Happy Christmas Week!

Hello, blog friends. Are you still out there?

So today is just a glimpse into the past 6 months. I will probably have to do a few catch up posts--pictures, mostly--because I just cannot let the whole season of fall go by without our happenings and pics. It is usually my favorite season of all! But this was NOT my favorite season of my life. In fact, in many many ways, I hope I never have another one like it.
Well, let's jump in there and start with it already!


First, our best/recent family pic...I included it in B&W and then color for your viewing pleasure---please note that the color combo is what happens when you are on vacation away from your house and you do not plan your outfits for the photo opportunities you forget you will have. ;-) Still, I like it both ways!

Today is Tues, Dec. 22nd. Yep, Christmas week! And we are SOOO excited around this house. As you may have read in the previous post, this has been an extremely busy fall for us, and just getting to Dec. 18th has been our goal for quite a while. And now that we are here, we are committed to enjoy every bit of it. We did take one Saturday a few weeks ago to decorate the house a bit, but it has been so cluttered that it took me most of 3 days to just get everything back in order. Can you say 12 loads of laundry??? (Blankets and towels in there, too, btw.) I still need to redo the tree (A REAL TREE! My first EVER!!!) because Matthew let Noah help him put the ornaments up, and well, it looks terrible. Matt and I have attended many a Christmas dinner or party already---7, I believe is the count: Combined Life Group Party(with the classic ugly sweater/white-elephant gift exchange), All-church Potluck Dinner, Church Board AND Staff Progressive Dinner, JUST-the-Pastoral Staff Dinner, Senior-High Party, Junior-High Party, and then Sunday was just-OUR-Life Group Party. They were all nice, but some of going thru the motions. There was also a Street-reach dinner in there that we were both sick for and could not attend--the one I wanted to go to out of all of them! Noah had I have been to two birthday parties this weekend! So we have had plenty of opportunity to celebrate this season with friends, but JUST this weekend I am finally able to BREATHE & feel & ENJOY the spirit of the season. I had to get all my school load off my back first. Now that I have my house in order, I can enjoy the hot chocolate, the music, the lights, the shopping, the traffic, the present wrapping, the decorating, the talk of Santa coming and the anticipation for Christmas morning with a 2, almost 3, year old. Oh, I can't wait!

The best thing about it is that WE ARE NOT TRAVELING!!! This is the first year in our married life that we have not traveled twice a winter for holidays. My family is on their way here, TODAY, from Nebraska, Kansas, and Tennessee. We finally have a house big enough to host and sleep our family, and with Noah being over 2, he doesn't fly for free anymore. So, my family all agreed to fly south for the winter. And we are so so so excited to be here with Noah, to see him run downstairs to see what's under the tree. And in the backyard--someone is giving us their huge playground set, and Matt's goal is to put it together Thurs. and surprise Noah. (yeah right, Noah will be out there "helping" him build it.) He's also really excited to share presents with his aunt and uncle and grandparents. I am looking forward to hosting my family, but since I don't have much practice with that, it might be interesting! I pulled out my Christmas dishes last night and played around with what the table will look like for Christmas dinner. I've had these stinkin plates for over 5 years and never used them for a real meal! Groceries have been bought, but I have not stressed over the meals we will eat. I think I'll let my mom take charge of the kitchen. I want to ENJOY the week! They will all be here till next Tues., and then Carrie will stay through New Years Day and then fly back.

Well, I think this was a good start for my return to the blogworld! I will try to post some pictures later when I get my memory card to work...it's not cooperating right now.

Much love to you all! Merry Christmas week!

Thanksgiving with the Hawkins

First, the boy at Gigi and Papa's..


Then, the fam:

Happy Halloween '09!

Busiest Fall Ever...

Well, hello there, blogger readers. Are you still there?

I have no perfect words to describe how I feel about the fact that it has been OVER 6 MONTHS since I posted on blogger. Shock? Frustrated. Sad. That has NEVER happened before. I can't believe it happened THIS time. But I guess it just goes to show how BUSY my life has been the last 6 months. Like REALLY, REALLY busy. I know several of you reading this know what that is like. Why do we let life get like this? I hate it, really.

Thus, here begins my catch-up posts. I'm going to entitle this one.....WORK.
Just got to get it off my chest first. (Not for the weary-at-heart readers.)

The last couple of months have been extremely stressful due mostly to my work schedule and responsibilities at school. Yes, I knew going back to work after being at home with your baby for 2 years would be hard. But boy, is that an understatement! The long and short of it is it has been a very demanding school year so far. To start with, the school where I am teaching is in a very low-income and highly disadvantaged area, and the expecations they have on us as teachers is simply unrealistic. They have huge expectations for our students, and in order to meet those goals, we have had planning meetings, data-analyzing meetings, getting chewed-out meetings, special seminars, etc. nearly every planning period and both before/after school. We are required to tutor after school and participate in Saturday school a few times a year. It's just all together TOO MUCH. On top of this, I had to take 40 hours of classes since the middle of October in order to be qualified to teach math in our district and gifted and talented students, which apparently my position turned into "unexpectedly". The deadline for all these classes was also the last day of school for the month, Dec. 18th...so for the last 2 months, every spare minute I wasn't working on lesson plans, grading papers, or calling parents, I have been online trying to complete these requirements. I even had to work on about 10 hours during Thanksgiving break at my inlaws house. It has been crazy.

And it has been all consuming at times. I feel like I have hardly spent time with my husband or Noah in the last 2 months without having school on my mind. Matt has been REALLY good to me during this time. He has taken up so much at the house and with Noah and there is NO WAY I could have made it thru this time without his support. Frankly, I'm not sure how we made it at all. Most days, driving to school, I just prayed that I wouldn't quit that day. It has been so tempting. But we did it. I turned in my final documents on Thursday and finished my final wikispace posts by the 5:00pm deadline Friday---about 15 min. early. And although I have a huge stack of papers to grade that I have gotten behind on, I have hope that next semester can't possible be as difficult. I'm hoping after Christmas, my family will help me get caught up so that I can start the next half of the year without being so behind.

So, all that being said, any teachers out there wanna give a shout out to unrealistic expectations! What struggles have you had this year? I know my father-in-law has had a very difficult year as well. If you're not a teacher, let me tell you---they truly have the most difficult job. I don't know that I would ever know this if I wasn't in education. And it gets worse all the time. I love it, and I hate it! I think that can be said for many jobs, but maybe not so many times each day ;-)

Okay, now on to happier posts!