Randomness

I haven't updated in a while, but that doesn't mean that I have nothing to say, I just have no time to say it. However, as of today, I am on Thanksgiving Break! It is my first multiple day break since I started teaching. I am happy to say that, although I am thankful for the break, I haven't been just dying to get to this point. I have a lot of really hard days at school, but I never dread going to work. I feel like I am becoming a better teacher every day and I am rarely completely exhausted at the end of the day.

Last weekend was the 11th anniversary of my dad's death. I never know how I am going to react to it, but this year was not bad at all. I spend most of the day helping install a playground at my school. It was good hard work, and I felt great afterwards. It was theraputic for me to use big tools and work outside because that is a lot of what I remember my dad doing, so I felt like I was doing the work in honor of him.

Our small group at church is reading the book Total Church, by Chester and Timms. It is very convicting and inspiring. We are only 3 chapters in and I am already about to explode with ideas. The main ideas I have been impacted by so far are that evangelism happens best through community and not just relationships. Also, get this: "80% of Christians live in the top 20% of the wealthiest areas in the country." I will just leave it at that. Another great quote is from a woman in poverty, "I know people do a lot to help me. But what I want is someone to be my friend." We are all willing to give money, but are we willing to make friends with someone in need? Our small group is really being impacted by this book in so many different ways. We are so excited to see how God changes us all individually and as a community.

Last night, a friend from small group and I went to the Christmas Barn Sale here in Tyler. It was basically an excuse to hang out and get out of the house. We ended up also going to Starbucks and the mall. We had so much fun and it was just great to have girl time and adult conversation. Thanks for a great time Mandy!

I told you this would all be randomness. If you have gotten to this point in the post, thanks for reading my ramblings!

Halloween

We had a wonderful Halloween weekend! We were excited because Austin didn't have his normal football meeting Saturday morning plus I got to do a photo shoot of some friends that morning. Then I came home and the three of us went to lunch at the newly opened Einsteins Bagels! Yummy! That afternoon, my school had a Fall Fest and we dress up Caed as a lion. That night, we took Caed for his first time trick or treating. He wasn't really sure what to think about it, but it was still fun. He was so adorable sitting in his costume in his little red wagon. To top the weekend off, he slept in late on Sunday morning, even with daylight savings. (Unfortunately, he started the week of on monday morning waking up at 4:45!)He was obsessed with this little pumpkin.

We also had so much fun carving our first pumpkin with Caed. Last year, he was too young to help out. This year, he was right in the middle of all the action. He really enjoyed helping with the little pumpkin saw (it wasn't sharp). I thought he would really like pulling out the seeds, but all he wanted to do was throw his toys in the pumpkin and then pull them back out. Whatever floats your boat Caed!

He wore this shirt to school the day before Halloween.

How cute is that? Those cheeks are even cuter in this costume!

Grandparents, U2, and Fall Fun

I just realize that I haven't really updated our blog in about a month. So I have a lot to catch up on. Let's see, Caed started out the month with his first ear infection. He did great though. The only reason we knew that he had one was because he had a fever for several days. Other than that, he just slept a lot, but he wasn't very cranky. We were very thankful for that. Now I will just go through the month through pictures...

Caed's first trip to the donut shop. We got the least sugary donut we could find. He ate a whole donut, a whole pig in the blanket, all his milk, and some pinapple. Little chunker!

We also took Caed to his first parade. My mom and her husband came into town and they wanted to go to Tyler's Rose Parade. It wasn't great, but it was something different to do.

Caed didn't know what to do about the clowns. I don't blame him.

This picture describes my mom and her husband perfectly!
Mom: all smiles, Seth: chillin with a cup in his hand.

While my mom was here, we got them to babysit while Austin and I drove to Dallas for the U2 concert. We were supposed to meet our friends Pam and Kyle for dinner before, but we got stuck in traffic. Then at the concert, we tried to find them there, but the new Cowboy's Stadium was so big, we couldn't figure out how to get to their seats.

We were sitting 5 rows from the top, but we still LOVED the show!

The U2 spaceship. Seriously, this was the best show ever! I can't even begin to explain how amazing it was. Here are some highlights: At one point, Bono pulled a boy up on stage with him and let him run around the stage with him for the whole song. Then at the end, Bono handed him his sunglasses! Seriously, what would you do if Bono gave you his sunglasses? Then, in the middle of the show, they bust out in Amazing Grace. All 70,000 people in the stadium sang along and it was incredible. Who else could have gotten that many people (most of them probably non-Christians) singing Amazing Grace? As my friend Pam said, the whole show was a spiritual experience.

Last weekend, Austin's parents came into town and we all went to Pappy's Pumpkin Patch.

It was a lot different this year, now that he is walking. He was all over the place. He threw a few fits because he didn't want to leave certain parts of the patch, but overall we had a blast. He was too cute marching around playing with the pumpkins and the hay.

Magnificent

We went to the U2 concert in Dallas the other night. I will write more about that later, but right now I want to share with you the song that has been stuck in my head since the concert. The words are so amazing and I am so excited that Bono is becoming more and more outspoken about his faith. God has truly blessed him with a ministry. Here are the words to "Magnificent"

Magnificent
Magnificent



I was born
I was born to be with you

In this space and time

After that and ever after I haven't had a clue

Only to break rhyme
This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue



Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love can heal such a scar


I was born
I was born to sing for you

I didn't have a choice but to lift you up
And sing whatever song you wanted me to
I give you back my voice
From the womb my first cry, it was a joyful noise ...

Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love can heal such a scar


Justified till we die, you and I will magnify

The Magnificent

Magnificent


Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love unites our hearts



Justified till we die, you and I will magnify
The Magnificent

Magnificent

Magnificent


Creative Way To Eat

Randomly, one day, Caed decided that he wanted to try to eat his snack without using his hands. He hasn't done it again since. It sure was funny though.

I'm Back

I haven't been able to muster up the energy to blog lately. However, I am home alone tonight with Caed in bed, so I figured I should write an update. Above is a photo of Caed walking in the park. He will walk anywhere and everywhere these days. That is basically all he wants to do anymore. He gets pretty mad if we keep him from going somewhere.

This picture is of Caed's first day of daycare. He loves it so much! I think he gets bored when he is at home with me now. After our three day weekend last week, the next morning as we walked to Austin's truck, he got all excited because he knew that meant he was going to daycare. Austin could barely get in the door of the school before Caed was flinging himself down to go play. It makes us feel good that he enjoys it. We love his teachers too!

Caed has already grown up and learned so much since he started school. He is obviously walking, but he is talking more, clapping more, dancing more, and eating more independently. He loves to hold a whole banana by himself and eat it. He has also mastered using a sippy cup independently since starting daycare. I guess he has to learn how to do stuff himself when there are lots of other children around.

This is another first: first haircut. He still doesn't have much hair, but it was getting "scraggly" as my mother would say. This picture looks like he is hating getting his hair cut, but he really did great. We just cut it during snack time so he was distracted.

This picture is from one of the first days after he started daycare. He fell asleep that afternoon in my arms and then slept on the couch for an hour. He has NEVER done that before. How cute is that? He is a great sleeper now that he is worn out all the time!

Ok, now for the update on my job. I am a month into it and I am exausted! I have my ups and downs, but I am still hopeful for the day when all my students are "normalized" to the school. We only have a few students left that are still hard to keep focused. Some days, like today, are great. All the students were busy working for most of the day and I got several chances to interract with them. I also get do do art projects with them about once a week. Other days, like two days ago, I want to cry! But I try to just get through those and move on.

Austin is still enjoying teaching and coaching. However, his coaching schedule gets more and more crazy as each week passes. Thankfully, we have figured out that Austin has an off class right after I pick Caed up from daycare, so the three of us get to hang out for a little while almost every day of the week. That has been a huge help for all of us!

Ok, now for some fun/crazy/random tidbits from the last month:
-Caed got bit on the arm by a girl in his class. It broke the skin and bled, but he has healed well.
-Austin left a pen in our laundry and got ink all over our load of whites! I have almost gotten it all out.
-Caed now says several "words" like yeah, no, uh oh, mom, dad, this, that (while pointing at something), wow, what
-My friend Pam and I flew to Kansas City last weekend to surprise our good friend Haley. It was a short but wonderful girl's weekend! Austin's parents came in that weekend to take care of Caed since Austin had games all weekend.
-Caed's new favorite thing to do is stand up backwards in his rocking chair and rock as hard as he can.
-Last night, Austin and I went to the huge Children's Consignment Sale that Tyler has twice a year. We bought way too much, but we got some great stuff! We got all of Caed's Christmas gifts, clothes, shoes, sippy cups, and an adorable Halloween outfit! Even though we were shopping for Caed late at night, we kinda felt like we were on a date, and it was fun!

Walking

Here is the video of Caed walking.