Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Good-Bye Oh-8

I honestly cannot believe that it is already New Year's Eve. So many things have happened this year- it will definitely be a year that I will never forget! Following Lindsey's idea for listing what happened this year, here is my 2008...

~ Bought our first house!
...and spent many hours decorating it :)
~ Laid out in the Florida sun for Spring Break
~ Welcomed my sister, brother-in-law and nephew back to Michigan
~ Bridesmaid for two of my best friends
~ Got married! (really, what could top that?!)
~ Honeymooned in Scandinavia
~ Started my third year of teaching
~ Celebrated Thanksgiving times two (Canadian and American) and Christmas surrounded by our families
~ Started blogging and constantly reading blogs

What will 2009 bring? I can't wait to see what God has planned for us!


HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

This post has two stories to it, but both having to do with presents...

Story 1:
I'm back tracking a bit, but I don't believe that I ever wrote about the Christmas presents that my students made for their parents. Now, I typically love doing crafts with my kids, so I usually take every opportunity I can get to do art with them. Well, let's just say I could have passed up on this art project last week. I have done this project now for 3 years. The first 2 years had their challenges, but never once did an ornament break.
This year- 4! Yes, 4! Now, to be fair I broke the first one, just trying to move it. The second one was broken when a boy decided to stab a sharp feather through his. The third happened when we were painting sparkles on them. "Mine broke." "What were doing with it?" "Nothing." "Really?" "Really, I was just spinning it on my desk." "Hmmm, that would do it." And the fourth one happened when we were gluing beads on them. "It just broke." "What do you mean it just broke?" "I was just putting beads on it and it broke." "I'm not upset. I'm just wondering if it really just broke or if you did something to it." "Oh, well, I dropped it."
Don't worry. I had extras. But you see, since none of mine broke in the last 2 years, I didn't buy that many extras. So when the fourth one broke, I knew I was in trouble. That night I ventured out to Hobby Lobby. Completely Out. Then to Michaels. Completely Out. It appeared that the entire town was out of glass ornaments. Great. Just great.

Here are the beautiful ornaments: I didn't get a chance to take a picture of them in all their glory with the beads all over them, but you get the idea. Also, about the beads- I was picturing them gluing on a bead here and there on the ornament, but this years class decided they were most beautiful with beads ALL over their ornaments. So goes.
We stuffed them with different color feathers. Then, we painted sparkles on them. Finally, we glued beads on them, picked out a ribbon and wrapped them up. I have never been so glad to see an art project go home.




Story 2:
I personally like this present story better! :)

Dan and I had our Christmas this afternoon. We are going to my parents tonight and then taking off for Canada to see his parents in the morning.

First, we opened stockings. (Yes, that is one of our new Pottery Barn stockings!)



Then, I opened my present!
I could not believe it! A new digital camera- the Canon EOS 400D! I have so been wanting one of these. I really want to take a photography class this summer at our art institute. But, I really never imagined that one of these would be in my hands on Christmas (espeically since we set a dollar limit, which he didn't abide by)! I don't have a lense for it yet, but as soon as I do- I'll be taking pictures like crazy!


Merry Christmas Eve!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Things I've done instead of blogging...

I really thought I'd have more time to blog since I've had a few days off of school, but instead these things happened:

1. I became a baker. I don't cook or bake. My mom really never did and I apparently take after her. But lately I've gotten an urge to bake things. Maybe it's the holiday season where everyone is baking millions of cookies. I don't know. I do know though that in the last 2 days, I have made brownies, a triffle, porcupine balls, a two-layer cake, cinnamon rolls, and now my husband has just called requesting cupcakes for his birthday.

2. Walgreens photo center happened. Seriously, I have spent hours at Walgreens with my mom in the last few days trying to download and order wedding photos. That machine is the slowest thing! Picture pops up, wait...wait...wait....wait....wait...wait...oh, oh, a triangle showing an error...wait...wait...wait...wait...wait...wait...wait...wait...picture!...wait...wait...

3. Snow! I'm so happy that it is going to be a white Christmas this year! But, snow also means that it takes twice as long to get to the mall. It also means that we have been experiencing the joys of owning a home and having to shovel the inches of snow off our driveway. Did I mention that our driveway is more of a hill and it has brick walls on both sides?

4. Dan's Birthday. Happy Birthday to him today! The big 2-6! I love birthdays and trying to find ways to make his birthday special this year as consumed some time. I woke up and made him breakfast this morning- which is strange since I don't cook- see #1 and he really doesn't like breakfast. However, it was appreciated nevertheless. I spent about a half-hour trying to find the perfect card for him last night. I always have a problem finding the right card- anybody else? It always seems like the card says way too much or not enough.

5. and of course, Christmas is coming! We are busy trying to pack for Christmas celebrations, wrapping gifts, and double checking the mail for the last minute gifts to arrive! Only 2 more days!

Perhaps after Christmas, blogging more will happen. For now, I'm off to sneak into school to try to find my camera. Cross your fingers that it is there somewhere!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Merry Christmas...photo card style

Thanks again for your help with my Christmas card! Here is the final product:


I bought the card design on Esty from seller, lukecommasara. She has fabulous designs! I used a design that she had for sale and just asked her to modify a few things about it. Then, brought the file over to Walgreens and had them printed.
Yea, are first Chirstmas card together! Merry Christmas!

SNOW DAY!

I promised that I'd let you know when I had a snow day and that day as come! It was an nice early Christmas present to sleep in until 10!
Just wanted you to know. :)

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

A few of my favorite "R" things...

Mrs. Stilettos did a fun post on her favorite "B" things and offered to give out letters...I got the lucky letter "R". So without further ado, here are my favorite "R" things...

RELAXING
oh to be at the beach with the sun on my face right now...
well, i guess any sort of relaxing will do


the REDEMPTION series books by Karen Kingsbury
i adore these books!
she is one of my favorite authors and
this is my favorite series by her

RING BEARERS...
my precious nephew and ring bearerand RINGS
diamond rings to be more specific :)
RECESS
ahh, the ring of the recess bell
movie RENTALS
nothing is better than a friday night movie complete with pop and candy
RAIN BOOTS
how cute are these!
RIESENS
yum!

REMOTES
can you imagine actually having to get up to switch channels?

REUNIONS
getting together with old friends
i can't wait until saturday for a reunion with my tennis girls!
RELIGION
the true meaning of lifeanything to add?

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Is it Christmas yet?

Ah, a crazy week at school- and only 36 more hours until it starts again. Last week we decorated gingerbread houses. It was fun. Really, what kid wouldn't like to walk into a room full of sugar and Christmas music? Just the smell of the frosting brought on sugar rushes. This week the task at hand is to finish off 25 Christmas ornaments without breaking one- wish us luck!

We picked out the Christmas card picture and design. I'll post it once I finish sending them out. Thanks for your input!

We went Christmas shopping today to try to finish off our list. We are down to finding one gift for my sister, so not too bad. Well, that and gifts for each other. What do you do? Do you set a money limit for gifts? Do you get a "together" gift? Stockings? I know a lot of my friends are doing different things. We are trying to decide if we should get each other gifts or spend the money on a ski trip or something for the house.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Christmas Card Help

My wedding pictures came!!! So excited and I can't wait to share them with you, but first I need some quick help with my Christmas card since it is December 8 today and I have zero done.

First, I need a picture.
I have already decided that I want to use a wedding picture...here a few options.

Picture #1Picture #2Picture #3 (with 2 options)

Option #1- ColorOption #2- Black and White
Also, I need help with the wording of the card...

Do you like using- "Merry, Merry, Married!" on the card or do you think I should go for something more traditional like "Merry Christmas" ?

You can either give your opinion by clicking on the two polls on the right hand side or leave a comment. Thanks for your help!

pictures were taken by Clever Creation Photography

Friday, December 5, 2008

Fabulous

Tonight I was all set to grab some dinner and head home to wrap Christmas presents, eat, and watch T.V.- a wonderfully lazy Friday night. So, I drove into Fazolli's, rounded the corner to the speaker, and rolled down my window- oh wait, did I say roll down my window- yeah, my window was stuck! I could not get my window down- it was frozen stuck!

I pulled over to a parking spot across from the speaker to try to unfreeze my window. As I get out, I hear, "This is Angela. Welcome to Fazolli's. What can I get for you?" Opps, she must not be able to see that I drove away. Her voice keeps getting louder and louder. Really, don't you think she would figure it out?

Anyhow, while she is hollering, I am chopping away at the little pieces of ice that are on my window, possibly causing my window to refuse to come down. Still no luck. I put the heat on high to try to melt the ice. It is burning hot in my car at this point. Finally, I just decided to let it be and drive home. Yes, I know I could have just gone inside and ordered. But, stubborn me was determined to order my food from my car. :)

Guess when my window finally rolled on down?

Yep, as soon as the wheels of my car hit the bottom of my driveway. Fabulous.

On a much more fabulous note, Sarah was sweet enough to give me a "Your Blog is Fabulous" Award. Thank you!


Here are the rules:

~Pass it along to 5 other fabulous blogs

(I'm not sure who has already gotten this award- so I just randomly picked 5 of my followers- although I love you all!)

1.Because Katie Says So!

2. Mrs. B

3. Serious Shopaholic

4. EJ and Roo Said I Do

5. Newlywed Stilettos

-List your 5 fabulous addictions

1. Starbucks Peppermint Mocha- mmmm, yum!

2. Etsy- looking through all the cool and unique things that people make can become quite adictive. Although I do go into streaks of being addicted and not addicted to Etsy. So as a backup, I will also say that I am addicted to Ice Cream!

3. How I Met Your Mother- love this show! I saw it for the first time on our honeymoon when the cruise played the same two episodes for the entire 12 days- but they were funny everytime. Since then, I've been hooked.

4. Photographer's Blogs- I love looking at their pictures, especially wedding pictures. Really, I'm addicted to blogs in general, but decided to be a bit more descriptive.

5. Target- really, how could you not be addicted to this store!?

Instructions: On your post of receiving this award, make sure you include the person that gave you the award and link it back to them. When you post your five winners, make sure you link them as well. To add the award to your post, simply right-click, save image, then "add image" it in your post as a picture so your winners can save it as well. To add it to your sidebar, add the "picture" gadget. Also, don't forget to let your winners know they won an award from you by emailing them or leaving a comment on their blog.


Wednesday, December 3, 2008

The Magic of Christmas

Every year I wrap up Christmas books (mine, the library's, my mom's), put a pretty bow on it that I collected from last years gifts (my mom adores putting ribbon and bows on every gift, so this is not a problem) and then put them under my tree in my classroom.

On a side note about my classroom Christmas tree- each year it seems to have gotten an upgrade. The first year it was about 2 feet high and we named it "the scrawny Christmas tree". Last year I got a nice, fake one from Big Lots. And this year....dum, dumdadum- it has a star on the top of it! Next year, I'm hoping for a tree skirt! :)

Back to the books...
Everyday I pick a new name out of the Christmas box (or sometimes twice a day since there are x amount of kids and only x amount of school days before Christmas!) and that person gets to unwrap a present and then read it to the class. This seems like not that big of a deal- right? Um, right. In the past 3 days, I estimate that a child has asked me when I will pick the next name 4 times every hour. I've contemplated whether or not to write the time I will do this on the board, but then again anticipation is half the fun.

When their name is picked, they also get to pick a candy cane from the tree and a silver bell.
This means that there are many decisions to be made if your name is picked. First, what book they will pick. Some have their book already chosen and pray every time that it will still be under the tree. Some have to touch e..v...er...y single book before choosing it. And others change their mind about 4 times! Then, what flavor candy cane to get. Then, what bell to pick. (They are all the EXACT same by the way.) Next, they need to decide if they want to read it or if they want me to read it. And finally, they have to decide what order they are going to call their classmates over to the rug in. Perhaps, I should have made the process a bit easier for them and cut out the choices- but really, what fun would that be?

Now that you've got the picture of this in your head...here are my favorite things about this "activity"

1. Kids' taste in wrapping paper.
While wrapping the books up, my mom and I take bets on which book will go first based on the wrapping paper. We have some pretty ugly paper that we picked up on sale and then some cute papers as well. However, we never have guessed the most popular papers. Last year, the three wisemen paper was beautiful in their eyes. This year it has been a toss up so far- the plaid paper and strange collage of presents have been on the top though.

2. Seeing what kids value.
For some it is the candy cane. For some the control. But for most...the ribbon. Apparently, the ribbon has such value that everyone wants a piece of it! If you are lucky, you might get a tiny piece of the ribbon to tape on top of your desk. One girl even has plans of sewing the ribbon on the hem of her dress.

3. How hard it is to hold the book, read, and show the pictures.
I love it. I love how they finally realize that it is annoying when they all start saying that they can't see the picture when you are trying to read the book to them.

4. How the magic of Christmas shines on kids' faces.
There is no denying it. There is something in the air at school. It is a hyper, excited, and eager something. But, it is also a magical, can't help but smile and sing, wonderful something that the innocence of children bring to Christmas.

At the end of the day, one of the girls came up and panicking said that there was a bell on the tree with no bell in it so it made no sound. Another girl overheard the conversation and said, "Oh no! That means that you don't believe!"

Monday, December 1, 2008

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

We put up our Christmas tree last night! The seasons seemed to switch so fast for me- Thanksgiving one day, Christmas the next. Anyhow, we decided to put up our tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Dan is wishing that we had a real tree, however, I am somehow allergic to real ones and break out around them, so I said no- I know, I'm a scrooge.




And a picture of our stockings over our fireplace- doesn't it just look cozy?



However, it will look even better when our new stockings arrive. I just ordered them tonight with one of our gift cards from our wedding to Pottery Barn. Free shipping and free monogramming and they are on sale! Aren't they perfect?



Sunday, November 30, 2008

I'm in Love...

...in love with our wedding video!

I picked it up last week Friday, rushed over to my mom's house and watched it with her for about the next 3 hours...and then went to my house and watched it again! ;)

Michael Terri Studios did the videography and did an amazing job! The fabulous Aletha from Pearls Events who was our day-of-coordinator posted our highlight on her blog...go check it out by clicking on the link: Wedding Video
And while you are there read her other posts for fun wedding advice and ideas!


(You can also view it by going to www.michaelterri.com/kristinadan.html)

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Gobble, Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Don't you just love this day?!

A time to spend with family.
Aaaa-mazing food. Mashed Potatoes. Turkey. Pumpkin Pie.
Football. (Okay, not really, but it goes with the whole Thanksgiving theme.)
Giving. Food drives.
Prayer. Giving Thanks. Church.
The beginning of the Christmas season.

Thanksgiving is never that big of a deal at my family's house. But it is nice. Church in the morning. Turkey and mashed potatoes at my grandma's house. Cold turkey sandwiches for dinner. And sometimes a game of bowling. I love that we have this holiday and a time to reflect on all the things we are thankful for.

I hope that you are enjoying this day of thanks with your family and friends.

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
His love endures forever."
Psalms 136:1

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

you can't stop the motion of the ocean...

I just got back from our school's Harvest Concert and now can't get this song out of my head! Love it though!



Sunday, November 23, 2008

The H-Moon Finale

The rest of our honeymoon is going to be stuffed all into this post...I have other things to share and a day by day of our trip, just isn't productive enough for me.

Helsinki, Finland

I loved Finland. It was probably my favorite place that we visited. Helsinki was small enough to walk around and see everything. First, we stopped and saw two churches. And then we decided to venture off and find the Olympic stadium. It was a little more of a hike than anticipated and really not worth the hike, in my opinion...but we saw it nonetheless.
We also saw the Rock Church.



Stockholm, Sweden

Sweden was beautiful! The waterfront, the old buildings, the alleys full of unique shops. Also, home to Pippi Longstocking :) We went on a boat tour and stopped at the Vasa Museum.
You can see the 19th century war ship in the picture below.



Copenhagen, Denmark

All of the countries that we stopped at were just beautiful. Copenhagen was no exception with the canals, bright colors and intricate architecture. Close by to our port was The Little Mermaid Statue. We stopped to take pictures along with the other 100 tourists. It is a fairly large and busy city, so we joined in the bustle around the city, saw all of the main attractions, stopped and grabbed some hot dogs and cokes from a street vendor, and took a canal tour of Copenhagen.



My favorite picture from the trip! It is now hanging up in our living room.



Olso, Norway

This was the last port on our cruise. In all of the other cities we had been eying the bikes that everyone was riding to get around, so we decided to try some out. We went to the Tourist Office to get a card so we could get the bikes out from the racks that we all around the city. You could get a bike and then return it at a different bike rack in the city, which I though was cool. Anyways, the guy from the Tourist Office warned us that the bikes really were only for residents, but if we really wanted to risk it we would just have to sign something...so we signed and still lived to tell about it. We biked around the city and then stopped for lunch and decided to go to the Olympic Ski Jump. We took the tram to the stop that our travel guide claimed the ski jump was at. We walked and walked and walked and walked...but no sign of any ski jump. So, instead we saw the pretty view and got back on the tram. Perhaps next time we're in Oslo we'll finally find the ski jump.



So concludes our honeymoon...we had one more formal night on the cruise before heading back to the airport the next day to sadly return to Michigan.



 
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