Look what I made!

So, I'm taking an overload of courses this summer and I've about lost my mind.  However, it means that I will likely be student teaching in the Spring.  THAT is what keeps me going.  So far...all As baby!  HOORAY!  Well, I'm taking a math class online this summer.  It's geometry for elementary school teachers. If you know me you know that I am NOT a mathematician to say the least.  Especially when I have to rely on my self-teaching abilities like I do in this online course.  However, there are certain aspects of this course that I'm actually enjoying.  This past week I took a pile of free newspapers from the hotel I stayed at for my friend Emily's bachelorette weekend and turned my fingers black making a geodome...you know, like the thing at Epcot in Disney World?  While I was not thrilled with the amount of papers it took and the process was tedious, I enjoyed the result and I think it was sturdy enough that my nephew could have and would have enjoyed playing in it.  I'm thinking about making another one day and then painting and embellishing it.  Perhaps with my future students?  Well, we'll see.  So, here it is from beginning to end-kind of.  Made it with newspaper, tape, and staples.  What do you think?

Fore!

Brent was given the opportunity to play golf at Sawgrass yesterday with his dad and a customer.  I took this picture from my father-in-law's Facebook page this morning.  Brent said it was definitely a challenge (Check out that green placement!), but what lucky guys, eh?  Perhaps they'll take along their lovely wives next time?  HA!

Look what I made!

I bought an 'H' from Hobby Lobby (I could spend DAYS in there!), some moss in a baggie and some lovely ribbon to make this for our front door.  It was so easy!  I just hot glued the moss to the 'H', made a bow and glued it on and then glued some more ribbon on to hang it from.  LOVE it and it can stay up for a LONG time! YAY!

I made this dinosaur for the Preschool 2 class at the Children's Center.  It is life-sized...6ft tall!  Raaar!

I made this door decor for the PreK up classroom at the Children's Center.  Our center is open all summer, so they needed something appropriate to leave up for the summer. If you can't tell, it is an ant eating a watermelon.  The kids names are written in the seeds of the watermelon and the banner that the ants are holding near the title says, "UTC PreK Rocks!"

A dinner I made and LOVED!  Bacon wrapped green beans...oh yes!  Weight Watchers twice baked potato...uh huh!  Steak...but of course (this was made by Brent because I do not trust myself with the grill).  Thanks Pinterest!

May

So, I've nearly missed the month of May.  HEY!  I've been a little busy! Brent & I celebrated our 1 year anniversary on May 7th with a trip to Charleston, SC.  I had never been, but I loved it!  It's a beautiful place, the weather was great, we spent one afternoon at the beach, we walked a ton (as evidenced by the blisters I had on my feet from wearing the wrong shoes the first day---had to buy flip flops while we were out), and we ate WAAAAY too much!  For a girl who LOVES her some shrimp and grits, Charleston is the place to be!  We took along our frozen top layer of wedding cake, let it thaw out on the car ride there, asked our hotel for some utensils and tried a bit after dinner the night of our anniversary.  We were not expecting much when it came to taste because we have heard most married couples say that their saved cake tasted terrible, BUT it was GOOD!  Really, REALLY GOOD!  I was beyond excited because I did NOT get my fill of it on our wedding day.  I was too busy dancing!  I cannot believe that we have already been married for over a year!  It surely has flown by.  I'm happy as I've ever been and I owe it all to my best friend/husband, Brent.  He truly is too good to me and I couldn't ask for more!

After our anniversary getaway, I started my first session of summer school.  I was dreading it for sure because it was also the beginning of my graduate school courses (up until now I have been taking what they call "bridging coursework" or undergrad classes in the education field to catch me up).  However, so far I have received an A on everything I have submitted and besides the LARGE amount of reading I have to do, I have found grad school easier than undergrad!  WHOA!  We'll see if that lasts, of course.  I'm working hard, regardless, to keep up my 4.0GPA.  I'm actually not minding all of the reading when I can do a lot of it while laying in the sun at the pool or in my backyard with a nice frosty beverage in hand ;)

In addition to summer school, I received the results for two of the PRAXIS II exams that I took at the end of April...PASSED!  WHOOP! WHOOP!  You can ask my husband, I did a little dance when I opened the results.  Now, I only have 4 more to complete--2 of which I will take on June 9th.  Wish me luck!

Our wedding rings and my hanky

Our self portrait taken in our hotel room on our 1st anniversary--this was probably #1,004,599.  Yes, we did have someone else take a photo of us while we were out, but this is more "us". 

Our top tier after 1 year!

One of my favorites from our wedding day-thanks to our wonderful friend and photographer, Blair Zirnheld Schwarz!

It's 8pril!

Tomorrow night marks the NCAA Championship game: Kentucky vs. Kansas.
My Wildcats pulled off a win against Louisville last night and I could not have been more excited! So, in celebration of it all I decided to make a little something to hang up in our house. I'm doing all I can to support my Wildcats here in Chattanooga while my husband is right in the middle of all the action in NOLA! GO CATS!

All Grown Up!

This month (March 2012) marked the 1st Birthday of my nephew. But of course I took a trip to Virginia to visit and help my big sister decorate for his "Very Hungry Caterpillar" themed birthday party! We had a great time decorating together and I could hardly stand to part with my growing little buddy to make the trip back to Chattanooga. It's so hard being so far from him and my sister. I hadn't seen them since Christmas and could not believe how well he is walking--no, running! He has us all tied around his tiny little one-year-old fingers for sure! Just look at the party he received?!

Loooong Time, No Post...

I have a confession. From November until now, I have failed as a blogger! BUT! Let me show you how busy I have been lately and perhaps you will understand why...