makes my heart smile

Josie does that to me.

I stare at her pictures, watch the video clips from Summer over and over again, miss her every day and am always so excited to see her!

She is growing up so fast. It makes me sad.

She now says, "bye bye" when she is leaving, says "papaw dimbo (instead of Jimbo)", tells Reecie to "shhhh" whenever she barks. She loves giving kisses...on the mouth! She loves books, her new big girl room, saying "no no", sharing cookies, and so much more.

She loves her sink from Grandma Pat and Grandpa John.

I know I posted this picture in the post below. I just love her sweet smile.

I gave her an early Christmas present this weekend.

While shopping with the girls a few weekends ago, I found this adorable chair at Garden Ridge. That place is full of treasures. I couldn't resist. I knew it would look super cute in Josie B.'s new pink play room!

She loves it. Everywhere we put it, she would take a seat.

I wanted to make her a few things for her new room.

Welcome to Josie's big girl room.

I painted the picture to match her new quilt. (Will post more pictures later.)

I also found this book at Garden Ridge. Julie, Lauren, and I were diggin' through this enormous pile of books when I stumbled upon this book.

I have a few more ideas up my sleeve for Josie's room. Will share more later...

my momma

Today is my Momma's birthday!

I decided to go home this weekend. My friend, Julie, and I drove in late Friday night. I surprised my sister early Saturday morning by showing up at her house. She was excited to see me. Josie B. was excited, too! I am always afraid that she will forget who I am. She never disappoints me. She always smiles and comes straight to me. =)

Saturday was a great, lazy, and perfect day.

Saturday night we celebrated Mom's birthday. We had a feast. Mom had two different desserts. A yummy strawberry cake from Pimento's and my Mamaw's delicious banana pudding.

My bestest buddy!! I miss her like crazy.

Here are a few random pictures that I love.

Us with our Momma.

Bathing Beauties.

Tennis Tournament in Memphis.

Christmas.

I am glad I got to see my Mom before her birthday and celebrate with her. I am so blessed to have her as my mother and my role model. She is my best friend and the woman/mother I want to be. Thanks Momma for being so good to me.

do a little dance..

wicked

Yep!

I am going again.

Friday, October 29 at 8pm to be exact.

My parents are making a trip to Memphis on Thursday, October 28 and we are Orpheum bound the next day. In February, while they were in town, we saw Jersey Boys. Which is amazing by the way. They really enjoyed it and said they would love to see another show. I mentioned WICKED. I went last summer with some girlfriends and we left in awe at the voices of the actors and overall production of the show.

The Orpheum is very good to SC school teachers. We are given the chance to buy tickets to all shows before the public. Awesome, right? I jumped at the chance to get great tickets for us.

I cannot wait!

birthday girl

August 14 was my good friend, Courtney's, birthday! We surprised her with dinner on Thursday night. After sushi for dinner, we came back to our house for dessert.

Yummy cupcakes made by Julie.

Her cupcakes are always delicious!

"Happy Birthday to YOU!"

It's very difficult to get a serious picture of these boys.

Pretty Ladies.

We love celebrating together.

These party hats have appeared at 8 different birthdays!

Reecie loves these two.

Mr. and Mrs.

Saturday morning, we celebrated again.

We treated Courtney to a pedicure at the Nail Bar.

(One of our favorite places.)

Happy Birthday Courtney.

Hope your birthday was one to remember.

We love you!

web cam dates

I. Miss. Josie.

I need to see her, soon. I guess I can wait another month. *tear, tear

The Mattmanns are coming to town September 17. They are going to help us celebrate Trav's 29th birthday that weekend. I am so excited and I just can't hide it. I cannot wait to have my little love here in Memphis.

Josie B. and I have had two web cam dates in the past three days.

(I told you I am missing her.)

Friday night, after a long first week back, I was exhausted. Travis and I did absolutely nothing that night. Well, we did one thing...

We talked to Josie on the web cam.

See us in the right hand corner?

I love seeing her little face.

Sunday was a great day.

Church (a great service, as usual), lunch with friends, ran errands, and then another date with Josie.

This time my crazy Mom and Dad joined us.

Janny being goofy.

Seeing my family on the web cam makes me miss them, a lot. I cannot wait to see my parents at the end of the month. We are meeting in Durham for the first DUKE game. Everyone cheer on the Devils!! Check out their website.

someone has a secret....

Josie wants you to know...

Yep, that's right.

Josie is going to be a BIG SISTER!! And we are excited, happy, and cannot wait for little Matty to get here and join our crazy family!

I was with Summer when she took her second positive pregnancy test. I looked at it, got a little nervous, and said, "What is it suppose to say?" Then when I realized it said, "YES!" I started jumping up and down screaming. We laughed and hugged and giggled for a while. I am so glad I got to be part of that moment. =)

Summer is 8 weeks.

Due March 25.

Josie will be 2 on March 22.

Checking out the baby bump. Josie's is a little bigger. hahaha

(Summer will probably kill me for posting this picture, I don't care. I think it's cute.)

I cannot wait to be an aunt, again!!

what a week

Wow. A lot happened this past week.

I went back to work. Now, I am not complaining about having my summers off but after a while it gets boring having such a long break. How many times can one go to Target?

I wasn't wishing my summer away but I was definitely ready to get back into a normal routine.

Monday my school kicked-off our week with a "Party Like A Rock Star!" breakfast. At the beginning of every year, we meet the first Monday morning at a local restaurant for breakfast. It gives us a great chance to catch up with everyone. This year, we wanted to spice it up a little bit. Our school mascot is Harrold the Hornet. So this year, Harrold was rockin' in the Hive and we all dressed up like rock stars.

The three leading ladies at my school. They are amazing and are the reason I love my job and my school.

(Jimmy Buffet, Tina Turner, KISS band member)

I only had to purchase a shirt and shoes to complete my rocker outfit. Luckily, my girlfriend, Lauren, likes to dress like an 80's rocker. She had lots of fun things for me to borrow. =)

My first grade friends and Stacy, our money lady. =)

Our week continued with school, school, and more school.

Travis had his first two patients on Tuesday. He was pumped! He told me all about it. I asked him, "So you really liked it? Glad to actually practice real dentistry?" He said yes and that he loved every minute of it. Good answer. If he would have said anything less my Mom would have driven to Memphis and beat him.

Thursday, August 5 was Charles' 26th birthday. Welcome to your late 20s my friend. How does it feel? We celebrated by dinner at the Commissary and then dessert at the Puryears.

The Puryears

Whatcha wishing for?

Glad to have a relaxing night with friends.

The Trammells with Houston. We also celebrated his birthday! He is now 2.

Love these two.

Seriously?

Crazy Group of People.

Friday was great!! All 5,200 SCS employees (teachers, bus drivers, assistants, etc....) met at Bellevue Baptist Church. This gathering was celebration of a great week and hard work. We had two different keynote speakers.

Ron Clark. I don't know where to begin or how to explain this man. He is an incredible person with a great story. He has taught in North Carolina, Harlem, and now has his own Academy in Atlanta. His way of teaching is amazing. He is a ball of energy and just listening to him speak gets you excited. He spoke for a little over an hour. I laughed, I cried, I was inspired. Please click on his name above and watch the short clip so that you can better understand.

Here he is dancing with some of his students. He dances and sings almost all day. He made a song teaching algebra to the tune of Rhianna's Umbrella.

Leigh Anne Tuohy was our other speaker. It was very interesting to hear parts of the story that were not in the movie, The Blind Side. She mentioned some parts that were changed, that were not true, and things that were left out. Sandra Bulluck did an incredible job acting as Leigh Anne. She is a great speaker. She didn't hold anything back, was up front and honest, and brutally honest.

The Tuohy Family

Friday night, Julie, her Mom, and I completed the Pink 5k race. Julie works at a dermatologist office here in Memphis. The race was in memory of a 27 year old mother who died of melanoma.

The weather this week has been in the 100s. We were lucky because Friday night it was only in the 90s!

Teresa (Julie's Mom), Julie, and Me after the race.

After the race and long showers, we went downtown for dinner. We love it when Teresa comes to town! She is so much fun.

Saturday, after a little tax free shopping we had dinner at the Selectman's. We played with their 3 year old daughter, Sammye Kate and their 6 month old twin boys, John Mark and Andrew. They are all adorable! We had a great night with their family. Travis just recently started a Bible study with J.B. Him and three of his dental school buddies meet with J.B. every Tuesday night 8-10.

We have had a great, busy, crazy week.

Tomorrow....

I will meet my fifth group of first graders. I am very excited and cannot wait to meet my new babies.

Hope everyone has a great week!

p.s.

Happy 10th birthday to my cousin, Emily.

I love you and will see you very soon.