Goodbye Football/Marching Season!!

So, as you might have noticed, life got a little busy in the month of October! I've had a wonderful (and fast) start to the school year, and believe it or not, it feels like marching/football season flew by quickly this year. Here are some pics from the past several weeks...

Our flute playing mascot & myself

Teaching the band some cool dance moves in the stands

A few of our 7th grade clarinet girls

We also started a Coyle band tradition last year... Rene (my head director) came up with the idea to have a Rock band dance as a band fundraiser. Little did we know how big this would turn out! This year, we decided to have a 70's theme just before Halloween...

I'm loving my job, and even though it takes so much time out of my schedule, I'm so proud of my kids! I often don't stop to think about how lucky I am to have a good career, a good family, and a husband who loves me for who I am. Life sometimes gets overwhelming, but I love the great memories it brings! :)

Feeling the baby blues...

Ok, so Chris & I have been "not preventing pregnancy" for several months now, and still, no "happy surprises". I know we told each other from the start that we don't want to "plan", for the mere fact that it just DOESN'T happen like that... not to mention the stress it puts on everything! But, I'm just feeling those baby blues!! I just can't stop thinking about how much I want to become a mommy!! I can't wait to feel the movements that every mommy-to-be says she feels... I can't wait to go and paint the nursery, and fill it with toys and clothes and all that cute baby stuff... I can't wait for all the wonderful (and yes, even the stressful) days of being a parent... I can't wait for the day when I get to call my in-laws and my own parents and family the wonderful news... hence I said WHEN... I just pray that I'm not getting my hopes up, and that God does have a baby McHenry in His plan for us. I have so many things in my life to be thankful for, and I just can't wait for the day that I get thank Him for such a miracle! HOPEFULLY, more news to come!! :)

Goodbye summer, hello band!! :)

So, yesterday was the first day back in the band world! Although I was dreading my relaxation coming to an end, it was really nice to be excited about my job again. In case you don't know know, I'll catch you up...

I'm just about to start my 5th year teaching, and last year was my first year at Coyle MS in Rowlett as the assistant band director. Although I'm not technically a high school director, my head director and I help out here & there during marching season. I know it sounds crazy to give up my last week of "summer" to go hang out with teenagers in the blistering Texas sun, but I do it because deep inside, I'm a marching band nerd...

Anyway, I love my job, and I'm just very excited to start with our own little middle school kids next week. It'll be our second year, so things should run a little more smoothly. It's challenging, but it seems to be A LOT more rewarding than any other job on the planet! More to come later...

Jon & Kate...

Over the years, I've become a loyal fan to the TLC show, "Jon & Kate Plus 8". Even though I don't always truly believe in reality shows, this is the one that has just made me believe. I'm sure SOME of it is scripted, but I just don't see how it could all be fake. My husband begs to differ...

Now that I'm hooked, along with the rest of America, it seems as if this whole "reality" show has actually taken a toll on the life of 8 beautiful children & a relationship that seemed as "perfect" as it could get. I've always felt like if they can do it, anyone can. They unfortunately announced the beginning of a divorce on the show last night. I knew I should expect it, but I was still stunned.

I'm sure all this hype about their marriage will slowly fade away, but all I can do is wonder about what will truly happen to those happy kids. I hope in some way, they can go in and live a "normal" life, and be a happy family like they should be. I love that the Gosselins initially shared their lives with us, but was it really all worth that? Would Jon & Kate still be together if they WOULDN'T have done the show?

New Car!

A Chevy family...

Chris & I decided to say goodbye to the gas-saving Corolla & say hello to a "family" vehicle. I'm REALLY excited, b/c I've never really had such a nice car with all the cool features. I am also really excited someday to fill it with a kid or two... Now that it's summer, that's something that's constantly on my brain (not to mention those parents & in-laws who desperately want their first grandchild!) Bernie, wanting to go for a ride

Posing with my favorite little doggy...

SOOOO Ready for Summer!!

It's been a really busy first year at my new job, and now that it's almost over, I can't wait to just take a deep breath & just relax! I'm currently in the middle of one of the craziest scheduled weeks ever... Here it is:

On Friday, we took the top band to the Meyerson, and today we took our beginners to their very first Solo & Ensemble contest (SOOO cute... they did GREAT!) We'll take the top band to another contest on Monday at the Eisemann center, then bowling, on Tuesday, we have after-school beginning band rehearsal, then Wednesday we have a marathon!! We'll take our beginners & second band to a contest in Canton, then take them bowling ALL before school is over. Then we'll come back and have a two-hour instrument drive. Needless to say, I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THURSDAY!!

We've got auditions coming up, as well as several school trips/assemblies & our final spring concert. Then, I have to somehow find all the instruments I couldn't find at the start of the year & turn in our wonderfully unorganized inventory (don't worry... it'll be organized after I get finished with it).

No, I don't hate my job... in fact, I LOVE my job. It's really easy to see how much I'm appreciated, which doesn't always happen in my profession.

Here's one more reason I can't wait until summer... Chris & I have decided to start "trying" for a baby this summer. Not sure of all the details, and how our "plannned pregnancy" will go. Christina has really taught me to not plan for such a miracle, but I'll go ahead and give it a shot anyway!! :)

I'm really excited, and I just can't wait for the day that we'll get to tell the future grandparents that they will be having their first ever grandchild (among the other joys of having a baby, of course)! DEFINITELY more to come on that note...

First Instrument Drive was a SUCCESS!!

YAY! We had such a great night tonight with all our incoming beginning band kids. We had 40 kids try out & choose instruments, and it was so great to see all their bright little smiles. It's so nice to be reminded of how music can change an "ordinary" kid to someone so extraordinary! We had several of them choose what I call "God's Instrument" (see below).

I also got a sweet little teacher appreciation present from a band parent today. I know we always complain about the parents who don't call enough, then we complain about the ones who won't stop calling... but it's just so nice to be appreciated for what I do everyday. Whoever said teachers aren't appreciated didn't work at MY school!! :)

We'll see how the rest of the week goes. More to come...

Christina is officially a better blogger than ME!

Thanks to Christina's fancy little blog, I've been able to figure out a little more on how to make my page cute. I've also been given a little motivation to update my blog more often!

I am now a proud owner of my first laptop... not so sure if I will EVER get used to this attached mouse idea, but I'll learn to love it (and learn to get my HANDS out of it's way of those little short-cuts I don't know how to use!) Chris says I'm on my computer WAYYY too much, so I've got to be better about managing my computer & hubby time.

That's all for now (mostly because it's taken me TWICE the time to do this blog post b/c my hand CONTINUES to get in the way!!! ahhh!!) More to come (this week, if I'm lucky)...

Easter 2009

Chris & me @ my parents' house, Easter 2009 We are VERY family-oriented people, so getting together for holidays and other family gatherings is a lot of fun! We finally had some of our extended family over to my parents' house in Saginaw. It was really nice, because until recently, we had lost touch with that side of the family. More to come...