Today has been a relaxing, lazy day. This morning we laid around the house, then ate some Mexican food. Shawn went to town to get some supplies for the remodel/add on... Gavin and I just got home from a birthday party. It was very unlike me not to take my camera...so I have no pictures! :( It was one of Gavin's friends from church, Kyler. (She is also my principal's youngest daughter). They had a bounce house which is always a hit with kids. Gavin had so much fun. I on the other hand enjoyed getting to just sit down and talk with friends. Now I am home and doing my Saturday duties...laundry, dusting, cleaning, etc...
I really have nothing too exciting going on tonight...No Grey's Anatomy and no Private Practice...this is the night I actually watch TV.
I was just reading with my 5 year old. He learned his letters and sounds when he was 2 (Leap Frog Letter Factory is a must for moms of toddlers). Anyway he is sounding out words, when I make him stop and look at them that is, otherwise he is looking at the pictures and making up stories. (which is good for young kids to do as well!) I love the fact that he is at the age where things are beginning for him! I am so excited about him starting school next year. Being a teacher I want him to do well. I want him to be ahead of the game. With what kids are expected to learn now days it can't hurt to be a little ahead! I am first and foremost his "mother" and his "teacher".
Speaking of what kids are learning...I teach 1st grade and in my opinion it is the best grade to teach! They come to you not reading, writing, adding or subtracting and they leave reading a minimum of 60 words per minute! It is amazing how one year can change a child's life so much! They are now able to read signs and cereal boxes, not to mention books, tell time, count money (coins) write stories and letters, and so much more!
I love my job it is so rewarding! Even after a long week with very talkitive 6 and 7 year olds it is all worth it! I am so proud of them!
I can't believe it has been that long! I wish my wedding pics were digital but since they are not, I took a picture of a couple of pictures in our house...I know they are not the best quality...but it's all I have to offer! haha
One of my favorite pictures...that's when it all began!
Guess I should have dusted before I snapped these pictures! ;)
Yesterday I took off work to take Gavin to the Dr. He started Friday with the sniffles and by Monday his chest was rattling. He has double ear infections and a lot of congestion... He sounds aweful.
Notice the raw spot below his nose... I have tried putting all kinds of things on it, nothing seems to be working...ANY SUGGESTIONS???
Because he didn't feel well, this is what I saw and heard all day...Mario Cart...Wii!
And here he is...
He is on an antibiotic and Children's Clariton, along with breathing treatments. Hopefully he will feel better soon! But with this weather, you never know! Gotta love this Texas weather!
So Excited for my friends Joey & Wendy, they just found out this afternoon they are having twins in August!
CONGRATULATIONS!
When I talked to her after she found out, she was a little shocked! As I am sure anyone would be she was worried about...2times the diapers, wipes, clothes, laundry, etc. I reminder her it will be twice the "Mommy I love you's" twice the hugs and kisses, twice the Mother's Day presents, and twice the love!
I am so excited. Looks like I will get to do some babysitting! YAY!
This morning in Sunday school, I taught a lesson entitled
"God is All Knowing". As I was talking to the teenagers about life, and the decisions they face, choices they have, etc. I asked them the question...
" If you had to make 2 lists, one titled Things I am glad God knows about me, and the other titled, Things I would rather God not know about me....Which list would be longer???"
One of the teens answered "Things I would rather God not know about me." I know this teenager and I know that nothing too terible has happened in their life for them to make that statement, but the realization that we sin so often in our daily lives is was so evident to them.
It made me think about my own life. Not just now, but my past, my future. I want to be able to say that the list of things I am glad God knows about me is much longer than the other. What can I do to make that happen?
The choices that I am faced with, the decisions that I make really do make a "difference" good or bad. I hope to make a positive impact on those I come in contact with. I hope to be an example of God's love to others.
I am reminded of this song....
Your the only Jesus, some will ever see. Your the only words of life some will ever read.
It is so true. We as Christians have a responsibility to show others the Love of GOD! We must live and be an example to those who are non-believers. It is our job as Christians!
We all need to be reminded that God is ALL KNOWING! He knows your thoughts, your actions, your intentions.
I will end with this, the sermon this morning was in Psalms, and the passage of scripture is also a song...
Unto thee Oh Lord. Do I lift up my voice. Oh my God, I trust in thee. Let me not be ashamed, let not my enemies triumph over me.
I haven't done a recipe in a while so I thought I would share with you my chicken tortilla soup... we had it last night for dinner. My husband is not the biggest fan of soups, but he LOVED this one!
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients:
Chicken (I use boneless skinless chicken breast)
2 Cans of Chicken broth
Can of tomato sauce
Can of mexican rotel
Cumin
Garlic ( I use 1 1/2 fresh cloves)
Cilantro
Onion
Salt and Pepper
1 cup of diced carrots
1/2 jalopeno diced
Celery salt
Chili powder
diced avacados
Pepper jack / cheddar cheese
sliced corn tortillas
splash of milk (put in at the end)
serve with tortilla chips
a little sour cream on top when you serve
I do not measure precise amounts, I just put in a little of this and a little of that... I can't tell you the exact amounts of any of it, but it always seems to turn out great!
I love to shop...when I have the time and the money! I live in a small town and there is " No" shopping here and the nearest towns are 30 minutes away. Even in those towns there isn't a whole lot to chose from. But my new favorite place to shop is Maurice's.
They always have good sales, and they send out a lot of coupons! It has become my main source of clothing! They have cute casual, as well as dressy casual clothing. Their prices are reasonable and I always seem to find really good deals!
I love this dress! It is very Audrey Hepburn!
I also love Target, Aeropostale, American Eagle, and Old Navy.
I am a very casual person! I love to be comfortable!
I shop all over and look for the best deals. This blog is making me want to go shopping right now! I haven't been in a while. We are spending every penny we get on remodeling / adding on to the house we hope to move into by the end of they year.
Life has been so hectic lately. I always seem to have something going on. I am a true home body! I love being home with my guys. However, lately we seem to go non-stop. I am so glad to have the day to stay home and do NOTHING! (well of course some cleaning and laundry... that is a job that is never done). This morning I watched my 5 year old play Mario Cart. He gets so excited even if he comes in last place... he will jump up and down saying, "I got 3 points, I got 3 points!" It is a fun age. It doesn't take much to get him so excited. I love being able to be home with him when possible! Just being able to be here and see life through a 5 year old's eyes. How quickly the past 5 1/2 years have flown by. It is hard to imagine him starting school in a few months. I am excited to have him there with me!
Right now he is taking a nap, and I am enjoying some peace and quiet, and about to watch a movie.
This weekend was filled with fun, food, friends, and movies!
On Friday night we had a family night out. Shawn, Gavin and myself went to Chili's to eat then to a movie... more on the movie in a minute.... While we were waiting for a table we sat by a really nice older couple. Gavin was making their night. They talked to him and he showed them his Bakugan's... told them all about how they work. Here is a picture in case you are wondering yourselves what they are...
For all you moms of little boys, if you haven't already seen these I am sure you will soon, they are the new "it" toy!
They asked him all kinds of questions, I think they really enjoyed his "entertainment" while they waited for their table. They were so sweet. They were headed to Minnesota to visit family, and had a long journey ahead of them. I sure hope they made it there safely! Anyway, we had the 3 for $20.00 and of course Gavin had the Mac-N-Cheese!
After dinner we went to see "Sherlock Holmes" at the movies. I was not that impressed with the movie myself, but it was nice to have a night out with my 2 favorite guys!
On Saturday, Gavin and I had a day out with friends. Debra and her 2 boys, Dalton and Dylan (Dylan is in my class at school, and Dalton is Gavin's best friend, and Debra and I have been friends since elementary school). We have been saying we were going to get the boys together for a long time, and I am so glad we finally did, they had a blast all day. We started by going to lunch at one of my favorite places, El Chico...yum! Then we took them to see The Chipmunk movie. It was so cute for all of you who haven't seen it!
Then we went back to their house and let the boys play for a while. They had a great time! It was also good to hang out with an old friend, it had been a long time. I kept meaning to snap a few pictures...but I never did :(
When we got home around 6 pm, we weren't there long when our friends, Wendy & Joey called and invited us to eat at TaMolly's for dinner. (yes I ate Mexican food both meals on Saturday!)
Sunday we went to church that morning, and that evening, we went to one of my friends, Corri's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding, the bride looked gorgeous. (she was a bridesmaid in my wedding almost 9 years ago). I was so happy for her! I wish them the best! I took a few picutres, but they didn't turn out great... I will try to add one anyway when I bring my camera home from my classroom tomorrow.
Well, it is back to business as usual. I am very thankful that I have a job where I can get 2 weeks off at Christmas. However, it seemed to fly by and I wasn't quite ready for the 6am alarm this morning. I was excited to see all my kiddos at school today and hearing about what all they got for Christmas. It amazes me that in just a few years things can change so much!!!
I remember wanting things like dolls, play food, kitchen sets, etc... nowadays kids are asking for things like laptops (which by the way I didn't get until I was in my 20's and bought it myself) they are also asking for cell phones, ipods, gaming systems, etc. What happened to the good old days where kids played with toys??? I remember spending hours in my playhouse (which was a storage building in my backyard converted to look like a home... kitchen set, table and chairs, book shelf, etc) I LOVED playing out there using my imagination and creating fun out of life's simple pleasures. I know we are living in a an era of technology, but I wish we didn't have to take that the art of playing out of our kids.
What happened to this...???
Cabbage Patch premie! I loved mine!
this was my favorite toy I received when I was a kid! (not this exact kitchen)
My brother played with trucks like these!
There are kids who still get toys, but I am seeing more kids asking for anything but.
For New Years we went over to our friends, Joey and Wendy's. We all went to eat at Lee's China (my former place of employment). Mr.Hong (the owner) always gives Gavin a toy when we go for him to play with while we are there...I am sure it is probably a toy someone left on the table by mistake... this time he gave him a little toy truck. Colter wanted to play with it and Gavin didn't want to give in, we were having a melt down at the table, so I talked to Gavin about what Jesus would want him to do, and he said, with quivering lip and all..."share..." He did not want to share and spent the entire time we were there trying to make sure Colter was just "Borrowing" they toy. Shawn gave him $2.00 for being such a good little boy... so when we left we went to Wal-Mart and Gavin spent his money on he and Colter both their very own hot-wheel cars. He is such a sweetie!
I bought the game Mad Gab while we were at Wal-Mart and Wendy bought Cupcakes, and we went back to their house for our own New Year Celebration. Wendy even had Sparkling Grape Juice (since we don't drink). We had a blast playing Mad Gab. It was hilarious listening to the guys trying to figure out the sayings. For those of you who haven't played it is a great game! We had a great time ringing in the New Year with Friends!
We celebrated 8 years of marriage. In a way it only feels like yesterday we got married, in other ways it seems like we have been together forever. I am looking forward to many more years together.
In February...
We had a wonderful Valentine's Day together. We went to the movies and out to eat without Gavin (which rarely happens).
Shawn was laid off from Lone Star Steel (or US Steel). We were unsure of what we were going to do...
In March...
Shawn celebrated his 27 birthday. He was looking for a job. I was praying for a new job. On the upside, Gavin started T-Ball and Shawn was here for every practice and every Game!
In April...
I was really getting ready to be out of school for summer break by then. For all of you in education, you know the closer it is to summer the less you get out of kids and the harder it becomes to teach them! haha
In May...
Shawn found out he got a new job with Sears, a small engine mechanic who goes out on location to fix lawn equipment and
BBQ grills. He has always liked working on lawn mowers so he was really excited with his new job. (as was I, he was going stir crazy staying at home, and I was just going crazy with him staying at home!)
In June...
Possibly our busiest month of the year...
Shawn started his month long training in Dallas for the new job. The first week of his training I went to Church camp as a sponsor. I had a wonderful time, but I missed Gavin. I had never been away from him that long. It was hard for me, he on the other hand was having a wonderful time with his Grampy and Granny.
The last 3 weeks of June Gavin and I would travel to Springhill to stay with Shawn the first half of those weeks, and then come home for the last few days of each week. It was nice to have a free hotel to stay in while we were there. We had a lot of rest, and went swimming, I even took Gavin to the Dallas zoo alone...which if you know me that was not like me at all. I don't like to go places like that alone, but I did want Gavin to get to do something fun while we were there.
We also had my 10 year class reunion, it was good to see a lot of my classmates.
Gavin's 5th birthday was also in June. We had a T-Ball party at our church gym. There was a big turn out and he had a blast!
I also hosted an At Home Party in June...
whew it was a busy month!
July...
We celebrated the 4th with friends at the Park in Talco. They had a wonderful fireworks show. Even though it was extremely hot, we had a great time!
I also got to see my best friend from Pennsylvania in July, we met at the Tyler zoo, we had a great time catching up, and letting the kids play.
We also had VBS at our church in July.
August...
My birthday is in August. We went to eat and to the movies in Paris (Shawn, myself and Gavin along with his cousin, Ashli who stayed with us alot this summer, we loved having her here!) We also went to eat another night for my birthday at one of my favorite places to eat, Olive Garden, with Joey, Wendy, Colter, Ashli, Shawn Gavin and myself.
September...
I started working with our teens at church, started singing in our Praise and Worship group along with Lisa and Brandi.
Our Young Adults and teens went to the Ranger game and Mercy Me Concert.
October...
We went to the Rivercrest Homecoming.
Gavin was Transformer (Bumblebee) for Halloween.
November...
We had Family pictures made during the Thanksgiving Holidays. We celebrated Thanksgiving with both sides of our families.
December...
We had a wonderful CHRISTMAS season! I have so much to be thankful for.
That is only the highlights of 2009... I am sure 2010 will have a lot more in store for us!
I am a wife, mother and teacher among other things. I love to read, take pictures, scrapbook, sing, play the piano and spend time with my family. Shawn & I have been married for 8 years. We have one special little boy sent to us straight from heaven, Gavin. Our lives woudn't be complete without this precious little boy! I love God, and am active in my church. The verse that I lean on for everything in my life is, "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."
