Wii Wii Wii... oh yah, and Happy 23rd Birthday, Josh!

It has been a long time since I have had the pleasure of blogging. It is 7:30am on the 23rd and I have been up for about half an hour. It is my Holiday Break and I can't even sleep in. Oh well!

Time has really flown by since my last post. There has been lots of shopping, baking and holiday fun. The day of my last post, Tyler came home with a Wii and that has been our lives since. That gaming system is as addicting as I could imagine. It is crazy, but so much fun. It has been great!

In early December, I had a chance to take a class from Ali Edwards over at the Scrapping Bee in Springfield, which just happened to be right after the huge ice storm they had. So that was an interesting trip. I will have to post a picture of the finished project when I get home.

We are at the in-laws for a few days gearing up to head down to TN the day after Christmas. I am excited but more nervous than usual. Too much family stuff has happened in the last visit to make this one.. I dunno, it's weird. I just want to belnd in to the background when I am down there and not be made such a big deal of.

After the holidays, we begin the journey to our new home. We have two houses we are interested in and can't wait to see the inside. I can't believe the day is here and we can look for a house.... our home!

Happy 1/4 Century Birthday to me!

Here I sit, newly aged to 25 years. My husband is getting a thorough workout on his new Nintendo Wii and I am enjoying a nice view of snow falling. From the time I can remember, I cannot think of it snowing on my Birthday once. I was so happy when I saw it start to fall. What a way to start the day!? My birthday has been rather nice this year.

The festivities all started on Thursday when Tyler had flowers waiting for me when I got home. With my big day so close to Thanksgiving, I never really get to spend much time with my flowers when we travel, so he got them for me early this year. They are beautiful Stargazer Lilies with pink daisies and roses. He even arranged them himself, bow and all :) They are beautiful and more and more are blooming each day. He also had my presents wrapped and ready to go, which I thought was cruel and unusual punishment to be able to see them, but not open them.

Friday kind of snuck up on me. I was ready for the week to be done. The kiddos are already in holiday mode, so it was all for the best that the week was coming to an end. The morning pretty much flew by. 5th Hour was coming to an end and when I dismissed the class, I had a visitor. It was one of my co-workers who "needed computer help". Supposedly, her screen had gone blank when she was entering grades and she didn't know what to do. Now this is a woman who I know can handle computer problems, but this was a major one. So I went down to her room and opened the door and there were my co-workers from my grade who were giving me a Surprise Birthday Lunch. It was so nice. They brought in fruit, chips and salsa, Italian Beef, Brownies and my Quarter Century Cake complete with candles. It was such an unexpected surprise. I have never really had that before for a birthday. And then the kids got wind that it was my birthday and they were singing fools for the rest of the day.

Friday night came and we went to see Stranger than Fiction with Will Farrell. My goodness, that movie was funny, but sad as well. It was a nice change of pace for Mr. Elf.

Saturday, I slept in only to have Tyler tell me that I needed to start the day :) So we got ready and went to Olive Garden for soup, salad and breadsticks. The wait was that of a Christmas weekend, but we snagged a table in the little bistro area and had a nice Lunch. Then we went out and got some wine and appetizers for later. The shrimp we bought were huge and ridiculously priced, but so worth it.

Josh and Audra came over and the boys watched the Ohio State/Michigan game while we went out shopping for a bit. I found a couple pairs of pants that I wanted and then we came back to get ready for dinner. We had 8:00 dinner reservations at SilverCreek. SilverCreek is a beautiful restaurant and the food was great! After we changed into some comfortable clothes, we headed out to Legends Bar and Grill on campus. We knew it wouldn't be too busy and it wasn't. The drinks were good, so all was ok :)

So I feel like I have written a novel already.... more to come later :)

The Crazy Lady

How fitting this picture is... it even looks like me in ways. What can I say? I am the Crazy Lady. Truly. Crazy. I may look ordinary on the outside, but my angry wrinkle says otherwise.

My kids can sense it. They know the crazy lady look. They know when they have gone too far.... they know me all too well. I get a look in my eye and I tend to stare down each little darling one by one. And then slowly, the crazy lady regains some sanity in the room. It happens each year; some years earlier or later than others. This year it is early. Chocolate and Mountain Dew are the remedies of choice. And counseling is looking nice. But what can they do with a truly crazy lady? Once you go crazy, there is no going back. Good luck kiddies :)

But seriously, today was nuts. A true Monday for sure. We had a super relaxing weekend of not doing much of anything. I made lava cake for desert. Tyler made homemade bread. It was nice. We have a half day Wednesday, so I am looking forward to that. Hopefully this week will go by nicely and then I celebrate this weekend and then next week is the Ultimate Food Week :) Yummy!

End of two Seasons... beginning of another...

It is that time of year again... the time of year where we do not know if we will see the ever inspiring Chief again. NCAA says he is hostile. We see him as a sign of loyalty. Tyler and I have closed out another season, well two actually. We were very lucky to have gone to Game 4 of the World Series. It was a spectacular night (cold as can be), but we had a great time. And then today, in 30 degree weather, we watched the Illini lose another football game. This year we got Season tickets for football and had a good time, even though they lost miserably most of the time.

Christmas season is nearing once again. I have the ever faithful list of maybe gifts ready in hand. Trying to shop for so many can be a challenge, but I take it on and try to do a nice job with it. We were in TN for Thanksgiving and IL for Christmas, so I should have some good shopping opportunities.

Also, the first weekend of December, I am taking an album class from Miss Ali Edwards herself! I am taking her Perspectives class. I see it as being a time for reflection before I move into the next stage of my life. I turn 25 in a week and we are buying a house in the Spring, so I see this as good of a time as any to reflect back on where I came from and where I am going. I am completely psyched about meeting this creative force. I need to really sit down and work on the "homework" before I get too busy to do a nice job on it before the class.

That same day we are going to a showing of "It's a Wonderful Life" at the local theatre in town. We are taking Tyler's parents with us. They started a tradition decades ago about watching this movie for the holidays, and we thought it would be nice to see it on the big screen.

Creativity is calling, so I am heading out. Thanks for reading... whoever you are :)

-L

Creating

This week has been a heck of a time. The honeymoon is over with the kiddos. They are RESTLESS! Let the 3 ring circus begin :) I seem to slowly be etting back to myself. I actually created this weekend. All of my stuff is out and I plan to do as much as I can when I want to. I don't want it to feel forced. Here are the latest in the collection:

I am having fun with these halloween pictures. Last weekend I was able to decorate and I had a blast. I am very much in the mood for Fall. School just gets me like that. Speaking of which, school pics are on Tuesday and I have no idea what to wear... great! Looks like I have some work to do. Take care!

In a rut...

It seems that I am in a rut. I get up, take a shower, eat cereal, do my hair, get dressed, and go to work. I become Mother Hen to over 150 kiddos each day. I give them my all, grade papers, go to meetings, counsel and love and then I go home. Sometimes I feel so bad for not being able to give Tyler more. Sometimes I am so tired, I have nothing more to give. This makes me worry.

What will it be like with a little one at home? Will I have anything left to give? I worry.

This year is my third year teaching at the school I have grown to love. I am known by all the students and can't go down the hall without being recognized or loved on. I love that. I need that. My kiddos have really become my life. They are so special to me. I care about how they feel and what they need. But sometimes I wonder if I give too much. I have never been this busy so frequently before. I am in a rut.

I miss making my Layouts. I don't have the energy to drag out all of my supplies. I miss that. I need to do it. I need to create. So tomorrow, after midterms go out, I am going to create. I don't know what pages I will do, but I need a release. I need to let go and be myself.

Tyler is making macaroni and cheese from scratch and I am melting into my couch. My very good friend turns 25 today and I only can wish her the best. Lord knows how I will be in 2 months when mine comes around. House hunting is starting to slowly make its way into our everyday lives. Realtors are being iffy. We will see how that goes. Thanks for reading, if you are out there. I needed this :)

Labor Day Weekend

This past weekend has been so nice. We have been busy from the beginning of our break, but it has been a good time. Friday night, we decided to play some tennis with Josh and Audra. After warming up, I did alright. My knee held in for about an hour or so and then started to act up. So, all in all, it was a successful attempt. Then we all headed out to Steak 'n Shake for dinner and on to Walmart for some serious tailgating shopping. We picked up burgers, buns, brats, hotdogs, potato salad, deserts, beer, and lots of ice. Your typical plunder for a great day of tailgating. This year Tyler decided to get season tickets to Illini Football, so hopefully we will get out moneys worth.

Saturday morning we packed up the Jeep and headed out to the stadium. We got there a little bit before Noon and settled in at a beautiful spot that was shady and had plenty of room. Josh, Audra and the crew started showing up around 1 and we drank, grilled and goofed around until the 6pm kick off time. It could not have been a nicer day, company or weather-wise. The game turned out great, U of I crushed EIU (sorry Josh) and our seats were in the first row on the aisle, so all held up to be true.

Sunday we tried our best to get up early and be ready for the Arthur Cheese Festival down south. We made it up and got going relatively early for having such a long day before and headed down. There were more types of cheese than you could imagine: cranberry, blueberry, swiss, salami, all types... We had a nice time visiting with Tyler's parents and ended up shopping in Tuscola at the Outlet Center. We then came back to Urbana and grilled out with Josh and Audra to use up some of the leftovers and went to a movie called, Little Miss Sunshine.
This movie about killed us. We were cracking up so much at how funny/tragic something could be at the same time. Many times we didn't know if we should be laughing or not because it was such a tragedy, but it was just too much. I won't give away any spoilers, but it was worth the money to go. After we checked out the downtown scene, we headed to a local hangout and ended the night playing cards at the apartment.

Today was a little slow getting going, but it has been so beautiful out and just nice to not have anything scheduled. I just love weekends like this. Hope yours is nice as well. Bye for now!