Changes

Is it seriously October? As of today, I (we) have been married four months! It's not 70 years like my grandparents will celebrate later this month, but it has been quite the journey thus far.

We got married.
Josh moved in with me.
Josh moved from Greeley to Littleton.
We aren't long distance anymore.
We see each other EVERY DAY!
I live with a boy!
We went to Mexico on our honeymoon.
I changed my name (this is still weird).
I started my sixth year of teaching.
Josh started student teaching.
We have settled into a routine.

So many other things have happened, but this is the long and short of it.

I am officially Mrs. Martinez. For 33 1/2 years, I was Nichols, and now I've been Martinez for four months. I will be Martinez for the rest of my life, and I like it :)

Women Get What They Want

Over the summer, my senior students had to read a book, A Year of Living Biblically. First of all, I LOVED this book and highly recommend it. It was one of my favorite books I read all summer. It's a hilarious journey of a man who decides to live the Bible literally for one year.

There is a chapter in the book that talks about women and their monthly cycle. In Biblical times, men could not touch their husband during their cycle and for a week after their cycle because they were considered unclean.


Once school start, my students had to write an essay. One student wrote the following:
Another reason Jacobs had to interpret the symbolic meaning is that women used to be not very cleansed. They used to be very dirty and back then it was acceptable to not please your wife for 30 days. Now a days woman are very clean and will usually get what they want. If Jacobs had to follow what the Bible says he would probably not have a woman around in his life. 

I was cracking up as I read this. There are so many things wrong with this paragraph that I don't even know where to begin, but what really made me laugh was, "Now a days woman are very clean and will usually get what they want." 

New Name

We have a class period in the middle of the day called Access. It's similar to homeroom or a study hall, and it's required for all students. Students can do their homework during this time, or if they need help on a certain subject, they can go get one-on-one help from that specific teacher.

Today during Access, I was playing on the computer while my students did their homework.

I heard someone say, "Ms. Nichols!" I turned my head to answer her question, and this student was laughing uncontrollably . She says to me, "I said, 'Mrs. Martinez' like three times and you didn't answer, so I tried 'Nichols' instead. You answered to Nichols but not Martinez."

I guess I still haven't gotten used to the new name.

Paul?

One of the hardest tasks of a new school year is learning names. On average, I teach about 140 students a semester, and only a handful of those are repeat students whom I already know.

I pride myself in learning names quickly. From the first day of class, I create a seating chart so I know their names, and I make sure to address them by name every time I call on them. I can learn names in about a week or two.

Last week, a senior raised his hand to answer a question. I said, "Paul, right?" I didn't wait for him to respond because I was confident I was right on the name. "Go ahead, Paul."

He answered my question, and we went on with the day.

The following day, Paul came into the room. I said, "Hey, Paul, how are you?" A fellow student snickered, so I asked, "That's your name, right? Paul?" His classmate assured me I had the right name and Paul sat down without saying anything.

For two weeks, I have been calling Paul Paul. But yesterday, after calling on Paul again, he said, "Ummm, my name is Tim, not Paul."

Now I know why that student snickered, and Tim has a new name. Everyone calls him Paul now!

A New Religion?

On the first day of class two weeks ago, I was going through rules, expectations, and the course curriculum for Junior English, World Literature, which includes a study of the five major religions of the world. I asked the class, "Does anyone know what the five major religions are?"

Everyone glanced around the room, afraid to speak or say something wrong.

Bueller? Bueller?

Finally, a brave student raised his hand.

"Latin?"

Oh, buddy.

I didn't want to make him feel stupid, especially since he was the only brave soul to try to answer the question.

"Not quite, buddy, but thank you so much for trying. Latin is a language. I'm looking for a religion."

Toots and Soda

I follow a blog of a lady I've never met. Her husband died three years ago on Christmas Eve (or maybe the day before) very suddenly. Her blog is very raw. When I first started following her, I would sit there and cry as I read through her stories of trying to survive as a single mom after her husband died.

Check it out: http://tricialottwilliford.com/

She recently wrote about a conversation she had with her boys. She asked them what they remembered about what their dad taught them before they died. The conversation goes like this:

“I’m so glad Daddy taught us about beans before he died.”

“Beans?”

Of all things?

“Yes, you know. How they make you toot.”

This is what they remember. And actually, I know Robb would be so proud that this information stuck like glue.

(Josh would love this lesson, too!)


It made me chuckle as I read her words because it reminded of a dinner conversation I recently had with Carson. Josh and I went to NE with Shan, Case, and Siahna a few weeks ago. Collin, Kate, Carson, Kye, and Corinne had come over for dinner at mom and dad's.

Kye lost a tooth at the dinner table, so we started to talk about the Tooth Fairy. Carson is old enough to know better, but he was a good sport and played along so as to not ruin the fun for Kye. Then Santa Claus came up.

Carson says, "I remember a few years ago when Santa left me a 12 pack of Coke, and Kye got a 12 pack of Mountain Dew. That was really cool."

Collin goes, "Out of all the cool things Santa has left you, you remember the Coke most of all?"

"Yep, that was probably the coolest thing Santa left."

Oh, kids! They crack me up.

Toots and soda.

T-Shirts and Ice Cream

And then Lacrosse started in March.

I can assure you that the months of February, March, April, and May were sooooo busy for me, but I survived!

I decided since I finally had a place large enough to have company, my first set of guests would be my lacrosse team.

Crazy, I know.

I first asked our Athletic Director if it would be okay for me to invite the team over for dinner. He said it would be fine.

The next day, I asked my team if they had any interest in coming over. They were beyond thrilled. I knew I couldn't afford to feed them all dinner, but I would afford to feed them ice cream, so we had an ice cream social complete with ice cream (duh), homemade magic chocolate, nuts, fruit, whip cream, and cherries. I also made brownies, and the girls were in heaven.

The girls had also decided they wanted to decorate shirts for the season, so we set up shop in my garage and spent the next two hours giggling and designing some fun shirts. I put tarps down in the garage, and it was the perfect workshop.

My neighbors were thrilled when 14 high school girls finally went home.

I hope to make this a yearly tradition. And so far, none of my girls has egged or papered my place!

Moving

In the midst of planning a wedding, celebrating Katie's upcoming marriage, and finishing a school year, I moved! Good grief, never try to move when you're just months away from a wedding, especially if you've made nearly all the decorations...

I moved from a tiny 600 square apartment to a large 1,400 square foot town house, and I love it here. Josh and I are still renting, but we have more than enough space for our belongings. It has two bedrooms, three bathrooms, an unfinished basement, a garage, a kitchen nook, and a formal dining room (that I made into my office).

Please come visit! We have room for visitors.

My old apartment right before moving day. 

 One view from the living room. (Keep in mind that I was still in the process of moving, so it's a bit messy and unorganized).

 This is walking into the living room.

 I made this formal dining area my office. 

 A decent sized kitchen (with my boots right in the middle of the floor).

 Our kitchen nook. 

 We have a very large master bedroom.

 My favorite thing about the house is this HUGE walk-in closet. Yes, I saved some room for Josh. 

 We have a large master bathroom. 

 This is at the top floor looking down.

 Our spare bedroom. At the time, this was my wedding room, but we know have a bed in it. 

This is our spare bathroom (there's a third bathroom on the main level). 

Now that we are fully moved in, I will take pictures of how I've decorated the place. 

Josh and I love our new place!

Sneak Peak

Josh and I head out in the morning for our honeymoon! We will be gone for a week, but I promise, I promise!!!, to continue blogging once we get home.

For now, here's a sneak peak of my favorite wedding photo!

Celebrating Katie

I told you about my friend, Katie, here: Katie Bee. She and Steve got engaged a month after Josh and me, but she got to have her bridal shower and bachelorette party before me. In April, all the bridesmaids and Katie's closest friends and family gathered to celebrate her upcoming wedding.

We first had a bridal shower: 

 

And then we got ready and hit downtown Denver. We first had dinner, and then we went to what used to be called Sing Sings (now called Howl at the Moon). We had a blast! We danced all night, laughed a ton, and then all spent the night at a house we had rented for the weekend.

 Mom and Shannon even joined us for dinner. 

Congrats, Katie and Steve. 

Grandpa Bill

In February, my precious Grandpa Bill became very sick. He was diagnosed with Leukemia and given just a few weeks to live.

Of course, we wanted to see him before he passed away, so Shan, Jeff, Case, Siahna, Josh, and I loaded up the car and took off to Lexington. We arrived Thursday evening, and Grandpa was sitting up and talking to everyone. He had slept most of the day, but he woke up right before we arrived to eat dinner. We got to spend about an hour with him before he fell back to sleep. What was most special to all of us was he knew us all by name, even Josh.

Before Grandpa fell back asleep, he was willing to take a few pictures.

 

Once he fell asleep on Thursday night, he barely woke up again. He passed away Saturday morning around 3 a.m. with Grandma by his side holding his hand. He woke up before passing away and asked for Grandma. She didn't leave his side the entire time.

My sister was able to speak at his funeral, and I encourage you to read her words here: Grandpa Bill. She captured his life so well in her words.

I miss Grandpa so very much. He is the greatest man I have ever known, and I sure do miss him.

Christmas 2013

After NYE, it was finally time to celebrate Christmas with the family (Collin and Kate had been in Colorado with Kate's family, so we had to wait for them to get back into town).

We had a fabulous day of opening gifts, eating food, enjoying the company of one another, eating prime rib, having Grandma and Grandpa over, coloring, playing games, and just loving one another. It was a great day that I didn't want to end.

 

 You can always tell when Kye likes something. His face lights up and his eye balls get really big. 

 The kids each colored their own plate.

 

 And then one of the kids got a hold of the camera and got a few shots of Josh before he could grab the camera away. hahaha.

 Saying goodbye to Grandma. 

Like I said, it was a great day with the family, and everyone left with full tummies and full hearts.