Happy Holidays

After 25 years, Santa still comes through every year with my Christmas stocking, my most favorite part of Christmas! This has not been my favorite Christmas by any means but the stocking made it feel like Christmas no matter what! Santa went through the extra effort to send me my stocking in the mail since I was unable to be with my family! Thomas liked it too! I love you family!!

Our House Guest

So Thomas (that's my cat) and I have been entertaining a very special guest over the holidays...a parakeet (I don't know how to spell that). I believe his name is Elmo (although I might have been mistaken when Lacy told me his name).

The first couple days, Elmo stayed in the bathroom because the cat doesn't go in there. Then I worried that it was too cold in there (I have no clue what a bird needs!) So I brought him in the living room so he could be social during the day and then I put him in the guest room to sleep, no cat access. Well, Thomas was interested in Elmo but by no means obsessed. Then yesterday, I caught him getting ready to make the leap from the floor to the top of the tv cabinet in order to get Elmo!! The picture you see is in the guest room where Elmo sleeps on the floor but in the living room he is out of cat's reach, but Thomas just sits and stares at Elmo regardless of where he's located. But I think they will be friends soon. I explained to Thomas that Elmo is our friend and we don't eat our friends! Happy Holidays!

The Post Office at Christmastime

We've all been there. We know what it's like to drive to the post office, stand in line for an incredible amount of time just to over pay to send a package or letter. Well, today I did just that...except the man in front of me gave me the giggles and I have to share this story...

I'm next in line and the man ahead of me is mailing a package...priority. The total comes to $5 and some change. The man pulls out his credit card to prepare for the transaction when the mail man says, "I'm sorry sir, we can only take checks and cash when the total is under $10."
Customer: What?
M.M.: I'm sorry but that's the policy. Would you like to buy something to make it over $10?
Customer: Yes, I'll buy some stamps please.
M.M.: We're out of stamps right now (then looks out at crowd and addresses them) If any of you are wanting stamps, I'm all out (half the line walks out the door). I have postcard stamps if you would like some of those.
Customer: (Notices refridgerator of sodas) I'll just buy some sodas, I'm not going home to get cash, just to come stand in line again.
M.M. We have cookies, would you like a cookie?
Customer: No, just give me as many sodas needed to put me at $10.
M.M. Sure thing!

By the time the transaction was over, the customer had purchased 6 Diet Cokes just to mail a package! I was laughing so hard. The things we'll do (and pay!) to get a task done the first time around. Merry Christmas!

You Know You're a Graduate Student When...

A classmate shared this hilarious list with me. I can totally identify with some of these things. The starred items are partcularly applicable.......
For those of you who don't know, I'm studying Music History and Literature.

You know you're a grad student when…
1.The concept of free time scares you.
2.Professors don't really care when you turn in work anymore.
3.You consider caffeine to be a major food group.*
4.Saturday nights spent studying no longer seem weird.*
5.You can read course books and cook at the same time.
6.You rate coffee shops by the availability of outlets for your laptop.
7.Everything reminds you of something in your discipline.*
8.You find yourself explaining to children that you are in "20th grade."
9.You have ever spent more than $50 on photocopying while researching a single paper.
10.You regard ibuprofen as a vitamin.*
11.You look forward to taking some time off to do laundry.
12.You appreciate the fact that you get to choose which twenty hours out of the day you have to work.
13.You find the bibliographies more interesting than the actual text.
14.You have given up trying to keep your books organized and are now just trying to keep them all in the same general area.*
15.You wonder if APA style allows you to cite talking to yourself as a "personal communication."
16.You have ever discussed academic matters at a sporting event.
17.You start referring to stories like "Snow White et al."
18.You consider all papers to be a work in progress.
19.You are constantly looking for a thesis in novels.
20.You hope it snows during spring break so you can get more studying in.

And that's graduate school in a nutshell...welcome to life as I know it!

Girls' Night Out

Last night, the girls and I went to see Chicago the Musical at the fabulous Majestic Theatre here in San Antonio. Before dinner, we went to a great fancy dinner downtown.

We had an amazing time!

We got all dressed up and really lived it up in San Antonio!

OC Homecoming 2006

At the beginning of November, the Bartee's and I (that's my old roommate and her husband and baby boy) traveled to Oklahoma City for OC's Homecoming. My batteries in my camera died so I was only able to capture one event that took place that weekend and that was the visit to Clyde and Gwen's house! We had such a wonderful time with them! Other great activities included: wonderful meals with old friends, Homecoming chapel where I got to see one of my old high school students from SA perform with the Chorale (a definite highlight!), the homecoming musical which I used to always be a part, and the short drive to Stillwater to spend the night chatting with Josh and Amanda! What a wonderful weekend!
This sweet baby was my view for much of the weekend! Baby Caleb loved his Aunt April!

Gig 'Em Aggies!

Since my sweet Adam is a college boy these days, I've had the opportunity to go to three Texas A&M games this season. I happy to report we won all the games I attended! This was at the Baylor game three weeks ago!

The Fightin' Texas Aggie Marching Band! They always put on a great halftime show! Gig 'Em Aggies!

I'm Still Around...I Think!

So I know it has been awhile since I've posted...truth is, now that I'm back in school not too many out of the ordinary funny things happen to me. Sad isn't it? I have some pictures I want to post but something is wrong with my computer and always closes the browser before any pictures are saved to my blog....long story short, there will be no pictures in this post. Sigh...
I just finished writing a paper that was so supposed to be relatively easy to get over with. Too bad it took well over a week to construct! It's only 10 pages! What am I going to do in two weeks when my 25 page paper is due!?! The plan was to knock out this methodology paper in a day or two and then get to work on my other two papers that are just lingering in the back of my mind...needless to say, this did not happen so I'm way behind on my other goals for the rest of the semester.
Why did it take so long to write April? That's an excellent question and I have a theory. The methodology I chose to write about was one I learned of in college. I went to a workshop and one of my profs maintained good contact with this presenter after it was over so I had a shoe in for a contact. Dr. Thompson put me in touch with the author personally and she gave me all kinds of insights to this methodology...well then she found out that my professor at graduate school is the president of MENC! (This is a VERY big deal in music education!) So now my paper has turned into her opportunity to have the ear of the president of this major organization. If my prof. likes it doors could open all over the place for this author...so I really started to feel the pressure not to mess up and to go above and beyond because somehow I became this author's personal advocate for her material. Not only do I have this woman's hopes in my hands but she's also given me a complimentary copy of her materials worth $300! Also, did I mention she wants a copy of my paper when I'm finished? What if I don't cite something right (don't get me started on my writing style manual drama!)? Or what if she thinks it's a bad paper?? Well, I got the paper done and I still don't feel it's as good as it could be but I just can't get my thoughts onto paper like I usually can. Writing papers used to be my strong point. The paper and the presentation is due tomorrow so let's hope and pray it's to everyone's liking so I can finally get some sleep this week. It was just supposed to be a simple paper...

My New Baby!

This is my brand new piano! A big music store in town went out of business and I got it at a price I just couldn't pass up! I will for sure have this the rest of my life and pass it down in my family! It's a beautiful mahagony finish and it sounds great!!

It's a Schoenbach piano and I just absolutely love it!

You can see the color a little better in this one!

Natural Bridge Caverns

For Adam's birthday, we went to the Natural Bridge Caverns in Garden Ridge, TX. It was beautiful! I don't have any pictures, but we also got to do some real mining! We found all sorts of little treasures!!! Here are a few pictures we took in the caverns...they are a little dark but what can I say? We were 180 feet below the ground!!

Fun at the Zoo...again!

We had a great day at the zoo, even though Alison got stung by a mean 'ol bee as soon as we walked in the gate! I think she still had fun though!

Christian loved feeding the goats with Adam in the petting zoo...he let Adam do most the work!

These are two crazy ducks!

Don't you think?

Look a family of koala bears...and a panda!

But at the end of the day....

We were all worn out!

Family Fun

My family traveled to Colorado a couple weeks ago and we had a great time! Here are a few of my favorite pictures! We went to Manitou Springs and visited The Garden of the Gods, and Santa's workshop! We also had Alison's 6th birthday party while we were all together.

Antique Shopping

So I'm spending a couple days in Colorado with my family. Today we did some shopping in the historic district of Manitou Springs. We came to an antique store and my niece Alison asked me what antique meant. I told her that an antique was something old, sometimes valuable that people can't find in regular stores. She tells me that she understands and goes on about her business. Then about ten minutes later she says, "April, should we take grandpa to the antique store 'cause he's old." HA! Kids are so smart!

Wedding Fun!

Last weekend, my roommate's sister got married downtown and we had a great time! We ate and danced the night away. If you look close, you can see the beautiful bride and groom in the background!

It's Official!

I'm the newest graduate student of Music History and Literature at Texas State University! What a trying month this has been trying to make this decisions, but I know that I have made the right decision! Thanks for all the prayers!!

The Zoo!!

Last week, Adam and I took a trip to the San Antonio Zoo! We had such a great time together!

Adam especially liked the reptiles!!

(that's a statue...it's not real just in case you were wondering!)

They had a great butterfly exhibit called "The Caterpillar Flight School" Adam got some great pictures there.

I would have to say that the monkeys were one of my favorite parts. This little guy was so funny!

No Offense

So I overheard a conversation at summer camp today (I was up teaching lessons and ran into some of the kids)...it went a little something like this:

Girl #1: Hey! Did you cut your hair?
Girl #2: Yeah, like 3 inches (at this time I have to interject that her hair is really long and 3 in. did not really change it at all).
Girl #1: I thought it looked different. No offense but it looked better before.

(it is at this point I interject my own thoughts and say...)

Stephens: Excuse me, you do not need to be rude to your friends.
Girl #1: I said 'no offense'!!

Slowpokes...Straight from God

So I'm walking with a group of kindergarteners and 1st graders yesterday in after school care and I notice three of them lagging way behind so I call out, "Hey slowpokes, come on!" Then I turn to little 6 year old MacKenzie and jokingly say, "Are you a slowpoke?" And she says, "No....yes....God made me a slowpoke!"

Manu Broke My Heart on Monday

So the Spurs are now out of the playoffs (and no Jessica, this love of basketball did not stem from a boy!). If only Manu hadn't held the ball for that 15 seconds and shot, we might never have gone into overtime and lost. This was an ultra intense game, and not one that I would want to be at. Even though we lost, I still love the Spurs and will wear my Spurs shirt proudly and await next year when we will retake the championship title.
I thought I would continue to root for the Mavs since they are a Texas team, but Nowitzkte creeps me out that mammoth. So I will hope they lose to the Clippers this next week.

GO SPURS GO!!!

So last night, Karessa and I went to game 5 of the Spurs/Mavericks playoffs! I can't even begin to tell you how incredible the game was. The game was intense throughout the entire thing, and what made it even better you ask? We were sitting right in the middle of a bunch of Mavs fans! HA! It was awesome watching them watch the game along with our incredible love for the Spurs! I've never been in a stadium that loud before. After the game while everyone was walking out, everyone was yelling at the top of their lungs, "GO SPURS GO!" all the way until we got outside! It was so much fun!

Karessa and I had an awesome time at the game!! A moment not to be forgotten any time soon !!

Here's our boys warming up before the game began!

New Best Friends

It's been a tough adjustment for my sweet cat Thomas to get used to living with a big dog named Harley, but I think he finally got the hang of it! In fact, sometimes when Harley is gone, Thomas misses him so much that he sleeps in Harley's bed.

One of their favorite things to do is to have staring contests like the one pictured above!

The Daily Dancer

So there's a link on a friend's blog with this random guys website. This guy apparently loves to dance and he posts his videos of him randomly cutting loose. The funny thing, is that he looks pretty goofy when he does it! I got a good kick out it, hopefully you will too. Ladies and Gentleman I give you...THE DAILY DANCER!!

Good News!

My mom just called to tell me that my brother, Wayne, is on his way home from Iraq!! He's coming home several weeks earlier than scheduled! He's safe thanks to all the prayers that went up for him. Thanks to everyone for keeping him and his family in your thoughts and prayers!!

Teacher Appreciation Week

We recently celebrated Teacher Appreciation Week at CHS and the kids had little tasks to do everyday to show their teachers their appreciation. One day every child brought a flower to their teachers. This is the bouquet that was the result of this project. Aren't they beautiful? I also received tons of letters and cards, great meals, and lots of hugs! Thanks kids, you really do make going to work really worth it!