Forgotten pics

I forgot to post these pictures! On Memorial Day we had our "2nd Annual Fowler Memorial Day cookout". Yes, it is only the "2nd annual" but annual events have to start at some point! We had a great time spending our day off with friends. The burgers were delicious, Mark!

The grill master

Hanging out, waiting for food

Those Chamblee twins are adorable!

Baby shower

Today was Jennifer's baby shower. I hosted the shower at my house, along with Alli, Michelle, Amy, Courtney, and Sharon. This was the first baby shower I have ever had at my house. What a lot of work! I didn't realize how much effort went into having the shower at your own house. But, it was fun and I enjoyed getting to plan and decorate for it. We were all just so excited to help Jennifer celebrate this wonderful event in her life. Congratulations, Jennifer and Byron!

Oreo was so curious on Friday night with all of the decorations going up. I couldn't keep him off the table!

the table

the mantle and gifts

Jennifer and the hostesses

I had several people request the punch recipe, so here it is. I have to give credit to Amy McCown. She gave me this recipe several years ago.

Slushy Citrus Punch - Yields 28 cups

1 1/4 cups Sugar

1 - 46 ounce can of pineapple juice

1 1/2 cup of orange juice

3/4 cup of lemon juice

1/4 cup of lime juice

1 (2 liter) bottles of ginger ale

Combine first five ingredients, stirring until sugar dissolved.

Pour into gallon size freezer bags. Freeze until firm.

About 2 hours before use, put out to thaw.

Add ginger ale until slushy.

Only 5 more days . . .

As I am approaching my last week of school, it is a bitter sweet feeling. Obviously, I am excited about having time off. The fact that I get to spend the whole summer with Mark is absolutely priceless. And we are soooo excited about our upcoming vacation that is now only 18 days away! On the other hand, I am going to miss my coworkers. This year I have had the opportunity to work with some girls that I have become really good friends with. As far as my grade level team goes, this is the best year I have ever had. We worked together so well, and had fun together outside of the school building. I am very saddened by the fact that I will not have the same team next year. One of the girls is getting married and moving to San Antonio. We will miss her so much. Another girl is getting moved to teach 5th grade. Yes, she will still be in my building, but it won't be the same. Finally, the male teacher on my team is getting moved to 2nd grade. So, while I am counting down the days until summer, I also have an ache in my heart because I know that what I have right now is drawing to a close. To Maria, Katie, Summer, Jennifer, and George - thank you SO much for a wonderful school year. You have made it GREAT!

I just keep getting older . . .

My 28th birthday was a great one! When I arrived at school my entire room was decked out with birthday decorations. Then, during our conference period, the other 4th grade teachers brought me a cookie cake (my favorite!) and some wonderful gifts. My students were so excited to celebrate my birthday. I had birthday wishes all day long!





Then, after work 4 of my good friends from work went with me to a salon to get pedicures! It was a great salon in west Plano called Beverly Hills Nails. It was very relaxing to spend time being pampered and hanging out with friends.

Yes, this is a birthday sash. And, yes, I did wear it all day long! Thanks to my friend, Summer!

Finally, when I got home I opened some birthday cards and Mark's gift. He gave me a spa package at an incredible spa. I can't wait to use it! Then, we went to Uncle Julio's for dinner. Thank you so much to everyone! I feel very loved!

Ever know someone who was destined to be successful?

Mark here,

You ever meet people in your life that are just so talented, so focused, and so charismatic that you just know they will accomplish the things they set out to do and be overall successful?

There was a kid like that in my high school class. He was our class president. He won a national speech competition for humorous interpretation, he won State level tournaments in speech/theater for both comedic and dramatic events. He had been in local commercials since he was a kid. He had dreams of going to Julliard with NYU as his backup.

At graduation, there were 35,000+ people (it was the largest HS class in Texas, graduation was at SMU's arena), and during his Class President speech he had all 35,000 people laughing out loud.

He was the star of every school play.

Dude. is. talented.

Anyway, he went off to NYU to study acting/theater. Ever since we graduated in 1997 I've been waiting around to start seeing his name appear on things.

And then last Thursday, he appears on 30 Rock. He played Tracy Jordan's "son." I didn't recognize him at first, and didn't realize it was him until today when I saw the credits after watching the episode again.

I googled him and apparently he has already been in several Broadway plays, including the initial run of Mama Mia! which probably has something to do with him being on 30 Rock in the first place, since the 30 Rock episode referenced Mama Mia!

So it looks like he is well on his way. I will be surprised if he doesn't become a fairly well known actor within the next 5 years or so. He's on his way to being well known on Broadway at any rate.

Field Day 2009

On Friday, my school had our annual field day. As a teacher, I had only experienced the field day at my old school. This field day was run very differently. The kids choose a partner and do almost all of the events with that partner. They have a card pinned to their backs with each event on it. As the do an event, their card gets hole-punched so they can keep track of what they have done. So, my class was all over the place. There was no way I could keep track of each of them! It was great because I was able to just mill around because the events were run by parents. I even got a chance to play some of the games! The theme this year was super heroes. Each grade level was a different super hero. We were batman. We mad a huge banner to carry into the "opening ceremonies". The kids were so pumped about it. They had great spirit! It was a great day, but very tiring. There is a reason we only do this once a year!

Katie and me

Jennifer, Katie, Summer (all 4th grade teachers) and
Stephanie and Amanda (3rd grade teachers)

Summer and me doing the hippity-hops. She beat me by a mile!

The 4th grade team, minus 1

George and me doing the tug-of-war. George was a good sport, but I never had a chance!

At the end of the day we had a teacher tug-of-war. Our team was the underdogs, because the other team had a male teacher who probably weighs a muscular 250+ lbs. The first time we went we easily won, but found out the forementioned teacher had been inside taking a kid to the bathroom. So, they made us do it again. Well, the second time around was definitely harder, but we came out victorious! The kids went crazy!

House face-lift

Thanks to Mark and my mother-in-law, Nancy, our house got a bit of a face-lift this weekend. Mark and I have been talking about putting a door on a laundry room for a year now. Our laundry room opens straight into our office/kitchen, which we love. However, it is really loud sitting at the computer when the laundry is going. Also, when we have people over, we wanted a way to close that room off. So, we went to Lowe's got an accordion door and tada - closed off space. Mark, thank you for doing this project for me!

The before . . .

The after . . .

Also, Nancy made some curtains/valances to go over our office and kitchen windows. The ones shown here are in the office. They have the same color palette as the roman shades she did for our atrium doors in the kitchen breakfast area, but not the same pattern. They look wonderful and spice up the room a bit. Thanks, Nancy!

Teaching Life Lessons

Mark here, bogartin' the blog once again.

So the other day in one of my Algebra classes, we got off topic as we are sometimes prone to do. For some reason or another I got into a discussion about how I can't stand the fact that every kid these days seems to get a trophy for no reason. Sign up for soccer? Get a trophy! You didn't even play? Who cares? Participant Ribbons for everyone!

Anyway, to teach them that only the winners should get the trophy, I told them that whoever got the highest score with the most impressive work shown on their Algebra test, which happened to be over the Exponential Function, would get a trophy.

So I had to make a trophy. Some styrofoam, some paper mache, and some spray paint, and POOF, we got ourselves a trophy for the Exponential Function. During the trophy presentation (which is going to go to the lucky young man who scored a 105), I'm going to call it an "Expy."

I'm an addict

I, Hattie Fowler, am addicted for Facebook. I have been saying for several months that I would join, but never did. Then, on Friday, my coworkers finally talked me into it. I have spent many, many hours on Facebook this weekend. I'm headed there right now . . .

Easter

We had a good Easter weekend. Well, besides the fact that Mark was sick. We spent some time on Friday and Saturday working in our yard. We are trying to redo some of the flower beds. I will post more about that another time when we actually have some nice updates done. On to the Easter celebrations . . . I talked Mark into dying Easter eggs with me on Saturday night. This was always a big tradition with my family. We did not do the plastic eggs with candy. Instead, we dyed dozens of hard boiled eggs and that is what we hunted on Easter morning. Mark and I only dyed a dozen together (actually 9 because three cracked in the boiling process) but it was fun. Then, for Easter lunch we invited Mark's parents and my brother over. We had roast, potatoes, carrots, devil eggs (my first time to make them), crescent rolls, fruit salad, and I think that is it. For desert we had lemon icebox pie. Thanks, Alli, for the recipe! All in all, it was a very nice Easter weekend.

The process . . .

The finished product

Hattie's favorite
Mark's favorite

Love ya, Mark!

It seems that lately I have been bombarded with classes and discussions on marriage. We just finished a winter quarter in our Sunday school class about marriage and in our small group we are reading a book called "Sacred Marriage" by Gary Thomas. The more "lessons" I hear and the more discussions I have about marriage, the more I realize how incredible my marriage is. I am so very blessed! Every single day of my life I am so very happy to be Mark's wife. We laugh together constantly. We simply enjoy each other's company. We can discuss the tough topics in life with relative ease. I feel free to share my thoughts and feelings without the fear of judgment. There have been trials and tribulations, and I know throughout life there will be many more to come. The road we thought we would walk together has branched out in paths we could never have forseen. Through it all, I have had a companion I can lean on and more importantly, a Christian husband who will show me God's love. So, tonight, I want to say how much I love my amazing husband. I am so lucky to be able to share each day of my life with you! Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this amazing gift!

Wedding Bells

Well, March 16 was finally here. My good friend Joy married the love of her life, Kevin. The day was absolutely gorgeous. Not a cloud in the sky. And since it was an outdoor wedding, that was a very good thing. I don't have much to say, because the pictures will speak for themselves. Joy, you were absolutely radiant and stunning on your wedding day. Thank you so much for allowing me the honor of being apart of your wedding. It was full of many wonderful memories that I will cherish forever. I love you and pray a multitude of blessing upon you marriage to Kevin. Congrats, Mrs. Lee!

Amazing!

Mark's brother, Clay, is a graphic designer. He can do things quickly on the computer that would take me hours, days, or a lifetime to figure out. I asked him to fix up this picture for me. Tell me what you think!

BeforeAfter

I feel like playing one of those magazine games where you find all of the things that are different in the photos!

Warning: This blog contains underwear!

On Saturday night, Joy and all her bridesmaids drove to San Antonio for a girls' night out and lingerie shower. We stayed at Hotel Contessa, which I now highly recommend. It was absolutely fabulous and right on the Riverwalk. We checked in about 4:30 and then just hung out, had the lingerie shower, and then went to dinner at Mi Tierra. We had a fabulous time together! I can't wait to see all the girls again this Saturday for the wedding!

In the front reception area of Hotel Contessa. From left to right: Katie (maid of honor), Olivia, Joy (BRIDE!), me, Nina

Joy is showing off her "Bride to be" sash. Yes, she wore this all night . . .

Joy and me

Lingerie shower - let the fun begin :)

Joy sporting some panties for a game we played

Ready to go out to dinner

Joy, the bridesmaids, and Jenny who joined us for the night!

Nina, Joy, and me - we all went to high school together