Neither of us have any ability to dance. But it was the best dance I've had with my daddy.
And this is my wonderful grandfather, and one of my favorite wedding pictures. This was just after the wedding and I hadn't had the opportunity to see him yet so I went over to give him a hug. When this picture was taken he was telling me that his marriage lasted over 60 years and he hoped that we could outlast them. Grandma had just past away 3 months before the wedding so it was an especially touching moment.

Help please!

I do most of my grocery shopping at the commisary. It's close by. The prices are good. The produce is fresh. And they even carry my groceries to the car. But, that's where the problem arises. How much do I tip the guy or girl that carries out my groceries? Do I tip if they only bag my groceries, but I carry them out? How much do I tip then? There should really be some kind of guide posted at the register or by the door. That would make my life so much more simple. Please help!

Lake Trip

A bunch of the guys from Anthony's shift at the fire station planned a trip to the lake for this past Monday. Yes, the guys did all the planning, but it went fairly smoothly. We had plans to all meet up and leave at 9:30. We left at 10:30. It seems like group of military people would be on time. But oh well. We set out on our trip. The guys rented 2 boats from the base, bought food to cook out and seemed very well prepared. They even printed maps for everyone. An hour and a half later we were there! (I was asleep in the back b/c I had a migraine, but I do believe we made 2-3 U turns on the way)

The water was beautiful and felt great. We got the boats in the water and some of us headed out while others stayed back and cooked. It was a great day of tubing, swimming, boating and hanging out. Until...around 5:00. The Chief called to say that the boat had broken down in the middle of the lake. We couldn't get ahold of anyone on the other boat. Someone on a jet ski (not with us) went out to tell the people on the working boat what happened and they went looking for them. An hour later, someone called to say they couldn't find them. When we left, 2 hours after it all started, the boat was being pulled in by a jet ski and our boat never found them. I was just happy I wasn't out on either of those other boats.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. The guys did a great job with the planning. The only thing missing was cups for the tea and gatorade which are believed to have fallen out on the way there. And my migraine went away before we got there.

I love that I've finally made some friends and know some people out here. It sure makes life much more fun.

Puppy Update

Well, we've made it one week with Sam. It's been a trying week, that's for sure. It's made me contemplate wanting kids, but I am told that caring for kids is much easier than caring for a puppy. I sure hope they are right.

The first few days were good. He had NO accidents. I should have known it was too good to be true. But, it's not that bad. He's full of energy. Frankie, who is four, and much smaller than him, doesn't much care for him. He'll play with him every now and then, but usually it's just barking and a little chasing and then Frankie jumps on the couch. It usually goes a little something like this...

And here are a few of my favorite pictures from throughout the week.

Sam hasn't quite figured out how to get onto the couch yet, so Frankie spends most of his day watching Sam while sitting on the couch with me.

My Sister's Keeper

Since I'm not working during the summer, and I have only been reading either professional books or children's books for the past 9 months, I decided I needed a good book to start off the summer. I had seen the previews for My Sister's Keeper and knew I wanted to see the movie, but it wasn't until some freinds started talking about reading the book and I saw it laying on my Mom's coffee table that I decided I wanted to read it. So, Mom and I made a trip to WalMart at 11:00 last Saturday night while I was home.

I started the book on Monday while laying at the pool (for way too long). It instantly drew me in and kept me wanting to read more. Every free chance I've had, I've been reading, and am finally finished. But, sad that I don't have a story to read that I'm so engaged in.

Here's a little background, without ruining the story. Anna's parents concieved Anna for the sole purpose of saving their first daughter, Kate. Anna spends her whole life donating platelets and bone marrow and now they want her to donate her kidney. Anna wants to have a say in the matter and seeks an attorney. The story goes back and forth from present time, to the past, as they found out about the Leukemia, to struggles they had along the way, as well as wonderful memories they had as a family. Each chapter has a different character narrating. It allows you to see all sides of the story. I highly recommend picking up this book and picking up a box of Kleenex too.

What book do you recommend? I still have 2 months of summer left to read!

Meet Sam

Meet Sampson...Sam for short. Sam is our new boxer and my protector.


We picked him up today. Anthony has been wanting his own "manly" dog since before we moved. I kept pushing it off until I would be able to be home during the day. So, now that it's summer, it was time for a dog. He's so happy to finally have "his" dog.

Being that it's Anthony's dog, he is requiring that I include all of Sam's aliases in my blog. (Don't ask...I don't know why a dog needs an alias.) So, here it goes...AKA Sammy Sanchez cuz he be in the streets (I don't get it either) AKA Sam the Magnificant AKA Big Paws McGee AKA the boxer formerly known as Speckled Nose

There were three guys to chose from and we chose this guy because of his cute speckled nose.

Now, the fun begins. I have never had a dog of my own to raise as a puppy. Sam has been an outside dog all of his life, but we are keeping him inside. He's so scared of everything. He can't climb up or down the stairs. The poor guy fell down the stairs the first time he tried coming down. So far, he has been very good though. We are crate training him, so he's been in the crate for a bit and hasn't cried at all. I wonder how long the calmness will last.

Any advice on raising a puppy?

My Wonderful Chef

Anthony was reading through my blogs the other day when he realized that there were no blogs about him. He thought that he needed a blog about him...so here it is.

I was very pleased to come home from work on Wednesday to find that he had already started preparing for dinner. He had marinated both shrimp and chicken. I tried to get pictures of him doing this, but he didn't have a hat and he didn't want my readers to see him with bad hair.*

He made grilled mojito lime shrimp and baja citrus chicken. It was amazing! I made rice and green beans to go with it. It was such a wonderful dinner! I'm very lucky to have a husband that loves to cook and is good at it.

Here's Anthony grilling my wonderful meal.

Here's our wonderful meal.

Aren't I a lucky woman?

*I can't get it to leave a space here and it's driving me crazy!

Poor Dog

Before we were married, we inherited a Shitzu, Frankie, from my husband's mom. She had gotten him three years earlier and could no longer keep him due to where she was living. I had always wanted a fluffy little dog so I was happy. Since adopting him, we have grown real close. He has kept me company through Anthony's being away for training. He's a pretty good dog most of the time and he's super sweet.

The one draw back...he was never neutered. It was no problem at first. We always are outside with him when he goes outside and he doesn't play with other dogs. Well, he started becoming slightly more "territorial" as we moved into our new apartment when we got married. Then, when we moved this past time, it got real bad. It was like he wanted everyone to know that EVERYTHING in this apartment was his. Well, we got tired of that real fast and Monday he was neuter. I felt awful taking him and worried about him all day. We even bought him a new toy to make up for what we had done to him. When he got home, he looked so pitiful. This is what we saw for 2 days...

I'm glad to report that now, he's doing much better. He runs around everywhere with this cow in his mouth. He'll even give me kisses now. So hopefully, he will continue to recover well and the problem will be fixed.