Friday Date Night @ Sams & Two New Tires!

Earlier this week as I was leaving for work, I heard an unfamiliar sound and the car began to act up. Quickly I realized I had a flat tire. This is never a fun way to start your morning. The ironic part of this whole story is about a week earlier, Ray also had a flat and was making his way to work on a donut. So our Friday evening date night consisted of two hours spent at Sams purchasing two brand new tires. This is never how you want to use a portion of your tax refund. Ha! But now we have two working vehicles... for now:)

ELC as a KEY Party Place!

Today on this fun fabulous Friday we celebrated a very special birthday in the ELC. Nurse Key has been such an integral part of our room and our team this year. We were so very excited to do a little something special to help celebrate her big day.

Meet the ladies of the ELC with our favorite nurse!

A little birthday decor!

I am absolutely so incredibly blessed to work with such an amazing team! A team of women who truly love what they do and the kids they work with. Here's to many more celebrations and memories made in the ELC!

Spring Has Sprung, Snoopy Dinner, and Changes in the Air!

Welcome Spring!

Spring has officially sprung here in North Dallas. Spring Break is right around the corner... and by around the corner I literally mean we have a half day with the kiddos tomorrow and then it is one full week of rest and relaxation! While I do not have any large travel plans, I do have several fun lunch dates with sweet friends... and I could not be more excited about it. But before my week off officially begins we had a few fun things this week at school that I would love to blog about. We enjoyed a fun lesson on the ocean and crafted cute projects like stamp fish bowls and crayon relief color pages. We read books including One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Commotion in the Ocean, and Rainbow Fish. The week following Spring Break we will enjoy a week of birthday celebrations. You heard me right. We are having a full party week:) It will include balloons, candles, birthday hats, sweet treats, and of course lots of decorations. I am so excited!
Monday night I attended the twentieth anniversary of Chez Snoopy.

The school cafeteria was transformed into a western cafe where Dickey's BBQ was served. Each third grade student then had the opportunity to operate the restaurant from wait staff such as the hostess, waiter and waitress, and manager, chef, and so forth. The kids were fabulous. What an amazing opportunity for students to gain real life experience and responsibility plus the food was absolutely delicious. Two thumbs up for great food, great wait staff, and great friends to dine with including two of my favorite teacher and TAs. Here is the cute invitation that was sent out.

In other news, I have finally made a decision about my second job at the church. While the main goal was to gain further experience in the education field, there were just a few too many obstacles in my way. I truly felt God was really sending me a message. Talk about the irony. This picture... while not the cutest of me... was taken by one of the kiddos I teach on Wednesday nights and look at the painting in the upper right corner. I couldn't say it better myself. It says, "I need to make the wise choice!" So this past Wednesday was my final day in childcare at the church.

I will for sure miss the sweet faces of those kindergarten through second graders that I saw each week/weekend but am happy to be going in a different direction and focusing and saving my energy for those six kiddos I teach on a daily basis. And just as a side note, I never realized how excited I would feel to teach one of my little girls another word. She says "hi" and "eight." While this may seem of little significance it seriously means the world to me. Life is definitely about small victories but they are victories none the less.

I am definitely excited for all that is to come after Spring Break. I hear that the school year really takes off as time absolutely flies. I am so excited to move forward in my process to becoming a full time teacher and all that will lead to. For now, I am excited to enjoy our last day of school and half day for the kiddos before a week long vacation. I wish you all such a wonderful time and of course more blogging and changes to come.

Love,
Alicia

Lucky in Love!

Here are my lucky charms!

St. Patty's Day is right around the corner and I'm super excited. I absolutely love adorning myself in shamrock green and wishing those around me good luck! So here's to all of our lucky charms this March 17th!

The Farmer in the Dell!

This week has definitely been an interesting week... a week filled with lots of happenings, lots of subs, and lots of projects about farm animals. You heard me right. This week our curriculum is all about the farm and the animals that reside there. This has been such a cute week of lesson planning and shared craft activities. I love these shape pigs and shape tractors. I think they turned out super cute. Only 5 days (or 4 1/2 since Friday is a half day for the kiddos) until Spring Break. I am so thankful for this upcoming break as it will be a wonderful opportunity to get some much needed relaxing time. I am looking forward to many mornings of sleeping in and lunch dates with sweet friends.

How are you planning on spending your spring break?

Our Little Cowgirl!

Look at our beautiful little cowgirl Olivia! Our adorable three almost four year old niece sure knows how to strut her stuff in those pretty pink boots. A big thank you goes to her mimi and paw for posting these sweet pictures.

Miss Olivia Grace Zellner


Olivia, your Aunt Alicia and Uncle Ray Ray love you so much sweet girl. We absolutely can't wait for our visit this Memorial Day weekend!

WE LOVE YOU!

The Test!

My test was scheduled, the payment was made, a sub had been called for a half day. There was no turning back at this point. Monday had come faster than I had expected and by mid afternoon I was headed south down 75 to the Plano testing center where I would then spend the next four or so hours completing the Special Education EC-12 Content Exam. While I had done everything I could to adequately prepare for this exam, I still felt apprehensive as I knew more was riding on this then merely the $120 testing fee. Passing this test meant that I am highly qualified to teach both as a generalist early childhood through sixth grade and special eduation early childhood through twelfth grade. After I finished my test I was advised that it would take approximately two to seven days before I received my scores. Well by Tuesday night I had received an email that my scores were in... and after a moment where I'm pretty sure my heart skipped a beat, I read the wonderful word... Passed! I was beyond words and am so thankful to cross this off my list of things to do before attempting to get my first full time teacher's position. Thanks again for all your wonderful words of wisdom and best wishes of luck. I sure appreciate them all. Here's to the next step!