Beginning Teacher...

This past Thursday, PISD held its annual Teacher and Beginning Teacher of the Year Gala. The theme: Teaching by Design. The decor was beautiful and the company was amazing. I was joined by my husband and fabulous teammates. I am thankful to work with women who continue to encourage and support me. I have grown so much throughout these two years and am thankful for the opportunity. The night was an additional reminder of God's blessings. I have been given an opportunity to teach, to change lives, and to make a difference. Three years ago, I would never have imagined my life to go in this specific direction. But it is He who directs our path in the manner that serves His purpose. I could not be more grateful and honored. Enjoy some pictures from our night.

Teacher of the Year- Ashia Bell
Beginning Teacher of the Year- Alicia Zellner

My amazing husband!

Kathi my Team leader and I

My ELC Ladies- Trout and Wallace

My Kinder Team!

Me, Ray, and Trout

 

Lisa, Susie, and Diana

3rd Grade Teachers- Ami, Wallace, and Samuels

 Ashia and Krisi

After dinner, Ray and I ventured out for Yogurt to continue our night of celebration. I am amazed at the people who are in my life. I am thankful for the continual encouragement and love! Happy Teacher Appreciation week to those that TEACH and serve!

A Scoop of Love!

This Sunday, our ABF held a sweet ice cream themed shower for a sweet friend and her little boy, Westin, due in early July. The house was beautifully decorated with a delicious ice cream bar and adorable themed decor. Both Carissa and Amy were amazing hosts and helped to truly shower this soon-to-be mama with lots of love.

Ice Cream Bar

Goodies for the mama

YUM!!!

Anna opening her shower gifts

Celebrating baby Westin

The hosts and the beautiful soon to be mama

Carissa holding ten day old baby Myla and Katy with Pearson

Our ABF showering Anna and baby Westin with love!

 Anna,
We are so excited to celebrate you and baby Westin. He will have a LOT of little boys to play with and of course one little girl to fight over. Wishing you all the wonderful adventures to come!

Cinco de Mayo- Ode to the Mustache

Happy Cinco de Mayo

This Saturday, Ray and I enjoyed a productive afternoon running errands, my husband's hair cut, and ending up at our favorite yogurt shop on Custer. With such a hot day, something delicious and cold was exactly what we needed.

Since I had been a bit under the weather this week, we decided to take our afternoon a little slower. We watched a movie and enjoyed a few hours in before we would head down to Richardson for the McLean Cinco de Mayo party. 

They always throw such great theme parties. We were excited to get our pieces together. Of course we couldn't leave without this fabulous Party City sombrero, le mustache, and the pinata. I mean what would a party be without a pinata?!?! Before we left, we had to take our Zellner family photo.

Happy Cinco de Mayo from the Zellners

From delicious food, decor, mustaches, to pinatas, fish bowl games, and to very interesting information provided by urbandictionary.com... we had a blast! So enjoy some pictures from our night!

 

 

 

 Happy Cinco de Mayo friends!

Pluckers with Friends

Friday night, the husband and I joined friends at Pluckers at the Shops in Allen. It was a brand new Wing Bar that had just opened. While I am not typically a wing fan (I know, I know) it was actually really good food, great food choices, and good service. As first time Plucker guests, they gave us free appetizers including Holy Macaroni (fried macaroni) and fried pickle spears. It was delicious. While it did take awhile for the actual food to arrive, we didn't care as we had joined three couples from our church for dinner and were having a great night out. Here are a few photos from our night. It was definitely good to catch up with old friends.

Welcome to Pluckers

Our group date at Pluckers!

The husband and I :)

The Goodings

The Kiekhoefers

The Parks

 Delicious Holy Macaroni

It is always fun to try new restaurants and to spend time with friends. I hated that I had to turn in early as the medicine was starting to run out and a crazy lightning storm began to insue. I am definitely looking forward to more nights out with sweet friends from church this summer with the husband!



Kinder Creations

I have really loved my first year in Kindergarten. We have absolutely enjoyed our months of adventures. Now I say this not because each day was a cake walk... believe me, I had my challenges, but I could not think of a more rewarding place to be for me. I love their inquisitive minds. I love the newness of learning. I love that they LOVE learning. Each child is so very different but so unique and special. They think you are the greatest artist, musician, coach, and teacher. It is amazing to have watched them grow over this year and I am excited to see where they will be in years to come. I definitely want to remember so many of our special moments together. One of my favorite thing is to to see their journal posts and artwork. They are so innocent and have such beautiful hearts. Here are a few that I just loved and wanted to share.

In first grade, I will love my teacher and I will share my best and listening and be nice and friendly and help.

I love Unicorns!

"Sick Nose"

Since Sunday I have been pretty under the weather. From a running nose, cough, sore throat, and sinus congestion, I was pretty miserable. Typically I'm not a fan of going to a doctor since I typically self diagnose the problem. I usually get about 3-4 sinus infections a school year and know that if left to run its course it would take about 2 weeks. If I went to the doctor it would cost from $200-300 with the visit and medication. I usually weight my options and choose to let it run its course with a side of Tylenol cold and flu, a box of tissues, and a very sad and pathetic two weeks of feeling lousy. With all that is going on here in Kindergarten from testing to conferences and taking care of my 19 amazing kiddos, I just couldn't do it again this time. By Wednesday I advised the team I was heading to CareNow and would pay whatever to get better. It was also Wednesday that one of my sweet kids brought me tissues from home and said, "I wanted to help your sick nose feel better." It melted my heart and I knew it was time. I was right. I ended up having a pretty bad sinus infection and ear infection to go with it. By Thursday afternoon and 12 pills later, I was feeling a lot better. I am definitely not 100% but know that it is quickly working its way out the door. I still have some sinus pressure, a small cough at night, and currently a headache but all is getting better. Thank goodness! I want to enjoy my last month with my kids.