Holiday Season

Wow! What a crazy week!! My principal informed us that we would all have an informal observation before Christmas break. Well, she didn't make it to me and then the last week of school was here and I was sweating bullets! What teacher would want to be observed the last week before Christmas vacation?!?! Monday passed. Tuesday was our plan day. She was in meetings all day Wednesday. Thursday was our Spelling Bee and Christmas program. I was at the point I would just laugh if she came in Friday!! Luckily she did come in, but not for an observation. She popped in to tell the kids Merry Christmas at our fabulous end of year party! I have the best parents this year. The party was fun and smooth sailing. 

My kids were SO sweet, and I felt so blessed to open up all their gifts. They were so happy to give them to me. I loved them all! 

Thursday my team and I exchanged gifts between one another when we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Colton's before the Christmas program. I love my team so much. I feel so blessed to work with them. In fact, I love all of the faculty at my school! Here are a few shots of our school Christmas party! 

Our new principal seems to be warming up to us as well. She is very sweet and has a great sense of humor. She gave all of us a free movie pass for Christmas! We are all going to go together I think. Our husbands will be in charge of the kiddos! Haha!! 

Wednesday night my ladies bible study group had a Christmas party. I haven't been able to go as much this semester, but hoping to go more often this upcoming year. My friend and I are trying to get a young couples group started. I think I have way too much on my plate for Spring with national boards, an intern, TESS, and helping a new ministry. Yikes!!

I wore my lumberjack shirt to school with my leopard print, sparkly slippers. Haha! Most comfy outfit!

Off to finish some Christmas shopping last weekend! 

A Day in my Life

So I was looking back at an old blog post and realized that my typical day has changed so much since a few years ago! Now that Griffin is here, things are much different. I can't wait to see how different it will be in another few years! 

4:30 Wake up

5:00-6:00 Run four miles and head back home

6:00-7:00 Shower, get ready, eat breakfast, and pack my lunch while trying to feed and wrangle a toddler. G usually wakes up while I'm running or right when I get home. Thankfully Brandon doesn't leave until 6:40, so he helps me get his milk and Mickey Mouse on the television. 

7:00-7:30 Drop G off at JoJo's house and head to school. 

8:00-10:30 Teach Spelling, Reading, and Writing

10:30-11:30 My break! I try to use my time wisely- grading papers or planning next week'a math lessons

11:30-12:30 lunch/recess

12:30-3:30 Teach Math, Science, and my intervention group. I have bus duty twice a week from 3:20-3:45. 

4:00-4:30 Leave school hopefully around four, pick up G, and head home. I stay late on Tuesdays and Thursdays to work and for meetings. My in laws get G those days. 

4:30-5:00 I love on my baby!!!

5:00-5:30 Fix dinner and we eat together at the table. 

5:30-6:00 I pick up the kitchen and house while Brandon gives G a bath. I usually put lotion on him afterwards and his pjs while Brandon either watches TV or heads to the gym. 

6:00-7:30 We veg together on the couch!! This is my favorite time of day. We cuddle up together and watch tv, look at books, plays with cars, or color on white paper. It's quiet and we just enjoy our kid. 

7:30 to 8:00ish is when Griffin goes to bed. If he is tired enough, he will put himself to bed and go straight to sleep without a fight. If it's too early or if he's beyond his limit, he will fight it. He still takes his paci at 22 months and sleeps with his Boo doll (from Monsters Inc). 

I'm usually in bed between 8:30 and 9:00. If I have any school work to do, I work after G is asleep. But since I get up so early, I am TIRED by 8:00. I sleep SO much better when I run in the mornings and have an overall better day. 

So that is my typical day! Nothing too crazy, but I'm about to be spending another 20+ hours every week on my National Boards. I am getting an intern next semester so I hope she is good! She will be a tremendous help with grading and the mundane paperwork tasks of teaching! 

And no post is complete without a few pictures!

I'm wearing some pretty crazy leggings these days. 

Griffin and Daddy walking across the stage for the kids Christmas Program. 

Enjoying a snow day in DECEMBER! 

Mailing our Christmas cards!

Griffin loved decorating the tree!

I just love dressing him in his church clothes!

An awesome girls night

A thoughtful gift 

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

21 Months

24 month and size 2T clothes

Size 4 diaper

12 teeth with four more coming in

Meets all the milestones listed for a two year old on the CDC website. 

And in a nutshell, he is a mess and acting just like a typical terrible two year old. 

I love him so much. He has taught me so many things, especially patience. 

There really hasn't been too many new things since my last update. He's still learning a TON of new words. The creepiest though is when he whispers "be quiet" really slow. Brandon and I thought it would be hysterical to teach him to say "I see dead people."

He mimics everything we do. His new favorite is pretending my old iPod is a phone. He walks around having a conversation on it in his jibberish. He also LOVES following the big kids around. He is pretty much a pest to them. 

I bought him one of my schools shirts!! Presh!!

Photo Dump

Bran and I were pirates for our church's Trunk or Treat. We had over 3,000 people come through!!

We went to a Halloween get together the night after my half marathon. Lane decorated everything so cute! Can't wait to go again next year! 

Griffin is really into coloring right now. He spent an HOUR in his high chair perfectly content with his crayons. 

Griffin's new CVE shirt!

Love my Baby G!

And finally... The quickest and easiest way to shred chicken is with the beaters! Who would've thought!! What did people do before Pinterest!?!

First Half Marathon

Last weekend I accomplished something I never thought I would do in a million years... I completed my first half marathon! 

My buddies, Leslie, Cora, and Valerie, stayed the night in Conway. We all took off Friday afternoon so we would have plenty of time to pick up our packets, drive the course, check in to our hotel, and of course carb load at dinner! Our first hotel was a Days Inn. Yikes!! It was cheap, which was good. But the stong floral scent covering the body odor stench bellowing from our old, musty rooms with yellowed bed sheets and water stained ceilings weren't so great. We could handle all the nastiness, but then the line men started coming "home" and found four women staying there. Then came the cat calls and lustful stares and we were GONE!!! Seriously. It was scary. And that's how we found ourselves at the nice, cozy, safe Comfort Inn. 

We ran to the Sporty Runner to get our packets and super cool tshirts that smelled like puke. Then drove the 13.1 mile course. Holy smokes! I had no clue 13.1 miles was forever long!!! 

We ate a delicious dinner at Russos. I had a kid plate of spaghetti and meatballs and split a piece of cheesecake with Val. YUM

By this time, it was 7ish. We headed back to our nice, cozy, safe hotel. I got all my race gear ready and crawled into my stain free bed and waited on Bran. He arrived around 8:30ish. I crashed! 

The next morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel and headed to the McGhee Center. Traffic was crazy!! I bet we walked a mile to get to the starting line! Haha! 

2,000 runners and/or walkers were there!! I was in the corral in front of the walkers. 

 

We were ready to get started!! The first part of the course was easy. We ended up crossing back past the start line almost at mile five, so I got to see Bran again. I gave him my arm sleeves because I was warm. I felt GREAT at that point. My pace was steady and mood was great. I ran up the first big hill without walking and all was great! 

This is a screenshot of my splits. Obviously you can see I was completely gassed by mile 10. There was a hill on almost every single mile. I had to take my first walk break at mile 7 on another significant hill. I was so bummed. I ran again up until mile 10. And I basically walked the majority of miles 10-12. It was so tough and such a mental battle. I really was wishing I had a running partner at that point to help me push past. I had 80 year old men walking past me. It was tough and extremely discouraging. 

I jogged the last mile and crossed the finish line at 2:58. My goal was 2:45 but I guess I can only go up from here!! 

My rewards! A huge medal and a snickers bar! 

Some of the women I trained with. I love my city's running community! They are so uplifting and encouraging!

This is my teaching partner, Leslie. We started running together back in March. She keeps me accountable!

Brandon has been my biggest supporter! I wouldn't have made it to the finish line if I knew he wasn't going to be. He is my rock!

I wear my Soaring Wings shirt proudly. 

This sticker is really the whole reason why I wanted to do a half!! Haha!!!!

So I am running another half in April. I know how to train better, and I know I can run 13.1 miles in 2:45 if I keep pushing and working. I can't wait for my next half!!  

And finally, my lunch afterwards! Pretty sure I consumed those 1,500 calories that I just burned!!