thoughts...

We all know very well what has happened in Connecticut and we are all very sad. I can't even imagine what the families are going through that lost a child in this terrible act of violence by a coward. Every time Kevin turns on the news and watches more on the event, I tell him to turn it off. It's too sad to hear about. At first, I was very angry and upset, as were several of you, I'm sure. This man was a coward and an evil person for taking the innocent lives of these children who had their whole lives ahead of them. Unfortunately, they are no longer on this earth and their parents and families are mourning the loss. They are in Heaven, though, with Jesus being loved to pieces by Him and perhaps those that have gone before them. I am certain that a beloved teacher I know, that recently passed, was greeting them at the gates of Heaven and giving each and every one of those children a great big loving hug.

For those students who saw the events unfold and witnessed what happened, they have been robbed of their innocence and I am sure they will live with those images for the rest of their lives. How unfortunate that is.

I am proud of the teachers who risked their lives to protect their students. What true heroes they are! It isn't easy to put yourself in harm's way to protect the lives of others. But as a teacher, I would gladly risk my life so my students could live theirs no matter how scared I would be of losing mine.  I feel like I need to hug every child I see when I am teaching and tell them they are loved and cared about. Thank you to all teachers, administrators and everyone who works in education! I am very proud to be a teacher and to do my job every single day. I know Kevin feels the same. 

I pray that the Lord will be with the families who have lost their young children and that He will comfort them, especially during this time of celebration and joy. Please continue to pray for the children's and teacher's/faculty's families!

Isiah 41:10 states, "Fear not, for I am with you." We should always know that God is with us always, especially in times when we are afraid.  

My hope is for all of you to have a great Christmas and to enjoy your time with your families this holiday season. Let's keep Christ in CHRISTmas and remember the reason for the season. 

Merry Christmas to you from us!

It's that time of year

It's that time of year ... Project time! We have been busy working on projects and thinking of even more projects to do.

Kevin built a fence for Buddy as you saw in the previous post. We love it and so does Buddy. It is so nice to let Buddy out on his own and not have to worry about him running off, like he loves to do, and he doesn't have to be restricted to a leash!

Our next project will possibly be making a bed. We have been looking for about 3 years for a new bedroom set and we just can't find any we like in a price range we like. I have asked Kevin before to make a bed and now he is seriously thinking about it. We found one we like that might be simple enough for Kevin to make. You can find it here. I'm hoping he can get it built over Christmas break but I'm not sure, because we also plan on painting our bedroom and basement during this time. 

I am excited for my new scrapbooking project. I am going to start Project Life, which I found on Pinterest. I think it's been around for awhile but I recently came across it and with my birthday money, I purchased a "starter kit" on Amazon. I cannot wait to get started. I will start it in January or maybe December since I may have a lot of Christmas pictures since I got a new camera for my birthday. Here is a link to project life in case all my scrapbook friends are wondering what it's all about.

Enjoy the beautiful weather today as it may get worse tomorrow. Only in Michigan is the weather in the 60s one day and the next day in the 30s with a possible chance of snow.

Autumn Leaves

It's hard to believe that Halloween is right around the corner! This school year is flying by. Laura has had the opportunity to work as a long-term substitute ART teacher at Churchill and Ross Park Elementary schools. She is enjoying it very much and really likes teaching ART to all the students at both schools. She gets to be creative and also watch the students show their creative sides. She has a few more weeks left and hopes to find another long-term job. Kevin is very busy at school especially with no planning period this trimester. He is teaching in The Dunes for the second year, teaching one e2020 course and 2 Freshman Algebra courses. He has had his first fall PT Conferences already. 

Kevin just finished building  fence for Buddy. It is much nicer than the old white one we had. Buddy has much more room to roam around the yard freely and now we can let him out on his own since he has access to the deck now. I don't know why we didn't think to do this a long time ago!

This has been a great fall so far. Buddy turned 1 on October 6th and Laura celebrated her 30th birthday on October 19th with a great celebration with family and friends! We have been very busy lately and are looking forward to a break in November! 

Have a great and safe Halloween! :)

 Kevin working hard on the finishing Buddy's fence!

 Buddy's new fence

 Look at all the extra room Buddy has to play now!

My beautiful sis-in-law and me at my 30th birthday party!

Dinner Club

Kevin and I have joined a dinner club with Kevin's brother Phil and his wife, Cassie. There are other members as well and it's called "Mouth of the Border." Phil & Cassie have been wanting to start a dinner club for awhile. It's a lot of fun. Each couple or person hosts a dinner and each month is a different theme. 

The first month was in September hosted by Phil & Cassie. The theme was Mexican and we had some yummy food. We had watermelon water, cinnamon churros, Mexican street corn, chicken flautas, and some hot peppers wrapped in bacon. 

This month Kevin and I hosted and the theme was Italian. We had lasagna, anitpasta salad, brushetta, risotto, and tirmisu. Apparently, the big drink in Italy, besides wine, is coke with lime so we had that to drink. 

We are excited for next month's theme. We were talking French. The only stipulation with this dinner club is we cannot use an American theme. This way, we try different kinds of food. 

If you have thought of starting a dinner club, I would encourage you to make it happen. It's a lot of fun trying new foods and socializing. 

Ciao for now! :)

Go Sailors!

So I recently accepted a long-term substitute assignment at Ross Park Elementary for an Art and Phys. Ed. position while the teacher is out on maternity leave. I am very excited for this new adventure. Although I have worked at Ross Park as a part-time Title 1 parapro and have done 3 other long-term substitute jobs (one at Lincoln Park and two at Oakridge Upper Elementary), this will be different for me and, I think, a lot of fun. I have never long-termed in a specials/enrichments class before. It will be awesome to see lots of different students throughout the day and see many kids that I know at Ross Park. Not only will I be teaching at Ross Park, but I will also be at Churchill. This is the only building at Mona Shores that I have not taught at, besides the High School. I am excited to work at this building as well and get to know the staff and students there. 

Tomorrow, I will be job shadowing at Ross Park and next week sometime, I will be at Churchill. I am ready to be back in the classroom and get into a teaching routine. I am also excited to use my artistic side and see all the talent the students at Ross Park and Churchill have. I am looking forward to phys. ed, too. This is something that Kevin laughed at me for and was a bit jealous since he has a minor in phys. ed and hasn't taught it yet. I am ready to run around and have some fun while hopefully getting into shape!

I am ready!

GO SAILORS!

Celebrations!

This has been the longest week ever! I can't imagine how all the teachers feel. It seems like it should be the weekend already and we still have one more day to go. 

As I have been home with nothing to do, I have been thinking about Christmas, yes Christmas! There are so many ideas floating around in my head on paper and I can't wait to get started on gifts for everyone. I know it's only September, but it seems that as soon as school starts, I get really excited for Christmas, so much so that I often overlook Halloween and Thanksgiving. I already have a couple of ideas for my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law. :)

Okay, I will now stop talking about Christmas and share all the birthdays my family has celebrated recently. Last weekend, we celebrated 3 birthdays!
My brother Josh turned 32 on August 30th, my sister-in-law, Ali celebrated her birthday on August 31st and my dad's birthday was on September 1st. Crazy how they fall 3 days in a row! My brother-in-law, Peter's birthday is next week on September 11th and my nephew, Alec, will be celebrating his 16th birthday on September 27th! I cannot believe that he will be 16, YEP, 16! He is making me feel sooooo old! Crazy how big he is getting. The next birthday is mine in October!!

Toodles for now! :)

First Day of School

Today is the very first day of school for the 2012-2013 school year for my handsome hubby, Kevin. This is his 5th year teaching at West Ottawa. This year he is teaching in the Dunes Alternative School, an e2020 recovery course, and 2 Algebra 1 classes of Freshmen. This semester he opted out of a planning period, so he will be quite busy this first semester of school. It's hard to believe that he's been teaching for 5 years already! I am so happy for him and everything he has accomplished thus far. As for me, I was unable to find a teaching job again this year. This year is one of the first years that I am going into the school year without any long-term or parapro jobs lined up. I am hoping for a 5th grade long-term in the late fall/early winter. 

As for my health, I am pretty much completely better. The meds I am on are definitely helping and I am thankful that I am finally back to normal. This means I can get back into substitute teaching and not feel sick every single day! I visit with my doctor early next week for a checkup. 

The summer has gone by incredibly fast. I still can't believe it's September and everyone has gone back to school. Kevin and I didn't do too much this summer but we had a relaxing one. I babysat my niece and nephew and Kevin worked for the city of Norton Shores. He took 2 weeks off at the end of the summer so he could relax and enjoy his summer before heading back to school. We traveled to Cadillac in August for a friend's wedding. We were so thrilled to be a part of Jordon and Sarah's big day! We also got to see some old college friends at the wedding. We had a great time. 

We hope you all enjoy the end of the summer and the start of the fall. Hopefully, I will get back into the routine of updating this blog. :)