Projects

Since I am a teacher and I get a wonderfully long break this week is dedicated to projects. Yesterday our project was to de-Christmas the house. Our tree has been dead for about 2 weeks...so much for cutting down a nice Christmas tree. I've been terrified that it would catch on fire, so it had to go. We took down all the decor, drug the tree to the curb, and cleaned up in about 1.5 hrs.

Today I must finish thank-you notes from the wedding. I've been procrastinating way too long. I love my gifts, but I'm not so good with the note writing. After that is finished I've determined that I'm going to teach myself (and my husband) how to knit. I have decided that I must have a hobby that has a product. (The only other thing I do is read). I started the process last night, and I figured out how to cast on, but step two was a failure. By 12:30 I was very frustrated and gave up. We will see how today goes.

I have also set up my new sewing machine, but I can't decide what to make. I'm a beginner, but does anyone have any suggestions?

A look at our year...

Since I haven't put up any pictures yet here is a snapshot of this year...

Getting Engaged!

 Graduating from college!

 Getting married!

Honeymoon to Cancun!

Halloween

Thanksgiving in the mountains

Cutting down our first Christmas tree!

Our first Christmas together!

Our First Christmas Together

After searching long and hard to find an ornament that said something about "Our First Christmas", we ended up receiving 5. And they were all cuter than the one we found! It was truly a wonderful first Christmas as newlyweds, and it felt much like the wedding day in that it was over before I even knew it. We spent a wonderful few days celebrating Christmas in Virginia with Scott's family. Then when it was time to leave on Thursday our car would not start. (This is the fourth time we've had car trouble after driving to VA). We had it looked at, nothing was wrong, but we didn't leave until 7:00pm. After spending half of the night singing obnoxious Christmas carols in the car, we arrived home at 3:00am. I had one day to prepare for everyone coming to my house for Christmas, and we had church at 4:00. Somehow everything got done, and we fit everyone into our little house. We opened presents and ate dinner on our china plates (Thanks Jordyn!) in the living room. It was a fun time with the whole family, all topped off with a snowfall!

Full

As we were leaving a wonderful weekend with friends, this was the word that came to mind. I was literally full from all the great food we ate, and overwhelmed by what a blessing my friends are. Looking back over the past year my life has been so full. This time last year I had no idea where I would be now. Married to a wonderful husband, grateful for fulfilling jobs, close to my family, and three couples who are amazing friends. God is so good.

On another note, my family is preparing for a large event tomorrow. Erin will receive a new kidney, kindly donated by my dad. :) Thank you to everyone who has/is supporting us through prayer, meals, and everything else. We cannot express how thankful we are for your generosity. Please keep them in your prayers over the next two weeks.

Merry Christmas to all! Don't forget to thank God for all He has blessed us with!

My Toenail

While some of you may find this gross...it was a very significant event in my life. Two days ago my toenail fell off. I was jumping up onto the bed, and I heard it crack. It hurt a little bit, but I was mostly relieved because I've been waiting for this to happen for some time.

I got married September 18th. On September 10th I was going out to eat with all my friends, and I had to get some gas. As I was putting the pump away I dropped it on my big toenail. It was probably the most pain I've ever felt, but I figured I'd be find for the wedding. Wrong. On Saturday I was supposed to get a pedicure, but my toenail was completely bruised. By Monday my whole toe had swollen to twice the size, and I had to walk on crutches. I could not stand for more than 5 minutes at a time. Not looking like I can walk down the aisle. Wednesday I went to the doctor, afraid that he would remove my toenail. He did not, but he made the swelling go down. By Saturday I was able to walk fine, and I got married with both of my toe nails.

I went back to see the doctor a week later, and paid $40 for him to tell me that it would eventually fall off. Now it has, and the story has come to a close.

Ode to Kindergarten Crafts

So being a kindergarten teacher has taught me an important lesson this past week. I am not very good at crafts, or at least Thanksgiving/Halloween crafts. Last week I decided to use pumpkins to show symmetry. We already had pumpkins printed on orange paper, so I thought we would use those. My assistant was out of town, so I decided we would use watercolors. Fail. Watercolors on orange paper all look brown. Also, in order to do symmetry the paint has to stay wet. Watercolors dry after about 20 seconds. So now I have pumpkins hanging in my room that are half brown and half orange.

If that wasn't enough yesterday we colored on pumpkins. We are going out for Other's Day tomorrow to a retirement home. I thought it would be cute to give them small pumpkins. For some reason I thought that magic markers worked on pumpkins. So we colored our pumpkins and decorated them with glitter and sequins. I come into school this morning and the pumpkins are still wet with marker. I should have realized this yesterday when the children had marker up to their elbows. To say the least we cannot give wet pumpkins to the senior citizens, so now we are making cards...

Any better craft ideas?

Insurance=Adult Life

Well, today I really felt like an adult because I actually talked to someone at the insurance agency...not just an automated recording. This is all happening because the insurance company sent me a letter. I was simply calling back to clarify their question. After 6 transfers, and yelling at 8 different recorded messages I finally got a person. She insisted that we (Scott and I) are actually not in their system. So I asked her how they could send a letter to a person who doesn't exist in their system. Anyways, after an hour absolutely nothing was resolved...and I was told "Welcome to Adulthood".

On a more positive note...I made bread yesterday in my grandmother's breadmaker. It was finished at approximately 7:00pm yesterday...today at 7:45 the entire loaf was already gone.

Finally, I cannot wait to see my friends this weekend! I'm making an awesome Halloween cake!

I also dragged Scott to a cheerleading competition this weekend. My fabulous cheerleaders got third place!!!

Trend Follower

Well here I am doing something I have never done...blogging. I never really even liked xanga or those kind of high school blogs. So why am I starting one now...because I like to follow the trend. All my friends get engaged...i get engaged. All my friends get married...i get married. All my friends start a blog...i start a blog. Since i don't have much to say this will normally be my husband's job, but since I teach kindergarten i may share funny stories time-to-time.

I also dragged Scott to a cheerleading competition this weekend. My fabulous cheerleaders got third place!!