Summer Is Here!

Wow it's been a long time since I've posted! We made it through the end of the school year & are now well into summer. I'm teaching 8th grade language arts at summer school & Brian is working speed camp. We are convinced that working 1/2 days is the best thing ever. You get paid so that you can go have fun the second half of the day & still get to enjoy some freedom. It's been great. We are having so much fun hanging out with our friends, watching the world cup, exercising, having people over & just hanging out. It's been nice. We are not up to much other than that, I'm on a hunt for good or free deals constantly & that's kept me from spending money while stocking our cabinets with food & other goodies. I've done some sewing & we've worked on several projects. Brian coached the Baylor basketball camp last week & had a blast. He came home exhausted, but had so much fun. I'll post more later about what we are doing this summer. For now though, I'm off to the store & the bank before a game night with our sweet friends! Hope everyone is enjoying the summer as much as we are!

TAKS WEEK IS OVER!

When you teach in the state of Texas you dread TAKS all year! It's a time when your kids show how much they've learned or how much they hate tests. This week was TAKS week and since we are both teaching this year, it's been a LONG week! Our kids have done their best to use strategies, sit quietly & not totally lose it, but it's been tough. On top of a crazy TAKS week, I've been sick with a terribly sore throat, our computer died & the IRS denied our $8,000 tax credit for the time being because Brian owned rental property in 2006 that never got rented out. (We are fighting the denial since it was not our primary residence, but it is the IRS we are dealing with soo.... be praying that they allow us to use the information we have to show we didn't live there) Needless to say, it's been a rough week & I'm so glad it's coming to an end! On a positive note my grandaddy is recovering well & we did get an escrow check right at the time that our computer crashed. I love how God looks out for us when unexpected expenses come up! This weekend is the first time in months that we haven't had plans. The only thing on the calendar is Braden's 2nd birthday & since I'm sick I have a feeling we will just be laying around this weekend. I need that! It's a beautiful time of year & I absolutely love Spring, but I am really going to be loving life when Memorial Day comes! That will mean summer is here and other than working a half day for three weeks, the lazy time of life will begin! I'm so excited about that! Anyway, that's about all that's going on with us for now! Hope everyone else is having a great week. :)

Summer is getting closer...

I truly love Spring! It's a time when the weather is beautiful, people are generally in good moods because things aren't too stressful & fun things are going on. I think we are both to the point that we know summer is upon us, & are so excited for school to be out. However, just because we are excited we know that while we still have a few precious moments with our kids we have to use our time wisely. Each of us have students that are going through some really difficult things. I have students doing drugs, huffing, dealing with the death of a sibling, thinking about suicide, going through custody battles & just learning that people aren't always who you think they are. It's been draining. However, when I'm exhausted because I spend my day trying to convince them that there is more to life than junior high and the struggles they are facing now, I think of what they are dealing with and press on. It's crazy to me that 12 year olds have the amount of pressure on them that they do & how hard it is to go through this time in their life. I don't think I'd return to junior high even if I were offered a large amount of money because it seems to be such a tough time of life. I'm just glad that things do get better, that I am able to have the time I have to try to make a difference in their lives & that soon they will get a break from dealing with the every day stress of school. The kids need a break, they are mentally drained and so ready for summer. It's exciting to me that summer will be here in just over a month...Hopefully I will be able to get through what God wants me to in that amount of time.

What a great weekend!

This weekend was great! We started it off by going to the Dynamo game with Scott & Cortney on Thursday! That was a new thing for us, but we had a blast! Brian actually ended up being on the news that night talking about his predictions for the season. After that we slept in on Friday, (what a good Friday), went out to eat, did a little shopping, cleaned the house up for company and then had a few friends over for dinner. We celebrated our sweet friend Amanda's birthday with games & good food. It was fun. We decided while playing games that soon we want to host a TNT game night for all of our friends at church. So often we get to hang out in small groups, but it's rare that everyone can get together. So... we want to make that happen soon. On Saturday we slept in again, got up and worked on the yard a little & then went to the home show in The Woodlands. It was fun. We walked around looking at AMAZING homes that we would never own but getting some cool decorating ideas. We got a picnic lunch out of the deal & again had fun just hanging out with The Worley's squared. We rushed home to get dinner together for mimi and grandaddy to come hang out. Brian grilled steaks & mimi made fudge! The boys hung out and watched the ball games while Mimi and I worked on getting Easter stuff together. It was such a special evening. As my grandaddy begins to have more and more health problems, I begin to cherish my time with them more and more. I've always been a mimi & grandaddy's girl, but I sure do appreciate moments with them now more than ever before. Sunday we went to church with Brian's parents and then had lunch there. After finishing lunch we came home to get things ready for the week. This week is TAKS week so things are a little hectic for the kids & the teachers. We are trying to make it!! I think I heard someone say 41 days left of school. It's so hard to believe. Other than that, we got to go to opening day of the Astros season last night and loved our sweet date night. Since we've been married we've made Astros game a date night favorite and look forward to the season starting back up again! Memories with my sweet husband are special & I cherish all of the time I get with my coach! :) Soccer season has begun so our life is about to get crazy again! We're having fun, loving life & just living day to day!

New Home Improvements

Since we moved in to our house in October we've slowly been working to make it feel more like a home. It's been crazy since we have been so busy, but things are finally coming together. I wanted to share some of our latest projects. We just finished landscaping and are SUPER sore! I forgot how hard it is to do that, but the yard looks great & will look even better once our roses start to bloom. I'm sure I'll add more at the end of the week, but we are making progress on this wonderful Spring Break!! Come visit us soon!

WELCOME TO OUR HOME!!
(Sandra and I made these on her cricket!! )

OUR LIVING ROOM FINALLY HAS CURTAINS!!

STILL WORKING ON THE MANTLE DECOR.

OUR TINY LITTLE OAK TREE THE HOA DEMANDED

THAT WE PLANT.

THE SIDEWALK ADDITION WE

PUT IN TO REPLACE DEAD PLANTS.

OUR BEAUTIFUL FLOWER BED & NEW LANDSCAPING ROCKS!

OUR NEW SOLAR LAMPS, ROSE BUSHES, STONE & RED FLOWERS

TEACHER OF THE YEAR

Well, if you know my husband you know he is a super hard worker that will do his absolute best at whatever job he is given. When I married him he was working construction and was buying and flipping houses. He ended up back in school for broadcast journalism and while he did that he waited tables. In his short time as a waiter he became a trainer at the restaurant and while in school he earned positions in numerous honor societies as well as the position of News Director, a highly sought after position. When he graduated he worked really hard to find a broadcasting job & even made contacts across the country. He tried his very hardest to find a position, but with the economy the way that it is never did. While Brian was looking for a job he started substitute teaching in Conroe ISD. He spent a ton of time at my junior high and we got to see each other while we were working and making a little extra cash. He soon realized that this whole teaching thing was challenging, but a lot of fun. Needless to say, God didn't give Brian a broadcasting job & did bless him with a teaching position at one of the best schools in my district. (It's rare that they even look at applications for first year teachers & how he got the job is another story) Brian has done an incredible job of teaching, coaching, working with ESL kids, counseling, parenting, befriending and mentoring these kids and the people he works with. It's been so encouraging to watch him work & to see how much he cares about others. My husband has inspired me and challenged me to get back to the basics, caring & loving kids instead of being so focused on the paper work aspect of teaching. Well, this week we found out that Brian was named TEACHER OF THE YEAR on his campus. Keep in mind, first year teachers are not even considered for this award, coaches are not usually considered for this award & he's at a school with some of the best teachers in our district. WOW!!! I am so impressed with him!! He has yet to say that he's deserving of this award. He's credited everyone else other than himself for winning this award, but in my eyes, it's all him! God is doing incredible things through him & I love that I get to sit back and watch in amazement as he touches so many lives. I hope that next year I will be able to work at Knox with him and really see on a daily basis the great things he does. I'm so lucky to be married to a man like him and couldn't be more proud of my sweet teacher of the year! Way to go coach, way to go! Thanks for always working hard at WHATEVER you do! You amaze me & so many others around you!

Just Relaxin!!

For the last few weeks we have actually gotten to enjoy a life of no coaching responsibilities! It's been a blast! We've hung out with friends, gone on dates, cooked at home and sat by the fire & just relaxed! We haven't gotten to do this in a LONG time and it's been wonderful! Other than just hanging out, we are officially wanting to get pregnant soon, finishing up the house little by little, getting ready for Spring Break & then getting counting down till summer! It's hard to believe that Brian's first year of teaching will come to an end in just 12 weeks. He's done an incredible job & I'm SO proud of him! The kids at Knox adore him and he's really made a huge impact in the lives of so many. I'm so lucky to be married to him. We are hoping that I'll be able to transfer over to Knox next year and maybe just maybe we will get to work together. Anyway, I've got to run, but I feel like I'm doing a terrible job of blogging so I had to post something even if we've done a bunch of nothing. ;) Hope all is well with you guys!