Saturday, October 25, 2008

New Wedding Ring



























Here is a picture of my gorgeous new wedding ring that my husband got me! It is 2.75 karats and beautiful!!!! I will forever be his! It is extremely hard to take pictures because it is so shiny.....so I did my best but still did not do it justice!












Pumpkin Patch


































































The girls and I went to GrapeCreek this afternoon to go watch my volleyball girls from last year play in their last game on the FRESHMAN TEAM! I was excited that they invited me to come so could not turn down the invitation. The girls did really good for the first game but I had to stay for the JV game too b/c I had one girl on that team. My girls were awful. They climbed all over the stands and just would not sit still. So...... I decided they were bored at the game and I needed to do something with them that THEY WOULD CONSIDER FUN! There is an awesome Pumpkin Patch out at Grape Creek so before we headed home I decided to take them. I felt bad taking them without Justin (he was at work), but could not resist. The girls had fun and we bought punkins to carve tonight! Enjoy the pictures!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Kinsley's Cardiologist Appointment

Well, the dreaded day of going to see the cardiologist is over. We showed up at 11:00 to not been seen until 12:30. She did great on the EKG and instead of doing her normal routine he just chatted with us about her. He asked questions like, "Is she active, how do you think she is doing, do you have any concerns?"......so on and so forth. We were like.....you need to tell us if she can do these things and how YOU think she is doing. Anyways...long story short she is doing great! Everything SEEMS the same since the last appt. (about 8 months ago). He scheduled us an appointment over Christmas break to get her in for an MRI to really see in depth how her heart looks! Hopefully it will not ruin our X-Mas but give us the greatest gift of all - - - our daughter with perfect health!



WE WILL KEEP YOU POSTED BUT WE ARE GREAT!!!!!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Going Ballistic!
















So.... I wake up this morning at 5:30am to get myself ready for school. As I go into my bathroom to run the shower....there was no water. I thought to myself, "maybe the pressure is just bad," so I go to my guest bathroom to check it out. On my way down the hall (house is still dark b/c the kids are sleeping) I hear a swish, swish sound and my feet start getting wet. I turn on the light to my living room and find....... A FLOOD! Apparently my water heater decided to bust in the middle of the night I never heard it b/c it is located in my garage! To make matter worse I have no idea how to turn off our water supply. I call Jusin ( who is out of town in Austin for work) and try to have him direct me.....did not work! He calls a friend who lives half way across town....at this time 5:45am. By the time his friend wakes up to help me out....YEP things could not be worse. My garage, kitchen and living room is a total disaster. IF you read my below post, I absolutely could not afford to call in from work today b/c I have my evaluation! So my husband calls someone to come over... I am trying to get myself ready and the kids in all the mess with Mike (the friend) running around my house early in the morning cleaning up things. When the RESCUE carpet cleaners arrive I head out the door to deal with the mess when I get home from school at 5pm.
RESULT - Carpet is totally ruined and needs to be replaced, insurance adjuster coming Friday, 8 big LOUD fans blowing all thru my house to dry up everything (I can not even go into the living room), and luckily a new water heater by the time I got home....thank you honey....so I got to take a shower tonight!
I hope these bad things really do not happen in 3's....Pray for me!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Current Events

Wow....well, hello! I obviously have been extremely busy and always check myspace accounts and blogs but never write or update my own. There has been alot going on in life lately.... I will start with the most anticipated questions you all might have, "How do I like my job?!"
The job is getting better. I still can not imagine teaching ELEMENTARY for 30 years but........for now it will do. I miss owning my gym so bad that at times I want to start all over and do it again.......but even that had it's ups and downs. I love teaching and I even like staying busy, I just do not like the politics of it all and doing things that I do not believe in! I disagree with the system at times so it is hard. I get evaluated tomorrow and I am really looking forward to that! I am not nervous at all......We are in a biography unit and the kids will be interviewing each other about their books and filling out a Venn Diagram! I am prepared

"How is my littlest sister doing?"
In case you did not hear, I am a sister again! Faith Kerilee Holland is now 2 weeks old and is as cute as can be. ( I will post pictures later, no time for that tonight) She is healthy as can be and mom is doing great! She sleeps alot and rarely cries, ( I know I was jealous about that...Kara still does not sleep thru the night). I have seen her twice now and I want to take her home with me. Hopie is IN LOVE with her. The really neat thing about all of this is my sister got to meet her birth mother, grandmother, and half sister for the first time. My mother said it went great, she understands, and everyone was real mature about it all! Hopie talks to her half sister and plays internet games with her on the computer at night......I am relieved their meeting and stay went so smoothly. Afterall, I truly believe it is better to start explaining to them about adoption in bits and pieces....as they can understand them....and be open and honest about everything! I am so proud to be their sister.

"What is going on with Justin and I?"
Well, funny you might be wondering. We are doing better than ever! My husband is so loving and I always have to mention HE IS THE BEST FATHER IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. I could not have chosen a better soul mate. He suckered me into letting him buy a Harley Davidson motorcycle, which I have to admit I really enjoy riding with him when I get the chance. But, it worked out in my favor too! My reward, a beautiful "NEW" wedding ring. I got to upgrade. I was sad to even do it, but there were some things about my old ring that I did not like! I got to choose one that I wanted and I am real happy!

"How are the girls?"
Kara is getting so big. She is really starting to talk so much more and communicate. She is trying to potty train herself but I have not had the time to be consistent with her. She will come and tell me when she is dirty or wet so that I can change her, and at daycare she uses the BIG potty a few times a day with no accidents. She still wakes up alot through the night and is having a hard time seperating from her pacifier. We finally took it away from her over a week ago and the poor baby has not forgotten. Every night she cries for her pacy.....We cry too!
Kinsley just needs to stop growing. She has really blossomed since school has started and I hate it. She comes home everyday with something new she has learned and it scares me to think that she will be in kindergarden soon. She loves rehearsing the months right now to us. I never updated you all on her cardiologist appt. because it got postponed. She goes Oct. 13th so I will try to let you know how that goes when I get the chance. Kinsley is still into bugs like crazy! Tonight she found a catepillar and that is all she wanted to play with. I love my bug hunter....

I know it was alot to read, I will try to post more frequently so you do not get updated about everything at once!

Friday, September 5, 2008

Career Update

Well, the first two weeks are over. I survived! The entire first week I was depressed and kept telling myself, "What have I done!" Now, things have started to settle down and I am figuring things out on a much faster pace. I still do not know what the weeks ahead will bring but I am managing. Family support has been great, my husband has turned out to be a fantastic helper! We spend our "together" time in bed with me grading the papers and handing them off to him to record. He thinks I am mean since most of my kiddos have NOT been doing there work (hmmm...imagine that). I guess he feels bad because that was the kind of student he once was, haha.... but true! I have thought about quitting a time or too, but that just is not my nature. I will stick out the ENTIRE year and make a decision at the end if this is what I plan on doing for the rest of my life. Everyone has said that the first year is the hardest, well, I am praying that they are being honest. I see some 5+ year teachers still struggling and coping with the job! Anyways, I am getting better at planning, organizing, and discipline in my classroom...... I still have not adjusted to modifications on TONS of students, parents sending letters to excuse homework (this never happened in my day), co-teachers who come into your classroom and CHANGE everything (uh....what!), and of course lazy kids doing poor work!

On another note, please start praying for my Kinko! We will be seeing the cardiologist this month sometime about progress with her heart. Every appointment has gone great since she was 5 months old, but she has grown alot! Let's all pray that her heart has done the same.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

New Beginnings

We have so many new things going on in our lives right now and adjusting to them have been difficult. I recently started a new job as a 5th grade reading teacher and that has been extremely overwhelming! I have never been so tired in my life. I love my school and the people I work with, it is the actual work load that is getting me down. Last year as a PE teacher/coach I never had to do a lesson plan, never worried about grades, and was comfortable all day long in shorts and a t-shirt. I have been stressed out daily with preparing lesson plans each day, grading papers, following modifications, DRESS CODE (which is so uncomfortable), and all the extra duties that comes with teaching. I totally miss my job from last year. I decided not to coach this year because I was never home to see the kids. I had practice everyday till about 6 o'clock and atleast two games a week that put me home after midnight. The kids were needing constant babysitters with Justin having to work late nights on top of mine. We decided that one of us had to change careers so I put my passion on the back burner. Since I have started my job as just a teacher this year, I have not seen much change in my schedule. I am normally the last one to leave school (even after the coach's because of preparing for the next day)and when I get home.......lesson plans, grades, and the stress of the job weighs on my mind! Every night this week (which has been the first week of school) I have not gone to bed till about 1:00 am. I wake up at 5:30 and arrive at school around 7am to make copies of the days assignment and be at morning duty by 7:15am. I am having to come up with all my material and lesson plans on my own - I just follow a scope and sequence of what needs to be covered so it is VERY TIME CONSUMING! Anyways, I am not liking my job so far..... I love teaching and helping the kids, but time with mine is worse than it was last year already! ( I am too tired to play and there is work for me to do as soon as they are in bed)

On another note....... the kids are doing much better than last year! I was so worried to put them in daycare but they are adjusting great! At 8:15pm they are crashed from a long day of playing at school and 6:00am comes around EARLY in the morning for my little angels. I take them with me in the morning and pick them up when I leave school. I only really get to spend about 2 hours with them before it is there bed time, but atleast we have the weekends together now! Justin took them pretty much the first week for me and I picked them up because I needed to get at school early to prepare for my day. I am hoping that things will get easier as time passes. I have been bad about taking pictures ( I did not even take one of them on their first day) but will get one up soon of them at daycare. The first few day Kara cried but now she just goes right in. Kinsley was ready to go from day one, she is getting so big! Everyday that I pick them up they are happy and having fun, and excited to see me.

Justin, well, he is doing wonderful with the change. He has alot of time to himself and is getting TONS of things accomplished at home. With the kids gone and me at work, he takes naps, cleans the house, does the laundry, works out, and does pretty much whatever he wants to until he goes to work (this week he went in at 4pm).

I will keep everyone posted on my job, hopefully I can get caught up on the weekends and not be so stressed during the week.....to be continued...