Thankful Thursday: A Little Extra Income

So last week, the children's director at my church called and told me that they needed two helpers in the preschool during the week.  I gladly accepted the job of helping out in the 2 year old class on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  My Little Man gets to go for FREE on those days--otherwise, it wouldn't be worth me working.  The mister is going to keep Little Man at home tomorrow on his day off, but starting on Tuesday, he will be joining the one year old class!  We are happy about the little bit of extra money that will be coming in, and thankful that Little Man will get to have some interaction with other kids his age!

A couple of pictures from visiting the great-grandparents last week:

Happy Thursday!

It's Friday!

I came home from VBS (Vacation Bible School) yesterday to find these beautiful flowers waiting for me!

Last night, the mister and I had a wonderful anniversary date!! We left the house for an early dinner at Fin and Filet, where after a great meal, we enjoyed Hershey Black Tie dessert.  It was an enormous brownie topped with an entire hershey bar, with two scoops of ice cream and chocolate syrup! YUM! I want to eat it again now...but probably won't eat anything that sweet again for awhile!

Next, we went bowling!  We bowled 2 games.  We agreed that the winner would be whoever had the highest total at the end of both games.  The first game, the mister scored a 124 and I bowled 121.  But, the next game I dominated!! I somehow bowled a 165...to his 130!! I guess Wii bowling is helping out some :)

After that we rode around for awhile...it was only 8:30...and we weren't ready to go home.  We drove by the civic center, and the mister had a great idea! Let's go play tennis!  We haven't been able to play in so long!  So, we went by the house, changed clothes, and hit the court.  It was still 85 degrees outside at 10:00 at night, but we had fun.  He won 6-4. (yes, only one set!)

(not the best pic, but the only one we took)

On another note, I ended up having lots of fun with VBS this week.  I had some adorable 4 and 5 year olds...19 of them to be exact!  Here are a few pics from today.  

We were in Ancient Egypt, and our "family" wore matching belts and collars all week.

Drawing and telling about their favorite thing about VBS.

Two of the cutest kids!!

Singing and Dancing!

Hope you have a great weekend!

Five Question Friday

Just discovered Mama M at My Little Life!  She hosts 5QF and if you would like to join in, click here!

1. If you could go back to college would you change your major? Or, if you were to go to college right now...what major would you choose?

I have actually been thinking about this a lot lately!  I majored in History, which I absolutely love, and I also love teaching it.  But my real passion is music.  I sometimes wish that I had double-majored, or just majored in music.  I would love to teach chorus in a school or church setting!

2. What do you love most about your home?

My favorite thing about my home is my walk-in closet! That will definitely be a must-have for future homes!  I am not the neatest person in the world...but having a walk-in makes it easier to keep my stuff organized!

3. What types of books do you like to read (if you like to read at all)?

I love to read realistic fiction or any historical fiction.  I like lots of John Grisham.  The best book I have read lately is The Help!  Such a great book!

4. What is the grossest thing you've ever eaten?

I am a very picky eater, so I don't eat many gross things, but one of the grossest for me would have to be calamari.  I hate the texture and it tasted like I was eating a finger! YUCK! I am not a fan of any seafood...

5. If you HAD to be a character on a TV show, whom would you be?


Well, I know this is random, but I kinda have a thing for Kevin James :) He is hilarious! So I would probably go for Carrie on King of Queens.  But I definitely want lots of kids...so that part wouldn't work out well for me, and neither would living in the north.  

*I am officially a stay-at-home mom now!! WHOO HOO!! Have a great weekend!!*

thankful thursday!

This is a bittersweet thankful thursday!  The "sweet" part is that I am thankful for my last school day as a "teacher!"  As of 12:30 today, I will finish the "teaching" part of my career.  I am thankful that I will be able to stay home with Baby W and be the best mama to him that I can be.

On the baby monitor last night...played for 2 hours before falling asleep!

(and surprisingly the first time he flipped from back to stomach!)

The bitter part is that I will really miss my job and many of my students.  Teaching is a very rewarding career.  I have had many wonderful experiences, as well as my fair share of awful experiences as a teacher, but they have all taught me important things that I can use in the future.  Thanks to all of my great students I have had over the past 6 years!  

In my classroom (yes...those are UNC curtains in the background!)

One of the sweetest!

One of the loudest!

One of the goofiest! :)

freedom friday

Yes, this is Memorial Day Weekend and we celebrate those who fought for our freedom, but this Friday represents another freedom for me!  This is my last Friday with students!  Not just for the school year, but for years!  As of next Friday (the last teacher workday), I will become a stay-at-home-mom!

I need to learn some cooking and cleaning skills!

I will miss teaching because I have some wonderful students who actually enjoy coming to school.  I teach in a magnet school for the arts called ACTS.  All of the students have a special talent in the arts (voice, drama, dance, or art).  They have a special focus all year that they study, and we also bring the arts to the core areas such as Social Studies (my subject). 

ACTS Magnet School

But, each day at school, I truly miss Baby W! I want to be his mama full time!  So, with some serious money saving and a smaller budget to work with, we are going to make this work!  Yay for freedom and yay for family!

Not exactly my family

Monday Message: Feel the Spirit!

Yesterday, instead of a sermon, the choir sang several songs about the Spirit.  It was a beautiful service, and while I enjoy listening to a good sermon on Sunday mornings, I feel that I worship best through music.  I was in our church choir until my pregnancy got too far along and I couldn't really stand and sing without getting lightheaded!  I would love to join again, but Baby W goes to bed so early that I can't make it to practice on Wednesday nights. 

I am going to sing at school in a couple of weeks.  I sang in our school talent show last year.  It was a song called "Carry Me Through," by Dave Barnes.  I was not going to sing this year, but my students all requested that I sing again.  The talent show is on June 2, and I have no idea what I will be singing yet!  Any suggestions?! I want to sing something that inspires the students, but that is current and will get the students into the song.

Hope you all have a great week.  This is my last full week of school!  (and Baby W's last week of daycare!)  So excited for the summer to begin!  It will be busy, but I will get to spend lots of time with family!

Monday Message: Singleness of Purpose

Thank you all for the birthday messages!  I really appreciate it! I had a great birthday on Friday.  It started with my first class surprising me with a delicious chocolate brownie cake and cute little home-made presents!

Then I took a half day off from school and drove with Baby W to my hometown where I celebrated with all but one of my sisters and parents!  I got lots of great gifts and gift cards! I'll post some of my new clothes later this week :) 

My nieces were there as well.  This is a picture of Baby W and Niece E on the couch.  We had to separate them after W kept trying to eat E's head!

The next morning, we woke up for the GBS 5K.  My goal was to walk the whole thing and finish in less than 45 minutes.  My time was 43:30!  So I achieved my goal :)  It was one of the most humid days ever, which made it a little harder; but, it was lots of fun and for a good cause. 

Before the race:

After the race:

Our friend that we were running for:

Big W and Baby W:

Meeting Sir Purr:

My dad winning second place (out of two people) in his age group :)

I'm not sure when my next event will be, but I plan to do at least one other 5K this summer!

Back to the Monday message:

Yesterday, I went to church at the church where I grew up.  The message was about having singleness of purpose or singleness of mind.  The pastor used Paul as an example.  His mission or goal was to spread Christ to everyone that he could.  So he had singleness of mind in spreading the knowledge of Christ.  That was his main goal in life and everything he did revolved around that goal. 

We should also set goals and then have singleness of mind in achieving those goals.  Our goals should ultimately be related to serving Christ as well.

I was really inspired by this message and have decided to set my own personal spiritual goals.  I need to have singleness of mind in serving Christ at work, at home, and wherever else I go.  I do have more specific goals in mind to achieve the ultimate goal as well!  I encourage you to set your own goals and have singleness of purpose in achieving those goals!  The other part of the message was that if your ultimate goal is to serve Christ, then you will also be happy and content in life.

Enjoy your week!