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xmas party @ preschool.

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the semester is over! norma

the semester is over! norma and i are having lunch to celebrate. :)

"Is it warm in here? Or is that my wallet?"

Yes, my wallet is burning up. We spent a huge chunk of money on a new furnace tonight. Took them about 5 hours to install it.

It seems like everything is wearing out in this house at the same time. Washer & Dryer, Microwave, Garage Door, Fence, Big Screen... all been replaced in the last two years. The saying, "They don't make 'em like they used to"... it is true!

So although life at home has been a little crazy (Aidan has slept with us for the past week because it's been too cold for him to be upstairs in his room without heat), school has been amazingly great. We had 15 visitors come in from Klein school district yesterday to visit and observe our AVID classes. It went great. At the end of the day we had a meeting with them and they discussed what they saw. Their curriculum director said, "I have toured and visited schools that are up for National Demonstration status in AVID, You guys are KICKING THEIR BUTTS." I almost fell out of my chair.

It was a very cool day. I will take it where I can get it. :)

Today I gave two finals and just felt so thankful all day to have the kind of students that I have in class to work with. I am a very lucky guy. (even though my wallet is a little lighter tonight)

houston weather. snowed this week, now 70! crazy. no wonder we r all sick.

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Santa Breakfast @ AHS

We had a Santa Breakfast at our school this morning, sponsored by the National Honor Society. Aidan had a nice time, but he was soooo shy. All the pretty girls in santa hats just set him off. He kept hiding behind my leg most of the time.





He had a nice time listening to the choir, orchestra and seeing all the other little kids there. But, he didn't go near Santa Claus. One of my former students was dressed up in the Red/White with the beard, pretty funny). We kept trying to get Aidan up there, but he refused. He was too shy. Such is the life of a 4 year-old.


I hope they do it again next year. They did a super job with it.

Aidan's Pic on Chron Site

I loaded Aidan's picture up to the Houston Chronicle Newspaper's website. You can view it here:
Aidan With Snowball

Wanted to share all the fun with everyone in Houston. We have all been having a little "Winter Wonderland." It doesn't come often! According to the Chronicle site: "Since 1895, records indicate, snow has fallen this early just once — on Dec. 10, 1944." Snow Surprises Houston-area residents Norma (and most of my students) will say that it snowed on Christmas Eve 2004... but, I don't think that counts. It was more a little sleet than snow. This was real and it actually was on the ground.

I never thought I'd see it. But, then again we have an African-American president. Anything can happen! :)

"It looks like Christmas Town!"

I told you it was cold!

It snowed tonight, and I mean REALLY snowed for the first time since we have lived here - since 1994. It is really amazing. I am still shaking my head about it. Aidan had a ball!


Snow balls! The snow was so perfect that it packed into snow balls. I couldn't believe it. Heavy, wet and perfectly 'packable.'



Aidan threw a snowball for the first time in his life. He said to me a few weeks ago, "Daddy, I want to see snow." I felt bad, but I said, "Son, I'm sorry. We don't live in a place that it snows. It may never snow in Houston in your lifetime." Guess Daddy isn't so smart! Less than a month later, he's licking snow out of the air. His comment was, "It tastes like lemons!" I'm not sure what that means.



Aidan said, "Daddy, it's just like Christmas Town." He was thinking about "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." It really made me smile.



A crazy night. We went to Target and bought an electric blanket. We have no heat because our heater isn't working. Dude is going to come and fix it tomorrow, but for tonight we wanted Aidan to be warm. So he's sleeping in our bed and we'll have a nice cuddly and warm blanket to keep us resting comfortably tonight. Tomorrow the heat will be fixed and we'll probably never need the blanket again!



What a night. We were driving back from Target and people were outside taking pictures on cell phones like crazy. It made me wonder if the cell phone companies saw a spike in texting and pic sending tonight! Tomorrow morning we have 'late arrival' for the kids. We always do on Thursday mornings. From 7 to 9 the teachers are in meetings, so the kids stay home until then. Then we have periods 2, 4 and 6. This gives teachers and opportunity to plan and meet. And tomorrow it'll give students the chance to get out in their yards, have snowball fights and they are going to be pretty wild come 9 am!

78 to 32

The high temp yesterday in Houston - 78 degrees.

Right now at 5:00 pm it is 34 degrees.

It is cold.

And our heating system in the house is not working :(

I bought pot pies. Good meal on a cold night. :)

We will be snuggling, blanketed up and trying to stay warm.

World History Castle Projects

These are some of our Castle Projects from the Middle Ages unit. The kids did a great job this year. It was a lot of fun to hear their descriptions of their castles and their essays have been outstanding. I would say, "Best Castle Projects - EVER." :)


Castle Project 2008 from fordee on Vimeo.

Project Description Slideshow:

Castle Project

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Blogging...

When on the computer communicating what is going on in my world to others, learning what is happening in the rest of the world (and setting up my fantasy football teams)... this is what it looks like:



Exciting huh?
Norma snapped this shot of me after school one day this week.

Santa's Farm 2008

Tonight we took a trip to the Kingwood High School FFA barn for their annual "Santa's Farm." It was a lot of fun. Aidan loved seeing all the animals. Our favorite photo is this one:

Totally cracks me up. He was yelling, thinking the pig was going to get him.

It was fun.

Santa's Farm 2008 from fordee on Vimeo.