Anytime Is a Good Reason...for a Party!

I think I have it pinned down.

I have three passions in life.

Dance.

Traveling.

And parties.

You don't have to have a reason for planning a party...

but if there IS a reason- then all the more better-er!

We threw a baby shower for Megan,

my next door neighbor.

It was a surprise.

And it went splendidly.

 Surprise!

Playing games...

And eating lots of food...

See that pretty white cake below? 

There is a surprise inside!

Ta-daa!

*Note- this cake was not made by me. It was made by someone FAR more talented*

See picture below..

On the right is said "far more talented" lady.

And opening lots of gifts...

Three cheers for celebrating babies!

28 Days Left...

28 days left of school...

but who's counting, right? ;)

Oh wait- I am.

Our school district sent out a "reminder" email that kids get restless this time of year and to do our best to keep them focused.

Hmmm... unless I can chain them up and duct tape their mouths,
there's not much I can do here.

They're crazy.

But summer is almost here along with blissful relaxation.

Can't wait!

In the meantime- here's another "Top 10" from April.
(ok but I have too many so it's gonna be a top 12)

12.
Worst nightmare came true.
I have a phobia of seeing students on weekends or after school.
I'm done with them for the day- I don't want to see them during my "normal" life.
Does that make me a bad person?
Well, whatever.
I'm at Wal-Mart and I hear....
"Ooh Mizz-suzzzz BAAA-RAAAAAAMMMMMMME!"
I turned around...
smiled...
waved...
and kept walking even faster :)

11.
When students come in late, they're supposed to sign in on the tardy sheet.
The comments I get on "reasons for tardiness" crack me up.

If you can't see them let me translate...
"In the office"
"Flirting"
"Just cause"
"Busted for dress code"
"Just cause"
They need a lesson in excuse-making.

10.

Here's a great example of a restless student...

"Uggghhh... Mrs. Brame- I just wanna go to the hospital!"

"The hospital? You ok? You sick?"

"Noooooo... I just wanna lie in bed and have service all day!"

I never equated the hospital with service and relaxation.

Weird.

9.

Again- kids are restless.

They're sick of school.

The "in-school suspension" list now exceeds five pages...

I don't know how they fit them all in one classroom!

8.

My room is cold.

In fact- it's nigh unto an icebox.

It's frigid.

It's been this way since August.

I tell kids to bring a sweater.

But still, EVERYDAY they walk into class...

"Ahhh Miss! Why is your classroom SO cold?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

How many months has it been since school started?

Eight?

They still ask me everyday.
Amazing.

7.

Student: "Mz. B... you look different today."

Me: "Oh do I?"

As I turn to face the student....

Student: *gasp!* "Did you get a nose piercing?!"

Me: "Nope.... nope, sure didn't.... That's a zit."

..........

Awkward.

6.

I found this note in my office the other day...

cute.

5.

One of my students talks with a British accent.

Everyday.

I know it's fake.

Because she didn't do it until the 2nd semester of school, and it's not a consistent thing.

It's only as she's walking out the door, after class is done.

"Awl-roit then Mis-sus Braime,

I'll seay you lat-tuh."

I have to then respond in a British accent...

or else she won't leave.

4.

I got a nasty cold sore a few weeks ago on my lip and did my best to cover it up, but still felt pretty self-conscious about it.
I asked Jon if it looked bad and he said he couldn't even see it.
Ha.
7:00- First period, first student, first words out of her mouth.
"Ugh! Mrs. Ba-rame WHAT is that on your lip?!!?!?!"
So sweet, huh?

3.

We do a lot of assignments where I'll videotape them dancing and then we'll watch it the next day and they then grade themselves... or evaluate themselves.

You know what I find comical and a little bit sad?

The lazy, lazy, do nothing girls give themselves EXTREMELY good scores....

and the girls that work hard and do their best often will fail themselves.

Why is that?

2.

Wanna know what my classroom sounds like?

I have a little clip for you...

1.

After class student walks up to me....

Student- "Mrs. Brame can I ask you a personal question?"

Me: "Sure."

Student: "Well I've been wondering about this for some time and I thought I could ask you..."

Me: "Ok...."

Student: "Well, you know... I have brown skin.... and my poop is brown.
But do white people poop white?"

Hahahaha

Folks- I can't make this kind of stuff up!

It's for real.

Weekend in Washington

My weekend was spent in beautiful Washington.

My sister-in-law had twins three weeks ago, and due to some extenuating circumstances, we really felt like one of us should be there.

Jon, of course, wanted to go so bad- but when we looked at his calendar we realized that if he left, his grad school adviser would probably chop his head off and feed it the pigeons.

That being said- I got to make the journey.

I had a great time.

I mean, how couldn't you when you have these kinds of babies to snuggle?

Baby Lexi

 Baby Lincoln

 His little hat cracks me up

 And don't forget the man that made me an Aunt!

Big man, Sawyer...

Can't believe he's one!

 Enjoying the lovely Washington weather

 Mornings with the babies :)

Don't be fooled by his cuteness-

he totally peed on me moments after this pic.

Blessing day.

So precious and tiny.

Four Days of Bliss

Easter Break was a four day weekend for me this year!

Can I get a "heck yeah"?

It was awesome...

AND made even awesome-er by the fact that my little sister Jessica was in town to celebrate with us!

We headed down to NASA to check it out-

 We got to tour mission control... we felt like we were in the movies.

 Mission Control as it appeared in the Apollo era...

It became too expensive to keep renovating it, so they created a new mission control downstairs.

 Rocket park

 We thought these rockets were big...

 then we went inside!!

 The Saturn V rocket was GINORMOUS!

 It took up the WHOLE warehouse!

 One of 5 engines...

 It was outside at the entrance to NASA, but had to be moved inside due to Houston's crazy humid climate.

 Back at the visitors center, at the museum....

we touched a rock from the moon,

 wore space helmets,

and ate freezer dried astronaut food.

We're pretty much astronauts now.

After NASA we headed to Miller Outdoor Theatre for "Ragtime- The Musical".

Saturday we woke up bright and early with a delicious breakfast...

and headed to the beach!
Jon's boogie board made her big debut...

 The day was perfect.

 Grilling.

 Yummy food.

 Yep, perfect day.

We stopped on our way home to say "Hello" to good ol' Stephen F. Austin- Father of Texas.

That night we headed downtown...

to see the bat colony that lives in Houston!
Waugh bridge in downtown Houston is home to 300,000 Mexican Free-Tailed bats.

 They fly out every evening at sunset to go hunting.
So we waited...

 and waited...

 and waited...

and they finally came out!
But they flew SOOO fast and it was TOO dark to get any good pics!
Here are a few with some chicken scratch drawings to help you locate them :)

So here's a quick video- hopefully you can see the bats better.

And we ended our festivities with Easter on Sunday.
The Easter Bunny managed to find Jessica in Houston.

 We tried to match...

 Played some games...

 And had a DEE-LISH-ISH dinner,
dyed easter eggs,
and played egg wars!

 

THE bracket...

 THE wars...

 AND Jessica emerged victorious!

Today I went back to school, sigh.
Here goes the last six weeks!