Ways Texas is Different than the Tennessee Valley

This never happens (2 post in 1 day), but none of my family or friends has been to Texas and everybody ask what it's like here, so here it goes.

1. FOOTBALL, FOOTBALL, FOOTBALL!!! Everyone here is football crazy even though our Breckenridge Buckeroos aren't that good. They only won 1 game.

2. It is hot here, but it's a different kind of hot. Low humidity and always a breeze blowing.

3. Oil wells everywhere! Even in the parking lot of the elementary school.

4. People here don't complain about gas prices because everyone owns an oil well. MUST BE NICE!

5. No real trees. They have misquite trees which look like a big bush to me.

6. FLAT! It seems like you can see forever, which is pretty neat.

7. Windmills. I've never seen a real windmill until I came to Texas.

I guess this has been a good experience for us, and I am glad we decided to come here.

Well I've made it through another week. This week is homecoming and today all 3 elementary schools were bused to the high school for a pep rally on the football field. The actual game is tomorrow night and tomorrow morning they are having a parade. I still can't believe how over the top they go for football around here. Both the kiddos are doing good in school and luckily we've had no more incidents. I am still anticipating fall weather here. The highs today were still in the upper 80's and I can't even remember the last time we had rain. I think this will be the first homesick feeling I have, being away from the wonderful falls in Alabama and Tennessee. Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year, but I'm afraid I'm going to miss it here. We do have some pecan trees in the yard here, so at least they should be pretty. I've already put out my scarecrow and mums, so that should at least make it a little better. Things are still going good with the church and we are working on planning a family harvest. I hope all is going well with everyone and I hope to get to see everyone soon!

A BIG Week

Well it has definitely been a busy week. Starting on Monday, Brad went to the Dallas Cowboys football game with a member from church. That was his first ever big football game, so I know he was excited.

On Tuesday, Carley lost her first tooth.

She was super excited for her first visit from the tooth fairy.

So far everything is going good with work except for me being worn out by the time I get home, but I'll adjust soon. Hope everyone is having a great week!

One Week Down!

Well I've have officially worked at the school for a week, and so far everything has went great. The hours work extremely well for us. I only live about 3 minutes from the school, and I leave every morning with the kiddos and usually pick them up from Brad at church by 4:00. All we did this week was testing for the new program. Next week we start our training with the trainer and we start the kids on Tuesday. It seems to be a really great program. It is called "Read Right" and seems to have phenomenal results. It is designed to make everyone a better reader including adults. We will be going through the program ourselves in order to teach it effectively.

FYI- We have had tons of e-mails and phone calls concerning Ike. So far we seem to be good. We sit about 100 miles west of Dallas and if Ike keeps the same path, it should miss us, even though we could really use the rain. The local weather this morning said we are suppose to get some rain today from the west, but said Ike looked like it was going to be too far east. I guess we will just wait and see. Thank you all so much for your concern and we love and miss you all so much!

Spoke Too Soon!

Well I blogged yesterday about how great the day was and I was loving being at home. When I got to school to pick Carley up her teacher motioned for me to come there. I thought great what has she done now. Well it turns out she hit a little girl in the mouth. The entire way home I was thinking of things to make her do to realize the mistake she had made. When we got home, I ask her exactly what happened. She told me on the playground a little girl was pulling on her shirt and Carley had ask her to stop and the little girl kept on, so Carley hit her in the mouth. I ask Carley if the girl had to change her color like she did and Carley said no, but back in the classroom she had to change her color for messing with someone else. At that point I didn't see the need to punish Carley any further since she was defending herself. I simply explained from now on to tell her teacher and no more hitting. School is such a tough place for corrective parenting. You don't want your child to hit and be a bully, but at the same time you want the other children to leave them alone. I will take any advice on this matter that anybody has. Jacob has managed to make it all the way through kindergarten without ever being in trouble and Carley only made it 1 week. Who says girls are easier?
On to other news, the principal called today and offered me that job. I was thinking yesterday on turning it down, but I've prayed that God would show me what he wants me to do so I'm assuming this is it. It really is hard to pass up since I would have all the teacher retirement, insurance, and days off. I guess this is his way of saying I've relaxed enough. I start on Monday with the children not starting until Sept. 15. I will be the reading teacher working with 5 students every period for a total of 35 a day. Tomorrow me and Brad are going to Abilene for our last day together to eat somewhere nice and shop for fall clothes.

A Good Day!

I am definitely adjusting well to the fact that both kiddos are in school all day. Yesterday I went with Brad to Witchita Falls(about 2 hours away) to visit one of our members in the hospital there. After our visit we had lunch at Red Lobster(Brad's fav.) and went to the mall and found Carley the cutest pair of boots at Children's Place. Today after I took the kids to school, I came home and cleaned my house and even got my floors mopped. I can definitely get used to this. I like the fact that I get time to just do whatever all by myself. We will see if this last.