The Shopoff Showoff

Well, it is my favorite time of year...Fall! The weather has been just gorgeous(a rarity in Texas), and we have been busy enjoying it as much as we can. I wanted to give an update over things that we have been up to over the past month or so. Here goes...

In the middle of October, we finally had the chance to go to the lake for the first time this year! Sadly, with all of the weddings and other happenings over the summer, we didn't make it out there even once. We decided to meet my family there to celebrate my sister's birthday. It was great to spend time with everybody! We made it out on the boat one windy afternoon, and even Kaiko got to enjoy the lake a little bit. I have a few pics from the weekend. There may be more later!

Fun on the Boat

Kaiko loved the boat!

The weekend before Halloween, we were invited to go to a pumpkin-carving party. I was excited because I haven't carved pumpkins in YEARS! It was a "competition" between couples. We didn't really pick a winner, but I do have to say that I think ours was among the best. Check it out!

Teamwork!

Competition Jack-o-lantern #1

Competition Jack-o-lantern #2

Competition Jack-o-lantern #3

Our Jack-o-lantern...clearly the best!

The day after Halloween as a teacher can be a miserable experience. Our first grade team decided that we didn't particularly want that experience this year, and we planned a field trip...errr, I mean "study trip" as Frisco likes to call them...for the day following Halloween. We figured that with the kids hyped up on sugar we can send them out to run and have a good time at the Dallas Arboretum...while learning, of course! We have been studying plants, and therefore, the Arboretum is a great place to do this. The kids had a great time, and better than that, the teachers were all able to keep their sanity! Because I had so many parent chaperones, I didn't even have a group of kiddos to keep up with. I was able to walk around taking pictures and enjoying the beautiful Fall day. What fun!

"Mr. Grumpkins" - a 715 pound carved pumpkin
Yes, it's really real!

We have welcomed a new member to the Shopoff family. We picked up Kaiko, a 4-year-old Shiba Inu, from a lady on Wednesday. We adopted her through a Shiba rescue, because we didn't want to get a brand new puppy.

She is a beautiful and sweet girl, and we just love her! She loves to go on walks and play with her squeaky toys. She is very well trained and knows her "sit", "down", "stay", and "heel". I think she is actually teaching Patrick and me! Patrick is hoping to start training her to be his running partner soon. We are very excited to have her, and we wanted to share a few pictures with you!

Awww...our cute little family!

Kaiko is quite the little princess in her bed

Smile!

What a great weekend we had! Patrick and I received tickets to the UT vs. TCU game, and so we headed off to Austin for the weekend. We were able to see some of Patrick's family and spend some time relaxing.

Of course, the highlight of the weekend was the football game! We have been waiting for so long for football season. There is nothing we enjoy more than this time of year when we can lounge around watching football and keeping up with how our fantasy football teams are doing.

The first half of the TCU game wasn't that much fun. We were really worried about losing, because the Longhorns didn't look that great. During the second half, the team finally woke up, and thankfully, we won! The final score was 34-13. The score looks a lot better than we expected it to when watching the first half.

We are looking forward to heading to Austin again in a few weeks for the UT vs. Kansas State game! Here are some highlights from the weekend.

Sporting our burnt orange

Construction on the stadium improvements

The largest HD screen in college football AKA "The Godzillatron"

Watching the defense at work

Well...school is about to start! I can't believe it! The summer seemed to fly by. You'd think that I got married, went on a honeymoon, moved, and started a new job or something...oh yeah, I did! hehe I am VERY excited about the year ahead, and I am looking forward to getting started with my new class of 1st graders.

Needless to say, I have spent countless hours over the past few weeks preparing my classroom. I decided to do some before and after shots of the room to show everybody the transformation that has been made. I do have to say that I couldn't have done it without the help of my mom and dad...it REALLY pays to have parents that are teachers. :c)

Let me tell you a little bit about my school. This is the fourth year that Isbell Elementary has been open. My principal is the principal that opened the school, and she is AMAZING! She is very high energy and passionate about what she does. This year our school theme is western, and our school is beginning to look like a genuine western town! It's very exciting!

Here are some before pictures of my classroom before I started to work...pretty dull and boring:





Here are some of the pictures of what it looks like now:

Well...I know it has been a few weeks since the 4th of July, but I am just now getting the chance to make a post. We were able to entertain at our apartment on the 4th of July and I was thrilled. At my old apartment, it was hard to entertain because we didn't have a lot of room, a dining room table, or a big T.V. Now, we have all of those things. YAY!

With the weather acting like it has been with all of the rain, we were afraid that the evening might be rained out. Instead of doing a barbeque or picnic outside, we decided to cook a brisket and do our own inside barbeque. We had just a few friends over for dinner, we played games, and then we went to see Frisco's spectacular fireworks show. Seriously, it was probably one of the best I've seen. The pictures simply do not do it justice.

Patrick did a great job picking out our new home, and it was an excellent surprise for me to come home to on the night of our wedding! I wanted to post some pictures (at the request of many people) of our new apartment. It is absolutely wonderful living here. There are some really cool things in the area. Frisco is home to some of the best shopping, restaurants, and semi-pro sports teams. Maybe you should come visit us! ;c)

Our beautiful apartment complex!

Our kitchen

Our dining room