Happy Birthday, Jason!

Jason's 31st birthday was Wednesday. Although our "party" was much smaller than last year's, we had a great time with Mom, Jamie and Lauren. Jason was very excited about his new grill, and all of the grill accessories he received. 31...and many more!

Surprise and Graduation Countdown

Last Saturday Jason and I traveled to Philadelphia, MS for his cousin's 40th surprise birthday party at the Galaxy restaurant at the Golden Moon. It was a blast! Don was so surprised, and he got to visit with friends he hadn't seen in years. We had a great dinner, and then spent the rest of the evening in the casino (with no luck, but lots of fun!) before heading home on Sunday.

Only two more weeks of student teaching!!! I will graduate two weeks from yesterday, and I truly can't wrap my mind around it. School has flown by the past 2 1/2 years, but I am happy it's coming to a close. I am so ready to begin teaching in a classroom of my own! Jason's steadily completing graduate school, and doing great in his classes. He'll be taking two classes this summer, both a week long. One will require him to live at French Camp for a week in June, and complete work at the Rainwater Observatory. He'll also be in Oxford the last week of July for a freshwater biology class. We're planning a vacation for sometime between his classes...more on that soon!

Student teaching and stomach bugs...they go hand in hand!

First, let me apologize for such a long time between posts...nothing much has happened lately. Jason and I are quickly wrapping up this semester. I graduate May 2nd, which is also my first day back to Joyner-and I can't wait! I am home today with some sort of stomach bug I'm sure I caught from one of my 4th graders at Lawndale. I was in Starkville Monday and Tuesday, so I was only in my class yesterday...I guess that's about as long as it takes to catch something, though! Other than that, tudent teaching is going great, and has flown by! I also want to share some exciting news-I found out this week I will definitely be at Joyner next year, probably teaching kindergarten! I'm so, so excited. I won't know that it's kindergarten for sure until sometime in May, when most of the new students have registered, but that's what it looks like right now. I can't wait!!!

The World of Blogs

We are new to the world of blogs...here's our attempt to stay better connected to friends and family we don't get to hear from as much as we'd like.

Jason and I are both busy with school; it's pretty much our life right now. He loves teaching chemistry and biology at Saltillo High School, and he's working on his masters at Ole Miss in Secondary Education with an emphasis in Chemistry. For those who don't know, I left the P.R. world about three years ago to return to school for another degree; this time in Elementary Education. I am wrapping up student teaching in 4th grade at Lawndale Elementary here in Tupelo. I will return to Joyner Elementary (one of Tupelo's K-3 schools) in May, where I worked as the Spanish teacher and a first grade assistant while I've been in school during the past 2 1/2 years. I will hopefully begin working there in August full-time; not sure what grade yet.

We are also beginning to plan our house. We bought a lot on Quail Creek last September and are trying to bring all of our ideas together into a house plan. Everyone says it's tough to build, but so far it's been great fun...however, we haven't cleared our lot yet, so we may have a different story when we begin, which will hopefully be sometime in early 2009.

Hopefully everyone who reads this is doing well. If we don't hear from you, let us! Our contact info. is below. Take care!

Katie and Jason Pannell
P.O. Box 2141
Tupelo, MS 38803
(662) 255-0440 (K Cell)
(662) 871-2746 (J Cell)
kepannell@hotmail.com
pannelljason@bellsouth.net