I PASSED; Saturday

WELL it is official I passed my Special ED EC-12 Exam!!!! That is very exciting news for me and my family. I am working very hard at what I do and am trying everything possible to be a better teacher!!!! The next test on my list is ESL which I will take on March 26. Luckily this study guide is only about 100 pages (practice test and answers included) where as my other study guide wat about 300 pages!! This next test I am less worried about for some reason. The SPED test just was a scary test for me. I guess because so many people that I have talked to about it couldn't remember the types of questions that were asked. I don't really know how to describe it other than I was just really scared. But that anxious feeling has passed and now I can focus on Jackson's 1st birthday which is coming up on Saturday!!!!

Saturday

On a happier note Jackson will turn 1 on Saturday!!! I can't believe that a year ago I was giving birth to him and he made our lives complete. There are so many things that I still need to get done

• clean the downstairs and green room and make sure the grill is cleaned
• set up all the decorations and put away anything that I don't like or want to be ruined by all the other people that will be at our house Saturday.
• Make the cupcakes and horse cake and decorate them the way that I want
• Prepair all the gift bags and make sure that everything is set our properly and makes sense for the way I want the party to go.

I have the two cutest shirts for him to wear. Probably one before cake and one after. I hope that his day goes great and he has a fun time. I'm sure he will never remember the time he had at his 1st birthday but it is such a big moment in his life I think all the bells and whistles are necessary!!!!

Waiting

Ok is it just me or when you are told that your test results will be available in one to three days don't you expect them to really be ready in on to three days??? Yes??? Ok so it's not just me?!?!?!?!!? Well on Thursday I took a test for my Special Ed certification and they told me that my results would be available in that time frame... It's now Monday, which is day 4 and my results STILL aren't up!!!! So my brain starts to wonder and starts thinking that well I guess I must have missed so many questions that I failed otherwise my results should have come up in about 1 day... So now I am all kinds of nervous and cringing whenever I open the website to see if my scores are available... GEEZ I hate waiting!!!!!!!

Test Anxiety (after the fact)

Well yesterday I took my Special Ed EC-12 test. People keep asking me how I think I did on it. I have been telling everyone that I think I did ok. But the Honest truth is that I'm not sure how I did. I am scared out of my mind to find out what the test results are for the test. I wish that it was an instant answer. Or I had a great idea last night; you just keep answering questions until you answer enough right to pass. Granted you are only given 5 hours to take the test so that would still be the time frame but it would guarantee a pass as long as you weren't a complete idiot. I'm just nervous for my scores to come in because I want to know if I'm stupid and I just wasted 120$ or if I passed and can add it to my certification for next year. I need all the help I can get to get a classroom teaching job next year considering all the cuts that are being made for the schools here in Texas... Nothing is good news coming from anyone about jobs for next year. All we can do is cross all our fingers and toes and hope for the best. Now I have to get ready for my ESL test that I am taking at the end of March. Yeah Test taking!!!!!

Not a good way to start off a Wednesday

Let me tell you the Joys of Motherhood are not in me this morning... Tuesday was not a good day for some reason. Nothing major happened, it was just one of those days where if it could go wrong it did!!! So Jack gets home last night at 9 P.M., so we are talking in our Kitchen with my dad and he just off hand mentions; "Oh, my Dad doens't think he is going to come to Jackson's Birthday" WHAT THE HELL!!!!! I ask in the nicest non-annoyed voice possible; "Why not???" Well apparently Jack's younger brother made a big deal over something not big at all and Grandpa doesn't want anything to ruin Jackson's birthday. So his solution is just to stay away... Which is very very sad for many reasons. One reason is that it will make it look like Kent doesn't care about Jackson since he's not there. and 2: Why can't you just get along for one day!!!!! Seriously it's not like we are asking you to sit next to each other and only talk to the other person for the entire day!!! You don't have to even make eye contact with the other person!!!!! It just seriously pisses me off that you can't put stupid stuff behind you after how many years???!?!?!?!!?!?!?

So at 1:45 this morning Jackson decides that he is going to wake up and start crying... Usually we would just let him cry until he fell back asleep; well the past few weeks he has ear infections and we are thinking that we are going to have to put tubes in his tiny little ears (Sad). So Jack said he would get the bottle if I would get him and change him and bring him into our bed. Ok; he usually will fall back to sleep at this hour... Well at around 2:15 he is still tossing and turning; guess who jumps out of bed to go sleep on the couch (one guess; its not me)... So Jackson continues to cry, wake up, go back to sleep off and on for another 45 mins. Finally around 3 something I need to get some sleep I have to wake up at 5:30 to go to work. I decide that he is going to cry one way or another and sleeping next to me will always keep him wallering around on me. So I put him back in his crib and he crys for like 10 more minutes then goes back to sleep. I finally fall back to sleep and I swear I closed my eyes and my stupid alarm went off!!!!! I seriously almost fell asleep driving in to work this morning. Its a 45 min drive one way!!! SO Coffee Coffee Coffee; in the words of Loralie Gilmore.

Please let it be Spring Break tomorrow!!!!!

Does This Make Me Crazy?!?!?!?!?!?

So Jack and I were wanting to finally move out into our own house; with land. We originally said that we could do with about 5 acres and a small house with only about 2,500 sq ft. Which was perfectlly fine with me... Less house to clean. Well over the weekend Jack and my dad were working together on a sprinkler system in Floresville. They got to talking and my parents are going to retire in 3 more school years. They live in a nice two story house; well they are thinking about the future where the stairs are going to be the death of them... And when they do pass on Jack and I are going to have to deal with the whole house situation. SOOO Jack had sugessted that when we get land we would just get a few more acres; more like 10 now and my parents would just build a house on the land with us. Then they got to talking a little bit more about the idea and it would just make more sence for us to all live in the same house again. So our small house with a few acres has grown to we need about 20 acres ( a bare minimum) for all that we are going to be doing with it and on it. And our house went from 2,500 sq ft. to about 10,000 if not bigger!!!! I like to call the idea I have in mind an upside down T-shirt; the arms would be the two halls for the bedrooms. Down one hallway would be my Parents "House" Bedroom with their own bathroom/shower and sitting area. Then there would be two guest bedrooms down that hall for if we had other family members staying with us for the weekend; or friends visiting us. Down the other arm would be our "House" with our bedroom with it's own bathroom/shower, and Jackson's room; and another room for if we have another kid. We would have a nice library in our house, and huge kitcken, and a nice size living room with an open floor plan for the most part. Jack and my dad and his dad and other family members are going to build this Ranch house for us, so that will help us save some money.  Jack was also thinking about boarding horses to help us make a little bit of extra money to help with the extra expenses. Now the big question... Where are we going to find all the land we need?!?!?!?!!?

So this is our plan and now we get to save save save... So hopefully in the next 5 years we can start on our dream home!!!!! I am very excited about all this... And the best part: IT was Jack's Idea!!!!!

Digital Dilemma

SOOO I won a bet against Jack when we were driving home from Oklahoma over Christmas break. He bet that I couldn't stay awake the entire trip home; I said what do you want to bet; He let me choose what I would win. Well earlier I had been talking to my mom about how if I started to save $100 a month I could afford to buy myself a Digital SLR camera for my Birthday in July. SO that is what I said I wanted if I stayed awake the entire trip home... Needless to say I WON!!!! So now I don't know what camera to get... I think I have it down to Cannon or Nikon (Leaning more toward Cannon; I have two other Cannon's which I LOVE), and that's about as far as I've gotten. I need to make up my mind because he wants to start looking around and pricing them (not exactly cheap) but I can't tell him exactly what kind I want to get... I'm thinking either the Cannon EOS Ti or the EOS Rebel... the Ti is more advanced but I think in the long run it will keep me happier longer than the other one... but again I have no frame of reference. So if you have a Digital SLR that you LOVE would you please let me know!!!!! (This also implies that people are reading my blog)

Thanks so much!!!!!!

Valentine's Day!!!

So I'm not a big fan of V-day in any way shape or form... I haven't been since High School... Not sure it had happy memories for me when I was younger... Well in 2006 my then boyfriend took me to a nice dinner at Rainforest Cafe on the Riverwalk in San Antonio!!! (Rainforest is my FAVORITE resturant by far... thank you UCA Cheerleading Nationals in Florida) He had a box in a Cavenders bag and I thought I was getting a belt or something... BOY WAS I WRONG!!!! Inside the bag was a box of chocolotes... YUMMY!!!! But I noticed that the top layer was sitting sort of funny... So I lifted it up and there was a box inside the box of chocolates... I pulled the box out of the other box and Jack stood up and walked over to me and took the ring box from me and got down on one knee in front of out table (which was right in front of the fish tank) and asked me to spend the rest of our lives together!!! OF course I said yes!!! So we finally got married and this year we went back to Rainforest Cafe with our Son for his 1st Valentine's Day!!! Let me tell you he LOVED IT!!!! All the different animals making noises and moving around... We were sitting right next to a big gorilla... Now you would think most kids under that age of 5 would be afraid of these big moving noisy animals... NOT JACKSON!!! He was waving at them and getting all excited when they would go off... He looked sadder when they stopped then when they were going... IT was the cutest thing I have ever seen... Just wish I had my camera with me to capture the moment... Of course I left it at home because my Husband neglected to tell me where we were going to eat for dinner...

Going back a little bit.... when I got home from work there was a Card and a Box of CHOCOLOTE COVERED STRAWBERRIES waiting for me on the stair banister... YUMM-TASTIC!!!!! So we got dressed and ready to go; went and picked up Jackson from Daycare... and started to drive to our dinner. Still not knowing where we were going I was just along for the ride, playing with Jackson in his carseat and laughing at him singing along with the radio and his daddy... Which I might add is the CUTETEST thing I have ever seen ( I say that a lot). But none the less it was a very nice Valentine's Day with Jack, me and Jackson!!!! It was perfect if you ask me!!!!!

Birthday Party

So we went to our first birthday party for a 1 year old this year!!! She had such cute ideas for Ella's birthday party, OWLS. LOOK WHOO'S TURNING 1!!! How cute is that?!?!?!?!?!?! We are having a Cowboy theme for Jackson's 1st birthday!!! YIKES I can't believe that in a few weeks Jackson is going to be 1 already!!!! Man how time flies!!!!! I have to get on the ball with all the different decorations!!! I was thinking about all the different things that I wanted to do and need to make or buy in the coming weekends!!! We are going to bring one of the horses down so the kids can have a horse ride!!! One of Jackson's fav things is to sit on top of the horse and play with the reins!!!! SO i was thinking about getting a lot of bandanas to hang all over the house like a banner and maybe have different letters on them that spell out things like where to put the gifts, where the food is going to be, where the drinks are, maybe outside depending on the wind for the horse back rides (not sure about this one yet) and another sign for the CUPCAKES!!!!! That is what I am going to be making for the little man are a lot of cupcakes and some of them are going to look like horses!!!!! How cute will that be!!!! Hopefully I will have enough time to make and/or get everything that i will need for his birthday on March 5!!! Like I said earlier I can't believe that he is already going to be 1!!!!!!

Cold Weather

OH you have got to love the FREAK cold weather that we just got here in Bulverde/New Braunfels... Let me tell you how fun that trip in was this morning when you wake up and put your feet on the hardwood floor and even though the heater is on in our house the floors are COLD!!!!! Walk into our TILED bathroom FREEZING FLOORS!!!! So at 5:30 this morning I started off cold!!! Got dressed in my thermal shirt a t-shirt over that, leggings, jeans tall socks, my ugg boots and a scarf and fleece jacket from Old Navy (still don't feel warm enough). Grab some coffee and a banana for breakfast and start out for my 45 minute drive into work from Bulverde to New Braunfels at 5:45. I usually don't leave until 6 or a few minutes after, but since I wasn't sure how bad the roads were going to be since I drive thru the Hill Country and those roads aren't the most traveled at that time in the Morning I wanted to make sure that I gave myself plenty of time incase something went wrong or there was ice on the roads over the bridge. Luckily the roads were good for the most part... there was just a little part of the road over a bridge that was a little iffy but I made it over just fine. And of course there were very few other cars on the road because who in their right mind would be out at this time when the weather is so horrible... I had no choice but to come in today... So I left my husband and son sleeping warmly in our nice warm house and was venturing out in the 20 degree weather which felt like 7... 7 degrees outside!!!! Seriously I live in SOUTH TEXAS it's not suppose to get this cold ever!!!! Whatever I'm alright and I made it into work just fine and get to stay inside my classroom all day today and not go back outside until its time to go home at 3:30 ish... Hope everyone stays warm today !!!!!