Welcome to 2012

Happy New Year! I hope 2012 is starting off well for everyone. Besides work, nothing too exciting has been going on with me. We had Christmas in Lubbock this year so I got to see the family; which is always fun. I spent the rest of my 2 week vacation at my mom and John's visiting them. I become more and more grateful everyday for the wonderful family I've been blessed with. I know that I'm lucky to have such a great relationship with not only both of my parents, but with my "other parents" (John and Leslie) and my brother(s).


I'm leaving you today with a picture of mom and I on her birthday. Her birthday is always a bitter sweet time of year for all me because that means I'm getting ready to go back to work and summer vacation is coming to an end. This year we had party favors that consisted of cheap sunglasses, glow necklaces, matching pajamas, and Coronas.

Michelle's Bachelorette Party

My cousin Michelle got married the end of July and we had her Bachelorette Party a few weeks before the wedding in Pottsborough Texas. For those of you who have not the slightest clue where Pottsborough is, don't worry you aren't missing much. Pretty much we hung out in a cabin just off lake Texoma for a few days, drank a lot and spent the day on the lake. I took so many pictures that weekend, but here are a few of my favorite.

The "Backseat Concoction" and Wedding Manual. Both of these are only the beginning of many great stories.

The first group of girls to arrive! We were the fun bunch for sure.

Michelle and I showing a little cousinly love :-)

Erin and I enjoying a cold beer and the lake.

New School Year, New Beginnings

It's hard to believe that I'm already 3 weeks into a new school year, and each year seems to go by faster than the one before it. I'm always amazed at how life just keeps on going and before you know it, you enjoying a new day. Other than staying busy with work, nothing else is really going on with me. I started making plans for Brad's (and Mandy) graduation in May today. I can't believe that in 8 short months my brother will be graduating with his doctorate and I'll be finishing up another school year.

2012 seems like it's going to be another busy year for the Andersen family with lots of things to celebrate. Jared and Kristi are getting married in April, Brad graduates in May, and Alex and John get married in June. It's not like we're a family that needs a reason to celebrate, but when we have one, a good time is guaranteed by all.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

WOW... I can't believe how time flies when you're having fun. Eventhough I haven't done anything specific this summer, my days just seem to be going so quickly.

I have managed to get in lots of pool time and did spend the last 2 weeks at my mom and Johns. The first week I was there Brad was there. It was so great to see my little brother and get to spend some time with him. I just love him so much, even when he's "mean"/picking on me. I had every intention of taking some pictures while I was there so I could post them, but the camera never managed to make it out. I do have a few on my phone from the 4th of July with me and my feet hanging out on the float in the pool. Too bad I haven't synced my phone yet so they aren't on my laptop either.

While I was home I got to spend some QT with my daddy and Leslie. Brad and I went over there and dad grilled us some tasty ribeyes. While the boys were outside grilling, Leslie and I were in the house chatting it up. I always get excited when I get to spend time with her just talking about anything. She's such a sweet person and I couldn't have picked out a better person for my daddy.

Brad had to leave the Saturday before the 4th to go back to Lubbock so it was just mom, John and I for the last week I was there. We spent the 4th floating in the pool and drinking various frozen concoctions. It was such a great day just relaxing and laughing. The rest of the week was a whirl wind, but still so much fun. I finally came home this past Sunday evening. Monday I had a leadership meeting that lasted from 8:30 to 5 and Tuesday I slept all day. I guess my body was trying to tell me something. Now I'm starting to get back into my relaxing summer life. I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe 4th and are managing to keep cool.

Happy Summer

So, I've been on summer vacation for almost 3 weeks now and I'm loving every minute of it. I got to spend most of my first week off at my moms with her, John and Slash. I love how I can go there and we don't have to do anything, but we always have so much fun. I did manage to squeeze in a hair appointment. I couldn't tell you the last time I got my hair done so to finally get a cut and color felt great.

My second weekend of vacation involved a family reunion with the wonderful Andersen clan. When we had our last one 3 years ago, my cousins and I agreed to take on the challenge of planning this reunion. At first I was a little intimidated by the idea of planning everything, but doing it in a group worked out great. Everyone kept saying how wonderful everything was and what a great job we did. It really made me feel good to know that all of our hard work turned out so great. I love my family. They are just AMAZING!

Since the family reunion, I've been spending my time at the pool, in trainings and with my friends. This weekend, I'm planning on going to my cousins brial shower and then maybe a girls night with some friends from work. Tuesday I have a GT training all day :-( but after that I'll get to go see the family again. Brad will be down there for the week and I'm so excited to see my little brother.

I hope everyone is having a great summer and staying cool in all this heat!

M.I.A

Well the last time I tried posting something, my computer wouldn't let me so I'm going to try again.

It seems like these last few months have been so busy that it's hard to believe. I feel like I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off for the last 5 months. Despite being busy all the time, things are going great for me. I'm still loving my job more and more every day. I work with the most amazing people in the world and love going to work. Now, don't get the wrong idea, everything isn't always butterflies and roses. I, like everyone else, have those really rough days. My kids still drive me nuts at times and I still get stressed out. The difference it that the good days seem to always be so much better than the bad. Now, enough about work.

Summer vacation is just 2 weeks away and I'm so looking forward to some much needed time off. I can't wait for the toughest decision I make each day being what time to get out of bed and when to go to the pool. As of right now I don't have much planned. I know I'll go spend some time with mom and John and I hope to travel to Pittsburgh again this summer and see Becky. Eventhough I say I have nothing planned for the summer I know that can all change with the drop of a hat.

Hopefully I'll get better at updating this thing. I'm also going to attempt to start a new bolg with ideas and lessons that I teach/use in my classroom. I'll keep you posted on how that goes.

Let it snow, Let it snow,Let it snow

This has been the CRAZIEST weather week for us here in DFW. A week ago we were basking in the wonderful sunshine and temperatures near 70; today is day 4 of being iced and now snowed in. I will admit that the snow is beautiful, but it's so dry you can't make anything with it :-( This morning I got up all excited to go play and make mini snowmen only to be disappointed that the snow wasn't even wet enough to make a ball. I ended up just playing around and making footprints instead. After about 15 minutes I decided I had had enough of the cold so I came back upstairs, took off my layers of clothes and took a nice HOT shower.

Hopefully all this stuff melts and life will get back to normal soon. Last year we had our record 13 inches of snow the week after the super bowl, this year it's the week before. I think someone is trying to say something; the days before and after the super bowl should be holidays :-) I hope everyone is staying warm!

Gotta love this time of year....

They always say, "Anyone can teach in the fall, but it takes a special person to survive the spring." Let me just say, we're not even through January and I'm barely keeping my head above water. Since coming back to school from a wonderful 2 week Christmas vacation, life has been a whirlwind. I am determined not to let my job rule my life. (I say this every year, and each year I get a little better at it)

As I mentioned earlier, I had a wonderful 2 week vacation, and for the first time since I started teaching, I spent the whole 2 weeks at my parents. It was so much fun hanging out with everyone and spending some quality time with them. Brad was there the whole 2 weeks as well, but he had to work just about everyday :-( I did get to spend some time with my cousin/brother from another mother "Slash". He went to the grocery store with me a few days before Christmas because everyone else was at work. When we got back to the house, we had a Christmas cookie decorating throw-down. In his mind he won, but we all know that I really was the champion. He did have some pretty creative cookies though ;-)

The week after Christmas mom and John were both off so we spent lots of time hanging out around the house and shopping. Mom and I decided the middle of the week to come up to my apartment and put up all my presents. Thank goodness we did, or else I never would have made it. We had a car FULL of stuff; yes, I'm spoiled, but I'm greatful for EVERYTHING I have. That night Robin came over and the 3 off us had a girls night.

New Year's Eve Mandy came to see Brad and the rest of the family. I was so glad to see her. Even though she only lives about 30 minutes from me, I still never manage to see her or my brother when he's in town. I think there is seriously something wrong with that picture. We had a pretty low key night drinking and popping fireworks. Around 11 we all decided to "take a nap" and set alarm clocks to go off at 11:55 so we could all be awake at midnight. Yeah, not a good idea. I evedently kept hitting snooze on mine while I was crashed on the couch and Brad and Mandy didn't even get out of bed. Slash said he heard my phone keep going off, but he thought people just kept on calling me. So, as you can tell New Year's Eve wasn't very exciting, but it was perfect because I was with the people I love most.

I hope each of you are having a wonderful 2011 and that it brings you everything you hope for.

It's been a while

So, I obviously haven't been very good at keeping up with my blog recently. I will give you a quick rundown of what's been going on in my life these last few months and hope to be better about posting things on a more regular basis. Right now I don't seem to do much more than work all the time and play very little. I did have a GREAT time this past Friday night with Robin hanging out on the patio having a few too many drinks. My job is going great and I love the people I work for and with more than I could have ever imagined. My students are the most precious things ever and I love them more and more everyday.

I was lucky enough to have the whole week of Thanksgiving off and was able to spend that time with my wonderful family. My mom was off all week that week as well and we had a great time shopping and spending some quality time together. Brad also came into town on Tuesday and we were able to spend a few days with him as well, including his birthday. This Thanksgiving was a special one because for the first time in at least 10 years, everyone in my moms family was able to be together for the holidays. It was great being able to see everyone. Hopefully when I'm home for Christmas I can get some of the pictures that my mom took and post them for everyone to see.

What an AMAZING week

Last week was not only my first week of school, but also my first week of school on my new campus. As many of you should remember, the school I have spent the last 7 years teaching at was re-purposed leaving all of us moving to new campus'. It wasn't until February or so before we really knew what our options would be and it was probably April before we ever found out where we were going to be this year for sure. All I can say is that all that stress seems to have been worth it. I'm teaching at Lee Elementary in Grand Prairie and feel so lucky to be there. My bosses have been amazing to work with all summer and made this new adventure such a memorable experience for me and all the other wonderful people I work with.

Right now I have 17 kids in my class and they seem to be an overall pretty good group. Like any group of kids, they do like to talk a lot, but they're working on fixing that :-) I'm also team teaching with one of the girls I taught with last year so I'm only teaching Reading, Writing and Social Studies. I got to do this for a semester last year, and loved it so I'm looking forward to getting the opportunity to do it full time this year.

Hopefully now that life is back to some sort of normal for me, I'll have more time to blog about what's going on in my life. Really, nothing new is going on with me so my job and kids are all the excitement I have to talk about.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week!

My NEW Car

On top of my whirlwind summer, I decided it was time for a new car. For those of you that saw my last one, there isn't much difference between the two. I went from white with grey leather to red with black leather. I refer to it as my "sassy" red car :-) I'm going to post a few pics, but they don't really do much justice to the color; it's a lot prettier in color. My new one does have a few upgrades that the old one didn't have like satellite radio, blue tooth, and some new features on the radio. It also has what they call safety connect which is like on star and stuff like that. So far in the short time I've had it, I love it just like the last one. I just love how I have so much time to do what I want in the summer :-)






If you can't tell, it was raining the day I got it and had to take pictures in the garage instead of outside in the sunshine :-(

Sum... Sum... Summer Time

Summer vacation is off and I'm running full speed ahead. When I walked out the doors on June 5, I had no summer plans. Here it is a few weeks later and I can't seem to keep myself at home. When I am home I seem to spend most of my time at the pool. The rest of my time has been spent visiting my mom and John and at a mini family reunion in Bryan this past weekend.

This was the 2nd year that my dad's family has gotten together for Texas Reds; a steak and wine festival in Bryan. Both years I've been and both years I've had so much fun. One of my favorite moments from the trip was going shopping and having lunch with my aunts and grandma. I feel like I never get to spend enough time with them so it was great to have that opportunity. After spending Saturday morning shopping, we enjoyed the sun and some great Texas wine. Who wouldn't enjoy a day with family, food and plenty of adult beverages?

Next week I'm leaving on Tuesday for Pittsburg for 8 days with my friend Becky. Her parents live there and invied me up to come stay with them for the 4th of July. I'm really excited to go since I've never been up there and also for the break in the heat. I'll be sure to post pics and stuff from my vacation.

Another Year in the Books

I've made it through another school year and all I can say is what a ride it was. Every year always brings new challenges, and this one was no exception. I had some very "special" kids and worked so hard this year, but was also reminded that hard work pays off. This year the school that I've spent the last 7 years working at closed it's doors forever. Next year I'll be going to a new school with new kids, new administators, and some new teachers. I'm lucky in the fact that most of the people I work with will be going to the same place I am next year so we'll be taking on these new challenges together.

Some of the best things from the past year only happened these last few weeks. Every year we strive to teach our kids to do their best and they will acheive great things. This year was not a year of endings, but also a year of firsts. For the first time ever, the school I work at became a Recognized campus based on TAKS scores and our 4th graders were Exempary; the highest honor a campus can acheive. In order for a campus to become recognized, 80% of all kids, in every population, in 3rd through 5th grades have to pass each of their TAKS tests. This is a HUGE accomplishment for our kids and our school considering all the obsticals they face on a daily basis. Our 4th graders took it up a notch and we had at least 90% of our kids in every population passed their TAKS test making them the "Shining Stars" of the campus. I must admit that I've never felf more proud of my kids than I did the day we got those results and found out what an awesome job they did.

All I can say is, "What a way to end an era."

Chicken Pox

So I'm going on day 5 of the wonderful Chicken Pox and I can now tell you from experience, it's miserable. You read and hear about how much harder they are on an adult than a kid and it's so true. All I've been able to do for the last few days is lay on the couch, sleep and feel like total crap. I have no energy and what little energy I do have goes away just a quickly as it came on. On the bright side, they are starting to scab over so maybe there really is an end in sight.

Next week is also the week my kids have been working all year for; TAKS. Last week I was a basket case when I found out that I had the chicken pox and was going to be out of school until this Wednesday, unless they all scabed over before then. I'm so ready to get back to see my kids because I didn't even get to say bye to them :-( I know they are going to do great this week, but I still want to be there to tell them how much I believe in them and the great job they are going to do.

We'll I'm going to get back to my exciting life of watching The Hills marathon on MTV and pray that this is all over soon. Hopefully this finds you doing well and enjoying this lovely spring weather.

Isn't Ironic....

For those of you on facebook, this may be somewhat of a repeat from a post I made earlier, but for the rest of you it's new.

So for at least the last month, I've probably put in a good 60 hours of work a week. Between planning stuff for our Writing BLITZ right before TAKS, to writing Saturday School lessons and teaching Saturday school, I've been more than busy. Since TAKS was the week before last, I thought this past week we be a little less hectic and the we would pick right back up after Spring Break. Boy was I wrong. Tuesday morning we found out that we are changing things up for the 3rd time this year. So in the matter of 4 days I've managed to plan reading lessons for not only my students, but also one of the bilingual classes. Before doing lessons, I met with our literacy strategist analyzing data and figuring out what the bilingual students need to be taught/retaught so I know what lessons to plan for them. I've also organized everything for our new rotation including folders, attendance, behavior, spirals, boxes/crates and a other things that come to me at random times. Anyways, you get the point :-)

So this morning I woke up, played on facebook and did a few other things before deciding to check my work e-mail. Why? I wish I knew, but I did it. So I took care of a few things and logged out. Everyday my horoscope is posed on my homepage and I enjoy reading it, if for nothing else, the fun of it. Every now and then I'll read it and think about how true it was. So today I scroll down and this is what I read...

Let go of work matters -- at least until you get back there on Monday. You've done more than your part to take care of business. You're tired, you haven't had any fun in longer than you can remember and you can't really do any more than you've already done. There. Now that it's all been said, do you think you can actually give yourself a reprieve? Just for a couple of days? You know you deserve it.

I couldn't help but laugh and think to myself that God really is trying to tell me something. This just reminded me that He always knows what I need and makes sure to find a way to remind me of that :-)

I miss my mommy

Well my mom has been on vacation all week and I've sure missed her. So much has gone on this week and I really could have used her "words of wisdom" a time or two. With family night, sitting in on interviews, CPS, kids in ICU, TAKS training, Writing BLITZ, Saturday school, and teaching 25 kids a day I think I've been on overdrive. Staying so busy all the time certainly keeps me on my toes, but when I finally have time to relax I get so bored. I forget what it's like to have "me" time and not have to take care of something or someone else all the time. I must admit that I'm really looking forward to spring break and hope to get in some much needed relaxation; a hot stone massage and a pedicure. I think after all this, I've earned it :-)

What a Week

This week has certainly been one for the record books. I feel like I haven't stopped going since last weekend and I probably really haven't. Tuesday during our weekly meeting with administration, everyone realized what we've been trying to tell them for weeks; that our Writing TAKS is in 7 days. So then we went into freak out mode. What that means for me is that I've spent all week getting ready and planning 7 days of intensive writing lessons and 2 weeks of Saturday School. I've done this on top of teaching and giving benchmark tests. Needless to say it's Friday night and I'm sitting on the couch watching a Lifetime movie. Tomorrow morning I get to teach Saturday school from 8-12 and then I get to spend some quality time with Robin. Tomorrow night I'm going to a wine bar in Grapevine with her, Becky and Becky's mom Susan. Beck and I went a few weeks ago and it's a really cool place. They have a whole wall of wines that you can sample either by the ounce, half glass or glass, a live band and pretty good food. Maybe one day I'll get better about keeping up this whole blog thing, but for right now it's kinda hit or miss.

Whirl Wind of a Month

These last few weeks have gone by like a whirl wind. The first week after vacation was a little tough, but slowly things are getting back to normal; if you can call it that. I've gotten 7 new kids since coming back from Christmas vacation and each day brings a new challenge. Last week I started team teaching with another one of my team mates and that's been quite a challenge for me. As I'm sure most of you know, I'm a little bit of a control freak,so turning over control of my kids to someone else hasn't been easy. It's also been difficult taking in all these new kids and teaching them the structure of my classroom. Most days I feel like I've gone back to the first few weeks of school and we're just learning everything, and for the most part that's true. On top of all this change, I'm trying to get all these kids ready for the TAKS Writing test in a few weeks; 5 to be exact or 31 days :-) but I'm not counting or anything.

Well I'm going to finish watching The Bachelor since I'm done grading papers. I hope everyone is doing well and 2010 is bringing you everything you've asked for so far.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Can you believe it's already 2010? It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating the year 2000, and here we are 10 years later. I'm amazed at how quickly life goes by and reminded just how much things can change with the drop of a hat.

2009 was a pretty good year for me, and I look forward to more great adventures in 2010. After getting back to my apartment on New Years Eve, it's only taken me a little over a week to get all of my new stuff put up and in it's place :-) I spent New Years Eve with the usual crew and we had a pretty low key night. Everyone went over to Becky and Kyle's and we all played games and drank before crashing around 2 or 3 that morning. The best part was knowing that everyone had a place to stay and no one had to get out and drive home. Beck and I ended up spending most of the next day laying around and watched a movie after everyone left.

Monday I had to go back to work, and it's been hard getting back into the groove of things. Finally by Thursday I was feeling back in the groove, and then Thursday night I went with Robin and Tammy to watch the football game. We had a little too much fun, so Friday was a little rough, but we made it.

Today I'm suppose to go meet mom and Marsh for pedicures and dinner so I'm excited about that. If for some reason that doesn't work out I'll either go hang with Katy, Beck, Kyle and Susan or go watch the game somewhere with Tammy and Robin. So as you can tell, life hasn't slowed down one bit for me, but that's just the way I like it; most of the time.

Here are a few pics for the holidays for your enjoyment. By the way, I love the pic with my daddy. I don't get to many of them so when I get a good one, I get excited :-)




The "bar" for New Year's Eve


Mom, Brad and I


My daddy and me

Some Birthday Fun!!!

Here are a few pics from my birthday party Saturday night. Thank you to everyone who came out to help me celebrate; 30 has been great to me so far :-) I will say that we managed to party like rockstars and Sunday I was pretty much worthless, but that's what I was planning on. Hopefully 30 will continue to bring me great memories with wonderful friends.


The Birthday Girl


Everyone pose with the Beer Tower


Robin, Beck, and I
I love these girls so much!!