Gone Shopping...

I know I haven't blogged in a while. All I have to say is one word - BENCHMARK! There is about 15 days until the big test and my kids are working really hard. I'm really proud of them.

Anyway!!! I decided to write a little about the events of last weekend. I took a personal day and met Diane (and Jerry David), Lori (who also took a personal day), and Ninja Andrea (and her baby Adian) in Murfressburo, TN to go baby registering. If that is even a word....We went to go register for baby stuff. You get the picture. So we had an absolute blast! We looked for and found everything that you could possible find that had any relation to a baby. We went to Walmart first but discovered that there registery was broken. SO - we decided to go to Target and then try another Walmart, after stopping off too eat of course. Can't you just picture me with 2 pregnant women and one with a 4 month old. We really did have a lot of fun, and I actually think we got everything registered for that Diane wanted. I wish I had a picture for you but we didn't take any. Sorry. Our focus was pretty much baby...baby...FOOD...baby....STARBUCKS (Lori)....and baby.

IT'S A BOY!!!!!

We found out yesterday that my sister is going to have A BOY! It's official and everything. I guess he just got tired of hearing us call him "Jerry David" and decided to "step up"! Needless to say, I'm sooo excited! I'm gonna have a Nephew!
Oh, and by the way - I just want to point out that I posted earlier about how I knew it was a boy and I was totally right. Just wanted to point that out.

Now all we have to do is find out what Matt and Lori are having and we'll be set!

(sorry-no pictures)

Long Months Ahead...

I've learned that time is a funny thing. Whenever I think about the last year things to have moved sooooo fast! But then I think about everything I still have to accomplish in the next few months ahead and it seems like it's taking forever to get there. For example, I can't believe that my 2nd year of teaching is almost over. It seems like I just started in a lot of ways. It also seems like time is dragging on. The benchmark is coming up sooner than I'm ready for and I am in constant prayer and thought about the test and my kids. I'm also waiting on TWO little miracles to come into the world and that's taking forever! On the other hand it's hard to believe that we are already at the age of having babies. I'm sure Diane and Lori are more anxious than I am, seeing as they are the ones actually having the babies but it sounds better when I write it! :)

I got a new phone today. Of course I've already entered all my phone numbers and taken a few pictures. It's a fun new toy to play with at least for a few hours anyway!

Abby is growing by the minute and enjoying herself. She is still chewing up EVERYTHING she can find. Seems like everything I give her to chew on she doesn't like and everything I want to keep away from her she is uncontrollably attracted to. Figures! Sorry I don't have a picture for you. I keep forgetting to bring my camera home from work.

I have been seriously contemplating moving to the Nashville area. Both Matt and Diane live about 45 min. to an hour away from Nashville and since they are both getting ready to parents it's all I can do to be away from there. So I figured, why try? I have started the paperwork to get my TN license and started looking at schools around suburbs of Nashville. Hopefully I will be able to get a job pretty quickly. It's bitter sweet for me because I really do LOVE my job here in AR. Augusta has been a great first job for me and I am really torn about leaving. I am going to continue to pray about it and see what doors God opens for me.

Christmas, New Years...and then some

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all that stuff!

I had a great Christmas Break. Thinking back, 2 weeks seems like it should feel longer. I went to my parents house for the whole 2 weeks. It was a wonderful 2 weeks. At some point, the whole family was together. For the first few days it was just mom, dad, and I. Then Matt and Lori came Christmas Eve and stayed through the Friday after New Years. Mark and Diane came Christmas Eve as well and stayed through Sunday the 3rd. Gloria, Ryan and Elayna came a few days before Christmas and left the 3rd. I got to spend a ton of time with my new neice and it was wonderful! After Christmas, the Pirtles came to visit for a few days. It wasn't near long enough but I guess I'll take what I can get seeing as how I can't be picky when they live so far away. I miss them something fiecere so it was awesome to see them and play with the kids. I think one night we stayed up till 3am playing cards, Rook specifically. All of us "kids" bought each one of the Pirtle kids gift certificiates to Walmart and then took them to spend it. We ALL had a blast! The most fun I've had in a long time. We did so much during the break it's hard to write about everything but I will put a few pictures up.

Happy Anniversary

Just wanted to give a "shout out" to my sister and her hubby!!! They were married 4 years ago today! They are expecting their first child that I am predicting will be a BOY!

Rocky

Ok - so today at school I definitely did not bring my "A" game. More than likely it wasn't my "B" or "C" game either. Which, you know...you win some and you lose some. Thing is, everyone gets to have a bad day at work now and then. I think it keeps me humble and also is a reason to keep trying really hard. Anyway, so having a bad day stinks, especially in teaching because then your kids suffer. Well, it stinks even worse when you are having a bad day, your kids forgot to bring their brains to school, AND your reading coach decides to come in and watch you teach. For those of you who don't know...at my school, at any time during the day any number of people can walk in my room and usually they are caring a clip board to keep a check and make sure I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. SO, all three of those things combined make for a pretty rotten day at school.

Getting to the title of this post:

I got home tonight, after a meeting at school, and sat down on my couch completely depressed. I was flipping through the TV channels and after watching the wipe out election, I stumbled upon the movie Rocky II. I watched it for a few minutes and was immediately inspired to "be a better person" and "never give up". I'm pretty sure that the writers of this show placed those messages throughout the movie secretly so that whoever watched it would be brainwashed into thinking they could overcome anything. Conspiracy Theory? Guess it worked. Exhibit-A. MOI!

"You Can Vote However You Like"

This is a video that Jenny (friend from school) found. We decided to atleast show it to our kids and had toyed with the idea of having our kids actually do it. My class and Jenny's class would have done it serious justice! The video is actually a great way to teach kids about the different parties and candidates! Watch out - it will play in your head :)