February-May Recap

It has been soooo long since I've posted.   I am bummed because SO much has happened since I posted in the  New Year that I haven't blogged about.  But, I'm going to do the best I can to hit the high points! It may seem silly, but it's important to me! Often times I get so bogged down by the daily grind of life that I forget to look at the big picture and all of the special things that are going on in our lives and remember how grateful I am.  So here goes nothing...

February

My school held their second annual pancake breakfast.  My family came up to enjoy some pancakes and Emerson was elated that Clifford was also there.  My parents came as well, which was very nice because it was my dad's birthday that day.  Not exactly how I would want to spend my birthday, but that's my dad--putting his kids before himself.  :)

These people put the biggest smile on my face :)

Yummy Pancakes!

This guy is one of a kind...

Towards the end of February I was out shopping and felt a little...different.  I picked up a pregnancy test and headed straight to the bathroom when I got home.  Nathan was pushing Emerson in the swing outside when I walked up and showed him the positive test.  I hugged him and my heart was beating practically out of my chest! I then proceeded to take 3 more tests, just to be sure.  We were so excited when we found out, and it was even better this time because we were able to tell Emerson she was going to be a big sister! ...she was more interested in swinging. Lol 

That night we went my friend, Kendall's birthday dinner.  She immediately knew when I awkwardly passed on a taste of her delicious looking beverage. 

Nathan went to Colorado for one of his good friend's weddings.  Katie came in town from College Station the weekend he flew back in so we decided to go ahead and tell my family about the baby then.  It's hard getting everyone together in one place!

We also celebrated Valentine's Day...

Yummy Valentine's Donuts!

Throwing a heart :)

March 

Our Spring Break was really early this year, and unfortunately the weather was less than springy.  It rained almost daily so we spent most of our time around the house.  We did make it to a play date with our friends Ele and Makayla, and we got to go see Zootopia--which Emerson became obsessed with.  (One of her favorite things to quote these days) At this point, I wasn't feeling awesome so laying around was probably the best thing.  With this pregnancy my morning sickness was lasting pretty much all day and I was getting very light headed in the beginning.  

At the Playstreet Museum.  She loves that place!

Zootopia! 

Playing with Makayla

The early stages of the baby bump! 

We went to Lufkin for Easter, which is when I told my extended family that we were expecting. They were very excited, but most of them said they weren't surprised.  I guess after the first one you lose the shock and awe factor.  While we were there we of course went shopping with Mawmaw and Emerson even got to watch me get a pedicure.  She asked a lot of questions about what the lady was doing to my feet. Lol we also went to our favorite pasta place in Nacogdoches with my Nana and Papa.  It's always good to see my family, but the visits are never long enough.  Emerson actually made it through the whole church service (she usually goes to the nursery)...with the help of multiple packages of M&Ms.  And then she hunted eggs with Preston, she loves her Preston! She was a pro, looking all over the place to fill up her bucket.  

Looking for Ginger and the cows

Her best buddy, Preston

April

In March we started thinking about moving.  Nathan's commute was taking him over an hour which means he was frustrated sitting in traffic, and we didn't get to see him very long in the evenings.  I hate driving, so I definitely wasn't opposed to looking for somewhere else.  We started talking to realtors and getting information on what our house would sell for and also letting them know what areas we were interested in...and then the whole process kind of went full throttle and took off without us having time to blink! We listed our house and it sold the first day for over asking price...which left us feeling very excited...and nervous because now we were under a time constraint to find our new home.  We spent several weeknights and weekends looking at houses. We spent day after day scouring websites looking for the perfect house for us. It was an exhausting ordeal.  We put in 4 offers over asking price and none of them were accepted, after a few weeks of dealing with those disappointments I was ready to be done, and homeless I guess?  

Very bittersweet! It was a great house to bring Emmy home to...

I'm remember thinking it was so weird to be celebrating our homelessness. Lol

One evening we were looking in The Colony and I had remembered a house that had just come up that day. I asked our realtor if we could just go by and look at it and she called and set it up for us to go over right then.  We walked inside and the whole house and been remodeled.  I really really liked it but had learned my lesson, I promised myself I would not get emotionally attached to it.  We decided we would put in an offer and wait to see what would happen.  A few days later (I hate the waiting game, by the way) we got the call from our realtors that said the sellers wanted to move forward with our offer! I was in shock, but once it started sinking in I was able to think about how God always provides for us. Disappointment may happen, in life there will always be hiccups, but He is holding out for what's best for us.  Apparently, what's best for us is living less than two miles from my work, and shaving close to 40 minutes off of Nathan's commute! And I would have to agree!

May

Being under contract on a house should be considered a full time job.  The month of May was incredibly stressful as the end of school was approaching (field day, field trips, class parties, meetings meetings meetings) but we knew it would be worth it to try and close now so that we could have the whole summer to get settled.  We spent several weekends in May moving everything over and both of our families, and many friends were a big help in making that happen.  

Bye bye Eastwood Avenue!

On May 6, I was recognized at the LISD Awards Banquet for being Camey's Teacher of the Year.  Nathan came with me and my assistant principal and team were all there to support me.  I was so glad they were all there.  I feel like I wouldn't be there teacher I am today if it weren't for my team. I received a trophy and had to walk across the stage, I didn't trip--yay! And afterwards they had a raffle. I won a $500.00 giftcard! It was a really cool night already, but that was the cherry on top. :)

My supportive team and AP

Two of my besties!

 Mother's Day was that same weekend.  I told Nathan I wanted to go to the Arbor Hills Nature Preserve for some family time--so we did! Emerson loved running around, walking on the trails--not so much, but it was worth a shot.

The next weekend we drove down to College Station for Katie's graduation.  I can't believe she is old enough to be graduating from college! Emerson was a trooper, she rode in the car for 3 and a half hours then we changed her clothes in the bed of Nathan's truck and she sat through almost two hours of a college graduation.  Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures with Katie because after her name was called we hightailed it out of there to get something to eat.  Pregnant ladies and toddlers have to eat! 

We stayed with our good friend's the Glass family. I used to nanny their babies who aren't babies anymore... :( and they were my home away from home.  I had not seen them in forever! It was so good to visit with them and hang out with my Sully Wully again.  It's fun because Emerson is old enough to play with them now. :) We even got to see Sully play soccer! 

Isn't he precious?!

I love this silly bunch of kiddos!

Proud of this little soccer star in the making!

The next weekend we closed on our house! Emerson came with us and was happy to watch her movie and color while we signed all of the paperwork.  Then we came over to walk around our new home for the first time! It was a happy day. 

We're smiling because we hadn't started to move everything yet...lol

Our awesome support team! These folks made it all happen. 

February to May was a BUSY time in our household! Stay tuned for updates on what we have been up to this summer! :)

Merry Christmas/Happy New Year

I write this on the eve of returning to work...boo! Our family has thoroughly enjoyed our two weeks home together. We started off our break by celebrating Nathan and Mom's birthdays and having Christmas with my side of the family.  I had the bright idea to hold a Gingerbread making competition...and ours ended up collapsing in on itself.  We'll be back next year--with a game plan!

Nathan's mom took us to a delicious little Italian place in Plano for Nathan's birthday and we got to catch up and visit with his brother.  Emerson stayed with Uncle Clay and Josephine and they took her to see Christmas lights. They're the best!

We finished up some last minute Christmas shopping and I wrapped like a crazy person! (I am seriously contemplating gift wrapping lessons for next year.)

We baked sugar cookies for Santa! What a MESStacular experience that was! Emerson had the time of her life, which made the hours of cleaning totally worth it!

Christmas Eve was odd! It was 75 degrees so we took advantage of it and went to the park.

This pup loves the park!

That evening we went to our first ever Christmas Eve service as a family.  I can't tell you special it was to see her face of pure joy when all of the candles were lit as we sang Silent Night...it gives me goosebumps thinking about it!

Ready for Santa!

Christmas morning we got up and baked monkey bread while we waited for Emerson to wake up.  I feel like our Christmases are numbered where she is going to sleep until 9:30. Lol as we waited with bated breath I finally heard her wiggling the bedroom door and we grabbed the camera as fast as we could to see the look on her face when she saw her Frozen castle from Santa.  She was so excited!

We opened gifts and listened to Christmas movies.  It was so nice to be at home where she could play with her presents and we enjoyed a yummy breakfast together.

After her nap we headed to Nathan's parent's house for Christmas.  I think Emerson was most excited about her plastic princess heels.  She clip clopped (at a very slow pace) through their dining room but the wooden floor wasn't very forgiving and she ended up slipping. After some kisses (mom's kisses make everything better these days :) ) Gigi held her to calm her down while we ran around on our scavenger hunt to find our stockings!  It's always best if I find the hidden clues because I am fair and read them aloud...while someone else I I know (**cough NATHAN cough**) reads the clue in his head and throws it.  Lol After our scavenger hunt we had a scrumptious dinner, complete with homemade apple pie for dessert!

I stayed up late that night packing and getting ready for our trip to Lufkin but Nathan woke up sick the next morning so we had to postpone our trip.  We hung around the house that day and planned on leaving the next morning, but then the crazy storms blew through.  We were fortunate to only get rain but we weren't sure what the conditions would be on the road.

On Monday we went to the Mavs game while Emerson spent the night with my mom and dad.  We rode the train and it dropped us off right in front of the American Airlines Center, pretty cool! It was an awesome game and the Mavs won!

We hung around the house a little more, I even started and finished an entire book this break! :) We also decided to watch all of the Star Wars movies before we see the new one so we spent a couple evenings watching those.  I really like them so far!

On the morning of New Year's  Eve we headed to Lufkin.  We had lunch at our favorite BBQ place and then Emerson opened presents from Mawmaw and Pawpaw.  She could NOT wait to feed Ginger an apple! It's very rare for a day to go by without her mentioning Ginger. :) We went to my Uncle Robert's house where Emmy got to play with their new puppy, Daisy!

That night we went to my aunt and uncle's house for New Year's Eve.  We played dominos with my cousins and watched the Alabama blow out, which one Nathan a tasty hamburger from my other uncle ;). Emerson played with a cute little beagle pup and amazingly she stayed awake and welcomed the new year with us! ...unfortunately she stayed up until almost 2:00, long after we got in bed. Yikes!

She slept late and then we met up with my Nana and Papa for brunch.  I was pleasantly surprised when we showed up and my Uncle Jerry and his wife, Donna, were there.  We had a good time visiting and then went back to Nana's and Papa's house.  Emerson opened her gifts and enjoyed playing with her new toys while we talked.  Nana cooked a fabulous lunch which of course included New Year's Day black eyed peas and cabbage.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is when Papa reads the story of Jesus' birth before we open gifts. Since we weren't with them on Christmas this year I had to make a special request that he read it again for us, he happily obliged.  It was a very special day and I hated to tell them good bye.  It's always hard knowing I won't see them for several months.  I wish our lives weren't so hectic and we could visit more often.

On Saturday Mawmaw made us breakfast and we of course fed Ginger again.  Uncle Robert treated us to lunch before we got on the road to head home.  It was great to see all of our family, but it's always too short.

Today we went to church and then came home and cleaned house...and I mourned the loss of my vacation.  Every year I'm sad to see the Christmas season go.  But New Year's always brings it's own excitement.  Our family was so blessed in 2015.

Emerson turned two in October

We went to many fun sporting events, trips to the zoo, the arborteum, etc.

We celebrated our 4th Wedding Anniversary

Nathan celebrated his one year anniversary at Expedia and was given the honor of being MA of the quarter!

I was voted Teacher of the Year

Tucker turned six in December

We made wonderful memories with our families

We went to several of our friend's weddings (Nathan officiated one!)

Emerson grew by leaps and bounds! (physically and mentally)

We are so thankful for his abundant blessings in 2015 and can't wait to see what he has planned for us in the coming year.  Happy 2016!