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! :)

April Fools Day!

Today has been a very interesting April 1st! Stuart's sister, Susan's water broke! She was due to have her baby boy, Aiden Russel, in May, but he is coming a little early! What a joker, arriving on April Fools Day and all. I feel like he's my nephew, and one day he might be! I can't wait to visit her tonight and to meet him! <3