As October turns to November...

So some updates on things going on in my life. Sorry I'm not good at being a "regular blogger."

First off, since the last post was like 2 weeks ago...my graduating/class status has changed. I have since met with the departmental advisor (a very last minute meeting), changed my major to general mass communication, been given permission to substitute some classes that are NOT normally allowed, AND I am happy to say I am now graduating in May again!! In other words, even when I doubted....God was faithful. After lots of frustration and praying, I finally let God take control of the situation and trusted that He had a different plan for me. Once I had peace with it all, I couldn't believe how easily God worked everything out for the best. Wow, let me just say...God is good.

Next, I found myself planning, setting up, working, and cleaning up the "Haunted House" that our dance studio put on. It was a pretty long day of running on little sleep and a lot of running around trying to get stuff done in time for the kids to show up. It ended up working out pretty well (all thanks to my WONDERFUL reliable friends who helped out a ton!) There weren't as many kids as I hoped for, but it was a fun time. I was "Elastigirl" from The Incredibles and Julie (my roommate) was Tracy Turnblad from Hairspray. I mean it IS the one day a year that you can go all out in getting dressed up, so we took advantage of the fun night. :)

Finally, this past weekend I got to go home and see the family--and britt and matt came into town so we got to watch the Texas v. Texas Tech game....yes......unfortunately it was an upsetting night for football. Except for my sister, who happened to be the only one wearing red at The Tavern, where we went to watch the game. All well--a well-deserved Tech win.

Let's see, on top of this all I haven't really had a voice, so I've sounded like a man for about a week now unfortunately, and on top of that--the cough is back. Yep, for those few of you reading that truly know me...you know what I'm talking about. I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that as my voice comes back, the cough will go away, but we all know how that has worked out over the years haha...

Oh and I told all my (dance) classes that they could either wear part of their costume or something orange and black to class the week of Halloween. A few of them came all dressed up so I took some pictures because I couldn't stop cracking up at how adorable they looked!

Now that Halloween has passed though, I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving because that means only about a week of classes after that and then it's CHRISTMAS BREAK! Oh I loooove this time of year (I think I said that on one of my last posts, but just wanted to reinforce that opinion of mine).

Fall is officially here!

It has been a busy busy week and weekend. I talked to my advisor recently about my last classes for next semester (oh and I teach her daughter, Avery, so it's neat to get to know her and her family more), but anyways, apparently I didn't know that one class I have to take is a pre-requisite for another class that I need. Basically, she was saying I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like you're not going to be able to graduate in May. haha gotta love those reminders that God is in control and NOT us...but it's just a minor bump in the road in the scheme of things I suppose. Anyways, I have to go talk to the department about my options and hopefully find a way to work everything out.

So that added a little stress to my week, BUT at least having this "cooler" weather seems to make life so much more enjoyable, and puts me in a better mood. Especially for times like this weekend; we had an awesome football-filled Saturday with Texas States' homecoming and the Texas v Mizzou game! Weekends like that are always good stress-relieving weekends.

Oh how I love love love this time of the year! :)

And of course I finally took some pictures of my dance classes. It's funny how much the pictures reflect most of their personalities, some of them have tons of personality (and it shows), and then there are still a few girls who are a little difficult in class.--but that's alright.

This is my Wednesday Combo A class (meaning 6 & 7 year olds). This is the class I talked about last time--one of my favorite classes I teach! From left to right there is:

Devyn--the girl who fractured her collarbone, but is back!! ;

Laisha--the girl who runs up to me everytime yelling "Hi Miss Tatie"and gives me a huge hug ;

Avery--the very mature for her age advisors' daughter ;

and Katie--one of the prettiest and quietest girls out of the entire studio! (Oh and the girls still get a big kick out of the fact that Katie and I have the same name.)

These are two of the girls in my Saturday Preschool B class (4 year olds). From left to right:

Krystal--the girl that (at age 4) already loves a challenge. She needs a little competition to keep her listening and participating.

and Sofia--perhaps the CUTEST and most contagious laugh ever, and she starts every sentence off with "Miss Katie did you know..."

Ah my oh so crazy Kindergarten class on Saturdays. This is one of my most difficult classes because they're all "best friends" so they feed off of each other. There is a LOT of talking in this class, so I have to be really creative in coming up with new ways to help them pay attention. Don't get me wrong, I still love 'em and they're still cute little kiddos.

and finally, 3 of my oldest girls that I teach, my Saturday Combo A class (6 & 7 yr olds):

La'Maisha, Estella, and Anouk--these are 3 girls just bursting with personality; especially Anouk (at the bottom). She is fluent in French and English so whenever I am teaching a new "term" in ballet, she understands a little better than most girls because she can understand that "plie" means "to bend" and tendu means "to stretch," etc.

The Busiest semester yet.

Alright sister...since you insist on this, I will try to keep you updated on things as my last year of college speeds by.

This week seemed to take forever, but it could have been because I got about 2-4 hours of sleep every night, since I was studying for midterms, tests, and writing papers (I thought this semester was supposed to be EASIER than others since I'm only taking 12 hours, but I guess I was mislead).

So, I'm in Austin today and tomorrow for a little break. I just got back from the doctor--who told me nothing that I didn't already know--that I need to go to physical therapy. So, I told her I'd make an appointment in San Marcos; I don't know how often I would actually go, but I might as well go talk to them and see if they can help me out a little so my knees stop aching.

One last thing to make a comment on: the kiddos at work. Lately, the girls have been in the habit of talking a lot, so we've had to practice a lot of "good listening" and with only 45 minutes to do stretching, ballet, AND tap....I'm constantly trying to figure out new ways to help keep their attention! I do have one class, however, that is the exception to the rule. It's my smallest and yet oldest class, made up of 3 incredibly behaving beautiful little girls (and I guess it also happens to be my favorite class, though I'm trying to not play favorites). Last Wednesday I told them that we couldn't start unless they each told me what they did that day. haha In every other class I'm constantly asking the girls to stop talking and listen more, but in this class I find myself doing everything I can just to get the girls to talk!

I'm finding myself to love this job more and more. It's tough to be prepared every time I go to class because it means I can't really have an off day--but on the other hand, every time I have a bad day, their goofy little selves just make me smile!