Atlanta, Georgia ????

A few months ago Jorge suggested that we go on a vacation to Atlanta. Atlanta?? What? Isn't it hot and humid there, you might ask. Well, yes. But, do you know what is in Atlanta? The World of Coke!! Yep, that's right the Coca-Cola museum is there. That was enough for me! So, Jorge's parents, Jose and Chavela went with us in my Honda Civic. Yep, Civic. Do the numbers on space per person would ya! We really made it just fine. We went to a Braves game (they were playing the Astros). The game was 17 innings long!! We had fun. Here are some pictures.

She smiles! I should get a journalism award for capturing that on camera!

The little drummer boy with the GIGANTIC drum! Jorge even bought the foam hatchet thing.
Check out Downtown Atlanta!
World of Coke!!! This was the best part!!! The only bad thing is that my camera ran out of batteries. I though that I had packed extra batteries in my purse. . . but I was wrong. So, I don't have as many pictures of the world of Coke as I would like.

I took pictures of the signs so that I could have my favorite father-in-law paint a mural for me in my dining room. Yes, I'm cheezy like that!!

Of course the Coke store was a must. But before we went to the store, there was a HUGE coke tasting area. Africa, Asia, North America, South America and Europe had their own circular fountain areas and you could go and taste any coke product that is sold in that part of the world. It was awesome. I liked North and South America and some of the European products. I didn't like ANY of the Asian or African ones. They were awful!! You could go and taste as many times as you wanted. Super cool.

So we bought some trays and plates. And. . . wished for much more!

The next day, we went to the World Aquarium. If you ever go to Atlanta you must do this!! They had 4 touching pools. Jorge is touching a stingray. They had sharks, sea anemones, shrimp, starfish, and horseshoe crab. I know that's more than 4, but some of them shared a tank. You could touch these animals. The sharks felt like rubber and the stingrays. . . . like SNOT. The coolest thing to touch was the sea anemone. I though that it might sting, but our skin is too thick for it to sting us. God's so smart! Jorge is touching a stingray.

That tank behind us has more than 600 species of fish in it. You can scuba dive for $200 for 2 hours. There are sharks in there. I'm just not gonna do it!! It was however, awesome!

This was another tropical tank. Chavela hates cameras. She really was having a good time. . . she just acts terrible when a camera's around. There were fresh water tanks there too. Some tanks went over your head and twisted around. It was really something to see.

I just thought these jellyfish were cool looking.

I'll post more later.

We Got GRASS!!!

Jorge and I awoke Saturday morning to 6 pallets of grass from the grass fairy.

This is our front yard before the grass was down. Dusty. . . dirty. . . brown and yucky!!

Jorge, had some of our hermanos from church come and help us. I was not there. . . funeral. So, Hermano Catos, Hermana Tania, and some of their kids came over to help Jorge with the grass. We could have never made it without them.

Hermana Tania

Monse and Cristofer

The hard working and tired crew; Rachel is in the pink.

She took most of the pictures during the day.

The finished product plus a gook looking man in the front yard!

Granny and her sister Ethelynn

Papa and his brother Dale

Micah and a good lookin' brown man

The Dudes!

Papa and a Gill cousin (doesn't she look like Lyneil?)
These are some pictures that I took at Aunt Viva's funeral. I just thought I'd finally post 'em.

Well here we are. Whew!! I stayed home today and cleaned house. I know, really interesting right! The last day of school was June the 6th. The following Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I was teaching staff development. They really let ME do it!! Crazy!!! On Thursday Jorge and I went to a Mexican "Sobador" just look it up! This dude made me put on old stretched out clothes and he put on latex gloves. That should have been my first clue. Yikes!!! He had this nasty white cream and began to make large tear drops come out of my eyes. Thank goodness Jorge was in the room with me. I was wiggling and squirming and begging for mercy. Jorge thought that I was being a wennie. . . until it was his turn. I mean that dude had Jorge squirming, and hollerin' . . . it was a SHOW!! Anyway, we left that place and felt much better. Really. We went to eat lunch and packed to go to Saginaw for a looooooong weekend. It was really fun. I didn't take any pictures, but we made chile rellenos. They were great! Just thought I'd finally update some.

Oh, forgot. Mama and Daddy came over and brough the tractor. We had a load of topsoil dumped in the front yard to prepare for grass. Yes, that's right. . . we're getting grass!!! A Japenese kind of grass called zoysia. ???? Whatever. I'll post pictures when we put it down. That's gonna take a little while too.

El dia 10 de mayo sera el dia de las madres. We're going to Saginaw this weekend to visit mi suegra favorita. She's pretty cool.

I'm DONE!!!!!

That's it. It's over. My bilingual class is done. I finished it and there's NO looking back. I had the CRAZIEST teacher ever! She is in my past and I'm moving on. I start another class next Monday night for a May-mini. On to happier news. . . I came home late last night to find my good looking guy mopping our kitchen floor. Old school way! He rocks! I got me a good'un. Yes, sir. Mas fotos luego. Hasta.

LTC. . . LTC. . . LTC. . . LTC

We had a blast!!! We took four of our kids to Dallas to the Leadership Training for Christ event this weekend. Let me tell you it was exhausting! We had so much fun, though. It seemed everywhere I went I saw someone that I knew or I heard someone yelling my name from across the room. Kinda cool! Our four kids did great! They did puppets, chorus, drama and Bible bowl. We really need to improve our Bible bowl for next year. .. . . so we're starting on the book of John on Sunday. We're going to draw the scenes out and really take our time to get an idea of what's going on. That way we won't be so pressured to cram a whole book into three weeks. We didn't do to shabby for our first time at it though. Here are some pictures.

This is Before we began. 37 trees ago.

Welcome to the Jungle!!!

As promised. . . here are some comparison pictures from before we started with the trees until now. We still have so much to do!! Leaves, leaves, leaves!!! The before pictures were in summer and I took the after pictures today. So the greenery and summer leaves are not there today. . . but, I think you'll notice a difference.

After. . . ahhhhh!!!

Stormi's bridal shower was Sunday at Granny's house. She had a house just full of great folks. She also made a haul. Stormi's wedding is the 29th of March. We're excited for her. She's going to marry an Irishman. I just like to say that!!! Here are some pictures of Stormi's shower.

In other news. . . . The storm is over. We had a rough two days. We're still afloat, but it was a little uneasy for a little while. Monday afternoon we had a tornado warning four miles from our house. As the time neared for the tornado . . . here came the hail. It was small. . . pea or marble size, but lots of it. No damage. We survived two days of that mess. We're all fine now. God has let the beautiful sunshine come out. It looks great!!! Oh, the trees. . . let me just show you the difference. Two years ago and today. Excuse the ugly leaves in the yard. . . we were waiting for the tree guys to finish so that we could begin putting down grass. So, the yard hasn't been the priority. I'll post pictures later.

LTC is right around the corner!!!

Ready or not!!! We have a group of 4 third and fourth graders from OUR side. The "white people" side as the kids call it. . .has very many more kids ready to go. We're excited about our four. The kids asked me the other day if I was 1/2 (meaning 1/2 Hispanic and 1/2 white). I laughed for about 10 minutes straight!! I'll post some pictures after we get back. I'm coaching the puppets. They rock!!

On other news. . . .we're currently getting our trees trimmed. It's been a process. Since we've moved in, we've cut down 37 trees. I am by no means a tree hater. I LOVE trees and their shade in the hot Texas sun. . . but we had soooooo many that the grass cound't grow. Well now we're looking better. We still have tons of trees. I'll post the pictures later.

Our Super Super Super Super-Bowl Party Mexican Style





We were in Satillo, Tamaulipas, Mexico for the super bowl. My husband was so disapointed when he found out that we were going to be away from a DVR during that weekend. However, we had one of the best super bowl parties ever!! We left the church building and headed to a taqueria to eat some amazing tacos. AND. . . they had the super bowl! Jorge was a crazy man! He was jumping here and there and yelling. The yelling took place in English and in Spanish. He was so glad that the Giants won. It was hilarious. We heard the game broadcast in Spanish. We saw the last 4 minutes. That was enough. Here are some pictures.

Chavela priming our built-ins. Yes, built-ins-we're keeping them. Free furniture, people!!

So. . . . here's what's been going on at our house. We don't have the trim up yet. . . waiting on our bedroom to be finished before we show the end product. The muslim look is to cover up my nose and mouth for the dust. I have some "issues" that's what Jorge says anyway. Allergies. I'm not converting, don't worry!

I went home early yesterday from school.
I have 102 degree fever. No, it is not the flu. Don't know what it is. But I DON'T run fever. I still have fever now, though. I'm becoming a part of the coutch. Jorge has just been super. He's so kind. So, I'm camped out here in the living room with my drugs and I'm missing the 100th day of kindergarten . . . . the show must go on. Let me catch up and I'll post some pictures soon. I have quite a few. Jorge and I have been remodeling our home s l o w l y, very slowly! But, we're gettin' it done. My in-laws are so awesome. Jose (my favorite father-in-law painter) has been helping us tear down panelling, scrape popcorn ceilings, tape and bed, mud, and retexture. Oh, and paint too!! We have one room done and the other just needs to be painted. We're doing one room at a time so that I won't go nuts. It might just be working.
I'm taking two grad classes this semester. One is great, the other is going to test me. Much more on that later. So, Paige, Neil, and Andrea, I've updated a little.