random things in november...

 This blog has some random things from a few weeks ago all the way to yesterday!

First let me say I cannot believe how quickly time is flying this year!! It's November already?? what? I feel like I just made my new years resolution list like a month ago! (which by the way I hate thinking about my resolution list this late in the year b/c there's always things I totally slacked on-like reading at least one book a month!-actually I was doing it, even more than one book a month, until school started!)

anyway, 2 weeks until Thanksgiving break for me! and it is a busy busy 2 weeks!! We have our Veterans Day celebration on Wednesday where all the grade levels are performing-I'm trying to keep my brain from getting all mixed up before that day! Its so hard sometimes trying to remember all the different motions and words to songs...but I'm excited-the kids are going to do a great job! We hope a lot of Veterans will show up=) I also have 2 weeks to get the 4th graders ready for their program on Dec 8th and also the 5th graders are performing on Dec 3rd for the Grand Prairie Tree Lighting!

Ok, enough of that, its making me stressed again to think of it.

Here are the few pictures from my choir concert (Arlington Master Chorale) in October

There's me singing my heart out!

My mom took my picture in front of the organ!

It was so beautiful with all the songs we did.

 We also had a woodwind, brass and percussion section playing with us!

BOTH sides of my parents were there to hear us sing!

 I was so very excited they drove all the way out.

I only got a picture with my mom, but thanks you all for coming=)

Sorry this is blurry, I still think its cute.

These are my kiddos at their October performance.

School House Rock, they were

SOOO good!

This is at my dad's birthday party from Friday night, we had a game night.

 Before we ate pizza Madeline said the prayer-it was so cute!

jordan and Madeline=)

 

and Matt helping Madeline pray!

Jennifer and Josh at the party too!

My dad is 55 this year! He decided to quit smoking. I am soo excited!!

We had fun playing the 'Buzz' game!

Mr and Mrs Carl-so cute!

All the ladies!

Jordan and his mom-by the way, jordan was in a bet

with one of his friends to see how long he would keep

 his facial hair 'handlebars'...that's why those are there:

Jordan and I, we haven't had much luck getting very good pictures lately..

Saturday night, Jordan and I had a lot of fun eating

 dinner together and then going to Starbucks!

We haven't gone there in a long time, and I really miss it b/c its always special.

Ok, so I hope you have a great week! 
I am looking forward to the holidays and being with family and friends.
 I am almost done with my Christmas shopping too-
so I can relax over the break! =)

Thanks for reading!!

goodbye august!

So, here are some things that have been going on with me since school started last Monday! I can't believe tomorrow will conclude the 2nd week of school already!! wow, time flies!!

Over the weekend I went over to the Carl's house and saw them for a little bit-they were doing all kinds of funny stuff in the backyard, it was fun! I can't wait to see my side of the family this weekend for labor day=)

Here is Kelsey and Emma at Brooklyn's pizza place!!

Emma jumping off the play structure in the backyard, and me hoping Jordan does catch her! She was all the way up on the top of that ladder type thing...he did though-don't worry=)

Then he was experimenting with his strength with Gabe....ha, this one always makes me laugh.

The Carl's wanted to clean out their garage, so Jordan and his mom were going over some things he 'left behind' =)

They were playing with a butterfly (that girl is a neighbor friend down the street)

And they caught a lizard!! When I was little a lizard would have scared me...they still do scare me when they scurry around on the ground as I'm walking to my house, lol.

This first one of Emma makes me laugh!!

I recently auditioned and joined the AMC (Arlington Master Chorale) with some of my other music teacher friends in Grand Prairie and Arlington. Its fun to get to go sing on the professional level again, and spend some time with the girls! (It is a full SATB choir, however, I'm surrounded by girls in the soprano section! And my friends in there happen to sing my part and we get to sit next to each other=) I go every Monday night.

We will be performing a couple times this fall season and once in the Spring. I will let yall know about the concerts once it gets closer in case someone wants to come!

I just thought about the fact that most of you have never seen my school! This is what the front looks like, its so pretty and new!!

And this is the musical program I am currently working on with my 3rd graders! It's called School House Rock! And its going to be sooo cute when they kids perform! (no, these are not my kids, but I am a picture person, I like to have examples to give people an idea=) So this is just an example of someone else's set that put on this show.

We will perform in October, and it will not only be the first musical production at Williams Elementary, it will also be my first time to put together a show! I'm nervous, and excited at the same time, b/c I know our kids will be great=)

As far as everything else..we are still trying to sell our house, we've had an offer, but I'm not sure its going to work out. It would be nice though, b/c Jordan's drive to Fort Worth every morning and afternoon is really wearing on him. As much as we don't want to move further away from our family, it would be very helpful if we were in somewhere like Grand Prairie or Arlington, so Ill keep you updated.

And Bella's leg/knee is still hurting her, however, she seems better. We are not sure about surgery with her yet or not. I do want to start up her training again though, I really miss doing it, and she needs the exercise.

So that's everything for us right now.

Oh ya, one last thing-this is a MAJOR blessing from the Lord and we were so taken aback at His tremendous blessing in this area: At our church, (where Jordan is the worship leader) they were having budget problems, and they were going to cut back on a lot of things, including his salary. This was going to hurt us, esp. since he just started that Masters program and had to quit his other job. We had been praying about how we would adjust if this went through (since they said it would be a few weeks before it all was approved). Anyway, after the meeting Sunday about the budget, apparently someone donated the amount that covered the budget deficit! It was very amazing! I cannot express how great it is to be a child of God, living under His will, and getting to experience the great blessings of His provision in our lives. He truly is an amazing Creator and Father.

I just wanted to tell that story b/c it really spoke to me this week as to how loving our Lord is.

Back to School oh nine!

My classroom 2009-2010!

I moved everything around to where the students now face the windows instead of the whiteboard. It gives a lot more room for them and me! And everyone can see better=)

On the shelves in the bins are the unpitched instruments like maracas, bells, triangles, wood blocks, drums etc. Then my stereo is on the top shelf. I have my recorder charts on the wall there and the basics of music poster. And the black thing with feathers on top is the keyboard.

Poster board, glue sticks, pencils, erasers, lamination, paperwork, homework, music, lesson plans, books, email, and scissors! These are the things that have been dominating my life for the last couple weeks! Its been very exciting getting ready for school to start up and I actually know what I'm doing! I know that sounds funny, but your first year of teaching, you just don't know what to expect, or really what to prepare for-so last year when school started, I put up a few posters, wrote my name on the board, and thought I was ready. WRONG. Ha, at least this year I know what to prepare for-and I've been going crazy trying to get a lot of stuff done. I'm a very 'do it in advance' kind of person, with little things-b/c I know later I'll get bogged down and the rest will go out the window. So I've been trying to get all the little things done, as well as the necessity 'big things' too.

I got these great teaching materials from another 'veteran' music teacher in GP, and I've been trying to get them cut out, glued and laminated so I can use them in my classroom. I've learned an AWESOME new technology that I can use in my room where I basically control my stereo and ALL my music (which is a TON of cd's) from my ipod-which has a signal sent wirelessly to my laptop-which is then plugged into my stereo, allowing me to 'wirelessly' control ALL of my music. It is SO very helpful for me, (thanks to Jordan) I love it.

It's been such a blessing this year to have such great teachers to work with in my district! I've had a handful really help me out, and I am feeling so much more confident to start this year. They've been letting me borrow materials, giving me more helpful hints and just being fun to work with.

I changed around my room to fit the larger school pop we will be having this year, and decorated my door a little differently-which I got a picture of!

I'm excited to start this new year. So far the first week has been great! The kids are SO sweet and cute. They say things like, "Mrs Carl, I missed you so much this summer!" or " I love you Mrs Carl, I want to run up and hug you from my seat!" and it reminds me of why I love my job!

I've really been able to have better classroom management this year, which has been so much more reassuring. I think it also helps that we have great kids at our school=)

This is my schedule this year:

8:00-9:00-my conference/planning time

9:00-9:50 5th grade

9:55-10:45 3rd grade

10:50-11:40 4th grade

11:40-12:15 LUNCH

12:15-1:05 2nd grade

1:10-2:00 Kinder

2:05-2:55 1st grade

Here is me in front of my room on the first day!!

I wanted to wear Hobbs Williams turquoise and I always wear a dress on the first day=)

What do you think of my 'Backstage with Mrs Carl' doorway!? I made the sign on top with my amazing cricut expression machine I got for Christmas, that I just now figured out how to use-it has saved my life this past week with making things for my classroom=)

PS I also made the curtains....last year actually...they were for my room windows, and then I never used em, so I had this idea!

These are my 'barred instruments' xylophones and metallophones-the kids love em!

This is my music Word Wall with musical symbols for the kids to reference...

And if you look on my cabinet doors-those are the 'flashcards' I have been working on. I copied em, then I glued them onto colored posterboard, and then laminated them...whew, it was work-but it will be good for the kids to see. Its the 'unpitched percussion' families and instruments that go with each family.

These are my wonderful collegeas! On the far left is Ms. Houston-the fun art teacher, and on the right is Coach Carroll-my life saver and amazing PE teacher! They are both veterans and know everything!=)

jordan's 1st day as a sub...& my new instruments=)

So yesterday was Jordan's first day of substitute teaching in my district, Grand Prairie ISD. He taught 1st Grade-hahaha! He thought the kids were interesting and funny, but at the same time, they were trying to take "advantage" of the substitute. He had the same ups and downs all new teachers would say about all the disciplining and craziness that goes on-but at least he made it through the day. And on top of it today the teacher even asked him to come back and sub for 4 more days-so I guess he did good! 

The funniest thing that happened during the day, was while Jordan was reading the book, 'Ms. Nelson is missing', a little boy asked to go to the bathroom. Jordan's response was-'you can wait'....the poor little boy replied, 'no i can't mr. teacher, i gotta dookie!' and with that, he let him go.

Everything in my classroom is going pretty well. I have my instruments now and that is very exciting. I took some pictures of my r

oom with all the stuff I got in it-I added some risers for the students to practice singing on and then you can see all the instruments! The kids just LOVE playing them, every day they ask me if they can play instruments today. I think its great that they can be exposed to so many different kinds of music and instruments..I wish I had that when I was a kid, but oh well, I turned out ok=) And I second was Lauren said on her bl

og- I love teaching, but I am tired of ALL the disciplining that goes on...yeesh.

Welcome to our blog....

Well, here is our new blog! I know some people may never get on this and read our blog, but I know there are some of you that will find this an easy way to keep up with us and stay in touch=) Jordan and I have had a great summer-its been filled with way too many things that have kept us busy, and we have  just had a lot of fun! There have also been some struggles that have come along with the summer, but God is faithful and is seeing us through.

I probably won't take the time to post too many pictures from the summer just b/c I have too many to add, so I will kind of start fresh with what's going on now.

I just finished my "in service" teacher training and am hastily getting ready for Monday-the start of the new school year! Last night was our open house and I got to meet some of the kids and their families. We have a lot of cultural diversity and the kids are very nice. They see

med very excited to come to music class and they liked my room!! It was a huge reality check last night for me to see some of 

the kids...I feel like this whole teaching this has been surreal for the last few months-but now it is coming to life. I know it may sound weird, but I feel like I'm finally growing up, getting a real job and making a difference. I am excited to see what the Lord has for me this year and what He is going to teach me. I know patience and punctuality will already be on the list!! haha

Anyway, Jordan also starts back to school on Monday. He is going to be substitute teaching for Grand Prairie hopefully soon and still tutoring at the school AND working at church!!=) He is taking 8 hours, so he should hopefully have some free time.

Well, I just wanted to end with a little shout out to my friend Robin who helped make this blog possible=) Thanks robin for helping me with the picture thing!! and I loved your post on the recorders-haha.

And hopefully before Monday (since we're a new school there are some kinks to work out..) like a power cord for my keyboard...the loaner upright piano will show up...the computer will work....the curriculum books will come in....maybe I'll have some more kids instruments....lol. It's ok, we'll make do with what we have! At least our school is brand new and beautiful!

Until next time I hope everyone has a great weekend!