Les 'n Linz

The first week

2009-08-28T18:28:00.000-07:00

Well I survived...but just barely.

I had it so nice last year and I didn't even realize it. I was actually able to see all my kids every day and be every where that I needed to be but that is a thing of the past. We have gotten quite a few new students with some very high needs and my world has been turned upside down. I am really worried about what will happen when Angela goes on maternity leave in about 2 weeks...It's gonna be a rough year.

Luckily I work with the sweetest kids in the whole world and I'm always happy to see them and be around them...that makes a huge difference...I wouldn't give a single one of them up :-)

Apparently I work in one of the fastest growing subdivisions in the school district...I can't even imagine what lies ahead. But I'm sure I'll get through it.

Costa Rica

2009-08-22T08:08:00.000-07:00

Our house was in a little cove where the boats would "dock" but they didn't have an actual dock they just anchored the boats off-shore and would go out when it was low tide.

They sunsets were amazing.

During rainy season they have dramatic tides so when it was high tide there were some pretty good swells for about 4 hours so Les and I would go out and body surf. It was so fun.

There were several howler monkeys that lived in the trees around our house. They were really cute to look at but a little annoying when they started howling in the middle of the night.

We rented a car and drove over to Arenal where there is an active volcano. It was a little cloudy so we couldn't see the very top but it was still neat.

Les posing out in front of the Arenal Lake that we had to drive around to get to the volcano.

This is the hammock on our porch where I did the majority of my book reading.

This is our little path to the beach. Our house was surrounded by trees, it was so peaceful and relaxing.

This is a cool pic of a volcanoe from the airplane.

Finished!

2009-05-08T18:40:00.000-07:00

Well I'm finally DONE! Done, done, done, done, done...well......for now.

My name is Lindsey and I am an addict...I think I'm ready to quit but in the back of my mind I know I will go back...

Most of you already know my drug of choice is school...I like it so much I made it my career...lol

I've already looked into a few programs that I may start in the fall so you will probably see more from me...

...but for now my graduation is May 15th. I'm pretty excited...it seems a little surreal because it came so fast

On a more serious note, I am so blessed to work with such a loving, thoughtful co-teacher. She surprised me on Thursday with a mini-graduation party at our faculty meeting. I was a little embarrassed because I had no idea what she had planned but I was also very appreciative...its so nice to work with people who just care about you and do those little things to make you feel special.

More Pics From Italy

2009-04-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

Well I promised to post more pictures from Italy but I kept forgetting...so here they are...hope you enjoy :-)

The Duomo from the top of the bell tower

The Baptistery at the Piazza del Duomo

St. Paul's Basilica

The Trevi Fountain at night...it was absolutely gorgeous!

The outside walls at Pompeii...a city from around 400 B.C. that was preserved by the ash of Mount Vesuvius

A beautiful basilica we passed on the way to Pompei

The town of Luca is one of the most beautiful historic Tuscan towns in the area...its like something out of a movie

The view from the top of the bell tower at the Duomo

The coastline at Naples

An amazing groto at the Medici Palace

This was a very strange statue of a famous midget riding a turtle?... so Les and Ethan thought they should "Do as the Roman's Do"

Famous Labyrinth

The view from the top of the tower of Pisa

The famous Bronze doors outside of the Duomo Baptistry in Florence called the "Gates of Paradise"

...there were so many things to see and take pictures of I can't even remember what all of it was but it has gotten me so interested in Roman History and the Renasaince Period. I

Slumber party at Aunt Lindsey's!

2009-03-31T19:56:00.000-07:00

So I went and picked up Lindsey and Holly on Saturday night so we could have a little slumber party. I was a little worried...I had never had either of them spend the night and certaintly not at the same time but I am pretty resiliant so I thought "how hard could it be." Luckily they are the easiest little girlies to please...Holly chased Darwin around and fed him crackerrs while Lindsey sat and talked, and talked, and talked...and then snuggled with Uncle Les. It was really fun and I can't wait to do it again except the dirty diapers...I could do without that part :-) haha!

The trip of a Lifetime!...

2009-03-24T16:13:00.000-07:00

This is when we were climbing the bell tower....over 400 steps....exhausting

In front of some really cool old doors... Les is too cool for me :-)

The chains that the Apostle Peter was bound with

The view from the top of the Tower of Pisa

Les and Me in Florence

Playing around in the Boboli Gardens at the Medici Palace

I'm trying to kiss a wild boar...can you beleive they actually eat wild boar...strange

Allison and I just had to get some amazing Italian Shoes :-) And mine are made from Italian Leather...we only had to stop in about 100 shops before we found the perfect ones.

The Moses...one of Michelangelo's first sculptings...he created this when he was only 24...amazing!

Outside of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican Square

The Tuscan countryside

A really amazing walkway through the trees

Pisa...that's extreme!

I'm so strong...

Les decided to use his amazing kickboxing skills

Florence...this is the only remaining original bridge from before WWI...all the others were destroyed

....this is just a small taste of the amazing trip we took. I wish I could have taken you all with me; it was the vacation of a lifetime and I am officially interested in history now!

I plan to put up more pictures later but I don't want to overwhelm you with hundreds of pictures at once, lol :-)

Mavericks' Game

2009-03-01T15:20:00.000-08:00

One of the exciting things about living in this area is all the pro-sports organizations. We love the Cowboys, Mavericks, and Rangers, and we always talk about going to their games but then we get too busy and forget. So Les decided "spur of the moment" that we would go to a Mavs game this weekend. He got online and bought some tickets...

but he couldn't just buy tickets...he had to get some really awesome tickets... on the 8th row

I had only been to a Mavs game once before and we sat in the very very top so this was pretty exciting.

We had a great time!

Spring Break

2009-02-15T18:34:00.000-08:00

I've waited long enough,
I think its time to tell,
No one got it right so....
It will be a fanTastic Adventure in a Land far awaY.

I am so excited!!!!

Jewlrey

2009-02-08T15:56:00.001-08:00

NewsFlash!!!

Jane Anne (Les' mom) and I have started making jewelry. We are going into business together (in our dreams) and we plan to sale jewelry. I have made about 13 necklaces so far and I absolutely love it. It is very calming and I feel very creative while I am making the necklaces. I posted a slide show of some of the necklaces but the pictures don't really do them justice. Tell me what you think :-)

Spring Break

2009-02-07T20:54:00.000-08:00

Can you guess where we are going for spring break?

Bet you can't...and you'll be so jealous :-)

...a huge prize is waiting for anyone who gets this one right

...not really just the warm feeling you get inside knowing you're a better guesser than everyone else

School, school and more school

2009-02-07T20:29:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'm finding it a little hard to keep up with this. It seems everyone else is constantly posting new blogs; I will try my best to keep up the pace.

I started my last semester of school! Yay life. I am taking statistics; I was incredibly nervous but all my fears disappeared within the fisrt 30 minutes of class when I realized my professor is an incredibly old man who loses track of what he is saying and wants us to know everything that he has every learned and is committed to making sure everyone earns an A or B...should be interesting.

A great quote from my stats professor, "I am confident I can learn anything you are able to explain." And really that is usually the issue; its not how difficult the material is, its just how good you are at explaining it. If someone is not learning the info, you need to reevaluate your instruction.

My other class is about social skills and it is great. The professor is a principal at an behavior unit and she has some great insight into students who have extreme behaviors. Students with emotional behavior disorders do not value the same behavior as adults and teachers such as being considerate of others, disagreeing with adults appropriatly, and several others. Punishing the behavior out of the kid is not the answer; the only way to make long term changes in the childs behavior is to help them see the value in those behaviors that you are asking them to use.

Anyways...I thought is was interesting...

A result of peer pressure

2009-01-24T12:32:00.000-08:00

So I have been getting these "check out my blog spot" emails for several months now and it seems to be spreading like the stomach bug Kisha took to Monahans a couple of weeks ago: from leanne, to kisha, then mom, and now even maebeth is doing it. I guess I will jump on the bandwagon...I feel jealous every time I look at everyone's blog spots :-) So to start my blog I would like to say WOW! I cannot believe how fast time is flying...I feel like my school year just began a few weeks ago and now we are well on our way into the second semester; I'm worried if I blink the school year will be over and I will be missing my kiddos and reminiscing about my first year of teaching. I guess that is just another one of the results of growing older.
I am in my last semester of my masters program and I am very excited, relieved, surprised that it has gone by so fast, and wondering what form of education I should pursue next. I think I will always be thirsty for more knowledge; it can be addictive to say the least. Les just started his first semester of his masters in administration through Lamar. He will be able to get the enitre degree online in about a year and a half so that is really exciting and he plans on becoming an assistant principal when he finishes. He has a few friends who have gone through the program and they all say its really good. We are both enjoying our jobs very much; we love were we work, who we work with, our students, the subjects we teach, and the things we are learning in our first year. I feel so blessed to think we both ended up in the perfect schools for this time in our lives. I'm still not sure how we pulled it off :-) We are also enjoying our wonderful house and NO roommates. I can't even believe that we spent the first 41/2 years of our marriage living with roommates...how did we do it? I dunno? But it is wonderful living on our own with just our puppies. I am starting to get annoyed with the cleaning though; I can't seem to do any during the week, so I spend my saturday mornings cleaning and its getting old, but I guess it is worth it. I'm just glad we didin't go with a bigger house..then I would really be hating life right now :-)

Okay in response to Leanne's post here are 10 honest things about me:

1. I have been known to eat an entire bag of family sized Ruffles with ranch dip...on my own...during the course of 1 football game...
needless to say I try not to keep those figure killing items in the pantry :-)
2. A poll reported that the number one past-time for people driving on their own is...picking your nose...I'm guilty...I admit it (don't act like you're so innocent) Luckily I have a bottle of hand sanitizer in my purse
3. I crossed over to the dark side and voted for Obama (no pun intended)...your not alone in this one Leanne :-) Only time will tell if it was a good decision but I am thoroughly convinced...sorry mom&dad :-)
4. After being around crazy kids all day I begin taking on some of their personality traits and quirks...its weird and I don't know why it happens...but I feel sorry for my husband when it does
5. I watch You've Got Mail every single time it comes on...I've probably seen it over a hundred times and I still can't get enough...it's one of my all time favorite movies.
6. I get angry when people around me are hurt or sick...I always feel bad afterwards but I secretly think everyone is faking it or milking it...I'm working on this one...sorry
7. I love hot food...really really hot food...I put ground red pepper in almost everything I cook even if it doens't make sense and Les is probably getting sick of it
8. I'm a workaholic
9. I want to be the best at everything I do
10. Though I have been a loyal fan of Diet Dr. Pepper for about 5 years I recently switched to Coke Zero; it tastes exactly like regular coke and it is soooo good.

There you go..that's as honest as it gets, and that's all I got