December 2006 (and a little bit of January 2007)

Craziness. December was a crazy month. Between weddings, wrapping up the semester, and vacation, I felt like I was all over the place. I was ready for a break from the holiday season and to get back into a routine. But here are a few photos from the month.

Here are the 2nd and 3rd graders in front of our class Christmas tree. L to R: Yareli, Asael, Angel, and Gilberto. One thing stunk. I missed the party day because I was deathly ill. :( So sorry, no pictures of that.

My Best friend's Wedding. One of my dearest friends and roomate Molly, got married in December. I flew home for the wedding and had a super weekend with friends.

Christmas and New Years. I got to spend a week with my family in Hereford and a week seeing friends in Dallas. It was a much needed time of rest and socializing. (not a super social life here, but that is not really a complaint, because that, too, can be exhausting :)

Sister Abby and her husband Michael and the nephew Ebeneezer.

One sees many intersting things when driving through the Texas panhandle, and I'm not talking about my sister Rachel in this picture.

Good Friends at the Sushi bar. I brought back pictures of the sushi rolls to show my students, and they said I was disgusting. I told them, "Well, at least I don't eat cow intestines." Oooo, got 'em with the menudo!

November 2006

Date Night. To encourage the kids to foster healthy relationships with each other, the missionary Deanna, created Date Night. All the kids 13 and up were allowed to ask a a person to "dinner and a movie." The boys picked up their dates and paid for the food. The restaurant Arturo's Pizzaria was created, and Arturo and Martha were the host and waitress. I got to be the photographer. :) It was lots of fun.

Here are a few "around the school" pics so you can see what it looks like. Doesn't our big orange building rock!? Here the kids are waiting in line for lunch.That dog is our "guard dog" Hershey in the picture. She has little to no energy and is a bit stinky, but when someone unfamiliar passes by, she does her job.

This is the breezway where the 4 classrooms are located. These are my 2nd and 3rd graders...only 4, but a handful! You can see that one of them is ticked off at me for some reason (I can't remember what I got onto him for).

Thanksgiving. I received the blessing of the a plane ticket to fly home for Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful time with the family. The great thing about have photographers for sisters is that you always get great "family snapshots." Pictured: Michael Criner(brother-in-law), Abby, Dad, Rachel, Mom, and me.

October 2006

BUG OBSESSION!

So, a praying mantis flies into my room unexpectedly. The students ask a few questions, I give a few answers, and then it all begins....

Soon afterwards in my way to school I find a giant beetle. I assume it is a dung beetle because....well I'm not sure why but, he had the horns that looked like they would be great for rolling dung. So I put him in a cup bring him to school, and soon afterwards he received the oh-so-clever name of "Mr. Poo." Instantly, every child was fascinated and in love with our new class pet. The kids put some dog poo in his box to see if he would roll it. Well, after I did a little internet research I found he was actually a Rhinocerous beetle. Oops, minor error on my part. :) They also sell for $12 on ebay. I asked the kids if they wanted to sell him and use the money for a class party or keep him...well, needless to say he's been an important part of our lives for quite some time now. (they only live 4-12 months, so I need to start prepping the kids for the his loss) We nearly lost him once already when he escaped and fell into the trash can. THAT was a close one!

Well, here are the pictures of Beto and Griselda with their beloved Mr. Poo. (Oh and we found out the hard way, that he flies.)

In one of my classes we made cornhusk dolls and created companies and company flyers. We then had a shopping day where the kids bought each other's products with American dollars. It was both exciting and chaotic, and all along they didn't realize how much English they were learning...waahaahaa (evil laugh).