Merry Christmas

Excited to be opening a gift on Christmas Eve.... Looking at Chandler because they have opened theirs and Chandler says his is a toy....

All Three in their new jammies.... Ready for bed....

Good Morning and Merry Christmas to all......

Here are a few pictures from last night. One of the gifts the kids get every year are new pajamas from Nana and Pop-Pop. This was a tradition as I was growing up as well. We opened them on Christmas Eve and I have kept this tradition going on with our boys. Then we go out and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus on the front porch. Not sure why I chose the front porch but we have done it since Chandler was little so we continue every year.

So our 16 year old is the one who went to bed last and woke up first. What's that all about? Of course now he sleeps..... ah the life of a teen! We have had a wonderful week around here with last minute shopping and celebrating Christmas with the in-loves. Our niece and nephew are also in town with baby Molly.. so precious!

I pray each of you have a wonderful day spent with your loved ones and the One who loves you!

Blessings,

Hello.....Let me re-introduce myself....

Couldn't think of a more appropriate title considering I have been away so long. I have missed blogging terribly but the time has just not been there. I haven't worked full time outside the home since 1994 so beginning a teaching career so late in my life has been quite an undertaking. I love the job but have had an incredibly difficult time balancing home and school.

I have only been off school for 2 days now and I have really enjoyed it and am looking forward to getting caught up here and with all the paper work that I brought home from school. Of course it is 5:30am and I don't have to be awake but I guess I am programmed so it will take a bit to sleep in. Looking forward to that..

We took Christmas card pictures yesterday. You should have seen us. I made my oldest son grab a chair and we all went looking for a good railroad track location or older looking building and this is what we came up with. I am loving it. A little different but love the faces on my boys.

Looking forward to getting caught up on some blog visiting and posting. :)

Have a wonderful day!

Blessings

This and That from a bad blogger

Can't believe that it has been almost 2 months since my last post. So much has gone on in my life that I couldn't begin to share it all but here are a few photos to give a small glimpse into my life. These first photos are of my classroom. I only have one large board so I have a picture of it when it was the beginning of the year and as it is now with the fall leaves. I had fun doing them. The soccer balls are actual balls that I cut in half and glued to the astro-turf on the board. It was fun... Then I have my helper chart and the You've been framed poster. This is where I post a student's picture when I have caught them doing something good.


I love the sign that my sister painted for my room. Love the colors... Thanks Sandy.



First day of school in my room. Carson and Cameron visiting me before the school day begins... Love those crazy faces.... :)

Of course there is always some soccer to be played by my 3 kiddos. Love watching them... And Chandler getting ready for the homecoming dance.. Wow can't believe how fast time goes when raising these kids... He has only one more year at home and I really feel like it was just yesterday that I delivered him.


Life has been crazy busy... but I am so excited about Fall. Here our Fall and Spring seasons are short but love them anyway..
Teaching has been fun and completely overwhelming at the same time. My appreciation for teachers has multiplied by a million.. I could never have imagined just how much work is involved teaching and preparing for 8 subjects...... The Lord has blessed me with some really great kids in my class and David has been so supportive. He has even cleaned the house on several occasions since I started.. What a blessing.... Hopefully I will post again before Thanksgiving(haha)...... Ya'll have a wonderful day... I am looking forward to church and spending time with family and of course writing a few lesson plans.. :)
Blessings,

Can I get a drama free day???? Please????

Well well well where do I start?????
So yesterday was my first day of in-service at my new teaching job. I was extremely nervous to say the least since I haven't worked outside the home in quite some time not to mention this will be my first official year teaching in a full time position. I did teach one year of preschool part-time.
Knowing I had to be somewhere at a certain time was a little worrisome to me especially since I woke up with a flat tire. My son was spending the night at a friends and was going to come home early so I could use his truck when he couldn't find the keys anywhere. Now we do have an extra set but he was 45 mins. away..... Hubs got the tire plugged by 8:00, so I could leave, fortunately the in-loves were available to drive over (20 mins away) with a 5 minute notice to keep the two younger kiddos so that hubs could get spare key to oldest son so he could come home and watch the kiddos for us... Hubs got to his meeting on time, in-loves got to go home, and I made it to work on time.
Today was not going to be outdone by yesterday, oh no, no way it had to top yesterday. My father-in-love was scheduled for a heart cath early this morning we figured maybe a stent or something simple but to our disappointment he was scheduled for heart by-pass surgery for tomorrow. I found all of this out before I made it to work.

Wow! I am worn out! But I do know that Jehovah Jireh will provide all that our family needs right now and I am counting on HIM cuz aint nothing good comin from me right now!!! Love the grammar coming from a new teacher?? :)

Hoping ya'll are having a Drama free week and if not know that He can and will provide if we let Him.


Blessings

School/Birthday

Happy Birthday to my sweet Daddy. I hate that he and my mom live so far away(Germany). I know they are traveling this weekend to celebrate. Hope it is a great trip.

Also want to say Happy Birthday to my niece, Janna, on my husband's side of the family. She is turning the big 30!

Love you both!

I start my new job teaching 5th grade this coming Monday. I am very nervous. I won't actually have the students til the 19th. I feel so old to be starting something for the first time. I am feeling such a wide range of emotions right now. If the Lord leads please pray that I will lean totally on Him and Him alone. I know that with Him I can accomplish anything but without Him I will fail miserably.

Hope ya'll have a wonderful weekend.

Blessings,

Happy Birthday honey

Today is my sweetie pie's birthday and we have had a busy day. I let him sleep in, got Starbucks for him. Then the boys and I went on the hunt for some presents to bless him with. We then had a wonderful steak dinner here at home which of course he grilled for us...... Maybe I should have grilled them..... Oh well that is just one of the things that makes him so incredibly special. We love you honey and can't wait to see what God has in store for you this year.

Wow, alot has been going on around here. My front door has been bare for a while now. I wanted Boston Ferns but didn't want to pay the price for two of them so I waited until about a week and a half ago and was able to get them both for $16.00 which excited me. The pots they are in used to be a terricotta color and had seen better days so I spray painted them black. I also had a horrible wreath on the door so I shopped around the house and put this together. Layering in true Nester style. The picture of the 4 boys is from Regional Olympic Development camp.. They are only boys from Tennessee that made the Regional pool. There are around 400-500 campers there and they select 40 to the pool so it is an honor. Regional camp is in Tuscaloosa, Alabama so on our way back with the little ones we decided to stop at Elvis's birth place in Tupelo, Mississippi just to break up the trip. Now it is not something that I would plan to do but since it was on the way we stopped and it was interesting. The statue the boys are standing next to was of Elvis at 13. The caretakers of the place really need to secure it better to the ground because Cameron jumped on the back and it moved. My husband quickly pulled him off of it and noticed that the base is pretty flimsy and about give way so that lovely statue will fall down. I am just thankful we noticed it and it did not fall down after Cameron jumped on it. The picture of Chandler and his girlfriend, Cathleen was taken at the airport when he arrived home from ESP camp.
I am so ready for all Chandler to be home and stop all this traveling.

Hope you are having a great day. We are having some much needed rain and I am enjoying it tremendously.
Blessings,

Denver Update

Chandler has had an awesome week in Denver. He has played the whole time in the first three games. He was chosen to be on the ESP ALL-Star team where France professional player Zinedine Zidane played along with them. He has had a blast. This is a picture of some of the team with Chandler in the middle and Zidane on the right (looking at the picture) of him.

Denver Bound/This and That

We put Chandler on a plane this morning for Denver, Colorado. He is going to a soccer camp that he was selected to attend along with 99 other soccer players from across the country in his age group. He was so excited to be going. As soon as the lands here in Memphis we will drive him to Tuscaloosa, Alabama for Olympic Development Regional Camp. I hate for him to be gone so long but know that he loves to play soccer and he will have a blast, not to mention all the wonderful training he will get.

Carson, Cameron, and I along with some friends went to see Ice Age 3 on opening day. We knew it was going to be crowded. We rushed to get there and just take a look around the boys seats .... no one there... There ended up being about 40 people in the theater but nothing like what we anticipated. I liked the movie but did prefer Ice Age 1 and 2.

I am going to start teaching 5th grade this fall so I have been racking my brain trying to come up with bulletin board ideas and been purchasing posters etc. for my room. It has been fun and overwhelming all in one, and quite expensive. I guess the first year always is. I am excited about this new chapter in our lives but am a little worried at how it will all come together. I am going to have to be organized (a trait which I lack) and prepared both at school and home. But I don't want to fall into the trap of thinking I can do and have it all because I know it will not be possible.

Any of you who teach school that might have ideas for boards please let me know. Thanks

I know I haven't been a great poster lately but I have been a lurker. So I am keeping up with everyone. Please forgive me if I don't comment. I am usually just checking in and logging off.

Blessings to you and have a wonderful 4th of July.. Happy Birthday America!

Happy Father's Day!

Lots been going on since my last post. I finished my class and got an A. (Yeah Me) I had a birthday, as well as my mom, father-in-law, 2 brother-in-laws and two nephews.

I have tons of pictures to post of the kids activites but for now just wanted to say Happy Father's Day to my wonderful Husband, Father, and Father-in-law. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Blessings,

Happy Memorial Day

Of course I start an on-line college course Tuesday and my computer crashed this morning. I am typing away on my brother-in-law's computer. We came out to celebrate Memorial Day with the family. Our neice and nephew are in town with their sweet baby Molly who I just got to rock to sleep. I could just eat her up!!!!!

Anyway I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day. Don't know when I will be back on-line. But it's not like I was posting daily......
Blessings,

A little project

I was supposed to go to my in-laws yesterday but my mother-in-love wasn't feeling well so we changed our plans and went home. As I sat in the garage ready to get the kids out I had a spontanious thought(not necessarily a good thing) and asked the kids, "hey, why don't we paint the shed"? Of course they were on board so off we went to Home Depot and picked out and bought paint. I had no idea they now made paint that had the primer in it. My new best friend!!!! It was expensive but not more than if I had bought paint and then primer separately. Also it cut out the two coats, at least for this job it did. Anyway we got home and started right away. I love how it turned out it is just the pop of color my yard needed.








If you click on the picture of the kids you can tell they were really into helping me. I let them do the back of the shed and of course at one point there was more paint on them then the shed. They had a great time.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to my mother and mother-in-law. We hope it is a great day for both of you. Thanks so much for the impact you made in our lives growing up and now as adults. We love you! Grandma we don't want to forget you either. We hope you have a wonderful day too.

I hope all mothers have a great day. Whether you are a mother, want to be a mother, or a mother to a baby in heaven I pray it is a great day for all of you.
Blessings,

Can't believe it's been 7 years

My middle son, Carson, is 7 today. I can't believe just how fast time goes. We had our oldest son, Chandler, and wanted another so badly. Right when we accepted the fact that God was only going to give us one child, 9yrs later we were excited to find that we were having another. He is such a wonderful little boy. Full of life, very intent on doing things the "right" way, very athletic, passionate, and such a tender-hearted little boy. He was so excited when he went to bed last night. Just waiting to be seven was killing him. haha.
Carson we love you and are so thankful that God blessed us with you seven short years ago.

Ever have one of those days???

Ever have one of those days when you know everything you have said shouldn't have been said??? You just feel anxious inside and have no peace? I have fed my husband with raw emotion who then of course wants to fix my situation and to make matters worse it has to do with one of our children and how I am perceiving the treatment he is getting. I should have known when I went to the phone and couldn't get a hold of anyone that where I needed to be calling wasn't on the phone but the Throne! I just hate days like this. I have allowed myself to be rendered ineffective for the kingdom when I gossip, vent in an inappropriate way, fret over any situation. I know I need to let go and give it to God but can't seem to understand why I can't just take that short cut and talk to Him first. I always seem to find myself lost off the path then going the long way before I finally have the aha moment! Hello God it's me Linda, gotta minute?? " I have never moved my child, I've been waiting right here for you to call". Ugh Why is it the spirit is willing but the flesh takes over?????
How about you? Ever have one of those days????


Linda

Easter/ Changing of the rooms

Here is a picture from yesterday. Easter morning before Church. The boys, especially Chandler did not want to take any pictures. Our Lab Dallas wouldn't get out of the pictures so she is in everyone we took.


This room used to be the playroom. The boys are now sharing a room and they love it. I have not bought the matching bedding yet or hung pictures that fit in their room. The ones that are up were in the playroom.




This room used to be the office, then Cameron's room and now is the school room. The pictures don't even do it justice. I love our new school room. I love that it is closed off so there are no distractions from the rest of the house.







So here are some pictures of the used to be dinning room then school room, then tried to be a dinning room again but couldn't fit couch in the room I wanted to so it sat in this room and I ended up liking it so now it is another living room of sorts. The tv cabinet was free, got it right off the side of the road.