Here are some cool things
1. Organization: I feel so much more organized this school year! I love it. My classroom is so cute. Everything is all daisies and sunflowers (red & yellow) with a little a hint of Kansas (KU posters). I even have a little vase on my peer conference table that is filled with (fake) purple daisies. I organized all my file cabinets. I have a new system for turning in work. I have all my special ed, tutoring, ESL, parent files organized where I can get to them! I love being organized!
2. My new mentee and my old one. Well, I'll talk about my old one first. She's not old because she's at least two years younger than me. This is her second year teaching and she and her husband are welcoming baby Wyatt around Thanksgiving. She is the BEST reading teacher around. Her students are so lucky to have her.
My new mentee is Emily. She graduated from OU with a degree in English (yeah, another out of state girl!) She is awesome. Great go-getter attitude and strong work ethic. I think we'll be great friends and I think she'll be a great teacher!
3. New Jersey- We bought our tickets for Thanksgiving. I can't wait!
4. My fiance. He truly is my partner in life. I hope I impact his life as much as he has impacted mine. This weekend he was truly my savior. When my car got broken into he took care of everything. He always has my back.
5. my students- I'm so excited for this school year. My kids are so little and scared. That will all change...
Not Cool
1. Waking up at 6:45am yesterday to walk my dogs and discovering that someone broke my car window and stole the XM radio Murad bought for my birthday. NOT F-ing cool at ALL!
2. Having a $500 deductible on my insurance. NOT F-ing cool. My wonderful fiance paid for it all and everything was fixed when I got home this afternoon. Today was his day off and he did it all for me! He cussed the insurance people out too. Thanks, babe!
3. Not cool: mean teachers. I love the teachers with whom I work....most of them. I don't appreciate being called a "pretty girl" in a condescending way. I will tell you to your face and if you don't like it tough shit. I also don't like it when experienced teachers try to make new teachers feel like crap.
That's pretty much it for my cool vs. not cool list! Enjoy
Monday, August 25, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Happy Birthday, Murad, Sampson & Maya!
Today is Murad's 28th birthday, as well as Sam & Maya's first birthday. So hard to believe they're a year old. Actually it's not hard to understand especially since they are HUGE. Sam is 70 lbs. and Maya is a bit over 50 lbs. Crazy! I started running with them (not far so don't get your hopes up) Sam is not much of a runner. He tries to attack Maya the whole time. So now, I walk them both then I drop Sam off at home and Maya and I go run. I love running with her. She loves to run and she's so energetic. It's like our mother/daughter bonding time...cheesy, I know!
Today I talked to Abby and I was so proud. Today was her first day of school (1st grade). She is growing up so fast. I miss her so much. She sounded so mature on the phone. She sounded so different than the little girl who spent the last month with us. I've only known Abby for a year and a half, but I still feel like my baby is growing up. I guess all my babies are growing. I remember when Sam was just a little tyke and I could cradle him in my arms. Now he is a big lug. I love my family. I'm so blessed to have them all.
Speaking of family. I was able to reconnect with some of my cousins and one of my uncles. It's hard when people divorce and life drifts you away from the people who share your history. I found my cousin on facebook and we exchanged phone numbers. On Saturday we talked on the phone for four hours. It was so good to hear their voices, catch up and see how similar we are despite our different upbringings. I know growing up I felt a lot of anger towards my parents and uncles for not keeping us connected, but I see that my parents wanted to shield us from a lot of things and allow us to develop our own opinions once we got older. However, it still hurts to know that all this time passed without talking. Hopefully now the younger generation can pick up the pieces and bring our family back together. I've never been more proud and blessed to be a member of the Woodard family.
Tonight is my last night before returning to work. I'm did a lot of cleaning this weekend, so today was just chill. I'm enjoying a glass of wine, watching TV and working on wedding stuff. My two dogs are passed out and my fiance is at work (I know crappy that he's working on his birthday). I got my hair done today and I got bangs. I thought I needed something fresh and funky for the new school year.
We are nearing the 7 month mark until the wedding. I can not wait for this day to come. I keep thinking about our future as a couple and I can not wait for it. I can't wait for the wedding, honeymoon (hopefully*), buying a home, continuing our education, growing in our careers, getting more dogs and of course having BABIES. I can't wait for the ups and downs of marriage and how we'll get through it.
Hopefully, after Murad graduates next fall we will know if we are staying in Dallas or not. He's applying all over for his master's/Ph.D, but will do his best to stay here. If we stay in Dallas we're definitely buying a home here in North Dallas. We decided we're not ready for the suburbs. His job is in North Dallas, my job is here (Richardson). Plus since we're not having kids anytime soon we can stay in a house for a while, build some equity and then move to the suburbs. We're just so young and we love Dallas. Suburbs make us feel old. I'm not looking forward to packing our stuff and repairing the damage our dogs have done...eek! Oh well, we have a year and a half to do all that stuff! We'll see where life takes us!
So, I have to brag on my fiance! He was nominated for employee of the month! I think he really enjoys his job. He has only worked there for a while, and he's been promoted and all the staff love him. He can also change positions (tech to social worker) while he's in grad school! He also received a tuition grant from UNT this fall for having a 3.5 GPA! This couldn't have come at a better time because we were worried about buying our plane tickets for New Jersey. Now we can definitely go there for Thanksgiving! YEAH! I can not wait for another PHILLY CHEESESTEAK! I've been craving one...
On that note, I'm off to get ready for bed! Say good-bye to Ashlea because tomorrow I'm back to Ms. Woodard!
Today I talked to Abby and I was so proud. Today was her first day of school (1st grade). She is growing up so fast. I miss her so much. She sounded so mature on the phone. She sounded so different than the little girl who spent the last month with us. I've only known Abby for a year and a half, but I still feel like my baby is growing up. I guess all my babies are growing. I remember when Sam was just a little tyke and I could cradle him in my arms. Now he is a big lug. I love my family. I'm so blessed to have them all.
Speaking of family. I was able to reconnect with some of my cousins and one of my uncles. It's hard when people divorce and life drifts you away from the people who share your history. I found my cousin on facebook and we exchanged phone numbers. On Saturday we talked on the phone for four hours. It was so good to hear their voices, catch up and see how similar we are despite our different upbringings. I know growing up I felt a lot of anger towards my parents and uncles for not keeping us connected, but I see that my parents wanted to shield us from a lot of things and allow us to develop our own opinions once we got older. However, it still hurts to know that all this time passed without talking. Hopefully now the younger generation can pick up the pieces and bring our family back together. I've never been more proud and blessed to be a member of the Woodard family.
Tonight is my last night before returning to work. I'm did a lot of cleaning this weekend, so today was just chill. I'm enjoying a glass of wine, watching TV and working on wedding stuff. My two dogs are passed out and my fiance is at work (I know crappy that he's working on his birthday). I got my hair done today and I got bangs. I thought I needed something fresh and funky for the new school year.
We are nearing the 7 month mark until the wedding. I can not wait for this day to come. I keep thinking about our future as a couple and I can not wait for it. I can't wait for the wedding, honeymoon (hopefully*), buying a home, continuing our education, growing in our careers, getting more dogs and of course having BABIES. I can't wait for the ups and downs of marriage and how we'll get through it.
Hopefully, after Murad graduates next fall we will know if we are staying in Dallas or not. He's applying all over for his master's/Ph.D, but will do his best to stay here. If we stay in Dallas we're definitely buying a home here in North Dallas. We decided we're not ready for the suburbs. His job is in North Dallas, my job is here (Richardson). Plus since we're not having kids anytime soon we can stay in a house for a while, build some equity and then move to the suburbs. We're just so young and we love Dallas. Suburbs make us feel old. I'm not looking forward to packing our stuff and repairing the damage our dogs have done...eek! Oh well, we have a year and a half to do all that stuff! We'll see where life takes us!
So, I have to brag on my fiance! He was nominated for employee of the month! I think he really enjoys his job. He has only worked there for a while, and he's been promoted and all the staff love him. He can also change positions (tech to social worker) while he's in grad school! He also received a tuition grant from UNT this fall for having a 3.5 GPA! This couldn't have come at a better time because we were worried about buying our plane tickets for New Jersey. Now we can definitely go there for Thanksgiving! YEAH! I can not wait for another PHILLY CHEESESTEAK! I've been craving one...
On that note, I'm off to get ready for bed! Say good-bye to Ashlea because tomorrow I'm back to Ms. Woodard!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Summer is officially over!
Well, my blog title sums it up. Summer is officially over. What does that mean?
1. Abby is gone -- we took her back to Kansas Tuesday. Being a mom is hard work, but I really enjoyed it with Abby. While I'm definitely not ready for kids yet, I would love to have Abby here more. My reasons are selfish mostly. I love having another girl in the house. I love having a singing partner and swimming partner. Abby was like my little buddy this past month and I'll truly miss her. We did have some rough spots and she had to see mean Mama Ashlea a handful of times, but I think she enjoyed herself down here in Dallas. It also allowed Murad and I to see that we have the same parenting expectations. I can't wait until we have kids of our own, because he will be an excellent father. He already is!
2. I have to limit my cussing to a few hours a day. For those of you who know me well, I do have the mouth of a sailor. For those of you who don't know me well, I hope I didn't shatter your image of me. It's cool though. I'm pretty sure I can make it through the day without slipping.
3. I went back to school today. Well today wasn't my official back to school day, but I went to meet with my new mentee and work in my classroom. I was a little pissed when I found out that someone took down all my notes from former students. They also took down all the notes of other teachers in my hallway as well. Jerks. Thanks for stealing my memories! Thanks for stealing the reason I get up each day to teach!
4. I'm going to be busy again. Not like I wasn't this summer, but at least my schedule will be semi-regular. Here are the list of things I'll be doing this year: co-sponsoring NJHS, chairing the Student Assistance Team and thus Red Ribbon Week, tutoring, mentoring one new teacher and one returning teacher, finishing up my master's, being a loving fiance, being a good mother to my dogs and GETTING MARRIED! Oh yeah, did I mention I'm doing a half-marathon in December?
No seriously, I am. I decided I need to get motivated to lose weight. Not that I am overweight, but honestly, I'm just not happy with how I look. Two years ago I successfully lost over twenty pounds and now I'm struggling just to lose the five that crept back on me. So, when my friend Melanie told me about the half-marathon, I decided to pounce on the opportunity. That means a new work-out routine which includes morning runs with Sam & Maya. Luckily, it's going to get cooler, so it'll be easier. Plus, I think my friend Allison is coming down from Kansas to run the full marathon, so it'll be great. I'm sure Murad will run the entire marathon too, but he'll kick our butts. Plus, I only plan to walk/run it not run the entire thing.
Anyways. Fall is upon us. I'm looking forward to a new school year and new experiences. I'm so thankful for all the blessings we have received thus far. Here's to a great 2008-2009!
1. Abby is gone -- we took her back to Kansas Tuesday. Being a mom is hard work, but I really enjoyed it with Abby. While I'm definitely not ready for kids yet, I would love to have Abby here more. My reasons are selfish mostly. I love having another girl in the house. I love having a singing partner and swimming partner. Abby was like my little buddy this past month and I'll truly miss her. We did have some rough spots and she had to see mean Mama Ashlea a handful of times, but I think she enjoyed herself down here in Dallas. It also allowed Murad and I to see that we have the same parenting expectations. I can't wait until we have kids of our own, because he will be an excellent father. He already is!
2. I have to limit my cussing to a few hours a day. For those of you who know me well, I do have the mouth of a sailor. For those of you who don't know me well, I hope I didn't shatter your image of me. It's cool though. I'm pretty sure I can make it through the day without slipping.
3. I went back to school today. Well today wasn't my official back to school day, but I went to meet with my new mentee and work in my classroom. I was a little pissed when I found out that someone took down all my notes from former students. They also took down all the notes of other teachers in my hallway as well. Jerks. Thanks for stealing my memories! Thanks for stealing the reason I get up each day to teach!
4. I'm going to be busy again. Not like I wasn't this summer, but at least my schedule will be semi-regular. Here are the list of things I'll be doing this year: co-sponsoring NJHS, chairing the Student Assistance Team and thus Red Ribbon Week, tutoring, mentoring one new teacher and one returning teacher, finishing up my master's, being a loving fiance, being a good mother to my dogs and GETTING MARRIED! Oh yeah, did I mention I'm doing a half-marathon in December?
No seriously, I am. I decided I need to get motivated to lose weight. Not that I am overweight, but honestly, I'm just not happy with how I look. Two years ago I successfully lost over twenty pounds and now I'm struggling just to lose the five that crept back on me. So, when my friend Melanie told me about the half-marathon, I decided to pounce on the opportunity. That means a new work-out routine which includes morning runs with Sam & Maya. Luckily, it's going to get cooler, so it'll be easier. Plus, I think my friend Allison is coming down from Kansas to run the full marathon, so it'll be great. I'm sure Murad will run the entire marathon too, but he'll kick our butts. Plus, I only plan to walk/run it not run the entire thing.
Anyways. Fall is upon us. I'm looking forward to a new school year and new experiences. I'm so thankful for all the blessings we have received thus far. Here's to a great 2008-2009!
Saturday, August 9, 2008
A little sad and a little glad
I feel like this weekend has been filled with bad news....It all started with when I went to the gym. I got there a little late, so I had to rush my normal 45 minute routine into 30 minutes. Not so much fun. As I got on the treadmill I saw the headlines on the TV: John Edwards admits affair. CRAP! Not good for the dems and his political career is now over. He and his wife aren't the Clintons and they're not going to fight this like they should. Then I go to PetSmart to pick up a gift for my friend's dog's birthday party. I ran into a girl who bought a husky from our breeders. I asked how Pepper (her dog) was and she went into this long story about how she gave her away. "Too much work. She wanted my attention all the time. It was like having a child." I wanted to cry as I heard her story. I wanted to slap her across the face and say, "WTF did you think having a dog would be like?" Then I went home and as I let the dogs out, I noticed they had chewed up part of the linoleum in our kitchen. Not cool. Not cool at all. I'm hoping our renter's insurance will cover it when we move out. Luckily, we're not buying a house anytime soon so we're good until we move out.
Today, I woke up pretty late and as I checked MSNBC, I saw that Bernie Mac died. He was only 50 years old. I really liked him as a comedian and even though his TV show was cheesy, I enjoyed watching it. He will be missed.
On a brighter note, the dogs had a great weekend. Last night we started it off by attending Murphy's birthday party. I'm not sure what type of dog Murphy is, but she is adorable. Murphy's mom works with me at Apollo and we co-sponsor NJHS.
Today we met up with Murad's mentor Danny at the dog park. He just got a four month old Chihuaua/Rat Terrier mix named Trey. He is so adorable. Abby loved playing with him. We also ended up seeing Sam and Maya's old friends Diamond & Ace. We hadn't seem them since Sam & Maya were puppies. I'll post some pics from Murphy's party and the dog park.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Murad's Birthday
We decided to celebrate Murad's birthday early so that Abby could celebrate as well. Here are some pics from the fun night! Now Murad and I are up watching a Nip Tuck marathon.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
It's Abby, B$#*$
Abby got her haircut this week!Abby in her Fergie/Hannah Montana/Mariah Carey/Britney Spears mode. Future model? I think so!
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