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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Funk

Today was really not the best. It was really one of the worst I've had in awhile. But despite all the odd things that went wrong I want to do my best not to dwell on the negative. Instead I would like to share a few things that I am thankful for today:

- First of all, I am thankful for my amazing husband who calmly consoled me during more than one emotional breakdown over the phone.

- Next, for my students who were actually bummed when we didn't get to do our project today because of a room mix up. That just showed me they actually were interested in what I was showing them, and I'm eager to see them finish on Monday.

- To one of the tutors I work with who thanked me for being professional and showing up everyday despite the craziness I face, because apparently that isn't the case with their other enrichment teachers. It was nice to feel even a little appreciation :)

- For the ONE student who understood what I was asking for with our watercolor landscapes:

I am obsessed with this sunset!

- And for the incredible bounty of food that we received today through the CSA we just joined. More on that in a post tomorrow... but I must mention that is not even half of what we got and this is going to do wonders for our grocery budget. and the cheese... ohhh the cheese :)


- Lastly though, another shout out to my husband who knew that after a bad day I would need some dessert. One quick trip to Kroger later and we found these little bits of heaven:


and with that, my bad day has been wiped away.... let's try again tomorrow, ok?

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Thanksgiving Day

Our day was a food lovers DREAM! Joe-dad really out did himself this year. One baked turkey, one fried, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, mac and cheese, stuffing, green beans, gravy, rolls, pies, cupcakes, cookies.... I could keep going :) Needless to say, we all ended up taking a killer nap after our meal. Here are some photos that I managed to capture between stuffing my face and relaxing like a champ:

The man and his bird.
Fried.


I'm a believer.

Christopher with his maple BACON cupcake. 
Papa with the spread.

Clean plate club.

Glass of wine and a good book during football.

Post dinner bike ride with Chris
Sunset :)




It was such a nice day, the weather couldn't have been better and we were all thankful that Christopher wasn't in jail this year. No crazy stories to tell, just a happy Thanksgiving with family :)

Friday, November 25, 2011

Family

Here are some photos that I swiped from my mother-in-law's camera of Jonathan and Erin's wedding. Mom got all the great group shots, and I wanted to share how great we all looked that day haha. I particularly LOVE the photo she got of Keith and I in front of the lake. If only Theo had been there, then it could have been our Christmas card... 

Lake Junaluska

Keith, Mom, Christopher.


Keith, Joe-dad, Mom, Chris.

a little stolen shot of Keith and I :)


Mom and Joe-dad looking sharp!

With the bride and groom.

Family shot at dinner after the wedding.

Recent Art

Here are some projects that my students have been working on recently:

Elementary did funky paper weaving


Middle school worked on yarn weaving.




 2nd graders made some Andy Warhol inspired flowers.


 and Kindergarten started working on some crazy fish.

Lots of color happening in my classrooms during this grey and rainy fall!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Thanks.

Today we are thankful for:

Each other!
Our supportive families.
New jobs and new opportunities to pursue what we love.
One year of marriage.
THEO! despite his antics.
Being able to spend the holidays with family for the first time in too long.
Our health.
Feeling HOME in Nashville.
A second car.
The technology that makes it possible to share our lives with family and friends through this blog.
The wonderful gift of being provided for against all odds.
The beautiful community we have formed among friends, and through our small group.
A church that we not only call home but feels like home.
and LOVE. We are SO thankful for love :-)

And just for good measure, we are also thankful for fried turkey, a never ending bowl of mashed taters and the best stuffing we have ever experienced. Oh and pie. And biscuits. And the 30 min run we took this morning that is making this meal guilt free haha.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Easy as...


Last week I made my second apple pie from scratch and while it wasn't quite as disastrous as the one I attempted last Christmas, it was still no easy feat to roll out that pie dough. Mom says that practice makes perfect, so you should invite me to a feast and request a pie so that I have a reason to make another haha.




Cake

At the risk of bombarding you with posts about my birthday I am going to indulge in sharing just a few more photos. Monday night our lovely friends Tytus and Jamie invited us over to dinner and the lovely Carolyn, Isaac and Sage joined as well. It was a nice, low key dinner which ended with us all marveling at Sage's new ability to CRAWL, watching Tytus decorate his Christmas tree, and a tasty little ice cream cake. Thank you again to everyone for all the amazing birthday wishes, I felt SO loved :)

Carolyn and Sage

Crawling!!!

Fire cake. Keith insisted on all 24 candles


Pulling herself up on my stool.


Having a blast banging on the table with the boys haha

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Spreading Holiday Cheer

For the past 2 years Keith and I have sent out a Christmas cards to family and friends, and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite holiday traditions. It's always silly and has to include Theo which is half the fun (or struggle) of getting the perfect picture. I love the idea of getting Christmas cards from people, and the only way of getting added to their list is to send them one of your own. I always loved helping my mom with our Christmas cards when I was a kid because she has a special spiral notebook where she puts her list of names in every year that I'm sure she's been using for about as long as I've been alive. Last year I started my own little book of recipients which I'm hoping will include many more friends this year.

Just check out our card from 2009:
Look at that tiny cat!
I wasn't very pleased with the quality of the cards we ordered last year so when I started my card search this month I was really pleased to find Tiny Prints. My biggest problem with choosing a card in the past was trying to weed through all the blah designs and find something that I can make work on my budget, but now my problem is going to be deciding between all the awesome cards! My favorite thing about the Tiny Prints website though is they let you mark all your favorites as you scroll though, and they store them at the bottom of your screen. Then when you're done you can compare all the ones you marked and decide from there.



So without further ado, these are my top picks for our card this year... let me know which one you like best!
number 1

number 2

number 3

number 4

number 5

I think that all of these would make for a really great card, but I must admit that our success is really resting on whether or not Keith will let me buy this Santa hat for Theo:
pretty please?