Sometimes being a teacher gets rough!

So Chris has been off most of this week and last due to "forced vacation" if he didn't take it he was going to lose it.! But now he's at work on his normal day off, I guess that the joys of working for God, he doesn't care how ironic it is we he needs you to do his work. I wish I had forced vacation, especially after this week, it was one of the hardest this year. I actually had a student tell me I couldn't write him up for refusing to do class work...to which I responded watch me. It was all too much to handle this week, the kids are acting like it was the day before school gets out. The sad part is my few really good kids that have to suffer because of it. So I sit here on Saturday morning dreading Monday which makes me sad, but lets not dwell on that! Before Chris left this morning he gave me a task to design something for our princess party at church. It is a girls only lock-in ran by yours truly! I think its awesome, and it makes me happy to do things for youth I know appreciate it, unlike some fourth graders I know!

An old friend...

A few weeks ago I had the chance to go back to a place I love. A place that was very much a part of my life for almost 22 years. In fact one of the saddest and hardest days of my life is when I left here and never thought I could come back. My husband gave me that chance, who says you can't go home again? My family's place on Lake Travis was a piece of property that my grandfather bought in 1950 for his future family to enjoy. Like I did, my mother and her three sisters grew up here in the warm summer months. When his children (my aunts) got married he gave them each a piece of his land to build a hose on for their family. I remember learing how to ski at the age of three, hanging out on top of the dock looking for meteor showers, family reuions, riding four across with tubes behind Uncle Don's boat, smashing my face in on Dave's jet-ski, late nights of watching our parents play dominoes, and the sad moment I learned we had to sell it. Two weeks ago chris rented out the houses from their current owners for his youth winter retreat. Three months ago I was estatic, and as the trip drew closer I started to lose sleep over the decision. Through my tears I was able to step back into time to a place I still love. Leaving wasn't as hard this time, but I still cried. I was also greatful that Chris finally was able to see where all of my family's stories come from. The curtains on the windows were still the same, as was the furniture and the dishes we left behind, but it wasn' mine anymore. The houses stood their like empty memories of the past, reminders of what I couldn't have anymore. As I drove away I tried not to look back in my rear-view mirror and tried to look forward to making new memories that mean as much to me.

The first...

A new year, a new hobby, blogging that is, not scrapbooking. Just another lazy Saturday morning and although it is a new year we are up to the same habbits! It's my day off and I'm up at 6:30 this morning while Chris will sleep to 10 if I let him. Its peacful, and it gives me time play on the computer and work on my scrapbooking which is so far behind that its hard to do because I can't remember 6 months ago! This morning when looking through my pictures I came across our snow pictures from December 10. After much work am learning how to use my new version of Adobe (I never thought that a simple thing like double clicking would get on my nerves soo much!). Well don't tell Chris, but I cut him out! and made the papers black-er because the photos just didn't go with happy cheery snow paper, it was just too dark out that night!