PRANKS... The Best!

THESE ARE THE PRANKS THAT I PULLED ON THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL... NEEDLESS TO SAY I WAS VERY BUSY!

1ST.... OUR ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS BIRTHDAY WAS ON THURSDAY... WE WERE VERY NICE THAT DAY, BUT FRIDAY WAS A DIFFERENT STORY... BUT THE STORY BEHIND THE PRANK IS... SHE HATES EGGS! THIS IS THE SIGN OUTSIDE OUR SCHOOL!

THIS IS HER OFFICE. OUTSIDE WAS CAUTION TAPE, A 4 FOOT KNIGHT AND MORE EGGS!

2ND.... A TEACHER OF OURS HAS A HUGE KNIGHT AND HE HAS BEEN GETTING STOLEN (NOT BY ME) FOR THE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS. WELL, EVERYONE THOUGHT IS WAS ME, BUT IT WASN'T! THEN, THIS MORNING I SAW THE KNIGHT IN THE HALLWAY AND I TOOK IT! I PUT IT IN OUR KINDERGARTEN BOYS BATHROOM.... CUTE HUH???

3RD... ANOTHER TEACHER HAS THE BEAR THAT SHE ABSOLUTLEY LOVES... WELL, IT WAS STOLEN FOR ME AND I TOOK IT. I TOOK SOME RANSOM PICTURES OF IT AND THEN LET HER FIND THE PICTURES... IT WAS FUNNY. SHE STILL DOESN'T HAVE THE BEAR... SHE DOESN'T KNOW THAT I HID IT AGAIN!... IF SHE WOULD ONLY KNOW THAT WE ARE DOING "EXPERIMENTS" ON HIM!

I TOOK HIM TO WINGS N MORE

AND HE HAD A LITTLE TOO MUCH FUN!

THIS IS THE BEAR JUST "HANGIN' OUT!"

BEING BEARNAPPED MADE HIM JUST A LITTLE SUICIDAL!

BROKEN NECK IN THE DOOR?!?!?!

THE AFTERMATH OF WINGS N MORE!

TEQUILLA!

WHERE DID HE FIND SUCH A BIG KNIFE?!?!?

OOPS... FLAT BEAR.

CAN WE TRACK THOSE TIRES?!?!? SOMEONE CLAIMED THAT THEY ARE A CHEVY MALIBU... THAT'S FUNNY... THAT'S NOT WHAT I DRIVE!

HA HA HA... NEVER GOT ANY MONEY THOUGH.

The cutest puppy in all the world!

Ok... so if this is not the cutest puppy dog in all the world, I don't know what is!?!?!? She just seems like she is always so happy! I mean, look at that smile!

MY CLASSROOM

This is my new classroom. The tree on the left is actually attached to my loft. It really is a great room...all except for the VERY TALL ceilings. I like them but they are horrible if you want to hang stuff from the ceiling!

FUN IN THE HAY

This is me and some of my family playing on the hay up in Franklin. Let's just say, that some of us are not as brave as we seem....And othErs of us are really good at gettin up there.... even though we are in pain from the Millions of stIcker burs that we found in our fLip flops.... NOT that I'm pointing anY fingers... but I think a few of the readers might just know who I'm talking about!

ME AND MY BUCKET

Yes... this would be me with a bucket on my head. This was taken at Thanksgiving. Emily, my cousin, got a new camera for her birthday...so we took pictures with it... weird ones mostly. Don't I just look so attractive!?!?!? MEN... WATCH OUT!

MY FAMILY

Here is all my family. We took this at Thanksgiving. Emily is not in the picture because she was taking it. This was also taken in Mellie and Larry's new room they just added on to their house. It is so great!

BEALIO'S ENGAGEMENT

This is Jennifer getting engaged. She had no clue that it was coming... but little ol' me did!

UPDATE 2005

Well, it is that time of year again. It is officially time for my first update of 2005! I can’t believe that 2004 has been left behind and that 2005 has waltzed in so quickly! It seems like only yesterday I was dunking my ring, graduating from A&M and starting my first teaching job. That was over a year ago that I dunked my room, almost a year since I graduated and 6 months since my first day of school….WOW! Well, here is your update on me!

ME
Well I’m doing just great. I love teaching and everything that is going on. I’ve managed to keep myself busy. I just moved from my parents’ house to a new apartment (behind McAllister’s off University) and I absolutely love it! I have room for all my stuff, it is quiet and I just love it! You should stop by anytime! I had a great Christmas. I got some great stuff… an iPod, lots of stuff for my kids, gift cards, a scarf and gloves, games, and some cooking stuff. It was so fun. For Christmas day we went to the DeWalds (some friends of ours) because there family was gone for Christmas. We had a great time eating and playing games. It was fun, fun, fun, fun!

FAMILY
My family is doing well. Dad is working as the medical director/doctor at the hospital in Mexia. He only has to be out there for about 3 or 4 times a month. He has to do 24 hour shifts. He is tired when he gets back. Mom has been busy with weddings. A couple of weekends ago my cousin got married and she helped out with that…. Now she has moved on to helping out with a friend’s wedding that comes up in May. She has a big role in this one. She enjoys it and she’s really good at it. Suzy has just finished her first set of high school finals. She said some were pretty easy, but her Biology was pretty tough. She is also back in band playing the clarinet. Maggie and Buster are doing well, too.

FRIENDS
Jay is doing well. He will be moving at the end of the semester to go to Waco. He is going to pursue music in college. I’m very excited for him, but will be sad to see him go. Jennifer (Bealio) is doing great at her job in Temple. She is teaching preschool kids and loving it. She has some very interesting kids but she is doing great with them. She has been sick off and on, but luckily nothing too bad that she has to miss school. Lisa Day is teaching 1st grade and really liking it. No one would have thought that from the first week of school. She is doing a great job. Gje just got back from a long vacation in New Jersey. She is very glad to be back. She is working as a planner for parties/events (at least that’s how I understand it). Victoria is doing well. She is still teaching in Humble, but is thinking about moving to Georgetown to be closer to Blake… her boyfriend. Tiffany and Zoe (the dog) got back from Oklahoma the other day. Tiffany is one semester away from graduating… but it is going to be a hard one! Liz Dickey is back in town. She just got a new job doing pretty tough work for a business group here in town. Yeah!

SCHOOL
School is wonderful. I can’t tell you how much I love teaching. I won’t lie, it is very hard sometimes, but it all pays off in the end. The first day of school I had only 1 child reading. I have over half of the class being able to read simple texts and one who has taken off and is reading everything in sight! I have enjoyed all my little pictures and all the hugs that I get on a daily basis. For me, a person whose love language is physical touch and words of affirmation (in written form), this is the perfect job for me. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t know if I am loved. I did loose one of my girls over the Christmas break. She moved to Houston… so now I have only 19 kids. I have so many funny stories from my precious kiddos….
1. I had an observation the second day we got back from school. I made it through the lesson and I really thought it went well (which I found out later it did). Right as the lady who observed me was leaving, one of my little girls came up to me looking confused but serious at the same time. She came up and asked me… “Ms. Saylak… if you marry your brother…. Does your baby come out with 3 eyes?” She was completely serious! I giggled a little and the only thing that came to my mind to say was “I guess it is possible…. I don’t know… I’ve never married my brother.” It may not have been the best answer, but it was good enough for her because she walked away completely content with my answer.
2. I have one little boy who loves the color green. He never finishes his work and it is a daily battle to get him to sit down, finish his work, do it without complaining, and do it well. I constantly hear “I can’t do this. It’s too hard” (we are coloring or writing our name on the top of the paper), “You just hate me because you make it so I can’t finish (we are cutting out a traced pig), “I’ll just never give you a hug again unless you let me go play” (about 5 things are in his undone folder), and “I just can’t do this hard work” (we are doing a hidden picture page). This is just something I deal with everyday and eventually he gets past it, but it does happen everyday. I talk all the time with his mom and she gets the same thing at home. The other day one of our aids came by and asked if he needed to be on anti-depressants because he just seemed to have a horrible negative attitude about life. I just told her, welcome to my world.
3. One of my parents was in my room cutting out some laminating and she came and talked to me after I was done with my lesson. She asked me “How do you do it? Do you just go home in a white walled room and just sit in silence?” I told her pretty close to it.
4. I found out that my kids were much smarter than I ever gave them credit for. The other day there was water on our windows in the classroom. The kids asked about it and I told them “There is always some water in the air and sometimes it will stick to windows.” One of my girls goes “OH!.... You mean that’s condensation!” I nearly fell off the table I was sitting on…. “YES!”. Another little boy said “Oh, you mean like the water that is on the outside of a cup with ice in it?” I nearly died.
5. I had the kids write a fairy tale of there own last week. One of my kids told read me his story about a flying pizza that went to Las Vegas…. I just sat there thinking…. Wow. I don’t even know what I thought. I just smiled and told him very good!
The other thing that I am doing is that in a few weeks I am starting an after school club with 1st through 4th grade kids. Remember the thing that I went to in New Hampshire this past summer? Well, that is what I am going to do with them…. I’m so excited! I know of 2 kids that have signed up… and that’s with having the note out for only 1 day! It is really cool to see all the excitement that it has brought about. I finally get to share my excitement for it with some kids!

CHURCH
I am still doing choir at Grace every Sunday morning. I really like it. I finally get to sing! After high school I really missed singing but now I have a perfect outlet for my voice. I just really love it. I love the people I sing with as well. They are all so wonderful. They truly care and are a praying machine! I am so blessed to have these people in my life. I am still doing growth groups (Bible study) this semester. This will be the last semester I do this. I enjoy it, but I think that God is calling me to somewhere else. I think that there are going to be other opportunities for me, and I just need to follow that lead.

Well, I hope that does enough justice to what’s been going on in my life. It has been crazy, but school is just what I do! So… I would love to hear back from you. I know that I am sending this address from my jograndady account, but I check my email through school which is dsaylak@csisd.org. So you are more than welcome to get back to me that way. I hope that all of you are doing well. Just drop me a note and say howdy! Talk to you soon!

Here's us painting.... ok here's Mom painting my new apartment. It took quite a few coats of paint... including a pink primer! 

Talk about HICKTOWN! This is a tree my mom found behind Black Eyed Pea... Merry Christmas from the Family! 

Here is my ugly picture... We did a gift exchange for Christmas and I got left with a bottle of whisky and a camo flask to put it in.... oh joyful! Thanks to Markie, he traded with me for some cooking stuff... which I have actually used! 

Christmas with the Fam is always a hoot! 

This cracked me up! I saw one of my kids reading this way... how cute is that!?!?!?!? 

Here we are! I made these aprons for them for Christmas.... Most of them wore them the rest of the day... even to PE! 

We made gingerbread houses before we went for our "holiday" break. The green icing was a hit... and I think more than just a few of us went home with green mouths. 

Here is our Thanksgiving feast in my classroom. All the kids dressed up and we had a HUGE feast. They really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun. 

This is Jay reading to my kids. He came by one day and taught them some sign language and read a book. From this point on all the kids ask about Mr. Jay and have even made him paper airplanes, given him a jingle bell and all sorts of stuff. 

UPDATE 2004 again

Well, once again it is due time for another update on my life... my new and exciting life. So much has happened, and I hope I can remember it all!

ME
So much has gone on with me. I mean, I've been so tired with all this school stuff, but things are getting easier. I did loose a long-time friend...Oedipus... my fish. He died about 3 weeks ago. It was weird because I said "He has lasted so long...oh, wait" and then I noticed he was dead. Sad, but true. I have had some pain in my upper back, but I’m feeling a little better. I have good days and bad. One night, after a Bryan High football game, I couldn’t move at all! It was actually quite funny….for the people who saw me… it was really painful for me! I recently got the new 90’s Trivial Persuit game. It is pretty fun, but actually really hard. I also saw the Polar Express yesterday. It was really good. I would recommend it!

MY FAMILY
My family is doing great. My dad is starting a new job instead of working at the Med. My mom is getting ready for Thanksgiving. Mom and Dad have been out of town quite a bit lately. They have been to Austin and Dallas, Wyoming for their annual October trip, and San Fransico! They left, and I kept Suzy... which wasn't that bad! ;) My sister is finishing up these last couple weeks at Allen (no longer Allen Academy, they changed it... BOOOO). My family changed our living room. We switched it with the dining room! It is weird feeling, but I like it a lot better. Everyone else is doing well too. We just went to a birthday party for Scottie (my mom’s cousin) and saw a bunch of the family we normally don’t see. It was pretty fun!...and some good food.

MY FRIENDS
Victoria Szabuniewicz is dating a boy named Blake. She is all goo goo over him.... sickening ;) Jennifer Beal, aka Bealio, is teaching pre-school in Temple. Her dad is the offensive coordinator at Bryan High so she has been busy supporting him at all his games. She is also dating a boy named Michael. I've met him and spent some time at the football games with both of them, and... well... I approve! :) Lisa Day is teaching 1st grade at Johnson in Bryan. She got bumped down from 3rd grade over the summer. We swap stories and tips which is very nice. I sometimes need her expertise! Gje Greene has started her own business planning parties and stuff. Tiffany is a senior at A&M. She says school is hard. (Zoe is good too) Jay is finishing up another semester at Blinn. He has taken a new liking to the game Fable and Halo 2 on the Xbox. Needless to say, he has thoroughly enjoyed our big screen TV. OK... and I've enjoyed it too!

CHURCH
I am leading a growth group right now with a co-leader named Alissa. She and I met a long time ago and now we are leading together. It is really fun and she is doing great. We are studying Ephesians. I am also singing on the worship team at "big church". I have really enjoyed getting to know all the great people there. I love singing as well. These relationships and experiences are going to last for a very long time. It is great getting to use my voice to sing praises to the Lord!

SCHOOL
Well, I no longer have to tell you all about my GPA or what trouble I am having in Chemistry or Math.... instead I can share with you all the fun stories about my new school.... COLLEGE HILLS ELEMENTARY!
The beginning of August (the 11th), I got a call wanting to know if I would like to interview for a second grade position at College Hills. I said "yes" of course... my interview was later that afternoon! I interviewed with about 7 other people in the room. As I was walking out, I saw one of my friends come in as well. The next day they called me and asked if I was ESL (English as a Second Language) certified….I told her no. The next day, they called me again and told me that they had filled the position… but they wanted to offer me the Kindergarten position! WHOOP! I was then a Kindergarten teacher. I signed my contract on Monday and started Staff/Teacher days on Tuesday. Wednesday was meet the teacher night and started teaching on Thursday. I have 20 kiddos and I love them so much. They are so great. I really enjoy all of their funny little comments and all their cute faces. I can’t tell you how much I love these kids and what I wouldn’t do for these kids. They are some of the most special people in my life!

Well, that is about all that is going on with me. Really my life consists of school, sleep, eat, church and friends. I am really happy with what’s going on right now. I enjoy my work and all that goes along with it. I would love for you to drop by and say hello some time. If you ever feel the need, just come by and tell the office you are here to see Ms. Saylak! They’ll let you walk right on into the room! I hope to hear from all of you. If you want to comment on this, you are more than welcome to. But if you want to just say a quick hello back, my new address is dsaylak@csisd.org. Shoot me an email so I can put you in my address book! HASTA!

Talk to you soon-
Diana Saylak….Danana…. DDANA….D…..DD….etc

My first day of school! 

This is Lisa's birthday party...we had a lot of fun and a lot of sugar! 

My school has a book character parade the Friday before halloween. My class was the Ribbiting Readers. All the kids dress up as their favorite book character and walk in a schoolwide parade. I was Black-Eyed P from Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. 

To celebrate the 50th day of school all the kindergarten classes had a sock hop! 

Our first fieldtrip was to the airport and to Kyle Field for lunch. We sat in the press box! 

These are two my my adorable cuties that fell asleep holding hands. Good friends have been made in my classroom!