Birthday for a 29 Year Old

This handsome kid turned 29 this past week.

Since he kind of has everything he needs...

(a crazy wife, a one bedroom apartment, a never-ending PhD... what more could you ask for?)

I figured we could get away for the weekend.

We stole away to San Antonio with friends on Friday night...

played some intense rounds of Rook...

And in the morning we went to Six Flags!

 We rode rollercoasters ALL day...

just what Jon wanted.

Bumper cars were hilarious!

I think the ferris wheel was the most terrifying-

it was SOO windy!

Rollercoasters were the best birthday present ever!

Monday was the real birthday...

and even though we partied all weekend-

we couldn't leave Monday with nothing to do at all, now could we?

SOO we ate some cake at the park with friends.

The wind wanted to join the party and wouldn't let Jon blow his own candles out.

But what do ya do?

Next year he'll be the big 3-0!

What an old man ;) 

Growing Older and Wider... I Mean Wiser.

We always seem to be around talented photographers around the time of our anniversary-

thus it's kind of become tradition to take family pics in December.

It's kind of fun to see how we've grown...

(even if it is only wider!)

Our family hasn't grown much since Day 1-

sorry we're so boring :)

Year 0

(DP Stone Photography)

 Year 1

(DP Stone Photography)

 Year 2

(DP Stone Photography)

 Year 3

(DP Stone Photography)

 And presenting...

Year 4

(Nicole Caywood Photography)

 

 

 

Growing up

*sniff* *sniff*

Thoughts...

I don't post on the blog very often anymore...

I feel like Instagram has filled that void in my life.

But I still love the blog.

Just a thought from today...

One of my students was talking about her 27 year old cousin... and how she has eight kids.

She told me about how each kid has a different dad.

She told me how her cousin doesn't remember which kid came from which man.

She can't take care of them all... even though she has no job and gets money from the government.

She told me how most of the kids are 10 months apart.

My student told me how she and her mom take care of some of her children from time to time... but then continued to tell me how it's so hard because the kids are so ill behaved.

Stuff like this makes my heart break. 

I wish I could adopt all of them.

Makes me so sad.

On a happier note-
this was the sunrise this morning.
I don't usually get to see the sunrise, so today was extra special.

A Camping We Will Go...

It was time to get away from Houston.

Just get away from it all.

It helps that we've been having an abnormally warm February- 

but who's complaining?

When we saw the weather forecast for last weekend, we made a camping reservation right away.

Mid-70's during the day, and mid-40's at night.

We invited some friends, and off we went.

To Huntsville State Park... about an hour north of Houston.

There are actually hills in that part of Texas and the trees are big and "piney".

We ALMOST felt like we were in the mountains!

 When we got there... we thought it weird that there was a LINE of cars to get in!

Maybe just everyone wanted to camp the same weekend?

We would soon find out why...

We set up our little tent.

 And our friends brought their kayaks...

Which was SO fun.

 Out on the alligator infested lake...

 Thankfully (we think) it was a little too cold for alligators to eat our limbs.

 Jon paddled while Amelia did nothing.

Amelia helped paddle... of course.

 Later that evening as we made our campfire for dinner, our camper neighbor came over and started to chat.

He asked if we were running "the race" in the morning.

"Ooooh- THAT'S why there are so many campers!"

"What kind of race is it?"

"Running." He replied...

"Oooh, that would be fun! How far?"

"It's a 50 miler..."

"A what?"

"And a 100 miler... that's what I'm running."

WHO are these insane people who think it's fun to run 100 miles?

I think we asked and re-asked him about 20 times if it was really a 100 mile running race.

Absurd.

And I thought 26.2 was a lot... sheesh.

 Cooking dinner...

The most important part of dinner.

 The next day was beautiful.

Mid-70's and breezy.

Couldn't get any better.
We made some yummy breakfast...

 Went for a "hike"...
but there are no mountains in Texas so it was more like a stroll.
We ended up just being in the way of all those insane 100-miler runners so we weren't able to go too far.

And then made our way home...

 Of course, since we ALREADY smelled like smoke- we thought it best to stop in for some Texas BBQ. 

No one even noticed our smell.

 This place is a gas station/restaraunt and has such good BBQ.

They serve it on butcher paper.
But who needs plates, really?

All in all it was a super successful camping trip.

We got to wear our sweaters...

No mosquito bites...

AND I only saw one spider, which wasn't even on me.

Success.

TGIF

TGIF

Thank goodness it's Friday.

TGIF

Thank goodness it's February.

January is the worst month.

Ever.

Post holiday blues, no vacations to look forward to...

January is rough.

February is a close second... but at least it's one month closer to March- which means Spring Break.

So here we go!

Ten fun teaching moments of 2013...

10.

I have one red head student in my class.

She has red hair, is rather pale, and has awesome freckles.

She always provides for some intellectual conversation.

"Mrs. Brame, Mrs. Brame!!!! I just realized something!!!"

"Oh? And what is that?"

"My kindergarten teacher lied to me... everything is a lie. All my life I've grown up thinking I'm white..."

Not wanting to stereotype but I definitely thought in my head "You ARE white!"

"I'm PEACH! I just realized that! None of us are white!"

... And it took you 10 years of school to notice that you aren't technically "white"?

 Oy...

9.

"My butt bone just popped!"

Pointing to her hip...

we need to have an anatomy lesson on proper terminology.

I can not have her leave my class thinking her hip is a "butt bone".

8.

So I don't know if this is cultural... or just typical of teens...

but my students told me they don't poop at school!

(Don't ask how we started this conversation)

They think it's unlady like to smell up a bathroom so they hold it ALL day!

For real.

I don't know how they do it.

I could never!

Now I know why they all have "stomachaches"...

Maybe they ARE telling the truth!

7.

 No matter how many times I say my name slow and correct this girl...

she still calls me "Ms. Brown".

I'm pretty sure I should give up at this point.

6.

"Mrs. Brame... what do you think about glow-in-the-dark tatoos?"

Uuuhhhh...

I don't really wanna think about that, actually.

5.

We just finished our Hip Hop unit.

I'm not a hip hop-per.

So I pretend!

You know what's key?

Wearing baggy clothes!

My students even commented on how legit I looked...

"You look like a hip hopper!"

Yessss....

Brain washing managed.

This was me...

except no cool shoes...

no cool hat...

smaller shirt..

and not Asian.

4.

A "Highschool Musical" song came up on my hip hop playlist one day...

Holy cow-

Everyone's inner elementary school girl came out.

They jammed to that music.

It made me happy :)

3.

"Mrs. Brame- is your hair purple?"

I'm pretty sure last time I checked it was brown...

but is something wrong with my vision?

2.

A couple weeks ago we went outside to film a project they've been working on...

I thought they'd be excited to be outside, but as soon as we walked outside this is all I heard...

"Ugh! Now we are gonna smell like outside! Gross! Let's go in! OMG I am starting to smell like outside!"

Anyone want to tell me what outside smells like?

1.

This was the crowning moment of my month.

A girl (not one of my students) came into my class to ask me for a napkin.

I said "sure" and showed her in the office where they were.

As she was leaving she turned around and said,

"You know- you're not as mean as everyone says you are!"

People are saying I'm MEAN?!

 Hallelujah!

I'm not a push-over teacher anymore!

Best compliment I've gotten all year.