pictures

Remember my camera/phone/computer would not cooperate. Here goes another try...

Me and Katie during our first Homecoming together as teachers.
 If I dug, I could probably find this same picture of us from high school :)

Big Girl Belle :)

Belle and her Mommy

Dancing with Mommy - she has got to learn the difference in dancing and JUMPING!

Rhett got his second big boy haircut yesterday and I almost cried. He looks way older than 2!

That should do it for pictures/posts for now. I still need to post about ButlerFest but that will have to wait!

busy times flying by.

** The beginning of the post was started last week.**

whew. That should be enough to explain my weekend. While this was one of the busiest weekends I have had in a while, it was also one of the most fun! Technically not the weekend, I enjoyed "keeping" (or whatever you do with an eleven year old) Cole Wednesday and Thursday night. He is so much fun and always keeps me on my toes. We even took Tyler out for some yummy Mexican Wednesday - unlike Rhett, Cole thinks he is too cool for pictures but take my word for it- he's super handsome :)

Friday was a crazy day at school. If you are a teacher then you know last week was fire prevention week. We ended the week with a fire safety presentation by the local fire departments. The highlight of the day was the tour of the fire truck - i.e. getting to blow the horn really loudly -

it really is a lot of fun to watch kids explore something as common as a fire truck.

After school on Friday, I headed to Beaver Creek (near Sweet Water) to Sage’s sister’s house to retrieve Rhett for the weekend. Amanda had a ladies golf trip and Aunt Court needed some one-on-one Rhett time. We had the best weekend. I have to say that of all the times I have kept him, this was the most fun. We spent Friday afternoon outside at the Country Club, enjoyed supper and then headed home to get in the “big tub” – I will only post one bathtub picture because he may read this one day ;)

On Saturday morning, we woke up really early to head to Meridian for the Walk for Alzheimer’s. This is a cause that is near and dear to my heart. My sweet Granny has Alzheimer’s and while it does not cause the physical pain like other diseases, the mental pain is just as bad. Alzheimer’s is a disease that goes unnoticed by many. With the help of friends and family, I was able to raise $600 for the walk. About $20,000 was raised at Saturday’s walk alone. I was so glad to have Momma there to walk with me and even Rhett enjoyed the ride. It was a beautiful day and I hope to become more involved with this cause in the future.

Saturday afternoon was spent napping until DD came home from work. Once DD came home and Aunt Curt and Rhett were rested, the playing began again. We headed to Morgan’s new house to watch Alabama beat the Ole Miss Rebs and enjoyed some country play time.

On Sunday, Cotton woke Daniel and I up barking. I thought Rhett was in the bed with Daniel and Daniel thought Rhett was in the bed with me – turns out Rhett was up and petting the deer. Thank goodness for Cotton or he may have been headed down the stairs!

The busy weekend was a fun start to a busy, busy week... HOMECOMING. I have experienced homecoming as a student and LOVED it. Homecoming as a teacher is a much different story. Talk about rowdy kiddos! Monday was pajama day and the kids were calm and quiet.

Tuesday was the funniest day of the week - Senior Citizen Day. I shopped around in Granny's closet and found some nice pants and a Christmas sweater that I deemed "senior citizeny" enough to make the cut! My kids (who I thought would not enjoy this day) went above and beyond. One even had a walker and an oxygen line. This is our group picture - I am also including the boy/girl picture so you can see a close up.

Mrs. Emily and I were the only teachers who dressed up - leave it to the new ones :)

Wednesday was Costume Day and while my kiddos ranged from Rocky Balboa to Top Gun, I opted out of this day. My costume days are long gone and I was a little unprepared. Here is the class group picture. Top Gun was by far my favorite!

The theme for this year was "Rockin' with the Saints" so Thursday was 50s Day. One of our room mothers for the year made all of the girls (and Ms. Courtney) a poodle skirt. All the boys were greased up and ready for the 50s.

Friday was Spirit Day - as always! The day was filled with movie watching, playground playing, parade riding, and cheering for the Saints. It was so nice to be on campus for the day as a teacher. I can't say enough good things about being a Saint! There is a feeling about being there and being home. Once a saint, always a SAINT!

They were less than pumped during this picture - it was after the parade and they had been told about 122384791823475498239 times that their bottoms needed to touch the heels of their feet!

The busy week ended with a relaxing weekend at Daniel's. We did nothing and I LOVED every second of it! I had a productive Saturday cleaning house and then enjoyed watching the TIDE roll over TN. I hope they do as well in a couple of weeks when we tailgate for the LSU game. RTR! Sunday, Daniel and I went on a date. I hate to admit it but I have never seen the original movie Footloose. It's just not something I have ever sat down to watch. Anyways, we went to see the new one and I LOVED it! Definitely going to be watching the original soon. I had Fall Break yesterday and today. Yesterday I did little to nothing. I did watch the movie Bridesmaids which I do not recommend. I enjoyed some play time with Belle who has become quite the big girl. Yesterday, she weighed 50.8 pounds. Daniel and I like to joke that big girls need loving, too! I will post some new pictures of Belle soon! My phone/e-mail/computer are not all cooperating right now!

Today, I went around the world to come home. I had to go through Demopolis to pick up my weekend passes to the River Jam this weekend. I never win contests... ever... and I won two passes to River Jam this weekend from Win 98.5. I am pretty pumped! I came home to celebrate Momma's 52nd birthday. The epitome of unselfishness and a perfect momma - she really does deserve the best. This *short* week at school will hold lots of reviews and probably some retraining since we have been off and were so laid back last week!

update :)

As of right now, I need to post about ButlerFest, my weekend with Rhett, and  Homecoming week. Just wanted to say hello to those of you who read and let you know that at some point in the near future, I plan to have three posts - or one really long one! Happy Friday and Happy Homecoming at Patrician!

Court

one is the loneliest number….

for 23 years, 241 Country Club Drive has been the home to five people (and Cotton) as of today, we are down to three – 1 kiddo and 2 parents… and cotton! Morgan has been talking about moving out for some time now – and this weekend, he DID it. No warning, just moved – not really but that is what it seemed like. I should also mention that I hate change – not that I want to be in the same place for the rest of my life but change all at once is a little much. Not two months ago, Tyler moved out. As weird as it is, one moving out was not too bad. Tyler’s house is on my way home from school and I can stop any day I want to. I guess because Morgan is the last one – the straw that broke the camel’s back if you will – it was a little much. When I walked in his new house yesterday, I found it hard to hold back the tears – and I couldn’t. Morgan insisted that I stop but I couldn’t – it was too much. I am proud of him and his new house but on the selfish side, I want my brothers back. All the fussing I have done over the years about cold showers and being blocked in when I was running late is over… and I miss it already. Another reason I am sad about Morgan moving out is because we are also losing Sara. For almost two years, she has been a part of our weekend family. It has been nice having another girl around. Though I know she is not leaving, she won’t be back to our house – side note – she also shed some tears over leaving the house, too. I have already told Mo and ty that I am making a schedule for my spend the night parties – which will happen regularly! I said yesterday to Momma and Daddy that I didn’t want to be the only child at home but then again, I am leaving in just a short eight months. At 29, 25, and 23, it is time for us all to fly the coop and spread our wings – I know that change is good but that doesn’t make it any easier!

 

*next post, Butler Fest, pictures of Morgan’s house, and our new class pet Peanut!

check. check.

the first check – I found my wedding dress this weekend. The second check – I found my bridesmaids dresses this weekend. By saying '” I” found my dresses, I really mean my wonderful family and friends helped me find my dresses! On Saturday morning, momma, Mrs. Mary Ann, Amanda, Kaley, Christy, and me loaded up (thank goodness for Amanda’s mom vehicle) and headed to Jasper dress shopping. Long story short, Momma and I went to Birmingham a few weeks ago and found the *perfect* dress. WE hesitated ordering because it was a lot of money. Mom – and her techy self – was browsing online and found another dress by the same designer that was almost identical. We located the dress at a store in Jasper, made an appointment, and off we went. I found the dress we went for and several others and headed to the dressing room. I will admit that I loved every second of trying on dresses. I am relieved to have found “the one” but I am also sad that I will not get to do this again. Anyways, I tried on all the dresses and narrowed it down to two. After consulting everyone, we decided one was a little less dressy than the other and that I needed the dressier one. Let me tell you, I LOVE the one I we finally chose. I wish I could put it on right now. However, even though it is ordered, we will be waiting until around January for it to come in. After finding my dress, it was to the bridesmaids room to look. Here was my problem – I knew what color, material, and style I wanted and I couldn’t find it. I would find a dress I loved and hate the color "gray" it came in or I would find the color I loved and hate the material. Long story short, I was really tired of looking for dresses. Thank goodness for friends who carry on when you are tired because Christy and Momma headed back for one more run through the hundreds of dresses and came out with the most perfect dress. The top of the dress is almost identical to mine, the material is perfect, and while the color is darker than I had imagined, it is PERFECT!

The weekend got even more perfect when I got to visit Daniel Saturday night. It was so nice to have nothing to do. We relaxed, went to Wal-mart, ate supper, watched Country Strong, and went to bed! Sunday, I had a yummy breakfast in bed, we watched The Lincoln Lawyer which was fabulous and we went to visit the Vick’s in Tuscaloosa. weekends like that are few and far between since we are both so busy.  I am headed back up there this weekend to do some crafting and fall decorating!

Now that the dresses are taken care of, we are onto finding flowers that we like and food to eat! The wedding is slowly but surely coming together!

p.s. I hate to blog without pictures but the only ones I have are of the dress and those will have to wait until next June!

it’s been a while

I am most certain that my best friend Kaley and I are kindred blogging souls… we have the same post titles on the same day two times which is quite scary. Obviously we both had a whirlwind first three weeks of school…. wait, did I just say three weeks – YES! That is how long we have been in school. I can’t believe it. I feel obligated to my few readers to update you all on how my life as Ms. Courtney has been going. In a few words – fast and crazy!

In order to fully describe my first day of full time teaching… I must show you what I looked like.

Please notice the massive ulcer and huge zit – talk about scary. For the entire first two weeks of school, my lip was swollen and eating was difficult to say the least! I sent this to Kaley as a happy first day of school picture…we have a weird relationship! The first morning was, as many veteran teachers warned me, crazy. If it had not been for Abby’s Fun With Firsties Unit, I would not have made it through the first week. We made Jitter Juice which in my opinion could have used a little alcohol however the kiddos loved it and begged for the recipe (sprite and cherry kool-aid).

though this was only my 17th full day of teaching, I already know so many things I would do differently. However, if I could give advice to a new teacher for the first day of school it would be to have a helper. Had it not been for Sara, I would not have made it. So many parents were asking questions, etc. and Sara calmly put everything away and did it with a smile. I will have to find a new helper next year because by then she will have her teaching degree. She loves her first placement and I am so glad she is having a wonderful experience!

I forgot to mention that the first day of school I gave blood which was probably not the best idea in the world – talk about out of it! However, I am a firm believer in donating blood!

The past two weeks have been super busy not only with school but also with The Distinguished Young Women of Choctaw County (formerly Junior Miss) program. I am the co-director and have been so busy. the program was this past Saturday night and I was so happy it went off without a hitch. I love the program and I am so happy to help with this great program but I am also glad it is over! The seven girls worked so hard and I think we have a great representative to State with Paige Walker…

A classroom funny that happened last week… during the Lord’s prayer, I hear this “Our Father, who Art in Heaven, HOWARD be His name…” I just about lost it. Kids have no idea how funny they are. As I sit here now with one thousand things on my mind, I am slowly realizing that I can’t do it all – which is a hard pill for me to swallow. This afternoon, Momma and I are meeting with our wedding directors (Mrs. Debbie and Mrs. Trisha) and hoping they are full of wonderful ideas to get us back on the wedding track!

I haven’t mentioned mine and Daniel’s sweet little big baby… Belle is growing like a weed but still thinks she is a puppy! This is her stretched out as long as the couch at Daniel’s Parents’ house. She is precious and I wish I got to see her (and Daniel) more than I do!

I know I am all over the place… bear with me! My morning walks have been few and far between – mainly because I feel that extra hour is imperative to my daily functioning! However, one morning last week I DID make the walk and got the greatest picture of the morning sky. I really do live in one of the most beautiful places on earth.

Back to school for a minute – I am PUMPEd about our new technology. Thanks to a donation from a local Trust account, our school was able to purchase projectors, document projectors, flip cameras, Mimio notepads, and clickers! My favorite new toy is the document projector –seriously, I use it ALL the time… here is a picture of me reading a story to my kiddos on the first day. FYI – if you are not a teacher, it is a new age overhead projector!

On a completely random note – I am so impressed each time I look at my best friend Kaley’’s new photography business – If you haven’t visited yet, visit their blog!

My last random thought for the day is that in my next life I want to be Cotton – this was at 6:45 a.m. and he was already taking a nap!

I am also still aware that I owe an entire post to Josh’s graduation weekend and Rhett’s second birthday party – maybe I will get to that before my post on Labor Day!

the sweet Gordon family

Another contest for a good cause. When I was teaching at the UWA Campus School, I had the most precious little girl in my class. Her name was Mary Reeves Gordon and she had the curliest hair and most beautiful eyes. She was a diva to say the least… always leading the class even though she was one of the youngest ones. She was one that I could have held all day and she wanted no part of that… she was always too busy for cuddling MR is also one of the smartest children I have ever been around… and she is a fashion trend setter – she came to the CS with some “"sparkly tennis shoes””" and soon that was all the rage among the 2-4 year olds. they lit up when you walked and I think that was the only thing I ever had to get on to MR for…. stomping her feet at nap to make her shoes light up! Anyways, MR and her sweet parents and precious little brother Murphy moved to Starkville (their original hometown). My blog obsession lead me to Meaghan’'s blog and I have kept up with them through that.

Recently, Meaghan has posted that they are adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia. If you have even known anyone who has adopted then you know it is expensive… to say the least. Meaghan and Wes know that this is a calling from God and they know that what He calls you to do, He will provide for. I say all of that to say GO READ THEIR BLOG! Meaghan is such a fantastic writer and they need all the support they can get. They are selling t-shirts that look like this….

and having a yard sale extravaganza that I may be making a trip to Starkville to check out! Please at least go read their story and support them in anyway that you can. They really are as precious as they seem!

and from Meaghan….

Helpful info:

• Here's the direct link to the T-shirt information for your posts: http://thewesgordonfamily.blogspot.com/2011/08/adoption-t-shirts-for-sale.html
• Our Garage Sale Extravaganza will be at our house...204 Willow Bend on Friday, Sept. 2 from 4-7 p.m. and Saturday, Sept. 3 from 6 a.m. until. We have EVERYTHING you can imagine for sale! :)