Merry Christmas Week

Our Christmas festivities began with a day trip to Birmingham on Friday. We enjoyed seeing part of our family, enjoying good food, and playing "Dirty Santa." Seeing our family was the highlight, especially the little ones, Kimber (almost 5), Aiden (1), and Isaac (9 months). There is something so sweet about children at Christmas.

We extended our celebration by heading to see Holly, Aaron, Pawk, and Nana after Christmas Eve service at church. We ate, visited for a while and exchanged gifts.

And on Christmas Day we hung out at home with Terry (Paw Paw). We had a nice lunch and napped a little. It is nice to spend time at home and not be rushed to go anywhere.

Now for a few more days off without any school or work....we will hopefully be a little productive, but definitely rest too:) Heath and Austin have more plans to hunt some this week....maybe we will have deer sausage soon!

Thankful

My Turkeys

I am very thankful to have been able to host Thanksgiving for my family this year. We were joined by my Dad, Betty (aka Pawk & Nana), Holly, Aaron and Terry (Paw Paw). I think most of us ate too much but had a good time anyway. Our spread consisted of ham and turkey with all of the delightful trimmings inlcuding a slew of desserts. So many leftovers and we will have plenty of ham and sides for quite a while.

Betty, Holly, and I ventured out this morning in search of bargains. We were pleasantly surprised that there weren't too many bad lines at 6am and ran into a few people from church. Found most everything we needed and made it back home before lunch time. Heath and Austin headed down south for a mini hunting trip and I am at home catching up on some things and preparing to go back to work on Monday.

Feeling very thankful for all of the blessings I have in my life and the beauty God has created all around us. Best wishes to everyone and don't forget to enjoy the journey!

Pumpkin Time

What started out as a brisk Saturday morning turned out to be a beautiful day. After Austin's soccer game, he and I headed out to a few garage sales and to pick out a pumpkin. He found a desk and it fits nicely in his room...and a new sleeping spot for Amy underneath it. We found a few other bargains and one house ended up being a long stay chatting away and the man gave Austin a fishing rod. What a nice family! Our last stop before home was the pumpkin patch at Hope church in Dallas. They are selling pumpkins to raise money for a mission trip to Romania in December. We found a rather large pumpkin for Austin to carve and a bumpy cute one for me...oh and a few odd looking gourds too.

A beautiful day and an equally pleasant day on Sunday. I finally took all of my school stuff out of the dining room so we can enjoy fall, Thanksgiving, and Christmas in there. It isn't Halloween yet, but I am getting excited to start decorating and making things for Christmas already!

Extended Birthday Celebration

Well, change of plans....we ended up meeting Paw Paw, Pawk & Nana, Holly, and Aaron at the nearby Tokyo Japanese restaurant with Austin's friend Noah. Due to some other obligations, it worked out best to do dinner Friday instead of Saturday evening. It was fun and Austin was able to be serenaded by the wait staff with fried cheesecake...he didn't share!

On Saturday, Austin and Noah had their fill of playing Airsoft at Tango Charlie's. They had a good time and met up with some friends from school there unexpectedly...a fun time and some time to relax for Mom, a great day!

Nothing can be compared to the feeling of pride when you get to see your little son, grow up so wonderfully into such a gentleman. Thanks to you dearest son, we can call ourselves proud parents. Happy Birthday to you!!!

We have a teenager in the house!

It is so hard to believe that Austin is 13...where does time go? It seems like yesterday he started Pre-k and now he is a big 7th grader threatening to be taller than me. It won't be long now!!! Since his birthday was on a Monday, we did the first birthday dinner on Sunday night. He wanted spaghetti and red velvet cake for dessert. We are still eating on the cake but are looking forward to a family get-together on Saturday at Hai Hai, a new Japanese Steakhouse nearby. No matter his age, I am a proud mama and love Austin to pieces. We are very blessed and look forward to what God has planned for his future!!

Mini vacation

School is back in session and we finally had a chance to get away for the day in Helen, Georgia. We went with Austin's soccer coach and family and we all had a ball. We met early last Saturday morning and headed north on 400. We did not eat breakfast prior to leaving home, but we thought we would stop and grab a bite at some point. The road seemed long but we finally discovered a hole in the wall that fit the bill, the best breakfast available and the little lady inside was a hoot:)

After breakfast we finished our journey to the waterpark just in time as they were opening. The lazy river surrounded the park and there were 4 waterslides. After we did our fill at the waterpark it was tubing time....a bit of advice for anyone going on this adventure: bring a waterproof camera and a stick to help "unstick" your tubes in case the water level is low...LOL:) We enjoyed our hour and a half trip down the Chattahoochee. Along the way we saw a bear cub in a tree, a bubble gum tree, a tree filled with lost "soles" (abandoned flip flops), and alot of interesting people. We ended the day with dinner at the magic burger place (a stomach adventure in itself) and a walk through historic Helen visting several shops. All in all a great trip, but next time we go we will definitely use sticks when we go tubing, bring money for a better dinner, and play miniature golf!

Throughout the summer it is easy to lose track of friends that we work with, but thankfully on a couple of occasions some of us were able to reconnect. First, a big group of us were able to meet at a local favorite hotspot, LaParilla for lunch. While we were there, we ran into another group of teacher friends doing the same thing.

Stephanie was able to come this week and see her family and friends before her and hubby Josh move off to Maine to start there three year tour there. She is excited about possible job opportunities and we all look forward to keeping in touch to share in whatever comes their way. We will miss you, Steph, but technology is great and we'll talk often!

Halfway Through Summer, Already?

Wow, we are almost halfway through summer vacation already. It is amazing how it all flies by. We just celebrated the 4th of July which is not only our country's freedom birthday, but my dad's birthday too (Happy Birthday, Pawk). We had a good time getting together at Holly's for a cookout with all the trimmings:)

Last week Austin participated in Airsoft camp at Arkenstone and had a blast. He was so tired every day but had the time of his life learning tactical strategies from "The Captain," a retired Army Ranger, now a history teacher at a nearby Christian school. He learned so much and is looking forward to future opportunities to do the same.

I walked in a graduation ceremony to get my Associate of Arts in Elementary Education recently and am ready to keep plugging along, getting closer to my goal...obtaining my Bachelor's Degree before I am 40!!!

Wedding Bells

It has been a whirlwind since my last post. Erin and my friend, Jenna were both married in May. I had such a good time seeing both of these two girls plan and be able to enjoy their special days!

My hubby has continued to do wonderfully with watching what he eats (but not too drastic) and keeping the 60 pounds off that he has lost. He goes to the doctor this week to see if he can come off medication for diabetes. My schoolwork is going well...a year and half to go before I can start student teaching. I am excited that this is getting closer to completion...I know my family is too:)

Austin is gone to camp and will have another fun-filled week next week when he attends the Airsoft mission camp. He is so excited!!! Later, we will take a long weekend just the three of us..not sure where yet.

We are on Spring Break and enjoying ourselves. This past weekend we went to Birmingham for Erin's bridal shower, for Austin to have some time with his uncle and cousins, and then time with Nana and Pawk. On Saturday, he was able to finally go to the shooting range and loved it! Austin later got to to go Teddy's house to learn how to do some woodworking.

We also got to spend some time with Teddy, Jessalyn, and Aiden who is already4 months old. He is getting so big. I am excited to see him again next month at Erin's wedding..oh yeah I cannot believe this is happening already!

Monday we went bargain hunting at the flea market with Nana and Pawk. Austin, of course, found several knives and some nunchucks.

We have a few days left on our break. Today we helped Terry (Paw Paw) pick out some furniture for his new house. Tomorrow, Austin will be helping him with some yard work. I hope to go visit my girls at by old job. I don't get there often enough to catch up...and I'm looking forward to it:)

Must finish up some homework for school at some point though...when do I have time to work?

Feeling very blessed to have a job that I love and a wonderful family too...cannot ask for more.

Playing catch up.....

So much has transpired over the past few months...friends having babies, wedding plans for several special people, Austin's first D-Now experience, obtaining my associate's degree, new addition to our PreK class, and saying goodbye to one of my faves, Miss Stephanie. She was married on March 5th and has moved to North Carolina where her hubby is stationed currently. They will be moving in August to New Hampshire to start a new chapter. Austin is a little over 5'3" and trying to reach 100 pounds...On the other hand Heath has lost a great deal of weight since being diagnosed with Diabetes. He is doing great, weighing under 220 now! He wants to lose another 10-15 pounds. Spring soccer is in full swing and it is our last season in this age group. Ausitn must work hard and exercise his lungs because, in the Fall, its time for the "big boy" fields!!! We are about to be out of school for spring break. Austin and I will be heading to Birmingham to see family and to Erin's bridal shower. I cannot believe she is getting married in less than 50 days. Heath and I met when she was about a month old. How can she be getting married??? We feel old but are so happy for her and Chris! We plan to spend some time with my nephew Teddy, his wife Jessalyn, and my great-nephew Aiden. I know he has grown so much since Christmas. I cannot wait to hold and love on him:) We also will be able to celebrate my sister, Tina's 45th birthday while we visit...halfway to 90, whew! Wow, is it my imagination or is time slipping away faster and faster as I get older? Either way, I am blessed beyond measure and am excited to see our family next week!

The snow that just won't go away....

When we came back to school after Christmas break on Tuesday, January 4, there was talk of snow coming on the weekend. Sunday night we found out that we would have no school on Monday due to the accumulation of snow that was well on the way. Little did we know we would get 3-5" around our area and some freezing rain to follow the next couple of days. It is Friday and we have not been at school this week due to the snow, freezing rain and low temperatures. I am glad to say that next week is looking bright with higher temps and school should be back to normal. I feel for so many who could not work due to this weather and are stuck at home. So many of my friends and I are ready to go back...you know we didn't expect this type of weather in the deep south! Be safe and enjoy your family everyone:)