Santa Claus is coming to town!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Family Christmas Photo
(Layla, Michael, Steph, Dad, Mom, Matt, Me)

Our trip to Celebration to see it "snow"
(Deena, Grandad, Matt, Me, Mom)

Matt at the Lakeland Christmas Parade!
Playing around while wrapping gifts! :)
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

AirTran

I just thought you guys would like to know...

After several emails and empty threats I finally got AirTran to give me a voucher for a one-way ticket to anywhere I want to go! FINALLY!

It doesn't make up for me missing Grady's baptism, but it does ease the pain a little. :)

PCola Visit!

Sunday I headed up to Pensacola to see my best friend, Mary Grace's son (my Godson), Grady get baptized. Unfortunately, I got stuck in Atlanta FOR 6 HOURS and missed the whole thing! However, after being VERY upset and MAD at AirTran for not letting me on the plane that was sitting right outside of the window, after THEIR plane was the reason I was late for the connecting flight, I DID finally make it to Pensacola (I'm not bitter though).
Good news... I'm VERY familiar with the Atlanta Airport... Want to know anything about Terminal B?? - Let me know! :)

I had a GREAT time visiting with MG, Grady, and Mikey. They are always so good to me and I really miss living in the same town as MG, BUT our visits are always fun. Grady has changed so much since the last time I saw him. He is such a good and fun baby! It was a wonderful trip! It was good to catch up with Mary Grace and spend time with Grady.

Oh, and if you haven't had MG's Grape Salad... You NEED to try the recipe. It is SO GOOD! I ate so many grapes, they probably think I'm a freak! I didn't even want to share with anyone!

Here are some pics from my trip!

Our attempt at a group pic...
Me and MG

Grady looking at his mommy like.... "What??? I'm NOT
supposed to eat the soil out of the potted plant?"

Happy Baby!

He is so stinkin' cute... I feel like I
have to comment on every picture!

I'm likin' the new jacket!

How Sweet!!!

I can't wait for him to start walking!

Trying to get a picture withOUT his tongue
out is practically impossible! haha!

LOVING that face!
"It's WAY TOO EARLY for pictures, Aunt Sam."

"It's NEVER too early to take everything
out of my drawers!"

What a fun trip! I can't wait until next time!

- MG, I'll send you pics this week! :)

Ready, Set, Smile!

Matt's good friend from high school got married over the weekend. She asked Matt to play the piano and sing a song at the ceremony... so he did. He wouldn't do this for very many people, but Anna is a very GOOD friend! It was a beautiful wedding and we had a lot of fun at the reception.

Matt's beard is starting to get out of control again...
He says he's not cutting it until Christmas...
Lord, help me!
He's lucky I love him!!!

It's Tim and Liz's last week in Florida. They leave for Portland, Oregon on Monday. We are certainly going to miss them, but can't wait to visit!I just wanted to post some pics of us all dressed up! It doesn't happen very often!

And... I love sparklers!

What happens when Matt helps babysit...

This Week...

IS GOING BY SO SLOWLY! I don't know if it's just because I know next week is the last week before Thanksgiving Break, but I feel like I've been in school for 6 days this week and it's only be 2! GEEZ!

Fall Fun!

Okay.. so basically I'm not the greatest blogger in the world... BUT I sure do love reading everyone elses!

I've been pretty busy lately... Let me catch you up.

1. We've been enjoying every possible holiday celebratory activity possible. We've been carving pumpkins, baking cookies, listening to Christmas music (I know it's early, but I don't care!), and decorating for all the holidays.

Matt's Cookies:Group Effort:



My Pumpkin:
Matt's Pumpkin:Celebration & Pumpkin Spice Lattes (Matt LOVES them!):
Matt made this for me (he's pretty awesome):

2. I started the "Good Morning, Wildcats!" morning show at my school. It's been going great! The kids love it, the teachers love it, and administration loves it too! It's a LOT of work, but it's totally worth it. Matt has helped me SO MUCH with this. He has taught me how to use iMovie and been very patient while I asked MANY questions that first week (when he did a LOT of work). It takes me and another brave teacher (whom I love for helping me) 30 minutes everyday after school to record the kids... Then it takes me about an hour and a half every night to edit it to make it work for each morning. I'm hoping this will get faster as I get better. *I wish I could put an example on here, but I can't because of all those school rules!!! - bummer!

3. I started taking a cake decorating class once a week. I really like it and I've learned a lot. It's once a week and my Aunt Pam is taking the course with me. We just started course 2 last week.



4. Mary Grace and Mikey asked me to be Grady's God Mother! I said yes and I couldn't be more excited. I love Grady and I love MG (and Mikey) and I really feel so honored to be apart of their lives in this way. They will never know how loved they have made me feel!
*I'm going to visit them in 2 weeks - I can't wait!

5. We had a big fall festival at school a couple weeks ago and there was a big auction. Each grade level had to give a basket(s) to be auctioned off. The grade level that raised the most money from their basket(s) received a 1/2 day off of school (the teachers only) paid and it doesn't count against your hours. WE WON! YEAH! I auctioned off (along with 2 others on my team) a date to see Junie B. Jones the Musical at a local theater and ice cream with ME! Check out this blog to see how well it went! - Too funny!

Oh, and at the festival there was a game to see who could eat a doughnut hanging on a string the fastest... no hands! It was a fight when we started playing! I came in second! It was much harder than it looked! haha!

6. We've been cooking a lot... Matt has came up with some pretty crazy, but tasty recipes!

Spaghetti Burgers:

Taco Burgers:*Yes, they were actually REALLY good!


Okay... I think you're caught up. Now, leave me some comments! :)

I Love Candy!

So... This week at school there was a "candy drive" for our upcoming "Autumn Eve" thing. The class with the most candy IN POUNDS wins 10 tickets per kid to the Autumn Eve and the teacher wins $50 to Lakeside Village (shopping/movies/restaurants). This was a BIG incentive and I was ready to win!

Monday: Mrs. R was in the lead
Tuesday: Miss Lewis was in the lead
Wednesday: Miss Lewis was in the lead
Thursday: Mrs. R was in the lead (by 6 pounds)
Friday: Miss Lewis WINS (by 16 pounds)

My class brought in 231 POUNDS of candy!!!!!!!!

It was so crazy and close all week! I couldn't believe it!! My class was so excited that we won! They had brought SO MUCH candy in all week! and I was totally excited to get my gift card! It was a SUPER FUN day!

Today... I love candy!

New Neighbors

Matt's sister and niece, Nancye and Bug, moved into my apartment complex last week. Their place is really cute and only 3 buildings down from me! :) Once we got them all moved in we got to go to Target and pick out some fun stuff to decorate Bugs new room. I don't know if you've seen them or not, but there are these new sticky decals you can use to decorate walls and they are too cute!
Check out her room!! I wish my room looked like this!I love the hedgehog/porcupine guy!

"Those People"

Matt wanted to put his desk in the garage sale at his NanNan's house...

NanNan lives 2 blocks down the road...

The desk wouldn't fit in the car...
Yes, this actually happened... We are "those people."


Then, we went to Target. I do love Target! I want to look at everything EVERY time I go. I mean you just never know when that one thing you don't really need will go on sale. While I was looking at every end-cap to see if there was anything I couldn't live without... Matt and our friend Steele were making their own fun! :)Again... We are "those people" in Target.
How am I supposed to NOT take a picture of this?!

This actually happened...

Today on the board I wrote 3 SIMPLE sentences and this is what happened....

student: I can't read Spanish!

me: Do you think this (pointing to the sentences on the board) is Spanish?

student: Yes (he was totally serious)

me: THIS is ENGLISH!

Oh my! This is NEVER a good sign!!!

Finally...

So, I've been a total slacker! I haven't updated my blog in forever!!

I've been working hard though! School has started and I have a really good group! I think it's going to be a good year! I'm excited.

AND! I decided this week that I am going to take on a new challenge this year. Everyone at my school wants morning announcements... not just on the intercom, like we do now... but "real" announcements... videoed with student anchors. I have decided that I'm going to take on this responsibility. Matt has agreed to help me with the editing and initial start up (which is awesome, because he is REALLY good at this stuff) and I will get the videos. Matt is going to teach me what he knows and hopefully I will learn a lot! I am going to have the kids (4th graders) come to my room after school and we will set up a nice background and video everything in there with my Flip Video Camera. Then, we will use iMovie on my apple to edit. I'm really excited! I'm going to have a theme for each day (like "Wacky Wednesday") and record different school activities to share with everyone. Anyone have any good ideas??

Should be fun!

I promise to post some pictures soon!

Oh No!

I cannot believe school starts in 2 weeks!!!!

Where did the summer go??

The New APT

I moved into my new 2 bedroom apartment at the beginning of July. However, 2 days after I moved in I left on a babysitting trip, then Chicago, then my friend, Kelly's wedding, and well basically I've been busy! So... Here are the long awaited and requested pics of my new place (same apartment complex, but new apartment).

Here is the living room...
Standing in the living room looking at the front door/kitchen (open floor plan).dining roomkitchenSpare room... I obviously haven't gotten to this room yet!! YIKES!
MG... It will only take me about 6 hours to get this room ready for you and Grady, so tell me when you're leaving and it will be ready when you get here!! :)
The spare bedroom closet is where I decided to start the cleaning... Extra bathroomMy BedroomMy bathroomWho wants to come visit?!