I'm DONE!

      Friday was my very last day of student teaching. Next Saturday is my commencement ceremony. I am finished with my undergraduate career!! Woo!! I am very excited. It is also a little bit scary. Even though I am already a wife and a mother, this REALLY makes me feel like a grown-up. It seems like a lot of responsibility to have a college degree and soon, (hopefully!) a full-time job. I am excited, anxious, and a little bit nervous, but mostly EXCITED! :)

      My last day of school went well. The last week was awful. I had to proctor for TCAP and it was so boring, and my kiddos were on a different schedule, so when I finished proctoring and got to back back to my class, my kiddos were all CRAZY! But Friday TCAP was over and they got to be back on their own schedule and they were angels. They were all so sweet to me. I got several sweet notes and pictures from them and a wonderful Good Luck gift from Mrs. Coats. I had such a great experience throughout all of my student teaching. I am really glad that I got such great placements.

     Friday night, Liz and I and our babies went out to dinner to celebrate! Then Saturday we did a photo shoot to try to sort of recreate the photos we took last year of the cousins. It is so unreal how much they've changed in just 12 short months. Our babies aren't really babies anymore! But they are such blessings. :) We love them to pieces and I think they like each other a little, too. They definitely act like siblings, they have their little disagreements, but mostly they just have fun playing and getting into stuff together. Haha! They are gonna be trouble as they keep growing!

Only One Week To Go

      This week was a good week. I had a good week with my kiddos at school. Tuesday, I had a screening interview with Tipton County, and I made it through with a referral for a Principal Interview. Friday, I went on my first field trip as a "teacher," and I had so much fun. We went to the Lichterman Nature Center and then to Shelby Farms to eat our lunches. I loved seeing how excited the kids were to go on the trip. It was a lot more work than a typical day at school, but it was definitely worth it because they all seemed to learn a lot and have a blast while they did. Next week is my last week of student teaching, and I have less than 2 weeks until graduation. I'm so excited! Next week I will be proctoring the TCAP test for another class. I am not very excited about that. Testing is so boring, but considering only 5 days stand between me and being done, I think I'll survive! :)

     Wednesday night, it was Liz's turn to host our weekly dinners/play dates. Rylee has so much fun over there. This time, she got to meet the baby chicks Kaden got for Easter from his Meme. She loved those chicks! She was chasing them around the yard trying to catch them. She almost caught one, but when she actually touched it, she realized she was scared of it. Haha! You gotta love my timid Rylee!

    This week with Rylee has been pretty good, but she seems to be going through a little bit of a whiny phase. It hasn't been bad, she is just typically such a good girl that it stands out when she is the least bit grouchy. She's acting like she's getting more teeth, so I think that is the issue. She's been chewing on everything and sleeping a lot. Those are her typical signs. All she is missing is her top 2 2-year molars, so if she is getting more teeth she will have all of her teeth, big girl! She turned 22-months-old yesterday. I cannot believe she will be 2 in 2 months! Time flies! She is so smart, though. I feel like she is pretty advanced cognitively, but I don't know if I just think that because I'm her mom or because it's true. Time will tell. This weekend she learned how to spell her name singing it to the tune of B-I-N-G-O. She also knows how to sing the entire ABC song. She knows all of the basic shapes. Now, we're working on colors, but this is the first thing she is not picking up on right away. I feel like maybe she just isn't ready yet. She'll get them soon. I'm so excited that soon I will get to spend all my time with her! Ah, I love Summer Break! :)

Rylee's First Baseball Game

      Last night we took Rylee to see her first baseball game. We went to Jackson to watch the Jackson Generals play the Mississippi Braves. We had so much fun!

      When we first got there, Rylee was a little unsure about the bleachers and everything, but once she saw the ball, she loved it. She also was obsessed with the mascot which was a bear  dressed up like a general. She kept saying "Where's bear?" when he went out of her sight!

     It was an evening game that ended up going into 14 innings, but we left during the 7th inning because we had work this morning and Rylee needed to go to bed, too. I'm glad Rylee enjoyed her first ball game. I have a feeling she'll have quite a few games under her belt by the end of the season! :)

Another Week Down...

     This week at school has been pretty good. It started out pretty rough as ATES suffered a tragedy when our art teacher passed away early on Good Friday. Monday, Mrs. Coats broke the news to the kids, but they didn't really understand it. It is hard to deal with explaining death to 6-year-old's, but there are a lot of things that teachers have to do other than teach kids their grammar and arithmetic. Even though it was sad to lose such a wonderful person, our lives went on and school went on. We had a pretty good week. I taught my unit on fractions and my kiddos loved it. They all did so well on their math test on Friday! They usually do poorly in math, but I had 8 100's, 5 A's, 6 B's, and 1 C. No D's or F's!! I was proud of them and it made me feel good about my teaching strategies. :) Only 2 more weeks of student teaching to go then I will be a "real" teacher!

     This week at home has been pretty good, too! Monday night, Rylee and I had dinner over at Nonna's and Granddaddy's. It was yummy! Rylee even went potty over at their house! She is not anywhere near potty-trained, but she is learning. Wednesday we had our weekly play date with Aunt Liz and Kaden and Rylee had a blast! She loves teaching Kaden how to take care of her dolls! ;) The other nights this week, I just spent my time playing with Rylee. I love my time with her so much. Right before bed each night, she'll crawl onto the couch and tell me, "Mommy, snuggle!" and I'll come snuggle her and watch cartoons for a few minutes before I put her to bed.

     This weekend has been wonderful. Yesterday I got my hair cut, and then we stayed home playing video games and hanging out the rest of the day. This morning we went to church and then we relaxed this afternoon while Rylee napped. Tonight we are going to take Rylee to her first baseball game! I am sure she is going to love it!

     Rylee is growing up so quickly. She changes every day. Every morning since we converted her crib to a toddler bed, we have found her in the morning reading a book. She just wakes up and grabs a book off the shelf and brings it into bed with her. She's such a little smarty-pants! She almost knows the entire ABC son, she talks nonstop about everything, and she is interested in learning about everything around her. I just cannot brag on her enough. My baby is a little genius! ;)

Easter Weekend & Paw Paw's Birthday

      Friday night, we went over to Nonna's and Granddaddy's for a cookout and s'mores. Rylee got to open her Easter basket from Nonna while we were over there. She got so spoiled! It was completely FILLED with goodies and gifts. She enjoyed the fire pit. We made s'mores, but she preferred eating just the graham crackers until she figured out that there was chocolate bars involved. Then she had to have a piece or two of chocolate. ;)

      Saturday, we had an Easter egg hunt for Ryles and Kaden over at Liz and Brandon's. The kids had SO much fun! They were searching for eggs and putting them into their baskets like pros! Then afterwards, when they realized there were goodies in their eggs, they were even more excited! After the egg hunt, we went to dinner at Los Portales. It was good! :)

     Today is Easter. We went to church this morning for the Easter service. It was lovely, but since it was a little longer than usual service, Rylee got pretty antsy. She refused to go to the nursery, so I hope she didn't disturb anyone during the service! Today is also Paw Paw's birthday, so after church we went out to lunch at Olympic. We love Paw Paw and Rylee adores him! Happy Birthday, Paw Paw!

     This week went by very quickly! Only 3 more weeks of student teaching left and less than a month until graduation! I am SO excited! I am very ready to have my own classroom and students, but I have been very blessed to have such great student teaching placements and I am thankful for all I've learned form my two amazing CTs! :) Ryan got some bad news this week. He is going to be laid off on May 1st. We knew it was coming, but it doesn't make it any less frightening. God's got a plan, but sometimes you just wish he would let you in on it, ya know?

Spring Break

     This week has been my Spring Break and it has been absolutely wonderful! We have spent so much time outside enjoying the beautiful warm weather. The weather has been nice every single day. I have gotten to spend tons of time with my little buggy and sweet husband, and I just feel so happy and refreshed!

      Last Saturday, we went to Memphis to shop for Ryan's birthday gifts and go out to eat at his favorite place, Buffalo Wild Wings. We had fun. Ryan got an outfit and two games for his birthday, and we had a lot of fun. Sunday we went to church and then spent a quiet afternoon at home. Rylee fell and hit her head when we were leaving church so we spent the day loving on her (even though she was just fine!)

      Monday, I went grocery shopping and then spent the rest of the day playing with Ryles. We played outside until supper then came in and played inside. I just love spending time with that little lady! Tuesday, we met Nonna and Granddaddy at the park to walk and play-play-play! We stayed at the park for about 2 hours, and then we went to Los Portales for dinner. Rylee ate a whole plate of fries! She worked up an appetite!

      Wednesday, I went over to Liz and Brandon's to keep Kade-man! Ryan brought Rylee over once she got up and around and they played all day. Rylee loves it over there because they have so many fun toys to play on outside! I had so much fun watching those two kiddos have a blast! Thursday, Ryan and I took Rylee to the park and we ran some errands. After that, Rylee and I spent a quiet evening at home watching cartoons on the couch.

     Friday was Ryan's 22nd birthday! We went over to his parent's to wash his car. Rylee even helped! Then we got lunch at Taco Bell (Ryan's choice, not mine!) and headed home so Rylee could get a nap. We all ended up taking a nap, and then we headed over to Nonna's and Granddaddy's to go to Jackson for Ryan's birthday dinner. We went to Steak and Shake and pigged out. Around dinner time, I started to feel kinda sick, but I tried to push it aside and have a good time. By the time we got back to the house to have cake and open gifts, I really did not feel good. When we got home I was pretty sick and I'm pretty sure that the Taco Bell gave me food poisoning. Ick!

     We had planned on going to the zoo Saturday for Kaden's first time. I REALLY wanted to go even though I wasn't feeling 100% just yet, and I'm glad I did! We had a lot of fun and it was so amazing to watch Kaden see all the animals for the first time. Rylee enjoyed it, too! She loves animals, and she got to see some this time that we didn't get a chance to see the first time she went!

    Today we slept in and didn't make it to church, but we'll definitely make it next week for Easter Sunday! I have greatly enjoyed my break and I'm glad that I got to enjoy this time with my little family! Only 4 more weeks of student teaching to go and then I will be a college graduate! :)