10 Tidbit Tuesday

Welcome Tuesday and Welcome Friends. Wow it has probably been a little over a month since I have done a Tuesday Tidbit post... I am so falling down on my job. Anyway so keeping that in mind I shall provide you with more fun updates... in the form of tidbits of course. So enjoy a few random tidbits about the Zellners and all we have been up to, thought about, will do, looking forward to... really any random concept is up for potential discussion:)

1. This is my second week of school and I really feel like I'm getting a great footing. I really do love this job and regardless challenging it may be... every light bulb moment is pretty perfectly amazing!
2. I wish I had daily motivation. With that in mind yesterday I did work out for the first time in prob over a month but tonight I returned home and am currently being a couch potato.
3. Ray and I will be making "Rabid Chipmunk" t-shirts for him to wear on frisbee Thursdays.
4. I am physically exhausted when I return home from school... so that typically makes for an early night... is it bad I can fall asleep between 7-9PM?
5. I am so excited. We will be returning home in a few weeks to visit our families.
6. So after a wonderful Sunday and lots of prayer, I've definitely made the decision that I do want to become baptized. More will be posted on this one.
7. One of my good friends found out she's preggers. Pictures will be coming shortly!
8. My father celebrated his 63rd birthday this past Sunday.
9. Both puppies were sick last week but seem to be doing a lot better.
10. I am so excited about an amazing 3 day weekend!

The Hub's 8th Half Marathon

As I took this picture and my husband was out the door it hit me that he was on his 8th half marathon this year. January 2010 it was determined that he would run a half marathon for each month of the year... and he has done just that. Tonight he will be running part of his half with Team World Vision at Brekenridge Park in Richardson. I am so proud of him and for his commitment to this endeavor.

Congrats love to another monthly half!

Love,
Your Wifey

B stands for Beverages & Bowling!

This past Monday the hubs and I went out with Jenn and Brandon for a night of beverages & bowling. Before we made our way to the bowling alley in Plano, Ray had made super tasty pulled chicken sandwiches with a peach salsa. YUM! We had an amazing opportunity to spend some fun time with friends. Enjoy some pictures of our outing.

Tasty Beverages

The Men

The Ladies

The Hubs and I

To such sweet friends.... we had such a great time and wow it has definitely been a long time since we've bowled... one day I'll break 100:) But more importantly it was a great night out with great peeps.

Love,

Alicia

Daddy's Girl

Wishing my father a very happy 63rd birthday today!

Bryson's Dedication!

On Sunday, August 29, 2010, family and friends gathered at the Heights Baptist Church to celebrate the dedication of John Bryson Fant. Both Kristin and Michael publicly committed themselves to raising Bryson in a God-centered home. (As stated by his very proud mama) Their prayer is "that he will grow to love and know the Lord and to walk closely with Him every day of his life." What an amazing and special day. I am so thankful we were able to share in such a momentous occassion. Provided are a few of the wonderful pictures taken on the day of Bryson's dedication.

To the Fant and Bragg families... we are both so thankful in being able to share this wonderful moment in Bryson's life. May Bryson celebrate all of God's wonderful adventures!

Love,

Alicia

Oh the Places You Will Go!

Oh, The Places You'll Go

by Dr. Seuss

Congratulations!

Today is your day!
You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away!

...

You'll be on your way up!

You'll be seeing great sights!

You'll join the high fliers

who soar to high heights.

...

What places we go and the things we do indeed. What a special week. This week I enjoyed my first week of school with the kiddos, had 2 class meetings in Grand Prairie for my certification, celebrated a friend's 27th birthday, shared in a very special baby dedication, and spent wonderful time at home with the hubs and pups. The hubs also shared in many similar activities but also participated in his first frisbee games for his club team... the rabid chipmunks, run several 5ks to prepare for his typical monthly half marathon (this will be his 8th for this year), participated in the Richardson Corporate Challenge where they took home a silver medal in Kickball, and enjoyed sharing in our ABF men's football draft. So here are a few pictures (some better quality than others:) of our week's funtivities.

Rapid Chipmunks frisbee battle wounds
PFS Kickball Team

PFS: Silver Medal: Kickball

Mama and the Pups!

Sleepy furbabies! I love their sweet sweepy facies:)

Bryson Fant's Dedication 8.29.10

Picture taken from the screen
(More pictures ... of better quality...will be posted shortly)
ABF Men's Football Draft

What a wonderful week... the places we will go and the people we will see. I am so thankful for the opportunities given. This week was a week filled with activity, with love, and with excitement (more to be posted on this shortly). I wish you all a wonderful week. More updates are sure to come!

Love,
Alicia

What I Would Show You...

So I wish I had pictures to show you about my past few weeks... pictures of the 6 kiddos that I have been caring for in Plano or the great team of teachers and TAs in the Special Education Department that I work with... or maybe even pictures of the inner workings of my education class at the Ruthe Jackson Center in Grand Prairie. Maybe I would show you how quickly time flies during the day from the moment I arrive at 7AM to the moment we leave around 4PM and of course every moment in between. I'd show you that I start my morning every day at 5:45 (which is a huge change from my previous 8:20 AMs). Then we start our morning helping the kiddos off the bus and into the classroom. We empty backpacks and lunch boxes, special equipment, and extra clothing, and/or toys. We then focus on breakfast. Our mornings officially begin with circle time where we discuss attendance, the date, counting... and basically have an overall learning time. I love that within a day I have learned all of our songs that I now can sing at any given moment and also sometimes find myself humming the tune at home or even in my sleep. We then transition into reading and integrated, meet for gross motor in the gym, serve lunch, and then back for more activities. These next few weeks we are working on "All about me" and learning about our names, letters (especially the letter A... which I like of course. hello!?!?) ha. We are also learning vocabulary terms for the body including arms, hands, toes, legs, etc. We talk a lot about busy fingers. It is definitely a whirlwind of a day. I have never been so excited, sore, and exhausted in my life.... but...

I have the opportunity to teach kids and watch them grow all while singing, reading, playing with bubbles and even singing some pretty amazing tunes (with optional instruments). It is definitely a change from what I used to and to be honest I'm typically not good with change... and while some days in the ELC are extremely difficult I know we will make a change in these kids lives so I couldn't be more excited. So I wish I could you show these kiddos. Today we took pictures and traced their bodies. We now have six cute kiddo pictures hanging from our walls. It really may be the cutest thing I have seen.

Again I could also show you pictures of my education class in Grand Prairie and how cold it is or how full it is. You want to talk about a very difficult market to get into right now. I'm only seeing one session of this. I can't imagine how many amazing teachers are out there searching. Regardless what happens in the future I can say that I am so excited and honored to be a part of this profession. Believe me I know I have a lot to learn, but I can say this experience is definitely getting me ready. So again there are so many things I can show you... but sadly more waiting. Just wait for some amazing pics to come!!!

Pass or Fail?!?!

So guess who passed their Generalist EC-6 Certification Test? Oh that would be this lady right here!!!

I could not have been more excited. After being reminded that I should have received my scores within 5-7 days... I had reluctantly waited to find out my scores... honestly in fear that I had not passed them. I would say this test was definitely a lot harder that I had wanted. I couldn't say that I expected it to be any less hard as I had heard from numerous girls in my education class that it would be quite difficult...I just had no idea that I would actually pass. THANK GOODNESS! Ha. So technically I am highly qualified and would be able to teach... but please hold the phone. I still have one more exam to pass... it is the Special Education EC-12 exam. This one might be a doozy. So for the next few months as school and other classes will take over I will take my time and really dive right into the study so I may pass this test as well. So thank you all again for your support in this effort. More info to come as always.

Love,
Alicia

End of August Updates!

This month as the previous months has just flown by. There have been so many changes, activities, and updates... it's honestly been a bit difficult to keep up with everything. So as usual, I try to do random blog updates to keep us all on track about all that the Zellners have been up to.

This month I've changed careers, started my alternative program's classes in Grand Prairie, my husband and I have served 3 1/2 year olds in Joyland, I joined Circle of Friends that will begin in mid September, Ray will participate in the Richardson Corporate Challenge, he has joined a Frisbee team, we attended a wedding, we took two random roadtrips (College Station and Austin... wow I see a conflict of interest there. ha), and we enjoyed several happy hours, dinners, and activities with friends. It has definitely been a great month so far but I am extremely excited to see what the rest has in store for us. Here is my upcoming schedule including:

1. Monday: The First "official" day of class: The kids return

2. Wednesday: Class 6-9
3. Thursday: Watch Ray's first Frisbee game
4. Friday: Adam's birthday celebration

5. Saturday: Class 9-4

6. Sunday: Bryson's Dedication at the Heights Baptist Church

So with all this new activity going on... I wish you a wonderful week and if for some reason I am a little MIA... you'll definitely understand.

Love the Zellners

Love,

Alicia

Saturday Activities & Date Night!

Today I attended my second class for my alternative certification program at the Ruthe Jackson Center in Grand Prairie, TX. The drive had become more familiar and honestly wasn't as long as I had previously perceived. From 9-4 we discussed and participated in numerous activities dealing with child development and classroom management. It was definitely a lot of great information and I of course took way too many notes as usual.... but once 4 o'clock hit I was absolutely ready to return home to my cute family of four.

Upon my arrival, Ray had asked if I wanted to have a date night. The past week... while being filled with so many wonderful activities... it had honestly been a bit overwhelming. So it was so nice to have some time out alone just the wifey and hubs.

Our outting of choice was Buca di Beppo for a fun date night. Plus we had a fabulous coupon! For dinner we dined on baked rigatoni, cheese and garlic bread, and of course... enjoyed some sweet dessert! Here are a few pics of our night out.


My handsome date at Buca di Beppo in Dallas.
Our yummy dessert... we definitely had our cake and ate it too!

I absolutely love having sweet moments with my husband... especially when dessert is involved:) ha. Here's to many more special moments with the hubs!!! 280 wonderful days of marriage.

Love,
Alicia

Classroom Projects & Decor!

This past Tuesday was my first official day in the ELC as the new special education assistant. I am so excited to be working with such an amazing team as well as with two very wonderful women that I will be assisting. Over the course of the past few days we have attended numerous meetings, completed necessary documentation and assignments, and have set up our room for the 6 cute kiddos and their families to come this Friday for "Meet the Teacher." Here are a few pictures of our room and some fun art projects

...

"Fishing for Shapes"

My first experience with butcher paper...

My Tree of Knowledge

The Five Senses Board

The Mathematics and Calendar Section

The Reading and Integrated Section

...

More pictures are sure to come. And for all the teachers out there... I wish you all such a wonderful first week of school and a LOT OF REST which may come in time:)

...

Love,

Alicia

First Days: Large Blog Update!

So many of you may be wondering where I have been as of late... and maybe some of you haven't noticed that I've been a little MIA lately. Well let's just say that this has been three very intense days... and a very intense previous weekend...

So what better to do than to give you all the details right?!?! This past Sunday was a very difficult morning for us. Sunday night, Toby had another seizure.... poor puppy. A few hours later the fire alarm sounded. Needless to say that little to no sleep had been had and sadly we didn't make it to church as planned but ended the weekend with a lazy night at home.

Monday, I waited impatiently to receive the call that Human Resources received my fingerprint results as the next logical step would be new hire paper work which then would allow me to actually begin my job as a special education assistant. Monday morning, I awoke early as I figured what better to do with my time then study for the upcoming content exam this upcoming Wednesday (flash forward to today... boo to content exams) But sadly after arriving at Half Priced Books and finding little to nothing in the teacher certification section in regards to Generalist EC-6.... except for a Billingual Generalist study guide. I did not leave empty handed. I did find a study guide for the second content test I will be taking... special education EC-12. Yay! That afternoon I received a call from HR to come in for my new hire paper work. I would be starting my first day at Hedgcoxe Elementary on Tuesday... which just happended to be the day of convocation. Convocation is basically an organized Pep Rally (litterally we danced;) where all teachers, assistants, administration, and employees from Plano ISD were asked to attend. We were given such motivational information and it just absolutely excites me for my first year as a special education assistant. I know I'm in good hands.

My first day (Tuesday) absolutely flew by and when I got home... all I have to say is I had good intentions but even though 10:00 was no where in sight... I was telling my husband good night and I was off to bed for another early morning on Wednesday.

Flash forward to today... Today is Wednesday... a day that I was honestly unsure if I'd make it through... but somehow I did. This morning I took my first content exam. I wish it was true that I was fabulous at examinations... but I am not. So with that on my mind and the fact that the test was honestly a bit difficult... I am a little worried but feel that I am honestly capable of a lot so we shall see how it turns out. After my testing, I returned to school to finish for any additional training and to assist with the decoration of the Experimental Learning Center that I will be working in. Today I made a fish pond called "Fishing for shapes" and put together a board with a "tree of knowledge" More pictures will be posted when we have final touches put on the room. I am so excited about this opportunity and cannot wait to see these cute 6 little faces this Friday for meet the teacher night. But do not think that my day was done when I was finished with my job... then I returned to Checkpast for the final time. Tonight I spent several hours at the office giving final instructions of my job duties and assisted with any additional questions or concerns. Today was the last time that I have to make the drive down town.

So again this has been a very intense couple of days. I have experienced all ranges of emotions including excitment, exhaustion, frustration, and the feeling of being overwhelmed... but I am so excited and that is all that I am focusing on.... so again tonight might be another early night...but all worth it!

Updated Weekend Schedule:

1. Friday: Meet the Teacher Night

2. Saturday: Class #2

3. Sunday: Serving in Joyland

Meet the New Special Ed Assistant!

While this has been a very belated post, I did want to include this picture as a token for memory's sake. This was the night that my husband and I had a small celebration as I was asked to join the PISD team at Hedgcoxe Elementary!

Right after my interview, I had stopped by Old Navy for a quick pick up of a few items that would be fit for an interview and I had receieved a call from Kristin. She told me that the school had already contacted her as my reference. I could not be more excited at the prospect and by the next day I had been asked to assist.

I am so very excited about this experience and the ability to train with such knowledgable and wonderful people. Here is to six sweet little kids that I will be working with next year and a team filled with amazing mentors. Here's to the Fall 2010... my first experience in the classroom!

Love,
Alicia

Freebirds Double Dinner Date with the Dukes!

Tonight Ray and I had the opportunity to meet up with Stephanie and Adam for a fun double diner date night. We dined at Freebirds in Addison... a meet in the middle trip... and had such a fun time catching up with great friends. Plus we do love ourselves some Freebirds:)

To such sweet friends... We are so thankful for fun nights out. We absolutely look forward to our next visit... which will be next Friday for Adam's big birthday. We definitely enjoyed some great peeps and tasty treats. Enjoy some pics from the night!

The Ladies at Freebirds!

The Gents!

Love,

Alicia

The Art of Can: Red Bull Challenge!

The Art of Can: Galleria, Dallas, TX

For a fun and free day outting my husband and I went to the Galleria to see the exhibit put on by Redbull... The Art of Can! We walked around the exhibit reading about the artists, their inspiration, and the number of cans utilized in creating the pieces. Since this was the last weekend the exhibit was available, enjoy some pictures from The Art of Can in case you may have missed it. (The names listed under the pictures may or may not represent the actual names of the art pieces but what my hubs and I refer to them as)

Ray with his free red bull and the bull with wings.

Red Bull Artwork

Pour Some Sugar On Me

King of Can

Redbull airplane... the largest piece at the exhibit.

Red Bull Armadillo

Birthday Bull!

Red Bull Headress

Pelican & Fish

Redbull Dog Meets Firehidrant... the winner of the competition!

Red Bull Ant

Red Bull Angel Warrior

Here are just a few of the winning pieces from the exhibit Art of Can. I absolutely love fun and free activities that the hubs and I can participate in. The exhibit was creatively amazing and a great way to express the importance of recycling. Hope you've enjoyed.

Love,

Alicia