The greatest things in life...

On Friday night, my wonderful wife and I were driving down the highway on the way to Snyder, and we noticed several football fields along the way with football lights shining bright breaking up the West Texas darkness. I told Leslye, "You know what one of my favorite things in life is..." And she said, "What?" Though I know she was expecting me to say "Riding in the car with you" or something so sweet (since I usually do), I said, "Driving along the highway on a Friday night in the fall and seeing football lights shining because you know there is a lot of excitement going on there."

Of course, she laughed and asked what in the world she was going to do with me, but hopefully (and I know Jason does) someone understands. It is a joy for me... and I got to spend a little time at a football game on Friday night in Snyder, and obviously, the win by Tarleton Thursday was great, too. Also a joy!

Now... on Saturday evening, I can definitely say I got to spend lots of time with two of my other huge joys in life. We played cars and football and watched some football. We ate supper and had a great time. The only thing that would have made it better is if Cody had been here to join me and my two other nephews! I hope as they grow older, they always know I am there to play and help them when they need it. I love them so very much, and I hope they know that, too!

Now... the best part of the weekend is I get to spend it with the greatest love of my life (outside of God of course)... And no, not sports (though it used to be until May 12, 2006)... That's when I met the most wonderful woman in the world, and I get to spend the whole weekend with her. I have not gotten to see her a lot over the last two weeks because of trying to get ready for football season and the start of school, and for that, I truly apologize... I love her more than she will ever know... She is truly, the greatest thing in my life.

My Classroom

As promised, I am finally putting up pictures of my classroom. It has been a work in progress for about 3 weeks to get it all cleaned, organized and decorated! I am glad that it is done and I'm going to try and rest this weekend to get ready for the first day on Monday. I am expecting 25 kids - 12 in the morning class and 13 in the afternoon class! Our school wide theme this year is Luau/Ocean. As you can see, I went more on the ocean side of the theme.

This is the bulletin board in the hallway beside my room. It says Dive into PreK and the divers have the kids names on them. Last night at Meet the Teacher, Joey took pictures of the kids while I was busy meeting them all. He took a picture of them with goggles on that I am going to print and glue on the face of the divers.

These are the glass doors that go to the PreK atrium, lobby whatever you wish to call it. Joey did a great job painting the doors for me with window chalk. The starfish are construction paper with the students name on it. Thursday of the first week we are going to glue wild rice on them to make them look more like real starfish!

The next few pictures are of the lobby area. Joey helped me a lot in this area. I did not take a picture of the ceiling, but there are fish hanging down.

Room 1: The carpet and tables classroom

This is the job chart. It says "Treasured Jobs" The treasure chest have the names of the jobs on them and I have fish and crabs that are wearing jewels with the kids names on them to put on the jobs.

Calendar and Morning Message board. The green bulletin board is blank because I never found my pictures and title for the Meet Mrs. Roberts board that I usually put up at the first of the year. So, I wait until we are ready for something else there!

I used Hula skirt for curtains.

Room 2: The Center Room- I am really glad this room is done. I did a lot of rearranging and organizing in this room. As the title indicates, this is were students do different centers: blocks, housekeeping, computer, library, painting, etc.

This is my newest thing that I am so proud of even though I didn't come up with the idea. I was trying to figure out a way to make the books stand up in the book shelf so the kids could see the front of the books. I remembered seeing in a magazine or online that a teacher used rain gutters to put the books in. So, I went to McCoys and had a rain gutter cut to fit in the shelf. I hot glued it in the shelf and it was done! It worked wonderfully!!

I am sure that is more pictures than most of you were looking for, but I am just so excited to be finished that I had to share. Plus, it was a nice break for me this afternoon to take all the pictures. Hope you all have a great weekend and those of you who are teachers or students are gearing up for a great school year!

The End of Summer As We Know It

It's official! Summer as we know it, or as we have enjoyed it, is over.

I spend 3 days this week going and working in my classroom. I have been reorganizing, cleaning out files and drawers, and decorating. Then today, my wonderful husband went with me and helped me with some two people jobs. He put together my new easel! I'm so excited about it. It is dry erase, magnetic, and has hooks for pocket charts, a book rack, a book holder, and 4 colored tubs on the bottom plus it is on rollers!! For the teachers in the group, it is one of the Royal Reading/Writing carts! Anyway, sorry about the side note! Joey came and was very helpful. We also got my foyer/atrium/outside room (whatever you want to call it) decorated. For those of you who have not been to visit, I will try to take some pics and post, so you can see my wonderful classroom layout. I actually have 2 classrooms and an outside room!

Joey has been getting busier over the last few weeks, but this week really began it all. Tarleton Football reported to camp on Thursday, so he is busy reporting on the practices. He is doing a few things new this year including blogging and some video coverage. You can go to his Tarleton blog and check out the video where he is the recorder, reporter, editor, and publisher! He just does it all! His Tarleton blog is http://tarletontales.blogspot.com/?DB_OEM_ID=2500 . He is also very busy finishing up the football media guide and working on the other publications for football.

So, this is what we have been up to this week - at night we both sit in our chairs with either the Rangers or now the Olympics (yeah!) on TV, and I cut out laminating while he works on the computer. So, it is officially the end of summer, but what a great one it has been!

Why I love photography...

If I could do it for a living and make enough money to support my lovely wife, all of the new purchases we have made this year (car, house, car - again), and the future little Roberts (don't ask when, it will just cost you money), I would be a full-time photgrapher... However, I guess I will stick to doing it for a hobby. Some of my favorite pictures are black and white pics and here are a couple of pics of two precious girls.

I really enjoyed time with the Crenshaw Crew (Happy Birthday Gran!). Hope you enjoy the pics.

I don't know, maybe I am no good at the photography thing, but I sure do have fun with it and enjoy playing with the camera... but not as much as I enjoyed playing with the subjects of these two photos.

I have had the opportunity to gain access to some events I would not have other wise been able to attend all thanks to a few pieces of plastic. I love taking pictures of anything and everything, from scenery/landscapes, people, sports, etc.

I am not sure which I love more, the hobby or the subjects, but I'd go with the latter (especially in this case).

A 2 Car Family

After 6 months of sharing a car, we are finally a 2 car family! On Friday on our way to Dallas, we stopped in Granbury and looked at some cars we had found online. After looking and test driving, we decided to get a Pontiac G6. We left it there to get all clean and shiny while we went to Dallas for the weekend and stopped back by and picked it up on Monday. Our original plan was to car shop in the metroplex on Monday, but since we found this on Friday we did not have to spend Monday walking car dealerships in the hot sun! Here's a few pics of the new car!

Today we picked up the Equinox from the body shop with all its broken pieces fixed. So not only do we have two cars, but two of our own cars. Thanks to Bill and Donna for loaning us their Pilot for a few weeks or we would have been on foot! :)

Both Cars Happily At Home

What A Fun Weekend!!

We had so much fun this weekend! The party began on Thursday evening when Mom, Gran, Hollye, Gary, Andra, Amy, Courtney, Brooke, and Abbye arrived at our house! They all took tour of the new house. I had Mexican Stack ready (noticing a trend of menu for large groups!) so we ate it and later had cookies and cream homemade ice cream! The ice cream was wonderful; my new favorite homemade ice cream! Then we took a tour of Stephenville for those who had not been here before. When it came time for bed we rearranged the living room furniture to fit two blow up mattress. It was so much fun having everyone here!!

Friday the fun continued as everyone loaded up to head to the DFW area. The shopping began at the outlet malls in Allen. We took a break at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner and closed the Frisco mall down. Saturday we got up and did a little more shopping: Sam Moon (girls) and Bass Pro Shop (boys).

Abbye got hungry after all the shopping.

Kenna checking everything out!

We could not bear the heat going in and out of the stores anymore, so we spent Saturday afternoon in the pool.

Still Kids At Heart! - We made up this game in the kiddie pool last year. We all walked around in a circle under the buckets. If the bucket dumps on you, you are out. The last person not to be dumped on is the winner!

Who will it get this time?


Gotcha Amy!

Charlie and Daniel enjoying the entertainment!

Sunday we all got up and went to church. Joey and I went back to the Boyd B and B for afternoon naps before our date night. We went to Saltgrass and to see Jersey Boys in Dallas. We then went back to the Boyd B and B and spent the night since it was closer and Joey had taken off today. This morning we got to babysit Miss K from the time Heather left for work until Daniel got home. We had lots of fun talking and playing!!

This picture shows our feelings of the weekend!

Lots of fun enjoying a summer weekend with family!!