Compatibility Test

I came across the craziest thing today! My mom told me that she was trying to go through my closet and get it organized so she asked me to come over and go through some things. I have this giant box filled with really weird things that I wanted to keep.. mostly from high school. While I was digging through trying to find what the keep or throw away, I made the neatest discovery. In high school, the Student Council would do a compatibility test with everyone in the school. I don't remember much about how it was done, but there was apparently some questions we had to answer. After a while, the results were delivered. I remember it was neat to see who would show up on your list. I haven't looked at this sheet since high school, so I thought it was really cool when I found it today. Check out who was one of the guys tied for most compatible!!
Now I have proof that we are meant to be together...haha!

December Stuff

December has been pretty exciting this year. I finished student teaching, GRADUATED, and Cody and I had our first Christmas together.

This was right after graduation... which was long and boring. I'm so glad to be done with school!

On the Monday, we had Christmas with my aunt, uncle and cousins. Since they weren't going to be here on Christmas day, we did our gift exchange then. My mom had given them, James, Cody and me all the same shaped box to open at the same time. It turned out to be Brian Regan tickets for when he comes to Beaumont. My poor dad though thought he had the fourth row seats until my mom told him she thought it would be nicer for them to give the kids those seats. Now he's on row 11 or something.... Here's Cody and me excited about our tickets!

Since I'm married to Cody now, I was required to attend the Bean-Murphy-Rucker Christmas Eve Bash. The present pile was enormous like they say (even though they all said it was smaller this year). We had lots of fun eating tons of food and hanging out. My new favorite dish is sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top - YUM. I could eat it every day forever.
The Beans' First Christmas
All December long, we talked about getting our Pandora bracelets... and here they are!! And we have so many beads already, by next Christmas we should be on bracelet #2!

Up next: 2009! And it will be filled with a different job, hopefully getting a permanent one, two babies in the family on the way (not me just to be clear!), hopefully buying a house if possible, and lots of weddings to attend! Should be a fun year.

Sam as Prince Charming

My cousin, Sam, was in a high school musical. He played Prince Charming in Cinderella. When I'm around him, he doesn't talk a lot, let alone sing solos. So, the whole family went out to Silsbee tonight to watch him sing and dance. It was funny to see him doing it all, but he was really good!

My brother and parents before the play started

Cody and me before it started

Sam's first scene with Cinderella

Sam all dressed up!

Cinderella and Prince Charming..awww
They had to kiss a few times

Prince Charming and me - and he definitely has on more makeup than me!

And in other news... I graduate in 1 week! Well.. since it's after midnight I guess that actually means 6 days!!

"Wake up, it's a blizzard out there!"

So... I was fast asleep, when Cody wakes me up to look at the snow. He had woken me up 30 minutes before, but there was barely any snow.. so I went back to sleep. After he woke me up again, I got out of bed anyway just to look, and it was everywhere! There were so many people around the apartment complex playing in the snow. It was so fun. So we made our snowman, threw snowballs, and froze our fingers and toes off!

This was taken around 1:00 AM

Cody built a snowman
Cody's car last night around 1:45
My car this morning after scraping a little bit off. It was so thick!Our apartment

Driving down Major with snow still covering my car!

Instead of working, I caught Justin having a snowball fight with his coworkers!

Our church - it looked pretty!

We even had a late start to school because of the snow! We didn't have to go in until 10 which was awesome! It was all the kids could talk about at school today. Too bad we couldn't have the whole day off... it would have been nice!

Birthday and Thanksgiving

Last Wednesday was Cody's 24th birthday, but we had the party on the Saturday before that. As usual, the family combines his with Casey's birthday for one big fun time. Here's a picture of their cake:

Cody and his gifts:

Casey with his new "man bag" for work:
We had our first Thanksgiving together as a married couple....
Here's our feast:
My favorite table - the dessert table!!
Along with the cranberry sauce and rolls, I brought these little pecan pie things.
Aidan was our entertainment for the day! This picture is from when Michelle was giving him some punch - he LOVED it and couldn't stop drinking! There's nothing better than a big cup of pink sugar!
Our first Christmas tree. We actually set it up and started decorating the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I couldn't wait anymore! I'm so proud of myself four having gifts bought and wrapped already and it's still November! I already have 5 people's gifts completed! I'm doing good this year.

So that's what's been going on in our lives lately. I only have 2 1/2 more weeks of student teaching - then I graduate! I can't wait to be totally done with everything. Tomorrow begins mock TAKS test - boo! It's going to be the most boring week ever. I wish I could bring a book to read. Oh well.. I'll survive.

In other news - Amy and Matthew got engaged! : ) We are so excited for them!! Her engagement ring is BEAUTIFUL! Amy - you can start a blog now and it won't be weird.. haha!

2008 Presedential Election Vocabulary

Because of the election tomorrow, my mentor teacher at school planned a week's worth of lessons about the election. I didn't realize how fun it was going to be! Today, with each of my four classes, we got a set of vocabulary words about the election. The students were to use these words in a sentence. I love reading the sentences they come up with.. but these were so much more fun! Along with their vocabulary words, they had to write an "I wonder" sentence about what they wonder about the elections outcomes.

Vocabulary words: ballot, election, Democratic Party, Republican Party, inauguration, Barack Obama, John McCain, voter registration

They had the definitions to each word and I explained them very carefully so they could use them in sentences... and this is what we got:

Election
The people was at the election.

Democratic Party
They had a Democratic Party yesterday.
When did they first throw their Democratic Party?
I wish I could go to the Democratic Party.

Inauguration
My brother does not know what inauguration is.
I wonder when HEB Plus inauguration.

Barack Obama
Barack Obama was once a president.

Voter Registration
I am not registration to vote.

Now for the "I wonder" statements...
Most people put this: "I wonder who will win the election." or "I wonder if Barack Obama will win the election." Only one person wondered what will happen to John McCain.
But then we had some others:
I wonder if Oracka Obama will win.
I wonder if Obama will be assassinated before he is elected.

Then...I had some great conversations with the kids:

Kid: So... Mrs. Bean... what is the Decorated Party? Is that where you decorate a party...
Me: No, it's the Democratic Party.. it has nothing to do with parties.

Me: (Quizzing children about the candidates) Ok.. which party is Barack Obama in?
Kid: Black!

Kid: We need a president so we can get a new mall.

Kid: Mrs. Bean, did you vote?
Me: Yes.
Kid: Who did you vote for?
Me: Don't worry about it, it's not any of your business.
Kid: I bet you voted for John McCain.
Me: Why do you say that?
Kid: Y'all are the same color.
Me: Mmmmk.

Since I work in a school of mostly black children, it's very interesting to see what they are thinking about the election. Clearly, they all want Obama to win. And I think it's interesting to see that some of them, from conversations, think it's about race. Who knows what their parents tell them. I will only get more interesting as the week goes on....

Halloween and Football

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays!! I love to see the little trick-or-treaters in their cute costumes! And I love to carve pumpkins. Me and Cody each got our own pumpkin to carve. Our apartments are pretty plain looking on the outside, so we had to spruce it up with our pumpkins! Too bad they shriveled up... they weren't cute for long!

This is our "porch"

For the past few years, Cody has gotten his pumpkin stencils from www.homestarrunner.com.... This year's pumpkin was Trogdor. Notice the toothpick holding the teeth. He accidently cut them off!

My pumkin was cute the first day. I forgot to take a picture before the sun shriveld it up. I had to secure it with a toothpick to keep it from falling over. It looked totally different when it was first carved. Some edges actually disappeared so it looks really strange.

On Halloween night, we made three stops. First, my older brother was in town after a deer hunting trip in Oklahoma so we had Olive Garden (YUM) with him and my family. Then we stopped by my old neighborhood to see some friends. They usually have a cute little spook house on their front porch. It brought back lots of memories of my childhood trick-or-treating days. We had so much fun back then!!! After that stop, we headed to Cody's parents to pass out candy and make smores. It was so fun. Me and Carrie actually had some of our students stop by. They seem shocked that we do things outside of school. After a while, the Ruckers stopped by after their church Halloween thing. Good thing they did because I finally got to wear a costume! I borrowed Aimee's pumpkin costume for a while!

Today, West Brook played Sterling. My uncle is the head coach for Sterling, so all of the family came to see the game. We had to sit on the Sterling side... West Brook won though.. sorry Uncle Herb!

Here's the gang: Grandma, Lynda, Dave, John, David, Dad, Darlene, and Courtney

Here's West Brook's band (or what's left of it...)

Marching....

Uncle Herb in action!

So - we've had a fun couple of days. And we should be having lots more because of the upcoming holidays and Cody's birthday. This is my favorite time of the year, and I'm so glad I get to spend it all with Cody! I love being married.. it's so fun.

Ready for Christmas!

We have a Christmas tree! I've been hunting for one that will fit in our little apartment, and I finally found it at Lowe's. I know it's October, but it's never too early to start shopping for Christmas stuff! I even went to Hobby Lobby and bought 3 boxes of ornaments. Only 6 more weeks until we can put it up and decorate. I found a Cowboys ornament for Cody so he has to help me decorate, even if he is just hanging the one ornament.

Cody comes home tomorrow - FINALLY! He's been in Vegas all week at a conference for work. I've been lonely, but I really haven't had much time to miss him because I've been SO busy with school. My unit plan is almost done. I only have 2 more lessons to teach.... and the music teacher is evaluating me.... weird. And now for a strange moment we had in the middle of reading "Sarah, Plain and Tall" today.

Mrs. C: Would you please take that gum out of your mouth?
Kid: No, umm...it's not gum.
Mrs. C: Then what is it?
Kid: It's my fingernail.

Ugh.. these kids are so gross sometimes. I've seen two kids this week yank their teeth out and gush blood all over the place. Nothing grosses me out more than pulling teeth. One girl keeps telling me she throws up in her mouth a little. I mean really.. gross. I don't want to hear it, but I guess it comes with the job.....

OK - enough for today. Maybe Cody will come home with some good pictures for me to put up on here... check back...all 3 of you who read this = )

Diets Don't Work, Weight Watchers Does

YAY - so I've lost 3 pounds! I know it doesn't seem like a lot, but it does to me! As long as I see the numbers getting smaller, it will make me try harder! I have 14 more pounds to go before I reach my goal weight. I'd actually like to go lower... so we'll see how this works out first. Too bad Thanksgiving and Christmas are so soon... I'm not sure how I'll be able to resist all the yummy desserts!

Anyway - enough about being chubby... I'm offically done with 1/3 of my student teaching! I should really be halfway done - but the hurricanes messed that up. I have to do my unit plan this week...that should be interesting. And there are 79 more days until graduation. That sounds so far away. Oh well.. I'm excited!

I'll finish this with a school story. I took up a kid's note today that he was writing while I was teaching. It said, "Do you like me? Will you kiss me?" Oh the joys of teaching boys and girls who are discovering each other... haha. These kids are really cracking me up!

Squall

The last couple of days at school were spent writing sentences with our new vocabulary words. Squall was one of them, so here's the definition and a sentence one of my students wrote:

squall (n.) - a strong gust of wind that arises very suddenly

"Do you know what a squall mean?"

I saw this and immediately started laughing because Cody and I had just talked about writing sentences like that when we were in elementary school. Our most commonly used sentence would be something more like this:

"Squall is one of our vocabulary words."

Later on in the day, I was having a conversation about the word squall to help a boy write his sentence. He kept trying to say it, but he just couldn't say it right. He said, "I don't know how y'all say that word. My teeth are too big to say it right." I've never heard that one before... it's so hard to not laugh at these kids in front of their face. Poor babies. They are so cute though! Even when we decorate the room with large wood paddles. = )

Wedding Pictures

If there is anyone out there with digital pictures from my wedding - let me know! I'd like to see them! THANKS!

Ike Hurrication

Thanks to Ike, we had another vacation! This time it was longer, but it got old pretty fast... there are only so many times you can eat out... Here's a picture of our first night in Grand Prairie. Mickey ordered the hugest meal I've ever seen. It was so big, it was worthy of a photo (it looked way bigger in person)!

The second day was the Dallas World Aquarium. Carrie was totally excited about it!

Cody thought I should take a picture by my twin - a sloth.
These sharks freaked me out. I don't know what they were called though...
I have no idea what this is but it was weird looking, too!
The scariest animal at the zoo - CODY!
Another picture from the many restaurants we visited on our hurrication.
We found a Freebirds!!!!! I finally made my own art with the burrito foil.
One day we went to the Fort Worth Stockyards. We missed the best part of it though because we didn't really what we were doing there. But we did run into a huge cow and took a picture with him!
We went to the Dallas Galleria. Not my favorite mall ever, but we decided to ice skate while there. Amiee never let go of that wall!! I tried to teach her how to skate, but it didn't work out well.
I don't remember how she fell, but it was funny!
So after our fun trip in the Dallas area, we headed home after we found out we had power. Of course we stopped by the #1 Christmas store in Texas first to pick up a few decorations! = ) We got home to our lovely apartment with an extremely stinky refrigerator! We left meat in the freezer thinking we would only be gone for a day or two... I will never again do that! Even if it's a false alarm - all meat will be thrown away!

Anyway - most things are back to normal around here. Well, except for the restaurants that have limited menus. Not that we need to be eating at restaurants anyway. I swear, I have gained a few pounds while gone. It's time for a diet. The diet of choice this time is Weight Watchers. I've done it before, and it works. I got a free trial to the WW Online, and it's really neat! It also gave me access to the WW store so I could buy the newest point books! I'm actually excited about doing it. I guess putting this info out in public will hold me accountable. Maybe. Hopefully. We'll see.

Ok - time to get back to reading Breaking Dawn... so good so far! Team Edward.. haha!

Mean Mrs. Bean

I have been student teaching for just 5 days now. Today was my first day to change someone's color! It felt great, too. Too bad he had already had 3 color changes by other teachers... I can't wait to do it again! = )

Gustav Shopping Vacation in San Marcos

One week after Cody and I left San Antonio, we had to head right back in that direction to evacuate because of Hurricane Gustav. After driving in the middle of the night through crazy back roads with Cody's family, we ended up at our hotel in San Marcos. During our stay, we shopping at the outlet mall, went to Gruene, and ate a lot. Although trip was unnecessary, we had fun!
Everyone played dress up in J.Crew except for Carrie and me...

I found these amazing sunglasses in Gruene!

On this day, Cody and I had been married for 3 months! : )