Geez!

Ok, so life is like a whirlwind. Everytime I look at what I last wrote, I can't believe how much has changed since then. Well, that was over a year ago now. We did move into the apartment and RIGHT after we moved in, I got three interviews right in a row. I went to all three and the final interview went really well. I was offered the job and thrown right into things and had to start very quickly! Praise God for His timing and faithfulness. We lived in our apartment for 6 months, until we bought a house! For the past 6 months, we have been trying to adjust to our new jobs still, the new area, and get our house in order. I LOVE our house. We still would like to do some things to it, but we got a great deal and it's awesome. :) I also really love my job. I start back up with kids on Aug. 29 and I am excited. Chris starts tomorrow with kids!

Let's see...what else? Well, as I'm sure you know if you're reading this...we are pregnant! I am 22 weeks now, which is crazy. The pregnancy has been going well. It started out with me being VERY tired. Like, me coming home from school, eating dinner, and passing out on the couch by 5:30 or 6 and sleeping until 5 or 5:30 when I got up for work (except getting up to go to bed in there). Then, I began feeling sick. I didn't really GET sick...I just felt like I was going to...constantly. I got really mad at this "morning sickness" idea because it was definetely not just in the morning, it was ALL day and night. Next, I got the hives. That was HORRIBLE. Oatmeal baths and benadryl saved me as I have never itched so much in my life. I pushed through and did not miss one day of work through it all. :) People kept telling me that I would feel better by the 2nd trimester. Lies. Don't believe people. hehe. I heard that if you didn't feel better by then, it would last the whole pregnancy. Also lies. A few weeks later (prob about wk 16 or so) I finally started feeling better. My stomach went on some angry spells, but over all was better. As for now? I still have to eat constantly if I don't want to feel sick. I still have days where my stomach bothers me, but am doing much better. I have the most ridiculous dreams that are SO vivid and intense I wake up exhausted...like every night. Oh, and I was having this horrible hip pain, which has calmed down. My knees crack everytime I bend them and my lower back hurts...but that's no surprise. But overall I feel great. I am getting very excited and it is becoming real! July 29 we went to the ultrasound, which was amazing. We got to see the brain activity, the blood flow and beating heart, and our baby moved it's hand to suck it's thumb...or fingers. Very cool. We also decided not to find out the gender. I have started to feel it kick recently too, which is fun. Today in church baby was going crazy. Chris said that he/she must like the music. :) That makes sense with us as parents.

I will try to update about how things are going with the pregnancy and baby. I know a lot more people are interested in our lives now that we are bringing a baby into the mix! :) We are so blessed and excited about what God is doing in our lives. We will be the best parents that we know how to be and pray that it's good enough!

Kentucky bound!

Well, it's official. We are moving to Kentucky! I'm a bit stressed about everything that we need to do, namely me getting a job. Chris got a job at a high school in northern Kentucky and we are moving into an apartment in Florence. A one bedroom. From a three bedroom house. Ha. Should be interesting! I'm excited though.

I just read my last post and realized what I had said. My principal called me in to her office and told her that I was going to teach 5th grade next year because she knows that I can handle it and I have strong classroom management. So this was very nice and I would have been with my kids for another year! But I feel like with all the change going on anyway, it is a good time to go.

On another note, this summer has been CRAZY! I've loved it though...I go crazy just sitting around which is another good reason I need to find a job! We got out of school in June and I had a week of meetings to improve things for next year. Well, they finished early which worked out well because Chris got an interview in KY. So we left and stayed there overnight and headed to Michigan after that. While we were at his mom and dad's house, he got a call to offer him the position. We stayed at his parents for a few days and then headed to my mom's. We were there for a few days and then flew out to Colorado to go to my sister's wedding. We got to go swimming in the hot springs and had a good time. Then it was back to Michigan and after two days, Chris headed up north with her parents while I went to California to stay with Jenny for her birthday. Surprise! :) I had a great time. I got to see my dad and go golfing and spend time with him. I also got to see Wendy and Nicole and spend lots of time with Jenny and everyone at her house. We did lots of shopping, went to a baseball game, ate Jamba Juice, and lots more. I had a great time. I flew back and we stayed with my mom for a few days and then back to Perry with his parents. Then, we headed to KY and stopped by to see Mark's family which was nice on the way. We found a new place to live and got back to NC this past week. I found out some crappy news about applications that I fixed and we have been hanging out with people to say our goodbyes and starting to pack up. It's crazy. Bittersweet, for sure. I will really miss people here, especially my kids and some good friends I have made, but I feel like we need to move on.

Haha. Crazy NC weather..it's now storming. I love summer.

Life.

Is it sad that I feel like I need to add this to my to-do list? 1. Post on blog. Now I wish I had, just so I could have crossed something off. I am so obsessed with to-do lists, I'm surprised I didn't.

I'm officially 25. That's crazy. I feel old now. My birthday was awesome, though....even though I turned 25. Chris surprised me with Jenny coming to visit. If you don't know Jenny...she's only my best friend since I was 3. I'm surprised you didn't know that. haha. Sometimes I think I'm funny...sorry. We got to hang out and go shopping and play games and take pictures. It was sweet. I just like hanging out with her and it had been almost 3 yrs since we had seen each other. Best. birthday. present. ever.

Well, it is June. Chris is out of school and I'm almost finished. I have 6 1/2 days with students, then some meetings and workdays. My kids take their retest for reading tomorrow. I'm really ready to get out of here. I love my kids, I will definitely miss them. However, it's not like I'll have them again next year or anything. Oh well. We are looking into Kentucky and Michigan for the job search. Pray that we find something, because we sure are. Part of me loves North Carolina, but I feel like our life is standing still while we're here. I hope we get jobs.

Well, dinner is ready. Love to you all! :)

Whoops.

I pretty much forgot about this. All those promises of pictures? Well, now you see my true colors. I suck at doing things like that. Well, now halfway through my 2nd year of teaching. I love teaching still. I love the kids, mostly. I enjoy hanging out with them all day, especially when they behave better because I have a better handle on things! I just don't know what is in store for us next. Kentucky has been on my heart the last few days, but I'm not sure why. It doesn't hurt that I also got really frustrated with my school this week. When I get to shut my door and everyone leaves us alone, I have a great time. It's all the other stuff that I don't like. Chris is finishing up making his 2nd batch of beer, which exploded in the first few stages. Thanks to my genius self, it exploded in the tub, which made it MUCH more okay, seeing as how we won't be charged for beer stains on carpet in the closet and it was easier to clean up. I hope it still turns out okay.

On another note, we moved into a house in Fayetteville this past summer. House? Love it. We have a fence, even though it isn't a privacy one. We have a wonderful kitchen, which is probably my favorite part of the house. I even have a table for scrapbooking now! :) I would promise pictures, but then I'd probably be lying. Sorry.

I'm torn, I feel like we have so many decisions to make. I think I mostly just worry too much. Do not worry about tomorrow, for it will take care of itself, right? Right. I have to remember that one. This year is so much different than the last. We hang out with different people, we know what we're doing more, and we know what to expect! We also started a healthy eating thing. It's extreme, but that's how I work best. It's called Eat to Live and it pretty much changed my life. We have since started being much healthier and we just joined a gym because we have more energy! Now, we get to play raquetball and all sorts of stuff! I'm going to try a dance class tomorrow night. I'm sure it will kick my butt and I will be sore, but I'm SO excited! I've lost 14 lbs now. I think we're on week 3 still. I've lost track now. I do feel better though, I have to admit.

Anyway, it's way past my bedtime. Goodnight, all.

Yay! I'm almost done!

I've only got 2 weeks left of my first year of teaching. Crazy eh? I know, I'm thinking the same thing. I'm diggin' it though and I've had a blast. The best thing is that I'm looking forward to not only having a break, but my new classes next year. My mentor says that saying that means I'm actually a teacher and not some schmuck who teaches. I think she's right. I'm excited about taking all I've learned this year and integrating it into next years curriculum. Yup, that's teacher nerd speak for learning from mistakes. It's pretty cool, I guess.

Also, Jamie is slowly succumbing to the fact that she will soon watch ALL of the Star Wars movies. She doesn't yet know it, but I am slowly using my Force Powers to manipulate her mind into thinking that she wants to watch them. Intrinsic motivation must be the key to all metacognitive endeavors. Again, with the teacher speak. Bah, I'm a nerd and can't help it.

I hope everyone's weather is as nice as our own. 80's and sunny. Can't complain. At all. Seriously. It's amazing here, and I don't know if I could give it up. But, if Jamie wants to, then I will. Dueces.

C-Bone.

I love camping!

We went camping over Spring Break and it was hilarious. We were only going to go for a few nights, which turned into one night. And rather than on the beach like we planned, we ended up in a small town along a river. It was a blast though. We love camping. Our adventure:
We left to go to Emerald Isle, which is where NC begins to break off into the Outer Banks. It is said to be beautiful. Apparently, not for camping. The place that we were going to stay at had four tent sites...which was basically just some grass that they divided up surrounded with a trailer park. Yes, it was practically ON the beach...but there was no fire pit. Camping? Okay...Well, seeing as how we were going to cook ALL of our food over the fire, we thanked God that we hadn't made a reservation and turned to good ol' Garmin for some advice. We called a few places, none of which existed anymore. Then, Chris' mom found us a place...which we drove by to find that it also did exist. So, 3+ hours from home and we had no place to go. So we start heading back toward home and find a little campground, but they do not have wood. So again, we turn to Garmin and begin calling places and stopping by...no fire wood. UNTIL!...we called a Piggly Wiggly. Ahh...good ol' Piggly Wiggly....they didn't sell bundles, but had individual logs. Okay, whatever. So we go...it's a starter log. So we continue on our adventure and stop at a store. After having no luck, an old man comes out and tells us in old-man-I've-lived-here-forever language where to go...you know, past the place that used to be a vegetable stand. Well, thanks to that old man, we found firewood. We put it in the backseat (because we left no room in the trunk), which also meant Paris was now on my lap. We hear a hissing noise -- I turn around and there is a Sprite can spraying all over the backseat of the car, punctured by the wood. I grab it, get Paris and myself all wet from Sprite and finally manage to roll the window down and hold it out. Eventually, I dumped the can out and all was good, and sticky-Paris, me, the inside and outside of Chris' car. But we found the campground and there was nobody working, so we pay with an envelope and enjoy our peacefulness. We were freezing all night though and the wind was messing with our fire. Anyway, long story, well, long....it was certainly an adventure. I can't wait for our next one.

Pollen...

...leaves these crazy yellow puddles after the rain.
...covers your car with a yellow dust.
...makes my husband get attacked by allergies!
...in a form I've never seen before.