Dallas: What I like about you.

Dallas: What I like about you:

What do they say in Real Estate? Location, location, location!  Choosing our first home here in Dallas was tricky because we've never been here and Jesus is still working remotely so we don't know where he will be working later.  We based our decision off of my job location and apartments.com.  I think we got lucky because so far we love it!  Our apartment is nothing fancy although I do like the finishes of faux wood floors and granite counters. The dim lighting inside is a bummer but overall the location is great.  We are close to shops, restaurants, diversity and really are in the heart of the city!  We are just blocks away from all different neighborhoods and it's so fun exploring everything Dallas has to offer. Tonight we drove to the Highland Park neighborhood with multi-million dollar mansions to see the professionally done Christmas lights and horse drawn carriage tours passing through the neighborhood.  None of my photos do justice of these beautiful streets but you can always google it.

Even Biscuit came to see the lights

Can you see the two nutcrackers in the entry?  So many houses had these and I was obsessed!

The next thing I love is the school I work at.  I do not have enough good things to say about it.  I will say that everyone makes sure I know it is the exception to Dallas public schools and it's own class.  I hear from random people I meet that ask me where I work as well as from co-workers that it's one of the best and I ended up in the right place.  Granted I've worked at schools with much less money and programming and I've loved them too but let me tell you why this school is so amazing.  

First, the PTA.  A day has not gone by where there have not been parent volunteers in the cafeteria, in the copy room, in the teacher's lounge doing projects or helping in the garden.  There are volunteers in the building every. single. day.  The teachers had a paper Christmas tree in the hall full of sticky notes of items they could use in their classrooms.  It was designed so parents could take a sticky note off of the tree and buy that item for the teachers.  Within an hour, all of the sticky notes were gone.  The whole school had holiday parties for winter break and the teachers didn't have to lift a finger.  The PTA set up tables, provided treats, took out the trash and planned the whole thing.  I've really never seen a PTA like this.  

Second, the garden.  The garden is huge and beautiful and since I have not gone out there for a mini photo shoot yet,  I wish I could describe it's beauty.  There are rows upon rows of crops each used for a different class.  Classes are out there all the time taking care of the soil, harvesting broccoli, cabbage or whatever else, watching wild flowers, visiting the chicken coup...the list goes on and on of what happens in the garden.  Being the Garden coordinator and still having a bit of an un-defined position, teachers have taken it upon themselves to invite me to the garden to help their classes harvest or get supplies and I have loved every second of that part of my job.  My job entails much more but sometimes I wish it was just that fun part!

The cabbage we harvested

Other great things about my school include the deaf education program and bilingual program.  I see teachers, students and teachers aids signing daily.  When I ask teachers how they learned to sign, they tell me just from working at this school!  Isn't that amazing?  I can't wait to see what I will learn.  The bilingual program includes several dual-language classrooms of Spanish and English and that is exciting for me because I love practicing my Spanish any chance I get.  The last thing I'll share about the school just as a tidbit of information is, did you know Texas schools still do the Pledge of allegiance?  But after that, we do the Texas pledge, talk about Texas pride!  I'm still learning that one...

The next thing I love about Dallas is my ward at church.  We may not have callings yet or have hung out with other families yet but people have been so welcoming and we are excited to make friends.  The part I really love though is that it's a bilingual ward.  When we sing hymns, you can sing in English or Spanish and both hymnals are always provided.  Prayers are also done in either language. Testimonies are given in either language.  Again, any chance I get to practice mi espanol is alright by me!

The people truly are friendly in Dallas.  Last night one of our apartment neighbors, who we don't even know yet, invited us to her son's birthday at Chuck E. Cheese because we have kids the same age.  This family is from Peru and everyone at the party spoke Spanish so again I practiced.  We were so happy to be invited and it was great to meet some of our neighbors. Chuck E. Cheese is amazing for little kids FYI.  We also met an older Spanish woman who babysits the younger brother of the birthday boy and one other child.  She lives in our apartment complex and we talked to her about the possibility of babysitting Joaquin. We have been having a bit of an adjustment and a rough few months ahead of both Jesus and I working full time while he is also trying to watch the kids at home.  It would be so great if Joaquin could go to a babysitter/daycare/school/something for at least while Jesus has meetings during the week. Khaleesi is still an easy, sweet little baby that can handle dad working from home. For a three year old, it's not as easy.  With this babysitter option, Joaquin could get social interaction with other kids, learn some Spanish and it would be convenient for Jesus to drop him off and pick him up while he's working.  Who knows what we will all decide but we are looking forward to finding something to help us all through the next few months until I'm off work in the summer!

Because we live in the city, we have also found great food.  Thai, sushi, bbq, southern, it's all here and we are enjoying it!  Every time we move to a new place, I also get a new resolve to start cooking again so I've surprisingly even been enjoying that...for now... ;)