I miss you.

link

Woops

Getting ready to send the bookmarks

Started writing my return address

Until I realized it was my old one

Miss that place

Really?

A coach likes to bring in his 'own' people. 

Our pastor started that this week.

Weird that our new pastor is taking the people we think of as our 'own' and sending them another way.

My thinking about this may change, but right now it just seems wrong.

Texas

I bought this shirt on Etsy today...thought it was pretty clever.  You can find it here.  I might be wearing it everyday.  Watch out.

You can see we go through
Ennis - we went on a mission trip there in HS
Carl's Corner - they have a cool gas station
Hillsboro - home of the outlets
West - apparently they have good colaches
Waco - also called Wacko, Baylor, and a river
Temple - they had a bad tornado there once
Georgetown - almost to Austin
Round Rock - we pass IKEA and so close to Austin!
 to get to beloved Austin. 

K's grandparents live close to a town called Red Rock not be confused with Round Rock or Red Oak.  Sheesh.  Did you know San Antonio was so close to Austin?  K says he rarely went there growing up.  Food for thought.

Once when we were driving to see K's parents we tried to memorize the cities between Dallas and Austin. There's a lot more than what you see here.  It helped us pass the time and I think we did pretty well.

We were driving back from the beach Sunday and K saw several TX flags flying on the side of the road.  He was giddy.  Love him.

See? Isn't this shirt so much fun?!

Pride.

Bro. Ed, one of our ministers at Calvary, set K* and I up on a blind date way back in Feb. of 2005 when we were both at SWBTS in Fort Worth.  We owe it to him for our love story - him and Jesus of course.  Last Wednesday A and I went to family night supper at church.  We pay, wait in line, and I do my very best to get us supper with A on one hip, steering a tray, get food on the plate and grab a plastic fork.  I can never remember to get us napkins.  Anyhoo Bro.Ed held A while I was in line last Wednesday.  I watched him mingle around holding A.  I was happy to have a break, and it was neat to see our matchmaker holding my son.  This is my favorite part of the night...I caught a glimpse of Bro. Ed holding A and said with lots of pride to someone standing in line, "This is Austin Boozer." as if he had something to do with it. :)



*Bro. Ed was K's pastor in Austin before coming to our church here.
**If you click on SWBTS link it will take you to the place K & I had our first date.  If you click on the Fort Worth link it will take you to the place K proposed to me on the balcony in between the angels.

Torn

I got sad this morning thinking about TX. 

I realized this week that I left a job I love so that K can have a job here he loves.  That's pretty hard.  I had a really good job teaching art in TX and I miss it.  I had a whole school of kids that I knew for four years.  When I started they were Kinders and if I started my fifth year they would be in fourth grade.  I always thought I would stay until they graduated at fifth grade.  I knew most 800 of their names.  I was so proud to say I worked for DallasISD and constantly thought about my students and how I was going to teach them.  My new town does not have art in the public schools which drives me crazy.  K & I talked about moving here before we were serious about it and I said, "I wouldn't be able to teach.  That would stink."  Well here we are.

A lot of important things happened to me in TX.  2002-2011 I was really out on my own.  I got my Master's degree.  I realized I wanted to teach rather than work at a church.  I grew really pretty and big sunflowers and roses and zinnias.  I fell in love and got engaged.  I got my first real job.  I got my teaching certificate.  I bought a house.  I had a baby. 

Then we move back to my home town and people ask if I'm glad to be back.  Yes and no.  I didn't realize I would live in TX for so long and I would love it so much.  Now to answer this question:

What to do now? Start something brand new? Work at a school even if it's not art?  Stay home with A (which I enjoy) but really still miss teaching? 

Small town stuff

This week I was overwhelmed with the fact there is not much to do here.

In Dallas I could drive north and go to IKEA or to a huge mall.

I could drive south and go to the zoo or botanical gardens or spend the day at their museums or go to Cowtown.

We've been here 9 months and we've pretty much done all there is to do here.  You drive north and there's farm land.  You drive south there's farm land.

So today A stayed in his pj's most of the day.  We dropped off 2 books at the library book drop then saw Lecee before nap time.  When K got home I picked up a Simple Simon's Calizone, we watched TX beat Chicago, and part of the Master's then took Welly and the A to the trail and walked all the way around.

The trail was fun to walk all the way around and I can say we've never done that before. :)

Veggies and Boredom

Yesterday I thought my brain was going to turn into mush.

It's in those times I really miss teaching.

A played really well this morning.  I showed him how to play with a new toy and he can play with it on his own now.  Thanks Grandma Mac!

We are counting down the weeks until K has summer schedule. No more long days or Fridays!!

While A is sleeping today I am going to plant my veggies and more seeds.

Pictures to come...

Beach week

We had a fun beach week last week.  We went to the beach everyday!

In the backseat

Driving back from the beach yesterday...doing anything we could to keep this guy happy...Wait for the applause at the end!

The one about us.

We're bored!

It's raining!

We've already gone to our favorite places!

Any ideas? 

Places to go when we are bored...

Happy 800th post to me! In honor of this day I'll give you 8 places we usually visit weekly.

Westgate
Library
Art Museum
Mall
Lecee & G's House
The ROC
Botanical Gardens
The Park

Words Feb. 2

Elbow

The one about Andrew.

Andrew used to be in my art class.  He'd rather be in gym.  I taught him when he was in first, second, third, and fourth grade.  He has 3 sisters and one brother.   Grandpa takes care of them.  I bought presents for them one year for Christmas and they were so excited.  Not much lovin' at home means lots of attention at school.  I dreamed about Andrew last night and he was doing the same thing he was doing in my class - so much potential but up to no good with that crazy look on his face. 

I'm thinking about getting my AL teaching certificate.  If I decide to teach again it will be an easy transition and I can help all the other Andrews here in my new town.

We tried again to find some nicer shoes for A today. No luck. K wanted to get brown leather that lace up.  That LACE UP.  Those things will never be laced.  We are 0-3 at this point.  Tennis shoes again for church tomorrow.



We finally ate breakfast at our own table this morning. I made eggs with cheese, biscuits and yummy coffee. A was in his high chair and it was great to sit with our plates on a table...our own table, together.

The one about some things...

My grandmother is in the hospital.  Again.  Her lungs.  They don't like her.

I have a new nephew.  Sweet Baby Kayde was born at 3a.m. like his cousin A.  Those 3a.m. births are a beast.  He has his sister's mouth

All of our stuff came from  TX.   Our house is full.

That's all for now.

The one where I miss teaching.

I miss it.

I walk through the grocery store and see glue sticks and remember they last about 30 seconds with a class full of my hispanic kids.

I can't seem to get my mind around not having Art in the public schools here.  Hispanic kids are no where to be found.  I left it all back in TX and it makes me frustrated.

Right now I get to teach my little boy one on one.  Most of the time it's fun - some of the time it's not.  It's always rewarding.

I get to teach T at Camp Rock one day a week and mostly that's fun.  People tell me T is changing, growing up, acting better.  So if that's all my teaching I get to do right now I guess I have to be content with that.

The one where he is playing by himself.

This moment brought to you by lots of prayer.

Little Man loves his room, his new house, and we do, too.

The one about A and other things.

My friend Lucy had triplets - 3 healthy babies.  Wow Praise the Lord!

Our trip to Austin was fun.

We got our fill of good Mexican and BBQ.

We spruced up our house in GP & now we are under contract!

A has started sign language during Christmas - he can sign more, milk, please.

He's learning so much everyday.

He picked up my blush brush the other morning and started rubbing his face with it.

I gave him some toilet paper yesterday & he put it up to his nose and made sounds like he was blowing his nose.

He is blowing kisses all the time.

He can mimic our sounds.  A calls my mom Lecee and he can say "eesee" and G for GDaddy.

He LOVES it when K comes home.  He screams DAAADAAA!!

He can point to his head, eyes, nose, mouth, chin, ears, and tummy.

Dr. said he needs more food & less milk so he's trying more table food and eating more baby food and drinking milk during meal times.  He's a busy growing boy!

We are still enjoying our Mon. &Weds. when he goes to school & I go to Zumba and run errands.  We have been spending most of our days outside playing.

The one about our paper shredder.

A is quiet.

He's either looking at a book

Or shredding paper.

Give him a magazine, a newspaper, or a napkin

He'll be quiet.

We got him a Farm Touch & Feel book this weekend.

We love Goodwill Book stores.

The poor horse may not have anymore hair soon.

We're practicing how be gentle.

I let T from Camp ROC pick out gifts for her family at Big Lots.

She got a present for herself, big sister, mom and grandma.

We wrapped them, and she was so excited to have 4 presents when she got home.

We are looking at renting a house, townhouse or apartment.

Hoping our house sells soon in TX. 

Excited about going to Austin next week.

The one about rearranging.

When I think about going to grocery store I think Tom Thumb or Sprouts
          Now it's Publix.
When I think about home it's 240 Brookaven
          Now it's Tacoma Street.
When I think about Mexcian Food it's Matt's in Cedar Hill
          Now it's Mexican Connection
When I think about Coffee on Saturday it's the Brass Bean in GP
          Now it's ....
When I think of A's Daycare its FBGP
          Now it's Mother's Morning Out.
When I think about going to the library I think about the big one downtown
          Now it's the old one with a kids area.
When I think about teaching art I think about Winnetka
          Now they are memories and part of me wishes I could still teach.
When I think about church I think about Fielder
          Now it's Calvary - which is different without Bro. Van
When I think about eating pizza it's Domino's or Pizziaolo's
          Now it's Pizza Hut
When I think about exercise it's "man, I wish I felt like exercising. but I'm too tired"
          Now it's Zumba with Christina and walking the trails