On My Mind...

This photo is representative of life.  It's not perfect, but we're happy. 

I'm smiling, but the boys refuse to pose.  This is nothing new.

Just threw it on this blog post because I never put in on FB or IG.

Here's a list of random things that have been on my mind.

#1

Relief

Mark and I teach subjects that are tested in the state of Texas.  It's a lot of stress.  Both of our tests are now over and there's a huge feeling of relief. 

#2

We had a busy weekend...sort of.

Nothing blog worthy this weekend, but last weekend was packed with fun.  I didn't have a chance to blog last week, so I'm hoping to catch up this week.

#3

We went to my cousin's crawfish boil in east Texas.  The boys and I tried crawfish for the first time.  Their reactions were hilarious.  The way they prepared the crawfish made them super spicy.  We warned the boys, but they wanted to try them anyway.  They were running for water as soon as they tasted the crawfish.  More pictures to come this week from that.

#4

We celebrated my in-law's 50th anniversary last Sunday.  They had over 100 friends and family attend the Golden Anniversary party we held in their honor.  Lots of great pics from that special event.

#5

Today we don't have school because we didn't use any of the bad weather days that are built in to the school calendar.  We had a day off earlier this month and another off today.  Woo hoo for 3-day weekends!

#6

Will has been playing tee-ball and loving it.  He and Ben play all the time in the backyard.  We have a game tonight.  Go Will!

#7

I have a list a mile long of things I need to take care of!

Here goes:

Order VBS {vacation Bible school} material

Plan Ben's 4th birthday party {He's going to be 4!!! WOW!}

Schedule Ben's 4-year photos with Lauren

Finalize plans for our vacation to Virginia and Indiana

Reserve our hotel for our anniversary getaway

Buy tickets for the concert we're going to attend that weekend

Plan something special for Mark's 40th birthday this summer

Continue to discuss plans with the architect for the new house

All fun things we're looking forward to.  It's just a lot on my mind.

#8

Here's a good verse for when I feel overwhelmed or anxious.

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Golden Anniversary

Today my in-laws celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

They are such a wonderful couple, and I'm so blessed to be a part of their family.

We have planned a party for them this weekend to celebrate.

We love you, Carol and Jerry!

Effortless

You've heard me talk Angela before.  I've written several posts about our friendship here, here, and here.

She's such a dear friend, and I'm thankful for our friendship.  Isn't it great to have those special friendships that are effortless?  That's how I feel about Angela.  It's so easy to hangout with her.  Plus, she has effortless style.  She always has.  Even in college she had the cutest clothes and the best decorated house.  Checkout her blog Unexpected Elegance and you'll see what I mean.  

This weekend Angela and Scott were in town.  We planned for our families to meet up and have dinner on Friday night.  There was a slight change of plans when one of their daughters got sick.  Spur of the moment we decided to let Will and Ben have a sleepover with Mark's parents (so thankful for my in-law's) and that allowed us to have a night out without kids.  That's a rare thing for us!  We were able to enjoy dinner and talk without distractions.  Mark and Scott talked sports and Angela and I discussed house plans.  She's my partner in crime as I make plans for the new house.  It's nice to have another opinion (especially someone with such good taste)!  I hope she doesn't get sick of me asking her questions, ha!

We had such a good time together.  I wish we all lived closer!

Here we are at Uncle Julio's on Friday night :)

My favorite photo of us taken in 2001.

Ultimate Blog Party 2013

Hi there!

You've probably made your way to my blog via the UBP 2013.  I'm so glad you're here.

Welcome!

You can check out my UBP posts for 2011 and 2012 to get to know me more or just read on :)

I've been happily married to Mark for almost 11 years.  We live in a small town in Texas.

We have two sweet boys, Will and Ben.  They are our pride and joy.

We spend a lot of time together as a family.

Will is in kindergarten.

Ben is in preschool. 

 Our family October 2012

This photo was taken this fall on the land we own.  It's where we hope to build our new home in the near future.

Besides my most important job of being a mom, I'm also a junior high history teacher.  I've been teaching for 12 years.  I'm thankful for my job and grateful that I get to help improve the lives of others through education.

Here are a couple of my fun coworkers.

I love to blog because it's allowed me to become a part of a wonderful community of women who have similar interests.  It's such a special place of inspiration.  If you're a blogger, then you know what I'm talking about.

The focus of my blog is our family.  Most of my posts are about what Will and Ben are up to.  The other posts usually focus on spiritual things because my faith is such an important part of my life and our family.  One of my goals for the new year was to share my faith more openly in hopes to be an encouragement to others.  While I take my beliefs very seriously, I like to write about things that aren't very serious like fashion, travel, home decor and our future home. I'm also on other social media outlets like Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.  LOVE Instagram!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  

I hope you felt welcome.  Please leave a comment.  I'd love to stop by your blog and get to know you, too.

{All professional photos are by Lauren}

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!

We didn't have school on Friday, which made for a relaxing 3-day weekend.  We had our Easter egg hunt after church on Sunday afternoon at Mark's parents' house.

Most of the Easter egg hunt was indoors because of all the rain we had.  We hid a few eggs on the front porch.

Eggs!  Eggs!  Eggs!

This was very early Easter morning.  Will thought the Easter bunny left eggs outside, but then he realized that it was just dandelions.  He was really disappointed until he saw the baskets full of goodies from the Easter bunny.  The Easter bunny was very good about leaving treats in their baskets that weren't just chocolate.  He left them Annie's fruit snacks and fruit strips from Whole Foods.  It wasn't all healthy though, he didn't forget the Peeps and some Ghirardelli chocolate.  The boys managed to eat chocolate for breakfast, lunch and dinner that day ;)  Sugar overload for sure!

The Easter bunny brought both of the boys books.  The Little Blue Truck books, Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny by Beatrix Potter.  Will got a new DigiTools pack and Ben got a Donatello Ninja Turtle.

This was taken after church.
Handsome boys!

LOVE!

We didn't get a family photo, but we took separate photos of all of us together.

Happy Easter!