Back to the Hustle and Bustle with a Snow Day

This last week going back to work has been fast and furious! There are only 3 short weeks left before Christmas Break (praise you Jesus) and there is so much to do. Within this time we have the worlds best field trip planned at school, lots of testing to do on my kiddos, Christmas shopping, my niecey pooh's FIRST birthday, my sister Stephanie's birthday, our class Christmas party, and that's all that's coming to me now, but I know there is more!
Just making that list stresses me out. So I need to be taking things one at a time.

And you know how it goes, when you have lots to do and no time to waste that's when something comes along that throws off all of your plans! Something like a **snow day**

I got to experience my first snow day as a teacher on Friday. It was a mixture of emotions. The little kid in me wanted to jump for joy and play out side for hours, while the teacher in me kept thinking 'well this stinks, I like having those bad weather days to be off in the spring'. However Jason did get to stay home with me. And if we had a bad weather day in the spring then I would home alone. So having him home suited me just fine.

Family walk in the ice

 The snow day also meant that our Worlds Best Field Trip would be postponed. This would be our 2nd Annual Trip to Build-A-Bear! Yes, you read that right, our field trip is to Build-A-Bear! I can't even tell you how much fun it is. We go to an amazing high end mall where Christmas decor and activities are set up everywhere. It's a whole day of Christmas magic and the teachers love it just as much as the kids. When we do get to go I'll be sure to share some more details. It's just awesome! 

The snow day also threw some kinks in our plans as far as getting to go to Ms. Anna Banana's first Birthday party! I guess I should clarify first that we didn't really get 'snow' on our snow day. We got ice. 4 big fat inches of it. And then you add to it the fact that we are in Texas, where this happens maybe once in every 5 years and you can see how this made for a big problem. We didn't get to make it for the party. However I did  get this super cute picture of my sweet girl!

And now it's Sunday and the roads are still just as icy, the temps are still in the 20s and I'm really starting to wonder if we'll be able to have school tomorrow. 

I know one little puppy who wouldn't mind if I had to stay home again for another day. 

Hope you're staying warm and enjoying your Sunday!  Only 22 days till Christmas!

Thanksgiving Break 2013

Well hello there strangers! It feels like forever since I have put up a post! Time really goes fast when you're having fun.

Since we last met Thanksgiving has come and gone and let me tell you mine was sooo nice!

We went home to be with family in Oklahoma for a few days over the break and had a great time! We ate things that are terrible for you, spent some time spoiling my pup, and did plenty of shopping! Oh yeah and we walked...a lot!  Georgia always gets a little more energy while we are out of town so in order to not drive everyone completely crazy the little lady and I spent about 2 hours a day walking. This was on top of our regular play time, etc. my goal was to wear her out, and I think it worked! She did so good the whole time! And I think the exercise helped me not gain 100lbs while I ate anything and everything that weekend! 

I did also take advantage of some of the Black Friday sales with my sister Stephanie. We love Black Friday and have been doing it for years! We really could care less about the shopping as much as we just love the excuse to spend some time with family and friends doing what we do best! 

We went out about 10:00pm Thursday night and shopped until 3am. Then we went back to sleep and spent Friday watching Christmas movies, cleaning up from Thursday's get togethers, and... oh yeah walking. Later that night we met up with the fam at an adorable little Italian restaurant to celebrate my sister Courtney's birthday! The food was awesome and we had a great time! 

This year I had two really great finds from the Black Friday sales. One being some new running shoes! Thanks to the mark downs I scored these bad boys that were originally $120 for $45! Insane right? These are my first pair of Brooks running shoes, and let me tell you I'm sold. They are comfortable. I have really enjoyed my runs in them since.I will definitely be keeping my eyes open for them again when I'm ready for the next pair.

I couldn't wait to break them in!

I also scored Georgia a new doggie pillow that she couldn't love more. It's an XL dog bed with a slipcover that I snagged from pet smart for $15! She has definitely grown to like it.

On our way back home Jason and I stopped at his parents farm to walk around some more (I'm telling you I think I walked a marathon that week) and try to get a good family photo of us with the little stinker to use for our Christmas card. Unfortunately we were unable to get a good one of us all looking at the camera. I never thought about how difficult it could be to photograph a puppy with a tripod. I'm in desperate need of a remote control for my camera. Remind me to add that to my Christmas list.

But we had a good time walking around and taking in our last bit of vacation before heading back to work on Monday. 

See what I mean...they're all just...awkward.

I hope your Thanksgiving was just as wonderful! 

Here's a sneak peak at our Christmas card. 

I just went with one of the awkward pics that we got since I had waited until the last minute to get them done and was running out of options. Even though you can't see Georgia's face I think it will work. There is always next year right? 

Now were on to the best time of the year y'all!! It's Christmas!!!

out of routine

Post Number 10!

To be honest when I wrote my first blog post I thought 'hmm...I wonder how many posts I can write before I give up or forget that I even have a blog' lol. But today is my tenth post! I still think it's fun, and haven't forgotten about it yet!
But that's got me thinking about what I should try to improve on. Most good bloggers include lots of pictures, so that's something I'm going to try to get better at. But if you have any suggestions please share!

This week I have been at the reading recovery conference in Dallas and out of the classroom. I cannot even begin to tell you how encouraging it is to get out of the daily routine and gather with colleagues to discuss teaching and how to do it better. I hope that this is a conference I get to attend for years to come! But I also can't wait to get back to the school and quickly implement all that I'm learning!

The thing about being out of my typical routine for these two days is I don't have my packed lunch and snacks to fall back on. But I do enjoy allowing more time in the morning for a real breakfast and more than 10-15mimutes to scarf down my lunch :)

On Monday I made a strong attempt to eat as many veggies as I could for lunch. I stopped in Genghis Grill on my lunch break and was so excited to fill my bowl with as many different colors of vegetables as possible. But after waiting for 30 minutes for my food they came to my table an said that they somehow "lost my food". I was left with 15 minutes to get back to the conference and somehow find a quick lunch. The only option for fast food on the way was In and Out Burger. So I stopped and enjoyed the not so healthy lunch and called it good. What's a girl to do. I tried to be healthy, and it just didn't work out. 

Dinner Monday night did turn out to be a success though! I ended up making roasted chicken sausage and green beans. Then my portion of dinner went into half of a roasted acorn squash and Jason's went with roasted red potatoes.

A great and healthy fall meal ...mmm...

Today has also been successful so far! For breakfast I had enough time to make two eggs with spinach and all 3 colors of bell peppers. This was joined by a banana and my usual coffee. I failed on snapping a picture. I'm learning.

Then in the mid morning I stopped for a protein bar and bottled water. 

For Lunch I stopped at my all time love: Subway

I jut can't get enough of their chopped salads! So good! 

I even had some time to let Georgia girl run out some energy at the dog park in between the rain storms we've been getting.  

She loves making new friends! 

But sometimes doesn't understand what to do when they run with the ball

She was ready for a nice nap after our little outing! And I enjoy the extra snuggles

For dinner Jason has been asking for meatloaf. I have a few different meatloaf recipes stored away and I think I'll be making the BBQ style meatloaf. I'm also planning on making roasted beets for the first time. I have not been able to find a way to make beets where I want to eat them regularly. So let's hope that roasting them turns out well.  Then its time to get my workout on with another workout from The Nike Training Club. Let's hope the rain gives me another break so I can get a short run in for my cardio. If not I 'll be looking to my trusty elliptical to help me get the job done.

Hope y'all are enjoying the start of your week! 

Question: What would you like to see added to the blog? More pictures, more frequent posting? Be honest! I know I have more than just Jason reading this blog. Google tells me I have lots of regular viewers! I need more of you guys to talk to me and let me know what you like :)

Staying healthy...there's an app for that...

Well sorry for the delay in my posting folks! I was having some techno difficulties (that possibly could have been due to a user error). Do you ever struggle to keep up with technology? I definitely have a hard time when it comes to computers. It is not one of my strong points that's for sure. 

One way I do love to use technology is with tracking my health! There are so many apps, websites and blogs that are wonderful for helping us stay healthy. I'm planning on taking full advantage of these techno services to help me meet my goals over the next two months. (If  I'm being completely honest I didn't do very well at all at sticking to my goals through October. But so far 3 days in and November is going great! Haha)

Georgia thinks workouts are for the birds 

So here is the technology that I'm loving for both exercise and nutrition.

 •Active- my new found love for this app will definitely help me keep up with my holiday ACTivities like I had planned. I got on the other day and saw they had online 5Ks! Have you guys heard of those?! They are so cool! You register just like you normally would for a race and then are given a time period in which you complete your run! I love the idea of being able to still be a part of something and yet not have to stick to a specific place and time. Of course they have more traditional race listings as well.

•my fitness pal- this app has been around for a while and I'm sure most of you are familiar with it by now. But I love that it gives you the opportunity to track your food, water, exercise, and weight. It's a great place to store everything you would want to track. 

•map my run- another app that has been around for a while to help log all your nutritional needs. I mostly use this app for running because I like the maps and GPS system with it that help track my exercise. But you could also use it for tracking nutrition and water intake as well. 

•nike training club- this app is awesome when it comes to wanting a killer workout with minimal planning on your part! You have several options to choose from as far as what type of workout you want to do. Then the app will give you the exercises, show proper form and videos if needed on how to do them, as well as a timer to help you keep up! I HIGHLY recommend this one! And it's free! How could you go wrong? 

•the 7 minute workout- you may or may not have heard about the 7 minute workout. If you're interested in reading more about what the New York Times had to say about this bad boy then you can read on here.

It's always handy to have a quick and painful workout stored away in your pocket. And this app is the perfect way! 

•the workout mama- as mentioned before I love this amazing woman for making boot camp available online! It was so easy to stick to since I was able to do the workouts on my time schedule and at home. And with the community Facebook page I still felt encouraged daily to keep up the workouts or to try something to really push myself. 

Question of the week: Do you have an app or website that is motivating you to live healthy? Please share!!!

Responsibilities

Our lives are filled with more and more responsibilities as we get older. We take on bills, careers, build families, and somewhere in all of that we are still responsible of taking care of ourselves. It can be very overwhelming at times and so much so that we forget the importance of some of the things we are called to do. 

I've noticed that through becoming a teacher I have really had to become more organized with my responsibilities than ever before. If not some things simply won't get done. But God has also been there to quickly remind me of tasks He has given me when I start to let them go. For me one of the easiest things to let go is prayer. It's probably the stupidest thing to stop doing, but somehow gets left out when my to do list gets to be too much. 

Last year as it was my first year as a teacher God reminded me that I need to make praying for God's strength and wisdoms a HUGE responsibility! I was constantly in new situations and felt a lot of pressure to be perfect. I had to really trust that God would begin to teach through me and remind me that none of this is about me. 

So far this year I have felt God gently nudging me to pray more for my students. These are kids that have been placed in my care not by the administration of the school, or as a chance, but by God! These are kids that live in this same fallen world we all do and heart aches at an early age! These are kids who just like everyone else need to feel safe and loved throughout the day! That's my responsibility when they are with me. 

As I began to focus my prayers more towards my students and their specific lives I have also noticed God opening my eyes to more oportunities to show them an example of grace. Today I read them You Are Special by Max Lucado and at the end of the book SEVERAL students started conversing with each other about how when God loves them, what other people think doesn't matter (funny how that later ended up being the theme of my devotional story this evening) I couldn't help but tear up a bit and smile. I might be limited in what I can say to my students regarding my faith but I can show them love and grace and continue to pray that God will meet their every need. 

God has blessed me with a huge responsibility to care for these precious babies. Today I am so thankful I have a job that allows me the opportunity for such responsibilities. 

The War With Holiday Weight

Well fall is finally here and with it comes cravings. Foods that I have not given much thought over the last few months suddenly clog my mind. So I've decided, I need a plan! If I don't want to undo in 3 months what took 10 months to get then I'll need to walk cautiously into the holiday season. 

I've decided on 5 goals for myself that I want to pray about and with the Lords help will conquer over the next few months. 

Goal 1: drink more water. 

           I have had a huge issue with not drinking enough water lately. And this is nothing new. Usually at this time of year I start wanting only a hot cup of something.  Coffee, cocoa, tea... Anything but what my body really needs. I've got to hydrate myself so my body can function properly. (I think I can, I think I can)

Goal 2: run my butt off. 

            Lately my "running" (if you can even call it that) has been pathetic. I've hit a bump in the road and am slowing Jason down more and more each morning. I want to be able to encourage/push him the way he pushes me! 

***side note*** I love all things photography. So when I heard about this picture idea on Pinterest to take pictures of your running shoes in different places thoughout the year I was all in! I'm excited to get some more pictures taken before Dec 31st. 

Goal 3: make healthy the tradition. 

            I'm still learning the secrets to cooking. And I really like the idea of starting to bring more and more food to the holiday gatherings. This year I think I'll sign up for some healthy side dishes instead of the desserts. Then I'll be helping myself out in more ways than one. 

Goal 4: join in on the ACTIVities. 

            I would love to participate in things like turkey trots and Santa runs this year! My cousin has been telling me about a 5k in OKC that has you run at night through a lit up street of Christmas lights for years. This might just be the year I join him. 

Also, planning something other than eating for holiday get togethers. We use to go bowling every thanksgiving with my cousins. I would take a family outing of active fun over gifts and a stuffed belly any day!

Goal 5: start the planning for Jan 1. 

            This last year was the first time I ever completed my resolution. (Getting to a healthy/comfortable weight) 

I need to start praying, planning, and getting in the mind set for a new fitness goal in 2014! I think I might have 2 real resolutions this year. One being health related and the other being faith related. We'll see what God leads me to. 

Question: 

What will you be doing to stay healthy through the holidays?

 I would love to know what ideas you came up with!

What I'm Reading

Truth be told, I've never considered myself to be much of a reader. I always wanted to be able to get lost in a book but when I tried I've always came up bored.

I'm not really sure why this is. And it's definitely a well kept secret to all of my little students who think Mrs. G just LOVES good books. But...in reality...not really. 

Getting me to read non-fiction however is a completely different story. I have found myself getting obsessed with blogs lately and really love it when I have a question that I can research an answer for. I know I'm weird, but there is something about reading articles and other peoples comments that I find fascinating! So in case you're also enjoying a love affair with blog reading and are looking for some new good ones, here ya go! This is the list of blogs I love to read. 

She Reads Truth - a wonderful daily Bible study for women! Could it get any better? 

Abducted By Books - for those of you that do like a good fiction read! My sister Courtney is a lover of all novels and gives some great reviews. So when you're in the market for a new book to read check out her Blog! 

Peanut Butter Fingers

The Workout Mama

Undressed Skeleton 

 All 3 are great blogs for tips on health, recipes, and workout ideas! I love that they usually post often so there is always something to read. 

The Chronicles of Ruthie Hart - daily happenings of a sweet Texan lady who loves to serve The Lord! 

The First Grade Parade - for all my teacher friends. This teacher could not be cuter. 

Those are just a few. If you would like more let me know! These are just the blogs that update on a regular basis. 

Happy Bloggin!