Christmas Cards

Today we took our picture for our Christmas cards. We are running a little late. Normally I would have them addressed and going out by the end of this week. Not this year! Now we still have to get our pictures printed and put on the card. I made the cards myself this year! I hope they turn out super cute!  Here is the pic! Of course I will do some editing to get rid of the boxes under our feet!

Sunday Lessons

Today was a beautiful day at church. We had a brass ensemble playing along with our Christmas music! The church was decorated beautifully, and did I mention that we sang Christmas music! I love Christmas music!

During the sermon, the preacher was relating to his childhood at one point. He mentioned how everyone was worried that at any moment the communists were going to bomb America and that the world was going to destroy itself. He then said something that I found to be very profound. He said that the world is not in the hands of one maniac; it is in the hands of God. God has his own timeline.

It made me think of everyone after election day. Whoever voted for the guy that did not win usually thinks that the world is going to end. I remember when Obama was elected being the most obvious example. Being in Texas and growing up in a small community, most of the people I know voted for the other guy. I can remember some people saying that it was going to be the end of the world.

When the time comes for the end of the world, there will not be anything we can do to stop it. It will not be a matter of voting for the right person. God already has the end planned out. He is the one in control and we need to trust in his plan.

Sorry for the little rant...but that statement really stuck with me today.

Work

Work is going great! I really do enjoy my kids, even though some of them don't know how to stop talking! One day this week, I had a student approach me at dismissal and ask if I was Mrs. Grimmett. He said, his sister talked about me all the time. She really likes me and thinks I am a great teacher! It made my heart light up!

We had our first test (since I've had the class) on Thursday. It went pretty well. I'm waiting to see how the rest of the district did so I will know how my kids stand in comparison. I hope they did great! I would feel horrible if they did not. Not that I would be disappointed in my kids, but I would feel as if I had failed them as a teacher.

Overall, I am very proud of my students performance!

Today, we made lava lamps! The kids loved it! It is a great, fun experiment to show density, mixtures, solutions, and dissolving! I love to see the kids having fun, while they are learning!

Christmas Time!

I am so excited to drive down the road and see the beautiful Christmas decorations! When I came home from work on Monday, it was already getting dark and the lights were beautiful! As I drove into town, I saw a beautiful surprise that made me smile. The city had put up lights and wreaths along on of the bridges and they were gorgeous!

That night, Brad and I got out our decorations (we don't have many, because we have a small space). We hung our new wreath, put up our tree (with our new 1st Christmas ornament), and put out the nativity scene. That is about all we have for now, we also have stockings, but I'm not sure where we are going to put them!

I love Christmas time; it is so beautiful!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, we went home to be with my family. We of course stopped at Brad's mom's house on the way there and stayed the night. That morning when we woke up we found out that my sister-in-law's grandmother passed away, so we stopped through and picked my nephew up on the way to my cousin's birthday party. Since we had to take him back home (he had school the next day), we stayed at Brad's grandmother's that night because we had planned on having lunch with her the next day anyway. We were able to play some games and enjoyed a wonderful evening and great food the next day!

Once we got home, we visited with Mammaw and then went to bingo with Mom (she loves bingo).

The next day I got my hair cut...no biggie...it just need a but really bad! Shortly after we got home, my brother and his family showed up...SURPRISE!!! We love to see them, but we weren't expecting them until the next day. I had a horrible headache that started the night before and had never really gone away (it lasted about a week!) so I was not very welcoming when they came in and woke me from my nap. Sorry, I was kind of rude guys!

That next morning we all got up and went to take family pictures (guess who had a cold sore!). They turned out really cute! My adorable little nephew is so cute!!! The lady was asking us how we wanted to do the group shots and if we wanted any of just Kaden. Before any of us had a chance to respond the very friendly 5 yr. old said, "that would be good for me." We of course all cracked up!

That night we had Thanksgiving with my dad's family. We enjoyed a wonderful meal and a few games. Once again, Kaden provided us with plenty of entertainment.

The next day I woke up and helped Mammaw (watched her mostly) prepare the traditional hot rolls and dressing! Mom cooked the turkey, ham and green bean casserole, Lochie (my cousin) brought some poppers, and we all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving lunch. Lochie and Aunt Liz spent the afternoon there - unfortunately, I had another huge headache (or still the same one rather) and spent most of the afternoon asleep.

The next day, Mom, Brad, Willoughby (our adorable little dachshund), and I went to the SkyView (local drive-in) to watch Harry Potter! It was great of course!

After that, Brad and I began our journey home where we stopped off at his granddads! We were blessed to have such a wonderful Thanksgiving with family!

Family Reunion

About a month ago, we went to our family reunion on my dad's side. Lucky for us, Brad's brother (Blake) lives a few minutes away from my cousin's house (where the reunion was held). We had a great time at the reunion and were able to spend some time with Blake and Cassie as well! We also met up with Brad's dad for lunch that Sunday (his wife was with some friends).

:(

A year ago today, we lost Pawpaw. I loved him dearly. I had planned on dancing with him at my wedding for my father/daughter dance. Yes, I have a father, but we've never been close and usually only see each other a few times a year. Pawpaw helped raise me. He was the most important man in my life for the majority of my life. He was an amazing person. He and Mammaw were like a second set of parent for my brother and me. Mom is of course our #1, but I don't know what we would have done without them. The farm (which was sold this summer - and it was a blessing) was the only home that was a constant. Pawpaw was raised there, mom was raised there, and we were raised there. We have made many homes as we have moved over the years, but Mammaw and Pawpaw's was always there. A day never goes by that I do not miss him, but I know he is in a far better place with no suffering.

Feeling Blessed

I made it through my first week of my long term! It went really well. I am enjoying teaching science...channeling my inner Mr. Lewis. I also have an awesome team to teach with. One of them happens to have a beautiful voice and an amazing love for Jesus. Brad and I were able to go watch her perform at a coffee house last night. She was amazing! I feel very blessed to have a job that I am enjoying and be able to work with amazing people.

The teacher I am long-terming for had her baby on Sunday. The other teachers showed the classes pictures of the baby. When one of the classes came into my room, a boy said, "the baby just looked like a baby." My response was, "what did you want it to look like, a dog or cat?" Silly kids!

When we got home last night there was a really yucky worm crawling along the ground. For a moment I thought it was a snake. It was about a foot long and an inch thick. Really gross!

We finally got our comforter back from the dry cleaners on Thursday! I was super excited. I love sleeping with a comforter...whether it is hot or cold. When we took it to the cleaners, I went and bought a twin size comforter from Wal-Mart because I couldn't sleep very well with a blanket/quilt. I'm crazy and spoiled!

Friends, Jobs, Crafts!

Last week, we went to Chuy's with some friends. It was yummy!!! They also gave us our wedding present: two bottles of wine and wine glasses....buc-ee's wine glasses...classy!

Saturday we chilled at home all day! Brad ended up putting Willoughby in time out because he was barking too much. He put him in the bedroom and shut the door. When Brad went to walk Willoughby, he found a wonderful note on our door from our neighbor (apparently we are deaf and never heard her knock...but Willoughby did!). So now we know that Willoughby had an undeserved time out. He was simply trying to tell us that there was somebody there. And he told us again when she came back and put the note on the door. Poor baby!....Back to the note...Our neighbor was a teacher for 25 years and she knows that I am currently trying to find a job teaching. She went through a lot of her books and decided to give me a whole bunch of them! So now I have a lot of big books and many other wonderful books...such as Amelia Bedelia. I am super excited!!!

Sunday we went to church and tried out the Sunday school class. It was wonderful. We really enjoyed getting to meet the different couples. They were all really nice and the class seems pretty laid back. We loved it. They were cracking jokes and learning about God and Jesus and how to be better Christians. We had a simply bible study lesson because they do not have their new books in yet. But they should have them soon!

Monday, I got a call in the morning to go work at one of my favorite schools. Luckily, I had already turned down a job at another school that day, or I wouldn't have been available!

Today, I got a call from the school I am supposed to start a long term at soon...I was super excited because they asked me to come in for the class that I will be taking. Turns out, she had a last minute doctor's appointment and will be back tomorrow. But she is scheduled to induce on the  10th (which is her due date anyways). The doctor was ready to induce yesterday when she went in, but the hospital was already booked.

Also today, I decided to get crafty and made our wreath for our door! I bought everything yesterday at Hobby Lobby and put it all together tonight. I really like the way it turned out. Brad even did his part by vacuuming the floor where I had made a mess! Originally I had planned on using darker colors, because that is what I am partial to, but ended up going with bright colors due to lack of options and the time being. I spent about $30 (everything was half off) and $12 of that was on the ribbon (expensive stuff!). I was really excited considering one of the wreath's that I saw there was $60 (and it was small and ugly in my opinion). Now I can't wait to put it up. Unfortunately due to my strict policy of decorating the day after Thanksgiving (or as soon as we get back from Thanksgiving rather), I have a while to wait!

Yippee!

Mom came and visited a couple of weeks ago! I was so excited for her to finally come down again. The last trip she was supposed to make down here was almost a year ago, but Pawpaw passed away the day before she was supposed to head this way.

It was wonderful getting to see Mom! We had a lazy weekend. We went and saw two movies: RED and Life as We Know It. We really enjoyed both of them. We also rented movies to watch at home. I made tacos for dinner one night. And of course....I made Mom a birthday cake (two actually...so she could take one home). She requested a German Chocolate Pound Cake...so that is exactly what she got! And it was delicious, if I do say so myself! We also went and looked a this cool junk/antique shop here in town. They had some beautiful armoirs and a beautiful desk that I desperately wanted! But we of course don't have any room for anymore furniture! All in all, the visit with Mom was great!

Last weekend we went to Waco for my nieces birthday party! She had a costume party, so we dressed up as ourselves! Brad went as a fisherman (complete with silly fishing pole and cardboard fish) and I went as a witch!

Somehow I forgot to take a good pic of both of us with Willoughby!

I also helped Angie die her hair back to her natural color...no more highlights for her! We went to the taco trailer twice! Said hi to Francisco...who of course asked where I was living now and asked about Lani....oh how I miss our Sundays of tacos and Desperate Housewives!

Today, I had the day off! No one needed me to sub (except for one of the high schools, which I politely declined). I went and voted! As I was voting, I was bitten by tiny ants.....ANTS ARE THE DEVIL! Then I went and bought groceries and came home to start baking! I made a cake for this weekend (which I won't actually put icing on until Friday) and cookies! The cookies did not turn out the same as the last time i made them, which is funny because I used the same recipe. But they still taste excellent. They just look a little odd. I shared some of the better looking cookies with our neighbors downstairs. I saw one of them as I was getting back from the grocery store. She mentioned that she had planned on making cookies too, but left the cookie dough at their other house. So I took them a couple of bags to munch on! They are really sweet neighbors!

Now I am off to cook dinner before Brad gets home!

10/8/10-10/10/10 Catch Up

Friday I had the first "Do you have a baby in your belly?" of the year. I get this a lot because of the way I carry my weight, but so far I haven't heard it this year. Until Friday. One of my kindergartners asked me, then said, "it looks like you have a baby in there." They also asked me if I was married to Mr. G. He was the sub they had on Thursday.

Saturday, we picked Lani up from the airport and had lunch at Guadalajara! Lunch was yummy and it was wonderful to get to see Lani!!!! We chilled out in her hotel room with her until it was time for her other friend to pick her up to go to the wedding.

When we got back home, we went grocery shopping and rented some movies. We watched Remember Me and The Karate Kid. Both were good movies, but I was not expecting the ending of Remember Me. It was a really good movie and its ending came out of left field. Brad and I were both thrown off by it. But it was really good.

Today, we went to a new church. We did not like this church at all. It is definitely not the place for us. They were friendly when we came in, but we did not like the message or the style of preaching. It seemed like the preacher just kept saying that everything we do is wrong. There was no "God ultimately loves you all you have to do is ask for forgiveness." When they took up the offering, they did not pass it down our row so they did not get our visitor card. I had planned on dropping it in at the end of service, but after service was very glad that we were somehow over looked. I think it might be better that they do not have any of our information.

We have decided that we will stick with South Park Baptist Church. We really enjoyed it a great deal. They have a young married couples group and we enjoyed the message there. Also, I went there one day on my own while Brad was at work and still felt welcomed and comfortable. That is important to me since I will have to go on my own quite often because of Brad's work.

Productive Day!

Today I organized my scrapbooking stuff (wedding/non-wedding)! I was able to get rid of two boxes! I also scrapbooked all of the photobooth pics! They were easy and quick because I just did a pic per page (occasionally two pics) and the message card that went with it!

Now I just need to get more pages for my scrapbooks. Also, I want to get one of those things that can turn anything into a sticker (I can't remember what they are called...but the have an x in the name!). I'm also in desperate need of more glue!

I also finished uploading my first disc of the wedding photos onto facebook. Only another 500+ pics to go!

Next, I am going to make Christmas cards! We normally order them from Wal-Mart, but I have decided to make my own this year.

Wed. - Fri.

On Wednesday we had a shelter in place at school...no biggie....Except that the class I was supposed to be with was outside in the music room (a portable). So we ended up with the two classes that had been in PE and couldn't get back to their rooms (in the annex outside). So we watched a movie with them. And then....we were updated that it would be after school was supposed to be out before they had the gas leak capped! It wasn't to bad, I don't think our kids even noticed that school was supposed to be over!

Thursday and Friday I had a wonderful group of kids! I love this group because I worked with most of them last year in third grade and they are all really sweet kids! I know you aren't supposed to have favorites, but several of my favorites are in this group! Also, Brad brought me lunch today! Such a sweety!

Update on the cake......

Brad took one of the cakes to work and............EVERYBODY LOVED IT!!! I may keep my little mix up from now on! It wasn't as fluffy of a cake, but it was really moist!

Oops!

So I decided to make a german chocolate cake today...not my day to bake.

I added all eight eggs to the cake mixture (there were only supposed to be 4 - the other four were for the icing). Wal-mart here I come...I went and bought what I needed to be able to double the recipe!

Now all my problems are solved! Or so I thought.

Baked the cakes...they look great! But I haven't tasted them yet.

I was about to make the icing for them and looked at the recipe. Evaporated milk? I already used the evaporated milk! Oops....I was supposed to use the buttermilk for the cake! The evaporated milk was for the icing!

Well, I can go buy more evaporated milk for the icing...but I'm not sure how the cake is going to taste.

Keep your fingers crossed that it is passable (there are two of them after all).

Update: Brad said it tastes good....and it is pretty good...but not the same!

Last Few Days

Monday - Made YUMMY ice cream.
Tuesday - Went to a surprise birthday party for one of our friends. We had a lot of fun!
Wednesday - Really slow day! But I only worked a half-day so it was very relaxing.
Thursday - Great day! Had an amazing class that is so sweet and wonderful! Walked by one kid's desk during writer's workshop and he had arranged his crayons on his desk in ROYGBIV (okay...so it's not perfect...but it was 1st grade!) - then he straightened them with his pencil!

YUMMY!

We made home-made ice cream in our KitchenAid Mixer! It is so yummy! I was so excited to be using our new attachment...and even more excited to eat the yummy goodness!

Really?

As I was eating lunch with my husband and his co-workers (an upside to not having to work today), I received a call from the school that forgot to call me this morning to tell me that my job was cancelled. They had a teacher get sick and wanted to know if I could come in. I told them I was eating lunch and asked how soon they would need me there. Her response was..."Right now, but thank you anyways. We'll try you again on another day." So now, I'm even more irritated. I know I sound really gripey...and I probably am. But I started out this morning in an excellent mood, only to have my day completely scratched. Thanks!

Slightly Annoyed

I got up this morning, got dressed, checked my e-mail, and headed to work. When I got to my school for the day, my name was not next to the name of the teacher I was supposed to sub for today! It had someone else's name! The lady in charge of the subs came around the corner at that time, so I was like...what's going on...I was supposed to be so-and-so today.  Oops! The teacher had already asked someone else to take the class and messed up when she put it in Aesop. Unfortunately, they did not change it until about 7:45 this morning. I got a call from Aesop informing me of the cancellation as I was walking out the door of the school to head home!
I love the school and all of the ladies that work there, but they should have called me as soon as they realized the mistake this morning. Maybe even before they actually made the change in the computer, or immediately afterward. I would have already been on my way, but at least I could have turned around and come home instead of driving all the way over there and actually showing up.
Don't get me wrong...I'm not angry, just a little annoyed. This has never happened to me at this school, and I completely understand that these ladies are busy. But at the same time, it ruined my chances of picking up a job at another school. By the time they had taken me out of the system, my other disctrict had already started classes and this disctrict was about to start classes. Now, I am sitting at home with my dog (no big complaints there) instead of working. Big down side is that I have one half day this week and still have one day that I have not filled. So now there is a chance that I will only be working half of this week....there goes that paycheck.

Oops!

We woke up this morning at 11...guess we aren't going to church today. Who would have thought we would need to set an alarm to wake up that late? We normally are awake by 9 at the latest when we don't set an alarm.

Girls' Day Out

I met up with Denise today for a girls' day! Christi was supposed to join us, but she ended up having car troubles this morning and did not get to make it :( We had a delicious lunch at Guadalajara and then spent the afternoon shopping! I enjoyed getting to hang out with Denise! We don't get to see each other too often, and I cherish the times that we get to spend together. I also was able to meet her beautiful baby boy! He may only be a few months old, but he looks like a little man! He was adorable!

Hip-hip Hooray!

I was offered a long term sub position at one of my favorite schools! I am very excited to be able to take a class for an extended period of time. It will allow me to get a better feel of what teaching my own class will actually be like. I have also been told that the principal of this particular school uses long term sub positions as a type of long interview process. So, I am keeping my fingers crossed and saying a lot of prayers that this will help lead to a job next year! Starting in November, I will be teaching 5th grade science for several weeks staight!

What a Small World

Brad went downstairs to get his phone one night and our neighbor was out checking her mail. She has always been very nice and says hi whenever we see her. That night however, she said it was wonderful to have seen us at church. Turns out her husband is the interim preacher at South Park. We both thought that he looked familiar on Sunday, but I thought it was because he looked like the average Baptist preacher!

It seems kind of crazy that we have been wondering who we could ask to find a good Baptist church in our area and a Baptist preacher has been living in the apartment below us!

We Got the Towels!

We went to Bed Bath and Beyond Sunday evening for a registry completion event (20% off of everything!). We finally used all of our gift cards and we purchased our ice cream maker attachment and food grinder attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer. We also got our shower caddy rod thingy (so excited to get stuff off the edges/corners of the tub!), a broiler pan, a water pik, and the hand towels to match the towels we had already received.

We were a little early when we actually arrived, so we were through getting all of our stuff before the "event" actually began. I knew there were door prizes because they were getting them together when to got there and said they would start calling names around 7:30....we were there and finished by about 5:45. When I told Brad we had to stick around he started freaking out on me. So, I told him to just walk around the store again, a little slower and see if there was anything we would prefer to get. They actually started calling names around 6 and by the time we had made it all the way around the store they called our names! Brad was so excited because it meant we would be able to leave.

We ended up winning a set of Nautica towels! We were of course grateful for any free gift, but the workers at the store seemed more excited than we were. Everytime someone saw us (our cashier, and a few of the other cashiers) would exclaim, "You got the towels!" We thought it was hilarious!

So, yes, WE GOT THE TOWELS!

Looking for a Place to Call Home

We are currently visiting different churches in our area. We have been here for over a year and have put this off for quite a while. It is difficult to go to a church as a visitor, because there is usually an awkwardness. You don't know what to expect and you are slightly nervous.

There are churches everywhere here, but not as many Baptist churches as I would have thought (not close to us at least). We tried one before I went home for the summer and thought it was okay. It didn't grab us and make us feel at home. We both like the church but at the same time we felt a little out of place.

Today we tried a different church. We really like it. As soon as we walked in the door we were greeted by several members and whole-heartedly welcomed into their church. They seemed truly happy to see us and wanted to make us feel welcome. Several members actually sought us out because they didn't recognize us and wanted to make sure we were welcomed. The preaching was great as well, although I'm not putting a huge emphasis on that at this particular church because they are currently searching for a preacher. They also have a young married couples Sunday school class. This is important for us because we want to be able to connect with people at the church and find others that we can relate to easily. It will be nice to have other couples to grow with.

We are still going to try out a few other churches before we make a decision, but I am glad to have found a place that feels like it could become home!