December 2010

December started with another birthday!!  I love birthdays!  So many birthday wishes and a fun party.  My mother-in-law made me a buttermilk pound cake.  Yum!  I thoroughly enjoyed every bite!

 I love decorating our house.  Even though we were going to be heading to North Carolina for Christmas I still put up all of my decorations.  Here is the tree in our living room.

This is the little tree that I put up in our bedroom.  I bought this tree at Kmart for $15 when we first got married.  I put it up in our apartment every year until we moved into our house.  I just couldn't bare to part with it; it brings back precious memories of many happy Christmases. 

Although I'm not as extravagant in my classroom, I do like to put up lights and even had a little "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree.  The students said they enjoyed the festive atmosphere in my classroom.  December was busy at school, but we worked hard and finished second semester.

We had some bad weather during the month of December.  One night freezing rain came through.  Tony brought two of his boys over for tutoring and we didn't realize our porch had iced over.  As they were leaving, Tony hit the top step and went flying.  He broke his arm in three places.  Needless to say this was one night that wasn't festive.



I love these next two pictures because they are of both sets of our parents opening gifts.  We often say that our parents are our best friends.  We are so blessed to have all of them.  They mean so much to us and we loved spending time with both sets over Christmas break. 
We love giving them gifts and, as you can see, they enjoyed opening them!:) 
We were also so thankful for many gifts from them. Our parents always work to make
Christmas a special family time.

 

We had a wonderful trip to Rocky Mount arriving around the same time as Kirk, Chad and Jen.  We immediately caught up on all the news and enjoyed all the festivities planned by Mom and Pop Carlson.  We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner, opened gifts on Christmas morning, delicious Christmas dinner and activity time at Positive Action.  Probably one of the funniest events of the day was a rousing game of Family Feud.  Mom was the game hostess and the teams were the guys vs. the girls & Pop.  The girls and Pop won!!  Lots of laughs!!

I remember checking Facebook on Christmas Day to see all of the snow in Chattanooga.  We were a little sad that we didn't have snow on Christmas Day.  Well, the next morning which was Sunday we awoke to a winter wonderland.  It was a unique day because church was cancelled.  And Brian and I spent the day by ourselves while my parents took an all day journey to try to get the Madison kids back home.  They finally returned in time for supper after getting the gang to Charlotte with seats on an airplane the next morning. 

We were sad to leave, but enjoyed a few days in Blowing Rock

before heading back to Chattanooga. 

What wonderful memories of a glorious holiday season!  We loved every minute of it!

Well, so far so good.  Now on to the new year ... 2011!!  It has already been a fabulous year.

Stay tuned for

January 2011

November 2010

November was quite a fun-filled month packed with birthdays, schoolwork and a big production. 

I have picked 8 pictures that represent the month of November.

Brian's mom was the first to have a birthday. 

She spent the night with us because Dad Walker was on the road.  I made her a homemade strawberry cake. 

Notice the grandsons enjoyed watching her blow out the candles.

Uncle Brian and Rylie were the next to have birthdays only 3 days apart.  There is a funny story about their cakes and this picture.  They each had their own birthday party and then they had one together.  Instead of making more cake, Darla and I both brought out the cakes they already had, relit the candles and saved us extra work.  We didn't think it was any big deal and neither did they.  However, we should have turned the cakes around for the picture and kept it our little family secret.  When this picture hit Facebook we were ridiculed unmercifully with demands for an explanation of the pitiful looking cakes ... fun times!

This picture is one of our cozy little house where we retreated each fall evening after long days at work.  I love how the leaves on the tree turned such beautiful fall colors.  The view all around the house was gorgeous during this season.

Then there was Berean's fall production that was so much work and so much fun!  We did a mystery comedy this year entitled ... "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night"

It was a crazy story and the cast did a fabulous job.

I was especially thrilled to have my wonderful

parents in town for opening night. 

Needless to say, they loved the play

and my students loved getting to know them better.

Mom and Pop presented me with a lovely bouquet of roses on the evening they attended and my cast gave me more roses the next night.  Essie just couldn't resist checking out the beautiful flowers and even cooperated by allowing me to take her picture.  I believe she is also sitting on my papers and gradebook which I tried to keep up with late at night when I wasn't at rehearsals or performances.

This is another wonderful memory of November ... one of my former drama students, Anna Vaupel, came to my final play performance.  I taught Anna in both high school and college.  I am so proud of the fine teacher she has become.  She is using the drama skills she developed at Temple daily in such creative ways.  She also brought a fine young man with her for me to meet.  She whispered in my ear how well he treated her and how much he loved the Lord.  What a thrill to learn of their engagement a few weeks later. 

I'm so thrilled that Anna waited for God's best as I told her many times to do.  

This picture makes me laugh because this is how I found my desk at school one morning.  This is "The General" who appeared several times in our play and the students have had fun making him mobile at school.  I always am laughing and have had fun reflecting over wonderful memories made during November.  Of course, then it was time for Thanksgiving.  We stayed in Chattanooga and ate lots of turkey.  I rested, recupped and started decorating for Christmas.  I will show you the result in the next post ...

Stay tuned for:

December 2010

I'm Back!

I decided to check my blog today to see how long it has been since I posted last.  Wow!  October 1 was 6 months ago.  I looked through the pictures on my phone and realized I have many events to share that have happened in these last 6 months.  So if you don't mind I will work on 6 posts that represent a quick recap of each of the months that I have missed.

We are doing very well.  This week is my Spring Break and today is a beautiful day in Tennessee.  We celebrated our 14th anniversary on Tuesday.  How quickly the years have passed, but how thankful we are for God's blessings.  Stay tuned ... I'll try to get the "November Update" up by this afternoon.

First Quarter has been a blur!

When I last posted we were in teacher inservice and the excitement for the new school year was high.  Since then everything has been a whirlwind.  My room has a "news theme" and do we have many exciting things happening daily! 

We hit the ground running in English and have just completed reading Wuthering Heights.  The story has always intrigued me, although many consider it a negative tale lacking in inspiration.  However, I consider it such a good example of the antithesis of true romance that it does inspire.  I heard recently that Louis L'Amour said something like "It is not what you read, but what you read that makes you think." 

This classic work written by a preacher's daughter definitely made us think!! 

Here is my little teacher's nook.  I have made it cozy complete with a lamp and Grandma's wicker bench!!  Yes, the faithful bench now serves many purposes in my classroom.  This week I had a small group Bible study with 9 girls.  I pulled out the bench, sat on it and told my infamous love story again.  (Sigh!)  It never gets old.  Precious memories! 

Last week we traveled to Murfreesboro for the TACS Educators' Convention.  I presented two workshops:  "Using Reader's Theater to Create Classroom Characters" and "Is Your Classroom Dull or Dynamic?"  Although I agonize over the preparation, I love "game day."  Both workshops were so much fun.  Here is my cast of "volunteer" actors in the RT workshop.  The one guy is playing "Johnny Appleseed."  He was a hit!  He and the entire cast did a fabulous job and helped to make the workshop a great success.

In addition to teaching seven classes, I am also heavily into preparing for our upcoming fall play.  This year we are presenting a mystery comedy called "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night."  Here is how we are presently holding rehearsals . . .in my room with minimal staging.  One day Arabella (above in the blue shirt)  had to leave early, so I doned her hat and glasses and jumped into the role with gusto (see next pic).  I just realized that we are both holding our arms the same way!!  Kaylee is going to be an actress . . . she reminds me of "Kristy Carlson" as a senior!:)

I always am amused when my students are surprised at my acting antics.  It does help them understand more what I mean to act in character at all times!!  We are having such fun.  The play is not until November, but volleyball and cross country occupy much of their time.  We have to practice in short increments for a long time in order to be ready for production.  I found out recently that my parents will be here for my play!  I'm so excited.  After a long week, I'm planning to recuperate and regroup this weekend.  My college speech class starts on Monday night.  God is so good to allow me to be involved in so many opportunities. 

Teacher Inservice

We are back to work!  Last week we spent several days in workshops and group discussions.  The students came on Thursday to register for their classes.  It looks like our enrollment is up, and all the students are excited for school tomorrow!  This week we have had several training sessions.  Yesterday we received training in CPR. Here I am resuscitating my buddy "Fred." 

Here is Mrs. Todd excited that she applied the AED correctly.  Heather and I are teaching together in the math department.  She is no longer the rookie teacher -- we have a new teacher this year that is taking her title.

Here are several of the elementary teachers

taking a break from the CPR training. 

Here is Mr. Harmon, our fearless administrator.  Mr. Harmon has brought our school into the 21st century with computer technology galore! 

We had to report for computer training today. 

Happy teachers logging onto the new Windows 7 software

that we received from a grant given to our school.

Hopefully we will have everything up and running for our first day tomorrow.

Mr. Long is the IT man that has worked countless hours setting up the new computers and systems. 

 We are so thankful for his expertise.

Beautiful Morning for Breakfast on the Deck

We made my mom's Great Aunt Alma's waffle 
recipe this morning.

We used delicious Hillsdale maple syrup, 
a gift from Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Dwight.

Beautiful morning to enjoy food, 
fellowship and good coffee on the deck.

The golfers were out as well.  
You can see them in the top right of this picture.

I persuaded my mom to let me take her picture to prove she was eating with us as well.  We took a walk after breakfast, and now I'm packing up getting ready to head home.  
What a wonderful time it has been!

Special Visit with Sara

I added my blog address to face book because I didn't know if anyone was reading. . . besides my mom, cousins and aunts.  I received so many encouraging messages, that I have been inspired to increase my entries.  Once I return home and get back into the swing of things of school, I will make this more along the lines of teaching, acting, communication, productions... you know, all the things I love to do.  However, for a few more days I want to relish in summer fun with family and friends.

This week has continued to be relaxing.  I've come to the office with my parents for three of the five days.  I've worked on speech and drama classes.  I'm teaching junior high speech for the first time, so I'm developing all new lessons.  Should be fun!

On Tuesday my parents loaned me their car and I drove to Raleigh for a visit with my dear cousin and friend, Sara.  We had a delightful afternoon catching up, reminiscing, and laughing.  It is so wonderful that Sara and Dave live only about an hour away from my parents.  They have a lovely home and three adorable children.   We have decided that we will make this an annual event since we hadn't gotten together for three years.  I just wished I lived closer to more of my cousins.  Since I don't have sisters, my "girl cousins" are my sisters.