Freedom Rings

July 4, 2014 

Natalie Faces Her Fears 

This year July Fourth was not a event filled as it has been in years past but it was special nonetheless! We spent the day with just the 4 of us watching special movies, reading books and playing together! In all reality it was just another summer day for the 4 of us! This was until we decided to get some fireworks and sparklers for the kids! 

Natalie has had a fear of fireworks ever since I can remember but had mentioned that she was "not afraid" anymore and wanted to watch them this year. We decided that it might be best to go and get some simple sparklers for her to experience to help get over this fear. 

We had Chris's parents, Dan and Jackie, come over and help us celebrate the holiday and set off the sparklers. We decided to wait to set them off until closer to dark time however, we noticed it was beginning to sprinkle and rain around 7:30 so we decided to head outside and "get the party started". We got all of our chairs out towards the end of the driveway and we were ready... THEN IT BEGAN TO RAIN! Not just sprinkle but RAIN! It was much needed rain so we just came back inside. 

We waited about 10-15 minutes for it to pass and tried it again. This time we stayed up towards the front of the house and the garage. Dan helped us by getting all of the sparklers lit and then handed them to all of us. Natalie was a little nervous but within a few minutes she had a sparkler in her hand and was enjoying it. Luke held one sparkler but I do not think he really liked it because that was the only one he held all night long. 

Natalie and daddy playing with sparklers! 

She was not so sure at first but eventually she came around. 

Luke's turn... He was not so sure! 

Natalie was asking how they work... It is like her brain NEVER stops!

Gigi Jackie and Natalie with their sparklers!

Mommy came from behind the camera to play with FIRE and Natalie! 

I felt like a kid again... I started practicing conducting with MY sparklers!

We went through about 50-60 sparklers total (Most lit and held by the adults) and we all had a great time. And more importantly, Natalie faced her fears of the fireworks. In fact, that evening when we put her to bed she didn't even need her heavy duty headphones to dampen the noise of the constant fireworks in our neighborhood. She said "Mommy, I'm a big girl now. I don't need those". I have quite possibly NEVER BEEN MORE PROUD OF HER! She is really growing up and this day just proved it! 

Natalie, my BIG GIRL, after she faced her fears all evening!

I am SO PROUD OF YOU NATALIE GRACE!

We finished the evening playing "Mexican Train" dominoes with Dan and Jackie before we called it a night. The fireworks continued in our neighborhood until well past 2:30am which made for a really long night! July Fourth is one of my favorite holidays of the calendar year and this year did not disappoint! 

God is good... ALL the time! 

Stay-cation 2014

June 26-28, 2014

Houston, TX with Gigi Shirley and Poppy 

Sometimes there is nothing quite like a "STAY-cation". The excitement of finding things to do in your very own backyard. My mom and dad (Otherwise known as Gigi Shirley and Poppy) had some extra days vacation after long months of May and June so they offered to take our kids on a small excursion to Dallas or Houston. This led us all to come up with an idea of a "STAY-cation". We decided we would create our own mini-vacation in Houston with all 6 of us. It turned out to be just what we all needed! 

Thursday, June 26th 

We met Gigi Shirley and Poppy in downtown Houston at Minute Maid Park for an Astro's game. This is a tradition of ALL Klingsick vacations no matter where so this was a no-brainer! This was an afternoon game and it was also $1 hot-dog game! This was awesome because we all got to really enjoy the baseball experience with Hot-Dogs, popcorn and another Klingsick tradition of Peanuts and M&Ms! 

Chris and I outside Minute Maid Park!

Poppy and Gigi Shirley with Natalie and Luke behind home plate!

Gigi Shirley loves taking her grand-kids to baseball games!

Since it was an afternoon game we learned that day-cares (from what seemed like ALL OVER THE STATE) came with flocks and FLOCKS of kiddos! Not necessarily my favorite type of baseball game audience but that's OK! We started out in an upper deck section on the 1st base side but quickly moved down as the heard and herds of brightly colored daycare shirts came flocking to our section. The nice gentleman manning the section entrance smiled as I told him "I deal with kids EVERYDAY as part of my job and I just 'aint' doing it today." In fact, he even pointed me in the right direction for our own little section with NO kids! God bless that nice man! I just don't think I could have taken thousands of kids screaming and yelling and spilling their drinks. Meantime in our new lower section, my kids were screaming and yelling and occasionally spilling! Hehe... but they are MY kids! 

I think Gigi Shirley had the most fun of us all! 

My little family of four! I love them so much! 

Baseball- A Klingsick Family tradition!

The game was over and we headed back up to Conroe to spend the evening at our house. We had a special Stuffed Pork Tenderloin from Buc-cee's that we made for dinner that evening and it was delicious! We also played the Wii for several hours before going to bed! 

Friday, June 27th 

We had planned on going to the beach a day while my parents were in town but the weather radar made it seem like it was going to rain and storm all day. We debated not going to the beach but we decided to risk it all and go ahead and go! It was a good thing we went because it didn't rain at all while we were there... BUT it was incredibly windy and this made the ocean waters beyond manageable at some times. The tide came into the beach in such a way that it poured into the chairs and area where people were sitting. It was a good thing that there were MASSIVE amounts of seaweed to block our area! In fact, I had never seen so much seaweed just sitting on the beach in my life! It was disgusting and nobody, especially Luke and I, liked it!

Natalie LOVES the ocean! 

Luke... Not so much! Daddy had a tag-along all day! 

But Natalie and I had a LOT of fun fighting the seaweed and the choppy waves!

Natalie is definitely our "Water Baby" as she thoroughly enjoyed running into the waves and swimming in the ocean. Luke, on the other hand, didn't like it at all and spent most of the morning in either mine, Chris's or Gigi's arms. In fact, he even fell asleep on Gigi's shoulder and took a nap ON THE BEACH at one point! Poor little guy just doesn't like the beach scene! Hopefully, he will grown out of this!

This was our "beach" for the day! Ewwww... is all I have to say! 

We ended the beach day with some awesome excitement as we all got to ride down this amazing inflatable water slide right there on the beach. I had seen this type of thing before but never spoiled Natalie enough to let her do it... BUT Gigi Shirley and Poppy were in town so SPOILING was inevitablee! 

This was a 3-4 story high slide that was hosed down with water and was INCREDIBLE! We all 6 got to ride down the slide and we all LOVED it (Well except Luke, he HATED it). We had 10 turns down the slide and I think we would all have agreed that we could have gotten the "All-Day Pass" and had the time of our lives! Thank you Gigi Shirley and Poppy for SPOILING US ALL!

Natalie going down the slide for the first time! She was in love!

Mommy and Luke going down the slide!
Once again, Luke did NOT like this water activity! 

Gigi Shirley liked the water slide too!
In fact, I think she liked it so much she wanted to go get 10 more rides! 

We went home and had a Deep Fried Turkey... sounds weird I know but we had an extra turkey in our deep freezer and it just seemed like the perfect time to eat it with additional people in town. I think I like eating the Deep Fried Turkey more in the middle of summer than I do in November! Once again, Chris did a FANTASTIC job! 

Saturday, June 28th 

We had originally planned on going to the Houston Zoo today but we also wanted to see "what else was out there" in Houston. On our way back from Galveston the day before I saw a sign for an "All-Day Ride Pass" at Traders Village. We looked them up online and decided we wanted to try them out! I am so glad we did. This was like a miniature fair right in the heart of Houston! AND their All-Day Ride pass was $9.75! Natalie, Luke, Gigi Shirley and I all got the ride pass and it really paid off. They had nearly 15 rides ranging from toddler age to teenager age. Luke really only liked the carousel, mini car and airplane rides, while Natalie, Gigi Shirley and I all rode the other 14 rides all day! Once again, Natalie is also my "roller coaster baby" but Luke did have fun!

Gigi Shirley and Luke on the carousel.

Luke on the mini-planes! 

Natalie liked the Mini-Cars too! 

Gigi Shirley and Natalie on the Tilt-a-whirl!

My kiddos and I on the carousel! 

Raising her to ride the GOOD RIDES early! She LOVED it! 

We spent the best part of the morning and early afternoon at Traders Village (Some parts in the rain) until about 2 pm when we decided to head back toward Conroe so we could eat dinner at our favorite restaurant Babin's before my parents had to head back to Arp for church on Sunday! This was an incredible value and I think we will go back there again during the summer and especially in the fall when it is cooler! It was a great find! 

We came home and all cleaned up before we headed to Babin's for a special dinner! This was really special because it is always fun to share our favorite restaurant and eating experiences with the ones we love! Thank you Mom and Dad for helping us celebrate! 

Gigi Shirley and Poppy with the kiddos outside of Babin's! 

I love my family!

This was an awesome weekend of FUN and I am so glad we decided to create a "STAY-cation" in Houston AND that we got to share this time with Gigi Shirley and Poppy! It was a lot of fun and just what we all needed! I hope this can become a SUMMER RITUAL! Thanks again to my parents for sharing this weekend with us! We all love you both! 

God is good... ALL the time! 

The 6 Davises Storm the Caribbean

Cruise 2006

As remembered by Chris

Day of Embarkation

This is a cruise my parents took my family on during the summer of 2006.  They had gone on the same cruise with my dad’s company, and they liked it so much, they wanted to treat all of us.  We were happy to indulge.  This was interesting as Davis family vacations go as this is the only I can remember where we did not get into some prolonged fight or argument.  I am writing this 9 years after the fact, but I will try to recall the best I can some of the more important events.  Luckily, I have over 1100 pictures that we took to look through to help me reconstruct the events.

Kellie and I had only been married a few months at this point as we had been married in March 2006.  This was our second vacation together; the first being our honeymoon.  We left our apartment in Norman, OK and drove down to Arp to spend the night with Kellie’s parents.  We took our beagle Abbey for them to keep.  She was just a young puppy at the time, and I think they had a good time watching her.  We woke up, and ate a big breakfast and began our trek to Houston.  Our family had decided to all stay at an Embassy Suites in Houston the night before the cruise.  Since they were coming from Lubbock, we easily made it before them.  I decided to drive down to Galveston and check out the cruise terminal a day early just to get the lay of the land.  After that, we drove back to Houston and met my family for supper.  The next morning we woke up and had a big breakfast at the hotel restaurant, then we loaded up and headed to our ship.

The Carnival Conquest

When we arrived at the cruise terminal, we dropped off Mom, D’Ann, and John with the luggage, while Dad, Kellie and I parked the cars.  On the shuttle ride back, the driver said most people gain 1 lb a day while on a cruise to which my dad replied with his now famous words, “We Davises are overachievers, we are going to gain 2lbs a day!”. We got back to the terminal where we went through customs and then waited on the gangway for about an hour to board the ship.  Our rooms weren't ready yet so we immediately went to the Lido deck on deck 12 to get hamburgers, pizza, and other fare while waiting for the rooms.  The pizza was okay, but the burgers were very good

Kellie sitting on our balcony

Around 3:00 we entered our rooms on the 6^th deck, known as the “upper” deck.  Mom and dad, stayed in a room next to John and D’Ann’s, while Kellie and I stayed a few doors down.  My parents were generous enough to spring for balconies for all of us.  We spent the next hour sitting on our balcony and watching all the sights.  I noticed a HUGE flock of birds forming not far away, and I wondered what moron was attracting them.  I looked out my balcony to see my family members were tossing Cheetos at them attracting dozens of them.  Before sailing away, we had to go to a muster drill.  We put our life vest on and waited.  Apparently we waited too long as they had to come and get us out of our room and bring us to the muster station.  We were some of the last to arrive

Kellie and I getting ready for our muster meeting

We were now cleared to leave the Galveston; we hung out on our balcony for a while and watched as land floated away.  We were escorted out of the harbor by dolphins and flying fish swimming alongside the ship.  What a wonderful spectacle it was to see.  Sailing out of Galveston was unique as we saw dozens of oil tankers waiting off the shore, apparently they would wait there until the price of oil increased, and then they would bring their oil in.  We opted for the early seating in the Renoir dining room which was located in the aft of the ship.  Our first table was a large round table which we shared with a family of three.  It was at the very back, and right over the engines.  The vibration generated an incredible amount of shaking, so this was our last night to eat at this table, the next night they moved us to a table for six for the rest of the week located more forward in the restaurant.  Our new waiter was named James; he was from the Turks and Caicos, and he was very good.  The food in the main dining room was very good.  John, my dad, and I each ordered two entrees every night.  They also hit the desserts hard, while I usually opted for a collection for cheeses as my desserts.  I don’t remember everything that I ordered, but I do remember some of things that I had that were very good:  Prime Rib, Beef Wellington, a chicken with a foie gras sauce (was amazingly good), escargot, and lots of steak. 

That night we all went to the Welcome aboard show, it was probably the most entertaining show of the whole cruise.  We ordered virgin strawberry daiquiris.  They had many of the ships executives and we were introduced to the cruise director.  Afterword, we did what Davises do best; we went to the casino and gambled.  This was Kellie’s first ever experience gambling and I think she liked it.  Kellie and I played just a few slots; we probably didn't spend more than 20 minutes combined gambling for the whole cruise.  When we had our fill we made our way back to our cabin and balcony, while my dad won a $400 bingo jackpot.  Another unique aspect of sailing out of Galveston is that at night you can see the lights of hundreds of offshore oil rigs as you sail by. 

Day 2

The next day was a day at sea; we woke up early and headed to the buffet for breakfast.  We saw my mom there, but the others were nowhere to be found, this would become a recurring theme for breakfast on the ship.  John and D’Ann slept in on the sea days.  The omelets were delicious and worth the wait.  Around 10 we met my mom in the lobby for sports trivia. We decided to check out some of the perks of the ship.  We swam in the pools, relaxed in the hot tubs, and even found our way to the giant water slide.  Dad mostly spent his time in the casino during the first and second days.  All the family met at Restaurant Cezanne (buffet) for lunch.  This would become standard for us during the cruise.  The theme of the buffet that day was American, and we ate ourselves silly.  At 2:30, Kellie, mom and I met at the piano bar for name that tune.  We lounged on our balcony for awhile and then Kellie and I got suited up to go take some pictures.  It was formal night so I wore a nice suit.  At 5:45 we met the others in the Monet Dining room for fine dining.  Afterword, we attended the production Formidable, it was a Las Vegas style dance show.  It was okay; unfortunately it wouldn't get better after that night.

The ship is bustling with activity

Day 3

This was the second sea day and I actually got up this morning to do a little jogging on the outdoor track.  I ended up jogging 1.1 miles, and it included breathtaking scenery of the ocean.  By the end of my jog, the boat was noticeably swaying, which would plague us all day long.  We did our early morning buffet and omelets with mom.  Dad was not there, but was easily found him in the casino.  Mom decided to try her luck at the penny slots.  Kellie and I toured around the ship and listened to some classical music.  D’Ann worked out at the ship’s fitness center for a while, which is surprisingly nice.  John spent most of his time on the Lido deck eating ice cream and hamburgers.  We later found out he averaged about 6 ice cream cones a day for the entire cruise.  The buffet was busy as usual and the theme of the day was Indian food.  Needless to say, I went and got hamburgers and pizzas for Kellie and I.

John enjoying a hamburger

At noon, John and Dad entered into a slot tournament.  I had not planned on it, but after their group went, I joined the next group.  None of us won the tournament.  At 2:30 we went and watched the “Deal or no Deal” bingo game, but did not participate.  I am not a lay in the sun type of person, but I joined Kellie and mom on the main deck for a while to listen to a Caribbean band and soak up some sun.  At 3:45 we participated in TV theme trivia, to which mom was the only one who knew every single one of the answers.  Our after dinner was Ron Joseph, and his Motown and R&B music.  He was upbeat, but that is the best I can say for him.  The biggest event of the night was dad winning a $1000 jackpot on a wheel of fortune machine. He drew a large crowd as his machine spun threw his winnings.  From his winnings, dad gave each of us $100, along with the casino hostess.  He only kept $100 for himself and gave the rest to mom.  Kellie and I were now $200 richer, so we decided to go back to the room.

Day 4

My beautiful wife backed by the Jamaican landscape

Kellie showing off her musical talents

Today we made port at Montego Bay, Jamaica.  Jamaica was mountainous and full of lush vegetation.  It was also noticeably poor.  Kellie and I had looked up and decided upon shore excursions before we ever went on the cruise.  My parents were gracious enough to pay for everybody’s shore excursions.  Although we all said that we didn’t have to shore excursions as a family, everyone liked our choices enough they ended doing the ones we chose.  For Jamaica, we chose jungle river cruising.  We docked at Jamaica early in the morning and were greeted by a calypso band.  Little did we know this band would play for hours on end.  Kellie even took some time to play along with them.  We took a 45 minute bus ride to the Grand River and began our great adventure down the jungle.  Our guide was young and energetic, and gave us a little bit of history as we cruised.  At one point he gave us the opportunity to jump in; D’Ann and I were the only ones from our group to take advantage of this.  The water was “refreshing” as the locals called it.  We finished our tour and caught a bus back to Montego Bay.  We perused the small shopping area they had set up and took some pictures before boarding the boat for lunch.  John, D’Ann, and Dad all bought Cuban cigars.   The theme of the buffet was French, not too shabby for a buffet.  The main show that night was a magician by the name of Deja.  She was downright pathetic and took smoke breaks in between tricks.  We had great fun mocking her for the rest of the trip.

I jumped into the river, for a "refreshing" swim

Day 5

Today, we made port at Grand Cayman.  Because of the shallow waters, we had to lower anchor offshore and take a tender into Georgetown.  Tendering is definitely not the preferred method of debarkation.  In sharp contrast to Jamaica, Grand Cayman is wealthy.  Visitors are greeted with a Rolls Royce dealership as they step off the boat; this is followed by many other expensive shops.  For this port we chose to visit the stingray sandbar.  This is popular destination in the Cayman islands is a sandbar where stingrays gather to be fed by humans.  It did not disappoint.  We took a 30 minute boat ride out to the sandbar, all the while, our guide gave us a demonstration on how to properly walk among, feed, and even

Kellie and I caught a stingray

catch these stingrays in the wild.  We were a little leery of these creatures since they still had their stingers on them.  After our cruise, Steve Irwin, the legendary crocodile hunter, a man who had battled crocodiles, snakes, and countless other dangerous beasts was killed by a stingray.  If this had happened before the cruise, I don’t think I could have convinced Kellie to go out among the stingrays.  We fed the squid to the stingrays and I was even able to catch an extremely large one. We all had a great time except for mom who is uncomfortable in water and did not like the way the waves pushed her around.

D'Ann, John, and Kellie on the way back from the Stingrays

Before returning to the Conquest, Kellie and I walked around Grand Cayman for a bit, looking at all the different banks and high-end boutiques.  We got our usual souvenirs which included a coffee mug, a snow globe, a magnet, and t-shirts.  Strangely enough, we had no problems finding snow globes in any Caribbean port.  The theme of the buffet this day was Caribbean, I did not like the jerk chicken as much this time around, but found a taste for it later in life.  This was the second formal night of the cruise, so Kellie and I dressed nicely and took some more pictures.  We would end up purchasing quite a few photos from the photo gallery.  My mom paid for these photos, for which we greatly appreciate, and some still adorn the hallways in our house.  D’Ann did not join us this night, and decided to dine at the sushi bar instead.  The main show that night was called “Point and Click”, it was a musical about two people of different socio-economic statuses meet and fall in love online.  It was infinitely disappointing.  Kellie tried the room service this night and found their BLT’s to be quite tasty.  This became a nightly ritual from here on out.

Day 6

Kellie and I at Playa del Carmen

Today we made port at Cozumel, Mexico.  We opted to swim with the dolphins, so we actually had to take a large catamaran style tender to the mainland at Playa del Carmen.  We then took a bus to a resort where we given a brief orientation and then were allowed to swim with the dolphins.  It was an amazing girth”.  They had to call in a back-up dolphin to give him a ride.  Mom who is uncomfortable with deep water and swimming, chose not to ride the dolphin, but did get into a splash fight with him.  After our dolphin encounter, we sampled some local cuisine at a nearby restaurant.  I think I will stick with good-ole Tex-Mex.  We visited some of the other sea creatures at the resorts including several manatees.  We traveled back to Playa del Carmen to wait for our tender.  Kellie went shopping while D’Ann went to a local bar to cheer on the Mexican national team who was currently playing in the World Cup.  We decided to skip the main show that night as we had not much luck with them, instead, we ordered an in-cabin movie “The Pink Panther” starring Steve Martin.  We all gathered in mom and dad’s room, John supplied us with cookies.  John later went to the adult comedy show and said it was "okay"!

Kellie loved the dolphins!

experience that I will never forget, the dolphins are so smooth and graceful in the water.  They were well-trained and showed a number of their tricks.  Everything went well until it was my dad’s turn to ride.  I don’t think the dolphin was accustomed to a man of his umm…. “

Mom and Dad on the way back to the boat

Day 7

This was our final sea day, and we used this time to rest and relax.  We ate at the chocolate buffet for lunch.  We all were astonished to see John arrive at our table with 32 chocolate milkshakes he had gotten for himself.  To his credit, they were in very small glasses (Like smaller than a shot glass).  Next provided the only controversial moment of the cruise as D’Ann took one of John’s cookies he had collected.  This was pretty good for as Davis vacations go.  The chefs on the boat were true artists with both the taste and the appearance of the food.  Some of their displays during both the chocolate extravaganza and the food gala were spectacular.  Kellie and I listened to some of the musicians on the ship and at 2:30 we entered the mega bingo game to win a free cruise.  We were one space away from winning for four separate numbers, when someone else called bingo!  Again, we did not go to any shows this night.  My family spent their time in the casino while Kellie and I hung out at the back of the boat eating pizza and ice cream before getting into the hot tubs.

Debarkation Day

This morning, we chose to eat at the main dining room for breakfast.  It was incredible, and we wished we had eaten there every day of the cruise.  We vowed not to make the same mistake on our next cruise (7 years later).  We left our rooms before our deck was called only to find an incredibly long line waiting for us.  After finding our luggage, we hit the road bound for Arp to retrieve Abbey and tale our many tales.

It was an incredible cruise and we owe all the thanks to my mom and dad for taking us on this amazing Caribbean adventure! I hope we can do it again soon! 

God is Good... ALL the time! 

Nine Years and Counting

2013-2014 School Year in Review 

This was my 3rd year in the great state of Texas and my first year at my current district (to remain nameless for professional purposes). This district is more like the district I grew up in and graduated from in Arp, TX. A small town, small district school on the very northern part of Montgomery county and Conroe. 

The elementary campus I teach at has about 700 students enrolled and is about 300-400 students smaller than my previous position in Spring. The type of student enrolled in this school is also very different than what I had he previous 2 years. These students come from the smaller town and it does not feel like I am teaching at an inner city school or urban area anymore. I was very uncomfortable with this the past few years so this situation makes me feel so much better. 

I had a great year and enjoyed working alongside such wonderful teachers, staff and administrators but more importantly the students. These students were great and I loved teaching hem and watching them grow. We had some great times throughout the year but here are a few of the highlights: 

September 

The Meet the Teacher night and Back to School night were very memorable because they really showed me what this district and campus would be like and really left a good lasting impression on me. Huge thanks to all he teachers and community members for helping me feel right at home. 

October 

The Pumpkin Run that was led by Coach Tammy Schneider, my teammate, was one of the most unique and fun things I have ever seen done in elementary school and it was just the tip of the iceberg for Tammy! She really is amazing and I am so grateful God allowed me to be her teammate. Thank you, Tammy for all you do. 

November 

We had another fun run called the Turkey Trot and it too was a lot of fun for the kids! I was also able to help out and experience the Veterans Museum that the teachers, staff AND students prepared for our community! Wow... This was amazing and so impressive! 

December 

This is always a busy month in school with all the holiday celebrations and concert and this year proved to be the same. I did have my first program of the year in late December with my 3rd grade classes. We performed a fabulous Christmas Carol concert using the musical instruments "BOOM-WHACKERS". These are musical tubes (much like PVC pipes) that produce different pitches when hit. They are so cool and I only wish they were around back when I was 10 years old. This concert also included a "Movement/Motion" part to it where our kids performed things like streamers, ball drums and a parachute routine to more Christmas carols. This combined Music and Movement which is a cornerstone of my teaching philosophy and got to incorporate PE into the program as well. Once again, I would not have been able to pull it off without Tammy! Have I told you how awesome she is! 

January

There are basically two words to sum up this month- RODEO ART! As part of my contract, I am responsible for teaching the Texas Arts TEKS as well as teaching an art lesson once per 6 weeks. I usually tie this lesson to music but 1 time a year I have to have our kids participate in a Houston-Wide competition called Rodeo Art. Here the students draw free art that has to do with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Then we have a school-wide and district-wide art show where the art is critiqued and then chosen to go down to Houston for the ACTUAL rodeo. Since I only have .05% of art in a single bone of my body, this was a HUGE struggle for me. There were lots of "can you show me how to draw this Mrs. Davis" and "what shades should I use here" to which I had to answer "ummmm.... I don't know" to all of these. This was really hard for me to take 6 weeks off of teaching music as well but now that I know how this works I am more prepared for this coming school year! 

February

This is one of my favorite months of the school year because I get to attend the Texas Music Educators Association Conference in San Antonio. This is the most amazing conference and I learn SO MUCH and come back feeling refreshed and ready to hit the ground running. This year I got to share this opportunity with the other music teachers from my district which made the experience even better. 

March

This too is also I month I LOVE... But this is because of the much needed and deserved SPRING BREAK. This year I had a 1st Grade Concert/Program the Thursday before Spring Break which made for a very long few weeks. This concert was really cool because it was based around Rock and Roll and the kids got to use basic rhythm sticks to "Rock out". It also included a movement portion where the kids got to Rock Out while moving out! This was one of my favorite programs I have done to date.

Coach Tammy Schneider and I after the "Rock and Roll" 1st Grade Concert! 

April

This was a BUSY month for our school with state-wide STAAR tests and long teaching days. The STAAR tests allowed my team to bring in special speakers to talk to our kids about anything from teamwork to trusting exercises to extreme animals. This was so cool and I am already looking forward to it for next year. Once again, it could not have happened without my wonderful team and administrators/counselors. 

I also had the privilege of planning a STAAR pep-rally based on baseball. This was so cool for me because I LOVE baseball. I was able to get the High School baseball and softball teams as well as the High School drum line. This was another perk of being in a small district. And my ex-MLB pitcher/ superintendent even came out and threw some pitches! One of he highlights of my year! 

We also had "Soar Over STAAR" day where our testing kids got to relax from testing being over and have some real fun. This included basic field day type of activities PLUS a rock climbing wall. This was so cool and special (little did I realize how hard rock climbing really was at the time... More on this later). 

May

This was a BUSY month at my school with all kinds of "end-of-year" activities. This was also the close of our District Honor Choir at their Spring Concert. This was very special since we had been working on these pieces since the fall semester. It was extra meaningful to me because it combined students from all 5 elementary schools  and I was able to teach and work with all of them, 150+, in a large concert setting. This was also the only time this year I got to formally conduct, which is where my true passion lies. 

June

Yes... I had to go to school in June. I fact, thanks to 3 ICE DAYS (in Houston nonetheless) I had to go until June 10th. It was awful! But it was only 10 days and then my summer could begin. FINALLY! 

This was a fantastic year and I finally feel like I am "at home" here in Houston. I am so lucky and blessed to work alongside such wonderful people and teach such great kids. Thank You, Lord for this opportunity! 

Next year (2014-2015) is the BIG 1-0! TEN YEARS... I cannot believe it! It feels like only yesterday I was student teaching. I have learned a lot in my 9 years but I think I will learn even more in the next 29 years (ha, I'm on the "90 plan" for retirement). Once again... 

God is good... ALL the time! 

Oklahoma... It's not OK anymore

A lesson in patience... Once again! 

Norman, OK 

It's 10am on Thursday morning and we are in Shawnee, OK getting ready to go see the hospital where Natalie was born. We pull into the hospital parking lot and Chris notices that the temperature gauge is spiking high when we are sitting idle. We snap a few pictures and we head towards a "Kwik Lube" place nearby to see if they can give us an answer. The techs look it over and say all of our fluids are fine and they do not see anything wrong with it but told us to go to Fred's Tire and Battery for them to look at it. 

We went over a street or two to Fred's where their techs looked it over numerous times. In fact, Mr. Fred himself looked over it and said it all looked fine but "who ever your maintenance guy is he isn't doing a very good job be use your coolant was completely empty". They looked it over and didn't see a leak so they replaced the coolant completely free. This would NEVER happen in Houston and really made us miss the kindness and generosity of Oklahoma. We left thinking the car was fixed and went to eat lunch with some teacher friends of mine. 

After lunch Chris went outside to look for a leak and sure enough he saw some spots of oil/coolant under the car in the parking lot. He immediately came in and took the kids back to Fred's while I stayed and visited with my friends. This took about 2 hours and FINALLY the guys at Fred's said it was a "Time Cover Gasket" and it would take 6 hours to fix and they didn't have the part in stock. 

We were staying in Norman (about 40 miles away) with our friends so we decided to take the risk of driving the car and having it over-heat just so we would not be trapped without a car and/or luggage in Shawnee. I called several places in Norman and finally settled on taking it to the dealership. We arrived at the dealership around 4:15 and were given a loaner car. Thank goodness because I do not know what I would have done without it! We were led to believe our car would be ready the following day or Saturday at the latest. 

We did find some humor in the situation: 

1- We are used to a large SUV and didn't think about the constrictions that would take place in the car. We loaded Luke into the loaner car behind Chris (drivers side) as he always is in our car. I put him in and buckled him. Chris then got in the car and pushed the seat back as far as possible due to his height. Luke immediately started screaming. He had a very long day and was so tired so neither of us really thought anything about it until he screamed "foot". Sure enough, Luke's feet were bent up and squished between the car seat and the back of Chris's seat. We stopped and got him out and readjusted. Poor guy practically broke his foot. His feet were bruised for days. 

2- We left the dealership in pretty good spirits and laughing about poor Luke. But the loaner car was one with a manual transmission over-drive and Chris accidentally put it into manual as we pulled out. Here we were trying to "get up and go" and the car wouldn't shift gears. I was panicking thinking we broke this car too, Luke was still recovering and sniffling from the foot situation,  Natalie is saying "daddy this car is making a weird sound" and Chris is freaking out. THEN we noticed the over-drive... We immediately put it into the automatic mode and laughed once more. 

The loaner car, a Chevy Cruze, we used for 5 days! 

Friday came and went and we didn't have our car. In fact, Friday at 4 they had not even looked at it yet! The mean side of me was brewing up and I was ready to yell at someone. Finally, on Saturday at 11am we got the call that it was a "Front Cover Gasket" and would not be ready until at least Monday afternoon because they had to order the part. Then they told us that it would be a $1050 bill. We did NOT find humor in this part. 

We ended up being trapped in Norman for an additional 2 days but luckily we were staying with friends and were able to spend additional time with them. We discussed other options like renting a car and driving home on Saturday and my dad and John offered to come and get us and take us home but we decided the best thing would be to stay and wait it out. On Monday at 4:30 we got our car back and were headed southbound! 

I have NEVER been so excited to see this "beast" of a vehicle! Praise The Lord, we are on the road! 

It was a long trip for our kids AND us but despite the craziness of a broken car and loaner car, we had a great time with our friends!
Thank you Jeff and Wendy for letting us stay with you! 

Gas to Lubbock then Norman- $200+

Loaner Car-$250 

"Front Cover Gasket" with labor- $1050 

HOME SWEET HOME after 9 days and a $1050 bill- PRICELESS 

GOD IS GOOD... ALL THE TIME!