Merry Christmas!

I just want to wish all of (millions) :) of readers a very Merry Christmas!!!

After the whirlwind of activities that I was a part of the last 3 weeks, I can now sit back and relax with my family here in California. I have successfully watched all of the classic Christmas movies: Christmas Vacation, Elf, I'll be Home for Christmas, a Muppet Christmas Carol, and a few others. I've got all my Christmas shopping done and wrapped. I have completed 3 1,000 piece puzzles...and I am off to buy another one for tomorrow right after this. Today my mom and I baked a cheesecake as well as some yummy, ginger pumpkin cookies, and I plan on helping her with a little sewing. While it sounds like I am doing a lot, it's really nice because this is stuff that I NEVER get time to do! So while I am sewing and watching some more movies, I hope that you and your family are having a wonderful Christmas holiday!

Remember, amidst the family, friends, food, movies, decorations, etc the real reason we are celebrating is the birth of Jesus Christ! The one and only way to salvation! Happy Birthday Jesus and Merry Christmas to all!

And, They're Off...

This is my favorite time of year. I love the Christmas season! I am so blessed to have been able to spend a relaxing week in California for Thanksgiving, and I am so excited to know that I will be returning in less than 3 weeks. Less than 3 weeks! To be honest, I don't know whether to be excited or not.

I LOVE Christmas time and yet I only have 3 weeks?! I mean...do I bother to decorate the apartment to only enjoy it for 21 days? And, of those 21 days, I am involved in about 54 different things which keeps me away from home. (Ok, not that many, but I am not far off.) I feel refreshed from a glorious 9 day break and yet I find myself in the blocks at the starting line of a race! Not just any race, no. It can't be the marathon where I enjoy the scenery of the yuletide season, as I pace myself towards the holidays. No! This is the 100 m dash. The finish line is so close and while it would be nice to be done with this race, I don't want it to be over that fast! Not to mention the sprinting! The effort that is put into going that fast!!

School started today. I leave for a 3 day conference in Arlington Thursday morning. I return to full day rehearsals for the Christmas program. Followed by a 20 hour course I need to take on Bus Driving Safety. (Did I mention that class is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday nights from 6-10pm, with an 8-5 course on Saturday?!) The following weekend will be our Christmas Program (Waco Christmas Celebration)-- four performances over 2 days, and oh, 6 to midnight rehearsals nights leading up to the performances. Which quickly brings me to the last week of school. The week where I usually enjoy doing Christmas activities with the kids, pack to go home, and finish some Christmas shopping. Well, this year that week is multiplied with packing all of the PE equipment, including my office, to get ready to move to the new Intermediate School that will be opening when I return from the break.

When do I get to enjoy the Christmas parties with my friends before I leave??? I mean, I do have a fabulous 2.5 year old "niece" and a 2 year old "nephew" that need to open some gifts from their Aunt Kelly before she jets to Cali for 2 weeks. I mean, this is the first year where they really understand that there is something good in those red and green boxes! I am not even thinking about the Baylor Christmas Tree Lighting that I will be missing with my small group. (I am so bummed about that!) This is a busy time of year, but a wonderful time of year, and I just hope that I get to enjoy it...breathe in the Christmas air, taste the cookies and feasts, listen as those sleigh bells ring, deck those dusty halls, and journey to the manger and remember what all this is really about. I hope that same wish for all of you!

Merry Christmas!!

Rats!

...or mice at least...

I can remember hearing a quote on one of my first days at China Spring. It was from my partner teacher, Nathan, talking about the conditions at the Intermediate School. He had said, "The crickets get real bad here. They come in when it rains. Then the mice come in when it gets cold. Then, the snakes come in for the mice." My immediate reaction: "WHAT?!"

He was right about the crickets. They were horrible! The month of September left a foul stench and black field crickets in every nook and cranny of the school. The month of October started off okay. The school was left with dismembered cricket parts as a nasty reminder of what had come to us the month before. Gosh, I wish all I was dealing with was some brown wings and fuzzy legs laying around.

Now, as October came to an end, I saw my first mouse. I told myself, Nathan just moved all his stuff and I am sure it just doesn't have a home now. We set out a sticky trap along the path we saw him running. If only it were that easy. Over the first night, he had successfully moved the trap and crapped on my desk just to remind me that he was still there. Over the next few days, I had seen the evidence that there was a mouse still in our office. Daily, he found my lesson plan book and left me gifts. Heck, I guess a lesson plan book would be the perfect place.

Now, for 2 going on 3 weeks, I feel as if I am living the movie, Mouse Hunt. (Haven't seen it? It's a must!) I crack up every time I see that movie, but I honestly believe if I were to watch it again tonight, I might be a little more empathetic towards Nathan Lane's and Lee Evan's characters.

I will leave you with this one story (one, of many). I was eating my lunch one day when I saw a brown streak across the floor. Not an atypical sight. I had made some chocolate chip cookies the night before and I was super excited about them, so I decided to save them for my conference period. Which would be after my 2 classes of 5th grade. I had successfully made it through 5th grade PE and took the kids back to class. As I was doing this, my partner teacher headed back to the office when he heard some squirming. The mouse had successfully made it to my desk and inside my large zip-lock lunch bag where I thought my tasty treats were safe.

They spent a second or two staring at each other when Todd (my new partner teacher) jumped at the bag to try and trap him. The mouse ran out of the bag just in time and maneuvered himself on top of my lesson plan book that was neatly placed in the middle shelf of a three-tiered, plastic shelving unit on my desk. He gave a look just like the little mouse in Mouse Hunt would have, and probably smiled too.

Todd proceeds to do what any half-minded football coach would do in this situation. He uses his large, golf-sized umbrella as a sword and begins to poke at the mouse positioned safely within the confines of my desk organizer. Without a doubt in his mind, he avoids the prodding from the large, umbrella-equipped human and escapes the impending peril before him.

Todd retells me the story and ends with the fact that my cookies are now safe. He insisted they were double bagged and would be still fine to eat. With that advice, I promptly took the cookies inside their bag, inside the large zip-lock bag and threw it all in the trash.

Before I tossed my soft, fresh cookies in the trash I carefully broke a piece of one of the cookies off and gently placed it on a sticky trap. When I returned from teaching 6th grade PE the cookie had been nibbled, the trap had been moved a foot to the left, and there was a nice little present on my desk. I fixed the trap and needless to say, Monday morning the cookie was gone and my friend the mouse was on the trap in its place. I hope it was worth it, buddy!

Now, Nathan had been spot on with the crickets, and now proved himself wise with the mice. I am praying that he is 2 for 3 and the snakes stay clear of my office!

I have learned a lesson from all of this: If you give a mouse a cookie, he will crap on your desk!

School Pictures

So working for a school we of course have yearly school portraits. I am lucky to work at 2 campuses for China Spring ISD. The mornings are spent at the Elementary School and after lunch I work with 5th adn 6th grade at the Intermediate School (a campus between elementary and middle school). Well school pictures for the Intermediate School were on September 26th. I strayed from my coaching attire (mesh shorts and coaching shirt), curled my hair, and came prepared for pictures. Here was the result:

Not bad. The classic Lifetouch protrait complete with slight head tilt. I find it very odd to look at my twenty-something self in a school portrait, but I received a free package of them. What am I to do with 27 pictures of myself. (First 27 people who want one...can have one!)

The story continues...So on October 2nd there were pictures at the Elementary School. I got ready that morning like I normally do. I didn't do anything to prepare for these pictures because I have already taken pictures. Well, apparently the pictures don't transfer from school to school and I had to retake pictures. Here is that picture:

Again, I don't think it turned out bad. It is funny, however, to look at the 2 side by side. Ms. Levesque and Coach Levesque. Church Kelly and Regular Kelly. The Kelly no one hardly sees and the Kelly that everyone sees.

I brought these pictures to the Whitlark's house yesterday. I held up the picture of me in a ponytail and I asked Hannah, "Who is this?" She quickly responded, "That's Kelly!" So then, I held up the picture with my hair down and asked her, "Who is this?" After a long delay and a glance at me and her mom she repsonded with, "That's Kelly, too." So I thought I would get the opinion of a 2.5 year old. "Hannah, which one do you like better?" She reached her little hand up and grabbed the picture of me with my hair down. I guess I have to dress up to go see my little Hannah now.

Which one do you like?

Halloween Re-Cap

Here is a quick recap of Halloween this year. I know it was just a week ago, but my thoughts have already moved on to Thanksgiving... which is only 2 weeks away!

Well, it all started in the middle of October . My Sunday School class as a get-together carved pumpkins. We had a blast and I think mine turned out pretty cute. You can't go wrong with a simple version of a classic Jack 0' Lantern face.

All of the pumpkins turned out great! We had a really fun time together. There are some very talented/creative folks in my class as well.

On Halloween night, my Sunday School class dressed up and headed back to the church for our Annual Harvest Hoedown. We had some very fun costumes including the Black-Eyed Peas, a Wheaties box, the Nose Brothers, and more. These guys are SO fun!

My costume was a hit...and every one was so happy when they found me.

I had worn my costume to school the day before. At the elementary school we could dress up as our favorite character from a book. I was so disappointed with the amount of kids who 1.) didn't recognize Waldo right away, and 2.) didn't know who Waldo was. I had numerous kids ask me if I was Santa Claus. Yep, that's me the classic Santa with a striped shirt, sportin' his blue jeans and black-rimmed glasses. Hey...where are my cookies?!

It was all worth it, however, on Saturday night at the Harvest Hoedown. I was working the face painting booth and a fireman (a real fireman) came up to me holding his son dressed as Superman. The little boy must have been no older than a year, or a year and a half. Here's how our conversation went:

Fireman: "Hey, Waldo! Superman here wanted me to tell you hi."

Me: "Hi, Superman!"

Little Superman: (in his sweetest, little one year voice) "Hi, Waldo!"

Fireman: "He was looking for you in a book just a few days ago."

That little comment totally made my night!

I hope you had a safe and fun Halloween like I did. And, if you have little kiddos...take them to the library and check out some Where's Waldo books. They are classic!

100 Years of Baylor Homecoming

This year was the 100th Anniversary of Baylor's Homecoming celebrations. Baylor has one of the best Homecomings in the nation. They have the oldest and largest Parade, a bonfire with pep rally and concert, and many more events. My favorite event must be Pigskin Revue. It is a recap of the winning performances from Sing the year before. Sing and Pigskin are a "must-see" for everyone. This year I was fortunate to enjoy the Pigskin performances with some friends from Sunday School, Paige and Chance Connell and Erik and Amanda Hill. Kim Johnson who I am blessed to work with at the Elementary school was able to come with us also.

Following Pigskin, I went with the Connells and the Hills to enjoy the Bonfire, complete with a pep rally, concert, carnival, and fireworks. It was a great time!!


The next morning I went to the Homecoming Parade with the Whitlarks. It was a beautiful fall morning and a great day for a parade. I enjoy every minute I get to spend with these guys, Hannah is so fun and Jennifer and Jason are great friends!!!

The Baylor Golden Wave Band was part of the opening of the parade. The band scared Hannah, but it was fun to watch and made you proud to be a Baylor Bear.

After the Parade was of course the game. I went up to the stadium early and spent some time tailgating with some friends. I walked into the game with James and Tara and their beautiful little girl, Sydney. The 4 of us rooted the Bears onto defeat, as the Cowboys of OSU crushed us 34-7. Overall, it was a great weekend and it made me proud to be Baylor Bear!

Columbus Day

"In 14 hundred and 92, Columbus sailed the ocean blue."

Today is Columbus Day. A holiday that closes the post office, banks, and all government entities, not to mention most schools (not mine, however). This holiday has always baffled me. We all learn about Christopher Columbus in school, but if we ever venture out and learn about other explorers we learn that Columbus didn't really do anything extraordinary, and I've learned he wasn't that great of a man...

A quick history lesson:

500 years before Columbus ever set sail (my math would tell me that would be 992ish) a man named Leif Ericson, a viking, founded the "New World".

Amerigo Vespucci, a famous Italian explorer, actually founded America. This was in 1497, and it makes sense why we are America, named after Amerigo.

Columbus sailed west but never touched foot on the American continent. He spent all of his time on islands, most of the time being in what is now Haiti. It wasn't until his 3rd voyage that he actually stepped onto the "new world" and it was actually South America.

It is rumored that as Columbus tried to colonize this new land he treated the natives very cruelly. He pillaged the lands and raped the women. There are many countries in South America that do not like Christopher Columbus at all.

Well, he did discover the Earth was round, right? Wrong! People had known and believed the Earth was round for years before Columbus had ever set sail.

Now, with all of these accolades, would you still believe he is worthy of a national holiday? I don't want to start a big debate. I think that we need to learn about Columbus, but lets not forget about Leif and Amerigo and the many of other explorers who discovered great things on behalf of the the human race!

Venture on!

Autumn is here!

Fall officially came towards the end of September. I only say that because it was the 'First Day of Fall', but have yet to actually witness it. Here is Texas we have had a lot of rain and some cooler days with those rains (and when I say cooler, I mean 80's). But living in Texas, these cool spots of rain are accompanied by hot and uncomfortable humidity, and then another cycle of warm days.

That is until yesterday. We got some crazy rain which followed by 50 degree weather! It was a perfect night for a China Spring High School football game. I was able to come home and put on sweats after the game. I was bundled up with a quilt and a movie on the couch.

Today was a little cloudy with a high of 58! To top it all off, I was able to take some good friends to their Fall Festival at their school. I wore my first jeans, long sleeve shirt, and hoodie of the season. Not to mention, I drank my first hot chocolate as I followed Jacey and Ty around the grounds of their elementary school in Lorena. Of course, on the drive home we used the seat warmers and turned the heater on for the first time!

It has been a perfect weekend to officially kick off the fall season! I am thinking a nice sweater will be nice for church tomorrow. Maybe I will stop and get a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks on the way. (I have heard a lot about these...)

I am a Cali girl and I LOVE the warm weather, but it is nice to have a little change here. I am looking forward to watching the trees change and some more football games cuddled up in blankets, gloves, and scarves. I am just glad that winter doesn't last too long in Texas!

New Job

So of the MANY things that have happened this summer, one of the biggest things that has happened is I accepted a new job. I am now a China Spring Cougar! I will be at the elementary and intermediate school as a PE teacher during the day and the Assistant Softball Coach at the High School after school.

I have been at Rapoport Academy the last 4 years and I have made some great friends. That school is really neat with some good ideas on education, but I feel it is time to leave. I wasn't looking for this job, it came to me randomly. In fact, I was in California when they called and we did the whole interview process over the phone. I can't believe how easy CS had made it for me! Everything about this job feels right and I feel the Lord has blessed me with this opportunity.

In Jeremiah, the bible tells us: "For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." This is so true! The Lord has great plans for me and I really feel I am going to grow in this new job. He has had me picked for this job and I had no clue!!

So, a little background... Small country towns, like China Spring, in Texas split their elementary school into different campuses. They have a Primary School which is PreKindergarten, Kindergarten,and 1st grade, an Elementary School which is 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, and an Intermediate School which is 5th and 6th grade. Then students would go to middle school which is 7th and 8th, and High School which is grades 9-12. Crazy, I know, but it seems common in smaller towns around here. China Spring has actually cut their Primary school and combined it with their Elementary. So, from 8 til noon I will be at the elementary with PK-4th grade and then from lunch until the end of school I will be at the Intermediate campus with 5th and 6th grade. After school in the spring, I will be at the High School COACHING!

Coaching is something that I have wanted to do for a while, but I had fallen in love with classroom teaching in elementary school and had given up the desire to coach. This job encompasses the bet of both worlds! Elementary school during the day and I am still able to coach.

This past week, I have spent a lot of time at work. Coaches there seem to work all year round and really have a passion for helping kids, not only to become better athletes, but a desire to make them 'good kids'. It has been so neat getting to know more of these coaches and I am really looking forward to coaching with them. They have a team approach to coaching, from philosophies down to attire. In fact, CS has supplied me with full coaching attire! They wear the same clothes on certain days so the coaches can look like a team as well. Shirts, shorts, team shirts, everything down to even shoes!

So, to break the long silence of my blog from the summer, I wanted you to share in my excitement with my new job! Enjoy the Columbia Blue, White, and Navy around the blog...China Spring colors, of course!

Coach Levesque :)

Summer

I know I haven't blogged much. That is actually something I would like to try and work on. As for now, here is a quick update...

I was very diligent when packing and brought my camera (as I usually have it with me). However, as I was packing I didn't bring my cord for said camera. So, I have a TON of pictures that I would love to show all of my followers of the past 3 weeks but it will have to wait until I return to Texas. I can't believe it's almost been 3 weeks already! I am so glad things worked out which allowed me some extra time here. If I were to stick with my old itinerary I would have flown back yesterday. I am so thankful for these extra days here at home!

My time here has been GREAT! I have spent a lot of time seeing family and friends. I have spent even more time in the pool! I have gotten to do a lot of neat little things with my mom and dad. I will, hopefully, write more about my trip later.

Before I sign off, I want to remind you that today is July 15th. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince came out today. Happy Harry Potter Day!!! (Please don't tell me about it, I am waiting to see it with the Academy in Beverly Hills on Saturday!)

SAN ANTONIO

My trip to San Antonio has been one of the biggest, and funnest things I have done this summer, so far. A few months ago some of the girls I work with and I were talking about Wicked, the Broadway show, and how we wanted to see it. We saw that it was coming to San Antonio and the next thing I knew we had a trip planned. This was months ago, and with the busyness of the end of school, it came as a really nice surprise come June!

There were 5 of us that went: Hillary Goll (1st grade teacher), Jana Sallee (2nd grade teacher), Ashley Crumpton (2nd grade teacher with Jana, and she is in my Sunday School class), Ashley Henderson (music teacher), and myself. Ashley Henderson's parents live in San Antonio and they were so nice to let us take over their upstairs for the weekend. (You would think it might have been difficult with 2 Ashley's, but at our school we tend to call everyone by their last names. So technically, the 5 of us that went were: Goll, Sallee, Crumpton, Henderson, and Levesque.)

We left Friday afternoon and drove to Round Rock, which is North Austin. There is a HUGE IKEA there that we spent a good amount of time exploring. I bought a few little things, like a vase. I did see my entertainment center there marked at $300. (I will talk more about my entertainment center another time.) We decided to eat dinner in Round Rock so we wouldn't get stuck in the Austin evening traffic, so we headed to Chipotle...yum! We drove the remaining 2 1/2 hours listening to music and just chatting about life.

The next morning we were given a pancake breakfast before we went sightseeing. We started off with the Alamo. Here we all are in front of the sight of the 1836 massacre. (As you can see I learned a lot of my Texas history on this trip!) I had never been to the Alamo, nor had Jana. The other 3 girls were great teachers!

Henderson, Levesque, Sallee, Crumpton, and Goll

After the Alamo, we went to the Market and looked around. There were hundreds of booths in a flea market atmosphere with a Spanish flare. We ate lunch at a delicious Mexican food restaurant at the Market. It was the most authentic Mexican food that I have eaten in Texas. (There were very few Tex-Mex options on the menu) All the walking around, and the heat, had us all worn out. We went back to the house and got ready for Wicked! Of course after some relaxing and lying around.

Now, I have heard good things about the show Wicked. I have had the pleasure of seeing 2 shows on Broadway but this was my first traveling Broadway show. Like I said we bought tickets months ago. We decided on balcony seats, mainly for their price. What we didn't know, was that we were in the last row of seats in the highest balcony. Being so far away did not stop the quality of the show, however. It was such an AMAZING production. I had so much fun watching it.

Here we are all dressed up, after the show

On Sunday we loaded up at left to head back to Waco. We did this fairly early because we had some shopping planned, of course! We stopped at the Tanger outlets in San Marcos. I have traveled around and been at quite a few different outlet centers, but this was by far...THE BEST! You name a store and they had an outlet for it. Ann Taylor, Victoria Secret, Crocs, Under Armour, and the list goes on, and on, and on, and on...

We shared lots of ideas about teaching on the way home. This weekend helped us to relax from the year, get to know each other more, and it got us really excited to try out some new things for next year. I am so blessed to have such great friends!

Here I am at the Alamo and a few more shots from the weekend! SO MUCH FUN!!!

Check out Facebook or http://picasaweb.google.com/socaltexan1/SanAntonio# for my complete album.

Summer Time

Summer Time has officially hit Waco, Texas. Steadily and consistently for the past week the temperature has reached triple digits everyday! I shouldn't just say everyday, for there have been many times I have gotten in my car at 5:00 and 6:00 at night and have seen 100+ degrees staring back at me from the dashboard. Heat is one thing, then add humidity and we have a full-blown heat wave. That is summer in Texas....and it's only JUNE!

Technically for me, summer doesn't start with the hot weather. Summer actually started 17 days ago when school ended! And, it's summer vacation that actually reminds me of why I teach 10 months out of the year. Teaching is SO rewarding and I love every hour of it (I hesitate to say second or minute), but it has been days like the ones that I have had this June that have given me the frame of mind to return to it again in August!

We had a discussion with some friends over dinner tonight and one of them said, "Man it must be nice to be a teacher. You really have the best gig!" It sure would seem like that when I actually have all day, any given day of the week to do what I please. However, ask me to do something during August through May and I might (probably will) have to decline.

But, that is another discussion, for another time. Tonight I am releasing the peace that I have been experiencing the last 2 and a half weeks. Even though I am thousands of miles from my family (whom I love so much) I am SO blessed to be surrounded by such GREAT friends here in the Lone Star State.

I might have mentioned that I have had everyday to do whatever I please, but that however does not mean that I have done nothing! On the contrary, I have done EVERYTHING! Read this blog as the introduction paragraph to my "What I did this Summer" essay that I am in the process of completing. (I really need to step out of the 4th grade mindset....I guess 3 weeks still isn't enough!) Needless to say, come back to see what I have experienced so far this summer, and to take part in my adventures yet to come!

New Blog

This is MY blog!!! No more ABOUTFUSION, which I know many of you don't even know what the meaning behind this is. Long story... but, I am slowly moving over to this blog. I am really excited about it. This is me... a Southern California girl, turned Texan. Check back often for more updates.... but not too often. I am not a frequent blogger! :)