Certification: CHECK

Teacher certification is a STRESSFUL process in Texas. Statistically, only 5% of applicants pass on their first try. Yes, they tell us that at the beginning on the semester when they are explaining all of the hoops that we have to jump through in order to get certified.

This fall, we had to take 2 of our certifications: the ESL Supplemental and the Generalist Exams.

They are nearly impossible to register for, and they are SO uptight about testing. You have to take them at a licensed place; that's understandable. The fact that you couldn't cross your feet, you weren't allowed to push up the sleeves on a long-sleeve shirt, you weren't allowed to take off a jacket... GEEZE! Oh, and did I mention you get fingerprinted EIGHT times in the process? Yeah. Talk about crazy!

I took the ESL exam 3 weeks ago. It was 70 questions and I left very unsure of how I did. I knew that if the passing rate was 70 or 75%, I would have been fine; unfortunately, that's not the case. Passing is 80% or 240/300. Two days after I took the exam, my score was published. 276/300 -- essentially a 91%!

I was estatic.

This week, I took the Generalist exam. It is essentially the content covered in pre-k through 6th grade. Doesn't sound too challenging... But then you look back on all the crazy social studies details you once knew in 6th grade and quickly realize "oh hey, I don't actually know ANY of this stuff!" Stress. Lots of stress.

The testing environment for the Generalist was ROUGH. The girl to my left was taking the GRE, so was pecking away at a keyboard the entire time. Click click click click click click. Definitely helps concentration ... NOT! Then the guy on my right was throwing up constantly. It was disgusting. Thankfully he always made it to the trashcan by the door. But STILL. So nasty. This test was 140 questions; I was so frustrated that I finished the entire thing quicker than I did the ESL test. I left with a really bad feeling, I was mad at myself, it was just a rough situation.

But, GOD IS GOOD! I got my results halfway through my seminar today -- I PASSED! I ended up getting 32/40 reading questions right, 24/24 math questions, 22/24 science questions, 18/22 social studies, and 12/15 of the PE/music/art for a 273/300 overall. 91% again! WHOOP!

All that to be said, I am PUMPED for a weekend off. I have some grading to do this afternoon, but for the most part I am just going to ENJOY my weekend! I will spend tomorrow with Laura and her family for the Aggie game against Mizzou. Then on Sunday I will relax and possibly do a few of the easier assignments due next week.

I will get to be home for 10 days for Thanksgiving, then will come back to College Station to finish up my LAST week of the semester. Y'all. It's almost over!!

Hosea 2:14

"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her" -- Hosea 2:14

I read this verse today, and it definitely spoke volumes of my semester. This has been easily the hardest semester of my college career. Stress was taken to a whole new level and I did not handle it well. I was frequently a train-wreck frequently. It did not take much to make me melt and completely fall apart. Crying was a regular thing; my parents and my best friend got many phone calls where I was sobbing and couldn't put words together to explain what was wrong. I began to isolate myself from friends because I always had too much to do. I would go days without seeing my roommates because I would always be in my room. I was in a pretty dark place.

"Dark places" are found easily in the Bible. They are often referred to as "the wilderness" or "deserts", but regardless, they exist. God will take us into the wilderness, into these dark places, for a purpose. He uses these times that we often view as isolated and lonely to grow us. He equips us and makes us stronger; ultimately, He creates us to be more of who He needs us to be for the next season. He tenderly speaks, He softly calls our names, and beckons us near. He whispers gently, calls us by name, and breaths life back into our heavy hearts. He leads us into the desert and then He speaks tenderly to us.

But the most glorious thing comes next. He leads us out. Take Moses - He spent 40 years in the desert where the Lord prepared him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. It took 40 years of following God into the desert and Jesus speaking tenderly to Moses, reminding Moses of His Goodness, before Moses could accomplish God's Will for his life.

Deserts are hard places to be. But God promises to speak to us while we are there and to lead us out. I've been in a desert, and it's not fun. But I take hope in knowing that He is preparing me for what is next and that is enough to cause excitement. My heart starts to race and my dreams begin to run wild as I imagine what could possibly be in store at the end of this desert season.

Until then, I will continue to follow my King throughout the desert, listening to His soft whispers and quiet reassurances of His truth as He speaks tenderly to me.

2 Months Ago

2 Months ago, Randy asked me to be his girlfriend.

Yes, you can freak out. Kylie has a boyfriend? Kylie is dating somebody? Yes. Yes I am.

2 months ago, after 2 months of going on dates and getting to know each other, Randy officially asked me to be his girlfriend (and I officially said yes)!

Randy works at Camp Cho-Yeh full time as a part of their maintenance team. He graduated from UT Tyler a few years ago with a Mechanical Engineering degree and has a huge passion for camp! He loves anything and everything to do with being outside.

It's kind of hard to explain a significant other over a blog posting so I'm not going to try.

This is all you need to know:

• Randy is super sweet and treats me very well.
• He always has something planned for our dates. Today we went geocaching all around Huntsville (the halfway point between Livingston and College Station) & had a BLAST! We both like going on adventures, so today was perfect for that!
• Randy is genuine and honest. He is a FANTASTIC listener & is super easy to talk to.
• He understands that he is dating a college student who is busy. He respects my time and is the first one to say, "Ky, I know you should be studying. I'll talk to you tomorrow; get your stuff done tonight". 
• Randy calls me "Ky". Only the people close to me call me "Ky" -- my parents, Laura, my roommates, my best friends at camp, and Randy. It means a lot to me!
• He is a hard worker. He loves his job and I respect him for that because there is NO WAY I could do it!
• Randy makes me feel special and valued. He always opens the door for me and is the first one to offer a helping hand! 
• He is a GREAT guy! I'm blessed to be able to call him my boyfriend!

Long Time, No Blog.

I know, I know. I've been an awful blogger. Life has been BUSY! Let's see if I can update y'all briefly about all the various aspects of my life.

• I got my AGGIE RING in April!
• Water Polo won the Texas Conference and made it to Nationals where we ended up 9th.
• I had a blast celebrating my 21st birthday. Yes, I remember it all.
• Camp was really hard this summer, yet incredible.
• Randall Barns Spelbring (he will get his own blog)
• Moved back to College Station with Dani & Rachel!
• We also got a 4th roommate this year.
• I'm learning A LOT about patience and loving people I don't get along with.
• If law-binding documents are not meant to be upheld, what good are they?
• Aggie Football is BACK IN SEASON!
• I'm not playing water polo anymore, and that's okay.
• I graduate in less than a year -- what?
• I'm observing in a 5th grade writing class this year and I love it!
• Senior year is REALLY busy. 
• I still have the most unbelievable friends: Laura, Dani, Rachel, Myriam & Audrey, as well as camp friends Sarah, Michelle & Erin.

There ya go! That's a VERY brief synopsis of what life is like right now!

When You're The Mom...

A friend sent me this article today with the comment: "Ky, this is you". The article was entitled "5 Things You Do When You're The Mom of the Friend Group". I chuckled and figured I might relate to 1 or 2 of the items. Wrong. I'm guilty of all 5...

Enjoy!

http://thoughtcatalog.com/danielle-mclellan/2014/04/5-things-you-do-when-youre-the-mom-of-the-friend-group/#V7HLRdAWhfPKAaKf.01

I Could Cry... But at least we are in SINGLE DIGITS!

If you have ever seen the lesson plans that are required of education majors, you would understand how unrealistic they are. Minimums of 6 pages to describe something that ultimately will be a 30 minute lesson... I'm sorry but NO teacher actually does that.

So, after spending an hour and a half working on ONE lesson plan, I went back to my groups google doc in order to check one of the TEKS that I was using. Guess what. I had done the completely wrong day. I was assigned Tuesday's lesson plan (we created a schedule of lessons for an imaginary week), and I had just done a lesson plan over the activity that was planned for Wednesday!

Deep. Breaths. Deep Breaths. It will be okay. That's just extra practice that will make me a better teacher, right? Deep Breaths.

But hey, atleast now that it's 1:24 AM and I'm about to start the correct days lesson planning, I officially only have NINE days until I get my Fightin' Texas Aggie RING!

Aggie Bucket List

Everybody has a "Bucket List" of things they want to do before graduation. I started one my freshman year, and actually have quite a few things accomplished! It looks like there is A LOT to do in the next year though! In honor of crossing off "Meet the Yell Leaders", I figured I would share the rest of my Aggie Bucket List!

• 
  
• Sleep in Research Park
• Pond hopping through the fountains on campus
• Visit the Aggie Barn
•  Get into Kyle Field when there is not a game
• Ride your bike down the dorm hallways
• Night out on Northgate
• Photo Scavenger Hunt across campus
• Camp out for tickets to a game
• Aggie Ring Day!
• Picture with Reveille
• Visit the Bonfire Memorial at night
• Eat at the Dixie Chicken
• Camping at Lake Bryan
• Attend Silver Taps and Muster
• Meet the Yell Leaders
• Paint yourself all blue and get a free meal at Blue Baker
• Put a penny on Sully
• Country dance with a stranger at Harry's
• Ski or sled with friends down Mount Aggie
• Hammock on Campus
• Paddleboarding on Lake Bryan
• See the sunset/rise over the lake/beach
• Go to First Fridays in Downtown Bryan
• Picture with Dr. Loftin (while he was still President)
• Play capture the flag on campus at night
• Midnight Yell
• Date to Midnight Yell
• Eat a plate of over-sized pancakes at Hullabaloo Diner

Masters?

The only "Masters Program" I ever even debating participating in was the Masters Swim Program for all of those ex-competitive-swimmers who just miss the water. To be honest, I only debated that a whole 2 minutes in my head.

But today when I find out that I could add on a masters degree to my degree and finish in just an extra year. I began to consider it. And although I have over 3 weeks to make a decision, of course my brain goes a mile a minute and begins to debate every single option possible option. Shocking, right?

This is a conversation I had with one of my friends tonight:

Friend: "Kys, what do YOU want to do with your life. What is YOUR dream?" 

Me: "I want to go teach children who don't have anything at all. To teach them to write their name, to teach them to read so they can read "I'll Love You Forever" on their own, and to teach them all about Jesus" 

Friend: "Okay. Now you need to take the steps to make that happen. If that means another year of school, okay. If that means actually looking at places in America or overseas, okay. If that means accepting that you might not live near your family and friends, okay. You need to follow YOUR dreams. Not your family's dreams, not your friends' dreams, not anybody else dreams for you. YOUR dreams."

Looks like I have some thinking and soul-searching to do over the next couple of weeks.

Don't Waste My Time (and the perspective that later came)

I guess I must do a very good job of not seeming stressed and overwhelmed daily to the rest of the population. I mean, Rachel sees it, and my best friends study with me so they know that it exists. But I guess the rest of the world assumes that I have all this surplus of time.

That's the only logical explanation as to why they would blatantly WASTE my time. Right? I had office hours for work today from 10:30-12:30, but a student needed to meet with me and she had class until 2, so I told her I would could stay late and have a conference with her at 2:15. So when I was 2 hours AFTER I'm supposed to get off and the student doesn't show up, I believe I have grounds to be frustrated!

Then I went to work on a group project. Thankfully my group is wonderful, but the class is super frustrating. Way too many projects with way too little explanations. Put a group of perfectionist education majors in a setting with no guidelines and no directions... we get frustrated, stressed, and easily flip out. 30some education majors flipping out at once? It isn't pretty.

I came home to take a 15 minute nap before water polo. I figured I could wake up in a better mood than I was in previously. Well, 3.5 hours later I finally woke up. Thankfully, I was feeling quite refreshed!

Then I got a phone call that put today into perspective. One of my friends from camp has CF. She has been sick a lot over this last year and she is back in the hospital. Her lung function is down to 27%. At 25% she goes on the transplant list. At this point there is not much they can do for her. She is in isolation, and even her own family isn't allowed in the room with her. The average life expectancy when she was born was 17 years. Over recent years that number has increased, but it isn't looking good right now.

So while I was frustrated by spending 2 extra hours at work (2 hours which I spent working on other things that I would have had to do anyway, 2 hours that I will get paid for), my friend was laying in a hospital bed and her family was given some shattering news. That definitely puts things into perspective. I may be frustrated when somebody wastes my time, but I'm blessed to have time to waste. Some people just don't have too much time left.

Happy Spring Break to Me.

It's the Monday of Spring Break, I'm sitting all alone by myself, I had frozen food for lunch, and I just wrote a 26 page paper... Happy Spring Break to me?

Together

I can't wait to live life together with these girls this summer.

Camp Cho-Yeh's Leadership Ladies 2014

Hanna, Cambria, Katy, Erin, Kylie, and Allyssa.

I Don't Want to be a Classroom Teacher.

Don't get me wrong, I love my major (most of the time) and I have a passion for teaching. I just don't want to be a classroom teacher.

For the last three years my dream has been to go to teach in an orphanage. The only thing was the fact that the United States does not have an orphanage system anymore (which is a GREAT thing), but I do not necessarily feel called oversees for more than a couple weeks at a time. Would I love to go back to Honduras for a couple of weeks on a mission trip? YES. Do I want to pack up and move their to teach full-time. No.

So where did this passion leave me? I really had no idea, I was just trusting my Father to guide me through college and open the doors that needed to be opened for this dream to turn into a tangible vision that I could pursue.

Y'all. I think I am beginning to get an inkling about what that might look like.

This past month at Breakaway we have been working on raising money to support a couple of ministries who are fighting to free present day slaves. We are supporting the International Justice Mission who goes into hostile environments and pulls children and women out of slavery and human traffiking. We are supporting Tiny Hands International who are building homes in Nepal on the border of India to stop and protect children from being trafficked across the border. Then we are supporting a local ministry called Restore Her which is a part of Still Creek Ranch which helps children recover and provide them a safe bed.

How great are those ministries? Tonight we had a guest speaker who started up Restore Her. I got interested and looked up Still Creek Ranch to see what it was all about. And what did I find? They have their own school! I lit up when I found this - their school functions to serve the students at Still Creek. To serve those who have been given up on, turned away and neglected.

I think I might have found my "American orphanage". I am so excited to dig further into this and see what this might mean for my plans after graduation!

What They Don't Teach You in Education Classes

I'm realizing that although we do learn an insane amount in all of these education classes, they definitely do not prepare you for some of the things that kids will say or do!

Like peeing all over their backpack so that they don't have to do their homework because it is covered in pee.

Yes, that happened today. And yes, I was the one who had to handle it. And no, I was never taught about what to do if a kid dropped his shorts in the middle of a hallway to pee on his homework.

Then this conversation with one of my sweet boys:

Boy: "Miss Suddendorf?"
Me: "Yes?"
Boy: "Were you once a human that SUDDENly became a dwarf? Or were you always a dwarf that suddenly became a human?"
Me: "I was one of Snow White's Seven Dwarfs!"
Boy: "Wait, I was just kidding! What do you mean?!"

Oh the things they forget to mention in education classes. Kids will do things that you won't believe and will say things that will make you think quickly for a comeback!

SURPRISE!

We had a water polo tournament this weekend. Although we ended up with a tough loss to Texas, we went 3-1 this weekend which I can't complain about. For the most part we played well, and we definitely have a list of things to be working on before regionals!

Winning is fun. Beating one of your old friends is REALLY fun! And as exhausted as I am, I kinda enjoyed getting to be in charge and run the entire tournament this weekend. But none of that could compare to the best part of my weekend.

Saturday morning after getting the pool set up, I had run into the locker room to get changed. I had butterflies like I always do before the first game of the tournament, and I was sheer exhausted from the roller coaster of a week I had just stepped off. I ran out of the locker room to find Laura walking in the Rec. She surprised me and came to College Station for the morning to see me play water polo! Although she knows nothing about polo, it made my day that she would give up her weekend with her husband to come support me. I generally hate surprises, but seeing her brought me to near tears. Y'all, Laura is an incredible friend and I am so thankful to have her in my life!!

Eggplant

Why yes, I did eat EGGPLANT tonight. Rach made some and convinced me to try it. It actually wasn't that bad! I even went back for seconds and dipped the eggplant in marinera sauce which made it even better.

If you don't know me that well you may not realize how big of a deal this is. It's a HUGE DEAL!

And since it was such an accomplishment, my roommates awarded me with a 2 inch sticker that says "Super Star" and forced me to wear it the rest of the night.

So moral of the story: I'm just a 5 year old trapped in a college student's body.

Why I Wanted KJ

This year has been rough. To be realistic, college in general hasn't been a cake walk. This semester has been a good one, but I have been constantly stressed out for a variety of reasons. Polo has been rough, there are some family situations that are hard to deal with, I'm constantly exhausted. It's almost gotten to the point where it's too much stress. Last week I completely broke down and I scared myself how upset I got over something that should have been a happy surprise. When I drove to Houston on a whim this weekend I instantly felt better. A combination of relaxation, leaving my laptop in CS so I wasn't even tempted to do school stuff or work, and getting to cuddle with my puppy was the ultimate recipe for my stress level to drastically decrease.

I thought that by bringing KJ with me, she would be able to have that calming effect on me here too. And as much as I loved having her to sleep with last night and being able to walk her around this morning, unfortunately she is adding more stress. Technically we can't have pets in our apartment, and our building has been scheduled for maintenance this week. I didn't sleep at all last night because I had made myself sick over what would happen if we were caught. And KJ is scared of trains, so when you live 25 yards from a train track, that tends to cause a lot of crying and whimpering from KJ.

That's why this afternoon I will be taking KJ back to Cypress. As much as I have loved having my baby girl here, I can't be adding more stress. I'm too often at a breaking point.....

---------------------------

Well, as I was typing this earlier this morning, the maintenane guys decided to come, KJ started barking really loudly, and I lost it. I loaded the car up then and drove to Houston to drop her off. I feel like a failure, and as stressed out as I had been earlier, this was the last thing I needed. I cried nearly the entire way home, ended up sleeping for like 3 hours, and when Laura called, I ended up bawling my eyes out to her again. It's now 5:15 and I'm already in bed. Yep. I'm hoping some sleep will hopefully give me a new perspective.

The Adventures of KJ and Kylie!

KJ has moved in with me for the week! Let the adventures begin!

Pictures from the Snow Day

It's not a typical day when you get snow in College Station, so when we woke up to a dusting Thursday morning, Rachel and I had to go out and play!

Let's add the hiccups too!

So, I have "non-contagious bronchitis". I didn't believe the doctor at first, but as the week has gone on and this cough has just progressively gotten worse, I'm starting to think they were right!

Here's the problem.

• One prescription that I'm on makes you extremely nauseous, even if you take it with food.
• Then they gave me cough syrup at night that is supposed to knock you out... NOPE. Doesn't work. 

So, anytime that I try to speak more than 2 sentences or raise my voice, I cough up a lung. Literally. Like if lungs were able to be coughed out of your body, I think I would be without lungs!

So tonight, Rachel and I were studying out in our living room and she was being so patient with me and dealing with my extreme coughing. It wouldn't stop! Then I got the hiccups, so the night went something like this: "cough cough cough *breathe* cough hiccup cough cough cough" (30 seconds of silence) REPEAT for multiple hours!

It sucks. I don't feel sick, but my stomach hurts from repeatedly coughing and my throat is sore. Plus every time I cough it feels like my body is being jerked all over the place.

So yeah! It's just GREAT! Moral of the story -- just when you think you can't make any more noise from your body, you get the hiccups added on top!

1st Day of 4th Grade!

I don't think "nervous" is a strong enough word to describe my feelings as I got ready for school this morning. Try "so nervous that my stomach was doing backflops and I was on the verge of throwing up" as I drove across Bryan. It probably didn't help that I've had a pretty nasty cough for the last 24 hours and so I would have coughing fits so much my stomach hurt, combined with the butterflies, it wasn't pretty...

I got to school about 20 minutes early (I didn't know how much traffic I would hit... turns out NOBODY is on the road at 7 AM), and so I had some time to just sit in my car and listen to music.

But, despite the anxiety of this morning, I had an INCREDIBLE first day! My mentor teacher is awesome and I know that I'm going to learn a lot about handling behavioral issues as well as working with gifted students and figuring out how to keep them engaged in learning.

It's a long day, but it's definitely fun!

Getting Back into Relay for Life

I had a huge passion for Relay for Life when I was in high school. I led teams of 200+ high schoolers when I was a junior and senior. When I got to A&M I had every intention of keeping up with RFL but it just didn't happen.

Well, that is changing! Because of some recent events and a bit of encouragement, I have decided to lead a RFL team this year! My water polo team has decided to join in on this with me in an effort to support our family and friends who are fighting cancer and to raise awareness and money for the American Cancer Society.

I will definitely be posting more information later, but if you are interested in supporting me on this journey, here is a link to my profile on RFL where you can donate!

http://main.acsevents.org/goto/KylieSuddendorf 

More than that, I would also appreciate your prayers that I will be a good leader in this area. This semester is already super busy and I'm kinda nervous about picking something else up, but I'm super excited for what this will hold for me!

Thanks for all your support!

Overwhelmed.

I can't even formulate a blog posting right now. I'm just so overwhelmed.

If my head is still attached to my shoulders after the craziness that the next 72 hours will bring, I'm going to be very impressed!

Location:Overwhelmed.

Just trying to keep my head above water.

Sometimes, all you can do is try to keep your head above water.

I find this comparison a little ironic considering I can tread water for longer than most of the human population, but the metaphor still stands.

This semester, I'm just trying to stay afloat. An education majors methods semesters are known for being harder than student teaching. Not only do we right lesson plans that are 8-10 pages long EACH for a 30 minute lesson, but we also take statistics where the professor thinks that she can post a 5-hour module at 4:00 on one afternoon and expect us to have the module complete, homework done, and quiz finished by 3:30 the following day. Maybe that's reasonable for some people, but frankly that involves me dropping everything else to devote 6+ hours to this class on one afternoon, without warning. This semester also involves two sets of observations: one full day observation at the elementary and one morning observation in the ESL classrooms on A&M's campus. We also take an online ESL class which is not hard, just time consuming. And a reading class which requires us to read 4 chapters a week and also has extremely long time consuming modules.

I didn't even TOUCH the group projects, because that's a whole other set of issues.

That's what every method student is dealing with this semester.

Let's add trying to figure out how I'm going to get 24 people to Austin this weekend in one piece, then find restaurants that will accomodate for such big groups.

Oh, and a job? Yes, I love my job. But it does take out extra time that I would normally have devoted to other things... like stats.

Then of course my body HATES the bipolar weather so I've been battling the typical runny nose/cough/achiness that 99% of the student body currently has.

I don't think I will EVER be caught up this semester... but as long as my head is above water and I keep breathing, I will get through it!

Lessons from Observation Field Trip

Today, A&M bused about 30 of us to Aldine ISD for a field trip. These are the lessons I walked away with:

1) Even a good pair of shoes don't stop your feet from hurting after 9 hours.

2) Cafeteria lunches are actually in fact as bad as I remember. I will be bringing my own lunch from now on!3) Two hour bus rides are not enjoyable, unless you fall asleep for a vast majority of it.4) Never underestimate pre-k and kindergarteners -- those kids are smart!5) Introducing myself as "Ms. Suddendorf" is just weird.6) I'm definitely in the right major. Can't wait to spend more time in the classrooms this semester and to meet my 4th graders next week!

SNOW DAY!

All week the weather apps had been teasing us by putting little snowflakes on Thursday and Friday. Little glimmers that represented more than just cold weather. These little snowflakes represented a possibility of cancelled class, the opportunity to build mini snowmen, the chance to go "ice-skating" around the apartment complex.

And boy, did the weather cooperate! We got a 2-hour late delay on Friday which turned my 6-hour lecture into a 3-hour lecture because the 8-10:50 prof decided to just cancel class altogether. I did go "ice-skating" every time I would go outside -- you didn't even need skates to go sliding all over! And although I didn't get to build a snowman because all the snow was covered by a thick sheet of ice, I definitely had my fun in the snow!

And yes, I loved that the temps got back in the 60's today so that I could be out in shorts and chacos again!

Answered Prayers: Meet Dani!

When Rachel and I found out that Maddie was planning on moving out and living elsewhere next semester, we both knew that there was no way that our apartment complex would let us stay in a 4-bedroom apartment by ourselves - they would assign another pair of roommates to move into our apartment. Last night when Rach and I were talking, we both decided we needed to pray about the situation and ask our Father to show us the woman we should live with next semester.

So often God's timing does not line up with ours, so it seems like forever passes before we receive an answer from God. And as rewarding as those experiences are, isn't it neat whenever we receive an answer immediately?

Tonight after practice, I get a text from Dani. Dani plays water polo with me and has had classes with Rachel. She often hangs out with Myriam, Jen and I when we all do something together. She has a passion for Jesus, an enthusiasm for summer camp, and is a lover of people.

Here's the conversation that went down:

Dani: Are you by chance looking for a roommate for next year?
Me: YES! Rachel and I are staying in our apartment but Maddie is leaving so we need a third!
Dani: OMG can I live with you?
Me: We would love that!

Y'all. How good is our Father that He takes the stress and off of our shoulders of finding another roommate, and provides us with Dani? I guess you could say we are all quite a bit excited!

Typical Conversation with Rachel

Let me walk you through today. It's 11:10 and you are just getting home for the first time since you left the apartment at 7:15 this morning. You are finally able to think about supper when you realize you don't have bread to make a peanut butter sandwich, and had the leftover mac'n'cheese for lunch. So, you throw a bag of popcorn in the microwave.

Rachel: "That's NOT all you are eating for dinner"
Me: "You're right, I'm putting M&M's in the bag too!"
Rachel: "Um, protein?"
Me: "I said I was having M&M's..."

Yep. This is my life!

Thankful for Girls Nights.

Tonight was such an incredible night. Jen and Myriam came over for supper and we made steaks, pasta and bread. We then spent a good two hours talking and enjoying a variety of sugary goodness with Rachel while baking cookies (only about half the cookies got baked, the other half were eaten before they made it to the oven... whoops). We decided to play Just Dance on the wii, but needed new batteries, so we made a run to HEB in our PJs and had our own concert in the car on the way. Once we got home we made complete fools of ourselves for a long time while we "just danced", before getting to Skype with Katie! It was 12:30 AM our time, so 8:30 AM her time! It was the first time since early December when we were all "together", well, as close to "together" as we will be for quite some time. I sure have incredible friends!

Ms. Suddendorf

Got this little nametag today! Looks like I'm turning into my mother!

LOVE My New Job!

Y'all. I LOVE my new job! So far this week I have introduced myself to my class, taught a mini-lesson on the University's grammar module "MyCompLab", wrote the classes first quiz, created/imputed that quiz into their classes online learning system, checked off rosters for senior methods, wrote out an email and an announcement that was distributed to all the writing intensive classes, as well as had the chance to start a really good book entitled "Wonder" by R.J. Palacio.

I get to work with some incredible girls. We are all education majors, so essentially are all taking the same classes which means we are able to bounce ideas off of each other for projects and assignments. We are able to relate to each other. This is a way to be involved in the education world, but also have a break from the mundaneness of classes while being able to put our teacher skills into action. Once the semester gets rolling, I will be spending a lot of time working one-on-one with students to help them improve their writing skills. I couldn't be more excited for this opportunity!

Aggie Ring: ORDERED

Today I got to order my Aggie Ring! Only 87 days until I will have my own little piece of Aggie GOLD! (I guess you could say I'm just a bit excited!)

Cool Y'all. Keep Leaving Me!

So Kole gets home at 2:50, then leaves at 3:00 for an ortho appointment. He gets home at 4:00ish, and then turns into his hermit-crab self.

Mom gets home at 5:15 or so, then Dad gets home at 5:45. We eat at 6:00, then by 6:20 everybody is gone again to go out and hit baseballs or going to the neighbors or going back out to run errands. So guess what?  It's just KJ and me hanging out again! Thanks family, I LOVE being stuck here by myself, really, don't worry about me!!

--I do think that sarcastic writing is a secret talent of mine... :)

Puppy Sitting

I feel like I have been taking care of a baby all day, the only thing is, this "baby" is actually my puppy!

Goodness, she has been needy. I woke up this morning to her laying on my head. Yes, the puppy with a bummed leg jumped up on my extremely high bed and laid on my face. Cool KJ.

We have been having somebody working on our fence today which means KJ can't go outside by herself and without a leash. So, the dog is spoiled and has gone on 5 walks today. FIVE.

And she has been crying/whimpering. I think she might be scared of the guys working on the fence who have been extremely loud, but regardless, the poor girl has not left my side all day. And if there is anyway that she could be ON my lap, she made that happen. But seriously, if I walked from our dining room to the kitchen, she would follow. I finally drug a blanket into the dining room hoping she would just lay on that while I worked -- NOPE, she insisted on sitting on my lap the entire time I worked on stuff for school.

Goodness, good thing I love that girl!

Skype 'Ya Later, Katie!

Tomorrow Katie leaves on her journey to the Middle East to spend the next year teaching English in a local Tunisian school. Although I'd love to say "see 'ya later", none of us know how realistic that phrase actually is. Even though Katie's contract is only a year, we all know that there is a VERY good chance Katie permanently decides to move over to the Middle East. So we decided that "Skype 'ya later" is more appropriate! I am already looking forward to our Wednesday afternoon Skype dates!

Officially Eligible

It's official! I will get sized for my ring on Tuesday, January 14th and will have that little piece of gold in my hands on Friday, April 11th!