Christmas Time & New Years

Christmas 2012 was quiet, peaceful, and uneventful.  It was a good way to end this year.  J's family came in from Arkansas and spent about 5 nights with us.  I was sad to see them go.  My house was so quiet and lonesome when they left.  Even Rosie was depressed because she missed her little doggie friend, Libby.

If we had gone to Arkansas for Christmas, we would have had a white Christmas!  They got quite the snow storm Christmas night.  I am determined to have a white Christmas at least once in my life!  I've only seen snow once, so I'm still enchanted by the thought of it.

I tried to take the extra time this year to reflect and absorb the meaning of Christmas.  I did this daily Bible reading of the Christmas story and that really helped me get in the spirit.  But to be honest, I had an overwhelming feeling of sadness.  The Christmas story is the most beautiful, bright story that we have to cling to, but it also makes me sad to think of how Jesus was treated once He came to save the world.  But He overcame the grave, praise the Lord! I guess this was just a hard year for me and although I feel beyond blessed, part of me was almost melancholy.  Having family here and love all around me helped tremendously.  And I loved our decorations.  Christmas decorations always have a way of brightening my day.  The lights, especially.  There's just something about this time of year that's almost magical.

My classroom was no exception.  I put up a little tree and we had a Christmas party on pajama day.  The last day of school before break, we watched Polar Express, ate Christmas cookies, and I made hot chocolate for everyone.  It was a fun time.  We had a blast doing some Christmas crafts.  I know the kiddos enjoyed the presents I had for them under the tree.  Watching their little faces light up is the best part of my job.

Christmas in my Classroom

My gifts for the kiddos under the tree.  They were SO excited.

Our water bottle snowmen to go along with their story about the day it snowed.

Cinnamon applesauce ornaments

Our Christmas

Bad pic quality, but me and the hubs on Christmas Eve

Mom, dad, Jake and I on Christmas Eve at my parents' house.

Anya opening up gifts.

Me and Momma playing Dirty Santa.

Me and my SIL, Julie, after church.

J and I on Christmas day

Our family :)

FIL, MIL and their new baby, Libby

My Christmas mantle and tree at night, all lit up.  I loved the glow :)

Christmas mantle during the day.  I scored those Pottery Barn JOY stocking holders from Goodwill for $3.99.  They retail for $70.  SCORE!

My Nativity set...my favorite decoration!

I thought I had more pictures of my decorations, but I didn't...Boo.  Our dining room table was really pretty this year.  Too bad I've already taken it all down.  That's okay.  I'm just thankful I had a home to decorate and people to share it with.

HAPPY NEW YEAR by the way!  I can't even believe another year has gone by.  It was such a blur.  2012 started off slow...I really don't even remember much of the first couple of months (except for this Bible study our church did), but it sure got crazy.  I could say a lot of things about this year, but above everything I am beyond blessed.

The Lord chose this year to draw me closer to Him than ever before.  For that, I am thankful.  He knew just what I needed.  He also brought Jared and I closer than ever, landed Jared at a new job, blessed me with another wonderful group of kids to teach, and taught us many valuable lessons along the way.  We are constantly learning, but looking to Him for direction and guidance.  I'm excited to get this year started!

We kicked it off with a great breakfast/brunch of stuffed French toast and hashbrown/bacon casserole.  It was oh so delicious.  Maybe that'll be my first recipe to post for the new year.

We had a great New Years late lunch with my family over at my grandpa's house.  Now it's time for more football and my PJs.  

I wish you and yours all the blessings from the Father above that He has to offer this year. XO

 

December Brain Dump

I realize I haven't just been bad about blogging lately - I've been downright awful.  I have not posted once in December.  Somehow I figured that this December would be much more calm and slower than normal but I haven't had much downtime so I'm going to make one long post about some very memorable moments of my life this December.

We were only in school for 2 weeks of this month and it FLEW by.  I participated in a Secret Santa with some of the teachers and had a ball.  My Secret Santa was so spot on with me.  I absolutely loved by gifts.  They were so heartfelt.  One that meant so much to me was a book titled "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World".  I opened it up and started reading some of it.  I plan to finish it this week...WOW did I need that book or what...I'll blog more after I get done reading it, but it deals with things I really struggle with in life.

I had some really fun activities for my kids gearing up for the holidays.  We finished up our chapter in science on rocks and minerals.  To spice it up, I had my dad (who is a geologist) come in as a guest speaker.  He brought about 20 mineral samples and ended up making each kid a bag full of 5 minerals each.  He's the best father and has such a giving heart.  I know he's my dad, but I've never known anyone more giving than him.  The kids LOVED it!  They were so excited and it was a great way to make it a memorable lesson.  They had to take their bag of minerals up to my table and identify which ones they had.  I wish I had a picture of how it was all laid out, but as always, I am terrible about remembering to take pictures.





The week before Christmas, we made snowmen out of water bottles and then made cinnamon applesauce ornaments.  The snowmen were adorable.  My kids' creativity was cracking me up!  I bought pipe cleaners, felt, poms, googly eyes, and Styrofoam balls to help make the heads, arms, and clothing.  We stuffed empty water bottles with white tissue paper and then glued everything else on.  I had them write a story about "The Day it Snowed" to tie it into Language Arts.  Such a fun activity!  Now the cinnamon ornaments were a hit too - but time consuming!  It took them about 3 days to dry before I could have the kids decorate them.  Luckily they were all done in time to go home for Christmas.  The last day of school, we had a Christmas party in class.  My kids all got a little something from me (with the help of my folks) and I made them hot chocolate in the crockpot while we watched The Polar Express.  It was also pajama day at school.  We had a great time!  These are special memories that I will always cherish with my first class.  I love those kids.





Aside from work, we attended a few Christmas parties and ornament exchanges.  Our Sunday School Christmas party was a lot of fun this year.  The theme was "What Child is This" and our teachers compiled a booklet full of all of us in the class as children then we had a dirty Santa ornament exchange.  J and I ended up with great ornaments.  I thought mine was so stinkin cute.  It's a Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus s'more set.  J got a talking Beaker from the Muppets.




If you've read my blog for any length of time or know me, you know I love to cook and bake.  Unfortunately, I did not have nearly enough time for that this year like I had hoped, but I did try making cake balls for the first time.  They were really easy and very good - got lots of compliments on them.  This is them before I packaged them all up for delivery.  The white coated ones are strawberry and the others were chocolate.






I also made these Christmas cookies for a cookie swap at school.  I had pinned them sometime ago and figured I'd try them since they looked so Christmas-y.  I thought they were good, but they were different.  They get their red color from cherries that you puree, so if you're not a fan of cherries, you won't like these.

We were blessed enough to be able to afford a dining room table right before Christmas.  We had been searching for awhile and finally decided on a set we kept coming back to.  I loved having it in the house for us to enjoy during the holidays.  We hosted our first Christmas dinner over here and all got to sit around it.  At night, it was perfect for our intense evening of board games.  ;)

I did not take one picture of Christmas festivities.  Shame on me.  I was too busy doing this or that.  It makes me sad now, but what can I do.  This reminds me again of how much I need to read "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World".  Jared managed to snap a few pictures of us girls cooking.  I made my grandma's dressing recipe for the first time and I was so excited by how well it turned out.  There's no "recipe", just a little of this and a little of that.  My mom told me what all was in it as best she could and I totally winged it.  I was so thankful that it turned out better than I could have imagined and everyone enjoyed it.  Making that dressing is one of the reasons I love cooking so much - it was my dad's mom's whom I never met; she died way before I was born.  But I feel like her memory can live on through me by recreating her recipes.  I don't know if that makes sense to anyone else but it always makes me feel good to cook family recipes and bring joy to my family like I know my grandma used to do through her cooking.  We had a big feast - ham, dressing, sweet potato souffle', mashed potatoes (thank you, Jules!), green beans and corn (thank you, MIL!), bread, chocolate cake, and pecan pies (thank you, Angie!). 

Rosie enjoyed her first Christmas with us as well.  We got her last January so she's never spent Christmas with us.  She was feeling very festive.  And I was so very happy that she did not feel the need to tear up any decorations or pay any attention to the tree!  Yipee!




The best part about this December has been the time I've spent with my loved ones.  My husband is the most wonderful man and I am so thankful to spend my days and nights with him.  He is truly amazing and such a God send in my crazy life.  It was so nice to see all of my family this year and spend time with old friends I hadn't seen in awhile.  I love being able to hug my mom and dad's necks and loved having J's family here for the holidays.  I loved celebrating my Lord's birthday and tried to keep that as my focus as I prepared for Christmas festivities.  I could definitely have done a better job than I did and I think that will be my goal from here on out - make Christmas all about Christ instead of decorations, holiday shopping, etc.  My heart felt so happy when I put on Christmas songs and Christian music and just sang out loud as I worked to prepare the food.

I'm sure I've left something out, but this is enough brain dump for one sitting.  I'm off to warm up some leftovers and snuggle up with my hub-sand.  We're enjoying a nice quiet evening in our sweats - it doesn't get much better than that! ;)

I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas filled with love.  XOXO

Football & Thanksgiving Wishes

If you're reading this, you might recall that we are a house of Hog fans.  My husband might be the biggest Arkansas Razorback fan on the face of this Earth.  And he is totally willing to spend every penny we have if Arkansas makes it to the National Championship game.  That's right, Ar-Kansas just moved up to numero tres!!  Friday's game is HUGE and after the news of a player tragically passing Sunday afternoon, the boys will be bringing it. 

No matter what the outcome, please keep Garrett Uekman's family in your prayers.  He was a sophomore at the university and was found unresponsive and in full cardiac arrest late Sunday morning.  It's crazy to watch a player on the field one day jumping around, so happy just living life and then to hear that his life ended too soon the next day.  You just really never know.  Life is so fragile and we sometimes forget that.  We tend to think we're invincible.

With that in mind, I wish all of you a great Thanksgiving holiday!  Tomorrow is my Friday and I am ecstatic!  I can't wait to spend some time with my MIL and SIL (that's mother-in-law and sister-in-law in case you didn't know).  Well, I can't wait to spend time with the whole family but especially the girls - I love our time together.  We always have SO much fun and I can't wait to see what we get into this year.

 This will likely be our motto.

I'm for sure there will be lots of laughing until we cry, maybe some crying, shopping, cooking, RELAXING and coffee drinking.

Count your blessings!  And safe travels for all of you going out of town! XOXO

Random Thoughts

I don't know about y'all but it was hard to get going this morning!  A 3 day weekend spoils me.  And boy oh boy I can't wait for my 5 day weekend next week!  That's right, Thanksgiving is right around the corner!

Random Thought #1 - As I've gotten older, I've decided that Thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday.  Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas, but it's so commercialized now and we get away from the true meaning of it.  Thanksgiving is pressure free - no gifts to be bought, no house to lavishly decorate inside and out, and you get to spend time with family and friends stuffing yourself, shopping, and just hanging out.  It is such a relaxing holiday for me.  And it deserves it's day!  I don't mean to be all "Bah, humbug!" about Christmas, because trust me - I'm not.  I just think folks need to chill out a little bit.  Christmas decorations have been out since July!  It's ridiculous how much marketing is amped up for Christmas.  Just my spill, had to let that out.  I refuse to decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving.


Random Thought # 2 - I really want some creamy chicken enchiladas for dinner tonight but I'm having blackened fish and veggies instead.  It's nothing but lean proteins and complex carbs for me this week.  I always do this to myself - come cooler weather, I crave hearty food and always end up losing all of my muscles and then gaining it back in "insulation".  I justify it by saying I need a little insulation for the cooler months, but then I am so mad at myself come March.  So here's to eating good this week so I can indulge next week and not feel guilty!  It doesn't help that I've eaten probably half of a pan of brownies I made Friday night.  Oy!  The downside of loving to cook and bake...but Rosie and I went on a 2 mile jog tonight and I came home and worked out after.  Just gotta stick with it!


Random Thought # 3 - I was an advocate for P90X but this girl does not have that kind of time anymore.  So what do I do?  I get ideas from Pinterest of course!  Tonight I did this workout and it kicked my bootay.

Source: Uploaded by user via Carrie on Pinterest

Random Thought # 4 - Who's going to see the new Twilight movie Friday night?  Wish I could say for sure but that depends on Bob's work schedule.  But I really can't wait for Hunger Games!





Random Thought # 5 - I finished Nicholas Sparks' Safe Haven this weekend. Go grab you a copy.  It was a great book!  I'm such a fan of his.  I've read everything he's put out, but I've been a little behind.  It's an easy read and so suspenseful...I couldn't put it down.

Source: google.com via Carrie on Pinterest

Last Random Thought # 6 - If you are in a relationship or plan on being in a relationship, go buy The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman.  Ah-mazing book.  Hubs and I have been reading it together and it has been eye opening.  I think everyone should be required to read it before marriage.  

Source: google.com.au via Carrie on Pinterest

Hope the rest of your week is lovely! XO

Halloween 2011

Our first Halloween in the new house was one to remember.  Our neighbor came over Sunday afternoon and "warned" me to get prepared.  I had no idea just how serious it is in this neighborhood.

I've never been big on Halloween.  As I kid, we dressed up as our favorite Disney character and went trick or treating, but I think the last time I went I was 9 or 10 years old.  It was just never that great to me.  Plus I am the biggest chicken and can't stand anything scary.  So when I was informed of how big of a deal it is over here, I just brushed it off.  I had bought some bags of candy here and there and my parents grabbed some more for us at Sams.  We ended up with 19 bags...YES, 19 bags.  And it was gone in an hour and a half...AND we combined with our friends who had us over for dinner Halloween night.  Intense.





Candy laid out on the counter



All of our candy in a bucket





Jared Somebody got into the Milk Duds and only 3 remained when I went to open the pack...sneaky, sneaky.

People began showing up in the neighborhood around 5:00 Halloween evening and they were blocking off sections of the entrance for parking.  We had 100s of kids come to the door.  I have never seen anything like it.  It was quite entertaining and ended up being a great night with friends.  To add to the spookiness of Halloween, Jared and I had walked to our friends' house around the corner and when we went to walk home that night, coyotes were howling in the woods behind the houses.  I, of course, flipped out and ran.  Thank goodness Rachel and Brad gave us a ride around the corner - so thankful for that!

And I'm thankful that Halloween and the Fair are over!  Now, I'm SO ready for Thanksgiving.  I look forward to that every year.  I can't wait to be in Arkansas and cooking with my MIL & SIL, eating until I can't eat any more, wearing my sweats all day and cracking up with my in-laws..  Oh and shopping, can't forget that ;)

XOXO

Moving!

I have not been keeping up with posts as often as I like, but life's been a little hectic!  Sorry for being such a slacker.

I have some very exciting news - we are moving!  YAY!  We're not buying yet, just getting another rental, but it's a much newer home, in a nice neighborhood & it has more room for us and Rosalie.  She finally gets a fenced in yard!  We are so blessed, it is such an answered prayer.  And being that my car was broken into while parked in my yard the night before last, this couldn't have come at a better time.

Some of you who are my friends on facebook saw this picture from a few months ago after our wedding.  This was a picture of our office with all of our wedding gifts...

And it still looks that way.  But not for long!  All of our stuff will find a new home.  I am so thrilled to have a big, nice kitchen with 4 operable burners.  Thank you, Jesus!

I will miss our little house that we currently live in because it was the first place Jared and I lived in together after we were married, it has old charm & it literally takes me five minutes to get to work...but it's time for us to move on.  Wish us luck on our move!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!  I'm not big on the actual holiday itself because I feel like it's a corporate revenue stream, but celebrating love is never a bad thing.  I just don't think we should do this 1 day a year, it should be done everyday!  God's greatest calling is for us to love Him so we should just be bursting with love ;)  I wanted to share one of my Daily Bible Verses with you I received on Valentine's Day.  This verse is very special to me, but Pastor Whitehead's commentary really struck a cord as well.  I thought it was refreshing to be reminded that love is not supposed to be selfish, it is selfless.  I feel today that so many people in this world have a misconception about love.  I know I can't change everyone's mind, but God can and I felt the need to share:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. – 1 Corinthians 13:4

How do you define love? For many of us, we define love as intense physical attraction or emotional bonding. But the Bible defines love very differently. In many ways, the Scriptural definition of love is not seen until things go wrong. Emotions come and go, but godly love equips us for when people test our patience. Godly love prefers others rather than focusing on ourselves. This Valentine’s Day make a decision to esteem your valentine over your own needs. When you do, your actions will speak louder than angels, gifts, or extravagant displays.

Today’s commentary by:
Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, GraceNYC.org


I feel so blessed to have a husband who loves me unconditionally.  I pray he knows the same goes for me.  I would not be able to love him the way I do if not for God's love & word.

Blessings!

Holiday Countdown!

It's been awhile since I've posted, life gets in the way sometimes! But that's okay - not too much to update on, although we have had some recent excitement. Jared and I survived our first bout of sickness as a married couple. It started off with him getting the stomach bug. I thought I had managed to escape it's wrath, but lo and behold a week later, guess who wakes up with it Monday morning?! Of course....great way to start off the work week. At least it sparred me for the weekend of Jake and Amber's wedding!

Speaking of which - OMG Can you believe it?! My little brother is ALL grown up! He and Amber had a beach wedding in Orange Beach last weekend and the weather was perfect! My mom and dad have married off both of their kids in 2 months. 2010 has definitely been an eventful year...and we thought 2009 was crazy, ha! 2009 definitely started off not so great for many, many reasons but it turned out to be one of the best years of my life. 2010 has just been awesome. I remember Jared telling me on New Year's Day that 2010 was going to be our year. Little did I know what he had up his sleeve ;) Gosh I love my husband. I am SO incredibly blessed. I thank God for bringing him into my life everyday. Marriage is just incredible & I'm so thankful I get to experience it with him. Everytime I hear this song, I just think that it must have been written for me. Lindsey's mom told me that same thing when I saw her last weekend...I just had to share:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpFW4Yhy08k

Anywho, enough of the mushiness - It's my favorite time of the year! I'm listening to Christmas music right now actually, haha! I love love love the Holidays! I don't know if it's the decorating, the food, or just getting to see people I care most about...I guess all play a role :) I'm so ready to kick off Thanksgiving next week with a trip to Jonesboro, Arkansas to see my MIL and FIL :) Jared and I are decorating our 1st Christmas tree this weekend, eek! I can't wait. We still need to buy more ornaments & stockings. Does anyone have suggestions for tree skirts? I really want one that's embroidered or monogrammed. I guess I can have that done anywhere, but I refuse to pay for the ones at Pottery Barn - I love that store, but those are outrageously expensive!

Today is a very special day - it's my daddy's birthday & my best friend's. Small world, aye?! I made my dad a homemade buttermilk chocolate cake (stayed tuned for the recipe, promise to post it soon. It is to die for!) and we're going over there to have dinner with my family tonight. I'm so thankful for my amazing father. He's 77 today! Dads really play such a big role in their children's lives. How blessed am I to have had 24 years with this amazing man? Here's to many, many more! <3

Also can't forget my Lindz!


Love you so much & sure do miss the heck outta you!!

I try to use wedding pictures whenever I can, lol. Hard to believe we've been married for 2 months already! Time flies...I think we need to buy a dog!

I'm sure I won't have time to post until after Thanksgiving, so HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all of you! Hope everyone has a blessed holiday with their loved ones!

Happy Fall Y'all!

I'm feeling pretty festive about the fall season - I love pumpkins, mums, wreaths, football, the warm colors, comfort foods & of course decorating the house. Now if only the weather would cooperate! I'm so cheesy, I know. So, to take advantage of the one time of year that I can make these seasonal muffins, I baked a batch of pumpkin muffins last night...YUUMMMMM, they are so good & moist! Jared had 3 after dinner. They're not Eat Clean, but they're not too terrible for you either. My cousin's wife, Jill, gave me this recipe a few years ago when I was in Oxford for the Ole Miss/Alabama game.

Ingredients:
-1/2 to 3/2 cup of sugar
-4 egg whites
-1 snack cup of unsweetened applesauce
-1 tsp of cinnamon
-1 can pumpkin puree
-1 pkg yellow cake mix
-1/4 cup water

Preheat over to 350º. Mix all of the ingredients together, except water, & beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Add water last and continue beating until smooth. Batter will be thick. Pour into cupcake pans (makes 24) and bake at 350º for 20-25 minutes (or until toothpick inserted in center is clean). They should end up looking something like this:




They are so good! You can eat them just like this for breakfast or a snack or whip up some cream cheese frosting and make them a desert :) Either way, you can't go wrong!

Also on the topic of fall, I am obsessed with candles, scentsy, or anything that will make my house smell good all year round. But at this time of year, I am especially partial to cinnamon and spice smells. Lo and behold, my weekly shopping trips to Publix (which never disappoint, I am obsessed) resulted in my new favorite smell - the Cinnamon Broom!




This little thing right here is amaaaaazzzzzzzing! And you never even have to light a candle or flip a switch to turn any warmer on. All you do is set it out and within minutes your whole house will smell like cinnamon. But beware, it can be a little overpowering in the beginning. I had to throw mine in the laundry room for a few days, haha! You can find them in the produce section or around the flowers. Just another reason why I love Publix so much :)

On my lunch break today, I went home to find a visitor outside my front door.




This is Limone, our neighbor's cat. It looks like his new hangout is our front porch:)

Hope everyone has had a wonderful day! <3