March SNOW

This last week has been anything but normal...

Sunday evening, my parents called from the ER while I was at the gym to let Jason and I know that my grandma Agnes (92 years old) had had a stroke and was being admitted to the hospital for care and observation.  Jason and I drove down there, and listened as the doctors informed our family that it didn't look good, and that the bleed in her brain was quite large. 

Well, grandma had other plans. In fact on Tuesday when I went to spend time with her at the hospital, she was being discharged! The bleed in her brain was practically gone, and she was up walking around, talking and letting the doctors know that she certainly didn't want to be at the hospital.  Kinsey called her the "Energizer Bunny," and I can't help but to agree. She is one amazing woman.

Then Wednesday came, and with that came a crazy winter weather system...it snowed the entire day, and didn't stop all night.  At our house we had about 6" on powder snow when we woke up Thursday morning.  Due to the weather, our spring break started a day early...can you tell we were a little excited about that?

Today I am 24 weeks along in growing baby boy Bernard.  During the snow storm I thought it would be fitting to take some pictures of my growing tummy, since he told me how much he loves the snow:

I have been amazed lately with how much he is growing, and how much I can feel him moving around.  When I had my monthly check-up on Tuesday while listening to his strong heartbeat, we could also hear tiny hiccups; so in love with this little one.  He is growing right on track, and like I said he makes his presence known to his mama when he wants some attention.  He is now, according to the doctors estimates, about 9 inches long and weighs about a pound.  I am getting so excited to meet him and hold him in my arms.

What a Day...

What a day...what a week...

It amazes me how sometimes the weeks can get so filled up with activities, events, meetings, work, etc. This week was one of those weeks, where it felt like Friday would never get here, and then when it did it was a crazy roller coaster ride that I wanted to get off of the moment it started.

With the sun making an appearance today, it seemed like the students at my school also decided to come out of hibernation and show their true colors.  I had kids fighting, cussing, throwing things, arguing, lying and stealing before school began to the bell ringing at the end of the day!  Needless to say, when the bell rang at the end of the day, and I had gotten the last of the kids out the door, I was ready for the weekend.

Some might wonder why someone would want to work with "those" kids or middle schoolers in general, but the truth is, they need adults in their life that care.  I love their energy, I love their excitement for life, and the passion they bring to the things that they love doing.  Sometimes it seems like they are trying to make you stop caring, but I love proving them wrong. 

Working with students and making an impact is why I went into teaching; and it is that passion that helps me get out of the bed in the morning.  The students at my school come from broken homes, many who come to school without having eaten breakfast, knowing that going into the weekend they won't have meals waiting for them at home.  Many of the kids family's are living on around $15,000 a year, with parents that didn't graduate from middle school. 

They are the success stories, even if that success doesn't show every day.

So for them I will not take my loving family, warm/safe home, home-cooked meals and sweet husband for granted.  If anything when I am at school I will create for them a place that they can know they are loved and cared for.  They may make it hard to like what they are doing, but their choices can't stop me from loving them.

Winter Retreat 2012

It has been a couple of weeks since we got back from the middle school CAUSE Winter Retreat 2012, and I think we are recovered. :) This year we got to have retreat at Camp Tadmor, and were blessed with snow; something I could not have been happier about.

My friend Michelle and I had an awesome group of 7th and 8th graders in our cabin. We learned about how we all want to have a purpose in life, and how God created us out of all His creation to learn to love Him.  We worshiped while it snowed outside, had amazing meals and enjoyed just getting to spend time together.

Loved sitting by the fire.

Our beautiful cabin.

Carpet Ball: Favorite Middle School Activity

Snowball Fights

SNOW!!

CAUSE Retreat 2012 = Wonderful, Amazing, Memorable.

Gender Reveal Party

Since Jason and I didn't get to tell our parents in a creative way that we were expecting, we thought it would be fun to combine my 25th birthday party with revealing our baby's gender. We found out on February 20th and had to keep the secret until February 23rd...which was a lot harder than we thought, but so worth it.

Julie (Jason's mom), Carrie and Cayden (our baby's cousin)

From the top: Aunt Nancy, Val (mom), Aunt Pat, Aunt Sue and Grandma

Sisters

 I got together pink and blue decorations, pictures from when Jason and I were babies, 

and some foods that I had been craving lately:

We had our guests vote if they thought the baby was a boy or a girl:

To reveal the gender of our little one, I had a cake made at a local bakery.  

We told our guests that the inside of the cake would either be pink or blue...

Here is the video of the cutting :)

We are having a little boy!!! He is growing and moving all right on track, which we couldn't be more thankful for. It was so much fun to surprise our family, and make it an even more exciting birthday. His little kicks are being felt all the time now, and Jason and I even watched my tummy move when he was being really active.  That is such an amazing feeling; one that I have pictured for so long, but never could have expected it to be so wonderful. This mama and daddy are feeling VERY thankful and very blessed...looking forward to meeting the newest member of our family come July! :)