A Match Made in.....

I have to say- what a day!

I. am. exhausted.

Phase II of my day is just beginning.

I have a heck ache (that area between your neck and head) from information overload.

I saw this joke and it is pretty funny.

Communication is so important to life.   

I really understand it most when I am trying to convey important information to my kids, my students, my friends, and my husband and they don't have a clue what I'm talking about.

Communication is KEY.

One great highlight of the day was throwing our new BOY coworker a BIRTHDAY PARTY.  

It was a quick party but can I say I had the best time laughing and planning it with my GIRL coworkers.

We love to tease Mr. M. about his fun social life.

(hey, we are boring married folks, we want to know what the young people do now)

Mr. M. loves his bowties!

We decided to secretly throw him a Match.com themed party with suggestions of fun dating sights he could join!

For example:

Sugar Mama.com

height:  Tall Enough 

weight:  Wow!  Wow!  and Double Wow!

hobbies:  

Counting my Moolah, shining my jewels, and fluffing my boa.

WestViginiaBabes.com

The Toothbrush is overrated.

GoldenGirls.com

Thank you for being a friennnnddddd, travel down the road....

Christanmingle.com

hobbies:  

Gardening, Love Nature!, Snake Wrangling, Choir Singing, Being Tempted

special interests:  

Hanging out at the Ark

FarmersOnly.com

name:  Joanna Deere

favorite food:  Deer Meat

favorite movie:  Silence of the Lambs, The Deer Hunter

BabyDaddyMatch.com

Hobbies:  Staying up allllll night (with my 7 kids who keep me awake).

The more the merrier!  

WOW. 

We are totally scary.  How did we really get married?

(I guess dating can really be this scary.)

Thank goodness Mr. M. is such a great sport with all of us crazy women.

Happy Birthday Mr. M!!!

What to do on a Cold Weekend

We haven't had very much snow (good for me, bad for the kids) and the winter has very been mild this year.  This weekend we got hit with a cold burst.

What is there to do on a cold, sunny weekend?

Make homemade cookies of course!

This recipe is yum. yum. yum.

Make a Zoo

 

Do some paperwork. (gross)  Anyone else feeling some deadlines creep up?

DATA notebooks

Play Some Ball MAN

Watching Connor's basketball skills develop has been so rewarding! 

And the shot went IN

Go on a Date

(and be back by 8pm so you can watch Grease!)

Buy some new bedding!

(don't you love it?)

Our old one had cotton coming out of the sides.  

It was time.

Listen to Barbie Jokes

Did you hear the one about Ken?  haaaaa.

Have a Monster Jam Finale at Nana & Papa's House

Take Care of the Baby 

(in an adorable Snowflake Dress)

Sunday School Lesson

Remember when your parents use to say 'get over it, life is not fair'.  

They were NOT kidding.

Life can be unfair.

It seems some people can get by with all kinds of crazy things in life.

I made a few of these cards for myself.

Before you have a reaction, ask yourself 'Does this interfere with God's Work?'

More than likely our overreactions and over emotions will take us away from God's careful plan. 

Like I tell  my children:

And give it to GOD!

Take the Wheels out for a Spin

 

 Dance Baby!  Dance!

Somehow when I do a figure 8 with my hips, it just doesn't look as sexy as when Mak does it.

I mean,  really all I can manage is more like an L with my hips but I am trying!

Read a Magazine

I have no idea how this happened but I have been receiving yearly subscriptions to like 6 magazines at work!?!

I don't know how I got these but did you know I am a LOVER of magazines?

Oh yes, I don't buy them due to my budget,

BUT I do love them!!  

What a great surprise.

*****

I watched this touching TEDtalk.

Did you know I once met Elizabeth Smart?  

I didn't know who she was and my very first thought of this girl was:  there goes a perfect girl with a perfect family, not a problem in the world. 

 really.  I remember thinking that.

All I saw was a beautiful, blond, blue eyed girl.  She was smiling and happy with a doting and well dressed family.

They stuck very close to each other and they were getting their picture made before me at the Hope Awards.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered it was Elizabeth Smart.

We never truly know a person's journey.  

Thank you God this girl is alive!

#BeHappy

#Don'tJUDGE

 My weekend is far from over....

I have to go feed the Panther Shark now.

Happy Birthday (to me)

"The greatest gift of life is friendship, and I have received it."

by Hubert H. Humphery

For my birthday some of my friends took me on a day trip!

They were all wearing scarves when they got out of the car.  

On cue I said, "I don't have a scarf!" (whine)

"No one told me!" (whine)

Then (SuRpRiSe!!) they pulled out gifts....

a new scarf!

and a gift card to help me shop before my Disney Trip!

whooooo. hoooooo.

Then off we went to do some Vineyard Touring,

Simply Gorgeous.

Vineyard #1

Providing the Refreshments

Cheese A' La Carte

We keep it classy (and cheap) in the car.

Nutcracker and

the Nuts.

Making me Laugh

Vineyard #2

Scarf Party 

with the Fun Girls from Mt. Pilot

Fancy

Mutlitasking:

Photo Op & Keeping Warm

Reflecting on Life

by a November Fire

(Ms. J. usually has a poem at times like these.)

New Earrings Too!!!

I love you girls!

I had a great birthday.

I Miss You Christmas!

I remember the Friday night before Christmas break, it was the last day of school and I went to bed at 7pm and slept until 8am the next morning.  I was exhausted.  It seems as soon as we came back from our Disney trip it was a rush to prepare Christmas, get back to work, and tie up deadlines.  There were pictures, cards, decorating, gift shopping, cooking... the whole process went from fun to exhaustion pretty quickly.   
This year, I had the Christmas decorations packed away on December 26 before lunch.  Carlee wasn't too happy about the tree coming down so soon.  

Packing away the Christmas Fun in about 10 boxes.

 


When the dust settles, I really do miss Christmas.  I sound like a grown up here, but I miss the time we stop and appreciate the true meaning of Christmas.  A Christmas to count our blessings, enjoy our children, visit with family, and spend time with each other.  

I really miss it.

Santa is Coming!  Santa is Coming!
I was so excited I could barely sleep.

Connor woke up with He CAME!  Santa CAME!

New Hot Rod 

Carlee slept in about 90 minutes longer than her brother.
They had separate Christmas.
You can tell because my hair is washed and we are all dressed in her pictures. #snoozehead

Before we left to visit family we read the story about the birth of Jesus, out of a brand new book Carlee's Puggles teacher gave to her.  

We are so blessed in Christ.

Family

Precious
Who loves cousin O?

Check out the big bag!  What is it!?!  What is it!?!

Oh boy, did Carlee really get into the gift unwrapping!!

Cousins

A SnowBoogie!!!!
Now we need the SNOW!

Some children are a bit more subdued when they open gifts,
not Connor.
 excitement. every. time.

My Secret Santa:  Operation Conservative Uncle

Yep, that is an Obama "Commemorative" Collectable Plate!
Bahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
I am so freaking hilarious.

The next gift was an 1985 picture of Uncle G. at a NASCAR race.
It was awesome featuring a mullet, chicken bone, and trucker hat.

The Sechrist brought the A Game in the gift giving this year!
We laughed for days at his picture.

Every girl needs a good lipgloss in her color....
(check out that 10.00 Musical Frozen shirt I splurged on!
The darn thing broke after 30 min. of pushing the button over and over and over again.
Lesson learned the hard way.)

Cousin Boy O ended the Christmas festivities with us all breaking Christmas Crackers!

An awesome dad who skips a nap to play a new NFL board game with the son who woke him at 5am.
(so far we have dodged the video game bullet)

These boots were made for walking....baby.

I was even a good girl this holiday season.  A few gifts include: a glass pyrex set from Mrs. E (so I will stop microwaving in plastic), a monogramed cashmere scarf (I'm wearing) from my TA- Ms. D., Dove from my Secret Family Santa, and a popcorn machine (I've already used it 100 times).  
#awesome

Now we are totally set up for a tea party in the New Year.
 Join us, I just hope you like the color pink.  :)