It's a zoo...in our house!!

When I found out that I would be teaching 2nd grade science, I knew right away that I was going to have to have a class pet! My mentor teacher in college was an animal lover, and after being in her 1st grade classroom for an entire year, I wanted to be just like her...including all of the animals. She was actually responsible for my first pet...a tiny baby red-eared slider turtle. One of her former students found him in their garage and knew that she would take him, so of course when she asked, I gladly adopted him as my first classroom pet. It was so exciting. Travis helped me name him Leonardo (after one of the teenage mutant ninja turtles...blue maybe?)...Leo for short. Then, right before the school year started, I decided that I needed something furry, too. I started stalking the pet stores trying to figure out what I was going to get. After a lengthy conversation with a not-so-peppy pet store employee, I decided that I was going to get a guinea pig. Petco was supposed to be getting a shipment of new guinea pigs in a few weeks, but I just couldn't wait, so my mom and I went to a local pet store, the Fishbowl. No luck with guinea pigs, but we did find something that we HAD to have....baby bunnies!! They were the cutest things I had ever seen. After discussing pros and cons for at least 30-45 minutes, we decided that I needed a little black bunny for my classroom. Travis and I kept her in our apartment in the bathtub until school started. He named her Emmy (short for Emmitt Smith...I think this was about the time that he was on dancing with the stars...)

(Travis and Emmy in our apartment 2 years ago)

The class pets were a huge hit! My grandfather built Emmy a big cage that she loves, (I think this "cage" was originally a squirrel trap...but I don't tell my students that...) and at the end of my first year, I even bought a new baby turtle to accompany Leo. (I wanted to name him myrtle the turtle, but being the sucker that I am, I let the students name him. They didn't like Myrtle...they all agreed on the lovely name... Peanut)

Anyway, I didn't make that long story very short, (surprise, surprise) but while my school was being cleaned for the summer, I brought all of the animals home and put them in our laundry room. I was really afraid that Buddy (our golden retreiver "puppy") was going to bark at them all day long, but he actually loves them! All he wants to do is go in and lay next to them...it's so cute!

Girls night out

Last night was quite entertaining. Ashley and I decided to head up to Duckhorn to meet up with her roommate Jenny for dinner. It turns out that we were in for a treat...it was the BHS class of '88's 20 year reunion!!! Great night for people watching- we had a blast. Karli came and met up with us which was wonderful because I haven't gotten to see her much lately. We are long overdue for a Gatti's date...maybe that will happen this week. (Travis HATES Mr. Gatti's...apparently that's the only place they went for breakfast, lunch and dinner when he played soccer in high school, so he's been scarred for life! :( it is my absolute favorite!!!!! so Karli and I go whenever we get a chance.) Anyway, I ended up staying at Ashley's house for a slumber party with her and Ellie (her schnauzer). Good times!

We did finally hear from the boys...sounds like they were having a good time. Today is their fishing day. I think they're taking 3 boats full of boys out, so I hope they catch something exciting! Maybe I will have pictures to post later in the week!! (I'm counting on you BJ)

SUMMER!

I'm finally feeling a little bit of freedom now that summer school, for the most part, is over!!! Today was officially my last day with students until August 26th. As much as I love those kids to pieces, July will be a much needed break from the madness. Monday I have a "workday" until noon, Tuesday and Wednesday I will be monitoring the hall and guarding the bathroom during the TAKS test, and then my summer school duties will be complete.

I was thinking that today would be a good day to start our blog...I have been putting it off for a few days because I had no idea what I was going to write. Warning- If you are looking for insightful topics and thought provoking posts...this is not the blog for you to read! It will probably be incredibly random, but that's the way our life is, so it's fitting to have a random blog to go with it. :) I just love looking at other people's blogs and reading about what's going on in their lives, so I decided that it would be fun to have an "Anthony family" blog!! I'm sure that years from now it will be interesting to look back on what was going on in our little lives in 2008.

Travis has a big bachelor party this weekend with the boys in Port Aransas...I can only imagine what they might be doing right now. I am willing to bet that it involves something insane that Will has come up with, but who knows. I keep picturing him trying to take his jacket away from Ashley in Fort Worth and making his crazy sound effects...my stomach hurt that night from laughing so hard! And then of course there are the stories from Trav's bachelor party in Austin...

I, on the other hand, am planning on doing NOTHING this weekend. Maybe something with the girls one night and maybe ordering a movie on demand that Travis would never want to watch anyway. I was thinking that I might get all my scrapbooking stuff out and work on that, but it's been so long since I've even looked at a scrapbook that I'm not sure I'd even know where to begin. Chana' and Melissa have inspired me a little...but not enough to do something about it yet.

I have so many things to scrapbook- after a rocky end of May, we've really had a fun-filled June. The first week was all about Johnny Nix!! Not only did he graduate from high school, but Salado also won the State AA Baseball Championship at Dell Diamond! It was so fun!!! It's neat to think that we've been watching him play since his t-ball years and always thinking that he was such an athlete, and then we got to watch him play at Dell Diamond and win the state championship! Way to go Johnny!!

Last weekend, we went to Coupland Dancehall with our supper club. (Ashley, this part's for you!) It was sooooo fun- I love dancing at places like that, and the food was yummy, too. We did have a few mishaps...like the lukewarm beer (that Travis decided to drink right out of the pitcher anyway) and the melted butter beer that they brought next (that we all decided was at least better than warm beer). Holly, Jenn and I discovered a crazy bartender who made margaritas on the rocks- that she was very proud of, and she let us know it! We loved her though...she even danced while she made drinks. The boys were so excited to get their shoes shined for $1! Can't beat a deal like that...

June 7th, Courtney got married. It was so wonderful and fun- Travis was lucky, because he got to take 2 dates. (Karli went with us) I loved catching up with my girlfriends from high school...it doesn't happen often enough...congrats Courtney and David!!

Father's Day was a special day. I have the most wonderful father in the world, but it was also a very hard day since his father recently passed away. Our family gatherings will never be the same...they'll still be fun and full of fellowship and laughter, but there will always be someone missing now. We had a big party at my parents house (this was the last party there since they're moving to Wildflower in a few weeks!!)- the whole family came and we had a great time. Since Doug Jr. is in Europe for the summer, we took a picture to send to him...ironically, it reminds me of Papa too.

Travis and Johnny hanging out...probably talking baseball...

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And here we are! June 27th...almost July...our life is so wonderful and we have been so blessed with incredible friends, family, jobs, opportunities and experiences. Things seem to be falling into place for us just the way they're supposed to. In 2 weeks we will find out about Trav's MCAT scores (so please keep praying for sanity until then) and then we'll see where the med school piece to our puzzle falls...I'm hoping not too far from home, but I also know that the Lord's plans for us are bigger than anything we could plan for ourselves...I can't wait to see what he has in store for us!

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Jeremiah 29:11