just another day in the life of a K4 teacher...

This morning one of my little girls came into my room and began talking to me. I noticed her hair looked freshly done so I said, " M, your hair looks so nice this morning." She looked at me, put her hand on her hip, and with tons of attitude said, "Well, I did just wash my hair!"


We were reviewing our blend ladders this morning. I decided to make it a competition between the boys and the girls. This particular game we played, the boys won. (Any competition is taken very seriously with my kids!) One of my girls very angrily looked at one of the boys and says, "Loser!" Ironic.


My kids were playing inside for recess this morning because it was too cold for Mrs. Jerkins today. While they are playing, I overheard this: "A, your heart is dirty! You need to go talk to Jesus!"

simply wonderful

What a wonderful last few days! Wednesday was our Thanksgiving Feast at school. Our kids were encouraged to dress up like a Pilgrim or Indian. So we had a very fun feast that ended with an early dismissal. :) The teachers then took down all fall decor and we put up our Christmas stuff. Then our Thanksgiving break officially began!

Coming home at at 2:00 p.m. and taking a nap was a great way to get my break started. D came home a few hours later. We decided to use one of our gift cards for a fun date night. We went to Bonefish Grill. I had never eaten there. It was delicious! I highly recommend it! So after a delicious and basically free dinner, we rented a movie and came home to watch it on our new 60 inch TV... aka the Christmas present. Who needs a movie theater when we have this?! Thank you direct buy!



Before the movie, I made my Thanksgiving dinner contributions: Pumpkin Cheesecake and Turtle Pumpkin Pie. I do not like pumpkin pie, but will eat both of these. They were delicious. Thank you, Hollie, for the great recipes!

It was so nice to sleep late Thursday morning. And by sleeping late, I mean until 8:00. Although I did get a friendly wake-up from my alarm on my phone which is set for 6:30 a.m. Monday-Friday. Oh so handy... but annoying on this day. Thankfully, I was tired enough that I quickly went back to sleep. Then D's alarm went off at 8:00.... thanks honey..... so then my coffee and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade began calling my name.

Before we knew it it was time to go to his parents house. We arrived early to load all of our Christmas stuff up in the car. After it was all loaded, we jumped in his parents car and headed to Hernando for our Thanksgiving lunch at Grandmomma's and Grandaddy's. The food was amazing. I will not dare admit how much I ate, but let's just say I was wishing I had worn looser fitting pants.

We returned back to the Jerkins' house and got in our car and headed to my Granny and Gan- Gan's house for a late dinner. Once again, the food was too delicious to stop at one plate. Yea, I know... gluttony is a sin, but the food was so good and Thanksgiving is only one day a year. I'll work it off later.
The good food and fellowship was followed by a family tradition: Dominoes.




I think this Thanksgiving I was reminded of how thankful I am that our families are so close. Regardless of how crazy holidays can be, it's so nice to be able to see both families each holiday.


With our Christmas stuff already loaded in the car, it made decorating very easy on Friday. Oh how I love this time of year! Christmas music on the river all of the time blesses my little heart. This is our first Christmas in our house so it was fun trying to find new places for all of my "decorative junk" as D calls it.

Now I am sitting here cozy on my couch, D killing some bug in the window, football on the TV, Christmas decorations around me, Thanksgiving leftovers in my belly... yes, my life is simply wonderful.

sweetness

As I am typing this, Lily is jumping up and down beside me dancing to D's Smokey doll that sings. We are keeping her tonight while the rest of her family are at the Memphis game. We are at the church for volleyball. Lils and I decided to take a break and come find candy in D's office. She ran in here and yelled, "Smokey" as soon as she saw him.

She has chocolate all over her face after eating who knows how many mini chocolate bars. I lost count after 2. :) It started as a great teaching opportunity. "Lily hand me the orange candy." Then she said, "I want 2 candies." Needless to say, her teacher aunt was thrilled to let her eat the 2 pieces that she so easily counted out. Smokey now has sweet chocolate fingerprints all over his orange T-shirt... that my genius 2 yr. old niece pointed out.





If I haven't said it before, I love my nieces.

ultimate security

"Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure." Psalm 16:5

My Beth Moore study: "Lord, in all the chaos and crisis, all the threat and doubt, You, have caused my life to work out. Instead of me falling apart, the lines of my life have fallen together. Truly, I can say that You have given me a delightful inheritance."

What assurance that no matter what we go through God has specifically ordained the ups and downs. He has assigned our portions, but most importantly He has made our lot secure. Nothing can rip us out of His mighty grip!

Ten Things Thursday

*The count down is no particular order. I just need the numbers to keep me on track.

10. South Philly= a delicious philly cheese steak place downtown. I'm not normally a huge fan of philly cheese steak sandwiches, but this was exceptionally good.

9. Memphis basketball games= being there in the mix is exhilarating.

8. Lunch with sister and mom= sweet time.

7. Boldness= I truly believe God gives us an extra ounce of boldness when we make a profession of faith... why else do people walk down the aisle so confidently who normally would not... we got to see this boldness this past Sunday morning from one of our girls.

6. Nights at home with the hubs= the best.

5. Ending of another bible study= surprisingly sad, but looking forward to the other one that we're starting in January.

4. Christmas gift for a mom in need= an amazing opportunity to bless someone who has no idea.

3. Professions of faith= I am so blessed to be apart of a student ministry where God is moving mightily.

2. D= I know I've said it before, but I am married to the greatest guy on earth. I love watching as the Lord uses him to lead our youth.

1. D ordered our Christmas present and it came in 2 days ago. Tonight our plans are to "renovate" ...as he says... to make room for it. I'll explain and post pictures later. :)

throw-up

So clearly this is a topic that gets your attention, but it's not a very pleasant one. I've been teaching for 3 years, baby-sat for 11 years, and I of course have been alive for 24 yrs..... I have seen my share of throw-up. I've come to a conclusion... I do not do throw-up.

Well, you can probably guess where this is going... one of my students threw-up all over the lunch room floor. Poor thing had been acting funny today and before we knew it... it was coming out and it did not want to stop. Thankfully, I had finished my lunch and was preparing my class to line up when the incident occurred. I immediately told her to run into the bathroom behind her as I ran out the lunch room door to get our school nurse. God love our school nurse. What she has to go through with 68 children including her own class of 9... the woman definitely deserves a raise! Thankfully my little girl was able to change clothes and wait for her dad before another round hit. I was able to get my class down for nap while, Mrs. Roach, bless her heart, cleaned up the mess. (Is this in her job description?... probably not, but if I had to clean it up then she'd be cleaning 2 different throw-up spots up.)

This got me thinking.... what in the world am I going to do when I have kids who are throwing up? I know it's different when it's your own children, but just the sound makes me gag! Give me kid poop explosions all day... I can clean that mess up with no problem.... but throw up? No stinking way... no pun intended. All I can say is, Sweets, hope you can handle some throw-up.

Nights at Home

I love nights at home. It's rare for us to have a night where we can eat dinner together and hang out at home. Because of our busy schedules, nights at home do not happen often. It is our choice, most of the time, to be as active as we are in different things. We know there will come a time where playing ball several nights a week and church activities will have to fall on the back burner to early baths and bed time. So for now, a busy schedule is alright with us. It makes us better appreciate our nights that we get to stay at home. Thankfully, last night was one of those nights.

There's nothing like coming home and cleaning a much needed dirty house (the cleaning fairy has decided to no longer visit), working-out w/ friends, fixing dinner, eating with the hubs, and folding laundry while we watch one of our favorite shows that's 2 weeks old... thank you DVR. Nights like that remind us to be thankful for the little things: my home, my hubs, and even the fun things that fill our new home.

We are so blessed. Nights at home are a great reminder.