Destination Vacation Sped Party!

Today we celebrated the birthdays of two lovely ladies in the ELC including Trout and Red Headed Gellner or Diane and Jes as they are probably known better to the outside world. The theme was Destination Vacation! Each month our Special Education Team celebrates the birthdays for that specific month. I had the privilege of hosting this month. We had an absolute blast. Here are some pictures from our party including the ELC party decor.

Happy birthday celebration to my amazing co workers!

Sunday Hike at Arbor Hills!

What an absolutely gorgeous day in Dallas! After church and a few extra errands, Ray and I decided to enjoy the beautiful outdoors.

Arbor Hills Nature Preserve in Plano

We enjoyed a fabulous hike around the many trails of the Nature Preserve and saw so many pretty wild flowers. I love beautiful Sundays such as this. A day to truly enjoy all that God has blessed us with.

Teacher Appreciation Week!

This has a fabulous Teachers Appreciation week (minus the sickness going through the class). Each day we've received fun gifts including breakfast, teacher lunch, sweet treats and snacks, cute notepads, and even flowers! Today our Kindergarten team leader dropped off a few beautiful bouquets for each ELC lady. Aren't they beautiful? It was definitely a sweet thought and so nice to be appreciated!

So here's to this week and to celebrating Teachers!

Never Knock on Wood...Ha!

Last week I was just mentioning to my ELC ladies at work... while knocking on wood... I exclaimed just how amazing it was that I had really only been sick about two times this whole year. Being that it was my first year in the education field I pretty much thought myself lucky. Well I guess the point that I am getting at is that one should never knock on wood. Ha! I have been sick now for almost a full week. At one point it was thought to be strep, now a sinus infection, and of course add a stomach bug headache and cough on top of it all. I am pretty sure I would now like every child to be tested before entering the classroom. Ha. But I totally understand this will never be the case so for now I will suffer through, while taking off work today, and sleeping for hours on end until this episode is over as well. So come on immune system buck up because I plan on staying in the education field for a good long while. So for now... all I have are updates to post.

1. Last week the husband and I tried no television for a full week. Let's say I made it to Thursday.
2. Since being sick, I have enjoyed several dinner and movie nights with my husband and furbabies
3. I have been given an opportunity to work two ESY summer school sessions.
4. I will be searching for full time employment for the Fall of 2011 as a TEACHER! If unable will continue as a TA for my ELC classroom.
5. This week is Teacher's Appreciation Week. We are enjoying a full week of sweet gifts and the right to wear jeans all week! Gosh I love teaching:)
6. I absolutely am looking forward to our visit to Sugar Land for Memorial Day Weekend.
7. I cannot wait for our vacation to Mexico!
8. I stayed home from work today due to a sinus infection and a tummy bug
9. The husband and I enjoyed $.075 movie last Tuesday at Cinemark in Plano. Love inexpensive date nights with the husband.
10. Next week I am looking forward to a half day with the kiddos at school and will be hosting the birthday celebration for two of my ELC ladies.
11. Next Thursday, our ELC will be celebrating our Teacher of the Year at the Plano T.O.Y Award Banquet.
12. Next Friday, the ladies will be getting together for our monthly movie ladies night at the casa de Trout!
13. Next Saturday I'll be getting my hair done. I can't wait for a fun day of pampering!
14. Next Sunday, I'll be celebrating a sweet friend from my Honeymooner's ABF, She is having a baby shower.

That is all the updates for now. Wishing you all wonderful and healthy weeks ahead.

Good Friday & Easter Weekend Wrap Up!

The Easter Bunny made an early appearance at the Zellner home this year. On Good Friday both Ray and I stayed home from work or should I say Plano ISD was closed and Ray was technically working from home. But our Easter holiday began with a wonderful and sugary start thanks to my husband.

Ray woke at 7AM in time for work and let me sleep in. When I finally decided to get up, I woke up to wonderful donuts and movies for our Friday movie day inside. Thank you lovey for picking us up some fun treats. After an afternoon of movies, Ray and I decided to head out for some Starbucks drinks and drive around looking at neighborhoods. I cannot wait for the day that we will officially be in our very own home but for now it is great to just get a good feel for the area. It is kind of weird to admit that we do random drive bys as that is not the exact way to put it and sounds a bit inappropriate but it's hilarious regardless. Upon our return home, we picked up some taco bell and headed home and would retire early for the night.

Saturday, depending upon the weather, both Ray and I had decided to enjoy a relaxing pool day; however, the weather did not cooperate and was extremely overcast and windy... so Ray and I opted for a day at the doggy park in Allen. The weather was perfect and there were plenty of fun furbaby friends for our pups to play with. After an hour at the park, the pups were pooped and we decided to return home. We would quickly drop them off and head to Wal-Mart for a few errands. Of course we decided to pick up a few new "Easter goodies" for the furbs including Wedgie the Hedgie for Mattie and Duck Duck for Toby as it was supposed to be for strong chewers. The pups seemed to enjoy their new Easter goodies and played for the rest of the afternoon!

Easter Bunny arrived Early!


CHRIST has RISEN indeed!
Happy Easter 2011

Sunday morning, Ray and I joined our Honeymooners ABF at the Heights Baptist Church for our early morning bible study. After our fellowship we served our kiddos in Joyland. I absolutely love our 3-4 year olds and am so excited to continue working with this age next year. It is amazing what God is doing in their lives as well as ours through them. What an amazing day to serve! Sunday afternoon we were invited to join the Bragg family

for Easter lunch. We truly are blessed to have such a wonderful family in our friends and could not imagine our lives without them. Here are a few pictures of our afternoon Easter festivities including a delicious lunch, coloring Easter eggs, an egg hunt for little man, and spending time together with family and friends.

After our afternoon with the Bragg family, we decided to continue our Easter Sunday at Breckinridge Park. It included a poorly planned water balloon and water gun fight... as we forgot to prefill balloons... bubbles, and a long walk. What a beautiful Easter Sunday! Enjoy pictures from our outdoor activity.

What an absolutely perfect Easter Weekend... filled with so much celebration and love. A time to remember that we are all so truly blessed as He is alive!

Christ is Risen from the dead
We are one with Him again
Come awake come awake
Come and rise up from the grave

NINE YEARS

Nine years ago I met the absolute love of my life. Who would have known that two kids in high school would start a relationship, continue to grow together, fall in love, and get married. I am so thankful for the best friend and husband that God has given me. I couldn't be more blessed.

That afternoon I received a beautiful gift at school from my husband. The note read, "It's unbelievable how, after nine years, my love for you can continue to grow year after year. You have had my heart for nine years and will have it forever more. All my love, Raymond" That night we dinned at Paesano's Italian Restaurant. It was an absolute perfect celebration of nine amazing years together. I cannot wait to see what else God has in store for our family.

April Updates!

As assumed my days are quickly drawing to a close at work and things are quickly picking up daily at home. April 2011 has been such a whirlwind of events and I definitely want to make sure I include them on the blog... (in no exact order)

- Ray participated and conquered Warrior Dash on 4/17/11 with good friends including Michael Fant, Dustin Hoes, and Mike Wiley
- April 8-10 Ray enjoyed a guys weekend of hunting/fishing/exploring
- We are getting into shape at the Plano Rec Center
- I received my new passport in the mail yesterday. I am so ready for our vacation to Mexico in early June!
- Details to come for next fall and for summer school
- Enjoyed celebrating my husband's 27th birthday!
- Thursdays I join my husband in Allen as his number one fan for his Frisbee League
- The pups have not been enjoying these thunderstorms that North Dallas has been experiencing
- Ray and I will be celebrating 9 years together on April 20, 2011
- One of my besties will be celebrating her birthday on April 21. Happy Birthday to our Mrs. Brushwood:)
- We will be visiting our family for Memorial Day weekend. I cannot wait to see my our family including my brother-in-law and sweet niece who will be traveling from Alabama
- The husband and I will be joining our ABF class on May 1 to serve in our community for Engage Sunday
- Next week I will be enjoying a short 4 day week

Wishing you all wonderful April Funtivities!