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.

Whoops. It's been a while...

I cannot believe it's almost April. February was incredibly busy...so I expected it to fly by. But March? That was supposed to be the long month..and it's pretty much over.
So my kids have to take an EOG (End of Grade test) in order to pass onto the next grade. This test is in about 24 school days. So when you think...I teach reading for 1 hr every day to each class...that gives them 24 hours to learn how to read and use reading skills. Yikes. Oh, not to mention the other 5 days where we will be testing for benchmarks and things...Needless to say, it's a little stressful. Why they gave a 1st year teacher reading (which our school struggles the most in), still boggles my mind. Oh well, I'll do the best that I can with what I've been given.
On a non-school note, for those who don't know...Grant got a job in Fayetteville and moved down about 2 1/2 weeks ago. He is staying with us so that he can take his time to find a place to live. Things are going well with him here. We've introduced him to our friends and are having a good time. Oh, and thanks to him...we are now addicted to 24. "You don't have TV, how is this possible?" You may ask...well, the joy of knowing people. One of our friends has 6 seasons. So, we've been watching a lot of that. So for Spring Break, we will be hanging around here and probably camping either in the mountains or at the beach. I'm thrilled. I love camping.
We're also getting our summer plans in order. I can't believe that we have almost made it through our first year of teaching and we're doing well. This makes me really happy.
Well, I guess this is all for now. Wishing everyone the best.

I knew I wouldn't be good at keeping this updated. I keep thinking of all I want to write and that I don't have enough time. I need to just write about the now, but I feel like I need to catch ppl up, just in case they care or something. :) So, quickly...here I go...
Chris and I (along with Paris) drove home for Christmas vacation. It was good to see people, but way too much stress and driving (which we knew would happen). Of course, we weren't able to see everyone we wanted to and people got mad, but I give up. No matter what we do, not everyone will be happy. We enjoyed family though and made it home and back safely. Since then, we have been keeping ourselves busy with school and things to do on the weekend, if not catching up with school. Last weekend we went to Charlotte to see Rent (it was Chris' anniversary present to me) and we hung out there for the weekend. We relaxed and had a nice time and ate WAY too much food. This past weekend we went up to the outlets near Raleigh. This coming weekend, Chris' parents are coming to visit. We are going to take them up where a show was filmed, which will be fun. Then, the following weekend we are going to stay in a condo near the beach, which will be great. Like I said..keeping ourselves busy.
We also started the "Biggest Loser" competition at my school with some of the teachers and the first month ended on Friday. I won for the first month, so that's fun.
Paris started this new "I'm going to throw my food all over the laundry room while Chris and Jamie are gone" phase.
I also am officially afraid of dogs. The incidents here (yes, two of them now) have brought me to this conclusion. I still love them, but with a little more caution now. Don't worry, not ours.
Okay, I will stop rambling on. :)

Oh, the weather outside is....pretty warm. :)

Wow, it's December. Time just flies. We began blocking at my school today, which I think I will like a lot more than I thought.
We went to St. Louis for Thanksgiving, where we enjoyed our holiday with Chris' parents, aunt, uncle, and cousins. It was a good time. We enjoyed getting away for a little while and had an awesome person watch our dog and pick us up from the airport, and another one who got up at 4 to take us to the airport.
Chris decorated our house today for Christmas. :) It makes me want to buy presents for people and put them under the tree. My dad and Dawn sent a box of X-mas stuff, which was so thoughtful. I love getting boxes, and it was a pleasant surprise. So Thanks!
As for Christmas, we have 3 more weeks of school until we are heading to Michigan. I am excited, although I know it will go quickly and be more chaotic than I want it to be. I'm ready to spend more than 2 days with some family though.
If I can leave you with one thing, it would be to not get caught up in all of the chaos of the holidays, rather be thankful and appreciative of what you have been blessed with. Love to all.

Well, chest pains are gone. Halloween was awesome. 4 of my kids came knocking on our door for Halloween, along with many others. It was a good time. We shut the door and more kids came, so we decided to hang out on the porch. We had a few friends over...it was a good time.

On another note..sometimes I hear people's logic and can't help but try to understand it. The longer I think, the more I don't. I can't imagine living the way that so many people live.

I was trying to make a Christmas list today for my mom and realized, again, how blessed I am. Besides the big screen TV and a GPS, there is not a whole lot I really want. I had to stretch myself to come up with 8 things on my list. This makes me happy, but at the same time stressed because I know that I will be yelled at for having such a small list. Oh well.

It's in the mid 70's today...and beautiful. We can't believe how warm it is outside. I was going to get all my work done today and take tomorrow to relax, until I realized that this is just not realistic. I could work today, but have not received any other plans. So, I will wait. I will do some work today and some tomorrow. I will stay sick..probably at least until Thanksgiving break, but more likely until Christmas. I can't stop coughing, but that's nothing new.

I am all over the place today. Sorry.