Winter Banquet...

The month is over? No way...

Can you believe how fast this month went by? We spent the day getting Makayla ready for another formal event. This time it is winter banquet at her school. No dancing! We all know what that leads to!!!! HA! HA! Anyway... same dress as last time but a new hair do. I really like what she did this time. She kept it pretty simple. So in 45 minutes this boy I have never meet is going to come to my door and take some pictures. Then he is going to put my baby in his car, drive away with her and not bring her back until midnight. This sounds strangly like a date... does it sound that way to anyone else? Hummmm... I'm not sure how I feel about this. Ok thats a lie. I know exactly how I feel about this. I don't really like it. When did she go a grow up on me? Why is it so daggum hard to let go of these people who drive you crazy?


When we got home we found the rest of our family playing a little game of knock out. Jordan won! Can you believe it is 60 degrees here today? See the snow still on the ground? It is so beautiful outside. Well I'll post some more pictures later tonight...

Snow day...

And we actually had snow this time!

I ran across this...

and I even had to read it twice:
"We worship God because we need to.
But our need runs a turtles-paces distant second to the thoroughbred reason for worship.
The chief reason for applauding God? He deserves it. If singing did nothing but weary your voice, if giving only emptied your wallet- if worship did nothing for you- it would still be right to do. God warrants our worship.
How else do you respond to a Being of blazing, blistering, unadulterated, unending holiness? No mark. Nor freckle. Not a bad thought, bad day, or bad decision. Ever! What do you do with such holiness if not adore it?
And how power. He churns forces that launch meteors, orbits planets, and ignite stars. Commanding whales to spout salty air, petunias to perfume the night, and songbirds to chirp joy into spring. Above the earth, flotillas of clouds endlessly shape and reshape; within the earth, strata of groaning rocks shift and turn. Who are we to sojourn on a trembling, wonderful orb so shot through with wonder?
And tenderness? God has never taken his eyes off you. Not for a millisecond. He's always near. He lives to hear your heartbeat. He loves to hear your prayers. He'd die for your sin before he'd let you die in your sin, so he did.
What do you do with a Savior? Don't you sing to him? Don't you celebrate him in baptism, elevate him in Communion? Don't you bow a knee, lower a head, hammer a nail, feed to poor, and lift up your gift in worship? Of course you do.
Worship God. Applaud him loud and often. For your sake, you need it.
And for heaven's sake, he deserves it."
Max Lucado- Cure for the Common Life

My little 2nd graders...

Joplin Globe had a good story... again. I know I am shocked too.
They did a story on the 2nd grade class I work with. Heres the link...Ms. O'Toole's 2ns grade

Crazy Joplin weather...

No more braces...

After 23 months and enough money to buy a used car... Makayla is brace free. I can not believe how much older she looks now. It is just CRAZY that she will be 16 in a month. Now who is putting bets on how many retainers I will have to buy? That's not really very nice of me huh? Maybe I should make some kind of deal with her.... I'll give her $100 if I don't have to buy a $500 retainer. I'll would still be ahead wouldn't I?

Pardon the break... I need a minute to recover!

I had a graduation meeting today. I don't graduate until Dec 09 but I will spend the fall semester student teaching so this is the semester that I need to get everything in order. I am going to need a semester to get all the crap together that they need just so I can graduate! And this is stupid but the thought of graduating is freaking me out. I would not leave my kids education in my hands yet. Surely they are going to teach me some more stuff before they send me out to mess with the minds of our youth! I'm setting in this meeting and my heart is starting to do this weird beating thing... it wasn't excitement... it was my heart freaking out! I should be excited right? But I'm setting there.. and the tears are coming to my eyes. So... I'm gonna get a list made and start checking things off. Why can I not look at this in a positive way? My graduation packet is due by 4pm on Feb. 19th... this is a significant day around our house... Makayla turns 16th on Feb 19th. I could spend some time telling you about the regrets of waiting until my baby is 16 to graduate college but that is a whole different whining session right? Ok I'm going to try and close my eyes and get some sleep... if you know me very well you know that this is probably not even possible tonight! ugggghhhh Am I ever going to grow up and be an adult?

What to say...

Well history was made today. I could say things that might make some of you mad and some of you may even agree. But I think I won't say anything... other than... I did not realize how safe I felt with George Bush in office until I realized that at 11am today he was no longer there.
So today is a new day. A day of change some would say. Well that is true. The scary thing about change is the unknown and in this case maybe even some of the known. I will pray that the change will gloify God and please Him.
And a note for George W. Bush... thank you. Thank you for protecting my family and giving me peace of mind knowing a man was in office who answered to a higher call than just President of the United States.

Father Daughter Ball was tonight...

A little bit pathetic....

If you haven't heard... Feb 17th is a very important day! HA We keep talking about getting a converter box. I am not going to pay $60 for a box and all the government coupons have run out. Now that we are on the road to financial peace... I'm gonna guess that a new t.v. is not in the budget. Leland brought it to my attention that we have never bought a t.v. before. Wow... can that be true? Yep! We have the same little t.v. in the living room that mom and dad bought us for a wedding gift. Could you have had a little foresight to know that nearly 17 years later we would still be using the same t.v.? Maybe you could have sprung for the larger screen please. HAHA! Its still working pretty good. You have to kind of let it warm up so the picture will stop flipping. Really no one watches that t.v. Maybe a few minutes in the morning. But I have this really cool table thing that the t.v. sets on and I can not bring myself to getting rid of the t.v. because that really cool table that weighs about 2oo lbs.that my mom drug through Sam's and load in her car by herself would look weird without a t.v. even if that t.v. is a little 17 year old picture flipping t.v. (Oh man that was a MAJOR run on sentence. And to think I will teach children someday... SOON! This is not something I should be proud of huh?)The t.v. in our bed room was inherited. No picture flipping on that set... and it is sad for me to admit... but I'm really the only one watching t.v. at my house. I turn it on when I crawl in bed at night. So... back to the decision about the converter box... think I can live without t.v.? Well we may just find out on Feb. 17th!

Not much to say...

This is the second bulletin board I made. I didn't take a picture of the first one... it wasn't very good. I don't have much time to really whip one of these out. The 2nd grade teacher I work with when I tutor doesn't like to make bulletin boards. I thought it would be fun. The kids are learning to count change. So half of the mittens have coins and the other half have amounts. They match up the amount mitten with the right coin mitten. Pretty simple but I thought it would be good practice. Thats about all I've got for today. Now that Susan knows how to make comments I just might have to post everyday. Nothing like having a friend who checks up on me everyday! Thanks BFF...

Back at it...

Classes started today. I worked between classes. That is the benefit of working on campus. When I have an hour break I can run over and work for an hour. My classes are going to be ok this semester. They are all methods classes, meaning... how to teach: math, science, social studies, and reading. Plus a health class. I started today out in a rush... my alarm did not go off... frustrating! It was a good thing I had lunches already packed!
We just have a normal busy week and I can feel the pressure of homework ebbing it's way into my life again. Uggghhh! I'll check back in later in the week... unless something interesting happens:)

A long road ahead...

Leland and I decided to take the road to financial peace. We debated for weeks about this. I'm not sure we are looking forward to the trip. We've read the book so we know what is coming. Now on the baby step #1...

Jordan's 1st basketball game...

I love the Flip camera! I had to take Hannah to her game so I sent the camera with Leland. It was fun to see the game even though I couldn't be there. Jordan made 10 out of the 18 points. Way to go Jordan!


There next two are a couple of Jordan making baskets...




Sure wish we could all get together at a game sometime but I guess this is as close as we will get.... Have a great Sunday.. and for the record... dad says it's not necessarily his most favorite day but he does enjoy Sunday. He didn't tell me what his favorite day was though...

So the Joplin Globe is good for something...

Here's a story about my daddy... ok not just my dad but he was the only one quoted.. that counts for something right?
Chaplin Story

Ok maybe I'm taking the coupon thing too far...

but how about a cheap dinner?
Fazoli's has a coupon for a free spaghetti dinner... you just have to buy a drink. Won't that be different for my kids? We usually tell them they have to have water. Won't they be surprised when we tell them to buy a drink this time.
Here's a link. We printed as many as we wanted. There was no limit. Want a cheap dinner tonight?
Free spaghetti

It doesn't take much to get me excited...

I bought from FREE TP today... can you buy something that is free? Well you get the idea. Remember I'm using coupons now. Well I was pretty excited to see that Dillons (Krogers at your house Susan) had this on sale for $.99. Well when you double at $.50 coupon... that equals FREE!
Coupon for TP: This is the link for the coupon Want some FREE TP too?

Taking the day off....

well sort off... I'm not working and school hasn't started. But the bathrooms are clean now. And I am working on the rest of the house. I have this next weeks menu planned and the grocery lists are made. So I'm going to jump in the shower... and tackle the list! Hannah has games all weekend. Then school starts on MONDAY!!! Tell me it ain't sooooo! I am not ready. I'm ready to be done... I'm not ready to face 18 weeks of classes. I have LOVED not having any deadlines hanging over my head. This is my last big semester though. K I'm off to tackle the list! Have a GREAT Friday.... I think this is one of my favorite days of the week. I'm sure my dad would say Sunday and it makes me feel bad for not being as good a person as he is.... but I'm gonna stick with Friday.

Watcha been up to?...

I'm so glad you asked! HA! I have been working. It's been a long time since I have worked more than 4 hours a week. But it's been fun. I hope when I work full time I can say the same thing!
I have been running kids to practice. Makayla and Hannah are playing volleyball. Games haven't started yet but they are practicing. Hannah and Jordan are playing basketball. Again practice for Jordan and Hannah has practice and games. I said we would not do this again.... but yet here we are. January-March are really a blur around our house. The girls have practice in Carthage so it is time in the car and 2 evenings a week not at home. I really enjoy watching the kids play but the practices are KILLING me.
I have been trying to wrap my mind around heading back for another semester. I'm not there yet and I only have 4 days to get ready. I did pick up my books. I really need to get a paper writen for my potfolio. I wanted to have that done before school started back. I just have not been in the right frame of mind. Now I'm not sure I will get it done.
I have been reading The Cure for the Common Life (this is a link by the way). What a good book. Max Lucado was born to write. He can tell a story like to other. There are so many good quotes from the book:
"You cannot be anything you want to be. But you can be everything God wants you to be."
"God packed you on purpose for a purpose."
"God endows us with gifts so we can make Him known."
"His design defines your destiny."
"You are the only you God made."
"If you aren't you, we don't get you. The world misses out."
"God never called you to be anyone other than you."
"See your desires as gifts to heed rather than longings to suppress."
"Live your life, or it won't be lived."
I'm only on chapter 4. I don't normally mark up books but I am seriously considering taking a pen to this book. I want to learn to live in my sweet spot!

New year... new job...

I started a new job today... well maybe just an extension of my old job. I have been working with a program called America Reads. I think it might be a federal program. They pay college students to go in the classroom and tutor students in reading and math. Anyway, they need someone to work in the office a few hours a week. There was an opening and I got the job. So I will now work... hold on to your hats... 10 hours a week! That's all I've got for today!

Anyone else watching their money?

I found a couple of sites that offer coupons or freebies. I though I would share. I have printed coupons from these sites and have ordered the samples. I have a email set up that I don't check very often. I use this email when registering for these things. That way if it gets sold and I get a ton of spam it doesn't clog up the email I use everyday. I would love to hear about more of these sites if you hear of any. I have also signed up with most major companies and I receive coupons either in the mail or in my email box. Every little bit counts right?
Money Saving Mom
Frugal in Virginia
Freebies 4 Mom

This is what we did all weekend...

Hannah was in 2 basketball tournaments this weekend. I took the Flip camera along.... not too bad for this little camera that fits in my pocket. This is only about a minute and 1/2. Hannah is #11. I just thought it would be fun to share. Have a great week!

Day 2 of the new year...

I spent the day carting kids around. Both girls had volleyball practice in Carthage. I took one over... came back and got the other one... came back and picked up my dad and Jordan... then headed to Hannah's basketball game in Nevada. So I have either been in the car or setting and watching some sport since 11 this morning. Hannah has more basketball games tomorrow. I meant to bring my flip camera tonight but I forgot so I'm going to try it out tomorrow. Maybe I catch Hannah doing something very Micheal Jordanish...
Well... I don't think I've sat around enough today so I think I'll head to bed...

Putting 2008 to rest...