On the Job

Shawn working while his Papaw supervises.

working ...

I thought I would post a few pictures of my husband and his Grandfather in action. They are working to remodel / add-on TO my Grandparents home. We hope to be moved in soon! We are adding on a master bedroom / bathroom and closet, and we will be re-siding the outside, painting, putting in new fixtures, carpet, etc. I want to keep the old with the new. I am very honored to be able to move into the home that my grandparents raised my dad in. It was built in 1941, they added on a laundry room and carport in 1958 and then did a re-model in the 70's. Now we are doing our part in 2009/2010. I am so excited we will be back in the country. I want my son to be able to have the opportunities to play, explore and grow you have living in the country. Plus it is right beside my parents home where I grew up. I foresee lots of fishing adventures, backyard camping (with his dad of course ), building things in the backyard, and so much more!

Halloween!!!

This year we celebrated Halloween 4 days in a row. Thursday, Gavin had a party at his daycare. Friday, we took him trick or treating in Mt. Pleasant at his grandparents, and aunts and uncles. Then Saturday we took him to his other grandparents and to a fall festival at his Grandparents church (and our former church) in Paris. On Sunday evening we had a Hayride and cookout for our church. It was a very busy week / weekend for us. But Gavin was so excited to have so many places to go and so much to do! He had a BLAST!

Gavin ready for trick-or-treating!!!

Gavin and I at Papaws and Mamaws

3 of the 4 generations
(He loves them so much!!!)

Papa and Mimi and Gavin
(Gavin was getting some hugs in from Mimi!!! :)

Grampy and Granny and Gavin
(the sun was in the shot...:( )

My nephew Nathan
(Transformer-Optimus Prime)

Shaving the balloon...he did not like it when it popped!!!

Gavin and Nathan
the 2 transformers... looking through their bags from Granny...it was like Christmas.

Gavin roasting his first hot dog

Gavin and I on the hayride!

Gavin on the hayride!

3 musketeers...Joshua, Dalton and Gavin!

We had a wonderful Halloween, I hope everyone else did too!

Halloween party

Little Superheros!

Today was Gavin's Halloween party at daycare. He dressed as "black spiderman". His costume this year is Bumblebee-(Transformer not the cute bug with wings!) I guess I can no longer pick out his costumes... we are on to the superhero phase! He couldn't wear his transformer costume today because I never know how well he will take care of it and I didn't want it to be messed up before Halloween. My mom had bought him the spiderman costume at Christmas to play in. So he was excited to have 2 costumes this Halloween. Below are a few pictures of Gavin and his best friend Dalton (aka GI-Joe).

Moving Right Along...

Well over the past 2 weekends my husband, along with his Grandfather, His Uncle Mike, Joey and his Dad. They have now got walls up for the add-on. They are working today to finish the roof before the rain comes in again. Here are a few "during pictures."

My soon to be bathroom/closet

Remodel and Add on

We are remodeling and adding on to my Grandparents home. This is located beside my parents where I grew up. I can't wait to be back in the country. I am so not a town person! I want to have privacy, so I am excited to be working and getting a little closer to being there. So far we have painted some, installed new lighting and ceiling fans, added on a concrete slab for a master bathroom and closet. We are re-doing the outside and inside, and doing the work ourselves so this may take a while, but at least the process has begun. Here are a few before pictures. I will be adding some "during" pics and then eventually the "After" pics.


The front


The "soon-to-be" master bedroom
the new concrete on the side will be the bathroom/closet

front porch


Back of the house

They are going to start framing up the bedroom / bathroom this weekend! YAY!

Homecoming 2009

We went as a family to our Rivercrest Homecoming game. We sat with our friends Wendy and Joey and their son Colter. They had fun playing together. One of Gavin's babysitters, Amber was nominated as homecoming Queen so he was excited to see her! We left shortly after halftime because of the weather, but in the parking lot he got to see Amber and give her a hug, that made his night!

Ranger Game / Mercy Me Concert!

Our Church group (a few of them are not pictured... Shawn being one of them)

On September 19th, our young adults and teens went to the Ranger Game / Mercy Me concert in Arlington. We had a wonderful day! We had all been looking forward to getting away and enjoying a day together.

Jamie and I in the car on the way.





The Mercy me concert was very uplifting!

Mercy Me concert

Here is a small clip of my favorite song... I Can Only Imagine.


Josh Hamilton from the Rangers introducing Mercy Me, and giving a short testimony.


Angie, Me and Jamie in our $9.00 kids shirts we bought!

Shawn and I at the game

Part of our group at the game


After the game we all decided to go to Saltgrass Steak House. We had a very eventful meal. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. You had to be there! Here is Todd and Shawn after we finished eating.
Shawn and Todd


We had a wonderful time, and looking forward to the next outing!

I am behind on my posts...

Well since school started, I have really gotten behind on my postings. Today, I am sick in bed, so I thought I would do some backtracking and post some new things.

Most recently... Sunday, Gavin woke up feeling achy and had a headache... so immediately I thought the flu. As you know I am a teacher and it has been spreading all over our school as it is everywhere. So we took him to the pediatric clinic on Sunday afternoon, they tested him and thankfully it was not the flu. The doctor said to keep him home for a couple of days and take tamiflu just in case it could turn into the flu. On Monday, I was supposed to have a double day at work (one long day that is credited as 2 days) starting at 1:00 we were to have parent conferences where they can pick up their first 6 weeks report card, etc. I was planning to take off the morning, and go in at 1:00 for the conferences and Shawn was going to take off the afternoon to stay with him. Again... plans change... I woke up Monday feeling sick. My throat was hurting, my sinuses were swollen, I felt weak and shaky... so I went to the dr at 11 totally prepared to go to work when I left, but when the nurse took my temp, she told me that I could not return to work for a couple of days. So I had to cancel the conferences. So now I am sick in bed, with nothing to do, hence the time to update!

My sad sick little man on the way home from the doctor!

Long Weekend Coming up!

Well it has been a while since I have blogged... I have stayed extremely busy lately and haven't found the time to sit down at a computer to do much other than things for work... grades, school website, school blog, etc, etc, etc. I am however ready for a long weekend. We have plans to get together with friends and just relax a little! I am excited about that!!!

On another subject... Gavin has been on a roll about spelling lately. He wants to know how to spell everything. Of course he is starting with the basics... mom, dad, cat, dog... but he is really excited about it, so of course, being a teacher I am running with it! Anytime your child gets excited about learning, go with it! Encourage their love for learning... the possibilities are endless. I am excited for him. He is 5 years old and could have started Kinder this year, but he is a summer birthday and a boy... and the 2 don't mix well! ha He has a hard time sitting still long enough to focus especially when he is around other kids. One on one he does great! He knew his letters and sounds at 2 (Letter Factory DVD- A must for any kid learning letters and sounds!) He also learned the pledge, colors, shapes, body parts... the list goes on and on. It amazes me how much kids absorb if you just expose them to things! I will be glad when he can go to school with me.

Well I hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day Holiday!

Life is getting very Hectic!

I have never been one to get easily stressed. It takes a lot for me to get stressed out! But I would have to say right now I am getting there! I just have so much going on right now that I am feeling a little overwhelmed. Here is a taste of what has been going on in my world... I am of course a first grade teacher and I have been working over the last month or two getting ready for the new school year, which I am so excited about! I have a blind student this year. I am so excited to have her! I am just feeling a little unprepared...I am also a wife and a mother needless to say that too comes with lots of responsibilities! But now on top of that I have added a few things to my plate. I am excited about it all, just ready to get it all into my new routine. I have been working in our church on Wednesday nights teaching music and working with 3rd and 4th graders during their bible club programs. I have also been working with our children's choir on Sunday nights along with my friend Lisa, but now we have added a few things new to our church that I am also involved in. We have started a praise and worship team which I am heading up, so there is lots of preperation and time involved in this. I love to sing and have been doing it all of my life, but never have I headed up a praise team. I have been a member of one at my previous church, but I didn't have to do the planning...(coming up with music, ordering CD's, typing up lyrics, getting them out to the other members, and making copies of words and making cd's and getting together for practices)...whew... it is a lot. I am glad to do it, it just all seemed to come down on me at once. I also have started working with our teens on Sunday's. We have been planning some activities for them coming up and this too will take a lot of prep time. I am excited about all God has in store for our church. I know HE will provide me with the strength and ability to get it all done. So I know I do not need to worry about it, I just needed to get it all out! haha!

May God Bless you and your lives. I know we all have things going on that tend to stress us out, but I pray you too will turn it over to HIM. He alone can get us through it all.

Here are 2 verses that help me in these times, hope it gives you strength as well!


I can to all things through Christ which
strengthens me. (Phil 4:13)


God is my strength and power; and
He maketh my way perfect. (2 Samuel 22:33

Back to School!

Well this week I am officially back at school! (the kids won't be there until next week) I am ready to be back, just not ready for the 6 am alarm. That is probably my least favorite thing in the world... the buzzing of an alarm clock. I am however ready for the kids to get there and to begin another year with a new class. I have 11 boys and only 6 girls this year.

Teaching first grade is such an amazing experience. You get to see so much growth from the beginning to the end of the year. From their reading to their writing, to their math skills, it is truly amazing how much their young minds retain.

This is only my fifth year to be teaching, and I get so excited about my job. I love kids and I love to make a difference in their lives. My goal is to get them to "LOVE TO LEARN!" If you can teach a child that, you have made school an easier, more enjoyable experience. I think that if a child enjoys what they are doing, then they are more likely to remember what they have learned. I try to think outside the box and plan activities that will help them to have fun while learning. That is actually a rule in my classroom...HAVE FUN LEARNING! Whether it be a song, chant, game, or partner activity they begin to love learning and can't get enough of it!

One of the most rewarding parts of my job so far have been the students who say they don't want to leave my class because they had such a great experience with learning.
I hope to encourage all my students to believe in themselves dream big... anything is possible!

I know that this is going to be a wonderful school year, and I can't wait to begin! For all those teachers out there reading this, I hope you have a wonderful year too!

Favorite Vacation... So Far!

Kelly's Korner Blog is sponsoring a blog hop, this week is show us your vacations!

I love to travel. As a child we went on yearly vacations, traveling all over the country. I have also been to Mexico 4 times. However I married a man who has never been anywhere. He was unsure if he would enjoy vacationing. The good news is, he now does. We had to start out with small vacations. Our first mini-vacation as a couple was our five year anniversary trip to Shreveport, LA. Our first "family vacation" was a 3 day trip to Fort Worth. We went to the Ft.Worth Zoo, the Botanic Gardens, ate out, shopped, swam in the hotel pool...etc.

The next summer we took our "Big Vacation". This was a big step for him... a week in
San Antonio, TX. I have been to San Antonio numerous times and I new he would love it. This would also be a great vacation to take a 4 year old. We had a wonderful time, and Shawn wants to go back soon. There is so much to do there.
view of the Riverwalk from our hotel window.

When we arrived in San Antonio around lunch time, we checked in and walked down the riverwalk to eat, then go to the Alamo.




Shawn and Gavin on the Riverwalk



Gavin and I at the Riverwalk!



Us at the Alamo



The Wax museum... I had to take this picture for my dad... he is the biggest Johnny Cash fan!


The next day we went to Sea World...

Gavin watching the Shamu show! (his favorite)

Gavin feeding the dolphins


I love them, they are my favorite sea animal!

waiting on the show to begin!



The next day we went to the San Antonio Zoo...when you have a kid, you always have to stop at a zoo :-)


One of my favorite pictures of Shawn!




We had a lady walking by take a family picture of us at the zoo.





Riding the zoo train. (Gavin loves trains of any kind)




Shawn and I on the train


at the Buckhorn Museum
(a great guy place) Shawn loved it!


at the Buckhorn museum


Then back to the Riverwalk for the last night in San Antonio...
Shawn on the riverboat



On the riverboat


walking back to the hotel our last night there.

Hopefully we will have many more family vacations! Maybe I can even get him out of state next time! We weren't able to go on a vacation this year due to Shawn changing jobs, maybe next year. We want to go to the beach!

Thanks for stopping by!