SPRING BREAK!

Whew I made it! This semester has proven to be much harder and much more overwhelming than I imagined it would be. Teaching full time, working in a restaurant on nights and weekends, and going to school is a hard job for anybody! But spring break is finally hear and I know this semester is almost over. I could not have asked for a better school, mentor teacher, co-teacher, principal, and students than I have worked with this year! Bartlett Elementary School is an awesome school to be a part of!

After this week of spring break, I will only have one more week left in the awesome fourth grade class I am currently in. I am SOOOO sad! I will remain at Bartlett Elementary the rest of the semester but I'll be observing and assisting other teachers, proctoring TCAP, etc. I can't even imagine what being at BES will be like if I'm not in my normal classroom. I've been blessed to have had such an amazing mentor teacher who has taught me everything! I will definitely miss being under her wing.

Patchy the Snowman

What a way to start my second week of students teaching--two snow days in a row!! I don't know if thats a good thing or a bad thing...but  I DO know that im taking full advantage of these fun days off to play in the snow! Stuart, his brother, Scott, and I built the biggest snowman I've ever seen, today (10'2"). It was NOT easy. Each section of this thing was so huge that it weighed a million pounds! We worked very hard on lifting each part and stacking each section, and I must say we did one heck of a job! We spent a good amount of time working on "Patchy," too.
Later, while driving to Kroger, we noticed that some VERY MEAN people knocked poor Patchy down. I am still so upset because of all the hard work we put into him. Good thing we took pictures of him! I can't wait to show my students!

RIP Patchy--you were a wonderful snowman! You will always be remembered in our hearts!

We're getting Married!!

On December 27th, 2010- two days after Christmas, and two days before my birthday- Stuart asked me to marry him!! FINALLY! ;)  Here's how he did it:
He asked me if I wanted to walk our dog, Sophie, on the new trail to Shelby Farms, The Greenline. He had never been on the trail before and had been talking about checking it out. I agreed, so I got dressed and met him at his house. I was wearing yoga pants, my glasses, and tennis shoes while he was dressed in jeans and a nice shirt...I questioned him about his choice of clothes, but he acted like I was strange for dressing how did since "we're only going on a walk."
Once we got to the trail, Stuart walked Sophie, and I walked along with them. Sophie kept wrapping us up in the leash and running all over the place- She was so excited to be on a walk. Later, Stuart asked if I wanted to walk to dog for a while. I said "sure" and while I walked her, Stuart dragged behind me a few feet. We got the the part of the trail where there is a bridge over the Wolf River. I said, "This is actually really pretty, and kind of romantic!" I reached back and wiggled my fingers and asked Stuart to hold my hand, but he said "I can't right now." I thought that was a strange response so I turned around, only to find him getting down on one knee! I couldn't believe what I was seeing! I just jumped up and down and kept saying "No way! Oh my gosh! You are not doing this!" :) I was THRILLED!! He definitely surprised me!
My ring is absolutely gorgeous and EXACTLY what I wanted! (He's so good!)
It was definitely the best day of my life--Yoga pants, tennis shoes, glasses and all!

Getting Ready for the Holidays

I decided to decorate for Christmas a little early this year. I'm going to be busy, busy until the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, so I went ahead and knocked out the decorating this weekend! Here are some pictures of the final product:

Dear Santa, Define Naughty....

Carrie, Bobby, Stephanie, Josh, Megan, Stuart

:)

I love all of my snowmen!

Had to display a nativity!

The outside of our house!

I've been getting excited recently about holiday parties, and realized I've never really thrown one. So, this year I am having a "grown-up" get together at my house the day after Thanksgiving. Football, appetizers, left-overs, cocktails, eggnog, and family! I can't wait! My family, and some of Stu's family, and even some of our friends will all be there. And what makes it even better is that Stu is off work all week! Hurry up Wednesday!!

MMMM! Delish!

I've recently tried to start cooking. I mean, I figure if I'm EVER going to get married one day, I better be able to cook for my husband! So I started with allrecipes.com. It has been awesome! It even has an app for the iPhone (that's right, there's an app for that!)
     Personally, I don't want to spend my entire evening in the kitchen, so I was THRILLED to find that the app for my phone offers different search options, my favorite being "45 min cook time or less!" yay! So I've been looking up recipes to try and testing them on Stuart.
     He's liked all of them for the most part. Thank goodness I have a man who will eat anything you put in front of him. His favorite so far is Chicken and Spanish rice, and it is fabulous if I may say so myself. Here's the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spanish-Rice-Chicken-I/Detail.aspx We double the amount of chicken to make it a little more hearty and add jalapeños for a kick! You should definitely try this one! It's so quick and easy!

    I can't believe I've actually enjoyed cooking! Who woulda thunk?!

Wow!

     I can not believe how much I am LOVING teaching. It is definitely the place for me. I love my 4th grade students so much, and I cannot imagine having a new class of students. I'm only at Bartlett Elementary two days a week, but I've really started to love my students. 
     Today when I left school and told all the students "See you on Monday!" I was reminded that two of my students are moving out of town this week. Today was my last day to see them! :( They gave me HUGE hugs, and I was so sad to say goodbye. What am I going to feel like in spring when I have to say goodbye to the whole class?!?! 
     I'm super nervous about having a classroom of my own students next fall, but if they are anything like my group of students this year, it will be wonderful! :)