2009 Summer Highlights

The time has come. School officially started for me today. No, the kids aren't back...they don't come back until the 24th, but still.....no more sleeping late, no more carefree summer days...they are gone. So, in honor of the summer being over, I would like to highlight some exciting events that took place during my 3 short months of no work.

London was an amazing trip for us the summer! It was a great way for Walt to end his "audit" career and we had a wonderful vacation.

Selling our house in Owasso and moving BACK to Texas! Man... has it been tough! We stayed in a hotel for a month, and just last night we moved in with 2 great friends. We will be moving into OUR new home on September 10th! We love Houston though and all it has to offer!

Getting a new job! I am now teaching 4th grade in Katy ISD at Bonnie Holland Elementary. I am one of the Language Arts/Social Studies teachers. I have a fabulous team and I can't wait for school to get started!

Finding out the we are HAVING A BABY!!
Wait...hold on...REWIND!! YES... I did say that! Walt and I found out in June that we will be expecting Baby Bass around February 22, 2010! This blessing was wonderful! Walt and I have been trying for so long to have a baby and God has answered our prayers! I do remember Walt's face when I told him...it looked like this:

Just Kidding!! But he was really thinking something along the lines of ....Yeah...We did it!!

He really is good with kids... see? Here is Walt and our sweet nephew Jack:

So my summer has been spent feeling nauseous all day long....(every day!) and today at my 12 + week check up (When we heard our baby's heart beat) I found out that I have lost a pound...due to my lack of eating. Don't worry....I've made up for it...the one major thing I have been craving has been chocolate milkshakes (so awful, I KNOW) and McDonald's! I'm going to be a FAT PIG!

Walt and I really are so excited....we are just worried about one little person:

Yep...Miss Gracie. Of course she is our baby...and NO she won't be put on the back burner, but we just wonder how she is going to react. We have already talked about getting a baby doll in 3 months, so that I can carry her around the house and Gracie can become familiar. Gracie will be the best Big Sister though, so I have no worries.

So...we have had an eventful summer needless to say! I promise to blog more...it was just so hard to keep my mouth shut, that I had to stay away from the blog!! (I know Poco is happy now that she can finally tell people!)

Yay for Baby Bass in February! God is sooo good! He's so GOOD to ME!

Weekend at the Beach

This weekend was a much needed get-away. 12 friends packed up all our stuff and set out for Galveston to spend a weekend at the beach. We all arrived at Pat's beach house on Friday night, and of course that is when all the festivities started. On Friday night we went out on Pat's boat, rode the jet skis, then came back and ate fish that had been caught earlier that day. Once everyone arrived Friday night we brought out the board games and played "catch phrase." I'm sorry the girls dominated at "catch phrase," and we played until 4 o'clock in the morning.

Saturday, we were woken up with breakfast, then we all went out on the boat from 12-5:30. We had such a great time, just hanging out on the boat, riding jet skis, and just having great conversations. Saturday night we went to a wonderful seafood restaurant, then came back home, had birthday cake, and played some more games...mad libs, taboo, catch phrase and dizzy bat. We went to bed a little bit earlier on Saturday night (like 3 a.m.) Sunday morning we were woken up with breakfast once again and then cleaned up before heading out. Pat was so nice to let all of us go down there and hang out for the weekend. We had a wonderful weekend, but unfortunately, Walt's work computer wouldn't let me download my pics, so I had to borrow from Poco's facebook page. Once I get a regular computer I will upload more pics. As far as everything goes for me and Walt....right now we are STILL living in a hotel, we still haven't found a house that we love and I have finally moved everything into my classroom. Summer is officially over....I'm now back in my classroom, getting things together for my 6th year of teaching! Can't believe it's been 6 years!

Me, Poco and Sara....this was after a long day on the beach, but man do I love these girls!

My hair does not cooperate with humidity...at least most girls can pull up their hair and look cute in a pony tail...I have to sport the half up do...and it makes me look like I'm 12.

We were playing Catch Phrase when "man in the mirror" came on by Michael Jackson...this is Pat's favorite Michael song....we were all in for a treat watching him dance to this song.

He's in the middle of doing some of his infamous Michael Jackson moves.

I was in the middle of trying to prove a point during the game...needless to say, my point was proven.
Saturday night...all dressed for dinner...don't you love how golf carts can take you everywhere at the beach?!?

Poco, Me, Ashley and Sue....My loves! Outside the restaurant, ready to eat some goooood seafood!

Me and Pokey after dinner....love my sister...so glad you came and spent the weekend with us!

Walt surprised us with a birthday cake!! He also did a fabulous job of serenading us with the birthday song!

Walt with the birthday girls! Me (Aug 4) 27, Ashley (Aug 4...I know, me and my sister in law have the same birthday!) 26, and Poco (Aug 6) 24!!

Poco and Sue....right before going downstairs and deciding to participate in dizzy bat with the guys!

Walt playing dizzy bat...all of the guys were quite hilarious!

Poco and Sue..."the dizzy bat" champions! Of course when it came turn for Sue to hit the can, she actually (accidentally hit Poco in the face!) They were awesome!

WHAT A GREAT WEEKEND!

Summer Reading

who doesn't love summer? i.love.summer. and for many, many reasons. i guess it is a great thing that i do have a job where i still get paid in the summer even though there might be some days that i sit around on my bah-donk-a-donk all day long. one of the reasons i love summer so much is that i get to catch up on my reading. normally i try to read children's chapter books that I am not familiar with, but this year i decided i would take some time out to read books that would interest me on a higher level. i've already told you that i did indeed get sucked in with mostly everyone else (except for my sister poco) and read the twilight series. let me be honest with you. this series was not a series that i was "crazy" about, at least i thought i wasn't crazy about it. but, i guess you are crazy about a book when you look down and have read 300 pages, or you actually dream about the book at night...would that constitute as being crazy about the book? i am not at all in love with vampires, nor will i ever be, but i just could not put these books down...any of them. i was so addicted that i had to go out and buy 2 books while i was in london because i had to see what happened next. so...i would definitely suggest to anyone to read the twilight series.
i have also read my sister's keeper. my little sister and i decided that we would read this at the same time and then go to the movies and see it. let me tell you this....the book is SO much better than the movie. oh my gosh, i can't even tell you how much better the book is. the movie doesn't even follow the book. but, you always know that is going to happen when you turn a book into a movie. now don't get me wrong, the movie was good, if you like crying and i actually walked out and just hugged poco because i wanted her to know that i was so glad she is my sister. but i do recommend this book also. it is an easy read, and each chapter is told from the view point of another character. if you haven't seen the movie, get the book and read it first, and then watch the movie on dvd. if you can't tell i love comparing books to movies...guess that's why i am a reading teacher???


now the last books that i have read have been out for quite sometime, but i was slow to get on the reading wagon. i would like to attribute it to the fact that last year i was reading children's chapter books. ha. they are the books by emily giffin. something borrowed, something blue, baby proof and love the one you're with. i gosh, now talk about not being able to put these books down! i couldn't do it. i made two trips to target in two days to buy the last books. my favorites would have to be something borrowed and something blue....darcy and rachel's relationship was just classic and i found myself reading every chance i got to see what would happen with their friendship. the end of the first book i seriously let out a "oh no, you didn't". i also loved the other two books, don't get me wrong, i finished both of those within two days. so if you haven't read these two books...buy them, or go to the public library and check them out. i also heard from my bff, katie, that the first two books are in talks of being turned into movies...get excited! hopefully i can compare those to the movies also soon. let me warn you though...if you don't love gossip, or if you don't love soap operas, you probably won't love these books. of course i am all about drama though, so these books were perfect for me.

Bass/McKamy Reunion

You've often heard me talk about Matt and Sue. They are the couple that we traveled to Europe with for 3 weeks. While there we went to Italy, Slovenia and then boarded a week cruise to Greece, Turkey and Croatia. You know when you have found great couple friends when you spend the entire three weeks together. On that trip we never once "broke away" from each other.
Matt and Sue just got married in March. They now live in Rockwall, TX and this weekend Walt and I went up there to visit them. We were so excited about going to see the McKamy's, AND we were also so excited to be able to stay in a "house" and not a "hotel." Matt and Sue had the ENTIRE weekend planned for us. There was not a dull moment. Friday night Walt and I arrived around 8:00 and we took a tour around their amazingly, beautiful home. I would have never guessed that they just moved in, in March....every room was decorated so adorable! We stayed up Friday night and just talked until 2 in the morning. It was great getting to catch up with them.
Saturday morning we woke up around 9 to a wonderful breakfast cooked by no one other than Chef Matt McKamy. We had scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, fruit, bagels...everything you can think of...and it was darn good! After breakfast Matt, Walt and Tyler (Matt's brother) went to play 18 holes of golf, while Sue and I went to the spa. We had pedicures and massages....so wonderful! After our "spa day," Sue and I went to the Country Club pool, ordered grilled cheeses and chicken fingers, read our gossip magazines and hung out by the pool. WHAT A GREAT TREAT!! I loved just being able to catch up with Sue AND be able to discuss celebrity gossip....isn't girl time the greatest?!?!
Saturday night, Matt and Sue had arranged for us (Me, Walt, Matt, Sue, Tyler and Sheena) to go sailing on the Lake Hubbard. It was so much fun! We boarded the boat at 7 and we were on the sailboat for 2 hours AND watched the sunset. It was fabulous!! I had never been on a sailboat before and I loved every minute of it...especially all the "sailing" songs that our captain downloaded for us to listen too! ha! After dinner we went to Gloria's and had great mexican food. We then all came back to the house and played Cranium and Mad Gab until 3 in the morning! While playing those games we did bust out the dvd that Matt had created from our trip to Europe! It was so fun to be able to look back on all the wonderful things that we experienced....we had some great laughs! Matt and Sue were incredible hosts and we are so thankful for their friendship and love them very much!! Can't wait to see them in two weeks when we spend a weekend in Galveston at the beach!
It really is great to be able to get away on the weekends and not have to be stuck in the small hotel room. This weekend we will be going up to Daingerfield for some much needed family time. I must also say thank you to Poco. Walt left Monday for Midland, so I stayed in Texas and spent Sunday and Monday with Poco. Thank you for always letting me stay at your place, and for kicking my butt at our workout. I love you and I love getting to spend time with you!!

This is a horrible picture of both of us. Walt was trying to be funny and my hair is just awful...but here we are on our sunset sail!

Me and my Suebear after the sun had set. Love this girl!

I'm sailing away.......

The girls...Sue, Me and Sheena. Of course my hair would be the only one blowing in the wind.

Walt and Matt observing the lake...ok...maybe it was staged...ha!

The boys...Walt. Matt and Tyler. What a fun night!

400 sq. ft. home

Walt and I made it safely to Houston on Friday night. We checked right in to our "extended stay hotel," all 400 square feet of it. I'm talking no place to just get away from each other...unless of course, we use the restroom and close that door. Other than that...we are exposed to each other all the time.

Gracie has adjusted quite well....she's super spoiled. We went looking at houses Fri/Sat/and Sunday and she went with us into every house. The cleaning crew here won't clean our room unless the dogs are out of the room....that isn't the case for Gracie. We left her in the room today while we were at the pool...and low and behold, they cleaned the room with sweet Gracie in it. So..all is well here. Walt and I will probably be in this extended stay for close to two months...don't be jealous.