Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice!

This Friday both my husband and I stayed home from work. Our 11 month anniversary was the previous day so we decided to celebrate it with a Fall twist. Since the season had started I asked if we could find a patch to pick our pumpkins for our upcoming pumpkin party. So today we decided to take advantage of this.

That night we left for Frisco and arrived at the Pumpkin on the Prairie. Boy did we have so many pumpkins to search through. We saw pumpkins of all different sizes, shapes, and colors. I never knew pumpkins could be white or even a pumpkin that they refer to as Cinderella blue.

We enjoyed a wonderful time at the patch. Enjoy some pictures of our outing.

Frisco Pumpkin Patch

Patch decor

Wheeling our wagon through the maze of pumpkins

Odd textured pumpkin

Happy 11 months of marriage. Zellner Fun in the patch!

Searching for pumpkins. Look at our baby punkins:)

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Ray's Choice

Um... hello Yes I'm talking with a gourd

Look at the Mushroom Pumpkin. One Up!

After our Fall outing to the pumpkin patch... it was time for dinner. One of our Zellner anniversary traditions is dinner at Buca di Beppo. Also having a coupon is always a plus! And delicious it was...

We dinned on two small lunch portions of the chicken saltimbocca and chicken parmigiana. The night was so amazing! Here's to 11 months... 11 months of wonderful moments, to new adventures, and Zellner traditions. Here's to almost one year of marriage!

After dinner I had to take one more picture of the fam of four! Happy Fall 2010 from the Zellner crew.

... and I should probably be honest. I did not take just one photo. This was the best we could get from the over anxious pups out of a whole slew of pics. Ha!

Dinner w/ D... the new Mrs. & Blue Goose!

The beautiful bride is back from her honeymoon with a NICE piece of bling on her finger. I had such a wonderful night tonight with the new Mrs. Daniela Cox. We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Blue Goose where we were able to catch up about all the previous and upcoming funtivities.

What a fun evening out with just the ladies. Daniela I look forward to many more nights out... nights of great conversation, yummy Mexican food (our top choice:), and catch up as always:)

Classroom FuN and Early Release!

Today was early release for our elementary students which gave us a good amount of time to plan, get things ready for the following week, as well as celebrate our monthly birthdays on the sped team. This month our ladies decided to order OTB for lunch and boy was it yummy. We also enjoyed tasty crockpot chocolate cake with blue bell ice cream. I was pretty much in a sugar coma for most of the afternoon, but did assist in the completion of the necessary tasks. I also took a couple of classroom pictures to show you some of our fun activities this week. I absolutely love my team and kids. Each day is absolutely an adventure and I couldn't imagine it any other way.

Enjoy some pictures:)

A Land Filled w/ Joy and a Gold Medal!

This past Wednesday was my first day to teach in Joyland. I could not have been more excited about the opportunity to work with kindergarten through second grade children. This night's lesson was about being servants to God. Our craft included painting the bottom of our children's feets and making footprints on a towel that read...

"I am God's servant"

We discussed how Jesus washed his disciples feet as we did in our lesson. We discussed what it meant to serve others as well as the importance of serving others. You want to talk about a powerful message. It was such a wonderful time. A time to spend teaching children and a time to learn and grow. I am so thankful for this opportunity. I definitely look forward to each and every Wednesday I am able to spend with these new kiddos as I already have such a special place for them in my heart. I am already signed up to work this next Saturday night:)
...............

Tonight Ray participated in the Richardson Corporate Challenge Dodgeball Competition. After I was finished in Joyland, I received a call from the hubs that PFS had made it into the final game to determine who would be playing in the championship match. I quickly hurried to Sportsview where I made it just in time to watch the final two matches. With great skill, PFS quickly advanced to the final round. In the end PFS was victorious and won Gold!

The Hubs and his Gold Medal

PFS Team Picture: Gold

What a wonderful Wednesday:)

A Little Bit of This... A Little Bit of That!

What an amazing week this has been! We are just a few days in but I am super excited to blog about it. So I left off at this past Saturday, October 9... well as you read Ray definitely had a more interesting day than I did. I will be honest... I have been lagging in the certification department. I of course have attended my classes as I have one final face-to-face class this coming Saturday in Grand Prairie; however, I had a total of 20 online lessons to complete. They range anywhere from 1-3 hours long a piece. I completed 5 online lessons this past Saturday if that tells you what I did ALL day long. Ha. But I am thankful to have them done and I have a total of nine left as well as a content exam... but it is pretty cool to be certified already in one content area! So hopefully the plan is to have my other online courses completed and then begin a dedicated study for my Special Education EC-12 Content Exam. More details will come once I have actually committed to a test date. I'll definitely need some prayers in this area as I have heard it is extremely difficult.

10.10.10 is my lucky day! Sunday, October 10, Ray and I both attended church at the Heights. What a wonderful sermon about finances... the Green Elephant series. Let's just say that this really hit home to us and got us thinking about our futures. A few weeks ago I inquired about working in our church nursery. And in an effort to do something that I am super passionate about and to have a little side job... I emailed the contact and was able to set up an interview for Sunday afternoon at 6PM. But before the interview... Ray and I made our way to Frisco to visit the Dukes for a fun afternoon of Cowboy viewing, candy eating, and wonderful conversation having:) Sorry Duckee if I ate the majority of your Halloween candy. Man those kiddos that trick or treat at your home are very lucky! Ha. Just say I'll have to owe you one... or two... (bags that is:) But as 5:00PM rolled around it was time for us to head back home so I could change for my interview.

What a wonderful meeting. I am pleased to announce that I will be teaching kindergarten to second grade kiddos at the church on Wednesday nights as well as throughout the months during various functions. I could not be more excited. I actually have my first class this upcoming Wed on the 13th. Wish me luck:)


Monday, October 11 Ray and I had a wonderful night at home. We enjoyed our Milk and Cookie Monday Movie Night with the pups.

When we first arrived home we took the pups on a nice walk around our new home. It was such a beautiful afternoon and what could be better. Then the hubs and I put on a movie, enjoyed some yummy chocolate chip cookies and milk, and enjoyed a fun evening with our cute fam of four. Seriously one of my favorite activities. Oh and I had to add another sweet picture of my sweet girl and her Monchichi Monkey.

O-R-A-N-G-E spells ORANGE: In other news, I just had to add this super sweet picture of my niece Olivia and her jack-o-lantern. She is such a big girl and with our Fall activities coming up I thought what a perfect picture for the holiday. So this aunt had to do a little bragging:)

I guess I have finally got us up to date. I wish you all such a wonderful week! More updates to come!

Ray's Run & Ranger Playoff Saturday

This beautiful Saturday morning while I was in my nice, cozy bed... sound asleep... my husband and his running partner, Michael, went and ran another half marathon...my husband's 9th half for the year. Sadly he was unable to run this past month in September but will sure make up for it in the next few to come. I am so very proud of him and his efforts AS ALWAYS.

Ray was invited by both Michael and Dr. Bragg to go to the Ranger's Playoff game against the Rays. Ray's facebook status included... "Getting psyched for the Ranger's game today... cuz I'm going!" While the Rangers put up a good fight... they lost in the last inning... and as many fans in Dallas expressed... what a sad weekend for sports.

But all was not lost on this day as today was a fun day with friends and a day out with the guys!

SMILING YOU!

"Zellner... Smiling You!"

I absolutely love my kids in the ELC and love what I'm doing. It is the most rewarding thing I could ever be a part of... I also work with the most amazing ladies. Let's just say... we keep things interesting in the ELC. We are in week 8 of my first school year and each day is absolutely a new adventure. I wish I could remember all the hilarious things that have been said... I have had so many days I've laughed until I cried. I do not ever want to forget these great moments and/or comments in our class. Now remember this may have no meaning to you or may seem a bit odd, but I feel that these moments must be remembered for years to come.

- Smiling You!
- Make me a bird...
- On the refrigerator!
- Ice Tea AMs
- I will barter for Chic-fil-a
- Fluids make me sad
- Miss Libby Thursdays
- Take you on a cruise.
- I grrrr at you
- Kindergarten Rodeo
- McGruff is kind of intimidating to kindergarteners
- PJ Day
- (It's) ALL ABOUT ME
- Ribbons Time: It's time to say good-bye to all my fr-ie-nds!
- My daughter
- Fun Fabulous Fridays
- ... And Don't Forget the Bacon! "May I have some please please!"
- Junie B. Jones books are a must have in ELC... side note. I love Eric Carl books!
- ELC... Diane Trout... ELC Diane Trout
- Music is our number one motivator
- Elmo's sleeping?
- We love the chicken dance
- Jiggy rocks our socks off
- I easily walk 4-6 miles per day
- Coyotees kept us from recess... no literally
- Mrs. Zellner climbed through a tunnel at recess and realized just how long it had been since she had scaled a jungle gym
- Alice in Wonderland
- Cheat Fridays
- Boo Bear
- In between the toes
- Chocolate? Must be chocolate
- Polka dots make me happy

I love my job!!!