Holly Natale Photography Giveaway!

We have not had family pictures taken with our sweet new girl (I know, I know she is almost 5 months and that is terrible!). I saw this giveaway and thought it would be perfect to try and snag some free photos of our family! GO check her out!

http://www.hookedonthehowards.com/2013/07/giveaway-holly-natale-photography.html?showComment=1375301346083#c2507879290051806604

We are still here!

Hello out there! Sorry it has been so long... I know I say that every single time I post! Why do I even keep this thing anyway?! Sometimes it is fun to blog, when I remember! News around here... We moved back to Wylie!!! Most of you already know that though... I will get some pictures uploaded soon and post them. We really love it here! I went 2 weeks without having to fill the truck up with gas! Two Weeks!!! That is so wonderful when we were filling up every other day ususally. I can't say that I am ready for school to start by any means, but it will be cool to see how short of a drive it is in the mornings! Any whoooo, that's it for now. I promise to get some pictures up of the house next! Happy Friday to you!

Constipation... Thanks Jo! haha

To explain the title I will first give you some background info.

This is me about 2 weeks ago on New Year's Eve with my sweetie.

This is not how I want to look anymore, nor has it been for a long time. I always told myself that when I got a classroom job, that I would join a gym with the higher income. Thanks to my insurance, that I usually complain about, I joined several gyms! Their fitness program is dirt cheap compared to gym membership fees and I am allowed to go to any of the gyms on their list. As soon as I learned about it, I was convinced it was for me. I signed up and was ready to go! I just figured I would go to 24 Hour Fitness after school but the little fitness center here in town was on the list too. I decided to try it out and LOVE IT! The lady (that's what I will continue to call her becasue I am HORRIBLE and can't remember her name) said she would be my trainer as well as my nutrionist and I get to pay NOTHING!! Did you read that? NOTHING! I went 6 out of the first 8 days and missed the next three days thanks to STREP! AGAIN! Nobody is happy about getting sick, but I think I was more mad at the fact that I couldn't go to the gym! I love it I tell ya, LOVE IT! Today was my first day back in and I had to take it kinda easy considering I spent the last 3 days in bed, but it felt good to go. I can take Jordan with me and he can play in the kids room, so far he likes it. I usually go while he is in bed though, easier on me and I don't want him to get burned out.

Now to the story...

We went to the gym today and I took Jo with me. The only stipulation of letting your kids play in the kid's room is that you make sure it is clean when you leave. I was helping Jo put a puzzle on the shelf as we were walking out and handed him my water and this is how the conversation went...

Me: Here hold this for a second; but don't drink it, I'm still a little sick.

Jo: (as we are walking into the area where all the other people are) But your aren't constipated anymore.

Me: What? I was never constipated.What are you talking about? (Looking around to see who now thinks I have constipation)

Jo: Huh? You know, when you can get other people sick...

Me: OOOOHHHHH Contagious! Not constipated!

Funny Kid! Hope nobody heard him though!

Posting again before the year is over!

Well, it's been a REALLY long time since I have posted so I suppose I should do that before the year comes to an end. I never showed you pictures from classroom. I did on facebook, so I guess you could have already seen them if you are my facebook friend. I am having a great "real" first year teaching 3rd grade. My kids are so sweet and really work hard. They amaze me everyday. I do miss teaching the kinder babies sometimes though, I don't know if it is because I miss how well I worked with my team, if it is the age, or the love those babies have for school. My kids really have started to show a love for learning, but it just seems to be in a different way. I absolutely love how independent my kiddos have become. That is something you rarely see in kinder! I got an amazing Christmas card from one of my students that just put everything into perspective. He told me that I was his favorite teacher of all his teachers he has had so far! I can't wait to see how he will grow as a learner and a young man in the years to come. I strive to always be that "favorite" teacher!!! :)

Here are some pictures of my room before school actually started, it never stays this clean. The furniture will be different after Christmas as well. We had new carpet put in over the break and I am going to rearrange and try to fit my old futon couch in there some where. I think my kids would enjoy it.

 Jeff and I worked hard on this super cool baseball table!

W had a great Christmas this year, as you can tell from this picture of Jo. I didn't take a lot of pictures because I'm a loser I guess. I do have some from the in-law's house but they are on my real camera and I have yet to get them on my NEW LAPTOP!!

Here is a picture of the totally cool lego table Santa and Mrs. Claus spent loads of time and effort building for Jo while he stayed the night with his Granny before Christmas. I found it in a magazine and had to do it. It can later be flipped over and turned into a desk for Jo when he out grows his legos...if that happens! And now we will finally have somewhere to keep all the legos in one spot!

One of Jo's presents from his Granny and Grandaddy was a season pass to Six Flags/Hurrican Harbor. They bought one for all 3 grandkids as well as one for them. Grandaddy called yesterday to say he wasn't doing anything at work and he was leaving to take the kids to Six Flags. I just couldn't bare to let him take Jo to Six Flags for the very first time without me there to see how he reacted...so Jeff and I bought season passes too! We all loaded up and went out to Holiday in the park for the day. The kids had SO much fun! It was a blast to see Jo's face on each ride. Some were laughing faces, while others were scared out of my mind faces. He was hilarious. He must of been very worn out too becuase he slept in later than ever this morning and has been really lazy today. Maybe we should go more often!

Jo has also started playing basketball this season... That is a new experience for all of us. I like that he is trying something new, but boy do I miss baseball. Which is good since Jo will now be playing on a select tournament team. A student of mine plays on the team and his dad is the coach, he had jo come play in a tournament before Thanksgiving. The team is a 9 year old team so it was also a big change, but it was fun. Jeff is going to be helping coach and Jo will continue to learn and grow with the older boys. We will continue to play in the regular Wylie league in his age level though during the season. We really enjoy that and I know Jeff loves to coach those kids. We aren't the best team...actually that is an understatement, we won 2 games last season; but it is fun none the less.

Well, I know there is more to tell but I need to get off here and finish up some laundry. I will TRY to post more often, but I can't promise anything!

We are loving our summer!!

Let's start with some fun pool pictures of my boys!

We have had a couple of firsts and a FINALLY this summer!

Firsts:

Jo got chiggers! Yikes, no fun! We went camping for the 4th of July with Jeff's parents and he got a ton of chigger bites.

Jo learned to blow a bubble with bubble gum! They were just tiny little bubbles, but bubbles none the less!

Finally!!!:

Jo can now ride a bike without training wheels!! We were starting to think he would never do it. Part of that would be our fault becasue we didn't let him practice very often. All the house in our neighborhood are front entry and we had a scare when he was smaller of a truck almost backing over him on his bike so we just didn't go that often. I'm a big loser and still haven't taken a picture of him riding but boy is that kid proud of himself! I will take some pictures soon and get them on here.

Other big news:

Luke Riley Thomason is finally here!!! He is so handsome! I just love my little "nephew"!

My crazy boy...

Yesterday Jo comes in from jumping on the trampoline and says "Hey mom, watch this..." He then cracks his knuckles and DOES A FLIP like he does on the trampoline. My heart jumped out of my throat! I knew once his feet left the ground what he was doing and and how it would end. I tried to stop him... The words couldn't come out fast enough! He did it and it ended as I expected. Him flat on his back on the floor. Jeff and I were both worried he was hurt and started talking to him and then laughing that he ACTUALLY thought this was a GOOD idea! He started crying, he said he was crying because we were mad at him, even though we told him many times we were not mad at him, we were worried about him. He was in fact crying because his back hurt. The whole time Jeff was talking to him we were cracking up. I was so glad he wasn't hurt bad, lord knows that could have turned out really bad. There really isn't a whole lot of padding under our carpet. I felt so bad for him, he really thought he was going to bounce right back up to his feet like he does when he flips on the trampoline. Needless to say, he rested in pain for a little while and we know it is not okay to flip anywhere but the trampoline. I really never thought I had to tell him that... but I guess I did!

Summa' Time!

So it's summer time and here we are...not doing much!

I got my classroom books all organized, FINALLY! It took a good week and a half and a huge mess. I got my motivation to finish when we were told we were having an open house in a few days. (That didn't go well, nobody came-but my books got cleaned up!).

Check out the mess!

I have been feeling crafty and wanted to make some things for my classroom. I made a sign to hang outside my classroom door, it will have the name in the pink part soon. I showed it to Whitney and she gave me the idea to paint a cork board too! So I made a bigger version to hang on my wall by my desk. I will probably use it to hang family and class pictures up.

Last Friday we got together with a bunch of friends and their kiddos and took over the splash park in Royse City! We had 14 kids all together!

We got to babysit sweet NJ while Whitney went to a workshop. We really enjoyed having her...maybe in the next year we can think about having a sweet little baby... just maybe...

Jordan is enjoying summer too. He really would love to have someone to play with but he manages.

Playing some basketball in the driveway...too bad the HOA won't let us keep it out. Look at his tan little body!

This is his new spot! He even hid from me yesterday. I walked in and didn't see him, just a bunch of toy baskets under there. He hid behind the toys and stayed there for a long time. I started to panic a little because I couldn't find him and didn't think he was under the bed with all the toys! Goof!

Wow! It's been almost a WHOLE year since I've posted!!

So sorry I let this slip away! My friends Charise and Jamie have both started a blog to keep up with their new adventures in motherhood and it made me remember I had a blog once in a blue moon! To catch up on some things we will do a quick play by play...

October: Jeff quit Rockwall Ford!! He is now an independent insurance agent and we love it. Still working on building up the client base, but he is so happy and has more time to be a happy husband and daddy! He was actually able to coach Jo's baseball team this spring! YOU NEED TO LET HIM GIVE YOU A QUOTE!! jeff@farmnhome.com check him out on facebook

December: Christmas! Fun times!

January: I was blessed to be able to teach kinder for a friend of mine while she stayed home with her beautiful new daughter! It really made me feel great that she requested for me to teach in her classroom while she was home. I really felt like her class was my "first" class. I had a blast despite a few tough kids.

March: Jeff's Birtday!
Baseball Season Started! Jeff got to coach, finally! we only won 2 games of 11, but our last game really showed some improvement in our team! Most of the kids want to return to our team next year so we hope to have more time to practice, learn and grow as a team.

We put our house on the market!! We really need/want to be back in Wylie. We spend so much time there; I work there, Jo goes to school there, our families are there, friends are there, baseball is there... tell your friends about our house here is our listinghttp://www.2817spencercir.cbapex.com/

April: Jo's Birthday! We had another successful party at the park in Rockwall! Love cheap, fun days for the kids!
When Whitney came back to her classroom, I moved over to another kinder class for a teacher on bedrest. I finished the year with them and learned a lot this semester!

May: Birthday for me!! The day before my birthday my principal texted Jeff to see if we were in wylie and we were so confused. After he told her no, she called me and told me she forgot to tell me happy birthday. (I wasn't going to be at school the next day on my birthday) I still was confused becasue she had in fact told me happy birthday. She then told me she knew I would have a tough day the next day and wanted to give me something good to hold on to... her exact words... "Heather Buckley, I am officially offering you a third grade position at Birmingham next year!!!" I cried and screamed, then looked across the table and Jeff and he too was crying! What great news! We were getting really worried I wouldn't get a job with the crazy budget crisis in education right now! Yay! I'm really going to be a teacher!! For Real!
Staci and I also had our annual birthday getaway in May! It was fantastic. I really enjoy having this time with Staci Bo! Best massage of my life!


June: Summer Time!!!!!!! I love it! A lot of my summer will consist of working at school but hey-I have a classroom!! I'm teaching in August!!
Jo was retested for GT (gifted and talented program) this year and got in! He was super excited and so were we. Of course we knew he was a smartie pants, but now the school does too! haha!
Also, our sweet 'nephew' (Luke Riley Thomason) should be here soon! I can't wait to meet him and spoil him rotten!!

Phew! That was a lot!

Just have to share...

After an extremely busy day in Kindergarten with Whitney, I was pretty whooped tonight. I was ready for bed but Jo was NOT! After getting up for oh...I think the 2nd time, I was getting a little frustrated and told him to get back in bed. This is what you would have heard at our house tonight...

ME: "Get back in bed, I love you GOODNIGHT!"

Jo: "Goodnight, I love you"

Me: "I love you too, now go to sleep!!"

Jo: "As soon as I wake up in the morning, I'm going to tell you I love you mommy!"

Me: *with a soaring heart and a tear in my eye* "Me too buddy!"

Boy, I am blessed! Thank you Lord for an amazing life! I don't think I give You the glory enough!

Say a prayer for a more peaceful day in Kindergarten tomorrow!

P.S. Here is a couple of pictures of Jo on his first day of 1st grade! I will have to take a picture with his teacher tomorrow, I was way too busy to remember to do it today!

Love watching what He has planned for me!

The Lord has been working in some mysteriously cool ways in our life lately!

One amazing piece of news is that I will be teaching kindergarten from January to April all on my own! YIKES! A dear friend of ours (and Jordan's Kindergarten teacher last year) is adopting a baby that will be born in November (and we are so excited, she is going to be an amazing mommy!) She wants me to cover her class for her while she is home with that sweet baby for 3 months! We found out last week that it is approved and I will get to do it! I'm so excited and honored for the great opportunity and also that she has that much faith in my teaching skills! I told her that it was just so wild that for the past few months, my heart has really been pulling towards kindergarten and it scared me senseless, now I know why!

Another great thing is that the woman from the college emailed me again to tell me that my Educational Aide Exemption will be granted in the fall! That is great news, still kinda stinks that we have to pay for the summer classes by taking out a student loan, but every little bit helps!

And lastly, I was asked to teach the 2 and 3 year old mission friends class at church yesterday! I feel like it was God's way of saying "You said when you finished school you wanted more responsibility in the church...HERE, HAVE IT!" I'm going to tell them that I would love to be the full time teacher in the fall, but see if they are open to the possibility of me bailing for a few months when I'm teaching kindergarten...just in case I get exhausted come Wednesday nights! But I'm going to try!

Okie Dokie, that's all of my news for now!

Let's get this off my chest...

So my friend Sam has become a super blogger while I...haven't posted in how long?! hmmmm

While reading up on her blog today, I decided to join in and link up to Living in France for F Bomb Friday.

I have been in a particularly bad mood for a week or so thanks to Texas A&M Commerce. Why, you ask? I have been taking classes to finish my Elementary Education degree for 7 years now! Seven! I know! As I posted before, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! I will finish in December of THIS year! Since attending Commerce, I have been able to get my tuition paid in full by the state of Texas because I am an elementary aide in Wylie. It has been such a blessing...until now! I filled out all the needed paperwork and sent it in just waiting to see my tuition balance go back to $0. I'm still waiting...It ain't happenin' no more. First, I get an email saying I forgot to fill in one of the questions on the application. Done. Check it off the list, I fixed it and sent it back. Not an hour later I get a email that is titled "Denial Letter". I went through all the emotions possible at once; confusion-that couldn't be right, laughter-haha she's kidding, anger-what the crap? Why?, and sadness-wow, I'm going to have to pay for all of that myself? GET A TISSUE, THIS GIRL CAN'T STOP CRYING! Poor Sam was on the phone with me when I got the email and I am pretty sure I completely cut her off in whatever she was saying to have my own pity party. Sorry!

What I have come to learn from this so called "financial aid advisor" from the college is that I was denied because my husband made a whopping $3,000 more last year and it put us over the limit that deems us needy. It just makes me so mad because Jeff gets paid by commission, so we never know what his check will be each month. Way to go Honey, you worked your butt off and look where it got us...DANG!

So anyway, here it is a week or two later and I'm still pretty ticked off about it. I thought maybe if I blogged about it, I would get it off my chest-so thanks for that!

If you need to vent and get it all out...write your own F Bomb and link up with Mimi.

Jo's Birthday Party in Pictures

Start at the bottom and work your way to the top....I forgot how blogger adds photos backwards and really, there are far too many to fix it! As you can tell, this picture is from the end of the day when nobody wanted to go home!

"Hiking" in the frisbee golf course.

The Buckleys

The Carters

The winners... :(

And we were the losers. We played the boys in washers and I talked so much smack in the beginning of the game that it came back to bite me at the end of the game...

Uncle Jay and Aunt Reese

Cute boys!

Aunt Jen

Taci Bo!

Love this one of the boys playing!

Mrs. Weir. The three boys are her current students, the sweet little girl, will be hers next year for sure!

Blowing out the candles!

So many presents!

The giant frisbee got stuck on the roof of the bathroom and John gave Jeff a "boost"! hehe

He was so in love with the cake

The boy was so excited all morning, he counted down the hours and then the minutes!