Thanksgiving 2014

      Sunday we had our Thanksgiving lunch at Mary's Chapel. Payton still wasn't feeling 100%, so she didn't eat, but she really missed out on a good meal. Rylee ate cheezits and chocolate cake in typical picky-eater fashion, but she enjoyed it and that's all that matters I guess.

     Today we got up and I made cookies and cornbread muffins. Then I got Ryan up, and we got ourselves and the girls ready to head to Granny and Paw Paw's for a Thanksgiving feast.

      Payton is finally back to her old self, and she absolutely chowed down. She ate all of her food plus 2 extra helpings of green beans and one extra helping of mashed potatoes. Then she finished it off with a piece of chocolate cake. I thought she might explode!

      Rylee Love ate a cornbread muffin and a peanut butter sandwich. One day she'll realize how much she's missing out, but until then, there's just more food for the rest of us! ;) After lunch, Rylee Love, Jenna, and Payton played and played while the adults talked and digested. It's always good to spend time with fmaily and it was funy to watch thsoe sweet girls have a blast together.

     When we got home, Ryan got ready to go "black Friday" (on Thursday) shopping with his parents, and I watched movies with these two cuddle bugs! I have loved spending all my time with them this week. I hate feeling like I'm missing out on time with them when things are crazy with school. I definitely have cherished every snuggle this week, and especially today! Plus, you could not pay me to go out shopping tonight with all the crazies, but Ryan likes going with his parents and seeing the madness, and I definitely don't mind him going out and getting us some good deals when he can. 

     It has been a perfect Thanksgiving. I am thankful for so much: my Savior, my precious girls, my husband, my family and family in law, my career, a roof over my head, clothes on my back, food on my table, my car, and just everything, even the bad stuff. Everything in life shapes us according to God's plan if we allow Him to let His will be done in ours lives. I am thankful that my life is not my own, so I can trust that all things are working together for His good. Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

Pure Madness!

     It's been three weeks since my last post, and I feel like I have been running 90-to-nothing the entire time. It has really just been one thing after another lately, and to say I'm worn otu would be a huge understatement. When we got back from Halloween and then the early Thanksgiving celebration at my parents', the first week of November at school was pretty hectic. On that Tuesday morning, I had a formal evaluation. Then on that Wednesday, I had a peer observation where the 5 other teachers on my wing, 3 assistants, the 2 speech teachers, an administrator, and our instructional coach all came in my room to watch me teach a guided reading lesson. I don't know why, but it makes me SUPER nervous to have anyone come watch me teach, so I was a basket of nerves both days.

    The second Sunday in November we had our shoe box packing party at Mary's Chapel. I love this time of year, and Rylee Love had fun picking out the gifts at Walmart and then placing them in the shoe boxes for the needy children. I think it is very important to teach her that it is much better to give a gift than to get one. This year was the first year it seemed like she really understood.

    Then came the second week in November, which was crazier than the first. Tuesday evening, I found out that I was going to have 2 peer observations on Wednesday. No other teacher had to give peer observations 2 weeks in a row, and no one else had to do 2 in one day. I was very frazzled by it along with the late notice, but I did what I had to do and got them over with, Then I had to take Payton to Dyersburg to get her flu shot, so I took these two beauties with me and we made a fun evening of it by heading to Chikfila afterwords.

     Than Thursday morning, Rylee Love's teacher brought her into my classroom because she was crying. and they couldn't get her to calm down. She's not very good at expressing her feelings, so I tried talking to her but she still wouldn't get calm. Then I felt her and realized she was warm. She went up to the nurses office, and sure enough she had fever, so I had to take off the rest of the day and take her to the clinic. It turned out she had another ear infection. We got her started on antibiotics and it cleared up quickly.

     Sunday evening we went over to Nonna and Granddaddy's because Mel, Austin, and Callie were visiting. It was so good to finally meet little miss Callie. She is such a sweetie pie! I was a total baby hog and held her most of the night, but what can I say?! She's too precious to resist!

      Monday evening I cooked dinner and they came over to our house to visit. Austin loves playign with Rylee Love in her playroom and Callie got to try out Payton's old swing. Rylee Love even asked to hold baby Callie. It was too sweet! And Payton was obsessed with the baby. She wanted to check her out!

     Payton had been acting kinda off all week. Monday night she fell asleep in her highchair at the dinner table. She hadn't been eating much or sleeping much. and she'd been more fussy then usual. Then Wednesday afternoon, I got a call from daycare that she had fever. So I had to miss Thursday to take her to the doctor. He diagnosed her with roseola since she had fever, a rash, and she had thrown up one time. He said it just had to run it's course. Poor baby! I hate when it's viral and there's nothing they can do!

       My poor school babies! I missed most of last Thursday because of Rylee Love's ear infection, I missed Monday for a reading training. I had to leave after half a day Tuesday because I was super dizzy and feeling really cruddy, turned out to be a sinus infection and inner ear infection. Then I missed Thursday with Payton. I missed these little Turkeys, but by the time Friday came and I was there for the day of Thanksgiving lunch, they were pretty out of routine and hyped up! It was crazy, but I was so glad I got to be there with them.

        I was able to eat Thanksgiving lunch with Rylee Love, and that was the best part of the day. I don't get to eat lunch with her because I'm working, but because Thanksgiving lunch had a different schedule, I was able to work it out so I could eat with her. It was so much fun to spend time with her during the school day and she was so excited and proud to have her mommy eat with her!

      Payton didn't have such a good day Friday, and Ryan ended up having to leave work early to go get her from daycare. She seemed okay when she got home, she even ate some Sonic, then we laid her down for bedtime. Around 10 she woke up getting sick, and she woke up again at midnight. My poor baby. But she slept the rest of the night and woke up in better spirits this morning, so we got ready to head to Austin's birthday party.

    Austin's birthday party was a lot of fun. He is such a sweet boy, and I'm glad he got to have a little celebration here with his Tennessee family. After his party he wanted to come over and play with Rylee Love, so of course we jumped at the chance to have one more night to visit before they headed back to Georgia. Overall it was a good day. But it has been a crazy few weeks, and I am just so glad I am on Thanksgiving break this week. Hopefully we can all get well and rested, and things will calm down for a little bit. We shall see.

Thanksgiving Round 1

      Yesterday, we drove to Middle TN to visit my parents and have Thanksgiving dinner with them. I would say it was the perfect way to kick off November. It was cold outside, so the kids played indoors. There was a lot of rough housing going on, but luckily only a few boos boos and all of them were minor. Such is life with 4 rowdy toddlers under one roof! ;)

     This was Payton's first time eating a Thanksigiving meal, and she ate like a champ. She had a full adult-sized plate and ate almost every bit of it. She got a little messy, but what would you expect, she's only one! ;) I love how she's such a good eater right now. I hope she's always this way!

     Payton got tuckered out from all the fun and took a little catnap in Aunt Mary's arms. It's hard to get her to nap when she's not at home, and she will not let me rock her to sleep anymore, but she'll still go down if someone else does the rocking. She was so precious napping on her Aunt Mary. And Aunt Mary must have had her extra comfy clothes on or something because later, Rylee Love and Kaden decided to come snuggle with her, too. What sweet memories.

    While we were there, Liz took some family photos of us. It was cold outside, but the pictures turned out so pretty. I love my little family so! And these two girls have my heart! I love how much they love each other. It makes me so happy.

        Our first Thanksgiving celebration was a definite success! I love this time of year, getting to spend time with everyone we love! I am 100% thankful for family and all the memories we get to make together. :)

Halloween 2014

     This year I let Rylee Love pick her own costume for the very first time. Her original choice was Princess Peach from Mario, but that was hard to find and was going to end up being expensive, so her second choice was Elsa from Frozen. Of course, that meant baby sister needed to be Anna. I knew a lot of other little girls would be dressed up as Elsa this year, but it didn't matter. I think I had the most beautiful ice queen and little princess of them all. ;)

     We started our Halloween fun last Saturday at Mary Chapel's trunk or treat. It was a lot of fun. The kids got a ton of candy, and there were bouncy houses and a hayride, too. The weather was nice and the company was nicer. :)

     This week was drug free week at school, so Rylee Love got to dress out of dresscode every day. Our theme was staying drug free all year long, so each day was a different holiday. Of course, today was Halloween, so the kids were allowed to wear Halloween shirts or black and orange to school. Payton had her Halloween party at daycare today, and it's the first year she got to participate since last year she hadn't even started daycare yet on Halloween, plus she would've been too small to participate in a party anyways.

      After school, I got Bailey, Rylee Love, and PAyton dressed up in their costumes and we headed to meet Mary at the Ripely Square to trunk or treat. It was really nice, and there were lots of people giving out candy, but it was COLD. The wind was blowing and it was too intense for us, so we went around quickly and then headed to the cozy warmth of Nonna and Granddaddy's house. Liz and Brandon and Kaden met us there, and the kids had a blast playing together at Nonna's house. Of course she spoiled them with goodies. That's what Nonna's are for, right?!

     After we left Nonna's we headed to Granny and Paw Paw's. Matt and Amber and Jenna were there. It Rylee Love and Payton had fun playing with Jenna for a bit until Payton got tired and cranky. Granny gave the girls way too much candy, but again that's what Grannys are for, right?!, and then we headed home.

   IT has been a VERY long day. After trying to keep 20 hyped up kindergartners on task all day, and then our Halloween festivities tonight with the girls, I am wiped out. Tomorrow we are headed to my parent's to celebrate Thanksgiving since it was the only weekend in November that worked with everyone's schedule, so I better get some rest before another very fun but very busy day tomorrow. Good night!

Fall Break

       We have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of our fall break this year. It started Friday with Fall Festival at RPS. Rylee Love said she had a blast and I had a kind friend to send me a few pictures of her enjoying the festival. Then after school, I took Bailey and Rylee Love to DQ to get some ice cream to celebrate the beginning of Fall Break. The girls talked and laughed and enjoyed their treat. It was a nice way to begin our break.

     Saturday morning, I caught up on housework and let Ryan catch up on sleep. Then we dropped the girls off at Nonna and Granddaddy's and headed to Jackson for a date night. While we were getting ready for our date, I made a slight change to my hair color. I like change especially when it comes to my hair. Anyway, we had some much needed alone time, and the girls had a blast being spoiled by their grandparents. I'm beginning to realize that date nights are a win-win. I used to feel guilty for leaving the girls, but now I know they enjoy those nights just as much as we do. It's harder for me to leave them after working all week, though, because I simply miss them and want o spend time with them. But when it's a break from school and I know I'm going to get a lot of time with them, it doesn't bother me so much to spend a few hours away from them.

      Sunday morning we went ti church. Then we headed to Liz and Brandon's for some family time. My parents came to visit and the kids had a blast playing together and playing with Grandma and Grandpa.

      Monday morning, I got up and got the girls ready for Fall Pictures at daycare, but neither of them would cooperate for the photographer, so I gave up. We ran a few errands and did a little shopping, then we headed home. When we got home I was able to get one cute shot of the girls in their matching outfits, so I felt better about them not doing so well at daycare. Tuesday, Grandma and Grandpa came over to spend a little bit of time with the girls before they headed back home. Rylee Love made Grandpa read to her for the entire morning, and she even impressed him by reading to him. She is getting so good at reading. I can't believe how well she's caught on to it.

       Wednesday, we met up with Liz and Kaden and headed to Union City to the Discovery Park of America. It was really neat. The kids really enjoyed all the exhibits and baby Payton enjoyed taking in all the new sights. Rylee Love went down a slide that was a story tall. She amazes me how brave she is. She said that was her favorite part, but I know the pumpkin patch was a close second. She ran the pumpkin maze at least a dozen times. After we got back from the Discovery Park, we headed to our town square and took some pictures of little miss Payton. She is such a pretty little baby model.

      Thursday, I did crafts with the girls. We started out by painting pumpkins. It was Payton's first time finger painting, and she loved it. She wanted to paint everything. She coated her entire pumpkin with paint, she didn't want miss a single spot. Rylee Love preferred to use a paintbrush. She was much more intentional with her painting, which of course would be expected since she's 3 1/2 years older than little sissy. After we painted pumpkins, we made feet ghosts and hand turkeys to hang on the fridge for fall. It was a lot of fun. I enjoy being able to do things like this with my girls. I wish I had more time to do fun little crafts with them.

      By the time we were done painting and cleaning up, it was time for lunch and nap time. While Payton slept and Rylee Love had some quiet time, I got some school work done. I ended up working on school work until after dinner, but at least I know I'm completely caught up so hopefully I won't have to work late playing catch-up all week. I want to be able to spend as much time with my girls as possible. Friday, we woke up and it was rainy, so we decided to have a lazy day at home. The girls and I played in their playroom, read books, and snuggled and watched cartoons. It was a perfect day.

       Saturday, we took the girls to Chuck-E-Cheese. It was Payton's first time and she had a blast. She tried to help sissy play all the games, and she loved the little rides. After we were done playing, we went to steak-n-shake for dinner then headed home. It was good to spend time together as a family. Today we went to church, and it was a really great sermon. Brother Ryan was preaching about the differences between being a fan of God and a follower of God. God doesn't want to be our #1, He wants to be our EVERYTHING. I had never heard it put exactly like that, and it was a really moving service. We had 2 people come to Christ, and that is always the best feeling, to watch someone give their life to Him. It was a good way to start this week going back to work.

      I am sad that Fall Break has come to an end. Little breaks like these make me realize how quickly they are growing up. A lot has changed in the last 10 weeks since summer break ended for us, and I hate feeling like I'm missing out. I love what I do and I love every single child in my class, and that is what keeps me going. I just have got to do my best to get my work done and get home when the school day is over so I can have the best of both worlds. These girls will only be small for such a short time, there definitely isn't any time to waste. I am thankful for the memories we were able to make this week. I love, love, love spending every minute with these two precious girls.