Happy 5th Birthday, Abagael!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Friday Night Fun :)

We're making progress...only a few rooms left to pack up and a week to go! :)

Friday Afternoon Ramblings...

I love four day weeks. 

I am loving having my room right next door the copy/supply room.  SO convenient.

One week from tomorrow we'll be packing up the moving van.

We had dinner last night with some friends from church that we're getting to know and it was so fun--it's always a treat to get to see people during the week like that.  We just sat around and talked and ate and laughed.  It was a nice night.

My Half Ironman in Austin is one month from today.

Both of my parents are working new jobs.  So far, so good I think, but it's an adjustment.  I was used to being able to see/talk to them whenever I wanted.  I was spoiled.

Some of our best friends, Blake and Morgan, are pregnant!  I'm so excited for them!

Tomorrow is my mom and my nieces' birthday.  I can't wait to celebrate with them this weekend.

The front part of our house is all packed up.  All that's left is part of the kitchen and our bedroom.  We're packing up most of the kitchen and the attic today.

All of our favorite shows are starting up again.  We have Parenthood DVR'd from last week and I'm antsy to watch it but we haven't had time.  Maybe tonight.

I am loving my students this year.  Knock on wood, I don't have any discipline problems etc.  They're a little chatty, but not bad at all, especially compared to some of the crazy kids I had last year.

I'm starting to get really excited about moving in to our new house and being closer to friends and being settled in to a place we can stay for a while.

Yesterday a robber who was being chased from the place he robbed ran on to our school campus and the whole school was put on lockdown for an hour at the end of the day until they caught him.  The news crew was there and the helicopters were circling overhead.  I got locked in the copy room for the whole hour, ha!  Never a dull moment. :)

Before we leave we have to pull up my garden.  For some reason, it makes me want to cry to think about pulling them up.  Seriously, Landon's going to have to do it when I'm not around, ha!

Tomorrow we have a 3.5 hour bike ride, my longest ride on my training plan.  I'm hoping I can at least get close to riding the full 56 miles.

A noodle restaurant just opened up in our neighborhood that I really want to try before we leave.  I'm hoping I can talk Landon in to going tonight...but we've got to get packing first!  After tonight hopefully we'll just have the bedroom, our bathroom and the garage to go!

Our last weekend...

Usually on Saturday morning, you'll find Landon and I up early, out riding our bikes for a few hours.  This weekend though, we decided to sleep in some and rest up from a few late nights the night before--and it was heavenly.  We slept in until about 9am, drove around the Heights and went to a couple of garage sales and then ended the morning with some breakfast from El Bolillo, a little bakery down the street from us that we love.  When we were deciding whether or not to get up early and ride or relax a  little, Landon pointed out that this would be the last opportunity we'd have to do it, so we'd better take advantage.  And it didn't hit me at the time, but he's right--this past weekend was the last weekend we'll have in our house before we move, because we'll be out of town this coming weekend and then moving the next!  Crazy!  But, it makes me glad for the kind of day we had--it was fun and relaxing and out of the norm for us, which was a nice change. 

Then, that afternoon Landon did some work on some of the things we've bought for the new house and I did my ride indoors on the trainer (it was SO humid and hot outside) and we basically just hung around the house.  That night we started a book study on Blue Like Jazz with our small group at church, which I think will be good.  I'm hoping some interesting conversations come from it!

Sunday, the relaxation was over, ha!  We woke up bright and early and headed out to the Texans stadium.  We made a deal with them that we would work their giveaway (they were handing out towels to the first 40,000 fans at the game) in exchange for being able to take all their boxes home to pack in.  And, as an added bonus, we got to stay and watch the game!

The giveaway was a little chaotic, but fun, and the game was a blast!  We got to see most of it, after we had put all of the boxes in the truck--we watched part of it from one of the board rooms with all of the Texans employees, which was a blast since everyone was SO in to it, and part of it from the club level.  Both awesome.  And, they won, which was even more awesome.  I'm a slow learner, but I'm slowly learning the game--and the fact that Landon loves it so much makes me want to love it too.  I want it to be something we so together.

We got home from the game around 4pm and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening watching more football and putting together boxes--and then packing them!  We started at the front of the house, because we don't live in those rooms at much, and got most of the spare bedroom and dining room packed up, and part of the living room and office.  It looks so bare in there now; its weird.  I was packing and not really thinking about what I was doing and then I looked up at one point and the walls were all bare and I got all choked up.  It's hard to believe that our house will never look like that again.  It now feels like we're moving for real. :)   

Let the packing begin!

Pink Apples :)

Are these not the coolest apples you've ever seen?  When Landon and I were at Central Market shopping for my birthday dinner a few weeks ago, they had just gotten a shipment in from somewhere in South America and were giving out samples.  Intrigued, Landon and I went over there and tried one--they taste just like Granny Smith apples--and had to buy some! 

Just thought I'd share. :)

I take it back...

A couple of years ago I began teaching ESL kids in middle school and fell in love with it.  They're fun, they have a lot to learn and they generally want to learn it.  They're sweet.  Since I started teaching a couple of ESL classes, they have always been my favorite class of the day, though they were also definitely the most challenging to teach also.


And so, the last few years, I've been teaching ESL and Vanguard kids--the opposite ends of the spectrum, ha!  And, if you asked me, I'd always say that I get stuck with the VG kids and would rather have ESL.  But today, I retract that statement.  My VG kids this year and pretty much the sweetest kids you could meet.  They love to read.  They love to write.  They participate.  They ask me questions about my life and were genuinely concerned when I missed a day last week without telling them and then seemed genuinely happy for me when I told them I missed a day because we were buying a house.  We laugh in class.  We talk about things that matter.  They listen when I teach and ask questions.  They enjoy the stories we read together.  They're basically the highlight of my work day, every day.

I think God knew that I needed an easy class this year, amidst all of the other chaos at work and busyness at home

So this year, which I still love my ESL/transitional class, and I'm sure will fall in love with them too as the year goes on, I am thankful for my sweet little VG kids.  I take back any bad thing I ever said about getting stuck teaching them. :)

a much needed weekend...

This Labor day weekend, Landon and I had plans to hang out with his brother and sister in law, but at the last minute those fell through, leaving us with a wide open weekend--and we took full advantage of it.  It was relaxing and busy all at the same time--we got a lot done for the move, but all on our own schedule and at our own pace, since we didn't have any other commitments.  It was nice. :)

Friday night, we started the appliance buying portion of the weekend, with Landon buying us a fridge for the new house.  It's probably eventually going to be our second fridge for drinks etc, because it's a little smaller, but for now it will work perfect.  Then, we met up with some of our good friends, Matt and Jenna, for dinner at Lupe Tortilla--it was a night filled with good food and good conversation and lots of laughs.  It was the perfect start to our long weekend.

We hit the sack pretty early that night though, because we were planning to get up early and drive about an hour from our house to a place that has a lot of hills for us to bike on, in preparation for my half ironman in Austin, which will definitely be a lot hillier than Houston!  We got up and out there bright and early and then about 2 miles in to our ride, not even 5 minutes down the road, I had a blow out.  It made a hole in my inner tube AND my actual tire, which meant that was the end of that.  We carry spare tubes, but not tires.  SO, my amazing husband ended up switching tires with me, which is a pain, so that I could finish my ride.  Then, he walked his bike back to the car.  The plan was that he was going to run while I biked to get a work out in, but ended up having to walk bare foot down the road because his bike shoes weren't working out to walk in, and his feet got burned from the hot cement.  I still feel so bad about it.  So, he ended up driving along with me while I biked and giving me water etc.  Seriously, I couldn't ask for a better husband.

 

Then, about 40 miles in to my 56 mile ride, something stopped working on my bike--we think a wire got bent or torn or something, and I couldn't shift any more.  So, that was the end of the ride.  I was really bummed because I really wanted to ride the whole distance on the hills, but it just was not to be.  We just had to laugh as we threw the bikes in the back of the truck and headed over to drop them off at the bike shop.  At least we can say we tried to do the ride!

That afternoon we bought a washer and dryer set for the new house and then spent a couple of hours browsing around Gallery Furniture--only to come to the conclusion that we have no idea what kind of couches we want, haha!  I guess we'll keep looking!

Sunday we hung out with my parents after church and got to show them our new house, which was a lot of fun.  We had a long lunch and just had a chance to sit and talk before we headed over to the house.  With their new work schedules, we hadn't been able to meet up with them to see it yet, so it was nice--it was also good for us because it gave us one more chance to be in the house before closing so we could measure things and get one more good look etc.  It's weird that the next time we're in the house we'll be moving in!

And then today was just about perfect.  We slept in just a tad and then headed over the gym to swim.  It was the first time in a while that we'd worked out together, so it was kind of a treat.  After the swim I had a 9 mile run, so I stayed at the gym and ran and Landon went home and mowed and did yard work for the next 2 hours.  It looked so good when he was done!

Then, we spent the rest of today doing stuff around the house to clean it up and get it ready for my dad to rent/sell to someone else.  It was fun and it felt good to be getting thing checked off the to do list and it was fun to get to hang out together and talk and dream about the future and what we want to do once we get in the new house etc.

But then tonight, as I was driving to Kroger tonight to pick up a couple of things while Landon was doing his Fantasy Football draft, I started getting really sad about moving.  I'll miss our house and our neighborhood and all the stuff around us, because it's "our" part of Houston; it's where we started out life and our family together and it just makes me sad tonight to be leaving it.  I'm still excited about  moving and starting what feels like a new chapter in our lives, but tonight I just also am feeling really sad about this part of our lives coming to a close.