The Adventures of Baylor

Well, I'm nearing the end of Day 3 with my new puppy and I can still say, so far so good! She's really super cute and I think she's pretty sweet too! I'm trying hard to get her on a schedule and today was a big day for that. She spent what will probably be close to a normal day, when I go back to work, all alone for the first time today. She really did great, thanks to my sister coming to let her out at lunch time. She's still accident free and hasn't destroyed anything either! She's such a good dog!

After I got home today we took our first trip to Petsmart. I think Baylor enjoyed riding in the cart:


After Petsmart and a little dinner we went for a walk (something we do about three times a day) and ended up at my parent's house where Baylor got to play with Amy (my parent's Golden Retriever) a little bit. Amy didn't really know what to think, but she did enjoy showing Baylor the pool! That little puppy has no fear apparently, she jumped right in and started swimming. I was very nervous and followed closely behind her the whole time. Here's a couple pictures of the swimming puppy:



Finally, because it's just too funny not to share, here is a picture of me holding Baylor right after I got her. As you can see, she peed on me, a lot. And, yes, I'm absolutely positive it was her and not me!

Introducing.....Baylor!!

Baylor is a 9-week-old Golden Retriever. You probably remember that I've been thinking about this very big step for quite some time and today all the pieces just kind of came together. I drove to the very exciting town of Mineral Wells to meet her and she did not disappoint.

Here's a few important details about our short time together...

* As soon as we got in the car to head home she crawled all the way across to sit in my lap. Then she peed on me.

* After peeing on me she got comfortable and started to snooze. A few minutes later she started moving around and then she peed on me again!

* Our short drive out of Mineral Wells would not be complete without another potty stop, ON ME!! That's right, the dog peed on me three times before we even left the city. Maybe she was nervous??

* Her first poop was in my good friend Kristy's flower bed. Immediately after doing the deed, she stepped in it. It smelled really bad! And, she's done it two more times since we've been home. Is that normal?

* On our way home we stopped to meet my parent's dogs. They were not really excited to see her and left the room as soon as we put her on the floor. Seriously, they were scared of a cute, little puppy.

* We've been home for about 3 1/2 hours and so far there have been no accidents! She's getting used to her crate and only whines for a minute when I put her inside. She follows me around wherever I go and so far hasn't ventured outside of the kitchen.

All in all, I can't complain. I better get to bed though, I'm going to get up every couple hours to take her outside. Fun times!!

Happy Birthday, little man

Today is my nephew Will's 4th Birthday! I can't believe that little dude is already four. He's so smart and very funny too! There's never a dull moment when he's around.

We celebrated his birthday last weekend with a little hoedown...


Happy Birthday, Will! I love you!

Going Home

One of my favorite things about going away to college was coming home! That sounds funny but, seriously, my parents always went out of their way to make a weekend at home a great experience. Among other things, they always had the best food and plenty of Diet Coke. Even though I currently live 46 (approximately) steps from my parent's front door, going to their house still gives me that "I'm home" feeling. I gladly gave up my bedroom for out-of-town family who came to visit last week so that I could have a week-long "vacation" at my parent's house. It was so fun!

My Grandma, Aunt Lois, Uncle Jim, cousin Russell and his wife Tisha, along with their kids Ella and Tommy, all flew in from Oregon to spend the week. My Dad (the biggest fan of Texas I've ever met) was the ultimate tour guide and showed us all sorts of things. We went to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing here in Fort Worth where they print money. I had no idea that there were only two places in the United States that printed money! We went to the Stockyards and the Grassy Knoll in Dallas, the kids did some horseback riding and we all swam, a lot. The highlight of the trip was probably our evening visit to Benbrook Lake. Tisha's Mom had lived in Fort Worth for a while when she was younger and had mentioned several places that she remembered about her time here. One of the things she remembered was learning to drive on the roads around Benbrook Lake so my Dad felt compelled to show her the lake. As we were driving we came up to the dam and then eventually the spillway. Tommy, who is 7, happily pointed out the "dam spillway" and let us all know that when school starts in the fall he can't wait to write about the "dam spillway" in his "What I did over Summer Break" story. He was definitely channeling Chevy Chase in Vegas Vacation and we probably heard the term "dam spillway" about a hundred more times that night. Each time it created much laughter, which was made even funnier because Tommy didn't realize what was so funny.

The only problemo was when Will spent the night one night and he slept on the floor of the room I was sleeping in. There was a twin bed in there that he is used to sleeping on but since I got it first, he got the floor. All was well until he got up at some point in the night and got in the bed with me. I'm not really sure why I didn't get up and move to the couch, but you haven't really lived until you've shared a twin-sized bed with a three-year-old!

Family is good and I'm really thankful that we got to spend the week with all of them. In fact, it has been 10 years since we've all been together in one place. And it was the first time we've all been together since Tommy, Will, and Allie were born so of course we had to do some picture-taking...

This is my Grandma who is 94 with her great-grandkids. They all call her Mommell, a name Ella gave her.


This is my Grandma with her grandkids (somebody said Dam Spillway right before this was taken):


This is everybody:

Summer...I'm lovin' it!

I used to be a much better blogger! I guess I don't really see the point in writing about my day anymore! Just for the super curious, it looks something like this:

- Sleep late (like really late)

- Watch TV/Work-out (occasionally)

- Swim/Run Errands/Swim/Swim

- Read

- Go to sleep

Isn't that exciting?? Throw in a few closets I've cleaned out, a couple baseball games, a trip to the Library, a trip to Putt-Putt, and that's basically all I've done since school got out. And, I'm totally loving my summer so far! I also finally figured out that my dream job would be RETIREMENT! :)

There are a few important things happening in my world that I feel like are worth noting-

- Baylor's Football season officially begins in 80 days 14 hours and 5 minutes (as of 12:25 am Wed)

- I'm seriously considering a trip to the doctor this summer (and I H-A-T-E going to the doctor)

- I either have a very deep bruise or something very wrong with my foot. I slammed it against a rock wall today.

- I get to go to Kid's Camp next week.

- It's officially June 17th so I can download the new iPhone update! How sad that this is actually very exciting!

Here's hoping the rest of the summer crawls on by!

SUMMER!!!

I can't believe it's already here, but it's time for summer! The kids left at 12 and now I'm just killing time until I'm officially free. In fact, I'm not even supposed to have access to my blog from school, but I guess the firewall isn't working properly! :)

This has truly been an amazing year. I can't believe how lucky I got with my class. Each and everyone of my kids made me laugh on a daily basis and they really all tried to do the right thing 99.9% of the time. Each school year is so different from the previous ones and I've had different feelings about the ending of each. My first year I was just absolutely relieved to have survived and still have a job! My second year was amazing and I never considered how much I would miss those kids. The third year was great too, but I was very ready for summer.

And this year brings a whole new set of emotions. I've experienced things through my kids that I had absolutely no idea how to handle; the terminally ill Mom whose spent the last several weeks on hospice, the unexpected death of a Dad, the fear of not knowing who would be at home when you got there, and on and on and on. It has been amazing to watch them deal with life's most difficult situations. I'm completely convinced that this group of kids will grow up and do something that will change our world. They are beyond smart, they are kind, they are caring, they are funny, they are resilient, they are go-getters. And what are the chances that I'd get 22 kids who see the glass as half-full, who take on every obstacle with a smile, who value intrinsic rewards more than extrinsic ones. I know that this class taught me way more than I could have ever taught them.

While I'm excited to have a little time off, today is certainly bittersweet. I can't imagine that there will ever be a group as special as this one.

A letter to myself

Dear Emily,

Next summer when you think it'd be a good idea to spend any amount of time in the sun without sunscreen, think again. It's not worth the pain, discomfort, blisters, and sleepless nights! Seriously, it's so NOT worth it. Don't be a dummy, use sunscreen! You can thank me later.

Sincerely,
Emily