Here We Go...

Madison and me at the Astros-Rockies game


Cade


Zachary


Reid and me at Cade's Birthday Party


My mom has been after me for months to start a blog. Quite frankly, I still do just about everything she tells me to do, so here we go. To begin, I am in my early (okay mid) 30's and single. This alone should provide me with a great deal of material in the coming months...years. I am a Texan living in Colorado. For those who don't know, Coloradans DO NOT like Texans. Fortunately for me, there are only about five or six native Coloradans who still live here, and they can be easily identified by the green and white NATIVE bumper sticker on the back of their Subaru's . Everyone else is from California, Texas, or a state beginning with a vowel.

I just returned from a month long trip to Houston, and my hair and I have never been happier to be home. My family is all still in the Houston area. I am CRAZY about my family. I am the oldest of six children and have a niece and three nephews. Two of my sisters are married, two are still in college, and my brother lives at home. We like to do everything together. I'm not sure if you're doing the math here, but "together" includes fourteen people. Let me give you a visual.

Dinner (you pick the restaurant). We enter. All heads turn. Restaurant employees tremble. My brother is usually the first to be noticed. He is almost 19 and is severely handicapped. He is LOUD and enters most rooms with his hands waving as if we have just won the Super Bowl. Of course, this is Houston. We will never win the Super Bowl. So, right away people know something is amiss. Next to be noticed is probably Cade. Cade is every bit of two (or TEEEWWWWW as he likes to say). He is FULL of energy and typically jumps from one place to the next. Then, there's my one year old nephew Zachary. Zachary is a busy body but is usually quite content as long as he is eating. He also has a smile that will make you melt, so this relaxes a few guests. His older sister, Madison is eight. She is as close to perfect as an eight year old can be but never misses a chance to accessorize. Reid is just a few months old, so he only makes a scene when he is hungry. This usually only happens in quieter dining facilities, rarely in Chick-fil-A. The rest of us enter the restaurant, each acting as if we are a guest of this crazy family. Unfortunately, we all bear a freakish resemblance to one another and can't pull this off. I won't go into the events of the entire meal, but your imagination can't do it justice. I've noticed over the past few years that our food tends to come out rather quickly. So does the check. Does this mean anything?

It is also important for you to know that I am a 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Social Studies teacher. I just finished my twelth year in middle school, fifteenth if you include my own experience. This means that I have spent nearly one half of my life in middle school. Is this why I'm still single? Let's just say it is, that's easier.

As for my single life, I've learned to enjoy it...not enough to do it forever (let's not be crazy), but enough to embrace it for now. I'm somewhere between "It's just not worth the free meal." and "You have a job? Great, let's get married." You single people know what I'm talking about.

So, that's a little about me. I have MANY words, so there is much more to follow...