This Time of Year

...just makes me happy.  I love seeing the decorations and cuddling with my two boys because its cold and buying presents for all of my favorite people.  But most of all, I love the feeling this season gives me.  It seems like everyone is so much nicer to each other around this time.  I was at the mall the other night and walked by the Santa area.  The faces on all those children waiting to meet him was so precious.  They were so excited.  It just made me happy. 
I love how our apartment looks all decorated for Christmas.  I know I'm biased, but I'm pretty sure we have the prettiest tree ever :)  Minus the tree topper because we don't have one.  I haven't found any that I love, so the hunt continues. 
Aaron and I worked on a Christmas project together last week.  I had seen an ornament wreath on Pintrest that I thought was really pretty.  On a trip to WalMart, we bought a bunch of shatter proof ornaments to use.  When we got home, I got out the handy dandy hot glue gun, an old wire hanger and the ornaments.  It took us a while to get going, but once we did it went pretty smoothly.  I must say, we did a great job :)  The only thing missing is a big bow to cover up the hook and hang it with.  I tried to make one, but failed.  I am probably going to go have one made at Hobby Lobby.  When it's complete, I will share a picture.
I worked on one other craft this past week.  It was of course another Pintrest find.  All it took was a few pieces of scrapbook paper, paint and some jute (that is string for those of you who didn't know - I just learned that a few weeks ago).  I wanted to recreate a picture I had seen for Aaron and I's Christmas card picture this year.  Yesterday we went out to Grapevine and my friend from school, Lauren, took pictures for us.  She put one on Facebook, so here it is :)

So what do ya think of my craftiness?  Pretty cute huh?  And the guy isn't too bad either :)
I can't wait to see the rest of them! 
Well, one more week of school and them I'm done for 2 whole weeks!  So excited.  I am excited about all of the projects we will be working on in class this week too.  My plan is to take pictures and share them on here....we'll see how that goes!

Thanksgiving

This past week was so amazing :)
I got lots of stuff done the beginning of the week before we headed down to College Station for Thanksgiving with my family.  We left Wednesday evening after Aaron got off of work.  The traffic was the worst I have ever seen going south on 45.  We made it though!  When we got to Daniel and Kate's house we were given the tour before we left for dinner.  Their house is amazing!  We went to dinner at a delicous chinese food place and that is where the scheming began :)
You see, a few weeks ago, my brother informed me that he would be proposing to his girlfriend on Thanksgiving.  I was so honored that he allowed me to help him out. 
My job at dinner was to suggest taking pictures early the next morning (when he would be proposing) so that she would be dressed up and unsuspecting.  She agreed that it sounded like a good idea so we were good to go.  The only hitch was when we discussed where to take pictures.  Of course, it didn't make much sense when I suggested the huge Aggie Ring on campus as the backdrop because I did not go there. 
The next morning we woke up very excited for the day.  We were all ready to go on time...a miracle in itself.  We had to take a little detour to waste some time because Daniel had arranged for her family to be there to watch everything, and they were stuck in some traffic.  So after a little time at the tent sale, we finally headed over.  I was texting her sister on the way over so that I could make sure they were hidden before we walked up. 
As we approached the ring, I was so excited knowing what was coming!  I had my camera ready to take pictures and Aaron had his flip cam to record the whole thing.  I think Daniel was a little nervous at this point.  He got her up to the spot he had planned and turned to face her.  He quickly got down on one knee and she looked stunned!  He said something sweet I'm sure and then asked her to marry him.  Her only words were "oh my gosh" and "YES"!!!!!!  It was so perfect :)  After a little hugging and a few kisses, her family came out from their hiding spots where they had been watching everything.  This brought the tears.  Kate was so surprised by everything, the proposal, her family, and later finding out that everyone else knew about it...including some of her best friends who couldn't be there. 
I was so proud of my little brother.  He did such a great job planning the whole thing and making it special for Kate.  She even told me later that about 2 years ago she mentioned that she would like to have her family there when she got engaged.  Who would have guessed he would remember that!
The afternoon passed quickly with cooking, eating and lots of phone calls and texts wishing the happy couple congrats.  We headed out to the football game early to tailgate and then went into the stadium for the game.  It was a great game with a bad outcome.  It was really neat to be there for the "last" game.  And we had amazing seats!  Second row!  Overall, it was such a perfect day.  We couldn't have asked for better weather either! 
I am so excited for Daniel and Kate and what the future holds for them.  I don't think he could have found a more perfect person for him to spend his life with.  I am blessed to be gaining another sister that I love just as much as the two I got when I married Aaron :)
Here are a few pics of the lovebirds!

It was the perfect holiday with my family.  I enjoyed getting to visit with my parents.  We always have a good time when we get together.  I love that Aaron gets along so well with them.  We definitely have a lot to be thankful for this year :)

Houses, Shopping & Movies OH MY!

Sometimes I feel like my life is rather boring and I have nothing to blog about, so I don't.  Other times, my life seems so hectic I can't find the time to blog.  Luckily, my life has currently been the latter. 
Aaron and I have begun the process of searching for our first home.  We are so blessed to have such an AMAZING realtor working with us.  We love Sue!  This has pretty much consumed our evenings.  We have gone out twice looking at homes and the nights we haven't done that have been spent searching on Trulia at homes that are for sell.  Hopefully after Thanksgiving we might be putting an offer on a house!  More details to come on that :)
I am so lucky to work for a district that gives us the WHOLE WEEK OFF!  That's right.  I don't have to work this whole week.  It is so amazing.  Today I was very productive.  I started out bright and early with a trip to the car dealership so that they could fix the back seatbelt (recall that has been needed for over a year....oooops).  I thought it would take 15 min.  Not so.  I got there and he said it would take about an hour and a half.  I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped open.  Anyways, they had an US Weekly so it was all good.  I was able to catch myself up on the Hollywood gossip while I waited.  Once that was finished, I headed up to Allen to the Gold Class Cinema.  Let me just tell you, if you have never been to one, GO!  It was sooooo nice.  I had a full on reclining chair, like the Lazy Boy kind, and they provided a blanket and pillow (don't ever take your dad if he falls asleep in the movies like mine does, not a chance he would stay awake).  I had complimentary popcorn and ordered some sliders and fries.  It was the perfect way to see Breaking Dawn Part 1.  It was also a huge step for me....the first time I've ever been to the movies alone!  I always swore I would never do that.  It wasn't so bad though :) 
After the movie I went shopping.  Not for me though!  I started our Christmas shopping today :)  Always one of my favorite things to do.  We literally had not bought one present yet...but by the time I got home, we have finished shopping for 2 people on our list and I have 2 presents wrapped for Aaron!  Yes, I had to wrap them even though there is no tree to put them under yet.  I am going to have to be creative in the future in finding hiding places for presents.  I don't know how my mom did it all those years. 
Now, I'm at home watching football with Aaron.  He spent all day at his school studying.  He has his final for his paramedic class tomorrow night!  He is nervous but I know that he is going to do awesome!  Prayers would be greatly appreciated anyways :)
Hope you are all having a wonderful Thanksgiving week!

Tough Guy

My poor baby Griffin had to go to the vet today.  He is in desperate need of a haircut so I called on Thursday to get him an appointment.  They told me he needed two vaccinations before he could come in.  So this morning, we woke up and took him to the vet.  It was Aaron's first time coming with us to vet (imagine that).  We got there and told them he needed a few vaccinations but I couldn't remember which ones.  They checked his file and said he was overdue for all of them...oops.  Shouldn't they tell me when I come in that he needs them?  Oh well.  Poor guy had to get 3 shots and had some blood drawn to test for heartworms.  He was shaking like a leaf, but he stood still and didn't whine at all.  I was so proud of him :)  They lady even gave him a treat after for being such a good boy. 

He loves sticking his head out the window when we drive around.  Next Saturday, he will have to endure another day out...at the beauty shop :)  He pretends to be scared when we drop him off, but he is always running around with the girls when we come to pick him up.  I know he enjoys it!

Keeping the Faith

For the last few years, Aaron has been working towards his lifelong dream of becoming a fire fighter.  It has been a long, sometimes frustrating and most of the time stressful process for us both, especially Aaron. 
Two weeks ago, he found out that his dream will be coming true soon :)  He will be a Dallas Fire Fighter in a few months!  I honestly could not be more proud of my amazing husband.  He has shown so much patience and faith throughout this whole process.  As many of you know, job hunting is a VERY frustrating ordeal.  I cried quite a bit during my summer of job searching here in the Dallas area for my teaching job.  He has been so optimistic and positive the whole time.  I know that this all comes from his wonderful family though.  They were all completely supportive of him this whole time and a GREAT group of prayer warriors.  I know they all did their part in praying and asking their friends to pray as well. 
Trusting in God's plan can be a hard thing to do sometimes.  Especially when it is not quite going at the speed I would like for it to :)  Aaron started testing to get on with different departments about 2 years ago.  It is a very tough field to be getting a job in now.  Most departments were only hiring 5-10 guys at a time and more than 500 would show up for the tests.  Needless to say, it can get discouraging.  If Aaron ever felt discouraged though, he didn't show it. 
When Dallas finally posted that they would be doing their test back in March (seriously, could they have drawn it out any longer?), we couldn't have been more excited.  Dallas was Aaron's dream city to have his dream job in.  He wants to be downtown, in all the action.  He went and took the test (along with 2500 other guys) and a week later, found out that he passed and qualified to move on to the physical agility portion of the test.  They took forever to call and schedule his physical, but they finally did and he of course rocked it :)  Again, much later, they called to tell him that he moved on to the polygraph test round.  He completed that and I assume did well since he was then called back for the interviews.  At this point, we knew his chances were pretty good.  Dallas had announced that they would be hiring 200 new guys.  They were only interviewing about 300.  If you remember, I wrote a blog about 2 months ago requesting prayers for 8:30 on a Friday morning.  This would be the exact time Aaron was interviewing.  We talked that afternoon and he said he thought it had gone well.  Of course, he was not told anything other than that he would be hearing from them.  Thus ensued a LONG period of waiting.  It became especially hard when he heard that others were starting to get their calls.  Finally, 2 Wednesdays ago, I got a text message from my sweet husband introducing me to Dallas' newest fire fighter!  It was one of the happiest feelings I have had. 
I was at school and told my class about it.  They were all SO excited to hear the good news too.  That Friday, their writing assignment was to write a congratulatory letter to Aaron.  We brainstormed all the things you might tell someone when something good has happened.  They did a great job and when I delivered them to Aaron, he loved them!  I even made a big poster and had all the kids sign their names to it :)  So cute!

Back to God's plan...I guess I learned my lesson on timing.  If you can just be patient, it WILL happen.  In his time :)  I wouldn't change a single thing though.  I have the happiest husband alive.  Which makes me one happy wife!

Fall

I absolutely love fall!  I am so happy it is here...kind of.  We had the most amazing weather this week.  Until this afternoon.  It was hot again.  But, I know it won't be much longer until we have some nice cool weather full time :)
To welcome in the fall weather, I had my first salted caramel mocha frappuchino at Starbucks on Sunday.  DELISH!  I also wore my new boots to work 2 days this week! 

I got them at Nordy's....of course.  Also in honor of fall/Halloween, I decorated our apartment.  This isn't much at this point, but we do have some very cute pumpkins on our dining room table and some candy corn in a glass pumpkin dish :)  I bought a few more things at Hobby Lobby last weekend.  I will put up some pics when they are ready!
And lastly, my class and I have done some very cute fall projects the last couple of weeks.  Here are a few pics of their hard work!

The scarecrow faces they made using a hanger and tissue paper.  I love these so much.  They turn out super cute!

 A pumpkin project they took home and decorated with their families.  They also wrote either a made up story about their pumpkin or what they used to decorate it.

 The sign I made to go with the pumpkins :)

 Their spiders!  I love these!  Paint and handprints for the bodies, reinforcements for the eyes.  They wrote a poem about spiders using action words and describing words we had brainstormed together.  I think they turned out awesome and the kids LOVED making them.

 We turned the class into a "bat cave"!  We read Stellaluna and the kids had to write all the characters from the story to put on their bat.

 A close up of one of the bats.

So there you have it.  The kids are keeping me on my toes this year, but I really love this group already.  They are all so sweet and fun to be around :)

Brownie Mystery

Today I had a brownie with my lunch. I left it on my plate while I went to help my students who were buying their lunch from the cafeteria. It took about 10 minutes. When I came back, a bite was missing from my brownie. Nobody would admit to taking the bite. The mystery remains unsolved.

Absentee

I apologize (to my MANY readers...ha) for being absent for so long.  I try to keep up with my blogging, but lately, things have been crazy. 
Aaron is super busy between work, paramedic class, rotations in hospitals and volunteering at the fire station.  Needless to say, our time together has been cut severly.  Last week, we were both at home only one evening.  It has been a hard adjustment for me, but I know it has been harder on Aaron.  He has pulled several all-nighters in the ER after working all day at MetLife only to go straight back into work after he finished up at the hospital.  I know all of his hard work will pay off soon though and I am so very, very proud of him :)
In other news, I found a stray Yorkie running down the street last week.  I stopped and picked him up and took him to Aaron's parents house.  They were so sweet and let him hang out in their backyard for the evening while I figured out what to do.  He was the sweetest little guy and had fun playing with Griffin and Rookie.  Unfortunately, the men, Aaron and Greg, were adamant that we could not keep him.  Sheri and I took him to the emergency vet and they kept him overnight.  He was then picked up by the pound and spent the next five days at their waiting for his owners to call looking for him.  That didn't happen, but today was the first day he was available for adoption and I was told that someone showed up minutes after opening to adopt him :)  I am so happy and I know that this is the best thing for him.  I am just so glad that this story has a happy outcome and that sweet puppy has a good home now.

Adding to the craziness, I had parent conferences these last two weeks.  They went so well this year and I really enjoyed getting to visit with my kids parents.  I had so many parents thank me and tell me how much their kids are enjoying school this year.  It was so nice to hear and really made me smile :)
Also keeping us busy on Monday nights is our co-ed soccer league.  Our team is 3-1 and I am loving playing soccer again!  It is hard for me to admit, but I am so incredibly out of shape!  After our first game, I could barely walk for a week my muscles were so sore!  I have felt much better after our other games and really haven't been sore at all :)  I had 2 goals in our first win (whooohooo) and have had several assists since.  The biggest story of all though has been how GREAT Aaron is at goalie!  He really was impressive in our first few games.  I think everyone was a bit shocked :)
Anyways, I think that caught me up to now.  Hopefully I can get back on the bandwagon and do a better job of blogging consistently. 
Oh yeah...I started a class blog too.  I am planning on using it as a writing activity for my class.  I am going to let them come up with the ideas and tell me what to write.  I am hoping this goes well...we shall see :)

German Chocolate Pie

I can remember eating the most delicious pie at my grandma's house when I was younger.  I  even requested it as my birthday "cake" several years.  I haven't had that pie in a few years...until Sunday night and it was as good as I remembered :) 
I had asked my mom about it a few weeks ago.  She said she would find the recipie and send it to me.  She did, so I decided to make it and see how Aaron thought it was.
So, without further ado....here is the recipie.  And, your in luck - it's so super easy to make!

Melt 1 stick oleo and 1/2 bar German Chocolate.  While melting, beat 3 whole eggs until white and creamy.  Add in 1 cup sugar 2 heaping tablespoons flour.  Beat approximately 3 minutes.  Add in chocolate mixture, 1 tsp vanilla and an optional 1 cup chopped nuts.  Pour into a well buttered 9 inch pie plate and cook for 25 minutes at 350.  Cool.  It is extra yummy served with whipped cream, but perfectly fine without :)
I hope that you enjoy this dessert as much as I do.  Oh, and Aaron said it was "okay".  What does he know anyway?

Random Fact

Griffin burps. 
I swear, I have never heard a dog burp before, but he does!  It is as shocking as when one of my little kindergarteners burps too.  He is loud.  It sounds just like a human....so weird. 

This is a picture of our little man eating his birthday cookie :)  I can guarantee that he burped after he ate it.  He also sneezes and hiccups.  Like I said, weird, but I sure love him :)

Couch Potato

With fall comes fall television.  So naturally, I spent every night this week watching something on tv.  I will admit that I can be a bit of a couch potato.  Is it really such a bad thing?  Don't answer that.

Monday was the return of Castle!  My new favorite tv show.  It was sooooo good!  I absolutely love this show and was so excited for it to come back on.  Last Sunday, Aaron and I went to Best Buy to use a giftcard.  While we were there, I decided to look for season 2 of Castle on DVD.  I found it for $35.  Ten dollars cheaper than I had seen at Target.  Pretty cool.  Even cooler?  When we went to check out, it rang up for only $19.99.  I was pumped!  Anyways, at the end of Castle on Monday, they said that there is a book out.  In the show, Castle is a writer working with the cops to come up with stories for his books.  He wrote a book called Heat Rises in the show but they said that this book is now for sale!  I already found it on the iBook app. 
Tuesday was the season premiere of NCIS.  This was also very good.  I have been obsessed with this show since my Grandma introduced me to it a few years ago.  Don't judge.  It is really good and I am proud to say that I have gotten Aaron's sister Morgan hooked on it as well :)
With Wednesday came Modern Family!  Again, so pumped about this!  It is easily my favorite sitcom on tv.  It's so funny and I look forward to it every week.  I also enjoyed seeing them win so many Emmy's last Sunday.
And finally, on Thursday came the premiere of Grey's Anatomy.  This has been my favorite show since college.  Although it has had it "weird" phases, the whole Izzy seeing Denny thing, I have stuck with it.  This season looks like it is going to be pretty good.  I have heard that Meredith and Derek may not return for next season, so this may be it for me.  I don't think I can watch Grey's without the original "Grey".  We shall see.  For now, I will just enjoy it :)
Well, there is my run-down.  I hope you don't think I'm too pathetic for having almost every night of the week busy with tv.  I will say that I DVR some and watch them when I can.  Does that make it better?

Paper

Did you know that your first anniversary is "paper"?  I was unaware of this until I googled it.  I can't wait for our diamond, silver and platinum anniversaries :)
For our first anniversary, we celebrated together by going out for dinner to Ruth's Chris.  It was sooooooo delicious, but quite pricey.  I am sure we won't be going back on a regular basis, but maybe for other celebrations.  My favorites there were the orange mojito and the sweet potato casserole...delish!  Since we were celebrating our anniversary, they put little heart glitter all over the table and we even had a free dessert....creme brule with fruit! 

After dinner at Ruth's Chris

On Sunday, we had a little party at Aaron's grandma's house.  It was small, just family, but we had a great time!  Greg and Paul were the chefs and made slider burgers for lunch since we had sliders at our reception.  They were AMAZING and I suggested that they be the cooks everytime we get together.  I don't think they were too fond of that idea :)  To finish off the meal, we had the same cake we had on our wedding day, princess cake (just a fancy name for white cake) and mexican chocolate.  They were still as tasty as I remember from the original tasting over a year ago. 

Back to the paper....our gifts to each other according to tradition were supposed to be something paper.  I found this really cute idea on pintrest and decided that it was perfect. 

It is just a set of cute cards that say "How do I love the?  Let me count the ways"  They are numbered 1-12.  I printed out the templates then cut them out.  I gave Aaron one set and kept the other for myself.  I wrote 12 reasons I love him and vice versa then we exchanged them before we went out to dinner.  If you know Aaron at all, you know he is not the sappy, lovey dovey type of guy.  I was surprised at how sweet and serious all of his reason were.  I expected them all to be funny.  I think it was the perfect gift because now I can look back and read them whenever I want.
Of course, this wasn't the only thing we did.  Since those were free, we also did another gift.  Aaron recieved some all black, custom Nike shox that he can wear on his rotations through hospitals and ambulances.  Hopefully he will be comfortable!  I got to go on a little shopping spree to my two favorite stores, Nordstrom and Forever21!  It was SO much fun :)
We started one tradition on Sunday as well.  I found another idea on pintrest (imagine that) and decided that we had to do it.  I found a picture of a couple who take a picture every anniversary holding a picture of them from the anniversary the year before.  Eventually, the original picture (from our wedding day) will be so small, you won't even see it.  Here is the picture we took this year, holding last years picture. (wow, I used the word picture a bit too much in this paragraph)

Overall, I thought it was the perfect first anniversary.  We had a great time and I loved spending so much time together.  I can't wait to celebrate our 2nd one next September!

One Year

Best friend. 
Soul mate. 
Knight in shining armour. 
Love of my life. 
These are all words that describe my husband, Aaron.  Exactly one year ago, I had the honor of marrying him.  It was the most amazing day of my life.  I can still remember almost everything about that day.  I felt so much love from everyone: family, friends and of course Aaron.  I am sure that some things did not go as I planned (although I am unaware of them) but to me, that day was perfect. 

                                      

Our first year of marriage has been fun!  I have loved creating our home together.  I know that marriage is hard work, but truly, it has seemed effortless.  We just get along.  I think we have a good balance of give and take.  At dinner the other night, someone congratulated us on being married for one year and commented that the first year is the hardest.  I asked Aaron about that when we left the restaurant.  He said he didn't think it had been a hard year at all.  I agree.  This past year seems to have flown by.  I think our transition from dating to engaged to married was so easy.  I don't feel like anything changed other than that we live together.  Of course there was some adjusting (me nicely reminding him to put things away after he comes home or to put the toilet seat back down, him getting used to my closet space) but other than that, it has been smooth sailing :)  
We have done so much in just one year...I can't wait to see what happens for us in the coming year!  Hopefully our big adventure for year 2 will be buying a house and making it our home!
I will leave you with the song from our first dance.  I love this song.  I smile every time I hear it on the radio...which is much more now that Blake Shelton has covered it!

Happy One Year Anniversary, Aaron!  I love you with all my heart!

Cheers

First off, let me say THANK HEAVEN FOR 4 DAY WORK WEEKS :)

I am loving that tomorrow is alreay Thursday.
Next, yesterday was my first day with only 19 students!  It was amazing.  I loved it!  I could go on and on.  The class is so much more manageable and I was able to officially start some of the things I would have started earlier but I didn't want to since I knew I would be losing some kids.  It makes things so much better. 
And finally, I would greatly appreciate your prayers Friday morning at 8:30 as a very important event will be taking place in our family.  I am not going to say anything else about it YET, but I promise, once everything is done, I will share the details in our blog :) ....and no, I'm not pregnant!

oh, football

That time of year is upon us.  Football season.  I love it.  I am slightly apprehensive about the NFL season this year though.  College football....great!  NFL....skeptical about the players.  I was NOT impressed with many of the players or owners over the course of the lockout.  However, I will watch the season and cheer for my Cowboys, however dismal they may be this year.  Yet again. 
Anyways, Aaron has organized a Fantasy Football league and I will be playing for the second straight year.  Last year was a rough start for me.  My team had a losing record and I did not make the playoffs.  With that said, I have high hopes for this year.  Especially after managing my baseball fantasy team, which has a bye this week, the first week of playoffs :)
Anyways, the draft is tonight so I better go log in so that I will be prepared.  Hopefully I will have good news to report once the "season" is underway!!

Blogging...

Soooo, with the start of school I have been absolutely exhausted.  Having 26 kindergarteners can do that to you I guess.  The good news, I have tomorrow off :) and starting Tuesday, we are adding another class so I will only have 19 kids!  It will be so nice to be able to easily manage them. 
With that said, I am hopefully over the exhaustion part of the beginning of school so hopefully the blogging thing will go better.  This weekend started out great!  Friday night Aaron had class so I made plans to hang out with my bestie, Becca.  We had such a good time eating dinner, walking around the mall and just visiting :)  We even watched the second half of the TCU/Baylor game.  It was so nice to have a few hours of uninterrupted visiting time!  Hanging out with her makes me remember how much FUN we had when we lived together in college.  The only thing missing was our other bff, Kala.  I think we are still both working on convincing her to move to Dallas :)
Saturday, Aaron played golf in the morning so I went shopping!  It was fun!  I didn't really do any back to school shopping so it was nice to get a few things now.  When he got home, he showered and then we headed out to Legacy Village for dinner at Taco Diner.  It was so yummy!  Afterwards, we walked around a bit then headed home to watch some football. 
Today has consisted of church, Whataburger, and napping.  Hopefully tomorrow we can be a little bit more productive.  We shall see!
Oh yeah, next weekend is our One Year Anniversary!!!!  I'm so excited for our celebrations :)

Exhausted

Exhausted doesn't even begin to describe how I feel tonight.  The first day went well and I have 23 little kiddos in my classroom this year.  I am sure that number will grow tomorrow since I saw plenty of parents enrolling their children today.  Yay :) 
Anyways, as promised here are a few pics of my classroom this year.

My oh-so-cute bulletin board outside my room

A shot of my room from the door

A fun little project I made over the summer...found the idea on Pinterest, where else?

The pretty flowers I got today from Aaron and Griffin, yes his name was on the card too :)

I guess it is always hard to remember how the kids start off.  I still have how last years bunch ended the year in my head.  I am so excited to see how this group progresses through the year.  They amaze me at how far they can come. 
I must also say that Aaron and his friend Jonathan came up and helped me this morning while the kids were coming to class.  While I stood at the door and blocked parents from coming in  greeted parents and students, they were in the room with the ones already in there helping them put their things away and keeping them entertained.  They did a great job :)  It definitely helped my morning run much more smoothly.  THANKS GUYS!
Anyways, as stated at the beginning, I am exhausted so I will probably be going to bed here in the next 30 minutes or so.  Hopefully I can try to do a better job of blogging the rest of this month and next!

Here We Are

It's the last day of summer for me....mixed feelings.  I will be glad to be back in a routine and actually have to do something but I will certainly miss sleeping late and spending lots of time with my Griffin.  We have both been a bit lazy this summer.  To make myself feel a little better I went running this morning.  I made it but I thought I might have to flag down a car to drive me back to the apartment for a minute. 
I have spent a few days up at the school getting my classroom ready for the new year.  I must say, I really like how everything has come out so far.  I will post a few pics next week once I am up there and can take some pics. 
Our one year anniversary is less than a month away!!!  I can not believe how fast this year has gone by.  I think it has been a wonderful year so far and I can't wait to celebrate that with my sweet hubby soon!  I have been googling what to do for a first anniversary and I think I have come up with some pretty good ideas....you will have to wait to find out what they are though :) 

Notes

This week has been relatively busy for summer. 
I went to trainings for work Monday-Thursday.  Monday was great.  Probably one of the best trainings I've been to.  Tuesday was terrible.  Wen. and Thurs were both very informative and helpful.  It was fun to get to see work friends and visit outside of school. 
Wednesday night I discovered I had a heat rash on my arms...yuck.  I am really hoping that it doesn't flare up tonight since I'm going to a wedding!
Aaron and I are signed up to play co-ed soccer...outdoors!  I'm a bit nervous because I know there is no way I will be able to play like I used to, but I think it will be fun to play again and with Aaron.  He is already looking for cleats :)
As I said earlier...we are going to a wedding tonight.  It is for two of my friends and co-workers, Matt and Brandi.  I am so excited for them!
Tomorrow Aaron has class in the morning/afternoon but in the evening, we are going out with some friends to celebrate Stormey's birthday!  I am so excited to get together with everyone and play some Top Golf!!!

Lately

You would think I would be able to blog more since I have so much time on my hands during the summer.  Well, that time is almost up my friends.  Lately I have been very lazy (and loved it) but things are starting to pick up a little. 
Monday and Tuesday I went up to my school to arrange my classroom.  It was very successful and quick :)  Wednesday Becca and Carson came over for lunch.  It was his second birthday!  I can't believe he is already 2....such a cutie!  We had a great time visiting and I am so glad that I got to celebrate his birthday with him and some cupcakes.  Thursday I spent the afternoon in Grapevine helping a friend out with something.  We had fun catching up while we worked.   Friday was more of the laziness that I talked about earlier...this entails me and Griffin laying on the couch allllllll day, only getting up for food and potty breaks. Tough life, I know.  Saturday I went to another painting class.  This time I went with Cindy and Katie.  We had so much fun and talked about doing it again with all the girls from the family.  Here is a pic of our finished products. 

The part that I was most nervous about was writing in cursive....but I think it actually came out pretty good.  While we painted there was Christmas music playing and it was really cold inside.  It made me feel like it was almost winter time, then I walked outside and was quickly brought back to reality.  I can't wait till then though so I can display this in our apartment! 
This week I have trainings Mon-Thurs.  Not really excited about that, but I have one more week of vacation after before I have to officially go back to work.  I guess I better make the best of it!!!

Chocolate Nachos

I found this amazing recipe for a really cool dessert the other day.  I posted a pic of it on my facebook and had several requests for the recipie.  Lucky you, it's soooooo easy!

First, you take some flour tortillas.  I used 3 and it was a little too much for Aaron and I.  Then, melt a little butter in the microwave and brush it onto one side of the tortillas. Sprinkle some sugar and cinnamon on the side with the butter...as much as you want :) Using a pizza cutter, cut them into the chip shapes.  Then bake them in the oven at 350 for about 10-12 min on an ungreased cookie sheet.  While they are baking, chop up some strawberries.  I used 4 and it was perfect.  Then let them sit in a spoonful of sugar for a few minutes so they get a little more syrupy.  Once the chips are done, they should be curling up at the edges a little bit, let them cool for a few minutes.  Then, I used dark chocolate chips and melted them in the microwave adding a dash of oil to make it easier to drizzle.  Last, arrange them on a plate, add the strawberries and then drizzle the melted chocolate on top.  Voila!  Easy and super yummy!!

Perspective

I find that I sometimes have a hard time putting things into perspective.  I think I am mostly even headed about things, but every once in a while might get a bit dramatic...I am a girl after all.  It is good to get a reminder now and then. 
I stumbled across this story while reading two different blogs that I follow.  I have been following the sad story of a young family with an 8 month old son battling cancer.  A brain tumor to be exact.  They started the blog to tell about their battle, but their son died this weekend.  I cannot even imagine the pain they are feeling now.  My mom always told me the hardest thing for a parent would be to bury their child.  I cried every time I read their blog.  I prayed for them every time I read their blog.  I prayed for them at church today.  I know that right now, your prayers would help them too.  If you would like to read their story, go to their blog, James beats the tumor.  I found their words very inspiring.  They showed so much faith through the whole thing.  I know that would be a big struggle for many, myself included.
Back to perspective...it makes me feel guilty that I worry or get upset about little things when others are going through something HUGE like this.   It makes me thankful that I have never delt with anything like that and it makes me hopeful that I never will. 
For now, I will continue to pray for their family and that they can find comfort that their precious son is no longer in pain.

This Week

This week has revolved around 3 things for me.  Baseball, soccer, and Harry Potter.
It started Sunday with the women's world cup.  USA vs. Brazil.  It was the most intense game I have seen in a LONG time.  Probably since my senior year of soccer.  However, this one was different because I was watching, not playing.  It is much worse just watching.  I was nervous and could hardly watch at certain moments.  Despite some AWFUL calls by the ref and her sideline judges, and some horrible acting by the Brazilians, we pulled it out!  I screamed sooooo loud when the USA scored the tying goal with about a minute and a half left.  I'm pretty sure Griffin was scared silly by that.  I then enjoyed another good game on Wednesday when they played France.  I can not wait till Sunday to watch them in the finals and hopefully win for the first time since 1999.

Monday evening we had some friends over to watch the Home Run Derby.  It was so much fun to have them all over and enjoy visiting while we watched my favorite Yankee win it all!!!  I picked Robinson Cano to win before it started :)  Tuesday evening I went over to my in-laws house to watch the All-Star game with Sheri.  She made some delicious ball park food for dinner. 
 Harry Potter has been my favorite book series since I first read it back in high school.  With the last movie coming out today, I decided to watch all the other movies this week.  Monday morning, I watched the first 3 movies in the series.  I hadn't seen them in a very long time and it was funny to see how young all of the actors were compared to now.  Tuesday Mollie came over and we watched 4 and 5.  Wednesday Aaron had class after work so I watched number 6 and today, I watched number 7 - part 1.  I am ready to see the final one tonight!!!  Aaron and I are going with Becca and Garet to see it and I literally can not wait! 

Vacation

This past week, I was on vacation!  Last Saturday Aaron and I drove down to San Antonio to spend the holiday weekend with my family.  We had a great time hanging out, eating good food, and shopping.  We even got to visit with some of our friends, Nick and Kathryn. 
That Monday, Aaron headed home to Dallas and I headed back to Harlingen with my parents for the week.  I had such a good time being with them for a whole week.  I also got to hang out with my two grandmas.  I always enjoy visiting with them and listening to their stories. 
While in Harlingen, I'm pretty sure I gained about 15 pounds.  You see, when I'm home I feel like I need to eat as much as I can at my favorite restaurants since I won't be back for a while.  And that's all we went to...my favorite restaurants.  I had a whole list of where I needed to eat while at home.  My parents were so sweet and took me to each one :)  It was nice to escape for a little bit, but it was really nice to get back to Dallas to my hubby and Griffin.  I was greeted with lots of kisses (from both of them) and a fairly clean apartment, which I spent all day Sunday cleaning :)

SPORTS

Our families are sports nuts.  Almost all sports included.  Here are my thoughts on the sports world right now.  Take 'em or leave 'em :)
SOCCER The women's world cup is going on right now.  I am in soccer heaven!  Good games everyday, until today...the USA women looked fairly pitiful.  The defense was slow and unorganized.  The midfield was unimpressive with a few good plays and the attack was sloppy.  I sure hope they get their act together before the weekend when they play Brazil or their trip will be O.V.E.R.
BASEBALL The all-star break is almost here!  The first half of the baseball season is almost over and my fantasy team is still in First Place!  Whooohooo :)  Our favorite team, the Yankees, are in first place in their division and the captian, Derek Jeter is only 4 hits away from the 3,000 club!  My favorite guy, Robinson Cano, is set to be in the homerun derby. Roger Clemens trial is starting...can someone tell me why the US government cares if he took drugs while playing?  Sure it was illegal, but really, don't we have better things to use our money on? 
FOOTBALL The dumb lockout continues...I don't care if they ever play again.  They are greedy and selfish.  On a side note, I heard a funny story about Roy Williams on SC today.  He mailed a proposal and engagement ring to a girl who said no and kept the ring.  Insulting enough, but now, he is suing her to get the ring back...making it public record.  How embarrassing!!!!  How stupid!!!
GOLF I am thoroughly impressed with Rory McIlroy.  I can only hope he keeps his head straight and doesn't end up like Tiger, who he is drawing countless comparisons to.  Tiger is still hurt...don't really care there either though.
Well, there was my wrap up.  Hope you enjoyed :)

Homemade Part 2

I have re-discovered my craftiness this summer :)
The other night, Aaron and I made a super yummy, super easy dinner.  I made some quesadillas while he made some salsa.  We bought some mason jars at the store so we were able to make some extra and store it.  The quesadillas were cheese and beef fajita...one of my favs!

It was one of the best dinners of the summer so far.  And just FYI, the beer was Aarons :)
This morning, I made some delish cupcakes and decorated them for the 4th of July!

I just used some sugar sprinkles on the outside ones and I made the pompoms with knitting yarn then attached them to the top of kabob skewers that I cut into shorter pieces.  They are supposed to look like sparklers that you would use on the 4th, but I kinda think they look like the Truffula trees from Dr. Seuss' book The Lorax.  What do you think?

I may have just come up with a surprise snack for my kiddos next year when we do our Dr. Seuss unit :)
Hope you all have a very happy 4th of July!  We will be in San Antonio celebrating with my family!!

Dream Come True

So, back in college, my BFF Becca and I always talked about how when we graduated we would live down the street from each other and work at the same school, me teaching and her the pe coach (and us still able to share a closet). After college, Becca got married and moved to Houston since her hubby Garet already had a job there.  I moved to Dallas and got a job close to where Aaron lived.  Obviously, our plans didn't come to fruition. 
Last week however, I found out that we are taking a step in the right direction :)  Garet interviewed and got a job here in Dallas!!!  So that means that my bestie and her precious family are moving here....and not just here, but really close to where we live!   I am beyond excited and can't wait for them to officially be here!  Now all we have to do is convice our other BFF Kala to move up here and be our school nurse :)  Just like old times!