Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to the greatest husband! It has been 13 years...hard to believe. I love you with all my heart. Thank you for the best years...can't wait for many, many more.

Our wedding day...Sept. 30, 1995. Check out the hair! Dating...early '90s. Someone told me it reminded them of the 90210 early days. How funny.

July 2008....camping at Governor Dodge.

***Disclaimer....I scanned in the two ancient photos...not good at that...will get better...with time...or age. hahahaha

Book MeMe

I was tagged by Confessions to do a book meme. This was a fun one. Thanks for the tag. I love to share my interests with others.


The Rules!!!!

• Grab the nearest book.


• Open the book to page 56.


• Find the fifth sentence.


• Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your blog along with these instructions.


• Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.


• Tag five other people to do the same.

I grabbed a book I am reading for my Grad class. ( It was in my school bag...I have a lot of grading to do tonight and homework for my class) The book is: Classroom Instruction that Works~Research Based Strategies For Increasing Student Achievement . Here it is....Rewards can have a negative impact on intrinsic motivation whe they are offered to people for engaging in a task without considering any standard of performance. In a classroom, this might occur if a teacher promised students tangible rewards simply for doing an activity.

I choose to tag ....Laurie, Malia, any other takers?? Didn't know who else to tag for this? Anyone?? Anyone?? :)

***While doing this all I can hear is a constant beep, beep...Alyssa is getting texts like crazy....middle schoolers are nuts!

Gave In

Caved....got unlimited text messaging for Alyssa. She managed to do 200 texts in 13 days. So, I told her that would be part of her allowance to pay for this plan. I can't fault her. Her friends texted her at least 40 times today. It is better this way...no crazy bills each month. Now she can text as much as she wants. Phew.....even hubby agreed on this one...and with grin at how his little girl is growing up way too fast.

Between my shoe addiction and her texting habit....you know...I may break the bank. (hahaha)

Wolf Trail Run

I did a trail run today. It was a 3.8 mile course. There are some real hilly parts and rough terrain, so different than road running. Felt worried about twisting my ankle or falling.

It was a cool morning. The temperature was around 60 degrees. It was perfect for running. Thank goodness it wasn't like yesterday. HOT for this time of year around here. It was mid 80s. So today was a beautiful fall day.

My goal in this race was to beat my time from last year. I delivered! I beat my time by almost 2 minutes and was 5th in my age category. My husband also did the run this year. This is his first time doing it. He did great. He of course kicked my a$$. It was great that he was cheering me on at the finish line. However, I for once would like to finish above and beyond all of my friends so I can cheer them on when they come in. Oh well...it was awesome. I still have 8 weeks until the 10K race. I am exicted about that one. The training has already started. John and I are doing that one together too. I am sure he'll kick my you know what again. That's okay, at least we are training together and spending time with eachother.

John and Tammy ~ before race...

Apple Season

I love Fall. It is a great season. Cooler weather, football, leaves changing colors, and apples. They taste so good this time of year. I just love them. So, today in honor of Johnny Appleseed our class ate apples. We dipped them in caramel and sprinkles. YUMMY!! Some of them were licking their plates clean. So cute...and mighty sticky. Just imagine if we did this outside...the bees would of loved us for sure.

• Apples are red, yellow, and green.
• I love them with caramel.
• I love them dipped in sugar.
• I love the sour Granny Smith ones.
• I only eat the pie crust.
• I love apple pie.
• I can't wait to drink warm apple cider.
• They are juicy, enjoyable, sweet, crunchy, delicious, and sour.

We love Apples!!

***This is from the mouths of second graders.***

More Thursday Thoughts..7 year old style

I asked random thoughts this morning for our daily circle share. They could share whatever came to their minds. I started with......

• I can't wait to buy a new pair of shoes this weekend. ( I made sure my class new that I love shoes. Christmas is around the corner and maybe a future gift card would be great.)
• My mom bought me a magnet.
• My Dad gave me a bracelet.
• My cat's eyes look like glowing stars and coins.
• I like football, pets, friends, and my baby cousin.
• I use to have a fish named Nemo and Dori.
• I hope to have a bunny to take care of when I am older.
• I miss Hermann my dog he is dead. He died of cancer.

*****This is a condensed list. They love to talk about their pets and sports.******

Thursday Thoughts

Things that I am thinking about on a Thursday.

1. Things happen in threes. In this case a lot of bad things have happened in our school community this month. Tragedies...a 9-year old boy hit by a car on his bike....still in a coma and still no change in his condition in 3 weeks and I pray everyday for him, a boy's father died last week at the age of 28, a house fire a few blocks from school just the other day...a total loss for the family ( the kids were at school when this happened...they heard all of the fire trucks.) You wouldn't think anything of that, except this is a small community and when there is fire trucks and multiples of them...you get worried. The students in my class were worried about the school being on fire. It is scary to think about.


2. On a brighter note, I couldn't stop dreaming about CAKE last night. I think it had to do with Confessions post yesterday on bridal showers and having no cake to enjoy. OMG, I was dreaming of chocolate cake, cheese cake, eating cake while running, and teaching. Crazy....


3. Did you hear that PETA wants Ben and Jerry's ice-cream to use human breast milk instead of cows milk in their ice-cream? That sounds absolutely disgusting. Now, I heard this discussion on the radio this morning. I haven't actually researched this. But in my spare time ( hahaha) I just may.


4. One more thing, it is Thirsty Thursday! However, I may opt for a glass of water instead of a beer. I have a race on Sunday.

I Got Flowers Today!!

My students love me so. I get a bunch of "flowers" after every recess. They are so sweet.

What Did She Say?

A teacher said this to her student, " Why are you petting your beaver and why is it wet?"

Can you imagine walking by that classroom and hearing this. I was laughing so hard, it brought tears to my eyes. That is better than my I Love Dick's! outburst yesterday.

The reason behind that beaver...a kid was putting his stuffed beaver in the sink and it was getting wet. The student should of have been resting instead of giving the stuffed animal a bath.

Funny stuff!

The Things We Say

I Love Dick's!!!

I seriously blurted that out afterschool today. No worries the students were already long gone.

I was talking with some other teachers in the hall and chattin' about the weekend, etc. and I blurted that out. Before you think I was talking like trash in a place where children learn, I was talking about the Sporting Goods Store that opened up in our town over the weekend. I had everyone cracking up....I guess it was the way I said it or something. Or if someone just happened to be walking down the hall and would of had no idea what we were talking about and heard this....they would think I was some kind of nut job.

Awesome new store. The kids loved all the freebies they were handing out over the weekend.

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy Birthday Mom. Thanks for all you do for us. You are sweet, kind, thoughtful, and a wonderful Mom and Grandmother. We hope you have a terrific day!

Laurie and Mom...Chicago
Tammy, Tricia, Mom...living it up in Chicago.

Mom and Betty
Mom and daughters from Christmas 2007

Soccer is for the Birds?

This is Alyssa's game. She scored 2 goals today and her team
won 11-0 today and 5 to 3 yesterday. She is the blue team, she is on right. It must be the coach. He is way Hot! ( it's my hubbie) Way to go Panthers!

This is Brandon's team. (They could go deer hunting with those

colors). His team won yesterday and today. No goals for Brandon,

however, a lot of assists and a couple almost type deals. He is coming off the field at this point. Go Barons!

This is what I had to deal with today. I felt like I was going to get pecked or pooped on. Or what was that movie about the birds? I was freaked out and the kids were ducking their heads at some point because they thought they were going to get dived upon. There were hundreds of these things flying around. Not only the seagulls eating everyone's crumbs, but goose poop everywhere. (a pond right next to the soccer complex) Thank goodness this was the only double header weekend. The only reason I spent 6 hours at the field this weekend was it was rained out last weekend.

Kick A$$ Blog Award

I was awarded the Kick Ass Blogger Award from Just the Girl.... I really enjoy reading her blog. She talks about her kids, husband, workouts, and just about anything that is on her mind. One more thing, she has been to more concerts than I ever have in my life and she has gone to several in the last few months. Go check her blog out. Thanks so much for this great blogger honor. It is awesome!!

Here are the rules:
Choose 5 bloggers that you feel are "Kick Ass Bloggers" Let 'em know in your post or via email, twitter or blog comments that they've received an award.Share the love and link back to both the person who awarded you and back to Mammadawg, the inventor of this award.

So now I need to nominate 5 other bloggers for this kickin' award.

I choose Newly-Wedded Wife, not only is she my sister. She loves to blog about fashion, make-up, and of course her baby Betty (the dog).

Carrie at Confessions~ I love reading her thoughts about her family and things that are going on in her life, she is always willing to share such positive thoughts, and is working hard at her goal of running a 5K.

Nap Warden has a awesome blog. She talks about running, family, and pop-culture (Madonna and 90210)

Seeking Sanity posts some really great photos and her blog is fun to read.

Caffeine Court~ She blogs about her passion for tennis and has great opinions and ideas. I really enjoy reading her blog.

Aahhhh.... Peace and Serenity

I should be working on lesson plans, but the house is quiet so instead I am.....

Enjoying one of these

I am also watching this

What was the song? Rock and Roll? I can hear it in my

head, but don't know the title.

Oh and glad the kids didn't see this part. Remember the train.

A little Risky Business

And getting ready to start reading this....

So wish it were Friday night, but tomorrow will be a great day. Happy almost Friday.

CP Nightmare

New phone for Alyssa= big headache for Mom.

87 text messages in 3 days! Who has that kind of time? I looked and she finds time on the bus and after softball practice. I only got her the 200 messages a month package. I really don't want to add another $30.00 a month for unlimited...what is that teaching her? This way she has to learn to budget. Hopefully after our talk this morning she can maybe use her voice instead of her fingers!

What Not to Wear

I know I shouldn't be so critical of others and what they wear because seriously they may not have the money to be so fashion savvy as myself. (haha)





***Disclaimer***If I work with you and read this blog, I am NOT referring to you. I love everything you wear. This is just my observations and things I see out and about.





Okay, now to the good stuff. (or bad stuff to some)

• Wearing white on white is never a good idea. Seriously white pants, shoes, and shirts people....that reminds me of me working as a nursing assistant back in the college days. A big NO!
• Looking like you belong in a flower shop window...yikes! Don't wear white heels, a shirt that is the color of Easter, and a floral spandex skirt. That seriously scared me to death!
• If you are man, please, please do not wear a shirt that will show off your "man boobs" that is a frightning sight no matter where or who you are. No man should ever need to wear a bra with their outfit.
• Don't wear a pilled up sweater with some sort of texturing to it and white pants. I don't care how cold you are...beg, borrow, or steal something that doesn't belong in the local dumpster. Makes you look tattered and desperate.
• I think unitard type shirts left the scene a long time ago. ( you know the ones that snap at the crotch) No more please...can't take it!

Things I did notice that I love...

• The red peep toe heels someone had on yesterday...love them!
• My good friend M (who will be 40 soon) had the cutest outfit on yesterday. The gray pants and cute fall sweater...love it! So if you are reading this M...you looked terrific.
• Myself...because K gave me a compliment about my outfit 3 days in a row. You rock K!

Serioulsy if I offended anyone...so sorry.

Devil Made Me Do It

I think the devil moved in overnight and has taken over Emma. She was quite crazed out this morning. Her alarm goes off at 6:30 and the devil started talking for her. To prevent this, we even pick out her clothes the night before, but for some reason she couldn't wear what we picked out and she didn't want to wear anything else either. At that point I was ready to have her go to school in her Ariel nightgown. It took her seriously 45 minutes to calm down and pick out something completely different. I really am no help during this process because the devil took over my personality too.

So after a 45 minute battle of the wills, she finally gets dressed, eats a quick pop tart (no time for some real nutrition), some apple juice, and a kiss and a hug. I got into my car and left for work. She was calmed down and Alyssa took over and got her on the bus. Thank goodness for big sister who came to the rescue.

If I am even 1 minute late for work...it results in a talking. How crazy is that?

3 Good Reasons

My oldest daughter has been begging me for a cell phone for a very long time. I even did a post on it in August. When we went shopping, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. She couldn't even give me 1 good reason why she needed a phone. She just WANTED one. So I dropped the idea for the remainder of the summer...then she started Middle School.



She would come home and say everyone has a phone...(seriously Alyssa, not EVERYONE), but to her she was feeling left out. During the first week of middle school she was to try out for the girls softball team. Alyssa was on a team for the past few summers and seems to be a standout even amongst the coed teams she is on. She is a pitcher, plays third or first base. She was even on the all star team this summer. Way proud of her. So, she tried out and I know she tried her best. I knew they were going to cut approx. 15 or more girls and I really was trying to prepare her just in case she didn't make it. When she went to school on Monday of last week...SHE MADE THE TEAM! I was so proud of her. The first thing she could say was...I really want a cell phone, then I could call you when to pick me up from practice. What? Okay...whatever, we'll talk about it.



So, after a whole week of this crazy practice schedule (she also plays soccer), she really felt that she needed a CP(that is what she nicknamed it). I was so sick of hearing everyday the same thing. I want a cell phone. So, we put her to the test. Give us 3 good reasons why you think you need a cell phone. This is what she wrote down.

1. I will fell safer and comfortable with one.


2. If someone needs to contact me at any time for emergency they could (If I ever get one)


3. If softball is cancelled and the buses already left, I could call you or mom for a ride.

So we pondered about this all weekend. We even went to a birthday party Saturday and all of the adult men (seriously more like teenage boys) were egging her on. Why don't you have a cell phone? You really need one. It went on for I swear an hour.

So, today I broke down and we got her a cell phone. However, I will pay the monthly bill, she actually bought her own. I was very proud of her. She shelled out $100.oo of her hard earned babysitting money. She will get $50.00 back in a Visa Debit card, which is pretty cool for an 11 year old almost 12 in about 3 weeks.

To be honest, I feel better since she is staying at school 'til 6:00 for practice and will be attending the school social next Friday night. That way, she always can get a hold of someone for anything. She played with this phone all day. It is a pretty cool one.

I've been sticking to my 10K training program. The weather around here this weekend just sucked too. It rained the entire weekend. The remnants of the hurricane and other things too. However, I ran 4 miles today. So proud. I never stopped the whole run and it felt awesome. Another great week ahead...training that is.

Meet My Family

• My mom likes to yell.
• My dad likes to sleep and watch tv.
• My brother likes to scream.
• My brothers are good at fighting.
• My mom loves the computer.
• My whole family eats, sleeps, and drinks.
• My sister likes to shop.
• My mom is good at cooking and sometimes dad is too.
• My bunny likes to eat our vegetables.

From the journals of Second Graders. I smile and chuckled at this today. So cute...I had to share. I love the things they say. It is so funny. They sometimes look at me like I'm nuts. I wonder what my own kids say about me in their school journals.

Yesterday, one of my students asked me if I had my house key hanging from my ear. I guess my earrings looked like they could pick a lock! I was trying to take a photo of them, but fear of someone walking into my classroom and seeing me taking pictures of myself, I thought it was best not to follow through.

Happy Friday!

A Sign?

I am in my school, walking down the first/second grade hall, see something, pick it up (don't want the hallway to look like garbage) and I find this lying on the floor. How weird is this? Not many or if any young kids this day are named Tammy. It's a sign...must mean good luck. :) Happy Hump Day!

Happy Anniversary

Happy First Wedding Anniversary to my very younger sister at newly-wedded wife and my brother in law. I can't believe it has been one year since you two tied the knot. Here are some photos that bring back really good memories of that day. Love you guys.

Laurie and Dan at the church.

My sisters, parents, and brother.

My little Emma...the princess for a day.

The three beauty queens.

Emma still loves that pink dress and wanted to wear it to school Open House this year. Alyssa couldn't wait to take it off that night...it was driving her crazy.

MEME Post

I was tagged by PortersPonderings for a "Meme" post. I have never been tagged to do this before, so I will do my best. It is really hard to think of 6 random things about yourself. I can think of 6 things, but random is another story.

First, the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on the blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.


Here it goes: Six random things about myself (this is so hard...it may take me the whole day to think of things)

1. I love to start my day with coffee. My favorite thing is too add cinnamon vanilla creamer~yummy. The only days I don't drink it, are the days I had 1 too many cocktails the night before.
2. If I don't get to work out on my work out days, I get awfully cranky and pace. (My husband thinks I am NUTS) I would have to agree with him.
3. I cannot stand the sound of my alarm...I sometimes get worked up throughout the night just thinking about that awful sound. I don't mind getting up...it's the alarm. It is like a bullhorn in my ear and I am not kidding. My heart starts to pound when it goes off. I guess that is what I get for buying it at a garage sale for 50 cents. I guess I was to cheap to buy one once mine broke. Or the fact that I was using a Dora Explorer one for the longest time. Again to cheap.
4. I love shoes. If there is one thing that I could buy endless amounts of, it would be shoes. I was asked to count them for a friend and I literally lost count. I have a lot. If I had to guess it would be at least 40 pairs. (probally more...my husband would say like 70)
5. I secretly want to buy a coach purse. I saw this one at the Coach outlet by us and I just loved it. Honey, it was only 385.00!!
6. I hate clutter. It drives me nuts. I always say and never follow through that I am going to put all of the kids stuff in a box and put it away and see if they notice. I should try that, maybe they will pick up their junk, instead of leaving me a trail. I guess they want me to find them and give them a big huge kiss. :)

So now I have to link 6 other bloggers and see if they want to partake in this. I have to tell you, it took me hours, but once I got started, it was easy and thoughts started to flow.

• Confessions
• Laurie
• Just the Girl
• Malia
• Kathryn
• Nap Warden

What Do I Like About School

• I love recess.
• I like to eat lunch with my friends.
• I like to draw.
• I like math.
• I like science.
• I like to read books.
• I like my teacher, she is nice. ( of course she is....it's me)
• I like to write with pencils. ( Are you serious? I have a future writer in here this year)

I have never had a kid who said I love to write with pencils. I think it will be a great year.

RNC I Stayed up to Watch

Why does this woman intrigue me?

I stayed up last night just to watch her speak. Some of the reasons why I could cross party lines would be her. She is young, determined, a mom, beautiful, and seems like she has normal family issues that she is okay talking about. I will have to read more and educate myself, but so far I really like what I see and even heard.

First Day Excitement

Brandon and Emma (Alyssa was still primping)
First day of First Grade for Emma (my baby is growing up)
Emma, Brandon, Alyssa, and Zena (the dog).
We are ready for our first day.
Waiting for the bus. Alyssa went on a different bus this year. She is at the middle school and the other two are still in the Elementary.

I think I drove her nuts after school today...I was drilling her about everything. I am a nosey mom. I need to know DETAILS!! (who she talked to, who is next to her by her locker, her teachers, the lunchroom, the bus, etc). She was awful excited about the boy who has a locker next to her. However, that is the boy that gave us a wake up call at midnight. She has been smitten with him since Kindergarten. Hopefully, the year goes well, I am sure it will.

It was a great first day. The weather was the hottest it has been all summer long. It was 90 degrees by 9am. I had no AIR CONDITIONING. I thought my little second graders were going to pass out. I was letting them get drinks every half hour. They didn't hardly use the washroom today. We were sweating it out all day. Thank goodness for the cold front that will come through tonight. The only thing is that we will get the rain from Gustav for about 2 days. We need it around here and I will welcome the 70 degrees that will head our way this week.

I increased my run today...2.4 miles. Tomorrow is strength and crosstraining.

Baking At It's Finest

If there is one thing Alyssa loves to do is bake. She takes pride in her wonderful desserts she makes and of course shares with her family and friends. Today is the day before school starting and what better way other than sharing the blender with your buddies.

They were off to make the chocolate chip/chunk cookies. I think that the dough sometimes is a bigger hit than the cookies itself.


Emma, Paige, Alyssa putting together some of the ingredients.
Taking turns....because that is what friends do.
Almost ready...
This is what is left of their cookie baking bonanza. Not only did they eat
a lot of the dough, but as soon as they came out of the oven the kids and
of course their friends had to have a sample. I am not kidding...they ate
4 dozen cookies...only 8 are left. Hopefully they don't have belly aches in the
morning.

Tomorrow is the first day of school. We are so excited...the kids are, I am too, the only thing, it is suppose to be 90 degrees tomorrow and I DO NOT HAVE AIR CONDITIONING in my classroom. That is right...the poor little second graders will be a sweaty, tired group by the time the dismissal bell rings. I am sure I will too.

I ran today...I was so excited because it has been 3 weeks since my surgery and I am officially starting my training program for the 10K I will be doing in November. I did some interval runs today. It was hot...around 85 degrees. I needed to start slow. I ran a 9 minute mile. Tomorrow a longer run. So excited to really be back in. Game on!!