The Proposal

Well, 2009 is off to a great start so far!

The Proposal (I warn you, it's long.  I decided I could write as much as I wanted because you can choose how much you want to read!!)

On December 19, the last day of school before the holiday vacation, Travis came to school and managed to let all the office staff, my 8th period class, and about 15 other faculty members know that he was planning to propose to me that afternoon instead of just talking with my students (like we had planned!).  He came in the front office to check in, and then he asked the office staff for help with his plan.  They eagerly (with lots of screaming, I was told...) pitched in to help and came up with a plan to get me out of my room long enough for him to fill the kids in on the plan as well.  By the time one of the APs had walked him down to my room 15 minutes later, about half the school knew what was going on, and several teachers were waiting down a hallway near my room for me to leave so they could sneak in!  I, of course, had no idea this was going on and was eagerly waiting his arrival in my classroom.  The kids were going nuts, it was the day before a holiday, and I was ready to get to vacation!  When he finally came down to my room, I was a little confused why he was escorted down by an assistant principal, but was quickly distracted by a co-worker running in and begging for my help in an emergency.  I couldn't believe that she was asking me to leave the room after I had been waiting all day for him to get to school!  But, after making the kids promise to be nice to him, I left the room.

I was dragged next door and discovered that the "emergency" was a serious game of hangman that couldn't be solved.  I was a little upset, but started to play along; I couldn't quite figure out why this was important...  So I guessed "A".  The students who were running the game got excited because, yes, there was an A, but then they made me wait while they checked the dictionary to see where it was in the twenty letter word they had on the board.  When that happened, I was done; I couldn't wait another second to get back to my room, so I left.

My door was closed and locked (weird, I had left it open...), and when I finally got in the room, all my students were sitting at strict attention in their desks, and at least 20 teachers, secretaries, and the principal were sitting in my room.  Some thoughts that instantly went through my confused mind: Why on earth was Susan crying? Why are all these people here?  You know, I really didn't think Travis was going to be that interesting!  How did they know he was coming?  I was so throughly convinced that I wasn't getting proposed to (more stories about Travis' clever deceptions later), that I didn't even consider it as an option!

So, while my kids were being so quiet and attentive, Travis started his speech.  He was in his flight suit and started out by introducing himself and saying that I had asked him to come and talk to them about math (I had to have a good excuse, right??).  I settled down, convinced he was just going to say what we had planned.  So, his speech continued something like this....

"Well, guys, I was planning to talk to you about math, but I figured you guys have had enough of that for today.  And, Ms. Kinley told me that I could talk about anything that I wanted, as long as I didn't embarass her.  So, I have decided to completely ignore her request.  Ms. Kinley, would you please come to the front of the room?"

I couldn't believe it.  He called me up to the front of the room, took my hands, and got down on one knee, right there in front of everyone.  As soon as he did that, all the kids in the class yelled out "Will you marry me?" at the top of their lungs.  Everyone was laughing, crying, and generally being excited.  I was so overwhelmed and shocked that I couldn't believe it; I started shaking with excitement and couldn't stop smiling.  All of a sudden, Travis says, "wait, hold on a minute.  I forgot the ring!"  He had to get up and run over to my desk, dig the ring out of his bag, and come back to kneel down again.

I said yes!

It was just about the most wonderful thing ever.  All the little girls in my class swarmed around us, staring at me like I was the most amazing thing they had ever seen.  Teachers and staff kept streaming into the room, congratulating me and giving me hugs.  Students from my other classes were coming in to see what was happening; students I didn't know were stopping by to congratulate me! (For anyone who works in a school, we all know how fast news can travel!)  I couldn't believe it had happened and was so excited!  Needless to say, it was an amazing start to my vacation!

Travis and I were lucky enough to get to spend our entire two week vacation together, visiting our families in Houston and Dallas and then traveling to New York with my family.  It was an amazing time, and I enjoyed every minute of it.  It was so hard to come back to Austin alone on Sunday!

So, now the planning and fun can all begin!!!  What a great way to spend the majority of the new year!!  And all my kids wanted to hear the story and see the ring again on Monday, so I got to relive all the excitement again at work.  I can't wait to see what the future will hold!

Happy New Year to everyone!

Christmas Party and Volleyball

And....the holidays have officially begun.  My mom had her big Christmas party this weekend, with all the food, people, and decorations that I remember from every year she has had this party.  It was so much fun, and I loved having the chance to catch up with so many people!  I haven't seen some of my friends in Houston in a long time, so it was great to get to see them again!

I had the Christmas party on my calendar for months, so it was a definite part of my plans for this weekend.  The only problem was, after I was assigned my volleyball team, I learned that I had a volleyball tournament scheduled for this weekend too!  So, Travis and I left Austin on Saturday morning, drove to Houston, helped set up for the party, ate lots of food, and then drove back to Austin again on Saturday night.  I had to show up for the tournament at 7:15am in Austin.  Needless to say, it was a long night!  Travis drove me back from Houston, and I stayed awake as long as I could, but ended up sleeping in the car for about an hour.  Neither of us remember much about the drive, but we made it safely home at about 1:45am.

Then, at 6am, my alarm went off, and I got ready to coach in my first volleyball tournament of the season.  I showed up to the gym at 7:15am for the scheduled coach's meeting, which ended up not happening until 7:45am.  Boo.  My team showed up, stretched, and got ready to play our first game at nine.  We played two games in a row, had a quick break, kept the score for the next game, and then played again.  For our first tournament, we did pretty well.  I figured out the positions I want the girls to play and the rotations I will probably use for the rest of the season.  We only won one game, but I saw some great playing going on!  The rest of the season should be pretty good.  Luckily, our next tournament isn't until the middle of January, so we will have several practices before then to work on our skills as a team.

Travis came to watch our last game of the morning and then we went out for lunch before he headed back to San Antonio.  I went home and crashed on the couch.  I ended up sleeping for about five hours!  So, I haven't finished grading my tests from Friday (two out of three classes are finished), I don't know what I am teaching tomorrow, I don't have a gift for my secret Santa, and I didn't get anything done that I wanted to get done this afternoon, but I did have a really nice nap. :o)  Luckily, this is the last week before Christmas break, so I don't have TOO much going on, but it will be busy.  Progress reports are due Tuesday and several kids are in trouble because of the test they just took.  Grades aren't what I thought they would be, which just means I will get to talk to parents all week about those grades.  *sigh*

BUT....good news!  In five days, I will be on vacation for two weeks!  And this vacation includes a trip to Houston, my grandparent's house, Travis' brother's house, and NEW YORK!  So, I will make it through these next five days so I can enjoy the holidays!

Only five days to go...

Back to work...

After a wonderful and fabulous Thanksgiving break, it was SO hard to go back to work!!  I spent a whole week doing nothing but shopping, eating, and relaxing, and for the first time, I was finished with almost all of my Christmas shopping before Christmas!!  I ate lots of turkey, spent lots of time with the family and Travis, and refused to do any school work.  (Well, I did have to finish grading quizzes, but I did that before I left town and it didn't take me more than 45 minutes, so I don't count that as working over vacation!)  So, needless to say, going back to work on Monday was no fun!  I had all my lesson plans made, and the topic we are doing for the next few weeks is really easy, so I don't really have much work to do right now.  The kids are still a little woozy from break and seem to have forgotten how to behave in a classroom, so today I laid out the rules again and had to be mean (no talking (period, at all, zip, zero, nada), raise hands for everything, etc).  It wasn't fun, but it sure has made things easier for me!  It's amazing what we can get done when they are quiet and are forced to listen to my lovely voice.  I am trying to remember that they are only 13 and really don't think about things from a grown-up point of view.  Hopefully we can all make it through the next two and a half weeks without going crazy!

Overall, though, I don't have much to do right now.  I have everything planned and copied for the next three weeks; all the tests and quizzes are written (thanks to my department).  All I really have to do is show up every day, make sure my kids learn something, and keep a smile on my face.  One of my free periods has been taken away due to the computation blitz we are doing for the kids who can't do things like add, subtract, multiply and divide.  So basically, for 12 days, they are going to sit with me and do problem after problem...after problem...over and over and over again.  (Yes, it is as boring as it sounds.)  And, I am working the basketball games after school on Mondays, which involves flipping two switches (one for the time, one for the possession clock) and adding points on the scoreboard.  Oh, yes, and also a LOT of laughing at the attempts of 7th graders to play basketball.  (This makes me remember my own, young sports experiences and I want to give a shout out here to everyone who was ever forced to watch me play sports...I hope you had a good laugh and I love you even more for having the patience to show up time and time again...)  Here are some pictures to spark those hilarious memories...

Softball memories from 6th grade (I think)...

Volleyball...check out the "cool" uniforms...hand-me downs from the high school!

Showing off our beautiful, giant, purple mouthguards the basketball players were forced to wear!  And again, check out the "awesome" uniforms...

So, since I don't have to focus on anything for school, I have had time to do other fun things like decorating my house for Christmas!!!  I spent a couple of hours on Monday night moving the furniture around and putting up my decorations.  It was so fun to pull out my three huge boxes of decorations and open up all the stuff I packed away last year!  I didn't even remember all the new stuff I bought at the end of the season last year, so it felt like Christmas opening it all up again!  It's not a lot of stuff, but it sure is cute!  Here are a couple of pictures...

And, my club volleyball practices have started, and yesterday I was assigned to my team.  I am coaching the 14 Pink (pink??  PINK?? really?!?) this year, so it will be a lot different than the 12s team I am used to coaching.  The kids are older and more experienced so the games should be a lot more fun, and I am looking forward to that!  I was not excited about the color pink, but it is what the girls wanted, so here I am.  My club director even bought me pink tennis shoes and threatened to buy me a pink backpack too.  Yikes.  Anyways, our first tournament is coming up on December 14th in Austin.  Not a lot of time to practice before then, but we should be okay.  The girls are pretty good players already, so it will just be a matter of getting them to play as a team.  I am looking forward to a fun season!

So, now the countdown to Christmas break has begun...12 more school days until we are off for two weeks!

TCU vs. Air Force

Travis and Eric, his best friend from the Academy, came to visit this weekend.  We hung out in Austin on Friday night with Katie and took Eric downtown for his first Austin experience.  (He is from Georgia and hasn't been to Texas before, until he moved to San Antonio for his instructor training.  He is in the same class as Travis, and will be stationed in Oklahoma after he is done with the training.)  We had a blast!  The next day, we drove to Fort Worth for the TCU vs. Air Force game.  We met up with a couple of my friends from college and had a great time hanging out with them!

JJ, Sperry, Jen, and the giant wool gloves I had to borrow because my hands were freezing!

The boys were in their Air Force blues and stood out well among all the purple!

Their team struggled, and TCU won 44-10.  Air Force did score one touchdown in the third quarter, and Travis and Eric went crazy!  It was pretty funny; they were screaming and cheering right in the middle of the quiet TCU student section.

Travis and his friend Eric

During halftime, my friends and I took a walk up to the highest part of the stadium to watch the halftime show.  Then, as we were walking back at the beginning of third quarter, we passed the guy who was holding the falcon (Air Force's mascot!!).  We got to pet the bird - it was pretty cool.  It was wearing a helmet (that made it look like a giant mosquito) so it wouldn't get scared in the crowd of people.

After dinner, we met up with some of my other friends for dinner and then we went to one of the sports bars in town to watch the Texas Tech vs. Oklahoma game.  We left at halftime when the score was 42-7 (or something like that) and went to my friend Jen's house to watch the rest.  We played with her dogs and watched the rest of Oklahoma's massacre of Tech.   Exhausted, we all found places to sleep, and then we had to leave early the next morning to get the boys back to San Antonio on time.  (They had a meeting.)

And now, I am enjoying my entire week off from work.  Today and tomorrow, I am Christmas shopping and running errands.  Then, heading to Houston to spend some time with my family and Travis' mom!  It should be fun.

Happy Thanksgiving week everyone!

Weekend Update!

This past weekend was so much fun!  With all the craziness going on at school this year, I am really taking the time to enjoy the weekends and do something besides work.  So, this past weekend, Travis came down to Austin to visit.  I graded tests on Friday until he got here, and then we went to the store to buy dinner.  We made two different pizzas, one supreme pizza and one barbeque chicken pizza with homemade barbeque sauce on it.  They were delicious, and they were a lot of fun to cook.  Then, we watched the most recent James Bond movie, Casino Royale, with Daniel Craig as Bond.  His fabulous blue eyes were quite a distraction, but the movie was great.  Then, on Saturday, we went to see the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.  Again, majorly distracted by the blue eyes, but I thought it was a good movie.  Then, we walked around the mall until I found a shirt to wear for our excursion that night.  (The weather turned COLD and I realized I had no warm clothes to wear!!)

I found a sweater and we went home to change and head to Gruene, Texas, a little city in between San Antonio and Austin.  We met up with a couple of Travis' friends at a restaurant in Gruene for dinner, and then we stood in line outside of Gruene Hall to get in for the Stoney LaRue concert.  It was freezing, but the line went pretty fast and we were able to get in before the show sold out.  We stayed until the concert was over around 1:30am and then Travis and I drove back to Austin.  The concert was a blast and it was fun to hang out with the guys from the base in San Antonio.   A couple of the guys had driven all the way from Del Rio, so it was fun to see them and hang out with them for the night.

On Sunday, we sat around and watched some football until about 1:30pm when Katie called and was ready to go to lunch.  The three of us went to the Cheesecake Factory and had a great lunch together.  Then, Travis had to head back to San Antonio, so Katie and I hung around and chatted for about half an hour after he left.

Then I went home and finished grading the tests and entering the grades (which took a total of 15 minutes).  It was a very relaxing weekend!  And this week is a pretty light week, since it is the week before Thanksgiving, so I am pretty excited.  I am spending tomorrow (Tuesday) out of the classroom for some training, so the week is going to feel pretty short.  On Thursday and Friday, though, I have to work the basketball tournament that is being held at our school.  Then, Travis and his friends (who all went to the Air Force Academy for college) are coming on Friday night to hang out in Austin, and then we are driving up to Fort Worth to go to the TCU vs. Air Force football game on Saturday.  It should be really fun!!  We are staying with a couple of my friends from college, and I am really excited to see them!

And, as a little side note, since the weather has finally gotten colder, Mr. Ed has become more snuggly and loveable!  He is currently curled up in my lap, sleeping and snoring like a baby!

Only four more days until Thanksgiving break!

Final School Volleyball Update

We played our last game of the season on Thursday against our rival school.  The games were pretty good, and I was impressed at the playing I saw on the court.  My B team won their game in three, grueling games; my A team lost.  Overall, my A team finished 3rd in the district, with a record of 5-3.  My B team ended up tying with two other schools for first place in the district with a record of 7-1.  I am so excited!  We now get to have a banner in the gym for the volleyball team.  It is my first banner to win, and the first volleyball banner for my school.   Whoo hoo!  Go team!

And volleyball is officially over.  Basketball tryouts start on Monday!

Travis' birthday!

Monday was Travis' birthday, so I took Tuesday off from work so we could actually do something fun and stay up late!  (My school night bedtime is usually around 9pm...a hard thing to do when you want to go out to dinner and celebrate!)  So, when I got home from work on Monday, we took our time getting ready and went out to dinner downtown at Fogo de Chao.  If you have never been there, it is a must for any special occasion!!  There aren't any menus; once you are seated, you can start at the salad bar (which is always fancy and amazing).  Then, once you are ready for more, you flip over a little green disk on your table, and waiters carrying huge skewers of all different types of meat will start coming by your table.  They will carve off a piece of whatever you want and put it on your plate.  When you have enough, you flip the disk over to the red side, and the waiters stop coming.  After you eat what you have and want more, flip the disk again, and the waiters will come by and ask which meats you want delivered.  It is a great way to eat dinner!  We had a great time.  Then we came home and watched Ironman, and I *gasp* stayed up until midnight on a school night! :o)

After a glorious and wonderful sleep in (so fabulous not to have to go to work!!), we went for lunch and to spend some of the birthday money he got from his mom.  Then, we washed his truck, as it was almost orangish brown (instead of the red it usually is!).  The drive from Del Rio to San Antonio is laden with butterflies and dirt flying in the air, and after a couple of drives, it was time for a wash!

And, because Travis had most of his belongings with him in his truck, we took his golf clubs and went to a driving range.  It was my second time to play golf, and I didn't do too badly.  Luckily I was with someone who knew how to correct the mistakes I was making, and I actually had a few good swings.  When it came time for a little competition, though, I couldn't hit anything, and Travis won our distance contest!

Then we stopped by the 8th grade football game, just for some laughs.  Both teams ended up winning, which was pretty exciting.  I also got to see some of my club volleyball girls that I coached two years ago.  They were there watching the other school play, and we are playing against them tomorrow in volleyball!  I got some great big hugs and we chatted for a while.

Then Travis and I packed up his truck again, and he got on the road for San Antonio.  He's living on the base there until he can find a house to rent with his friends!  The fact that he could wait to leave Austin until 7:30pm was pretty cool, since now, for the next several months, we have only an hour and a half drive between us!!

So, a fun birthday and a nice day off in the middle of the week.  Going back to work, of course, was pretty difficult today, but luckily it was a half day for the students, so the day went by pretty quickly.  After the kids left, I spent the rest of the day with the math teachers, planning and writing tests and quizzes.  Fuuuun.  (Actually, it was good to get a lot of stuff done.  I planned up to the week after Christmas!!)

And, tomorrow is my last volleyball game of the season!  I am pretty excited.  I love volleyball, and I love my team, but practicing every day and having games every week for 9 weeks is starting to wear a little thin.  So, last game tomorrow, no practice Friday, turn in uniforms on Monday and Tuesday, work the basketball tryouts for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and THEN I am officially in offseason.  Then, except for working the clock at the games on Mondays, I won't have anything to do for athletics until track season starts in February.  Whoo!

Two crazy hectic weeks until Thanksgiving!  A whole week off!  Yay!