a great 27th on the 24th

i am, officially, in my late twenties. scary. i still feel like i'm sixteen sometimes.

i had a wonderful day yesterday. most of the kids in my class brought me a flower and a homemade card for my birthday. two of my kids parents got together and threw me a surprise bday party right after recess. they decorated my room with balloons and streamers providing strawberry cupcakes withe strawberry icing. yummy! in the middle of the party, my vice principal walks in holding the hand of a blond haired angel.

as soon as ellie's bright blue eyes meet mine, she smiles and starts for me with her hands raised for a hug. sweet baby girl. mom, dad, sarah, ellie and gray drove 3 hours to bring me a bouquet of beautiful gerbera daisies, confetti cupcakes with that yummy icing and to take me out for dinner.

after school, we came home for naps for the babies and so mom could ice my carrot cake!!!!! we had dinner at pf changs and came home for a piece of cake and a game of shanghai rummy.

tuesday night, michael ran me a bubble bath and after he set candles around, handed me the book i'm reading. it was perfect. then yesterday, he sent me a bouquet of flowers. they were beautiful.

it really was quite the day. thank you everyone for your well wishes and calls. thank you family for your ever-giving hearts. thank you baby for not taking me a ridiculously romantic dinner so, instead, my family could come celebrate my bday with me. you're the best! ;)

there was one sad thing about my birthday. my mom and her best friend, pam, had their kids at the same time. i am 17 hours older than scotty and have always rubbed it in his face. "yeah, well, i'm older than you so...ha!" we have also called each other each year to say happy bday. scotty called me yesterday and towards the end of the conversation mentioned how old i was and how just sad that was. "after all, you are 27 and i'm only 26."

jerk.

knowing talent when you see it

i'll admit that i teach in a way all of my college professors said to never teach. i use sarcasm.

i always start off the year hard and my kids learn to respect me quickly. then, i move onto fun and friendly...and sarcastic. don't get me wrong, i pull out the meanness whenever i need to.

anyway, yesterday afternoon i was walking my line down the hallway leaving each kid at their end of the day destinations. walking next to my class was a second grade class where several kids i taught last year were waving frantically and calling my name. i said something silly to one of them and she laughed before turning extrememly serious.

"mrs. kotze..."

"yeah?"

"...you should be a stand up comedian..."

uh...yeah

bananas for bunco!

today after school, the hospitality committee (which i'm a part of) hosted a back to school bunco party after school.

it was so stinkin fun! i never get the most wins nor am i the biggest loser. i've never even gotten a bunco, but it's just so much fun. we're thinking about introducing it as a monthly thing for whoever wants to come.

so much fun!

and...

how awesome is this weather?!?!?!?!

the past two mornings walking my kids to specials has been down right chilly.

it freakin' ROCKS!!!

a good weekend leads to a good week, so far anyway

it was a great weekend with matt and mandy and if anything good has happened, i have them convinced to move to san antonio. ha!

wouldn't that seriously be the best?! if we can't have our entire family around, at least matt and i and our spouses can have each other. right?! right. you just tell them you agree with me and i'm sure the decision will be made in favor of a move. :)

we stayed up really late sunday night playing cards and i haven't been able to catch up on sleep yet. i almost fell asleep yesterday during stations and did fall asleep in my chair last night around 6:45. michael put me to bed, thankfully, before i slobbered all over my chair! ha! totally kidding, i definitely don't slobber!

in other news, school is going well and i feel like this could be my best year yet. especially since most of my team is now teaching the way i teach (the way i was taught to teach by my special mentor and friend at lamar, joanna). it's been quite the year already. i do have a couple of kids who seem like they couldn't stop talking even if i glued their lips closed. several can't even read at a kindergarten level and several more are still pretty low for first grade. it seems this may be one of the lowest classes in some years. i do have my work cut out for me. it should be interesting.

michael and i are planning on painting our bedroom tonight and tomorrow night. with that, a few more wall hangings and curtains, that room will be done (excluding the bathroom of course). hopefully i'll remember to post pictures soon.

i feel my eyes getting heavy without my permission. maybe i'll put down my computer and just watch rachel ray for a few minutes...yawn...

it's gonna be a good weekend

mimi and mush finally got to my door after 6 hours worth of driving and sitting in traffic. i think matt said they were stopped, sitting still 5 times between plano and san antonio. eeek.

so, as soon as they got here i gave them both a dr. pepper. they hadn't had one in about two months. yikes! i bought some on thursday just because i knew they were coming. no one told me they decided to go loco and stop drinking the heavenly nectar (as landon puts it)! anyway, i guess their agitation pushed them over the edge to drinking, but i think it sure did make them feel better.

after a few minutes of relaxing we drove down to the riverwalk where we had a great mexican dinner. we topped it off with some double dipped chocolate covered strawberries and caramel apples. yummy.

we came home, played shang hi rummy, i won. 'nough said.

i hear matt upstairs shuffling cards as we speak. it's gonna be a good weekend.

another walk/run closer

the night before last, michael and i took our longest walk/run yet. we walked and ran and walked and ran and walked and ran and walked some more. it felt like we were gone for at least 12 miles. just to double check, we got in the car and measured it out.

2.5 miles.

seriously?! in high school (which i am realizing was most definitely another life ago) my buddies and i would sprint at least 4 miles (of course, not all at the same time) worth of a workout everyday.

i guess for now i should be happy that we're just getting out and doing something. i know i might not be able to run the entire capitol 10k. i may not be able to run any of it. the good news despite that is that i'll at least be a tiny bit healthier. and maybe skinnier. :)

we head out again tonight. i'm hoping i won't die.

mimi and mush

my baby brother (ellie's mush) and his sweet wife (ellie's mimi) are headed this way. i didn't think they'd have too much traffic as they are driving into the storm while everyone else should be driving out. apparently people aren't too worried about the storm in these here parts. they've had to sit in traffic several times already.

we're gonna spend the weekend hanging out, playing cards and catching up with some well deserved brother-sister + spouses chit chat.

i can't wait!

heaven on earth

last night i made my first trip to heaven, ever. i went to lakeshore to get a gift card for a co-worker and stopped by the container store for a quick looksie.

it was my first time in that store. it should probably be my last. for an organizational freak such as myself, that store should just be off limits. i must have been walking around in such an awed fashion that the workers began to worry. i was asked more times than i've ever been asked before, and sometimes by the same person again, if i was doing okay. the funny thing is that more times than not, the sales associate had quite the concerned look on their face.

i was a little embarrassed but i guess not enough to close my dropping jaw.

if michael is smart, he will do his best to keep me away from that side of town because at this very moment i'm working on the new design for my closet.

sigh...

in case you haven't noticed...

i too have joined the masses in committing to the capitol 10k. michael and i ran our first .5 a mile yesterday.

did i ever mention that we live in an incredibly hilly neighborhood...

potjie festival 2008

michael and i spent labor day weekend at the potjie (small pot in afrikaans) festival. it was a great time! on our way to rusk, texas, we drove through austin and stopped to pick up andre. andre is a fellow south african and long time friend of our friend greg. he lives in london but had been working in austin the week prior to the festival. we were able to get to know him (pretty quickly i might add, those south africans are friendly!) and give him the opportunity to hang out with greg and sascha all weekend.

we arrived just after 3pm on saturday and set to putting up the tents. well, michael, greg and andre put up the tents while sascha and i supervised. our tiny tent went up rather quickly and after the air mattress was nice and firm, michael went off to help andre and greg with their tent. their tent was much roomier and the boys joked about it all weekend. i mean, their tent was bigger, but we got to cuddle. :) can you guess who the winner was in that hot, sticky, humid environment? yeah...

we walked all over the koa visiting people and michael had plenty of time to speak afrikaans to people and reminisce about the good ol' days. i know he had a great time and it was so fun to see his eyes light up. i think he even slept with a smile on his face. he also got to eat several south african treats like biltong (like beef jerky but "10 times better" in michael's words) and boerewors (farmer's sausage made from beef and pork). he also purchased something called a skottel, a portable wok kind of cooking gadget which cooks with a butane canister. it also comes with different cooking gadgets like a grill and griddle. it super cool and even has a carrying case. i know it will definitely come in handy.

unfortunately, because this potjie was spread over the labor day weekend, the potjiekos (small pot of food, think of a super-long-time simmered stew) competition and tasting was on sunday evening after we left. the first festival we attended had the potjiekos on saturday and michael almost cried the food was so good and reminiscent of home. mom and i usually make one on christmas eve, but michael and i have decided to make one sooner just to make up for missing the deliciousness.

now...on to the pictures

michael airing the mattress in our tent.

andre the camper helping greg put together the tent.

greg finally getting down to helping after messing around at the car for awhile :)
final touches...

andre, michael and greg

greg and michael just having purchased a total of 8 lbs of biltong.

everyone sunday morning after a delicious homemade breakfast of whataburger taquitos. :)

andre
happy husband.