Ecuador Vs. Mexico

This week we got to see the Ecuadorian national team play the Mexican national team here in Phoenix. Although we were definitely outnumbered, we enjoyed cheering Ecuador on! Santi was so thrilled to see them live, and I thought it was really cool too. The game was televised on Telemundo and Santi recorded it on the DVR. I haven't watched it yet, but he claims that he saw us in the sea of green and red waving the Ecuadorian flag. There were around 26,000 people there, and I would say about 200 of them were Ecuador fans. We sat surrounded by Mexicans, but we did see one section where most of the Ecuadorians seemed to be concentrated. Ecuador scored the first goal of the game and I thought we might be able to send the Mexicans home crying, but unfortunately Mexico came back and scored two goals in the end of the game to win. Ecuador played a great game, but Mexico brought twice as many players and constantly had fresh legs on the field. Not to mention, Mexico definitely had the home team advantage!!! The Mexicans were rowdy as usual when they won, and we went home soaked in stinky beer that they had thrown over the upper balconies in celebration. Even though we lost, we had a great time. We sat really close and during half time Santi walked down as close as he could get to the field to take a picture of some of the players. He had his Ecuadorian flag with him and he saw Pepe Pancho (who also plays for Santi's all time favorite team Liga). He yelled Pepe Pancho's name and he turned around and waved at Santi. It was really neat. ApparentlyPepe Pancho's mom was friends with Santi's grandma...small world. Santi comes from a long line of soccer players....

Into November...

Wow fall is flying right by! It seems like October was a blur. We had so many things going on at school. Fall festival, math carnival, red ribbon week, Halloween...it was crazy. This weekend I was so thankful to be able to enjoy a four day weekend (yes we get those because we have no snow days). I really needed the rest. Santi worked most of it, but he did have Sunday off and we went to get our Christmas pictures taken with Tevez. He has gotten so big over the last year! We also had Jackie's dog Comiskey here all weekend. She went home to Illinois for a funeral. Tevez really enjoyed having a playmate. They are two peas in a pod. Comiskey is a little dog, but he sure can hold his own around Tevez, and when he can't he just hides under the bed.
November is moving right along. I have one full week next week and then it will be Thanksgiving week already! I will be happy to have the time off again, but sad that we can't spend Thanksgiving with family. This is the only time of year when it is hard being so far away. It isn't as big of a deal to Santi because he didn't grow up celebrating Thanksgiving, but I really miss grandma's noodles! I think we are going to get together with several friends who also have family out of state. Most of our friends out here are implants like us, and a lot of them are from the midwest as well. Hopefully we will have an enjoyable Thanksgiving with some yummy food. Last year it was just the two of us and we attempted to make some Thanksgiving foods...it was entertaining to say the least. We are also hoping to get up some Christmas decorations so they are ready when Santi's parents come on December 17th. This will be our first Christmas in the new house, so we are looking forward to decorating AND getting a real Christmas tree!
On a final note, we are super excited to have tickets to see Ecuador play Mexico here in Phoenix tomorrow night! Santi never imagined he would be able to see them play in the U.S. We even know what hotel the players are staying at, so we are going to try to track down some autographs:) I will post pictures later this week!

Ahhh....fall weather....

I have gotten a little behind on my blogging, but September was a very busy month! Grad school started, we went to Indiana for a weekend, and I was trying to wrap up the end of first quarter at school with parent/teacher conferences. I can say that we successfully made it through September and I am now enjoying my favorite time of year. Our short trip to Indiana was nice and Amanda's wedding was beautiful! It was so great to see everyone, even if it was only for a short time. I missed seeing my mom because she was in Florida for business. I am hoping she and dad make it out to Phoenix again soon. I am not sure when we will be able to go to Indiana again because we are saving up money and days off for a trip to Ecuador in June.
After all the craziness of September, fall break was a welcoming escape, and what a beautiful fall break I had! I spent the first part of my week frantically cleaning and getting all of my school work done (kindergarten and grad school) so that I could enjoy the second half of break when Santi had time off work. On Thursday morning we left Phoenix and drove up to Sedona with the dog for a little 2 day hiking excursion. We hiked in Oak Creek Canyon on Thursday and we could not have had more beautiful weather! It was a breezy 75 degrees and sunny. Up in Oak Creek Canyon the leaves were turning colors and the scenery was magnificent. We got the taste of fall we have been missing in the valley. Tevez had the time of his life playing in the creek and doing dog things. It was fun to watch him enjoying himself so much. After hiking we took an evening stroll around downtown Sedona...always beautiful, especially at sunset. After dinner we headed back to our room exhausted. We stayed in a little motel called Oak Creek Terrace. It was right on the creek and we had a cute little room with a fireplace. It was so nice to cuddle up to a movie in front of the fire and relax in the peace and quiet of Oak Creek Canyon. On Friday we slept in, then packed up. Before heading out of town we did some hiking in the red rocks of Sedona (my favorite). It is more amazing every time we go. After we were officially tired we headed back to Phoenix. When we got back to Phoenix we were surprised with nice cool fall-like weather. It was lovely. Santi had Saturday and Sunday off which was great because we had time to relax, work around the house, and watch some football. We enjoyed the nice 75 degree weather on Saturday and Sunday, unfortunately the heat is returning on Tuesday and we will be back to normal for the remainder of the week...95+ degrees. Oh well...I know we will soon be approaching winter which is the best time of year in the desert. Tomorrow I head back to school and Santi is back at work. I am looking forward to seeing my kiddos again...but I am not excited about getting up at 5:30! In about 4 weeks or so I have a long weekend, and then shortly after that Thanksgiving will be here! This is my favorite time of year!
On a final note, Santi's mom and dad booked a flight out here for December and will be here for almost 2 months! It will be great to spend that time with them. We are hoping to take a short trip to Vegas...which will be a first for me! We will also be thankful to have Santi's dad's help with some big projects around the house, the biggest being our backyard which is currently nothing but dirt. We will be so happy to have that finished and looking lovely since we spend so much time outside. I am just hoping we can scrounge up enough money for all the things we want to do in the yard. We also have to pay a big chunk of change for Santi to renew his green card. I will be glad when we are finished sending money to Immigration Services.
Santi also wants me to add that we are happy that the Colt's won today and Ecuador beat Chile 1-0:)
Well...that about sums it up for now! I will try to do a better job of keeping everyone updated when something interesting happens:)

Grad school begins...and fall is finally on its way (that just means the temperature is under 115)!

Well, although I would like to say that we spent labor day weekend working around the house, cooking out, and relaxing like most people would on labor day weekend...we didn't. Unfortunately Santi had to work all weekend, and I was stuck working on things for kindergarten AND grad school which started yesterday (yes, on labor day). I am really looking forward to the day when Santi and I aren't BOTH in school and working. It is so hard to spend time together. Not to mention with his current job he works a lot of weekends. Hopefully in about 2 more years we will both be finished with school!
Because of our crummy labor day weekend, we decided that we might do a short little getaway during my upcoming fall break the second week of October. Due to no snow days in the desert, I actually get a week for fall break! Last year it was two weeks, but they cut it down to allow for an earlier summer release next year. I will take one week over none any day. Because I LOVE fall and we don't experience anything really "fall-like" here in the desert, we are thinking of going up to Prescott or Pine Top. Both are in northern Arizona in the mountains. We thought it would be fun to get a little cabin and take the dog with us. I hope we can scrounge up enough money to make that happen. I think it would be delightful:)
Speaking of traveling...I am headed to Indiana the weekend of Sept. 13th. I am in Amanda's wedding and looking forward to it! I am not looking forward to getting behind on all the work to be done here, but I will be glad to go home and see friends and family as well as escape the heat. Santi and I were joking as we walked the dog tonight that we could tell "fall" was approaching because it was under 110 on our evening walk. I must say, the sunset was gorgeous tonight. Nothing compare to an Arizona sunset over the mountains. Living in the desert just like anywhere else has its ups and downs. I do miss water and the seasons....but I will trade those for the beauty I experience every day here. It is magnificent! If I REALLY miss the seasons or water, Prescott and Pine Top are only a couple of hours away.
Well....I should get busy on some grad school reading, I am sure it will be riviting.

Is it fall break yet?

I know, I know, I have only been in school for less than 3 weeks. It feels like 6 months already! WOW is kindergarten exhausting! Not to mention ELD kindergarten. I have spent the last few weeks in the midst of back to school madness. Meetings, parent night, and this week curriculum night. It seems like no matter how early I get to bed I am still just as tired the next day. Tomorrow the kiddos don't have school because it is a teacher in-service day...but I get to sit in meetings all day. I think I would rather be with the kids:) I feel like I just can't get caught up with all of the paperwork and things that must be accomplished to get the school year rolling. Basically every week I get maybe 20 minutes of prep time (total) during school. The rest comes before or after school, which means I am there before 7 usually and stay until after 4:30....add in Phoenix traffic and it makes for a LONG day. If you work in a school fortunate enough to have teacher's aids...be thankful!!!! So...kindergarten ELD...honestly I love it. The first 2 weeks we really just focused on rules and procedures...but this week they are really catching on. There is still the language barrier but they are learning new words in English every day and we PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. They are really good kids. I am concerned with some of them academically and developmentally, not so much with English language development ironically. Most of them did not attend preschool and a lot of them came in very behind developmentally. Of course I also have a few who are ahead of the game and I am scared of holding them back. 5 year olds are great...every day is fun and interesting. I had one kid today burst into tears because his tooth came out and he was in shock...he had no idea they were supposed to come out. It's funny....none of them really knew that except those who had already lost teeth. I also was reading a story today that mentioned "freckles", and a kid who had lots of them. Well...because they are learning English I make them repeat new words constantly. So....when I asked them to try to say the word "freckles"....it came out sounding like something completely different (think bad word)! Ha ha ha. You just don't realize all of the little things you have to work on them with that you wouldn't work on in regular kindergarten. For example simple things like asking to go to the bathroom....they don't know how to say it in English. Everything must be taught to them new. Ahhh...it's going to be an interesting year. On top of being swamped at work.....I am starting grad school Sept. 1st and planning a trip home for Amanda's wedding the 11th. I must be crazy. I just hope I can keep all these balls in the air. I really worry sometimes that I am taking on too much. Well...instead of rambling I should be working on the application to renew my Arizona teacher's license...by the way, can you believe they make you pay $120 for that?! Ridiculous.