Wordless Wednesday!

My friend Jana has a wordless Wednesday, so I thought I would copy her!

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Christmas as usual was great! Christmas Eve, was spent cooking, and getting ready for Christmas day. On Thanksgiving, my Granmoma taught me how to make her homemade Mac and Cheese, so for Christmas I made it all on my own, with a little supervision from the expert! I thought it was quite tasty and apparently so did the rest of my family, because they ate it all up! YUMMY!!

After all of that cooking, we opened packages!!! (This is my FAVORITE tradition!) I got some really cute glasses to go with my cute dishes!

That night, my mom and I drove to my other Grandparents house for Christmas with the Shipley's. Usually we draw names, but this year we decided to do the Chinese gift exchange with nice gifts. I went home with a super cute James Avery necklace that I had on my wish list!

Christmas Day we all went to my Aunt Carole's house. For the first time in a while, all but one of us was able to make it!

Our pretty table and a fun picture of the glasses.

Jenni, Me and Jordan


A cousin picture of a picture from last year.

Jordan, Paul, John, Me, Tim, Jenna, Victoria, Jenni - We are just missing Andrea and Jeff.

My Aunts: Debbie, Carole, Dee and my mom

Christmas tends to be a stressful time of year. I think sometimes we loose focus of the true meaning of Christmas when we busy ourselves with so many Christmas parties, and being the perfect host. We loose sight of what the focus of Christmas should be. Here is one of my favorite passages taken from : http://ministry-to-children.com/christmas/ that I like to read to remind myself of the true meaning of Christmas.

Luke 2:1-20 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. (2) This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. (3) And all went to be registered, each to his own town. (4) And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, (5) to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. (6) And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. (7) And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (8) And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. (9) And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. (10) And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. (11) For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (12) And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” (13) And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, (14) “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” (15) When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” (16) And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. (17) And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. (18) And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. (19) But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. (20) And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Here are some other fun pictures from work/ work Christmas Party.

The world is a better place with 2 Laura's!

Jana, Katie and Me

Laura, Laura, and Ashley

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My mom, Grandmother and I went to go see Marley and Me. I went into the movie not knowing much about it except that it had Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson, and a cute dog. Well.... let me just tell you. Do some research about this movie before going!!! I was caught WAY off guard and cried buckets. Soemthing I absolutly hate to do in front of people. Overall, I think it was a good movie, I just wished I would have known the ending. (See... this is why you should ALWAYS read the end of the book first, check out movie spoilers etc.) Do your homework, go see it, and let me know what you thought. My mom seems to think that Copper is Marley Jr. Copper and I disagree! :)

Sometimes, Things Don't Go As Planned.....

Every December is usually jam packed with event after event. This December, has proved to be no exception! I had everything all planned out...I was going to be able to make all but one event.

Friday, I came home from work and was so exhausted that I couldn't even let myself sit down for fear of falling sound asleep and missing my Sunday School classes Christmas Party /4th annual scarf exchange. I love, this party, and wasn't going to miss it! Half way there, I was thinking I should have stayed home to sleep, but once I was there, I enjoyed every second! Here are some fun pictures from the night:

Michelle, Audra, Melanie and I @ the Scarf Exchange


Ahh! Matching scarves!

Saturday, I was supposed to meet some friends at the mall at 10 to do a little shopping for a special event that will be coming this week. I woke up at 9:30, and reached for my phone to text the friends that I was going to be a little late. The problem was, that I was so out of it, I started the text, and fell back to sleep before I could finish it! So, when my phone rang at 10, I had to tell them to count me out. SO SAD!!!! I should have gotten up at that time, but for whatever reason, I fell back asleep and didn't wake up until 11:30. Typically, this would have been ok. However, I was supposed to be on the other side of town at 11:45. Not going to happen.
I was SUPPOSED to get a pedicure at the spa with my friends Julia and Rachel. (Rachel could have her baby any week now, so we, I mean ... she NEEDED cute toes! I was still able to quickly get ready, and make a mad dash to that mall by 1:00 for a quick lunch with them!
Next on the agenda was Jenna's (my cousin Jordan's, fiancee) graduation party at my Aunt Carole's house. She graduated with her RN Nursing degree and already has 2 jobs lined up. CONGRATS JENNA!!!! It was fun meeting her family and celebrating!

Celebrating!

Jenna and Jordan

Jenna and my funny Uncle David having fun!
On the way home from the graduation party, we went looking for the Extreme Home Makeover house that is being built not too far from me! Although, you couldn't drive up too close because of all the police action, you could see the house! SO COOL! It was HUGE and lit up like a football stadium. My goal was to meet Ty Pennington, but apparently he was detained at another "Move that Bus" in another state (I have learned from Vanessa that they are building 2 houses at once with 2 different design teams.) She lives really close to the house, and was able to walk up and meet several designers which is SO COOL! I am jealous! I took pictures of what I could see, but they didn't turn out...
Sunday, I slept in.... this time purposefully. Did some last minute shopping, and went to my church's Imagine Christmas Program. It was incredible! I am still a little creeped out by the flying, stuffed Dove on a stick. But, the music was great as always!

This is a portion of the choir.

Me, Michelle and Audra. Michelle sang beautifully!

Here is a picture of one of my favorite sweaters that I posted about a couple of days ago. If anyone knows of anyone with a random growth on their left shoulder let me know and I can pass along my beautiful sweater. If not it will be going to sweater heaven.

Tonight, I am cleaning house, to get ready for Keno on Monday. WHEW!
Although my weekend didn't go as planned, it was still lots of fun and a much needed break from the week!

Grateful

So, this isn't a typical "Laura" blog.... but, this is on my mind tonight, and I want to share. F.Y.I. Lot's of grammatical mistakes. But that is O.K. because that isn't the objective of this post. :)
I take many things for granted. I don't tell my friends and family how much they mean to me often enough. I am super blessed to have an incredible church family, friends from my childhood that I still talk to all the time, and some of the most amazing co-workers that give so much to our sweet kiddos, and who are some of my very best friends. I also have this incredible family, and the strongest, smartest, and most amazing mom EVER!
My friend Brian died this summer. It was hard to process that someone so young and who was a great person, could die after such a long battle.
Our little group of 4, spent the majority of our college days together. It took awhile, but I finally thought that I had "got over it" and moved on.

My college sends out a magazine ever so often. Today, I was just flipping through it, and then there it was: Friends we'll miss.... Brian Black.
I guess I was just caught off guard, but it sure brought back all the great memories our group had shared together. I am thankful for the short time that I got to hang out with him, and for all the funny, funny memories!
Just ask.... I will be happy to share a hilarious story!
I guess the point I am making, is that when he was here, I didn't really appreciate all of the great times, and now that I can't talk to him, I feel inclined to call, and talk, but can't.

Shout out to Sarah!

Last night I had my Sunday School class over. We had a lazy, night with snacks, and a movie. I absolutely love having friends over!

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Today I started my day early for me, and went to vote, get my car inspected, and attend my school's carnival. The carnival was fun! Some volunteers from the high school came to run the class booths, which allowed the teachers to just 'hang out' with our kids and families.

Sarah, Katie, and Me @ the carnival! Notice Sarah's way cute shirt! Shout out to Sarah! :) Speaking of cute shirts, Katie's is pretty snazzy because it has her picture on it!

Jana and Stefanie! *************************************************I haven't been feeling well for the last several days. I finally broke down and went to the Dr. today. I HATE going to the Dr and especially hate going when I am sick. The last thing you feel like doing is sitting in a waiting room for 3o minutes, shuffled to another room only to wait for 30 more minutes, see the doctor, and then wait an hour for a prescription to be filled.

Today I tried Minute Clinic. Let me tell you...much better than a doctor's office or Care Now. It is run by nurse practitioners, and I was the only patient. 2 nurses were waiting for me to finish the paperwork, and then they both worked together to get me the correct prescriptions.

Bronchitis + Sinus Infection = NO Fun! Basically, I have to stay home for 2 days rest and take one of 4prescriptions every 4 - 6 hours. I am all for resting, but 2 days??????

How early is too early?

This has been a very good, but very busy week. I attended a conference for work that began on Sunday. The conference was in downtown Dallas, and luckily I live pretty close to a lot of my co-workers and we were able to carpool.
I learned SO much this week. I came back from the conference with so much valuable information to implement into my classroom. I also, learned about my co-workers! "WOW!" what a group! Once again, we had the most fun/most productive group there! We had 4 days full of learning, stalking nice boys with incredible southern accents, stealing lunches, and discovering nicknames for people. Here is my shout out to sugar britches!
Anyhoo..... The conference really drained me. It was one of those times where you are trying to soak it all in, but there is just SO much that you walk away physically and mentally drained. On Wednesday, the conference was over early, and I was home by 2ish. By 3:o0, I was in bed ready to take a well-deserved nap. I only wanted to sleep or 2 hours. Well, I woke up at 6:00 am still tired! I only needed 15 hours to recover from my crazy busy week! My question for my blogger buddies is: "How early is too early to go to bed?"

A Balancing Act and a bunch of rambling!

Did you know that I am a professional juggler? ( I didn't either!) Lately, it seems that is all I am doing. Bouncing from one deadline to the next, trying to find the perfect balance of work, school, gym, me, my little animals and friends. I have not found that perfect balance yet, but I am working hard to find it.
At work, I feel like a first year teacher all over again since I am new to the grade level. THe great thing is that my kids make me soooo happy! I am so thankful for this little group of kiddos.
I could easily spend 10 hours a day for a week in my room and still not have it perfect. Most of the problem stems from my need to have it perfect. Also, because it is a new to me classroom, I am still trying to find what I need, and the optimal location for each item. Sometime this week I need to build my classroom library, move my teacher table, and clean out and organize one more cabinet and a list a mile long of little misc. items to take care of.
At school, everything is manageable..... so far. It has been kind of nice to have something that MAKES me stop working on work stuff and focus on something else for a while. I am also so proud of myself for doing several projects correctly when 7 or more students in the class misunderstood the assignment. YEA for me listening!
Gym - This summer I was super dedicated about going to the gym. Many days I was able to go twice a day. I went on the first day of school. That was August 25th people! I have not had time to go since. There goes all my hard work.
Friends - I have really been neglecting my friends lately. I get so wrapped up in work and school, that I forget to take time to laugh with my friends. On Saturday, I had a unique opportunity to volunteer at the Tarrant County Food Bank. The best part about it was that I needed to go there for a school project/research paper, AND my singles group was already planning on going there on that day! So, I killed 3 birds with one stone. I got to get the research part done while talking with other volunteers, spend quality time with some amazing friends at my church and just laugh a bunch. Also, I got to volunteer!
My Pets- They have also been neglected lately. Usually I take Copper for a walk every night, and spend time throwing the ball. Since one night each week I am gone over 15 hours, my poor dog has been acting so sad. I did however, find a co-worker that lives close and has a teenager to come over and let him out during that day.
Me - It seems like work has just consumed me for over a month. (You can probably tell from the blog. Everything lately is work related!) I am giving myself 2 more weeks of staying late and being consumed by work. THEN...... I am going to leave work at work, and leave by 4:30 4 days a week. (We will see how that goes!)
Ok, I think I am done rambling for tonight. Next blog will be 100% un-work or school related!

Growing Up Is Hard To Do

I would say that I am an official adult. I own my own home, I have been teaching for 6 years, and have a dog and cat that depend on me for food, water and shelter. There have been many "hardships" and growing pains that I have experienced in my short time as an official adult. For example, It was hard learning that I actually had to go to bed early so that I could be an effective teacher. It was also hard moving from Dallas to Fort Worth. Another challenge was building my home and learning how to handle the stress of obtaining a mortgage all by myself.



Of all those trials, the hardest to date has been the loss of one of my best friends from college. He died on Wednesday, and today was his funeral. Brian was an incredible friend. He was so easy going and laid back. There are so many great memories that involve him and my other best friends from school, Terry and Lindsey. We were the little group that was always together. We had so many memories and stories to share as we were driving to the funeral. It really makes me cherish my friends even more now that I have experienced the pain of loosing one.

I love my friends!

I am so blessed to have such fabulous friends! I am surrounded by people who love and care for me at work, church and other areas of my life. I realize that many people do not have the network of Christian friends to lift them up when they are down, or pray for them when they need prayer. I am lucky enough to have amazing Christian friends in all areas of my life. Tonight, some friends from church went out to dinner to celebrate Sara's birthday. Here are a few of our fun pictures!

The girls celebrating Sara's birthday!
Michelle, Me and Audra

The birthday girl and me!