Last week of "Summer" Post

So this is it...
...my last week of lazy summer days before I start all my staff development for the new school year. And when I say lazy, I DO mean L.A.Z.Y. We have had a B.U.S.Y. summer in some ways---June, at least. Matt has been extremely busy, and I myself have taken 3 trips and been gone from the house more than 3 full weeks, (more on that in a sec.) But the days that Noah and I have been home, we have re-laaaaxed. The kind where you don't change out of your jamas or shower until well after noon, enjoying cartoons and reading and lounging all morning. Then in the afternoons we often eat a late lunch (due to our late bfast) and occasionally make a trip to the library or a park or maybe the pool, but even the pool takes a lot of energy from me! It has been a GREAT couple of weeks, this July.

I haven't blogged all summer, so I have some catching up to do...I'll try to be quick and brief. [Don't LOL here!] Let's try sentence fragments here. At least when possible.

JUNE--gladly wrapped up the HARDEST school year...
...SIDENOTE: & this can't go unmentioned: found out the last week of school that after all our stress and hair pulling, my kids actually DID WELL on their state tests (90% passing rate) and that I, along with the other 2 5th grd. math teachers, should receive a BIG BONUS check next Dec.!!! What a huge surprise and blessing from God. We have gotten so behind since living here and it will not be ill spent in any way.

Anyway, JUNE: last day of school=teens' Out of School Pool party--big turnout. First full week of summer: Youth camp. I went for first 4 days, came back Thurs. night. Noah did well staying with our friend Michelle. Good camp; first time I'd been back at camp for more than a day since Noah's birth. Enjoyed it, but feel old...er. Had a the weekend and a few days off, then the next Wed. packed up and flew to SC for 48 hours with Hawkins family... good stuff...swimming, eating, a movie, got to see Emory -my niece-for the 2nd time--she was now 5 mo! Fri--drove up to NC for the weekend with the Robisons' wedding--Matt and Ellen. Matt and Noah were in the wedding, Noah did well. Very nervous about him actually walking down the aisle on the big day, but bribery works wonders. Both looked adorable--Matt had to wear teal. Nice. Loved spending time with the Robisons. Miss them terribly. Also got to Tom & Cheryl Kincaid and Wendy and Johnny. Disappointed more people from Vero didn't drive up. WE came from TEXAS!!

Then, Matt and I flew from Charlotte, NC out to Sante Fe, NM to join our youth group and sponsors on a 10 day backpacking trip to Colorado we call RTA. Noah stayed with Gigi, Papa, and Aunt Leah in SC. We had a great trip, albeit 3/4 the group got the flu/diarreah and one of our girls had to get Life Flighted out of the canyon we were in, both events which drastically changed the course of our trip. But relationally, the kids grew closer and had some cool God moments, and that's most important. Everyone returned home healthy and happy. After the trip, (we got home on Sunday evening at 9p) Matt and I both flew out the next morning less than 12 hours later. Matt went up to OKC for a pastor's conference and I flew out to Augusta, GA to get Noah. Noah and I came back the same day, finally getting in to Houston around 11p, but only after a delayed flight, missed connection, and RUNNING thru the entire Atlanta airport to catch a standby flight. Noah did GREAT at the airport, ran the whole way with me, and we BARELY made it...it was awesome...and as we entered the doorway to the plane, Noah says to me, "Mom, can I WALK now?" It was so cute, and hilarious. When we got back to Houston, my mom was already here waiting for us, having flown down to Houston from OKC herself on Monday. She had to wait a good 6 hours or so for us, but was patient of course. Mom got to spend the week with us here, and we slooooowed down during that week; went to the library, some stores, and the Aquarium together and rode the rides. Matt and my dad got in on Thursday night from the pastor's conference, and got to stay till Tues. We went swimming together during the weekend , went to Chuck E. Cheeses, and had a Fourth of July block party at church. It was very nice to have my parents visit for so long.

Bedtime...to be cont.

A Look on Life, May

Happy Mother's Day!

This looks like my first written post since New Years Day. Wow. Facebook really has taken over as my form of communication! This blog will continue to be the place I write when I just want to journal my thoughts out without the fear of criticism or input from random "friends". Not that you can't comment, if you would like to! It's nice to have a place to communicate with my TRUE friends and family. I do want to keep up with the big things of life here and record stuff for reading in the future.

We have had a great week at the Hawkins' household. It began with my birthday and will likely end here with Mother's Day. I have been spoiled all this week and am enjoying a quiet afternoon on the couch thanks to my husband who took Noah in for a Daddy-Son nap. Hope they both get some good sleep while I catch up with some alone time.

Let's see...as for lately...Monday was my 31st birthday. Two years ago it was on a Sat. (a fun birthday, Matt arranged for a boat trip for us!), last year my 3-0 was on Sunday! (Ughhh!!!) So glad the excitement of the big #-0 is over for another 9 years! This year was just another birthday! And was by far the quietest, most normal "birth"day I remember, maybe ever. A few years while teaching, I have taken my birthday off from work, just to have a day to myself without anyone at school making a fuss of me. Well, this year, I have run out of sick/personal days, so I had to go. Thankfully, only one or two teachers read the agenda for the week and wished me a happy birthday. I'd rather it go unnoticed! My co-teachers didn't remember until Tues. ;-) Interestingly, I ended up totally stressed/rushing home during my lunch period because I had accidentally taken both sets of car keys with me in my purse, and Matt was stuck at the house without transportation. THANKFULLY, it was on the same day that he had to wait for the air conditioner guy to come fix our a/c in the house, so it wasn't as BIG of an inconvenience--the only bad thing was that Noah didn't get to go to daycare until 2:00--after nap time...which means Matt wasn't really able to work from home, as planned. And the a/c guy didn't show up until 1:30, right before I got there. So, that was my school day!
I left school right after the kids did and gave myself an hour (or two!) to get Starbucks/ leisurely walk thru Target, one of my favorite stores ;-) and picked out a few things with birthday gift cards/money---a black purse, a wallet, and a little black blouse--all things that I will love.

I picked up Noah close to 6:30 and headed home---showered and changed, and then headed out again when Matt got home. The evening of my birthday I attended a ceremony for my friend from church, Amy, who was awarded the Spotlight Teacher of the Year. I was not really expecting to go alone, but everyone else bailed on me, and to be honest, I rather enjoyed the quiet time. I don't get much quiet time! I sat in the balcony, wrote thank you notes to people, and enjoyed hearing all the 100+ tributes to the best teachers in our district. Anybody else would have been bored to death, but I enjoyed it. I really wanted to go and support her, too. When I got home, Noah and Matt had sweet little gifts for me, which were perfect things I will love--a watch, some perfume, and a makeup kit. We were supposed to go get icecream at ColdStone's, but as we headed to the car, Noah had a melt-down (remember, No nap for him) and so we gave up and stayed home afterall. Matt made me some chicken quesadillas for dinner and I got to play with Noah for an hour before he went to bed, which was nice. Not at all a totally, special day, but spent doing what I wanted to do.

Tues. Matt had planned to take me out to eat for my birthday. After another afternoon of rushing around at school, we took Noah to a friend's and finally about 7:30p arrived at P.F. Chang's for my "birthday" dinner. It was nice. We have only been there once or twice, 5+ years ago. Nice date night in the middle of the week--but got home close to 10p! Dinner and babysitting were a gift from a friend as well.

Wed. was church night...Thurs. was a MultiCultural Night at school (I got home after 8p), and Friday night was our last Friday Night Event night of the year. Those three days passed by as normal life seems to---very busy. Then we had a nice quiet yesterday--sleeping in past 10a.m...breakfast/brunch at IHOP, cleaning the house together till afternoon nap time, hitting a local pool and Splash Pad with Noah's friends while Matt went to dinner with our pastor/wife and a missionary. Worked out well since we would not have been able to take Noah to that nice dinner and Matt would have not wanted to go to pool with the mom's club/kids. Noah and I stayed and played at the playground for quite a while and will be frequent visitors to the sand box this summer, I think. Gotta get him a shovel and bucket set, though. Hoping his ears will be okay from swimming---first time since his surgery.

Today, Mother's Day---nice day at church together of course. Noah told me the whole way to church this morning, "Mama, I LOOOOVE you"....and "You are so PRETTY!" His daddy has taught him well. Noah told EVERYONE today Happy Mother's Day and gave lots of hugs to ladies who I know were blessed to have one. We sang some of my favorite songs of late---None, but Jesus, & Jesus Paid It All (contemporary version). "Sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow...oh praise..." Missionary from Northern Europe spoke about the mission work going on in the part of the country that once brought us the Reformation...interesting to hear they are only 10% church goers, etc. As my heart is stirred, I still wonder if we'll one day end up on the mission field. I told Matt that with all we've done this week, I just wanted to hang out at home...so he picked up Chile's To-Go and we came home. Perfect. The best part of today would be that we were able to give some gift cards/money to a family that I know is not able to go out to eat...and we're hoping it'll be quite a blessing to them today. Matt also gave me a coupon to have family pictures done together, which he knows I've wanted to do (and he hates to do!) Such a sweet man I have in my life.

Well, I've enjoyed this time to myself, but I need to head over to Noah's blog to catch up on all the things he's been doing/saying lately. Thanks for "listening" and letting me share life with you. If you're a mother, I hope you feel as blessed as I do this day at what a wonderful life I live and how lucky/blessed I am to have my family. As crazy as things get, it is truly my two boys that keep me going and make life worth the living. I am thankful to my heavenly Father, as well, for blessing me with my son and letting me learn what it means to love unconditionally as He loves me.

Birthday Box, Take #2

Birthday 3 Begins

Here's a vid of Noah opening up his first birthday of the season, a box from Grandma and Grandpa Hays.

O, Happy Day

Here's Noah singing his new favorite song from Kids' Stuff. We were driving home from dacare/work.

Noah Protects his Cousin

Baby Emory!

Here's Baby Emory, my first little Niece! Jessica and Jonathon welcomed Emory into the world on Jan. 13th...yes this video is quite behind. We got to go see them when Emory was a week and a half old.

Robisons' Present for Noah

2010, huh?

So this year started off pretty good, I'd say...a fun party with the teens, Noah staying up till 2 a.m. on his sugar high (thank you, youth workers), and then sleeping in because my wonderful husband got up with Noah when he woke up, hearing, "It's a Sunny Day! Get up, dad!" It feels so good to have a few more days of wearing fleece pajamas till noon. I have...just one more day, I think.

Then I realize it is New Years Day, and I think...oh great, this is not the way I'm supposed to start a new year! But, no big resolutions for me this year. I never keep them. Just a few, small goals for the coming year:

1.) Spend more time in God's word than I do on Facebook.
2.) Memorize another 24 (or more) scriptures with Beth Moore, like I did this year--best resolution I've ever made/kept.
3.) Get our family back in the black.

I think that's enough, don't you?
I don't know where 2010 will take us---whether I'll continue working full time, switch schools, etc...whether we will add to our family or not, the health of family members, how God will choose to bless /challenge us, but I do have faith that He will continue to be faithful to us, as He always has been, and that whatever it brings, will be good. Not necessarily always FEEL good, but BE good. And FOR our good.

Thank you, God, for the blessings, provisions, and lessons of 2009...and may 2010 proove to be a greater experience of your presence in our lives.

Mmmm....Christmas....

~Hawkins Family on Christmas Eve~

~Hays & Hawkins Families on Christmas Eve~

Well, it is now Friday the 1st of Jan (more on that later), and my sister just left this afternoon....so we have had family at our house for the past 1o days. It has been great. I wasn't sure how it would go, since we've never hosted a holiday and since we were trying to not spend a bunch of money going out to places = tons of family time at the house. But it was okay. (We had only a handful of incidents. ;-) Thankfully, we have two "living" spaces, if you count the playroom, so people could always retreat to the upstairs if they'd had enough of what was going on downstairs. And we did, a few times. Mostly we just hung around and played games and cooked together. The guys went to 3 movies in a week's time (I went to two) and Sherlock Holmes was a VERY good choice for our Christmas Day movie. They also saw Avatar in 3D and Invictus. I watched the Blind Side for a second time with those who hadn't seen it yet. Here's some pics of everyone hanging out with Noah.

We went to the Christmas Eve service at church, which is where we got some of the good family shots above, and although I spent the evening in the nursery with Noah and 3 other little ones, it was a good evening. We found a place open to order our Pizza Hut, and although we had to take it to the youth room to eat it, it was okay. We read the Christmas story with one of Noah's books when we got home and opened up our pajamas. Then a game or two of Rook and a present-wrapping marathon. We tried to watch the Muppets Christmas Carol, but nobody really made it all the way through. I was in and out doing gifts. I think I finished after 1:30 a.m.! Whew!

Noah LOVED Christmas this year, needless to say for a 2-almost 3-year old. But he really did. He loved opening up gifts, but he was very patient in doing so. And so very thankful for each gift. The family brought wrapped gifts when they came, so for 3 full days Noah watched those things under the tree and only occassionally brought gifts to us, asking if he could open them. And he was very good when we said, "Not yet, TWO MORE DAYS till Christmas!" My favorite response was the first gift he got to open on Christmas Eve, his jammies. I told him as he was opening them, "Now Noah, this is not a toy, or a game, but a special gift for you, okay?" And when he opened them up, he cheered, "Ooooh! THANK you Mommy! THANK YOU!" And held them close to his face. We asked, "what is it, Noah?" "CLOTHES!" It was pretty darn cute.

We also played the Santa thing up with him for the first time. . .we did not take him to the mall to meet Santa, but talked about what he wanted to get from Santa and how Santa would bring him toys if he was good........but we really didn't have to say much because apparently they had talked ALL about it at day care. He did not know what the "chimney" was, but knows all about the sled and the reindeer. We made cookies together---peanut butter blossums, this year--and put them, milk, and carrots out for Santa and the reindeer. It was pretty fun. He woke up Christmas morning, telling me that Santa had not come, so apparently we neglected to tell him that Santa would not actually wake him up and he wouldn't get to SEE Santa. Thought we had covered that one, but maybe not. Next year, we will have more set out for Noah to play with he wakes up--this year, we wrapped his Thomas the Train set, but should have already had it put together for him. He got a ton of things given to him, so each gift he of course wanted to play with right away, instead of opening up more gifts. I think next year we'll do one gift a day, like Hannakuh. That way he can really appreciate them all equally. His favorite gifts are probably the train set we got him, a set of blocks (that look just like some my brother made and had let him play with the first couple of days) and the game Memory. He is a pro at that already.

The best thing of all though, was probably the playground set you can see below, that Matt and my brother Brad put together for Noah the day before and the day after Christmas. Some good friends from church have given it to us for Noah, since their grandkids moved out of the house and Noah is always playing on it at their house (once a week we go there for Bible Study.) It took a full two days to take it apart at their house, drive it across town to our house, and then restructure it together. The rest of us helped minimally, but both of these guys spent the whole 6 hours each day on it. I am so greatful! Noah loves it, and although it has been raining nearly every day since, I know we will get TONS of use out of it as it warms up.

So, here we are, after the holidays, resting and recovering. We had a very relaxing first two weeks, but it's a different kind of quiet now. I have tons of papers to grade and lessons to plan for next week, laundry to do, but at least I have my holiday decorations put away and a rather clean house. We are having company over tomorrow, in attempt to break our un-hospitable track record early in the year. Plus, if we don't do it soon, Jan. will get VERY busy, quickly. Coming up this month: Winter Retreat (100+ teens and 4 days) and the arrival of Baby Emory (trip to Nashville).

And today marks our ONE-YEAR anniversary of being Houstonites. We have lived here ONE FULL YEAR!

And a few pics from Sunday church.