Trunk or Treat 2007

BTW, I added 2 posts below this one today. Don't want you to miss out! :)

Here are two of the winners from Sunday's Trunk or Treat.

Mickey Mouse Club House

Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf.

Nice legs, Brant!
Cool Cat, CP.

We always do this event with the Hortons. Michael is taking the picture and Jill is getting more candy.
The funniest thing that was said was for Michael to put the basketball under his shirt to look more like me.
Crazy girls!
I don't know the Harry Potter characters, but I do know that they look like them!

Nursery

Here are some pics of the nursery. We're going to get a mirror to put over the dresser and my mom is getting us a glider. I can't wait to see it all together.





Here I am approaching 32 weeks. I look so tired...maybe it was the trip to Abilene and getting in really late or maybe I'm just exhausted carrying this baby!
This may be the last true belly shot you will get to see. Unless I get really HUGE, I think you get the idea that I'm growing. I am gaining in places besides my belly. Take a look at the Homecoming pictures in the next post...my face has gotten bigger. My students will tell you that my rear is larger since I keep bumping them accidently. I am most fearful about my legs. Hopefully some good ole exercise will slim them back down after Audrey is born.

ACU's Homecoming

Finally, I get to post about Homecoming! I truly had the best time. The last camera I bought, I broke by carrying too many things and dropping the poor camera on the cement floor. I've been wanting to buy another one, and this trip(and the impending birth of Audrey) prompted me to make the splurge. I went to WalMart on Friday morning and had the best WalMart experience ever! The two people that assisted me were kind, funny, and extremely helpful!

So here is a picture (had to try out the camera!) of Michael driving out west. I can't believe he has a smile on his face since Homecoming really isn't his thing. I think he enjoyed the trip as much as I did, though he wouldn't admit it!

The highlight of the weekend was GATA breakfast - by far! I couldn't believe I was getting up at 5:45 for a breakfast! So many girls from my pledge class were there and we had so many laughs together. This is where I discovered that it is wrong to call a pledge - "Flame." They are called "Provisional Members" now. Are you kidding me?!?! I know that my psyche is all messed up because I was called flame for a few months. I also don't think they have to wear their colors very often. What kind of pledging is this?? Below is a picture of the Raiders - Pledge Class of 1999.
Here are some lovely girls I got to know through pledging. Jill is now a good friend of mine at church. Rachel is someone I wish I saw more often...it's not like she lives very far away. Sarah is the most cheerful person and was a roommate of mine my senior year. Tamara is my birthday partner. She's actually a day younger than me, but we have fun sharing it together.
This is my fantastic roommate of four years, Lori. We have shared so many things and I can't imagine what my ACU experience would have been like without her. She recently moved out of the Metroplex...which has caused me to see her more often! Weird, I know.
My GATA roommates from Senior year. Lori and I loved watching Sarah fall asleep while in mid-sentence. She would be so energized in her story telling then -Boom!- fast asleep!
Here I am with fellow pregnant lady, Shannon and her daughter Mallory, and Lori with her daughter Faith. I hope Audrey and Morgan (Shannon's bump) will be friends like Mallory and Faith.

This is sweet Caley. We pledged together, but did not become good friends until our junior year when we both did not have a 10:00 class. We would hang out in the campus center (Which looks very cool now!) until Chapel. We began to talk and have become very close. This girl has one of the best laughs ever! She is truly very fun girl to be around.

And here are the junior year roomies! The last time we were all together, all of the girls besides me had one daughter. Now, Meredith has a boy and a girl, Shannon is expecting another girl, and I am finally on the baby bandwagon, expecting a girl as well. Overall, the weekend was great. I forgot how windy Abilene could get and I'm kinda glad that we stayed at Joe Allen's too long to go to the football game. I got to eat at the famous Joe Allen's, Mary's, and the Beehive. I also got to stay with my aunt and uncle and see some of Michael's family. Oh, and poor Michael. He got to eat with a lot of ladies...too bad the husbands were tied up for much of the weekend.

Beware of Movie

Read the link below:

You may already know about the kids movie coming out in December starring Nicole Kidman. It's called The Golden Compass, and while it will be a watered down version, it is based on a series of children's books about killing God (It is the anti-Narnia). Please follow this link and then pass it on. From what I understand, the hope is to get a lot of kids to see the movie - which won't seem too bad - and then get the parents to buy the books for their kids for Christmas. The quotes from the author sum it all up. I hope it totally bombs because we were all paying attention!

http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

I will post about Homecoming and the newly furnished nursery soon...so stay tuned.

I Need to Vent

I want to vent, but I realize that this may not be the best place to do so. So while I vent, I will be general as I write.

Public education is awful. It's awful for teachers and for students. I am almost in tears tonight, not because of student behavior or anything, but for ridiculous expectations.

Oh, and if we have documentation, results don't really seem to matter.

No Child Left Behind has to be one of the dumbest things I've come across in my lifetime. In five years, every child - including the students that are mentally retarded, must be at their grade's reading level. Do these people have any clue what reality is? Tomorrow, there will be students who are mentally retarded taking a field test at the same level of test a Pre-APer would take. How is that right? Ever heard of what is fair is not always equal?

I have a student that is beginning to misbehave because she is realizing that she can no longer be at the same level as her peers. She does receive special ed services, but due to changes in laws, she is receiving less and less of those services. In fact, if she were to be tested now, she wouldn't qualify for special ed due to the new restrictions. So instead of receiving the help and modifications she needs, she struggles with work and then chooses to act out. How does this benefit her?

All the while, I'm dealing with more work than I've ever dealt with before. Today alone, I was told about ridiculous things that I must do that will take HOURS of personal time. Even though I have a maximum of 34 school days left to teach, I can't get out fast enough.

Rivalries

Maybe I got caught up in the spirit of Texas/OU weekend, or maybe I just see this blog getting too feminine - but let's discuss the best sport rivalries.

Rivalries were ingrained into my head as I grew up in elementary/middle/high school. I went to Dallas Christian. We built up games against FW Christian and Trinity Christian as if they were bigger than the Super Bowl. It seemed as if the entire school would be at Charger Field every Friday night in the fall. During basketball season, "the Barn" would get loud and rowdy. We won state in volleyball, football, basketball, and baseball often. I loved sports and I loved the competitiveness of it.

In your mind, what are the best sport rivalries? Yanks/BoSox? Broncos/Raiders? Let me know what you think.

My Guy

I stole this from Miranda and Shannon.

1. Who is your man? Michael Hall

2. How long have you been together? Married for 2 years & 1 month

3. How long dated? We had dated for 13 months on our wedding day.

4. How old is your man? 27

5. Who eats more? He definitely used to eat more than me, but I've taken over for the moment.

6. Who said "I love you" first? I did. He was holding off on telling me until he proposed.

7. Who is taller? That would be me.

8. Who sings better? Michael - no contest.

9. Who is smarter? I think we're both pretty smart, but I'll go with Michael.

10. Whose temper is worse? Mine by far.

11. Who does the laundry? All me.

12. Who takes out the garbage? Michael, thank goodness.

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Is this the right side while looking at the bed or while in bed? Michael's on the right side while in bed.

14. Who pays the bills? Are you guessing Michael? Wrong. That would be me.

15. Who is better with the computer? Michael.

16. Who mows the lawn? I did it once and it made Michael really mad. He did it for a long time until we discovered Jose. Jose does it for a very good price.

17. Who cooks dinner? I do.

18. Who drives when you are together? Michael.

19. Who pays when you go out? It comes out of Michael's wallet, but it is OUR money.

20. Who is most stubborn? On most things, I'm the stubborn one. There are some very serious issues that Michael will NOT budge on.

21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Michael.

22. Whose parents do you see the most? Probably Michael's.

23. Who kissed who first? He kissed me first. We dated over 5 months before I could get him to kiss me. He had been saying he was going to wait until our wedding day. I was very surprised when it happened!

24. Who asked who out? He asked me out. His partner had given him a gift certificate to Three Forks. He acted like he had to take a girl, so why not me. Whatever!

25. Who proposed? He did. It was tax day - April 15. We were engaged 4 1/2 months.

26. Who is more sensitive? I think he was at first. He taught me how to be sensitive and now I'm super-sensitive.

27. Who has more friends? My friends are his friends and his friends are my friends.

28. Who has more siblings? Equal. We're both the baby of three children.

29. Who wears the pants in the family? Michael.

I'm Back!

I had no idea how much I rely on having internet access at home. A squirrel apparently ate through a cable wire outside our house. This has played havoc in transferring files from San Antonio to Dallas for Michael and Brett's class, me selecting and sending in my picks for college football, reading facebook comments and blogs, and reading recipes online. I was able to check my email at school, which helped a lot. The school does block facebook, blogs, and the yummy recipes I read. It's not like I have time to look at that stuff while at work anyways. Let's just say I'm happy to be surfing the web again.

We had a doctors appointment this week. Everything looks good and I only gained 5 pounds this month! That is a very good thing! We also were given the option to induce labor. It looks like Audrey will be here by December 14!

Michael and I have spent today going through closets and boxes and finding a lot of fun pictures from college. I'm glad I did this today because now I'm so excited for ACU's Homecoming that is coming up. It should be a lot if fun to see the people I spent four awesome years with.

Hockey season has started up! Too bad we already have a losing record. Looks like Nashville will be really good this year.