What a week

This is going to be a long post so please bear with me...

At church last Sunday we began a sermon series over the book The Shack by William Paul Young. I have not read it yet, but it is up next on my reading list. Anyway, last week's message was "If only I had..." It was a really good sermon that really got me thinking how often that comes to mind. "If only I had finished early, If only I had not been so lazy yesterday..." I feel very thankful that I don't have any major regrets in my life so far. I didn't realize that I would have these words come to my mind just two days later.

On Monday my mom and I packed up and drove my sister to Dallas for dance camp. We had a beautiful hotel room on a lake. It was a perfect place to spend a week with my mom, who is also my best friend. The trip started out wonderful. We went shopping on Tuesday at an awesome outlet mall and I found tons of great bargains. We got back to the hotel around 7 and were going to head out to dinner with some of the other dance moms when my mom's cell phone rang. I knew right away that the news was not good. My aunt called to say that she thought my grandmother had a stroke and that the ambulance was on the way to get her. Since they weren't sure what the prognosis was, my aunt said we should stay. My mom was so unsure of what to do since we had obligations in Dallas to help with the girls. My mom looked to me for some advice and that's when I knew that I did not want my mom to ever have to say "If only I had gone home sooner". So we packed up very quickly and made other arrangements for the girls (thanks to some wonderful dance moms) and headed home at 8 that night. We got home around 2:30 in the morning and my mom was at the hospital first thing the next morning. My grandmother is doing as well as can be expected. Luckily she did not have a stroke, but did have pneumonia and that caused a lack of oxygen to her brain. She is still in the hospital, but is being moved tomorrow to a rehab facility. She is 95 years old and is doing as well as can be expected. Wow...that was a long story. There was more to my week which includes some major furniture purchasing and a family reunion but that will be another post. Have a great Monday tomorrow!

Summer Fun

Well, my first week of summer break is wrapping up and it has been really fun. I finally got my room switched over, and although it isn't as organized as I had would have liked, I am glad to just be finished. I have plenty of time in August to get my room just the way I want it.

Tuesday evening, I went to see Sugarland and Brad Paisley with my friend Jenn. The concert was really fun. Sugarland was so good...I wish that I had as much energy as the lead singer! I got home that night and found out from my step-mom that Sugarland will be opening for Keith Urban (my all time favorite!) in August in Tulsa. So, needless to say, I immediately got tickets and they have already come in the mail! It will be a great way to wrap up the summer before heading back to school (I don't want to think about that yet!)

I spent the rest of the week being lazy and working on some craft projects. I really need to deep clean my house, but I just have not had the motivation. I am going to get on that once I get back from Dallas.

Tomorrow I am heading to Dallas with my mom for my sister's dance camp. My sister has made captain of the team so they have a special camp for the leaders of the team. My mom and I and two other moms are going to make sure the girls have meals when they need them. I am so excited to just get away and spend some time with my mom. We have to make sure they get breakfast and dinner so the time in between we can do whatever we would like. We are planning on doing some major shopping...can't wait! We will get back late Thursday night and then Josh, Alyson, and I are heading out Friday afternoon for a family reunion. A very busy week, but should be a lot of fun.

So I probably won't be posting until next weekend. Have a wonderful week!

Yeah Summer!

So back in November I really thought this day wouldn't come...school is finally out. This has been a rough school year in a lot of ways but in the end I think that everything that happened made me stronger and a better teacher. Today was a wonderful day at school. It was my first year ever that I wasn't emotional at the end of the day because I know that I will have the same kids again next year. The best part of the day was getting my benchmark scores. I worried all weekend, but they turned out AWESOME! I had so many GREAT surprises! My students worked so hard, as did I, and it is so good to see the hard work pay off. I am so excited that I get to work with the kids again next year because I feel like I will be able to push them even further!

Anyway, so as I sit at home tonight it is just starting to sink in that school is out for the summer. I have a very busy June ahead of me. I am going to be going to Dallas next week for my sister's dance camp and then to Clarksville for a family reunion. Next I have a week of inservice and then....JAMAICA! I am so pumped. I do see a trip to Hobby Lobby and the library in my very near future (two of my favorite places!). Oh yeah, I almost forgot...tomorrow I am going to see Sugarland and Brad Paisley with my great friend Jenn!

Summer fun here I come!

3 Years Ago Today...

Three years ago today I married my best friend. I always knew that he was the one for me...as corney as it sounds. Josh is such a wonderful husband and I couldn't ask for more. The last 3 years have been busy and a lot of fun. I am looking forward to seeing where the next year takes us or what it brings us (hopefully it brings us something, for my mother's sake!)

I love you husband! Happy anniversary!

Recent Crafty Stuff

So this year I have tried to have some kind of hobby so that I don't spend every waking minute working on school stuff. I have absolute no creative ideas, but I am pretty good at duplicating something I see. Here are a few things that I have done this year...

This is my first attempt at painting a canvas. I got the chair behind it and needed some art work to match (don't look at the blue bedding...it has since been replaced with a chocolate brown to match) I saw a great idea to make cookie pops. After several trial and errors, I finally got the hang of it. These are the cookie baskets that I made for the wonderful secretaries at my school for Secretary's Day. These were so easy and look harder to make than they really are.

I got a Cricut cutting machine from my dear husband for V-day. I have really enjoyed creating scrapbook layouts, but my favorite thing to do is to create cards. I have started making many different kinds of cards and hope to someday maybe sell them. This is a thank you card I made.

I have also started to make baby burp cloths. I see these online and at stores and I always think, "I can do that". So, these are my first attempts. I made these for two teachers at school. I was very pleased with the way they turned out. Now if I just had an embroidery machine!

This is my latest creation. This one of 4 bags I made for the Toyota moms at my school. They had their graduation today and I thought a bag would be a good way to invite them back for next year. I also got some plain comp. notebooks and covered them with some pretty paper and added their names.

So now that there is only 4 days of school left I am getting really excited to have more time to devote to being crafty. Right now I am working out of our dinning room due to the fact that the spare room looks like a tornado went through it! I just bought two huge craft tables so I am bound and determined to get the room organized. I will post before and after pictures after I get to it.

Have a great evening!

Change is coming...Good change

Well it is offical...my job title for next year will be changing. I will no longer be a 3rd grade teacher. I will now be teaching 4th grade. This is such an exciting change for me. I get to loop up to 4th grade with my class from this year. If someone would have told me that I would even have the desire to do this at the beginning of this school year, I probably would have told them they were crazy! This school year has been the most challenging yet. I have several students who have "challenged" me . At the beginning of the year I thought for sure that I wouldn't make it this far with them. Well little did I know that this class was going to teach me so much. I use to think that I was a patient person, but now I know that there is an art to patience...an art that I am still perfecting. I have learned to look at difficult situations not as problems, but as "opportunities" and "learning moments". I have learned SO much this year and now it seems only fitting that I take this class to 4th grade. I feel so blessed to even have this opportunity. I just know this is going to be a good experience for me and my students.

Well, I hope everyone has a great Memorial day weekend. I spent the day today being LAZY! I slept until 11:00, which is crazy for me. Then I layed on the couch until 3:00! I finally ventured out around 4 to get some bathing suits at Old Navy (Jamaica will be here soon!) and to go grocery shopping. Tomorrow Josh and I are going to church and then a cookout at my dad's house. I'm going to spend part of Monday cleaning in my classroom and getting ready for the move down the hall. I'm also getting red highlights on Monday so that should be interesting!

Have a great weekend!

Oh what a day!

So this will be three days straight of blogging for me and that is almost unheard of! Today was crazy and not too fun. I went to the funeral this morning and it was very difficult. Even though I didn't know this woman, seeing my student so upset was very hard. I will say that he LOVED his monkey and couldn't believe the name I gave him. I don't think I mentioned in the last post, but the monkey is named Captain Monkey Pants. Crazy I know, but it came from a book he is writing. As I mentioned yesterday, I had to get some clothes for Monkey Pants and I chose a respectable superhero costume...batman. Anyway, he loved it and asked if he could bring it to school with him on his first day back.

Well tomorrow is Friday and I am SO excited. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!