June 9, 2009

Today, my nephew is 6 months old. I cannot believe it. He is an amazing little guy! He is growing too fast, though. I can't believe it's already been 6 months.

We are set to close on the house on Tuesday. Hopefully everything will go according to plan and we can begin to move next week. I am beyond ready to be out of the current house! I have been ready to move since I moved in. I am excited that I'll soon be able to hold the keys to my very own home...our first home!

I've been working on some plans for next school year. I haven't really been working hard, but I have been working. I've mostly been fooling around with some new ideas and researching new ways to do things. There's always something new that I want to try, but I honestly know that I'll never be able to implement all the things I want to next year. I have made goals for myself that will help me to become a better teacher and will help my students learn in the classroom. I'm looking forward to working with a new team and trying new things.

Wedding plans are coming along nicely.
I've visited with a couple of florists and am meeting with a few more pretty soon.
We have made arrangements for a cake and are looking into some rentals for the ceremony.
We still have not decided on a minister, so we will see where that leads us. ::sigh:: Not sure about that one.
Hopefully, we'll be able to go and register at different stores not long after we move. We wanted to wait until we knew exactly what we really wanted / needed before we did so. Actually, it was Aaron's decision and I'm just along for the ride. :)

Nothing too terribly exciting is going on around here...just planning for several different things at once and trying to live life at the same time. Where does the time go?

I hope your week is filled with blessings. Maybe I'll catch a few of my own. :)

May 27, 2009

Well, I have officially been free for 2 full days (excluding the holiday). The first few days of summer break have been fantastic! I have not used an alarm clock since Friday (PTL!) and have been able to rest as much as I wanted. Aaron and I hung out at the Renaissance Festival on Monday. We had a good time together. He normally works at the festival, but with his normal work schedule was not able to do so this year or last. I was excited to be able to experience the festival with him because he knows the good shows, the good vendors, and what to do to have a good time! We slept until midmorning and then drove out to the festival where we spent the remainder of the day. The night was topped off with a great dinner at Macaroni Grill. It was a good day.
I've caught myself saying, over the last two days, that I am bored. My goodness...two days out of school and I'm already bored. I think I'm just not used to having free time. This has happened the last couple of years. I just don't know what to do with myself when I have a lot of free time. Yesterday was probably one of the best days so far. Aaron and I lounged around the house all day long. We didn't do much of anything. We went to get groceries early in the day and watched tv, watched videos on the computer and just spent time together. It's the little things that make me happy...spending the day together doing nothing doesn't seem all that grand, but being able to spend the time together at all is a blessing in itself! I love him with all that I am, and I'm so thankful he is in my life.
I have professional development for the next two days, so that should be fun. I'm moving to fourth grade next year and am ready to prepare for the year. I have already been making goals for myself and for my classroom. Even though the summer has just begun, I am already thinking about next year. This will be my 3rd full year in the classroom, so I want it to be the very best of them all so far!
What's most exciting about this school year is that my name will change 2 months after school begins! I cannot wait until I am his wife!
Well, I think I have rambled on enough for now. There's nothing really important in this post. I just felt the need to write today.
Happy Hump Day! It doesn't really feel like a Wednesday, does it? Guess it's the long weekend.

25 April 2009

We have nineteen and one-half days left in the school year. It amazes me to think that we are actually this close to the end of the year. It will soon be time to start all over again. Where has the time gone? I have to wonder if every year from this point on will go this fast. I thought last (school) year was never going to end, so then I have to wonder if the good years fly by and the not-so-good years drag on and on and on. I have also done several things for myself to make this year go more smoothly, so I will continue to do such things in the coming years and will seek to improve my attitude and strategies as needed. I am, however, counting down! No matter how good this school year has been, I am ready for summer break...time to relax and prepare for more!

There is also a great deal of "action" taking place outside of school...

I am continuing to study for the GRE so I can make an attempt to get that over with before the summer and get back into my graduate work.

Aaron is getting ready to finish out the semester at NSCC. We are both ready for him to be completely finished with the program, but he is enjoying it!

We are currently 168 days out from the wedding. I cannot believe that we are getting married this year! I am beyond excited and am getting nervous thinking about all the things that have to be done in the next few months! I have been browsing invitations and still need to get in touch with the lady about the cake. We are soon going to be meeting with the florist to find out what flowers he recommends for the wedding. I have my own ideas, but want to make sure the flowers will be available a that time. :) We also need to go ahead and register, but that will have to wait until school is out for the summer! Lots to do!

To add to the chaos we call our lives, we are also looking at houses. We are planning to purchase a home in the near future, so we're busy with all of that, too. I can't wait to be in a home of our own!

Even though so much is going on, I am thrilled to be living this life. I cannot imagine my life without Aaron, my family, or the job I have now. I have been blessed in ways I cannot find words to describe! PTL!

Happy Saturday!

A little winded...

Do you ever feel like someone made you laugh and then punched you in the stomach just to make you lose every single breath you had inside? That's how I feel today. There are some things I've been looking forward to over the course of the last few months, and it seems that those things have been taken away rather quickly. I won't get into details because it's really not that big a deal. I just wish that people wouldn't get my hopes up if there is a chance it's all going to turn around and change again. This is the second time this exact same situation has happened. I'm beginning to get really frustrated about it and am honestly beginning to just not care about certain things anymore. This is really bugging me right now, but it'll all be ok. I just needed to vent and this seemed like an ok place...talking to no one in particular, but getting the words out. Now I'm going to the Y to walk it off. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

My week in review...

I'm sitting at my desk now, thinking about all of the things I'll need to do this weekend...and trying to figure out the best way to go about it all and succeed! This week has seemed pretty hectic, but hasn't really been. Here are a few highlights (I guess you'd say) from my week:

• On Sunday, I was able to accomplish something quite simple, yet terribly hard for me. I tried (and succeeded) to be really nice to some people I really didn't want to be nice to. Sometimes it's really hard to do that, but it just seemed like the thing to do. What would I have accomplished had I had an attitude or was rude to them? That's right...nothing!
• I had a post-conference (follow-up after an evaluation) with one of my supervisors this week. She was very positive and told me I was right on track and, in fact, excelling in my position. Whew! She noticed lots of good things I hadn't thought about, so that was nice!
• I have been watching a lot of tv and movies recently. I'm learning about new things that I like and things I'd just prefer not to see.
• I finally finished reading Inkheart, so I watched the preview for the movie. Definitely not the same. When it says it's based on the story, it means LOOSELY based on the story. Only small parts are taken from the book, but most of it takes the story in a different direction. Kind of disappointing. No need to see the movie now. :)
  
• I'm ready to start the second book in the series by Cornelia Funke. I'm beginning to really like her as an author. We will be starting another one of her books in class next week, "Ghosthunters and the Incredibly Revolting Ghost." My kids seemed pretty excited about it today.
  
• This week was Read Across America week. We celebrated by wearing different themed items each day of the week (with picture day stuck in there as well). The kids enjoyed it for the most part. Not as many participated as I had expected. I read several Dr. Seuss books to the class, we had a special guest on Wednesday, and went this morning to read to one of the first grade classes. They loved being able to spend time with the younger kids and read to them. They did an awesome job. I'm proud! We also wrote about our favorite books and drew pictures of the setting and characters to go with the writing. See the photo above for the wall display! :)
  
• I found out that the photographer I was looking at for the wedding didn't have my date available. Now we're moving on to talk with some other people and check out some new artists. We shall see.
  
• I've been thinking a lot about joinging the YMCA. I'd really like to go and workout some in the afternoons after school or in the morning before I come into work. I'm kind of struggling with the decision to join because of the fees because I'm not really sure if I'd use it like I should. Grrr. That's something to think about.

Well, I'm sure there's more going on, but that's all for now. I really need to get some work done before I head home so it all doesn't have to come home with me. I would definitely like to enjoy my weekend.

Happy Friday!

Three Day Weeks and Bridesmaid Dresses

This week started out as a four day week - we were off on Monday for President's Day. It was nice to have the day off. The previous week was a short week as well because we had Parent-Teacher Conferences, but this one was better because we actually had the day off. I can't lie...I do love having a day off!
Since we had the day off on Monday, I made an appointment with the girls to go and check out some dresses for the wedding. Some days I absolutely hate wedding planning, but other times I LOVE it! Monday was one of those days...the girls really made me feel a lot better about my ideas! Thanks guys!
Tuesday was back to school for a tough day of work. I started feeling bad Monday afternoon and just got to the point on Tuesday that it literally hurt to stand up. Thank goodness my 5th graders are understanding! They're awesome like that! I sat down more than I ever do when I teach, but they worked just as hard! I ended up having a sub today though because I was still hurting when I left yesterday. Thank goodness they called a sub because I was hurting today as well. Even though I don't really feel like going back tomorrow, it looks like I'll be going just for my kids...I can't stand it when they have a sub who should not even be in a classroom in the first place! I can't handle it for even one more day! Hopefully I'll be feeling at least a little better by morning and can make it ok through the next 2 days.
So, the dresses I have picked for the wedding are red. We've gone through many different colors so far for the wedding, but I think the girls pretty much confirmed the color when they put those dresses on in the Apple color! If you want to see the dress, you can go here. I also ordered the dress (the one on the right) for my precious little flower girl. She looks so sweet in the little dress. I am so excited that that much is done! I'm looking forward to the planning we have left to do - there's so much!!!
I've also been moving through three different phases in the past few months - "I want a baby." was first, "I want a puppy" obviously came second, and now I'm in "house" mode! I'm really not crazy! I promise. I have been ready to have a baby since 2006 and I love animals, but I am stuck in house mode because I'm thinking about what would be most reasonable with us still on the road to wedding day. I've been looking at houses like crazy and I really hope something comes from my looking this time. I guess we'll see.

Have a great week!

Cabin Fever

Today makes day 2 of being out of school. Yesterday was great! I woke up to a message saying we were out of school for the day. Of course, as the evening rolled around and I started thinking of all the things I would need to do at school the next day, I began hoping for another day. Careful what you wish for...we're out for a second day. It's now 7:37 pm and I've been thinking all day about how much I just need to get out of the house. Believe it or not, I actually hoped (past tense...I'm back to hoping for, at the very least, a delay) to go back to school tomorrow. I'm glad to get a break from the classroom, but I do miss my children when we're not in school.
I have honestly not used my time wisely during this surprise break. On Monday, I somehow deleted from my computer all of my lesson plans for Tuesday on. I have not rewritten them and I don't plan to. I know what it is I will be teaching and I know how I'll be teaching it. With only two days left in the week (if we go 2 full days), we will simply go with the flow. If this had happened last year, there is NO WAY I would have ever decided to "go with the flow," but this year my class is pretty cool with that. They can handle it, and thank goodness for that! They'll be bouncing off the walls after 2 days out anyway.
I could have also done a little bit of wedding planning the last two days. I did think about some things, but didn't really do any hardcore planning. We talked about cakes and flowers mostly. That was probably the most productive part of the last two days.
Speaking of the wedding...can you recommend a good florist? I know of a couple around town, but thought I'd check and see if anyone had any recommendations...someone they used who was fabulous! If you know of someone who is totally awesome (and is a florist, hehe), please let me know. :)

Happy Hump Day to ya!
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